So it’s almost the “end.” But really it’s only the end of studying abroad, something I’ve dreamed about for a long long time. And it’s been everything and nothing like I’ve expected.
But enough sappy stuff, I’m in La Paz, again (4th time) and much to my joy, a friend from the program didn’t have too many set plans after the program so Matt is here with me in La Paz. Therefore I’m not going crazy, nor am I lonely.
So today they were introducing the new constitution. And from about 9am we started seeing the many marches along the main road in front of our hostel. Starting with the Ponchos Rojos, which Matt and I still don’t really know who they are (sorry Ernesto) but let’s just say they recently killed 2 dogs so the press would pay attention to them.
Then Matt and I were walking around the main road, shopping and getting stuff done and I look up and ask “Hey Matt, why are there a whole bunch of men marching towards us with helmets?” He responded “Hey I think they are miners (he should know that’s who he did his ISP with).” We walked a little further and I asked “Hey Matt why are they all covering their ears?” BOOOOM BOOOOM BOOOOM dynamite is set off three times about 50 yards in front of us. Then Matt asks, “Why are they all screaming tira?” BOOM BOOM BOOM three more times, we quickly figured out tira meant they were setting off the dynamite and we followed suit by covering our ears and picking up our pace because 1. you never know what’s going to happen in Bolivia 2. you actually felt the pressure from the explosion we were so close 3. it was loud.
Oh Bolivia
15.12.07
27.11.07
ISP- El campo otra vez
I’m sure you are all wondering what I’ve been up to. Well I have been working on my Independent Project (ISP) for the last about a week and half. We have a month to do it, but basically I wanted to do it as fast as possible and get back to Cochabamba, family and friends. Let’s see to start it all off I embarked for La Paz with a fellow student and friend, Mary Jane. We left the12th of November on a bus. We had a nice ride and arrived in La Paz around 6pm. I called my advisor once I arrived and he told me to meet him in a certain museum at 7pm. Needless to say I got there a little late.
Long story not too much shorter, that night we discussed my project a little more and he introduced me to Charo, a very sweet woman who was to be taking me to the campo to meet the family I was to be living with. I thought I would be leaving the next day, but Charo is a very busy woman and couldn’t take me until Friday. So I had a nice four days in La Paz with Mary Jane. I interviewed a few people about my topic and I met with Fernando (my advisor) two times once at 7am and the other time at 6am, he likes to wake up early….
The family I stayed with was Flores. There was abuelita (grandma) and Felisa and Nati (two of her six daughters). The special thing about this family was that their dad (don Policarpio, who died four years ago) was a very famous man who also wrote a book about his life called “El Hombre que Volvio a Nacer” (The man who was born again). So he was this guy who knew nature well, observed it well, medicine man etc.
So it was similar to my other “campo” experience in a few ways, but this time we all slept in the same room, which was nice in some ways, in other ways I just wanted a little more privacy. La abuelita only speaks Aymara (which is a native language and sounds NOTHING like Spanish) BUT she understands Spanish. So needless to say I couldn’t actually talk to la abuelita, and that really sucked when we went out shepherding the sheep for 10 hrs a day. So I basically talked to myself a lot during those times.
Highlights:
I arrived Friday morning and that Sunday the family had planned a trip to Copacabana for the day. I woke up that morning very sick, wont go into details but I did throw up and the dog did eat it right when it hit the ground. I was debating whether or not I should go but I figured I would be extremely bored if I stayed in the campo. So I went on the four hour bus ride, that wasn’t too bad. I met the rest of the sisters and their kids who live in the city. Then we climbed this mountain in Copacabana and well unfortunately it wasn’t enjoyable for me because I was feeling pretty bad. Plus la abuelita had me carry her stuff for her (no one knew I was sick). The best thing I think about the experience was the sisters who live in the city understood that I prefer going to the bathroom in a real bathroom (not outside like the women who wear the pulleras (big skirts that act like curtains so you can pop a squat anywhere)) and they understood my appetite isn’t as big as theirs.
One day Felisa and I were out herding sheep and around lunch time a van of four people pulled up, they were taking a census of the old people. So Felisa and Nati run off to prepare lunch for all of us and they leave me with the sheep. I was supposed to herd them into the corral, but well….I’m not a natural sheep herder. I chased them all over the yard, but they just wouldn’t go in the direction I wanted them to. Meanwhile these four people were standing outside watching some stupid gringa chase around sheep, I can only imagine what they were thinking. Then la abuelita came out and started yelling at me in Aymara, obviously I didn’t understand what she was saying, but I knew she was telling me to put them in the corral, which I already knew…I just didn’t know how. So after yelling at me one more time she came and helped me and in a matter of SECONDS the sheep were put away…whew.
So then another morning Felisa and I went out to herd the sheep. We opened the gate and all the sheep came running out like normal and Felisa went ahead of them and I was to take the back, like normal. Well there was a surprise waiting, a new baby sheep had just been born that morning. Cute right? Well kinda but then the silly little thing couldn’t figure out how to get out of the corral. And here I am alone with this little wet sheep with a bloody ambilical chord who just came out of another sheep’s butt. So then Felisa yelled at me to pick it up and bring it out to be with the other sheep. Just at that time mommy sheep came in and started baa-ing like crazy looking for its baby. So I was kinda freaked out to pick it up plus it kept running away from me, so I chased it all around and finally caught it and took it out into the field. Thankfully by the next day, it knew how to get out of the corral by itself.
So that’s about it for highlights, things that actually amused me in the campo. I avoided lice again, which is good thing I guess and they actually put me to work more than my other campo family. I’ve read most of the book their dad wrote and it’s good and that and my stay there will write a nice 20 page paper for this independent project. I rushed home after all of this, back to Cochabamba. I’m SO ELATED to be here and have a full week to work on the paper and then another week for editing. I don’t really think that’s what the directors want me to do, but I’m much more content with this schedule.
Long story not too much shorter, that night we discussed my project a little more and he introduced me to Charo, a very sweet woman who was to be taking me to the campo to meet the family I was to be living with. I thought I would be leaving the next day, but Charo is a very busy woman and couldn’t take me until Friday. So I had a nice four days in La Paz with Mary Jane. I interviewed a few people about my topic and I met with Fernando (my advisor) two times once at 7am and the other time at 6am, he likes to wake up early….
The family I stayed with was Flores. There was abuelita (grandma) and Felisa and Nati (two of her six daughters). The special thing about this family was that their dad (don Policarpio, who died four years ago) was a very famous man who also wrote a book about his life called “El Hombre que Volvio a Nacer” (The man who was born again). So he was this guy who knew nature well, observed it well, medicine man etc.
So it was similar to my other “campo” experience in a few ways, but this time we all slept in the same room, which was nice in some ways, in other ways I just wanted a little more privacy. La abuelita only speaks Aymara (which is a native language and sounds NOTHING like Spanish) BUT she understands Spanish. So needless to say I couldn’t actually talk to la abuelita, and that really sucked when we went out shepherding the sheep for 10 hrs a day. So I basically talked to myself a lot during those times.
Highlights:
I arrived Friday morning and that Sunday the family had planned a trip to Copacabana for the day. I woke up that morning very sick, wont go into details but I did throw up and the dog did eat it right when it hit the ground. I was debating whether or not I should go but I figured I would be extremely bored if I stayed in the campo. So I went on the four hour bus ride, that wasn’t too bad. I met the rest of the sisters and their kids who live in the city. Then we climbed this mountain in Copacabana and well unfortunately it wasn’t enjoyable for me because I was feeling pretty bad. Plus la abuelita had me carry her stuff for her (no one knew I was sick). The best thing I think about the experience was the sisters who live in the city understood that I prefer going to the bathroom in a real bathroom (not outside like the women who wear the pulleras (big skirts that act like curtains so you can pop a squat anywhere)) and they understood my appetite isn’t as big as theirs.
