Sobre las nubes, en un otro mundo, bajo el mismo sol...
Wow, so there aren{t any words to describe the past four days on this tour through Southern Bolivia. It could have been another planet, or 12 other planets for how diverse the landscapes were, and how utterly desolate some of the places are! Never has desolation looked so beautiful! So like I said before, we saw some beautifully toxic lagoons, flamingoes, llamas, all kinds of other high altitude creatures, dunes, deserts, mountains, a TON of volcanoes and the rock formations that came from their lava flows thousands and millions of years ago, through tiny villages that have been around for centuries where population is quoted by the number of families that live there.... too many things to describe and too many things that the photos won{t even come close to doing justice to. If youre down for roughing it a little bit and like that kind of stuff, you HAVE to do this. We had an awesome guide and cook, and joined a French pair who turned out to be really awesome. No one in the car spoke English, so it was finally an opportunity to only speak Spanish in South America... ridiculous! Bolivia is different though, because it isn{t made for tourists like Argentina is, and that is awesome. The smaller towns where the tours depart from are naturally really touristy, but it{s as if tourism is separated from town life, because the streets are still full of stalls selling typical food, crafts, kitchenware, clothes... anything you would ever need.
The first night, we stayed at a hostel that was a little over 4000 meters up, and freezing. The night was perfectly clear and the moon was waning, and I saw more stars than I{ve ever seen in my life, it was breath-taking! The next night, we topped out at around 4800 meters... almost 3 miles!... and got to the hostel in time to see an amazing sunset as it dropped between two mountain peaks. Pretty much every sight we saw took my breath away so I can{t really even summarize what the coolest thing was.
Now we are in La Paz. We came on an overnight bus with our companions from the tour, and that bus ride was pretty incredible too. The first half or so was on a rode so bumpy that the light and panel above Kendra{s seat broke and fell off! She didn{t even wake up, and I was sleeping too when one of the passengers behind us sort of lept over me and caught the light before it smacked her face. Then one of the bus workers came by and said sorry and ripped off the rest of the panel that was bouncing around. It was funny. Mostly funny that we slept so well on a bus that made it feel like we were having a seizure for 5 hours. The ride was around 12 hours in total, or something like that, so we got in this morning, went to a hostel that our new friends had recomended, took our first shower in a week, and now Kenj and I are walking around La Paz. It{s a really cool city so far. We walked alongside a protest-march which we couldn{t figure out the purpose of, but it was pretty chill. They passed a bunch of older ladies in the street who were arguing against the protesters and throwing bits of bread and confetti at them and laughing their asses off while yelling at them to shut up. La Paz lives up to its name so far. Plus you can buy literally almost anything in the world on the street. The city is only a million people, but maybe due to the mountains squeezing it all into a relatively small valley, it feels like it could be 12 million. The traffic and driving is nuts, it{s crowded with winding, hilly streets, and just really distinct all around! Street food is everywhere so I{m about to have my way with whatever I find out is typical here. THere is a witch market where they have a ton of natural cures for every malady, so I might as well stroll through and pick up something for diarrhea because it{s inevitably on its way. I don{t even care, as long as I enjoyed everything on its way down!
The way the trip is going is really nice because for every few days in a city, we take a few days out, way out, from a city. It makes me appreciate nature and urbanity so much more! Driving through the bolivian wilderness is probably the coolest thing I can say that I{ve seen in my life, and so moving! They seem to be really conscious of maintaining the natural beauty of the place too, which is really nice. The tours have their track, they don{t ram through any vegetation or leave garbage around, you{re only aloud to get so close to certain things so people don{t destroy what is there, and all the buildings get power from solar panels. It really is amazing to be surrounded by so much natural beauty and considering that our society in general doesn't really pay any respect to it. I'm not crazy, I've never been one to feel the earth bleed or hear a tree cry, but ever since the movie Fern Gully sufficiently ruined my childhood, I get a little maniacal about the destruction of nature for some short-term profit making and some serious long term damage. Being here, in the midst of such awesomely powerful forces of nature, I started thinking that maybe we aren't exactly destroying earth, but rather destroying our ability to inhabit it. After we're gone, some other creatures must be coming to take our place, and the scars we've left will fade away...this shit isn't going anywhere, but we're like dinosaurs walking.. maybe I'm wrong though. I don't think so, but science finds a way to support both sides... who can say.
So anyway, I just realized how quickly time has flown and how soon I am going home. Every time I realize that I get a little shock because I really haven't seen nearly the amount of things I would like to! I'll have to come back here, duh, and take a lot more time in Bolivia and places further north. I would like to see the extremes of this country - I guess the Amazon basin sort of dumps itself in Northeast Bolivia, so that would be an awesome contrast to the miles-high deserts and volcanoes of the other side of the country. It really is nice to be in La Paz now though, where I can take care of my eyes, sleep warm (by the way our hostel costs $3.50 a night) be out of moving vehicles for a few days, and eat some hot food! The people here are awesome too.. not that I've talked to too many (yet) but our guide, Oshin, had really cool perspectives about things and the general feeling you get is just... I don't know, very warm, chilled out, and you can see a lot of cultural elements and traditions that go back centuries at least, probably millenia! It's really cool being here, and I´m totally going to come home looking like that American kid that goes on vacation and tries too hard. Meaning, I have a ton of stuff from Bolivia and Argentina because since I got robbed in BA, literally everything I have-luggage, toothpaste, contacts, sweaters, shoes, are all from down here. They sure do make nice stuff though!
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Another sunrise, first FREEZING morning!
Dude, we made it! For all the people that said we wouldn´t get into Bolivia... suck it!
So yesterday we hit Tucuman, like I blogged about in the previous post, then that night we headed out on the bus for the border town, La Quiaca. There seems to be a recurring theme on these buses, and it is that a kid next to me or in front of me is always throwing up! I used to get really grossed out by puke, but that faded a little bit once I got to college and started doing it a lot.. but when it´s everywhere, it´s kind of like stepping over dog shit in the street, no big whoop. But still, gross!
