Monday, September 22, 2008
Alrighty, so I wrote this blog six days ago, so I really have been here much longer than two days.
Hola amigos y familia!!
I finally made it to Cochabamba two days ago!! After resting up a lot, I found out that my program, due to a lot of cancelled flights because of all of this political unrest, will not be starting for at least another week, so I have plenty of time to relax, explore, and do whatever I please. It’s a little strange to be in a new place and not really be doing anything or knowing anyone, but I’m super excited to be here and seeing new things and only speaking Spanish wherever I go. I am also hoping to find a climbing gym soon, if on exists, so I can hang out with climbing buddies again – Chile and Anne Marie spoiled me so much with the abundant amount of rocks everywhere, and I can’t wait to get climbing again.
My family is really nice – I live with a mother, Ginez, her sister, Charo (which is short for Rosario), Ginez’s 17-year-old daughter, Fabiola, and Ginez and Charo’s niece, and Fabiola’s cousin, Boria. This took me several tries and mistakes to figure out, as Ginez and Charo’s sister, Carmen, the mother of Boria, as well as her daughter (and Boria’s sister), Tatiana, were visiting when I arrived, and Ginez was out of town for the night. I swear, this is the most simple way of explaining their family. And now you know how I feel, and might possibly understand why I assumed the Charo was Ginez, Carmen was Charo, Tatiana was a neighborhood child visiting for the night, etc. etc. I also happened to make the mistake (out loud to the family) that Charo was one of Ginez’s brothers, at which the female Charo quickly pointed to herself to announce that that was her. Aye aye aye.
However, beyond the extremely complicated family structure, this family is extremely nice and has a pretty great sense of humor. They have told me many-a-silly-factoid about Bolivia, so I, in turn, will spread the jolliness:
First, I have heard a bit about ladrones (thieves) since I have been here – my family is very intent on telling me every unsafe part of every aspect of Latin American life (including deaths at World Cup soccer matches, where the fans get a little too fanatic), and today they told me many stories of thieves around Bolivia. As they were sharing these scary stories, and convincing me to never leave my safe haven of their house, Ginez broke in with a story of an Italian who, when robbed, began begging that the thief return certain things in the purse, like her passport, so she could return to Italy, and her keys, so that she could get back into her hostel at night. Apparently (and this is only in Bolivia, my family told me), you can negotiate with the thieves here! Even when held at gunpoint, you can ask that the ladrones return certain items that are of particular importance to you, and then they can leave with the cash. Needless to say, the Italian got her passport back and was able to return to Italy :-)
There is also a group of women here called Cholas, who all dress in the same skirt, blouse, and hat, and who, I get the impression, are a mixed indigenous group of the area. The Cholas have two crazy things about them: 1) their clothes are extremely expensive, and they love to show off their wealth by covering themselves not only with expensive clothing but also with gold jewelry all over the place (Ginez was telling me of a lady she saw in a carnicerìa, or meat shop, who was cutting a huge chunk of beef with gigantic rings on her fingers); and 2) the Cholas love futbol (soccer), and play any and everybody, including men, in their traditional dress. They only take off their shoes and replace them with soccer socks, shinguards, and soccer cleats, but keep the blouse and skirt on (tying up the skirt to allow for running, of course), and play. So silly! And for those of you who are interested, Cholas are only women – their maridos, or husbands, wear the same clothes as any other Bolivian man.
Yesterday was Cochabamba’s birthday (it’s some 400+ years old), and the family took me to a parade to watch the marching bands. Apparently every single group in Cochabamba, from university students to high school gymnasts, from lawyers and doctors to Search and Rescue troops, from Boy Scouts to BMX racers, have a spot in this parade, and most of them, it seems, also have a marching band (not completely sure why). The military especially prides itself in its many marching bands, and there is even a military restaurant a few blocks south of my house (which is really close to the centro – downtown – of Cochabamba, yay!) that had a marching band playing today.
