January Ends

January....almost over! Happy Birthday to Mr. L, Karen M and Brandon D!!! I miss you all!

This month has been pretty interesting -- I have been living in a place with snow, which I have not done in about 12 years. It has been fun having it around, although sometimes one gets tired of the semi trucks who drive 70 mph in the middle of a snowstorm and then you pass them a couple miles later jackknived on the side of the road...and tired of trying to figure out things to do inside!! But, we have balanced this with a few snow days at work -- yes, SNOW DAYS!!!

Also, there has been a little bit of traveling in order to get away for the weekend -- I went to Mass, which was not really much warmer, but I got to spend time with Mr L's family (sorry, grandma!). We also went to Boston and took a very small road trip to Vermont, which was beautiful. The houses with their gables and dormers (I am learning about these...) really are postcard perfect, especially with snow on them, which there was.

Mr L and I also met in Memphis last weekend and had a great day exploring the city. Unfortunately, Mr L got sick on the second day and so we did not get a chance to go to Graceland and see Elvis. Ah, well, next time, I suppose.

This weekend is the Superbowl, which I suppose I may watch, but am not really very interested in... However, Dad is back! Hurray for the return of Dad!! So we will probably hang out inside somewhere...and why not a loud sports bar, right? (or my couch perhaps...)

Goodbye January...and now we are one more step closer to spring....

A Test: My Desk

This is to test my skills at photo taking and email blogging. Here is
a photo of my wall paraphanalia. It is hot in Iowa today -- 30 degrees!!

Signs: We Love 'Em!!

I am FINALLY starting to go through some of my pictures from South America/all of 2008!! As I was sorting them out, I noticed I had a lot of photos of signs. So, I compiled them. I have about 160 photos of various street, caution, elevation, food signs...and more! A couple of my favorites are shown above. Another couple dozen can be found here.

Bad Santa!

I have been MUY MAL at blogging lately....the only thing around here to talk about is the cold, which by the way, a quick update of -- today the high was minus 5. Yeah with a windchill of -38. Sweet!!

Anyway, I was just looking at Sara's blog and saw her marvelous pictures of Penelope (pronounce Peen-a-lope) and I just have to include a link for those becuase they are so fun! Click here to see our wonderful snow-woman. Of course all credit and copyrights go to Sara and Grant. Hear, hear!

Other than that, I am trying to keep warm, eating way too much and...training for a half marathon -- which I am scared about because I am doing it on the treadmill, which I hate. My big run so far is 4 miles, but I am supposed to be up to about 6 already...ug. Mr. Lovely and I are training together/apart, but he says he doesnt want to run with me at the half marathon because I will cramp his style.

My friend Lea has joined me in Iowa; it is good to have an old time buddy back in town. We are very creatively trying to figure out fun things to do when you can't stay outside for more than 10 minutes without getting frostbite. Needless to say, we have seen many movies, played indoor glow in the dark mini golf, gone bowling, played cards, had girl's nights and...eaten a lot (but I am pretending to run it off!)

Don't forget to check out Penelope! She is hottttt!

Slippin' and A-Slidin'

Steering into the skid is something that when you are driving and skidding, your instincts rebel against. You go around a corner and you start to skid. You want to turn your wheel the opposite way to correct it. Wrong!

This morning when I got up there were 6 new inches of snow on the ground. The roads were half plowed; they had probably been done around 4 or 5 o’clock, but it was now 6 o’clock. I have a Pontiac G6. The ironic thing is this: For work we are only allowed to rent a compact car. Many people I work with are from Florida, Texas etc…places that never get snow. So, you have a bunch of novice snow drivers driving around in compact cars in 6 inches of snow.

So I drove to work…slipping and sliding the whole way here… but I got lots of practice at steering into the skid!

Hell Has Frozen Over...

It is official; hell has frozen over. This morning it was -3 degrees, with a wind chill....feels like -25! Well, Iowa sure is showing us her stuff! Honestly, the negative 2 is not so bad, but when the wind is blowing it literally takes your breath away! Stay tuned for more...they say it gets down to NEGATIVE 35. Going home for Christmas, when it is only in the 30s is going to be like taking a vacation to Hawaii. I am very excited for the upcoming holidays; all my shopping is done!! Can't wait to see everyone!

Children of The Corn

After a long discussion with the United Rep, I made my way to Des Moines, Iowa. Via Omaha. Via Seattle. Via Tobin. Via San Francisco. Via New York. Via Massachusetts. Via South America.