Back tracking a little bit, at the last night in Mendoza at our amazing hostel, Kendra and I had decided to have a quiet night since we were set to wake up early for the bikes and wine tour the next day. We were in bed by midnight, amidst the drunken rambling of the Irish and American kids hanging out in front of our door. Fell asleep like a rock but around 3.30 we woke up because everyone was fighting-like MTV show style-for about an hour and a half. It was pretty hilarious so I wasn´t really bothered by it at all, until it dragged on and one girl shoved me. I was sooo ready to get all Jersey Shore, but whatever. It ended with one guy passing out in a chair and peeing on himself, and everyone else thrown all around the hostel in different parts. It was funny but sad at the same time, but it did restore my faith in reality TV because before that, I didn´t really believe grown ass people could act like such animals. Anyway, that was our last night in Mendoza. Then we had that overnight bus after the bike tour. The tour wore me out so I slept like a rock on that bus. Then the few hours in Tucuman, then the overnight bus which brought us to La Quiaca early this morning. That one didn´t give me or Kendra much chance to sleep. So we rolled in, already in a different world in one of the farthest Northern reaches of Argentina, caught a taxi to the border checkpoint, and signed out of Argentina for good. Then all the little people with backpacks walk to the Bolivia side, and if you´re from the US you pay a decently hefty fee and fill out some paperwork to enter, and bam you´re in. Only thing is, they need a photocopy of your passport, or a picture of you. I was lucky enough to be carrying a few pictures of myself that my roomy had sent me. One was from Halloween when I dressed the part of Samantha from Sex and the City. Another was my face on a different body, with a hysterical outfit and a great haircut. hmmm what to do. Then I did actually find one normal one, that I really liked, of me Michael and Drew from one of the Christmas parties, so I had to give that up. They laughed, but I kind of wished that I would have had to give them one of the others.
So then we took the bus from Villazon, Bolivia´s border town, to Tupiza, which was absolutely incredible. The scenery is out of this world. Started out as desolate mountains and sand, then cactus plants started popping up, then the mountains evolved from blank walls of rock into forest covered peaks. There is a river bed, which is dry for the season, and a lot of really amazing colors to see. I was dead tired and wanted to sleep but couldn´t keep my eyes shut in case I missed something. All this is while driving down a road that is currently being paved, maybe repaved, so a lot of the trip was this huge, double decker bus, bouncing around the desert. Awesome. Then we came up to this tunnel that cut through two mountains, and it was miraculous that the driver didn´t hit the sides! It was like the tunnel was made to perfectly fit this bus and nothing more. The rocks in there looked like those Disney World fake rocks, they were so clean and precisely cut. So a little more breathtaking scenery over about 3 hours, I think, and then we landed in Tupiza. Feels just like it should. I guess we´re about 3000 meters above the sea, so what, 9000 feet... you can feel it a tiny bit, like I have to walk slow because I feel like I might pass out. So we walked out of the bus station, with no idea what this town held in store for us, only knowing that we want to see the salt flats, the Salares de Uyuni, named for the town about 4 hours north of here, but within reach nonetheless. So the long and short of it, we signed up for a four day tour, starting here, ending in Uyuni, where we´ll stop by some tiny villages, swim in some thermal springs, see two volcanoes, one of which is active and smoking, geisers, desert, lagunes of all colors, and salt flats. If my excitement dial went from one to ten, I´d be at eleven.
So anyway, I´m off the map for the next four days. No nothing. Hopefully I can pick up a couple more disposable cameras before this trek, but that´s looking a little doubtful. I tried to buy contact solution but the lady at the pharmacy told me ´not in this town´. So in the worst case, I´ll end up with crusty eyes and no pictures, but it really won´t matter because just being here, feeling Bolivia, it´s like breathing in a whole new adventure. I was ready to leave Argentina, and now I´m really happy to be here. As usual, it´s hard to put it into words, but the vibes here are so different from everywhere else. The people are really cool, really slow, quiet... it´s definitely a break from the pace of Buenos Aires. There are a lot of people milling around right now, but it´s just so quiet and chill! All the women are bundled up with so much wool thrown over their shoulders, the top hats, the mountains in the distance... it´s like every book or movie made the place out to be. But it´s only going to get better.
Funny twist of fate again. I met this cool chick from San Francisco in Iguazu, and now she´s staying in the exact same hostel as me here. That was over 2 months ago, how random! Especially considering Kenj and I ended up at this hostel because a girl chased us down the street and asked us if we would stay there. Funny.
Alright, well I have a lot of feelings right now, hence the long entry. But I still can´t say how freaking excited I am for this 4 day thing and for the rest of the awesomeness that this country and Peru have in store. All of this high altitude excitement is kind of making my head spin though. They say to walk slowly, eat a little, and sleep all by your little self while you get used to the altitude. No fun. I ate a massive lunch today and couldn´t have felt better. I am heeding the other two pieces of advice though, not happily! But I´m excited to really get into the country, chewing coca leaves, freezing, treking, and pretending to be tough.
So yesterday we hit Tucuman, like I blogged about in the previous post, then that night we headed out on the bus for the border town, La Quiaca. There seems to be a recurring theme on these buses, and it is that a kid next to me or in front of me is always throwing up! I used to get really grossed out by puke, but that faded a little bit once I got to college and started doing it a lot.. but when it´s everywhere, it´s kind of like stepping over dog shit in the street, no big whoop. But still, gross!
