Tuesday 8 September 2009

Funny Stuff


Here are some funny things I saw while travelling. Looks like I have a puerile streak in me that cannot be squashed...
I saw this sign at a bus station on my trip from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile to Santiago. I couldn't resist...

By far, one of the funniest things I have ever seen is pictured below. Alexis and Catherina's son was doing homework as we chatted in their office when he saw something on his assignment that puzzled him. He came in and showed us this:

The assignment was a letter to word association using pictures. Look closely and you'll see that the letter "T" is for... well... "tata." Yes that means what it sounds like as illustrated by the picture. Only in Chile... We had a great laugh over this.

Now here is sign I saw while I was at an archaeological site in San Pedro de Atacama...


More stuff to come!

Don

Tuesday 18 August 2009

Chapter 30

I took this photo the day before I left. Hair freshly cut... Beard and 'stache neatly trimmed. I expected it'd be the one of last times I'd be able to groom myself for 10 days, not wanting to take my electric razor with me and expecting creature comforts to be scarce and difficult to attain.

I remember taking this picture and all of the things that were running through my head. I thought about all of the difficult changes that I had been through in my 30th year of life; besides turning 30, I'd lost my mother and then lost my job. I thought about how I was soon to embark on a trip without someone there to take care of me for the first time in my life. I thought about how terrifying it would be to get to Peru only to find out that Albert, my travelling partner, missed his flight; I would be stuck alone in a foreign country. What would I do? I thought about how much I would change and grow. I prayed that I would come back as that thing that has eluded me all these years: a man.

Thirty was a year of profound changes in my life. South America was really just the climax and conclusion to a storied year that I will credit with finally ushering me into true adulthood. The story begins with the passing of my dear mother. Talking about it still makes me cry.

In the years leading up to that event, I was coasting. Throughout my childhood and young adulthood, I was full of promise, but devoid of ambition. This defined me. Maybe I felt content just simply being full of promise; like it was enough for me to simply be a question that would forever remain unanswered. What I've come to learn is that it was a defense mechanism. You see, had I chosen to be ambitious, it would have forced me to answer the question, and frankly, I was too terrified to know; too scared to find out that the promise was one I could not fulfill. And it was this that set the course of my life. I would spend it somewhere in the middle. Not poor and suffering, but not happy either; just happy that no one was worrying about my well-being and maintaning that status quo. If I made no effort to reach my potential, then it would never be known what I could have been.

I was devastated when my mother passed away. I was her baby; her youngest. Even in the final years before we lost her, as my body grew large, and eyes began to sag - as I began to show the signs of aging - when I saw her, she would still look at me with doe eyes like I was the baby in this picture of mom and me. At times, I hated her for it; I felt like she was holding me back -- keeping me from becoming a man. At other times, looking into her eyes, I was that baby again, as if no time had passed.

I remember standing at her bedside, her hand clutching mine; she couldn't speak because of the stroke she suffered, but despite the pain and fear she must have been experiencing, almost as if out of instinct, she looked me in my eyes with her big doe eyes, smiled and squeezed my hands. Even in her final moments, she could still find joy in looking at the face of her littlest one, now an aging man. It wasn't long after that that she was gone. I think in some way, that part of me left with her; the baby boy from the picture was gone too.

In her final moments, my mom gave me a gift: the inner strength, the courage and resolve that I have long sought. Since her passing, I found the strength I needed to leave behind the things that held me back, the resolve I needed to overcome life's difficulties like losing my job, and the courage I needed to pursue the adventure that I seek; I credit it to her. In fact, in my mind, on some level, it is a tribute to her.

It has been a process. There was a lot of back and forth before I finally got the nerve to commit to going to Peru with Albert. In fact, we did not actually purchase the ticket until a week before we left. Some of the fears I had before leaving, in hindsight, seem a little silly. I remember a long conversation Albert and I had about when he would fly home. He was able to find two different return flights for himself: one that left a full day after my return date, and one that left ten hours before my return date. He was sympathetic to my anxiety about being alone in a foreign country and graciously offered to choose the later flight despite needing to come home earlier to prepare for a move from New York to San Francisco. After a good deal of thought, I told him to go ahead and fly back early rationalizing it as a good way for me to get a taste of solo travelling without too much risk. Had you told me then that I would end up travelling through South America alone for a month after splitting with Albert, I'd have told you to shove it. And yet, that is exactly what happened.
Here I am on the day that Albert and I split up. Initially, Albert was just going to the airport to check prices and I had decided to go to the plaza to start my blog; we were scheduled to meet up here in this Plaza in Cuzco that evening. Albert found a fare that was leaving that night for the right price, so as it turned out, we ended up not meeting up again. But it was fine. I had made the decision to extend my trip already by this point and had already purchased the ticket change. Still, the look you see here on my face is saying "what did I just get myself into...?"

Doubt frequently crept into my mind throughout my adventure and I suspect doubt and fear will be something that I will wrestle with my whole life. The difference now is that I feel strong enough to face those doubts and fears, and now I know the potential reward that lies out there if I can overcome them. Not long after I snapped this photo, I was on a bus driving across Peru to Lake Titicaca. The doubt and fear were quickly pulled off the stage for the next act: awe and amazement.

I am home now. It has been just shy of two weeks since I returned; I am still getting used to not saying "si" and "gracias" to local vendors. The beard and 'stache are gone. As I begin the 31st year of my life, I am full of optimism. Thirty was a turning point in my life, a life with which I was growing increasingly dissatisfied. I sort of knew it as it was happening, but it is only in retrospect that I can say it for sure.

