scott and me in peru, panama and costa rica, respectively.



it was so cool meeting so many nice, fun people.

Machu Pichu

email repurposed as a blog post:



i'm actually writing you from a speeding bus that is hurtling us through the Peruvian Desert. I'm a bit sad as it's some of the first desert scenery on the trip that has seemed truely unique(not found in the states) but I keep telling myself that I'll just have to come back to take pictures. Cait is sick again, seems to never have truely kicked that bug and so as soon as we get to a place with some medical care we'll see what's up. In the meantime we're travelling first class for security and comfort as we spend 72 hours on buses getting to columbia.

Machu Pichu was amazing. In some ways, we'd like to take it back...but the experience in person is so much more powerful than pictures can even describe. And the trek to get there made that even more powerful as you really spend your time wondering how in the world the people of that time lived their lives and whether or not they were thinking the same things about the same views, flora and fauna. While Cait and I had been in the temperate jungle of the Cochamo Valley, this was different. Spring was here and when we weren't gawking at the hundreds of different flowers all jam packed along the path, or the coffee bean plants, or the avocado trees, or the passion fruit trees, we were eating handfuls of wild strawberries that we found stradling both sides of the trail. We started outside of cusco and headed up a bumpy road in a taxi that was sure to break down(more on that later) until we met up with our group. We walked through the Salcantay valley to a base camp a thousand feet below the mountain. We made camp and some friends as we all huddled together outside to enjoy the stars in the freezing cold. Morning brought a knock on the tent and some hot coca tea....that's the life! After breakfast the cook and horseman packed up our tents and lashed our bags to the mules as we headed out carrying water and rain jackets. We climbed for about two hours to reach the foot of Mt. Salcantay and sat for a quick snack and history lesson in front of this snow capped and forbidding peak. The rest of the day took us up through the pass and down into a lush green valley that was peppered with huge boulders that looked like giant shrapnel from an ancient volcanic eruption. We made camp that night tucked in along the valley walls and talked well into the night with our new friends. That having been a 10-12 hour day, we were not excited for the 5am wake up call but did well getting up and out with the help of more coca tea brought to your door! We started our descent into the true jungle and spent the day walking over mudslides, ramshackle bridges made of tree limbs, sticks and dirt, and just marvelling at the scenery. This was the day of strawberries and butterflies. I'm not sure which we saw more of...but at one point we were standing in the middle of a literal butterfly cloud with probably 20 different types all flying around us. We were trapped!! We also saw a dying centipede that was metallic black with red legs. He was fighting off what I can only imagine to be the vultures of the insect community as they tried to get at his wound. Fields, mud, coffee and avocado plantations, bugs, and beauty. Amazing day. This was just a half day of walking and so we were all pretty happy to take it slow and arrive in plenty of time to hang around and relax. One of the other groups that was hiking the trail and staying with us bought a pig to be roasted and our group got to watch the preparation. Aparently they don't do this often and it is reserved for special events, so the whole show ended up being a pretty good time in between uncomfortable jokes about the bovine borne illnesses as the preparation reached its second hour.
Now, I can't quite describe to you in words what the next day was like. this was day 4 and it was time to climb a mountain and walk our butts off until we arrived in aguas calientes and the base of machu pichu. I've never climbed anything this long and steep before. Somehow, this trail would crush your spirits around every corner as another demanding set of steep steps and insistant uphill grade awaited you. It was incredible to hike through this valley though because it was the same foggy, steamy, misty jungle that you see as a backdrop in the photos of machu pichu. There were moments of complete whiteout where you couldn't quite tell where the edge of the trail was and the mountains surrounding you disappeared into the same cloud you found yourself in. There were streams to cross and refresh yourself in and Incan security posts along the way...protecting the path to Machu Pichu. The flowers were in full force this day as well. The night before, Cait and I had borrowed and poured over the "flora and fauna of machu pichu" book that our guide was carrying. We tried to identify everything we'd seen and cait wrote down many of the names for later picture searching. Well, that book time turned out to be an incredible primer for the explosion of color that we found ourselves in. I mean, you just can't imagine the clusters and fields and combinations of amazing flowers that we were walking past. At some points it seemed like these amazing flowers were the dominant plant in the area.
