To say the least, I am freaking out! I don´t even know where to begin. Tomorrow, at this time, I will be home in my home with my family in my beloved Austin!!! This whole past week and month i´ve been trying to reflect on my journey, and its hard to belive that 6 months is over. I have learned so, so SO much. First, I have learned how to live in a big city- Santiago was a challenge, yet such a joy to explore.. and now I have arrived by myself to several more big cities and I feel comfortable getting there, finding a place, and going out and getting to know the city. I´m trying to think of how many hours I have spent on a bus these past 6 months... which made for some fun times, funny times, and not so funny times. Being here is a wonderful opportunity to practice my meditations- ``Breathe deep`` and``Be Here Now`` both of these have helped me infinitely on this trip, helping me to relax and to keep my mind and my heart open for the new experiences.
I definitely cannot pick favorites, but there are some memories that stand out for being especially fun- our whole spring break trip(puerto varas, bariloche, buenos aires, el calafate, torres del paine), all our trips to the beaches, how we camped out every single weekend until spring break, all the hikes and nature activities, being on the VIP list at the clubs in Santiago, meeting all our chilean friends who were so welcoming and the best friends in the world, sneaking in to macchu pichu at midnight, being in the driest desert in the world, seeing the 3rd largest glacier field in the world, the gorgeous colombian coast, ahh EVERYTHING. I have been so, so happy this whole trip, my only bad day was when my camera got stolen... but seriously I feel so blessed to have had no major problems, no health issues, just 180 days of sunshine and happy memories... Seriously there is nothing that compares to learning another country´s culture, and feeling like you are a part of it, Chile will have my heart forever and ever. And one thing I definitely am thankful for is all of the people, who without knowing me, took me in to their homes and their hearts and showed me how to love their cities.
My beloved Chile, Argentina, Colombia, and Peru.
Taking the chance and going to Costa Rica 5 years ago changed my life and set me on this path where I just am blissed out exploring these new countries and speaking spanish and hearing maná on the radio... now Ive taken the risk and stayed away from home longer than I ever have, and found four new countries that I will never forget.
can´t express how thankful I am for this opportunity...
but THANK YOU to everyone who has read my stories the past 6 months!!!!
and until the next adventure... ciao!!
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
week in Mollendo
Well, within one week in Peru both my laptop AND my camera are long gone. The camera theft happened last Thursday night while I was sleeping on an overnight bus.. they snatched it right from underneath my feet... I am sooo bummed, now all my pictures from Colombia are gone- so you guys will just have to trust me that it is a gorgeous country, full of huge lush mountains rising out next to the emerald sea. It sucks to have to be ´´thankfull´´ that ONLY the camera and laptop are gone, but such is life here, I guess. I had been super cautious all the past 5 months and had good luck, then I let my guard down and they got me. But it could have been worse, of course. The camera has been replaced, but the pictures are gone forever.
After Thursday night, I seriously never wanted to be on a bus ever again here, but Friday night I found myself on another bus heading to the border with Chile to where they sell all the cheap electronics. The director of the Mollendo office (where I am working this week) invited me to sleep at her parent´s house when we arrived in Tacna at 3am. When I woke up, I felt so refreshed and rejuvinated after sleeping on such uncomfortable beds the past week in Puno. I thought that I would creep downstairs and see if her parents wouldn´t mind calling a cab for me to go to the market. Nonsense. They sat me down to breakfast as we watched the world cup´s game that day. Then they insisted that they would accompany me to the market to protect me and make sure I wasn´t getting the ´gringo especial´. Spending the day with them, I felt like I was with my own grandparents in Mexico. They had similar mannerisms, there were similar smells coming from the kitchen, and they treated me just like family. Even their cars had the same smell. I had planned to leave right after buying the camera, but they drew me in with their kindness and I could think of nothing better than just hanging out at their house. When Sonia was done with her meetings that day, we went out to a bar in Tacna, which is apparently full of Chileans crossing over the border to the much cheaper prices and casinos in Tacna.
Sunday we had lunch, then took the bus back to Mollendo (of course, the bus was scheduled to leave at 1pm, and by 3pm we were probably about 10km from the bus terminal..grrr)
So, this week I have been in Mollendo, a city on the ocean. Since it is winter the skies are grey and the town is pretty quiet. I don´t even know how to describe the impact that meeting all these women has had on me, but here I will share two of the stories-
´´Victoria goes where the crowds are to sell her home made sweets, to soccer games, bus stops, parties, the beach. The work is hard, and is made even harder because she is a widow. She begins to cry as she tells me about her son, the youngest of 7 who at 19 years of age is struggling to find a way to go to the university. This youngest son would be the only one of the family to be able to go to the University, but she cannot afford the 100$ per month living expenses. She worries about how she can find a way to send him to school, and the strain of being a single mother weighs heavily on her. She grabs my arm and begs me to help them, to help her son go to school, and I am at a loss for words. It is so easy as an American to say ´look for a scholarship or a student loan´, but i´m not sure if those resources are available in Peru. The issue is not so much the tuition, it is the cost of living outside of the home, and the closest University is 2 hours away´´ This lady really affected me, seeing her break down into tears, telling me about her abusive husband, her worries about her son, begging me to help her.. and she was just so tiny and petite, working countless hours a day just to earn a few dollars, taking out a 100$ loan that will take her 6 months to pay back.. I found on google a new micro finance organization that specifically helps students by loaning them money for college http://vittana.org/ which is a great idea.
´´Natalia lives alone on a sparsely populated dusty hill in a 3-walled shack, and the walls are just woven mats so the cold wind passes through. She does everything on her own because her six children are all grown and gone. It´s hard to imagine this petite, old woman raising bulls, but that just goes to show that she is a fighter. This is Natalia´s first loan, and she decided to join Pro Mujer because she saw the success her daughters had with Pro Mujer. Natalia buys bulls when they are young and then raises them to sell them when they´re grown. With the bulls, a few sheep, and by growing a small amount of corn, Natalia manages to have enough money to eat. She is from Puno, 8 hours inland, but says that a lifetime of bad luck has left her here, alone. Here she lives alone, surrounded by dust, flies, and her only companion, her dog, has contracted a sickness and is slowly wasting away. But still, Natalia manages to smile.´´ Visiting this woman´s home today was also just... sad. It is hard to see hope in this situation, but the credit promoter who took me to her house said something like ´´Yes, but these people are used to sleeping in the cold. They´ve probably been this way for their whole lives, possibly even in worse conditions. At least now she has a way to make some money´´.. The woman was just so sweet and cute, and all alone, it just killed me.
Then, during lunch I go to my hotel and flip through the channels. The ´reality´ shows today are disturbing to watch after spending a day out with these women. . the juxtaposition of these two completely different realities- a housewife in LA vs a farmer in Peru, is the perfect demonstration of the vast disparities and the division of wealth that exists in the world... 16 year olds getting million dollar birthday parties versus people working 14 hours to make one dollar...
And the dreamy look that people here get in their eyes when I tell them i´m from the US ´´wow... the united states...what´s it like? it must be wonderful there, huh? take me with you...´´
After Thursday night, I seriously never wanted to be on a bus ever again here, but Friday night I found myself on another bus heading to the border with Chile to where they sell all the cheap electronics. The director of the Mollendo office (where I am working this week) invited me to sleep at her parent´s house when we arrived in Tacna at 3am. When I woke up, I felt so refreshed and rejuvinated after sleeping on such uncomfortable beds the past week in Puno. I thought that I would creep downstairs and see if her parents wouldn´t mind calling a cab for me to go to the market. Nonsense. They sat me down to breakfast as we watched the world cup´s game that day. Then they insisted that they would accompany me to the market to protect me and make sure I wasn´t getting the ´gringo especial´. Spending the day with them, I felt like I was with my own grandparents in Mexico. They had similar mannerisms, there were similar smells coming from the kitchen, and they treated me just like family. Even their cars had the same smell. I had planned to leave right after buying the camera, but they drew me in with their kindness and I could think of nothing better than just hanging out at their house. When Sonia was done with her meetings that day, we went out to a bar in Tacna, which is apparently full of Chileans crossing over the border to the much cheaper prices and casinos in Tacna.
Sunday we had lunch, then took the bus back to Mollendo (of course, the bus was scheduled to leave at 1pm, and by 3pm we were probably about 10km from the bus terminal..grrr)
So, this week I have been in Mollendo, a city on the ocean. Since it is winter the skies are grey and the town is pretty quiet. I don´t even know how to describe the impact that meeting all these women has had on me, but here I will share two of the stories-
´´Victoria goes where the crowds are to sell her home made sweets, to soccer games, bus stops, parties, the beach. The work is hard, and is made even harder because she is a widow. She begins to cry as she tells me about her son, the youngest of 7 who at 19 years of age is struggling to find a way to go to the university. This youngest son would be the only one of the family to be able to go to the University, but she cannot afford the 100$ per month living expenses. She worries about how she can find a way to send him to school, and the strain of being a single mother weighs heavily on her. She grabs my arm and begs me to help them, to help her son go to school, and I am at a loss for words. It is so easy as an American to say ´look for a scholarship or a student loan´, but i´m not sure if those resources are available in Peru. The issue is not so much the tuition, it is the cost of living outside of the home, and the closest University is 2 hours away´´ This lady really affected me, seeing her break down into tears, telling me about her abusive husband, her worries about her son, begging me to help her.. and she was just so tiny and petite, working countless hours a day just to earn a few dollars, taking out a 100$ loan that will take her 6 months to pay back.. I found on google a new micro finance organization that specifically helps students by loaning them money for college http://vittana.org/ which is a great idea.
´´Natalia lives alone on a sparsely populated dusty hill in a 3-walled shack, and the walls are just woven mats so the cold wind passes through. She does everything on her own because her six children are all grown and gone. It´s hard to imagine this petite, old woman raising bulls, but that just goes to show that she is a fighter. This is Natalia´s first loan, and she decided to join Pro Mujer because she saw the success her daughters had with Pro Mujer. Natalia buys bulls when they are young and then raises them to sell them when they´re grown. With the bulls, a few sheep, and by growing a small amount of corn, Natalia manages to have enough money to eat. She is from Puno, 8 hours inland, but says that a lifetime of bad luck has left her here, alone. Here she lives alone, surrounded by dust, flies, and her only companion, her dog, has contracted a sickness and is slowly wasting away. But still, Natalia manages to smile.´´ Visiting this woman´s home today was also just... sad. It is hard to see hope in this situation, but the credit promoter who took me to her house said something like ´´Yes, but these people are used to sleeping in the cold. They´ve probably been this way for their whole lives, possibly even in worse conditions. At least now she has a way to make some money´´.. The woman was just so sweet and cute, and all alone, it just killed me.
Then, during lunch I go to my hotel and flip through the channels. The ´reality´ shows today are disturbing to watch after spending a day out with these women. . the juxtaposition of these two completely different realities- a housewife in LA vs a farmer in Peru, is the perfect demonstration of the vast disparities and the division of wealth that exists in the world... 16 year olds getting million dollar birthday parties versus people working 14 hours to make one dollar...
And the dreamy look that people here get in their eyes when I tell them i´m from the US ´´wow... the united states...what´s it like? it must be wonderful there, huh? take me with you...´´
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
first full day at Pro Mujer
Today was my first full day at Pro Mujer! And boy is my head spinning from all the information I learned today.. I was first taken to their office in the South, and on the way was explained the basics about how their loans work (6 month cycles, option to pay every 7, 14, 21, 28 days, seasonal loans available), and then I sat in on a payment collection meeting. I felt like I was back at Grameen! The methods for collection were very similar, the difference being that at Pro Mujer the women name their groups things like Las Esmeraldas, Sol de Oro, etc. During the meeting, I was reading through the files, and saw that most of the women in the room were taking out loans that ranged from 70$-350$, which is something to think about, for us those amounts are so small, but for them they are life changing. I was also a little surprised to see that many of the women didn´t have running water or electricity in their homes. Also, this group of women had to leave their homes at 2am in order to be at the center for their 8am payment. Their recorded businesses ranged from artesanias, selling various food items like cheese or yogurt, having a small store, selling clothes or shoes, selling fish.
After observing the South office for a while, we headed to the Bellavista office.
There, I sat in on a talk, which I didn´t know what it was about, but it appeared to be about nutrition, and as I was listening, the man kept promoting anchovies, anchovies, anchovies! So I thought it smelled a little fishy, then learned that the talk was sponsored by the ministry of Fish. Ha. But it was good because the women got nutritional information, were exposed to a cheaper source of protien, and they even got samples during the meeting. The man gave a statistic that 25% of children in Peru are chronically malnourished, and that in Puno it is a serious problem as well. Then I visited the kindergarden that they have at the center (in partnership with the ministry of education), and the precious children all greeted me, sang me a song, and said ciao when I left! SO CUTE!
After that, I visited the health center, where the women are able to get free health consultations, and have another woman to confide in about their issues. The doctor was super friendly and upbeat. So, a great thing about Pro Mujer is the women´s access to healthcare, for free, and if not free then minimal prices. They also have a monthly theme, such as menopause, where they expose the women to topics they may not be familiar with. In addition, they do 4-5 monthly campaigns, where they encourage the women to sign up for all sorts of different health things like eye exams. This month they are also offering a seminar on how to deal with their teenage children. Pro Mujer also offers life insurance.
Following lunch, I went back to the central office. There I stopped in to the computer lab! So they offer free computer classes to the women and their families, where they learn micrsoft word and windows, and are adding another course to teach powerpoint and how to make websites! So imagine, women who come in not knowing how to turn on a computer, and after 2 months they are able to make excel sheets for their businesses, reciepts, and even create a website for themselves! not to mention connect with distant family via chat or email... hard to imagine all of the sudden having access to the internet and being computer literate, but I think it is such a wonderful program, and probably the only place the women can get these classes for free. Only problem is, there is more demand and they only have 12 computers. But still they have seen great successes so far.
Then, I sat next to the accountant and she showed me how they keep all their data organized, which group is eligible for a loan now, which group paid today, etc... my head was spinning, she was doing it all so fast. But they seem to be supremely well organized!!
Awesome first day!!!! Everyone at the office is so nice, and I feel like I learned a million things today and am so excited for tomorrow!
After observing the South office for a while, we headed to the Bellavista office.
There, I sat in on a talk, which I didn´t know what it was about, but it appeared to be about nutrition, and as I was listening, the man kept promoting anchovies, anchovies, anchovies! So I thought it smelled a little fishy, then learned that the talk was sponsored by the ministry of Fish. Ha. But it was good because the women got nutritional information, were exposed to a cheaper source of protien, and they even got samples during the meeting. The man gave a statistic that 25% of children in Peru are chronically malnourished, and that in Puno it is a serious problem as well. Then I visited the kindergarden that they have at the center (in partnership with the ministry of education), and the precious children all greeted me, sang me a song, and said ciao when I left! SO CUTE!
After that, I visited the health center, where the women are able to get free health consultations, and have another woman to confide in about their issues. The doctor was super friendly and upbeat. So, a great thing about Pro Mujer is the women´s access to healthcare, for free, and if not free then minimal prices. They also have a monthly theme, such as menopause, where they expose the women to topics they may not be familiar with. In addition, they do 4-5 monthly campaigns, where they encourage the women to sign up for all sorts of different health things like eye exams. This month they are also offering a seminar on how to deal with their teenage children. Pro Mujer also offers life insurance.
Following lunch, I went back to the central office. There I stopped in to the computer lab! So they offer free computer classes to the women and their families, where they learn micrsoft word and windows, and are adding another course to teach powerpoint and how to make websites! So imagine, women who come in not knowing how to turn on a computer, and after 2 months they are able to make excel sheets for their businesses, reciepts, and even create a website for themselves! not to mention connect with distant family via chat or email... hard to imagine all of the sudden having access to the internet and being computer literate, but I think it is such a wonderful program, and probably the only place the women can get these classes for free. Only problem is, there is more demand and they only have 12 computers. But still they have seen great successes so far.
Then, I sat next to the accountant and she showed me how they keep all their data organized, which group is eligible for a loan now, which group paid today, etc... my head was spinning, she was doing it all so fast. But they seem to be supremely well organized!!
