Today is my last full day in Sucre so I wanted to take some time to put up one last note. Today I learned why a lot of people do not eat food on the streets. I left my house today with a beefy tuna salad sandwich. Half a block from my house a large german shepherd mut started following me, then another joined, then another...I was starting to get nervous. I was so intent on keeping an eye over my shoulder that I stepped in a pile of dog crap...that pissed me off. I yelled at the dogs, they didn´t care. I finished the sandwich, they didn´t care. Finally I detoured up a really steep hill..they didn´t like that. Anyway, enough talk about dog shit. Tomorrow is my last lesson and then I catch a 7pm night bus to La Paz where I am going to try and catch a flight if they have room to the jungle village of Rurrenabaque where I will spend about 4 days, 2 nights on a jungle tour where I will actually be sleeping in a camp in the jungle. Orginally I had not planned on going to he jungle do wasn´t completely prepared but over the course of this week I picked up the essentials, msquit netting, bug spray. 32 tablets of doxycycline to help prevent malaria, sunscreen, plastic bags..etc...etc. Needless to say, i won´t be sending emails or making phone calls. But, i´ve always been intrqued by the jungles and enjoyed the discovery channel programs so whilst I am so close, I am going in. Thanks goodness my mom is still on the appalachian trail and can´t read this until i am already safely back from the jungle!
Its tough to leave sucre. have become very comfrtable here using the publc trans, shopping, living etc...its been really great and really affrdable..did mention the perfect weather every day.
To conclude this post I want to get into one of the many thoughts I have been pondering since being in Bolivia. Actually more of a hstory lesson I guess...i like history. Why is the US so big, wealthy and powerfull and what should we do with these attributes. The two continents (north and south america) are not really all that different. Both have tons of natural resources, similar weather, similar port access, etc etc. Both were settled in similar time periods. However, there are some marked differences between the histories. While all original settling of the new world were for greed, the explorers did not find a lot of wealth in north america. Our first settlers arrvived not with aspirations of wealth by means of precous metals but through religious freedom and starting new lives. In south america, the explorers found native indians with lots of gold and silver in additonal to wealthy mines. This led to settlers who were set on exploting the mineral resources and basically, stealing from and enslaving the natives. Now, I will pause for a moment because it is important to note that in NA the native indans were also slaughtered, enslaved and disregarded because they were inferor and lived on valuable land. I have read a little history on Bolvia which is named after Simon Bolivar who interestingly enough played a huge role in most of the currently establshed countries in SA battles for independence. Once independece was won, Bolivar wanted to create a ¨Grand Colombia¨essentialy another Uinted states of south america but the individual areas fought the effort and eventually formed what we now know as South America...but Boliva still wants back its coastline that Chile won from it some years ago. In fact many Bolvians feel it still belongs to them. So, from what I can tell once the grand colombia fell apart the history of most SA countries has been soiled with corruption, fraud and general mistrust of government. People here are very proud of their individual countries but almost no one totally trusts their gov´t officials. And I am not talking distrust like we have...but on a much greater scale. As shifty as we see our govt, people here have great respect for the integrity of our system and our generally sound political system. Anyway, when I look at the question of why we are so big, powerful and wealthy...I am not sure how to answer (except for the fact we have 15 Trillion in debt). People here work exceptionally hard and in substandard conditions...i don´t think I can say we work harder than them..maybe we work in a different way (smarter?) Anyway, I can only reach the conclusion that our success is somewhat based on our willingness to work together as a united country both in goverent, in business and in life so that we can continue to create an environment where anyone has the possibility of success. I think its a good campfire discussion. Think about it..........
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Catch up on Sucre
Ok, so today i forgot my journal and most of notes on what I wanted to write, so instead I'll just give you guys some more stuff on Sucre and my future plans.
Sucre is still wonderful. The people are great and their bicentennial was a real blow out. They have pretty lax standards on fireworks here so we could be much closer etc. One of the nights I found a great little bar where I hung out all night drinking with some of the locals. The bar was tiny and when new people arrived the staff would seat them at any table where there was room, intermingling strangers which was great. I sat at the bar and kind of just watched things. They were doing some flaming shots and the most popular drinks were ordered in what we called supermugs (36oz?) glasses with a tiny spout. They would pour the drink into shot glasses and drink from those. They even did this with the beer.
Yesterday I went to their cemetary which is fairly famous. This is where the latin american dedication to family really hit me. The cemetraty was beautiful, well cared for and it was amazing how many graves/tombs/crypts had fresh flowers on them. I saw very few sites with dead flowers, nearly all looked good and the cemetary crew can't clean out dead flowers becuase most of them were in glass cases with locks on the fronts of the tombs. It looked like the families of took great care of the gravesites. It made me want to visit the grave sites of my forgotten family members and leave some memorabilia.
Most days here, I finish Spanish lessons around noon and start walking downtown. Everyday I try to take a different road, some of which seem to go straight up the mountains. I'll find a lunch spot and then head to a park where I do my homework and enjoy the weather. Most days here have perfect weather..never too hot and never too cold. The night cool off to a perfect temp. They have tons of police and military here but my confidence was shaken when I saw a typical teenager fight (like in high school) in the park that was never broken up...it just went on for about two minutes until they were tired of fighting. I also saw a sweet dog fight today...nothing Michael Vick style just two mutts duking it out in the street..a turf war if you will. One dog had the other pinned down and he was biting the others neck...it was pretty violent, finally the beaten dog ran to the other side of the street, gave a glance back then trotted away to find another corner. However, overall the dogs in the streets are very nice and don't bother people. Speaking of the streets, I find it very interesting that the people of Sucre are very proud of their city and in Bolivia. Not so much with the government but with their heritage. However, no matter how hard the city crew works to keep the parks beautiful, the people think nothing of throwing their trash right on the ground, even though there is a trash can a few steps away.
