In conclusion..

It's over. I've been back in America for the last 2 days now, and it's the usual re-culture shock. But this time felt a little different.

It's not that I miss south America in particular, but I miss the nomadic lifestyle.

 

This American life is stressful. And im not even that buried it yet.. The world spins madly on.

 

-April 11, 2012

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So that was last week. It's as far as I got before I got too wrapped up on being back in north america. I still feel like this blog needs some sort of conclusion though, a wrap up, chapter summary, or something...

 

I don't feel like my life has altered course as much as it did 2 years ago when I had my first experience with living out of the country.

I still do feel something though.. The feeling of accomplishment, stronger confidence in my ability to adapt in various environments and situations.

Also my own personal satisfaction in the idea that hopefully the relatively small amount of time I have shared with my students in south America helped in some way. Its been almost 2 months since I've seen my kids in Ecuador, but I still look through the pictures on my phone and wonder how their day is going. My life has for the most part returned back to 'normal,' but their simple life remains the same.

Who comes out ahead? The grass is always greener I guess. Sometimes i feel like the life we are intended to pursue has become overly convoluted in this modern age.

Anyways, so post-south America life:

Back to real world.

Im heading up to Alaska end of this month to fish for the next few months until... College.

Putting the nomadic vagabond life on hold for a couple years to pursue an education that could possibly allow me to live in a perpetual state of adventure and travel.

 

So that's it. It is finished.
Until next time my friends. Thank you all for joining me on my travels. And I hope I have inspired you to go do what makes you happy and see what else is out there. Besides, you never know who you may meet while you are away from all that is familiar.

Make it happen.

"no one said it would be easy, just that it will be worth it."

 

 

Pachamama

First day we biked for most of the day 50km or something to a small town called Santa Maria. Got pretty soaked by the rain, wet roads, and crossing small streams going over the road rather than under? Apparently culverts are too difficult to install.

Next day, we woke up at 6 and had breakfast and embarked on a very long day.

We hiked from 7 am on an old inca trail finally ending at a hot springs (thankfully). It was quite a beautiful hike through the sub-tropical region of Peru. Humidity was up around 90%.

Near the end right before the hot springs we had to take a tram across the river, basically a basket connected to a rope that a guy pulled you across with..

The hot springs were a great way to finish the trek. Water was at around 32 degrees celsius. After spending an hour there we took a bus to our hostel.

The next day we woke up around 7 and had breakfast. Simple, omelette with bread, jam, butter.. Then loaded into a bus to cola de mono. We harnessed up and walked up to the top of this mountain and began the zip lining. There were 6 in total, 4 of those crossed the valley with a river below. Beautiful views and scenery as you are flying across the sky. It reminded me of the small zip line my dad had set up in our back yard in Santa Cruz. With tires at the end to stop you, but after it rained they would fill with water. We would always send the person who had never done it before first so they would get soaked by the tires full of water and empty them for the rest of us.

After zip lining we continued our journey towards machu picchu, only about 3 hours of hiking today.

We hiked along the train tracks until we arrived at machu picchu town, originally named aguas calientes. However, the government decided to change the name to machu picchu town. As we hiked along the train tracks you could see the edges of machu sitting nestled between two peaks.

The hostel that we stayed at that night was delightful compared to the others. A hot shower and wifi was the main attraction. Probably one of the best showers I've had in these last few months. Most of the other showers trickled warm water out and then was followed closely by the colder and colder water. Or my shower in Peru that was hot, but the electric shower head was broken so half of the water that came out was really hot, but the other half was freezing cold. Kinda nice once you got used to it. Anyways, took a nice long hot shower and relaxed in bed for most of the night aside for dinner.

The next day iain, me and one other guy hiked the final 1600 of the old incan steps up to the old ruins of machu picchu.

We woke up at 4 and were some of the first to queue up to begin the ascent.

It was a pretty dark climb since none of us had headlamps, but before long we had already arrived at the top waiting for the others to arrive in the bus. We were the only 3 out of 12 that decided to hike that day rather than bus it.

Our tour guide arrived a bit later and he began the explanations of this sacred place as he liked to call it.

I was definitely impressed by the amazing architecture, but also a bit sad at how many tourists were there. It almost seemed like Peru was over capitalizing on the achievements of their ancestors. The specialness was lost in the sea of people swarming all these sacred monuments. I'd hate to see the incas reaction to all these foreigners intruding on something they put so much time and effort in to.

