Judd's Bloggings

Job Protection Act

2011-05-29T03:14:00.000-07:00

Click here to read the entire letter in support of the Job Protection Act.

Family Weekend in Atlanta

2010-06-27T21:08:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a great break for us. On Thursday night my wife Felicia, Mattie's mother Brenda, and his Aunt Christie- all flew up to Atlanta to visit Mattie and I. We met up with them late that evening and then all 3 joined us for lunch on the set on Friday and stayed for the rest of that afternoon's shooting. The last scene of the day was a great dialogue between Mattie and co-star Mercedes Masohn that rocked!

On Saturday, we hit the World of Coca Cola during the daytime and then a comedy club that evening to see cast member Ig

nacio Serricchio's act.

Sunday was time to relax before the family had to fly out and we had to make the drive back down to Griffin to get ready for Week 3 of shooting. Mattie is doing great and

we'll really start getting into some good scenes over the next couple of weeks... We have completed all of the shooting on the plane and will start moving on to different sets and more special effects. Good times!

More later.

Some photos:

TERMINAL Update

2010-06-23T11:52:00.000-07:00

Greetings from Griffin, Georgia,

Things are going well over here, long days though.
We're on the 8th day of shooting today, we've had to work all 8 of the days and they usually keep us for the entire ten hours. Normally we'd have to work 12, but since Mattie is a minor they can only work him for 10.

He did his first stunt today... He had to jump on a big guys back and then the big guy rams him into the wall. This all happened inside the plane so it was pretty tight. Mattie did a great job with it. (Photo on left is me testing out his back brace)

The only bad thing is- the phone signal where we are shooting is terrible. No 3G, and AT&T's Edge network is barely present. It's killing me because it effects my Internet use. Email is easy but anything other than that usually has to wait till we get back to the hotel in the evenings. And the WiFi speed at the hotel is nothing to write home about either.

Word has gotten out amongst the cast members that I regularly put people on tape for auditions so yours truly is now the go-to guy when anyone has to tape auditions. We've found a conference room at the hotel with decent lighting and sound- we've had taping sessions on at least 4 of the last 10 nights... Some things never change. :)

****Big Congrats go out to Stephanie McCandless, from our Thursday night class, for booking a hospital commercial over in Mississippi! We taped her audition at the office just before Mattie and I left town and she shoots today! Great job Steph, we're proud of ya.

I'll try to post another update soon and will work on getting some more pics posted later.

- Judd (and Mattie)

Wreckamania Recap

2009-04-10T13:29:00.000-07:00

It started as a simple trip to Houston for the WWE Hall of Fame andthe 25th anniversary of WrestleMania....

My job doesn't allow me to plan many things in advance- particularly when I'm on call. Designated days off are another story, but when your friends want you to head over to Houston and take in a little wrasslin, and its an 'on call' weekend, it's tough to commit but also tough to turn down. When Thursday hit and I still hadn't been called to work, I figured I'd take the ride over and enjoy as much of the weekend as I could, knowing in the back of my mind that the fun could end at any moment with the ringing of my phone. Anyway, I decided to drive my work truck and have a bag packed- just in case I got the call.

My friend Joseph has a small house off of I-10 in Highlands, Tx and was out of town for the weekend; he was nice enough to leave us a key so we could crash there on Friday and Saturday night. This way we wouldn't have to pay the wrestlemania-inflated prices for a hotel (its a recession you know).

I exited off of I-10 at the Crosby/Lynchburg exit and headed north on Main Street into the lovely Highlands area. The first light in town turns yellow, then red- so I was the first car in line at the stoplight. A few seconds into my patient wait at the light, something up ahead that catches our eye. Across the intersection from us, a large white truck swerved into the center turning lane nailing a car in the process, then proceeds to continue driving into the oncoming lane and smashes into a second car! It's hard to explain, but after hitting the 2nd car he is now in OUR lane facing us, still about 50 - 60 yards away from us across the intersection. Next, he punches the gas and proceeds to leave the two damaged cars behind him. Keep in mind, this all happened in about 3 seconds.

Now, he's coming straight for my truck at this point and Josh and I start freaking out. As he's approaching and we are screaming all sorts of things that would make my mother angry with me, I'm still figuring that he's going to swerve back towards his right and get back into the south-bound lane that he is supposed to be in. I figured cops were chasing him and he was trying to avoid the light, and he would blow by me and keep going- and that any minute we would see a fleet of cop cars, sirens blasting, in "high-speed pursuit" as the late-great Buford T Justice would say. He didn't swerve back to his right.

He continued to accelerate and ran right into us, head-on. This was probably the scariest few seconds of my life. I literally looked the genius in the eye as he smashed into my truck- he never even blinked or flinched! My view of the guy didn't last long as the airbags quickly deployed. Thankfully no one was in line at the light behind me just yet because despite having the truck in park and my foot being on the break, the impact pushed us about 2 or3 car lengths backwards until we hit another car.

Seconds later a lady comes running up to the passenger side of our truck screaming, "Get out of the truck! Get out of the truck!" I'm thinking, Great, now the trucks gonna explode. That's all I need right now- an explosion. I guess she saw all the radiator fluid that had spilled out of the colliding trucks and the smoke coming from under my hood and assumed the truck was about to blow up. Thankfully, it did not.

Apparently there isn't much to do on Fridays at 5pm in Highlands because the local stores at that particular intersection immediately emptied and within 2 minutes, there were probably 4 cop cars, 2 fire trucks, dozens of spectators and at least one Haz Mat truck. Local boy nails two cars then speeds off into another head-on... This was the highlight of the day for the fine folks over in Highlands.

The cops spoke to the bozo behind the wheel for about 10 seconds before having to help him out the truck. Not sure if it was alcohol or the bag of pills they found on the front seat, or a combination of both, but this guy didn't know where he was at all. Needless to say, they did the cuff him and stuff him routine (Rosco P. Coltrain reference) and he got a free room for the night. I could not help but wonder if this was one of Joseph's new Highlands buddies... then I realized that this clown dressed way to nice to hang out with Joseph Zenner.

Interestingly enough, the guy was so obviously guilty that the cops never even asked me any questions about the incident. They had so many victims involved and a ton of witnesses, I guess my statement would have just been redundant, never the less it was the first accident of any kind that I've been a part of where I was never even asked to explain what happened.

After an hour of waiting for my truck to be towed, we rented a car and headed over to the nearest drug testing clinic so I could proudly pee in a small cup so that my employer would know that it was the driver of the white CHEVY truck who was loaded up on pills and NOT the driver of white FORD truck.

We ended up catching the Hall of Fame on Saturday night but opted to skip the big show on Sunday; we were getting pretty sore by that point. With no vehicle to get home, we hitched a ride back to Lafayette with Josh's dear wife Stephanie- bless her heart, she drove all the way over to Texas on a Saturday night just to pick us up.

It's been a week now and the soreness is almost gone. If I had it to do all over again, I would go to the hospital next time. They offered several times but both Josh and I refused to go. I know all of the reasons that it would probably have been smarter to go and get checked out but I think we just wanted to get out of there and be done with it.

I am EXTREMELY thankful to be alive and well, it could have been so much worse. Thanks to everyone for their comments and support- and heads up next time you go to Highlands.

Random Combination

2009-03-15T01:01:00.000-07:00

Check out this article from Billboard Magazine. This has to be the strangest combination of guys to form a spin-off band ever:

February 17, 2009 05:32 PM ET
Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.
Former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha, Cheap Trick drummer Bun E. Carlos, Hanson's Taylor Hanson and Fountains Of Wayne bassist Adam Schlesinger have formed a new band, Tinted Windows.

The group has recorded its debut album at Stratosphere Sound Studios in New York, which Schlesinger and Iha co-own with Ivy's Andy Chase. The set is expected this spring on a label to be announced.

Tinted Windows will play its first major show at Billboard's South by Southwest showcase, to be held March 20 at Pangaea in Austin, Texas.

Much like the mixed-bag nature of the band's origins, their new single is a hybrid of power-pop, new wave and guitar rock, Check it out the new single here.

http://www.myspace.com/tintedwindows

One More to Scratch Off

2009-03-14T00:57:00.000-07:00

In case you missed my Facebook status from Friday morning, I can now scratch off one more thing on my life's to do list....

July 16th, 2009 - London, England - I finally get to see Mike in concert.

Wow

2009-01-31T08:59:00.000-08:00

If this one doesn't bring tears to your eyes, I don't know what will.

Stop That Emeffuh (South Louisiana's Finest)

2009-01-29T08:07:00.000-08:00

I don't want to become the guy who simply posts videos up in the place of blogs all the time, but this has been one of my all-time fav's for a LONG time now. Matter of fact, I liked it from jump! There is just so much funny about this clip. I dare you to watch it just once!

Stop that emfuh

"How Bout-cha, Happy Days!?"

2009-01-25T08:37:00.000-08:00

When you are in the middle of the ocean on a drilling rig, working 12 hour shifts in front of a computer screen, surrounded only by... drilling rig workers - your standards for entertainment go WAY down.

One of the things out here that has always kept me amused was the intercom system and the users of that system. The intercom is how everyone on the rig communicates with ohers. Let's say for example, you are in the mess hall and you want to ask the crane operator if they have moved your equipment yet. You would simply grab the nearest intercom phone, press the button on the handset and say "Pick up crane operator!" before releasing the button and waiting for the crane operator to pick up the phone nearest him. The button is only pressed when you want to speak out loud to everyone on the rig. This can be heard everywhere and its often very loud. Let me repeat that, THE BUTTON IS ONLY PRESSED WHEN YOU WANT TO SPEAK TO EVERYONE ON THE RIG. We'll come back to the importance of that later.