As I reflect on this year of heartaches, joys, and growth, my mother is ever present on my mind. I miss her. In my mind, I like to pretend that when she left, and the little boy in me left too, they went together. I imagine that they are still together sitting in a chair -- just like in the picture. In this fantasy, she would never be lonely wherever she went, because I would always be with her.

Saturday 1 August 2009

Buenos Aires, Buenos Noches...

I´m coming home.

Tonight is my final night in South America. And as I sit and type in this internet cafe in Buenos Aires, I find that I could stay longer... much longer. One month at the time I made my decision to extend my trip seemed like an eternity, but I think I could keep at this for a much longer time. 4 months would have been a good length of time.

But my responsibilities at home beckon and I miss my dad, so I am content with ending this trip tomorrow and am looking forward being back to the good ol´ U.S. of A. But not before enjoying a few last indulgences before I go. Pictured to the left is me smoking a fine Cuban cigar at "La Casa del Habano" on Av Reconquista earlier today. I am a cigar enthusiast and this was my very first Cuban. "Casa del Habano" only sells Cubans... Of the experience, all I can say is... believe the hype. It was a consistent, mellow, delicious smoke; one of the best I´ve ever had and it is not simply because it was a forbidden cigar. I am sure to endulge in another tomorrow before I finally board my plane. I don´t care if I stink.

The final leg of my trip began when I arrived in Buenos Aires about 5 days ago. Thats also about when I stopped losing weight. For most of this trip, I have been eating like a bird (like a loon bird as my sister, T. would put it); I haven´t had much of an appetite. That all ended in BA where I discovered "Bonpler," a panini sandwich fast food place that is only in BA and that I am now hooked on.
Unfortunately, it is exclusive to Argentina, so it is not something I can endulge on in the States. And actually, their portions and prices are very reasonable. This small drink and sandwich pictured above is a regular sized meal; so not exactly the super-sized fries you find at home. But... okay I confess.... there was also a McDonald´s that had free wi-fi across the street from my hostel. Curse you Ronald, your free internet and your hot fudge sundaes!

I was also tipped off by fellow travellers along the way that I would be able to find $10.00 USD steak dinners here, and as promised, I did. Here I am pictured right about to "enjoy" it. What I didn´t eat, I used to patch my shoes. It was disgusting. Rest assured, this is not one of the other indulgences I will be enjoying for the remainder of my trip.

Buenos Aires is a festive city, a sort of "Rio de Janiero lite" I imagine. I didn´t make it up to Brazil this time, but from what I have seen in magazines and t.v., it is sort of like Rio without the transvestites. But it is also a very liveable city and a thriving center for international business. Argentina suffered an economic collapse around the first part of this decade, but despite that, Buenos Aires still exudes the air of a major metropolis with its sky scrapers and streets filled with men and women in suits.

It is also a city teeming with culture. On the street corners and walkways, during most hours of the day, you can find painters and performance artists with their crafts displayed for all to see. I have been on a hunt for art for most of my trip and have found very little art that I was compelled to buy, but in BA, on my first day here, I found a piece that I had to have. Meet the artist: Sergio Hernandez.


Sergio´s fierce self reliance despite his disability was inspiring. I asked him first if it would be okay for me to post this video to my blog and offered to email him a link. He happily obliged and offered his email, but he didn´t even think to just say it to me to write myself. His first instinct was to just write it out for me. Carefully, he grabbed my paper bag with his feet, and with a pencil gripped firmly between his toes, he proceeded to write out his email address, @ symbol and all. Having met Sergio, I will never again in good conscience let myself believe that I have any kind of limitation, because he demonstrated to me that no limitation cannot be overcome.

Buenos Aires is also a major center for Tango culture. Tango is everywhere here, from giant stages, to instructional centers, to street corners. I took in a tango demonstration while in downtown. It was beautiful.


I had planned to take some lessons while here, but I quickly realized two things upon seeing this: 1. I would need a partner, and 2. I was not going to be able to learn the steps in the few days I was here. So I decided to just enjoy it as an observer while here. Perhaps I will find a tango school in Seattle; it could be something I can do if I ever want to be back in South America without actually being here.

Buenos Aires has its share of sights to see. I decided to take a Lonely Planet suggested walking tour at one point. The tour began at a cemetary... Cemetario de la Recoleta. Recoleta is probably the wealthiest neighborhood in BA and it is home to the most important cemetary in Buenos Aires. Here, the wealthy and the elite are laid to rest and the rest of us can gawk at their mausoleums. All joking aside, it was really quite nice; each mausoleum was unique and exquisitely ornate. The cemetary was built in the early 1800's, so there were mausoleums dating back as early as the 1810's. I found one of a man born in 1788 and buried in 1888.

He was born just over a decade after the birth of our nation; he was alive during the time of George Washington. And he lived through the American Civil War. He probably had little or no knowledge of these events while he was alive, but still...

My next stop on the walking tour through Recoleta was this building for an engineering school as an example of Gothic architecture.















The next stop was a mall of interior design which was not worth taking any video of. And finally the tour took me to a very nice art museum. The museum was established by a local artist and was built where this artist´s studio and home were once located. It housed art of South American artists, but mostly of European artists. There was some very nice stuff there; the most famous works that were displayed here were some pieces by Eduardo Manet. However, I was not allowed to take video or photos, so unfortunately, I cannot share any of it with you.

In my own exploration of Buenos Aires, I happened upon Plaza de Mayo at the end of the Av de Mayo.