But who am I to speak, I was there. Contributing to everything I'm bitching about right now. Taking pictures, being touristy... I guess it's a vicious cycle and a slippery slope. We are no better than the spaniards that came and physically destroyed everything the incas had accomplished. But rather we, tourists, are destroying it slowly..

There is a positive side i guess: the money that it brings in for the peruvian people. The small stands with water for twice or three times the price in regular supermarkets in the city. The entrance fee of $100.. The restaurants that serve the thousands of tourists. The tour guides, the bus drivers.. We are all helping stimulate there economy which is a good thing, in a country with so much poverty at least tourists can help in some way to aid in the improvement of that.

Anyways, I'm babbling.. Mostly kinda bored. On the bus back to Cuzco right now. 9:15 pm. We have 2 days to relax there and explore that area before nazca lines and sand-boarding in Ica. I'm hoping it's something like snowboarding?

 

So that's the story of my trek to machu picchu! The adventure continues my friends.

 

P.s. mom/dad: I could use some new socks when I get home? Early birthday/Christmas/hanukkah present? :)

 

 

 

 

Onward.

Leaving arequipa momentarily.
It's been an adventure..
The ocean refuses no river and you can't stay mad at the setting sun.

Finishing up..

The end is near. I have 3 days of teaching left then on thursday evening I am leaving for cusco. Then a few days on the inca trail to machu pichu.. Then take a plane up to see the nazca lines.. And then I think we go to one or two other places before I arrive in Lima. Then Sunday I begin my extensive journey home.

Depart Lima 11 am, then Fort lauderdale, Dallas, Mesa, Phoenix, Los angeles, and finally monterey arriving 9 am. It's going to be exhausting, but I'll be home at last.

My teaching experience here has definitely been quite different to Ecuador. I've still appreciated it, but its closer to the city and less remote. Which you can see in the kids and the simple way they react to things. The poverty level was much lower in those mountains in Ecuador. Seeing 8-10 year old kids with full responsibility for taking care of their younger siblings. With cooking skills that surpass most grown adults I know in the states.

Anyways, I'm getting all reminiscent already.

Synopsis: 4 more days in arequipa, 'adventure week', lima, lots of airplanes and airports, home.

 

I looked back on my blog from my final days in Spain, and find it fitting to quote my brother once again..

 

"I return to my birthplace in Santa Cruz, CA for several days, before flying north to Alaska to try to find a fishing boat to work on. Sometimes, we need to find oceans of solace for our minds to be free from the usual mental constraints of everyday busy urban lifestyle. The ocean is a place for the mind to wander, and for words and thoughts to germinate into poetry and prose. Unfortunately the altered state of mind known as cabin fever does sweep through the bays and inlets from time to time. From there, unknown countries and roads beckon me onward. For some the ability to recreate oneself in a fresh environment, exiled from certain unfavorable memories contained within the habitats of the past, is accomplished through the addictive remedy of wandering from place to place.

 

But these movements cycle and the travels and conversations with strangers and friends strengthen the ability to connect to the world. Events and people circulate and the swirling ocean of time twists and turns and tosses those who choose to ride its treacherous currents. As friends and lovers ebb and flow in and out of your life, your love for them accumulates within that singularity of time, that eternal moment, forever entwined within the tremendous mystery of the moibus strip of time. The people you meet and the lives you affect are changed forever. And even though you might just have more goodbyes when you leave, you will have just as much people to smile and hug you upon your return. How would we know how or what or who to love without loss or heartache? With every pain we learn the extent of pure love. Most times, loss is the only means to truly know how much the people we love mean to us. "

 

 

St Paddys weekend!

This weekend was good. Friday was very laid back and saturday morning Jamie, Owen, iain, and I went on a downhill biking excursion down the nearby volcanoe Chichani. After a 3.5 hour bus ride up to the top, around 15,500 feet.
The bikes we used were pretty crap.. But it was fun getting to be on a bike again. The descent was pretty rocky and I took one spill over the bars and scraped up my knee and leg. The few parts that had some uphill were the worst part. Due to altitude, oxygen was hard to come by.. After the
bike ride, we headed back to a hostel that has a pool and let our muscles relax.
Johan finally made it down from Ecuador, and it was really good to see him. He's been traveling around Peru and Ecuador for the last few weeks. His volunteering time ended when we left and came to Peru.
I also met a guy from petersburg, Alaska who has worked in prince William sound for the last couple years. He was pretty sure that we had met before, and had been on the Orion as well. Never thought I'd run into some one from Alaska down here!