My spanish is finally starting to turn some corners. I am speaking better in public and comprehending speach a lot better but still a long way to go. Also for those who care to have it, I bought a cell phone today...I am not really sure how to call it from the US but the number I got was 73477897. I plan to use it more in Chile where I will probably buy another SIM chip for a few bucks with a number for santiago where I plan to spend more time. I haven't really needed one so far but wanted to buy one here where they were still pretty cheap b/c I think I'll want it in Santiago to hook up with people. I am in the middle of planning my home stay and teachers there.
I think I have formulated most of my plan for the remainder of my trip. This Friday, I leave for La Paz on an overnight bus, once there I am hopping a flight to Rurrenabauque (sp?) in the Bolivian jungle where I want to take a 3 day jungle boat up the river. Today i am trying to locate anti malarial medicine in Sucre. After the jungle trip, I am going to hit Lake Titicacca, then grab a bus for Cusco where I can see Machu Pichu and do some hiking for a few days. Then it is onward to Chile maybe with a stop along the way but it will be about 30 hours on a bus. I plan to spend 2 to 3 weeks in Chile and then head to bariloche in the patagonia to do some skiing for a week or so then back to Bs As for some last minute night life and finally back to the US. Its a lot but I still have a lot of time.
Thats about it for now. I am doing great. Hope everyone at home is well!
Pierce
Sucre is still wonderful. The people are great and their bicentennial was a real blow out. They have pretty lax standards on fireworks here so we could be much closer etc. One of the nights I found a great little bar where I hung out all night drinking with some of the locals. The bar was tiny and when new people arrived the staff would seat them at any table where there was room, intermingling strangers which was great. I sat at the bar and kind of just watched things. They were doing some flaming shots and the most popular drinks were ordered in what we called supermugs (36oz?) glasses with a tiny spout. They would pour the drink into shot glasses and drink from those. They even did this with the beer.
Yesterday I went to their cemetary which is fairly famous. This is where the latin american dedication to family really hit me. The cemetraty was beautiful, well cared for and it was amazing how many graves/tombs/crypts had fresh flowers on them. I saw very few sites with dead flowers, nearly all looked good and the cemetary crew can't clean out dead flowers becuase most of them were in glass cases with locks on the fronts of the tombs. It looked like the families of took great care of the gravesites. It made me want to visit the grave sites of my forgotten family members and leave some memorabilia.
Most days here, I finish Spanish lessons around noon and start walking downtown. Everyday I try to take a different road, some of which seem to go straight up the mountains. I'll find a lunch spot and then head to a park where I do my homework and enjoy the weather. Most days here have perfect weather..never too hot and never too cold. The night cool off to a perfect temp. They have tons of police and military here but my confidence was shaken when I saw a typical teenager fight (like in high school) in the park that was never broken up...it just went on for about two minutes until they were tired of fighting. I also saw a sweet dog fight today...nothing Michael Vick style just two mutts duking it out in the street..a turf war if you will. One dog had the other pinned down and he was biting the others neck...it was pretty violent, finally the beaten dog ran to the other side of the street, gave a glance back then trotted away to find another corner. However, overall the dogs in the streets are very nice and don't bother people. Speaking of the streets, I find it very interesting that the people of Sucre are very proud of their city and in Bolivia. Not so much with the government but with their heritage. However, no matter how hard the city crew works to keep the parks beautiful, the people think nothing of throwing their trash right on the ground, even though there is a trash can a few steps away.
My spanish is finally starting to turn some corners. I am speaking better in public and comprehending speach a lot better but still a long way to go. Also for those who care to have it, I bought a cell phone today...I am not really sure how to call it from the US but the number I got was 73477897. I plan to use it more in Chile where I will probably buy another SIM chip for a few bucks with a number for santiago where I plan to spend more time. I haven't really needed one so far but wanted to buy one here where they were still pretty cheap b/c I think I'll want it in Santiago to hook up with people. I am in the middle of planning my home stay and teachers there.
I think I have formulated most of my plan for the remainder of my trip. This Friday, I leave for La Paz on an overnight bus, once there I am hopping a flight to Rurrenabauque (sp?) in the Bolivian jungle where I want to take a 3 day jungle boat up the river. Today i am trying to locate anti malarial medicine in Sucre. After the jungle trip, I am going to hit Lake Titicacca, then grab a bus for Cusco where I can see Machu Pichu and do some hiking for a few days. Then it is onward to Chile maybe with a stop along the way but it will be about 30 hours on a bus. I plan to spend 2 to 3 weeks in Chile and then head to bariloche in the patagonia to do some skiing for a week or so then back to Bs As for some last minute night life and finally back to the US. Its a lot but I still have a lot of time.
Thats about it for now. I am doing great. Hope everyone at home is well!
Pierce
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Sucre
Before I get into the blog, I want to toss out one piece of savory meat for you all to chew on. I have been doing a little thinking about my plans when I return. I may take advantage of what might be one of my last opportunities and unrestrained freedom to visit my father in Lake Tahoe for a while. This means that I might have to put together a cross country road trip in mid to late August. So, if anyone is driving across country with me and making some stops in Mount Rushmore, the badlands, Yellowstone, Glacier, Canada or others, let me know. We could drive out and you fly back....think about it....think about it....you know who I'm talking about.
I have now been in Sucre for about one week. I must say that I really like this city. It stands in stark contrast to the other places I visited in Bolivia. Its main downtown section is full of beautiful colonial buildings, all whitewashed to perfection. Their bicentenial celebration is the 25 of may (at least sucre's) and the whole town has been spruced up and the gardens are all very green. Its great just to walk down the streets. Most of the building here are classic latin design. I will be walking down the street beside a big building that takes up half a block and someone will open a door to reveal a beautiful interior full of courtyards and gardens. Generally, the center of most buildings here have large central courtyards (some as large as basketball courts)surrounded by balconies where the actual living quarters and rooms/offices are located.
