In Seattle

I'm in seattle now. Took three flights yesterday.

One from Managua which was an hour late. Made me nervous as I had to connect to another flight shortly after and had to clear customs. Two years ago, when returning to Managua through Canada I got a full search done on the contents of my bags and my wallet. The guy was seriously desperate to find something on me. He was swiping down my money with detection swabs, he was swiping down the bottom of my bag pockets with swabs and even took a candle I got as a gift to another machine to hav it checked out.

So what would the US customs be like when they see that I was in Peru and Nicaragua?

Fortunately, they were easy. He asked why I went to so many countries, thought it was a good idea that I take a break from programming and waved me through!

I flew next to Salt Lake City. I had a window seat. In between was an American and on the Aisle was a japanese girl wearing a Sister Something name tag. She was a mormon missionary. So the guy in between got a 'have you invited Jesus into your life' speech. What was funny to me is that the phrasing sounded so familiar like something right out of a movie or comedy. He was a good sport and by the end of the flight had a jesus postcard, some literature, and another card with an invitation to the church. She was working with another missionary who was seated separately.

Salt Lake city, from the plane and airport looked really cool. A super flat city, surrounded by mountains. I also saw a yellowy lake which I imagine is the salt lake.

Flying to Seattle... it's a jog backwards if you think about it la-salt lake-seattle, but that's how Delta works right now - I sat next to a guy from Boeing working on a 787 plane that is to be made of composite materials instead of aluminum. Interesting, but I imagine it will be a challenge to, uh, well, get that, uh, project, uh, off the ground. Sorry.

Nicaragua notes

High humidity, yellow school busses, vulcanization shops, pop in plastic bags - I was here two years ago and these are the funny things that I re-recognized right away.

I had a good visit with Rob and Fabiola. We visited Leon and a volcano lake. Saw a monkey, ate french toast and drank Tona beer.

Actually we drank the Tona beer in a super market. Fabiola suggested it. You can go into supermarkets, which are air conditioned, grab a beer, sit down and drink it, then take the empty can to the checkout to pay for it.

going to Nicaragua tomorrow

Might be going to Nicaragua tomorrow - Maybe. Kim might be going to Seattle.

carribean side of Costa Rica

ok, so after leaving La Fortuna which is in the mountainous central region we tried to drive to the eastern Caribean coast. It was slow going as the roads were windy, single lane and there were alot of trucks and people riding bicycles in the dark. Eventually we got to a sketchy town called Puerto Viejo (the one in the middle of C.R. - -there is another one). The lonely planet book actually sorta described it as sketchy and when I asked this guy for directions and he yelled and swore randomly at me, the city gave me a weird sense. Anyway we found a cabin outside of town and it turns out their restaurant was really good. Or at least I really liked my Jalapeno beef.

The next day we did make it to the Eastern Coast - to the other Puerto Viejo. Being on the Carribean coast I expected bongo drums or steel drums or some sort of drum music, but was disappointed. We did find an italian hostel owner who liked to flirt with Kim. I think he gave us a good price on the room we got. The city itself had tons of bars and promised to have a happening night life, so I actually got dressed up thinking there might be something nightlifey to do. So at night we followed the music, but it just led to an empty disco - so we went for dinner which took forever for the food to come so we got drunk on the drinks while waiting. After that we went and checked out the disco, still empty - intimidating even as it was so loud and empty that approaching it would just draw attention. Anyway it wasn´t that exciting of a night and I can assure you this paragraph is more exciting than actually being there. Actually we went to a restaurant called Chocolate and Bread which Kim liked.

The next morning, after Kim got up earlier, got an impromptu neck massage from the hostel manager, we headed up to Cahuita which I liked better than Puerto Viejo because it was a small town. So small they didn´t have a bank machine or any way to get a visa cash advace so we ended up driving up to Limon and back to get some money.

Today we got pulled over by the police. We were driving back to San Jose and passed a police checkpoint. Kim said she saw someone point at us and then a few miles up the road they pulled us over. A small SUV with 4 cops pulled us over and wanted to search the car.

Search the car? For what? ¨Campanata¨ or something like that. Guess what that means? Drugs? Fruit? Bananas?

Nope. It´s... Camping equipment.

Turns out our hostel owners called the police with our passport numbers and license plate number saying that we had taken some camping equipment or a tent or something. Weird. We didn´t take anything so it was pretty confusing, the police were apologetic, but it was still weird. These guys pulled us over about 3 hours drive (or maybe 1/4 the width of costa rica) away from the site. So they were radioing ahead... Hunting for the tent bandits. With our passport numbers.

I´ve tried to guess what happened. Or where the misunderstanding is. Maybe the hotel owners lost a tent or someone stole one last night and they suspected us. Another possiblity is that I bought a mosquito net last night which had a white hula hoop part on the top, so I left the hula hoop part in the room garbage because that part was bulky - but I figured I would keep the net part and maybe give it to Kev as he has or had a frayed one... Anywhoo, so now I wonder if maybe the hotel owner saw the hoop, thought it must be part of a tent, confused him or her, so she thought maybe it was a clue to a tent that she thought she might have had at one time.

Anyway, we are hoping that they haven´t somehow flagged our passports with customs.

moving around in costa rica

Kim and I took surfing lessons at our hotel on Playa Hermosa. We were going to take lessons in Jaco, but were lucky enough to find a nice instrutor with the hotel so we could practice in the hotel pool and then in the nearby beach. This was much nicer because Jaco beach is a bit crowded, sketchy and we wouldn't have had a place to put our things. On the other hand Playa Hermosa is an intermediate surfing area so the waves were a bit harder than they would have been. As for the lessons, the goal was to be able to get up from a face down position to a standing position once the waves caught the board. This is basically like doing a 'burpy' or an 'up-down' on a moving board - something that requires a lot of upperbody strength and preferably a light lower body to swing up into position. We both got up for a little bit on the board.