So I am learning these and other fun facts about Bolivia as I spend time here. Another thing I’ve noticed is that politics are a central part of conversation here – Bolivia has yet to have a stable government, nor a president who truly does anything for its people, and Bolivians (or at least my family) discuss this a lot. The recent conflict between the U.S. and Bolivia is just a miniscule part of Bolivian politics, and it is all very interesting, yet sad, to listen to. Bolivian politicians focus much more on campaigning and gaining popular support than ever actually focusing on the people’s needs – for example, the unemployment rate here is around 40%, according to my family, and the government has done absolutely nothing to create jobs here. In addition, many problems, like the cleferos, or young children who have gotten into glue-sniffing (a huge problem here), go ignored. My family has a good sense of humor as they describe different aspects of Bolivia to me, but everyone seems to talk with a sad undertone. I am still figuring this all out, and I am sure that I will have much more to figure out in the near future.
Not wanting to end this blog on a sad note, I have to speak a bit about the daily routine and eating of Bolivians, as it makes me super happy :) Breakfast, as far as I can tell, is taken at leisure at some point in the morning, and consists of something small – bread and butter, or fruit, or yogurt, or something of the sort. Then, several hours later, as my tummy grumbles, around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, the whole family sits down to lunch and eats a GINORMOUS amount, much to my happiness. It usually starts with some sort of soup much like chicken noodle, but with more variety, and then a full lunch that is much like our dinner, like chicken and vegetables, or some pasta dish, or something of the sort. After everyone is super full and happy, everyone must eat more, and tecito or cafecito is served (tea or coffee), along with some sort of after-lunch dish, which so far has been fruit or yogurt mixed with linera, a seed that is good for digestion (which, after that much food, is very necessary). The whole lunch process takes around 2 hours or so, during which everyone talks about their lives, Cholas, futbol, ladrones, and whatever else pleases us. After lunch, everyone continues on with their lives, and sometimes meets again late at night, around 7 or 8 usually, to eat a piece of pan with Dulce de Leche (which is the same as manjar, thank God it still exists here!) and to take more coffee or tea (I’m not completely sure why people like having so much caffeine in their blood right before bed, but whatever works for them). This can last for another hour or so and includes a lot more talking and laughing and again, is very fun.
So all in all, I am having a pretty good time in Bolivia!! I promise that these blogs will get shorter as I get busier, but I have so much time on my hands right now that I just can’t help it. I hope all is well with everyone and that no one has invested too much in Wall Street. Que les vayan bien!!
Hola amigos y familia!!
I finally made it to Cochabamba two days ago!! After resting up a lot, I found out that my program, due to a lot of cancelled flights because of all of this political unrest, will not be starting for at least another week, so I have plenty of time to relax, explore, and do whatever I please. It’s a little strange to be in a new place and not really be doing anything or knowing anyone, but I’m super excited to be here and seeing new things and only speaking Spanish wherever I go. I am also hoping to find a climbing gym soon, if on exists, so I can hang out with climbing buddies again – Chile and Anne Marie spoiled me so much with the abundant amount of rocks everywhere, and I can’t wait to get climbing again.
My family is really nice – I live with a mother, Ginez, her sister, Charo (which is short for Rosario), Ginez’s 17-year-old daughter, Fabiola, and Ginez and Charo’s niece, and Fabiola’s cousin, Boria. This took me several tries and mistakes to figure out, as Ginez and Charo’s sister, Carmen, the mother of Boria, as well as her daughter (and Boria’s sister), Tatiana, were visiting when I arrived, and Ginez was out of town for the night. I swear, this is the most simple way of explaining their family. And now you know how I feel, and might possibly understand why I assumed the Charo was Ginez, Carmen was Charo, Tatiana was a neighborhood child visiting for the night, etc. etc. I also happened to make the mistake (out loud to the family) that Charo was one of Ginez’s brothers, at which the female Charo quickly pointed to herself to announce that that was her. Aye aye aye.