I spent some time with K in Danville, eating and....um, eating. We had a list of places and types of food that we wanted to sample and we spent about 5 days living up to our dreams. The last day with her was spent in Berkeley, with her roommies and her Mom, going on a food extravaganza....for breakfast, chinese and tea, for snack pizza, and for desert, cupcakes and then....for another snack, chocolate. By 3 we were stuffed and so K dropped me off with my mom and we headed to Tobin.

I stayed in Tobin for a few weeks, visiting with Mom, Sara, Lea and Nadine and then headed to Seattle for our Thanksgiving up at Karl and Ruths. We ate some more (I even ate some turkey!) and we played lots of games and generally had a blast!

From Seattle, I was supposed to fly to Des Moines, but due to weather and a mechanical problem, I couldnt make my connection, so ended up having to go to Omaha instead (first time there, wow, its great *wink, wink*) and then drive to Des Moines. Luckily I had my Dad as company, as he had had problems getting his flight as well.

Now I am in Iowa; it was 18 degrees yesterday morning and snowing today. Welcome to work and welcome to winter!

Mawidge..its whats bwings us togetha today...

From Columbia, the first stop was in Massachusetts - to meet Mr L's family (all 400 of them...who turned out to be pretty nice *wink, wink*) and to see Grandma Sue, Aunt Lucy, Hannah and Nick as well as my friend Dave and his kids Emma and Finn (we missed Penny!!) We spent a few days there, meeting up with friends, eating, eating, drinking, shopping and eating... If you get a chance to go to the Roasted Pig in New Bedford, I reccommend it; it is very good! Also, Mrs. Bee's House puts on a very good lunch on Sunday! So, after cramming ourselves full of food and my having met about 487 new people, we decided to leave town for a respite....

We got on the train in Providence and took it down to New York City, where we had a nice hotel in Times Square. Wow, it sure is nice to be home and sleep in clean, soft beds and take real, hot showers!! The simple pleasures in life! Mr. Lovely and I spent the first night, which was our anniversary night (he has put up with me for a whole year!) having a very nice dinner in the City. There are such an abundance of places to eat...I think the eating binge in not even close to over! We spent the next day strolling the city and at night we went and saw Wicked, the Broadway show... If you get a chance, you really should check it out...it was Wonderful!

The next three days were spent doing Seth Berr wedding events, which were also wonderful. On Friday we had a meet and greet for out of towners which began at the Thai restaurant where Seth met his wife and ended at a bar with over 100 themed shots, where you have to wear a wig and play a song while taking your shot. Saturday we had the wedding at the Water Club, which is right on the East river -- great location, great food and very great company abound! Sunday, we had brunch at the Russian Tea Room, which was opened in 1927 by former members of the Russian Imperial Ballet as a gathering place for Russian expatriates and became famous as a gathering place for those in the entertainment industry. Again, it was top notch.

We spent the next couple of days just wandering around the city...We love Greenwich Village!! Eating, eating and eating again...I love the food here! Yesterday we split, Mr. Lovely went back to NOLA and I came to San Francisco. I am staying with K for a few days, then it is up North to hang out with Mom for a while...cant wait!

Last Day!!!

Today I sat in a speedboat coming from Playa Blanca going back to Cartegena and I felt like the lead character in a movie...who is sitting on a ___________ (pick your moving vehicle) looking out the window, reflecting on _____________ (whatever happened in the movie). Fade to black. Roll credits.

So, today I am fading to black on our 10 country, almost 10 month journey to the South of the Equator (and a tiny bit of North)...starring many main characters and many, many guest appearances.

Roll Credits.... Thanks to the Academy...and to Mr. Lovely, my parents and CK, without whom I would have never been able to make it through this trip. Thanks to S, Grant, KE, Rafe, M and HN who all joined us for part of the action and adventure and with whom I had a wonderful time and can't wait to see again. Thanks to all my friends and family for putting up with my long gaps in phone calls and/or emails. And for the crappy quality of them once they arrived.

Cartegena and Juice

We have finally arrived at our final destination, Cartegena. After walking around the old town area, which is fabulous, we had a fresh juice (there are so many!) and met up with another traveler to watch the Columbia soccer game. We spent the next day going to a mud volcano where you can actually sit in the mud and it is supposed to have many healthy properties. To me, it was just kind of gross. Sitting in a mud bath with 30 other people while not being able to move away from them is kind of weird to me. And there are these guys there that want to massage you and it just makes me kind of disgusted... Other than that, in Cartegena we admired the beautiful architecture of the old town and enjoyed the street food and juices...