Awesome first day!!!! Everyone at the office is so nice, and I feel like I learned a million things today and am so excited for tomorrow!
catching up
so let´s see, I arrived back in Bogota Monday night, and was invited to friend of a friend of a friend´s girls who were my age birthday party, so I went over to Valentina´s apartment and met her and Paula, who were both so so sweet, cute, and eager to show me around!
Tuesday, my friend from school in Chile had a layover in Bogota so we managed to meet up downtown. We spent several hours wandering around La Candelaria, met a man eager to practice his english by asking ´´What. Is. Your. Opinion. On. John. Wayne.... What. Is. Your. Opinion. On. Hollywood....´´umm. Then, we wanted to go up to the church overlooking Bogota called Monserrate, so we climbed up towards that way, flagged down a bus, and asked the driver if he was in fact going to Monserrate. He said yes, so we hopped on. 20 minutes later, we are in the middle of the industrial part of the city, obviously far from the hill, and with no idea where exactly we were. So I asked the driver again if he was going to Monserrate, and he said No, obviously. So we got off, and asked another driver if he was going to the downtown. He said yes, so we got on. Another 20 minutes later we realize that we are still no where near where we wanted to be, so we got off and finally got a cab. That night I met up with Paula, and she took me to go eat in the uber trendy Zona T, a t-shaped pedestrian street with tons of cute and different bars, restaurants, shops, very beautiful and filled with beautiful people. We ate at Wok, where I had tofu curry (and they even had raw options on the menu, surprisingly). Then had yogenfruz! And then I went home.
Wednesday, I moved all my stuff over to Paula´s house where her family graciously invited me to stay, and then she and her mom dropped me off at the neighborhood called Usaquen, which is a couple of streets of old houses filled with more trendy restaurants, art galleries, etc. I enjoyed wandering around there, eating a coconut popcicle, and just exploring.
Then, I went with Valentina and Simon (paula´s brother), out to Parque 93 which is yet another square filled with great places to hang out, and we watched some football game that was apparently important. They introduced me to Aguardiente, and I can safely say just the thought of it now makes me want to vomit. But we had a great night out, dancing, and when I told them I had to leave for the airport at 5am they said ´´Ok, we´ll be back by then!´´ So I had such a great time with them, they were all so sweet to welcome me, and make me feel at home. After I met them, I liked Bogota even more, and definitely could see myself there.
Then I was at the airport at 6am, miserable, and off to Lima! 3 Weeks was just enough to give me a taste of Colombia, and to know that I Definitely want to come back and get to know more!!!
Thursday I spent the day relaxing in Lima, Friday I got a much needed pedicure and watched in amusement as the pedicure lady was horrified at my dry scaly legs.. Then I took the overnight bus to Arequipa. My other suitcase that I left at the hostel in Arequipa was thankfully still there in one piece! I ate some middle eastern food (plentiful , cheap and delicious in that city), and went to the museum where the 500 year old inca mummy Juanita is on display... so cool!!! They had all the artifacts and tapestries that she was buried with, and she was in remarkable conditon. Then I restocked my book supply, and I thought I had enough for the whole month, but now I only have 1.5 left... ahh. Sunday morning I took the 6 hour bus to Puno, and arrived here in the city! Found my hotel, found the Pro Mujer office, and relaxed in order to adjust myself to the altitude.
Tuesday, my friend from school in Chile had a layover in Bogota so we managed to meet up downtown. We spent several hours wandering around La Candelaria, met a man eager to practice his english by asking ´´What. Is. Your. Opinion. On. John. Wayne.... What. Is. Your. Opinion. On. Hollywood....´´umm. Then, we wanted to go up to the church overlooking Bogota called Monserrate, so we climbed up towards that way, flagged down a bus, and asked the driver if he was in fact going to Monserrate. He said yes, so we hopped on. 20 minutes later, we are in the middle of the industrial part of the city, obviously far from the hill, and with no idea where exactly we were. So I asked the driver again if he was going to Monserrate, and he said No, obviously. So we got off, and asked another driver if he was going to the downtown. He said yes, so we got on. Another 20 minutes later we realize that we are still no where near where we wanted to be, so we got off and finally got a cab. That night I met up with Paula, and she took me to go eat in the uber trendy Zona T, a t-shaped pedestrian street with tons of cute and different bars, restaurants, shops, very beautiful and filled with beautiful people. We ate at Wok, where I had tofu curry (and they even had raw options on the menu, surprisingly). Then had yogenfruz! And then I went home.
Wednesday, I moved all my stuff over to Paula´s house where her family graciously invited me to stay, and then she and her mom dropped me off at the neighborhood called Usaquen, which is a couple of streets of old houses filled with more trendy restaurants, art galleries, etc. I enjoyed wandering around there, eating a coconut popcicle, and just exploring.
Then, I went with Valentina and Simon (paula´s brother), out to Parque 93 which is yet another square filled with great places to hang out, and we watched some football game that was apparently important. They introduced me to Aguardiente, and I can safely say just the thought of it now makes me want to vomit. But we had a great night out, dancing, and when I told them I had to leave for the airport at 5am they said ´´Ok, we´ll be back by then!´´ So I had such a great time with them, they were all so sweet to welcome me, and make me feel at home. After I met them, I liked Bogota even more, and definitely could see myself there.
Then I was at the airport at 6am, miserable, and off to Lima! 3 Weeks was just enough to give me a taste of Colombia, and to know that I Definitely want to come back and get to know more!!!
Thursday I spent the day relaxing in Lima, Friday I got a much needed pedicure and watched in amusement as the pedicure lady was horrified at my dry scaly legs.. Then I took the overnight bus to Arequipa. My other suitcase that I left at the hostel in Arequipa was thankfully still there in one piece! I ate some middle eastern food (plentiful , cheap and delicious in that city), and went to the museum where the 500 year old inca mummy Juanita is on display... so cool!!! They had all the artifacts and tapestries that she was buried with, and she was in remarkable conditon. Then I restocked my book supply, and I thought I had enough for the whole month, but now I only have 1.5 left... ahh. Sunday morning I took the 6 hour bus to Puno, and arrived here in the city! Found my hotel, found the Pro Mujer office, and relaxed in order to adjust myself to the altitude.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Popayán
Today I had my first personal experience with corrupt policemen. So, I am riding in a truck with an austrailan guy and we are on our way to the hotsprings out of town. We pass by cops who pull us over, which is completely normal and common in colombia. The cops ask for our passports, and we both hand over the copies of our passport while my austrailian friend gets patted down and our bags get searched. The first cop is asking us where are we from, what are we doing here, where are we going, where are we staying, etc, and I am speaking for both myself and my friend. It seemed pretty standard, and then the first cop walks the copies down a few steps to the other cops waiting in the van. They call us over, and one evil looking one with a huge scar over his lips and has a considerably more angry tone starts repeating all the questions. He seemed very angry that we did not have our original passports, and was asking us how we got into the country, where our stamps were, etc. I told him that we never carry around our original passports because they could easily be stolen and its dangerous, and he says well if colombia is so dangerous then why are you here
? how much are you paying your driver? are you paying him in dollars or colombian pesos? where are you going? And he just has this like menacing attitude going on, and it was hard for me to shake off my flippant attitude and be respectful, but I was basically trying to handle it by smiling and making him realize that he really has no reason to harrass us. Then he is like well what should we do... should we take you guys down to the immigration office so they can deport your friend? or...... (at this time I kind of realized he was asking for a bribe, but since I had never been bribed by a policeman I was kind of in disbelief that it actually happens), so I said no there is no reason for us to go to the office, we can turn around and go get our passports at the hostel, but we just want to go to the hotsprings. Then the cop starts asking 'well why didn't you invite us to the hotsprings???' and I'm like well you don't have your bathingsuits... and then the cops are asking me for my cellphone number, for my chat screen name, what hostel i'm staying at, and i'm trying to deflect the flirting and turn it into more of a silly joke type situation, and they keep asking for a 'regalo' so they can buy sodas, and I'm like are you kidding... so finally I think he was like ok you guys can go on, so we get back in the truck, and one of the cops comes over to my window and demands that I give him my ROOM NUMBER at the hostel and I was like how dare you!!! And the driver ended up giving them 5$... then we drove off... but it was just like... so annoying the way these guys abuse their power, and how unprofessional and flirtatious they were being, and how they made such a big deal out of it even though everyone knows you do not carry your passport with you to remote locations... during the whole interaction I kind of felt jittery and nervous because of all the movies I have watched, but I suppose it turned out the best way it could have.
So, then we got to the hotsprings, and the plan was to ride the bikes 30k back to the town, but some black clouds rolled in just as we arrived, so we got the driver to stay and wait for us while we bathed in the lukewarm water and went down the waterslide. It was a very pretty and green location, up in the hills, and the air temp was quite cool (especially with the rain).
On our drive out of town, I spotted out of the corner of my eye, Yogenfruz!!! The frozen yogurt we were obsessed with in Santiago.. I didn't know where it was so I basically just set out blindly and walked through some pretty shady areas of town, but once I arrived it was so worth it! I got watermelon flavor, and then I got coffee oreo flavor. Yum Yum
Then I went to eat dinner at a Mexican food place, and I got the veggie burrito and asked for a side of rice and beans. The waiter said they didn't have rice and beans, and I was like...and you dare call yourself a mexican food restaurant???
After that, we went to... the circus!!! Seriously! It was the Mexican circus in town! It was pretty cool, I have a vague memory of going to a circus a long time ago in Austin. At this circus they had baboobs doing tricks, tightrope walkers, dogs playing soccer, horses, a guy dancing with ribbons, etc, and 7 huge tigers! oh and 3 guys in a huge wire ball cage riding motorcycles around inside the ball (coolest part).
So, all in all it was quite an eventful and interesting day.
? how much are you paying your driver? are you paying him in dollars or colombian pesos? where are you going? And he just has this like menacing attitude going on, and it was hard for me to shake off my flippant attitude and be respectful, but I was basically trying to handle it by smiling and making him realize that he really has no reason to harrass us. Then he is like well what should we do... should we take you guys down to the immigration office so they can deport your friend? or...... (at this time I kind of realized he was asking for a bribe, but since I had never been bribed by a policeman I was kind of in disbelief that it actually happens), so I said no there is no reason for us to go to the office, we can turn around and go get our passports at the hostel, but we just want to go to the hotsprings. Then the cop starts asking 'well why didn't you invite us to the hotsprings???' and I'm like well you don't have your bathingsuits... and then the cops are asking me for my cellphone number, for my chat screen name, what hostel i'm staying at, and i'm trying to deflect the flirting and turn it into more of a silly joke type situation, and they keep asking for a 'regalo' so they can buy sodas, and I'm like are you kidding... so finally I think he was like ok you guys can go on, so we get back in the truck, and one of the cops comes over to my window and demands that I give him my ROOM NUMBER at the hostel and I was like how dare you!!! And the driver ended up giving them 5$... then we drove off... but it was just like... so annoying the way these guys abuse their power, and how unprofessional and flirtatious they were being, and how they made such a big deal out of it even though everyone knows you do not carry your passport with you to remote locations... during the whole interaction I kind of felt jittery and nervous because of all the movies I have watched, but I suppose it turned out the best way it could have.
So, then we got to the hotsprings, and the plan was to ride the bikes 30k back to the town, but some black clouds rolled in just as we arrived, so we got the driver to stay and wait for us while we bathed in the lukewarm water and went down the waterslide. It was a very pretty and green location, up in the hills, and the air temp was quite cool (especially with the rain).
On our drive out of town, I spotted out of the corner of my eye, Yogenfruz!!! The frozen yogurt we were obsessed with in Santiago.. I didn't know where it was so I basically just set out blindly and walked through some pretty shady areas of town, but once I arrived it was so worth it! I got watermelon flavor, and then I got coffee oreo flavor. Yum Yum
Then I went to eat dinner at a Mexican food place, and I got the veggie burrito and asked for a side of rice and beans. The waiter said they didn't have rice and beans, and I was like...and you dare call yourself a mexican food restaurant???
After that, we went to... the circus!!! Seriously! It was the Mexican circus in town! It was pretty cool, I have a vague memory of going to a circus a long time ago in Austin. At this circus they had baboobs doing tricks, tightrope walkers, dogs playing soccer, horses, a guy dancing with ribbons, etc, and 7 huge tigers! oh and 3 guys in a huge wire ball cage riding motorcycles around inside the ball (coolest part).
So, all in all it was quite an eventful and interesting day.
Islas del Rosario
On Tuesday I woke up early and caught the boat out to the Islas del Rosario (to playa blanca). The beach is long, with fine white sand and shack restaurants lining the whole way down. I got off the boat and got comfortable on the sand to finish reading Angels and Demons. The second I layed down I was surrounded by at least 5 local men trying to make conversation as I was obviously reading, trying to sell me bracelets, oysters, and who knows what else. Women kept coming by and trying to convince me to get a masage, some of them would even start touching me and saying 'oh no this masage is for free! a present!' (definitely not for free). But, I tried to focus on my book. Other than the sellers, the beach was pretty quiet and empty. The water was a gorgeous shade of light, clear, electric blue and the ocean was super calm. I got some good work done on my tan, and besides the people it was a relaxing, nice day at the beach.
one funny thing about colombia- the coffee is great, but the largest cup size appears to be a 2 oz serving...?
also the men here have their own catcall- psst...pssst....pssssst...PSST!PSST!PSSST!!!!! (which I don't understand, it's like i'm obviously ignoring them, but they just keep getting louder and louder) I feel like 80% of the car wrecks here could be attributed to men craning their neck through the window to get a good long look at passing ladies.
one funny thing about colombia- the coffee is great, but the largest cup size appears to be a 2 oz serving...?
also the men here have their own catcall- psst...pssst....pssssst...PSST!PSST!PSSST!!!!! (which I don't understand, it's like i'm obviously ignoring them, but they just keep getting louder and louder) I feel like 80% of the car wrecks here could be attributed to men craning their neck through the window to get a good long look at passing ladies.
Santa Marta and Parque Tayrona
So, I am losing track of the days, but I guess that is what is supposed to happen when you are at the beach :)
Santa Marta is a beach town 4 hours from Cartagena. My hostel, La Brisa Loca is a spanish style house with a pool in the center from which you can watch movies on the big screen... so needless to say I spent 3 days just lounging at the pool, watching movies, and eating at the Mexican food restaurant next door where I'm already a regular and the lady just smiles and asks 'same thing again?'.
I had heard so many wonderful things about Parque Tayrona so I decided to head down there on my own. From the park entrance its a 45 minute hike through genuine jungle where there were 8 inch black centipedes everywhere, blue morpho butterflies, bright turquoise/green lizzards, and a bright red squirrel. It was a very nice walk to the campsite, Arecifes, where I rented my hammock and set out for the swimming beach (the beach in front of Arecifes says 'more than 200 tourists have drowned here, don't be part of the statistic'). The first beach is in a little cove surrounded by trees, so I set out here and finished reading my murder mystery novel. The sun sets promptly at 6:30 and after that it's just a matter of entertaining yourself until you can fall asleep. I was worried about the bugs because there was no mosquito net, so I tried to cover up my whole body that night in the hammock. Of course, when I woke up I had tons of bites on the left side of my chest, on my hands and neck- the only parts I left uncovered! Those bugs are viscious!
The next day I met some boys from Ecuador who were my age as we were walking to the beaches, and I joined them to walk on to the next beach called La Piscina. It was absolutely gorgeous, calm, and relatively deserted. We were really enjoying it and commenting on how it was straight out of a postcard, and they said supposedly the next beach is even better. I thought, how could it get better than this? But decided to accompany them on to the next beach. The nice thing about the park is that to get from beach to beach you have to walk through the jungle and work up a sweat. We reached Cabo San Juan and I saw that indeed, it was the best beach out there! There is a hut for hammocks on the end of the peninsula, 2 bays framed by palm trees and tall jungly mountains, and the water... the water is the perfect temperature (refreshing but you can stay in it for hours without getting cold), it is super clear, and it is literally the color of emeralds. Yes, I was in heaven. That day I read Dances With Wolves and thought back fondly on all the times I had watched it with my parents- I really enjoyed the book a whole lot. We walked on a little further to check out the nude beach, but cabo san juan was nicer so we returned.