Sucre is also a city of learning. There are lots of schools and in the afternoons the streets fill with students from middle school age to college. They generally congregate in the central plaze where I have enjoyed many afternoon enjoying the sun and the buzz of activity. As economically challenged as Bolivian familes may be, their children always seem to be dressed in spiffy duds and in good spirits. That is of course with the exception of the ultra challenged families. In the central plaza there are young boys called lustrebotas or shoe shine boys. They are relentless at trying to sell you shoe shines for about $0.20 USD. It doesn't matter if you are wearing flip flops, they will try to convince you that you need a shoe shine. Once, one boy has polished your flip flops another will come by to say that he could have done a better job. Its very entertaining. I have gotten to know a few of them and enjoy the conversation. However, their stories are usually very sad. One of the older boys is walking on what at one time was an obviously broken ankle that was never set. He now basially walks on the side of his foot and will never run or walk without a limp again. In states, especially in the cities, one gets used to the homeless in the streets but rarely do you see children in the streets and in such dire circumstances.
The town feels very safe and I have a very nice family with which I stay who live close enough where I can walk to town. They have a very nice home with a dog, cat and a parrot who lives free outside and talks to me when I return home. I have my own bedroom and private bath. The family has husband wife, two sons and a daughter who I can talk with in the mornings and at night. We have done some talking about politics and I'll write more when I am out of Boliva but lets just say that being an American in Sucre is much safer than most of the other large cities at this time. However, its still difficult to blend in. There are not a lot of tourists here and we stick out sorely. Attributes, I have that no one Bolivia has: White, beard, light eyes, tall, oakleys, a nalgene and long (non black) hair. I've only been called a gringo once and I punched him in the nuts.
Yesterday i went to what is one of Sucre's biggest draws. El Parque Crestacicio. Some 20 years ago a cement factory uncovered a giant vertical slab with over 350 sets of perfectly preserved dinosaur foot prints. It was really amazing. Its one thing to see these in pictures but to be in the same place as the prints, you can almost feel the Dino's. This location has the longest set of dinosaur prints in the world at nearly 1/2 kilometer.
Thats enough for today. I have some other deep questions I have been pondering, spurred by my new environment, I'll get into those on the next installment. In the meantime, enjoy summer back home!
P
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Warning: Explicit language
The last few days have been amazing. To properly describe the events, some vulgar language will be required. First I want to recap the events since Friday. I take a flight to Salta, meet two friends who came via 22 hour bus from Bs As, depart Salta midnight on Sunday, arrive Villazon Bolivia 7am, depart Villazon 3:30 via train, arrive Uyuni 1:00 am, 9am, awake in Uyuni, arrange Salt Flat tour leaving at noon, return from salt flats at 8pm, 10am Wednesday, depart UYuni arrive in Potosi 3:00pm, arrange mine tour, complete mine tour at 7:30 PM, depart Potosi for Sucre, arrive 10:45 PM, the basic point I am trying to get across is that we have used every minute of every day and even though we ran ourselves ragged and stomped on our cardiovascular system, we saw a lot and had a great time…all of which I will get into below.
I left off the last post with the promise of a recap of the salt flats trip. We were a little late to the game to pick up one of the more common multi day trips into the flats so we were scrambling to find a single day trip. Luckily we found a company that put together a custom tour for us. We and one new travel companion hopped into their vintage 80’s Land Cruiser and headed towards the flats. I also want to mention that it was amazing how many land cruisers were in this town. In fact, every tour vehicle was a land cruiser..probably for their high capacity seating and durability…these things take amazing abuse. I could spend hours talking about these salt flats so I’ll try to keep this to a minimum. Basically, the salt flats in Uyuni are the largest in the world. It is an ancient dried up lake bed and it is as flat as can be. The surface is really salt….I tried it…yup, salty. It is amazing to be in the middle of the flats with white all the way to the horizon then blue sky. It felt like one of the most solitary places in the world. We spent several hours driving around the flats, saw their national park on an island in the flat that was full of huge cacti, drove by an old volcano and finished off the day watching the sun set..it was truly spectacular. One fun thing to do on the flats is take funny pics because the backdrop is nothing but horizon. We took lots of these, jumping, posing etc that you can check out on my picassa site. Now, I should mention that the salt flats were located at about 13,500’ above sea level. I had just acclimated to this acclimated to this altitude.
Next stop was Potosi, the highest fucking city in the world. The bus ride was fucking horrendous. None of the roads were fucking paved. Opening the windows was tough because of the fucking dust. The ride was so fucking rough, it felt like we were in a fucking blender for 6 hours. However, we departed in reasonable spirits and got to see some great scenery. Our main goal here was to get a real deal legit tour of their giant mine. The mine supports the entire town of about 300K. We arrived pretty late so we had to arrange a custom tour with a private tour guide. The tour provided scrub clothes, mining lights and a guide. It was hot in the mine so we also took some water. We first visited the processing plant where workers still work with toxic chemicals like cyanide and wear almost no protections. These are actually the easy jobs though. Our next stop was the actual mine located at just a little over 15K feet above sea level. This is higher than any mountain in the lower 48 states. I was acclimating to the altitude all over again. During the tour we had to crawl, slide, climb and walk for about 3 kilometers. The working conditions were horrendous. They were still working as if it were colonial times…with hammer and chisels. They got their first electric winch last year. The air is thick with metal and rock dust. The life expectancy of a driller in the mine is about 10-15 years after he begins. The longest a mine employee can expect to live is to 50-55 yrs before their lungs crap out. Most start working in the mine when they are 13-14 years old and work for about $8 a day. I have a video posted below. Just so that you get a clearer picture of this proposition I need to list a few details. This wasn’t Disney land folks and this mine was not set up for tours…it was fucking legit. There were many Big Fucking Holes where we could easily slip to our death. The air is already super thin at 15,000 feet and we actually went into a mine where half of the available air is laden with rock, asbestos and metal dust. Our throats felt metallic the entire time and I was definitely light headed. We had to climb down a ladder where the rungs were only secured by single extremely bent nails…the rungs rotated on a pivot if you were not carefully balanced. At one point there was a derailed mine cart and I got to help lift it back onto the tracks.