Back tracking a little bit, at the last night in Mendoza at our amazing hostel, Kendra and I had decided to have a quiet night since we were set to wake up early for the bikes and wine tour the next day. We were in bed by midnight, amidst the drunken rambling of the Irish and American kids hanging out in front of our door. Fell asleep like a rock but around 3.30 we woke up because everyone was fighting-like MTV show style-for about an hour and a half. It was pretty hilarious so I wasn´t really bothered by it at all, until it dragged on and one girl shoved me. I was sooo ready to get all Jersey Shore, but whatever. It ended with one guy passing out in a chair and peeing on himself, and everyone else thrown all around the hostel in different parts. It was funny but sad at the same time, but it did restore my faith in reality TV because before that, I didn´t really believe grown ass people could act like such animals. Anyway, that was our last night in Mendoza. Then we had that overnight bus after the bike tour. The tour wore me out so I slept like a rock on that bus. Then the few hours in Tucuman, then the overnight bus which brought us to La Quiaca early this morning. That one didn´t give me or Kendra much chance to sleep. So we rolled in, already in a different world in one of the farthest Northern reaches of Argentina, caught a taxi to the border checkpoint, and signed out of Argentina for good. Then all the little people with backpacks walk to the Bolivia side, and if you´re from the US you pay a decently hefty fee and fill out some paperwork to enter, and bam you´re in. Only thing is, they need a photocopy of your passport, or a picture of you. I was lucky enough to be carrying a few pictures of myself that my roomy had sent me. One was from Halloween when I dressed the part of Samantha from Sex and the City. Another was my face on a different body, with a hysterical outfit and a great haircut. hmmm what to do. Then I did actually find one normal one, that I really liked, of me Michael and Drew from one of the Christmas parties, so I had to give that up. They laughed, but I kind of wished that I would have had to give them one of the others.
So then we took the bus from Villazon, Bolivia´s border town, to Tupiza, which was absolutely incredible. The scenery is out of this world. Started out as desolate mountains and sand, then cactus plants started popping up, then the mountains evolved from blank walls of rock into forest covered peaks. There is a river bed, which is dry for the season, and a lot of really amazing colors to see. I was dead tired and wanted to sleep but couldn´t keep my eyes shut in case I missed something. All this is while driving down a road that is currently being paved, maybe repaved, so a lot of the trip was this huge, double decker bus, bouncing around the desert. Awesome. Then we came up to this tunnel that cut through two mountains, and it was miraculous that the driver didn´t hit the sides! It was like the tunnel was made to perfectly fit this bus and nothing more. The rocks in there looked like those Disney World fake rocks, they were so clean and precisely cut. So a little more breathtaking scenery over about 3 hours, I think, and then we landed in Tupiza. Feels just like it should. I guess we´re about 3000 meters above the sea, so what, 9000 feet... you can feel it a tiny bit, like I have to walk slow because I feel like I might pass out. So we walked out of the bus station, with no idea what this town held in store for us, only knowing that we want to see the salt flats, the Salares de Uyuni, named for the town about 4 hours north of here, but within reach nonetheless. So the long and short of it, we signed up for a four day tour, starting here, ending in Uyuni, where we´ll stop by some tiny villages, swim in some thermal springs, see two volcanoes, one of which is active and smoking, geisers, desert, lagunes of all colors, and salt flats. If my excitement dial went from one to ten, I´d be at eleven.
So anyway, I´m off the map for the next four days. No nothing. Hopefully I can pick up a couple more disposable cameras before this trek, but that´s looking a little doubtful. I tried to buy contact solution but the lady at the pharmacy told me ´not in this town´. So in the worst case, I´ll end up with crusty eyes and no pictures, but it really won´t matter because just being here, feeling Bolivia, it´s like breathing in a whole new adventure. I was ready to leave Argentina, and now I´m really happy to be here. As usual, it´s hard to put it into words, but the vibes here are so different from everywhere else. The people are really cool, really slow, quiet... it´s definitely a break from the pace of Buenos Aires. There are a lot of people milling around right now, but it´s just so quiet and chill! All the women are bundled up with so much wool thrown over their shoulders, the top hats, the mountains in the distance... it´s like every book or movie made the place out to be. But it´s only going to get better.
Funny twist of fate again. I met this cool chick from San Francisco in Iguazu, and now she´s staying in the exact same hostel as me here. That was over 2 months ago, how random! Especially considering Kenj and I ended up at this hostel because a girl chased us down the street and asked us if we would stay there. Funny.
Alright, well I have a lot of feelings right now, hence the long entry. But I still can´t say how freaking excited I am for this 4 day thing and for the rest of the awesomeness that this country and Peru have in store. All of this high altitude excitement is kind of making my head spin though. They say to walk slowly, eat a little, and sleep all by your little self while you get used to the altitude. No fun. I ate a massive lunch today and couldn´t have felt better. I am heeding the other two pieces of advice though, not happily! But I´m excited to really get into the country, chewing coca leaves, freezing, treking, and pretending to be tough.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
So long, VOS, welcome back TU
I survived the bike tour! I knew I would, I just wanted to put a little cliff hanger for the faithful readers out there. It was really nice, got to taste a lot of wines and see how all the magic happens, and we finished off at this crazy beer garden. It was basically a wooden hut with a bar and a bathroom, a field, and couches. The beer was good, but the vibe was really awesome. We got the bikes around 11 in the morning, went around and did our thang, then ended at the beer garden, after several vineyards, at 7:05. We were supposed to have the bikes back by 7 or else be charged a fee for making the guys stay late, so we rode back like bats outta hell. Right before we pulled out of the gravel street from the beer garden though, the friend we had picked up along the way rode right into a ditch and did a little mini-flip over the handle bars. There was a cop on a motorcycle who watched, and he followed us all the way back to the bike place, telling us when to go when we were waiting at stop signs. It was really fun getting a police escort but he was probably just hoping another one of us would fall so he could laugh about it some more.