There was a big church here that I had to go into. My church days are behind me, but I still find myself drawn to churches where I see them, especially Catholic cathedrals, each with opulence worthy of God. They are so ornate; transcendent of anything one man could accomplish. And of course it would be so, as a house built for God would necessarily be so. But what I really love about them is they each give you a sense of the omniscience that God might feel. When the cathedral is looked at as a whole, you are overcome by the magnificence of it all; but then you stop and take a look at each detail and you realize that, while its sum is magnificent, there is also magnificence in its details. You look at the pillars and see entire stories from the bible depicted in engravings. You look at the ceiling, and it is an array of frescoes that could fill a metropolitan museum. Then you look at the mosaics that make up the floor and you are overcome all over again when you see the precision and care it took to hand-make each individual tile. It´s what I imagine it must be like to be God and looking at humanity as a sum and then listening to their individual prayers. Cathedrals are all basically the same, but I still enjoy visiting wherever I encounter them. So I suppose South America was the right place for me...

Entry was saved and restarted 08/04:
The rest of my time in BA was spent just trekking around looking for interesting stuff, and I found quite a bit that I´d like to share, but internet here is not great, so I will have to wait until I get home to post the rest. In fact, over the next few days or weeks, I will be sifting through all of my videos and posting more from what I haven´t already posted to my blog. I´ll also have some final thoughts on my trip and life in general, so check back in a few days for some new content!
Thanks again everyone who followed my blog. It was like I had you there at my side each step of the way. :) And now I am off to have one last Cuban! See you all soon!

Monday 27 July 2009

Life with the Lopezes

The further I get away from home, the more I feel like home is everywhere.

As promised, Catherina and Alexis met with me yesterday to show me their Santiago. I will get into more detail about our day together later in this post, but in the interest of continuity, I´d like first to tell you a little about my solo exploration of Santiago which happened the day before yesterday. But before I do anything, I just wanted to thank you, Catherina and Alexis for a truly wonderful day of joy and laughter with your family. I have never experienced the kind of hospitality your family has shown me from a total stranger before and it was both staggering and inspiring.

On my first whole day in Santiago, I decided to brave the subway system having been told it was the cheapest and easiest mode of transportation in the city. There is also a comprehensive bus system in Santiago, but I decided to avoid it. Like in any city, I am always a little apprehensive before I step on its subway system. The image always flashes in my head of me standing in some far away burrough of the city with a bewildered look on my face.



But the fear was unwarranted...

Once I had the subway system figured out, I felt like I had the keys to the city and Santiago was opened up to me. My first stop was to the Plaza de Armas and Mercado Central. These are basically just the city centers but always promise to be somewhat interesting. They are also the heart of the city and visiting them is a nice way to get a feel for the place you are in.

It is said that Chile is the first South American country to earn status as a first world country. I have not been to many South American countries, but it is not hard to believe this to be true. The infrastructure in my experience has been excellent. I could easily see myself living happily in Chile if I could speak Spanish. The type of shopping that is here seems suggest the people also have a lot of disposable income. I met a Chilean fellow on the bus ride down from San Pedro who did imply that to some degree, this is more perception than reality and there is a hidden poorer face of Chile, but even if this is the case, Chile is still a hop skip and a jump ahead of much of the world in terms of liveability.

Santiago´s Plaza de Armas had its share of shopping and cathedrals like most do. One feature I did enjoy that was unique to this Plaza de Armas was an outdoor art gallery. The gallery here in Santiago was much better than others I´ve seen in my travels. The art featured here was less "factory art" than I´ve seen. The artists here all had their own voice.

I did meet one artist who had painted something that I liked very much. It was an unfinished painting of musicians who I recognized immediately as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis in one of their Blue Note sessions. He needed a day to finish and laquer the painting and I had made arrangements to meet with him to purchase the finished painting. Unfortunately, I was not able to make it to our arranged meeting time. I searched the plaza for him hoping to see him today, but he was not there. Such is life...

While wandering the Plaza, I stumbled on a group of buskers in the Subway like none I´ve ever seen and I enjoyed their music very much. The group was called Son de la Calle and it consisted of a hand drummer/lead singer, a sax player, guitar player, and an upright bass player. All of the players sang back up. The singer had an authenticity that I both admired and envied. His voice was totally unique, and it was perfect. No other voice could possibly have passed through that throat, past those teeth... No other voice could have risen from this man´s body and emanated from his weathered and suntanned face. This man could not have possibly existed anywhere other than where he was. He might as well have been carved from the stone upon which he sat. Just perfectly real, natural, and authentic... like a wild cactus in the desert.

Needless to say, I bought a C.D. and donated a few pesos more. Here were men who truly deserved to continue to play for a living.

Sunday came and I called spoke to Alexis just before noon. Alexis offered to pick me up at my hostel. Their home was not far from where I was staying. Our first stop was their beautiful home. They live in a large apartment in the middle of the city across the street from Santiago´s Metropolitan Park (like NY´s Central Park). Alexis and Catherina have a web technology company together that they run out of their home. Their office resembles that bridge of the Nebuchanezzar of the Matrix with their super computer and mulitple LCD screens arranged side by side.

Alexis is a renaissance man of sorts. He is successful in his field, but his interests do not stop there. He took me on a guided tour of his insect samples; on the side, he is an entymologist. His walls were covered with hundreds of samples of local insect species, some of which he collected and cataloged himself.

Alexis also has a keen interest in robotics which I´m sure his boys Roberto, Ricardo and Octavio have no problem with. I played with the boys in Alexis´s office with a robot for a little while until Alexis walked in with instructions for the boys to unhand the equipment; "it´s not a toy," he said.