So, from here we will fly out - Chris to Chicago and I to Boston and New York... The end is upon us!

Ciudad Perdida

Whew! We just got back from a 6 day hike into the jungles of Columbia, where we crossed the Buritaca River 9 times in seach of the elusive Ciudad Perdida (Lost City). It being the rainy season, we hiked in the mornings while it was sunny (mostly) and then (mostly) took it easy, chatted and swam in the afternoons while it rained. Our group was good, 4 kiwis, 1 scot and Chris and I. We all got along great, as well as pretty much hiked at about the same pace. Our guide, Wilson (fitting) was great, but only spoke Spanish, so those of us who spoke Spanish had to translate for those that didnt. It was actually great practice for my Spanish skills.

The hike was very difficult. Every day we went up a huge muddy hill and back down the other side of it, to end up campìng near the river. The next day we would do the same. It was about 85 degrees most of the time, with a humidity of about 98 percent, much like hiking in New Orleans would be if they had any hills. However, although we did have to carry our own bags, we did not have to carry or make our own food, so it was not as hard as it could have been. Nothing like carrying 20 cans of tuna on the Patagonia hike!

We arrived at the Lost City on day three and got to explore it a bit in the afternoon. It is massive! However, only about 10 percent of the city is uncovered for tourists to explore. I cant really even fathom how big the entire thing really is. The city was discovered in 1972, but unfortunately was raided by a bunch of gold seekers, who raided the tombs in the city (the dead were buried with their possesions, often gold and ceramics, to take to their next life with them). Finally the military intervened and people caught selling the relics in the nearby towns were punished. In the mid 80s, tours were started.

In 2003, 8 tourists were kidnapped from the Lost City by a Columbian terrorist group, who demanded government investigation of human rights groups in return for the hostages. Eventually they were all released, unharmed, and the trail as well as the site are both safely guarded by the military at the current moment. We even got pictures at the top with the military guys who are stationed there. They have some wickedly huge guns!

Now we are back in the real world, the not so lost city, and are enjoying a couple of half days on the beach (it is still raining a lot) before heading off to Parque National Tayrona for some hiking etc.

Mitad Del Mundo and More!!!

For the first time in about 9 months, we are back in the Northern Hemisphere! We spent one week in Ecuador, ending in Quito and visiting the Mitad Del Mundo, or Center of the World, where we straddled the equator and passed for the first time into the N. Hemisphere. Next we crossed over into Columbia, where we are now.

Columbia is not as scary as the US Government would lead you to believe, but there are still some precautions that should be taken. Buses have been known to be hijacked at night, so we have not been taking buses at night (obviously!) However, this means we have to do all of our travel during the day, which cuts into our time to explore the country. However, the scenery here is beautiful; the mountains are all green and they are in their growing season, so there are plants and vegetables and fruits everywhere!

We first stopped in Pasto, in a 7 dollar flea bitten hotel near the bus station. That was a 10 hour rest stop so we wouldnt have to travel at night. Then we went to a nice little colonial town called Popayan, where the streets are all numbers and you can get lost, but not in a bad way. Next we went to the town of San Augustin, which sits at the top of the Cordillera Central (Central Mountain Range) and looks down onto the valley of the River Magdalena. We took a horseback tour to a bunch of old ruin sites which are from BC.

Our most recent stop is here in Bogota, where we are now. It is nice to be in the city, where there is semi decent internet, but it is just so big and everything is so expensive....we are looking forward to our next stop, Valle de Leyva, where we will go hiking and biking and nature watching.

Sicko

Whew! Well, I must have ate something bad, becuase I was pretty sick for a little while...Luckily, thanks to the F word and Mr L, I was put up in the Lima Sheraton for a few days, which allowed me to get better in style.

Then I met up with Chris and we headed up to Trujillo, which is the jumping off point for the ruins of Chan Chan. Chan Chan is an all adobe city, which is reputed to be the biggest adobe pre-Columbian city in the Americas. It was partly pile of dirt, partly cool old fortress.

Next we headed to Ecuador, where we are now. First stop, the city of Cuenca, where they make Panama Hats (go figure, Panama Hats are NOT from Panama). We went to a National Park and did some hiking, it rained on us a bit, and we sampled the local fare (really good buns!!) Then we took the bus to Baños, where we are now. Baños is the city of hot springs and massages, so we went to the hot springs (it was closed) and then got a massage (only 17 dollars - Ecuador uses dollars so it really seems like my money is going faster...is that weird).