So I´m writing from the bus station in (San Miguel de) Tucuman right now. We have a bus that leaves in about an hour, which takes us to the border town La Quiaca, at which point we cross into Villazon, Bolivia hopefully, then straight up to either Uyuni or Tupiza! Bolivia is possibly what I´m most excited about, but there are a lot of discrepancies in the information detailing what is actually needed to enter the country. Sooo we´ll find out tomorrow. If not, we´ll take a bus and backtrack a bit, go through Chile and straight up to Peru along the coast. Hopefully Bolivia wants us to go though, because I really want to see it. The change of scenery from Mendoza, 14 hours away from where I am now, is really different. We´re pretty much surrounded by mountains now, and looking out the bus window, you get these killer views of farmland that appears to stretch endlessly until it hits the foot of the Andes, it´s really nice. There are no clouds in the sky, it´s nice and crisply fresh, and everywhere you go, a Cumbia beat follows. Kenj and I walked around a bit tonight just to kill time as the sun was setting, and the nightlife was already picking up. If you like dark clubs and hookers, this is THE place to be! For real though, the town is really nice. It´s where the first constitution of Argentina was drafted so it holds some serious patriotic value.
Alright, well it´s burning up in this kiosk and I´m about to freak out, so I´ll leave this there. Now that I´m perfectly used to the Argentinian accent and funny words they add to the language, it´s time to get back to some basics, hopefully. Can´t wait to see what comes next, hopefully the following update is from Bolivia! Don´t cry for me, Argentina!
So I´m writing from the bus station in (San Miguel de) Tucuman right now. We have a bus that leaves in about an hour, which takes us to the border town La Quiaca, at which point we cross into Villazon, Bolivia hopefully, then straight up to either Uyuni or Tupiza! Bolivia is possibly what I´m most excited about, but there are a lot of discrepancies in the information detailing what is actually needed to enter the country. Sooo we´ll find out tomorrow. If not, we´ll take a bus and backtrack a bit, go through Chile and straight up to Peru along the coast. Hopefully Bolivia wants us to go though, because I really want to see it. The change of scenery from Mendoza, 14 hours away from where I am now, is really different. We´re pretty much surrounded by mountains now, and looking out the bus window, you get these killer views of farmland that appears to stretch endlessly until it hits the foot of the Andes, it´s really nice. There are no clouds in the sky, it´s nice and crisply fresh, and everywhere you go, a Cumbia beat follows. Kenj and I walked around a bit tonight just to kill time as the sun was setting, and the nightlife was already picking up. If you like dark clubs and hookers, this is THE place to be! For real though, the town is really nice. It´s where the first constitution of Argentina was drafted so it holds some serious patriotic value.
Alright, well it´s burning up in this kiosk and I´m about to freak out, so I´ll leave this there. Now that I´m perfectly used to the Argentinian accent and funny words they add to the language, it´s time to get back to some basics, hopefully. Can´t wait to see what comes next, hopefully the following update is from Bolivia! Don´t cry for me, Argentina!
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Mothers
First off, happy mothers day to all you mothers out there. Hope your kids make you really damn happy today, and I hope all the kids are suffering a little bit on account of their mothers. It was always my least favorite ´holiday´ ever because I hate doing yardwork.
I´m in Mendoza now! Cordoba was a flash, but I´m really glad we stopped there. We got in on the bus around 7am and got a hostel for one night. Nightlife is supposed to be really great there because like 90 percent of the population (don´t quote that stat) is below 25 yrs old. I wouldn´t know because I passed out in bed before I was supposed to go to some party with some Israeli guys I met. L-A-M-E! So I can´t tell you anything about nightlife there, but the city is really nice. At just over a million people, it was like being able to breathe again after BA. I think we probably walked around the entire city too, from the bus station to the hostel, through a big park, through all the plazas, to the river (which was mostly a grassy field) and everything. So that´s Cordoba.
We went out last night in Mendoza, which is even smaller than Cordoba, and considerably more charming. The urban layout is very Philly-a central main square surrounded by four smaller squares, and the city sort of radiates out from there. It´s really pretty, calm, quiet, and the food is good. Anyway, we ended up at this club last night, and it ended up being really fun, and funny. Argentina is really funny in general. Can´t say why exactly, it just is. So now I´m back on the backpacker schedule and lifestyle. The only responsibility is to try to get up for breakfast, and make sure I don´t miss any more buses, like I did in Puerto Iguazu. At least I didn´t pull a Tommy-boy there, the driver stopped and waited. This hostel I´m at is insane. It´s called Dama Juana (not to plug or anything) and it´s like a resort! Relative to hostels anyway. There´s a nice TV room, a little pool, everything is kept up nice, and the bathrooms have freaking granite countertops! Honeymoon-on-a-budget, hello. Mendoza is just really pretty in general-the mountains in the distance make a great background anywhere, and there are palm trees right next to pine trees-it looks awesome! Almost like a more tropical Italy. Tomorrow I´m going on a bicycle tour between a bunch of vineyards. How perfect. If I don´t update within the next 3 or 4 days, assume I met my demise smiling because nothing sounds better-wine, mountains, biking, fall weather... what else could you need?
I´m going to leave the computer for someone else now and go watch Tomb Raider on the big TV they have.
I´m in Mendoza now! Cordoba was a flash, but I´m really glad we stopped there. We got in on the bus around 7am and got a hostel for one night. Nightlife is supposed to be really great there because like 90 percent of the population (don´t quote that stat) is below 25 yrs old. I wouldn´t know because I passed out in bed before I was supposed to go to some party with some Israeli guys I met. L-A-M-E! So I can´t tell you anything about nightlife there, but the city is really nice. At just over a million people, it was like being able to breathe again after BA. I think we probably walked around the entire city too, from the bus station to the hostel, through a big park, through all the plazas, to the river (which was mostly a grassy field) and everything. So that´s Cordoba.
