Julia and Josh's Trip To South America

An Uli Recipe

2011-08-17T12:15:00.000-03:00

Uli's recipe for:

Berenjenas Al escaveche

Cut up 2 kilos of eggplant and cut them length wise
Put down a layer of eggplant in a deep baking dish and cover the eggplant in kosher salt
Put down another layer of eggplant and cover it in salt and continue until you have layered all of the eggplant with salt.
Let this sit overnight in the kitchen and marvel as you come home late at night at how much water has been sucked out of the eggplant.
In the morning, while drinking mate, wash off the eggplant and then cook it in two liters of water and 250 ml of white vinegar in batches. Don’t overcook the eggplant.
Make a spice mixture of oregano, red pepper flakes, and aji which from what I can tell is ground up dried red pepper. Also add a dash or two of garlic sauce and then add enough oil to fry up a pound of potatoes. Mix this all up.
Get yourself a big ass jar.
Layer the bottom of the jar with cooked eggplant and cover this with the spice mixture.
Keep layering eggplant with spice mixture until you get bored and then dump in all of the eggplant and then all of the spice mixture. If there isn’t enough to fully cover the eggplant dump in more oil and then screw the lid onto the jar and roll it around so that the mixture fully coats all of the eggplant.
Let it sit in the fridge for one or two days, and then enjoy with your favorite asado!

Sushi Club and La Catedral

2011-08-17T11:14:00.004-03:00

Grey days continue here but we are not letting them get us down. Yesterday, for Uli's day off, we made fresh pasta (Uli made the dough and everything) and spent a wonderful afternoon making it and eating it with our old friend Coy. As always she was full of sunshine and banished the cold and the grey out of Uli's apartment.
Josh and I spent the afternoon taking a long walk from Alto Palermo shopping mall back to Uli’s apartment, and played cards and hung out with Uli and Gus while Uli made muffins and we drank mate.

Making Pasta with Coy

For dinner we drove to La Canitas where we met up with Steph for a fancy dinner to thank Uli and Gus for being such good hosts. They chose to eat at a restaurant called Sushi Club. I was reminded when I looked at the menu that somewhere along the line somebody got confused and decided to put Philadelphia cream cheese in almost all of the sushi rolls that exist here in BA. After we scouted out the menu we found enough options without cream cheese to make us all happy and full and we celebrated everything there is to celebrate with a bottle of Champagne at the end.

Being Swanky at Sushi Club

It was only 1 am at that point so we clearly could not go to bed. Instead we went to La Catedral, a trendy Milonga that Fani promised we would like. She hit the nail on the head with this place. For those who don’t know a Milonga is a place where you can go to dance tango. They are informal places where you can meet new people, dance, or watch the tango and drink and mourn the fact that you don’t know how to do all those sexy moves. And sit and drink and mourn our lack of skills we did.
The space is wonderful. It’s almost like a big barn filled with posters of Che and Carlos Gardel and there is a statue of a giant heart hanging from the ceiling over the bar. No two glasses are alike and the wine is a good price.

Getting fancy with my new camera while this guy channels Marlon Brando

The Tango Continues

When we arrived the tango stopped and a band stood in the center of the dance floor and waited for silence. When they felt they had commanded enough respect they played a few songs for us and I enjoyed them immensely. After that we managed to find a table and sat back to enjoy the tango. Tango here is not like when you see a show. There it is all Brava, flashing costumes and all for show. In a Milonga you see the real tango, and the real passion. Here tango is a slow, purposeful and swirling dance, and in this space the music is almost an afterthought. It is a far away rhythm that pulses in the wrist of a man as he controls the woman leaning on him with a touch of pressure on her arm, or back. Here the man still holds all of the power in the room and the woman all of the beauty. At times it is almost embarrassing to watch a couple for two long because you almost feel like you are invading something very private, like a peeping Tom.
At around 3:30 am Uli suggested more wine and I suggested bed so we dropped Fani off at home and then slept as if I had been dancing the tango all night myself.

The Great Return to San Telmo

2011-08-14T18:43:00.002-03:00

These past two days we have been blessed with beautiful weather. Yesterday we met up with Stephanie at an organic market which was full of Argentine Hippies. I ate an organic Choripan, and the only difference I could tell was the dry bread. After, we had some tea at Fanie's and then went to Frisbee. It was great to see the smiles light up on people's faces when they realized that this wasn't another random gringo couple coming to play pick up, but two faces that they recognized very well. A lot of people were at a tournament in Uruguay but we got some quality time with a few of my favorite Frisbee players. I even played for a few points but tried very hard to avoid being sore today. I needed my arms to be ready to reach into my wallet because today we spent the afternoon at the San Telmo Market!!!! It was great to be there with money and while I didn't go crazy it was nice to be able to love something and then take it home with me.

Nick met up with us there and we made our way up and down Defensa. I was happy that many of my favorite acts were still there including the puppet show with the drunk puppet dancing tango, and the couple that looks as if it caught in a very strong gust of wind. Also, my Colombian vendor friend remembered me and even reminded me that I had supposedly promised to bring him a Frisbee from the US. Oops.

We made our way to La Plaza de Mayo which was bathed in a setting sun's light and made our way back to Uli's neighborhood where we bought meat for our first big asado since we've been back! Lots of friends came for the asado and the company was as good as the meat. There was music, dancing, eating, more dancing, drinking, more eating, and more eating. And even a brindis (a toast) to Josh and me for bringing everyone together and for the wedding. The asado only ended on the early side (12:30 ish) because everyone except for us had work the next day. I myself was exhausted and very full and grateful to go to sleep!

Back in BA

2011-08-11T17:00:00.002-03:00

And we're back! Its Julia and Josh! From the blog of course. It’s been almost a year since our last post and I have the greatest fortune to be blogging once again from South America! We made our return today and it was slightly epic. We left Newark at 1:30 pm yesterday and three flights later we landed in still dark Buenos Aires. The flights were mostly eventless except for when a woman behind us stopped breathing in the middle of the night. Somehow the crew and her son got her breathing again and everyone went back to sleep but for a few minutes there I thought that I was sitting next to a dead person.
And while all of our flights departed and arrived on time, we had the misfortune of ending up in a taxi with a driver who did not believe the address he had been given could possibly be right. After driving around Buenos Aires for an hour, some conferencing with a co-worker and our instance that this address does exist we ended up at Ulises' apartment just in time to wake him. Manzi, of course, greeted us with some barking and some pee and I didn't know who to say hi to first!! Manzi has a haircut now and looks adorable. She sort of has this mullet thing going. Its amazing.

She's still one sassy bitch

Josh in the taxi on the way into Buenos Aires in the first light of the day

Uli, Josh and Manzi in Uli and Gus' kitchen

It really is amazing to be back here. At first I felt as though nothing had changed. Political graffiti urged passerbies to vote for Christina in the upcoming election. People honked at the toll booths if they waited longer than a minute, demanding their free toll (it’s actually a rule that they have to let people by without paying if they have to wait longer than a minute in line at the toll). Street sweepers swept dirty water in the early dawn light, and people waited in long lines for buses and whatever else people wait in line for here. But throughout the day I have noticed many changes. One of the most exciting is the addition of bike lanes throughout the city and a transmilenio type bus line that has its own lane (like a trolley but a bus). Another is Nick's long hair and that he has a girlfriend now (already love her and talked to her for a lengthy time about food), and of course Uli's amazing apartment that looks over a soccer field and has an amazing porch with a parilla to boot! Everyone has moved on and grown up since Cochabamba, and the people that I have seen so far seem to be doing very well.

Josh and Uli on the train platform on our way to Palermo

Taking the bus to Costanera with Nick, his girlfriend Flor and a visiting friend and walking to El Rey for a Bondiola felt as natural as breathing. Sitting in the sun on a bench overlooking Puerto Madero with Josh afterwards felt just like the many times we had done that same thing when we lived in San Telmo. But Uli reminded me many times today that I am a tourist and that I can't forget to watch my bag! We had an amazing dinner at La Brigada with a large group of old friends and again it felt as if we had never left. Then there were two great differences. One: we took a taxi home (instead of a bus) and two: I remembered that in eleven days I wouldn’t be able to see these people again until maybe our wedding. I had a sad moment where I thought about how much I love these people and wish I could see them every day and then I decided that there is no point in being sad. I obviously just need to enjoy this trip to the maximo. Josh also made me make a speech announcing our engagement to everyone. We made a big cheers and I warned everyone that they better start saving their plata because I really want them all to be there.

Serious chow down at La Brigada

Already this trip is bitter sweet but more than anything it feels really good to be back. Being in San Telmo tonight was amazing since I have felt San Telmo pulling at me since I’ve been here. Calling me home. I can’t wait to see what this city holds for us tomorrow. Our adventures as half tourists will surely not dissappoint!

New Blog

2010-09-03T19:21:00.001-03:00

Check out my new blog!!! Its all about life in Philly at http://phillyinsideout.blogspot.com/
Hope to see you there!!!

The End

2010-06-24T19:12:00.003-03:00

I've been putting off this post, because I know it will be the last. I thought I would put up tons of photos, but not having my own computer complicates things a little and I have decided against it for now. Maybe in the future? Although Andrew had a great idea (I posted this post unfinished originally!) and that is to just keep posting, so maybe I will. For now we will just say that I have been putting off this post because it does truly signify the end of something, and I hate saying goodbye.

So how has it been to come home? I remember asking Alex what it was like to return and surprised to hear that it wasn't so bad. It was even pretty great. Nonetheless, I was anxious about reuniting with family and friends that I hadn't seen in a long time. But even more so I was anxious about reuniting with my country that I had fled with out so much as a backwards glance. I wondered how I would feel here, if I would feel like myself, and even if I could be happy.

As we journeyed North with the Andes I grew weary of travel but also wary of my imminent return. We flew into Orlando airport on the 11th and we were greeted by a mix of Spanish and English. However two things made us feel that we were back despite all the Spanish. As Josh approached a lineless immigration window the immigration officer looked up at him and said, "Did I call you? Wait in line until I call you!" in a thick menacing Bronx like accent. The second came with our first sips of Sam Adams Summer Ale at ABP. And it tasted good.

I then took a whirlwind trip to Europe to retrieve my sister from her 9 glamorous months in Italy. There I took in ancient sites that I had wanted to see for a lifetime that seemed modern in comparison to the ancient majesty of the of the Andes, and rode around on quads around ancient roads on the Island of Santorini. After we packed Mia's clothes into four suitcases and lugged them home I was ready to be done with travel; for a while anyway.

And now, I'm here to tell you that being Stateside ain't so bad after all. Life here is quiet, clean, and a little boring which is exactly the opposite of my life in BA and exactly what I need right now. I have been able to hide myself in the shelter of our home, finding a much needed balance, eating healthy food, and emerging to reunite with a friend here and there.

Now I am applying myself to the task of setting up the next stage in our lives. I'd like to say my job search is going well...but its not. I think I'll be more successful at finding an apartment but hopefully some job will make itself known to me by August 16th when Josh starts law school. Until then the excitement of moving to Philly is enough for me and I spend my days doing the grocery shopping, cooking, organizing, and getting back to a few loved hobbies I had left behind when not scouring the Internet's horizons.