One day Felisa and I were out herding sheep and around lunch time a van of four people pulled up, they were taking a census of the old people. So Felisa and Nati run off to prepare lunch for all of us and they leave me with the sheep. I was supposed to herd them into the corral, but well….I’m not a natural sheep herder. I chased them all over the yard, but they just wouldn’t go in the direction I wanted them to. Meanwhile these four people were standing outside watching some stupid gringa chase around sheep, I can only imagine what they were thinking. Then la abuelita came out and started yelling at me in Aymara, obviously I didn’t understand what she was saying, but I knew she was telling me to put them in the corral, which I already knew…I just didn’t know how. So after yelling at me one more time she came and helped me and in a matter of SECONDS the sheep were put away…whew.
So then another morning Felisa and I went out to herd the sheep. We opened the gate and all the sheep came running out like normal and Felisa went ahead of them and I was to take the back, like normal. Well there was a surprise waiting, a new baby sheep had just been born that morning. Cute right? Well kinda but then the silly little thing couldn’t figure out how to get out of the corral. And here I am alone with this little wet sheep with a bloody ambilical chord who just came out of another sheep’s butt. So then Felisa yelled at me to pick it up and bring it out to be with the other sheep. Just at that time mommy sheep came in and started baa-ing like crazy looking for its baby. So I was kinda freaked out to pick it up plus it kept running away from me, so I chased it all around and finally caught it and took it out into the field. Thankfully by the next day, it knew how to get out of the corral by itself.
So that’s about it for highlights, things that actually amused me in the campo. I avoided lice again, which is good thing I guess and they actually put me to work more than my other campo family. I’ve read most of the book their dad wrote and it’s good and that and my stay there will write a nice 20 page paper for this independent project. I rushed home after all of this, back to Cochabamba. I’m SO ELATED to be here and have a full week to work on the paper and then another week for editing. I don’t really think that’s what the directors want me to do, but I’m much more content with this schedule.
4.11.07
Fallin in Love
Hopefully that title caught everyone’s attention. I wish I had some grand traditional love story to tell you all, but I have something better. Last night was amazing.
We are rapidly approaching our ISP period, when we set out on our own for four weeks to investigate our topic of choice and a majority of us are going to go to some unknown part of Bolivia, live with some unknown family and study, live, learn and then write a 20+ page paper about it. Hence this group of 26 amazing people is going to be split up for four weeks and I personally have a hard time being away from them for a day.
So what happened last night, you ask? Well let’s start at the end. I came home last night and crawled into bed and was exhausted, but my mind was going a mile a minute. I thought about love and how I don’t know what it means at all, but how I think I saw another beautiful glimpse of it last night.
So what happened!?!?!
Well Joe, a really cool kid in our group, threw a party, BBQ, major gringo hang-out session, whatever you want to call it, at his house last night. I was personally excited to make food to take and share it with friends. So people filtered in, the grill finally got lit, Sam dutifully flipped every burger and we ate and ate and talked and talked and laughed and laughed and danced and danced. It was like Madison County in Bolivia and that’s not normal, Madison doesn’t usually go anywhere, it stays in the heart of the Blue Ridge, but last night I think it moved further down south.
So who did I fall in love with?
Everyone.
Joe-for having us all over even after only sleeping for four hours the night before and for putting on eyeliner and a dog collar and taking amazing pictures for Halloween
Amy- for laughing really hard at my stories about my host family
Michael S- for bringing that really dark chocolate and having that amazing horse shirt
Dana- for lying on the bed with me and talking and laughing out loud…and other things I don’t remember
Amanda- for making banana chocolate chip cake and listening to Sufjan on repeat for the last few days
Lisa-for shaving her head
Hanna S- for being chill and an amazing goth and for bringing a salad with RANCH dressing
Jenny- for being a hott go-go girl
Hanna R- for being constantly hungry
Jess- for living with nuns
Sam- for flipping burgers for three hours and telling me amazing stories about his life
Brendan- for being a mama’s boy and for wanting a solar power battery charger
Rene- for an amazing broccoli casserole, laying on the bed laughing…and other things
Talya- for trying to help me open the wine bottle
Michael E- NOT for squeezing my dreads (awkward), but just for being a sun-burnt Michael E
Ernesto- for dancing an amazing salsa or whatever it was with me
Margaret Ann- for her AMAZING spanglish
Vivi and Maribell- for breaking it down with me and telling me I was a good dancer (ha! Latino girls telling me I’m a good dancer)
Matt- for being way to curious about everything
Jackson- for trading earrings (bling bling)
Kayla and MJ- for coming to Joe’s right after getting off the plane
Tierra- for being an amazing dresser and for paying for me when I had 10.5 bs to my name
David- for coming to Cochabamba and being put in this mess (he’s Joe’s friend backpacking though L.A. for the semester)
….I’m only missing Leah b/c she wasn’t there, but I fell in love with her a while ago because she is sooo energetic and smart, and I like her laugh
Ok so that’s the group of 25, an amazing group that I literally am in pain about leaving Thursday…when we all reunite again in a month, who knows what will happen….
OH! PS- I got a new power chord for just $105 US dollars (that was sarcastic) but I’m realllly glad to have it!
We are rapidly approaching our ISP period, when we set out on our own for four weeks to investigate our topic of choice and a majority of us are going to go to some unknown part of Bolivia, live with some unknown family and study, live, learn and then write a 20+ page paper about it. Hence this group of 26 amazing people is going to be split up for four weeks and I personally have a hard time being away from them for a day.
So what happened last night, you ask? Well let’s start at the end. I came home last night and crawled into bed and was exhausted, but my mind was going a mile a minute. I thought about love and how I don’t know what it means at all, but how I think I saw another beautiful glimpse of it last night.
So what happened!?!?!
Well Joe, a really cool kid in our group, threw a party, BBQ, major gringo hang-out session, whatever you want to call it, at his house last night. I was personally excited to make food to take and share it with friends. So people filtered in, the grill finally got lit, Sam dutifully flipped every burger and we ate and ate and talked and talked and laughed and laughed and danced and danced. It was like Madison County in Bolivia and that’s not normal, Madison doesn’t usually go anywhere, it stays in the heart of the Blue Ridge, but last night I think it moved further down south.
So who did I fall in love with?
Everyone.
Joe-for having us all over even after only sleeping for four hours the night before and for putting on eyeliner and a dog collar and taking amazing pictures for Halloween
Amy- for laughing really hard at my stories about my host family
Michael S- for bringing that really dark chocolate and having that amazing horse shirt
Dana- for lying on the bed with me and talking and laughing out loud…and other things I don’t remember
Amanda- for making banana chocolate chip cake and listening to Sufjan on repeat for the last few days
Lisa-for shaving her head
Hanna S- for being chill and an amazing goth and for bringing a salad with RANCH dressing
Jenny- for being a hott go-go girl
Hanna R- for being constantly hungry
Jess- for living with nuns
Sam- for flipping burgers for three hours and telling me amazing stories about his life
Brendan- for being a mama’s boy and for wanting a solar power battery charger
Rene- for an amazing broccoli casserole, laying on the bed laughing…and other things
Talya- for trying to help me open the wine bottle
Michael E- NOT for squeezing my dreads (awkward), but just for being a sun-burnt Michael E
Ernesto- for dancing an amazing salsa or whatever it was with me
Margaret Ann- for her AMAZING spanglish
Vivi and Maribell- for breaking it down with me and telling me I was a good dancer (ha! Latino girls telling me I’m a good dancer)
Matt- for being way to curious about everything
Jackson- for trading earrings (bling bling)
Kayla and MJ- for coming to Joe’s right after getting off the plane
Tierra- for being an amazing dresser and for paying for me when I had 10.5 bs to my name
David- for coming to Cochabamba and being put in this mess (he’s Joe’s friend backpacking though L.A. for the semester)
….I’m only missing Leah b/c she wasn’t there, but I fell in love with her a while ago because she is sooo energetic and smart, and I like her laugh
Ok so that’s the group of 25, an amazing group that I literally am in pain about leaving Thursday…when we all reunite again in a month, who knows what will happen….