We went out last night in Mendoza, which is even smaller than Cordoba, and considerably more charming. The urban layout is very Philly-a central main square surrounded by four smaller squares, and the city sort of radiates out from there. It´s really pretty, calm, quiet, and the food is good. Anyway, we ended up at this club last night, and it ended up being really fun, and funny. Argentina is really funny in general. Can´t say why exactly, it just is. So now I´m back on the backpacker schedule and lifestyle. The only responsibility is to try to get up for breakfast, and make sure I don´t miss any more buses, like I did in Puerto Iguazu. At least I didn´t pull a Tommy-boy there, the driver stopped and waited. This hostel I´m at is insane. It´s called Dama Juana (not to plug or anything) and it´s like a resort! Relative to hostels anyway. There´s a nice TV room, a little pool, everything is kept up nice, and the bathrooms have freaking granite countertops! Honeymoon-on-a-budget, hello. Mendoza is just really pretty in general-the mountains in the distance make a great background anywhere, and there are palm trees right next to pine trees-it looks awesome! Almost like a more tropical Italy. Tomorrow I´m going on a bicycle tour between a bunch of vineyards. How perfect. If I don´t update within the next 3 or 4 days, assume I met my demise smiling because nothing sounds better-wine, mountains, biking, fall weather... what else could you need?
I´m going to leave the computer for someone else now and go watch Tomb Raider on the big TV they have.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Don't Cry for me, Buenos Aires
Alright, so the going away party last night was really tame, but a really nice goodbye. Everyone at Piola was really nice. Whenever someone leaves here, everyone has to give a little speech, like a toast. I personally love toasts, and this goodbye process has made me be a little bit more comfortable making one - having to do it in Spanish made me realize I shouldn't be self-conscious to do it in my own language ever again-at least I'll know what I'm saying. Anyway.
In a couple hours, we leave this view behind forever
The photo is from my friend Justin's album of his visit here. It's looking out from our balcony. I like that balcony. There are also some new photos up on Kendra's picasa web album, HERE! I've been snapping with a few disposable cameras, so once I get home, I can show a few of my own pictures from this leg of the trip. I can't believe that we're already heading out! The time here has been so nice but I am pretty excited not to be having to dodge buses and rich ladies' big purses every time I step out the door. The purses more-so - a lady with a big purse, hiding her eyes behind a big pair of sunglasses, can be much more daunting than a big bus. And more dangerous, statistically speaking.
So yeah, tomorrow this time, I'll be in Cordoba. A couple days from now, I'll be careening down some street in Mendoza, lips purple from wine. Then who knows.
Monday, May 3, 2010
A Quicky from La Matanza
I´m sitting in Sylvia´s house now, just hanging out on the internet while the people who live here are doing normal night-time things. Sylvia is the one in charge of the cooperative I´m volunteering at. We´ll eat dinner soon-ish, I guess, then I´ll go to the bakery for my last time. As much as I want to say I won´t miss those overnight shifts, I kind of will! The stories told by Alejandra that hurt my brain, heart, and soul, the smells wafting from the oven, buttery dough between my fingers, the delirium that tightens its grip around 5.30, the sunrise and the knowledge that sleep is soon to follow, and the euphoria that comes with that realization....drinking mate, smoking cigarettes, trying not to fall down. It´s been really fun, and a crazy experience. I don´t mean to be a baby or a martyr about it, it was just definitely more intense than what I had anticipated! But I came here for experience, and that´s what I got, and I would have had it no other way. These hours have worked out perfectly because I´ve been able to hustle a few things at the market between English classes and bakery shifts. K Gotta run.... later
------
OK, now here I go to finish that. I had to go buy some dinner stuff last night, so that's why I got cut off. I just had a great last day at the coop, it was so much fun. I slept 3 hours in Alejandra's bed this morning, as usual, and I'm about to go to my going-away party in a couple hours, but I'm really energized! I'm always a little excited to be leaving or arriving somewhere, and this time that is going to have to get me through a few days w/ no sleep... because when you go out with Argentinians, you can't even think about getting home before sun-up. That's for bitches!
Anyway, last week I told my regular students that this would be my last week so they brought money today para tomar gaseosa y comprar facturas, to get some soda and pastries from the bakery where I work. They're between 10 and 12, I was blown away! Then I hung out with Nico, the 18 yr old kid that works at the bakery during the day to sell the stuff we make all night. When we sit around, there are usually just a few guys and we drink mate and they blow kisses and whistle at almost every single girl that walks past. Nico kissed at this one girl earlier, and this older lady came back and asked who kissed at her, joking, laughing her ass off. Then he said te amo, blanco to this girl (he was referring to the white sweater she was wearing) but I am also blanco because I'm white, so this other older lady made fun of him because she said it was like he was telling me he loved me. I ended up selling a few things (a couple CDs I took from the apartment, a can of tomato paste, a couple pairs of pants) and made a few pesos, then did my last round of goodbyes and thankyous to everyone. I was saying bye to Sylvia and Alejandra (Sylvia is Ale's aunt) and she was really sweet. First off, she's just an awesome lady - determined to make the coop a success, and in doing so, she does amazing things. It was me, Sylvia, and Ale holding her baby. Sylvia told me that whenever I come back, the doors to the coop are open to me. Then she added, the door to my house too, of course! And Alejandra-And to my bed too, haha (nothing scandalous, obviously) then her baby said y la teta! Saying that Ale's tit is always open to me... everyone was offering me something, and I guess his thought process was that he should offer me his mom's breast. It was hysterical.