However, beyond the extremely complicated family structure, this family is extremely nice and has a pretty great sense of humor. They have told me many-a-silly-factoid about Bolivia, so I, in turn, will spread the jolliness:
First, I have heard a bit about ladrones (thieves) since I have been here – my family is very intent on telling me every unsafe part of every aspect of Latin American life (including deaths at World Cup soccer matches, where the fans get a little too fanatic), and today they told me many stories of thieves around Bolivia. As they were sharing these scary stories, and convincing me to never leave my safe haven of their house, Ginez broke in with a story of an Italian who, when robbed, began begging that the thief return certain things in the purse, like her passport, so she could return to Italy, and her keys, so that she could get back into her hostel at night. Apparently (and this is only in Bolivia, my family told me), you can negotiate with the thieves here! Even when held at gunpoint, you can ask that the ladrones return certain items that are of particular importance to you, and then they can leave with the cash. Needless to say, the Italian got her passport back and was able to return to Italy :-)
There is also a group of women here called Cholas, who all dress in the same skirt, blouse, and hat, and who, I get the impression, are a mixed indigenous group of the area. The Cholas have two crazy things about them: 1) their clothes are extremely expensive, and they love to show off their wealth by covering themselves not only with expensive clothing but also with gold jewelry all over the place (Ginez was telling me of a lady she saw in a carnicerìa, or meat shop, who was cutting a huge chunk of beef with gigantic rings on her fingers); and 2) the Cholas love futbol (soccer), and play any and everybody, including men, in their traditional dress. They only take off their shoes and replace them with soccer socks, shinguards, and soccer cleats, but keep the blouse and skirt on (tying up the skirt to allow for running, of course), and play. So silly! And for those of you who are interested, Cholas are only women – their maridos, or husbands, wear the same clothes as any other Bolivian man.
Yesterday was Cochabamba’s birthday (it’s some 400+ years old), and the family took me to a parade to watch the marching bands. Apparently every single group in Cochabamba, from university students to high school gymnasts, from lawyers and doctors to Search and Rescue troops, from Boy Scouts to BMX racers, have a spot in this parade, and most of them, it seems, also have a marching band (not completely sure why). The military especially prides itself in its many marching bands, and there is even a military restaurant a few blocks south of my house (which is really close to the centro – downtown – of Cochabamba, yay!) that had a marching band playing today.
So I am learning these and other fun facts about Bolivia as I spend time here. Another thing I’ve noticed is that politics are a central part of conversation here – Bolivia has yet to have a stable government, nor a president who truly does anything for its people, and Bolivians (or at least my family) discuss this a lot. The recent conflict between the U.S. and Bolivia is just a miniscule part of Bolivian politics, and it is all very interesting, yet sad, to listen to. Bolivian politicians focus much more on campaigning and gaining popular support than ever actually focusing on the people’s needs – for example, the unemployment rate here is around 40%, according to my family, and the government has done absolutely nothing to create jobs here. In addition, many problems, like the cleferos, or young children who have gotten into glue-sniffing (a huge problem here), go ignored. My family has a good sense of humor as they describe different aspects of Bolivia to me, but everyone seems to talk with a sad undertone. I am still figuring this all out, and I am sure that I will have much more to figure out in the near future.
Not wanting to end this blog on a sad note, I have to speak a bit about the daily routine and eating of Bolivians, as it makes me super happy :) Breakfast, as far as I can tell, is taken at leisure at some point in the morning, and consists of something small – bread and butter, or fruit, or yogurt, or something of the sort. Then, several hours later, as my tummy grumbles, around 1 or 2 in the afternoon, the whole family sits down to lunch and eats a GINORMOUS amount, much to my happiness. It usually starts with some sort of soup much like chicken noodle, but with more variety, and then a full lunch that is much like our dinner, like chicken and vegetables, or some pasta dish, or something of the sort. After everyone is super full and happy, everyone must eat more, and tecito or cafecito is served (tea or coffee), along with some sort of after-lunch dish, which so far has been fruit or yogurt mixed with linera, a seed that is good for digestion (which, after that much food, is very necessary). The whole lunch process takes around 2 hours or so, during which everyone talks about their lives, Cholas, futbol, ladrones, and whatever else pleases us. After lunch, everyone continues on with their lives, and sometimes meets again late at night, around 7 or 8 usually, to eat a piece of pan with Dulce de Leche (which is the same as manjar, thank God it still exists here!) and to take more coffee or tea (I’m not completely sure why people like having so much caffeine in their blood right before bed, but whatever works for them). This can last for another hour or so and includes a lot more talking and laughing and again, is very fun.