OH! PS- I got a new power chord for just $105 US dollars (that was sarcastic) but I’m realllly glad to have it!
19.10.07
Surreal
Well guys I just came back from my “village stay” where I was living with a family in the ruralness of Bolivia. I was with a family for four nights. My parents had ten kids and eight grandchildren. At first glance at the dirt floors, walls made of mud bricks and roof made of grasses, you would think they were poor. In these aspects, yes maybe, but after I got to know them, ask questions I discovered a very organized and financially stable family. Unfortunately one reason they are financially stable is because they have at least five close relatives in Spain and Italy working. Other than this factor they have a lot of investments in which they support themselves. They have tons of animals, tons of land (which they produce mainly lima beans and lots of varieties of potatoes), they also have a small store where they have the necessities their neighbors might need on a moments notice, my mom makes bread on Thursdays and sells it in the store, they have a taxi that the oldest son drives, and finally they have another house with more land where they grow corn, grapes and fruit trees. They also had many buildings on their property, including one large two story building in which my bedroom was on the second floor.
Lets see…in the “campo” (country) they speak mainly Quechua which is nothing like Spanish, but my family spoke Spanish too, so it wasn’t too bad. I just never could understand what they were talking about to each other because it was in Quechua.
I had a few exciting days, the first full day I was there the nearest town was celebrating it’s anniversary, so we went to that and marched in the parade. It was a long day though of waiting and eating a lot of potatoes. That day I think I literally ate ten potatoes and five eggs…amongst other thing…oh and I had 3 full meals before 11o’clock, it was painfully, well not really fun at all.
Then the next day we went to the “feria” which is like a huge market that each town has once a week. It was just my mom and I who went, she sold two sheep and then we did some shopping and then we went to a chicheria. Chicha is a fermented corn drink, so you can basically call it corn beer. Well we were there for quite some time (about three or more hours) everyone was just drinking round after round of chicha (they drank more glasses of chicha than the number of potatoes they eat daily) and speaking in Quechua. As you can imagine I got quite bored…and I did not join them in the drinking madness. They also “pachamama” which is pouring out a little (or a lot) of your drink onto the floor at the beginning of each glass to give thanks to Mother Nature. By the end of all the “pachamamaing” I was glad I had waterproof shoes on.
Ok one more slightly interesting thing that happened. My oldest brother, Rene, lives in his own mud house with his own family a stones throw away from where I lived. The third day I was there he asked me to come to his house to help him set up a computer he just bought for his daughter. Ok I hope you can use your imagination on how surreal this experience was. It was a one bedroom house, two double beds in a small room made out of mud bricks and we are setting up a Dell computer. And then I had to teach everyone how to use it (we are talking how to use a mouse, how to use the speakers, how to put in a CD, how to turn it on and off etc.) in Spanish. Somehow I managed, but it was soooo surreal to teach someone who has never used a computer how to use it. It actually really really reminded me of when my real dad bought our first computer back in the early 90s, he was super proud to put the old typewriter away, but darn frustrated to learn a whole new machine. Then we (me and about eight kids) ended up watching King Kong on the computer until about 10pm. Now let me tell you, we usually ate around 7 and went to bed around 8 or 9. Well me and my brothers hadn’t eaten anything and for the first time I was actually a little hungry, so we dragged ourselves back under the incredibly bright starts to our own home and all the adult women who usually serve the food were asleep so here I am with five little boys who are kinda freaking out because they don’t know how to go about eating on their own. So it ended up being a precious moment because I helped them wash dishes to eat on and gave them a little guidance. I crawled in bed at about 10:30 and passed out.
Lets see…in the “campo” (country) they speak mainly Quechua which is nothing like Spanish, but my family spoke Spanish too, so it wasn’t too bad. I just never could understand what they were talking about to each other because it was in Quechua.
I had a few exciting days, the first full day I was there the nearest town was celebrating it’s anniversary, so we went to that and marched in the parade. It was a long day though of waiting and eating a lot of potatoes. That day I think I literally ate ten potatoes and five eggs…amongst other thing…oh and I had 3 full meals before 11o’clock, it was painfully, well not really fun at all.
Then the next day we went to the “feria” which is like a huge market that each town has once a week. It was just my mom and I who went, she sold two sheep and then we did some shopping and then we went to a chicheria. Chicha is a fermented corn drink, so you can basically call it corn beer. Well we were there for quite some time (about three or more hours) everyone was just drinking round after round of chicha (they drank more glasses of chicha than the number of potatoes they eat daily) and speaking in Quechua. As you can imagine I got quite bored…and I did not join them in the drinking madness. They also “pachamama” which is pouring out a little (or a lot) of your drink onto the floor at the beginning of each glass to give thanks to Mother Nature. By the end of all the “pachamamaing” I was glad I had waterproof shoes on.
Ok one more slightly interesting thing that happened. My oldest brother, Rene, lives in his own mud house with his own family a stones throw away from where I lived. The third day I was there he asked me to come to his house to help him set up a computer he just bought for his daughter. Ok I hope you can use your imagination on how surreal this experience was. It was a one bedroom house, two double beds in a small room made out of mud bricks and we are setting up a Dell computer. And then I had to teach everyone how to use it (we are talking how to use a mouse, how to use the speakers, how to put in a CD, how to turn it on and off etc.) in Spanish. Somehow I managed, but it was soooo surreal to teach someone who has never used a computer how to use it. It actually really really reminded me of when my real dad bought our first computer back in the early 90s, he was super proud to put the old typewriter away, but darn frustrated to learn a whole new machine. Then we (me and about eight kids) ended up watching King Kong on the computer until about 10pm. Now let me tell you, we usually ate around 7 and went to bed around 8 or 9. Well me and my brothers hadn’t eaten anything and for the first time I was actually a little hungry, so we dragged ourselves back under the incredibly bright starts to our own home and all the adult women who usually serve the food were asleep so here I am with five little boys who are kinda freaking out because they don’t know how to go about eating on their own. So it ended up being a precious moment because I helped them wash dishes to eat on and gave them a little guidance. I crawled in bed at about 10:30 and passed out.
12.10.07
Check-in
Just want to check in, complain a little and them I’m out.
I’m going on my sixth week in my program, almost half way though. Classes are winding down and there is a ton of pressure to figure out what we are doing for our ISPs. ISP is our month long independent study project we start the 10th(ish) of November. I don’t really know what I want to do, but I have a sweet idea, I just don’t know if it’s possible. The Aymara (which are an indigenous group) are big observers of nature and can observe well enough to know what is going to happen and plan their crops etc around what they observe. I think that’s pretty interesting because we have really screwed up the environment by not basically asking it what it wants and taking from it but giving nothing back. Hundreds of years ago there weren’t huge environmental problems and maybe one reason is because the people were more in-tuned to nature, listening and observing it? I’m not sure if there is enough on this topic to study for a month or an actual community that I could go live at that is well educated in observing nature, but we shall see.
Frustration: my power chord for my computer. I’ve had it worked on, bought parts and about $35 USD later it just started smoking and burning inside tonight. Yeah…I miss my dad on days like these.
We’ve been in Cochabamba for 4 weeks and we have traveled for two. Traveling was really wearing on us. The group got a lot closer because we spent so much time together, but by the end of the second week we had spent too much time together in my opinion. It was really nice to come back to Cochabamba and have some time to myself, even though we had four papers due when we got back….