So now I'm basically packed up to go. I'm going with almost nothing this time! Not that I have a lot after the first night in BA kicked my ass, but I got rid of a few things anyway just because I don't need a lot. So now I look like I'm going to the gym. I met this really awesome chick yesterday, Amanda from Canada, who's 33 and teacher, and is volunteering at La Juanita. She's helping them out with the Kindergarten that just started. An amazing feat actually, which I can't type about because it's too long a story. Anyway, she's one of those people that I think I blogged about before-you know them for an instant, but they give you a little idea that you carry for the rest of your life. We just talked for the almost-hour bus ride but she left a big impression! I don't know how to explain without sound a little crazy, but we talked about following feelings and staying focused on a goal while trusting that the directions you are pulled in are drawing you for some purposeful reason. Then we talked about The Alchemist, one of my favorite books, a gift from my bro Nick one xmas, and one of the better presents I've ever gotten. Read it if you're into somewhat sappy, transcendental, follow your dreams shit, but if you're not, you'll hate it. We talked about the game monopoly, in relation to the coop vs. business set-up, and it was such an interesting conversation! OK so here's the summary-take the game monopoly but instead of playing for yourself, play with the goal of everyone ending with the same amount of money. The closer you get to having the same amount of property and cash, the closer you all are to winning. Once the board is filled with houses and hotels, and you can't develop any more, the game is over, and everyone is good. From an urban planning standpoint, it's an exciting way to think about this game that I hate-fill that board up! But it's a great metaphor also-play the same game under a different set of rules (or ideology) and it's totally different, and everyone wins! So duh, normally the game ends because one person, with enough money to do so, buys everyone else out and once you have no more capital, you're S-O-L. But this way, every time someone cashes in on something, all the players conspire for the next player to cash in as well, so the cash at hand grows and grows, in the hands of everyone, rather than one person being the fat cat and everyone else being miserable. Hmmm the metaphor could go really far but due to the diverse readership (hopefully) of this blog, I'll cut it there. Interesting thought anyway. It's all mostly to say the point of a coop is that it functions like that. That's why I loved working there, and during money-talks it was really amazing to see people not being greedy. Solidarity...if only it was so easy.
Alright, I'm going to make some rice with this butternut squash I snagged from the farm, then get ready to go to my going-away party! Last night in BA, it's going to be crazy!
----------------------
Oh yeah! Uruguay was nice! It was Labor Day May 1, and nothing was open at all, not even buses! So we got there at 6am and passed out on the beach for a few hours. Amazing. Then we walked across almost the entire city and found a hostel. It was really calm, just like a vacation from vacation should be. We met a couple kids from BA and had a good time, then took the boat back on Sunday night with one of the girls from the hostel. That was after I left my book, with all of our return tickets in it, on the bus that took us from Montevideo to Colonia. I'm an idiot, and I told Kendra to get ready for plenty more of that on the trip we have ahead of us. It was a good warm-up. I bought some wool socks at this huge market there, and caught this guy in the middle of opening my backpack to rob me. He was really charming about it, actually. Today, walking to the convi from La Juanita, I caught a girl opening up my friend's bag. On the way back to the apartment the other night, there was a massive bloody mess, CSI style, on the sidewalk leading away from the ATM I used to go to when I had money in the bank. Like, a carnal bloody mess, really, you could even smell the blood. I don't know if it's a sign to watch my ass for the rest of the trip, which I'd be doing anyway, or a sign that I will continue to miss out on the bad things like that. If I get robbed again, no one will be impressed.
This post has taken a total of about 38 hours because it's now 5 am and after my goodbye party. I had planned on doing something crazy but we didn't end up leaving Piola. The guys at the bar sent us a bottle of champagne for a goodbye gift, and that made me reeallllly happy. Then Lorena came back w/ Kenj and I to drink that, and we watched Brazil carnaval videos on YouTube for about an hour, which made me REALLY happy. That was really the best week ever, I hope I can do it again sometime really soon. So tomorrow we go. We both have a lot of things to get together for the trip, but don't have to leave this apt. til 6 at night, so I can see myself sleeping until around then. I'm not sure how I'm still awake right now, but I'm even more impressed that my companions at the bakery pull the same hours every night. Raul has a 2 hour commute to this job, and Ale has a baby. Neither of them ever sleep, and I'm on autopilot on a joy-ride thru delirium just from working one night like that. Buenos Aires has kicked my ass, but I could have used a good ass-kicking before I came.
------
OK, now here I go to finish that. I had to go buy some dinner stuff last night, so that's why I got cut off. I just had a great last day at the coop, it was so much fun. I slept 3 hours in Alejandra's bed this morning, as usual, and I'm about to go to my going-away party in a couple hours, but I'm really energized! I'm always a little excited to be leaving or arriving somewhere, and this time that is going to have to get me through a few days w/ no sleep... because when you go out with Argentinians, you can't even think about getting home before sun-up. That's for bitches!
Anyway, last week I told my regular students that this would be my last week so they brought money today para tomar gaseosa y comprar facturas, to get some soda and pastries from the bakery where I work. They're between 10 and 12, I was blown away! Then I hung out with Nico, the 18 yr old kid that works at the bakery during the day to sell the stuff we make all night. When we sit around, there are usually just a few guys and we drink mate and they blow kisses and whistle at almost every single girl that walks past. Nico kissed at this one girl earlier, and this older lady came back and asked who kissed at her, joking, laughing her ass off. Then he said te amo, blanco to this girl (he was referring to the white sweater she was wearing) but I am also blanco because I'm white, so this other older lady made fun of him because she said it was like he was telling me he loved me. I ended up selling a few things (a couple CDs I took from the apartment, a can of tomato paste, a couple pairs of pants) and made a few pesos, then did my last round of goodbyes and thankyous to everyone. I was saying bye to Sylvia and Alejandra (Sylvia is Ale's aunt) and she was really sweet. First off, she's just an awesome lady - determined to make the coop a success, and in doing so, she does amazing things. It was me, Sylvia, and Ale holding her baby. Sylvia told me that whenever I come back, the doors to the coop are open to me. Then she added, the door to my house too, of course! And Alejandra-And to my bed too, haha (nothing scandalous, obviously) then her baby said y la teta! Saying that Ale's tit is always open to me... everyone was offering me something, and I guess his thought process was that he should offer me his mom's breast. It was hysterical.