Anyway, this post is getting way too long. Long story short, that week of travel was like being in a twilight zone. Not only because the thin air made us light headed but because it was really like a foreign world. No heat, dirt roads, people living in shanties, fear of sickness with no hospital and overall shock and awe at the beauty, the horrors and the reality of life in southern Bolivia. I am now in Sucre (about 9K feet) and have lots to tell about it but I’ll save that for next post. I’ll be here for about 2.5 weeks.
Pierce...Out
For those who want to look at my pictures from the slide show above and don't want to wait on the images to cycle:
http://picasaweb.google.com/pierce.plumly/Argentina1?feat=directlink
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Day I cant remember right now...but lets call it day from hell
Tonights blog is going to be short (in hindsight it turned out to be very long!)..mostly just to let people know that Bolivi has not swallowed me alive. Based on poor transpo options Chile was cut from the iternary for now. We spent Sat and Sun enjoying Salta in northern Argentina which was a great change from the hustle and bustle of Bs As. Salta is in the foot hills of the Andes at about 3,000 feet above sea level. We enjoyed several street side diners, some good Salta wine and lots of ther famous empanadas. They had a cool cable car ride but two days was more than enough to see the city. There is lots more in the outskirts but we had other ambitions. Sunday night we hopped a night bus leaving at midnight to La Quiaca on the Bolivian border arriving at 7 am. If any of you have ever read the book "Heart of Darkness"....I am begining to make comparisons between his journey and our trip into Bolivia. We can really feel the luxuries falling away. This night began my day of hell (really not that bad...but i like to add drama). Ill start this by saying that Bolivia is much more difficult than Argentia but these things are exatly what makes it so much more beautiful.
Our night bus was not terrible but a definite step down from all the busses in Bs As. I was awoken several times during the night with people who had been issued the same seat as me. The moutain roads became what felt like half asphalt. We arrived at La Quiaca travel weary and tired. La Quiaca was about 20 degrees cooler, located at about 11,000 feet above sea level and just a pimple of a town. We quickly departed the bus station where we had to walk across the river bridge into Bolivia where we were purchasing tickets on a train leaving at 3 for Uniou and taking about 10 hours. We bought the first class tickets because they were still only about 12 us dollars. We now had about 8 hours to burn in La Villazon which as opposed to a pimple was more like a boil. We found a little restraunt and just settled into it as a home base. I cant even begin to explain this town. It seemed like most movement was Bolivianos hauling bags to and from the border. The roads were all dusty and the town was strewen with half finished construction projects. They had no supermarket. I saw a little girl pooping in the street. Stray dogs ran everywhere. There was barely a place to get a cup of coffee more or less food that wouldnt immediately kill a non bacteria resistant stomach....speaking of which the altitude problems were starting to set in. I lived at 6K feet in CO and spent our winter weekends at 9-10K but it didnt make a difference here. My head was pounding, light headed, and very rough in the stomach..lost my appetite and only wanted to sleep but we were stuck at this street side dump with a bathroom that was basically a crapper set on the sidewalk with a a few boards constructed around it. It was an excruciating 8 hours where the sun was too hot and the shade too cold. Our train finally comes in and we board. The night train was probably better than the bus with the exception of the altitude problems. We bumped our way to Uniou and arrived about 1AM. We found our Hotel and settled in for the night...FYI most hotels in the small towns in Bolivia do not heat their rooms...it was a chilly night. Showers only have hot water from 7 to noon and the hot water is realy just a trickle. Its cool...I havnt showered in three days and am fine with it...been wearing the same t shirt for 4 days and no one has noticed yet so I am going to keep that rolling too.
Today, I think I finally aclimatized and we had an amazing 4x4 trip in the salt flats but I am going to save that for another post. Tomorrow we catch a 10am bus to Potosi where we are going to try and get a mine tour and then take a 3 hour taxi to sucre for $5!!! At this point I should be re-entering a little bit of comfort so hopefully internet will be more readily available.
As a closing I want to take a moment (which isnt nearly enough) to describe the Bolivian people. I now have an amazing amount of respect and admiration for them. Mostly uneducated and lacking the opportunites which we have been afforded, they are a very humble, hard working and loving people. One of the biggest things that hit me in comparison to Bs As and Salta was of course the intense poverty but yet, in Bs As we couldnt even sit down to a dinner at one of the best steak houses without beening solicted to buy things. Not once in Bolivia has someone looked at us as a coin machine. They are exceptionally kind, even to the tourists. They care for their children and they are all well behaved. They all seem to walk humbly and quietly through each arduous day. They are all very weathered from the rough environmental and working conditions. They go out of their way to help their neighbors. I find it difficult to haggle over prices here when an extra 0.50 to me means dinner on the table for them. The terrain here is amazingly rugged and extreme. The days in the sun are exceptionally warm and the nights are frightfully cold. The altitude creates an extremely dry environment making farming nearly impossible.
My next post Ill go into the 4x4 salt flats trip and post lots of amazing pictures. I miss all of you back home, and thanks for the comments and e-mail....i cant tell you how much I enjoy getting notes from home.