That night in the hammocks there was a fantastic storm, but I was kept mostly dry underneath the thatched shelter. The next morning as I was sleeping, someone nudged my arm and I thought it was my friend, but when I opened my eyes it was a Donkey...no joke. After breakfast of fruit and coffee- and a parrot coming and stealing my fruit, I walked on to Cabo San Juan. Another great day at the beach.
If only Bookpeople and Whole Foods could open up a store right there, I would definitely stay forever.
Now, back to Cartagena for a day!
Santa Marta is a beach town 4 hours from Cartagena. My hostel, La Brisa Loca is a spanish style house with a pool in the center from which you can watch movies on the big screen... so needless to say I spent 3 days just lounging at the pool, watching movies, and eating at the Mexican food restaurant next door where I'm already a regular and the lady just smiles and asks 'same thing again?'.
I had heard so many wonderful things about Parque Tayrona so I decided to head down there on my own. From the park entrance its a 45 minute hike through genuine jungle where there were 8 inch black centipedes everywhere, blue morpho butterflies, bright turquoise/green lizzards, and a bright red squirrel. It was a very nice walk to the campsite, Arecifes, where I rented my hammock and set out for the swimming beach (the beach in front of Arecifes says 'more than 200 tourists have drowned here, don't be part of the statistic'). The first beach is in a little cove surrounded by trees, so I set out here and finished reading my murder mystery novel. The sun sets promptly at 6:30 and after that it's just a matter of entertaining yourself until you can fall asleep. I was worried about the bugs because there was no mosquito net, so I tried to cover up my whole body that night in the hammock. Of course, when I woke up I had tons of bites on the left side of my chest, on my hands and neck- the only parts I left uncovered! Those bugs are viscious!
The next day I met some boys from Ecuador who were my age as we were walking to the beaches, and I joined them to walk on to the next beach called La Piscina. It was absolutely gorgeous, calm, and relatively deserted. We were really enjoying it and commenting on how it was straight out of a postcard, and they said supposedly the next beach is even better. I thought, how could it get better than this? But decided to accompany them on to the next beach. The nice thing about the park is that to get from beach to beach you have to walk through the jungle and work up a sweat. We reached Cabo San Juan and I saw that indeed, it was the best beach out there! There is a hut for hammocks on the end of the peninsula, 2 bays framed by palm trees and tall jungly mountains, and the water... the water is the perfect temperature (refreshing but you can stay in it for hours without getting cold), it is super clear, and it is literally the color of emeralds. Yes, I was in heaven. That day I read Dances With Wolves and thought back fondly on all the times I had watched it with my parents- I really enjoyed the book a whole lot. We walked on a little further to check out the nude beach, but cabo san juan was nicer so we returned.
That night in the hammocks there was a fantastic storm, but I was kept mostly dry underneath the thatched shelter. The next morning as I was sleeping, someone nudged my arm and I thought it was my friend, but when I opened my eyes it was a Donkey...no joke. After breakfast of fruit and coffee- and a parrot coming and stealing my fruit, I walked on to Cabo San Juan. Another great day at the beach.
If only Bookpeople and Whole Foods could open up a store right there, I would definitely stay forever.
Now, back to Cartagena for a day!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Cartagena de Indias
Ever since reading (and subsequently re reading) Love in the Time of Cholera five years ago, I've had a vivid image of an old city in my head, where flowers spill off colorful balconies, the parks are filled with people, and the sea is right there. I came to Cartagena, and found my city!!! It is no wonder that Gabriel García Márquez was able to imagine such a powerful love being born in a city like this. The city is almost fake, it seems too perfect to be true (and in a sense I guess it might be considered fake now, but oh well). The buildings are well maintained, painted every color of the rainbow, all with balconies facing the streets and flowers spilling off the balconies. Horse drawn carriages carry couples through the cobblestone streets at dusk, there are trendy fusion restaurants on every corner, ladies dressed like Carmen Miranda ready to cut up a fresh fruit salad for you, it's just divine! I've spent hours wandering aimlessly, letting my mind wander back to the olden days when the city was bustling. I went to the Palace of the Inquisition, where they had a whole room dedicated to the torture devices used during the inquisition, but the building was super nice and had a.c. inside.
Following the NYtimes article Love and Cartagena, I found the park which supposedly is the basis for the Park of the Evangels in Cholera, where the young man sat day after day hoping for a glimpse of his love, and there is even the house that supposedly was Fermina's house! This part was not exactly how I imagined it, but still close. Then I walked further down the street to the house of García Márquez. On the corner by the sea, the tall orange walls prevent you from seeing too much, but I sat outside for a while nonetheless, imagining him coming out and inviting me in for tea.
So, I can't say enough how beautiful the old town of Cartagena is. If anyone is looking for a romantic destination, this is most definitely it.
Following the NYtimes article Love and Cartagena, I found the park which supposedly is the basis for the Park of the Evangels in Cholera, where the young man sat day after day hoping for a glimpse of his love, and there is even the house that supposedly was Fermina's house! This part was not exactly how I imagined it, but still close. Then I walked further down the street to the house of García Márquez. On the corner by the sea, the tall orange walls prevent you from seeing too much, but I sat outside for a while nonetheless, imagining him coming out and inviting me in for tea.
So, I can't say enough how beautiful the old town of Cartagena is. If anyone is looking for a romantic destination, this is most definitely it.
Biking in Bogotá
Bogotá has been ranked the 3rd best city for bicycles in the world, so I figured a great way to see the city would be on a bike, and I was right! The company was Bogotá bike tours (http://www.bogotabiketours.com/), and the owner, Mike from California has lived all over South America and is super knowledgeable. We started off in the neighborhood where I was staying, La Candelaria, which is set on the hill and has a lot of colored houses, universities, cultural centers, cafes, etc, and is one of the parts of Bogotá which is experiencing a resurgance, according to Mike. We visited the plaza where the Spanish founded Bogotá, rode down into the downtown, saw the plaza where the M-19 took over the Palace of Justice, to the bullfighting ring, parque nacional. It seemed as if every place downtown was a spot where a political figure was killed, where bodies were stored during whichever period of violence, where someone started a revolution... really made an impression on me think about how it would feel to live in a country with such a violent recent past and present. We rode through neighborhoods, over to the national university which is very left-leaning and is covered in graffiti (including graffiti that says yanqui go home), to the national cemetary, and then stopped for lunch at a vegetarian cafe called Blue Lotus. I was very impressed with Bogotá, the climate is super cool, it is surrounded by lush mountains, the parks are nice, and it just seems like a really neat city which is growing culturally now that it has gotten safer.
As much as I liked the city, I couldn't sit still knowing the carribbean was so close!!
As much as I liked the city, I couldn't sit still knowing the carribbean was so close!!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Cusco and Machu Picchu
May 10
We arrived in Cusco at 6am, got a cab to an ATM where the machine stole 200 soles from William, so we got dropped off at the Church to wait for the banks to open. As we listened to the 6:30 am mother´s day mass, I thought of you mom! And then we came to the realization that it being Sunday, the banks were not going to open. I´ll just preface this story by saying that we chose to take the road less traveled (and it made all the difference). So we got into a van heading towards Ollyantamba, and while we are waiting, the van fills up with Peruvians, and women keep coming by the van to sell them everything from big pieces of bread to a plastic baggie filled with corn and a piece of cheese- peruvian version of a drive-through window. The journey began, and during the 5 hours the climate changed from cold, foggy, and mountainous to definitely hot tropical jungle. The scenery was beautiful. Then we got dropped off in Santa Maria where we were supposed to make our connection to the hot springs, and we tell the guy where we want to be dropped off, and he says ´well, the problem is, that town doesnt exist anymore. It got washed away in the floods in January´. So, there we are, in the middle of nowhere trying to get to a town that doesn´t exist. So we get a car to Santa Theresa, and in the car we fit 9 people into a 5 person car. Another 2 hours and we are in Santa Theresa. Since we got there around 2pm, we figured we could make it to Aguas Calientes that day (instead of the following morning as planned). So, we get into yet another car and get dropped of at Oroya where a guy in the car with us tells us that he will accompany us because it is very dangerous. I didn´t know what he was refering to, but when we walked down the hill and saw the way we were supposed to cross the river, I understood. Best way to cross a raging river in Peru? In a basket attatched to a wire... the three of us adults, our packs, fit into a 2x3 platformed basket and our local friend pulled us accross the river- oh my it was so freaky! And when we got to the other side he told us that two people had already died there this year- cool.
So, then began our walk to A.C.
I was drenched in sweat within 30 seconds, so the guy offered to carry one of my bags for me and I tried to say oh no I got it! but realized that I would love the hand. We walked, talked with our friend, and about 1.5 hours later reached the hidroelectric plant, stopped to rest, and kept on going towards the town. We walked along the train tracks, getting bit by a million mosquitos, for about 2 or 3 hours, and finally made it to the campsite. Dropped off our stuff, and walked into town. Aguas Calientes is such a tourist town, it was very unappealing to us both. But on the bright side we found Mexican food.
My alarm went off at 12;45 am and we were ready to go. The campsite is right by the bridge to get into Machu, so we crossed by the empty guards hut, found the trail, and began the ascent. The climb up was just hellacious, seemed like the stairs would never end. After about an hour, we saw a light up above, and creeped up, to see in front of us Machu Picchu Hotel (how gross is that??) And then some structure to the right, so we walked to the right, opened a gate tied with string, and climbed up behind the house thing, stepped by a sleeping guard, and walked through the mist with no idea where we were going. We had a map of the city, but that didn´t help to orient us, so we were just kind of wandering around, when we saw a sign pointing up. I didn´t read the sign, but we started walking up. After about 20 minutes without seeing anything, I wanted to turn around but felt that would be a waste of the progress we had made already, so we kept climbing. About 2 hours and a billion steep stairs later, we realized we probably were not going the right way. Frustration. So, 3 am, we decided to head back to where we started. We walked more to the right and saw a hut, climbed the stairs, and as the light shined into the mist I got so afraid- there was a white figure with long legs and glowing eyes! A huge llama! Actually there were like 5 llamas there, and they weren´t running away from us which made me think they were evil. After I calmed myself down, we walked over there and tried to explor more, but the mist was so thick it was impossible to tell what was what. So then we slept in the woods until about 6:30 when we heard the first voices. Emerging from the forest, we saw that we were in front of the city the whole time!! If only we had kept going right!!! Oh well though. The first sight of the ruins gave me the goosebumps, its such an impressive site, spread out over the mountain below.
Spent the morning exploring all the little rooms, climbing up and down, pondering the mysteries and the immense work that it took to build the city. It was so so cool!! I was amazed though at the amount of tourists up there- every minute a new group of white people wearing broad hats and fanny packs would wander off the bus and into the park- we were judging them for their lack of creativity and effort to reach the town.
So, we successfully snuck into machu picchu, were the first ones there, and probably had the most interesting time arriving than anyone else. I was absolutely exhausted afterwards and slept until night time, when we had mexican food again.
Next day, we took the train-bus combo and got back to Cusco around 3. Cusco is a really pretty town, the plaza is super old and cobble stones, with the buildings and their beautiful balconies facing inside, not to mention the two beautiful churches there. After lunch we went to the market and I drooled over everything alpaca.. Then dinner was an indian buffet with cheap beers, and a night out on the town (for free basically because we kept getting free drinks in exchange for picking one bar over another)
May 12
Found the best breakfast in South America at Jack´s cafe!! Went to the market one last time, and William and I parted ways with me boarding the bus to Lima. As soon as I got on the bus, a Peruvian comes up to me to ask if he can take my picture (no), they played the worst movies that I watched anyway, and in bingo I won a free bus ticket lima-cusco. 22 hours was not too bad of a bus ride, and I made it to the Lima airport on the 13th with plenty of my time.
On the plane I got stuck sitting next to a super creepy and wierd evangelical preacher.. gave him a fake name and email.. and 30plus hours later I was in bed at my hostel in Bogota! It seemed as if everyone from the preacher to the customs officer disaproved of the fact that Im coming here on my own, which was kind of unsettling, but I made it to the hostel with no problem. This morning I woke up early and went to the Museo de Oro, Botero collection, gabriel garcia marquez library, vegetarian lunch, now it´s raining, and I think I´m doing a bike tour of Bogota tomorrow! Hope everyone has fun at sports weekend this weekend, I am so sad to miss it!!
We arrived in Cusco at 6am, got a cab to an ATM where the machine stole 200 soles from William, so we got dropped off at the Church to wait for the banks to open. As we listened to the 6:30 am mother´s day mass, I thought of you mom! And then we came to the realization that it being Sunday, the banks were not going to open. I´ll just preface this story by saying that we chose to take the road less traveled (and it made all the difference). So we got into a van heading towards Ollyantamba, and while we are waiting, the van fills up with Peruvians, and women keep coming by the van to sell them everything from big pieces of bread to a plastic baggie filled with corn and a piece of cheese- peruvian version of a drive-through window. The journey began, and during the 5 hours the climate changed from cold, foggy, and mountainous to definitely hot tropical jungle. The scenery was beautiful. Then we got dropped off in Santa Maria where we were supposed to make our connection to the hot springs, and we tell the guy where we want to be dropped off, and he says ´well, the problem is, that town doesnt exist anymore. It got washed away in the floods in January´. So, there we are, in the middle of nowhere trying to get to a town that doesn´t exist. So we get a car to Santa Theresa, and in the car we fit 9 people into a 5 person car. Another 2 hours and we are in Santa Theresa. Since we got there around 2pm, we figured we could make it to Aguas Calientes that day (instead of the following morning as planned). So, we get into yet another car and get dropped of at Oroya where a guy in the car with us tells us that he will accompany us because it is very dangerous. I didn´t know what he was refering to, but when we walked down the hill and saw the way we were supposed to cross the river, I understood. Best way to cross a raging river in Peru? In a basket attatched to a wire... the three of us adults, our packs, fit into a 2x3 platformed basket and our local friend pulled us accross the river- oh my it was so freaky! And when we got to the other side he told us that two people had already died there this year- cool.
So, then began our walk to A.C.
I was drenched in sweat within 30 seconds, so the guy offered to carry one of my bags for me and I tried to say oh no I got it! but realized that I would love the hand. We walked, talked with our friend, and about 1.5 hours later reached the hidroelectric plant, stopped to rest, and kept on going towards the town. We walked along the train tracks, getting bit by a million mosquitos, for about 2 or 3 hours, and finally made it to the campsite. Dropped off our stuff, and walked into town. Aguas Calientes is such a tourist town, it was very unappealing to us both. But on the bright side we found Mexican food.
My alarm went off at 12;45 am and we were ready to go. The campsite is right by the bridge to get into Machu, so we crossed by the empty guards hut, found the trail, and began the ascent. The climb up was just hellacious, seemed like the stairs would never end. After about an hour, we saw a light up above, and creeped up, to see in front of us Machu Picchu Hotel (how gross is that??) And then some structure to the right, so we walked to the right, opened a gate tied with string, and climbed up behind the house thing, stepped by a sleeping guard, and walked through the mist with no idea where we were going. We had a map of the city, but that didn´t help to orient us, so we were just kind of wandering around, when we saw a sign pointing up. I didn´t read the sign, but we started walking up. After about 20 minutes without seeing anything, I wanted to turn around but felt that would be a waste of the progress we had made already, so we kept climbing. About 2 hours and a billion steep stairs later, we realized we probably were not going the right way. Frustration. So, 3 am, we decided to head back to where we started. We walked more to the right and saw a hut, climbed the stairs, and as the light shined into the mist I got so afraid- there was a white figure with long legs and glowing eyes! A huge llama! Actually there were like 5 llamas there, and they weren´t running away from us which made me think they were evil. After I calmed myself down, we walked over there and tried to explor more, but the mist was so thick it was impossible to tell what was what. So then we slept in the woods until about 6:30 when we heard the first voices. Emerging from the forest, we saw that we were in front of the city the whole time!! If only we had kept going right!!! Oh well though. The first sight of the ruins gave me the goosebumps, its such an impressive site, spread out over the mountain below.