Now, when you do want to get someone on the line, the above phrase "Pick up crane operator," is sort of flexible but you gotta know the rules before you go switching it up.

For instance:

"Pick up Ricky, Crane Operator" - Acceptable

"Pick up Ricky" - Acceptable (assuming there is only one Ricky on the rig)

"One time, Ricky" - Acceptable

"Talk to me, Ricky" - Acceptable (but you better know Ricky pretty well before you go telling him to talk to you)

"Can Ricky the Crane Operator pick up?" - UNACCEPTABLE

"Could somebody tell Ricky the Crane Operator to call Judd the MWD?" - ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE and could possible get you run off.

There is, however, one deviation of the phrase that is used just as frequently as the original and that is: "How bout-cha Ricky?"

Apparently 'How bout-cha' translates to 'Pick up the phone' when your offshore in the Gulf Coast area.

And all of that isn't the part that entertains me, those are just the ground rules.

The entertainment comes when you have extremely inaudible calls out loud for the whole rig left wondering what the heck was just said. This occurs when you have:
A. A bad intercom system
B. A person (or several persons) whose dialect is so bad that you can't understand them in person much less on an intercom (think of the assistant coach on Waterboy with a megaphone)
C. A combinaction of both A and B

When things like "Wheaa...donna...paw...thue...pusha Dan, pickup!" suddenly burst through the silence of our computer shack it sometimes takes everything you have not to spit your coffee all over the keyboard.

The best is when a caller says outloud, "Pick Up (Insert name)!" Then, whoever he is calling does indeed pick up and listens to the callers question (which we can't hear because the caller has released the intercom button like he is supposed to). But then, the guy who received the call decides to press the button when he answers the question. This provides the entire rig with his answer instead of simply the original caller. This has the potential of being one of the funniest things you've ever heard in your life. You are used to hearing short, loud 'pick up so and so' phrases all day- so imagine all of a sudden one of them is followed by "Ah, no sir! I done left'em sitting right over there by them pipe racks. You NEED to ask Ray-Ray where they at- he used em last!"

It's also fun to try to keep up with the names and nicknames on various rigs. In the past I've worked with some classic intercom names:
-Bub
-Ricky The Roustabout
-Bubba
-Gator, Gator Crane Operator
-Bubbie
-and a past favorite of mine- O'Malley in the Galley

I couldn't make this stuff up!

On this particular job we have more nicknames than usual...
I'm happy to let you know that 'Hooter The Motor Man' is out here with us!
'Mighty Mouse', 'Bumpy on the Pits' and 'Shotgun' are also working hard out here.
And up in the drillers shack we have none other than 'Happy Days'.

Gotta love the offshore intercom.

Black Friday at Best Buy

2008-11-29T14:35:00.000-08:00

I did the Black Friday/camp-out-the-night-before-at-Bestbuy/shopping thing again this year.

Usually I do it for gifts, this year I decided to treat myself.

This year's loot:
One 42" Flat Screen 1080 LCD for $588
A PS3 Bundle for $300
and of course some games and blu-rays to keep me occupied.

I sure hope work gets busy soon!

10 Things I miss about South America

2008-11-26T04:45:00.000-08:00

Now that I've been home for a few weeks, I figured I'd throw up another Top Ten, but this time let me give South America its due...

10. The Airlines- I flew two of them while I was down there, LAN and TACA and each provided incredible experiences. It’s easy to forget that you are actually flying International flights, because the tickets to fly in and around South America were very comparable in price to flying around the U.S. The difference in service and quality was no comparison however. From the touch-screen video screen for each individual passenger to watch whatever movie he or she chooses to the complimentary glass of wine after the meal, flying coach in South America was almost as nice as First Class here at home.

9. The Parties- I’ve mentioned this in previous blogs but do the South Americans love to party, sing and dance- especially the Peruvians! It wasn’t that they partied any harder than we do- just more frequently with more themes, costumes, etc.

8. Cheap Bootlegs – They were everywhere, on every corner it seemed. Music, movies, software… any type of media you need was within walking distance to wherever you might be. Best of all, it was dirt cheap. Being home brought back the reality of the $4.80 rental at Blockbuster. For that price down there you could own at least 3 or 4 brand new movies or even the entire Rosetta Stone language software collection! (Not that I would suggest doing such a thing.... and I can now say that in 27 different languages)

7. Hostels – One of the most asked questions I get regarding my trip, “You went by yourself??” Hostels make traveling South America by yourself an easy task. It doesn’t matter what day you check in, there’s always someone there who is also traveling solo who could use someone to tag along with for a day or two of excursions. I guess it isn't the Hostels themselves that I miss, but instead its the constant meeting of new and different people from around the world.

6. The Signs – You have no idea how a simple sign, or a t-shirt or anything that’s got a not-so-perfectly translated phrase written on it, can totally make your day. Case in point, take this person's shirt for example:

Thank God for camera phones!

5. The Music – The radio stations all feature a pretty good mixture of old U.S. hits and South American jams. The Latin music totally grew on me- quickly.

4. Cheap Prices – The cost of living was so low. Bottle of water for less than 50 cents, plate lunches for 2 bucks…. I could go on and on, but you get the idea.

3. Not Driving – For 3 months I didn’t drive a car. Riding in a bus or cab, biking or walking were the only ways to get from one place to another. What first felt like an inconvenience eventually felt like a blessing. No need to pay close attention to the road, no need to worry about directions and best of all, for 3 full months I never uttered the words, “Where are my keys?”

2. The Kids- The children that I worked with in Peru were the best. Having their little faces perk up when we would arrive each day for class was something that really made a difference in the day. My days back at home don’t have that.

1. Mrs. Gladys and The Carerra Family in Ecuador – I grew really, really close to that family. They took care of me for the first month of my 3-month stay in South America- at the time when I was most vulnerable. Their love and support was something I will never, ever forget.

I will hopefully be going back there very soon to visit them all. So, to Brandon, Ronald, Alexandra, Elizabeth, Mr. Gonzalo and Mrs. Gladys (if you are able to read this)- I love you guys and I miss you all so much!

Tuesday's Top 10

2008-11-11T09:33:00.000-08:00

It's Tuesday morning and I'm at the airport in Lima, Peru- about to fly over to Miami. I will be in the U.S. for the first time in 3 months and I can't wait! A friend suggested I publish some Top 10 lists now that the trip is about to be over. I couldn't think of one in particular, so I figured I'd do one a day for a couple of days- at least until I'm back in Lafayette Thursday night. So here we go...

Top 10 Little Things I Miss Most About America

(Family, friends and pets excluded)

10. Light Beer - I am not a huge drinker these days- but when I do sip on a cold one, I really enjoy a light beer. Whether it's because it taste great or less filling is irrelevant here in South America because light beer is almost non existent. Will someone please buy me an Ultra this coming weekend?

9. Normal Internet/Computers - Internet Cafes are everywhere here, but there's almost always something wrong. Either the speed is ridiculously slow, or the computers don't recognize my flash drive or the worst problem: the keyboard is totally different-numbers and letters are the same but things like @ and ? and ! are impossible to find on the keyboards down here.

8. Fixed Prices - Yes, bargaining for something is kind of fun but it's getting old. I'm looking forward to grabbing an item off the store shelf, looking at the price and either buying it or not buying it. I am so tired of asking a store attendant how much something is and getting the response: How much you want to pay?

7. Electric Outlets - Here in South America they are either nowhere to be found when you need them or they are totally different. Yes, I've heard of adapters and I have them with me but it's not always that simple. To plug in a laptop- in most places you have to have 2 or 3 adapters.

6. Movies - I am an avid movie goer and I am so far out of the loop its ridiculous. I can't wait to hit the theatre back home.

5. Washer and Dryer - Mrs. Gladys had a washer and dryer and did my clothes for me back in Ecuador but since leaving there it is always an issue when it's time to do clothes. In order to find someone to do your clothes, you usually have to go to the touristy areas and the price is ridiculous in Santiago I paid 8 bucks for one load of clothes. If you are lucky enough to find one that's not in gringo land, then you have to go through intense negotiations first (See #8 on this list). And there's always the possibility of not having one around. See this blog.

4. Tap Water/Hot Water - This is a pretty big one. I never realized how much I took for granted having good, clean tap water. For 3 months- no tap water, which also means: No ice, no cooking or making coffee without going out and buying bottled water first, no water fountains, etc... As for hot water, it is a luxury here to have hot water, which means most of the time shaving sucks.

3. Paper - I think I mentioned in a blog early on that the places here have a problem giving you real napkins. This wasn't just in Quito, it has been almost everywhere I've gone. It's like they have a massive paper shortage here or maybe they are afraid there will be one, I don't know. And it's not just napkins, but regular paper as well, and worse of all toilet paper! If you are lucky enough to find a public restroom with toilet paper, 9 times out of 10 they charge you for it!!!

2. Adherence to Traffic Rules - This is pretty self explanatory. No matter how bad we think traffic or drivers are back at home, I promise you it could be much, much worse.If they have traffic lights or signs- NO ONE bothers to pay them any attention! Everyone who's ever thought driving was dangerous in the U.S. needs to take a cab from the Lima airport to the Miraflores area of Lima. It's bad everywhere I've been , but this one ride alone- I swear someone should turn it into a video game. Very scary.