So now I'm basically packed up to go. I'm going with almost nothing this time! Not that I have a lot after the first night in BA kicked my ass, but I got rid of a few things anyway just because I don't need a lot. So now I look like I'm going to the gym. I met this really awesome chick yesterday, Amanda from Canada, who's 33 and teacher, and is volunteering at La Juanita. She's helping them out with the Kindergarten that just started. An amazing feat actually, which I can't type about because it's too long a story. Anyway, she's one of those people that I think I blogged about before-you know them for an instant, but they give you a little idea that you carry for the rest of your life. We just talked for the almost-hour bus ride but she left a big impression! I don't know how to explain without sound a little crazy, but we talked about following feelings and staying focused on a goal while trusting that the directions you are pulled in are drawing you for some purposeful reason. Then we talked about The Alchemist, one of my favorite books, a gift from my bro Nick one xmas, and one of the better presents I've ever gotten. Read it if you're into somewhat sappy, transcendental, follow your dreams shit, but if you're not, you'll hate it. We talked about the game monopoly, in relation to the coop vs. business set-up, and it was such an interesting conversation! OK so here's the summary-take the game monopoly but instead of playing for yourself, play with the goal of everyone ending with the same amount of money. The closer you get to having the same amount of property and cash, the closer you all are to winning. Once the board is filled with houses and hotels, and you can't develop any more, the game is over, and everyone is good. From an urban planning standpoint, it's an exciting way to think about this game that I hate-fill that board up! But it's a great metaphor also-play the same game under a different set of rules (or ideology) and it's totally different, and everyone wins! So duh, normally the game ends because one person, with enough money to do so, buys everyone else out and once you have no more capital, you're S-O-L. But this way, every time someone cashes in on something, all the players conspire for the next player to cash in as well, so the cash at hand grows and grows, in the hands of everyone, rather than one person being the fat cat and everyone else being miserable. Hmmm the metaphor could go really far but due to the diverse readership (hopefully) of this blog, I'll cut it there. Interesting thought anyway. It's all mostly to say the point of a coop is that it functions like that. That's why I loved working there, and during money-talks it was really amazing to see people not being greedy. Solidarity...if only it was so easy.
Alright, I'm going to make some rice with this butternut squash I snagged from the farm, then get ready to go to my going-away party! Last night in BA, it's going to be crazy!
----------------------
Oh yeah! Uruguay was nice! It was Labor Day May 1, and nothing was open at all, not even buses! So we got there at 6am and passed out on the beach for a few hours. Amazing. Then we walked across almost the entire city and found a hostel. It was really calm, just like a vacation from vacation should be. We met a couple kids from BA and had a good time, then took the boat back on Sunday night with one of the girls from the hostel. That was after I left my book, with all of our return tickets in it, on the bus that took us from Montevideo to Colonia. I'm an idiot, and I told Kendra to get ready for plenty more of that on the trip we have ahead of us. It was a good warm-up. I bought some wool socks at this huge market there, and caught this guy in the middle of opening my backpack to rob me. He was really charming about it, actually. Today, walking to the convi from La Juanita, I caught a girl opening up my friend's bag. On the way back to the apartment the other night, there was a massive bloody mess, CSI style, on the sidewalk leading away from the ATM I used to go to when I had money in the bank. Like, a carnal bloody mess, really, you could even smell the blood. I don't know if it's a sign to watch my ass for the rest of the trip, which I'd be doing anyway, or a sign that I will continue to miss out on the bad things like that. If I get robbed again, no one will be impressed.
This post has taken a total of about 38 hours because it's now 5 am and after my goodbye party. I had planned on doing something crazy but we didn't end up leaving Piola. The guys at the bar sent us a bottle of champagne for a goodbye gift, and that made me reeallllly happy. Then Lorena came back w/ Kenj and I to drink that, and we watched Brazil carnaval videos on YouTube for about an hour, which made me REALLY happy. That was really the best week ever, I hope I can do it again sometime really soon. So tomorrow we go. We both have a lot of things to get together for the trip, but don't have to leave this apt. til 6 at night, so I can see myself sleeping until around then. I'm not sure how I'm still awake right now, but I'm even more impressed that my companions at the bakery pull the same hours every night. Raul has a 2 hour commute to this job, and Ale has a baby. Neither of them ever sleep, and I'm on autopilot on a joy-ride thru delirium just from working one night like that. Buenos Aires has kicked my ass, but I could have used a good ass-kicking before I came.
Thursday, April 29, 2010
"Las memorias son mas importante que dinero"
Yeah so a certain quirk of fate necessitates my leaving Argentina and re-entering before I leave for real. Since my passport with the entry stamp is gone with the wind (ahhh along with my poor puma kicks) I need to get a stamp proving that I actually entered the country legally. That's to say...
Surprise, last-minute trip to Uruguay!
I've wanted to see Montevideo and Colonia since I've been here but figured I'd save the money for my grand exit from magnificent Southern America. However, leaving and coming back is going to allow me to get some more money, so not only am I excited to go, I have to go. It's my destiny. Almost everyone in Buenos Aires has been to Uruguay since it's an easy jump to make if you need to renew a tourist visa (to stay in Argentina legally) so there have been plenty of travel tips to go around. It sounds like it's going to be a really calm, relaxing weekend. I'm going with this guy, Ryan, who I met at the farm, and Kendra. I'm most likely going to be hanging out watching sunrises and sunsets on the beach, drinking mate, drinking beer, and buying very cheap travel things at some street market that gets rave reviews from trusted sources.
So my last weekend in Buenos Aires is actually going to be spent out of the country. Kind of silly I know, but things have tended to take silly turns more often than not around here. Most of the Scandinavian friends I've met are leaving this weekend for good also because they are all here on a study program that just ended. I went to their end-of-semester party last night at this bar in Palermo which turned out to be a costume party. I found out about the costume thing somewhat last minute, but don't exactly have a wealth of clothing choices anyway (I could be "Drew" or "Michael" or "Charly" bless their souls), so Kendra packed her little bottle of fake blood which made its last, and epic, appearance at the "holiday party" at my sorely missed apt in The Heights. This party was thrown to celebrate it all - Christmas, Hanukkah, life in general, the season in general.... but was really a Christmas-decorated, pop-music themed, heathen shit-storm that miraculously didn't earn us a bullet or 30 through the floorboards. Anyway, the blood was a hit, and after a brief period of tension (the Vikings don't warm up to things so fast) everyone who was anyone had at least a little blood smeared on their forehead or forearm. Thanks Kenj.