Spent the morning exploring all the little rooms, climbing up and down, pondering the mysteries and the immense work that it took to build the city. It was so so cool!! I was amazed though at the amount of tourists up there- every minute a new group of white people wearing broad hats and fanny packs would wander off the bus and into the park- we were judging them for their lack of creativity and effort to reach the town.
So, we successfully snuck into machu picchu, were the first ones there, and probably had the most interesting time arriving than anyone else. I was absolutely exhausted afterwards and slept until night time, when we had mexican food again.
Next day, we took the train-bus combo and got back to Cusco around 3. Cusco is a really pretty town, the plaza is super old and cobble stones, with the buildings and their beautiful balconies facing inside, not to mention the two beautiful churches there. After lunch we went to the market and I drooled over everything alpaca.. Then dinner was an indian buffet with cheap beers, and a night out on the town (for free basically because we kept getting free drinks in exchange for picking one bar over another)
May 12
Found the best breakfast in South America at Jack´s cafe!! Went to the market one last time, and William and I parted ways with me boarding the bus to Lima. As soon as I got on the bus, a Peruvian comes up to me to ask if he can take my picture (no), they played the worst movies that I watched anyway, and in bingo I won a free bus ticket lima-cusco. 22 hours was not too bad of a bus ride, and I made it to the Lima airport on the 13th with plenty of my time.
On the plane I got stuck sitting next to a super creepy and wierd evangelical preacher.. gave him a fake name and email.. and 30plus hours later I was in bed at my hostel in Bogota! It seemed as if everyone from the preacher to the customs officer disaproved of the fact that Im coming here on my own, which was kind of unsettling, but I made it to the hostel with no problem. This morning I woke up early and went to the Museo de Oro, Botero collection, gabriel garcia marquez library, vegetarian lunch, now it´s raining, and I think I´m doing a bike tour of Bogota tomorrow! Hope everyone has fun at sports weekend this weekend, I am so sad to miss it!!
Arequipa & Colca Canyon
(reposting entries from my journal)
May 5
This morning we got to Arica at 6am, and at 7 we were waiting in line for the border to open. There was sand as far as the eye could see, and we had an hour to kill, so William, Liz and I decide to try and walk to the ocean. We are walking, frolicking in the sand right by the border crossing, when one of the men on the highway starts to yell at us and wave for us to come back- turns out the whole border area is covered in landmines, of course we´re just the three oblivious gringos lollygagging through the mine fields.. So lesson learned- do not play around at border crossings.
As we crossed the border and left Chile behind I felt so very sad and nostalgic, the past 4 months were so incredible. Nothing can describe the benefits I got from living and integrating myself into a culture that is like our own, yet so incredibly different, strange, and funny. I was already missing my Chilenos, my apartment, Santiago, everything Chile.
The 5 hour busride felt like forever, the bus kept stopping for random reasons, but we finally made it to Arequipa around 3. The city reminds me of Cuenca, Ecuador and Antigua Guatemala- splendid old spanish buildings all with patios inside and balconies to the outside, and snow capped volcanoes in the background. Our hostel, La Reyna, has a rooftop balcony where we can see the whole city.
Since it was cinco de mayo, we found a Mexican food restaurant, where the owners had absolutely no idea it was a holiday, and we couldn´t remember what the significance was except that you get cheap deals on margaritas (sorry mom).. But we ate mexican food twice in order to celebrate- it was really good and cheap!
May 6
Our trek to Colca Canyon (2nd or 1st deepest canyon in the world) began at 3 am with a long bumpy bus ride out to the canyon. We reached the condor viewing point, and I was surprised to see about 15 South American Condors soaring around the canyon, almost as if they were performing for our delight. Then we began our hike, led by local guides, Bernardo and Kelly. The descent into the canyon was about 2 hours through switchbacks, kicking up dust, it was super arid and there were cactuses everywhere. When we crossed the river at the bottom and reached the other side, the vegetation changed almost instantly- it was way more lush and tropical. We had lunch at a little restaurant (vegetarian meals for everyone!), and saw a baby alpaca wandering in the meadow. I tried to pet it and it kept making spitting noises at me but nothing was coming out of its mouth. We had 2 more hours to reach The Oasis, and the walk took us by two pueblos which had about 45 people each, no road access, one primary school, and one hospital with one doctor- it´s so wild to see how even today people choose to live simply and stay to their traditions. The sun was going behind the canyon, and when we reached The Oasis it was dusk already. The Oasis is just that- an awesome little assortment of hotels at the bottom of the canyon, with palm trees, pools, and bungalows. We took a dip in the pool (possibly one of the best locations for a pool i´ve seen), and rested up for our candle lit group dinner (spaghetti), and drank our last box of gato wine. We were all asleep by 8pm in preparation for our 4:50 wakeup call. I seriously considered renting a mule to take me back up the canyon, the thought of making the ascent made me want to cry, but in the end I decided to tough it out. The second we started climbing my legs were already screaming, but after a few minutes my calves loosened up, and we hiked in the cool dawn. The next 2.5 hours was me vs the mountain, and I just kept repeating- one step at a time, inch by inch life´s a cinch, sí se puede! There was literally not a single horizontal piece of the trail, it was all up, up and just when I thought it was over- more up. But, halelujah, I finally made it to the top! Then we had breakfast in a small town (think it was called Chivay), and hung out in their small plaza de armas. The bus took us by a couple other view points (got to pet another baby alpaca- jerry can we get one at the farm?), then we got to the hot springs where we stretched our muscles and ate popsicles in the tubs.
We were back in Arequipa by sunset, and ate great middle eastern food at Fez. Then we attempted to drink beers on the rooftop, but were all so exhausted that we couldnt even finish one.
May 7
We tried to sleep in, which to us these days means waking up involuntarily at 8am.. Then had a chocolate chip pancake! We had a day in Arequipa, so we met up with our friend Lexi from Santiago, and tried to find the artisenal market. We wandered downtown, and I kind of had a feeling we were not going the right way, but we kept walking and turning down different corners. There were lots of stands selling medicinal plants and Crias (llama fetuses), and I stopped to ask a policeman for directions and he says ´what are you guys doing in this part of town anyway? you need to get out of here right now´, which made sense because everyone was looking at us very strangely and I had a bad feeling in my gut. So we headed back up to the touristy part of town, and realized that the artesinal market was right next to our hostel the whole time..
After that, Liz and I went to the Santa Catalina Convent- apparently in the 1500s the nuns used to get kind of wild, they had all their nice things from home, servants, and lived a fun life? We wandered around the Convent, which is essentially a city with in a city, for several hours. The walls inside were painted bright orange and blue, and it had several really nice courtyards. The rooms were kept as they were when the nuns lived there, with their simple cots stuffed with straw, a cross, and a bench for praying. The convent was at times eerie, but it was also very beautiful and peaceful.
Then, we went to eat at one of the restaurants overlooking the plaza de armas- ps this is maybe my favorite plaza of south america so far- the church is incredible!
At 8pm. William and I said goodbye to Liz, and boarded the bus towards Cusco
Arequipa is a great town and I look forward to returning in a couple of weeks!
May 5
This morning we got to Arica at 6am, and at 7 we were waiting in line for the border to open. There was sand as far as the eye could see, and we had an hour to kill, so William, Liz and I decide to try and walk to the ocean. We are walking, frolicking in the sand right by the border crossing, when one of the men on the highway starts to yell at us and wave for us to come back- turns out the whole border area is covered in landmines, of course we´re just the three oblivious gringos lollygagging through the mine fields.. So lesson learned- do not play around at border crossings.
As we crossed the border and left Chile behind I felt so very sad and nostalgic, the past 4 months were so incredible. Nothing can describe the benefits I got from living and integrating myself into a culture that is like our own, yet so incredibly different, strange, and funny. I was already missing my Chilenos, my apartment, Santiago, everything Chile.
The 5 hour busride felt like forever, the bus kept stopping for random reasons, but we finally made it to Arequipa around 3. The city reminds me of Cuenca, Ecuador and Antigua Guatemala- splendid old spanish buildings all with patios inside and balconies to the outside, and snow capped volcanoes in the background. Our hostel, La Reyna, has a rooftop balcony where we can see the whole city.
Since it was cinco de mayo, we found a Mexican food restaurant, where the owners had absolutely no idea it was a holiday, and we couldn´t remember what the significance was except that you get cheap deals on margaritas (sorry mom).. But we ate mexican food twice in order to celebrate- it was really good and cheap!
May 6
Our trek to Colca Canyon (2nd or 1st deepest canyon in the world) began at 3 am with a long bumpy bus ride out to the canyon. We reached the condor viewing point, and I was surprised to see about 15 South American Condors soaring around the canyon, almost as if they were performing for our delight. Then we began our hike, led by local guides, Bernardo and Kelly. The descent into the canyon was about 2 hours through switchbacks, kicking up dust, it was super arid and there were cactuses everywhere. When we crossed the river at the bottom and reached the other side, the vegetation changed almost instantly- it was way more lush and tropical. We had lunch at a little restaurant (vegetarian meals for everyone!), and saw a baby alpaca wandering in the meadow. I tried to pet it and it kept making spitting noises at me but nothing was coming out of its mouth. We had 2 more hours to reach The Oasis, and the walk took us by two pueblos which had about 45 people each, no road access, one primary school, and one hospital with one doctor- it´s so wild to see how even today people choose to live simply and stay to their traditions. The sun was going behind the canyon, and when we reached The Oasis it was dusk already. The Oasis is just that- an awesome little assortment of hotels at the bottom of the canyon, with palm trees, pools, and bungalows. We took a dip in the pool (possibly one of the best locations for a pool i´ve seen), and rested up for our candle lit group dinner (spaghetti), and drank our last box of gato wine. We were all asleep by 8pm in preparation for our 4:50 wakeup call. I seriously considered renting a mule to take me back up the canyon, the thought of making the ascent made me want to cry, but in the end I decided to tough it out. The second we started climbing my legs were already screaming, but after a few minutes my calves loosened up, and we hiked in the cool dawn. The next 2.5 hours was me vs the mountain, and I just kept repeating- one step at a time, inch by inch life´s a cinch, sí se puede! There was literally not a single horizontal piece of the trail, it was all up, up and just when I thought it was over- more up. But, halelujah, I finally made it to the top! Then we had breakfast in a small town (think it was called Chivay), and hung out in their small plaza de armas. The bus took us by a couple other view points (got to pet another baby alpaca- jerry can we get one at the farm?), then we got to the hot springs where we stretched our muscles and ate popsicles in the tubs.
We were back in Arequipa by sunset, and ate great middle eastern food at Fez. Then we attempted to drink beers on the rooftop, but were all so exhausted that we couldnt even finish one.
May 7
We tried to sleep in, which to us these days means waking up involuntarily at 8am.. Then had a chocolate chip pancake! We had a day in Arequipa, so we met up with our friend Lexi from Santiago, and tried to find the artisenal market. We wandered downtown, and I kind of had a feeling we were not going the right way, but we kept walking and turning down different corners. There were lots of stands selling medicinal plants and Crias (llama fetuses), and I stopped to ask a policeman for directions and he says ´what are you guys doing in this part of town anyway? you need to get out of here right now´, which made sense because everyone was looking at us very strangely and I had a bad feeling in my gut. So we headed back up to the touristy part of town, and realized that the artesinal market was right next to our hostel the whole time..
After that, Liz and I went to the Santa Catalina Convent- apparently in the 1500s the nuns used to get kind of wild, they had all their nice things from home, servants, and lived a fun life? We wandered around the Convent, which is essentially a city with in a city, for several hours. The walls inside were painted bright orange and blue, and it had several really nice courtyards. The rooms were kept as they were when the nuns lived there, with their simple cots stuffed with straw, a cross, and a bench for praying. The convent was at times eerie, but it was also very beautiful and peaceful.
Then, we went to eat at one of the restaurants overlooking the plaza de armas- ps this is maybe my favorite plaza of south america so far- the church is incredible!
At 8pm. William and I said goodbye to Liz, and boarded the bus towards Cusco
Arequipa is a great town and I look forward to returning in a couple of weeks!
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
San Pedro de Atacama
San Pedro is cool little pueblo up here in the Atacama. It is pretty hippy, and therefore has had the best food in Chile for me- whole wheat spaghetti with soy meat bolongesa sauce, veggie lasanga, etc- lots of whole wheat, veggies, and soy meat!! wooh! We have taken tours to a flamingo salt lagoon, snowy mountains (what?), a little town, and then yesterday we went to laguna cejar which is a 73% salt lagoon so it is impossible not to float, it was the coolest feeling!! Then we went sand boarding down the dunes, which apparently is kind of like snow boarding, but on a board on sand (which means you have to climb up the dunes each time you want to ride down again, so tiring), I was pretty good, and the only reasons I would fall was because I was going too fast and would get scared and then just sit down and crash.. but it was really fun. If only it wasnt so tiring to get up the dunes again. Then, we drove out to valle de la luna, named so because it looks like the surface of the moon, and had a little sunset party while the sun went down over the valleys, then there were millions of stars visible... so nice!! Yesterday was a really great day! I will be so sad to leave Chile!!! Seriously my heart might break when we go across the border. Its amazing how Chile has so many different climates- the desert looks in some ways like patagonia, but it is completetly different and equally beautiful at the same time. On our drive into San Pedro we saw a full, perfect rainbow! And it was the first time in 2 years that it had rained here.
next destination: Arequipa, Peru
next destination: Arequipa, Peru
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
good intentions in the south
This weekend was... infinitely interesting. Our school organized a trip to go build houses in the earthquake affected regions in the south (in partnership with the non profit Un Techo Para Chile), so a lot of us, eager to help, signed up for the trip.
We were told to arrive at 9:45pm sharp to take the bus south, and didn´t actually leave until 1 am. Little did I know that this was a huge indication of how the rest of the weekend would pan out. We arrived in Chillán early Friday morning, and we were forced to wait on the bus for 3 hours because the organizers didn´t know where we were supposed to be dropped off. When we got to the school gym where we were staying, everyone was excited and changed into their work clothes and was ready to go build houses. Hours ticked by as we all just hung out in the gym, playing frisbee, sitting around, waiting for something to happen. By this time it was 1pm, so Jenna and I decided to go out and grab some lunch and walk around. When we returned, everyone was gone- of course the minute we decide to leave the gym, the rides come and pick people up.. So, we waited around some more, drove in a truck with the organizers for an hour, then came back to the gym. The other groups didn´t get much done either, because there were no posts for them to build the foundations with so they just dug the holes. We were supposed to all go over to the school where we were sleeping at 7, and in reality we finally got there and ate at midnight.
The next day, Saturday, we woke up early and had a ´nutritious´ breakfast of white bread and marmelade, and then we all got dropped off at our building sites. I was in a group with Jenna, Cassidy, William, and 2 chileans. We got to the house at 9:30 and greeted the sweet, old man and old woman, and then he showed us the spot where we were to build the house. It was a space 3.2 metres wide (when the house is 3 meteres wide), nestled inbetween a ditch and a cement wall. Hmm, we thought, is this a good idea? Looking at the supplies, we realized we didn´t even have a tape measure, and without a tape measure there wasn´t much we could do since we didn´t know where to dig the holes. It was 12:30 when we got the tape measure, and we got to work measuring out where we wanted our posts. We had no level, either, so we were just trying to use some string to make sure the posts were even. The ground was really hard to dig through, and each hole took forever to dig. So, the entire day was spent digging 15 holes, measuring them out with string and a tape measure that wasn´t long enough.