And the number one little thing I miss most about America...

1. Coffee - There are so many things different about the coffee here, but the main problem is that no person, household or business seems to use coffee pots here. They don't brew it. It's always the same- you order a coffee and they bring you a cup of hot water or hot milk, a spoon, and a bottle of Nescafe instant coffee mix. When I get home, I don't even need Starbucks or CCs. I'll be happy with a cup of coffee straight out of an actual coffee pot.

More tomorrow from Miami!

High Expectations Part 2

2008-11-08T20:07:00.000-08:00

Between the people I've met on this trip and the tons of people who've posted travel blogs online- I'd heard every possible positive adjective used to describe Machu Picchu...

Incredible

Awesome

Magical

Unbelievable

Breathtaking

Phenomenal

Beautiful

Awe-Inspiring

etc...

Machu Picchu had a lot to live up to.

Day 4

Aguas Caliente to Machu Picchu

We woke up at 3:45 am and began hiking at about 4:15. It was still pitch black and the 4 mile hike was extremely steep, climbing 450 meters. It didn't slow us down at all- probably because everyone was running on pure adrenaline and anticipation. We got to the top at 5:45 am - 15 minutes prior to the gates opening up. There were maybe 15 others ahead of us in line, all hikers. At about 5:55 the busses that bring people up from Aguas Caliente who choose not to hike, started arriving. By the time the gates opened up, there were people lined up behind us as far as we could see.

Upon getting inside the first stop was the entrance gate of Huayna Picchu. When looking at the standard picture of MP (Machu Picchu) like the one above, HP (Huayna Picchu) is the big mountain in the center. Because of the steep climb and the lack of space at the top, Peruvian officials only allow 400 people per day to climb HP, so it was a must to hit HP first. SInce we arrived so early we were climbing HP by 7am. This is another treacherous climb (the top is 360 meters higher than MP) and by the time we reached the top it was time to sit and enjoy the view. It truly felt like we were on top of the world as you look down upon the seemingly small MP ruins.

Standing on top of Huaynu Picchu:

When we got back down to MP it was time to explore the ruins. I have to admit, I was dumbfounded by the sheer size of the place. All of the photos I'd seen in the past made the place look kind of small, perhaps because it sits between such huge mountains- and pictures never do the size of mountains justice. We walked from building to building, room to room, and I realized that it wasn't just a few Incas hanging out here way back then- thousands of Incas could have lived here easily. There's over 140 separate buildings and more than 100 sets of stone stairways. The stone work, like the rest I've seen in and around Cusco, is impeccable. Another thing that amazed me was the fact that there is no bad view of the place. Whether you are in a large room, or on the east or west side of the place, or on top of HP looking down, or wherever.... it's always the most magnificent view and you feel like you HAVE to take a picture of it. I must've taken 300 photos while I was there.

It is very hard to put into words how MP makes you feel. I can say things like It was beautiful- but after being there in person, those words just aren't good enough for this place.

Looking at this man-made masterpiece created hundreds of years ago makes you really think twice about saying the words "I cant..."

Before leaving I had to hike up to Intipunku, aka The Sun Gate. This was the official entrance used by the Incas hundreds of years ago. It sits about 270 meters higher than MP, up above the ruins, and is the first look at MP that an Incan would have. When I finally arrived at the top, I was drenched in sweat for the third time in one day. From The Sun Gate you can see everything- Machu Picchu, Huayna Picchu and even the small town of Aguas Caliente where we had slept. I realized that in the last few hours I had climbed: 450 meters to get to MP, 360 meters to get to HP (then back down), and finally another 25o meters to where I was standing at The Sun Gate.... and it was only 11:00 am! I am not sure I have ever over-exerted myself to this degree before and that's not to mention the 3 days of hiking and biking prior to today. But the strange thing was, with the exception of the sweat, I couldn't really feel any of it. I didn't feel sore, or tired. I could probably do it all over again if I needed to.

The current locals that live near MP say the ancient Incas had no problems hiking back and forth to this city in the sky because Machu Picchu gave them energy and clarity. I looked down at everything below me and sure enough, I felt clear and energized! I figured either I'm delirious from the altitude and exercise- or maybe they are right about the magic of this place.

Either way, I felt a tremendous sense of relief. Not just because I made it up to the Sun Gate. I was relieved to have survived the hike, the volunteer work, the travel, the whole thing. This marked the end of a 3-month long journey for me, and what a great ending it was.

I can go home now, I thought to myself.

While walking back down the stone steps to MP, all of a sudden every muscle in my body started aching all at once. My feet and legs hurt more with every step, my back- up near my right shoulder- felt like someone hit it with a hammer, and I felt like an Incan drummer was inside my head. The Incan magic was wearing off pretty fast.

Machu Picchu lived up to all of my expectations and I am going to sleep really good tonight.

The view from The Sun Gate:

More photos of Machu Picchu over in the photo section.

More Machu Picchu information.

High Expectations part 1

2008-11-08T16:33:00.000-08:00

I just got back to Cusco.

The entire Machu Picchu experience was awesome.

Day 1: Cusco to Santa Maria

I guess I'll start at the beginning of the journey. Our group left Cusco Wednesday morning at 8 and rode for 4 hours by bus to a spot somewhere between Cusco and the small village of Santa Maria. This bus ride was supposed to last about 2.5 hours but there was a landslide that blocked the road for a while. This was pretty scary- sitting on a narrow, winding rode looking over the cliff at the 1000 meter drop- waiting for 3 or 4 Peruvian road workers to clear off the pile of landslide rock so we could pass.

Here is a shot of everybody trying to get through the landslide:

Part of me wanted to turn around and go back.

We made it through safely, and when we reached our stopping point we got on our bikes. It was a 24 mile ride- uphill and downhill- to reach Santa Maria. The ride was awesome, but extremely muddy. As we went further along the muddy road, our surroundings got more and more 'jungle looking'. Santa Maria is a VERY small town in the jungle of Peru and we lodged at a small hostel that didn't offer much more than a camping tent would have. We still managed to sleep pretty sound. The best part about this Hostal was the owner's dog, Rambo:

Day 2: Santa Maria to Santa Teresa

Thursday was a 10 hour, 16 mile hike from Santa Maria to Santa Teresa. I won't lie- this was pretty rough. At one point the trail was literally 2 feet wide with a wall of mountain rock on our right and an immediate 650 meter drop to the left. My fear of heights didn't help much. Luckily this was only for about an hour of the hike. The rest of the hike was filled with everything from steep, rocky climbs to downhill dirt trails through the jungle. The struggles and anxieties were easily tolerated only due to the incredible scenery that surrounded us all day. Rivers and waterfalls, tropical jungles, field after field of coca leaves and the most beautiful mountains I've ever seen in person. The highlight of the day was a stop at a small house in the jungle to get some snacks where the owners have a few pets for the hikers to play with. In particular, Martin the monkey and Patee the Capise. I had never heard of, or seen, a Capise. The best way to describe him...

He has the paws of a monkey, the face of an aardvark, the body of a large rat/ferret, the tail of a raccoon, the climbing ability of a koala bear and the disposition of your favorite, lazy pet dog.

Here is a pic of Patee:

Out of fairness, here is Martin:

Our soar muscles and insect bitten arms and legs were relieved to find a natural hot springs at the end of the hike. We got there right at sunset and spent about 2 hours soaking in the hot natural waters. Awesome.

Immediately afterwards we checked in to our hostal in Santa Teresa which made the previous night's hostal look like the Ritz Carlton!

Day 3: Santa Teresa to Aguas Caliente

Friday morning we took a bus from Santa Teresa to a small hydroelectric plant just 12 miles outside of Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu! From the plant, we hiked the remaining 12 miles, which was pretty flat, making Day 3 the easiest hike of all. Still a very hot and sweaty day as we followed a set of train tracks for the entire hike. Highlight of the 12 mile trek was definitely the 'Stand By Me' bridge. I swear it was straight out of the movie. It was a little eerie walking over the old boards that wabbled and shook under your feet with every step.

We arrived in Aguas Caliente around 2pm and had lunch before checking into a really nice hostal- finally! They actually had hot water, although I'd have been pretty ticked if they hadn't, considering that the town's name is Spanish for 'Hot Water'. Aguas Caliente is also known for being the most expensive town in Peru- since the only people there are tourists on the way to, or from, Machu Picchu. It is a nice town, but I wouldn't recommend staying there for very long unless you have a lot of money to blow.

To be continued....

I'll try to post Part 2 tomorrow along with Machu Picchu pics. I'm exhausted.

I have added a ton of pics over in the photo section.

Updated pic galleries for:

Arequipa and Colca Canyon (it was messed up before- fixed now)

Cusco- Sacred Valley

Inca Trail Days 1-3

Check em out when you can.

Here we go...

2008-11-05T07:03:00.000-08:00

It´s Wednesday morning and I probably won´t be able to update this until Saturday evening because we are about to leave to hike/bike the Inca Jungle Trail that leads to Machu Picchu.

Quick itinerary:

Today- biking through the jungle

Thurs- hiking the Inca trail

Fri- more hiking and the hot springs

Sat- Machu Picchu and return to Cusco

More later!!!

Sacred Valley of Cusco

2008-11-04T18:39:00.000-08:00

We took another organized tour today. This one covered the areas and towns surrounding Cusco known to locals as The Sacred Valley. There is so much history in and around here, and some really impressive ruins as well. We visited Pisaq- famous for its market- and two former Inca towns Ollantaytambo and Chinchero.