P
Our night bus was not terrible but a definite step down from all the busses in Bs As. I was awoken several times during the night with people who had been issued the same seat as me. The moutain roads became what felt like half asphalt. We arrived at La Quiaca travel weary and tired. La Quiaca was about 20 degrees cooler, located at about 11,000 feet above sea level and just a pimple of a town. We quickly departed the bus station where we had to walk across the river bridge into Bolivia where we were purchasing tickets on a train leaving at 3 for Uniou and taking about 10 hours. We bought the first class tickets because they were still only about 12 us dollars. We now had about 8 hours to burn in La Villazon which as opposed to a pimple was more like a boil. We found a little restraunt and just settled into it as a home base. I cant even begin to explain this town. It seemed like most movement was Bolivianos hauling bags to and from the border. The roads were all dusty and the town was strewen with half finished construction projects. They had no supermarket. I saw a little girl pooping in the street. Stray dogs ran everywhere. There was barely a place to get a cup of coffee more or less food that wouldnt immediately kill a non bacteria resistant stomach....speaking of which the altitude problems were starting to set in. I lived at 6K feet in CO and spent our winter weekends at 9-10K but it didnt make a difference here. My head was pounding, light headed, and very rough in the stomach..lost my appetite and only wanted to sleep but we were stuck at this street side dump with a bathroom that was basically a crapper set on the sidewalk with a a few boards constructed around it. It was an excruciating 8 hours where the sun was too hot and the shade too cold. Our train finally comes in and we board. The night train was probably better than the bus with the exception of the altitude problems. We bumped our way to Uniou and arrived about 1AM. We found our Hotel and settled in for the night...FYI most hotels in the small towns in Bolivia do not heat their rooms...it was a chilly night. Showers only have hot water from 7 to noon and the hot water is realy just a trickle. Its cool...I havnt showered in three days and am fine with it...been wearing the same t shirt for 4 days and no one has noticed yet so I am going to keep that rolling too.
Today, I think I finally aclimatized and we had an amazing 4x4 trip in the salt flats but I am going to save that for another post. Tomorrow we catch a 10am bus to Potosi where we are going to try and get a mine tour and then take a 3 hour taxi to sucre for $5!!! At this point I should be re-entering a little bit of comfort so hopefully internet will be more readily available.
As a closing I want to take a moment (which isnt nearly enough) to describe the Bolivian people. I now have an amazing amount of respect and admiration for them. Mostly uneducated and lacking the opportunites which we have been afforded, they are a very humble, hard working and loving people. One of the biggest things that hit me in comparison to Bs As and Salta was of course the intense poverty but yet, in Bs As we couldnt even sit down to a dinner at one of the best steak houses without beening solicted to buy things. Not once in Bolivia has someone looked at us as a coin machine. They are exceptionally kind, even to the tourists. They care for their children and they are all well behaved. They all seem to walk humbly and quietly through each arduous day. They are all very weathered from the rough environmental and working conditions. They go out of their way to help their neighbors. I find it difficult to haggle over prices here when an extra 0.50 to me means dinner on the table for them. The terrain here is amazingly rugged and extreme. The days in the sun are exceptionally warm and the nights are frightfully cold. The altitude creates an extremely dry environment making farming nearly impossible.
My next post Ill go into the 4x4 salt flats trip and post lots of amazing pictures. I miss all of you back home, and thanks for the comments and e-mail....i cant tell you how much I enjoy getting notes from home.
P
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Day 23: Salta
I am sitting in a cafe on Salta's main square waiting for a museum to open next door. We hop a bus for northern chile this afternoon so it might be my last opportunity for a few days to post on here. Salta seems like a nice town. Sadly I think some of the best sight seeing is outside of the city and besides the bus trip, I won't get to see much of this. The trip here was quite nice. The national aeroparque in Bs As was very nice...exceptionally nice. In fact, it was one of the nicer air ports I have had the pleasure of traveling through. The flight was nice and I easily caught a cab into the city. My Hostel did not have Wi Fi which was a disappointment but I did meet a very nice French couple in the kitchen who made me dinner and told me all about their country.
Oh....I almost to tell about our last night in Bs As. We went back to Palermo where we hit up what was supposedly Bs As best restaurant. They served us champagne while we waited for our table. We ordered a nice bottle of wine, an appetizer of sausage and cheese with two of their best cuts of meat for the entree's. This was the Argentine meal I had been looking for. The steak was fantastic and plentiful. I ordered a cut of tenderloin which ended up being the equivalent of 4 fillet mingnon's in the states and the beef was exceptional. We had one of the best dinners in Bs As for the US dollar amount of about $30 per person...hard to beat that. We dined until about 1am, then walked to what turned out to be a very local bar for another drink on an upstairs patio then headed to club 69 around 2 am. The girls had talked me into this club...their main hook was that on Thursdays its Transvestite night...thats right, guys that dress up as girls. The crowd seemed to be mostly straight but the folks who were part of the club gig were easy to spot...one of them touched me with a sweeping graze of their hand while making a peace sign across my chest...I felt dirty the rest of the night. They had one large stage where there was lots of transvestite dancing (they had adopted a 60's decor with peace signs and bright colors) plus some break dancing and they had a stage on wheels that they kept dragging through the middle of the dance floor while transvestites danced on a pole...oh yeah...they were all wearing clothes....I got home around 4 and still made it to my 9:00 final lesson at school which ended up being a private lesson because as I awoke my friend from her slumber around 8:15 she not only answered the door but bolted out of it while mumbling...I think I'm going to be sick.
So, we still have to solidify out plan today but I think the rough out is to catch a 13 hour bus to San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile, stay there one night, then bus it to Bolivia to Uniou where we will see the salt flats for a day then to Potosi then finally to Sucre, hopefully by Wednesday night.