We got back on a Friday and when I got home no one was here except my sister-in-law who lives in an apartment next door. She greeted me and rambled off something in Spanish about me not being able to sleep in my room. I figured there was a leak because it was a rainy day and my bedroom ceiling has a little to be desired. I didn’t feel well either so I didn’t think much of it and I went to my sister’s room to sleep. I woke up a few hours later and my mom and dad were home and I realized after venturing into my room, there was no leak, I had a new closet!! It’s pretty sweet, they built a floor to ceiling closet for me in a corner (I kind of wouldn’t mind one at my real home) but I guess my two weeks of being gone wasn’t long enough for them to build a closet, oh Bolivian time. So I slept in my sister’s room for 4 nights, which was fun but we have very different schedules at time. But now the closet is finally done, I’ve rearranged my room to be slightly more comfortable and all my stuff has been shoved into the closet so it looks like my room is clean. Funny thing is there are four drawers in the closet and the bottom one doesn’t open because the hinge for the closet door sticks out just a millimeter too much and the draw hits it when it’s trying to open. Go figure.
This Sunday we are starting our village stay for four days. They kind of freaked us out again warning us of all the things that could happen, fleas…lice…etc. fun stuff. I feel a little prepared, it should be like my home stay in Nicaragua when we stayed in El Chague and built a school. I really can’t imagine worse and I have a feeling it won’t be. Except there is a language thing, my family there might not speak a lot of Spanish, they may speak Quechua, actually they probably will speak Quechua. We’ll see how that goes.
I’m really really getting comfortable with my family in Cochabamba. My sister is super great, except she’s slightly given up helping with my power chord, since it’s been such a process, but other than that I can’t wait to come home every night and wander around my room in the constant search for wireless. And when the search fails, as it sometimes does, I watch a movie, Music and Lyrics has been a favorite so far. I wake up very often with “I thought I’d never fall in love again, but then POP goes my heart!” singing in my head.
That’s about it, sorry I’m not too exciting and don’t fall off of buses more than once. My elbow is healing however.
I’m going on my sixth week in my program, almost half way though. Classes are winding down and there is a ton of pressure to figure out what we are doing for our ISPs. ISP is our month long independent study project we start the 10th(ish) of November. I don’t really know what I want to do, but I have a sweet idea, I just don’t know if it’s possible. The Aymara (which are an indigenous group) are big observers of nature and can observe well enough to know what is going to happen and plan their crops etc around what they observe. I think that’s pretty interesting because we have really screwed up the environment by not basically asking it what it wants and taking from it but giving nothing back. Hundreds of years ago there weren’t huge environmental problems and maybe one reason is because the people were more in-tuned to nature, listening and observing it? I’m not sure if there is enough on this topic to study for a month or an actual community that I could go live at that is well educated in observing nature, but we shall see.
Frustration: my power chord for my computer. I’ve had it worked on, bought parts and about $35 USD later it just started smoking and burning inside tonight. Yeah…I miss my dad on days like these.
We’ve been in Cochabamba for 4 weeks and we have traveled for two. Traveling was really wearing on us. The group got a lot closer because we spent so much time together, but by the end of the second week we had spent too much time together in my opinion. It was really nice to come back to Cochabamba and have some time to myself, even though we had four papers due when we got back….
We got back on a Friday and when I got home no one was here except my sister-in-law who lives in an apartment next door. She greeted me and rambled off something in Spanish about me not being able to sleep in my room. I figured there was a leak because it was a rainy day and my bedroom ceiling has a little to be desired. I didn’t feel well either so I didn’t think much of it and I went to my sister’s room to sleep. I woke up a few hours later and my mom and dad were home and I realized after venturing into my room, there was no leak, I had a new closet!! It’s pretty sweet, they built a floor to ceiling closet for me in a corner (I kind of wouldn’t mind one at my real home) but I guess my two weeks of being gone wasn’t long enough for them to build a closet, oh Bolivian time. So I slept in my sister’s room for 4 nights, which was fun but we have very different schedules at time. But now the closet is finally done, I’ve rearranged my room to be slightly more comfortable and all my stuff has been shoved into the closet so it looks like my room is clean. Funny thing is there are four drawers in the closet and the bottom one doesn’t open because the hinge for the closet door sticks out just a millimeter too much and the draw hits it when it’s trying to open. Go figure.
This Sunday we are starting our village stay for four days. They kind of freaked us out again warning us of all the things that could happen, fleas…lice…etc. fun stuff. I feel a little prepared, it should be like my home stay in Nicaragua when we stayed in El Chague and built a school. I really can’t imagine worse and I have a feeling it won’t be. Except there is a language thing, my family there might not speak a lot of Spanish, they may speak Quechua, actually they probably will speak Quechua. We’ll see how that goes.
I’m really really getting comfortable with my family in Cochabamba. My sister is super great, except she’s slightly given up helping with my power chord, since it’s been such a process, but other than that I can’t wait to come home every night and wander around my room in the constant search for wireless. And when the search fails, as it sometimes does, I watch a movie, Music and Lyrics has been a favorite so far. I wake up very often with “I thought I’d never fall in love again, but then POP goes my heart!” singing in my head.
That’s about it, sorry I’m not too exciting and don’t fall off of buses more than once. My elbow is healing however.
21.9.07
So I have really failed in this blogging thing for a few weeks, but honestly not too much has happened to write home about. But I thought this title would sound cool and some of you would like a few funny stories, so here it goes.... My second morning here I went to eat breakfast and everyone had a glass of wine with white foam on the top. Since it was the second breakfast I had with my family, I was a little scared wine for breakfast was a normal thing. But after we finished breakfast they clued me in that this drink was a tradition they had on the morning of their mom's birthday every year. I also wrote a story about this for a class and I received an A on it, not bad huh?
The other morning I went to take a shower and there was a brown blob that looked like poo in my shower, I didn't really know what to do so I just ignored it. I actually took a shower two times with the brown blob and then by the grand suggestion of a friend in the program I told my mom about it. I would have cleaned it up, but I also wanted her to tell me what it was and how it got there. So she cleaned it up the next morning and announced at lunch that the cat (which I hardly ever see) had pooped in my shower and I needed to keep the door and window closed. So hopefully no more poo in my shower.
Last story. I was getting of a very very crowded mini-bus yesterday with 3 other girls and for some stupid reason I thought the bus wasn't going as fast as it actually was and I jumped off before it came to a complete stop. Next thing I know I'm rolling on my back ( I was careful not to let my head hit the cement) with my feet and hands in the air. It was pretty scary because for one brief moment I thought the bus might somehow run me over. It didn't however and I just jumped up really quickly with a hurting elbow. Then my friends got out of the mini-bus (actually they started driving away when one girl was still in the bus) and we were all laughing so hard and I was very very embarrassed because everyone in the bus (the very crowed bus) had seen me and gasped when it happened. It was honestly the stupidest thing ever and I'll have a nice little scar on my elbow to show you when I get home. Con AmorSo I have really failed in this blogging thing for a few weeks, but honestly not too much has happened to write home about. But I thought this title would sound cool and some of you would like a few funny stories, so here it goes.... My second morning here I went to eat breakfast and everyone had a glass of wine with white foam on the top. Since it was the second breakfast I had with my family, I was a little scared wine for breakfast was a normal thing. But after we finished breakfast they clued me in that this drink was a tradition they had on the morning of their mom's birthday every year. I also wrote a story about this for a class and I received an A on it, not bad huh?The other morning I went to take a shower and there was a brown blob that looked like poo in my shower, I didn't really know what to do so I just ignored it. I actually took a shower two times with the brown blob and then by the grand suggestion of a friend in the program I told my mom about it. I would have cleaned it up, but I also wanted her to tell me what it was and how it got there. So she cleaned it up the next morning and announced at lunch that the cat (which I hardly ever see) had pooped in my shower and I needed to keep the door and window closed. So hopefully no more poo in my shower. Last story. I was getting of a very very crowded mini-bus yesterday with 3 other girls and for some stupid reason I thought the bus wasn't going as fast as it actually was and I jumped off before it came to a complete stop. Next thing I know I'm rolling on my back ( I was careful not to let my head hit the cement) with my feet and hands in the air. It was pretty scary because for one brief moment I thought the bus might somehow run me over. It didn't however and I just jumped up really quickly with a hurting elbow. Then my friends got out of the mini-bus (actually they started driving away when one girl was still in the bus) and we were all laughing so hard and I was very very embarrassed because everyone in the bus (the very crowed bus) had seen me and gasped when it happened. It was honestly the stupidest thing ever and I'll have a nice little scar on my elbow to show you when I get home.