The corn is already two feet tall, and in a month the tomatoes will be coming in. Life in New Jersey is good, despite popular belief, and I will enjoy my next month on easy street until I return to the struggle that is early adulthood. However, I would like to send abrazos and besos to my friends in Argentina, I think of you often and miss you everyday.

State Side

2010-05-12T13:54:00.002-03:00

Howdy from the States! Or New Jersey more specifically. Josh and I went our (gasp) separate ways yesterday after five hours of fun in Orlando and I arrived in NJ around 10 to the open arms of my padres. I leave for Europe today after a quick fun day with Mom while Josh visits people in DC. After I get back on the 25th I will post pictures, feelings, thoughts, and concerns about being back. Also, friends, I have no cell number anymore, so I have none of your numbers, so if you can, email me your numbers so I can call when I get back!

Parque Tyrona - The promised Land

2010-05-08T11:10:00.002-03:00

With all the heat and stuffy cheap hostel rooms its hard to sleep past seven, so we´ve been making the most of these past few days. And oh how amazing they´ve been! Our party grew in numbers after we picked up a traveler named Jonathan from our bus to Santa Marta. Since he turned out to be super cool we sorta just adopted him, and our little group began what was to be one of our last great advetures in South America as if we had all been traveling together for years.
We took a 5 k bus ride to Taganga, famed for its ¨gringo explosion¨ but after a 15 minute hike one does arrive at nice beaches.
After some fresh juice we hopped on a bus and drove the pretty, curvalicious 5 k back to Santa Marta, packed up, bought a few last minute provisions and got on the 5,000 pesos a person mini bus to Parque Tayrona.

Whenever I think of this magical place and say its magical name it has been shrouded in mystery and suspense for me. Ever since Colombians have been telling about their country they have insisted that this place is the most beautiful place in Colombia and that I have to go there. For Josh and I it has been a sort of Mecca for our trip. We've kept it as out ending goal. From the bottom of the Andes we will make it all the way to the top of Colombia!!!! was our motto and we did it! This place was just as magical as they all said it would be, and much more of a paradise than I ever imagined.
After a guard searched our stuff and confiscated our bottle of auguardiente (gulp, didn´t know you had to smuggle it it!!) we took a 2,000 pesos a person jeep ride to the head of the trail, put on out backpacks and started sweating. The hike took us about two hours, and with the packs on it was hard, but along the way there were distractions enough. We had paused for a second to breathe when I pointed at a mango tree and slightly above a whisper exclaimed: Monkeys!! There were around ten monkeys just jumping and swinging from tree limb to tree limb, one guy was really into shaking the tree, maybe one was trying to throw stuff at us but he needed to work on his aim. Anyway, we were super close to them and it was pretty awesome.
When we finally made it to the park just before dusk we paid the somewhat high prices to pitch our tents (15,000 a person at the Cabo sight), set em up and then ran the ocean to get a quick rinse off. Even in the dark I could tell it was amazing, but its real beauty was revealed to me the next day.

Yes, as you can see from the photos I borrowed from the internet with no intention of returning them, these beaches are divine. And the camp site was nice too, grassy and covered in palm trees. We saved a lot of money by bringing our own food and for two amazing days our lives consisted of tuna, beans, rice, books, the ocean and soaking in some sun. We are here during the low season so we sometimes had a more out of the way beach all to ourselves, and when we didn´t we laughed at the Israeli's crazy tatoos or the British couple's pda. Nothing could get us down.

For now this place is only reached by foot or by boat. I hear rumors of cable cars, and I can only imagine how some hotel mogels would like to get their hands on some of this virgin jungle. But for now this place remains primitive with public bathrooms, an overpriced restaurant, tents, hamocks, and people who come to enjoy this amazing bit of untouched nature.

I was really sad to leave, but we tried to do it in style by leaving in a boat. Unfortunatly this turned out to be less dignified than imagined. They sold too many seats and I had to sit on the floor of the speed boat fighting sea sickness as I was looking sideways the whole time. We left the boat soaked and glad to be on dry land.

We spent the night in Santa Marta because the beds are so damn cheap there!! and then said our goodbyes to Jonathan as he headed to Venezuela and we back to Cartagena.

Its hard to imagine that there are only about three days left to this trip! This trip, this adventure, this blog, its become my life, and while I am super excited for Philly, for time with family, and living in the peace of my parents nest, and catching up with old friends I can not imagine not being in South America for now. This reality will change whether I can imagine it or not, but three days!! It seems an impossibility that I just can't fathom, or wrap my mind around.

Anyway, for our last night in Cartagena we have a fancy dinner planned with Mike, and then we spend two days in Bogota. Josh flies to DC; I to NJ, and then the next day I fly off to visit Mia in Europe until the 25th of May. After that I will go home and upload lots and lots of photos to the blog!!!

So if you don't hear from us for a little bit don't loose heart, the blog has a few good posts in it yet!!

Santa Marta

2010-05-04T10:43:00.002-03:00

Yes Gabi, we have tried fried arepa con huevo, more than once in fact in Josh´s case. Its fried goodness is like a magnet for our little greasy fingers...yummmm.

And on that note, we have made it to Santa Marta, a beautiful beach town north of Cartagena. It was founded by Rodrigo de Batidas in 1525 as a place for him to live while plundering the incalcuable riches of the Tayronas. The Tayronas decided not to fight this fight with one hand behind their back and threw all they had at the Spanish and it proved to be the end of them. By the end of the century they were no more and their gold belonged to Spain. The city was soon overshadowed by Cartagena, but Simon Bolivar died there after bringing independance to six South American countries. Can you name them all? It also houses Latin America´s oldest church which I didn´t find that impressive or old looking.
The city isn´t as old looking as Cartagena, nor as colorful or beautiful, but it does have a kick ass sunset. We spent the afternoon with a new friend from the US of A named Jonathan and ate amazing street food for dinner after we walked the streets with cold beers. The weather here is mercifully less hot than Cartagena and a nice breeze seems to follow us everywhere but out four dollar a night hostel room. Today we are heading to Taganga (dubbed the gringo paradise the blew up to soon) a fishing village 5 k from Santa Marta and then we head to the infamous Parque Tayrona, but only so that Gabi stops bugging us to have fun there!

Exploration and the Arrival of Mike

2010-05-03T11:25:00.002-03:00

We have some exciting news to announce over here in Cartagena. As of two days ago, this next week will no longer only be about the adventures of Josh and Julia. This week a new traveler joins us all the way from apparetnly allergy infested Washington DC. GWU alumnus Michael Jacobs arrived two days ago in the afternoon of a hot, sunny, and steamy day here in Catagena and was welcomed with hugs, a little sweat, and smiles. We took a lovely airconditioned taxi back to our Hotel Holiday and the fun began!
We´ve been exploring Cartagena, eating a lot of fish, and hitting the beach. Mike´s already burned.
The city of Cartegena is amazing to just walk around and explore. It was founded in 1533 by yet another greedy Spaniard named Pedro de Heredia. There was lots of gold, and an important port so differnt people were always trying to steal this fine city from the Spanish.(little taste of their own medecine if you ask me). First it was pirates, then the French, then some guy from Basque, amd most famously Sir Francis Drake´s attack in 1586 caused good ol´ Pedro and his archbishop to flee until they paid bunches of money (around 200 million of today´s US dollars). Drake left, but not before destroying half the city. Oh, those Brits...
The attacks continued, resulting in the amazing, and beautiful, city walls that surround the old city. By 1756 the city was impregnable. There is also a giant fort, and beautiful wall tops that now house cafès and great view points to watch the sun set which is all that really matters in the end.
Actually, this history all really does matter because it's what makes Catagena so different from the rest of Colombia. This now impenetrable port was a slave port, and continued to bring in people from all over the world as time went on. According to our friends, while the rest of South America was receiving a lot of immigrants (places like Buenos Aires) fleeing war and persecution, Colombia was way to wrapped up in its own civil wars to attrack many new citizen seeking refugees. Cartagena was the only place that continued to recieve people from different parts of the world, and it is even rumored to have a few Jews. I think I even saw one the other day!
Today Cartagena is filled with more black people than I´ve seen since I got on the A train heading to Harlem when I visited Patrick last August. But the diversity is outstanding.
At night, young girls put on their finest to strut through the old city in impossibly high heels and incredibly short dresses on the arms of their chicos, while older couples walk towards outdoor bars in old colonial squares in slighly more modest attire. We walk around, like cartoon characters, always in about the same outfit since we have so few, sticking out like sore thumbs but happily people watching from a bench, or perched on an old city wall overlooking the ocean.
So far Cartagena has been good to us, but today we head to Santa Marta to continue our adventures. After that we head to the much talked about Parque Tyrona!!!!!

Cartegena - Muy Caliente

2010-05-01T17:01:00.002-03:00

You know how when you fly some place that is maybe a little tropical, and not super industrialized? And the airport is small so you climb down some stairs off the back of the plane. You were just in some place cold and familiar, and your foot hits the first step, and then the second, and then you take a deep breath and that smell hits you. Sort of sweet, and warm and humid, and it blows over your body and a little presperation forms on your forehead, and you smile because you know you have arrived at a place that is going to be different, full of color and amazing. I have felt this feeling a few times in my life, once when I arrived in Israel after being in Poland, it happens when you go to Florida, and it for sure happened again when I went to Anguila after graduation with my family.
Well, two days ago, as I took that second step off our plane from Bogota, I breathed the Cartegena air deeply and felt it again.
Our now very strict daily budget led us to a corner where we hopped on a bus and headed for the old city where we hoped a bed awaited up at the cheapest hostel in town: Hotel Holiday. And that´s exactly what I have felt like since I got here: on holiday.
The old city is pretty well preserved and every buiding is pained a different color and has many of those colonial wooden balconies I´ve grown so fond of. Most of these old buildings are also accesorized with climbing plants that display an amazing vartiety of flowers. There are tons of people in the streets, hawking fruits, vegetables, phone calls, you name it, and thier shouts and music coming from windows, doorways, and cell phones spills out into the street and into our hostel window.
We´ve been walking around, chilling on the beach, taking refuge in shopping malls and supermarkets with airconditioning and pausing in front of fans at the Modern Art museum. The guide book was right. You´ve got to wake up early and spend the middle of the day resting away from the sun.
Today, for the first time, we did it right and got up at eight. At that time of the morning the chillfrom the night air is still hanging around, but by nine the sun has banished it and by 12 you´ve got to be out of the sun. We spent the morning at the modern art museum and then walked around. Dripping, we sat on a nice big stoop to catch our breaths and enjoyed a breeze coming down the street from the ocean. A man selling limeade wheeled his way towards us on the wings of an angel, and I motioned for him to pull over near us. Two cups at 500 each seemed like a bargain, and he even gave us some extra after we had taken our first incredible sips. As he rolled away I tried to drink slowly, but it was too cold and delightful.
I listend to Josh loudly munch his ice after he had drained all the liquid from his cup, but I kept mine rolling around my mouth trying to savor every bit of cold as I flicked it around with my tongue.

Yes, We Are Totally Still Into Natural Salty Wonders....