So all in all, I am having a pretty good time in Bolivia!! I promise that these blogs will get shorter as I get busier, but I have so much time on my hands right now that I just can’t help it. I hope all is well with everyone and that no one has invested too much in Wall Street. Que les vayan bien!!
Hi all! Ok, sorry it has taken me so long to update this - you all probably just assumed that I am still stuck in the Argentinian airport, no? So I can FINALLY continue updating the blog with photos and info, so here are some photos from Chile from two weeks ago or so...The picture of the sunset is where Anne Marie and I went bouldering by the ocean (poor us). Also, I wanted to find a picture of Mendoza, Argentina, where we visited our friend, but for some reason we didn´t take too many photos of the actually city. However, I feel that the dog at our hotel really epitomizes the city. And although I miss this dog a lot, I´m lucky enough to have its twin sister as my neighbor here in Cochabamba, so I can get a full dose of dogs with goofy eyebrows and sweater vests whenever I want. The third picture is of the bridge in Argentina where we went climbing. :)
OK, now that my trip to Chile is summed up, I can begin on Bolivia! I don´t have too many photos yet because everyone tells me here that the best way to avoid problems is to leave all valuables at home and to blend in as much with the locals as possible. Unfortunately, this means that I can´t run my blond-haired, blue-eyed self around taking flash-photography photos of people too discreetly. But, I sure will try. :)
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Home, Sweet Airport.
Hi all! Ok, this blog will be a bit of an explanation of things that are going on right now in Bolivia and a wrap-up of my amazing time in Chile!!
First of all, the reason why I am writing/publishing all of these blogs is that I'm stranded in Argentina for a bit. The unrest in Bolivia right now has caused every airline but AeroSur to cancel its flights into Bolivia. The bad news is that I did not have an AeroSur flight, and, waiting out my overnight layover and avoiding robbery by consuming lots of caffeine and sugar throughout the night so that I could stare down every passerby that looks at my luggage the wrong way, I haven't slept in 25 hours and am still waiting for any word on a new flight. The good news is that I have gotten accustomed to my new home in the Buenos Aires airport and have settled in by taking my luggage for a walk in the park outside and by sitting in the women's bathroom for several hours in the middle of the night while my laptop charged in the only outlet that worked in the airport (only to find out later that WiFi does not exist here, and I have to go to an Internet Cafe). The other good news is that now I have at least 8 hours to just blog blog blog my life away! Yay, lucky you!
So basically, since I wrote that last blog, for those of you that do not find it necessary to keep up on South American news, ya crazies, after Evo Morales kicked the U.S. ambassador out of Bolivia, the U.S. thought that the only appropriate response would be to kick the Bolivian ambassador out of the U.S., so that this way, there can be no diplomatic relations whatsoever in between the two countries. Then, just for the heck of it (well, more or less.....), Hugo Chavez decided to let the world know what he thought about this whole ordeal, and chucked the U.S. ambassador out of Venezuela as well. Sheesh. So now, in Bolivia, the large chasm that has been growing between the poorer, coca-growing, anti-American, pro-Morales sector of Bolivia and the richer, more urban, anti-Morales (and more pro-American) sector of bolivia has escalated into a bit of violence. So far this has mostly occured in the form of bus holdups and a few riots, but nine people have died (as of yesterday), so it is unfortunately, pretty serious for the people there.
Luckily, Cochabamba for some odd reason has yet to be very affected by this, and so far the people that I have talked to have told me that the news is definitely making it worse that it seems, and that it is really just a matter of the governments fighting, not the people. I was hoping to have a more accurate idea of what was going on in the country by around 1 PM today, when I could talk to Bolivians about the situation, but hopefully I can do that soon enough and write a blog that tells the absolute truth. Stay tuned.