After that, we moved down south to Quepos and a hotel which was more in the jungle. I was hoping for an ocean view, but couldn't get that for the first night, but moved to a nicer room the second night. The main feature of the hotel, though, other than the pool/bar combo, were the 30 or so monkeys that become active in the trees at sundown. Mostly just neat to see them flying around, carrying babies and just running around in the trees. We went to the Manual Antonio park and saw tree sloths, another type of monkey, more lizards and iguanas and a few birds.

We went to La Fortuna to see Volcan Arenal. This is one of the most active volcanoes in the world. All I could see though was a bit of smoke and then occasionally rocks would spontaneously start rolling down the side of the volcano. One day I would like to look at Lava up close - so I can poke it with a stick.

We are currently in Monteverde. This morning we went on a co-op coffee plantation tour and, so visited Senor Francisco's farm. His farm is very diverse with probably an equal amount of banana, plantain, mango, orange trees interwoven with his coffee plants. He has 12 children and is one of (I think) 11 or 12. Most of his brothers have 12 children, but one only has 11.

This afternoon we are taking a jeep-boat-jeep to get back to La Fortuna and will then try and head for the carribean coast.

first day in costa rica

Met Kim at the airport and we went to go rent a car. The car rental company had an extra disclaimer warning that we knew that there was a scam involving flat tires, rental cars and petty theft. I didn't have trouble with scammers, but I did manage to get the car beached... on the beach. I thought I could do a Uey and go around to park in the shady part on the road. Kim said I would get stuck. And I did. So we spent the next couple hours with a Costa Rican family... 1. trying to push it out (front wheel drives, just keep digging deeper into the sand). 2. trying to get some escavator people to bring their big CATs to dig it out (they don't like going on the highway), 3. borrowing a chain (the chain needs to be longer than the one we borrowed to avoid beaching the helper car) 4. looking for Macho the trafico/tow truck driver (who doesn't have a cell phone) and 5. Finally finding someone who knows someone who will pull it out for $30. On the way to the hotel we saw crocodiles under a big bridge (nicknamed crocodile bridge). What was cool was there was a super big crocodile there... Maybe 1000 pounds? We also checked out Jaco beach which I think is a bit sketchy. Kim wants to try surfing lessons so we might go there or somewhere else later. All the prices are americanized-expensive, but the quality is good: We had some great sushi.

Lost my chargers and one shirt in Peru

After Machu Picchu, I noticed that the three charging devices that I brought with me: my ipod charger, my camera battery charger and my nintendo ds charger were gone. They were supposed to be in my backpack that I had left in the luggage room in the hostel in Cusco for 2 days.... But I don't even know for sure that is where went... I wish I hadn't brought them at all because they were heavy.

I also notice that a long sleeve shirt of mine has also gone missing.

I don't think that the incidents are connected.

In Costa Rica

I just got to San Jose, Costa Rica this morning. The day was quite hot, but neither too dry or too humid which is nice. I am staying in a hostel tonight and will be meeting Kim who is flying in tomorrow morning. We´ll go to the beach and the jungle from there.

Sitting at the computer I just became aware that my ankles are quite itchy. Especially my right one. First time in my trip that I´ve really encountered mosquitoes. (Except for the evening in Iguazu Falls). Not good that I´m getting bitten as I had much luck with mosquitos in the past. ... Like the Dengue ones.

Altitude Sickness again

I got it again when I returned to Cusco. Cusco is 3300 metres and I got the headaches again and could barely move. I had hoped that by having gone through that before and not having descended that much (2400 metres to Machu Picchu) that I wouldn´t have had problems.

Most people seemed to be affected less than me, some more (some people were throwing-up-sick). I´m sensitive.

So this time I tried taking the altitude sickness pills I had (Acetazolamide), and it really made me feel alot better. Of course I got every single normal side-effect (upset stomach, tingling fingers, having to pee alot). But it was a good trade.

What was funny for me is how much of a direct trade it was between one problem and a set of smaller problems. It reminds me of that Daffy Duck and Porky Pig episode where Porky has to get a cat to get rid of the mouse, then a dog to get rid of the cat, then a lion to get rid of the dog.

In Peru, they eat Guinea Pigs

You can get Guinea Pigs served to you roasted, baked or fried in most tourist restaurants. It´s called Cuy.

I didn´t have one, because Hammy Hamster´s best friend G.P. was, well, a Guinea Pig (as well as a Great Pilot).

By the way, it turns out that Tales of the River Bank or Hammy Hamster was a Canadian show. You can get blank stares or maybe disbelieving ones when you try and describe the real live guiney pig flying a plane or mole steering a boat etc. etc.

Machu Picchu itself

Was cool, the tour started super early - getting on the bus by 6. Macchu Picchu is a little city on the top of a mountain, surroundend by other super close taller, super steep mountains.

It´s the rainy season in Peru, which meant that in the morning it was very misty and we never got a fully clear view of the whole thing. Fogs of mist would come in and reveal a mountain, then the mountain would disappear. Then parts of the city would appear and disappear. It was pretty cool actually. But it would take a while to finally get the sort of picture they have at the Wikipedia site.

The big thing I learned about the Incas (also spelled with a K) was how amazing their stone work was. The have huge stones carved with multiple (sometimes greater than 12 cuts), and each cut goes into the length of the stone (some say 4 feet long). And they put these jigsaw stone pieces together without grout or mortar to build their buildings. Well more specifically the higher classes had the buildings made this way, the lower class buildings were made of rocks and mortar.

Interesting points that the guide made

• The word Inca is the word for the king, not the empire. The empire is called Tawantin Suyu
• Cusco is the capital of the Inca empire (Inca is easier to type than Tawantin Suyu).
• The Inca influence went as high as Columbia. I thought it went higher, but I think I was getting the Incas confused with the Aztecs
• Hiram Bingham rediscovered the lost city (Machu Picchu) in 1911, by asking a farmer where the lost city was. The farmer told him and his son showed him where it was...
• Machu Pichu wasn´t the lost city. Hiram also found another city called Vilcabamba which was proven in 1976 to be the actual lost city. Not sure if a farmer was involved.
• Peru wants alot of the Artifacts back that were collected by Hiram and taken to the U.S. This reminds me of Greece who wants England to send the Parthenon back to Greece.