Those of you keeping up with my blog don't need to read further, this is just a rant that I want to be searchable on google and through the blog site to inform people about the first school I chose in Bs As...many folks sign up for this school and pay their tuition in advance and then get trapped. I going to list a bunch of key words and spill my review of the school.
Language school review in Buenos Aires, COINED review, Spanish Schools in Buenos Aires, ELEBAIRES, spanish teachers, spanish school review, COINED spanish classes, COINED school review
The first school I started at in Buenos Aires was COINED. It was easy to find and in a good location. The staff seemed nice and the school was in a good location. They walked me through the school description, classes have a max of 8 students and average 3-4, 4 hours of classes per day etc etc. I want to be fair and say that the school facilities as well as their accomodations were very nice. The teachers were also nice and very good. However now for the bad things about COINED. First off, classes start about 10-15 minutes late, the 20 minute break goes for about 30 minutes and classes end 5-10 minutes early. Plus the teachers tend to spend about 1/2 per day on cultural stuff like playing Tango music. So, your 4 hours of classes are more like 3 hours. Second, my class was packed with 8 students..the max and I had very little opportunity to actually speak and was not learning very quickly. Plus a lot of the students speak portugues from Brazil and are still considered beginners but they are on a whole different level. The books were not very good and most of the work we did was on photocopied papers. We also had a holiday week for my second week where the school was closed on Friday. They advertise their classes as 20 classes per week for a set price. However on these holiday weeks, they charge the same price and do not allow you a rebate or the opportunity to make up the missed day. basically charging the same price for 16 classes that should have been 20. Plus, when they charge you, they don't set their prices in pesos, they set it in USD's, then convert the price to Peso's (at an exchange rate that was ALWAYS about 3% higher than the actual rate) and charge you in Peso's...i felt this was a rip off b/c the dollar has been continually strengthening. The worst part is that I talked to the staff about all of these things and the basic conclusion that I reached was that after the school has you signed up (they charge a $65 sign up fee) they don't care. They kept pointing to the fine print in their contract. They could care less about the learning experience, they only wanted to be paid and to maximize their profits. I watched one of the staff, yell at other students...the student said I don't think you understand customer service, the staff replied "I know customer service, I worked in the states for 5 years." I then spoke up and said "In the states the customer is always right." Anyway, they didn't care. They don't want you to learn because they want you to keep getting classes. Our new school ELEBaires did not charge a sign up fee, they discount holiday weeks, they charged us about half as much and I had semi-private lessons (2 students, 1 teacher) for 2 hours a day. The staff was so much nicer and instead of asking us everyday about payments, they asked us about what we learned. To anyone looking for schools, pick one that cares about the learning experience first. Just like we say in the states, if you take care of the customer, in the end your business will succeed.
Off to Bolivia and Chile, Pierce
Oh....I almost to tell about our last night in Bs As. We went back to Palermo where we hit up what was supposedly Bs As best restaurant. They served us champagne while we waited for our table. We ordered a nice bottle of wine, an appetizer of sausage and cheese with two of their best cuts of meat for the entree's. This was the Argentine meal I had been looking for. The steak was fantastic and plentiful. I ordered a cut of tenderloin which ended up being the equivalent of 4 fillet mingnon's in the states and the beef was exceptional. We had one of the best dinners in Bs As for the US dollar amount of about $30 per person...hard to beat that. We dined until about 1am, then walked to what turned out to be a very local bar for another drink on an upstairs patio then headed to club 69 around 2 am. The girls had talked me into this club...their main hook was that on Thursdays its Transvestite night...thats right, guys that dress up as girls. The crowd seemed to be mostly straight but the folks who were part of the club gig were easy to spot...one of them touched me with a sweeping graze of their hand while making a peace sign across my chest...I felt dirty the rest of the night. They had one large stage where there was lots of transvestite dancing (they had adopted a 60's decor with peace signs and bright colors) plus some break dancing and they had a stage on wheels that they kept dragging through the middle of the dance floor while transvestites danced on a pole...oh yeah...they were all wearing clothes....I got home around 4 and still made it to my 9:00 final lesson at school which ended up being a private lesson because as I awoke my friend from her slumber around 8:15 she not only answered the door but bolted out of it while mumbling...I think I'm going to be sick.
So, we still have to solidify out plan today but I think the rough out is to catch a 13 hour bus to San Pedro de Atacama in northern Chile, stay there one night, then bus it to Bolivia to Uniou where we will see the salt flats for a day then to Potosi then finally to Sucre, hopefully by Wednesday night.
Those of you keeping up with my blog don't need to read further, this is just a rant that I want to be searchable on google and through the blog site to inform people about the first school I chose in Bs As...many folks sign up for this school and pay their tuition in advance and then get trapped. I going to list a bunch of key words and spill my review of the school.