On that note, I'm going to finish talking about my amazing time in Chile!! So, after we finished climbing in Mendoza, Anne Marie and I took the red-eye back to Chile and got held up by Chilean customs for around an hour or so. Many Chileans were insistent on bringing several bags full of groceries, artesan crafts, and cleaning supplies, which eventually they let through, but for some reason took my onion and a two-inch block of cheese. I think they might pick on gringas.
When we arrived home, we rushed to create a masterpiece dinner for Anne Marie's Chilean family that we had promised to make long before I had even arrived. Chileans have this tendency to eat really bad pizza, so Anne Marie and I decided to make a homemade pizza, complete with garlic crust, homemade sauce, and market-fresh peppers, mushrooms, onions, etc. etc. We also thought that we could make chocolate chip cookies for dessert, which seems to be a delicacy that not too many Chileans have enjoyed in their life. There seems to be a reason for this, because chocolate chips don't really exist there - in the gigantic, Walmart-esque Jumbo supermarket, I ran around the store, asking different workers there for chocolate chips. Unfortunately, I had no idea what the word for 'chips' was, and tried many different varieties - "trozas," or "pieces," got me a chocolate bar, "bombones" got me into the chocolate gift area reminiscent of William Sonoma, and finally "triangulos," or "triangles," got me some chocolate chip-like morsels that, when I asked what they were called in Spanish, the worker just grinned at me and said "chocolate chips." It turned out that pizza and chocolate chip cookies were a bit too ambitious for us (we ended up guessing the amount of every ingredient in the cookies, as well as they temperature at which they were being baked in our family's one-temperature-only oven, which resulted in more than half of them having a lovely, burnt black crust on the bottom) , but our family was extremely patient, and finally, at 10:30 that night, we served pizza to our ravenous family. They were so complimentary and grateful that it definitely made the seven or so hours of cooking worth it (plus we love cooking, and love eating, so it was all good), but that is just how amazing my Chilean family was!
Well, this blog is getting really long once again (have I mentioned that I haven't slept in more than a day? I feel like that is a good enough excuse to justify why I just rambled on about pizza and chocolate chip cookies for a whole paragraph), so I will try to wrap up the last bit. As a grand conclusion to my stay in Chile, Anne Marie took me to the climbing spot that has taken up every weekend so far and is preventing her from seeing anywhere else in Chile, called Las Chilcas, and it is SO BEAUTIFUL!! All of the wildflowers were in bloom (I will post a few blogs of just pictures later to catch everyone up) since Spring is just beginning here, and there was this beautiful little creek that ran through our campsite. Plus, the climbing was amazing, and I felt so grateful to be able to see so many amazing places in Chile these past two weeks by doing one of my favorite activities ever with such a good friend.
Well, that is about it for now I think (whew, if you are even still with me, well done). I hope you are all doing wonderfully, and keep in touch!
Peace and hugs,
Sarah
First of all, the reason why I am writing/publishing all of these blogs is that I'm stranded in Argentina for a bit. The unrest in Bolivia right now has caused every airline but AeroSur to cancel its flights into Bolivia. The bad news is that I did not have an AeroSur flight, and, waiting out my overnight layover and avoiding robbery by consuming lots of caffeine and sugar throughout the night so that I could stare down every passerby that looks at my luggage the wrong way, I haven't slept in 25 hours and am still waiting for any word on a new flight. The good news is that I have gotten accustomed to my new home in the Buenos Aires airport and have settled in by taking my luggage for a walk in the park outside and by sitting in the women's bathroom for several hours in the middle of the night while my laptop charged in the only outlet that worked in the airport (only to find out later that WiFi does not exist here, and I have to go to an Internet Cafe). The other good news is that now I have at least 8 hours to just blog blog blog my life away! Yay, lucky you!