Ollantaytambo and Chinchero were awesome. VIsiting the ruins was so cool. Like the Egyptians, The Incas were also known for their incredible stone work- so much of it is either extremely difficult or impossible to duplicate today. The stones in many of the ruins are massive- many weighing 20 to 40 tons each- and were all cut in one place and then hauled to the site where they were stacked up perfectly with one another. The thing that makes this system unique here in The Sacred Valley is that the stones fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle- with no mortar used to hold the stones together. They fit together so perfectly that it is impossible to fit a credit card in between them.

Riding through the valley itself was breathtaking and worth the money we paid for the whole tour. There were plenty of llamas along this tour as well- but thankfully no spit this time around.

Check back here in a couple of days for a ton of pics from Cusco and the Sacred Valley Tour.

Good Day Sunshine!

2008-11-03T11:47:00.001-08:00

I was looking forward to getting to Cusco, but dreading the weather. All reports indicated cold and rainy for the final stop on my trip. But so far, to my surprise, it has been sunny and beautiful since arriving early this morning!

I hate to admit this, but my first stop is the new McDonalds over in the Plaza de Armas. I need some familiar food- now.

Later today we will be checking in with our tour agency that booked our Machu Picchu excursion, and finding out the exact departure details. Will report back here later!

Colca Canyon

2008-11-02T22:49:00.000-08:00

We arrived in Arequipa yesterday morning and got a few hours of rest in a local hostel before exploring the area. We parted ways with my Irish friend Brian who is staying here in Arequipa for a few weeks while we were only going to be here for two days. We turned in early last night because we had to leave the hostel at 2:30 this morning for a tour to Colca Canyon (photo above).

Colca Canyon is Peru's answer to the Grand Canyon- it is huge. The main difference with this canyon is that 2000 years ago the locals decided to start building terraces along the canyon's slopes for farming. The terrace-farming continues today as the crops from Colca Canyon provide Arequipa's 2 million-plus population with its potatoes year round. It's one of the most beautiful sights I have seen since coming to South America - breathtaking to see in person, a truly magnificent spectacle of nature and man's ingenuity.

Along the tour we stopped at several small towns where the locals are the real old-school Peruvians. We were able to hang out with some Llamas, watch the local children dance and buy souvenirs of course. At one point I was trying to take a picture with this small girl and her llama when the llama decided he didn't like me very much. He began spitting on me- not once but over and over. The first time he did it, air and grass flew all over me! I was pretty mad, but at the same time I couldn't stop laughing. The next few were just air, but I quickly realized that this 'spit' was the most revolting odor I'd ever smelled. The entire time he's doing this, the little girl is trying to fuss at him while laughing hysterically and Maria is snapping away with the camera. Funny stuff, but the smell was enough to nearly make me nauseous.

On a different note- we experienced Cusco Coffee today. It is the Peruvian-owned knockoff of another famous coffee company. The logo and the fonts look extremely familiar!

More pics from Colca Canyon and Arequipa are up in the photo section.

We just arrived back in Lima a few minutes ago and we are getting ready for a 5am flight to Cusco. This week: Machu Picchu!!!

More Nazca

2008-10-31T21:47:00.000-07:00

After the Nazca lines we headed off with our tour guide, Antonio, to two more important Nazca tours. The first stop was the ancient graveyard of the Nazca people. The ancient burial site is a desert region that spans 1200 meters x 600 meters. It was discovered by farmers about 100 years ago and then looted and robbed in the 40's. When archeologists began researching the graveyard in the early 80's the grave robbers had destroyed so much evidence that it was nearly impossible to learn much more than is already known about the mysterious desert people.

The desert heat has preserved the bones so well, that they are in almost perfect condition and they are everywhere. It was a really strange feeling, walking from one underground gravesite to the next and stepping on scattered pieces of human bone. You could move your foot around anywhere you wanted to in the desert gravel and instantly uncover 2000 year-old bone fragments. Very strange.

Our next stop was the Nazca Aqueducts. These spiral holes in the ground were made 1500 years ago and still work to this day. They transport pure mineral water from the mountains down to the desert. Antonio explained the way they work, took us down to the bottom of one and we all shared a drink from the water below. It was better than most bottled water.

When we finished the tours, nighttime had fallen and the local children were out in droves sporting their Halloween costumes. It was pretty much the same as Halloween traditions at home except that instead of going house to house looking for treats, here they go from business to business.

We are now about to catch an overnight bus- 9 hour ride- down to Arequipa to visit Colca Canyon- Peru's version of The Grand Canyon.

More photos from Nazca will be up in the photo gallery sometime Monday.

Halloween in Nazca

2008-10-31T12:41:00.000-07:00

We are spending Halloween in one of the world's most mysterious cities - Nazca, Peru.

Most of Nazca's mystery comes from the famous Nazca Lines. They were discovered in 1927 when a German professor and others were flying over an area in Peru where the Andes Mountains meets the dry desert. Passengers were surprised to look down at the dry, uninhabited land and see a complicated system of straight lines, angles and intersections that they referred to as "runways" carved into the ground.

When the plane flew a little lower they noticed actual geometric shapes and other figures of plants, animals and various other beings.

Let the research begin.

After years of study, scientists know what, when and how:

The lines and figures were made between the period of 500 BC and 500 AD

The are covers about 450 km

Many of the figures are several km long

They were made by moving the stones and gravel away from the desert ground.

The who and especially the why are still theories and conjecture.

The most popular theories are:

They were made by the ancient Nazca people as a guide to the stars.

They were made by the ancient Nazca people as a map for underground water routes.

They were made by the ancient Nazca people as religious ceremonial walking patterns.

They were made by the ancient Nazca people after witnessing UFOs.

They were made by aliens.

Unfortunately, the above can only be speculated on, not proven, due to lack of evidence.

Today we hopped aboard a small, single-engine plane and flew over the infamous Nazca lines. I was really looking forward to this- for months- and I have to say that it definitely lived up the hype. It's one of those things where reading about it and seeing the photos just doesn't do it justice- especially the size of these things. The lines and figures are incredible big- some go ing a perfectly straight direction for miles and then abruptly make a perfect right angled turn and then continue that direction as far as the eye can see. The size is so large that from the ground it is impossible to see what the figures even are. If you are ever in Peru, a flight over the Nazca lines is worth your time. Seeing the sheer size of these things will make you scratch your head for a while.

We are headed to the famous Nazca Graveyard and the Nazca Aqueduct System in a few minutes. More later.

More pics from the Nazca Lines in the photo section.

The Dunes of Huacachina

2008-10-30T17:11:00.000-07:00

Brian, Maria and I left Lima at 1:30 pm yesterday and headed south on a 5 hour bus ride to Ica, Peru. Its a small desert town with not much to offer, except that it sits right beside a beautiful oasis. The oasis is called Huacachina and it consists solely of a lagoon, a handful of hostels and bars and several small business catering to the huge sand dunes that surround it. (Photo above)

We arrived last night after a 5 hour bus ride from Lima, settled into our room and hung out around the pool for a while. We were pretty tired from traveling so an early bedtime was in order. This morning we woke up and had breakfast at the pool and the met up with our tour group at 10 am.

For the next two hours, our group (8 tourists and a driver) rode the huge dunes that surround the town stopping only for sand boarding. It was incredibly fun and totally exhausting- the desert heat won't let the human body stay out there for more than a few hours. After the intense 'grip it and rip it' sand boarding session we returned to hotel for a shower, lunch and more relaxing at the pool. Total cost of the hotel room, the dune buggy ride, the sand board rental, breakfast and lunch, taxi service from bus station to hotel: $35 per person. Riding a sand board stomach-down on a steep, 400 meter-high sand dune... Priceless!

Our bus leaves in a couple hours, next stop: Nazca!

More photos from Ica - Huacachina over in the photo-section.

Goodbye Huancayo

2008-10-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

I am leaving Huancayo tonight- headed back to Lima for the final two weeks of my journey. The volunteer work came to an end yesterday and the children here were much tougher to leave than the one´s in Quito. Don´t get me wrong, both programs were great and extremely touching, but due to the way the schedule was structured it was so much easier to get attached to the kids here. For example...

During one of the final classes, I remember all of a sudden Angelo (5 year old boy who is precious) got really sad. Moments before he was his usual energetic self- all smiles. Then without anything obvious happening, I looked and saww him just sitting there for a while with his head down. Heather- a new volunteer from the states, asked him what was wrong but he wouldn´t answer. Tino was in the classroom at the time and explained to us that Angelo had just started coming to classes at the mountain school a few months ago and when the last group of volunteers left- Angelo was really sad. I wondered if he knew we (Brian and I) were leaving the following day. Then I realized that just a few minutes prior to Angelo´s change in attitude, we were identifying objects on the board and naming them in Spanish and English. When we got to the plane, Pablo excitedly made a comment like ´that´s how you will go back to your country- in a plane!´ When I put two and two together and I realized that immediately following that comment, Angelo was nearly in tears- it about ripped my heart out. I gathered my composure and moved on with the class as Angelo gradually came back around. After class, I pulled him aside and assured him that I would be back to visit in a few months. He like that alot.

Walking away from the school for the last time was just like leaving my new family in Quito just a little over a month ago- very, very painful. I didn´t want the children to see tears in my eyes but a couple of them did. Mayumi, a ten year old girl who was holding my hand when I left, looked up with tears in her eyes and said in Spanish, somthing to the effect of ¨No cry teacher, you come back in a few months¨ I guess Angelo had told others and the word got around.