2010-05-01T16:26:00.003-03:00

The next day we headed to Zipaquira where lies the famous Salt Cathedral. This was the mother of all Lord Of The Ring sights, so get ready but first a funny Colombian story:
When we got to the mine we headed towards the entrance and a guard asked us if we had our tickets. Oops! We said, we haven´t. He told us to meet him near the stair case...Once there he told us that if we bought tickets at the ticket office they would be seventeen thousand a piece, but he had three in his pocket that he would be willing to sell us for less. Dani agreed to meet him in the bathroom in two minutes, and feeling like he´d just made a drug deal Dani headed to and back from the bathroom after a successful mission. So sketchy...I´m loving this...
So back to my other story..
Back in the day, like, way back in the day, there was a big salty sea over Bogota (sounds like Bolivia and the Salt Flats, right). When temperatures warmed the sea dried up probably leaving something like what we saw in Uyuni. Then..(drum roll)...the forces at be that push up giant slabs of earth did so and formed the mountains that make up the area around Bogota. In the process the salty earth was pushed under the mountains and great pressure was exerted on it. It resulted in a great underground deposit of salt rock.

The Natives figured out that when it rained the water that come from the mountain was salty. They would put this salt water over fire and in their clay pots they would be left with salt that they traded and used to create power and wealth. When the Colonists came they did what they do best and forced the Natives to mine the area. Later, safer more humane methods were used to mine the salt, and today we are left with a three level mine, and this cathedral I mentioned earlier. How did that happen? Well some Colombian miners got creative and while getting rid of the salt they decided to build a great momunent to God and create an amazing underground Cathedral. First you walk along a long salty corridor with a station for each of the passions. In each station is a cross and some places to kneel. There is this amazing circular room where blue lights light the ceiling. Obviously its the heaven room, representing where Jesus went after he arose from the dead and left his coffin while sleeping soldiers snoozed. Then there is this series of balconies where you can look out into the Cathedral below, and then you make it down to the Cathedral itself. There is a small chapel where mass is held every Sunday, a giant room where they have weddings, and then a smaller room that represents death. Some genius carved these immense columns into the walls of the Cathedral, and someone carved out an impressivly massive cross in the main part of the church that is supposedly the largest underground cross in the world. Remeber, this is all happening 800 or so meters below the ground...

the following photos are taken from the internet:

supposedly the biggest underground cross in the world...but really its an absence of cross as Josh pointed out...since its made of air and light...

the cieling of the 'heaven' room lit up all blue

one of the stations for the passion

a (rather tacky if you ask me) reproduction of Adam and God´s hands touching in the main Cathedral

The whole place was dramatically lit up and felt a little cheesy, but none the less I was blown away by the sheer magnitude of it all. The cavernous size of the rooms, the hight of the ceilings, the impossible perfection of the circular rooms and massive circular columns...it was impressive and magnificent.
After we were all salty (supposedly the air down there is really good for your lungs) we headed to lunch. We ate in what was basically some woman´s house, and she served us this big platter of meat and half a chicken (female). The meal is a typical Bogota delight that begins with F...Josh isn´t around to remind me of it! and is amazing. It consists of Colombian morcilla which is filled with rice and peas as well as blood stuff, papas criollas, chorizo, beef and fried plantains. Oh, and of course our half a female chicken that came complete with tasty lungs, and the eggs that had yet to leave her body (the yolk - very tasty as well).
We then drove to another town which was literally hidden away in the mountains (no help from the road signs here) where one of the biggest dairy factories in Colombia is located. They have a little supermarket filled with their products near by. This supermarket also has delectable desserts all lined up and ready to give me a lactaid attack like no other. So what did I do (obvioulsy I had forgotten my pills at home)? I forged ahead and tried it all!!! Josh´s passion fruit cheese cake was amazing, my mille ojas was delish, and everything else that had been picked out was amazing. I was especially intrigued and impressed by Adriana´s choice. It was a container with cheese that was kind of like a dry cottage cheese, arequipa (Colombian version of dulce de leche) and jam. Amazing to say the least.
At this point in the day the sun finally came out and of course stayed out, but early the next morning we hopped on a plane (yes!! you read it right!!) for Cartagena!
And hour later we were there and while I´m sure I´ll look back on our bus tour of South America with fond nostalgia, flying really is the way to go.

The Rain in Colombia Mainly Falls in Bogota

2010-04-30T19:19:00.004-03:00

At this time of the year, Bogota is cold and rainy, but we recieved a warm welcome from old friend Dani and his girlfriend Adriana. Dani played Ulitmate on the original Cadillacs and has since then moved back to Bogota where he works and lives with Adriana. We were lucky enough to get picked up in a car again and we drove through the darkened sprawling streets of Medellin towards their apartment. The apartment has one other resident worth noting, and that is their toe biting, cutest pug ever dog named Rolo.

The next morning, with Rolo´s help, we made breakfast and then got a tour of the center and down town from Adriana who is kinda on vacay. We checked out the Candelaria, the oldest neighborhood in Bogota which is now very trendy but still run down enough to feel authentic, and walked to lots of museums that were all closed. We did however get into the Botero museum where we took a tour and learned a lot more about this famous artist who I never need to see again, and ate a soup called ajiaco which is a local specialty and delish. It consists of broth, meat, corn and potato when it gets to you, but then you can add the rice, avocado and capers that comes on the side. It also comes with a banana for later.

That night, Adriana made arepas (with Josh´s help) and some filling that comes from where´s she´s from near the Venezuelan border (my vagueness is due to its totally non-kosherness). Dinner was great, but we were soon in bed, all exhausted from our various days.

The next day we headed out on our own and went to the Gold Museum. This was supposed to be the mother of all gold museums, and who ever said that was underestimating! The place has so much gold in it that some of the doors are vaulted, and everything has an explanation in Spanish and English. Our eyes were red spirals of exhaustion by the time we finished but I learned so much!!! An unlike Peru, there is so much to go with the explanations. None of this, well, this drawing is what things used to look like until those Spanish idiots melted it all down...No way. The Spanish did melt a lot of Colombian gold down, but since so much of it was buried (much of the civilizations that were once dominant in Colombia had already faded away and been buried by the time the Spanish arrived) that there are hundreds of gold figures, gold sticks to get the lime out of gold containers to activate coca leaves with, gold breast plates, thousands of gold nose and ear rings, ect. There is also endless information about the different tribes, what things were used for and how they were made. It's a must see.

That night we made dinner for our hosts and we stayed up drinking aguardiente since Dani was taking the next day off to hang out with us! When I left the boys they were waiting for a coke delivery so they could make Fernet and Cokes and relive the old BA days...

Bye Bye Medellin, I'm gonna miss you so

2010-04-27T11:02:00.003-03:00

The rest of our trip in Medellin was just amazing. Sorry picture loving folks, you'll have to wait for a later post, but hopefully the wordy types will be satisfied. Weekends in Medellin are divina. People get dressed up even nicer than their everyday garb and head out to the Poblado neighborhood for shots, music and dancing. Friday we had a relaxing day and checked out the cemetary and the view from a small mountain in the middle of the city. Medellin is narrow and long and its cool to see the whole thing spilling out of the valley up into the surrounding mountains.

After a bit of rest we got ready for our big Friday night. We had tickets to see Bomba Estereo, an electric Cumbia band from Bogota. They are pretty well known in this part of the world, but the concert was in a tiny place called El Deck which is more of a bar than a place to have concerts, but they managed to squeeze in way more people than any fire code would have allowed. Oh wait, what fire code?

El Deck is a really cool place, with a nice outside and inside bar, and shiny cds making wall art outside. We actually ran into one of Rox's sister's friends and running into people in a new place always makes me sorta excited.

We also had our first celebrety moment brought to you by Juliasabroadblog.blogspot.com. This guy came up to me before Bomba went on and said, Hey! I recognize you from your blog! Ever the skeptic I was amazing at how long I had been out of the game for and thought this guy was using some crazy new pick up line. Um, ok, thanks, I responded thinking all the while that it was crazy that blogging had replaced the, I think I've met you before, pick up line.

Turns out he really has read our blog. As Josh explained to me later, he has all Medellin web content sent to his inbox and our blog ended up in there! So...shout out to that guy...thanks for reading! Sorry I thought you were trying to pick me up!

The concert was amazing. You all should really check out the band if you've never listened to them before. The Cumbia outside of Argentina doesn't make your ears want to bleed, it actually makes you want to dance!!! And dance we did. We were literally soaked through by the time we left the place and thouroughly enjoyed ourselves.

The next day we were tired but headed out to Piedra de Peñol. It is litterally a giant stone, I'll have to post photos later so you can visualize it better (or click the above link), but the stone sits on top of a mountain and is over a thousand steps in the air high and two times as wide at places. Once you slowly climb to the top the view is something out of the land before time, or maybe the Hobbit. The resevoir below is dotted with little islands. Some are covered only in trees, some with houses, and sail boat and jet skis break up the serene surface and many inlets while others remain isolated and in perfection. We had a beer and then hiked up to the highest point on the man made structure and enjoyed the quiet and the view for quite a while. It was really incredible. Afterwards we headed to the town below where all the bottoms of all the buildings are decorated with colorful bas relief pictures of flowers, horses, la piedra, ect. We had a nice lunch near the water, and I finally got to order the fish that Rox had gotten in Santa Fe, and we headed back to Medellin full and tired from our upwards and downwards hikes. That night we made it as far as Pizza 1969 Gourmet where I filled my not even very hungry belly with amazing and creative pizza and then we rolled ourselves into bed.

The next morning we awoke early to a feast. Roxi's parents had made pan de yuka in the shape of horse shoes, arepas filled willed juicy pulled beef amazingness, fresh fruit, fresh juice, all the black coffee a girl could ever need and one more morning with their amazing family. It was way better than the pancake breakfast we had made them the morning before, but its not our fault Colombian breakfasts are so awesome. Being with Rox's family was an amazing experiance I'll never forget. They welcomed us into their home and made us feel at home at all times. It was the next best thing to being with my own family after so long away from a mom or dad. Anyway, if you haven't gotten it by now they were amazing.

We spent our last hours watching Frisbee and then headed to the bus station for the last long ride. We were super sad to say goodbye to Roxi, but the promise of the beach lurks ever closer in the background urging us onwards and fowards. By dark we had entered to cold mountainy area where one finds Bogota...

Zapote

2010-04-25T00:29:00.002-03:00

And now its time for another chapter of Photos of Josh with Fruit. This time, handsomly standing in Roxi's kitchen, Josh dispays for us the Zapote. Its one of the many Colombian fruits that looks big but inside has big ol' seeds and little fruit. Still delish though.

Botanical Gardens and Parque Explora

2010-04-23T14:30:00.007-03:00

Two days ago, we hit up some fun lugares in Medellin. First we headed to the Botanical Gardens for some outdoor time. There were saw plenty of amazing orchids, which happen to be Colombia's national plant. They grow so well in the tropic climate...so much better than in my dorm room Junion year...

Can you spot which massive reptile is hiding in this tree?

I mean, who knew this color existed in nature?

Next we headed to the Parque Explora which houses an aquarium, fun games that test and teach physics, and various other interactive fun. Below are a few photos of things we braved the intense sun to test out. And these were just what was outside the building! So much more fun awaited us.

they are big on centripital force

get my mind out of the gutter...