Language school review in Buenos Aires, COINED review, Spanish Schools in Buenos Aires, ELEBAIRES, spanish teachers, spanish school review, COINED spanish classes, COINED school review
The first school I started at in Buenos Aires was COINED. It was easy to find and in a good location. The staff seemed nice and the school was in a good location. They walked me through the school description, classes have a max of 8 students and average 3-4, 4 hours of classes per day etc etc. I want to be fair and say that the school facilities as well as their accomodations were very nice. The teachers were also nice and very good. However now for the bad things about COINED. First off, classes start about 10-15 minutes late, the 20 minute break goes for about 30 minutes and classes end 5-10 minutes early. Plus the teachers tend to spend about 1/2 per day on cultural stuff like playing Tango music. So, your 4 hours of classes are more like 3 hours. Second, my class was packed with 8 students..the max and I had very little opportunity to actually speak and was not learning very quickly. Plus a lot of the students speak portugues from Brazil and are still considered beginners but they are on a whole different level. The books were not very good and most of the work we did was on photocopied papers. We also had a holiday week for my second week where the school was closed on Friday. They advertise their classes as 20 classes per week for a set price. However on these holiday weeks, they charge the same price and do not allow you a rebate or the opportunity to make up the missed day. basically charging the same price for 16 classes that should have been 20. Plus, when they charge you, they don't set their prices in pesos, they set it in USD's, then convert the price to Peso's (at an exchange rate that was ALWAYS about 3% higher than the actual rate) and charge you in Peso's...i felt this was a rip off b/c the dollar has been continually strengthening. The worst part is that I talked to the staff about all of these things and the basic conclusion that I reached was that after the school has you signed up (they charge a $65 sign up fee) they don't care. They kept pointing to the fine print in their contract. They could care less about the learning experience, they only wanted to be paid and to maximize their profits. I watched one of the staff, yell at other students...the student said I don't think you understand customer service, the staff replied "I know customer service, I worked in the states for 5 years." I then spoke up and said "In the states the customer is always right." Anyway, they didn't care. They don't want you to learn because they want you to keep getting classes. Our new school ELEBaires did not charge a sign up fee, they discount holiday weeks, they charged us about half as much and I had semi-private lessons (2 students, 1 teacher) for 2 hours a day. The staff was so much nicer and instead of asking us everyday about payments, they asked us about what we learned. To anyone looking for schools, pick one that cares about the learning experience first. Just like we say in the states, if you take care of the customer, in the end your business will succeed.
Off to Bolivia and Chile, Pierce
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Day 19: Success
Good news is that I have successfully retrieved both my passport and approved visa from the Bolivian consulate. I arrived today at the same time as yesterday, waited 20 minutes in the waiting room with a dozen other people, none of which had any idea who was first or last until the same woman came and pointed at me. She then pulled my paperwork out of the exact same pile she put it in yesterday, walked it around the corner came back and I had an approved visa. I have no idea why they couldn't have done that yesterday but anyway its done, it looks like I am approved to visit Boliva for 90 day segments for up to 5 years. I have already contacted a teacher in Sucre who will give me lessons for $3 per hour and she will supply me with a room in her house with full room and board for an additional $6 per day...now thats cheap living.
As for the spanish learning, its tough going. Being an engineer I feel I am too logical and always trying to map the two languages together which is nearly impossible. I am trying to break my mind free of its current conception of language understanding so I can weave a new language into the mix...its tough. In Spanish the verbs are very difficult and the word order is backwards from ours in many circumstances...for example...we would say "I bought it for him" in Spanish you essentially say "him it I bought".
Staying in tonight to study and make more flash cards!
P
As for the spanish learning, its tough going. Being an engineer I feel I am too logical and always trying to map the two languages together which is nearly impossible. I am trying to break my mind free of its current conception of language understanding so I can weave a new language into the mix...its tough. In Spanish the verbs are very difficult and the word order is backwards from ours in many circumstances...for example...we would say "I bought it for him" in Spanish you essentially say "him it I bought".
Staying in tonight to study and make more flash cards!
P
Monday, May 4, 2009
Day 18: Catch up
Wow, has it already been 18 days? Time was creeping by at first, now it is flying. I did not go to Uruguay this weekend. I wanted to use the weekend to see some more of Bs As before I leave and I will try to catch Motevideo on the return leg. I spent saturday visiting museums and famous theaters that were both closed for renovations. They were supposed to be complete last year but it seems that all their projects down here go over budget and over schedule. They have a bicentenial next year for which they want to have all their historical landmarks re-made. I did manage to do some shopping for souveneirs and bought a nice shirt for the night clubs. Today, I started with the new school which was fantastic. Its cheaper and the insturction is much better.
On a future plans note. I have been paling around with a wonderful girl from London named Annabell or Bells for short. We are taking our classes together and she decided yesterday that she wanted to go to Boliva with me. I am happy to have a travel partner. Plus, she really helped improve my itnerary. We are going to to grab a Friday 20 hour night bus to Salta, spend the night, see the city, have some famous empanadas, grab another bus for San Pedro de Atacama which is an oasis in the desert in northern chile. I am not sure they even have much electricity there. I was told many places just use candles. Next we will go to Uniou in Southern Boliva to see their famous salt flats (largest in the world), next will be Potosi where we can take a real (and some what dangerous) tour of an operating mine hundred of feet below ground. Finally, we will grab a bus to Sucre where I have set up a private teacher and home stay for the following two weeks. I will also try to hit up Cochabamba and maybe Santa Cruz...but we will see how much time I have their. I am going though an amazing hassle to get a visa so I want to get my moneys worth...and this takes me to my next section....missing american profecciency and efficiency.
Since Boliva/US relations are strained Boliva now requires US citizens to get a visa to visit their country. Basically, this is just a monetary and paperwork nightmare. Today, I spent 3 hours and $135 fumbling through their process. I walk into the consulate to find a huge hallway filled with people...all very short people. I am one of two anglo's, we make eye contact and each breathe a slight sigh of relief. I start standing in what seems like a line but people keep telling me that this is not the end of the line....to me it just looked like a hallway full of people. So I decide to push my way around (very easy because I am a giant) and at least see where these imaginary lines go. I finally find the visa line which to my surprise is short. I stand in a bunch of people (no process) until a lady points at me. She explains roughly that I need two pictures, my vaccination card, $135, a credit card, a passport, a hotel reservation and a travel ticket. I said I didn't have a ticket yet and she said no problem then told me I needed a ticket, I said I didn't have one, she said ok....who knows. Plus, I needed photocopies of all of this. They have a photocopy machine which to my horror was one of the lines I experienced earlier. I waited it out, then went around the corner and purchased some photos, came back handed it all to the same lady after she again pointed at me, took all the info shoved it in an envelope gave me a receipt for the money and said come back tomorrow. Then she was gone. So at this point the Bolvian consulate has my passport which I can hopefully collect tomorrow with a visa. Bolivia better be worth it. I did check some prices and my full and board with a host family will be $6 per day....that is quite the bargain....plus 3 hour bus rides are only like $1.50. The dollar is still king down here.
