Adventures in South America

Last hour of the last day

2008-01-16T17:04:00.000-02:00

I put off posting for the last few days so that I get the last post while we are in South America. Unless Sarah puts one up in the next two hours, this is it. What an awesome trip. I love traveling like this: experiencing new things, pushing boundries, doing things never previously contemplated. Sarah has done a lot that neither of us thought that she would ever do... climbing a volcano for example, or eating a ridiculous amount of fried eggs. All in all, it has been fantastic. Also, the opportunity to share some of this experience (although at a much higher comfort level) with our parents and siblings was really nice.

The last week in South America:
We met Tristan in Arica and showed him around town, that was all covered in Sarah's post. We got on an overnight bus to San Pedro de Atacama last wednesday for a few days of spending lots of money and going on cool tours around the desert and the antiplano. We arrived, after a wonderful (pill-induced) sleep on the bus, ready to conquer the desert. So for the first day, after grabbing some lunch, we joined a tour group out to the Valley of Death and Valley of the Moon. Wow. The valley and rock formations were unbelievable. There were also huge sand dunes for sandboarding (which we unfortunately did not do while in San Pedro) that we ended up running and rolling down. We caught the sunset in the Valley of the Moon and it was really beautiful.

We woke up the next morning at 4 AM to head out to the geysers. We were there for the sunrise and it was gorgeous. I felt a little altitude sickness since we went up more than 2000 meters in about 3 hours but it was still awesome. To see water shooting up out of the ground while the sun is coming up over the mountain tops immediately behind the geysers was something unbelievable. There were also natural hot springs that some people chose to swim in. We ate breakfast out there and made our way back to San Pedro relatively slowly, making various stops to see vicuñas, flamingos and traditional villages. We rested for the afternoon for the next day's adventure.

The next morning we got a small group tour with a Brazilian couple out to the salt lakes in the Atacama salt flat. We went swimming in the lakes and it was really cool to float in the extremely salty water. It was actually difficult not to float and it was a really odd sensation since it was so different from all my other experiences in water. The salt flats were awesome, whiteness stretching out into the desert and the water was still enough that clear reflections of ourselves and the mountains could be seen really easily. We got a great lunch at the last lake of olives, cheese, salami, crackers and wine, all included in our little private tour.

After that indulgence, we got on the evening bus headed toward Santiago. We got off the bus the next day in La Serena to hang out for a couple of hours. We checked out the archeology museum that we missed our first time through, spent some time in the market, and met a really cool old lady who was selling a bunch of leftist documentaries, movies and music made about and after the coup here in Chile. We then got back on a later bus and made our way back to Santiago.

We have been in Santiago for the last few days, trying to make the most of our time here. Since we hadn't really seen the city much, we did a lot of sightseeing. We went to La Moneda (the presidential palace) and checked out the civic center below it. We went to the Salvador Allende museum which is definitely one of the top 5 museums that we have seen this trip. We walked around Bellavista and ate good food and drank good wine. We went on winery tours at Cousiño-Macul and at Concha Y Toro, both of which were rather touristy, but good to see since Tristan had never been to a winery before. And we hung out at the house and relaxed after 2 weeks of really long bus rides and moving around a lot in Northern Chile.

Everyone here has been so awesome to us. Starting in Ecuador with Ricardo's family, the hospitality has been incredible and we owe our good time spent here to the families that put us up and helped us out. Also, thanks again to our parents who first agreed to this trip and for helping make it possible. And finally, the people that we met around South America made for some great company and good stories. I really hope to do this again in the not too distant future. It is sad to go home, but I have to get back to school and Sarah needs a job. So it goes.

Living in the desert

2008-01-09T19:38:00.000-02:00

We've been in northern Chile for quite a few days now, and it is without a doubt way different than the rest of this crazy country. Everything is desert, so while our bus rides (which are extremely long since towns are quite a ways away from each other) have not offered the most exciting scenery, it's pretty cool to see the land stretch on and on for kilometers. That being said, it's extremely hot, and the sun is killer.

We stayed in Iquique for a couple of days but weren't too impressed by it. The beach was pleasant enough, though a bit too crowded. We weren't the lazy beach bums we had hoped to be since the sun is brutal on the skin after just 2 hours (even with SPF 60). Thankfully, there is a really great pedestrian street, Baquedano, that leads to the main plaza and is host to fun restaurants and bars. It's pretty quaint, with the old trolley tracks still in place, an out-of-use trolley car sitting patiently on the street, and cobblestone. The rest of the town is a bit more rough-and-tumble, so Eben and I were perfectly content to spend most of our time around Baquedano.

Arica, which is at the very top of Chile, is a bit more gratifying. The beach here is small but clean, and even though we only went there briefly yesterday, I liked it way better than Iquique. We're staying at a friendly hostel outside of the center, so it's a bit of a hike to get anywhere. The people are wonderful, though, so it's worth it. On Monday Eben and I went down to the fish market to see the massive sea lions twirling in the water waiting for fish to be thrown down to them. It's the closest we've ever gotten to sea lions, so we were able to really appreciate how big these guys are. The market is also close to the main plaza, so we checked out the town's church (constructed entirely out of iron and designed by Eiffel) and the old Customs building. Yesterday morning we went to the archeological museum, which has fantastic artifacts from the civilizations that used to inhabit the area thousands of years ago. On display are four very interesting Chinchorro mummies. The bodies are essentially emptied of their organs (even the brain!) and covered in mud. I've read that sometimes even the skin was removed (I wouldn't want that job). The climate is so extremely dry and hot here that they are really small from dehydration, yet otherwise greatly preserved. They're also the oldest examples of mummifications, predating Egyptian mummies by thousands of years. Pretty cool! After the museum we checked out the nearby geoglyphs, which were a bit anticlimactic. Oh well.

Later in the afternoon, Tristan arrived! He has been in Perú with his dad, conquering the Peruvian Amazon and the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. Hearing him talk about it has made me pretty jealous, I'll admit, so I have a feeling that Eben and I will be returning to Perú in the near future (maybe when I get a real job! woo!!!) to cover that territory. At any rate, it's nice to have Tristan with us, and I'm sure Eben is happy to have a boy around after being trapped with me for the past five months. :) We gave Tristan the tour of Arica today, returning to the museum and plaza and all of that. We leave tonight for San Pedro. The bus ride is about 12 hours long (overnight), so we will hopefully arrive around 10 in the morning. The buses have been pretty hot and sweaty up here in the North, as few have windows that open, and the crew neglects to turn on the air. I truly believe these people are sadists.

Sooooo, in conclusion, northern Chile is pretty interesting after having seen the rest of the country. We've done glaciers, vineyards, lakes, and now desert. What a crazy country! The downside to the North is that bus tickets are crazy expensive (I won't even reveal how many times I've had to withdraw large amounts from the ATM in the past week, but use your imagination. Yes, it's that bad.) since distances are so long and bus companies can charge whatever they want. It's cruel, yes. Overall this region doesn't have too much to offer, though it really is a cool experience. San Pedro is the adventure center of the North, so I think we'll have more fun when we get there.

And on a side note, did anyone else know that Bolivia now requires U.S. citizens to apply for a visa? It's nuts. $100, plus passport-sized photos against a red background, proof of "sufficient funds," proof that you have somewhere to stay... and you can only enter the country a maximum of 3 times per year, and the total stay cannot exceed 90 days. It's so frustrating!!! I understand this is reciprocity, that the United States does the exact things to Bolivians, but it's still frustrating. Mostly the 90-day thing. As it was when Eben and I were there, you could ask for a 90-day tourist stamp, cross the border into a neighboring country on Day 90, and go right back for another 90 days. No more, my friends, no more. These new laws won't stop me from returning to Bolivia in the future, but it's just a big pain. But ultimately, the United States deserves it. Chile charges $100 to U.S. citizens arriving in the country by plane, Brazil charges about $200 in visa fees, and now Bolivia. Listening to the stories we heard over breakfast this morning from some non-U.S. travelers, I conclude that our country sucks. The amount of red tape and inane requirements for visas, green cards, etc. is disgusting. It shouldn't be such a stupid process. Yet it is, and that's why Bolivia is now doing this. I consider moving to a different country more and more seriously every day.

And on that anti-patriotic, slightly vitriolic note, I'm off. :) Happiness!

From the Lakes to the Desert

2008-01-03T17:23:00.000-02:00

So it is 2008 and we are back on our own. As Sarah said, it was really nice to have our parents with us and we really enjoyed the holidays down in Puyehue. But it was time to move on to northern Chile and the new year. First stop: La Serena. We arrive on a Sunday and (big surprise) everything is closed except for the last tour of the year at the Mamalluca observatory. This part of Chile has nearly 340 clear nights per year so it is a prime location for astronomical research. The observatory that we visited was just for tourists though and all the tour guides are Chilean astronomers who also do their own research and everything. It was really cool, a beautiful night and really nice guide who explained lots of stuff about the stars, showing us constellations and planets, had us look through different telescopes of different magnitude and showed us some of his own work and some photographs that he has taken. And, since we are in the Pisco producing region of Chile, we finished the tour with our driver giving everyone in our van a pisco sour for the ride back to La Serena. The next day was New Years Eve and although the town was pretty busy in the morning, it was dead and closed by 8 PM when we wanted to have the last dinner of 2007. It was not a memorable dinner but the rest of the night was great. We hung out with a German guy and his Polish wife who both work for Adidas and an Austrian woman who accompanied us to the beach. With bottles of champagne in hand, we watched three fireworks displays similtaneously as 2007 became 2008. There was the really big one that was just to our right and that was put on by the city of La Serena and then there were two others in different spots along the horseshoe bay that encompassed a few cities. It was awesome and a great way to start the new year.

The next day we went to Copiapo, a cute town a few hours further north. Of course, not much was happening on the 1st, so we chilled in the plaza and walked around for the afternoon. The next day, we checked out the mineralogical museum, quite possibly the most comprehensive in Chile because this is a big mining area and the university here specializes in geology. It was pretty cool and again, the rest of the day was spent walking around and chilling out.

It is now the 3rd and we are in Antofagasta, the city that was hit by an earthquake in November (although it doesn't show it where we are staying). It is the major port here for exporting the minerals mined from northern Chile. Hence it is a bustling place with a mix of new buildings and historic customs houses and whatnot from the late 1800s.

I think that we may be going to a movie tonight at the brand new movie theater. Then tomorrow we move further north to another port town/surfer hangout called Iquique. Then we are meeting up with my brother again in a few days when he is done with the Inca Trail. Frankly, I am a little jealous that he is doing that and we didn't, but he has also been in school all semester, so whatever. It will be cool to see him again regardless. Until then...

Back in Santiago

2007-12-28T11:34:00.000-03:00

We're back in Santiago and back to being vagabonds. Our time with our families in Puyehue was lovely, and it was a great way to spend the holidays. It was just so relaxing, and with everyone free to spend their time however they wanted, I think everyone had a great time. And we drank an absurd amount of wonderful Chilean wine, which keeps everyone in high spirits! Christmas morning (which was also Tristan's birthday) we went ziplining over the forest. It was a lot of fun to zoom over the river and trees, though I'll admit I had visions of myself crashing into a tree. But if I can roll down a volcano with an ice pick in hand, I can certainly fly over a forest in a harness. We spent our last full day down at the lake (Lake Puyehue), kayaking and navigating the paddle boats. Luisa and I could work on our steering a bit more, as at one point we crashed into a giant buoy. Oops. :) On our way back to Puerto Montt, where our flight back to Santiago was from, we all stopped in Puerto Varas for lunch and wandering. It was nice to go back to that town, as Eben and I didn't get to spend too much time when we were last there.

At any rate, here we are again. Tristan and his dad left way early this morning to conquer the Peruvian Amazon, Eben's mom leaves for Australia tonight, and my family goes back to New York tonight. So we'll be left alone again and resume our lifestyle of living off of empanadas and cheese.

I think seeing my family again made me realize how much I do miss them. We only have a couple more weeks left in Chile, and then I'll be home! Eben and I leave tomorrow for northern Chile, our first stop being the beach town of La Serena. Since this leg of the journey has pretty much been aimless wandering, I am of course starting to feel restless and in need of a project. It'll be good to feel busy again. But until then, I can learn how to surf in Chile. :)

And since 2007 is coming to an end, I just wanted to reflect on some things I'm really proud of since we first landed in Ecuador.

1. Going to the southern hemisphere for the first time... and straddling the Equator, simultaneously being in the North and South!

2. Machu Picchu

3. Crawling through the silver mines of Potosí, Bolivia

4. Navigating our way through the bus barricades of Potosí and Sucre, Bolivia

5. Seeing Patagonian glaciers

6. Climbing up the 2080-meter-high Volcán Villarrica and sliding all the way down

7. Ziplining over Parque Nacional Puyehue

And of course there have been the countless treks up intimidating mountainsides, learning that I can indeed live out of a backpack for 5 months, and proving to myself that even though certain people didn't think I was tough enough for this, I did it all anyway.

Merry Christmas!

2007-12-24T14:11:00.000-03:00

I'll try to make this entry short and sweet. The rest of our time in Viña was really nice. It's a cute beachside town and popular vacation destination for Chileans and Argentines. We were unexpectedly awoken by small earthquake tremors one morning, which was a bit scary, but it didn't do any damage by us. Other than wandering around the town, we also did an afternoon of wine tasting in the Casablanca Valley, which was pretty sweet. More details in another post. We headed back to Santiago to meet my mom and Eben's brother, Tristan, and on Friday we all headed down to the Lake District to spend the holiday together!

We are now in Puyehue, staying at a very nice resort and being pampered like never before. :) Our days are basically a whirl of massages, hiking, swimming in one of the many pools (some are heated!), and horseback riding. Yay! It's fun to be together with our families (and Luisa's best friend from Vassar, Norma, and her husband, Kevin) and just spend this holiday doing fun things and relaxing. Our families head off a bit after Christmas, and then Eben and I are on our own again. Tristan will meet up with us again after he does the Inca Trail with his dad in Perú, and we'll explore northern Chile before heading back to Santiago to fly home! The time is flying by so fast!!!

Parents!

2007-12-17T23:26:00.000-03:00

Ok, so the parents are here and life is good. A brief synopsis of what happened before they got here and then what we have been doing.

From Santa Cruz we went out to visit Montes Winery. We had a private tour with a very nice tourguide who gave us some of the premium wine to taste even though it was not included. The whole winery is built feng shui with music playing in the barrel room and all the energy flowing out of a fountain in the center of the winery. It is really cool. The wine was fantastic and we tasted four kinds: a cabernet sauvignon/carmenere blend, a cabernet sauvignon, a syrah and their premium wine the M. All were very good and are all exported to the states. We also had an awesome cab driver who pointed out all sorts of things inside and outside of the city on the way to the winery such as what school he went to and what different fruits and vegetables were growing in the countryside. It was a good day.

The next day we moved on to Pichilemu, the surf destination of Chile. We spent the day on the beach getting tan and also eating empanadas that are awesome and cheap. The beach is gorgeous, black sand stretching as far as the eye can see with big waves breaking over the sandbars out in the horseshoe bay. We relaxed the first day and then on the second day I took surf classes. In the morning was pretty difficult since we were out deep, the tide was high and the waves were big. It was only me and a 20 year old instructor who had been surfing his whole life. He was great. Then in the afternoon, I went out with him again and a few more people and it was much easier. We were catching the beach breaks and I actually made it up and stayed with the wave a few times. Hopefully this will happen more as we move up the northern coast of Chile in January.

Sarah is a friend of dogs. While I was surfing, she managed to befriend at least 3 stray dogs who joined her while tanning on the beach. One even followed us all over town, waiting for us while we did internet and everything. It was very cute.

Then the parents arrived. The last few days have been filled with food, touring and lots of wine. From barbeques in Santiago to cooking dinner in Viña del Mar, we are living the life. We have been staying with the sister of Sarah's dad in Santiago. It is a huge family and a huge estate and it was all parties with bbqs, paellas, going out to salsa and everything. We are in Viña del Mar right now at her other apartment. This is a seaside resort next to Valpairiso and is gorgeous. We have spent the last few days sightseeing during the day and having wonderful dinners and wonderful wine at night. Tomorrow we are going for a winery tour and lunch at Viña Casas del Bosque. My brother and Sarah's mom are arriving soon and we really look forward to it.

Life is good.

Penguin and glacier photos!!

2007-12-11T19:14:00.000-03:00

Just a brief highlight of our journeys down south because we finally burned the gig memory card onto a DVD.

Penguins on a beach! Penguins on a beach!

More penguins!

Sea lions lounging

Our first attempt to trek through the snow... posing with the glacier sign!

Yay icebergs!

We of course have a lot more, but the internet here is too slow to upload more. But this gives you an idea!

Volunteer tourism

2007-12-10T17:54:00.001-03:00

So I have just read Jennifer Conlin's article in the NY Times entitled, "Trips to Help Shape the World." It's briefly about volunteer vacations and these newish organizations that organize one-week (or more) excursions to some underdeveloped country, where you do some volunteer work and go on sightseeing tours withyour own guide and everything. It's a new twist on tourism intended to promote a sense of goodwill while still maintaining your tourist status.

Now, while I have certainly done a good share of sightseeing and relaxation on this trip, I feel like these volunteer vacations are contradictory and frustrating to anyone seeking viable volunteer options. Spend a week playing an African orphan and then dine in a 4-star restaurant? This is completely ridiculous. Organizations like Cross-Cultural Solutions ask that you pay thousands of dollars to spend a week in a location, not including airfare. Who can afford that? The people who actually want to do some good in a place can't just hand over $3000 for a 2-week placement. That's a 3-month budget for me. And forget about doing a long-term placement with one of these organizations. A 3-month placement with Cross-Cultural Solutions costs nearly $6000.

Furthermore, our great frustration with LIFE Argentina was that there was absolutely no continuity. Children who live in unstable environments need continuity, and they need to know that friendly faces don't just come and go every few days. While I think that some help and some support is better than no help and no support, long-term placements are ultimately going to be the best. The volunteer gets to establish a solid connection with the community he/she is working in, and the people become familiar with the volunteer and hopefully will learn to trust and respect that figure. These programs seem to ignore that basic principle, and at times the volunteer component of these "vacations" seems to be an afterthought. Volunteering shouldn't be a frivolous expense.