So basically, since I wrote that last blog, for those of you that do not find it necessary to keep up on South American news, ya crazies, after Evo Morales kicked the U.S. ambassador out of Bolivia, the U.S. thought that the only appropriate response would be to kick the Bolivian ambassador out of the U.S., so that this way, there can be no diplomatic relations whatsoever in between the two countries. Then, just for the heck of it (well, more or less.....), Hugo Chavez decided to let the world know what he thought about this whole ordeal, and chucked the U.S. ambassador out of Venezuela as well. Sheesh. So now, in Bolivia, the large chasm that has been growing between the poorer, coca-growing, anti-American, pro-Morales sector of Bolivia and the richer, more urban, anti-Morales (and more pro-American) sector of bolivia has escalated into a bit of violence. So far this has mostly occured in the form of bus holdups and a few riots, but nine people have died (as of yesterday), so it is unfortunately, pretty serious for the people there.
Luckily, Cochabamba for some odd reason has yet to be very affected by this, and so far the people that I have talked to have told me that the news is definitely making it worse that it seems, and that it is really just a matter of the governments fighting, not the people. I was hoping to have a more accurate idea of what was going on in the country by around 1 PM today, when I could talk to Bolivians about the situation, but hopefully I can do that soon enough and write a blog that tells the absolute truth. Stay tuned.
On that note, I'm going to finish talking about my amazing time in Chile!! So, after we finished climbing in Mendoza, Anne Marie and I took the red-eye back to Chile and got held up by Chilean customs for around an hour or so. Many Chileans were insistent on bringing several bags full of groceries, artesan crafts, and cleaning supplies, which eventually they let through, but for some reason took my onion and a two-inch block of cheese. I think they might pick on gringas.
When we arrived home, we rushed to create a masterpiece dinner for Anne Marie's Chilean family that we had promised to make long before I had even arrived. Chileans have this tendency to eat really bad pizza, so Anne Marie and I decided to make a homemade pizza, complete with garlic crust, homemade sauce, and market-fresh peppers, mushrooms, onions, etc. etc. We also thought that we could make chocolate chip cookies for dessert, which seems to be a delicacy that not too many Chileans have enjoyed in their life. There seems to be a reason for this, because chocolate chips don't really exist there - in the gigantic, Walmart-esque Jumbo supermarket, I ran around the store, asking different workers there for chocolate chips. Unfortunately, I had no idea what the word for 'chips' was, and tried many different varieties - "trozas," or "pieces," got me a chocolate bar, "bombones" got me into the chocolate gift area reminiscent of William Sonoma, and finally "triangulos," or "triangles," got me some chocolate chip-like morsels that, when I asked what they were called in Spanish, the worker just grinned at me and said "chocolate chips." It turned out that pizza and chocolate chip cookies were a bit too ambitious for us (we ended up guessing the amount of every ingredient in the cookies, as well as they temperature at which they were being baked in our family's one-temperature-only oven, which resulted in more than half of them having a lovely, burnt black crust on the bottom) , but our family was extremely patient, and finally, at 10:30 that night, we served pizza to our ravenous family. They were so complimentary and grateful that it definitely made the seven or so hours of cooking worth it (plus we love cooking, and love eating, so it was all good), but that is just how amazing my Chilean family was!
Well, this blog is getting really long once again (have I mentioned that I haven't slept in more than a day? I feel like that is a good enough excuse to justify why I just rambled on about pizza and chocolate chip cookies for a whole paragraph), so I will try to wrap up the last bit. As a grand conclusion to my stay in Chile, Anne Marie took me to the climbing spot that has taken up every weekend so far and is preventing her from seeing anywhere else in Chile, called Las Chilcas, and it is SO BEAUTIFUL!! All of the wildflowers were in bloom (I will post a few blogs of just pictures later to catch everyone up) since Spring is just beginning here, and there was this beautiful little creek that ran through our campsite. Plus, the climbing was amazing, and I felt so grateful to be able to see so many amazing places in Chile these past two weeks by doing one of my favorite activities ever with such a good friend.
Well, that is about it for now I think (whew, if you are even still with me, well done). I hope you are all doing wonderfully, and keep in touch!