After scientific fun we headed into the aquarium. I'm pretty sure the last aquarium I was in was in Camden when I went to the Hun prom with Arron Weinstien. Or maybe it was in Kentuky the summer after that with camp...anyway, I forgot how much I love aquariums!!

these are the same kind of pyranas we fished for in Bolivia

Next we got to go to this other place where we did more physical fun. We played games, competed for who could kick a ball harder, use their brain waves to move a ball farther, ect. The coolest part was the bat maze. They have this little room that is pitch dark. You put on a vest with magic bat powers that come from the two buttoned device in the front pocket. When you push both buttons at the same time, the device sends out a sonar and makes a beeping sound. If you are very close to something it beeps really fast. If you are farther away it beeps more slowly. You go into the room and have to pass through a maze using only this! It was pretty cool.

I watch Roxi go through (get lost in) the maze from tvs outside the room

I left tired from the heat and a little physical exertion (all in the name of testing physics) and ready for a rest. And we headed back to Rox's pad to rest before we went to Il Forno for a delish Italian dinner with an amazing view overlooking Medellin and all those tiny lights. As usual, we got back to Rox's exhausted and ready for the cama.

mangostino

2010-04-23T14:25:00.000-03:00

Pictures of Josh with fruit: Mangostino edition

Fernando Botero

2010-04-23T13:59:00.005-03:00

The other morning, when Roxi was feeling a little under the weather, Josh and I ventured out on our own into Medellin. We hit up the Museo de Antioquia which houses an impressive collection of Colombian art. The entire third floor was dedicated to Fernando Botero, a Medellin born artist. He is famous for his tendancy to make all of his subjects incredibly fat. He even did a painting of Mary Antoinette and Louis XIV with both of them looking like they weigh three hundred pounds. Here were a few of my favorites to give a small taste:

Botero even manages to make a guitar look fat

fat statue

Botero's Jesus

Not Botero but a sweet piece representing two sides of Colombia, violence and music

Botero's fat statues in public outside the museum

big naked booties in public

Ultimate en Medellin

2010-04-22T20:24:00.003-03:00

After over two months of life without Ultimate we got quite the dose when we arrived in Medellin. Our first night in town we hit up the small field next to the big soccer field where a Medellin team was playing. While I knew the roars coming from the crowd weren't for Ultimate, but for its more popular cousin, I was excited none the less! We grabbed some beers and papas criollas from a stand outside the field and headed into the stands. That's right Ulitimate players of Argentina. They play on a lit field, at night, with stands. Its amazing. They also have A and B levels of play and way more than four teams. While I will love Ultimate in Argentina forever, I can now only imagine how a newly arrived Colombian feels when they arrive at their first pick up in BA.
We watched the end of one game and then another and it was fun to soak in who is a member of the Ultimate seen in Medellin. As usual it is a diverse crowd and there are a lot more young people hanging around Ultimate than in BA. Of course its an alternative scene but also very very sporty.
The next night we headed to a smaller sandy field where I practiced with Wicca, Rox's team, and Josh practiced with the boy's team that shares their practice field. I hadn't gone for so much as a jog since Salta, and needless to say I am still very sore two days later. But I had an amazing time playing, and I got to play with all girls for the first time!!! I also almost had an excersized enduced asmtha attack...but what's new. The girls on Rox's team are amazing, fun loving and mostly very athletic even though I'm sure most of them never played a sport before they found Ulitimate. It made me so excited to find a team in Philly!!
At the end of the practice Roxi had some really bad news. For those of you who haven't heard, a 16ish year old girl named Carolina in Bogota made a bad lay out and died later in the hosital from injuries to her head. Her funeral was two days ago, and I just wanted to tell anyone who hadn't seen anything about it on Facebook. I've never been very good at knowing the right thing to say in situations like this, so I'll leave it at I was shocked and upset that something like this happened in a sport like Ulitmate or at all and that I can't imagine what her family is going through and I think its amazing how the Colombian frisbee community is handling it just as that, as a big nationwide Ulitmate community.
After the practice we all headed over to a place where they sell Avena, a drink made by blending oatmeal, milk and cinnamon and everyone hung around for a while until we drove home and I passed out hard and woke up in pain the next morning. All in all it was an amazing evening, tainted by some bad news, that still made me so excited to get back to Ultimate in the States.

Santa Fe De Antioquia Y La Puente Occidente

2010-04-22T12:07:00.007-03:00

Santa Fe is the oldest town in the department of Antioquia where Medellin is located and before Medellin stole the spot light it was the capital. As soon as one arrives in St. Agustin you can see that this is old history. The modern construction boom, public transport, paved streets, non of that even made it here to this little colonial town that sits below Medellin. Due to its location it is also hot. Really hot. The whole day I was dripping with sweat, sunscreen and lord knows what else but I still loved it. We headed to the main square that has a feria selling crafts, fruits, and sweets local to the town. We tried a few and then hit up a local place for lunch. Josh went with the menu del dia (meatballs), I got the talapia, but Rox won best choice of the day with robalo, an amazing fish that I can't wait to order next time I see it.
We then headed out into the heat and slowly walked around the town. Everything was closed, and every museum we passed was permanently closed, but there were enough churches and little plazas to keep us occupied.
Rox told us a funny story about the monument below:
The guy on the top was a conquistador and in charge of Santa Fe de Antioquia at some point. He took a native wife who you can see below, and on the other side of the monument his Spanish wife is also memorialized in bronze.

However, when you take a closer look the story gets good. Even juicy. When the native wife found out about the Spanish wife she went into a rage and supposedly cut off her husbands penis, tesitcles and all according to the monument. You go girl..

local corn in one hand, husbands junk in the other

Josh and Rox on a typical street in the hot, lazy town
(the streets are deserted because EVERYONE is reclining in a chair watching the Barcelona game)

one of the five churches we saw in around six square blocks

Next, we got into one of the three wheeled motorized vehicles like the red one in the picture above. They fit three in the back, so we got into our chariot and headed for the Occidente Bridge. The bridge was built over the Rio Cauca and designed by Jose Maria Villa between 1887 and 1895. It was one of the first suspension bridges in the Americas and became a national monument in 1978 and now only small cars, our moto-taxi, motocyles, and bikes can traverse it.* According to our seven year old guide (who provided much more info than the guide book) Maria Villa was a drunk and also the architect of the Brooklyn Bridge. Who knew?

riding dirty

the bridge from one end (I know the science behind suspension bridges works out mathematically and all, but come on, this does not look like it should support anybody)

Rox goes first

another great success delivered to you by ten-second-timer

old bridge, old car

Josh finally gets his maracuya and lulo mix that Gabi suggested
and he is happy

nothing better on a hot afternoon than a juice on ice

our chariot returns over the bridge

This bus is called a Chiva - Chivas are used for pary buses, to tansport people, and to transport goods. And they do it in such style..

Our trip to Santa Fe was a great success. Yesterday, outside a museum, this kid was asking us questions for a survey he was doing for school and he was very surprised we didn't come back from Santa Fe the color of a tomate del arbol.

tomate del arbol

So we made it back tired, hot and in need of rest, but still white as ever. That night we went to an amazing salsa place where the band is a group of young people who apparently show up when it moves them. They don't practice and the roster is a little different evertime you go, and they play an amazing chaos of salsa. Josh and I did dance a surprising amount for how soar we still are from frisbee practice, and I'll like to say that by the end of the night we had a few steps down pat. We have a long way to go, but I'd say we've also come a long way from the first time we tried to dance salsa together in BA.

*Thank you to my Lonley Planet for historical info on the Puente de Ocidente that I couldn't remember on my own.

Family Fun in Medellin

2010-04-21T12:34:00.006-03:00

Medellin, Medellin, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...

We arrived in Medellin on a sunny sunny morning. Rox picked us up in a car (amazing), and we headed to the apartment where she lives with her parents on a nice, quiet street in Medellin. I love the apartment for a few reasons. Of course it is nice, and the view is amazing (especially at night), but my favorite part is that it is full full full of fresh fresh fruit. There also seems to be every type of fruit ever created here, but every time we are introduced to a new fruit we are told that there are like...3 more varieties of this one fruit not present let alone the other ten kinds in the fruit bowl.
We headed out into Medellin, walked around and then headed into their beautiful metro system. This system puts DC's to shame. It is the cleanest place I've seen in South America, and people are so respectful of each other, the place, and of each other. Roxi said that when they opened it they first did a big ad campaign telling people that this was their metro, and they should want to keep it clean and respect it because its theirs. It worked!!
After a metro ride we did a free transfer to the metro gondalas that go up to the top of the city. Medellin, like La Paz and many other cities we've visited, is in a valley so you have to do a lot of climbing to get to the edges of the city. With the gondola its just a quick, insulated ride above poeple's houses. Lines were huge because this metro line takes people to a new nature reserve that just opened, but lines for it were two hours long so we skipped that and enjoyed the ride.

Rox and Josh in the gondola

at a national library with a kick-ass view

After, Roxi asked us if we wanted to go to a picnic with her sisters. I was like...um...I can't think of anything in the world I would rather do. I LOVE Sunday picnics, I love being with family (even if its not my own), and oh, did I mention that I love picnics?

and now, another instalment of Josh with fruit: Josh and the uchuva

The picnic was great, Rox's sisters were there, and one with her two kids who are really cute and really great kids. I left full of good food, family fun, and the magic of picnics.

the breakfast spread that is going to make mom hop on a plane as soon as she reads this post: fresh cheese, fruit, eggs, and arepas with butter...Roxi's mom is the best

Our next big adventure involving family was a trip to the finca where Roxi's grandma lives. The house is really old and sits on a dairy farm in the lush green mountains outside of Medellin. Since the house is old its been accumulating things for a long time, and there are collections of everything you can think of. To name a few of my favorites: pennats, old irons, mugs, rosaries, scarves, horseshoes, baskets, saddles, and keys.

beautiful courtyard, too bad the fountain got covered up

Roxi's grandma is very cool and fed us lunch and lots and lots of coffee. We all chatted for a while, and then we checked the place out and then relocated to in front of a fire Josh was only too happy to make. Josh taught Roxi how to play truco, and she taught us how to play pinche. It was amazing to be in someone's home, relaxing, and playing cards with someone other than Josh. I didn't realize how starved I had become for families and their homes.