I think what my biggest problem with "volunteer vacation" organizations (sorry, Cross-Cultural Solutions, but you are getting the brunt of my disgust) is that at the present moment, these are the most publicized and easiest ways to volunteer abroad. (Volunteer South America is a great resource for free and low-cost options.) There is a severe lack of information about organizations that don't charge thousands of dollars for your services (and keep that in mind, CCS charges thousands of dollars for your mere presence in an underdeveloped country), and I fear that this is because there is also a lack of such organizations in general. What angers me the most is that while these organizations maintain that such high costs are necessary because they benefit the community you are working in, as well as pay for your food and housing (though not always), Eben and I know for a fact that such costs are completely unnecessary. Inti Runakunaq Wasin in Cusco, Peru, asks for a $50 donation, regardless of how long you stay (coincidentally, most volunteers are long-term). What exactly is CCS (and LIFE Argentina, for that matter) spending its money on? I smell a rat.

In a nutshell, if you're looking for a different sort of family vacation and happen to have an actual income that affords you the luxury of dropping several thousand dollars, then an organization like CCS can probably offer a neat way to spend your vacation. But if you want to do actual volunteer work, then these organizations are money-suckers that do little good for the world.

Bernardo O'Higgins and sunshine!

2007-12-10T12:25:00.000-03:00

We are on the move once again, bouncing around from city to city. We've had lots of gray skies and rain, which is a bit of a bummer. Temuco, a city that is known for its Mapuche presence, was very large but kind of disappointing. Eben and I explored the Mapuche markets, but they were like most of the other markets we have been to. We only stayed there for a day before hopping on the bus to go to Chillán.

Chillán offered some much-needed sunshine. This town is the birthplace of Bernardo O'Higgins, Chile's liberator who has large statues of himself all over the country. We did some exploring, saw the earthquake-resistant cathedral right off of the gorgeous main plaza, and went to the Escuela México. The school was donated by Mexico after the earthquake in 1939 and has a library whose walls are covered by two large murals depicting the histories of Mexico and Chile. Very cool! We also checked out the indigenous handicraft market in town (more of the same).

After a day in Chillán we went down to Concepción, where O'Higgins declared independence. Yay! Concepción is a cute university town, and I really liked it there. Eben and I tried to check out the university art collection, but it was sadly closed (even though it totally was supposed to be open). Instead we weaved our way through the antique and used book market that was in the university plaza. There were so many interesting booths and was such a neat way to spend the afternoon. Eben and I managed to find some English-language books, which is always exciting in this country of Spanish-only books, so we stocked up a bit and had a little chat with one of the booksellers who had a great Latin American politics selection. :) Afterwards we went to the Galería de la Historia, which houses some really intricate dioramas of Concepción's history and several maté cups from Argentina (why? who knows). Upstairs there was an exhibit of local high schoolers' art, some of which was just okay, but there were a couple drawings that were awesome (mostly graphic design things, but very fun to look at).

Our journey to Santa Cruz, where we are now, was a bit of an adventure. We took a bus from Concepción to San Fernando, where we were told we could catch a colectivo to Santa Cruz. Except instead of going to the terminal in San Fernando (or any terminal for that matter), our bus dropped people off on the side of the highway. We have often been on large buses that stop on dirt roads or on the sides of highways to let people on, and occasionally people request to be let off at a random spot in the middle of nowhere. Never before has the bus actually refused to go to a terminal, though, in favor of staying on the highway. This was weird. So Eben and I stood there for a moment, unsure of what to do (hello, I am on the side of a Chilean highway), and then just started walking in the general direction of San Fernando. We eventually caught a colectivo taxi to the terminal and got our bus ticket to Santa Cruz, and I'm happy to report that we made it one piece. :)

So this brings me to Santa Cruz, a town where cars actually stop for pedestrians and where public garbage cans are made from used wine barrels. Arriving in any Latin American town on a Sunday is a bit frustrating because absolutely nothing is open. Neither one of our books (Footprint and Lonely Planet's Shoestring Guide) had a single hostel or hospedaje listed for Santa Cruz, and since the bus station was quite desolate when we arrived, we had no clue of where to go. Luck was with us, though, for when we popped into a video store to ask if they had any idea of where an hospedaje might be, the clerk was like, "Why yes, next door!" Sweet! So yesterday consisted of eating giant ice cream cones (apparently ice cream is important enough to warrant opening the store on a Sunday; the supermarket, not so much), drinking some carmenere (yum), and learning to play poker. Today we will be slightly more active and walk through some nearby vineyards and go on a vineyard tour later this afternoon. I like being in Wine Country!

Also, regarding Eben's last post, I have to say that rolling down the snowy volcano side was AMAZING. Yes, at one point, I completely lost control and was sliding down headfirst (then sideways, then on my stomach, then sideways again, then just flipping over and over...) with absolutely no control and an icepick in hand (not a good combination, folks), but it was the most fun I have ever had in my entire life. My God. It was every child's dream of the perfect Snow Day. Ahhhh so fun!!!!!!

The family starts arriving in 3 days! Goodbye, budget!!

4 towns in 4 days

2007-12-05T19:22:00.000-03:00

Since Sarah last updated, we have been on a whirlwind tour of southern/middle Chile. We went through Castro, Puerto Varas, Valdivia and we are now in Pucon after 4 days straight of sightseeing and then hopping on a bus.

Castro, it is indeed beautiful, even if it is overcast. The reason we couldn't see the church before Sarah's entry was a big fundraiser for disabled children that was being held all over Chile. To raise money, they had a block long hotdog that they sold pieces of. The hot dog itself wasn't that long, but with a contraption made of 2x4s and a ton of baguettes, hot dogs, avocado, tomato and mayonnaise, the hot dog was really really long. We eventually did see the church and it was awesome, completely made of wood and very provincial or country. We also took a bus out to another town to check out that wooden church and that was pretty cool. It was an adventure since we took the local buses with very vague directions and no idea how to get around the town that we were going to. But it was fun and Castro was a nice little town.

Puerto Varas, a couple hours away from Castro and really close to Puerto Montt, this town is a big tourist draw for excursions on the lake and up Volcano Osorno. We spent the day walking around, hanging out by the beach, trying to find old crumbling mansions (with limited success). It it a very cute town that takes all of 20 minutes to navigate every block in the center. The church there is a copy of a church in germany, fairly exact except for the vivid blue ceiling on the inside. Since we weren't going to climb this Volcano, we went to Valdivia the next morning.

Valdivia is a university town that is awesome. First of all, we found the best hospedaje ever. This old mansion is falling down and looks like a haunted house, but you can rent rooms there. It has a creaky metal gate, crumbling stone steps, none of the floors in the house are level, it is fantastic. Second, down at the riverfront market there are a ton of sealions hanging out looking for handouts from the fishermen. They make strange noises and flop around. We went exploring looking for a fort, but we were unable to find it. Apparently there are a bunch of forts just outside of town that the Spanish built back in the early 1700s. I would like to spend more time in Valdivia later.

Finally, Pucon. This town is a very touristy town that, like Puerto Varas, is an excursion jump-off point. We are actually staying two nights here so we were able to do something today. The choices were endless from white-water rafting, kayaking, and canoeing to ziplining to volcano climbing. So we decided to climb Volcano Villarica. The volcano is active and smoking. However, we found out at the top that the smoke is pretty toxic, so while we stood at the edge of the crater, we weren't able to see very much because it stung the eyes and burned the throat. The climb itself was fairly difficult (for us who have never done this before) since it is all through snow and you have to carry a lot of equipment on your back including snowpants and jacket for when it gets windy at the top, crampons in case the path is too icy, an icepick, lots of food and water, a helmet, and other assorted odds and ends. We went at a pretty slow pace with well timed breaks, so it was very nice and then the best part was that we slid down from the top on our butts. We strapped some special slidy pants on over our snowpants and just took off. At various points, Sarah and I both went head over heels but it was a blast. I would climb up again just to slide back down.

We are now recovering from our climb and slide with various sore muscles and bruises here and there. Tomorrow we go on to Temuco on our journey up to Santiago to meet the parents in less than 10 days.

Back in Chile

2007-12-01T14:36:00.000-03:00

Our time in Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego was definitely amazing, but I'm happy to be back in Chile and on the move again. Leaving El Calafate was actually pretty difficult, as to get to our next stop in Chile, we needed to take a neverending bus. The flights we looked at were just too expensive, and U.S. citizens who fly into Chile have to pay an additional $100 reciprocity (damn you, United States). So Eben and I invoked our inner toughness and took the bus out of El Calafate. For 40 hours. Yes, 40 hours on 4 different buses (El Calafate to Rio Gallegos, Rio Gallegos to Comodoro Rivadavia, Comodoro Rivadavia to Bariloche, Bariloche to Osorno, Chile). In all honesty, it really wasn't that bad, though I was very happy to finally arrive in Chile and shower and have a real bed to sleep in. We only stayed in Osorno for a night, as our true destination was the island of Chiloé.

Our first stop in Chiloé was Ancud, where we spent 2 days. The drive in was very beautiful, with lots of lush, rolling green farmland. Ancud itself is a very small town with not much going on, but it's cute and the people are friendly. It rains quite a bit here, so Eben and I couldn't do too much (our plans to dolphin-watch and go on another penguin tour were squashed due to the weather). However, we had a nice time at the Regional Museum, which houses a nice history of the area, including lots of old artifacts and cool photographs of the area after the 1960 earthquake. It also has a small modern art museum in the basement, though honestly, I wasn't too impressed. The rest of our time we spent walking around in the rain and seeing the old fortresses along the water.

We just arrived this morning in Castro, about an hour and a half away from Ancud. This is another small fishing town, but it's known for its colorful houses on stilts along the water. There is also supposed to be a church with a beautiful interior along the main plaza, but right now there is some event going on, and the church is closed. Very sad. I'm not too sure what the rest of our day will hold, but I'm quite happy to just walk around and explore.

After Castro, Eben and I will head back the mainland and continue our northward journey up to Santiago. Our families start arriving in 2 weeks for the holidays, and I'm very excited to have Christmas in Chile! It will be nice to see family again and be together. I think it will be a little strange to not be at home (this is my first Christmas abroad), but we'll have lots of fun together anyway. :)

P.S. Sorry we haven't been uploading photos lately, but it's very difficult to find a cord that will connect to our cameras... stay tuned!

Ladies and gentlemen...

2007-11-30T14:55:00.001-03:00

I am officially DONE applying to graduate school.

DONE.

DONE.

DONE.

aaaarrruughaaaaaeeerrrrrrriiiiiiigh

2007-11-26T17:23:00.000-03:00

The title is approximently the sound that the sea lions make for no apparent reason. Our guide said that the sea lions can recognize the voices of their family and I certainly believe it since we heard a wide variety of strange, slightly depressing sounding noises from the sea lions. Pictures will be put up once we get them on a cd. Along with the sea lions, we learned about lighthouses, some birds, and got to walk around a little island learning about how glaciers shape the land and the variety of plant life growing at the bottom of the world.

As Sarah said, we were planning to do the tour mentioned above, some glacial trekking and visit the prison in Ushuaia. Well, the prison was pretty cool. We met a lady from Poughkeepsie who spotted us in the ever-present Vassar sweatshirts. We learned about some of the more famous (or infamous) prisoners, the labor that they did there and generally just checked out the unrestored prison. It was a great museum though with lots and lots of information, we would have been there for hours and hours if we had tried to read everything.

The glacial trekking did not work out as well as the prison or the sea lions. We made it up to the mountain via the chair lift (it is a ski resort in the winter) but everything is still covered in snow, including the glacier. So we couldn't walk on it, or see it for that matter. But it was still a cool walk, up the mountain trying to use the islands of no snow since we only had sneakers and not hiking boots. And then we walked all the way back down to town...our legs still hurt and this was 3 or 4 days ago.

Ushuaia was a great little town that felt at the same time like a fishing port and a ski resort town. That may seem a little bipolar, but it worked. From there, we caught a flight to El Calafate, in Argentine Patagonia. This place is also a lot like a ski resort town since it is all about tourism. The thing to do here is glaciers. There is a national park about 50km from town that has some spectacular glaciers. We took a boat tour today to see some of them. I have never seen anything like this in my life. The water is green because of the minerals from the melting glaciers, the glaciers are blue because the ice is so compact. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), there was a big break a few days ago and the sheer amount of icebergs floating around prevented us from getting very close to the big glacier (Glacier Upsala) and they also blocked the passage to the place where we were supposed to disembark for lunch and a walk around to see more glaciers and icebergs. The decision to come here was influenced by pictures an American couple showed us of the lunch location, with a small lake full of icebergs, a sunny day and a beautiful background. It is really hard to express in words how cool these icebergs were, and I'm afraid (although we don't know for sure yet) that our cameras didn't pick up the colors of the water and the glaciers very well. Either way, it was totally worth it.

At 4 am, we begin a 29 hour bus journey to Bariloche so that we can cross back into Chile near Puerto Montt. Briefly, our plan is to go to Chiloé and then up to meet family in Santiago in two weeks.

Land of Penguins

2007-11-22T10:24:00.000-03:00

Our last day in Talca was quite pleasant, though we didn't actually spend it in Talca. We hopped on a collectivo (a glorified van that functions as a public bus) to a nearby town, San Javier, for a wine fair! The park it was held in was very cute, and it was fun to wander from booth to booth picking up snacks and trying out the wine. There were a few good wineries represented, but mostly I was not too impressed. Either way it was fun, and it was neat to explore the area a bit.

After that it was yet another overnight bus (they're just so comfy!) all the way down to Puerto Montt, the major stopover town for people going down to Patagonia. The town itself had some cute things like a plaza with lots of mosaics and an old wooden church, but for the most part it's nothing grand. We only stayed for a day before hopping on a plane to.... Punta Arenas!! It may have been cold, but it was definitely beautiful.

Punta Arenas is a city that deserves at least 2 days, though probably not much more than that. The center is gorgeous, lots of old mansions and a pretty plaza. It is definitely chilly since it is sooo far down south, but this is actually mostly due to the freezing cold winds. It feels fresh and clean, though, and you definitely get the impression of being somewhere very very far from home. Aside from strolling through the streets or checking out the Regional History Museum, the main activity is visiting the penguin colonies. It's a bit crazy to be in a part of the world where penguins live naturally (no zoos!). There are two options, Isla Magadalena (the ferry leaves only on Saturdays during the low season) or Seno Otway (a bus leaves every day). Due to scheduling, Eben and I went to Seno Otway, which is a bit smaller than the other penguin colony. The drive out was beautiful. The land is completely flat and seems to stretch on forever. We saw lots of interesting animals along the way, including hares, a llama-type animal, and some ostrich-like giant birds. The highlight, however, was definitely the penguins. Upon arriving at Seno Otway, we followed a path down to the water. Visitors are kindly reminded not to stray from the path, as this is Penguin Land, not People Land. We saw a few penguins along the path, standing guard over a burrow or just waddling around and being adorable. It was cool to be able to reach a hand out and touch the penguins (not that we did, but that gives you an idea of how close we were to some of them). Mostly I just enjoyed their funny waddle. :) At the water, we had to stand behind a wooden platform barrier from which we could spy on the penguins. The idea is to keep the people hidden so that the penguins don't get scared and think they are being invaded. There were maybe about 100 penguins frolicking along the shore. SO CUTE!!! And by frolicking, I mean they swung their little arms out awkwardly and waddled like a 2-year-old in a tuxedo, unknowingly making a certain 22-year-old American college graduate die with happiness.

While Patagonia was certainly proving to be awesome-tastic, we really wanted to go even further south to Tierra del Fuego.

Unfortunately, our two options on the Chilean side were Porvenir and Puerto Williams, both of which are fairly inaccessible. Essentially the only option is to fly, but even in low season the flights are booked solid for two weeks. Sad. Since you really can't come to Patagonia without seeing Tierra del Fuego, we got a little creative and decided to go back to Argentina to see their side. So once again, Eben and I got on another bus (#987 of the journey?) and headed for Ushuaia.

We arrived in Ushuaia last night after about 11 or 12 hours of driving. Lots of magnificent snow-covered mountains greeted us as we approached the southernmost city in the world (yeah, we're that hardcore). An amusing observation was that because we are so far south of the Equator, there are only about 4 hours of darkness. Walking around town at 9 pm is exactly the same as walking around at noon or 5 am. It's a bit unsettling at first to realize that the sun will just never stop shining at this time of year, but it's an interesting experience. It also means that we are closer to the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, so even though it is about 40 degrees, sunblock is essential.

So here we are. The southernmost city in this planet. On the agenda: trekking along a glacier, maybe some sea lions (visiting them, not trekking along them... that would be mean), and a visit to the old prison.

Not a bad Thanksgiving. :)

School Administration - The Same Around the World

2007-11-16T21:43:00.000-03:00

Ok, so we actually did start teaching English on Tuesday. It was kind of a surprise that there were no more roadblocks that the Assistant Principal threw in our way, but he still managed to be kind of a jerk. In conversations with him before, he and Sarah's father talked about a little photo display/exposition of some of our travel photos. So we went to the trouble of getting them printed and then we matted them on some really nice paper that we picked up at an art supply store. All in all, while not much, the whole deal cost us around $20. Then we bring them on our first day and the secretary (who happens to be one of the nicest people ever) is in love with them and we go over everything with her. Then we find out our classroom and we go there to wait for the students. Just as we are about to start, the Assistant Principal comes in holding the photos all riled up. He starts going on about "what are these?" and "what am I suppose to do with these?" and "how am I supposed to understand what these are?" Apparently he had no recollection of talking about the photos and was also angry with us that we had not labeled all of them for him. I happen to think that the Machu Picchu photos speak for themselves and that in general, most of the other photos could have had a title or explanation but that it was not necessary. So, apparently, the work that we had put in getting these printed (and printed again since they overexposed everything the first time) and then mounting them on backing wasn't enough for him. However, after that day, he was nothing but nice to us. God only knows why he was so strange the first two days. Either way, it was a terrible first impression to give and it proves that incompetant administration can be found all around the world.

However, the students and teachers completely redeemed the odd actions of the assistant principal. Our first day was great. We divided the class into boys and girls. I had 5 boys and Sarah had 8 girls. All of the students were in their first year of studying English. This is (obviously) not the ideal group for a conversational English class, but this was the assistant principals idea of the group of students who would benefit the most from us. So we had all these grand plans of talking about and comparing life in the United States and Chile and talking about the school systems and university and everything. But we had to cut everything down so that these students could understand us and get something out of this class. We found out that they have an oral exam coming up in a few weeks and decided that the best idea would probably be to talk to them about things that we likely to be on the exam. So this included sports, family, school, neighborhood etc... The time flew and before we knew it, we were done with our first day. An English teacher had come in to observe us and we stayed for almost an hour chatting with her after class. She was dumbfounded as to why only beginning students were with us and also why our class was scheduled for 6-7 when the students actually end class at 6:15. Oh well, class still went well.