After we summited and had a snack, we started to descend the steep muddy path that would take us to the valley floor and lead us to the base of machu pichu. I love running down a mtn path and find it to be easier on the knees and so after a bit of group walk, I took off and ran-slid down the mtn. The rest of the group walk-slid and soon we were all at the bottom. The trip down was notable for two things. The mud...the incredibly slippery mud. Two, our first view of Machu Pichu. At two points there were spectacular panoramic views of the valley and of Machu Pichu itself. A few hours later we met the train tracks at the town of Hydroelectrico and walked along the tracks for about 2.5 hours to the town of aguas calientes. Along the way we learned that the "dont step on the lava" joke gets old fast and that walking along railroad tracks...while romantic...means that you spend more time minding the gaps and less time checking out the scenery. The scenery was the raging river that has caused so much destruction in the area this rainy season. I've just never seen this volume of water moving so fast. It was as if you were watching a beast that could just barely be contained. The mere fact that there were rocks in the river was unbelievable as I thought the force would have thrown these boulders out of the way. Also, we were walking along this river over mud slides, barely repaired track, and bridges that required you to walk rail-tie to rail-tie. crazy. As we rounded a bend we saw in front of us...close enough to touch was the bottom of machu pichu...diving down into the forest where much of it still hides. We walked into town as beaten and exhausted as I've been on a trip. The muddy, smelly and limping group of us stared into the bus windows at the squeaky clean tourists arriving like they were zoo animals and they returned the curious gaze as well. We found our budget hotel, ate a group dinner and were halfway through planning the party night when our guide said "4AM departure". It was 9:30pm.
Having bought snacks and stolen what felt like a catnap, we all woke up and gathered in the main square. 1400 steps up the inca trail in the pitch dark and pouring rain and we found ourselves at the gate. We snagged tickets as early birds to the sought after Waynapichu tickets (400 in total divided in half between two entry times) and headed in. Machu Pichu without anyone there is, in my point of view, magical. That first 30 minutes gave you the real opportunity to imagine a thriving city and society there. The rain that had greeted us at 3AM hadn't given a sign of letting up and by the time we finished our tour at 9am we were soaked to the core and very cold. Our guide had tired of our group and cut our tour short which was dissapointing to us nerds but at the same time welcomed as the group vibe had begun to feel like a wet blanket anyway. We gathered at the entrance to Waynapichu at 10 and started up. Waynapichu is generally the mtn that you see in the backround of the famous pictures. It looks like the rather vertical one covered in jungle. Well, inside that green cover are about 1000 more stairs that at times go straight up. Helped along by cable and ropes though, this felt like a piece of cake and we found ourselves up in the clouds again looking down at the whole site of Machu Pichu. We took a ton of photos with two french folks we had befriended and all sat down to enjoy some food and wonder what the hell life was like back then. After climbing down, we met a tour guide that we had talked to about our bad experience and he agreed to give us a tour of the most important places for an optional tip. AMAZING. He took us to and explained to us two of the coolest parts of the site. At the end, 2.5 dollars got us more information and imagination than we'd seen all morning. We splurged on a victory bus ride down to avoid the knee shattering stairs and then enjoyed a nice dinner with our French friends before getting on the train to go back to Cusco.