Cheater Train

So like I was saying, I was going to take the train. Also known as the Cheater train. By the people who do the whole hike and don´t take the train (in the forward direction).

Which is fair enough, the hike is more intense and I think would really be amazing and I´d like to do it. But if pushed I might point out that they are doing a bit of a cheater hike.... Only one way, porters carry their packs for them (they only carry their day packs), porters- guides cook their meals for them, make their tents and possibly tuck them in at night. Each stop on the hike has stores and restaurants and booze... But I´m not saying this to rain on any mystical parade... it´s just a little rationalization-defence-sour-grape thing I have formulated in case I need one.

Because I took the cheater train.

Arranging to go to Macchu Picchu

Well I first tried to ´do´ the Inca trail which is a 4 day hike from Cuzco to Macchu Picchu. If I could have started the next day (sunday) I would have just had enough time to do it. However to do the trail, one needs to register with the Peruvian authorities 3 days prior to ´reserve´ a spot. The agent showed me the listing and that there were 50 open spaces the next day, but nevertheless Peru requires 3 days before you can go and I couldn´t wait around for that (there are lots of people who are, which is ok because Cusco is a fun cheap town and you need to acclimitize to the altitude - something I was bad at). The guide also said they can´t substitute people on Inca Trail trips who become sick on the day of the trek.

So instead I took a combo bus tour up the sacred valley and then a train and then a couple hours guide at Macchu Picchu. As it turned out it cost the same to take the tour and the guide as it would have cost for me to do it myself. Ok, well I had to estimate some costs, so I estimated the hostel costing about 15 dollars a night there and I could have gotten it cheaper than that estimate - so that´s where the guides may have scratched out a profit. At first I was quoted 135 dollars US from a guide I met at the airport, whom I shared a cab with, then I was quoted 148 in town, then 120 in town so I took that one. I travelled with an Australian, an Italian and a Hungarian, and also kept bumping into a few others who had arranged the trip through the same agent. Many people had paid 165. Having a student card reduces prices further because the park fees are lower if you have an ISIC card. I don´t.

But what is interesting about all this is that it isn´t really negotiating. Or at least hard negotiating. I just walked around and people gave me different, possibly lower prices, for the exact same tours. Based on what? I don´t know. Maybe my shoes. The same thing happens for restaurants, as you walk you get better and better offers. From a 3 course meal that starts at 15 dollars, eventually someone offers you one for $3.50. In the Cusco market I had a rice, egg dish with fried bananas and a coke for less than 1 dollar.

Feeling the altitude

Feeling super tired and had a headache so took a little nap. Now I just have the headache so asked the people in the bar for the altitude sickness cure.

So now I´m sipping a mug full of coca leaves soaked in hot water. To me it tastes, well a little fishy.

As I said before I really am enjoying Cusco so far as it seems much more like the real south america (Pedro was right) when compared to Argentina and Chile whose big cities feel just like European cities on a different continent.

The people here are really friendly and the staff in the hostel seem really funny and laid back. I think the hostel is owned by some Irish people, so tonight they are celebrating St. Patricks day. I know, I know. I know! It sorta sounds hypocritical to say that after saying that the city seems more non-european. But the hostels are always non-local. But I think the city itself is more genuine.

in Cuzco

Super tired as I got up at 4 am which is 2 am here. Could be the altitude though. So far it is great and is more what I expected south american cities to be like.

so tomorrow is peru

And I have to get up at 4 am to catch a taxi to get to the airport by 5 something ish. I am flying first to Lima and then to Cuzco which is where Macchu Picchu is. I only have 6 days in Peru so I plan to check out Macchu Picchu early and possibly do one of the hikes on the Inca trail. After that, I´m not sure... Depends on the time I have left and what other people recommend.

So 4 am is less than 6 hours away and I have 48 argentinian pesos left to spend. Well 46, after I pay for this internet cafe...

tomorrow is Peru

Tomorrow morning I have a flight at 710 to Lima, Peru. Apparently Paddington bear was originally from Peru. Copied from Wikipedia:

He has arrived as a stowaway coming from "Darkest Peru", sent by his Aunt Lucy (his only known relative, aside from an unnamed uncle who gave Paddington his hat), who has gone to live in the Home for Retired Bears in Lima. He tells them that no one can understand his Peruvian name, so the Browns decide to call him Paddington after the train station he was found in.

soccer night in Buenos Aires

Actually it isn't soccer night here, that's usually on Sundays, but there was a game tonight so I went. The game was Velez vs International (a brazilian team).

The stands were organized much like the European ones. At one end is the away team fans in their own section and on the opposing side are the hardcore standing fans. The hardcore fans have drums and several blue and white flags (the team colours). There was even a Quebec flag flying over there. We were seated in the middle... the normal home fan section. Separtating all fans from the field were barbed wire fences which I heard were discontinued in Europe. The last security measure is that the away team gets to leave the stadum first and get a 15 min head start. Not that there were actually any problems but the systems they have are interesting.

I had a super pancho which is ... guess... a hot dog. But it's popular in the hostel as I heard many people talk about going for them after having too much to drink. Anyway, it's not that exciting as the weiner was pastey and there weren't many toppings.

The people that went with me/with the tour group were from Australia, Chile, U.S., England and Canada.

The game itself was pretty exciting because the local team won 3-0. Exciting because it gets the fan stands all rocking. I have some pictures of them pulling a huge flag over themselves and a picture of some little 10 year old boys ripping paper so they could throw it in the air when their team won.

back in Buenos Aires

Don´t know what I´m going to do here. I´d like to see a football game before I leave, but I think that that runs on Sunday. The hostel is having another free walking tour today, so I´ll do that and decide later.

Last night I took a ´suite´class seat on the bus from iguazu. The foot part flipped up completely to lie flat, and the back of the chair nearly lied flat as well. Plus there was a mini curtain between me and my neighbour which was nice. As the bus left we got whisky to start and after our meals they served champagne. Anyway, I´m not feeling that zombieish today as I got a better sleep, but it was still a bouncy sleep. I´m sure you need to hear me complaining about my sleep.