For the rest of the week, our classes were similar, but with other students who had heard about it and those from the first day who really wanted to be there. We had some more advanced students come on Wednesday and we talked to them about in depth about the university system and that was really awesome. It is good to know that the kids who did stay after school for this completely voluntary activity were actually interested in learning more and improving their English. We went over things like daily routines and what people want to study in university. We also tried to have them go around in a circle and make up a story by each person adding a sentence. It worked ok, but the level of comprehension and their confidence levels were not quite there for it to be really complex. I do believe that between Tuesday and Friday, some of the students showed much more confidence in trying to put together sentences and realizing that they actually did understand what we were saying even if they were not completely sure and that was awesome. For the last day (with all of three students who were awesome and dedicated) we brought in snacks and watched Harry Potter. It was a movie that all of them had seen and we stopped it a couple of times to ask them a few questions in English about the plot and the characters and what happened. Since they knew the story, it was easier for them to answer than some other questions and topics that we had been going over earlier in the week. All in all, it was a success. At the end, our difficult administrator thanked us and said that the doors are always open if we ever want to come back and that he had gotten great feedback from the students about us. So that was very nice of him. We enjoyed our time here and we wish that we could have spent more time here.

So, since our classes were only from 6:15-7 every day, we had ridiculous amounts of free time to kill. To begin with, this city is gorgeous. The houses in our neighborhood are all painted different colors (pink, blue, yellow, green, red, everything) and it smells like flowers walking around. In our neighborhood, it was kind of sleepy, but super relaxed and really beautiful. Also, this is the neighborhood that Sarah's dad grew up in and it was really exciting for her to see their old house and obviously, to work in his old high school. We spent a lot of time walking around and exploring the areas between our neighborhood, the center of the city and out to the east by the bus and train stations and the markets. This is also one of the wine producing regions of Chile and we were hoping to do something like what we did in Mendoza. After e-mailing 3 wineries, only one replied to me. So we headed out to Viña Calina, a holding in the Kendall-Jackson wine corporation, for our own private tour and tasting. They normally hold English tours at 4, but we figured that would be too close to class, so I was able to arrange to go at noon. This place is gigantic, some 140 acres and a brand new building for the offices and the winery. The tour guide was really nice and walked us around the winery showing us their different processes. The process of making wine is pretty much exactly the same from place to place, and the difference in wines is in the details which are hardly covered in these tours. She was a little surprised by us since she said that she had never had visitors as young as us. Regardless, it was a nice tour of a beautiful facility. And then we finished with a tasting of their Carménére (a grape almost exclusive to Chile) and their Cabernet Sauvignon. It was a good introduction to Carménére since neither of us had tried that grape before and we bought a bottle of it for further research...

Tomorrow we might be going to another town about 15 minutes away from Talca that has a fair/market every Saturday with a lot of the local producers for some more tastings. And then after that, we will be hopping on the overnight bus for Puerto Montt in the south to fly even further south to Patagonia. I am really excited even if it means that we have to pull out that sweatshirt that has been in the bottom of the bag since we left Bolivia more than a month ago.

Los Godoys de Chile

2007-11-13T13:43:00.000-03:00

We have arrived in Chile at last, the last country of our 5-month journey. It's crazy to be here, and I'm really glad that we have 2 months to spend here. We spent our first night in Santiago with some of the Godoys. It was definitely strange to meet family members I had only faintly heard of, but nice as well. My aunt's house is gorgeous and in a *very* nice suburb, so I definitely can't complain. Eben and I were off the next morning to take the train down to Talca. What a beautiful journey! It was great to see the Andes again. I think this was the first time that we saw huge snow-capped mountains (or at least this time there was a lot more snow than in other countries). Either way, it was very enjoyable.

Here in Talca we are staying with a family friend. It's been nice walking around this little city, as it's where my dad is from! He set us up with a week-long position teaching conversation English at his old high school. We were supposed to start yesterday, but the Vice Principal was a bit of a jerk when we went there and told us he had assumed we weren't coming (???) and that he had told the students there would be no English conversation. Where he came up with that idea, I have no clue. At any rate, we *should* be starting today. More news about that later (assuming the Vice Principal doesn't again magically think we have fled the city ).

Talca is about 3 hours south from Santiago. It's technically a city I suppose, but very tranquil and not too big. It has an authentic feel to it, and I'm pretty sure that Eben and I are the only foreigners in town. ¡Que lindo! Accordingly, we have been speaking LOTS of Spanish. Yay!

Not a very eventful post. Lalala.

Wine and Spanish

2007-11-09T18:29:00.000-03:00

Alternative title: "It tastes like grape juice!"

We left Buenos Aires, as we planned, Sunday night. We finally got out of that individualistic, fashion centered city. Not to say that we did not enjoy some of our time there, but it was certainly time to leave. Thanks to Agustin, we had an excellent time our last night at Ña Serapia and then again on Sunday at the Rose Garden. We took the bus to Mendoza on what had to have been the best bus ride of the trip so far. Not only did the seats recline about 160 degrees (almost like a bed, we could have paid more to have 180 degree seats), but we also received dinner, a vegetarian option for Sarah, wine and a movie that was not too loud in case we wanted to go to sleep. It was awesome. It is a bummer that there are no buses like this in the US or else I would be doing it every time I travel from Vassar to Detroit.

Mendoza is awesome. Most of it was destroyed in an earthquake about 80 years ago, so there aren't any old buildings, but it is still a really quaint town and easy to navigate. The central plaza has a modern art and design museum underneath it and there are all sorts of different plazas, some of them really beautiful, all over the city. And most importantly, it is also the center for wine production in the country. We have been drinking a lot of Argentine wines and so we were very excited to see some of the vineyards and wineries. Our first day was spent exploring the city, so that was pretty low key. Our second day was awesome. We met up with Cindy, Sarah's friend from Women's Chorus and we went with her and two other people out to have lunch at a winery about 30 minutes outside of the city. Well, the winery should have been 30 minutes outside of the city but our taxi driver had no idea where he was going. We were really worried about getting there because we thought that we had a reservation for this winery, Ruca Malen. So, taking the scenic route (which was really beautiful), we end up at the winery only to find out that we did not actually have a reservation and that we could not have lunch there. We were sent down the road to another winery called Septima. This has the makings for a really bad day, but everything worked out. We get to Septima and after a little negotiation, we were let into the winery. The place was an interesting combination of modern architecture with variations on Inca walls. However, the best part was that we were looking at the snow-capped Andes in the background of the vineyard. It was truly a sight to behold. The lunch was fantastic, a four course meal during which we sampled their Malbec and their Tempranillo. Both wines were excellent and the chef was very creative in making Sarah a customized lunch. We followed lunch with a tour of the winery and got to see all of the equipment that goes into making the wine. I would have liked more detail on the process itself, but it was a good tour nonetheless.

Upon our return, we took a placement test at the Spanish school across the street so that we could begin private Spanish lessons the next day. Let me talk about dinner first. This whole day was an excercise in indulgence and it was awesome. We went to the restaurant in the Park Hyatt, overlooking the plaza. We decided that we would continue the wine tasting with different glasses with each course. So over the three courses we tried one white (Tapiz Chardonnay 2005), one red (Doña Paula Malbec 2005) and one dessert wine. This is what life should be like. We spent about 5 hours sitting at the table and loved every minute of it.

Back to Spanish. Since I need to improve and Sarah wanted to work on the subjunctive tense, we took three days of private lessons here. The teachers were really great and gave us both exactly what we asked for in the class. I spent mine working and vocabularly and comprehension while Sarah worked on her grammer. It was much better than the classes in Cuzco because the classes weren't too fast for me or too slow for Sarah. Private lessons are awesome and I learned a lot about the left in Argentina and the new President and the hope that leaders such as Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales provide Latin America. It was good conversation and at a pace I could understand.

And the rest of the wineries: We had one ok day and one great day of wine tastings. On the first day, we rented bikes from our hostel with the ambitious plan to stop at four wineries all in one afternoon. This was thwarted however by the giant group of Israelis from our hostel also accompanying us (they took a long time to get ready to go) and construction at the meeting point. We all took the bus while the bikes were driven out to us. However, the man with the bikes could not figure out how to get to where we were and this was a problem. So while we planned to start biking at 12 or 12:30, we didn't actually start until 2, typical South America. Then we learned that Sarah, big bikes, South American roads and drivers are not a good combination. So the we were going quite slow. We did make it to our first stop, Tempus Alba, where we enjoyed six small glasses of their wines (merlot, tempranillo, syrah, malbec, cab sauv, and their reserve blend) along with some green olives grown on the premises. The first three were not great but the last three were pretty good. Sarah made the brilliant wine tasting comments, "this tastes like Welch's grape juice," and "the aftertaste is kind of like jolly ranchers." Either way, the vineyard was beautiful, the wine decent and we ended up running into our friend Kelly who we saw Boca with back in Buenos Aires. We then went across the street to another winery called Viña El Cerno. We had to wait a long time for a tour and when we did it was half in English and half in Spanish. All of the English speakers were young while the Spanish speaking half of the group was quite old and grumpy about the fact that they had to share a group with us and that the winery was catering to non-Spanish speakers. One guy kept on complaining and Sarah turned around to indicate that she understood everything he was saying and if not him, then his wife was certainly embarrassed because she then said "stop it, they can understand you." It was a good tour and an ok tasting at the end. Neither of the wines, a malbec and a cab, were very special. So it was a long day and rough getting back. We had to walk part of the way because Sarah and her bike were not getting along. But we made it onto the bus just in time because a torrential downpour started on our way back. We spent the night eating our picnic that we packed and never ate and watching x-men movies with the little kids in the hostel.

The next day of tasting was a million times better. We hired a car and driver for about $65 for the day. First we went to a winery called LaGarde that makes a wine we drank a few times in Buenos Aires. It is exported to the US also and is called Altas Cumbres. We heard of it from a NY Times article and it is quite good for its price. Around $9 or $10 a bottle gets a good malbec or cab. This is their lowest end wine. We had a very good tour of the winery with emphasis on how they make their champagne, but they can't call it that because they aren't in Champagne, France. After the tour we had a tasting of their chardonnay and a better malbec. Then we got lunch with an Altas Cumbres white and a malbec. Lunch was very good and they did a cool variation on lasagna for Sarah with everything assembled in a bowl and then put in the oven, so they were made individually.

From there, we booked it to Achaval Ferrer which was absolutely incredible. We were with a family from Texas and the French winemaker. The winemaker walked us through everything, tasting all of the different malbecs that they make. They make three single vineyard malbecs, all with the same methods, to let the differences in the soil come out in the wine, terroir, very French. They also make a malbec blending the three vineyards that is not as good and finally a malbec-cab blend that was quite good. For the malbec-cab blend we were able to taste from the barrel and from the bottle to taste the maturation process. And with the single vineyard malbecs, we tasted all of those from the barrel because they make very few bottles every year. Finally, we were able to go down to the barrel room and taste their cab franc straight from the barrel. And all of this was free for Sarah and I, absolutely incredible. It also turns out that one of the Texans is a member of the Stolpman wine club, which is where I worked a harvest as an assistant winemaker before going to Vassar. So he and his wife have tried almost all of the wines that I helped make with the exception of the PiedraSassi which was a separate label started by the two winemakers there. So that was really cool and we talked a lot about the Santa Ynez valley and we know some of the same people because they have gone out there to taste, etc... That was an awesome end to the day of winetasting. I would have loved to buy some of the Archaval Ferrer bottles, but for the ones I wanted (the cab franc or the single vineyard malbecs) it ranged from $50 to $125 per bottle. I am not going to carry around a bottle that nice for two months from the heat in Mendoza to the cold of Patagonia, it would be a travesty. But they are exported, so maybe when we get back...

That was a great finish to our time in Argentina. We packed our stuff after the tastings and we left for Santiago the next morning (today). Brief plans: we go to Talca tomorrow to teach conversational English for a week at a high school. Then it is down to the bottom of the continent and back to the cold.

Country hopping and the GRE!

2007-11-03T19:08:00.000-03:00

Woo, the past few days have been very busy. We're now back in Buenos Aires but will hopefully leaving tomorrow night for Mendoza if we ever figure out how to buy bus tickets. I took my Psychology GRE this morning, and I am so relieved to be done!! The entire experience was a bit weird. I woke up insanely early this morning (my admission ticket said the test started at 8:30) so I could have time to flip through my review book one last time, eat a good breakfast, and get to the testing center (we had visited it yesterday to make sure I knew where it was) early, all that jazz. Well. Eben was nice enough to walk with me (mostly because I am a nervous wreck before standardized tests, and I probably would have mistakenly walked into a bus while reciting to myself the parts of the brain). So we're walking along, arrive at the testing center... and it's closed. Like completely locked up, the aluminum protective door thing has been drawn down, there is no sign of human life. Hmm. I started wondering if grad schools would still process my application without GRE scores on account of a closed testing center on Test Day. Thankfully the panic did not have too much time to set in because finally a security guard came and opened the building. Success!

So I'm sitting in the waiting room for someone to take me to the classroom... and I'm sitting... and sitting... watching more and more people my age trickle in for the GRE... By now it is well after 8:30, and while I'm not surprised that the test will not be administered on time (hello, we are in South America), my anxiety is slowly mounting. The nerd I am, I kept thinking of the Yerkes-Dodson law, which says that a certain amount of arousal leads to optimal performance, whereas too much or too little arousal is not so great for performance; in other words, being nervous is okay as long as you're not like crying and shaking (or conversely, completely unconcerned). So I kept reassuring myself that I could very well me at my optimal level of arousal/performance ability. Then I sat for some more. Finally at sometime after 9 am, a woman appears in the waiting area and says, "GRE? Come with me!" and the twenty or so of us scampered up the stairs. Then it took about another half hour to check everybody's IDs and registration numbers, put us in desks, read directions, fill out forms... the Argentine students had a great deal of trouble understanding the concept of a Scantron. You know how when filling out your name, social security number, etc. you have to write it in the assigned spot and then also fill out the corresponding bubbles underneath? They just didn't understand the bubbles. It took a while for the proctor to walk around the room and explain it to each and every one of them, and I just chuckled to myself-- who knew that a life of standardized testing could really come in handy? At least the Americans knew how to fill out the Scantron. :)

All in all, we didn't end up starting the test until about 10 am. There was a clock in the room that the proctor actually set back to read "9 am" when we finally started, which I thought was really weird. I was the first to leave, which always makes me nervous (am I too fast? the others too slow?), but I did double check my answers and go back to the hard questions. In the end, I'm still not sure how I did, but I think my review book helped quite a bit because a lot of practice test questions reappeared on the real test. And quite honestly, I don't care anymore because I am done with standardized tests!!!! CELEBRATION!!!!!

Now, back to other things. Uruguay rocked my socks, and Eben and I have agreed to go back at some point in the future and fully explore the country. We spent our second day in Colonia riding along the coast on a motorbike, which was fabulous. We explored the different beaches, saw the old Hippodrome (race track), and even the crumbling bull ring that is no longer in operation. What a rockin', bougy (bourgeois) place this must have been back in the day. Colonia is absolutely beautiful, the perfect hideaway. It's low tourist season now, so it really was just the perfect environment. I hope it's not chaotic in high tourist season because that would just ruin my pristine image of the town.

Montevideo was very different from Colonia. It's an actual city, though smaller and less hectic than Buenos Aires. It rained like whoa on our first day there, so we didn't get to do too much exploring until the second day. We did, however, see cool things like a gaucho museum and a crazy mausoleum in the center of town. We stumbled upon a big socialist party/rally the first night, which was pretty cool. There was lots of literature being passed around and even a big stage for musical performers. Eben went back to the rally to be a good leftist while I studied fun psychological things, so maybe he can write more about it in his next post. I did think it strange that there were so many police with drug dogs just randomly standing about, probably hoping to catch some hippie socialists smoking pot or something. OOH! Which reminds me, Eben and I saw two kids get patted down by police with two HUGE barking scary drug dogs on our second day. I don't really know how they caught, but they all of a sudden flung their hands to a wall with their feet spread, and one of the cops ordered them to empty their pockets. We don't know if they had been selling drugs or something, but it turns out they didn't have anything, so the police let them go. Kind of an intense experience, yet I found it very amusing. I don't know why. I really like the drug dogs and always want to pet them because they look like bears, but this probably jsut draws attention to myself. And one of the dogs might eat me.

Sorry this is such a scattered post. Next on our agenda is completing more grad applications (2 submitted, 982374 more to go!!), heading over to Argentine Wine Country, and then finally entering the last country of this journey-- Chile! My dad is awesome and has found us a possible volunteer stint at his old high school in Talca doing English conversation with the students. Nothing in confirmed yet, but hopefully Eben and I will be in Talca in about a week before going all the way down to Glacier and Penguin Land.

The moral of today's post is:
1. Be prepared to wait for a long time if taking the GRE outside of the United States. Other countries are not as time-obsessed as we are.
2. Applying to graduate school from outside of the U.S. is very frustrating and should be avoided if possible.
3. Both Argentinos and Urguayos speak with the same accent, but Uruguayos are cooler. Also, they drink way more mate and all times of the day.
4. Empanadas and good wine make life better.

¡Ciao!

Uruguay!

2007-10-29T16:13:00.000-03:00

We are in Uruguay! Since it is so close to Buenos Aires, Eben and I decided that we needed to take the ferry over for a few days. Right now we are in Colonia, an amazing town that I could easily live in. It's pretty small and quiet, so while Eben and I were walking around town this afternoon, the only noise we heard besides our shoes on the cobblestone was the birds chirping. Amazing. Of course some areas have actual cars and noise, but for the most part it's just very serene. There are also lots of beautiful roses and other flowers, so everytime a breeze blows past you, you catch the wonderful scent of roses. With the cobblestone streets, seaside, crumbling old buildings, and rose gardens, this place is almost too good to be true.

I keep forgetting that it is the end of October because it is the middle of spring here, and it's been about 80 degrees every day. Today felt like the perfect summer day, not a cloud in the sky. We'll be in for quite a shock when we come back in January and are faced with the brutal New York cold! Until then, I'm enjoying every moment in the sun and eagerly await our next trip to the beach!

Tourists have the option of renting motorbikes, bicycles, or golf carts (yes, golf carts) to explore the town, but we've been enjoying walking. Maybe tomorrow will be a motorbike day. We originally were only going to stay for a day and then head over to Montevideo for a few days, but this place is too beautiful to leave. Sadly we have to be back in Buenos Aires by Friday, as I am taking the dreaded Psych GRE on Saturday morning in the city. Getting out of the city has made me realize that Buenos Aires, while beautiful and fun, is just not for me. I loved it at first, but once that wore off, I kind of decided that there are so many other places in South America that I would prefer to be in. I think our dislike for the family we were staying with may have had something to do with this desire to flee Buenos Aires, but honestly, I'm just happy to be in a new place. In a new country!