All in all a wild, unpredictable and awesome time. Can't wait to see you guys...home is starting to look real big in the windshield.

don't leave your backpack under your seat

the trip is almost over, we crossed four countries in seven days... 6 buses and a flight with the last bus ride ending with a community strike blocking the only road north, delaying hundreds of people for more than 8 hours and leaving us with a boulder thrown through our window. we're tired, thats for sure, irritable, broke and hot.

in peru scott left his bag (securely and safely he thought) under his feet for a night long bus ride (as he had done many times in four other countries). in it was our camera with two memory cards. when we woke up at three am (still on the bus) after hardly sleeping anyway, we were less than 5 hours away from starting a 5 day hike to machu picchu but without the camera, memory cards, scott's trekking shoes and headlamp. the ladies on the bus demanded the bus company take responsibility and also demanded searches of the individuals who remained on the bus. after an impassioned plea to at least return our pictures failed, we knew the guys who had stolen the items had already gotten off the bus at the very first stop of the night. we felt broken, violated and desperately in need of the distraction that machu picchu provided. while incredible, impressive and everything else in that vein, MP and the treks to go out of our way to get to cusco drained us economically and emotionally. we met fantastic people, stephanie and jeremy, who took photos of us and for us along the way (with their fantastic camera) and helped us enjoy a rather (spiritual)? experience at Machu and Wayna Picchu.... so there are ups and there are downs...

feeling dejected, paranoid, wary, isolated and leery we boarded the bus for the border with ecuador. largely because of the mindset we were in, we got robbed again by some stupid scam that still to this day we can't believe we had a part in. the $70 would have been very useful to us at this point and the fact we had lost it so easily to their greedy, scamming hands really showed us how down in the dumps and vulnerable we were. (also probably confirms that gringos really afford pretty much anything- were all rich you know, or if we're not, we know where to get money pretty damn quick.)

so we got out, got to colombia with pretty much no money. this was very sad for me because bogota and santa marta (as well as other places) are cities i have been wanting to see for more than a year now. we pressed on, leaving colombia after only 4 days, me seeing only cartagena (a place that holds little interest for me- people were unfriendly VERY unlike what we had seen in other parts of colombia and it was dirty-yuck-also unlike the colombia that hinted at us from the bus window). we were fearful we would have to take another series of bus rides, boats and planes (close to guerillas and paramilitaries possibly) just to leave south america and head to panama because the COPA flights were too expensive and the tourist option (sailing for 5 days) was even more than that.

on a whim we packed up our bags and headed to the cartagena airport. after trying a sob story at COPA and finding no option with them (someone explain airplane economics to me please), they told us to try another economy airline. i walked up to the window and said something like, look i have x amount of money for two of us to get to panama, do you have...? YESS they had two tickets for less than the price i offered!!!! we were gonna to panama, the EASY way!! totally excited and re-energized.... we were quickly hooked up by a friend to stay in panama city with a wonderful lady who had a bed for us to sleep in! i was honestly only hoping for a place to throw the tent.

so here we are, excited to come home, grateful for the experiences we've had and what we've seen. i still think i'm going through the 7 stages of grief on the camera thing. it feels like such an incredible loss. i told myself that i only needed to get the pictures home safely and download them there (after a download in buenos aires led to the loss of more than 200 pictures on two memory cards we were dowloading from- they just started to show up as black spaces). but, i shall never travel again with the same logic, you just can't control when someone makes an evil decision to invade your personal space and belongings to take something they want (good luck, asshole, on the resale, you won't get a quarter of the original price). see the anger? anyway, i'm still healing, still trying to see the beauty around me and take mental pictures with my mind. there is so much that is different in this part of the world, the fruits, the music, the language, the people. i really don't feel like i'm in south america anymore.

oh and colombia, i'll be back.