Josh's tends the fire and is very happy

Josh and Roxi play cards

Observations

2010-04-19T12:23:00.002-03:00

So there are a number of things I forget to put in posts as I rush to finish them that I don't want to forget and that I want you all to know about!
The first one I was just reminded of when I saw a tuperware in Roxi's fridge full of jello (Gabi we are at Rox's house but more on that later!!!) When we got to Bolivia, jello, or gelatina, made an appearence and all through Bolivia and Peru it was the star of the show. I mean these people are wild for gelatina. It comes in all colors, shapes and sizes. You can get it in a cup with cream on top, you can get in in a tube like bag and suck it out, you can get it at a restaurant in a metal cup, or on your bus in styrophone (another star of the show down here but so much worse for the environment than jello). I just thought it was funny to see all the adults sucking jello down like US elementary kids.
But more on Colombia. If I haven't stressed it enough yet this country is seriously amazing (but don't tell anyone - while it would be great for Colombia if you all started visiting it wouldn't be great for me beacause I wouldn't get to be the only gringa here!!!) The variety of everything is outstanding. Because they don't have seasons they grow and harvest ALL YEAR LONG. There is no period of the year when you just can't get something because its not in season. Not only that, but all year long there are so many different kinds of fruits that not even the Colombians seem to be able to remember all their names. They are always asking us which ones we've tried and there always seem to be more and more!! Its the same with the flowers that we saw in St. Agustin. In one person's front yard they had so many varieties growing on their front porch that you almost didn't notice that there were more growing wild in their yard!!!
And the people are just as beautiful and varried as their produce and flowers. People here come in all colors. There are the blackest of black skins and the whitest of whites, but more often it is everything in between. And these people are beautiful - b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l. So far we've only been to two major cities, and the women of Medellin were quick to point out to us that the women of Cali are t-a-c-k-y (sorry Carlos!) but the women of Cali all seem to be in the highest of the high heels and everyone has a mani/pedi - even the men. When I told Rox's sisters that all the women in Cali had flowers painted on their toes they rolled their eyes and said, "See? They are so trashy!" I said they should see the nails in Harlem and they said black women do the same here too with their long-ass crazy eighties nails.
The women of Medellin are a little more classy and so well put together. My poor backpack's contents are doing their best but unfortunatly I do not have a little skinny belt to match all my outfits so I'll never fit in here...oh, and I'm blond, that's not helping either.
According to Rox's friend the city of Medellin has the worst air polution in all of South America, but it is still a beautiful tropic city with the most amazing weather ever. When it's winter is rains more, and when it summer the weather is perfect and sunny. For this reaosn all the women have perfectly tanned bodies that I hope to have too as soon as I get to the beach!!!
And of course, just like our Colombian friends back in BA, the Colombians really do have the best onda. They are always offering their drinks, snacks, ect. to you, they are so happy to show you around, and we are the victems of this amazing Colombian hospitality right now! If we come home fat is Rox's mom's fault. We are staying at their beautiful apartment and this morning she fed us arepas with cheese and eggs and fruit and drinks. I was in heaven!!!! By the way, arepas are a corn flour based food item here in Colombia that is made into a flat disc and fried. You can eat anything you want on it or stuff it with a egg and then fry it again. Needless to say they are amazing.
So expect more posts from Colombia soon!! We are so very happy to be here but as we get closer and closer to the United States we are missing people more and more who are south and north of us. Anyway, its almost time to go to Rox's finca, or farm house where her grandma lives. Don't be too jealous!!!

Cali

2010-04-17T22:15:00.002-03:00

We got to Cali in the early evening, intending to hang around until we could meet up with our friend Carlos' sister. So what did we do? Obviously we went to the movies!! with our hiking backpacks and everything. It was great. We saw Date Night. If you don't see it you are missing out big time, its the best movie I've seen in a long time and while I was laughing way harder than everyone else (some of those jokes just don't translate) I didn't mind. Soon enough I'll be in a cinema filled with native English laughers.
When the movie got out we couldn't get in touch with the sister and we didn't have the address, so after hanging out with some kids that work at the mall we headed to one of the hostels in our guide book. Hostel Iguana is located in the nicest neighborhood in Cali and our room had a BIG bed so we sighed and overlooked the 20,000 per person a night fee.
The next day we went exploring. While we had heard not so great things about Cali from non-Colombians the city proved them all wrong. It gave us a sunny sunny day and being a walkable city, we walked it all. We soaked in our first big Colombian city and even enjoyed celebration for the 100 year anniversary of provence's existence with free shots of aguardiente, an orchestra and a group of autistic folk musicians. We then headed back where I discovered that one can get a manicure and a pedicure for 10,000 pesos. That's about five dollars for those of you still catching on. Five dollars. I told Josh and he said get one! I said you should get one too!!! and surprisingly he agreed.

proof of Josh's first pedicure (he kinda liked it and now his nails are so shiny)

After we got all dolled up and headed to El Solar, one of Cali's best restaurants, for the cena de la mes where we stuffed ourselves silly with amazing amazing food.
The next day we were tired and the weather was poopy so we hit up the artisinal market and then caught another movie. (Clash of the Titans - all that enthusiasm I have for Date Night...that's how much negative enthusiasm I have for this movie - I know many of you could have told me this anyway but don't see it). We hung out in the hostel and made a salad (salad, I'm so glad you are back in my life, I missed you) and then caught our eleven o'clock bus to Medillin. Here ends our quick visits, from now on we will be staying longer and enjoying more that Colombia has to offer in each city!! And we only have one more long bus ride...
And now for a few photos:

what seems to be the smallest merry go round in the world

a drink made with cane sugar and lemon - a must try - its delish

one of my favorite parts about Cali was the plaza filled with small tables and type writters. There were older men sitting at the tables typing away, or chatting and waiting for more business. I think this could be taking off in the States any day now, so dust off your type writer if your out of a job and take it to the streets!!!

St. Agustine

2010-04-15T22:51:00.006-03:00

We arrived in St. Agustine at night, and our cab driver/tourist info guru/local profe/sketch ball convinced us to stay in an apartment called Apartamentos Diana with our own bathroom and tv for 20,000 a night. That's around ten dollars which is what a bed in a six person dorm will cost you per person in some hostals. Sketchy but sweet. Bright and early the next morning we woke up ready to see the main attraction in St. Agustine which just so happens to be ancient statues. Some nearby volcanos got busy and had somehong like a shot putting contest five thousand years ago with volcanic rock. The locals decided to take advantage of this phenominon and got artsy. The often grotesque and sometimes straight up silly statues that resulted wee used to gaurs man made hills where the two local tribes buried their dead. We split our day into two parts. The morning was spent stretching our legs in the hills of St. Agustine. Los people do this leg of the journey on horse back, but when we heard we could save fifteen dollars each on the horses let alone what we would have had to pay for the guide and his horse by doing it on our own we jumped at the chance to avoid soar butts and empty pockets. Instead we had soar legs but we got to spend the morning and mid day wandering around looking for adventure and silly statues that no longer guard anythng and stand awkwardly together under protective rooves and fences.

getting silly with ten second time and some statues

As promised by our brand new Lonley Planet, the scenery is much more interesting than the statues encountered alone the way. As I puffed up hill after hill and my almost atrophied legs burned, I repreated: it about the journey, it's all about the journey, under my breath. And what a journey. Seeing the way people live outside cities has been one of my favorite parts of our jouney and this did not change that. As with the gold miners in Boliva, the poorish farmers (by US standards) of the mountains live surrounded by intensly colorful flowers that people in the States pay good money to import. The front porches were just filled with pots hanging from the ceiling or sitting on the floor just dripping with flowers. And nearby are their coffee or lulo plants and always always a banana tree or two or one hundred. We checked out what a coffee bean looks lime before roasting and by the way, it's white and slimy. Who the hell figured that one out. If anyone knows more about the history of coffee I'd love some comments about it!
After hiking back to town we had lunch and fruit juice at El Folgon and a conversation with Alexander from Switzerland And then headed to the archiological park. The entrance fee is 1500 but worth as the path is nice, they've got a lot of the good statues, and there is a museum exaining everything making our decision not to get a guide a good one.

by far the silliest of the faces

After the park my legs are dunzo but it was great to get out and hike again, something I hope to do more of in the future. We also tried some of the local fruits and fruit juices. The lulo was my favorite even though I'll always be a sucker for limonada. Josh also liked his maracuya juice and his mango juice was a bit watered down for me but tasty none the less. This morning we left St. Agustine and arrived in Cali in time to catch what for us is the new movie Date Night. It's the best movie I've seen in a long time and I think you should all go see it asap. I can't wait to be back in the states thougt for US comedies. Our rediclous slang just doesn't always translate and I'm just always laughing way louder than everyone else. Yes, I'm that girl. But I can't help it. Tina Fey is just so funny. And not to ramble, but besides this movie the high point in my day was eating good tuna fish for the first time since leaving the States. It was amazing... Ok enough for now... I'm just giddy with free wifi!

and back by popular request: pictures of Josh with exotic fruit:

Butt loads of buses

2010-04-15T22:19:00.002-03:00

so we've been taking a lot of buses lately. In took us around fifty five hours to get to Popayan in Colombia from Lima where we stopped at a hostel for the night before contiuing in bus for six more hours to St. Agustine, our first planned destination in Colombia. I have a love hate relationship with buses now. I love their prices. It cost us about fifty five dollars each to go all the was from Lima to Colombia and we got to enjoy amazing sceney you'd never see from a plane. You see people's houses, heir children playing in the front yard, people staring out window, working in fields, waching their flocks, eating, sitting and enjoying a minute's rest and a chat - a glimpse of so many people's lives. By you also spend many sleepless nigrs on aweful roads and my stomach may never recover from so much shaking...we are always gassy. We tried to joke about it - on the trip to La Paz from Uyuni we joked that it was like being INS giant version of one of those vibrating aparatises that is supposed to burn your fat away for you while you watch tv. Just sitting here burning lots of fat... We joked. Privatly I thougt that the US should have switched from waterbaording to putting suspected terrorists in my broken seat I'm e back of that bus. I would have to anyone all they wanted to know after an hour of that. Worse than discomfort is the fear that fills me after dark on buses... But I wrote a poem about that for your enrertainment and mine while bored on a bus. So here it goes:

Riding the Bus at Night

Riding the bus at night
Gives me such a fright!
Up to the highest hights we soar
Faster and faster our bus seems to roar
Careening around hairpin turns
With each one my stomach churns
And every time the wheel swings
Like a doll, my body it swings
All I want to do is sleep
Unable to stop images of our plunge into the canyon - so deep
But with each honk of a horn
A new nightmare is born
And I toss and turn into the night
Oh how this ride gives me a fright!

Have no fear, tonight we sleep horizontally in an apartment! No more buses for a few days!

A Taste of Lima

2010-04-13T23:40:00.002-03:00

We knew we would only get a taste of Lima since we decided to spend two days there, but turns out all we did was taste Lima.
We found ourselves with a chatty young cab driver that couldn´t believe we hadn´t tried food from the jungle of Peru where he is from. Fransisco insisted on taking us from our hostel to eat this food immedietly, and who were we to refuse? He said he had always wanted to show a tourist his side of Lima and I thought he was either going to kill us or feed us and I liked the odds that it would be the later.
Sure enough, he brought us to a dangerous part of Lima we never could have gone on our own (barrio Victoria) where we tried all kinds of unkosher delights and he wouldn´t let us pay. Se invito, se invito was all he had to say for us to know there was no hope of us paying. When a latin American says he is inviting you it is rude to protest.
So we also didn´t protest when he invited us to eat ceviche with him and his family the next day on his lunch break. We met him in the center and headed to Olivos where he lives. We picked up his wife and two sons from their house and laundry mat and headed to his favorite ceviche place. We each had a big plate and I ate mine right up even though my stomach was not doing to well from the night before. It was that good. Then, we got in the car and he said, ok, now we are going to eat at my wife´s aunt´s place. What??? we thought, more food? are you crazy? When we got their I had to puke, so I didn´t eat anymore, but Josh made up for it. He ordered rice and sea food thinking they would share it, but they wanted no part in it and poor Josh had to be rolled home.
Our lunch date wound up taking the whole afternoon and by the time Fransico got us back to the center all the museums were closed so we met up with a friend John we had met in El Chalten, made some dinner (and ate the last of the amazing olives they sell in Peru...I still dream of them), had some whiskey ginger ales and hit the town. We had a drink at a tourist nightmare and then when we headed back found this amazing bar right next to our hostel with a cover band playing classic rock. We danced away and then hung out with the band for a little bit not noticing that 4 o´clock had snuck up on us!!!
The next day we met up with our friend Katsu for lunch where we all shared ceviche, fish soup (divine) and fried fish and rice. It was way to much food again but so amazing and fresh! Then we walked around the area above the beach and drove around in Katsu´s new car. The sun was shining and for once we got lucky with the weather. According to Katsu it is often cloudy in Lima and then it is no picnic. But when the sun is shining off the ocean, and the poeple are out in their finest it is an amazing surfers city full of fresh fish, culture and wonderful things to do. I loved it and can´t wait to go back! After we left Katsu and John we reluctantly packed up our stuff, picked up our laundry and headed for the bus terminal for an epic 50 something hour bus jouney that would land us in Colombia. It wasn´t all one bus, but it was aweful...
But now we are here! We´ve made it! But more on that to come...