So then, May 5, all of this ado will be left behind. I don't think I've ever been quite as excited for something as I am for what's coming my way in the next month. We start off easy, drinking wine in Mendoza, coming down from the BAires buzz and seeing some night- and cultural life in Cordoba, and some mountains in Salta. Then headspinning natural beauty in Bolivia, and finally, BAM, Peru. Since I was a wee lad in history class, I've been enthralled to the point of obsession with ancient civilizations. It all started with the Romans. And the Greeks of course, and the myths that inspired my tattoo. Then the Aztecs, which gave me the idea for the first AIM screen name I ever created... whatever, I've always been a weird kid. But mannnn oh man the Incas, truly amazing. I can't even begin to describe by typing how emotionally charged I feel about this whole thing. I don't think there are words anyway, it's just going to be awesomely moving, I'm going to freak out.
A big part of the travel research (which isn't too extensive, something I realized is almost worthless once I got down here) is reading peoples' travel blogs. Most people who have travel blogs actually blog about things they do, rather than rant about whatever is pushing their buttons at the moment. But these people also complain A LOT, which is interesting to read because they write about the worst possible things that could happen. Good to have a picture of how bad it can get before you go. Every plan made on a trip like this has to be made very loosely no matter what, but especially when Kenj and I will be cutting up through Bolivia and Peru, things can get complicated. Simple stuff like infrastructure issues, schedules (or lack of adherence to them), strikes, protests... things that hinder your journey but don't really affect how good of a time you have as long as you're in the mindset to enjoy the SHIT out of everything you're doing. And go prepared with enough supplies to last you a couple days of being stranded, just in case. So I'm excited to be meeting new people again, being on the run, living out of a gym bag and washing my underwear in the shower, stealing bread from the hostel breakfast in the morning to use for a sandwich at lunch....backpacking can be so fun.... and it's soooo not gay. Sometimes I just sit and wonder who I even am and how I could be enjoying this so much. Whatever, I would rather be doing nothing else in the world right now, and as much as I'm going to miss this city, I'm really excited to be leaving the whole urban situation again!
And Auntie-I'll try to stay healthy as best as I can but you know how I eat...
Surprise, last-minute trip to Uruguay!
I've wanted to see Montevideo and Colonia since I've been here but figured I'd save the money for my grand exit from magnificent Southern America. However, leaving and coming back is going to allow me to get some more money, so not only am I excited to go, I have to go. It's my destiny. Almost everyone in Buenos Aires has been to Uruguay since it's an easy jump to make if you need to renew a tourist visa (to stay in Argentina legally) so there have been plenty of travel tips to go around. It sounds like it's going to be a really calm, relaxing weekend. I'm going with this guy, Ryan, who I met at the farm, and Kendra. I'm most likely going to be hanging out watching sunrises and sunsets on the beach, drinking mate, drinking beer, and buying very cheap travel things at some street market that gets rave reviews from trusted sources.
So my last weekend in Buenos Aires is actually going to be spent out of the country. Kind of silly I know, but things have tended to take silly turns more often than not around here. Most of the Scandinavian friends I've met are leaving this weekend for good also because they are all here on a study program that just ended. I went to their end-of-semester party last night at this bar in Palermo which turned out to be a costume party. I found out about the costume thing somewhat last minute, but don't exactly have a wealth of clothing choices anyway (I could be "Drew" or "Michael" or "Charly" bless their souls), so Kendra packed her little bottle of fake blood which made its last, and epic, appearance at the "holiday party" at my sorely missed apt in The Heights. This party was thrown to celebrate it all - Christmas, Hanukkah, life in general, the season in general.... but was really a Christmas-decorated, pop-music themed, heathen shit-storm that miraculously didn't earn us a bullet or 30 through the floorboards. Anyway, the blood was a hit, and after a brief period of tension (the Vikings don't warm up to things so fast) everyone who was anyone had at least a little blood smeared on their forehead or forearm. Thanks Kenj.
So then, May 5, all of this ado will be left behind. I don't think I've ever been quite as excited for something as I am for what's coming my way in the next month. We start off easy, drinking wine in Mendoza, coming down from the BAires buzz and seeing some night- and cultural life in Cordoba, and some mountains in Salta. Then headspinning natural beauty in Bolivia, and finally, BAM, Peru. Since I was a wee lad in history class, I've been enthralled to the point of obsession with ancient civilizations. It all started with the Romans. And the Greeks of course, and the myths that inspired my tattoo. Then the Aztecs, which gave me the idea for the first AIM screen name I ever created... whatever, I've always been a weird kid. But mannnn oh man the Incas, truly amazing. I can't even begin to describe by typing how emotionally charged I feel about this whole thing. I don't think there are words anyway, it's just going to be awesomely moving, I'm going to freak out.
A big part of the travel research (which isn't too extensive, something I realized is almost worthless once I got down here) is reading peoples' travel blogs. Most people who have travel blogs actually blog about things they do, rather than rant about whatever is pushing their buttons at the moment. But these people also complain A LOT, which is interesting to read because they write about the worst possible things that could happen. Good to have a picture of how bad it can get before you go. Every plan made on a trip like this has to be made very loosely no matter what, but especially when Kenj and I will be cutting up through Bolivia and Peru, things can get complicated. Simple stuff like infrastructure issues, schedules (or lack of adherence to them), strikes, protests... things that hinder your journey but don't really affect how good of a time you have as long as you're in the mindset to enjoy the SHIT out of everything you're doing. And go prepared with enough supplies to last you a couple days of being stranded, just in case. So I'm excited to be meeting new people again, being on the run, living out of a gym bag and washing my underwear in the shower, stealing bread from the hostel breakfast in the morning to use for a sandwich at lunch....backpacking can be so fun.... and it's soooo not gay. Sometimes I just sit and wonder who I even am and how I could be enjoying this so much. Whatever, I would rather be doing nothing else in the world right now, and as much as I'm going to miss this city, I'm really excited to be leaving the whole urban situation again!
And Auntie-I'll try to stay healthy as best as I can but you know how I eat...
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