These are wonderful kids here and I really, really want to come back here and do this again one day- if anything just to see Angelo, Mayumi, Pablo, Rosemarie, Diego, Ruth, Shayla, Carlos and the rest of the gang one more time.

I will try to type up some more later- but my overnight bus to Lima awaits. Brian, Maria and I are headed to Lima, Ica, Nazca, and Arequipa on Thursday morning and we´ve got about 4 days to squeeze it all in!

No Sleeping Late Here

2008-10-27T07:16:00.000-07:00

I mentioned earlier in the week that I would explain at a later time why it's nearly impossible to sleep late here. It's not because of work or too much light in my room or whatever. It's because of these men that ride around the streets from about 7am to 9am every day except Sunday. They ride on this weird car/wagon thing that has a huge bed in the back like a pick up truck, but its not a pick up- it looks more like a large motorized Big Wheel. The driver is quipped with a small microphone that sits by the steering wheel and speakers are fastened to the back somewhere. Large, loud speakers.

These guys ride around and rattle off their sales pitch on the mic every day at the crack of dawn. I had ideas about what they might actually be doing (preaching, looking for someone, etc) but I didn't know for sure until late last week. I was walking to spin class with Tino when he explained that they go around the neighborhoods and buy things from people. Some of them prefer to buy steel, some wood and some buy anything you want to sell. It's kind of like the local guy at the Pawn Shop coming to you.

Here's a very quick snippet of what I am talking about.

(Having problems uploading the video- will try again tomorrow)

If it were one of these guys coming through each morning, I could probably drown him out. Instead, there are either multiple guys doing the same thing- or the same guy is rolling by my window about every 20 minutes from 7 to 9 each morning. Even when I was sick in bed all week, I was definitely awake for the morning Pawn Shop calls. I love Sunday mornings though.

Toothbrush Day - Part 2

2008-10-24T20:05:00.000-07:00

I gave out the remainder of the toothbrushes and toothpaste to the kids today! Thanks again to Maria, Dr. Sherman and Mrs. Abraham for getting so many toothbrushes and tubes of toothpaste to me so that this was possible.

The group that we teach come from different family/home situations- mostly different degrees of bad. Today made me realize just how bad some of them have it. At one point I was telling the kids that when they take their new toothbrushes home, they shouls put them in a safe place in the bathroom. At that point, Tino looked at me and with his normal smile said, "Yes, but maybe some don't have a bathroom at house."

Ouch.

These are great kids and I am really enjoying this work a lot. I am looking forward to getting home soon, but I wish I could stay here with this group a little longer.

More photos in the Toothbrush Day 2 folder over in the photo section.

Food Issues

2008-10-22T17:30:00.000-07:00

When people have asked me what I miss most about home, food is right after friends and family on my list. It's not that the food has been bad down here. In Ecuador Mrs. Gladys was an awesome cook and I never once had a complaint or felt as if I was missing anything. Even when traveling Chile and Easter Island, there was always something to find, and Lima even had McDonalds and Starbucks- but I was only at each of these spots for a few days.

Being here in Huancayo for the last few weeks, I must admit, has been kind of tough when it comes to food. There is a whole lot of vegetables, rice and potatoes in every dish. I am still not too fond of veggies (see blog from a few months ago) but I wouldn't dare tell my hosts that I don't like something- so I simply eat small portions at nearly every meal.

A few random food issues-

- Beets. I actually had to eat beets for the first time. Beets and red potatoes. I had a plate of rice and reddish purple stuff for dinner the other night and Maria was having a hard time explaining to me in English what it was- she kept saying that it was Papas (potatoes) and something else. The inside of this type of potato is actually red and he other item was a darker red. We finally grabbed a Spanish-English dictionary and I realized I was eating beets. I had a lot of the darker red left on my plate afterwards. Sorry, Mom.

- Cereal issue. Cereal is one of my favorite meals, always has been. At home I could eat cereal 3 times a day. However, I had my first bowl of cereal yesterday- since I arrived in South America. It's not because they don't sell it or because its some strange kind of cereal here- they have tons of American cerals. It's because of the milk. Milk here, and everywhere in SA, is sold non-refrigerated. Call me silly, but I just can't get past that! I know that its safe, and that people here put it in the fridge when they get home, but until yesterday I just couldn't get myself to drink it or put it in my cereal. The only thing I have been able to do is put it in my coffee.

And speaking of coffee....

Coffee in South America sucks. I don't want to offend anyone with that remark so I'll rephrase it... Coffee in South America is very different than what I am used to. When you order it, you ask for Cafe con Leche (Coffee with milk). What you receive is actually Milk with coffee. They serve you a cup of really hot milk along with some powdered Nescafe coffee mix and some sugar. No matter what formula I've tried, it just isn't the same. Sadly, I think I've started to get used to it. But I can't wait to visit Starbucks or CCs when I get home.

Ketchup!!!! They managed to screw one of my favorite things up here in Huancayo. The ketchup here is NOT ketchup. It is red, and that's about all it has in common with actual ketchup. Its very thin and has a pinkish tint to it- and it tastes like vinegar. Not cool.

Just a few of the things I can't wait to eat when I get home:

Red Beans and Rice

American Cheese

Pop-Tarts

A good steak

Cereal with milk that was bought cold.

Macaroni and Cheese

American style pizza

Huancayo's idea of fruit salad:

Mountain Party

2008-10-20T12:11:00.000-07:00

Iam going to attempt to explain the festival I went to last night.

NOTE: By the time I became involved in the festivities, the sun had set and no pictures or video were taken. Luckily Claudia (another volunteer) had her camera and was there much earlier in the day and snapped some pics of the same stuff- so I am using her pictures at the bottom to help explain.

I got a late start yesterday. For reasons I will explain in a later blog, Sunday is really the only day I can sleep late here in Huancayo. When I finally got up I had a big load of laundry to do- again, and I decided to bite the bullet and do it by hand again. By the time I was wrapping up laundry it was already late in the afternoon and I thought I had missed out on the Sunday festival up on the mountain- the one that Tino had talked about Saturday night. I wasn't upset over missing it- there are so many of them here that I just figured I catch another sometime in the next few days.

So I'm lounging around- doing nothing- and Brian (Irish volunteer) asks if I want to take stroll up there to see if the party's still going on. He twisted my arm, and despite sunset being just under an hour away, we began walking up to the very same area where we go to work everyday. When we got close to the festivities, it looked to me like things were winding down. There was maybe a hundred people there in all and I just assumed that the thousands of people I had pictured in my head had already gone home. There was a group dancing in a circle around a tree, maybe 10 older couples arm in arm. Off to the side, a band dressed in black suits was playing some old school Peruvian music. Several groups of adults were standing around in circles talking, and there were kids running around everywhere.

"Teacher, teacher!!"

Almost immediately several children from the mountain school came running over to greet us with big hugs. Brian and I (and Claudia, who had gotten there much earlier) were the only gringos present- so the warm welcome from the kids felt pretty good. The adults welcomed us with open arms as well. Before I knew it we were standing in one of those circles chatting it up with the adults. It was obvious that it was a drinking crowd and that many of them had gotten early start! We were introduced to one man who was really, really inebriated - but super nice. I am not sure what his real name was- we called him 'the leather jacket guy' and later 'The Mayor'. Naturally, the first nickname was in honor of the fancy, black leather jacket he was sporting and the second name came after finding out he was actually the mayor of the mountain area. Nice.

At some point I vaguely remember a tree falling somewhere behind me, but I didn't have time to look into it because The Mayor had my full attention with one of his stories. He was one of those close-talkers that really locks in on you and won't let you go.

We had been there for maybe an hour and the sun had completely set. Now, keep in mind, this is an extremely poor area- so there aren't exactly a bunch of street lights everywhere (The area doesn't even have streets for that matter). The only light at all came from the small lantern-looking thing that was propped up behind the band, the small flames that a few of the local women were cooking hot dogs over and the moon. So it's very, very dark outside and the other people around us have all gradually started to sound just like The Mayor when speaking. Now for the fun stuff...

After a long break that I didn't even notice, the band started back up and out of nowhere an elderly Peruvian woman pulls me by the arm off towards my left, then grabs both of my hands and starts dancing with me. The entire crowd instinctively forms a circle around my dance partner and I, and they all start clapping to the beat- almost as if the whole thing was planned. I felt like I was on one of those hidden camera shows. I followed her lead and ended up surviving. When the song ended, the crowd applauded and I thought my time in the metaphoric spotlight was over. Wrong. The band quickly moved into another number and a second Peruvian woman grabbed by hand just as quickly as the first had, and before I knew it I was doing it all over again. I'm not one to toot my own horn, but I have to say: I was quite a hit with the 60-70 year old Peruvian ladies, thank you very much!

Four whole songs after initially being forced on to the dance floor, the women all presented me with a multicolored paper necklace- it sort of resembled a Hawaiian Lei. I never figured out the significance, but I was honored. Next, the entire group started dancing around a tree. We danced in pairs, each pair following the one before it, forming a ring around the tree- almost Cotton-Eyed Joe formation, except pairs. This is where it started getting wild.