Staying In the A-10, aka, the Anti-Donovan McNabb

2010-04-13T22:43:00.002-03:00

It´s been a while since I´ve offered a word or six about or travels, but hey, what´s new? Julia is the star of this show - and quite the leading lady, she is - while I´ve been self-relegated to a bit role. But never fear, Julia will continue to churn out quality content and I will eventually produce a giant post that will most likely be published after returning to the States in Mid-May. But before then, a quick update on a long left alone story that featured heavily in the blog year: law school applications.
After the joyous process of trying to capture the essence of my being, why I want to be a lawyer, getting four credible people to endorse me, paying a small fortune to apply, receiving rejections and acceptances, I´ve finally made a decision about where I´ll spend the next three years: at Temple University in Philadelphia. It wasn´t my first choice, but then again, neither was George Washington, and that turned out pretty well. What´s important is that I´m really excited to start, get back into school, and become well acquainted with a new city.
So to all of you who have been supportive of me in this process, thank you so much, I truly appreciate it. So until my next post, just know that I´m eating as much cheap, delicious fruit as possible in Colombia!!

Cusco and the Sacred Valley

2010-04-11T17:18:00.004-03:00

Just a quick post to keep you updated!! Josh and I spent four amazing days in Cusco (except for the fevery afternoon he spent in bed). With our student discounted tourist ticket we saw many ruins to make up for our absense at Machupichu and even hired guides at two sights so that the beautiful ruins could be more than just a pile of rocks or what is sometimes a blown up pile of rocks. We learned that the Spanish suck for destroying so many amazing architectural feats, but even what remains is a beautiful and impressive reminder oh how incredibly advanced the Incan empire had become in such a short time without even the help of the wheel. Their most impressive monuments were built with stones quarried from 4 to 5 k away brought by men pulling the stones over logs. The heaviest stone we saw was at Saqsayhuaman was pulled from 5 k away and weighs 125 tons. In the same place they also carved the stones so that their arrangement would form the shape of a guinea pig (a national dish) or a llama. This sight also has ntural tunnels under it that were formed when the ancient lake that once filled the valley drained into the ground that are still being discovered. A while back twenty or so students went in to explore and the rope they were using as a guide back to the begining was cut (supposedly by a spirit of the Inca) and only the last two made it out alive.
They conquored most of South America in their short one hundred year rein often with out blood shead, and were so advanced that they could perform brain surgery. They also did crazy stuff like sacrifice children to keep volcanos from errupting and they manipulated the skulls of noble children so that their heads were cone shaped. This was said to make them more intelligent and obedient. They were opressive but allowed local governments to continue their governing if they gave in to conquest without battle and brought technilogical advancements with them everywhere they went. Besides the side of worship that involved sacrifice, I found myself being very impressed with the Incan religion all over again, just as I had six or so years before when I visited with my parents. Their ying and yang attitude towards the earth makes so much sense, and their worship of nature ensured that they respected it even if they used advanced technologies to bend it to their will. They brought water where there had been none (my favorite is the story of when Nasca was conquered - the son of the Inca was sent to take over the place when he fell in love with the cheif´s daughter. She told of them of their troubles with how limited the water supply was and so he had his soldiers build an aquaduct in a matter of a few days...the things men will do for a little action...), they made fountains in the middle of a mountains so they could be pure when entering the temples built nearby, they terraced the mountainside to make farming easier, and they cut steps into the highest of peaks. For them gold had value only in its beauty and its resemblance to the sun. The greed of the Spaniards that was to be their downfall was so foreign to them that they filled rooms with gold to ransom the Inca as if it was nothing. To them a specific kind of shell, or woven cloth had much more value than any amount of gold which they used to decorate their temples and not as currency. They knew that in order to take from the earth you had to give to the earth, and to give to the earth you had to take from the earth and everything revolved around this give and take. Its something I would like to emulate in my own life minus all the child sacrifice...and farm labor of course...
We also had an amazing experience in Ollantaytambo, a town our friend and Cusco expert Alex recommended we visit. The town is where the Inka made his last stand against the Spanish to keep them from getting to Machupiccu. The natives were slaughtered but Machupiccu was never discovered and its inhabitants were able to escape into the junlge and never heard of again. This has given way to the legand of the lost Incans...there is even a Tintin about it!.
We spent the morning exploring the ruins with a guide. The site is dividied into three parts: architecture, religious, and living spaces for the people. One of the coolest parts is that the town never stopped existing and the buildings haven´t changed since the Spanish arrived except for the addition of some fancy colonial buildings. All the buildings belong to the government and only the families who have lived in these houses since the Spanish arrived can live there and they cannot alter the houses (they have electricity and running water, but besides that they looked to be about the same). The religious part does not look the same since the Spanish pushed the lintel of the Temple to the sun off its posts and it now resides at the bottom of the mountain and they demolished all but the flat wall of the semi-curcular stucture which at one point was the temple. The decorative terracing is also now only covered in grass but our guide told us at one point it was all covered in flowers and medicinal plants...I can only imagine how that all looked...
The agricultural section is also unchanged and in use and we followed Alex´s directions to some secret ruins in someone´s feilds by the river. It was really cool to be the only people enjoying them...thanks Alex!
After we looked for lunch away from the plaza and found ourselves one crazy culinary adventure. When we ordered fresh guinea pig we argued about just how fresh it was going to be. Turns out it was fresh...real fresh.
Josh wanted to check out the pen with guinea pigs in the yard of the restaurant, and as we headed down some stairs we saw the two young male chefs walking out of the kitchen with a basket and boyish grins on their faces. We headed to the cuy (guinea pig in Spanish) pen and watched them pick and then break the neck of our lunch. The picture I got of the cuy as we approached is priceless...let´s just say he knew. We then hung out with them in the kitchen as they de-haired, gutted, dressed and then cooked our cuy in a pan with hot rocks and chatted up the two guys. By the time we ate we were so hungry that we didn´t care how recognizable our cuy still was. We avoided the head and held it by its paws and worked hard to get at the healthy meat. It was also served with the most amazing potatoes ever, and we got apple water on the house which is made by boiling apples and cinnamon in water, draining it and drinking the result! Delish with cuy by the way. With our bellies full of one of North American´s favorite pets we headed back to Cusco to catch a bus to Lima.
I promise to upload photos to facebook this week!!!

Santa Catalina Monestary

2010-04-05T16:40:00.004-03:00

One of the most expensive but coolest sites in Arequipa is the Santa Catalina Monestary. This monestary was closed to the public for 371 years, and founded in 1579, fourty years after the city was founded. It has housed poor nuns and very rich nuns alike and it is a small city within a city. The monestary was destroyed and rebuilt many times due to earthquakes and many of the wealthy nuns had their own little apartments with kitchens and little patios. There are street names and everything! When the nuns decided to open the monestary to the public they made the majority of it into a museum to fun the changes the monestary was making. For example, for the past fourty years the nuns have had electricity and modern stoves! We opted against a guide and wandered around reading the signs provided to us and explored the intimate quarters where these nuns had lived out their entire adult lives. I´ve uploaded some of the photos that were coolest to me...of course the ones to do with cooking!!!!

an old stone stove that had room for a fire underneath

the nuns were famous for their baked goods, almost each one had atleast one oven
next to the oven you can see some cooking tools on the counter

this device is a water purifier - the upside down cone is made from volcanic rock, water seeps out of the rock and into the pot below - it takes a while but seems pretty effective

another old stove

the last type of stove the nuns used before the monestary got electricity

It was a beautiful visit, even though it did cost us a whopping 30 soles it was totally worth every centavo. It was crazy to see this well preserved way of life from the past. Its hard for me to imagine a life behind those walls but I imagine for some women it was an option that involved a measure of freedom they never would have experianced outside of those walls. I plan on uploading the rest of the photos to facebook the next time I get the change which is much quicker and more efficient that blogspot at getting photos on the web.

Casa del Moral

2010-04-05T16:17:00.003-03:00

Just a quick post to show the incredible Casa del Moral, which was inhabited by many a ruling person in Arequipa during Colonial times. The house was restored to its former glory, and all the rooms but the few dedicated to a small art gallery are just like COLONIAL TIMES!!! (that one is for the Behar family).

imagine if the front of your house looked like this?

colonial water drain made from sillar

Josh in what we wish our new living room to look like

Processions for Pascua and Semana Santa

2010-04-04T20:14:00.003-03:00

Our time in Arequipa was spent during Semana Santa, or Holy Week which leads up to Pascua, or Easter. The city was up and about and ready for a Feriado, or a day off from work! Churches were decorated in their Easter fineness and incredibly life like scenes from parts of the resaurection were on display. Thursday night the celebration went to the streets as there was no work for most on Friday. The streets were free of traffic and lined with tables, benches, food stands and women with their pots and pans. As is our usual practice we didn´t hold back and we tried everything. We went to four churches in total.
We drank moliente - the moliente cart had five or six bottles of colorful liquids on one side, a pot with water and herbs in the middle and another misterious liquid on the side. One moliente has a little bit of it all and is good for the stomach. It is little heavy in a syrupy way and little sweet. We didn´t have any specific stomach problems to begin with, but I was glad we didn´t have any extra after we drank it!
We drank punch and a Diana - punch is a tea with fruit and anis, and a Diana is a drink with condensed milk, almonds, anis and maybe some other tasty spices. These drink were served at long tables with benches. It was very communal!
Skewers of beef heart and potatoes - tasty but leave you with bad breath...
We ate chifa - Peruvin Chinese food - noodles and chicken and rice.
We ate chocolate covered strawberries too!
The next night most restaurants were closed so we got some real Chifa and then headed to the new cinema to see Nine. On the way we crossed the plaza and bumbed into a big procession for Good Friday. They were walking around the square displaying and marching with all kinds of artifacts, or recreations of artifacts like a cross, the hankercheif with Jesus´face, and most impressivly with a giant glass coffin with a life size statue of Jesus after he was removed from the cross in it. Intense is the only word I can use to describe these people and religion.