That's it for now, just wanted to profess my love for Colonia. :)

Shakespeare in the Park

2007-10-29T16:09:00.000-03:00

This should have been posted yesterday (Sunday), but the website was acting up and it didn't quite work.

A quick update about yesterday just because it was too cool. After a long day of walking around, buying fake adidas, finding the local skateboarding place outside of the post office, we decided to check out the botanical gardens. First of all, there are hundreds of cats here that, as we found out, respond to the sound of plastic bags. We think it is because they think we were carrying food. I had my purchases in a plastic bag and felt like the Pied Piper with cats following us and coming to me everywhere we went in the park. Really, as soon as they realized that we had no food, they scampered away. But it was cool to shake the bag and have 6 or 7 cats come out of nowhere, trotting toward us across the gardens. But what was really cool is that we stumbled upon some outdoor theater. It was A Midsummer Night's Dream, in Spanish, in the park. Even with the language barrier (for me at least), it was clearly recognizable since there were sleeping couples in the grass, a man with a donkey's head and there was no question who Puck was (he was a grunge, punk-rocker). It was interesting and fun, they solicited audience participation (or just grabbed people, dragged them over and gave them props/costumes) for the play within the play and it was quite funny. Who would have thought that we would get to see Shakespeare in the park, for free, in Spanish, in Buenos Aires. Certainly not me.

Welcome to Argentina

2007-10-27T11:01:00.001-03:00

In the last week, our, or at least my, opinion on our organization has changed drastically. I no longer like it and I believe that the problems it has may be and probably are problems shared by many internationally staffed NGOs. First of all, there is no consistency. For instance, out in El Jaguel, where we go to "teach English," LIFE runs their program two days a week. Only one person has been going there for an extended period of time and she only goes one day a week. Since she is the only one the kids actually know, she is the only one that they will really listen to. Kids are much smarter and craftier than we give them credit for. For them, we are like the substitute teacher that no one pays attention to. English teaching is a joke, I think I spend more time protecting myself because a kid named Gabi keeps trying to punch me in the balls. So while it is great to have so many volunteers being so enthusiastic about this, some consistency would really help so that the kids don't always see a rotatation of gringos who don't really have any authority. Second, the program is only two days a week. LIFE talks about trying to be positive role models for these kids. Again, it is a problem of consistency. How can you be a positive role model when you are with these kids for two hours, maybe two days a week, for two weeks and they see you as the substitute teacher? Third, they run four centers. When they can only devote two days a week to one of the centers, that tells me that resources are being spread too thin. I completely understand the desire to reach and "serve" more kids, but by spreading themselves out, they are partially creating the first two problems I spoke of. Finally and most importantly, it is all too obvious where their money is being spent. In Cuzco, Inti only had one center that contained the offices, the kitchen, the homework room, the workshops and all of the materials that the kids had access to. Here in Buenos Aires, LIFE rents a very nice office in one of the more expensive parts of town. Then, we go from there to the run-down, dilapidated soup kitchens that LIFE calls a community center for the afternoon with little or no supplies for the kids. We bring some worksheets, coloring sheets and some crayons. If we are lucky, we bring a ball to play with for the last 10 minutes of the afternoon. The birthday parties get more things, but it is only cake, balloons and small presents for the birthday kids (yes, it is much better than nothing). But what is frustrating is that Inti in Cuzco was an organization with far less funding and volunteers, yet they managed to provide far more in terms of supplies and art projects for their students. Inti was not without its problems, but at least it was right to supply things to keep kids busy rather than the same worksheets week after week, encouraging boredom and then acting up. I believe that the office here at LIFE is solely for the purpose of the volunteers, all of whom are international, and doesn't benefit at all the kids that they profess to help.

Other than that, Buenos Aires is a pretty awesome city. We have tried to do some siteseeing most mornings before work in the afternoon and have been fairly successful. We started on Monday morning at Recoleta Cemetary. It is a little strange to be doing cemetary tourism, but this place is pretty cool. It is all mausoleums built in every imaginable style.

Some are in very good condition while others obviously have no one who comes to check up on them. Buried there is Eva Peron, and she has the best kept family mausoleum, always adorned with roses left by visitors. There is also a large feline population that takes advantage of the quiet and the genorosity of the caretakers (bowls of food are out everywhere). On Tuesday, we took it easy but then went out that night for Cindy's birthday party. Cindy sang in Women's Chorus with Sarah and is here on a fellowship studying Spanish. We went out with her and all of her classmates and had an excellent dinner and drank some great wine. On Wednesday we went to one of the best museums we have seen so far. It is the MALBA, and it is all Latin American artists of the 20th century. It has a Frida Khalo, a Diego Rivera, lots of political art and just very good in general. It also has a very well stocked bookstore although quite expensive since most of the books in English were imported. On Thursday we went to the zoo. We had been warned that we might not like it because the animals were caged there. However, it was not as bad as we thought it might be. The spaces were a little smaller than the zoos at home like the Detroit or Bronx zoos. and some of them were covered in fencing, but they still had some really cool animals like the white Bengal tiger that was less than a foot away from us on the other side of a glass barrier. You could also feed all of the monkeys, llamas, camels, deer, goats, etc... While we were there, we caught in a torrential downpour that soaked us to the bone. Sarah was wearing flip-flops, so she couldn't run without losing her shoes. We gradually made it to the exit of the park through the rain, seeing the rhinos and the giraffes along the way. It took a while to get a cab home and the driver was not too happy that we got his backseat all wet. Yesterday (Friday) we went to the Holocaust Museum. It was a good display on Jewish life before, during and after the Holocaust and also examined (although not in too much depth) Argentina's role in both accepting refugees and harboring war criminals.

On Friday afternoon, we were already on the train, waiting to go out to El Jaguel when another train pulled into the station and there was a flash of light and a small explosion. Nobody has any idea what was going on, but they stopped all trains going in and out of the station. So we were waiting around for a while, asking people what happened trying to figure out if we would make it out to the kids that day. One guy who one of our volunteers had been talking to in Spanish suddenly breaks into English and very succinctly says with a shrug of the shoulders, "Welcome to Argentina!" The train station is one of the few places in this city that we feel like we are in South America and that phrase I guess summed up experiences traveling through here. We have had a few situations like this in various countries (long airport delay in Quito because some plane blew a tire landing, bus strikes in Potosi, etc...). I think that the lesson is to be flexible and realize that things like this happen and thus, plans must change.

We will be leaving this city for Uruguay on Monday. We will do some more siteseeing today and tomorrow to catch some things that we missed. Also, there is the presidential elections tomorrow, so no alcohol is sold today or tomorrow in the whole country. They have mandatory voting and they don't want any drunk votes after a night of partying. Anyway, off to the market and then to the modern art museum. And we will update in Uruguay.

Pictures!

2007-10-27T11:01:00.000-03:00

We've done it! All of our pictures are uploaded! You can go to htttp://sagodoy.myphotoalbum.com to see everything from Peru and Bolivia, and what we have done so far in Argentina.

Buenos Aires

2007-10-21T20:53:00.000-03:00

Well, Buenos Aires is definitely different from anywhere we've been so far in South America-- except it is just like home. This city has a definite Manhattan feel, with bits of Paris being very clear as well. There are lots of Upper East Side-esque buildings, beautiful gardens, and plenty of open spaces. It's a bit overwhelming at times because there is so much to see just within the city that I really think it's impossible to cram everything in when we're working during the week. The people here have a cosmopolitan (and snobbish) attitude unlike other Latin American cities. Argentines are notorious for saying they are more European than Latin American, yet they are extremely proud to be Argentine. Walking down the street, everyone is dressed in their finest, and I'll admit that I feel compelled to dress well even if we're just doing some sightseeing. It's frustrating because I didn't come here to feel competitive about fashion, yet it's just the type of city that makes you like that. At first it's a bit overwhelming, but I'm comfortable enough now to not care as much.

Eben and I will be here for about 2 weeks, mostly doing volunteer work. We are working with a wonderful organization called LIFE Argentina (www.lifeargentina.org). This group is so different from Inti. First of all, the LIFE office is very clean and nice and located in a rather wealthy neighborhood. The organization has regular staff members, usually people around our age, as well as lots of volunteers. The volunteers are free to stay for as long as they want and pick which days they want to work. Some people are students studying abroad, and others are just passing through like us. There's usually a set schedule for the week's activities, and we can pick what we want to do each day. For example, on Monday we could do Juegoteca (recreational activities) or English/computer classes, on Tuesday we could do school support/computer classes or teach English, and so on. The volunteers gather at the office beforehand and then travel together to one of four slums outside of Buenos Aires where LIFE has a community center. While the area of Cusco where we were working was definitely not very nice, the slums where we work are a bit more dangerous. When we go to work, we have to wear LIFE t-shirts (slightly cheesy, but also pretty rock star) so that the neighborhood people know who we are and don't think we are silly lost tourists that they can mug. This rests on the assumption that they value the work we do with their kids, but so far so good, right? El Jaguel, the slum where we have been teaching English on Tuesdays and Fridays, is kind of amusing because it is set up just like a Long Island suburb (designated wide streets, blocks of houses), but all of the houses are made up concrete slabs and sheets of aluminum. There is also the occasional house that resembles more than just a shack, and they look like they could be decently nice inside. Eben said that the slums in South Africa are like this too and not too unusual, but I guess I just don't have much of a comparison to really know. It's nice to actually go into these communities and spend a few productive hours with the kids on their own turf, and it definitely is a HUGE contrast to what we see in Buenos Aires.

Besides volunteering, Eben and I have been relaxing and having a good time. The night life in Buenos Aires is INSANE. People eat dinner sometime after 9 pm and don't go out to the bars and clubs until 3 am. Then you are expected to stay out until about 7 am, sleep well into the afternoon, and do it all over again. Since I've had a cold all week, we have only done this once so far, but to be honest, this just isn't for me. I can't imagine doing it on a regular basis. I enjoy waking up before noon! Oh well. We've done other fun things like exploring the city and, most recently, meeting up with Cindy, one of the girls from Vassar Women's Chorus who is here on a language fellowship! It'll be nice to see more of her and have a fellow Vassar person to hang out with. Today we also met up with one of the LIFE volunteers, Kellee, and headed down to La Boca to go to the futbol game. La Boca was such a cool neighborhood. I was feeling a bit stifled by Buenos Aires because practically everyone here is white, and it can really feel like this city is devoid of the sort of funkiness that I love about NYC. La Boca, while still very very shite, is a bit of a rougher neighborhood with a few tourist-friendly streets. These streets are colorfully painted, there are lots of markets, and it's just so fun to walk around. We did that all afternoon before the futbol game, and it was just perfect. The game itself (Boca Juniors v. Estudiantes-- we cheered Boca of course) was lots of fun, though Boca definitely did not play as well as we had hoped. This stadium was a lot larger than the one in Quito, and with actual seats instead of benches! In addition, they cannot sell alcohol in the stadium because, as one vendor laughed at us when we inquired, "otherwise everyone would kill each other." Passions run high at these games. The police wouldn't even allow us to walk in one area outside the stadium because the visitors' entrance was there, and since we were all wearing the Boca colors, it just wasn't safe. Definitely a bit different from the games I've been to, but that's life I suppose. Futbol without beer is very sad indeed, but at least it saves lives?

In other news, we are slowly progressing with uploading our photos online! We've got most of Peru online, so feel free to go to sagodoy.myphotoalbum.com to see them. Hopefully we'll get up to date soon!

A Little Bit Gay

2007-10-18T20:21:00.000-03:00

As Sarah left off, the bus ride to Argentina did not rock. To begin with, we left at 1 PM to arrive at 4:30 PM the next day. First we went from Sucre to Potosi, not bad, only 3 hours. Then waited for 4 hours until our bus left for the border. The road was unpaved, someone had their window open and it was about -15 F in the bus and we made some unnecessary late stops in the middle of nowhere during which the lights would turn back on immediately waking me up from the sleep I had only just begun. Then we arrived at the border at about 4:30 AM and the border doesn't open until 6 and it was still freezing outside. While we were half asleep, some touts for a bus company try to convince us to by our tickets for the bus in Argentina on the Bolivian side, swearing on God, their mothers and their families graves that the prices are no different across the border. Right we were to be skeptical and walk across the border ourselves to buy the tickets because they were half the price on the other side. The border on the Argentine side didn't open right away so we were in line for quite a while in no man's land waiting for things to get moving. Finally we made it onto a bus at 9 for 7 more hours of traveling. But, we finally made it to Salta and at the bus station was a guy who worked for the hostel that we were going to check out. So we got a free cab ride and a slightly discounted price for the beds at a pretty nice place.

Argentina was so different than Bolivia, it was shocking at first. Salta is a really beautiful colonial city but it is also very commercial and it was crazy seeing shop after shop of designer clothes for the first time since being at home. We went to the archaeological museum first to see the mummies that they have retrieved from the mountain tops on the border with Peru. They were very similar to Juanita in Arequipa, Peru, but possibly better preserved. This whole museum was about the mountain top rituals of the Incas and they had all of the artifacts that were also buried with the human sacrifices. Due to the extreme cold, these mummies have been frozen since they were left for dead and are in perfect condition: teeth, hair, skin, everything. We then went to Cathedral which was one of the more beautiful churches that we have seen in South America. It was not necessarily ornate, but it was grand. At the bowls of holy water, it also advised that use of holy water for the purposes of witchcraft is strictly forbidden.

We had an excellent dinner that night to treat ourselves after a long bus ride and a dinner of crackers and Fanta the night before. Then we left the next day for our flight to Buenos Aires at 1 in the afternoon. It is a bummer that we did not get to spend more time in Salta since it seemed like a really nice city and there were some more things both inside and outside of the city that would have been cool to see. But I suppose that there is always next time.

Upon arrival in Buenos Aires, we were picked up and brought to the apartment we are staying in. It is the apartment of the director of the program and her two kids. This place is quite nice, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms and an awesome living room with a balcony. It is also in one of the trendier neighborhoods in the city. We were shown around and then told that there was going to be a birthday party later (starting at 12 or 12:30) and that we would all go out around 3. This nightlife is ridiculous, I don't know why things are so late, but if you can sleep all day then by all means it is awesome.

The birthday party was pretty fun, awkward for a while and then we started talking to a couple of guys. One person that we met is the perfect example of Argentina, or more precisely, Buenos Aires. Argentina was playing South Africa the next day in the semi-finals of the rugby world cup. At least one person at the party was wearing an Argentina rugby jersey. This kid is wearing the South Africa jersey. We were talking for a while and then I ask him why and he replies with a shrug, "It matches my shoes, I'm a little bit gay." Brilliant. We ended up going to a club around 3 and staying there until sometime after 5 at which point Sarah and I left early leaving everyone else there.

Sunday was a day of recovery, with a little food shopping and watching rugby and that is about it. We found a great bar the day before that is a brewery, so we went back there for the rugby game which Argentina lost and we wandered home for a ridiculously long nap that ended around 12:30. Since Monday was a holiday, our hosts went out but we stayed in and watched tv until going to bed, super exciting.

We finally got out to do some sightseeing on Monday only to find most things closed because of the holiday. But we walked from our house all the way into the center of town to the Plaza de Mayo in about 2 hours. Along the way, more random encounters! We ran into the couple that we did our Machu Picchu tour with and had a little chat with them. It is strange that even though we take different routes, we can still run into the same people weeks after first meeting.

We checked out the Cathedral on the north side of the plaza first. To begin with, it looks like the Pantheon with the very shallow triangular roof and pillars out in front. Inside is very beautiful though and very well preserved and taken care of. Inside is the tomb of Jose de San Martin, a general that helped win Argentina's independence. His grave is guarded by soldiers like those outside Buckingham Palace, the ones that don't move but look pretty cool. Like Salta, the church was not too ornate (with the exception of the altar of solid silver) but very grand. All that walking is quite tiring and the weather wasn't great, so we went back home until dinner.

Tuesday was our first day of work here. We had to go into the office a little early for our entrance interview, just to know a little about us and what our interests our and how we can best help the organization. There are a lot of foreigners volunteering there and you can sign up for whatever activities you want to volunteer for each week. It is a pretty cool system. We opted for English tutoring our first day. We went out to El Jagual, a slum on the outskirts of the city, to a little building (it is a stretch to call it a community center) for our English classes. The kids are all between about 5 and 12, so it is not actual English lessons. We had the older kids go over animals using word searches and then quizzing them while the younger kids pretty much just sat there drawing or playing with Sarah's earrings or the tiny puppy that one kid brought in. In the end, we just ended up playing a game outside with a ball that the coordinator brought with her. It was a lot of fun and we will be going back there on Friday to work again.

I am going to leave off here because it is a pretty long post and Sarah will continue soon.

Otherwise, we have dynamite

2007-10-14T14:02:00.000-03:00

Woo, what a whirlwind of activity! New cities, new countries... let's start with Potosi, Bolivia. As Eben wrote, Potosi used to be a huge mining city and the wealthiest city in South America. Once the silver dwindled, though, the rich Spanish colonists moved out, leaving Potosi a bit economically depressed. Mining is still popular there, but most of the silver is now gone. The city itself is quiet (absolutely dead on a Sunday) but quite beautiful with its pedestrian streets and remaining colonial mansions. My dad described it best when he said that 30 years ago when he was there, he kept waiting for a Spanish knight on horseback to appear around a corner carrying a lance. It may sound a bit odd, but it really does feel like that! Although I don't know what Potosi was like decades ago, I just have a feeling that not much has changed.

Being in THE mining town of South America, Eben and I were eager to actually explore the mines and get a taste of what defines this town. We had a tour guide, Efra, who is 30 years and a current miner (since age 13 I believe). He gives mining tours during tourist seasons and works in the mines when there aren't any tourists. We donned protective clothing(rubber top, pants, and boots) and a helmet with headlight. We also had bandanas to wear across our face to guard against breathing in too much dust. The miners themeslves don't wear all of this gear, and I doubt they would be much better off even if they did. The typical miner starts his work our of tradition: all of the men in the family before him were miners, and thus he himself must be a miner. They typically drop out of school after about 6 years and head to the mines for the rest of their lives. Meeting a miner above age 50 is a rarity, as these men suffer horrible health from breathing in toxic dust. Their lungs are barely functioning.