Running From Earthquakes

After a mad dash last few weeks that followed the chilean earthquake, Cait and I have found ourself no farther from Chile geographically than we were months ago. It has really amazed us how much time it's taken to see the southern part of the continent. On a map it looked like we could just connect the dots and be up in Ecuador or Colombia by now. We never saw Brazil or a hundred other amazing things that would make for another helluva 3 month trip...la proxima vez...no?
Our time in Bolivia was a collection of some of my favorites from the whole trip. Cait covered many of these from our introduction to the crooked gringo taxing all the way to some of the most spectacular natural wonders on the planet. I still find myself wondering and fretting over the fact that Bolivia isn't a world power. I know there are plenty of political and economic arguments to be made here but the bottom line for me is that it is a culturally rich country that has very effectively found a way to coexist with three different cultural groups inside its borders. It also has some of the richest agriculture and mineral concentrations imaginable. What could possiblly hold them down.....
We finished up our time in Bolivia with some spectacularly hectic time in La Paz, a ride down the world famous road of death, and explorations of the birthplace of much of the native cultures of south america. Lake Titicaca, nearby Tiwanaku, and the Isla del Sol provided almost a week of time travel that found us standing on and next to ancient incan ruins that were arguably the most important of their civilization. Usage and preservation issues aside, the ability to happen upon the footprints, burned into rock, of the sun god and have the revelation that you're standing inside the ancient andean cross staring at the rock where the inca's were born out of was pretty powerful. So powerful for me that when the opportunity arose to camp inside of one of their impressive labrynth structures for the night with a view of the beach...I couldn't do it. It was serene and immensly powerful at the same time.
We crossed into Peru and a one or two night stay in Arequipa turned into a 5 day dry dock as Caitlin suffered through and recovered from a devastating double wammy of parisite and bacterial GI infection. She's better now and the time allowed us to take a second look at our travel planning. We had been planning on heading up the coast in sprint fashion to make it through all the original points on our map. We threw that idea and the budget out the window in favor of seeing machu pichu. We're too close to miss it. So we'll leave in about an hour to head to Cusco on an overnight bus that will put us on the trail for 5 days starting tomorrow trekking up to Machu Pichu. With this trip, we'll complete the Incan trifecta and I'm really excited to see how the build up of seeing the birthplace of their civilization will impact my appreciation of their holy city in the sky.

We've seen so many things in the last week that are truely amazing and I can't wait to get home in some regards....to see family and friends...to slow down(as terrible as that sounds)...but also to try and digest it all.

Sorry we can't get pictures up but just imagine us sitting on the edge of a canyon that is twice as deep as the grand canyon at its deepest part and looking at condors swoop over our heads and hang out on a ledge just 20 feet away. Crazy world.

a smile that lights up the world- bolivia

as scott and i were boarding the bus from buenos aires to villazon, bolivia (over a day on a bus), i was very aware we were entering a new world. we were very distinctly the only gringos on the bus for the first time, since santiago. though sunburned from our perspective, we were still pasty, pinky white compared to the much darker faces that surrounded us. argentina, chile, uruguay (previously visited countries) were much, much more europeanized than bolivia. in fact, bolivia has the highest number of indigenous people in south america. the women were wearing fantastic traditional clothing, they use woven blankets with electric colors and patterns to transport babies and cargo alike. at first, the usual small talk didn't cut it. generally a couple of nice words and a smile can turn a stranger into a friendly acquaintance but it wasn't working with this group. only scott, the truly personable one of the two of us was able to crack a smile from one of them in that first half hour and i really think it was one of the most beautiful smiles i've seen. there seemed to be such a frank honesty that i found in the faces of many bolivians: they might seem to be frowning at first but if you can get through to them at all, or share a funny moment, their smile really seems to light up everything around them.

bolivia is such a confusing place. they have the wealth of the world, minerals mostly, lithium, the largest navigable lake in the world, the largest salt lake, incredible indigenous history and incredible views, but they remain the poorest on the continent. they are land-locked, along with paraguay, due to a war that happened over 130 years ago with chile and peru (although it still feels like yesterday to many in the country). long story but bolivia never had a port and chile was able to use that greatly to their advantage. bolivians i met seemed to wear their heart on their sleeve. some are quick to tell you chile has robbed them, that they don't like the politics of the united states and that their newly re-elected president (evo morales) will alievate them from poverty and protect the pachamama. although, no doubt, political opinions vary where income and personal wealth do (just my personal opinion).