Next is the city of Quito, where we will visit the ecuator and then head north to Columbia. Our trip (feels like it) is nearing the end....we only have a little over a month left!!! It will be strange to be back in the States, doing NORMAL stuff again...will I be able to handle it!!?? We shall see.....

5 Days of Fun!

Machu Picchu! We did it! We did a 5 day trek over the Salkanty mountain, which took us to a height of 4600 meters (15,180 ft) into the cold and then down to 1500 meters into the jungle, finally ending at Machu Picchu. It was a hard hike, but very rewarding at the end.


Before going to Machu Picchu we went to the Sacred Valley and to the very important ruins of Sacsayhuaman (pronounced Sexy Woman), which was a fortress made from 8 (or more) sided rocks used to build the zig zag shaped walls (also used to represent the teeth of a puma, where Cuzco represents the rest of the head).

Now we are in Lima, where I will meet back up with Chris, who has been volunteering for the last month in Bolivia while I have been cavorting in Peru (he already came here with his parents, hiked Macchu Picchu, got e-coli and then came back and met up with me in Brazil).

Titty Caca

Haha, I can actually say that without feeling like I am disrespectful! We are near Lake Titicaca, in Puno, Peru. According to the Peruvians, they got the Titi and Bolivia got the Caca. The funny thing is that Bolivia actually has the more beautiful side of the lake. There are a bunch of mountains surrounding it which are more than 6000 meters high (19000 Feet) and are covered in snow. It is a very nice place to be.

First we went to the WORLDS MOST DANGEROUS ROAD, which is near La Paz, in Bolivia. We survived! We mountain biked down from about 4000 meters to about 1000 meters in about 4 or 5 hours. Half of it was paved and half dirt, but the whole thing was a lot of fun! Next we went to Copacabana and the Isla de Sol, which is supposed to be where the Inca civilization began.

Next we headed to Peru, where we visited Arequipa, which was built in the 1500s and is quite beautiful with a huge church on the main square which occupies the whole block. We also visited the Convent of Santa Catalina which occupies a whole city block and is where the rich Spanish families would send their daughters (for a hefty fee of course). The picture above is one of Santa Catarina. It was beautiful!

From Arequipa, we came to Puno, where we are now. Yesterday we went on a tour of the floating islands and got to spend the night in the house of an indigenous person as well as dressing up in local dress and going to a local fiesta (pictures to come later - it was great!).

Tomorrow we head to Cuzco and then we will tackle Machu Pichu!! I am very excited about this although the altitude has been a little rough at times!

Huelgas, Desfiles y Fiestas!!

The election is in 3 days. Actually it is not an election, it is a referendum. What happens is this... Everyone goes and votes whether they want to keep Evo or not. If so, he remains President. He has been President for 3 years...normally a term is for 5. If they vote no, he gets impeached and they have to vote for a new President. Supposedly, out of the 9 departments (states), only 3 are for Evo and the other six are against him.

Like I said before, they love to protest here! So, we have protests every day...and if Evo gets voted IN (to remain) there will be even more. If he gets voted out, I dont really know what will happen. Yesterday, he flew to the city of Santa Cruz and they would not let him get out of the plane! They canceled the parades for Independence Day in 3 cities...! These people are crazy! They are saying that never has there been such unrest in the month of the Patria (Patriot)!!!

So, we shall see what happens. I bought a flight to La Paz so I wouldnt have to worry about whether or not I will be able to take the bus...However La Paz is going to be crazy!! Evo is going to be in La Paz during the election... We are making history here!

Mi Patria Bolivia

Tomorrow is the Dia de Independencia of Bolivia and the flags are flying! They have been practicing their drums and batons for the last couple weeks and today they finally got a chance to show their stuff.

This week has been very interesting, to say the least. Not only is it Independence Day tomorrow, but the Elections are on Sunday, the 10th. On top of that, the President, Evo Morales, is still imposing taxes, cutting pensions in half and making other changes like that, so...this means people are striking, protesting and rallying on the streets. The last week, there have been protests every day, there has been no school (the teachers are on strike) and there have been roadblocks (no busses or cars can come or go out of any of the cities)... However, this is normal. The only problem is that I need to get to La Paz in 4 days and I dont know if there will be any busses!