Isrealies, Frenchies and Candiansies

Last night in my dorm there were 6 Isrealies, one canadian (me) and one guy from Argentina.

The hostels are full of young Isrealies. As it turns out after finishing their military service they want some freedom, so many of them are down here on one year vacations. In the south of Argentina that was the case too.

Lots of French people on tours too. Not in the hostels, but when visiting the glaciers in the south and then the waterfalls in the north I kept running into big French tour groups.

There were a few Canadians in the Buenos Aires hostel. More than usual. Usually it´s me and maybe one other, but the other night there was 4 of us.

It´s best when there is a good mix of nationalities and ages. Otherwise, people tend to splinter off. Also, you don´t travel to be surrounded in your own culture.

Anyway, I think it´s interesting to see patterns of where people are coming from and wonder why they go to the places they go to.

in puerto iguazu

got here yesterday. Coincidentally enough Martin (also ex-EA) arrived here yesterday too so I had dinner with him and his friend Steve.

I put on insect repellent for the first time last night and this morning. Technically Iguazu falls is in Malaria country, so better safe than sorry.

Today I went to the falls. which were amazing because there were so many different types. I prefered the long thin ones that traced through the moss and or fernlike plants.

The weather here is humid but tolerable. Swimming in the hostel pool helps alot.

This afternoon I´m taking a bus back to Buenos Aires and I´ll be flying out super early on Friday for Peru. For the bus ride I am going to try a ´suite´ class which might lay flat.

going to iguazu falls

I think I´m going to go to Iguazu Falls in the next day or two. I´ve seen enough of Buenos Aires for now so I´m looking into either taking a bus or a plane there. I am hoping to see a little jungle while there as well.

Mate tastes like tea

Had a mate tasting yesterday in the hostel. Mate is a popular drink in Argentina, Bolivia and Paraguay. It is a mild stimulant like coffee but the buzz is not as severe and you don´t get the jitters. You see lots of people here carrying little hollow gourds (called a mate) with straws called bombillas, and thermoses full of hot water so they can keep sipping the same tea until it wears out.

What I didn´t realize before is that between friends it is or can be a shared beverage. The host makes the drink, then pours hot water into it for the first person who is to drink it until hearing the empty slurping sound from the straw and then returns the gourd to the host, who refills it and passes it to the next person. I had a turn as the host, but I¨m not hooked on it yet.

got a cold in buenos aires

Got a bit of a cold yesterday and today. Kind of ironic as I've got immunizations and drugs for fancy diseases like yellow fever, malaria and altitude sickness and then I get a boring old cold.

Today it is raining in Buenos Aires as well, so I'm not sure what I'll do today. Perhaps a museum and some errands like mailing my course notes home so I don't have to carry them around.

Yesterday I went on a free walking tour with the hostel and then later went to the recoleta semetary where Evita is buried. The big surprise for me is that the cemetery isn't made up of tombstones but rather made up of small little tombhouses which makes it look like a mini city.

bike tour of southern buenos aires

Went on a bike tour this morning with Ricardo in Buenos Aires. Was a bit apprehensive at the idea because of the nutty traffic, but turns out the nutty traffic respects bicycles very well.

I was lucky because I was the only one who signed up so it was a personal tour and Ricardo spoke spanish and occasionally I would ask for translation. Of course I didn't understand all of what he said, so take what I think he said with a grain of salt.

I had this idea that this was the italian south american country, which might sorta be true in current terms, but the history is mor spanish, french and english. Most if not all the architecture is similar to Spanish or French as they hired the same architects. There are tons of statues in the public squares and on top of buildings. The main statue is called the obelisk and looks like the Washington Monument. The president's building is pink. Coloured because the two original parties were white and red so it's a mix. He also said the paint was made from the blood of cows and bulls. Not sure if I believe that.

We went to a poor area called La Boca, which also has a touristy part which I imagine looks a bit like New Orleans, with very colourful buildings, marching music and lots of art on sale. In the back streets there was a lot of poverty as this is the poor neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. In one building, which kinda looked like a bank *with classical architecture* , I could see that there were families camping inside there. Ricardo figured there might be 30 families in there. I asked why they are poor. He suggested lots of reason... desire to work, native backgrounds, drugs, alcoholics. He said the drug of choice was called. Rats. I forget what it is called. Anyway maybe it's called Poca and its a mix of marijuana and cocaine. He said it causes death after three months if you get hooked.

Under the city are lots of tunnels. Build originally to defend against the spanish, but later used to smuggle slaves and later to smuggle alcohol in the city.

We also went through a big park/ecological reserve in the south. Was luck as an iguana crossed our trail. This was the first time I encountered a wild iguana. He was shy.

in Buenos Aires

Got here yesterday. Didn't sleep well on the bus as the seats were a bit too narrow for me to contort myself the way I like to sleep. Also I don't sleep very well in moving vehicles.

Walking from the train to the hostel, I passed by a big IBM building and a big Microsoft building... Before, I thought it would be interesting to start a company here because the peso is so low compared to the dollar.... I guess these guys think so too.

Buenos Aires is hot and humid which means you feel sticky 30 min after your shower. Walking on the street you often get drips of water dropping on you from the airconditioners above.

Most of the day I spent walking around the microcentre part of the city. It's big and dirty, but not as big and dirty as Cairo say. It's a big european city again with wide streets, but also some narrow ones.

Last night at the hostel we got a free Tango lesson, so I learned the basic 8 step routine. I didn't like it at first because I don't like the music as much, but then I started to like it more once I could actually remember all 8 steps. Goes to show I don't like what I'm not good at. You might feel the same way I expect.

I'll be here at least 4 nights as I like the hostel and the city so far.