even the beggars seemed different. those panhandlers in largely capitalistic countries like chile (and argentina) would try to give you something for your spare change, something stolen, something gross looking, whatever OR they would run a standard "dame moneda, dame moneda" (give me money) to no one in particular. beggars in bolivia would almost personally come right at you, stick the hand right out and hit you in the knee, the plea (mostly in aymara or quechua- not spanish) was almost like "you owe me".

highlights of the trip include: a bike ride down death road. advertised as the most dangerous road in the world- only on the way back up in a bus we were told that three tourists had died just last year on bikes as one lost control and bumped into a second and then a third. bump. bump. bump, off the cliff, into nothing, im not kidding, you're so DEAD if you screw up on this trail. so aside from being dramatic, no one died, and we had a lot of fun! (i asked our guide which company had the three who bit the dust and i looked them up... their new advertisement says they offer search and rescue, at not additional cost!)

uyuni salar trip- we traveled with a guide who was VERY upfront about his political feelings- "no quiero ver a un chileno, ni quisiera trabajar con un chileno". he wouldn't look at me directly and would always consult scott for clarification of what my argument was during a conversation about politics between 2 bolivians, 2 americans and 2 swiss. needless to say, the swiss were the peacemakers, the minds of reason, the grandparents of the conversation. actually, their main concern was that bolivia could face a dictatorship of sorts, given the closed doors mentality the current president could be accused of advocating. we saw beautiful sights, the salar is incredible, 120 meters deep and 12,000 sq. km!!! really incredible. pictures will come in time.

sucre- incredible, actual capital city of bolivia. delicious food, beautiful plaza, fantastic museums, friendly people. really a nice time.

tupiza- we met a family, a kind, kind woman named teófila who let us camp on her roof, she made us humitas (tamales) and her son (sergio) was our personal guide around town. after getting off the train from the border town (villazon, a rather unpleasant place where we bought scalped train tickets by a police officer who was using a tazer wand against customers) we were so happy to find them- camping for free helped us compensate for the toll the bribe amount took on our wallets.

isla del sol- birthplace of the incas, beautiful, amazing place. amazing sights. our last night in bolivia we spent on this island camping on a terrazed farming plot just below a major footpath/highway of donkeys and laboring bolivians. i think i counted 10 brilliant smiles and we cooked our food and set up our tent. maybe they were touched that some tourists made some kind of personal contact with their land that one could see they treasured and valued so much.

uruguay

uruguay- one of the safest countries in the world (our travel book tells us)... everyone drinks yerba mate and carries and thermos under-arm... beaches, soviet inspired architecture?, parrilladas and lots of mosquitos, first all nighter in a bus terminal (could've gone to a sex shop to pass the time), saw four condors the closest ever, dengue scare, change of president ceremony, end of carnaval, chilean ex pats trying to make andean music go international, dessert empanadas, toxic beach pollution? (dead conches, crabs, fish- all uneaten on the beach), scott goes swimming, death/decomp process in vivo on baby sea lion, amazing lightning storm, jetson bus, guards with shotguns pacing, guarding the bank, dead dog in the street, delicious salad, domestic violence police unit, free healthcare...

quick story- waiter at our table. wants to know if everyone in america carries a gun? has one in their house? has more than one? wants to know if there are a lot of serial killers in our state? if we know any? if children normally bring guns to school? won't take any thing less than a sensational response because you know... he saw this show on TV...

ba, ar

sorry my chilean loved ones, i really like it here in buenos aires. we've been here a week and i've enjoyed the time. i'm struck by how different the two cities (santiago and BA) are. the amount of english here is just incredible. it's like i'm in a city in the US (that might be a bit drastic but if you lived in Stgo you'd know what i mean). the amount of mc donalds, burger kings though are staggering (probably over 300 compared to the 10 i saw my year of being in chile). and it shows! BA has more of that cultural opposite that the USA shares... really fat people and really skinny people. in santiago its like many of the people aren't fat or skinny, they're just somewhere in the middle.