That is enough rambling for today, I'll write again soon.
On a future plans note. I have been paling around with a wonderful girl from London named Annabell or Bells for short. We are taking our classes together and she decided yesterday that she wanted to go to Boliva with me. I am happy to have a travel partner. Plus, she really helped improve my itnerary. We are going to to grab a Friday 20 hour night bus to Salta, spend the night, see the city, have some famous empanadas, grab another bus for San Pedro de Atacama which is an oasis in the desert in northern chile. I am not sure they even have much electricity there. I was told many places just use candles. Next we will go to Uniou in Southern Boliva to see their famous salt flats (largest in the world), next will be Potosi where we can take a real (and some what dangerous) tour of an operating mine hundred of feet below ground. Finally, we will grab a bus to Sucre where I have set up a private teacher and home stay for the following two weeks. I will also try to hit up Cochabamba and maybe Santa Cruz...but we will see how much time I have their. I am going though an amazing hassle to get a visa so I want to get my moneys worth...and this takes me to my next section....missing american profecciency and efficiency.
Since Boliva/US relations are strained Boliva now requires US citizens to get a visa to visit their country. Basically, this is just a monetary and paperwork nightmare. Today, I spent 3 hours and $135 fumbling through their process. I walk into the consulate to find a huge hallway filled with people...all very short people. I am one of two anglo's, we make eye contact and each breathe a slight sigh of relief. I start standing in what seems like a line but people keep telling me that this is not the end of the line....to me it just looked like a hallway full of people. So I decide to push my way around (very easy because I am a giant) and at least see where these imaginary lines go. I finally find the visa line which to my surprise is short. I stand in a bunch of people (no process) until a lady points at me. She explains roughly that I need two pictures, my vaccination card, $135, a credit card, a passport, a hotel reservation and a travel ticket. I said I didn't have a ticket yet and she said no problem then told me I needed a ticket, I said I didn't have one, she said ok....who knows. Plus, I needed photocopies of all of this. They have a photocopy machine which to my horror was one of the lines I experienced earlier. I waited it out, then went around the corner and purchased some photos, came back handed it all to the same lady after she again pointed at me, took all the info shoved it in an envelope gave me a receipt for the money and said come back tomorrow. Then she was gone. So at this point the Bolvian consulate has my passport which I can hopefully collect tomorrow with a visa. Bolivia better be worth it. I did check some prices and my full and board with a host family will be $6 per day....that is quite the bargain....plus 3 hour bus rides are only like $1.50. The dollar is still king down here.
That is enough rambling for today, I'll write again soon.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Day 15: FUTBOL!!! and San Isidro
Ok, so I hit up another Futbol game...I couldn't help myself. I had so much fun the first time I didn't think I could match it but it turned out to almost be better. I need to set the stage at little. The game was the Boca Juniors vs a club team from Venezuela to decide one of the finalists in the South American cup. It wasn't really a highly anticipated match which was actually a good thing for our safety. I was wearing a newly acquired Boca jersey. We had to buy tickets from a scalper. The people I was with wanted a good time but not too intense so when the scalper offered muy tranquillo seats they jumped on them. We entered the stadium similar to the last game except this time a policia stops me and shoves a gray box in my face. He then mumbles some fast spanish that I didn't understand. Then he made a blowing sound and I realized that he was giving me a breathalizer....I passed. The beard must make me look like a drunk too??? So we get up to our seats and this time I see the bathrooms but I still smell pee everywhere. We had arrived much earlier this time so there were plenty of seats. There was tons of room right behind the goal so picked a spot a little off to one side. There were all of these banners strung both across and up and down the seats but they were just kind of rolled up and laying there. We settled in at one of the many railings throughout the area (just a 3" round tubular bar) and waited for the game to start. All of a sudden drums started beating, the singing started and the area in which we were sitting was stormed by the hard core blue collar crowd that makes Boca famous. They all immediately climbed on top of all the railings using the banners to hold on, and worked hard to unfurl them. They literally ran us off our railing. For the remainder of the game every railing was full of standing people (not even watching the game) balancing only with one hand on a banner that is also being used by people the entire length and height of the stadium, leading the songs, staring down people not singing, waving flags and generally carousing. The singing did not stop the entire game and we basically couldn't see anything on the field because most of our viewing area was blocked by banners and flags. This is where I truly saw the passion of their fans. Everyone there knew the songs..except for us and some people were definitely annoyed with us...if it had been a bigger game, I would have been worried for our safety. We certainly did not match the hard core blue collar motif being displayed in our seating area. We had a blast but in a way I felt very fortunate that we were able to be in that area and have a good experience. Boca won, 3-0 with a bicycle kick goal for #2. After the game, I had a mild heart attack when a rough looking Argentine ran up and grabbed me and started saying things loudly. My friend told after that he said that he was so happy I had chosen Boca...it was a happy garb. It really rounded out the complete Argentina futbol experience.
Last night we took it easy with an all you can eat steak and past dinner for $8!!! Today, was a national holiday so most of the shops were closed. We took a train along the coast to a samll town call San Isidro. It was nice to get out of the city and this particular place was very nice and relaxed. It felt great. We had the intention of catching one more train to the beach but ran out of time and headed back. Tomorrow I might be heading to Uruguay for a weekend jaunt and to see the country. I will be taking a water ferry across the bay for a few hours and just spend one night in Montevideo. I might not take my laptop so it might be a day or two until my next post. For now, I hope the video I embedded works.
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