In fact, the robot, despite being manufactured by Lego, was a quite sophisticated example of robotics. Alexis, showed me its sensors which operated on sonar and the software that he used to program the robot.

Soon, Catherina entered the office to greet me in her friendly, easygoing way. We chatted about friends, family, her travels to Seattle and other places, the friends she had made internationally in her travels. She showed me pictures from her Facebook profile of her Seattle visit. When we got to her photos of her visit to the Seattle aquarium, she showed me what I found to be a very clever thing she did: she tagged her photos of the fish to her friends. Specifically, she had shown me a fish she had tagged to link to her friend from India. I suggested that since her friend was Indian, and probably believed in reincarnation, the fish could actually have been him, just in a past life. Catherina and Alexis both had a hearty laugh and it was in this moment that I knew I was in good company. As the day passed, I felt a bit like the U.S. American boy in Bernardo Bertolucci´s The Dreamers; lonely in a foreign country, grateful to have been taken in by a local family, wide-eyed, envious, wanting nothing more than to be adopted into this wonderful family.

And adopt me, they did. For a day, I was a Lopez. I truly felt that I was like a brother or a cousin. Although they had known me only for a day, they treated me like one of their own, or like an old friend. It wasn´t only Catherina and Alexis who welcomed me into their lives. The boys and their oldest, a girl, Sophie, also welcomed me with open arms. I had flashes of my own nieces and nephews while playing with the kids. They were so fearless. There was no feeling out period for them; they reached out to play with me almost instantaneously like I was one of their relatives.

We headed off to a Chinese restaurant in their area, the Lung Fung, where I snapped the picture above. It is said to be the nicest Chinese restaurant in the area. Alexis explained that the Chinese actually have about a century of history in Chile since there were Chinese brought in a slaves in the 1800´s to build infrastructure, not unlike the railroad workers of the early United States. He explained the Chinese community of Chile has been there for generations, but they remain very isolated from the rest of Chilean society; despite the majority of the local Chinese being native born Chileans, their first language is still Chinese and they still speak Spanish with a Chinese accent.

Chinese food by way of Chile is much like Chinese food found in the States. The typical plates are there: Sweet and Sour meat, Mongolian Beef. Dinner is served family style where the courses are brought out on one plate to be shared by all in the family. If there is anything that is different, I would say the sweet dishes have less sugar in my estimation.

From there, the Lopezes took me to a couple of must see parks in Santiago.


Ste. Lucia Park:

Japanese Garden:

Metropolitan Park:

The sites were wonderful and I was grateful to have had a chance to visit them, but in truth, what I relished the most from my time with Catherina and Alexis´s family was something else.

I have spent my time in S. America looking for authentic experiences, and what they gave me could not have been more authentic. They gave me the real South America. The real S. America to me was sitting in the office of Chilean professionals talking. It was sharing food with the Lopezes in a Chinese restaurant in the city listening to Catherina tell me stories of the birth of her children. It was flipping through a poem book that her children had contributed their writing and art to that was published by their public school where they are educated. It was joining in on a chorus of laughter with the family when someone said something funny. It was sitting with Catherina and Alexis late in the evening and watching the season premiere of True Blood on HBO eating Chinese food leftover from lunch. It was, if only for a moment, being a member of this beautiful Chilean family.

The further I get away from home, the more I realize that home is everywhere.

Photos from Celeste´s School, Manos Unidas!

I received photos from our visit to Celeste´s school, Manos Unidas (http://www.manosunidasperu.net/)! It is funny, it was only about 2 weeks ago, but it seems like a really long time ago...


1. After touring the school, Albert and I are invited to sit in on a cooking lesson with the students.

2. I broke out the walkie talkies for them to play with. They really seemed to enjoy them quite a bit. Celeste agreed that they would be a good learning tool for the students, so the walkie talkies now belong to them... Celeste, if you are reading this, I will be giving them to your mother to bring down with her in August. :)


3. Albert appears to be saying something important here, but I´m not sure what.

4. Celeste joins us for a group photo.



Thanks again, Celeste, for this wonderful experience. This day will surely be one that Albert and I remember forever. :)

Friday 24 July 2009

Is It Chile In Here?

I´m back. Sorry for the blackout there. I haven´t been anywhere with a fast enough connection to upload video to my blog.

Pictured above is a photo of me with some new friends I made along the way. This is us at lunch in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Immediately to my right in this photo (camera left) is Armelle, an acquisitions lawyer from Paris. Armelle is a year or two younger than me and this is also her first time backpacking solo.

I was seated next to Armelle on the bus after I left Arequipa, Peru and heading to San Pedro. My original plan was to stop in Tacna, Peru, a border town, and staying the night, as the bus trip from the border to San Pedro was a very long 13 hrs, and I didn´t think I wanted to do the whole trip in one day as it would have been a total of about 20 hours of riding the bus. In Arequipa, I both purchased my bus ticket to Tacna and secured a hostel. Armelle was asleep for most of that first trip; my only contact with her was prodding her lightly when they brought our snack around. She did not awake until much later when we were all forced exit the bus to have our fruit inspected. My bananas were spared.

For the rest of the trip, we chatted it up talking backpacking, our home cities and politics mainly. Armelle is a wonderfully open person who does not seem to observe any barriers between herself an others; exactly opposite from me and I appreciated it very much. She reminded me a lot of my dear friend, Christine Lugo, in that way. Armelle´s openness drew me in and before I knew it, my plans had changed; I would now be securing a colectivo (a car for 5 people) with her and a French couple she had met on the bus and we would be crossing the border together into Arica, Chile, where we would stay for the night before heading to San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. Arica, she told me, promised to be a more comfortable and entertaining city where we could see sights and relax on beaches.