for a country that was closed off to any english media by law (post 1982-ish war with Britain over the Malvinas/Falkland Islands that ended badly), BA stations play an impressive number of english songs on the radio, in stores, cabs, etc. argentines seemingly have a keen familiarity with english as their pronunciation is generally much (dare i say, better...) than what i saw in Stgo.

both cities withstood military dictatorships in the 20th century (in different decades), under different circumstances and with different effects... and where each country has ended up today, economically speaking, has completely shifted during this last century.

people are much more direct in BA than in STGO (obvious for those of you who have lived and travelled down here). argentines want to know, almost immediately, where you are from. fortunately for my comfort level, responses have been pleasant. i'm always a little nervous to say i'm from the US in SA. * "vayanse a la mierda gringos" spray-painted on a tourist plaque in san telmo. after our attempted bribing experience in mendoza, i could understand a little resentment directed towards "the man" as it were...

the architecture is impressive. there are a ton of colonial influences that make each neighborhood unique and fill the city with landmark sites. what's most impressive is how the old is mixed with the new. they really have been able to showcase the city's original structures by building right next to them but otherwise leaving them intact- it really enriches their city. obviously BA is much more suited for gringo tourism as signs in english nearly everywhere help to explain the city's history. Santiago would be difficult to navigate in a sight-seeing way without spanish, unlike BA.

of course this looks like i'm making comparisons to indicate some kind of ranking... that's not my goal, i just can't help but examine these things as i find santiago to be such a distinct place for its lack of connection to the foreign world. everything they have that's north american, BA has 10 of. the interplay between business and language in that way is very intriguing for me. and also, santiago feels like home. i was a little sad leaving chile for the last time (on this particular south american tour of course :)) and i'm always trying to contextualize my experience there with other experiences i have along the way.

-cait

what if I was a bombadier??

Caitlin has been doing a lot of the heavy lifting with keeping the blog up to date while I screw around, trying to catch up on the latest red sox news. I do have to share a recent story though. Let me set the scene...

I've been traveling with a checkered scarf that is blue and black in the style that you always see in Palistine. It's an incredibly popular style here and is frequently seen as a political statement of support for the people of Palistine. I recieved it as a hand-me-down from some friends a few months ago and it has proved to be an amazing travel item to help with the changing climates down here. So, I've got this scarf...

I'm currently reading Three Cups of Tea (which I highly recommend) and interspersed throughout the story are arabic words translated to and written in their english form. These phrases pepper the book and also look very different phonetically than you're used to hearing them spoken in movies and the like.

So, we've boarded the plane and I'm sitting in the middle of a three seat row waiting for take off. Getting bored, I reach into my bag to get my book and settle in for some good reading. I see both men on either side of me look over sharply as I move aside the bright red fuel canister in my bag to get my book. It's of course empty and without a top but still looks pretty flagrant with it's skull and crossbones and flamable warnings in three languages all blaring out in black lettering from the fire-engine-red canister body.

At this point, I kind of chuckle at myself and wonder what it must look like to see a scarved and bearded traveler with a fuel canister sitting next to you on a plane. After a second though, that thought had gone and I was fully engrossed in the story. As I arrived at one of the arabic phrases in the book that I referred to previously, I started to mutter it under my breath. I was trying really hard to get the pronunciation right so I could continue on. In this case, the phrase was Allahu Akbar(god is great).

So now, I'm sitting with my book in my lap, scarf around my neck, deadly looking fuel canister that had been prodded and literally sniffed at by airport security....and now I'm muttering under my breath with my head down...Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar.

It's only at this point that I actually put it all together and looked up to see my fellow seatmates staring at me...not even trying to hide their nervousness. I laughed outloud, pointed to my book, and said something about "difficult words" while my face turned the color of my deadly looking fuel canister. Needless to say I put the book away, stowed my bag, and did some writing for the duration of the flight.