Our group was behind schedule since we got no work done on Friday, and Saturday was spent digging holes, so on Sunday we knew we had to hurry up and get the house done. After arriving at the site, the old man informed us that he had actually had a level the whole time! So we carried the super heavy pre-made floors over the ditch and set them on top of the posts. It wasn´t perfect, but considering that we didn´t have any of the right tools it was pretty good. We figured we had to redig 2 holes, and then we made some creative fixes for the other poles to make sure the floor was supported. We nailed in the floor and put up the walls to make sure that the floor was even enough for the walls to work out, and it was. So, we were moving along at a good pace, when the car with the overseers pulls up. The walk over to our site, and spend a few minutes squatting down, looking at the posts. They tell us that we have to dig up 2 more posts on the corners because the floor wasn´t completely covering them. We tried to tell them that it would be fine since there were 15 posts that would still support the floors. No, they said. During the next 6 hours, we gringos watched as they dug up every single post and moved it one centemeter, and when they finally put the floors back on, guess what- it was exactly the same as we had done it that morning!!!! frustration!!! So there we were, back to where we started. And then the sun set and we left the poor people with only a floor. That day, Sunday, we were supposed to have left to go back to Santiago at 1pm, then it was pushed to 5pm, then 12am... we finally got back to Santiago at 5 am.
So that is just the description of what happened this weekend, and I really don´t know how to feel about it.
It was so incredibly disorganized, to the point where on Friday we literally got nothing done. When we did get to the sites, everyone was lacking supplies, tools, parts of the houses, etc. Every time frame they gave us was ultimately pushed back at least 3 hours.
It was also one of the best cultural experiences I have had in Chile. The school group was made up of gringos and Chileans, and this was the first time I had actually met lots of people from my University here. We bonded by us showing them all the dirty Chilean words we know, and us teaching them all the dirty english words. We played games together, slept in the same rooms, ate together, and did lots of talking. They were all really sweet kids.
But on the other hand, I felt like it was also a sort of culture clash. Especially in the smaller house-building teams, there was a lot of tension between the exchange students and the locals.. For example, our spanish (especially construction vocabulary) is obviously not perfect, but that made the chileans think that we had absolutely no idea what we were talking about, and they tended to dismiss every suggestion or comment that we made. It was really frustrating for some people to try and communicate through the language barrier. On Sunday in our group, it was definitely like the Chileans took over our site, re did everything that we had accomplished, didn´t listen to any logic we were giving them, and they made us lose valuable time only to come up with the same results we did.
It was really, really frustrating the way everything was going, from the time wasting, lack of supplies, etc. But luckily, our group decided to look at the comedy of the situation, rather than get angry. By Sunday afternoon, we were all so disillusioned, frustrated, and had given up trying to convince the Chileans that the posts were fine and we could go ahead and finish the house.
positives: the country side was beautiful and all the leaves were changing for fall; the old man and woman who we were building the house for were so incredibly sweet and offered us so much food and coca cola; we met lots of new Chilean friends and I spoke lots of spanish; we had a lot of fun laughing at night in the crowded rooms; I got to spend time with people from my program; everyone had good intentions coming out there; I am always very humbled when I see how simply people live- he lived in a shack made out of sheet metal, yet they were so eager to share with us what they had and were so appreciative of our help and so excited to have us there at their house; our group had a fun time joking around on Sunday
negatives: disorganization, inefficient use of time, lack of tools, food they provided for all our meals= white bread, white pasta, white rice, and cookies; the non profit organization had 100 willing hands and yet because of their disorganization we only got 7 houses built (not to mention this organization is 12 years old and the earthquake happened 2 months ago); the old man was promised a house for Friday yet by Sunday we left him with a floor;
We were told to arrive at 9:45pm sharp to take the bus south, and didn´t actually leave until 1 am. Little did I know that this was a huge indication of how the rest of the weekend would pan out. We arrived in Chillán early Friday morning, and we were forced to wait on the bus for 3 hours because the organizers didn´t know where we were supposed to be dropped off. When we got to the school gym where we were staying, everyone was excited and changed into their work clothes and was ready to go build houses. Hours ticked by as we all just hung out in the gym, playing frisbee, sitting around, waiting for something to happen. By this time it was 1pm, so Jenna and I decided to go out and grab some lunch and walk around. When we returned, everyone was gone- of course the minute we decide to leave the gym, the rides come and pick people up.. So, we waited around some more, drove in a truck with the organizers for an hour, then came back to the gym. The other groups didn´t get much done either, because there were no posts for them to build the foundations with so they just dug the holes. We were supposed to all go over to the school where we were sleeping at 7, and in reality we finally got there and ate at midnight.
The next day, Saturday, we woke up early and had a ´nutritious´ breakfast of white bread and marmelade, and then we all got dropped off at our building sites. I was in a group with Jenna, Cassidy, William, and 2 chileans. We got to the house at 9:30 and greeted the sweet, old man and old woman, and then he showed us the spot where we were to build the house. It was a space 3.2 metres wide (when the house is 3 meteres wide), nestled inbetween a ditch and a cement wall. Hmm, we thought, is this a good idea? Looking at the supplies, we realized we didn´t even have a tape measure, and without a tape measure there wasn´t much we could do since we didn´t know where to dig the holes. It was 12:30 when we got the tape measure, and we got to work measuring out where we wanted our posts. We had no level, either, so we were just trying to use some string to make sure the posts were even. The ground was really hard to dig through, and each hole took forever to dig. So, the entire day was spent digging 15 holes, measuring them out with string and a tape measure that wasn´t long enough.
Our group was behind schedule since we got no work done on Friday, and Saturday was spent digging holes, so on Sunday we knew we had to hurry up and get the house done. After arriving at the site, the old man informed us that he had actually had a level the whole time! So we carried the super heavy pre-made floors over the ditch and set them on top of the posts. It wasn´t perfect, but considering that we didn´t have any of the right tools it was pretty good. We figured we had to redig 2 holes, and then we made some creative fixes for the other poles to make sure the floor was supported. We nailed in the floor and put up the walls to make sure that the floor was even enough for the walls to work out, and it was. So, we were moving along at a good pace, when the car with the overseers pulls up. The walk over to our site, and spend a few minutes squatting down, looking at the posts. They tell us that we have to dig up 2 more posts on the corners because the floor wasn´t completely covering them. We tried to tell them that it would be fine since there were 15 posts that would still support the floors. No, they said. During the next 6 hours, we gringos watched as they dug up every single post and moved it one centemeter, and when they finally put the floors back on, guess what- it was exactly the same as we had done it that morning!!!! frustration!!! So there we were, back to where we started. And then the sun set and we left the poor people with only a floor. That day, Sunday, we were supposed to have left to go back to Santiago at 1pm, then it was pushed to 5pm, then 12am... we finally got back to Santiago at 5 am.
So that is just the description of what happened this weekend, and I really don´t know how to feel about it.
It was so incredibly disorganized, to the point where on Friday we literally got nothing done. When we did get to the sites, everyone was lacking supplies, tools, parts of the houses, etc. Every time frame they gave us was ultimately pushed back at least 3 hours.
It was also one of the best cultural experiences I have had in Chile. The school group was made up of gringos and Chileans, and this was the first time I had actually met lots of people from my University here. We bonded by us showing them all the dirty Chilean words we know, and us teaching them all the dirty english words. We played games together, slept in the same rooms, ate together, and did lots of talking. They were all really sweet kids.
But on the other hand, I felt like it was also a sort of culture clash. Especially in the smaller house-building teams, there was a lot of tension between the exchange students and the locals.. For example, our spanish (especially construction vocabulary) is obviously not perfect, but that made the chileans think that we had absolutely no idea what we were talking about, and they tended to dismiss every suggestion or comment that we made. It was really frustrating for some people to try and communicate through the language barrier. On Sunday in our group, it was definitely like the Chileans took over our site, re did everything that we had accomplished, didn´t listen to any logic we were giving them, and they made us lose valuable time only to come up with the same results we did.
It was really, really frustrating the way everything was going, from the time wasting, lack of supplies, etc. But luckily, our group decided to look at the comedy of the situation, rather than get angry. By Sunday afternoon, we were all so disillusioned, frustrated, and had given up trying to convince the Chileans that the posts were fine and we could go ahead and finish the house.
positives: the country side was beautiful and all the leaves were changing for fall; the old man and woman who we were building the house for were so incredibly sweet and offered us so much food and coca cola; we met lots of new Chilean friends and I spoke lots of spanish; we had a lot of fun laughing at night in the crowded rooms; I got to spend time with people from my program; everyone had good intentions coming out there; I am always very humbled when I see how simply people live- he lived in a shack made out of sheet metal, yet they were so eager to share with us what they had and were so appreciative of our help and so excited to have us there at their house; our group had a fun time joking around on Sunday
negatives: disorganization, inefficient use of time, lack of tools, food they provided for all our meals= white bread, white pasta, white rice, and cookies; the non profit organization had 100 willing hands and yet because of their disorganization we only got 7 houses built (not to mention this organization is 12 years old and the earthquake happened 2 months ago); the old man was promised a house for Friday yet by Sunday we left him with a floor;
Monday, April 12, 2010
health observations
Yesterday I woke up early to support my roommates, Jenna and Joe, in the Santiago half marathon. It was a spectacular event, starting out on the lawn of the presidential palace. The t-shirts were all red, white, and blue depending on which race you were running, and they created the biggest Chilean flag with their shirts. The event was so full of Chilean pride, every two seconds someone would start a chant of C.H.I.L.E. CHI CHI CHI LE LE LE VIVA CHILE!! They were all amped up, commenting on how they as a country had banded together since the earthquake, and they were going to sobrevivir and come out stronger than ever. There were more than 20,000 participants, and first place prize was $20,000! For the men, the first place winner was from Kenya, the 2nd and 3rd were from Nigeria. It was really funny reading the marthon handbook, for the tips for before the marathon it said something like ´´instead of eating candy and sugar before the race, you should eat pasta´´... something very necessary to include in Chile.
Jenna and I have been talking and thinking a lot about nutrition in this country. For the past 2 years, since taking my nutrition course and of course since reading The China Study, I see the world with new eyes and I really notice people´s eating habits.. Being a vegan in this country is unheard of, and Chileans have a hard time understanding what a vegetarian is (they´ll hand you a plate and say- Oh! but it just has a little bit of meat in it¨).
The health myths and information and habits here can be somewhat shocking to me. For example, one day I was in the kitchen with my host mom eating grapes, and she said ´´Yes, I love grapes, but the bad thing is that they are very fattening´´ and then proceeded to make a sandwich with ham and cheese on white bread.. Or another time she served me some cactus fruit and said the same thing, ´´it´s delicious, but be careful because it will make you fat´´. I didn´t even know how to begin dispelling that rumor for her.. Living with the host family was a constant back and forth of me having to explain why I didn´t want any soda, why I preferred wheat bread, that yes I was satisfied eating a salad and fruit for dinner, why I was ok with eating the skin of the fruit, etc, and at times it made me feel like I was the weird one for my eating habits. I´m constantly having to explain myself. But I understand where they are coming from, because I used to view vegans/vegetarians with the same incredulousness. Jenna´s host mom used to serve her breakfasts that consisted of 4 pieces of white toast, 10 cookies, and eggs. Everything that they cook that has the potential to be healthy is then cooked in oil, covered with butter and salt. The recipe to make quinoa here recommends adding a cup of milk, eggs, and cream.
Looking at the menus here and then looking around at what people are eating is stunning. As I wrote earlier, the common dishes here are just a heart attack waiting to happen. The plate with fries, fried eggs, and beef... the footlong hotdogs with a cup of mayonaise... the constant cookies...white bread, white rice, white pasta... It´s also interesting to look at people´s grocery carts, full of this stuff that is just horrible for your health (same as when I worked at the Fiesta market in Austin). They need George standing at the beginning of the checkout line to take out everything in the cart that is unhealthy, which would basically empty out their carts.
So while i´m feeling disturbed at people´s eating habits, I realize that underneath the habits is a wider societal problem which I think is common in Latin America (and the US). It is a privilege for us at home to be able to afford whole wheat bread, organic fruits and veggies, etc. We pick health over cost, because we have been educated to know that food can be thought of as an investment in our health, what we eat is what we are and how we feel, and that eating well now will save us thousands in healthcare costs later.
Here, the focus is on cost over health, so since white bread and white rice are cheaper than integral, they will pick the cheapest option. Granted, our health/nutritional information growing up in the states recommends lots of meat and dairy, at least now there is more of a focus on unprocessed fruits, veggies, and whole grain over white. But I´m not sure what the health information here could be (¨it is recommended that a balanced meal of sausage, mayonaise, and potatoes be the base of every diet´´...). Plus it has to do with the eating habits that your parents show you, and there seems to be such a link from the Machista attitude here to be Meat=manly, that any radical ideas about being a vegetarian (especially for a boy) would be immediately dismissed.
I was noticing how they can eat all of these things, yet everyone seems to be pretty thin... how could that be? So, I looked online and found this article http://http://www.bcn.cl/carpeta_temas_profundidad/obesidad-infantil-en-chile
which confirmed my suspicions, that although they may look thin, that does not mean healthy.
Childhood obesity rates are growing quickly here, where 21.1% of children are overweight. The article says this is due to the 3 recess periods during class, where kids and their parents are used to eating packets of cookies, fried food, etc (comida chatarra= home style cooking), and that during these snack times children eat more than half of their needed calories for the day (through sugary cookies and grease). The article recommends adressing this through education for the parents and the children.
The statistics for adults are also poor, where 60% of the population is overweight; 40% have high cholesterol; 88.8% of Chilean are sedentary, and this jumps to 97% of uneducated men; cancer rates are rising, and half of these cases can be blamed on diet. Goals set in 2000 to lower childhood obesity have not been met, and the health ministers are pushing for stricter measures.
So, how do you change the eating habits of an entire population and try to convince them that a plate of veggies is equally delicious as a hot dog? How do you overcome the meat=manly sentiment? How do you get simple health information to the public so that they will no longer think of fruits as fattening?
This is a problem that all Westernized/Developed/Developing countries are facing right now. As people´s disposable income is increasing, they are adopting the Western diet because it symbolizes afluence. And, as they adopt the Western diet, the health statistics for the country become increasingly poor, with a rise in heart attacks, cancer, diabetes, etc. With the rise in these diseases, the healthcare costs rise, and the country is losing valuable money taking care of these preventable diseases.
Well, obviously the answer in the US would be to put an end to lobbying, so that the dairy, pharmaceutical and meat lobbies would cease to have such great influence on our country´s health policies, nutritional standards, educational material, etc. We would end the subsidies that support the meat and dairy industries so that the true cost of meat would be reflected. Our ´´food pyramid´´ would be focused on whole foods and whole grains...
I have been so inspired by people like Colin Campbell (author of the China Study), Rip Esselstyn (author of The Engine 2 Diet), and John Mackey´s new employee health incentive program for Whole Foods... and it feels like the movement is gaining strength, but if places like the United States still have a long way to go, how can poorer countries around the world preserve their health? Ideally, the countries would start implementing better nutrition programs now, and focus on preventative education in the first place. But then comes the problem that legislation does not equal implementation and does not carry more weight than people´s culture and customs.