To prepare for our trip deep into the mines, we first stopped at the miners' market, where we could buy soda, coca leaves, and dynamite (!) the give out to men we met along the way. Efra also took us to a small processing plant where the goodies are cleaned and processed. The big thing was, of course, the actual mine. Entering it felt a bit surreal, as it was quite dark and cold. It quickly become quite tight, and it was difficult to breathe with so much dust artound us. We were lucky enough to talk to quite a few men. The first, Don Luis, had the cough of death from mining since age 12. He's not expected to live more than a couple more years. It was interesting to see these men at work, pushing carts full of rock , chiseling into the mine shafts, huge wads of coca leaves in their cheeks to keep them going (the coca curbs their appetite and gives them energy, as they work for maybe 13 hours straight with no food-- eating in the mine means eating toxic dust as well). They were happy to see us and answer our questions, a brief resipte from their hard work. We were in the mine for about 2 and a half hours, sliding through mine shafts (I lost my footing and literally just slid for about 10 feet) and crawling through tight spaces. It was all a bit surreal. The bandanas helped us breathe a little bit, but mostly my throat felt on fire from being coated with chemical dust. Woo! Several people had to leave the mine tour because it was too difficult to continue, but I'm proud we made it all the way through. I don't know how the miners survive day to day because I felt as though I would suffocate if I spent another hour down there. It's no wonder their life span is so short.

Efra said that as he became older, he questioned his father about his lifestyle choice. Why would a father tell his son to drop out of school to become a miner? His father said he regretted making that choice for Efra, but that mining can be more lucrative that many other professions in Bolivia. When you're living in poverty, waiting 12 years for your education to pay off just isn't an option. Efra himself has a 6-year-old daughter, Gabriela, who he wants to stay in school. Women don't work in the mines, but many still don't finish their education. What was very telling was Efra's uncertainty over whether he would want a son of his to become a miner. He knows quite well that becoming a miner means a difficult (and shortened) life, but it's difficult to break tradition. He said he probably would encourage school over mining, but that very well may change. I think it's important to realize that this really isn't a selfish or spiteful choice (to encourage mining over school) but rather a demonstration of the reality of life for Bolivians. You need to survive as best you can, and the benefits of an education aren't apparent or fast enough for these people. Efra said that life under Evo Morales wasn't any different, that he is just another man making empty promises. Education still isn't compulsory (or if it is, it's not enforced), and it's not valued enough. For things to change for the children of miners, Efra says, education has to improve. The Bolivians are not masters of many things, he said alomst bitterly, but they are masters of corruption. It's easy for us as foreigners to idolize Evo and call him a revolutionary, a coca farmer who became a President, but the harsh reality is that actual change must occur. So far, it seems, that has not happened. Not in Potosi.

Being down in the mines wasn't entirely depressing, though, though it was a reality check. Efra was a hilarious guide with a great sense of humor. It was cool to be adventuresome and shimmy through narrow mine shafts (even if it probably did take 6 months off of our lives). And at the end we blew up a watermelon with our extra dynamite. :)

¡Huelga!
After a couple of days in Potosi, it was time to head up to Sucre on a short bus ride. Or rather, that was the plan. The reality was that on Wednesday, the local bus drivers went on strike to protest fare changes and barricaded the entire city. The long-distance buses could not leave the city because the roads were barricaded with local buses. We did find a taxi driver who said he would drive us to Sucre (like 3 hours, more like 2 when it's a crazy man driving) and break through the barricades. Woo hoo! We drove around the city, faced barricade after barricade, and finally forced our way through. So we drove through some windy roads at about 9834 miles per hour, and arrived just outside of Sucre when...

MORE BARRICADES! That's right. The local buses in Sucre were on strike as well and had formed a barriacde around the city so that we couldn't enter. Eventually we threw on our backpacks, walked through the barricade, and found a very smug taxi driver on the other side who offered to drive us the rest of the way (when you're the only way into town, you also have the pleasure of overcharging your passengers). Alas, we begrudgingly handed over our painfully high taxi fare and entered Sucre.

For all the trouble of getting there, Sucre was worth it. It is a very white city lots of gardens and benches: the perfect lounging space. Walking around was very peaceful, and it was good to be in a city that wasn't as hectic as La Paz. Sucre has a decidedly European feel. It marked the end of indigenous South America for us, which was of course sad, but it was exciting to see this very different side of the continent. We really only had about a day to enjoy the city since we had to book it to Argentina to start work, but we did manage to walk around a lot and....

see dinosaurs!

This part of the entry is dedicated to Cassie Kirk, dinosaur enthusiast and talented Soprano.

Dinosaurs used to live in South America. They walked all over the place, ate some trees and fellow dinosaurs, and eventually died. All of this is well and good, but about a decage ago (I may have just completely made that up, maybe it was like 30 years ago) a cement company just outside of Sucre was digging around and found some giant footprints on the side of a mountain. Whose footprints? Bigfoot? Papa Noel and his reindeer? No no, my friends, they were dinosaur footprints. A billion and one years ago, that mountainside was bottom of a river. The dinosaurs pranced through the river, and the sediment eventually formed fossils of their giant footprints. Tectonic movements eventually forced the river bottom to become completely vertical (either that, or dinosaurs could walk up walls Matrix-style), so the dried up mountain side is dotted with brontosaurus prints. Cool! There is a cheesy/awesome dinosaur park across the way (you can't actually go up to the footprints because they are being protected by UNESCO, though high-power binoculars allow you to see the details-- whoa!) with life-size dinosaur replicas based on fossil and skeletal information. Dinosaur specialists helped design the models, so they are actually as realistic as they could possibly be. We learned which dinosaurs lived in the area and what they ate, but mostly it was fun to take pictures with the T-Rex and pretend we were being attacked. Dorky? Of course, who do you think I am?

(Dorky sidenote: To get to the dinosaur park, we rode in the Dino Truck. A pick-up truck with dinosaur claws coming out of the front hood. I just can't make these things up.)

So the dinosaurs rocked, Sucre rocked... the bus ride to Argentina did not rock. But right now it's time to watch some Argentina v. South Africa rugby, so that story will have to wait until next time. :)

La Paz

2007-10-07T13:44:00.000-03:00

The day after trekking Isla Del Sol, we caught the local bus (cheaper than the gringo bus) with Ellie to La Paz. The scenery is amazing even if the road is extremely bumpy and winding. Also, on the local bus, we stop in the middle of nowhere to let people on and off even when there is no indication of any sort of bus stop. It is pretty cool how this works that you can flag down the bus in the middle of the countryside with no problems. I would not like to find out what would happen if the bus was full. We had plenty of space, so there was no problem, but I can also imagine the bumpy, windy road to La Paz with people packed into the aisles, making it uncomfortable for everyone involved (like the buses in Quito). Anyway, we got to La Paz without a problem and found a hostel called Adventure Brew. It has its own microbrewery, kitchen access, places to hang out, tv room with dvd player, pretty much everything you could ask for. We decided to dorm it for the first time on this trip and it was fine. We were with good people in our room, including a kid who will be attending Bard in the fall and on our last day, a Vassar grad (02) showed up in the room next door to ours.

Since we arrived pretty early, we decided to do some exploring and wouldn´t you know, we ran into Jackson again. He and his group were about to go to the World Bank for a presentation and we decided to tag along after his program director gave it the ok. First of all, it was all in Spanish, so it was a little difficult for me, but I got the general gist of the standard propaganda that the World Bank spews to make itself seem positive, helpful and indispensible to developing countries. There was a lot of talk about the Millenium poverty goals yet the economist refused to give even a working definition of poverty here ("Poverty is like love. You can't really define love, but everyone knows what you mean when you say you're in love"). He did talk about increased urbanization but mostly in terms of how this affects government expenditure and thus loans taken. To say that loans need to be taken in order to pay back loans is one of the more ridiculous things he said. This was quite interesting since it is not an everyday experience and it is a look into one of the shackles of neo-colonialism. They were also bragging about how their money was used by the government (World Bank conditional loans) to build so many meters of bridges and kilometers of roads and whatnot. And what also was kind of frustrating was their position on bilingual education. They said that they want to increase educational access for all, but in Bolivia, which has large indigenous groups that don't necessarily speak Spanish, there should be education in the native language in addition to Spanish. His response to this question was that it really depends on the situation and that it is fine when the indigenous students make up 100% of the class, but that when they aren't the full class, then it shouldn't necessarily happen because it is an unfair advantage (gift, privilege, not quite sure what the right word is) over the other students. The program director also invited us to other events with the study group, but we didn´t make it to any others. Regardless, the experience at the World Bank was a good one just to see what they are doing here and what they have to say. It is also slightly difficult to believe that they really know what is happening on the ground level when they are based in an incredibly nice office in the business center of La Paz, so clearly removed from the poverty that is evident less than a mile away.

Jackson and his group had annother presentation to attend, so we left for dinner (BBQ) at the hostel and a sampling of the beers made there. They had a kolsch style, a bitter and a dark bock, all of which were very good and a welcome change from the somewhat unexciting pilseners that are all over Latin America. We then met up with Jackson and some of his friends for hummus, pita, spinach pies, hookah and chilean wine at a Lebanese place relatively nearby.

In the morning, we tried to have an ambitious start and promptly failed to get out as early as we had planned. We followed the walking tour given by our Lonely Planet guidebook and it took us through a lot of the places that we had explored the day before. It was mostly markets, but they were pretty awesome. There is a witches market that sells everything from llama fetuses to love potions, all sorts of charms and home remedies to stuffed cats and owls. This place was awesome to walk around just because of the strange variety of things, however disgusting some of them might seem. We also went through markets selling more traditional knicknacks and knockoffs. Sarah got a small backpack since hers is starting to fall apart and I got a hat because this altitude makes the sun so much stonger. We made it down to Plaza San Francisco and this place is nuts. It is chaos to a degree that I have never experienced. But it also has all of the street food one can possible ask for. Fresh orange and grapefruit juice is about $0.20 a glass, Salteñas (mini meat or chicken pies) and Tucumanos (fried pies with potatos, onions and either chicken or hard-boiled egg and all sorts of different sauces)are about $0.15 each, stuffed potatos with meat are around $0.30 and there is all sorts of different fresh breads, fresh popcorn (sweet or salty), roasted peanuts for very very cheap. We ate just about every single lunch on the street while we were in La Paz. Then at night, just like the street meat in NYC, there are stands with kebabs, burgers, sausages, hot dogs, fried eggs and french fries.

Enough about the street food, I tend to get carried away because it really is incredible. We also went into the museum adjacent to San Francisco that allowed us access to the crypts, the choral rafters, the roof of the church and a very impressive collection of religious art. The religious art of South America is similar to that of Europe, but also contains elements of indigenous beliefs and is quite cool. There are still some Franciscan monks living there, but they have ceded most of the area to the museum. After the museum, we also checked out the presidential palace and the cathedral in Plaza Murillo. From various revolutionary attempts and coups, the presidential palace is still pockmarked from bullets. The cathedral there is gigantic and very nice, but overwhelmingly gigantic. After dinner that night at an Israeli restaurant, with grand plans to go out to meet up with Jhinuk (co-worker from Cusco volunteering here too), we decided to take a short nap that didn´t end until 2 am, thus negating the evening plans.

Our third day was spent at museums. We checked out the Museo de Instrumentos Musicales, owned and operated by Ernesto Cavour, the famous Bolivian folk artist. It was a magnificent collection of ancient, new and novel musical instruments (the five guitars in one shaped like a star or the combination charango/guitar). Quite a few of the instruments were also open for use so we got to try some different things that were pretty cool. We then went to the National Art museum with a standard religious and colonial art collection and a very cool Bolivian modern art collection. However, the coolest part was a temporary exhibit of photographs, mostly by Latin American artists, of painted bodies. Some of them were painted so that half of the body was a skeleton, or muscles while others were really imaginative. There was one of two women, one of which was painted like a pillar, so well that it took a little while to figure out it was a person and the other woman was leaning on the pillar. Unfortunately, we were kicked out of lunchtime. We saw most of it, but never made it back to spend more time there. We also went to the Coca Museum, documenting the uses of the Coca plant over the centuries. It is amazing that the cultures here have used it for thousands of years as a medical plant and for work while the Western nations have used it for recreational drugs and thus are putting pressure on Bolivia to abandon Coca use even though it is completely different here. Yet another example of culturally insensitive foreign policy when the root of the drug production problem lies in the demand of the industrialized nations. We called it a day after that and went back to the hostel for a comfort day of movies and pizza delivery. It was awesome to have a day like that since we haven't had one since we left home.

Our fourth day was rather frustrating. It was a day of errands. We had to go up to the bus station, only to find everything closed for lunch and then we went to the post office for the 2 hour process of sending two packages back home. There were all of 5 people there, including us, trying to send packages, and I cannot figure out why something that should be so easy should take so long. But they had to be packaged properly and have the right forms filled out and on and on and on. Then they refused to ship Sarah's package because it didn't weigh enough. So even though mine was a full 1.5 kgs heavier than hers, mine also cost about $10 less. Where is the logic in that? After that debacle, it was street lunch and back to the bus station. One window of the company we bought our tickets through said I was not allowed to buy tickets for tomorrow's bus but then right next door I was able to do it without a problem. Things are so frustrating sometimes. So once again, it was another relaxing afternoon. We finally met up with Jhinuk for dinner at our hostel and it was great to see her and hang out. She is starting on a giant mural this weekend so it is really cool that she gets to put up some public art.

The next and final morning of La Paz, we packed our stuff, checked out and got into a van for a day trip. There were a few frustrating things. First of all, we are staying in the annex of the hostel, only a block away, but even though we told the travel agent, he did not relay that information and the guide was kind of angry that we weren't at the main location until we showed her the receipt with the annex written on it. Also, we were supposed to have been provided a snack, but the agency never gave it to the guide and the guide also decided not to mention this until we were really hungry in the afternoon and asked where the snack was. AHHHHHHHH. Otherwise it was really cool and beautiful. We went to the top of a mountain called Chacaltaya (5,600 meters) that had snow(!) on it but amazing views of the other mountains and the countryside and even La Paz. On a clear day, they say that you can see Lake Titikaka. It was not much walking, but still really hard because of the altitude. We then drove to the south of La Paz to the Valley of the Moon. It is called that because the landscape really looks lunar, it is amazing. Apparently it is all river sediment, extremely hardpacked, that was formed when the river was much higher. Pictures will really have to do the explaining for me, because I don't know quite how to describe it. Let it be left at the fact that it was really amazing to see something so strangely naturally formed like this.

We then went back to La Paz, ate some lunch (finally, since there had been no food and the tour ended at 4 pm), and relaxed until our bus. With the help of sleeping pills and a relatively smooth road, the overnight bus was not that bad. We arrived in Potosi around 6:30 this morning and will be here for two days before going to Sucre. This town is known for its former glory as a silver mining town and used to be one of the richest in South America. So we will check out the mines and write more later.

Update like whoa

2007-10-04T15:12:00.000-03:00

Sorry for the huge gap in blogging. Our last few days in Peru were quite hectic, and the internet in Bolivia was crazy expensive (they charged you by 15 second intervals!!), so we have had to wait until La Paz to have our internet fix.

Arequipa/Colca Canyon
So Arequipa was a cute town, and Juanita the child ice mummy is an absolute must if you're in the area. Seriously. Amazing. Eben and I had opted to go on the 1-day trip to the Colca Canyon, which, looking back, was not the best idea. Leaving at 1 in the morning is a bad way to start the day, and overall it was very rushed. For people thinking about visiting the Canyon, a 2-day trip (at least) is really the way to go. We spent a lot of time on a bus going over the bumpiest roads in the world. It was quite an adventure, never quite knowing whether you would fly out of your seat into the aisle. Paved roads? Ha! Not so much. When we finally arrived at the condor lookout point, however, all bad feelings were forgotten. These condors nest deep in the canyon and catch the winds from below to fly. They don't flap their wings but rather glide through the air. We arrived just in time to see about 5 condors rise up from the canyon and swoop through the sky. These creatures are enormous (the size of a 4-year old maybe?) and such an important part of the culture here. Watching them glide through the air, it's no wonder that they are revered so deeply. I dig it. It was the highlight of our day, though seeing the mountain where the ice mummies were discovered was another high point. Overall the day was decent enough, though a better guide and more sleep would have made it fabulous.

Puno
After a few days in Arequipa we departed for Puno, our first city along the famous Lake Titicaca. Having heard from various sources how beautiful the lake is, I personally was pretty pumped for Puno. After hopping off the bus, however, I was slightly disappointed. Puno is a gray, unimpressive city with not much to offer. Even worse, the Puno side of the lake was pretty icky. Sad! The thing to do in Puno is to explore the islands of Lake Titicaca, so on the morning of our second day, we took the ferry to the floating islands of Uros. Once we got out on the water, the clouds finally parted, and the water appeared much more lovely than the murky green water along the shore. Good way to start our tour of Uros. :) We had a funny bilingual guide who told us a lot about the islands, so I feel like we got a lot out of our trip. Having seen floating islands in Cambodia, I thought these islands would be similar: floating rafts anchored to the lake bottom. Uros was completely different. The island people wait until the end of the rainy season for chunks of reed roots to float to the top of the water, and they anchor these roots together and lay reeds across them to make a sort of floor. Walking on the reed ground is quite squishy, and at first I was convinced that I would fall through and be trapped in the lake. It's actually pretty sturdy, though, and nobody fell through. :) It's amazing to realize that an entire community lives this way, making their houses entirely out of reeds, navigating around in reed boats-- there is even a floating school for the younger children. We took a giant reed boat (very reminiscent of a Viking ship, except with the head of a puma/snake/llama and tail of a fish) to another island in the area after the island people sang us a farewell song in Aymara (the main indigenous language here), Spanish, and English. It was a cute day and so much fun!

After Uros, however, we were desperate to get out of Puno, so we took an afternoon bus into Bolivia...

Copacabana
Crossing the border into Bolivia was kind of fun. Our bus took us to the Peruvian side, where we had to get out and walk to the immigration office up the road. After getting our passports stamped, we then had to walk up the road even more to cross into Bolivia. Once there, we went to their immigration office, where the official basically gives you a stamp for however long you say you want (30 days or 90 days). Everyone was quite pleasant, and it was surprisingly hassle-free. We had heard rumors that guards sometimes try to charge you a phony "entrance tax" or demand to search your bags (and then steal valuables), but there was absolutely none of that. Afterwards we hopped back on the bus to Copacabana, a small town on the Bolivian side of Lake Titicaca.

Traveling by bus: beautiful. Honestly, I think it's the only way to go unless you need to get somewhere far away very quickly. The drive into Bolivia was absolutely beautiful. The deep turquoise waters of Lake Titicaca looked breathtaking in the sunlight and looks like it could stretch on forever. My dad told us (and our Uros guide said this as well)that the Bolivians like to say that the "Titi" part of the lake is in Bolivia, and the "caca" side of the lake is in Peru! For those who don't speak Spanish, "caca" means "shit." Quite blunt, no? I don't know if I will go so far as to entirely agree with that statement, but the Copacabana part of Lake Titicaca puts the Puno side to absolute shame.