Con Amor
The other morning I went to take a shower and there was a brown blob that looked like poo in my shower, I didn't really know what to do so I just ignored it. I actually took a shower two times with the brown blob and then by the grand suggestion of a friend in the program I told my mom about it. I would have cleaned it up, but I also wanted her to tell me what it was and how it got there. So she cleaned it up the next morning and announced at lunch that the cat (which I hardly ever see) had pooped in my shower and I needed to keep the door and window closed. So hopefully no more poo in my shower.
Last story. I was getting of a very very crowded mini-bus yesterday with 3 other girls and for some stupid reason I thought the bus wasn't going as fast as it actually was and I jumped off before it came to a complete stop. Next thing I know I'm rolling on my back ( I was careful not to let my head hit the cement) with my feet and hands in the air. It was pretty scary because for one brief moment I thought the bus might somehow run me over. It didn't however and I just jumped up really quickly with a hurting elbow. Then my friends got out of the mini-bus (actually they started driving away when one girl was still in the bus) and we were all laughing so hard and I was very very embarrassed because everyone in the bus (the very crowed bus) had seen me and gasped when it happened. It was honestly the stupidest thing ever and I'll have a nice little scar on my elbow to show you when I get home. Con AmorSo I have really failed in this blogging thing for a few weeks, but honestly not too much has happened to write home about. But I thought this title would sound cool and some of you would like a few funny stories, so here it goes.... My second morning here I went to eat breakfast and everyone had a glass of wine with white foam on the top. Since it was the second breakfast I had with my family, I was a little scared wine for breakfast was a normal thing. But after we finished breakfast they clued me in that this drink was a tradition they had on the morning of their mom's birthday every year. I also wrote a story about this for a class and I received an A on it, not bad huh?The other morning I went to take a shower and there was a brown blob that looked like poo in my shower, I didn't really know what to do so I just ignored it. I actually took a shower two times with the brown blob and then by the grand suggestion of a friend in the program I told my mom about it. I would have cleaned it up, but I also wanted her to tell me what it was and how it got there. So she cleaned it up the next morning and announced at lunch that the cat (which I hardly ever see) had pooped in my shower and I needed to keep the door and window closed. So hopefully no more poo in my shower. Last story. I was getting of a very very crowded mini-bus yesterday with 3 other girls and for some stupid reason I thought the bus wasn't going as fast as it actually was and I jumped off before it came to a complete stop. Next thing I know I'm rolling on my back ( I was careful not to let my head hit the cement) with my feet and hands in the air. It was pretty scary because for one brief moment I thought the bus might somehow run me over. It didn't however and I just jumped up really quickly with a hurting elbow. Then my friends got out of the mini-bus (actually they started driving away when one girl was still in the bus) and we were all laughing so hard and I was very very embarrassed because everyone in the bus (the very crowed bus) had seen me and gasped when it happened. It was honestly the stupidest thing ever and I'll have a nice little scar on my elbow to show you when I get home.
Con Amor
4.9.07
Welcome to my room in Bolivia! It's simple. No, the old computer on my desk doesn't work, but I am able to "borrow" a wireless signal from the internet place next door, sweet no? I'm living with an older couple, my host parents who are 75 and 85. Their 31 yr old daughter still lives with them, but that's because no one moves out until they are married here. Their son and his family live in the same area, but they have their own apartment. There are lots of grandchildern of all ages running around, so that's fun. The SIT program is fun, but a lot of work to come and a lot of writing in spanish that I'm not looking forward to. The 25 other students are really amazing and diverse, all in all it's wonderful.27.8.07
Getting to Cochabamba
On Sunday morning I woke up at 6am to see my parents to their taxi to take them to the airport. Then I had a few hours until I need to be to the bus station. I took my time and packed and then got in a combi/taxi to the bus station. I got on a nice Pullman bus that was headed to La Paz, but they were going to drop me off in another town to get another bus to go to Cochabamba, easy enough, I thought.
On the Pullman bus I sat next to a little man who is from Taiwan, but has been living in Bogotá, Colombia for a few years selling motorcycles. He was proud to tell me he had eight cars and was now traveling to Bolivia to expand his business. He was nice though and I found his Spanish accent to be funny since it had an “Asian” sound to it.
I was told we would get to the town where I was to switch buses at 3pm, but of course we didn’t get there till 5pm. Patricia, the SIT secretary, who I was suppose to call told me not to arrive late in Cochabamba and to call her if I could when I switched buses. Well, I got off the bus and was told it wasn’t a normal bus terminal; actually it wasn’t a bus terminal at all. I would be riding on real Bolivian buses: crowded to the max, no bathrooms, and no frills. I had very little time to process this, as a huge gust of dust came out of no where and invaded my already hurting eyes. Great. Then I dragged my backpacks to where I was to jump on a random bus marked for Cochabamba.
A little shoe shining boy came RUNNING across the street, first asking if I wanted my shoes shinned, then asking if I needed to change money. I asked a woman in a food stand where the bus for Cochabamba was, she pointed to where some people were standing so I dragged my things over there. By that time the little boy knew I wanted to go to Cochabamba and was trying to help me with that. Out of nowhere a bus marked Cochabamba pulled up, and practically never stopped. I threw my backpacks onto the bottom and ran to jump on the bus that was still moving. I got on it and it was FULL, they told me to move to the back. There were three ladies and a little girl sleeping in the back along with a man who wasn’t sleeping. He told me the little girl’s seat was my seat and I would need to wake up her mom to move her. Well there were quite a few bags of things between me and the lady and I really didn’t want to wake a stranger up. So the man woke her up and then she woke up her daughter, but that wasn’t so easy. Her daughter wouldn’t wake up for anything, at one point I wondered if something might be wrong, it took a good minute of shaking the little girl to wake her up. She woke up enough to pass out on the floor of the bus. I squeezed into her spot.
Then it was time for me to pay. And guess what? I had no Bolivianos, only Chilean pesos. And no one would change it, I think because they didn’t know the exact exchange rate, which I guess is good they didn’t try to rip me off. So the lady next to me took care of me. She paid my $25 Bolivianos fare (about $3 USD) and took my $10,000 pesos (about $20 USD) to change when we got to Cochabamba. I thought that was really nice of her.
The bus ride to Cochabamba was suppose to be five hours, I think it was about that long, but it felt like 24. I have failed to mention that the lady sitting next to me also had a two month old son, Christopher. He was a good boy and didn’t cry too much, but he took up some room along with the little girl who didn’t have a seat. It was cramped in the way back of the bus. We had one 15 minute stop where we could buy food and use the bathroom. All I had was 1 Boliviano, enough to use the bathroom. No food. I did find half a pack of chocolate covered almonds in my bag, which I was very happy about.
It was getting dark and my choices were to try to sleep or watch the movie. Happily they did show a good movie, Air Force Once. Which brings me to my next observation about South American buses: every single bus company has men working for them as drivers and attendants (except Cruz del Sur). And you can tell by which movies are shown. When I was in the Cruz del Sur bus they showed chick-flicks and every single movie played by men attendants have fighting in them, it’s just truth.