Crossing the border was quite an experience; quick but nerve wracking. When we arrived in Arica, we followed the French couple to a hotel that they were booked at in hopes we would be able to secure a pair of rooms for ourselves. Alas, they were all booked, but the owner of the hostel was kind enough to walk us to another hostel where we were each able to secure private rooms with a shared bathroom. Perfecto.

We were not able to secure a bus until the next night at 10:00 PM, so that gave us a full day to enjoy Arica. It was July 20th.

Arica didn´t quite live up to Armelle´s expectations. Like Albert, she seems to always have an agenda of sites to see on a given day. I joined her for one: a church built by noneother than Gustave Eiffel of Eiffel Tower fame (and the Statue of Liberty).





As you can see, it isn´t anything to write home about (which is ironic since I am in a way, writing home about it).

I think at some point during our bus conversation, I expressed my utter disdain for hiking, because she assumed I would not want to join her for a hike, so we made arrangements to meet up for dinner before heading off to the bus station to catch our San Pedro bus.

Unbeknownst to her, she joined me for my birthday dinner that night. We had a pair of "un Completos;" formally recommended by The Lonely Planet.


Aside from a scare involving losing my immigration paper (whew! found it!), the 13 hr bus trip was a piece of cake since it was overnight and I slept through it for the most part.

This is where we met up with the others in the photo. Furthest to the right (camera left) is another girl from France. I forget her name! But she was very interesting. I don´t think I can name a continent that she had not visited except Antarctica. Between her and Armelle is Beth. She is a med school student in Philly. We had a heart to heart about Philly Cheesesteaks. The two blonde girls on the right are, get this.... from Seattle! Audrey, second from the left (camera right) is actually a recent UW graduate and lives about 10 blocks from me in the U-District. I thought I recognized her and she thought she recognized me. It was all very odd... fly thousands of miles South and I meet someone who is basically my neighbor. I´m sure I will see her around town at some point and we will have a laugh.

San Pedro is a town that is at the center of several wonderful sites that include geysers and salt flats, but unfortunately, my time here was limited as I need to get to Buenos Aires. I know that I have a couple more weeks here, but let me tell you, transportation is so unreliable here in S. America that I cannot risk missing my plane by staying too long in one spot.

It is sort of like a resort town in that it is built for turistas. The ¨locals" travel in from outlying areas mainly for business. Still, the town is very cute: a dusty little town of restaurants, purveyors of tours, and hostels that are more like summer camp cabins. There were roads that lead to the surrounding sites; some near, some far. There were tour agencies that offered jeep trips to the sites, walking tours, bike tours and even horseback tours.

We tried to book tours for that day to see some sites, but unfortunately, there was a freak windstorm and all activities were cancelled for that day. We had lunch in the afternoon where I took the above photo and I did explore the town in the afternoon despite the windstorm. We all met up again that night for dinner at a great little restaurant.



Dinner with the girls was a blast! We chatted, ate, watched the fire all to a soundtrack of late 90´s hip hop and pop music. I had mentioned to Beth that I intend to learn the tango in Argentina. She, having lived in Argentina for a few months at one point in her life took it upon herself to give me an introductory lesson on the tango with her fingers. I taught the Seattle girls how to conjugate Obama´s name: "Yo Obama... Tu Obamas... Nosotros Obamanos..." All in all, a very fun evening with some very fun girls.

I didn´t end up booking a tour while in San Pedro, but I did walk out the next day to an amazing archaeological site called Pukara de Quitor, a fort built in the 12th Century.

I hiked up to the top of the fort and really let it sink in. I am fascinated by old things and this really fit the bill. I walked in and out of the rooms and imagined them occupied and in use in the 12th century. From the top, I surveyed the land around me. Since it wasn´t a famous site like Machu Picchu, I was one of very few visitors and it was nice.


As I made my way back to San Pedro from the site, a nice man stopped his Jeep and offered me a ride back to town. In the back were his two adorable sons. The man´s name was Alexis and he is a Chilean businessman who was himself a visitor to San Pedro.

He was happy to hear that I was from Seattle as his wife, Catalina, had recently returned from a business trip to Seattle and he was sure she would love to meet me. He invited me to join his family for lunch and I was honored and happy to accept.

We discussed our careers, world politics, my travels, crazy Seattlites... Lunch was very nice. I learned that they are from Santiago where I was at the time headed next (I am there now). They gave me their phone number and offered to meet me while I was in Santiago on Sunday. I am really looking forward to that! They are such a beautiful family and it is my great fortune that they have offered to show me Santiago. I´m sure it will be an experience to remember.

I arrived in Santiago earlier today. The bus ride was 24 hours but it was a piece of cake. The buses are so comfortable. Thank you everyone for continuing to follow my blog. It is almost like I have all of you with me and it is really great. And don´t leave the blog without first leaving a comment!

Love, Don

Monday 20 July 2009

A Historic Anniversary...

The wheel. The Renaissance Era. The American Revolution. History is defined by events that carry humanity forward in its search for purpose and a higher calling.

Today marks a significant anniversary in this process, for it marks the 31st anniversary of the day I was born.

Congratulations, humankind, on your marvelous achievement.

Saturday 18 July 2009

Colca Canyons

Okay, it´s official. I hate tours.

But before I get too much into that, I finally found more street food. Oddly, street food, which is generally common in developing countries is relatively scarce in Peru. I´ll take it where I can get it. This stand was outside of my favorite internet cafe in Arequipa.