An aside. When we were getting ready to go to the airport an AVIS car rental guy told us that we´d be fine flying with the white gas and that we shouldn´t worry about getting rid of it first. Now I can't get the image of having that bottle full and reaking of gasoline out of the story! Moral of the story...never listen to the AVIS man and watch your words on an airplane

Cheers

lago region

flew into puerto montt from punta arenas today. today marks the last of deadlines and specific obligations for the whole trip until we fly home in april. we are in puerto varas at the moment. contemplating life while admiring the beautiful osorno volcano.

so far we have been majorly lucky, striking up deals with chileans everywhere we went. for example, today by not merely consenting to the first fishing wharf meal we could find, and mentioning we lived in santiago, we got a discount on our lunch promo. we made friends with a chilean lady in punta arenas who let us stay at her hostel after we returned from argentina for half the price (after we had stayed there the week before for a bit). another hostel owner dropped his rates significantly after we explained we weren't really there with earned american dollars. we negotiated a discount price for a tour of the penguin colony (also chilean accent helped there). the lady in punta arenas discounted us on our hostel because she didnt have correct change. we also talked to a guy today who was going to sell us a centolla (king crab) for 10 bucks! which probably is because we are so far south, but it felt like a hookup because those things are practically on the black market anyway.

so yeah, were doing well.

observations about patagonia-

the wind can knock you off cliffs. the wind can destroy one's tent. patagonian argentines don't like giving tourists free water in their restaurants even though their cities contain some of the best agua dulce (fresh potable water) in the world (seriously, a lady tsked at me). trekking poles are a must at torres del paine. pumas are cool. conaf rangers can be your friend if you're smart enough to bring them hot chocolate when it's 10 degrees outside and you need a place to not feel like you're constantly freezing. i have never seen water so blue. tourists can be annoying as hell and can be super cool as well. traveling with a language and cultural grasp can be financially rewarding as well as a self-esteem boost. nothing's a stupid question unless you can't figure out how to ask it. glaciers are fucking awesome and incredibly massive. the ice the calves from the front of arguably the most famous glacier in the southern ice cap (el calafate) is about 500-600 years old. taking cold showers is worse than not showering for a week. staying dry is key. sleeping with a rain jacket keeps the warmth in. penguins are super curious and daring creatures. the flora here makes you realize how south and north americas were connected a time ago. the people who live in the south are a tough bunch.

hi from patagonia

quick post for those of you still checking this.

super glad to be here in patagonia, this type of chile is more my speed. you don't have to be nearly so paranoid about your stuff as you would have to be in santiago. i dropped more than 20 USD on the ground today and somebody called out to me to have me not lose it. would that ever happen in santiago? probably not...

anyway, downfalls are that it is cold and expensive. the wind is insane. we left the torres del paine national park a couple of days ago and scott and i literally had to clutch one another (and the ground) on the shoulder of a valley in order to be assured we wouldn't get swept off. insane! probably around 75 mile an hour winds.

it's damn expensive too. we're trying to do all the important stuff the most economical way possible. tomorrow we're going to el calafate to see perito moreno glacier and then immediately from there going to camp in a neighboring town called el chalten.

santiago is warm though, and it is the land of cheap fruits and vegetables. though those things are fantastic, i wouldn't trade them for the new experience of traveling. finally on the road!