Arequipa - Museo Santuaryios Andionos

2010-04-03T18:33:00.003-03:00

One of our first stops was the Museo Santuaryois Andionos which houses a collection of artifacts found on the summits of volcanoes in Arequipa including textiles, gold silver and bronze statues, wood carvings, ceramics, and of course a mummy! It tells the story of the children sacrificed by the Inca on top of the volcano as a means to appease the angry gods, and to stop erruptions.

The children chosen for this lucky fate were children of noble birth without a single imperfection or blemish. The most famous is Jaunita, named for her finder Johan, and scientists know she was never ill as a child because she was buried with a perfectly intact umbilical chord. During the time of the Inca, a child´s umbilical chord was dried and bits were fed to them if they got sick. Juanita never needed hers because she was perfect.

The children met a difficult end as they climbed to the summit of the volcano on empty stomachs, and wrapped in amazing blankets held together by a big silver pin. At the top they were given chicha, an alcoholic form, that put them to sleep. A quick bash on the right temple form a preist cracked her skull and ended her life. She was left in her grave with the above mentioned artifacts.

The volcanos created a need for Juanita to be buried but also are responsible for her discovery. Soon after she was buried her grave froze over and she remained perfectly preserved for centuries. When the volcano errupted in the nineties the ash heated and melted the ice freeing her and she was knocked from her grave by the trembling earth into a crater where she was found by a team looking for Inca artifacts. She even got sent to the US where scientists uncovered many of her secrets uncluding how she died, what she last ate...ect.

Unfortunatly Juanita wasn´t at the museum so we saw a different mummy but here are some photos!

artifacts buried with the children - dolls with faces made of gold or silver

textiles worn by the children

I think this one is of Johanns and the team finding Jaunita

Arequipa - first impressions

2010-04-03T18:03:00.004-03:00

the red part is where we are!

We arrived in Arequipa at night and so our first impression was how low and sprawling it is. I later found out that this is because there is a building hight limit impossed after a devestating 1588 earthquake by King Carlos V. These earthquakes happen all the time due to the amazingly big volcanoes looming in plain sight over the town. More on these volcanoes later though...

Fun facts about Arequipa: it is the second largest city in Peru. The area was occupied by the Collagua people for millennia. Evidence of their presence can be seen in the extensive terracing improved on by the Incas that surround the city. In Quechua Arequipa comes from the phrase ari-que-pay which means ¨yes, stay here.¨ After conquering the area the Incas began sacrificing children on top of the volcanoes which later put Arequipa on the archeological map. The city itself was founded in 1540 as a go-between for trade between Lima and all of southern Peru and what is now Bolivia (thank you Moon handbooks guide book).

The next day we headed out into the city, guide book in hand and began to explore. My first impression was...well...it was love at first site. They call it the white city because it is mostly built with a soft volcanic rock called sillar that is available in abundance. Its easily carved surface results in intricate carvings in just about every building there is. The city is clean, beautiful, the people are friendly and it is easy to get around!

Plaza de Armas and the stunning neo-classical cathedral in the background

a clock carved into the wall of a bank

In the above photo, Josh is standing inside the courtyard of what was once a colonial mansion. Like many colonial mansions in Arequipa, it was expropriated by President Juan Velasco in the late 1960´s and it is now a bank. This works for us because it means free entrance into the many beautiful courtyards!!

trying new fruits! - this one comes from a cactus and tastes like a very tangy kiwi

lunch the first day - cooked meet with vegetables inside mashed potatoes fried...does it get any better than this? Oh yes it does with a glass of Chicha on the side!

what is chicha? you might be thinking...let me inform you! Its a drink made with purple corn, sugar, lemon, water, and cinnamon if you want to get a little crazy. It comes in many varieties from syrupy to bubbly. Its purple and amazing.

The center of the city is obviously very old and has the most beautiful architectural accessories including my favorite...a small door within a door. Amazing door knockers also abound, and at our hostel there is even a small door window so they can peak out to check who is ringing the bell at night.

this photo exhibits my two favorite accessories: the door within a door and the door knocker
and of course Josh...the ultimate accessory

a close up on this sweet ass door knocker

Copacabana and La Isla del Sol and crossing the border

2010-04-02T12:48:00.004-03:00

how they fry an egg in a stall in Uyuni

We took the most aweful bus ride ever back to La Paz from Uyuni. My seat was broken and wouldn´t stay back, the road was unpaved and we were thrown towards the ceiling as we sped over bumps from our position in the last row on the bus. We arrived in La Paz early and cranky on Palm Sunday where processions were going on in honor of the holiday.

nice palm fronds

sweet robes!!!

We found a cafe and then stumbled upon a giant Sunday market with live performances, food, and artisenal goods. This is where I finally purchased my poncho!!! We then headed to the tour office where we booked our rafting trip where we returned to complain about the blue plastic bags of death and to pick up our free t-shirts. After a quick sausage sandwhich we headed for the bus where our chariot awaited us to bring us to Copacabana.

Our chariot turned out to be a very small bus with only about ten rows filled with gringos, and our luggage was stored on top instead of below the bus. The first leg of the journey was a nice trip through the thouroughly terraced hills outside of La Paz. We then arrived at a port where we got of the bus and bought tickets for a ferry for 1.50 Bolivianos. We got on one ferry and our bus got on another!! We watched in astonshment as the whole bus drove onto the ferry and we met it on the other side!!

I´m not sure if it came out but our boat´s name was Helen Go! (my middle name)

our bus embarking on the floating part of its journey with all our stuff on top

an indiginous pride statue at the port where we arrived
Bolivian indiginous pride is in stark contrast to the Argentine´s interpretation of things as seen below

statue in the plaza principal in a small town in the north of Argentina...indian groveling at the feet of a monk...so dignified

Copacabana is a nice little sea port town, and when we got off the bus we were greeted by the usual array of people shouting their offers for tours, hostels and tickets. We found a sweet deal with one lady who offered a room for 15 Bolivianos each and a free taxi ride to the hostel. We were sold. The town is nice, has lots of fresh trout filled restaurants and is a little more relaxing than other Bolivian towns. At this point we were kinda tired of Bolivia. Its not exactly the easiest place to travel and we were tired of how unfriendly the people are and how dismal the service industry is. You pay a lot and recieve nothing...
The onda was a little better here and we booked a boat ride over to the Isla del Sol, an island that was very important to the Inca culture and supposedly the birth place of the Inca culture itself. There are supposed to be ruins on the island, I say supposed to because we never saw them.
We found out after we had speant most of our money that there is no ATM in Copacabana and scrounged together enough to get there and back again and to pay the tarrif for the south and the north ends of the island. We arrived in the afternoon after it had rained all morning and set off up the steep ancient stairs.

Josh hiking up ancient stairs next to an ancient water drain

Because we had no cash we brought our tent for some free camping. We shared the burden as we made the beautiful hike to the North end of the Island taking in how the people live here as they have lived for hundreds of years.
The shepards and their sheep, and the young boys and girls with their pigs, llamas and donkeys and three or so stray hikers were they only living things we passed as we raced the sun across the island.

Lake Titicaca in the background

We strayed from the path and asked a young shepard for help and he guided us down to the town where we would camp the night. We set up camp and were soon accosted by a group of small female terrorits in the form of pre-pubesent girls who tried to steal our bread and asked Josh if he was going to rape me that night. There was nothing appropriate about that. Their runny noses were cute at first and then they all tried to pile into the tent and rolled on top of me in a flurry of giggles and I had to physically keep them from taking our bread and to get them out of the tent. Like all Bolivians they assumed that were made of money and had plenty that we should share with them. Little did they know that bread, some tuna and a little bit of PB&J was all that separated us from starving. They finally left us in peace.
The view from our tent was incredible. The lake is vast and in the background we could see snowy mountains as an incredibly large moon rose in the middle of the view. Blue rays of light rose outwards from the horizon and it was an awe inspiring sight until the storm clouds moved over the scene and we retreated into our tent. The last inapropriate harrasment we recieved was when our tent was surrounded by young kids and someone asked us if we wanted a prostitute but then they left us alone as we played cards and paranoidly jumped at every sound the wind made thinking they were back to harass us!
It started to rain at around 10 pm but the tent kept us dry till around 10 am the next day when it became saturated and water started to puddle around the edges. In my wallet we had: two one dollar bills, twenty Bolivianos, and a fake twenty Argentine pesos that I had kept since a taxi driver slipped it to me at three in the morning after we got back from the last beach tournament. It was still raining and the prospects of hiking back to the south side to try and see some ruins that we probably couldn´t pay to see didn´t seem like the best option so we gave a young boat driver our half counterfit selection and took the two hour trip back to Copacabana relieved not to be stuck on the Isla del Sol forever...
With our debit card we warmed up over lasana and tea and then hopped on a bus and headed for the border...

a side note on my generalizations about the Bolivian people:
I always try not to generalize a people, but as a person myself its hard not to, and even harder in Bolivia. The people seemed depressed and desperate. They are very proud of Evo Morales, the first indiginous president Bolivia has ever had, but they still remain a poor land locked country (their coast was stolen by bratty bullying Chile) and the many recources that exist there are most often taken advantage of by foreign investers.
On the way back to Uyuni we passed a town that had been completely relocated by an US mining company after rich silver deposits were discovered. Turns out the people had been building their homes with silver for years and had no clue. Their whole town and even their church was made of rocks full of silver and it was all rebuilt a little ways away. These people have a nice town and jobs in the mine, but as usual someone from the US is making the real profit and the real money is leaving Bolivia. That is a bummer...
However, it is very tiring to constantly fight for lower prices and worse when you hear of other people getting the same service you fought to receive a lower price for for less than you did. In the street the people do not meet your eyes and when they bumb into you they ignore your and keep going. There are not so many smiles from strangers and when we asked questions of people about what some food was or a clarification for something the response was often a one word grunt and often not in relation to what we had asked about (serious language barrier). There are no acts of random kindness, and no kindness in general. I´m not sure what the reasons for this are, but we were releaved to leave Bolivia where everything is a struggle. Even leaving Bolivia was a struggle!!!
At the border, the guards gave us a hard time because we were never given back this slip of paper when we entered the country becaue the office in Villazon was a crazy mess. They told us no problem, just fill it out again. When we had done that they said, ok, now give us twenty bolivianos each. I wanted to say: listen I have seven bolivianos, your stupid town doesnt´have a cash machine, the bank is literally open for like two hours a day, never when i am there, and no one ever gave me this slip of paper so i shouldn´t have to pay this stupid fine to begin with!! and I can´t even if I wanted to!!!!! I watched as an Israeli guy eventually threw his fine at the officer and ruined Isrealis reputations abroad even further and decided a different couse would proably work out better for us. I stayed really calm, and explained our situation to five different people in spanish. At first they said, fine, just leave! but they wouldn´t give us the stamp. I´m not sure how leaving Bolivia without an exit stamp will affect my status here, and its not like I¨m rushing back but I still figured that if I ever wanted to come back I would need that stamp.They finally called over this guy they called the profe which is a term of respect for the guy in charge and I explained our situation to him again, finally this other guy said, yea villazon (where we had entered) is a mess. With a nod form the profe they gave us the stamp, and as the stamper took our passports with a resigned look on his face he said, ok but give me those seven bolivianos, so i did, whatever, it was worth a dollar, and we hightailed it out of there and ran the 300 meters of no where land to the Peruvian side!