I remember hearing on Bizarre Foods w Andrew Zimmern or No Reservations w Anthony Bourdain that street food is characteristically cheap and easy to make, and is always in the form of comfort food. This is a prime example. Ramen noodles, fried rice, a piece of fried chicken, all covered in ketchup and mustard. All in all, not bad, but I wouldn´t make this at home. My doctor would kill me!

Well, since I last blogged, I went to and returned from the Colca Canyons tour. Like I said before, I am really starting to hate tours. They have a way of getting in between you and connecting with that which you have come to experience. Unfortunately, in many cases, they are your only option if you want to see something without having to secure your own Jeep, insurance, international license, etc. So I will quit moaning. I would say I would not do another tour before the end of my adventure, but that would be silly talk. Larger cities can be enjoyed without interference of a tour guide and that will be enough for me for now. Next time I travel abroad, I will be more prepared with an international language (and some knowledge of the local language).

One thing that is nice about tours is that they pick you up where you are staying usually. My tour bus arrived bright and early at 8:45am having already picked up most of the other patrons. It was about 4 hours to Colca Canyons, but we made stops along the way to look at interesting stuff.

Our first stop was to have some Coca tea and to see some very strange natural rock formations. I stood an marvelled at the formations seen behind me in this photograph for nearly the entire time I was there. Suffice it to say, I didn´t drink my tea.

This area of Peru, Colca Canyons and Arequipa is pretty breathtaking when you have a little silence and are able to really take it all in. Where I stood in this photo, I was surrounded by these fantastic rock formations, active volcanoes, and miles of desert. It was surreal.

There was a cute baby alpaca at one of our stops. I was tempted to take a photo with it, but not wanting to get infected with some kind of bacteria, I decided to just take some video of a fellow traveller holding it. Despite being a potential carrier of infectious disease, the baby alpaca was very cute.

The trip was an overnighter. The drive there was beautiful and we stayed in a cabin at Chivay, the base camp for the Colca Canyon tour. We had dinner together at a Peruvian pizza shack. I was invited to join the a very nice Peruvian family who were touring their own country. We were treated to some live traditional Peruvian entertainment.



The next day, we continued our tour of the canyon. The climax of the tour was a visit to ¨Cruz de Condor," as stated in Wikipedia, "the pass where condors soar gracefully on the rising thermals occurring as the air warms." Seeing wild condor up close and personal was pretty cool; I did enjoy this quite a bit.

Today, I am off to purchase a ticket to San Pedro de Atacama in Chile. After that, I may just head straight to Buenos Aires. From what I hear, BA is a place that I want to give myself at least a week to enjoy. Thanks again for reading and the comments!

Tuesday 14 July 2009

Arequipa, Peru´s Jewel... as in the singer, Jewel.

So I left Puno early this morning. It was a six hour trip to my next stop Arequipa. Stupid me, I didn´t eat breakfast, but not to worry because:

The carne asada was actually really good and I haven´t gotten sick, so all in all, I´d say a pretty good buy.

By the way, for Corie, as I write this, "Boys Don´t Cry" is playing at the internet cafe. Robert Smith would be so proud!

Let me just say, you haven´t seen Peru until you have driven through it cross country on a bus. South America is at its most beautiful away from the city. Seeing it from a bus is kind of like Google Earth, only real! So far, this trip, I´ve been reading books looking for new natural wonders to see, but I realize now all of South America is a natural wonder.

So now I am in Arequipa. Originally just a stopover to Colca Canyons, Arequipa has proven to be the most interesting and beautiful city I´ve been to in Peru. The city is basically in the middle of the desert. I had heard about how sophisticated the city was, so as we made our approach, a feeling of dread came over me because, at its outskirts, Arequipa is miserable. There were parts of the city that I would swear were ghost towns except for the occasional evidence of life, like a clothesline, or a person. "How could anyone live here" I asked myself.

But oddly, at the center of this wasteland is the heart of Arequipa: a truly cosmopolitan city that rivals the most famous and historical cities. I have not yet been to Venice or Paris, but I imagine it to be much like this. The transition from the third world to the cosmopolitan as I made my way to the center of the city was startling. It´s as if all of the wealth of the city was focused into these 25 city blocks.

But Arequipa is not a ruse. The city is built around structures that were built in the 16th century, two centuries before the U.S. was born. The design of the city is clearly meant to mimic the architecture of the churches and monastaries, but it is done well and doesn´t feel forced. Sure, it is a glorified outdoor mall, but you know what? I don´t care; it´s beautiful.

I´ll be going to Colca Canyons tomorrow, but will return to Arequipa Thursday. I think I may stay for a few days and try to check out some of the historical buildings.

I got a chance to explore the town a bit, and it is more than just its old buildings. I happened upon a little antique shop and was drawn in by the Spanish Colonial style paintings on the wall. The owner alleged that some of the art was in fact reproduction, but that some was authentic and as old as 8 centuries. I tend to be skeptical of such claims, but this shop felt a little different to me; like something out of a movie... yes a movie. Gremlins!

Anyway, That is all for now. Tomorrow it is off to Colca Canyons... :)

Love, Don

Monday 13 July 2009

Inside Joke Between Albert and Me

This is for Albert specifically. This played at the McDonalds at Plaza de Armas on the night you left for Lima. Too too funny.

edit: This applies to Corie and KP too, come to think of it. I guess Sixpence is destined to be the butt of jokes for me and most of my friends.

Sunday 12 July 2009

Lake Titicaca and Its Islands





Thanks for the comments everyone! I get a little homesick every now and then and reading the comments really helps with that. :)

So the last few days have been interesting. First, I´ll tell you about Lake Titicaca and the islands of Amantani and Tequile.
Lake Titicaca was beautiful. A veritable paradise for water sports enthusiasts. It boasts the distinction of being the highest navigable body of water and several thousand feet above sea level. Still, pristine; as beautiful as I´d dreamed it would be.