So ya, overall had a good weekend with my friends.

It feels weird that I will be leaving here so soon..
I'm going to miss south America.

Cañon de colca

So as I said in my last post, I went to the colca canyon this past weekend.

Day 1: Friday, 3am a bus came and picked up me and a few other volunteers. Jaime from Scotland, Philip from Sweden, my old host brother iain from scotland, and Kyle Anne from the states.

The bus ride was about three and a half hours to where we began our downward trek. It was a fun hike down, every now and then a mule, donkey, or horse would pass us heading the opposite direction packed with a load and a Peruvian close behind listening to his portable radio.

We finally reached the hbottom and arrived at a compound of huts. Lunch was ready shortly after we arrived which consisted of rice, veggies, and alpaca meat. Very rich and delicious meat.

After a siesta, we played cards until dinner was ready. Another dish around alpaca meat.

The next day we left around 8:30 am and hiked down the valley passing a few small sleepy villages. Finally around 12:30 we reached one of my new favorite places. A small oasis nestled up against the rushing river. There was a small pool and majestic views. The pool felt so good after hiking for hours in the hot and dry valley.

The afternoon was spent lounging and relaxing and evening soon came with thunder and lightning.

The next day, we were a bit late leaving due to our tour guide drinking a bit too much the night before. I didn't mind too much, 5:30 felt a bit early anyways.

We began out ascent out of the canyon and I said goodbye to the most wonderful place.

The hike up was not as bad as I thought it was going to be. I guess I wasnt focusing much on the distance and more on the spectacular scenery and wildlife around me. Condors soaring overhead and distant snow capped mountains were a good distraction.

Before I knew it, we had reached the top. Looking down at the small spec of the oasis that we had stayed at the night before.

 

Overall, I would say this has been the best weekend since I've been here. :)

 

For now, back to school and lookin forward to st pattys and more adventures to come!

 

 

Cities and canyons

*note: this post should have been published on Thursday

So I've been putting off writing about peru in great depth until I really had something to say and an opinion on it. Coming up on two weeks of being here, I've begun to experience more of this city.
So I guess I'll start with school. It's been hectic, good.. But hectic. Since its the beginning of the school year for them, it's kind of a weird in between point right now. I was originally going to be teaching kindergarten.. Mostly 4 year olds. But most of the parents forgot to sign there kids up, so that will start next week. So during this time, one of the other volunteers has been painting the kindergarten classroom with some artwork. I have been covering his class, which has been the big challenge. I started with 4 kids on Monday, and today it has grown to 9: 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders. Planning lessons that range all of their grade levels and keep everyone entertained and occupied has been interesting..
Every now and then, I get them all settled and working on something and that right there feels like an amazing accomplishment. Haha

As far as my life outside of school, it's much different being in a big city. After school there's things to do, parks to relax in, and markets to explore.
My host family continues to be amazing. Of the five host families I have stayed with in the past few years in various countries, this one is by far the best and my favorite. :)
I wake up in the morning and have breakfast with fresh bread, hot chocolate, mocha, or some sort of maté. Then when I return in the evening, my bed is made, laundry is done, and dinner is ready with a big pitcher of a warm sweet tea. The food is simple but delicious. There's just simple things that they do or say that just makes them the best host family.

As far as weekend plans! I'm heading to the colca canyon tomorrow morning at 3 am until Sunday. Apparently, it's the deepest canyon in the world. So that will be cool to see. After hiking to the bottom there's hot springs that you can swim in upon arrival, then hike out the next day.
It will be nice to get out of the city and out of civilization. Mini-cation!

Books and beaches

Today I went to the beach. A place called mollendo. First time seeing the ocean in a little over 6 weeks. It was a good reunion.

 

 

 

Peru!

 

I arrived in Peru yesterday morning after quite a long journey from Ecuador. Slept in the Lima airport which was quite awful. But arrived in Arequipa to sunshine and snow capped Andes mountains.