Copacabana has all the makings of a sleepy beach town (except for the lack of beach). Everyone is friendly and relaxed, and the fact that the lake is so amazing just makes you feel happy to be there. Copacabana has some very beautiful parts, most notably the Cathedral. The Moorish architecture is so different from anything we have seen so far. Every day (especially on Sundays), motorists park their vehicles in front of the Cathedral to have it blessed. Vendors in front of the Cathedral sells bottles of wine, beer and champage-- not so much to be used for personal consumption, but for the motorists to splash all over the vehicles and the ground (to Pacha Mama, or Mother Earth). There are also priests with buckets of holy water and old women with burning cauldrons of incense. The sight is amazing to watch, as it is taken so seriously. You can even buy a miniature car or house from the vendors and have that blessed. Afterwards, people can climb up a mountain (Cerro Calvario) overlooking the harbor and find a shaman who will bless them even more. Though we didn't get blessed by the shaman, Eben and I did walk up the mountain to take in the views. Despite a disturbing amount of trash (apparently littering is a huge problem here) along the way, it's incredible. There are stone cabinet-like things on the top for people to place white burning candles, and a series of stone crosses casts an almost eerie shadow on the ground.

My favorite part about Copacabana, though, is a small candle chapel off the side of the main Cathedral. At first it feels as though you have mistakenly wandered into a sewer or underground squatter's zone, as the walls are completely black, there is little light, and a few beggars are gathered around the entryway. Once you make it through, however, you see dozens of flickering white candles that have been placed on stone slabs in the middle of the room and along the walls. It is such a simple sight, but overwhelmingly beautiful at the same time. The walls are black, save for some candle wax graffiti (interesting). The air feels so warm from the lit candles, and I personally felt like I could stand there for hours holding a candle in silent meditation. There's something so basic about candles, like candlelight vigils, that is very touching and powerful. The chapel was like a big vigil for humanity. That's the best way I can think of to describe it.

Aside from my newfound love for candles (yay!), Eben and I strapped on our adventure boots once more for some trekking on La Isla Del Sol, the origin of the Inca creation myth. We took a painfully slow ferry across Lake Titicaca for 2 hours until we reached the northern end of the island. Happy to finally be on land, we quickly hiked up to the northern tip, past the Sacred Rock where the first Inca supposedly rose from the water, up to a nice lookout point. The ground was covered in rock towers (shrines to Apu, the god of the mountains), so we unpacked our amazing picnic lunch, made our own Apu monument, and soaked up the sunshine.

(Warning: SPF 30 is not strong enough for South America.)

Desipte numerous applications of sunblock, my poor little shoulders suffered a bit throughout the day. We trekked for 3 hours to the southern end of the island, the trail at times a bit rough. The altitude is killer. We were very exposed (on a dry island with practically no trees, the sun will find you and abuse you), but at least it gave us a great unblocked view of the water! :) Along the way we befriended a British girl our age, Ellie, who I swear seemed totally unaffected by the (a) altutide, (b) heat, (c) terrain. All of the above? I'm jealous. Anyway, Isla Del Sol was gorgeous.

Random: Our first night in Copa, we ran into a Vassar guy (Jackson) who played soccer with Eben and is now JYA in Cochabamba, Bolivia. Weird! This proves my theory that (a) the world is actually the size of my flip-flop, and (b) Vassar people are everywhere. We had a good laugh over running into each other and hung out later that night with him and another guy from his JYA program. It was good company, and we learned how to play a Bolivian dice game. I have no idea what it is called, or really what the rules were, but Eben and I won, so that's all that matters. :)

A Lost City and a New City

2007-09-26T19:12:00.000-03:00

So Sarah finished her last blog before our last day at Inti. The last day went just as any last day will when there is a mutual feeling of sadness about the departure. The day itself was pretty normal. The kids did homework, it rained, we finished up the posters, the kids ran around and tormented the dog, etc... Nicola and Jhinuk finished a hanging display for the garden that was really nice with Inti´s name in blue hanging letters and lots of beads and whatnot. We contributed with a simple but very nice sounding windchime, not much but something. At the end, we had to say our goodbyes to kids and staff. So we said our goodbyes, promised to write and refer other volunteers. What was very sad to see was that the kids who we kind of connected with stayed around after the others left just to spend a little more time with us. We took plenty of pictures, but it was sad to say goodbye. We were thinking and talking about what it must be like to have such a rotation of people that the kids become close with, only to never see again. It must be very hard for them and frustrating every time, but I still think that we helped where we could and accomplished at least something small in connecting with some of the kids despite language difficulties (on my part).

After work, we went home to rest up and then out with Nicola and Jhinuk to this place called 7 Angelitos with live music and very relaxed atmosphere. Then after Nicola called it a night, Jhinuk joined us for the club circuit to collect the free drinks. Tom was sick, so he couldn´t join us like last time, but he taught us well. The clubs here, like we said before, are hilarious. They have the most random mix of music and all offer free drinks. They are great. So it was a late night but we made it home without any problems.

Saturday was very relaxed, recovering from the clubbing madness of Friday and resting for the excursion to Machu Picchu. We met up with Jhinuk and Nicola to trade some photos and grab some food before calling it an early night. On Sunday, we woke up at 4 AM to catch the 6 AM train to Aguas Calientes, the jumping off town to Machu Picchu. After an absurdly early morning, and a four hour train ride, we arrived in the most tourist driven town I have ever seen in my life. This surpasses Kaosan Road in Bangkok, Siem Reap in Cambodia, and even Times Square in New York City. You can´t walk ten feet without someone trying to get you to eat at their restuarant, buy their souveniers, get a massage, etc... It is an ugly town that is only good for the bed it provides to get up early for Machu Picchu. The hostel we were at was a stuffy, humid room with no windows, or in other words, disappointing since we decided to book through one of the more expensive agencies in Cuzco. However, all the meals provided (eaten at the hotel) were quite delicious and the guy was very helpful in sorting out train ticket problems (we weren´t sitting together for the ride back according to our tickets). These facts somewhat redeemed the otherwise disappointing hostel.

For the afternoon, we decided to climb a nearby mountain that looks across the valley directly at Machu Picchu. Oh my lord, we were not ready for this. It was slightly drizzling on and off and a storm looked like it was approaching, but we decided to go anyway. This was so difficult. There is a clearly marked path up to the top, but it is essentially climbing a couple hundred meters by stairs. There were also ladders, one of which was 15 meters high, going up the mountain. By the time we made it to the top (1 1/2 hours), we were exhausted. It was totally worth it though for the perfect view of Machu Picchu. It was awesome and breathtaking and since we got there late in the afternoon, Machu Picchu was nearly empty of tourists. It made for great photos. Then it was another hour back down to the hotel. It was great but tiring and was good practice for the next day.

We went to bed right after dinner since we had to wake up again at 4 AM to get to Machu Picchu early. But again, it was so worth it. We didn´t think so at first, but as the place started filling up around 11 we knew that we did the right thing. We went with an English couple who booked through the same agency and three other people with a great guide through Machu Picchu. He explained everything and it was really nice to have him there rather than try to figure things out for ourselves. The place is beyond description, just the fact that it is there is a testament to the amazingness of the Incan empire. It is also so well preserved and Peru is doing a good job to keep it that way. After our tour ended, we were given a few options for hikes around the area. We chose the shortest since the day before was exhausting. It was out to an Inca bridge about 30 minutes away from the site and it was pretty cool. We walked along the edge of the mountain to this bridge, which was not the rope bridge as we hoped, but rather a bridge just of wood going over a small gap in the mountainside so that the trail could continue. We were not allowed to cross it, but it was still pretty cool. After that, we went back to Machu Picchu and took lost of photos with the llamas that live up there and just relaxed in the overwhelming magnificence that is Machu Picchu. Around noon, having spent 6 hours there, we decided to make our way down, by foot. There are stairs, but they are steep and tall and really do a number on the knees. We made it back to town, tired again. Overall, it was a great experience despite the bummer that is the town of Aguas Calientes. I definitely want to return to hike the Inca trail for a few days before arriving to Machu Picchu. Perhaps when I am older, have more money and book it far in advance. The Inca trail was full through part of November, so we couldn´t do it.

We arrived back in Cuzco around 10 pm and went straight to sleep. Tuesday was spent packing and running those last minute errands like confirming bus tickets, booking a hostel in Arequipa and finishing our paragraphs (in Spanish) for Inti. We gave our paragraphs to Nicola and said our goodbyes to her again. We ate our final lunch in Cuzco at our favorite restaurant called Jack´s which does a mean breakfast and an even better lunch. Then we finished packing, took some photos of new graffiti and got to the bus station for our night bus to Arequipa. The bus itself was pretty cool, we got the VIP seats that almost fully recline and are like first class seats in airplanes. We also got dinner but there were a few obnoxious things like a movie being played after the lights went out and everybody was already starting to fall asleep, or Bingo being played upstairs over the speakers when nobody downstairs wanted to play, etc... And since the roads are rather windy through the mountains it was hard to fall asleep always being jerked around. But eventually, I found a comfortable position, as did Sarah and we both slept soundly until the arrival at 6 this morning. It was good not to lose a day on the bus (10 hour ride), but we still needed more sleep. We checked into our hotel and promptly passed out until 9.

The hotel is quite nice, we seem to be the only ones there and we have a good clean room with a window and a good shower (what more can you ask for). Today we spent exploring Arequipa. The city is much more metropolitan than Cuzco, and thus not as beautiful, but it is still really nice. It has some amazing colonial architecture that has survived the centuries and most of it is built out of a white volcanic rock, giving Arequipa the nickname of "The White City." We checked out the two big churches, the Cathedral and La Compañia and well as the Santa Catalina monastary. The monastary only opened itself up to the public in 1970 after 391 years of exclusion and secrecy. It truly is a city within a city and it is very beautiful. We were told to check it out at night, but I don´t think that we will be able to make it. We also went to the Catholic University museum which houses Juanita and other Inca mummies that were offered as sacrifices on the mountain and volcano tops around Arequipa. It was awesome, it is amazing how well preserved these are, and just by chance unlike the Egyptian mummies. It is also cool how these mummies can offer more information on the Inca culture and rituals.

Tomorrow, we are getting up at 1 AM to go visit the Colca Canyon which is almost the deepest canyon in the world. Hopefully we will see some condors, but regardless, we are promised some amazing views that dwarf the Grand Canyon. We will write more about it soon. And we are going to Puno, on Lake Titicaca on Friday morning, so a lot of moving as we make our way to La Paz and then Buenos Aires.

Tranquilized puppies

2007-09-21T13:36:00.000-03:00

It's our last day at Inti! I can't believe how quickly the past three weeks have flown by, and I sincerely wish we could stay here for even longer. We will undoubtedly miss the kids, but I plan on taking a million pictures of them this afternoon so we can post a few photos of the little devils in action. :) My favorite of the week, Mabel, has taken to running up to me and whispering in my ear, "!El profe Eben es malo!" or "!La profe Nicola es mala!" or "!Tu eres mala!," which means "[Professor's name] is bad!" Then she'll burst into laughter and run away and tell someone else that they're bad. It's really adorable in spite of its weirdness. She's only 8, so she can get away with it.
The ever-mischievous Mabel with Eben and the puppy

Everyone at Inti surprised me on Wednesday as the kids were getting ready to have their early supper. Yesterday (Thursday) was my birthday (yay 22!), but since Inti wasn't really open yeterday (more about that in a second) they decided to celebrate a day early. Jhinuq, one of the British girls, made me a cute card that everyone signed, and all of the kids sang to me. It was so unexpected and happy, and I of course started to cry a little because it was so adorable. Then all of the girls wanted to give me a hug and a kiss, so I ran around the classroom giving hugs to everyone. :) And Mabel naturally whispered to me that Eben is indeed malo. Of course. My birthday has felt pretty low-key this year, but I figure that's to be expected after the obligatory ridiculous 21st birthday party. Jhinua, Nicola, Eben, and I went out for birthday lunch and bought a bunch of bootleg DVDs at a market near work. Eben and I then had the BEST birthday dinner on the Plaza at an Andean/Italian restaurant. Amazing pasta (and I *do* know my Italian food) that reminded me of being at Gino's in Bologna with the JYA crew, and great Chilean wine. Overall it was really lovely, and it was a good way to celebrate. Tonight we'll all go out dancing, so that will be fun too. Hurrah for birthdays!

The past week has been very busy at work. Jhinuq held a drawing contest that thankfully interested all of the kids and kept them occupied after homework time. It was nice to see them so focused on something creative, and we gave out prizes to everyone who participated. Hopefully they'll have more artsy activities after we leave. Eben and I finished a photo project of all of the Inti kids that we've been working on for at least a week and a half. We took photos of all of the Inti kids and labeled them with their names, which are now displayed on a wall in the classroom. The morning kids have their photos posted on a bright yellow sun, and the afternoon kids have theirs posted on a big blue house. Jhinuq and Nicola came up with that idea, which is pretty cute since Intiu Runakunaq Wasin means "The House of the Children of the Sun." Ohhhh, symbolism. We thought it would be a practical gift to leave behind for future volunteers who need help learning everyone's names quickly. It's also fun for the kids, who for the most part love the idea of digital cameras and their faces appearing on a screen. They keep running up to the photo wall to find their picture, so I feel satisfied that our project makes them a bit proud as well. :)

Yesterday some American reporters from small Catholic newspapers arrived at Inti as part of a tour through Peru focusing on children's relief organizations. The entire center was cleaned at least twice the day before in advance, and the morning of the reporters' arrival everyone was running around in a panic as they tried to make sure everything was perfect. I also suspect that someone gave their puppy, Kusi, a tranquilizer, because he was passed out in the garden all day. Normally he runs all over the center chasing the kids and jumping on people to lick their faces. Sleepy Kusi? I smell a scandal. Either way, tranquilizers or not, I'm a bit amused that every time a group comes to tour the center, the kids are sent to clean the floors and windows, and everyone tries to be on their best behavior. The impression the reporters were getting was definitely not how it usually is. All of the volunteers were instructed to work in the morning so the reporters could see us, but since there weren't many kids there, mostly we just tried to avoid the reporters and attempted to enliven Kusi and make him dance. The reporters were nice enough, but I wasn't crazy about the way they snapped about 50 photos of one girl who was making a pair of earrings and didn't really interact with the students past their camera lenses. It felt very superficial, and I don't think they could have possibly understood what Inti is really like. I suppose that is to be expected to some extent, given that they were only at Inti for a couple of hours, but I think it's safe to say that we're happpy they won't be here today.

Other than that, this week Eben and I have been exploring the churches and museums that we didn't get to see on the big tourist ticket (Boleto Turistico). The Cathedral was huge and amazing. I can't even adequately describe how beautiful the interior is. High vaulted ceilings, intricate wood carvings, and of course a multitude of paintings. There is one great painting of the Last Supper with an Andean twist-- on the table is a platter of roast guinea pig and pitchers of chicha, the local corn-based beer. Very humorous, and a beautiful work of art as well. In La Compania de Jesus we were able to climb up to a small tower and look out over the plaza, which is pretty cool. We also went down to a crypt that had a section of the floor removed to reveal some sort of additional crypt or hidden tunnel. There are rumors that since the Cathedral and La Compania de Jesus were built over Inca temples, there may be undiscovered tunnels connecting them with the ruins at Saqsayhuaman. I wouldn't be surprised to learn in 10 years that archeologists have indeed found them. Secret passages are always fun to wonder about, and a tunnel that stretches for a kilometer sounds fun. :)

That's about it! We head to Machu Picchu on Sunday, just a few days after my birthday, and that will rock. Internet is about to run out, so off I go!

More sightseeing, mild disappointments and the most amazing festival ever

2007-09-16T19:30:00.000-03:00

So, Picking up where Sarah left off leaves us at Thursday and the Sacred Valley. We went on an all day tour that cost about $9, including everything but lunch that took us all over one of the valleys outside Cusco that contains tons of Inca ruins and towns that still speak much much more Quechua than Spanish. We started at a place called Pisac that has a huge marketplace in town that draws all of the farmers from the area and of course the tourist targeted crafts. But just outside of town on a hill/mountain, there are some fabulous Incan ruins that we went to with very well crafted waterways bringing fresh water from the snow covered mountains nearby. These wells and waterways are still running after hundreds of years, pretty amazing.

From there, on to our first mild disappointment. We were promised that lunch would be wherever we wanted, and while this technically was true, the restaurant that the tour company brought us to was far enough away from anything decent (we did try to find something) that is pretty much was our only option. It was a pretty boring Peruvian food buffet tourist style.

From there we went to Ollantaytambo, which was incredible. These ruins are all going up a hillside and are so well preserved it is incredible. We will put up pictures of it later. But it is a lot of the Incan terraces for farming and then temple ruins with huge stones for walls that still have some of the reliefs carved into them. Our last stop of the day was in Chinchero which is a very quaint town with a marvelous colonial church built atop an Incan temple. The art inside the church was quite nice and it was in front of one of the more beautiful plazas that we have seen so far.

Our second disappointment was on the bus back to Cusco. For some reason, a musician came on the bus and he was quite talented with the pan flute and that was very interesting. But once he started to play My Heart Will Go On with a wooden recorder, the line was crossed into absurd. And then of course, everybody had to tip him and it was very frustrating. So the moral of the story is, while getting a very cheap tour can be awesome, be prepared to put up with some ridiculous things.

On Friday morning we completed our last day of Spanish. Sarah got a pretty good review and I think that she is doing fine with it. I need some serious vocabulary to go with my verb conjugating skills that I learned. I am understanding most things as long as they aren´t said to quickly, but I have trouble putting sentences together.

After Spanish, we went back to the contemporary art museum for one of the more interesting displays I have ever seen. It was a flower competition and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and honorable mention pieces in each catagory were displayed. The catagories ranged from religious flower arrangements to "A Semi-formal Tea for Two," in which the designers tried to match the tea set, the flowers and the tablecloth. There were some more abstract ones that were really cool involving a large frame and much more freedom of design. That was very interesting to think of flowers as art when they are so temporary and thus the art itself is temporary.

Work on Friday was pretty noneventful. There weren´t very many kids there, so Sarah, Tom (a new English guy who started this week) and I put together our display of the house with the pictures of all the afternoon kids so that volunteers will have an easier time with names and it shows the Inti family. It is cool and on Monday we should be finishing the display of the morning kids.

Friday night was our first night out in Cusco. We went out with Tom and he certainly knows how to work the system. Most of the clubs offer a free drink to get people to actually come in. So we jumped from free drink to free drink at the tourist clubs until settling in a slightly more Peruvian club that offered half priced drinks. These clubs are hilarious. They play a lot of bad hip-hop with some good songs thrown in here and there. The best one was called Mama Africa which seemed to play slightly better music and a wider range with Jay-Z followed by the Killers followed by Green Day and then Kanye. We had an excellent time and stayed out far longer than we planned.