As we dance around this tree, one couple stands in the center of the circle- right next to the tree. The woman holds a small branch while the man holds a large axe. The woman then selects a couple from the dancing circle to walk to the center towards the man- she then hands the branch to the next couple in line. Meanwhile, the man in the center hands the axe over to the couple that was originally selected. The selected woman takes the axe first and takes 4 swings at the tree, followed by the man doing the same. When they are finished, they go back to the circle and the next couple hands the branch off to the couple behind them so that they can now take turns swinging the axe at the tree.

I look up to see how tall this tree is and notice that there are a bunch of colored balloons fastened to the branches high up in the tree. I am now dancing around in a circle, slowly putting this whole thing together in my head. I'm guessing that the axe-swinging process continues until the tree falls and the people can claim the items that are up in the tree. As I am trying to keep in step with the band and my partner, I am thinking to myself, this is a recipe for disaster...

Basically you've got a group of 20 or so adults who've been drinking all day long, swinging an axe at a tree in nearly pitch black darkness- and there are kids are running around everywhere, in and out of the circle. To make things a little worse, Brian (who has also been talked into dancing around the tree as well) yells across the circle to me "Take a look at where there cutting the tree!" When I got looked, I realized what he was talking about- the angle at which we were all cutting into this tree was in just the right spot for the tree to fall directly on top of the band. When the tree was cut almost half way through, someone else must've noticed the potential catastrophe that lied a few songs ahead and everyone began chopping from the other side- directly opposite the band.

It was too little, too late. Suddenly everyone started dashing out of the way, kids were running around screaming in either terror or excitement, and the band members abandoned their instruments as the tree began falling right where we had figured it would- right in the center of the band! I was freaking out- yet everyone else there seemed to be having a ball- never mind that this little old Peruvian woman was in the line of fire as well- had the band instruments not been there, she'd have been crushed! For everyone except us wide-eyed gringos, the whole thing was business as usual.

When the tree crashed to the ground, all the children began jumping on top of the fallen tree fighting over the balloons that turned out to hold a bunch of small pieces of candy. Still a little worried, all I could think was, 'Ok, where is the axe right now? Please tell me its not under the pile of kids!'

It wasn't, and thankfully no one was hurt.

We stuck around for about another hour and then went with a couple of locals to the closest bar. This was another riot, as we were the only gringos in the place and everyone started doing karaoke. Trust me, you'd be hard -pressed to find something more entertaining that non-English speaking people, with hours of drinking behind them, attempting to sing classic American hits like Summer Lovin' (From Grease), Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Wanna Have Fun or Mellencamp's Hurt So Good.

Brian and I were both talked into doing a few numbers ourselves and were big hits with our local friends. It wasn't that our singing was anything to be proud of- In fact, I assure you it wasn't. I think they were just impressed that when we sang, our words sounded like the words the real singers used... English! Go figure.

It was now 2 in the morning, I had just brought the crowd to their feet with a tremendous version of Mmmm Bop! and it was time for me to go.

Just another Sunday night in Huancayo, Peru.

Here are some pics of the tree/dancing/axe ceremony from earlier in the day when we weren't there.

The band in the foreground, and small group dancing around the tree in the background:

Here are the trees with the ballons tied up at the top of them:

Here is a woman (along with her child in tow) taking a swing:

The kids pile on after the tree is down:

October 18 Parade

2008-10-18T23:03:00.000-07:00

When I say you can't walk from the house to the center of town without running into a parade, a march, a dance or some other festivity- I am not exaggerating. Tino says they have a saying in Peru, "We have more parties than we have days of the year."

He's right. They have a party here for everything. There's:

The party of the hats

The party of the cows

The party of the mountains

etc...

You can fill in the last word with just about anything you can imagine and there is almost certainly a day of the year designated for that person/place/thing.

Tonight, Tino and I went into town and watched the "October 18th Parade". This is a religious holiday and the parade is a pretty big deal. When we turned the corner and actually hit the parade route, the parade wasn't there yet but I noticed something colorful up ahead on the pavement.

Local groups use sand, spices and leaves to make these colorful designs in honor of the holiday and the parade. These beautiful designs are put on the pavement for the parade precession to walk over. These designs were enormous and really beautiful. I remember last year seeing the same thing in Brazil- but the ones here are much larger.

About a block further is a structure that stands about 2 or 3 stories high and looks to be made out of bamboo sticks- it looks rather fragile. I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew it was significant because it was right in the middle of the road- right in the middle of the route. There was so much going on around me, and Tino was leading the way rather briskly, that I didn't ask him what it was. I figured I'd find out soon enough.

We finally reached the parade. Unlike a parade that I am used to with multiple floats, this had only one float. It was a carriage that carried a model of Jesus and tons of lights and flowers. The 'float' itself was carried on the shoulders of about 20 Peruvian men dressed in long, dark purple robes. As the men walk forward with the carriage (at an extremely slow pace), a group of women dressed in all black slowly walked backwards so that they remained facing Jesus at all times.

As we got closer to the actual participants a strange smell jolted me- Part incense, part hickory, part smoke bomb- it wasn't a bad smell, just extremely unusual. When I made my way to the rope to get a closer look, I saw that the odor was coming from these smoking urns that the women were holding. The entire time music was playing, but it was very somber and low in volume. It was almost like a funeral.

When they got to a certain spot on the street, they stopped walking completely and the music came to a halt as well. Tino leans over and says, "Now they change the flowers." At this point, older Peruvian women begin approaching the rail/rope that separates the crowd from the precession. They are carrying beautiful flower arrangements. At the same time, several of the men in purple robes begin taking the flower arrangements off of the float and walking towards the rail. The women then hold up the flowers that they brought, hoping that the men who removed the old flowers will then trade with them. The men switch flowers with the women and place the new arrangement on the float at the foot of Jesus.

Tino tells me that it is a big deal for your flowers to get put on the float, and that the women take will take the other arrangement home with them and preserve them for the next year.

After the flowers have all been swapped out, the precession begins to slowly move forward again. This goes on for several miles and last all night long. Tino and I began walking back the way we came, and I thought I had seen everything the parade had to offer. We got a few more steps ahead and the children in the crowd starting running past me towards the parade route screaming in excitement. We were back at the bamboo structure/thing and something was getting ready to happen. As Tino is struggling to find the English words to tell me what was about to happen, a shot rings out that almost made me hit the deck. I really thought someone had fired a gun. Fortunately, I didn't hit the deck because apparently the word Tino was looking for was fireworks. The bamboo structure is lined with fuses and fireworks so that one level goes off at a time- starting at the bottom and ending with the top is finally ignited and launched high into the air. The kids loved this part.

It was a fascinating walk through town tonight. The official name of the celebration: Procesion del Senor de los Milagros (aka Jesus' Parade). As we walk home Tino tells me that the parade will continue until about 2am and the people will party in the streets until sunrise. I had to get home and get some rest because tomorrow is yet another festival! This one, Tino tells me, takes places up on the mountain- right next to our school.

More Eating, Drinking, Music and Dancing.

Tino says it's sure to be another all day affair.

Day of Dance

2008-10-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

With tomorrow being another holiday/festival (there is one every weekend here in Huancayo), the children at the public school next to our little mountain school had a day of celebration. Myself, the other volunteers and our students were on hand to watch.

I can not stress enough- dancing is a huge part of the culture here. Just walking around town every now and then, I have seen at least 12 different Peruvian dance groups since I have been here and no two were alike. After seeing a few of them from start to finish, I noticed that most of them tell some sort of story. The story of a guy courting a girl, or two guys fighting over a particular girl, or even the story of men and women living together and their respective roles in the home, are all examples of the stories I've seen told in the local dancing.

The children were broken up into groups by age and each group had their own unique costumes and routines. Even a group of 4-5 year olds from our school (top picture) got in a dance of their own. Unfortunately, I didn't get it on video because it was so short and bless their hearts, they didn't have the outfits to go along with their dance like the other kids did- but trust me, they rocked!

Here are some video clips of the different dances the kids performed today.

Random Stuff

2008-10-16T22:03:00.000-07:00

Spin Class

Attempting to get rid of my flu that has been bothering me for two weeks now, I started taking spin class 3 mornings a week before school. Tino is trying to get into shape for a bike competition here in November so I told him I'd like to join him. The gym here is decent but the equipment is about as new as this poster displayed prominently on the wall when you walk in:

Pumpkins

October is Halloween time here too. The pumpkins, however, are green on the outside and yellow on the inside- and they are huge!

Sheep and Dogs

Like in many of the South American cities I've visited, the street dogs are out of control here in Huancayo. They are everywhere. They run around like they own the place. The other night, one just walked into the internet place I was in. He was pretty large and it was kind of intimidating.

Speaking of animals running wild, one thing that is a little different here is the number of sheep I see on a daily basis. The mountain school that I walk to everyday is on the outskirts of town and as you get further out, the more sheep you see. I am not kidding when I tell you I see anywhere from 40 to 70 sheep per day, everyday.

Food Workers

The people who run The Plaza Vea (Peru's version of Wal Mart) are pretty serious about food contamination. The employees who handle food all have to wear uniforms that look the Haz-Mat outfits from an episode of 24.

Driving

The driving is terrible here. Huancayo is sitting at number 2 on the list that I've started:

The Most Dangerous South American Cities to Drive Around In

1. Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

2. Huancayo, Peru

3. Lima, Peru

4. Quito, Ecuador

5. Banos, Ecuador

6. Santiago, Chile

Book

Saw this in a local book shop- Sorry guys, but it is everywhere!

More Later.