Going to Buenos Aires

Puerto Madryn is a really nice quiet beach town, the hostel is nice and people have been staying there for longer than they imagined they would. But I want to see Buenos Aires so I am taking a super long bus there in about 45 minutes. The bus won´t arrive until 20 hours later. I couldn´t get a cama seat, so it´s a semi-cama... which means less comfy... Given the duration and seat I imagine I´ll be grumpy by the time I get there. In the meantime I bought some grapes, plums and a weird drink that I think I should mix with water. I might buy something to read... Like Condorita which is a comic book about a Condor and his friend Egg.

in Puerto Madryn

Just got here after a 17 hour bus ride. It wasnt that bad as the seats are like business class plane seats wide made of leather or fake leather. Also there is a contraption that pulls down off the back of the chair in front of you that you can use as a ramp for your legs. You aren,t laying down flat which I sorta expected because it is called a bed seat but it is more comfortable than just a regular chair.

So I'm now about mid way up Argentina on the Atlantic side. The temperatures here are much higher so I have put my winter jacket away. Patagonia, down south, was super super windy and colder. Super windy.

On the way up all I mostly saw was flat desert like plains and the occasional ostrich. Which I guess is unusual. I forgot to say that you see wild flamingos down in the southern parts. I never did see a pengin, but there are some near here too.

I haven't seen much of the city yet as I popped in to check the internet for hostel recommendations.

going to Puerto Madyrn

Argentina so far

dinner with m and m

Moreno Glacier in Argentina

Went to the Moreno Glacier in Argentina. It is a wide valley in the mountains filled with a huge ice field that slowly progresses and recedes about 2 metres a day. It looks almost looks like the icing of a cake with evenly spaced spikes. I had a look by boat and by land.

By boat we approached it by the side and then saw some pieces break off and splash into the water. What was neat and unexpected was the wake that that caused to boat to rock back and forth despues.

From land, I actually prefered it because I could go down some stairs and was away from the mobs of tourists and able to enjoy it quietly. Just sitting, viewing the mountain range and ice mountains, breathing the cool fresh air while listening for the occasional creak and then a muffled crash. Muffled crash like when stuff falls down inside a closed closet: but much more naturifically.

Payne in Paine today

I went to Torres del Paine today. The highlight was to see floating blue (icey blue) iceburgs of various shapes (like ships or Barney the dinosaur). One particular piece was about the size of a dinghy and was banging up against the shore which was cool to see. Cool because of the movement of this big block of ice the size of a canoe, bashing around like an ice cube in an oversize drink.

The glacier lakes and rivers were interesting because they were of different shapes and different colours depending on which part of the glacier was feeding them.

We also went to a huge oversized cave carved out from a lake, as well as a bunch of snow peaked mountains.

I saw the tour with 8 others. A father and two sons and 2 young couples from Puerto Arenas. I mostly talked with Jaime and Carol one of the couples as well as the father. Tomorrow I am going with the father and two kids to El Cafate in Argentina tomorrow.

in puerto natales

It´s exciting to be travelling again, seeing things for the first time, reflection on how I´ve popped onto a different part of the map. What I mean is I imagine how the world looks in the normal 2d way and I´m now on the very bottom left, where usually - for my whole life - I´ve been on the top half.

Puerto Natalas is super windy and a bit chilly. Like how I imagine Nova scotia might be in winter assuming no rain or snow, just wind and a chill and dark because of the low clouds. Or maybe how Alaska might be like, barren and windy. The room I´m typing this in reminds me of the portable class rooms we had in school... But smells of gasoline or oil because of the heater. On top of the monitor of the computer next to me is a cat sleeping.

Went to Vina Del mar. Tomorrow fly to Puento Arenas

Today I went to Vina Del Mar which is a pretty beach city. The big surprise there was the fresh air, which I guess I had forgotten about... Santiago being smoggy of course.

Vina has tons of connected beaches, ramparts to walk along with lots of drink, food and trinket vendors. I eventually took up the courage and got an in chair massage because my low back has been giving me some issues lately. ¿Estoy viejo! There are also lots of casinos here. It´s a party town I think.

Despues de la masaje yo sentio mehor y compra una corta de pelo y vuelto a Santiago. A mi, la campa parace Espanya - tiene mucho cerros secos. Pero, los Cerros tienen ´cactus´, y no puede recordar si yo vistolo en Espanya.

It was a nice day and was nice to get out of Santiago and do some exploring. Tomorrow I am getting up around 6 to take a transfer bus to the airport and when I land in Punto Arenas I will take a bus up to Puerto Natales. Not sure exactly what happens after that but I´ll do something in Torres del Paine for sure. For glaciars, people in the hostel tell me to that El Calafate has Perito Moreno which is one of the most stunning glaciers.

Nunchucks in la calle

Last night after salsa there was a fight between a guy with nunchucks and another guy. Then two guys came behind the guy with the nunchucks and knocked him out in the middle of the street and hastened away. We were on the other side of the street, not knowing who was in the right or whatever but it was a surreal scene. I think the guy knocked out might have been a food vendor but I don´t know it was across the other side of the pio nono bridge so I actually don´t know what went wrong.

still in Santiago

Well that planning thing didn´t work. Jorge had to cancel the weekend up north because there were only 3 people including me who signed up. Because it is a three day trip it is difficult to fill because it means people have to skip class.

So instead last night I went to a cool restaurant. Or possibly touristy. But I still enjoyed it restaurant called Los Muchachos. All the table had a view of the stage and they did different dances for the different parts of Chile. Also what I liked was I got to try an asado which is a barbeque stacked full of meat for each table. Sorry Mom.

Now I am back in the hostel I started in and went to the pool today. Jorge went to the Morado Glacier which I have already seen. Tomorrow I may go to Valpariso or Vina del Mar.

Tuesday I am flying to punto arenas which is super south in Chile and is on the Magellan straight

do I like Santiago

Yes, I like Santiago alot. The city isn´t crazy overcrowded, the traffic from what I can tell is reasonable, the weather is good and the people are nice too. It is a modern european style city ... I say european because the sidewalks are so wide. You could drive two cars parallel down the sidewalks.

I would actually be ok just hanging around Santiago for a few more weeks. There is lots to do and can be done easily. The neighbourhood I am living in is super nice (Providencia cerca de la estacion Los Leones). Lots of green trees, small stores jam packed open from about 10 am to 9pm every day.