On Saturday morning we had to be up by 7 to make it into town for horseback riding around the ruins near Cusco. Waking up was terrible, but we were both mostly recovered by the time we started our tour. We had a great guide and we joined by a French Canadian couple from New Brunswick who were very nice. Unfortunately, two months ago, the excursion would have been much better. The city banned horses from getting near the ruins due to erosion, so we rode around the countryside between sites, but never quite up to them.

Our first site was called Tambumachay which was a Temple to the sun. It was rather small, but very well preserved and like Pisac, still had running water. The water looks so clear and clean and cold and I would love to drink it, but I would also rather not risk it. From there we went to Pucupuchay which was a fortress and a checkpoint along one of the old trading routes. From there we got back on our horses for the ride back to Saqsayhuaman which is the biggest temple of the area. The horse riding itself was pretty awesome, the views were incredible, we had a good guide and it was just really cool to be riding through the country.

Our guide was definitely in his element at Saqsayhuaman. He is a grad student in archeology and participates in the digs there. They are still uncovering quite a bit and it is fantastic. Our pictures will show just how awesome it is. Some of the rocks are over 100 tons and just the fact that they were able to build something like this was incredible.

After our tour we took a much needed nap before going out to dinner at the house that one of the girls we are working with is staying at. She is staying with a very young couple who are both Salsa dancing teachers and love to party. Dinner was very interesting with them, it was tapas and pisco sours. I will never forget this, but they served, as one of the dishes, hotdogs cooked with red peppers and celery in coca-cola. Out of respect, the meat eaters tried it, but nobody would eat more than a single bite. And none of the Peruvians ate it, so we think it may have been something that they think we,as foreigners might like. The host father said that it was just something that he thought might taste good so he made it up. The rest of the food was better, chips with guacamole and individual pizzas. The drinks were also quite good as they have both been bartenders. We had a good time there and then went out to a club for dancing. Sarah and I did not last long since we stayed out late the previous night, but everyone else stayed out until about 5.

This morning was an awesome ceremony up at Saqsayhuaman. It consisted of first, an hour of traditional dances by 1st graders who were mighty cute, an opening ceremony introducing the Inca king, queen and warriors and finally the competitions between the different warrior teams, all high schoolers. The competitions were amazing, the involved some rickety contraption of really high logs that they had to climb up and then something to get across (a rope bridge, rings, balance beam, etc...) and fire below it. Basically, if they failed to get across, they fell into the fire at which point kids with stretchers carried them away. Most of the contenders weren´t actually hurt, but if they didn´t land on their feet, they had to be carried away. It was amazing. The whole point of this ceremony is to distinguish the manliest of the boys of Cusco and improve their marriage prospects. We also have lots of pictures that will go up soon.

This afternoon was a bummer because we thought there would be a soccer game, but it was false information. So we are in the internet cafe instead. Th-th-th-that´s all folks.

The problem with trying to save the world

2007-09-13T21:25:00.000-03:00

I´ve often called this 5-month experience my time to save the world. And in truth, a few months of post-Vassar idealism is exactly what I wanted. Not surprisingly, trying to help people isn´t all that easy. The great thing about Inti is that it is giving such a real view of what it is like to work in an intervention setting, maybe even more so than an organization in the United States would. Inti doesn´t get any government funding and is entirely dependent on donations. It has a wonderful goal of offering support to street kids and children who essentially live in poverty. The fact that a lot of our kids live outside of the city and walk for an hour just to come here says (I think) that this is something important in their lives. They get some sort of guidance, they learn to do crafts, and overall are given the opportunity to be regular kids. They can have fun, they can get exposure to the arts through projects devised by the volunteers, and most importantly, they are safe. Some of these kids have abusive parents or work in unsafe conditions, so at least while they are at Inti, they can escape that part of their lives. This, the idea that they have a safe place, is essential.

Ideology aside, there is a very frustrating side to this whole intervention attempt. The most obvious is that there simply is not enough money. The kids have plenty of books available to them, which is excellent, but art supplies are low. Their drawing supplies consist of a very sad plastic container filled with crayon stubs. There is also a dearth of paper for them to actually use for art projects. Problematic. The teachers are also more like workshop supervisors, meaning that the man who does jewelry making doesn´t often leave his jewelry room. The needlepoint instructor is only there in the mornings, so one of the volunteers has been filling in during the afternoons. Other than that, the program is entirely run by volunteers. In a sense, this is great for us, because we have total freedom over what projects we want to do with the kids and are in constant contact with them. However, this lack of structure or non-volunteer supervision means that there is no consistent schedule, which I really believe these kids need in their lives. Of course it´s wonderful to be flexible, but if all of us are helping with homework or trying to run a theater practice, who will watch the kids who don´t have homework and are running around chasing the dog through the entire building? Nobody. There is nobody. If they could only have one or two adults there who have a constant presence and maintain order, I think everyone would be a lot more productive. Occasionally someone will appear and yell at the kids if they´re being rowdy, but I just don´t think that is good enough.

At times I feel frustrated and powerless and just want to take over the organization myself and paint all the walls a pretty color and run things in a more efficient way. I realize that this is indeed a very difficult thing to do (or else things would run more smoothly as it is), but I honestly think that even small changes would be greatly helpful. I think the most important thing I am taking from experience is an awareness of the characteristics that can potentially define a successful and nonsucessful attempt at intervention among low-income youths. I´m also becoming more aware of my own impatience with inefficiency, something I definitely need to work on is this is something I´d like to do in the future. I guess frustration isn´t necessarily bad as long as it can yield a solution.

That's essentially my big rant about working in Perú. I am exasperated with The System but love working with the kids. I like that they can have fun and feel appreciated by everyone working at Inti. If nothing else, I can feel pretty satisfied knowing that I made a few kids happy. :)

Pictures soon!

Llama or alpaca?

2007-09-12T23:09:00.000-03:00

Sorry for the lack of posting the last few days. I was quite sick all weekend and quite literally could not get out of bed. For a little while we thought I had malaria since I conveniently had all of the symptoms and since Ricardo has mentioned when we were at the beach in Ecuador that it is not unheard of for the mosquitos to carry malaria. Fun! As it turns out, I am malaria-free (this is probably for the best, though personally, I think having malaria would give me a lot of street cred) and once again on my feet. Sadly, we had to miss what was supposed to be an adventure-packed weekend of horseback riding to ancient Inca sites and touring the Sacred Valley. One of the volunteers at Inti, Carolina, also left this weekend, so we missed her farewell celebration. Being sick is simply no good.

Life outside of my bed has not been too exciting this week. Eben and I have been taking Spanish classes every morning. I've felt a bit understimulated by this, though Eben has had to learn a LOT in very little time. Mostly I just need grammar review. I'm beyond thrilled that my Spanish has come back so quickly. Hearing it every day and speaking it every day with the kids has done wonders, and while I hesitate to call myself fluent, I am definitely comfortable with where my Spanish is right now. The best part is that it will only improve. I don't feel too self-conscious when I speak, which only encourages me to speak even more. Nicola, another Inti volunteer, is maybe the best example I can think of when it comes to people trying to speak a foreign language. She does it very confidently and enthusiastically even though much of what she says is not technically correct. How else will you learn? Something to keep in mind...

Though we've been taking it slow this week, Eben and I have managed to see a few museums. There is a 10-day tourist ticket that includes entrance to about 14 sights. Ours expires after this weekend (we were supposed to use it for the first time last weekend), so we're trying very hard to make sure that we don't miss a single thing. So far we saw a very tiny archeological museum (El Museo de Sitio del Qorikancha) underneath an Incan ruin, El Museo de Arte y Monasterio de Santa Catalina, El Museo Municipal de Arte Contemporaneo, and El Museo Historico Regional. The museums have all been pretty small and end quite suddenly. Something I noticed specifically at the Monastery of Santa Catalina, though also at the Regional Historical Museum, is that many of the paintings are in bad condition. The canvas is warped and doesn't lie flat against the wall, and it's also often badly torn or burned. It's strange to see paintings like that out on dispay. I imagine they were damaged in one of the many earthquakes that have occurred in the region over the centuries, but who knows.

Wish I could write more, as I have lots to write about working at Inti and my frustrations with organizations like this (yes, the Psychology major in me), but our internet cafe is kicking us out. More for next time, I suppose!

Though I do have one final question: What is the difference between a llama and an alpaca? They look the same to me!

Work Has Begun

2007-09-04T22:50:00.000-03:00

Let me begin by saying that Cuzco is awesome. Yes, this city is all about the tourism, but it is so beautiful and awesome that it doesn´t really matter. As opposed to only being a jumpoff point for Machu Picchu, the city still has many Inca walls running through it and the colonial churches were often built as additions or over existing Inca temples, so much of it is still intact. The Inca stone work far surpasses almost anything I have ever seen with giant boulders fitting together perfectly without any grout or cement holding the walls together. We did some site-seeing later in the day after our last blog and went to Santo Domingo, which was built over Qoricancha, or the Temple of the Sun. While it was a little strange to see two wildly different architectural styles within the same structure, it was also magnificent. The Inca temple rooms still exist within the church itself and then there is the standard, and of course beautiful, colonial Catholic church. Also, the outside of the church, facing Avenue del Sol, is almost completely supported by Incan walls. Other than that, the rest of Sunday was spent walking around and just checking out the city. I bought a pretty sweater and Sarah got a pair of socks, both made out of Alpaca wool which is mighty soft and comfortable.

On Monday we started work. It is a really cool place that is doing really good work. Everyone there is working as a volunteer because almost all of the funding comes from donations. The kids there are all kids who are working in the streets or in the markets, or collecting money on the buses, etc... Since the schools are either in the afternoon or the morning, depending on age, the older kids are at the center in the morning and the younger kids come in the afternoon. We spent all day there on Monday to see which part of the day we would like to work since they only expect us to work half-days. The morning was pretty fun. Sarah spent her time in the center helping with homework and then doing needlepoint. I went with the group of special education children, most of whom have down syndrome, up to the park to play soccer. We had a great time and I have a new friend named Guillermo. We were teammates for soccer and we have spent the last two days walking him to his bus at the end of the day. He did the funniest thing while walking to the bus. He was with us five volunteers. We get to a crosswalk and there is a police officer there. Guillermo walks right up to the police officer, shakes his hand and says very confidently, "Estos son mis amigos." (These are my friends) It was the funniest thing ever. He also grabs my arm whenever we have to cross the street. He really likes me and I think it is cool to have already made friends despite my language problems. Sarah is doing much better than I am with Spanish and I am having a really hard time understanding what the kids are saying.

During the afternoon, we were joined by three more volunteers, one who has been there since March. The younger kids are a lot more energetic than the older kids, but they are a lot of fun. Two of the volunteers have had the kids working on a play, so we were helping out with that. The play is an adaptation of an old Peruvian story that the girls found. It is about a girl who goes off into the jungle following a butterfly and gets very lost and can´t find her way back home. But with the help of some of the animals, she is able to make it back to the river and sees her village across the river. The butterfly then comes back and suggests that she turns into a butterfly to get across the river and she does and ever since, she has had a bit of butterfly in her heart. Well, the kids got to make masks and those who want to participate will perform on Thursday. In addition to the play, we did some homework help and decided that afternoons would be more fun than the mornings. The special education kids are there all day, so I might be spending some more time with them if we go to the park again or the teacher wants an extra hand.

Today (Tuesday), we spent all morning looking at different tour companies to figure out how we will get to Machu Picchu and what other weekend activities we can do while we are here. I think that this weekend we will do tours of the Inca ruins around Cuzco. We might even do one day on horseback. We also decided on a language school and we start Spanish lessons tomorrow morning. I am excited to do this so that I will be able to understand what the kids are saying. Also, as I learned today, trying to help with homework and not understanding it myself or not knowing how to explain how to do a math problem is very frustrating.

This afternoon at work, we started with homework, which is pretty much the daily routine. As kids finished up, there were a couple things going on. Some people were making masks for the play, others were making jewelry (some of it is really nice and these kids are quite talented), some were doing needlepoint and the rest were either playing with the parrot or chasing the dog around. For the most part, the kids listen and will do what they are told and we don´t seem to have any that are a real handful. Just like yesterday, we walked Guillermo to the bus today. Although it was slightly less eventful than yesterday´s conversation with the police officer, he is still a really funny guy.

Until next time, we will be working afternoons with the little kids (7-13) and taking language classes.

Part 2

2007-09-02T14:16:00.000-03:00

Our final evening in Ecuador was awesome. We went to see Inti-Illimani perform at the Casa de Cultura with Ricardo's parents, which in and of itself would have been a great end to our time in Quito. They are an amazing Chilean group, very political, and probably one of the most important South American groups in recent history. Eben and I were able to see them perform last summer on Long Island, which was kind of random, but we were excited to see them in South America. The group is made up of about 8 guys, all of whom can play at least 3 instruments. During a single song, one person can start playing the drums, then switch to the pan flute, and do vocals in between. It's interesting to see (and hear) the range of their musical abilities. There's no doubt that they are incredibly talented. I was happy because they played all of my favorite songs, and both the group and the audience were full of energy and passion. It was awesome.

What made Inti's appearance even more special was that there was a very special guest in attendance... the President of Ecuador! When we had first arrived at the Casa de Cultura, we had noticed that there were military police all over the place, which seemed kind of odd. There were even bomb-sniffing dogs pacing the stage for an hour before the concert. We had thought that maybe this was to prevent radical conservatives from attacking Inti (you never know), but alas, it was all for the President. While he was surrounded by Secret Service men, he was really friendly and shook everyone's hand who approached him and didn't seem too concerned about being protected. During the intermission, Eben and I ran over to where he was sitting to see if we could score an autograph or something. I was overcome with dorky excitement and shook his hand with a dorky grin on my face and couldn't stop giggling. Thank goodness Eben was much cooler. Kind of.

Eben: (makes autograph gesture with our program)
El Señor Presidente: ¿Usted es ecuatoriano?
Eben: Uh, no, americano.
El Señor Presidente: ¿Habla español?
Eben: Uh, un poquito.
El Señor Presidente: Ah, okay. What are you doing here? (signs program)
Eben: We're visiting a friend that we go to school with, traveling.
El Señor Presidente: That's wonderful! (pats Eben on back)

And so it went something like that. My personal opinion is that he is a mighty nice guy. What makes him even cooler is that for the finale of the concert, Inti was like, "Okay, we're going to sing the song you all came for (El Pueblo Unido), but only if the President sings it with us." So of course we're all turning around in our seats, trying to see the President, when all of a suddent he appears on stage with his Secret Service men and military police dudes, smiling and waving. And he takes his place at a microphone and sings "El Pueblo Unido," THE song of revolution, with Inti-Illimani, fist raised in air. It was awesome. So not only did we get to meet the President of Ecuador, get his autograph, and talk to him, we also got to rock out and sing revolution songs with him. Can life be any more awesome? I really don't think so. :)

So that brings me to Perú. We flew out of Quito Friday night after a bit of a delay. The Quito airport had to shut down because the tire of a plane from Iberia airlines exploded as they landed. Miraculously, nobody was hurt, but it took some time to tow the plane off of the runway and clean up the exploded tire. How very very scary. Our flight took off without any problems, and we spent the night in Lima (kind of) before going back to the airport at 4 am to fly to Cusco. We are doing a homestay with an older woman, Gladis Valencia, who lives close to the city center. It's less expensive than staying in a hostel, and this way we'll speak more Spanish. Both very good things.

My first impression of Cusco is that it is very very different from Quito. The mountains don't look the same at all. While the mountains in Quito were very green, here they look very dry and brown. The city as a whole is kind of brown now that I think about it. I don't know if that will make any sense, but once we put more pictures up, maybe you will understand. I feel a connection with Cusco that I just didn't have with Quito. Part of this stems from Cusco being much more catered to tourists and backpackers, which I don't think is a bad thing. There is so much to see, so much to explore both within the city and outside, that every moment feels as though it should be an adventure. I hope it will be. We're doing some light sightseeing today and hope to see some ruins outside of the city next weekend. We start our work tomorrow (yay!), which is very exciting and just a little scary. We don't know what we'll be doing yet, but our next update will be full of information. Until then, this is the website of the organization we'll be working with. Feel free to explore! I can tell that Cusco is going to be one of new favorite places. I'm so happy that we have 3 weeks here!

So that's about it for now. We have uploaded all of our Ecuador photos, which can be found at our online photo album. Our Perú photos will probably come a bit more slowly, both on the photo website and on this blog. We will, however, edit past entries to add photos, so be sure to check up on those in the coming weeks.

Still in Quito

2007-08-29T23:04:00.000-03:00

As Sarah left off, we had plans to go into the city with Jani, Ricardo's sister on Monday and to go up in the cable car. Well, we went into the city, but we didn't make it to the cable car until today. But let's start with Monday. Sarah and I accompanied Jani and her oldest cousin, whose name we still don't know, back into the old section of Quito. The goal: to see everything we missed. The outcome: mostly successful. We began at La Compañía de Jesus and believe me when I say that this was unbelievable. According to the guidebook, nearly seven tons of gold were used in decoration of the walls, ceiling and altars within the church. The whole church is glowing in when you walk in, it is incredible. They were also doing restoration work while tourists were inside and it was pretty cool to watch the artists/restorers do their work on the 17th century church.

We also made it into San Franciso, the church that was closed for restoration the last time we went by. It was closed for restoration for good reason, half of the paintings lining the columns were too faded and dark to make out what they were. It seemed like quite the space and I would be happy to go back once work is more complete.

The final church that we looked at was Santo Domingo. We were there while mass was going on and it was a little uncomfortable to be there while other people were worshipping. However, we were not the only ones doing it and we stayed completely out of the way. The church itself was very very nice, with wonderful wood carvings on the doors and ceiling. However, the most beautiful part was the Chapel of the Rosary, off to the side of the main altar. The space itself was primarily red and gold with incredible sculptures, carvings and paintings decorating the whole area. It was truly breathtaking for such a small space.

We tried to go to the City Museum (Museo de la Ciudad) only to find it closed for the day. So we went off in search of lunch and a bookstore. Lunch was uneventful and kind of boring and we found our bookstore in "Gringo Central," the backpackers area of Quito. This area is identical to any other backpacker's area anywhere in the world. That is to say that there are plenty of restaurants catering to those who may want a change from the local fare, bookstores with sections in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian, and hostels galore. We got some good books, since we have pretty much finished everything that we brought with us, including the complete Harry Potter collection. I think that we will begin to keep a book list since most often than not, we will lose the physical evidence of a finished book as it is traded in for something new.