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had a great time over the holidays with k, steve, todd and finn. quite the cast of characters those guys are... we went all over, lived the high life with tio todd, played fun non-verbal hand games under steve's direction, learned new US pop culture things scott and i had missed from k, enjoyed some moments of scooter-box and watched finn going after the ladies in a valient-type way.

scott and i likely will be out of chile by the second week of feb. riding via horseback over the argentine border? sounds pretty sweet. well let you know how it plays out.

laudry list2

what i've learned so far.

family- it's been hard at times to face to face with the reality of family interconnectedness down here. people are far more willing to accept one another for who they really are just because they are family... nada ma'... many gringos have noticed this and commented on it. someone put it pretty aptly... (summarizing) families here just accept individuals for who they really are rather than trying to judge, criticize and control individual members on (what i believe to be) a rather subconscious level.

language- it's been interesting to see that, the more i am invested and aware of the culture and language, the more i can understand my student's comprehension errors. why they say "especial" instead of "special" or when they use "inclusive" when it entirely doesn't make any sense.

sexism- over 60% of women in chile report abuse. there are also skyrocketing numbers of women with std infections/aids due to husbands having sex with other men (msm).

great deals- the pricing/ sale system works according to the chilean system down here. things are priced the best during the season in which the item is popular as contrasted with the system in the US where things are more inexpensive outside of the season. chilean mentality correlates best to in-the-moment thinking and gringos are notorious for planning ahead.

gringo style space- really enjoying the gringo-style space i am able to obtain at starbucks. i know it sounds bad but at least at starbucks you can be guaranteed someone isn't going to find a reason to bump up against you. the furniture is big enough to keep strangers at bay.

walking with chileans- still a problem, i'm not going to lie. i can't stand it. but at least i've found a method for combating the problem. step one, show no fear. at a distance of about 15 feet away, the chilean will look up at you to see if you are going to waiver in your stance. you merely look around, relaxed and composed. step two, DO NOT look to move anywhere but straight ahead. though this is not necessary the chilean will languish with you until the last moment, where you will brush up against one another, in a very unnecessary fashion (yes i know) but at least this will keep you from doing a ridiculous back and forth dance two feet from each other that will make you want to scream. scott's heard they know we're foreign by the way we walk.

more similarities between chile and the us- despite capitalism, there are many similarities between chile and the us. both are isolated countries, limited in their second language abilities. both are rather (on the whole) ignorant of international news/major events/issues. many people in both countries have little desire to leave, on any kind of permanent basis, their home country.

generally speaking chileans are great people. they're honest, helpful, and though not outgoing, they are very friendly. i've really enjoyed my time here, enjoyed the people i've met and the experiences i've had. duoc definitely wasn't my gig but i enjoyed the ability to hold a student visa and not to have to leave the country for a year. i can't wait to travel and i apologize for my lack of blogging as of late. it's been hard to pull together.

hopefully next time you hear from us we'll be in the south of chile, still having access to all these delicious avocados.

fleites- kid killers

i saw this scary ass kid the other day... because i don't have a picture i'll have to draw one... picture this... no more than 14 years old, walking stridently down the avenue with a large plastic bag with goods slung over his shoulder (goods he had stolen). dirty face, he was smoking a cigarette like james dean, he had dirty short fingernails, dark and fearless eyes. as he walked by me, he sent a huge smacking kiss my way (disgusting, sucking, suckling kind of kiss that dudes here tend to think is hot to send towards the lad-ies). anyway, the natural reaction for me is to flip them off (yes folks, even here), but this kid was different. i kind of feared for my life with just the thought of reacting to him. there was something very eerie about it. like he would have whipped out his knife if i had reacted to him at all. there is some sort of ancient, hardened-ness to the kids here who are accustomed to the "ways of the world." in their face is a sort of "try me, i'm not scared of shit, i've seen death."

anyway, 30 seconds later i thought all the better of my decision as i remembered that two weeks earlier two kids got arrested (temporarily) for assaulting and killing a vendor for the equivalent of 8 US dollars. the carabineros arrested him and kept them several hours but then had to release them back in the streets, completely free, as there exist no laws to prosecute them (because of their ages) to the extent of their crimes.

which of course, entices several questions... is every society better off with a juvenile system? does it really reduce recidivism rates?? is the US juvenile system just the first step to inducting young adults into an already enormously large prison population? what do you think?