Peace and hugs,
Sarah
Thursday, September 11, 2008
The Space Cadets travel to Argentina, and other adventures in South America
QUICK NOTEROO: This blog has amazing pictures to go with it, but due to some technical difficulties/life difficulties that I will explain in the next blog, I can't post them right now :) I wrote this blog a few days ago but hadn't had the chance to publish it, so I will just post this one and the next one in the same day, so enjoy :)
Hello friends!! As I'm nearing my final days in Chile, I thought I would try to write one more post to keep people updating on these silly travels of mine. First, before I forget, I wanted to write a bit about manjar, or Dulce de Leche, an amazing South American candy sauce that can be described only as caramel-like yumminess. I found a recipe for it at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Manjar-Dulce-de-Leche-from-Scratch/Detail.aspx and urge you ALL to make it and tell me if it is a good one, because I already know I will be pining for this sweet once I'm back in the States.
Hello friends!! As I'm nearing my final days in Chile, I thought I would try to write one more post to keep people updating on these silly travels of mine. First, before I forget, I wanted to write a bit about manjar, or Dulce de Leche, an amazing South American candy sauce that can be described only as caramel-like yumminess. I found a recipe for it at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Manjar-Dulce-de-Leche-from-Scratch/Detail.aspx and urge you ALL to make it and tell me if it is a good one, because I already know I will be pining for this sweet once I'm back in the States.
OK, now that we have the important stuff out of the way, I will try to give a brief update on my life in the last week or so. Basically, my trip so far has been so much fun, and I have been so lucky to know someone down here to show me the ropes of South America! I've spent most of the last week climbing and traveling, and climbing some more. Last Wednesday Anne Marie took me to a place near Con Con, Chile, where there was a bouldering (really small, low rock climbing problems, that allow you to climb without a rope) area right along the ocean. After the bus left us on the side of the road in a spot that would have seemed in the middle-of-nowhere and extremely sketchy, if it were not for a small path leading to the ocean and a gigantic "Pablo Neruda" statue. Pablo Neruda is Chile's local hero, a poet and politician who seems to own property all over Chile, including two houses-turned-museums in both Santiago and Valparaiso, as well as a rock outcropping near Con Con, it seems. We climbed the little path to a small drop off into a perfect natural bouldering gym, where the sun set on the ocean and the waves splashed up close to our little enclave where our friend Sean played guitar and harmonica music and we climbed to our heart's content. I get really cheesy about things like this, but I promise, it really was that surreal and beautiful.
Sick of this boring, drab place, Anne Marie and I decided to switch things up for a bit and run off to Mendoza, Argentina for the weekend. We met a friend from there that we had met at our hostel in Santiago who offered to show us around and take us climbing if we ever felt like wandering over the Andes to visit, so, at 10:30 on Friday night, we hopped on a bus loaded with comfy chairs and manjar cookies and took the 7-hour overnight trip to Mendoza. Bus rides are a bit strange in South America...we were offered Nescafe (the most popular type of coffee here) at 2 AM while a movie with lots of gunshots played in the background. But, besides that, and the fact that we woke up to a dead engine on our bus in the middle of the Andes (which were spectacular even at night!!!), it was a great trip, which, most importantly, got us to where we needed to go.
OK, so on this lovely trip to Mendoza, neither Anne Marie nor I are completely sure what happened, but we both ended up leaving a lot of things there. I left my headlamp on the bus and my water bottle in the bus station, and then, as we were touring our friend's vineyard, I left my treasured hat that I had just finished knitting about an hour before that (that also, I might add, I had been trying to make for around nine months....ay mierda!). Anne Marie managed to leave her thermos that kept her coffee warm on her climbing trips on a taxi on the way to our climbing spot and her towel that she left at the hot springs. I guess we took care of the threat of anyone robbing any of our things....we just lost it all ourselves.
But, nevertheless, it was a really great trip. We wandered around Mendoza the first day, and then went climbing the next two, where we could hang out with the Argentinian climbers there that are just as chill as those in the U.S...lending very expensive things to people you just meet seems to be a common theme - after meeting a group of climbers and spending a few hour with them climbing on their rope, they lent us the rest of their gear and their grill, with only a phone number for collateral. The result was a really yummy asado (barbecue ) that night, and a whole day's worth of climbing a really fun bridge (that some crazy person had decided to bolt several routes on) the next day.