Well Air Force One was good, I hadn’t seen it before, of course and it passed time very quickly. After the movie was over we were practically in Cochabamba, or so I thought. We had a good half hour before we got to the city and it was hot. Ricky and Megan can relate to this, buses get hot in the night time for some reason. It was like a sauna between this lady, her baby and this man who had been sleeping for hours. I couldn’t get sick though, that was not an option. Then we got to Cochabamba and I guess this is a pretty big city, we drove around for another half hour before we got to the bus terminal. When we got there the lady and I tried to find a money exchange without any luck, everything was closed. What to do? I spotted and ATM and told her I could get money out of there and then pay her back in Bolivianos. Good plan. Well of course I got four 100s out, so now I needed change. I went to a little snack bar to buy a soda and get change and all of a sudden three kids walk in saying Jacquelyn? Jacquelyn? I was really confused because the plan was for me to call Patricia when I arrived. However I was much later than I had said. I was really confused like I said, why were these kids saying my name? I responded that I was indeed Jackie they all kissed me on the cheek and well if you can imagine 3 strangers coming to your rescue while you were trying to pay back another lady that came to your rescue you would just be a little, um, surprised? I explained to them that I needed to pay the lady back and they reached in their pockets and paid for me! AMAZING. Then at the same moment they called Patricia and I had to talk to her, I could tell she had been worried and I was so shaken up that I couldn’t explain in Spanish what had happened. She just told me to go with Pedro to the hotel, so I did.
These kids were funny. We never had a formal introduction and when we were walking out to the car I asked in Spanish, “So who are you guys?” That got a pretty good laugh, followed by responses, “Bin Ladden, terrorists, etc” I could tell these kids would be fun. We talked as Pedro drove, he asked me if I was hungry. Well I was, but I was also sick after that bus ride. Plus I new I wouldn’t be finding any good vegetarian food. He suggested a hamburger and I admitted to not eating meat, they thought I was crazy. Then they suggested ice cream and I agreed. Chocolate ice cream for dinner was amazing. And I changed my 100 so I could pay them back for paying the lady on the bus. Good deal. We had a few more laughs on the way to the hotel, where they dropped me off and we said goodbye. I got in bed around 12 midnight, what a day.
On the Pullman bus I sat next to a little man who is from Taiwan, but has been living in Bogotá, Colombia for a few years selling motorcycles. He was proud to tell me he had eight cars and was now traveling to Bolivia to expand his business. He was nice though and I found his Spanish accent to be funny since it had an “Asian” sound to it.
I was told we would get to the town where I was to switch buses at 3pm, but of course we didn’t get there till 5pm. Patricia, the SIT secretary, who I was suppose to call told me not to arrive late in Cochabamba and to call her if I could when I switched buses. Well, I got off the bus and was told it wasn’t a normal bus terminal; actually it wasn’t a bus terminal at all. I would be riding on real Bolivian buses: crowded to the max, no bathrooms, and no frills. I had very little time to process this, as a huge gust of dust came out of no where and invaded my already hurting eyes. Great. Then I dragged my backpacks to where I was to jump on a random bus marked for Cochabamba.
A little shoe shining boy came RUNNING across the street, first asking if I wanted my shoes shinned, then asking if I needed to change money. I asked a woman in a food stand where the bus for Cochabamba was, she pointed to where some people were standing so I dragged my things over there. By that time the little boy knew I wanted to go to Cochabamba and was trying to help me with that. Out of nowhere a bus marked Cochabamba pulled up, and practically never stopped. I threw my backpacks onto the bottom and ran to jump on the bus that was still moving. I got on it and it was FULL, they told me to move to the back. There were three ladies and a little girl sleeping in the back along with a man who wasn’t sleeping. He told me the little girl’s seat was my seat and I would need to wake up her mom to move her. Well there were quite a few bags of things between me and the lady and I really didn’t want to wake a stranger up. So the man woke her up and then she woke up her daughter, but that wasn’t so easy. Her daughter wouldn’t wake up for anything, at one point I wondered if something might be wrong, it took a good minute of shaking the little girl to wake her up. She woke up enough to pass out on the floor of the bus. I squeezed into her spot.
Then it was time for me to pay. And guess what? I had no Bolivianos, only Chilean pesos. And no one would change it, I think because they didn’t know the exact exchange rate, which I guess is good they didn’t try to rip me off. So the lady next to me took care of me. She paid my $25 Bolivianos fare (about $3 USD) and took my $10,000 pesos (about $20 USD) to change when we got to Cochabamba. I thought that was really nice of her.
The bus ride to Cochabamba was suppose to be five hours, I think it was about that long, but it felt like 24. I have failed to mention that the lady sitting next to me also had a two month old son, Christopher. He was a good boy and didn’t cry too much, but he took up some room along with the little girl who didn’t have a seat. It was cramped in the way back of the bus. We had one 15 minute stop where we could buy food and use the bathroom. All I had was 1 Boliviano, enough to use the bathroom. No food. I did find half a pack of chocolate covered almonds in my bag, which I was very happy about.
It was getting dark and my choices were to try to sleep or watch the movie. Happily they did show a good movie, Air Force Once. Which brings me to my next observation about South American buses: every single bus company has men working for them as drivers and attendants (except Cruz del Sur). And you can tell by which movies are shown. When I was in the Cruz del Sur bus they showed chick-flicks and every single movie played by men attendants have fighting in them, it’s just truth.
Well Air Force One was good, I hadn’t seen it before, of course and it passed time very quickly. After the movie was over we were practically in Cochabamba, or so I thought. We had a good half hour before we got to the city and it was hot. Ricky and Megan can relate to this, buses get hot in the night time for some reason. It was like a sauna between this lady, her baby and this man who had been sleeping for hours. I couldn’t get sick though, that was not an option. Then we got to Cochabamba and I guess this is a pretty big city, we drove around for another half hour before we got to the bus terminal. When we got there the lady and I tried to find a money exchange without any luck, everything was closed. What to do? I spotted and ATM and told her I could get money out of there and then pay her back in Bolivianos. Good plan. Well of course I got four 100s out, so now I needed change. I went to a little snack bar to buy a soda and get change and all of a sudden three kids walk in saying Jacquelyn? Jacquelyn? I was really confused because the plan was for me to call Patricia when I arrived. However I was much later than I had said. I was really confused like I said, why were these kids saying my name? I responded that I was indeed Jackie they all kissed me on the cheek and well if you can imagine 3 strangers coming to your rescue while you were trying to pay back another lady that came to your rescue you would just be a little, um, surprised? I explained to them that I needed to pay the lady back and they reached in their pockets and paid for me! AMAZING. Then at the same moment they called Patricia and I had to talk to her, I could tell she had been worried and I was so shaken up that I couldn’t explain in Spanish what had happened. She just told me to go with Pedro to the hotel, so I did.
These kids were funny. We never had a formal introduction and when we were walking out to the car I asked in Spanish, “So who are you guys?” That got a pretty good laugh, followed by responses, “Bin Ladden, terrorists, etc” I could tell these kids would be fun. We talked as Pedro drove, he asked me if I was hungry. Well I was, but I was also sick after that bus ride. Plus I new I wouldn’t be finding any good vegetarian food. He suggested a hamburger and I admitted to not eating meat, they thought I was crazy. Then they suggested ice cream and I agreed. Chocolate ice cream for dinner was amazing. And I changed my 100 so I could pay them back for paying the lady on the bus. Good deal. We had a few more laughs on the way to the hotel, where they dropped me off and we said goodbye. I got in bed around 12 midnight, what a day.
25.8.07
Puno-Floating Islands and lots of reeds
After Arequipa/Colca Canyon we headed for Puno, a town on the shore of Lake Titicaca, one of the highest lakes in the world. We took a day trip to Uros Islands, 40 floating islands made of reeds. They are unique to the lake and to the world. The Quechua people still live there and use the reeds that surrond them to make many things, such as the island it self, boats, houses, and kites. They also can eat parts of the reeds and use the reeds to make medicines. Here are some pictures: 
Dad getting off the bus on the first reed island.
Dad getting off the bus on the first reed island.Bird's eye view of the island.
Sweet boat, no?
Then we went to Taquile Island, a natural island where Aymaras live. We had to climb up to get to our lunch spot and the views of the lake were amazing. 
Mom making it up the first "hill."
The cutest little girl, who played peek-a-boo with us behind a rock.