Ahhhh, just some obvservations I had. I don´t know what the solution is here, but i´ll keep pondering
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Dr. Atl
Art class has been wonderful for introducing me to the wide range of Latin American artists, and i've been lucky enough to get to visit many of Santiago's great museums
Dr. Atl, Mexico 1875-1964
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Chilean 102, rated R
Last night our electricity went out, so while we were waiting for our chocolate chip cookies to bake we all sat around and came up with a list of new Chilenismos. With the help of Chico, our human dictionary/translator, we(he) thought of over 100 in less than 20 minutes.
que pesaaao- what a pain
chuta la wea- damn it
peo- fart
vayense a la chuta- go to hell
chancho- burp
bajai?- are you going downstairs?
pololo, pololeando- boyfriend, dating
guagua- baby
culliado-f#cked
copete, carrete, carreteando- drink, party, partying
chuuucha-expression for surprise, or damn
cachai?- get it?
bakán, zorra- awesome
salvaao-problem solved
concha tu madre- motherf#cker
obviooo- obviously
pela-bitch
ojo-watch out, going into a dangerous situation
maraca-slut
mina- cute girl
quedó la media cagada- left everything messed up
pacos- police men
taco- traffic jam
pito- joint
pendejos/as- preteens
porfiaao- stubborn
plaache!- kind of like shoot
pisquetta- pisco and cola
guata- stomach
se me apagó la tele- drank too much
ponsear- preteen pokemone orgy party (not literal orgy, but very promiscuous)
curado, borrado, volado- drunk, very drunk, high
eh! eh! eh! eh!- can be chanted at any time, for any reason
fóme- boring
ni cagado- no way
chato- bored
macabeo- boy who is whipped by his girl
seco- good at what he does
ronando- rum
a la raco/a- over dramatic
mear- go pee
ñata- big nose
maricón, cola- homosexual
jumbroso- whiny
andate a la chucha/cresta- go to hell
callate por la cresta- shut the hell up
caleta, qualquier- a lot, a ton
al tiro, al toque- right now
el choco- mullet
heelladolaodlado- ubiquitos call used by the ice cream man
penca- not worth it
´se te quema el arroz´- reffering to a homosexual
tilla- shoe
polera- t shirt
´po- can be added on to the end of any phrase
los tolómpas- pants
chitecos- under garments
pecho é paloma- big, buff muscle men
rico/ rica- hot body
linda- nice face
´vuelve a la concha tu madre´- you should have never been born
wena- good
el viejito pasquero- santa claus
weveo- bothersome
callámpa- worthless
mañeosa- bratty
wena- hi
el after- party after the clubs close in the morning
la previa- pre party for the clubs
piola- chill, cool
traanqui- chill
caliente- horny
calmao- wait
la raja- awesome
el sobre- bed
wacho, perro- amigo, weon
loco- not your friend, fool
viejo verde- pedophile
hacer pero muerto- walk out on the check
guático- strange, weird
pátas negras- lover
que pesaaao- what a pain
chuta la wea- damn it
peo- fart
vayense a la chuta- go to hell
chancho- burp
bajai?- are you going downstairs?
pololo, pololeando- boyfriend, dating
guagua- baby
culliado-f#cked
copete, carrete, carreteando- drink, party, partying
chuuucha-expression for surprise, or damn
cachai?- get it?
bakán, zorra- awesome
salvaao-problem solved
concha tu madre- motherf#cker
obviooo- obviously
pela-bitch
ojo-watch out, going into a dangerous situation
maraca-slut
mina- cute girl
quedó la media cagada- left everything messed up
pacos- police men
taco- traffic jam
pito- joint
pendejos/as- preteens
porfiaao- stubborn
plaache!- kind of like shoot
pisquetta- pisco and cola
guata- stomach
se me apagó la tele- drank too much
ponsear- preteen pokemone orgy party (not literal orgy, but very promiscuous)
curado, borrado, volado- drunk, very drunk, high
eh! eh! eh! eh!- can be chanted at any time, for any reason
fóme- boring
ni cagado- no way
chato- bored
macabeo- boy who is whipped by his girl
seco- good at what he does
ronando- rum
a la raco/a- over dramatic
mear- go pee
ñata- big nose
maricón, cola- homosexual
jumbroso- whiny
andate a la chucha/cresta- go to hell
callate por la cresta- shut the hell up
caleta, qualquier- a lot, a ton
al tiro, al toque- right now
el choco- mullet
heelladolaodlado- ubiquitos call used by the ice cream man
penca- not worth it
´se te quema el arroz´- reffering to a homosexual
tilla- shoe
polera- t shirt
´po- can be added on to the end of any phrase
los tolómpas- pants
chitecos- under garments
pecho é paloma- big, buff muscle men
rico/ rica- hot body
linda- nice face
´vuelve a la concha tu madre´- you should have never been born
wena- good
el viejito pasquero- santa claus
weveo- bothersome
callámpa- worthless
mañeosa- bratty
wena- hi
el after- party after the clubs close in the morning
la previa- pre party for the clubs
piola- chill, cool
traanqui- chill
caliente- horny
calmao- wait
la raja- awesome
el sobre- bed
wacho, perro- amigo, weon
loco- not your friend, fool
viejo verde- pedophile
hacer pero muerto- walk out on the check
guático- strange, weird
pátas negras- lover
words used to describe sex, sexual acts, etc- la aberjita, poto, culo, gatillar, peinar la alfombra, mamón, sobajeo, correrse la paja, culliar, afilar, los cocos, tula, pechula, pico, pichula, pendejos, moco, sapo, chocha, cornetta, irse cortado, gomas
Sunday, April 4, 2010
would you like a receipt?
How to buy a soda in Chile-
Approach counter 1, ask for your soda, repeat yourself. Walk over to counter 2 while the attendant from counter 1 yells to counter 2 what you ordered and how much you need to pay. Wait while attendant 2 writes out at least two reciepts for your soda, stamps them, and hands them to you. Walk back to counter 1 (or sometimes a third counter) and hand the attendant your stamped reciept. Recieve something that is not what you had asked for, start process over again.
Seriously, the amount of reciepts you recieve in this country is ridiculous. The smaller stores don't use cash registers, so they have to write out each individual item they sell on a receipt. You even get a reciept when you pay 20 cents to use the restroom. Yesterday we saw a receipt pasted on the front of the bus announcing that the driver had taken a break within the past 24 hours. My bags are full of receipts, and if you try and rush out of the store without your piece of paper the attendant will call after you as if you have just forgotten your birth certificate on the counter. Why? Why do you need 3 people to do the job of 1 person? Why do I have to wait in several different lines to buy a coke?
Even at the big department stores, I will approach the counter with my item and my money only to be looked at like i'm an idiot and told "no, you have to pay for that over there" - clothing, accessories, and makeup are all purchased at different registers.
When I tried to join the YMCA, I seriously got dizzy from going around in so many circles to each different desk where each person had to do one little task to let me join the gym.
It is enough to make me go insane! But, then I just have to remember that in the US we have completely different priorities and concepts of service. In the US, we are obsessed with efficiency because time is money and we've got more important places to be. Here, i'm not sure, but it's a little different relationship between gringo-Chilean. It's possibly because they are now closer to our level economically, so they don't feel like they need to "suck up" or treat gringos with kindness, but almost every service encounter i've had here makes me want to cry sometimes. They can be so harsh, as opposed to the states where everything is answered with a smile.. So this is just a lesson for me in patience, and learning to take a deep breath and not let tiny little things like this aggrivate me. At least we have a Starbucks down the street here where they are super fast and super friendly and there is no nescafe in sight..
Approach counter 1, ask for your soda, repeat yourself. Walk over to counter 2 while the attendant from counter 1 yells to counter 2 what you ordered and how much you need to pay. Wait while attendant 2 writes out at least two reciepts for your soda, stamps them, and hands them to you. Walk back to counter 1 (or sometimes a third counter) and hand the attendant your stamped reciept. Recieve something that is not what you had asked for, start process over again.
Seriously, the amount of reciepts you recieve in this country is ridiculous. The smaller stores don't use cash registers, so they have to write out each individual item they sell on a receipt. You even get a reciept when you pay 20 cents to use the restroom. Yesterday we saw a receipt pasted on the front of the bus announcing that the driver had taken a break within the past 24 hours. My bags are full of receipts, and if you try and rush out of the store without your piece of paper the attendant will call after you as if you have just forgotten your birth certificate on the counter. Why? Why do you need 3 people to do the job of 1 person? Why do I have to wait in several different lines to buy a coke?
Even at the big department stores, I will approach the counter with my item and my money only to be looked at like i'm an idiot and told "no, you have to pay for that over there" - clothing, accessories, and makeup are all purchased at different registers.
When I tried to join the YMCA, I seriously got dizzy from going around in so many circles to each different desk where each person had to do one little task to let me join the gym.
It is enough to make me go insane! But, then I just have to remember that in the US we have completely different priorities and concepts of service. In the US, we are obsessed with efficiency because time is money and we've got more important places to be. Here, i'm not sure, but it's a little different relationship between gringo-Chilean. It's possibly because they are now closer to our level economically, so they don't feel like they need to "suck up" or treat gringos with kindness, but almost every service encounter i've had here makes me want to cry sometimes. They can be so harsh, as opposed to the states where everything is answered with a smile.. So this is just a lesson for me in patience, and learning to take a deep breath and not let tiny little things like this aggrivate me. At least we have a Starbucks down the street here where they are super fast and super friendly and there is no nescafe in sight..
Chilean 101
This is Chilean 101, once you have these phrases down you can manage pretty well.
'Ya, po' weon, nos tenemos que ir al tiro a esta wea´
We must go there right now.
'Ayer me agaré a una minna, weon, pero justo estaba mi polola y cacho todo'
Yesterday I met a cool girl, but my girlfriend was there and she saw everything.
'weon, cachai esa wea?'
Did you see that?
'weon, te tinka ir a tomar unos copetes, y despues nos vamos a carretear'
Do you want to go grab some drinks and then go out?
'estos flaites culliados me pelaron la billetera'
Some guys stole my wallet.
'weon, 'toy terrible cagado, no se que chucha voy a hacer mañana con esa wea'
I am screwed, and I don´t know what i'll do about it tomorrow.
got it?
'Ya, po' weon, nos tenemos que ir al tiro a esta wea´
We must go there right now.
'Ayer me agaré a una minna, weon, pero justo estaba mi polola y cacho todo'
Yesterday I met a cool girl, but my girlfriend was there and she saw everything.
'weon, cachai esa wea?'
Did you see that?
'weon, te tinka ir a tomar unos copetes, y despues nos vamos a carretear'
Do you want to go grab some drinks and then go out?
'estos flaites culliados me pelaron la billetera'
Some guys stole my wallet.
'weon, 'toy terrible cagado, no se que chucha voy a hacer mañana con esa wea'
I am screwed, and I don´t know what i'll do about it tomorrow.
got it?
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Chilean style
Now that the University area is in full swing with thousands of Chilean students, it has been great looking at all the various styles and outfits that they wear. Almost every single person has some bit of 80's/punk incorporated into their outfit, boys cut the necks of their t-shirts so they are more off-the-shoulder, tons of people wear converse sneakers, everyone has an "interesting" haircut, the girls wear a ton of graphic leggings with all sorts of crazy designs, or genie pants, jumpers, weird jeans, facial piercings are very popular.
I'm also still trying to figure out the different "tribos urbanos" or urban tribes that are going on here... I mean with names like pokemones, flaites, pelo lais... what the heck?
I found this video, it's a little long but shows basically a lot of the things I am disturbed to see when I walk the streets of Santiago
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P8EpoFux3A
all in all, I like the Chilean's style because it is very daring and creative, but sometimes I have to do a double take and ask... is she really wearing that??
I'm also still trying to figure out the different "tribos urbanos" or urban tribes that are going on here... I mean with names like pokemones, flaites, pelo lais... what the heck?
I found this video, it's a little long but shows basically a lot of the things I am disturbed to see when I walk the streets of Santiago
http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4P8EpoFux3A
all in all, I like the Chilean's style because it is very daring and creative, but sometimes I have to do a double take and ask... is she really wearing that??
downtown living, etc
So, the past two weeks in the new apartment have been wonderful!!! It's 5 bedrooms in an old building which is instantly 10 degrees cooler when you open the front door, and Rodrigo has great decorating style and the place is funky, cute, and very green! He has lots of cacti growing in pots everywhere (they give off good energy supposedly), maps and pictures of his travels everywhere, and our (me and Jenna's) rooms are painted a happy shade of green with big comfy beds, and my windows open right up on to downtown Santiago! We are basically right next to everything I could ever want, we pass by Starbucks and the Presidential palace on the way to school every day, there are tons of cafes and restaurants, a sushi place around the block with 1/2 price sushi every day 6-close, the plaza de armas (main square), plenty of cafe con piernas (haha), the most fun neighborhoods, parks... everything!!! It's so fun to be in the hustle and bustle of the business sector (note that when I say fun I am looking at it in a positive light and ignoring the fact that outside of my window people think that if everyone honks their horn 20 times the light will turn green). Our apartment is spanish-speaking only (except when our gossip sessions cannot be expressed in spanish). Rodrigo, the owner, is a very down to earth, active, positive, "buena honda" guy; Joe is our age and is from California, quiet yet really fun and funny; Mariella from Germany, also very quiet but so nice; and mi amor Jenna. In the afternoons Jenna, Joe and I will sit around the table watching The Office. And, today I joined the YMCA which is next door, swam laps in the 80 degree water in the lane I shared with 8 people, yet I enjoyed it so thoroughly - felt great to swim laps!!!
So, I am very happy to be in this great space, with great people, and getting to experience living downtown in a big city. It all kinda came together and happened at the perfect time, too.
This week we celebrated Jenna's 20th with a small fiesta at our apartment, and towards the end Jenna, Chicho and I were getting all emotional because we were so happy yet so sad to know that this perfection must come to a close some day... It's an interesting thing, and what I have come to notice through my travels, is that the locals who I meet and grow to love, well we have these amazing friendships and memories, and then I leave and travel on to a new place.. For so many people the whole experience of traveling is outside of their mentality and their reality, and a lot of these people will stay put while I keep moving... (does that make sense?).
So, I am very happy to be in this great space, with great people, and getting to experience living downtown in a big city. It all kinda came together and happened at the perfect time, too.
This week we celebrated Jenna's 20th with a small fiesta at our apartment, and towards the end Jenna, Chicho and I were getting all emotional because we were so happy yet so sad to know that this perfection must come to a close some day... It's an interesting thing, and what I have come to notice through my travels, is that the locals who I meet and grow to love, well we have these amazing friendships and memories, and then I leave and travel on to a new place.. For so many people the whole experience of traveling is outside of their mentality and their reality, and a lot of these people will stay put while I keep moving... (does that make sense?).
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Torres del Paine
DAY 1
We arrived at the park around 11 am after taking the bus from Puerto Natales. The ferry didn't come for an hour, so we walked to this spectacular waterfall and took pictures. Then came the cruise across Lago Peohe, where we got our first views of the cuernos and the torres (2 big geological formations in the park). The water was sea green and the wind was really cold. When we got to the first refugio I was amazed, the lodge was nestled in green grass, on the lake, with the mountains in the background. And this was supposedly one of the worst campsites! After eating lunch I would have been happy to just stay there because to be honest I was a little aprehensive about the whole thing... but willam's motto for the trip was "we gotta get goin"! The first hour was all fun and games, walking through a canyon, and then the uphills started. We had trekking poles which helped lighten the load on my knees and back, but still it seemed like the mountain kept going up and up. Our first break was on a dark blue lake where we realized that though we are sweating while we're trekking, once you stop and sit down and the incredible Patagonia winds hit you, you are freezing cold and it's a little harder to enjoy the views. The know-it-all at the hostel info session told us never to stop for more than 20 minutes at a time, and we actually stuck to that the whole trek. Our first view of an iceburg came about an hour later. It was cool, just floating there in the lake. Really gave me the urge to swim out and float on it.. Then, we got to the first mirador (lookout), where we saw glacier Grey! We were still 3 hours away from it, but from the mirador we had a good view of it, and it was awesome. That was also our first snickers break. But again, the wind! It was almost better to keep walking without stopping than be cold. But as soon as you got up and walked again we started to sweat. 2 hours later we reached the paid campsite, Refugio Grey, and I was so so so tired I wanted to stop and stay there. But william insisted we walk another hour straight uphill to the free campsite. I was seriously lagging behind on the last hour, my knees felt like they were about to break off. We reached the campsite, Campamento las Guardas, and set up camp, boiled some water and headed out to the mirador. It was so worth it! We were basically right above the start of Glacier Grey, which is the 3rd largest glacier field in the world, and this spot in Patagonia is one of the best places to view it. We sat there drinking mate and gazing at the glacier, it was all pointy and jagged in places, and the tops of the peaks would be white, then get progessively more blue until the bottom which was electric blue. I realized then why the blue gatorade is called glacier rush! It was really awesome, turned out to be one of my favorite vistas of the trip. The sun set, but it was so cloudy we didn't see the sun, only the glacier getting progessively more blue. Dinner that night was mushroom pasta and sauce, which turned out to be pretty good. The weather held up all day, until we got into the tent and it started to pour down rain.