The geography is quite different here. Set in southern Peru it is quite dry, and warm. Which is a comforting change to Ecuador. The city feels very much like Spain. Large plazas and all the restaurants you would usually find in a big city: KFC, burger king, pizza hut, starbucks, and so on. A bit weird..

Today was first day up at the school. We cleaned 3 out of the 5 classrooms, hopefully finish up tomorrow and have the rest of the week off.

So I was planning on going to Bolivia after I finished volunteering.. But I found out that there is a $135 entrance fee into Bolivia. Which at my current financial state greatly exceeds my budget. A bit frustrating, because that's where I was hoping to fly out of as well. :/ o well.

 

My new house is alright, I live by myself now.. (no other volunteers)

My host family is actually really nice, gvi has said that the housing here is more just room and board and they don't really include you in the family. My host brother who is 17 is really nice and is pretty fun to chat with. My host mom tries to talk to me and converse which is also pretty cool, because my Spanish seems to have gone into remission lately. It's good to have someone force you to speak and practice..

 

The schedule is a bit more laid back here, wake up at 7 rather than 5:30. And I wont have as much lesson planning since I'm teaching kindergarten.

 

So a lot to look forward to, a few changes.

Enjoying the warmer weather and change of atmosphere.

And look forward to getting to know this new city.

 

Despedido

 

Today was my last day.

It feels so weird to be leaving these kids. Leaving huayapunga, otavalo, Ecuador.. All of it.

This week has gone by like a day.

I don't really know what to write about how I feel about this whole experience.

Yes, it's been incredibly challenging at points, but what I experienced is like nothing else.

The last image in my head is a few of the boys holding on to my backpack, saying. 'vas a quedar aquí? Si si quedas quedas!'

But the road goes on, and the ocean refuses no river.

 

This trip will not be easily forgotten.

The bumpy rides up to school, the chilly mornings, my 5 kids.. Who I am determined to come back to see again within the next few years.

I hope I was able to make a difference in their lives, because I know that they have made a difference in mine.

 

Now, on to Peru.. Arequipa! Start all over again. A nomadic life is filled with goodbyes, but at the same time, filled with introductions and new friends.

 

Today I fly to panama, layover for 5 hours, then Lima for another 5 hour layover, then arrive in Arequipa Sunday morning. Summer school has just ended there this week, so this week we will be cleaning the schools then we the following week teaching will begin.

 

Another dialect, bigger city, new kids, new friends, and a couple more stamps in my passport. Onward.

 

 

Biking challenge!

 So in a week I am leaving for Arequipa, Peru where I will continue teaching. During my time there I have decided to participate in a biking challenge consisting of 2 days, the 23 and 24 of march, in the Colca Canyon. We will be leaving at 3am heading to the town of Chivay and begin our journey on the ancient route to the famous city of Cuzco called Vizcachani (4406m). After 3 hours of pedaling we will arrive at Ventana del Colca (4350m) and will have the opportunity to repell a 40m high wall. 4 hours later we will arrive at the town of Chivay. The second day we will wake up at 6am heading to Cruz del Condor where we will be staying for an hour. After that, we are back on our bicycles for 2 hours through the valley de Colca. For the last step we will arrive at the town of Maca to head back to Chivay from where we will return to Arequipa. On our way back we will stop at 4910m to be able to enjoy a splendid Mirador. The reason I chose to do this challenge is to raise as much money possible to provide these kids a free, first-time and sustainable education. Continue to provide them sustainable basic human rights, free education and food is the main goal.  Really every dollar counts down here. For one dollar a day here in Ecuador, we are able to provide a piece of fruit for every student in my school at the end of the day. Money goes a long way in south america! So whatever you can contribute is greatly appreciated by all!  

 

More info on donations: Click here

Don't say oh well.

 It's been awhile since I've updated this thing..

 

Let's see, my cough has gotten better, which is quite nice!

 

Tomorrow will be my one month benchmark. It's been a interesting month. I want to say it has been a long month, but at the same time I feel like time has flown by. I can't believe I'm almost finished here in Ecuador. This is my last full week of teaching.. Next week I have Monday and Tuesday off for carnavel, then wed thurs fri I am training a new volunteer who will be taking my class. Ugh, I dont want somebody else taking my kids. Oh well.. 

 

This past weekend, went to banos with a few of the other volunteers. Almost 7 hours of sitting on a bus. Ugh. Haha, it was a good trip though. We left right after school on Friday and got there around 9:30 pm.