We arrived in Arequipa Peru and felt instantly wonderful. They peole are full of kindness, the language is easy to understand, and when we ask what a food or drink is they smile and give us a free sample so we can see for ourselves...we love it here!! But that´s for another post!

Uyuni-uni-uni!!! Make Way for Victor

2010-03-31T17:59:00.006-03:00

After our adventures in the mines we wandered around Potosi a little. I decided it looked a little like Salta in the center (colonial architecture...) and a dump outside the center. We continued our city hopping and arrived in Uyuni on the afternoon of the 24th of March. We paid a little too much for a three day Salt Flats tour, got a good nights sleep and were ready the next day for our adventures through the South of Bolivia (see map below to orient yourself!)

Day one:

We met our group - A warning to all those who head to Uyuni and Bolivia in general. Everyone is trying to cheat you out of your money! When we booked our tour it was late and we were ready to sign up with Laura Travels just so we didn´t waste the next day. She still felt the need to lie to us about a number of things including the fact that there was already a British couple signed up for the trip (she even gave us their ages) who had supposedly paid way more than we did. When we squeezed into our jeep the next morning we met our group members: two Argentine couples (one from provincia de BA and one from La Plata) and a French 19 year old girl traveling alone. We of course were thrilled to be with Argentines, to play truco, and to drink mate but laughed that Laura had thought we would be lured by this British couple who we didn´t want to hang out with anyway!
After introductions were made we drove to the Train Graveyard with our guide/driver Victor. Unlike the many young drivers in the caravan, Victor was old and leathery with few remaining teeth possibly due to his incesant coca leaf chewing. He´s a 64 year old widow with most of his kids living in BA and he is native to Villazon, where we entered the country. He was an amazing driver but more on that later.
A train line goes through Uyuni and here is where the old train parts go to rest in peace:

We then headed to a place where you could buy stuff, but the cool part about it was that all the buildings were constructed of blocks made entirely of salt!

Josh outside of a building made of salt

Then we headed to the blindingly white Salt Flats. The salt dessert is all that remains of a pre-historic Salt Lake. The salt is harvested but there is so much that I can never imagine them running out. Its so flat and white that its famous for poeple taking realy silly photos taking advantage of the easily distorted perspective like this one:

but we opted against these and Josh went for yoga poses instead...

Josh doing some yoga on top of a salt mountain that is waiting to be harvested

King and Queen of the Salt Flats

We then headed to an island in the middle of the dessert that is inhabited by a lone ostritch and cacti. I believe the island was underwater at one point because there is an ancient arch of dead coral, but there is also a 900 year old living cacuts and another that died but at one point was over 12 meters tall!!

That night we slept in a hotel made of salt which was kinda weird becuase it smelled like salt and the floor was made of loose crystals of salt and it really was less romantic that it had sounded. Around the time that we had watched an amazing sunset of the flat horizon over the salt flats I started to feel pretty sick from the altitude and had a restless night battleing a weird feeling stomach plagued by nausa.

The next day we set out and saw many of the shrinking lagoons whose inhabitants are flamingos that slowly walk around dipping their beaks into the water in search of micro organisms for a tasty snack.

We also saw amazing rock formations carved by the wind like the one below. Pretty much everywhere we drove was at one point under an ancient sea, so there is sand everywhere and intense rocks made of sand stone that have stood the tests of time. The one below is called the tree rock. I was feeling to ill to climb all over the other rock formations like many tourists but hopped out for this picture and then took refuge from the strong incessant winds in the jeep.
As we drove the landscape became increasingly stranger and stranger. There are round patches of pure fine sand in the middle of the landcape that Victor said were dried lagoons, and amazingly much of the landcape looks like Bolivia´s flag: red, yellow and green. There are quinua plants everywhere (a native plant to Boliva similar to rice) that are grean but they turn yellow and red as they mature. The moutnains are also red and have green and yellow bushes growing on them. The effect is stunning.

tree rock

That evening we arrived at our lodgings for the night. I was feeling pretty weak from the altitude and from my every more empty stomach that still couldn´t handle eating but I walked to the Lago Colorado anyway. Due to high winds it was not red but still beautiful and full of flamengos as well.

hiding from the wind at the Lago Colorado

Make way for Victor

The next morning we got an early start at 5:30 am. Becuase of some slow to cook rice we were one of the last cars to leave, but as Victor hit the road he started approaching jeeps from behind, and then he would flash his lights at them and they would move to the right to let him pass. He sarted giggling and whooping with laughter and yelled: last to leave first to arrive!!! The old man didn´t stop giggling until the sun was up and he had passed all but two jeeps in the caravan. As the sun began to peak its head over the mountains we arrived at our first destination: gysers. Having never seen gysers I was blown away (pun intended...hehe) by their incredible beauty. My photo is terrible but maybe you can get the idea?

We walked all around the area and saw steam shooting out of the ground at 200 degrees celcius, and we also carefully walked over volcanic ash to get a rare peak inside the earth. There were holes in the ground covered in steam and when the steam cleared away you could literally see the earth bubbling below. Grey water bubbled away in the morning light and we left our footprints behind on the soft ashy ground with this image of earth´s natural power burned into my memory forever.

We then headed to some natural thermal baths where we ran with frozen feet to the hot water that at first burned and then soothed our goosebumby skin in the early morning chill.

I´d like to start everday in a thermal bath...

Josh has the rest of the photos for the day, but the landscape got increasingly wierder as we headed back to town. Over then eight hours or so of our return journey the landscape went from dessert to trippy mountains that looked for sure like they were from another planet, to greener wetter paths and through small towns that stood in the shadows of large rock formations and green mountains. We also passed this donkey mummy:

Our friend Andres from Colombia has always wanted us all to take a trip to Uyuni together where he planned for us all to drop acid and marvel at the natural wonders of the earth. I got the front seat for a leg of the journey, and mind altering potions were not necessary. The mountains seemed to breath in and out, the landscape was trippy enough on its own. We passed the Salvador Dali mountain with flat fine sands and big lonley rocks that indeed did seem to be inspiration for many of his landscapes and backgrounds for dripping clocks. And if someone had blindfolded me, and dropped me off in the middle of this place, I indeed would have believed them if they told me we were now on a different planet. It was amazing...

While we were unhappy that we had been ripped off and hardly any of the promises our tour company had made had been kept in terms of drinks and lodgings, we do not regret spending three days in this strange strange place. The looming volcanoes, gysers, mountains, deserts, and the never ending white salt dessert are some of the most incredible sights I´ve ever seen in the natural world. If you are headed there, just know that all tours are exactly the same no matter which company you use so don´t pay extra!!!!! Its also a great place to loose any left over weight from asados in Argenina. At our highest point (the green lagoon) we were well over 4000 meters and when we got back to Uyuni I had lost any beer gut or beef belly I had picked up over the past year. Not to mention the fact that after Bolivia you will feel amazing anywhere you go!

Cough Cough, I think I have the black lung pop

2010-03-24T19:28:00.004-03:00

Like the jungle post this post is not finished or to my standards but whatever, the internet in Copacabana is ten Bolivianos an hour and it sucks to boot so here is what I got for you guys. You should probably start at the text and then look at the pictures above it. Copying and pasting here...just not an option.

me holding some lit dinamite after the tour - yes it did go off but not in my hand

the older Tio smoking a fatty

250 K bag of dirt brought up by the machine

Josh in the mine - the miners decorate their mine so that it looks prettier!

us and the guy manning the machine pully

a vein of silver, they used to be over a yard wide, now most are around a foot or so

Josh and I decided three cities in twenty four hours would be a good record, so after our flight from Rurrenabaque landed in La Paz we headed straight for the bus station and got on a bus for Potosi. Potosi was once the wealthiest city in South America due to its silver mines, but the Cerro Rico has a twisted history. In 1650 the town exploded with people looking to get rich quick, and of course this entailed the forced labor of over 8 million indigenous people in the mines. Over 8 million indigenous poeple also died in the mines after being forced to stay in the airless tunnels for as long as six months.

Today, the mines are almost depleted but the miners still make a pretty good living and still have a much shorter life span than most Bolivians. Only forty miners die in the mines every year, and the number would probably be less if the mines weren´t strewn with empty beer cans and plastic bottles of what I call rubbing alcohal, but what others call 95% drinkable grain alcohol. I tried some of it mixed with coke...wouldn´t take long to burn a hole in something with that stuff. However, if I had to work in the mines for 8 hours at a time with nothing but soda and coca leaves to fill my belly I might take to the hard stuff myself.

The tour of the mines takes about three hours, and begins in a room full of clothes. You done your work outfit and head back to the van. Outfitted in our pants, rainboots, jackets, belts, hard hats and head lamps we were separated into Spanish speakers and non-Spanish speakers.

looking silly in the streets of Potosi but ready for anything!

Turns out Josh and I were the only gringos fluent enough in Spanish to make it through the tour so we ended up with our own private guide!

He explained about the coca leaves, and how we needed to bring gifts the the miners to we could make them happy and take photos with them. We brought orange soda and coca leaves and headed to the mines.

no words necessary...so sexy though

miners outside the mines sorting the days work into piles of quality: pure rock with silver, less pure, and earth mixed with good stuff

We headed into the mines, and I realized that I was a little scared. What if the whole thing colapsed? The guide told me I was being silly, and to watch my head as I tested my hard hat against some obvious obstacle for the first of many times and we followed the tracks into the earth. We met some guys running the carts full of earth and silver out of the mines like the one being emptied above. The carts way a tone and a half, and these two guys need to bring carts like these out of the mine twenty times a day.

We then separated from the English speaking group and our guide to a reluctant me down seven levels into the earth and down nine wooden ladders that I climbed slowly and with a bit of fear even though I knew the miners scurry up and down these ladders all day.

At the lowest level there is just one worker filling up a rubber bag of earth that weighs about 50 K. This is attched to a manual pully that two men on the next level pull up. These men fill an even bigger bag of around 250 K which is attached to a mechanical pully. One man operates this machine on a higher level, and the other helps guide the rubber bin over to the side where its contents can be dumped and put into these wooden holders that jet out of the walls on the path in the mine which are emptied into the metal bins that are sent out of the mine.

We also saw a man drilling holes in the wal for dinamite. This a very high paying job due to the noise and dust the drill makes. The dust was so thick you could barely see him and I high tailed it out of there as soon as possible for the sake of my unprotected ears and nose. Miserable....

We then headed to visit the Tio of the mine. This statue was origionally supposed to be a devil, but since the natives didnt have the letter d in ther vocabulary it came out Tio instead of diablo. The big read statue with a rather large falus was surrounded by offerings, and the older head of another Tio of the mine had a smoking cigarette in it. Non filtered of course just like what the miners smoke. When an accident happens the miners say that the tio is angry and they have forgotten him. Another superstition is that women are bad for the mine. The earth is a female diety, and if the miners bring their wives into her mine she is jealous and the vein of silver will run out.

Sorry again for how the posts are looking, I am doing my best down here which isnt very good at all!!! But its something....From Potosi we headed to Uyuni but that post will have to come later!!