21.8.07
Cruz del Condor
We took a 2 day 1 night trip to Colca Canyon from Arequipa, Peru. The final day we were able to see tons of huge condors as they searched for dead animal to snack on. I hope these pictures do it justice of how close they really did get!
18.8.07
The scene
So we hopped on a bus to Nazca yesterday afternoon and the 7 hr bus ride turned into 8 or 9 because of the really bad road conditions due to the earthquake. Which was fine, we got to pass through Pisco and Ica where the quake hit the hardest. We saw some major cracks in the road and part of the road that had collapsed. We also saw a blankets being passed out of a big truck to people who were sleeping outside because their homes were destroyed.
I'm sure this was safe to drive over.
This however, definately wasn't, the right hand side of the road is collasped.
A destroyed home.
I'm sure this was safe to drive over.
This however, definately wasn't, the right hand side of the road is collasped.
A destroyed home.
People on the side of the road, holding a sign asking for help.
The last two hours of the bus ride we made friends. Marita, one of the attendants on the bus, and Diego, a 31 year old professor from Spain. Who come to find out is coming to Charlottesville in late November to study under a professor at UVA who knows a lot about his field: 18th century Spain. After talking about everything under the sun, politics mainly...mom invited Diego to stay at our house and even borrow our car. Oh the friends we make...
Then today we were picked up at 8am to go to the airport to fly over the Nazca lines and guess who was in our taxi Diego! He had made arrangements to tour with us for the whole day, it was very enjoyable and nice to have a second translator.
The last two hours of the bus ride we made friends. Marita, one of the attendants on the bus, and Diego, a 31 year old professor from Spain. Who come to find out is coming to Charlottesville in late November to study under a professor at UVA who knows a lot about his field: 18th century Spain. After talking about everything under the sun, politics mainly...mom invited Diego to stay at our house and even borrow our car. Oh the friends we make...
Then today we were picked up at 8am to go to the airport to fly over the Nazca lines and guess who was in our taxi Diego! He had made arrangements to tour with us for the whole day, it was very enjoyable and nice to have a second translator.
Can you see the spider? (sorry shea)
16.8.07
An Earthquake?
Things just keep getting more and more interesting...
My parents came in on Wednesday night and Megan and Ricky tried to leave, without much sucess, the one Delta flight that flies out everyday has been oversold until the end of the month, they were not going anywhere. So they had to buy a ticket to fly to Santiago to get a Delta flight out of there. I was in the airport until about 2:30 making sure they got taken care of, though I still haven't heard from them, which worries me...
So everything went smoothly for my parents and the next morning we woke up to have breakfast and talk to a travel agent to get some ideas about what we should do for 10 days. We made up a pretty nice plan to take a trip down south, cross into Chile and then they get a flight to Santiago so they won't be gambling with the one flight in Lima. We went to his office that night to confirm everything and when we were about done things started to shake, pretty hard. We ran outside with the other people in the office building and everything was pretty surreal. The quake lasted for a good minute and it was pretty strong. A window shattered from the 2nd story of the office building and we quickly ran accross the street to get away from the glass windows. When things calmed down we went back inside and tried to finish our travel plans, but things were slow because all the phone lines were tied up.
After getting home we realized the epicenter of the quake was in Ica/Pisco area, the exact towns we were suppose to be going the next day. We got a call this morning from the travel agent saying we definately couldn't go to these towns and our plans need to be rearanged. So we spent a few hours this morning figuring out what our other options are for the rest of the trip. I just received another call from him saying we could leave tomorrow to go to Nazca. I'm really excited about that because there have been little tremmors all night and day since the big one last night, and we are 4 hours away from the epicenter!
What a trip this has been!
My parents came in on Wednesday night and Megan and Ricky tried to leave, without much sucess, the one Delta flight that flies out everyday has been oversold until the end of the month, they were not going anywhere. So they had to buy a ticket to fly to Santiago to get a Delta flight out of there. I was in the airport until about 2:30 making sure they got taken care of, though I still haven't heard from them, which worries me...
So everything went smoothly for my parents and the next morning we woke up to have breakfast and talk to a travel agent to get some ideas about what we should do for 10 days. We made up a pretty nice plan to take a trip down south, cross into Chile and then they get a flight to Santiago so they won't be gambling with the one flight in Lima. We went to his office that night to confirm everything and when we were about done things started to shake, pretty hard. We ran outside with the other people in the office building and everything was pretty surreal. The quake lasted for a good minute and it was pretty strong. A window shattered from the 2nd story of the office building and we quickly ran accross the street to get away from the glass windows. When things calmed down we went back inside and tried to finish our travel plans, but things were slow because all the phone lines were tied up.
After getting home we realized the epicenter of the quake was in Ica/Pisco area, the exact towns we were suppose to be going the next day. We got a call this morning from the travel agent saying we definately couldn't go to these towns and our plans need to be rearanged. So we spent a few hours this morning figuring out what our other options are for the rest of the trip. I just received another call from him saying we could leave tomorrow to go to Nazca. I'm really excited about that because there have been little tremmors all night and day since the big one last night, and we are 4 hours away from the epicenter!
What a trip this has been!
The broken glass on the sidewalk.
15.8.07
El Camino de los Inkas
On Aug. 9th at 545am we began our 4 day trek through the Andes of Peru. We were nervous before, we aren't going to lie. Megan had been sick for about 3 days and hadn't eaten much of anything; I had no idea how she was going to find the energy. We were picked up at 545 and had about a 3 hour bus ride to kilometer 82 where the Inca trail begins. We had decided to share a pack, which even though helped Megan the first day, because she didn't have much strength, was not the best idea. We ended up hiring a porter to carry our things for the 2nd and 3rd days. Megan did regain her appetite and strength by the first night, which was such a relief and blesssing. We were able to enjoy the whole trip from then on. We were trekking with 12 other people from all over the world, Czech Republic, Spain, Italy and Holland. It was an amazing group of people and mixture of cultures. We had many laughs during our free time at our camp site, playing cards and charades. The second day was definitely the hardest trekking day; we climbed uphill for 5 hours, to our highest peak of 1400 feet above sea level. It was gorgeously worth it. The 3rd day was mainly downhill and we saw lots of Incas ruins along the way. Every one you came upon, you felt as though you were discovering it yourself. Everything felt so remote on the side of a mountain. We woke up super early the 4th day to hike to Machu Picchu. It was incredible. It's bigger than any picture can ever show and there are so many details and traces left of the intelligence of the Incas from over 500 years ago. The challenge was well worth it and full of rewards.
Our first camp site.
at 1400 ft!
Megs and I looking over some ruins.
Flowers
Before we hit the trail, most of our group.
Our first camp site.
at 1400 ft!
Megs and I looking over some ruins.
Flowers
We made it to machu picchu!
Trying to look decent, even though I hadn't taken a shower for five days...
7.8.07
gringo futbol and other events
We have been in Arequipa, Peru for about three days now, visiting our friend Cassandra. She has been wonderful giving us all of her free time when she is not teaching english. She has also let us sleep at her apartment so we could save a few dollars. On top of that we have all been sick, basically since we got here. I was first and I quickly took a "miracle pill" and felt better in a few hours. Megan got sick the next day and is still sick two days later, Ricky got sick this morning. They both took the pill, so hopefully they will be feeling better soon.
However we were all able to have an enjoyable Sunday afternoon together. Cassandra and the insitute she works for is trying to start a volunteer progam (for people from the states and Europe to come and teach english, play with kids, time and energy type of stuff...) in a little town outside of the main city of Arequipa. Right now they are just looking for kids who want to be entertained by some gringos. So we traveled to a little poorer town and taught anyone interested to play flag football....not my choice, nor their choice of game...but none the less that is what we played for a few hours. The kids caught on after a while and really got use to us gringos. It looks like the volunteer program should work out nicely.