School wise I am losing my focus as my classes end. Some sort of immersion would be necessary for me to improve or get to the level of fluency I would like. I don´t see that happening though as I expect that when I do the hikes, inevitably english will be used. But whatever. Travel or visiting a place is never as immersive say as living there and I can´t morph lives anytime I get off a plane. Do what I can, and not fret.

Fret Fret....

tonight might be last night in santiago

Tomorrow is my last day at school and possibly my last night here. I´ve been thinking what to do next as I only have 3 weeks before flying out of Buenos Aires. Chili is long. Like as long as Canada is wide. Argentina is bigger, Brazil is like two thirds the size of the US. Not to mention Bolivia and Peru. So anyway, I suppose my point is I can´t see everything.

So what I´ve deided to see or do is to switch to more of a backpacky trip and do some camping and backpacking for the next few weeks. Possibly I´ll go camping this weekend with Jorge who is organizing a trip up north to see some penguins and dolphins. Then I´ll fly down to Torres del Paine which is supposedly spectacular and has either 4 day or 6 day hikes. I don´t want to hike on my own so I´ll fly to Puentos Natales and see if I can get an accoplice.

Funny thing is that I didn´t bring camping gear. I trapsed around europe with a sleeping bag and never used it so figured I´d travel lighter. So I just bought one today. I´ll look for a mat and shoes as I get closer.

But what is cool about this is that it sets me up for hiking to Macchu Picchu in Peru and possibly other places in the Argentinian Pategonia.

What I´m not seeing so far is Atacama which is supposedly a cool salt desert. And probably Mendoza which is argentinian wine country-city. But I guess I could go on and on about what I´m not seeing. Like Bolivia. But I´m not talking about that anymore.

So tonight there is a get together for an íntercabio with the other students. I´m not drinking very much and then tomorrow I decide my next move. I think I´m having dinner with the family that I have been living with for the last three weeks. Three weeks that have blown by super fast.

Una carrette con las brazileanos

La ultima noche, yo salgo con mi amigos de la esquela: Hay los brazilianos - Karina, Carolina, Mirena, la hermana de Mirena y su novio, Julia de Allemane, Ignacio de Chile, y yo.

Bebia desmaciado cervezas y una bebida que llama terromoto - con vino y helado. Entonces por este manana, yo tenia una resaca y era tarde por mis classes.

Cordilla of the Andes

On Saturday, went with Jorge (http://www.jorgeexcursiones.cl/) and some school mates to thermal pools and a hike in the Andes (http://www.jorgeexcursiones.cl/ingles/excursiones.php?excursion=termas_plomo). Yesterday it was snowing in the mountains so there was a dusting of snow on the mountains which is a rare sight to see here in February.

The ride in the bus was killer as it took over 3 hours each way and it was pretty cramped. When we finally got to the termal pools, we thought that that was it, or maybe a stroll, but Jorge had other plans for us. Ended up hiking up a small mountain to get to a lagoon that was feeding a waterfall. It was a cool and pretty experience to be walking up and through other mountains in the Andes. The temperature range was a of an experience to as we are used to 25-30 degree celicius days and we were in maybe 5-10 degree weather for most of the trip. At the peak of our trip, the lagoon, it was whipping hail.

The other interesting part was adjusting to the thinner air. I´m not sure if I´ve hiked in high altitudes before (we were at 3000 metres), but boy did I feel sleepy, tired and dizzy to start for the first hour.

Friday

Friday, didn´t do much. Day started off weird as it was raining and the wind caught one of the windows in the apartment swinging it wide and smashing it on the side of the building.

It was the last day at school for Wendy and Tjeerd so we went to lunch together. It was raining which is a weird thing for it to be doing at this time of the year in Chile. Some worries by Chileans about the grape season. I was also worried that tomorrow I was supposed to go on a hike in the mountains.

attempted pickpocketing and knife flashing

So on the way to go to the ´interactive museum´ there was a guy with super short hair, short and super skinny. Anyway he had a jacket folded over his arm and we were on a packed metro.

I was travelling with Jorge our guide and 3 brazilian students from the school. Anyway this guy was brushing against me and I am always suspicious but not particularily suspicious as I couldn´t feel anything. My wallet and keys are in my lower right zipped pocket in my shorts. I pushed my bag between us an my right leg and he sorta moved away a bit. But then I knew. My zipper was open about an inch and half. But I could feel my wallet and hopefully my key in there.
Thing is I wasn´t 100% sure my key was there to start. Nor 100% sure that the guy opened it... maybe I didn´t close it all the way. But my gut said he was doing it and then he was with with two other short stocky.

But I did signal to Jorge with a pincher sort of hand motion and pointed to the guy and Jorge acnowledged my signal. But you can´t do much. It´s a packed train and I´m not that fluent in Spanish to be very communicative. By now the pickpocket had moved around towards one of the other students. So I kept my eye on him.

And eventually he moved with his back against the exit doors. At the next station.

He stayed on. But moved from his right pocket to his left pocket a 5 or so inch silver coloured switchblade knife. In my mind, I´m mostly just watching like a hawk. Wondering what I should do and looking for an opportunity to defend or attack. But it was a stalemate.

On the next stop, he and the two others left the train. Jorge assured me that he was a pick pocket. The other students had no clue but had seen the knife.

So from this I notice that it´s a bit of a numbers game and a bit of chess. Three guys possibly with knives moving quietly is a hard to fight threat. Was I willing to risk a knife in the stomach to punch or push a guy? No, unless I had 2 other guys ready to pounce I was at a disadvantage.

Also, it wasn´t a big deal. what I mean is the threat and possibly the description is worse than the whole event. It´s not in his interest to act randomly and say stab me for just watching him. So it´s a game of being careful and defensive. To do it again, I just won´t let anyone near that pocket. And when I have my packpack, put it in it´s internal p0cket.

embarrasing or bad valentines day

on my way to school there was a sprinkler. Well there are lots of sprinklers in the parks along the rio that Mileana and I walk along. So I dodged to avoid one and whacked my head on an iron sign. I don´t know what the sign said but I really hit it hard and had some blood on my hand.