Art Show

2008-10-15T20:52:00.000-07:00

I went to an art show in Huancayo tonight. It was an exhibition for a local artist named Luis Meza Nestares and it was held in a small hall at the local university. The art was pretty cool, but the ceremony lasted FOREVER!!!!

After walking around the room and looking at the paintings for about 20 minutes, all of a sudden everyone in the room began instinctively forming a circle around the perimeter of the room. There was about 35 people total and I just sort of followed along. A lady who acted as MC for the evening first introduced herself and the artist, she then spoke for about 5 minutes before introducing the first speaker. The first guy spoke for about 8 minutes, followed by the second who spoke for nearly 15. After the two longest winded speakers in Huancayo were finally done, they turned things over to a gentleman who played the acoustic guitar. He played not one, not two, but three songs dedicated to the artist. 3 full songs.

After the mini-concert, a crew of dancers entered the hall and began a Peruvian ceremonial dance. This was easily the coolest part of the night. The dancers looked like high school students and were all dressed in bright green, traditional Peruvian clothes. The 8 of them chanted, stomped and swayed to the beat of the song playing over the sound system.

After the dancers, we got two more long speeches- another man speaking about the artist and then finally the artist himself. Imagine standing in one spot for an hour, and not having a clue what anyone is saying. My mind must have drifted off into at least a million directions.

I'm glad I went to the art show in Huancayo- but once was enough. It was just a tad bit too long for my taste. The wine was good though.

Field Trip!

2008-10-14T20:55:00.000-07:00

Monday the kids came in to the afternoon session of school and a couple of them were kind of upset about something. Tino asked them what was wrong and despite my growing knowledge of the Spanish language I could not possibly comprehend their answer- nor Tino's consolation. I was, however, able to grasp that they were complaining about some other kids for some reason. When we asked Tino to translate he told us that they were upset because, just before class, the kids that attend the public school nearby were teasing them because they had never been to (or didn't even know about) Plaza Vea.

Plaza Vea (pronounced Plaza Bay-ah) is Peru's equivalent of WalMart and it just hit Huancayo about 5 months ago. It is not just a step above every other type of shopping here in town, its in a class all by itself- nothing else comes close. It's just like our everyday superstore that we are all used to- isle after isle of everything you'd need. I believe the term is one-stop shopping. Anyway, some of the kids were upset because they hadn't been and some were upset because, bless their hearts, they didn't even know what it was.

I stopped and thought about this for a minute, and I can't even imagine being 10 or 11 years old and living in a town the size of Hunacayo (sbout 400,000) and NOT knowing about the new Wal-mart that is literally 2 miles down the road from my house and school! I could understand that maybe there would be some who haven't actually had the chance to go yet- but to not even know about it?! I couldn't even fathom that.

The other volunteers and I said to Tino, "Tino, maybe we should take them to Plaza Bea."

"Like a field trip," I told Tino. I had already heard about Tino and the volunteers taking the kids on a bus to the local zoo. A request to take trip to the new supermarket couldn't be that off the wall. With his usual smile Tino answered, "Ok, maybe we go tomorrow."

That was it. No talking him into it, no bargaining. Tino was down!

So today we took the afternoon group to Plaza Vea. We rounded up the kids and took them down to the spot where the bus stops. Tino flagged down a bus going the opposite way of where we needed to go and asked the driver if, on his way back, he could have an empty bus and pick us all up. The driver agreed and minutes later we were herding 23 young ones into a bus. The busses here are the size of a small mini van. 23 kids, 5 adults, a driver and his assistant- all in a small minivan.

The kids didn't mind cramming in. Most of them sat in pairs- a big one (6 yrs or older) with a little one (4 yrs and under) on his or her lap. I sat in the seat right behind the driver facing towards the back. I watched the children sit there, so well-behaved, looking out the windows and whispering to themselves. They were so excited. I couldn't believe it. It is just a supermarket, I kept thinking to myself.

When we arrived at the Plaza Vea the kids were so overwhelmed by everything. Out of the 23, I asked nearly everyone of them who had been there before- only about 5 had. The managers of the store were very accommodating and immediately arranged for a couple of store employees to show the kids around in an orderly fashion. The only complaint I had was that the store manager asked us not to take any photos inside the store.

As we walked around the store, their little faces were priceless. I watched them stare and gasp and tried to imagine an equally jaw-dropping scenario for myself- it was tough. A tour of NASA and their latest developments maybe? A space station?

They all kept looking up in the air- probably because they had never even seen ceilings that high! Imagine for a second, Carlos (pictured below)- an incredibly smart, 10 year-old child seeing a shopping cart for the first time. Or Mayumi, a 12 year-old girl, staring at the cashiers scanning items in the check out lanes - trying to figure out exactly what's going on. They are all so used to one of two things when it comes to shopping: either the small, dark little store facing the busy streets that measure about 12 by 12 feet, or the huge, sprawling outdoor markets where you have tons of vendors selling everything side by side- sort of like an outdoor flea market.

When the tour was over, we took them all to the cafe located in the store and bought them Pollo y Papas (chicken and fries). Between that food, the volunteers buying them candy and the store managers doing the same- the kids left totally stuffed!

On the way home I sat in my same seat as before. I faced the children and as my eyes scanned the crowd of little ones, I thought about how special of a day it was for them. For myself and the other volunteers it was just another trip to the local supermarket. To these kids, it was something so much bigger. They had seen isles and isles of 'stuff' stacked up higher than many of their homes. They had seen ceilings higher than apartment buildings in their neighborhood. They had seen a huge supermarket for the first time and possibly the future of shopping in their hometown.

But most importantly the days of the other kids teasing them because they had never seen The Mighty Plaza Vea were now over.

More pics in the Field Trip album over in the photo section.

Thank You, Alva J. Fisher

2008-10-13T13:12:00.000-07:00

Alva J. Fisher invented the world's first electric washing machine and I have never appreciated him like I do today.

There are several laundry mats around here but they are not very close to the house and with my flu and our work schedule, its been tough to find the time to get to one of them. My dirty clothes had been piling up for a week now and I realized earlier today that come tomorrow, I really have nothing to wear. So I decided to do what the family here does: simply wash them by hand up on the roof of the building and then hang them out to dry. How hard can it be, right?

My laundry list:

2 pairs of jeans, 1 pair of pants, 5 t-shirts, 2 pairs of boxers, 3 pairs of socks and one towel.

My supplies:

1 sink, 1 bag of detergent and 1 bucket.

For the next two hours (my entire lunch break) I actually washed my clothes by hand. They don't even have one of those wringer things to get the water out. You have to wring everything out by hand- even the jeans! AND you have to wring each item out twice- once for the soapy water, and then again for the regular water.

Although you'd think the next step would be easier, hanging them up was no walk in the park either. The wind was blowing, the clips kept slipping. I felt so out of my league here. I kept looking around to make sure no one was watching me. I'm up on this rooftop that is even with most of the other rooftops around here and I know there was some older Peruvian woman laughing at this pitiful gringo trying to hang his clothes.

Throughout this trip I have come to appreciate so many little everyday things back at home. Today, the electric washing machine just moved to the top of that list.

I will remember today for a long time- especially every time I select that extra rinse cycle.

Torre Torre

2008-10-11T17:24:00.000-07:00

Torre means tower, but I'm not too sure why they named it twice.

Just behind the Tinkuy Mountain School is an incredible natural rock formation. Geologists say that the towers were formed thousands of years ago from a combination of mud, wind and rain and its a near miracle that they still remain standing and unchanged after all these years.

We took a walk up to the towers earlier today and they were even more impressive up close. The entire area was beautiful.

If you're into nature and cool rock structures check out the Torre Torre album in the Photo Section. The pics came out nice, but they still don't do the structures justice.

The Mountain School

2008-10-10T18:38:00.000-07:00

School today and yesterday was great.

Here's what I can report so far:

Tino Leoncino and his family run a small mountain school here in Huancayo. From what I can tell, the closer a family lives to the mountain - the less fortunate they are. Huancayo does have public schooling but its pretty expensive for books, uniforms, etc and the people up in the mountain simply can't afford it. That's where Tino and his family-ran school comes in. He started the school a few years ago by going up to the area and working with the kids that should be in school but weren't. He met with them everyday, outdoors, until he was finally able to rent a top floor apartment of an old building. It hardly resembles a school, and still needs a ton of work, but it has allowed them to meet year-round with the children (there is 3 months of wet season, where it rains every single day).

The structure and classroom setting here is similar to UBECI's Summer program; the students are divided by age sent to small makeshift classrooms and a volunteer is assigned to each group. What we do with the children really depends on the size of the group (which can range from 3 to 12 depending on how many show up that day) and on the ages of the children. For the smaller children it is usually educational songs games or coloring. We stick to Spanish for these children, with maybe a little bit of English when it comes to the numbers 1 through 10.

For the older children (I think the oldest one so far has been 13) its a little more interesting, and challenging. Most of them have been in and out of public schools so they are used to a classroom setting- and some of them are extremely bright. For the session with these older kids, we usually spend about 45 minutes on a subject like math or science (using workbooks), followed by about 20 minutes of some fun (they love hangman) and then another hour of English practice. I really enjoyed working with this group. When the size of the group is not too large, they are easy to work with and, like many other children I've come across here in South America, they WANT to learn English.

We do two sessions like this; one in the morning from 9:30 to 11:30 and another in the afternoon from 3:00 to 5:00. When you factor in a 30 minute walk from the house to the school then back (for each session) and the altitude here (3600 meters) it ends up feeling like a very full day. For myself, late nights during the week are non-existent.