Naturally, Titicaca was near the top of the list of places I wanted to see. Albert had gotten wind of an opportunity for outsiders to stay with families on the islands of Amantani and Tequile, both located in the middle of the lake. Being an Anthropology major, I am always looking for new authentic experiences from other cultures, so this really appealed to me. Since this was going to be my first outing on my own, I decided to play it safe and booked a tour with a travel agency.

The tour promised three meals, and two days and one night in Amantani. On the way to Amantani, there was a stop at a man-made island made out of a type of shoot that is native to the area. The second day included a stop by Tequile, the other inhabited island in Lake Titicaca.

My bus departed at 10:00 PM on 07/11 and I arrived in Puno at 4:00 AM. They agency allowed us to rest at their office which was furnished like a house until the boat was scheduled to leave at 7:30am; this would mark the start of our tour. Basically, I got no sleep before starting the tour.

At some point, I decided it would be a good idea to start taking pictures of all of those involved with the tours, for a couple of reasons.

1. So I could remember their faces if I lost them
2. So I could hold them accountable if someone tried to pull a fast one on me
3. To include in my blog. :)

Meet Alvaro, the coordinator... the Lucius Fox of my tour. Alvaro met me bright and early at 4 AM and made sure I got to my boat on time. A very sweet man; he also got me a deal on my hostel; $10.00 U.S. for my room which includes cable tv, free internet, hot water... He also booked a Bolivia bus ticket for me ($15.00 U.S.). Suffice it to say, a good man to know when you are a foreigner in Puno.

It hasn´t always been easy to coordinate with him since he speaks very little English, but he has come through for me every step of the way. There were moments when I thought I was going to be taken on a ride, but I have been able to count on him, and in a place like this, that means a lot.

Alvaro showed me to the boat and I headed off for our first stop on the tour: Uros, the man made island.


I think it was right around this moment that I knew I was not going to enjoy the tour. It all seemed very Epcot Center to me and not at all authentic. To tell you a bit more about the island, this method of living is a tradition that these people have carried on for 4 centuries. It truly is impressive, but the presentation was all very.... ugh.. The people of the island were very kind, and I knew their very existence probably counted a lot on the money they made off of tourists, so I donated some money to them, but couldn´t bring myself to buy any of the wares they were peddling to the tourists. They were kind enough to let me explore their island beyond the roped off area, and what I found there I thought was more interesting.


We left for Amantani after spending about 45 minutes on Uros. Now being abroad, I´ve become very obsessive compulsive about checking my bags and my pockets often; you never know. On the way to Amantani, I checked my pockets and found that my keys were not there. I started pulling my things out of my bag to see if I had stuck them in the pockets of one of my other pants or jackets. I pulled my jacket out of my bag and set it on the ground of the boat I was on. All of a sudden... "thwoop, rattle-rattle-rattle, pffff." My jacket was sucked in to the turbines of the engine and caused it to stall. *cold sweat* At that moment, I realized that I had put my Bose In-Ear Headphones and my iPod Nano with all of my music for this trip in the breast pocket.

Luckily, we were able to get the jacket out and the engine started up again just fine. The electronics were not so lucky and I will be without music for the rest of this trip. Actually, I have some music on my iPhone, but just some original stuff I am working on with my friend, Marko. I also have Barack Obama´s "The Audacity of Hope," so I guess this will give me a chance to relisten to it. :)

The rest of the tour was fairly uneventful. I got the meals with the local family as promised. I have pictures and vids, but I don´t want to waste the time posting them. I´ll put them up on youtube when I get back. There was a hike which I skipped because I didn´t want to do it simply to see some more ruins that couldn´t have possibly compared to Machu Picchu anyway.

Tequile was nice. We had a nice lunch prepared for us by a local family with a very nice view of Lake Titicaca. Truth be told, I was happy to return to Puno last night.

My plan was to push on to Bolivia today, but I found out that my Lonely Planet guide which indicated there was no Visa fee charged was printed in 2007, and there was a law passed in 2008 requiring Visa for U.S. citizens to enter Bolivia. I will not be paying the $135.00 Visa charge and will instead pass through Chile to Argentina. It´s a shame as I really wanted to see the Salar de Uyuni which is a salt flat in Bolivia and allegedly quite the sight to see. 80% of this flat lies in Bolivia. Luckily, 20% of it lies in Chile, so I will get to see a portion of it, albeit not the best part. Still, I´m sure it will be quite nice.

Oddly, I had one of my most authentic South American experiences today in Puno, simply running errands. It´s hard being in a foreign country and not speaking the local language, but I have adapted well I think. After I returned to my hostel, I decided since I was not going to be heading to Bolivia, I would take care of some important things, like fixing my suspenders which were falling apart at the seams, getting nail clippers to aleve the pressure on an ingrown nail I have on my toe (yuck, I know...), and to do laundry. Where does one go to find the tools needed to accomplish these tasks in a country where there are no superstores like Fred Meyer? Not an easy task to solve.

Not speaking the native language and not having an English to Spanish dictionary but having chores that desperately needed to be done, a memory flashed in my head of an experience I once had playing Cranium with friends. The challenge was that I had to draw something blindfolded for my partner to guess. The word to guess was "stickshift"; I think we won the challenge in something like 15 seconds. It occurred to me that I may not be able to talk to people, but I can draw exactly what I need to say with relative ease.