Today I had a little adventure of my own. Cassandra took me out to lunch, Ricky and Megan stayed home, and I had to find my way back...including changing buses. I cannot justly describe the bus system here, let us just call it crazy. So I got on and off the first bus fine. This bus ends up at the cemetary and they have a row of vendors selling flowers for the grave sites. I decided to buy some for Cassandra and for a nice lady I met last night. I needed a vase though so they pointed down a street where I could buy one. Well I walked down the street that was mainly residential. No luck. So I asked a lady in a little snack shop if she knew of a place to buy a vase. She told me to go back to the ladies selling the flowers. I told her they told me to come down the street. Then she called the liars....So she did me a favor, she found two plastic containers and put some water in them for me for the flowers. Very nice of her, I thought. We also had a nice converstation about my stay in Arequipa. She also pointed to the corner and told me I could catch the bus for Cerro July (where I needed to go). So I went to the corner and waited. I knew it was the wrong bus almost the second I got on (even though the bus boy said it was the right one...). So I thought I would enjoy the ride and see what would happen. I ended up outside of the city in a poorer neighborhood. I once again asked the bus boy if this was the bus to Cerro July....this time he said no and it was his bad he would get me back to the place I needed to be and for free! (I saved 20 cents...) So I got back to where I started and got on the right bus to Cerro July. It was almost an intintional screw up just to have a little adventure, I enjoyed it.
Chau
However we were all able to have an enjoyable Sunday afternoon together. Cassandra and the insitute she works for is trying to start a volunteer progam (for people from the states and Europe to come and teach english, play with kids, time and energy type of stuff...) in a little town outside of the main city of Arequipa. Right now they are just looking for kids who want to be entertained by some gringos. So we traveled to a little poorer town and taught anyone interested to play flag football....not my choice, nor their choice of game...but none the less that is what we played for a few hours. The kids caught on after a while and really got use to us gringos. It looks like the volunteer program should work out nicely.
Today I had a little adventure of my own. Cassandra took me out to lunch, Ricky and Megan stayed home, and I had to find my way back...including changing buses. I cannot justly describe the bus system here, let us just call it crazy. So I got on and off the first bus fine. This bus ends up at the cemetary and they have a row of vendors selling flowers for the grave sites. I decided to buy some for Cassandra and for a nice lady I met last night. I needed a vase though so they pointed down a street where I could buy one. Well I walked down the street that was mainly residential. No luck. So I asked a lady in a little snack shop if she knew of a place to buy a vase. She told me to go back to the ladies selling the flowers. I told her they told me to come down the street. Then she called the liars....So she did me a favor, she found two plastic containers and put some water in them for me for the flowers. Very nice of her, I thought. We also had a nice converstation about my stay in Arequipa. She also pointed to the corner and told me I could catch the bus for Cerro July (where I needed to go). So I went to the corner and waited. I knew it was the wrong bus almost the second I got on (even though the bus boy said it was the right one...). So I thought I would enjoy the ride and see what would happen. I ended up outside of the city in a poorer neighborhood. I once again asked the bus boy if this was the bus to Cerro July....this time he said no and it was his bad he would get me back to the place I needed to be and for free! (I saved 20 cents...) So I got back to where I started and got on the right bus to Cerro July. It was almost an intintional screw up just to have a little adventure, I enjoyed it.
Chau
31.7.07
Oso en Tilcara (Bear in Tilcara)
For those of you up-to-date Disovery Channel watchers, yes, I am speaking of the one and only Bear Grills...
Today I had a Bear momment.
We hiked up to a waterfall and found a dribble of water being filtered through the rocks, which in case you didn´t see that episode is perfect drinking water....so we filled up our water bottles with fresh water from the mountains of Tilcara, Argentina.
Today I had a Bear momment.
We hiked up to a waterfall and found a dribble of water being filtered through the rocks, which in case you didn´t see that episode is perfect drinking water....so we filled up our water bottles with fresh water from the mountains of Tilcara, Argentina.
Faustino, Ricky and Megan chillin on a rock near to la garganta del diablo, the waterfall we hiked to
Fresh water, Bear style
under la garganta del diablo
Christmas in July?
Going on the advice of many travelers we headed to San Pedro de Atacama in the Atacama desert (the driest in the world) after Vina del Mar. It was a 24hr bus ride to Calama and then an hour bus ride to San Pedro. We arrivied in San Pedro (population 5000) around 11pm and started looking for a place to stay. There were two people behind us with packs like ours, so I asked them if they knew where they were staying, they said no and we decided to look together. Their names were Alex (a girl from France) and Serigo (a guy from Mexico), they are both studying in Santiago and traveling together on winter vacation. San Pedro was starting to shut down when we got there and everywhere we asked, no one had any empty rooms. It was frustrating and cold and a bit scary when someone told us this happens a lot and travelers have to sleep on the street for a night. Somehow we found a nice old man with a full hostel who called around to all the other hostels to see if any had an extra room. No one did. Alex, Serigo and I walked around the town until about 1am while Megan and Ricky stayed back with our packs in the reception area of the hostel of the nice man. We had no luck finding anything and by the time 2am rolled around the nice man wanted to go to bed and then did a very Latin American thing, he ¨found¨ us somewhere to stay. It was a storage room with lots of beds and blankets. It wasn´t the nicest place, but boy did that bed feel good after a day of sitting on a bus.
While falling asleep, I thought about Mary and Joseph and no room in the inn...
While falling asleep, I thought about Mary and Joseph and no room in the inn...
23.7.07
the best wave
I´m sitting on a four year old´s bed watching as Megan and Ignacia play with a umbrella and scream ¨lluvia!!!!¨(rain). I finish the sentence and the game has ended just as quickly. We have been staying with the Peñas for four days, I found them on couchsurfing.com and it´s been a great experience. Plus we haven´t slept on a couch yet, Megan and I have shared a bed and Ricky has a mattress on the floor. We´ve figured out the bus and subway system of Santiago and seen a lot of the city. We have also been blessed to have another couch surfer stay with the Peñas while we´ve been here. Her name is Emma and she is from Australia and traveling to Rio and then Sao Paulo Brazil where she is going to teach English for a year. We are headed to Viña del Mar tomorrow.
Hasta pronto!!
Hasta pronto!!
JUMP!
Vineyard tour at Concha y Toro with Emma.
The Andes and palm trees in the same photo!
15.7.07
Frequent Flyer
Hola! and thank you.
Thank you for checking in on me, thank you for your prayers and messages over these next six months, because of them this will be a more memorable experience.
Megan, Ricky and I will be leaving 19.7.07 for Santiago, Chile. We will be traveling through Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru until 14.8.07 when they will fly out of Lima for the US and my parents fly into Lima from the US.
The next two weeks I will spend with my parents traveling and hopefully watching as they begin to understand and love the South America I have become addicted to. Then they will fly out of Lima and leave me to the big finale of my journey, studying in Bolivia.
I will spend a little over three months studying with a group of students in Cochabamba, Bolivia. We will not only study, but experience all things Bolivian, including home stays and an independent study project to help us focus on our passions.
More travel is likely to occur after studying in Cochabamba...we shall cross those bridges when they come
Besos
Thank you for checking in on me, thank you for your prayers and messages over these next six months, because of them this will be a more memorable experience.
Megan, Ricky and I will be leaving 19.7.07 for Santiago, Chile. We will be traveling through Chile, Argentina, Bolivia and Peru until 14.8.07 when they will fly out of Lima for the US and my parents fly into Lima from the US.
The next two weeks I will spend with my parents traveling and hopefully watching as they begin to understand and love the South America I have become addicted to. Then they will fly out of Lima and leave me to the big finale of my journey, studying in Bolivia.
I will spend a little over three months studying with a group of students in Cochabamba, Bolivia. We will not only study, but experience all things Bolivian, including home stays and an independent study project to help us focus on our passions.
More travel is likely to occur after studying in Cochabamba...we shall cross those bridges when they come
Besos
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