 

Saturday, we decided to make pancakes. Surprisingly we found pancake mix at the supermarket. So equipped with dulce de leche, cream cheese, butter, and strawberry jam we prepared pancakes in the hostel. 

They actually turned out halfalright, I'm not much of a pancake person.. But I enjoyed these ones, maybe because it was a little taste of familiarity. :) 

So after pancakes, we set off to go rent bikes. $5 for the day.. Not too bad of a price, but the (lack of) quality of the bikes really showed.

We followed a road, ruta de las cascadas, but didn't see as many waterfalls as advertised, but it still felt great to be on a bike exploring the natural beauty of equator. 

 

 

Well, that was until I taco'ed the rim of my back tire in the first mile. Somehow after kicking it a few times it bent back to 'rideable' more or less.. I thought for sure the rim was just going to sheer in half going down one of the hills, but amazingly it stayed intact and the girls that had joined us decided to catch a truck back to baños. I was able to switch out my bike and continue on with the three other guys. 

 

The heavy downpours eventually turned us back as well, and we retreated to the hostel to make the rest of the pancakes for dinner and have a little nap before going out for the night. 

 

5 pancakes covered in random condiments later, I passed out in a food coma for 3 hours. Felt amazing. 

 

The next day, we had to catch our bus at 10am back to otavalo. Just as we had gotten on the bus in banos, a guy and a girl followed us to the back of the bus. And after pretending to ask us for our tickets and saying random things in Spanish, Johan realized they had gotten his camera out of his bag and snatched it back as they took off out of the bus before we could even realize what they had tried to do. 

We were tempted to go after them, but the bus was about to leave so we were just relieved that Johan had noticed and saved his camera, which at the time had my 18-200 lens on it.. 

 

So that's mainly all the excitement from this weekend. Long bus rides, and nice bike rides!

Onward.

 

 

Ugh. Hah

So not too big of a shock to me.. But the coke didn't do too much for me. Well, aside from the caffeine keeping me up until 3:30am.. Awesome. O well, it was worth a shot I guess?

Running on 2 hours of sleep today at school. Today hasn't been all that bad though, I told me kids I wasn't feeling too well and they've been pretty easy on me. 2 are absent today which also helps.. 

Heading to a pharmacy today to see what kind of ecuadorian potion they'll sell me.

Need to get better by next weekend. Baños: adventure capital of Ecuador!

Weird remedies..

 So I've been developing a worse and worse chest cold/cough over the last few days.

Tonight I mentioned it to my host parents because its gotten to a point of coughing every 15 seconds.  Instead of cough syrup or something, they sent me down to the market for a bottle of coca cola. 

Thought I was mistranslating or something, but they poured a mug of coke, put it in the microwave for 2 minutes and sent me upstairs to my bed. With these instructions: put on a sweater and sweatpants.. Drink the hot coca cola right before you go to sleep and you'll feel better in the morning. 

Well, guess its worth a try?  Bottoms up!

Something different..

 Today was the first day since I've been here that the clouds have cleared off Cotacachi. 

This picture really doesn't do it justice. Absolutely spectacular mountain. This is looking up at it at from 13,000 ft. I believe it sits at about 16,200 feet.. 

Stuff and stuff.

 So this has been my first week teaching on my own. The other volunteer that was training me left on saturday. So it's just been me and the kids this week. 

This past weekend, took a little day trip up to Ibarra. 

Interesting little excursion.. Some good surrealism. Blah blah blah..

 

Haven't really been in the journaling mood lately. 

 

My days are pretty repetitious which in my opinion don't make for good blog entries.

School, then back for lesson planning, then home for dinner, sleep. 

Last night I watched toy story before I went to bed. 

A good childhood reminiscence.. 

It hasn't been long since I last saw it, but everytime I watch a pixar movie I notice new things and understand more innuendos. I guess that's what I enjoy about those movies. Easy on the brain after a long day, but still humorous. 

 

I think my body has finally adjusted to the altitude.. Less headaches/backaches.

 

I'm enjoying this trip and this experience, but some days I wish I could go skateboarding around Portland or Santa Cruz... Or go snowboarding with my friends... All in good time.. 

 

For now, enjoying the moment.

 

Oh ya, made some kick ass guacamole with Johan. 3 aguacates for 50 cents?