However, that is in 4 days. There are parades, parties and fun to be had right now! Viva Mi Patria Bolivia!

Honk If You Are Bolivian!

I almost got hit by a car the other day. It is becuase the people here drive like they are the only ones on the road. It is funny sometimes, the complete lack of rules or maybe just disregard of the rules, but sometimes there are some close calls. They just honk when they are about to hit you, so at least before you get hit, you are sure of what is about to happen.

Here is the thing. At most of the intersections, they dont have stop lights or signs. Basically, whoever gets there first and squeezes their way out into the intersection first, has the right of way. Where there are lights, they are just suggestions. If it is red, but you dont think that other cars are coming, go ahead and go (maybe to make yourself feel better, you should honk). If other cars ARE coming and they are about to hit you, just honk, you will be fine.

This is all well and good, but if you are a pedestrian it is a little hard sometimes to figure out what the cars are going to do. You cant just go if your light is green... So that is what I was doing. The traffic was stopped. There actually WAS a light, which was RED. The green way was stalled becuase they were all backed up through the intersection, so I had a green light basically. So I went. And some dude with a red light decided to try to creep through the stalled intersection and make his way across...and he almost hit me.

But I survived. I just laugh when I see the way they drive. It is comical. Oh, and PS, the car at the top is a Volkswagon Brasilia...this is the most common car in the city of Cochabamba...

Hoy Es Un Dia Normal

Well, we are now in Cochabamba and have been here for about a week. We are settling into our routine...Here it is, for your reading enjoyment.

-8:00 get up
-Have breakfast, watch my favorite show on Discovery Kids (in Spanish, its about what I can understand), Charlie y Lola
-Walk to class (about 20 minutes, mostly downtown, with a few plazas thrown in)
-10:00 - 12:00 Tutor in Spanish. We mostly just talk girl talk, in Spanish...I mean, what else am I paying her for? I am getting the best gossip in Cochabamba!!
-Walk home
-1:00 - 2:00 Lunch with the family (we are staying with a family in the down town area. They have other family come over all the time for lunch, so we always have a full table for lunch)
-2:00 - 2:30 Bus ride to work (volunteering) goes from down town to the subburbs, where the orphanage is
2:30 - 6:30 Help the kids with their tarea (homework), help them with their work (they each have a daily chore) and if there is time, play with them. The kids are from 3 yrs - 17 years. 30 kids live in the orphanage full time and another...maybe 30-40 come for an after school program around 3. It is busy, busy, busy...and my arms are tired from all the spinning around and carrying we do! But it is a great time.
-Bus back home
-7:00 Dinner with the family
-At 8 Julietta´s novela (soap opera) comes on and if you want to watch it with her (and another at 9) you can...It is actually good becuase they speak really slowly, so it is easier to understand the Spanish this way...but they are SOOOO cheesy!!!
-After dinner activities (there is a festival/holiday right now for one of the virgins, so there is a mini carnaval with food and fireworks and music every night)

And that, my friends, is our normal day!!!

16 Tons And What Do You Get?

Today, we are in Potosi, the highest city in the world. It sits at roughly 4100 M (about 13,500 ft) which is only 1000 feet less than Mt. Whitney, the continental US´ highest mountain. We arrived last night and decided to walk to the center of town to get some dinner. The hill we walked up was not too steep and the entire walk was about a mile, but I was so out of breath just trying to accomplish the short walk. I also had a little bit of a headache, which is one of the syptoms of altitude sickness. However, the cure for that is a tea made of coca leaves, which actually helped! After dinner we went to bed early, becuase we had scheduled a trip into the mines for early the next morning.

The mine tour was very interesting. We got to see how the minerals are mined, processed and what the finished product is. In the Potosi mines, they are all collective, which means that each miner works for himself. Actually, groups of miners work together as a team; they each have their own area of the mine. There are approximately 15,000 people working in the mines, the youngest is about 8 (which is illegal, the age limit is 18) and the oldest is about 68 (which is rare, many die after 10 or more years from black lung).

We were down inside for about 2 hours, breathing dust and stuck in small hot spaces. It was horrible. I cant believe so many people spend 8-10 hours a day in that (6 days a week)!! I really have a new respect for the miners. After the tour, we went outside and we got to set off dynamite. It was pretty cool. With a wick of about a foot, you have about 4 minutes before the dynamite goes off.

Now we are back in the town, walking around, waiting for our overnight bus which will take us to Cochabamba, which is where we are going to do a month of volunteering.