How embarrassing. Well not embarrasing. Hopping fury of anger, then embarasment. How can I go to school with a bleeding head. Anyway, Milena didn´t think it was too bad or a scratch so I didn´t worry about it.

Half way through my class though, Wendy got up and left the room and returned with some paper towels. Wendy is a nurse from Holland who noticed my head was bleeding again. So I spent at least half an hour pressing a towel to my head.

Anyway, it´s just a scratch.

But on the way home I stepped in dog poo. Which is embarassing too. Like what´s that smell? and then the embarrasment that my right shoe stepped in something. There are lots of stray dogs here and the attitude is a benevant or tolerant one towards them. People feed them and it is not uncommon to see them waiting for the right chance to cross big highways. But I guess the poo in places too and I must have found out where. Though I don´t remember exactly where.

Some students tried to to go to free salsa lessons, but we got there when they were supposed to start and they didn´t want to start the lessons unless everyone bought a drink first. Thing is is that it came across the wrong way and we weren´t really keen on this forced polite purchase. Figuring if the salsa was good, people would buy just in good faith. So anyway we quit early.

Also I ordered a cheese empanada and got a beef and cheese one. But that wasn´t a big deal.

santiago transit

Last saturday, Santiago transit switched over to a new bus and pass system. So right now there is alot of chaos in the news as overnight all of the busses are on new routes and there is a new payment card system that hasn´t been sorted out yet (you now use a Bip card that bips when you get on the bus). So lots of pictures in the newspapers of people hanging onto the outsides of busses in certain areas.

Busses are free until everyone learns the new system, but that is making things worse by having more than normal volumes on the busses

weekend part 2 sunday

Studied in the morning. Trying to learn complemento directos and complemento indirectos so you can say and understand things like.

John took the book to Mary. John took it to her. or... John to her it he took.

Juan trae el libro a Mary. Juan se lo trae.

Still studing that stuff a day later. In the afternoon I met with some school friends and went to the Belles Artes museum where we or I could point at objects and test out my spanish. Afterwards we walked back to bario Bella Vista for some litres of beer.

weekend in Santiago

Went to El Morado (I thought it was Dorado) on Saturday. Morado means purple because the rocks are purple. (Dorado means goldish). Went with a bunch of people with school and their main tour guide Jorge (pronounced hore hay).

10 of us took the van down south to the mountain-glacier: Jorge, a woman from Switzerland who is working in a vineyard, Karina and Carolina two brazilian engineers on vacation, Melanie an Aussie on a one year round-the-world trip, Kristian a german student who lived in new york so has a new york accent, Julia an international studies student from germany, Ken an american escaping his divorce and a guy from spain, and one Canadian me made up the expedition.

It was a simple but long trek as it was up a valley left by a glacier, ie it was a semi straight not-not-too steep walk up to a valley, for which at the top was the melting glacier. It took about 3 hours to ascend and 1-2 hours to descend as the party sort of split up. I was sorta in the middle.

The highlight was to see the glacier because I didn´t realize where the glacier was... What I mean is you look at a mountain and see the ice and think there it is, but it´s more than that as there are tons and tons under the parts that don´t have ice on top. For example the main goal of the trip was to get to the cave which is an ice cave, with a thin - say half a meter layer of rocks that lay on top, but within are 2-100 metre thick layers of ice.

Mi family insist that I buy a long sleeve shirt and get or borrow a hat to avoid getting sun burnt. Both were good ideas as I didn´t get burnt at all. I can´t remember the last time I was in that much sun - no shade in the valley - for over 8 hours.

So I´ve now been in Santiago for a week.

Saturday.
Went horseback riding in a park called cascada des animales http://www.cascadadelasanimas.cl/bienvenidos.shtml. Alize a girl from Boston that worked in the hostel works on the farm near there on the weekends so I went with her to get there, then hung around till 3.30 waiting for the ride. At 330 a japanese family (mom, dad, jr) showed up and they and I were the group. Turns out they have been living in Santiago for 10 years and so were fluent in spanish and the father could speak english so I talked to him for the ride. My horse was called ´setenta´which means 70 which is how much he cost (70,000 pesos - about 140 US). Anyway this was the best horse I´d ever ridden except for going down hill. He didn´t like it at all because it was sandy and slippery. Towards the end of the tour he refused to go down, so I switched horses with the guide who was more persuasive than I with Setenta.

Sunday.
First day moving in with a Chilean family. Maria, Mario, and Javiera are my host family. They are very friendly and talkative. Even though I understand little about what they are saying.. day by day I hope to understand better though I find my understanding comes in wave - when I have no energy then I find it hard to think in English ... so the Spanish doesn´t improve.

Speaking about the weather it´s hot and humid here. 30 degress celcius mas or menus every day with the sun rising around 7 and setting around 9 pm. Also there is a hole in the ozone down here so I have some burns on my forearms. Weird burns too in that usually when I get burns there is more of a spread to them.. Imagine a straight one inch stripe that goes from my elbow down to my wrist (on both sides).

I went with Javiera to a movie about ´Violetta Perra´ who is a famous Chilean artist that was talented in many different arts - painting, textiles and singing. I could stay focussed for about 5 minutes then sorta spaced out until the french bits came (she lived in france so they were interviewing some people there) and I could follow that a bit better. Anyway Violetta Perra is the name of my school as well and last night I was at a bar with some school mates and ran into her husband´s daughter who is working on a book. I thought she and her friends might have been part of the class. They thought I was suspicious for saying I was from the ´Violetta Parra´school.

Monday
speaking of the school. Went to school on Monday. Davio is my instructor and my classmates are Tjeerd and Wendy from Holland, Dirk from Germany who is living here now, Ingvard who is from Norway and Damikatsu who is a high school student from South Africa. Daimakatsu told us what her name means - I think something like -brings unexpected things. Everyone in the class were together the previous week with a different instructor.