DAY 2
When we woke up, my feet, knees, legs, everything was sore and I did not want to move. Even worse was the fact that the day's hike was to return to where we were the day before, so I knew exactly how many ups and downs we were going to encounter. We boiled water for oatmeal, poured jam over the oats, and as I take my first bite..."Cassidy, I think.. you put salt in the oatmeal instead of sugar..." Yup. Salty, inedible oatmeal. It was probably our karma for trying to pilfer sugar from the hostel instead of buying some. Luckily we had soup for backups. It was 5 hours back to Peohe, where we collapsed on the grass and ate our snickers, then we still had 2 hours to the next camspite, Campamento Italiano. That part of the hike was pretty easy, but the wind picked up and kept pushing us over to the side. The wind is the most dangerous animal of Patagonia, it kills people by throwing them over the sides of cliffs while they are taking pictures, and it is actually pretty scary to know that at any second a gust can come and take you away or throw you down. We crossed a rickety bridge at the base of one of the big mountains in to our campsite, and we were kind of late arriving so it was pretty full. We picked a spot over away from the other people and as we are setting up the tent, William says it smells a little like dog poop. But there are no dogs in the park. Moments later we realized we had set up the tent in what was essentially the designated toilet for the campsite, but by that time we were so exhausted we decided to tough it out -- yuck! That evening I was seriously tired, and it was all I could do to make the effort to stir the rice.. We had rice, instant mashed potatoes, and trail mix. Then the three of us pulled out our sleeping mats and sleeping bags and layed underneath the stars, watching the wind move through the trees. From where we were laying it looked like the giant trees were having a big dance party above us. Also, the day before we heard a story about a guy who was killed because a tree fell on his tent while he was sleeping. And all around the forest were tons of felled trees. So that was a little scary.
DAY 3
We woke up with a light rain, which was not a very good sign. Day 3 is supposedly the easiest day, because you leave your tent and your pack at campamento Italiano for the 3 hour hike out and back from Valle Frances. But, as the rain picked up and I found myself scrambling up slippery rocks up the face of a mountain trying to discern some sort of path, all uphill, I realized that today probably wouldn't be as easy as I imagined. The whole way to the lookout was probably uphill, and it was raining, but the forest was incredible. It was very whimsical, all mossy and green and quiet. It seemed as if we would never get to Valle Frances, and even when I thought we had arrived, we still had to climb straight up basically to get out of the tree line. The walk was completely worth it though, Valle Frances is awesome, with three huge mountains on each side of you, and the 4th side is the valley down to the lakes. Unforunately for us, it was so cold and windy and cloudy, we could only bear to spend 20 minutes up at the top admiring the view. Then we scrambled down and headed back towards camp. I was lagging behind and got seperated from the group, and as we got to the part with the unmarked trail, I got pretty lost and disoriented, meanwhile its raining and I know my group is waiting on me, so I paniced a tiny bit, trying to figure out how to get back to the trail. Luckily I made it back, completely soaking wet (despite my parka), and we packed up and William tried to animate us with the fact that we were heading for a refugio where we would have dry clothes! The next 2 hours were miserable, hiking in the never ending rain, compltely wet and soaking, me in my chacos because my hiking boots hurt, we got lost off the trail again, bah! Day 3 was the day where my body hurt the most, it was raining, and I was about ready to throw in the towel (not really, but I was not in a very good mood). Then salvation appeared over the hills, and we saw the Refugio Cuernos. Refugio is a perfect name for these establishments, it is like oh my god civilization! A roof! A kitchen! A bar! We all beelined towards the showers, where a luke warm trickle of water felt like the best thing in the world. Cassidy and I had had such a rough day, that there was no way I was leaving the warm building to go outside and cook instant pasta in the freezing rain. But William refused to pay 20$ for a meal, so Cassidy and I enjoyed it ourselves. It was incredible (because I was so hungry) They had a vegetarian option, and I felt full and wonderful. We then found the woodburning stove and literally sat there for 4 hours, exhausted. It was so lucky that the stove was there because we were able to dry our hiking clothes. Even though "roughing it" in the wilderness is fun and incredible, sometimes it is nice to have a roof over your head and be warm and eat a hot meal. So the crappy day had a great ending.
DAY 4
In the morning we were sitting in the tent, and William sniffs around and says "something STINKS.. what IS that smell???" Unfortunately, it was us. haha! We were out of breakfast food because of the oatmeal fiasco, so we went inside and had breakfast. The two chilean waiters gave us the meal for free, and one was about to give me his horse so I could ride to the next campsite. Day 4 is the longest day of hiking, so I was not particularly looking forward to the endless beating. But, it was actually my favorite day of the trail. I physically felt great, and after the previous day I was just happy to be dry. The hiking was not that hard, and I was jamming the whole time to ozomatli, orishas, jurrasic 5, etc. This part of the trail was more rolling green hills and fields and meadows, with the mountains in the background. Then, as we are walking, we stop to rest a second and we see a rainbow!! How nice. I really did feel good, so we were cruising a long the trail, stopped at the refugio for a cola, and knew we only had 1 more hour to go! As we were walking up there, I noticed that snow flakes were falling down on us! I got really excited, not realizing that snow flakes = cold weather, but we hiked the last hour through a great misty forest, and arrived at campamento las torres, which was maybe the prettiest camp site. By night 4 we had our routine down flawlessly, we set up our kitchen, made two batches of pasta, had brownies, and were actually ready for bed by 8 pm! That night I felt sad knowing that it was our last night, now that we were feeling good and had our groove going. The snow flakes kept falling all night, and that was by far the coldest night of the trip.
DAY 5
The alarm rang at 5:00 am. It was a mad race against the sunrise, because we had to be at the top of the mountain in order to see the torres del paine painted orange by the sun..the path was pitch black and each one of us was alone, not to mention that it was basically a vertical sprint. When we got to the top we got into our sleeping bags and tried to boil water, and waited for the show to start. There were about 30 more people there, and everyone was asking us if we slept up there since we had our sleeping bags and a fire going and everything. The water wouldnt boil, so we ate this disgusting crunchy instant spaghetti and snickers. Then, the sun started to come up!! We had a great view of the towers, and for about 5 minutes the sunrise made them look orange, and I successfully captured a picture. But apparently those pictures of the towers glowing orange are all photoshopped... it was still cool, though! Then we headed down the mountain, packed up camp, and set off for our last hike of the journey. It was supposedly straight downhill, but that was not totally the case. Each time we had to walk uphill, I was getting really irritated because I was hungry and by that time my knees and feet felt like death. But, little by little we made our way down the mountains, through the valley, over a bridge, and back to society. It was exhillirating to finish, and walking into the luxurious hotel was a very strange feeling. Real bathrooms with toilets that flush?? Couches?? A menu with hot food??? The menu turned out to be too many choices for our famished minds to handle so we got bloody marys and french fries, then collapsed onto the couches to sit down for more than 20 minutes for the first time in 5 days. But after 20 minutes I started to feel all antsy and wanted to get back on the trail! It was a bittersweet feeling to have finished, because as soon as we were in the hotel I already missed the wild. It was fun to see all the people who we had been hiking with at the bottom, everyone was very happy and blissed out.
We all passed out immediately on the bus, and arrived back in Puerto Natales where it was raining, turned in our gear, and Cassidy and I sped off to the vegetarian restaurant (El Living). We stuffed ourselves with fresh veggies and tea, relishing the taste of something that was not instant pre packaged trail food.
That night we were watching the news and apparently 90% of the country was experiencing a blackout, oh and we had apparently missed another strong aftershock while we were on the trail. So we were all like, hmm what is it going to be like back in Santiago?? Maybe we should just stay here??
Then we went and had delicious food at a microbrewery called Baguales, where we were entertained by this little trail guide who was wasted and hilarious. That night I slept very well, enjoying the bed and the pillow.
On the flight back to Santiago it was a definite feeling of homecoming. When we landed at the airport, all the airport operations were based under tents due to the roof caving in during the earthquake.
It was wonderful, wonderful experience!! None of us had ever gone treking for more than a weekend, so i'm proud that we were able to figure out this whole thing, cook all our own food (minus one meal), carry everything we needed, and last 5 days with only two sets of clothes. It was hard hiking, but the difficulty made it even better, because at the end of each day it was a big sense of accomplishment and pride. We all had a great attitude the whole trek (except for the rainy day), and everyone pitched in equally to share the work and the load. The guide at the beginning of the trail said that the more days you are out there the better it gets because the first 5 days are lots of aches and pains as your body gets used to the trekking, which I definitely think makes sense now. So, we'll have to come back and do the 10 day circuit, or go find another trek!
We arrived at the park around 11 am after taking the bus from Puerto Natales. The ferry didn't come for an hour, so we walked to this spectacular waterfall and took pictures. Then came the cruise across Lago Peohe, where we got our first views of the cuernos and the torres (2 big geological formations in the park). The water was sea green and the wind was really cold. When we got to the first refugio I was amazed, the lodge was nestled in green grass, on the lake, with the mountains in the background. And this was supposedly one of the worst campsites! After eating lunch I would have been happy to just stay there because to be honest I was a little aprehensive about the whole thing... but willam's motto for the trip was "we gotta get goin"! The first hour was all fun and games, walking through a canyon, and then the uphills started. We had trekking poles which helped lighten the load on my knees and back, but still it seemed like the mountain kept going up and up. Our first break was on a dark blue lake where we realized that though we are sweating while we're trekking, once you stop and sit down and the incredible Patagonia winds hit you, you are freezing cold and it's a little harder to enjoy the views. The know-it-all at the hostel info session told us never to stop for more than 20 minutes at a time, and we actually stuck to that the whole trek. Our first view of an iceburg came about an hour later. It was cool, just floating there in the lake. Really gave me the urge to swim out and float on it.. Then, we got to the first mirador (lookout), where we saw glacier Grey! We were still 3 hours away from it, but from the mirador we had a good view of it, and it was awesome. That was also our first snickers break. But again, the wind! It was almost better to keep walking without stopping than be cold. But as soon as you got up and walked again we started to sweat. 2 hours later we reached the paid campsite, Refugio Grey, and I was so so so tired I wanted to stop and stay there. But william insisted we walk another hour straight uphill to the free campsite. I was seriously lagging behind on the last hour, my knees felt like they were about to break off. We reached the campsite, Campamento las Guardas, and set up camp, boiled some water and headed out to the mirador. It was so worth it! We were basically right above the start of Glacier Grey, which is the 3rd largest glacier field in the world, and this spot in Patagonia is one of the best places to view it. We sat there drinking mate and gazing at the glacier, it was all pointy and jagged in places, and the tops of the peaks would be white, then get progessively more blue until the bottom which was electric blue. I realized then why the blue gatorade is called glacier rush! It was really awesome, turned out to be one of my favorite vistas of the trip. The sun set, but it was so cloudy we didn't see the sun, only the glacier getting progessively more blue. Dinner that night was mushroom pasta and sauce, which turned out to be pretty good. The weather held up all day, until we got into the tent and it started to pour down rain.
DAY 2
When we woke up, my feet, knees, legs, everything was sore and I did not want to move. Even worse was the fact that the day's hike was to return to where we were the day before, so I knew exactly how many ups and downs we were going to encounter. We boiled water for oatmeal, poured jam over the oats, and as I take my first bite..."Cassidy, I think.. you put salt in the oatmeal instead of sugar..." Yup. Salty, inedible oatmeal. It was probably our karma for trying to pilfer sugar from the hostel instead of buying some. Luckily we had soup for backups. It was 5 hours back to Peohe, where we collapsed on the grass and ate our snickers, then we still had 2 hours to the next camspite, Campamento Italiano. That part of the hike was pretty easy, but the wind picked up and kept pushing us over to the side. The wind is the most dangerous animal of Patagonia, it kills people by throwing them over the sides of cliffs while they are taking pictures, and it is actually pretty scary to know that at any second a gust can come and take you away or throw you down. We crossed a rickety bridge at the base of one of the big mountains in to our campsite, and we were kind of late arriving so it was pretty full. We picked a spot over away from the other people and as we are setting up the tent, William says it smells a little like dog poop. But there are no dogs in the park. Moments later we realized we had set up the tent in what was essentially the designated toilet for the campsite, but by that time we were so exhausted we decided to tough it out -- yuck! That evening I was seriously tired, and it was all I could do to make the effort to stir the rice.. We had rice, instant mashed potatoes, and trail mix. Then the three of us pulled out our sleeping mats and sleeping bags and layed underneath the stars, watching the wind move through the trees. From where we were laying it looked like the giant trees were having a big dance party above us. Also, the day before we heard a story about a guy who was killed because a tree fell on his tent while he was sleeping. And all around the forest were tons of felled trees. So that was a little scary.
DAY 3
We woke up with a light rain, which was not a very good sign. Day 3 is supposedly the easiest day, because you leave your tent and your pack at campamento Italiano for the 3 hour hike out and back from Valle Frances. But, as the rain picked up and I found myself scrambling up slippery rocks up the face of a mountain trying to discern some sort of path, all uphill, I realized that today probably wouldn't be as easy as I imagined. The whole way to the lookout was probably uphill, and it was raining, but the forest was incredible. It was very whimsical, all mossy and green and quiet. It seemed as if we would never get to Valle Frances, and even when I thought we had arrived, we still had to climb straight up basically to get out of the tree line. The walk was completely worth it though, Valle Frances is awesome, with three huge mountains on each side of you, and the 4th side is the valley down to the lakes. Unforunately for us, it was so cold and windy and cloudy, we could only bear to spend 20 minutes up at the top admiring the view. Then we scrambled down and headed back towards camp. I was lagging behind and got seperated from the group, and as we got to the part with the unmarked trail, I got pretty lost and disoriented, meanwhile its raining and I know my group is waiting on me, so I paniced a tiny bit, trying to figure out how to get back to the trail. Luckily I made it back, completely soaking wet (despite my parka), and we packed up and William tried to animate us with the fact that we were heading for a refugio where we would have dry clothes! The next 2 hours were miserable, hiking in the never ending rain, compltely wet and soaking, me in my chacos because my hiking boots hurt, we got lost off the trail again, bah! Day 3 was the day where my body hurt the most, it was raining, and I was about ready to throw in the towel (not really, but I was not in a very good mood). Then salvation appeared over the hills, and we saw the Refugio Cuernos. Refugio is a perfect name for these establishments, it is like oh my god civilization! A roof! A kitchen! A bar! We all beelined towards the showers, where a luke warm trickle of water felt like the best thing in the world. Cassidy and I had had such a rough day, that there was no way I was leaving the warm building to go outside and cook instant pasta in the freezing rain. But William refused to pay 20$ for a meal, so Cassidy and I enjoyed it ourselves. It was incredible (because I was so hungry) They had a vegetarian option, and I felt full and wonderful. We then found the woodburning stove and literally sat there for 4 hours, exhausted. It was so lucky that the stove was there because we were able to dry our hiking clothes. Even though "roughing it" in the wilderness is fun and incredible, sometimes it is nice to have a roof over your head and be warm and eat a hot meal. So the crappy day had a great ending.
DAY 4
In the morning we were sitting in the tent, and William sniffs around and says "something STINKS.. what IS that smell???" Unfortunately, it was us. haha! We were out of breakfast food because of the oatmeal fiasco, so we went inside and had breakfast. The two chilean waiters gave us the meal for free, and one was about to give me his horse so I could ride to the next campsite. Day 4 is the longest day of hiking, so I was not particularly looking forward to the endless beating. But, it was actually my favorite day of the trail. I physically felt great, and after the previous day I was just happy to be dry. The hiking was not that hard, and I was jamming the whole time to ozomatli, orishas, jurrasic 5, etc. This part of the trail was more rolling green hills and fields and meadows, with the mountains in the background. Then, as we are walking, we stop to rest a second and we see a rainbow!! How nice. I really did feel good, so we were cruising a long the trail, stopped at the refugio for a cola, and knew we only had 1 more hour to go! As we were walking up there, I noticed that snow flakes were falling down on us! I got really excited, not realizing that snow flakes = cold weather, but we hiked the last hour through a great misty forest, and arrived at campamento las torres, which was maybe the prettiest camp site. By night 4 we had our routine down flawlessly, we set up our kitchen, made two batches of pasta, had brownies, and were actually ready for bed by 8 pm! That night I felt sad knowing that it was our last night, now that we were feeling good and had our groove going. The snow flakes kept falling all night, and that was by far the coldest night of the trip.