OK, this post is getting much too long for my liking, but I still have some other fun adventures to talk about, so I will hopefully write another one tomorrow as I travel off to Bolivia. For those of you that haven't heard, Bolivian president Evo Morales decided to chuck out the U.S. ambassador from Bolivia, and there are some tensions growing in the south part of Bolivia between pro- and anti-American groups (read more at http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/11/world/americas/11bolivia.html?scp=2&sq=bolivia&st=cse if you are dying to know more about Bolivian politics), and several American Airlines flights are getting cancelled or postponed. But, rest assured, I am only flying on South American, non-U.S.-affiliated flights, so everything should be safe and on time, provided that people don't associate my blond hair and colorful clothing with the U.S. (most people here wear some shade of brown or black, and I stick out like a sore thumb.) No, just kidding, things should be fine. I'm really excited to be able to see some of these politics live, because Bolivia has some of the most interesting politics I've ever read about, and it would be great to see these crazy politics in action.
Hope all is well with you all!!! Peace, hugs, and love!!
-Sarah
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Hola amigos y familia!!I am in Chile now, visiting my friend Anne Marie and getting myself accustomed to the wonderful South American life. Everything and everyone here has so far been better than I ever expected. Anne Marie and I stayed in a hostel for a few nights to get to know Santiago a bit better, spending the weekend doing touristy things like taking a gondola up to the top of the highest hill of Santiago so that we could see the Andes a bit better (they were gorgeous!!!) and wandering the streets and parks of this beautiful city. It was a bit different than I expected - Santiago and Valparaiso are much like any large city in America - there is even a store called Jumbo that is a lot like Wal-Mart (blech!). I would probably get the cities mixed up with American ones if it were not for the many people surrounding me, speaking Spanish in a dialect that is extremely fast, full of slang, and lacking important elements like the letter "s" from every word and the traditional conjugation of the "tu" form. So, "como estas" would be "como etai?" instead...or, in other words, it is a dialect that throws me off completely but has substantially improved my ability to pretend that I understand everything that people say to me. Nevertheless, it has been an amazing experience, and as I have only been here for five days, I am extremely excited for what the next few months bring!
At that, I am going to explain a bit about why I am in South America for those of you who don't know. I received an internship through the Foundation for Sustainable Development, or FSD, to volunteer in Cochabamba, Bolivia. FSD is an organization that works in several countries to help develop their poorer parts in a way that is economically sustainable. They focus on different sectors of development, like entrepreneurship, women's rights, the environment, health, youth and education, etc. etc. I am interning mostly within their environmental sector and youth sector with an organization called Aldeas Infantiles SOS. Aldeas Infantiles is an organization that has developed an orphanage in Cochabamba (and many, many other laces throughout the world) in which orphans and the heads of the orphanage form a surrogate family that simulates for the kids what a real family might feel like. I am no quite sure what I will be doing with them yet, but most likely I will be helping with their eco-agriculture program, which teaches kids sustainable farming techniques, or I will be creating some for of outdoors club or environmental club for the kids. I will be there for three months, from mid-September to mid-December. Sounds pretty rough, surrounding myself with goofy kids and taking them hiking for three months!! I am very excited!
So, that is my internship. I was also lucky enough to have a friend who is studying abroad in Valparaiso, Chile, at the same time that I am supposed to be in Bolivia, so I decided to visit her for a couple of weeks before I go to Bolivia so that I can see as much of South America as possible. As I have already said, we have spent a bit of time in Chile's capital, Santiago, and she is now showing me around her home city for the next few months, Valparaiso, which is a beautiful, hilly little town right on the ocean.
I will try to write as things come up. I hope you all are doing wonderfully and keep in touch!!
Peace,
Sarah
By the way, the three photos on top (which are oh-so-aesthetic, I know - I will try to figure out how to make my blog pretty later, I promise) are of the view of the Andes in Santiago from the top of that hill, covered in a bit of the Santiago smog; a really fun statue in Santiago that is normally a fountain, but for some reason was not running, allowing us to climb and play to our hearts content with all of the other fifth graders; and the view of Valparaiso and its bay from the top of another hill there.
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