The class went well. I´m in the second week of the class (so the month two years ago in spain translated into a 1 week advancement) but (that´s not how to look at it) as repetition is important and I´m happy as long as I´m learning and can keep up and I am doing both so far.

Tuesday
We. I didn´t get around to mentioning yet - that also there is a Milanea who is also staying in the school so usually we go to school together in the morning. She is from Brasil and is some sort of book reviewer. She doesn´t speak English (or is awefully good at hiding her English) so it is a bit of a challenge to communicate at home as no one is really that fluent. Mario is pretty good at some English.

Anyway the point or I guess the day is Tuesday and I had a different idea about how to get to school instead of walking on the Providencia avenue for 45 minutes we could try and go up and around the base of St. Cristobal hill (Cerro St. Cristobal).

Haha. Well we ended up walking for a bit on the highway for a bit but the good news is that most of the trip was in more of a forest-park setting instead of in what has to be the centre urban spine of santiago (Providencia). Providencia is a wide street and there are a few highways and or other streets that cross it. From the Baquedano rail station to cross it to get to the Bella Vista Barrio you have to cross about 4 full traffic lights with maybe about 6 lanes of traffic between each (no real breaks). So you cross like 24 lanes of traffic and can maybe get through the set in 2 or three stops.

But that´s all a distraction. We found a better way to walk to school which is much more park like.

Wednesday.
Had school in the morning, walked home took a nap, walked back and went to a presentation on a couple activities for the weekend (a walk in El Dorado park or a weekend trip to the Elke valley). I´m going to the El Dorado Park on saturday. It´s expensive but I think it´s good to try and do some school activities. After those presentations I did an inter cabio.

The idea of an intercambio is to meet other people who speak the language you are trying to learn and vice versa. So me and a guy from Poland met two chilean people. It was pretty rough for me because conversation is difficult and we haven´t done future or past tenses so that doesn´t make anything easier. Anyway I ended up pairing with Sergio who is a government employee working on computers (PHP, HTML with SQL Server for some inventory thing). His english is really good. I understand his spanish really well.

For me the concept of an intercambio is - well I don´t know yet. The benefit is that you have an instant translation back into your language for any word you don´t know.

One last thing in the intercabio meeting. Before we broke out seperately the Polish guy (who has shocking white-blond hair) was talking about how he was robbed in Santiago. Basically two young guys grabbed him and a third took his fanny pack (or mini packpack or whatever). Also on the same weekend he went to Argentina and had to pay a $40 bribe to get in because they didn´t like his passport. So he didn´t tiene bone suerte that weekend.

Thursday
School in the morning. Went to buy a swim suit and while walking around saw a small robbery. Well I think it was a small robbery. I saw a guy grab at a girl´s throat then run and take off. He was like about 2 or 3 meters away. Actually I know he was trying to rob her I just don´t know if he succeeded or not. Maybe he grabbed her necklass and took off with that or failed to grab her bag. Anyway it was a bit shocking to see and made me think about it bit.

So the guy looked maybe 18, black hair and pretty fast. I´ve been looking out for him but there are lots of people that look like that. Turns out this kind of petty theft is super common here it´s like a game for young kids. Apparently they have the seperate juvinile-adult court system here so the consequences for them is minor.

Sergio from my intercambio explained that they are usually in a group. There is one guy watching and coordinating, there is one runner and there is someone with a backpack to hold any booty they snatch. If you attack or fight back apparently they may as a group beat you up.

Anywhoo, about a couple hours later I saw a scuffle with a bunch of boys while going for dinner. 3 versus 1. I don´t know what that was.

Finally on Thursday, Milena and I went to a school event at a local bar to intercabio with other students (supposedly the same idea where there are people wanting to learn english and vice versa). I didn´t run into anyone wanting to learn to speak english. Just people from the spanish-wanting-to-learn student side of things. Alot of people were just speaking english (not to learn - just cause it´s the most common language between europeans) which I did for awhile, but also spent time speaking with some brazilians in spanish to practice and because they didn´t speak english so were kind of locked out. I think there was a table of people speaking German too. Well anyway this is a boring paragraph, but drinking and chatting was funner than this. Sorry.

Oh by the way in spanish they don´t say sorry. Or at least I mean they have two words. Our sorry has lots of meanings. The main one is Disculpe which is the main one which is when you wrong someone and know it and can respond right away. Also you can use discuple to get attention like ´disculpe, can you help me with something´. The other sorry is the ´lo siento´which according to Mario is a kind of sorry you only use later when you didn´t realize at the time and then do recognize.

Friday
I was grumpy for school this morning. Mileana wanted to take the metro-subway so she could sleep in a bit more, which seemed like an ok idea at the time, but in actual fact it takes about 30min to get to school by subway (because of all the street crossings mentioned above) and 40 min to walk. I prefer to start my class early and on time so I´m on top of things because inevitably and possibly hopefully at the end of class I am or want to be overwhelmed. I bought a couple shirts and was going to find a hat, but couldn´t find one I liked (mario said he would lend me one).

Turns out sombrero means hat. That´s it. To me sombrero means fancy hat. But here it just means hat.

in Chile

Arrived in Santiago this morning. Flight took the whole night. I asked the clerk to see if I could upgrade to business class, thinking that it was over night so it might be worth a hundred dollars or something. But he said it was thousands and thousands. So instead I asked for the exit door seat which has lots of leg room and got that for free.

Lots of different travellers going to Chile say vs going from seattle to atlanta: lots of goretex and fancy hiking shoes. A mix of japanese, americans, chileans and others.

The guy sitting next to me on the flight lives in Argentina where he lives with his wife. He is originally from Atlanta and flies often so knows exactly how much the business class would cost ($6300).

Anyway, Santiago is warm and sunny. It´s getting close to 9pm here and it is still light out though starting to become dusky. Santiago is a very big city with wide, modern roads and lots of traffic and smog - so in a way reminds me of california - but not that modern - some bits are quite modern, others more third worldy. But overall more modern than - Mexico say -

I´m staying at a Hostel and spent some time walking around the city with an Australian called Ritchie. His Spanish is worse than mine - though it seems like everyone is learning Spanish here.