DAY 5
The alarm rang at 5:00 am. It was a mad race against the sunrise, because we had to be at the top of the mountain in order to see the torres del paine painted orange by the sun..the path was pitch black and each one of us was alone, not to mention that it was basically a vertical sprint. When we got to the top we got into our sleeping bags and tried to boil water, and waited for the show to start. There were about 30 more people there, and everyone was asking us if we slept up there since we had our sleeping bags and a fire going and everything. The water wouldnt boil, so we ate this disgusting crunchy instant spaghetti and snickers. Then, the sun started to come up!! We had a great view of the towers, and for about 5 minutes the sunrise made them look orange, and I successfully captured a picture. But apparently those pictures of the towers glowing orange are all photoshopped... it was still cool, though! Then we headed down the mountain, packed up camp, and set off for our last hike of the journey. It was supposedly straight downhill, but that was not totally the case. Each time we had to walk uphill, I was getting really irritated because I was hungry and by that time my knees and feet felt like death. But, little by little we made our way down the mountains, through the valley, over a bridge, and back to society. It was exhillirating to finish, and walking into the luxurious hotel was a very strange feeling. Real bathrooms with toilets that flush?? Couches?? A menu with hot food??? The menu turned out to be too many choices for our famished minds to handle so we got bloody marys and french fries, then collapsed onto the couches to sit down for more than 20 minutes for the first time in 5 days. But after 20 minutes I started to feel all antsy and wanted to get back on the trail! It was a bittersweet feeling to have finished, because as soon as we were in the hotel I already missed the wild. It was fun to see all the people who we had been hiking with at the bottom, everyone was very happy and blissed out.
We all passed out immediately on the bus, and arrived back in Puerto Natales where it was raining, turned in our gear, and Cassidy and I sped off to the vegetarian restaurant (El Living). We stuffed ourselves with fresh veggies and tea, relishing the taste of something that was not instant pre packaged trail food.
That night we were watching the news and apparently 90% of the country was experiencing a blackout, oh and we had apparently missed another strong aftershock while we were on the trail. So we were all like, hmm what is it going to be like back in Santiago?? Maybe we should just stay here??
Then we went and had delicious food at a microbrewery called Baguales, where we were entertained by this little trail guide who was wasted and hilarious. That night I slept very well, enjoying the bed and the pillow.
On the flight back to Santiago it was a definite feeling of homecoming. When we landed at the airport, all the airport operations were based under tents due to the roof caving in during the earthquake.
It was wonderful, wonderful experience!! None of us had ever gone treking for more than a weekend, so i'm proud that we were able to figure out this whole thing, cook all our own food (minus one meal), carry everything we needed, and last 5 days with only two sets of clothes. It was hard hiking, but the difficulty made it even better, because at the end of each day it was a big sense of accomplishment and pride. We all had a great attitude the whole trek (except for the rainy day), and everyone pitched in equally to share the work and the load. The guide at the beginning of the trail said that the more days you are out there the better it gets because the first 5 days are lots of aches and pains as your body gets used to the trekking, which I definitely think makes sense now. So, we'll have to come back and do the 10 day circuit, or go find another trek!
Monday, March 8, 2010
Argentina
FRIDAY
Unfortunately we did not make it out of bed until later in the day, but we managed to get some shopping and sight seeing in. Buenos Aires is really beautiful!! All of the buildings are really old, a lot of baroque (sp?) facades, lots of parks, and lots of shopping to do. Since the minute we crossed the border the three of us have been giggling non stop at the Argentine accent, it´s all ashhhjjja, la cashhjee. So who would have thought that we´d have gotten so used to Chilean spanish that a supposedly easy spanish is hard to understand, I don´t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Everybody everywhere all the time here is drinking mate out of their gourds, passing it around, looking all cool. So we bought mate cups and have been trying to fit in.
In the evening, we met up with William´s family friend Joe who has been living in Buenos Aires, and he was sharing some hilarious stories and sharing his impressions of what its like to live in BA. He took us to a very posh club called Crobar, where they served tapas, and there was this awesome soul band with the hottest pregnant lady we´ve ever seen. Of course we got invited up on stage and danced with her, and it was really fun.
SATURDAY
Despite the fact that none of us felt very good in the morning, we were determined to make the most of our day. And let me tell you, there is nothing that makes you feel better like getting your picture taken while riding a miniature horse.. We couldnt help ourselves. Then we went to the zoo, which was pretty big and in downtown BA. My favorie animals were the sealions. But the whole time we were so jealous of all the animals because they all got pools of water to lay in and we were so hot. After the zoo, we walked over to a big park and rented rollerblades! While blading around the park, we saw tons of people doing every sport or activity you could think of. The park had a big lagoon in the middle, and after our rollerblading session we sorta swam in the fountains. Then we went back and took a nap. I was hungry, so I walked around Avenida Florida, and was desperate so I hopped in to Burger King. And... they had a veggie burger on wheat bread!!!??? What?? Do they have that in the US right now? I was super surprised and happy. Then we walked to the port/ waterfront area where there are lots of restaurants. After much searching we found Siga La Vaca, the all you can eat meat fest, But they actually had a great salad bar so I was happy.
3 days in Buenos Aires was not nearly enough, but we had an incredibly fun time while we were there. The biggest differences were- the accent, BA is much more humid than Santiago and there are more mosquitos, the food is much better in BA because they have chimichurri sauce everywhere, in Argentina they use the vos form instead of usted, santiago´s metro is much nicer and more modern, and I forgot what other differences I thought of.
SUNDAY
We arrived at the airport early, and continuing with the theme of our journey, William´s ticket was apparently not in the system. Of course. So we argued for a while with the people, and by the way this spring break trip has improved my spanish 100% because of all the companies Ive had to haggle with to get us where we are supposed to be.. But we finally got on the plane and 3 hours later arrived in El Calafate which is in Argentine Patagonia. It is a very remove town with no tall buildings on the edge of lago Argentina which is a turquoise, carribbean looking lake bordered by mountains. Patagonia could be the windiest place on earth. We tried to get bus tickets to get to Chile asap, but of course they were sold out, so we spent the night in Calafate. I had a great veggie burger at a cafe called Borges and Alvarez, then we embarked on our calbalgata (horse back riding). We rode alongside the lake where surprisingly there were pink flamingos, up the hills which are brown grass, and then the purple mountains in the background as well as snow covered mountains where you could tell it was storming. It was seriously windy!! We also saw a lechuza (horned owl). Im not sure what I imagined patagonia to look like, but it was acutally really warm and we were in shorts and tshirts (except the wind is cold).
Our guide was an authentic Argentine Gaucho (cowboy), with a serious machista attitude, he was ragging on another vegetarian at the table, making her squeeze his muscles that could only be from eating meat, telling us how he drinks cows blood for iron, how all europeans are incredibly closed minded but Americans are the worst (while we´re sitting at the table), how he would never ever travel to Europe because he would never pay 50 euros for meat, how the gauchos´s diet is 80% meat, etc... I just sat there because I didn´t want to feel his carnivorous rant either.
We watched the Oscars dubbed over in Spanish, which was... not as good as the Oscars in English. But I thought Sandra Bullock looked beautiful, then my loves Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem looked great as well. Now I need to watch The Hurt Locker. Mommy I very much missed watching the oscars with you. It was one of those few moments where I really wish I was home!
MONDAY
I had the morning to my self in Calafate while the other 2 went on to Chile early, so I ate lunch, did a little bit of souvenier shopping, then caught the bus back to Chile!! Woohoo! The drive was beautiful.
TUESDAY
Today we prepared for our Patagonian adventure. There was a lot of stuff to prepare for!! We went to an info session where a very experienced guide took us through the whole thing, basically he said we are going to be wet for 5 days, all 4 seasons of the year happen in one day in the park, and some of us in the room wont make it back alive... hmm.. It sounds intense but totally doable. I am a little scared but more excited. Today we rented all our gear, bought all our food, and are preparing to head out to mother earth!!!!! Cant wait to post my pictures when I get back to Santiago!! Google images of Torres Del Paine parque nacional.
This whole journey has been quite an adventure, at times it seemed like it would be impossible to make it down to patagonia because of the earthquake and everything, but we kept perserviering, and finally have made it down to the end of the earth!! And seriously it is very warm!! (there is a giant hole in the ozone layer right above us by the way)
Unfortunately we did not make it out of bed until later in the day, but we managed to get some shopping and sight seeing in. Buenos Aires is really beautiful!! All of the buildings are really old, a lot of baroque (sp?) facades, lots of parks, and lots of shopping to do. Since the minute we crossed the border the three of us have been giggling non stop at the Argentine accent, it´s all ashhhjjja, la cashhjee. So who would have thought that we´d have gotten so used to Chilean spanish that a supposedly easy spanish is hard to understand, I don´t know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Everybody everywhere all the time here is drinking mate out of their gourds, passing it around, looking all cool. So we bought mate cups and have been trying to fit in.
In the evening, we met up with William´s family friend Joe who has been living in Buenos Aires, and he was sharing some hilarious stories and sharing his impressions of what its like to live in BA. He took us to a very posh club called Crobar, where they served tapas, and there was this awesome soul band with the hottest pregnant lady we´ve ever seen. Of course we got invited up on stage and danced with her, and it was really fun.
SATURDAY
Despite the fact that none of us felt very good in the morning, we were determined to make the most of our day. And let me tell you, there is nothing that makes you feel better like getting your picture taken while riding a miniature horse.. We couldnt help ourselves. Then we went to the zoo, which was pretty big and in downtown BA. My favorie animals were the sealions. But the whole time we were so jealous of all the animals because they all got pools of water to lay in and we were so hot. After the zoo, we walked over to a big park and rented rollerblades! While blading around the park, we saw tons of people doing every sport or activity you could think of. The park had a big lagoon in the middle, and after our rollerblading session we sorta swam in the fountains. Then we went back and took a nap. I was hungry, so I walked around Avenida Florida, and was desperate so I hopped in to Burger King. And... they had a veggie burger on wheat bread!!!??? What?? Do they have that in the US right now? I was super surprised and happy. Then we walked to the port/ waterfront area where there are lots of restaurants. After much searching we found Siga La Vaca, the all you can eat meat fest, But they actually had a great salad bar so I was happy.
3 days in Buenos Aires was not nearly enough, but we had an incredibly fun time while we were there. The biggest differences were- the accent, BA is much more humid than Santiago and there are more mosquitos, the food is much better in BA because they have chimichurri sauce everywhere, in Argentina they use the vos form instead of usted, santiago´s metro is much nicer and more modern, and I forgot what other differences I thought of.
SUNDAY
We arrived at the airport early, and continuing with the theme of our journey, William´s ticket was apparently not in the system. Of course. So we argued for a while with the people, and by the way this spring break trip has improved my spanish 100% because of all the companies Ive had to haggle with to get us where we are supposed to be.. But we finally got on the plane and 3 hours later arrived in El Calafate which is in Argentine Patagonia. It is a very remove town with no tall buildings on the edge of lago Argentina which is a turquoise, carribbean looking lake bordered by mountains. Patagonia could be the windiest place on earth. We tried to get bus tickets to get to Chile asap, but of course they were sold out, so we spent the night in Calafate. I had a great veggie burger at a cafe called Borges and Alvarez, then we embarked on our calbalgata (horse back riding). We rode alongside the lake where surprisingly there were pink flamingos, up the hills which are brown grass, and then the purple mountains in the background as well as snow covered mountains where you could tell it was storming. It was seriously windy!! We also saw a lechuza (horned owl). Im not sure what I imagined patagonia to look like, but it was acutally really warm and we were in shorts and tshirts (except the wind is cold).
Our guide was an authentic Argentine Gaucho (cowboy), with a serious machista attitude, he was ragging on another vegetarian at the table, making her squeeze his muscles that could only be from eating meat, telling us how he drinks cows blood for iron, how all europeans are incredibly closed minded but Americans are the worst (while we´re sitting at the table), how he would never ever travel to Europe because he would never pay 50 euros for meat, how the gauchos´s diet is 80% meat, etc... I just sat there because I didn´t want to feel his carnivorous rant either.
We watched the Oscars dubbed over in Spanish, which was... not as good as the Oscars in English. But I thought Sandra Bullock looked beautiful, then my loves Penelope Cruz and Javier Bardem looked great as well. Now I need to watch The Hurt Locker. Mommy I very much missed watching the oscars with you. It was one of those few moments where I really wish I was home!
MONDAY
I had the morning to my self in Calafate while the other 2 went on to Chile early, so I ate lunch, did a little bit of souvenier shopping, then caught the bus back to Chile!! Woohoo! The drive was beautiful.
TUESDAY
Today we prepared for our Patagonian adventure. There was a lot of stuff to prepare for!! We went to an info session where a very experienced guide took us through the whole thing, basically he said we are going to be wet for 5 days, all 4 seasons of the year happen in one day in the park, and some of us in the room wont make it back alive... hmm.. It sounds intense but totally doable. I am a little scared but more excited. Today we rented all our gear, bought all our food, and are preparing to head out to mother earth!!!!! Cant wait to post my pictures when I get back to Santiago!! Google images of Torres Del Paine parque nacional.
This whole journey has been quite an adventure, at times it seemed like it would be impossible to make it down to patagonia because of the earthquake and everything, but we kept perserviering, and finally have made it down to the end of the earth!! And seriously it is very warm!! (there is a giant hole in the ozone layer right above us by the way)
Friday, March 5, 2010
Viva Argentina!!
THURSDAY
The bus ride was incredible, we were served a two course dinner, wine, champagne, and the movies were awesome- avatar, the ugly truth, and the hangover. And I slept through the night. Not bad at all. And we got to ride on the top story of the double decker bus!!!! woo woo!!
We arrived in Buenos Aires with no idea where we were staying or going, and I forgot to bring the Argetina travel guide. So after a few tries we got a room at Hostal Suites Florida, an awesome hostel downtown. Had lunch, then we downed a bottle of rum and huge beers and we were ready to go to the futbol match!!! Oh my gosh, it was so much funnnnn! The fans were singing the whole time, and of course we didnt know any of the words so for some reason we thought they were saying something like ´porque soy chilenooooo´ so we were li ke oh we are playing against chile!! sweet! then later we found out that line was really ´porque soy un gallinero, y tengo los huevos´, we were way off. But it was super super fun and awesome.
Then we got back and contined our party mode which ended at 5 am in a sweaty club. but it was really fun, the club was 50% gringos and 50% threatening ghetto argetines with doorags who were having all these dance competitions. Some times guys just dont understand that I highly enjoy myself when im dancing alone, and i dont need someone all up behind me ...
The bus ride was incredible, we were served a two course dinner, wine, champagne, and the movies were awesome- avatar, the ugly truth, and the hangover. And I slept through the night. Not bad at all. And we got to ride on the top story of the double decker bus!!!! woo woo!!
We arrived in Buenos Aires with no idea where we were staying or going, and I forgot to bring the Argetina travel guide. So after a few tries we got a room at Hostal Suites Florida, an awesome hostel downtown. Had lunch, then we downed a bottle of rum and huge beers and we were ready to go to the futbol match!!! Oh my gosh, it was so much funnnnn! The fans were singing the whole time, and of course we didnt know any of the words so for some reason we thought they were saying something like ´porque soy chilenooooo´ so we were li ke oh we are playing against chile!! sweet! then later we found out that line was really ´porque soy un gallinero, y tengo los huevos´, we were way off. But it was super super fun and awesome.
Then we got back and contined our party mode which ended at 5 am in a sweaty club. but it was really fun, the club was 50% gringos and 50% threatening ghetto argetines with doorags who were having all these dance competitions. Some times guys just dont understand that I highly enjoy myself when im dancing alone, and i dont need someone all up behind me ...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