At the front desk, I scrawled images of a pair of tweezers, nail clippers, and a needle and thread. I opened up a rudimentary map for the concierge who looked at my drawing and then circled the market on the map explaining to me that I could purchase those items there. I walked outside and waiting for me (or anyone else who needed to get around) was a bike taxi. I showed him the map and asked "cuanto cuesta." "Un sol" he replied. That´s about $0.30 U.S. So off I went.


When I got off the taxi, I found myself in a shopping center where I counted a total of zero other foreigners. I must admit, I got a little excited. I was able to communicate well enough to find all of the items on my shopping list as well as a card reader which I purchased so that I didn´t have to keep burning CD´s to post vids to my blog. This all sounds easier than it actually is. I purchased a little notebook too so I could continue doing this drawing to communicate thing as it is working very well for me.

At the market, I had my first Andrew Zimmern moment:


So that´s my adventure so far, in a nutshell. I am having a blast! Since Bolivia has fallen through, I have decided to stay in Peru just a little longer since there are some canyons I´d like to see before I head into Chile. I did book a tour again. I think the problem with the last tour is that I was going to see a people. Tours can´t be that bad for natural wonders or sites like Machu Picchu, so I think this should be fine. Anyway, the sites in my opinion are just an excuse to move around. The real adventure for me is everything that happens in between.


Love, Don.


Friday 10 July 2009

Greetings from South America!



Well, I´m in South America and have pictures and videos I´d like to share with everyone, so I figure it´s a good time to start a blog! Just to get this out of the way, if you see UFC 100, please do not comment on the fight results as I intend to watch it when I get back and do not want any spoilers. ;)

So, most of you should know by now that I decided to take a 10 day trip to Peru with my best friend, Albert. Our original plan was to start in Cuzco and Macchu Pichu and work our way back to Lima on the 15th where we would catch our flight home. As luck would have it, there was a transportation strike in Peru that put the kibosh on our plan. We got to see MP, but given our short schedule and the unreliable bus availability due to the strike, we had to do away with the rest of our plan.

Since I am not beholden to a job right now, I decided to extend my trip from the 10 days to a month and now I will be flying out of Buenos Aires. Albert will be returning to work as scheduled, so I will be solo. On the way to catch my flight home on 08/04, I will be traveling through Bolivia and Argentina and may stop by Paraguay or Chile on the way.

We have spent all of our time in Peru up to this point, mostly in Cuzco. We were fortunate to have an American contact in Cuzco through my friend from Safeco; her name is Celeste Marion. Let me tell you... after meeting her, I can safely say I have not done enough with my life; she is quite an impressive person; not yet 30, Celeste is the founder of Manos Unidas, a school in Cuzco for children with disabilities.

http://www.manosunidasperu.net/

On our first day in Peru, she was gracious enough to meet with us in Peru and give us the insider´s scoop on Cuzco. Today, she welcomed us into her school to meet some of the children and staff. It was a really special experience. In Peru, children who face challenges like the children of Manos Unidas Peru do are typically marginalized and neglected. Celeste´s school to my knowledge is the first of its kind in Peru; a haven for these children where they can receive an education that understands their learning abilities and provides an environment where they are treated with dignity.

Please visit her website and sponsor a teacher. Here is a truly great cause that can really benefit from your donations. I am sure to do so myself.

Our trip also took us to Machu Picchu, a 15th century fortress built by the Incas but lost in history until it was discovered again in 1911. The site is accessible by train or by bus. Since we waited until the last minute to book our tour, our options were limited, so our trip consisted of a 6 hour bus ride up to a train station where we boarded a train that took us to Agua Caliente (named for their hot springs), the base camp for the trip up to the archaeological site.

Our bus driver, Sergio... Let me tell you about this man. A man of few words (and it wasn´t because of a language barrier. Most of the travellers were spanish speakers but few knew what was going on at any given time), but this man... this man could drive a space shuttle through a doorway and not cause a scratch. He was a steely-eyed dynamo of a bus driver. I was terrified most of the time given that we were in a bus filled with 13 travellers and a driver and navigating roads that were on mountainsides, thousands of feet up and with no kind of protection keeping us from driving off the side of the mountain. The roads were also covered with rubble from the side of the mountain. I felt like at any time, the combination of his speed and the rubble would cause us to careen off the side of the mountain. By the time we were on our ride home though, I was ready to trust this man with my first born. If I were ever to become a touring musician, I would find this man and would beg him to drive our bus...



Besides my constant refrain of ¨Machu, Machu Picchu/ I wanna see / a Machu Picchu,¨ Machu Picchu was a mind blowing and soulful experience. Just being up in the mountains overlooking this mammoth of a fortress built by the hands of men with access to limited technology... I had an out of body experience. Actually, that was more likely because I was exausted from the hike up and the thin mountain air. But it was great!



I will post more video of Machu Picchu on youtube when I get home.

So... remember that transportation strike I mentioned? Well, it was in full force on Wednesday, the 7th of July, the day we were scheduled to return to Cuzco. Now, it didn´t exactly mean that we were stranded, but it did mean that we had to walk the train leg of the trip with our 120 lb packs on our back. Albert, the speed demon finished the trip in 2hours and 20 minutes approximately. I finished it in just about 3 hours. It was miserable but you know what? I´m glad I did it.


Anyway, I´m up to about S./9.00 (soles) in internet charges (which equals about $3.00, but hey, I am unemployed and backpacking so get off my back!), so I must wrap up. Tonight, I go to Puno and an island on Lake Titicaca called Tequile; google it. More to come, I promise. Please stay tuned!


Love, Don