After the bookstore, we wandered a few blocks to a market that sold everything the tourist could ever want. For the most part, it was a smaller, more expensive version of the market in Otavalo, the city that we visited on Saturday. The cousin made some purchases but we got our fill on Saturday, especially since any purchase must be carried for the next five months. This limitation is both a blessing and a curse at the same time. We spend less yet we bring home fewer cool things.

After the market, we called it a day and took the bus back to Cumbaya and the house. The bus system is actually surprisingly easy. There is one bus route from our suburb of Cumbaya to Quito. It takes us to a big bus terminal where there are a few choices, but they are pretty clearly marked. The trolley and the Ecovia (a bus) both go North-South through Quito down different avenues and the guidebooks are good about putting the stops on the maps. And so, for yesterday and today, when we were on our own, we were able to take the bus with no problem.

Yesterday, Tuesday, we went into town by ourselves to check out parts of the new section of the city. After a lengthy stop at the airline office to try to change our flight from Lima to Cuzco (unsuccessful), and lunch at a pretty decent Indian place in Gringo Central, we took the bus down to one of the better museums I have ever been to. The Museo Nacional del Banco Central del Ecuador was absolutely incredible. It is part of this huge cultural complex placed between two of the biggest parks in Quito. This complex contains four museums and the theater that we went to for the concert our first week. Anyway, this museum begins on the ground floor with an archeological section (Sala de Arqueología) documenting all of the different cultures in prehispanic Ecuador. The ceramic collection is incredible, and the presentation is also incredibly professional and informative. Following this section is the Sala de Oro, containing a very impressive collection of prehispanic gold work. The intricacy of many of the gold jewelry is astounding. Additionally, the museum provides information on the tools and methods used for gold and metal work during the Incan period. From there we moved forward in time to colonial art. There was a very excellent collection of religious art, much of it from the churches in the old section of Quito. We skipped the Republican Art collection and went to the contemporary collection which was very impressive. Almost all of the artists displayed are/were Ecuadorian and there were a few that really stood out. One of Sarah's favorites was Jorge Velarde who did a multi-piece instillation of different emotions on the same face expressed with different areas of the face (eyes, nose, mouth) and thus was a collage of emotion. I liked one by Tomas Ochoa who did a piece showing the faces of Ecuador and a commentary on the state of the indigenous peoples of the country.

After the museum, we returned to the house and relaxed a little while before going over to Pancho's house. We all worked together and made a very nice dinner of bruschetta, caprese and pasta with red peppers, black olives and capers tossed in. It reminded me of being back at home, and it was very good. We hung out there for a while, talking and looking at some of Pancho's photos before heading back around 10:30.

Today was also pretty eventful. We once again took the bus into town and went to the Museo Guayasamín first. Apparently, the last Guaysamín museum we went to wasn't actually the official one. It was five blocks away and works in coordination with the official one, showing mostly the big murals that the artist did. The offical Museo Guayasamín is in his house. In addition to his work, there is a collection of prehispanic ceramics, very similar to those in yesterday's museum, but not as extensive of course. There are some very nice pieces and a wonderful collection of ceramic bowls that completely covers one of the walls. Then of course there is his section, showcasing paintings from the very beginning to the very end of his career. It is interesting to the progress that he made as an artist, not only in style but in message and scope. There is also a section of the portaits he did, including one of Fidel Castro. There are originals for sale here and if I had a thousand to cough up, I would gladly purchase one of his prints. Perhaps in twenty years...

After lunch, we finally made it to the cable car, which had been on the agenda every day since Monday. It was really awesome. We prepared and brought warm sweatshirts and hats with us today because it gets quite cold when you are 4100 meters high looking down on some of the clouds. The cable cars were small but numerous, holding 6 people apiece and arriving every few minutes. The line did not take long to get through and we were quickly on our way up the mountain. From the cable car, the city gradually expands in front of you and we were able to look down on the airplanes flying into Quito. The whole complex is quite touristy, with a theme park at the bottom (a little strange), and plenty of restaurants and gift shops. However, you are able to get away from it relatively easily by exploring the paths to different lookout points along the top of the mountain. Additionally, since there weren't many people there, it was quite peaceful up there looking out over the city. It was very cool when there was a hole in the clouds and a particular area of the city was illuminated, differentiating it from the rest of the city. Also, there are horses for rent if you feel like exploring more of the mountain. We thought about it, and for $3 per person it was pretty tempting, but it was already getting late and we decided that there would be other opportunities for horseback riding on our trip. However, we did get a few pictures of the Ecuadorian cowboys and the pack of dogs that was following them everywhere. After our little walk, we got coffee and hot chocolate and enjoyed the view for a while before heading back down and back home.

We have only two days left here in Ecuador and we aren't quite sure what we are going to do. We are going to see Inti-Illimani, a very political and very awesome Chilean folk music group, tomorrow night. We had the opportunity to see them last summer on Long Island with Sarah's parents and if this show is anything like the one last summer, we are going to have a blast. We also should have more photos on the way soon.

Earrings and Incas

2007-08-26T17:40:00.000-03:00

It has been so nice to finally get to explore Quito a bit. As Eben wrote, the Basilica was absolutely amazing. However, he conveniently forgot to mention that actually reaching the Basilica on top of the hill and making it to the top of the clock tower was way more challenging than I ever expected. First, you must remember that Quito is a city on top of the Andes. Major roads around the city weave all over the mountainside, and even streets within the city tend not to lie flat. So of course, since the Basilica is on top of a hill, in order to reach it you must walk uphill. Very very uphill. I felt like I should have had hiking gear and emergency flares for the occasion. My legs hurt so badly, and I was panting by the time we reached it. We decided to climb the three levels of the Basilica so we could enjoy the views (which were, of course, phenomenal). After we reached the third level, however, we had to cross a rickety bridge and climb a ladder that was (I swear) made of a few metal bars and chicken wire. CHICKEN WIRE. To top it off, I had worn flip flops (who knew they made climbing chicken wire a slippery task?), so I was silently panicking as I slowly made my way to the top of a turret. That led us outside (cool!) where there was yet another chicken wire ladder that led you to an even higher turret. Given the strong feeling that I would fall and die, I stayed put. Eben climbed it, though, and he says it was beautiful. After backtracking down the first chicken wire ladder and bridge, we climbed a few more ladders (they just kept coming) to go up to the clock tower. You could peek out of the tower walls and look out at Quito, which was amazing. It reminded me of being at the top of the Due Torre in Bologna, where you can see miles upon miles of rooftops and hills. I was proud that we made it that far.

Something funny I've noticed is that there is a lot of graffiti in Ecuador. A lot of it is, of course, political, but I think that the most of the things we've seen are professions of love. The Basilica stairways were covered in ¨Maria, te amo para siempre!¨ and things like that. It's pretty cute. :)

So let's see... Ricardo left us to go back to Vassar. He took us to a poetry reading featuring himself and a couple of friends at a small bar nearby. It was really quite lovely. I kept thinking how cool it was that they could come together and read their poetry together. I don't think many American guys would be too keen on reading love poems to their buddies, but here it seems to be okay. Pancho had also put up prints of some photos he had taken while in Peru, so overall it was an evening of sharing art.

Ricardo was supposed to leave Friday night to fly back to New York, but the fog was so bad in Quito that all flights were canceled! He ended up leaving Saturday afternoon, and I believe he has finally arrived in Poughkeepsie after an overnight layover in Atlanta. No good! It's pretty sad to not have him here anymore since I feel like we didn't get to do enough together, but his family is taking good care of us. :)

We all drove out to Otavalo Saturday afternoon, which is about 2 hours from Quito. Otavalo is home to a huge market that pre-dates Inca times! The city is definitely famous for its market, but it's also interesting because the otavaleños (people from Otavalo) mostly are in traditional dress. This means that the men tend to keep their hair long wrapped in a ponytail, and the women wear beautiful long skirts and blouses. The colors on the women are very vivid, and I couldn't help but feel giddy when I saw their striking appearances. Apparently men also traditionally wear dark hats and ponchos, but I didn't really see that. It's very Andean Cowboy, which I absolutely love. Hopefully I'll see more later in our journeys. I tried to convince Eben to buy an Andean cowboy hat and poncho, but he wasn't going for it. Persistence is key. :) Anyway, the market stalls seemed to be neverending. It was so fun to walk around and browse. There were lots of beautifully colored ponchos and sweaters, sculptures from Bolivia, shrunken heads (scary), touristy t-shirts, and the most amazing array of jewelry. I practiced amazing self-control and bought only 6 pairs of earrings and a sweater! I could have wandered the market for hours, it was so fun.
Most of the people in Otavalo are indigenous, and I expect that the crafts are produced by them, so it felt good to know that the items we were seeing were authentic. It makes me even more excited to go to Perú and Bolivia, where I am certain we'll learn more about indigenous cultures. Ricardo has plans to learn Quechua (or Quichua, I can't remember), which is the traditional language of indigenous tribes, though Spanish is becoming more popular among younger generations. Once I get all of my Spanish back, I think it would be fun to learn Quechua. I wonder if I can use it in the United States?

So that's all of the big stuff we've done. Last night a lot of family came over to play cards, and Eben won twice. He won a bit of money but is now playing another round downstairs, so I suspect he might lose some of it today. Hopefully not. :) We only have a few more days in Quito, so our goals are to see a few more things in the Old City, go on over to the New City, and take a cable car with Ricardo's sister Jany up to the Panecillo. So much to do! Perú is quickly approaching!

Back in Quito

2007-08-23T20:03:00.001-03:00

Since we returned from the beach Monday afternoon, we have been pretty busy and having a good time. Francisco (Pancho), Ricardo´s friend who goes to Columbia, is back in town from doing environmental biology research in Peru, so we have been hanging out with him quite a bit. On Monday night, after coming back from the beach, we ended up going over to Pancho´s house, which is awesome. The house is very open, with big windows here and there that make it seem like nothing is there, lots of exposed beams, lots of turns and little nooks here and there that defy any normal layout for the house. And it has a brick, woodburning bread/pizza oven outside.

That night was spent hanging out with the same crew that we have been doing most things with. We had pizza and it was surprisingly good. Apparently, everybody loves Dominos over here, it´s crazy. There is also Pizza Hut and Papa Johns, but we got the pizza from a local restaurant that gave it a somewhat Ecuadorean twist really just by having various types of corn as toppings on most of the pizzas.

On Tuesday, August 21st, Ricardo had a medical exam and a lunch to go to, so we were left at the house for most of the day until Pancho came to pick us up. He took us to his house and then we went for a little hike/walk on a path near his neighborhood. He is quite the photographer and was showing us a few tricks with shutter speed and whatnot. Anyway, the path overlooks this canyon that is quite beautiful and there are ranches with grazing cattle and horses, and a single house that looked like it cost a couple million to build.
Ecuador is also home to giant aloe plants, bigger than us, out of a video game giant. This picture is of a medium sized one:
After our walk with Pancho, Ricardo came over and we all went out to dinner at a place that served crepes. It was delicious. Speaking of delicious, although we did not eat Ecuadorian food the last two nights, the food here has been spectacular. A lot of it is corn based, and so we are having corn or potato pancakes with some cheese most mornings for breakfast. Those have been really good. Also, we have eaten quite a few humitas, made by Ricardo's dad's family in the south of Ecuador and brought up to Quito because they don't like the local humitas. There is a lot of rice although less beans than I expected. While we were at the sea, the seafood was fantastic, a lot of shrimp and some fish that I don't really know the name of. Either way, most of it was done in a green coconut sauce with some rice and plantains and was very good.

Wednesday was by far more eventful than Tuesday. We got an early start and headed out to see the equator. The measurement, made by some colonizers, is about 40 minutes outside of Quito and is quite touristy. Ricardo claims that while their Equator is about 200 meters from the real one, the Incas had it right long before. Given some of the evidence we saw in various displays near the monument, I think that I believe this too. Regardless, who wouldn't want a chance to be on both halves of the world at once?
At the Ecuator, you apparently weigh some 6 pounds less (when from the United States, it differs depending on home latitude) than back at home. I don't really know why...

From the Equator, we went back downtown to the soccer stadium to see a friendly between Ecuador and Bolivia. We bought our tickets for $5 around 2PM for a 6PM game. We were worried about it selling out, but we really had more time than we thought. To pass the time, we spent a few hours in a restaurant hanging out with the regular crew, drinking Pilsener of course. We entered the stadium around 4:45 and this place was great. There are no seats, just concrete benches all around and all of the concessions are roaming. The selection was unbelievable. We could get popcorn, empanadas, french fries, chicken, corn salad, beer, candy, nuts, pretty much anything that one would want without ever leaving our seats. The game was very evenly matched. Since it was only a friendly, not all of the regular starters were there. It was very fun being part of the general crowd, learning the song and the cheers. I have never seen a wave go so far at a match. One wave went around the stadium a little more than three times before stopping, it was great. There were also fireworks all over the place. At the end of the game, emotions ran quite high and there was almost a fight in front of the Ecuadorian net. Everyone from both teams, including the trainers and substitutes stormed the field, it looked like a baseball fight. That was during extra time and so the ref just called the game for safety's sake. Ecuador won the game 1-0, with a penalty kick for a goal in the 35th minute. After the game, a guy wrapped in the Ecuadorian flag jumped from the stands over the barbed wire fence and onto the field. Security did nothing, they allowed him to congratulate all of the players and then after hanging around for a little bit, they showed him how to get out with no manhandling or anything, it was amazing. As usual for this week, we went to Pancho's house after the game.

Today has been quite busy as well. We woke up early to get dropped off at the trolley station to go to the old section of Quito and do some touristy things. Ricardo had work to do, so we were on our own. We checked out some quite a few of the main attractions of old Quito. The area itself is gorgeous, with the Spanish colonial architecture and open plazas that remind me of the plazas in Rome. We went to the Cathedral first, one of the first (but not the first which was closed for renovation) churches in Quito. The church itself was gorgeous, with a carved wood ceiling and frescos coming down the pillars. It also housed the corpses of some former presidents and various important people from Quito's history. From there, we checked out the Museo de Cera, which shows quite a bit of Quito's history, but most importantly, the prison cells of the first independence revolutionaries of Ecuador. We then walked quite a few blocks uphill, the first time I have felt the thinner atmosphere, to a church called La Basilica. The gargoyles on the outside of the church are all animals from the Galapagos. Also, you can climb by way of both stairs and ladders all the way to the top of the clock towers and get amazing views of Quito.
After La Basilica, we ate some lunch and just walked around until Ricardo came and picked us up around 4:15. We are now preparing to go out to the local bar frequented by Ricardo and his friends because Panchos is showing some of his photos and Ricardo and Tobi (another friend) are giving poetry readings. Although it will be difficult for me to understand most of the poetry, I am pretty excited and will write more about it later.

2007-08-20T18:00:00.000-03:00

Well, we are just back from our beach weekend. We stayed in a very tiny town by Esmeraldas, which is along the northern coast kind of by Colombia. The drive there took quite a few hours, but driving through the mountains was really gorgeous. The further out of the city we got, the more it seemed that everyone lived in a shack. That's probably a generalization, but it definitely seemed that way.

Exploring the beaches was lots of fun. Some areas were very rocky... not like there were a lot of pebbles, but rather giant boulders that had developed intricate caves and crevices from the waves. It was cool to climb up rock hills and see what the water had done to these massive stones. Eben took lots of pictures during our little expedition. I managed to slice open a chunk of my foot on what I maintain was a 100-ft-wide clam, but Eben says it was more likely a sharp rock. Other than that, good times.

So this is what I have learned over the weekend:
1. Being vegetarian in Ecuador means eating a lot of cheese and bananas. Sometimes rice. This is why life is better when you have a personal chef to make more interesting meals.
2. When driving, it is expected that you pass the car in front of you if it is driving too slow. Determining speed limits is essentially pointless since there appear to be no speed limit signs on the roads. Passing cars on narrow roads that wind around a mountain is indeed a dangerous act, but still encouraged, even if the car you are passing is a police truck. Nobody seems to mind.
3. Pilsener appears to be the only beer available in Ecuador.
4. If the Ecuadorians are using SPF 50 on the beach, and if you (the American who is indeed part Irish) are using SPF 30, this is probably a bad idea. Sadly, I did not learn this until after I got sunburned on the left side of my forehead. Yes, only the left side. It is beautiful.

I expect to have many more revelations over the coming weeks. :) I really want to start working with Ricardo's mom soon, but since she is not working this week, I have a feeling that it still won't be for a while. I guess it's nice to relax for now, but I want to feel useful! Soon enough, I suppose.

That's about it. The plans for the week include a formal visit to the Equator, exploring museums and churches in Quito, and speaking more español.

2007-08-17T10:15:00.000-03:00

We are currently in the beautiful city that is Quito, Ecuador. We flew in Tuesday on a wonderfully uneventful flight. We are staying with my freshman year roommate, Ricardo Sanchez, and his family. They have been wonderful so far and we are having a great time. Ricardo has taken us out to see some of Cumbaya, the town in the valley just outisde of Quito that he lives in. We have also made some trips into the city to see some really cool things. On Wednesday, we went to one of the two Guayasamin museums. Guayasamin was a very leftist painter from Ecuador who is friends with Chavez and Castro, etc... Anyway, his paintings are incredible. Our favorite of his is ¨Lagrimas de Sangre,¨ a painting with a haunting face and tears of blood coming down the face. It is dedicated to Salvador Allende, Victor Jara and Pablo Neruda in 1973. Later that night we went to dinner for Ricardo´s father´s birthday. The restaurant was right across the street from the Presidential Palace. We got to walk around and see some of the old town, but we didn´t have too much time, so Ricardo promised us that we will come back next week. Later, we went to the greatest club I have ever been to. Everyone was in their early 20s and the music was almost all Latin American ska with a little US and European music thrown in. It was awesome.

On Thursday, we did not do too much during the day since it was pouring in downtown Quito and we didn´t have a car. I got my hair cut and then we went into Quito for a concert. It was three Cantautores or troubadours (I think that is the closest translation). Two of them, Fernando Delgadillo and Alejandro Filio, are from Mexico and quite famous. The third, Santiago Martinez, is from Quito but lives in Mexico now. All three were very beautiful singers and amazing guitar players. We were in the National Theater which held several hundred people and when they played a song that people knew, it seemed as though the whole theater was singing along. At the end of the concert, all of the cantautores came out and did what seemed like a 45 minute encore, taking turns playing more songs and playing some songs together. It was really cool even if a little long.

That brings us to today. We are about to leave the house to go to the beach in Esmeraldas, about a 4 or 5 hour drive away. And that´s it, I hope everything is well at home and we will update soon.

P.S. We know about the earthquake in Peru and we haven´t decided what plans if any we are going to change. But we are thinking that it might not be the greatest idea to still go to Lima. Cuzco, our next longterm destination was untouched, so we should be fine there.