Public School:

Mountain School:

I've started an album in the photo gallery called Tinkuy Mountain School, I have posted a few pics of the school, the area that it is in, and the children. I'll keep adding more as time goes on.

Been a little sick!

2008-10-09T12:32:00.000-07:00

I am about to go to work the afternoon session of the mountain school, and it will actually be my first time. I was supposed to start Monday morning but I caught a vicious flu that kept me in bed for nearly 4 days! I hope to report on the school work later today or tomorrow after a full day of work. At least it wasn't my stomach that was sick. I have been lucky enough to avoid any stomach issues for 2 months now (I am knocking on wood as I type this).

Another Market

2008-10-05T17:00:00.000-07:00

Woke up this morning to no electricity. It wasn't just our block or our area, it was the whole town. As I walked towards the Plaza and made my way to the Sunday Market, it was obvious that the electricity issue wasn't really an issue to everyone else in town- it was business as usual.

The market here is huge. 30 blocks long to be exact and all the trinkets you could dream of. Its's official: I now have enough little handmade bracelets and neckalces to open up my own shop.

Also, I have started to take advantage of the bootleg DVD market here in Peru. After buying one last week in Lima to see if it would work- and it did- I have gotten a few more. What's crazy is that I am buying the same movies that are out in the theatres at home- and they are good, quality copies! These aren't some clown holding up a video camera in the theatre! Earlier today I bought Mirrors, the new Kiefer Sutherland movie, Tropic Thunder with Ben Stiller and the new Batman for a total of 5 soles- less than 2 dollars!

Tomorrow starts the first day of work at the schools. I will try to get a report up as soon as possible.

Speaking of working with the schools, I was finally able to finish editing and uploading one of the videos from working with UBECI in Ecuador. This is the group that is fortunate enough to go to a normal school during the school year but we worked with them during their summer break to keep them out of trouble- it's pretty easy to find trouble in the area they live in. It's just a few minutes of highlights but check it out. I'll try to get a lot more videos up this week and next!

Huancayo- Home of 2Pac?

2008-10-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

I arrived here yesterday morning after a 7 hour bus ride up through the Andes. The first thing you notice about Huancayo is the overwhelming amount of brown. The town seems like its all dirt and sand, with very little green in sight. Huancayo's population is about 400,000- way smaller than Lima or Quito- and it is also not nearly as modern as either of them. In the other two cities you would see a few people here and there that were dressed in the traditional old-school Indian attire- here it is over 50%.

I am staying at the home of Tino and his wife Marie. The two of them along with other family members run the Tinkuy Peru School and the Andean Mountain School. Both are make shift schools in town for children who can't afford public school. Tino is a legendary weaver. I didn't realize just how well know he was until I got here. He's won both national and international awards, and he's even been the subject of an article in National Geographic. He's also know around town as one of the nicest and most honest men you'll ever meet. Huancayo is by far the most gringo-friendly city I have been in so far in South America. When you are walking the street here, kids are quick to smile at you and say ''Ola, prof!'' - already knowing that you are here to help teach in the community. Their hospitality towards us is largely due to Tino and his organization bringing dozens of gringos to Huancayo every year to help the children. I guess word of mouth travels that much faster in a small town.

This morning the other 2 volunteers, Claudia and Brian, went with Tino on a 60km bike ride that took us around the outskirts of huancayo to the smaller towns. This was really cool. Tino took us to the homes of several individuals who make local crafts that get sold throughout the entire country. One lady we visited carves these pictures that form a story into small gourds and the art it so unbelievably small! We atched in awe as she grabbed her small carving knife and carved what looked like squiggly lines in the small gourd. After about 6 seconds of carving she hands me the gourd and what I had thought was just squiggly lines was actually a perfectly carved picture of a llama- about half the size of a dime. You kinda have to see this to believe it. Extremely talented.

Throughout the day there were so many things I wish I could have caught on tape or even a photo of. These areas and towns are nearly untouched by the modern world and are still doing things as they've done for years. Some towns focus on farming, while others focus on jewelry or weaving- but each has something to export to the big town of Huancayo and other towns in Peru.

We stopped to eat a traditional huancayo meal called Pachamanca, where they cook a combination of meats, potatoes and beans in a hole in the ground. They burn coals in the ground, then place a small metal grid over the coals with the food on top. The entire hole is then covered by blankets to let the food cook. When you order, you simply tell the waiter how many meats you want, usually choosing from chicken, pork, lamb or guinea pig. I chose Chicken and Lamb and got a massive plate with the two meats and all the sides for 10 soles- or 3 bucks- drink included. It was really, really good but there was no way I could finish the whole plate.

Our final stop on the bike ride was a huge statue of the Virgin Mary, standing on top of a hugh mountain in the town of Concepcion, Peru. The ride up the mountain on the bike was excrutiating but the view from atop was beautiful and well worth it.

Another quick trivia tidbit.... We are riding along and I see a large street sign that says Av. Tupac Amaru. I told the others that the name was the same as the rapper 2Pac's real name- Tupac Amaru Shakur. I don't think they really believed me. When we were on the way back into Hunacayo I saw a huge statue of a man in one of the cities main plazas and the name on the statue's name plate was Tupac Amaru. I asked Tino abou this Tupac Amaru guy and Tino told me that he was a famous Incan Warrior from Huancayo. I thought for sure I had read in the past that 2Pac's mother had named him for a famous African warrior, but according to Wikipedia: He was named after Túpac Amaru II, an Incan revolutionary who led an indigenous uprising against Spain and subsequently received capital punishment.

So Huancayo is the hometown of the guy 2Pac was named after- you learn somthing new everyday!

I will probably go to sleep very early after the long day on the bike. Tomorrow we hit yet another huge South American market that is held every Sunday in Huancayo.

More photos from the Hunacayo Bike Ride in the photo section.

Leaving Lima

2008-10-02T13:28:00.000-07:00

It’s time to leave Lima. Later tonight I will board a bus for a 7 hour trip up to Huancayo, hugh up in the Andes mountains. I will start my work there this coming Monday morning.

I’ve had a good time here for a few days, with the exception of the bank stuff, and met some really cool people as well. One of the best parts about traveling alone is that you are more inclined to meet and hang out with other travelers. Staying in hostels has been a great way to develop temporary travel partners as well. Anush (England) and I did Cotopaxi the first time around, I did most of Banos with Kayla (Boston), Ryan (Chicago) and I conquered Easter Island together… This time around, here in Lima, I met a girl from Germany named Claudia. She came to Peru after staying in San Francisco for a while. Tuesday when our group from the hostel visited the historic side of Lima, Claudia heard about the volunteer work I was about to do in Huancayo and decided since she had no plans that she would like to try doing the same. I am not sure how long she will stay but I thought it was really cool that she decided to come and help at the Tinkuy Peru School. It was one of those small, unexpected good things to come from this trip.

Speaking of good things to come from this trip… my old friend from Comeaux High- Ginelle Thomas Traina has been the best friend/support system I could ask for ever since earlier this summer when she found out my plans to do this. Before I even left the country, Ginelle would email me words of encouragement, links to books she recommended and even pictures from her own inspirational trip to Costa Rica a few years ago. She has followed the blogs here as closely as my own family has and I got an email from Ginelle last week that once again made my day. She and her sons wanted to try to do something for the UBECI program in Quito. So Ginelle, along with her son Levi and his 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Cole rounded up about 10 lbs worth of school supplies to send down to Ecuador! I was so happy to read that, and writing about it today has made me totally forget yesterday’s bad news (I knew there was a reason a put off writing about it).

I am so thankful to Ginelle and her family for doing such a wonderful thing and I know that the UBECI coordinators and the children they serve will be even more thankful than I am.

By this time tomorrow I will be in Huancayo getting settled in to where I will live and work for the rest of the month.

GiNelle’s two sons Luke and Levi with Mrs. Cole and the supplies for UBECI:

$850 Down

2008-10-01T19:05:00.000-07:00

I spent the day yesterday checking out the center of Lima with a few friends from the hostel. The center of Lima is where all the historic churches and government buildings are. The architecture reminded me a whole lot of the buildings and structures in Old Quito. If you are into old buildings and churches, be sure to check out the photos in the Lima City section over in the photo gallery. There are also some shots from the park we went to last night. Like the one in Ecuador, this park features a light show but with 7 or 8 large water fountains.

As if I haven’t mentioned enough times how expensive Santiago and the rest of Chile was… last night took a turn for the worse when I got online to check my bank balance. Let me back up a sec…

A couple of weeks ago when I was passing through Lima for one day, before heading down to Santiago, I ran into a traveler from New York who had just come from Santiago himself. I met him at the hostel in Lima and he seemed really laid back until a few hours later. He got online to check his bank balance and found that someone had withdrawn cash from his account in increments of $100 to $200 and kept doing it over and over until his account was drained. He was a bit freaked out. (Who wouldn’t be?) Anyway, he tells me that it most likely happened while he was in Chile and that he only used his card at one place while he was there- some tour agency.

Now fast forward a few days, I’m down in Pucon and I’m eating out with my Chilean friends I had met. I pay the bill with my card and when the waiter leaves to go ring me up, my friend David tells me to make sure I follow the guy next time. He proceeds to tell me that Chile is notorious for a new type of scam with credit cards. Everyone’s always heard of people getting a hold of credit card numbers from the trash or wherever, and using them to purchase things online, etc… But according to David, these guys in Chile have a way of actually making a replica of your card and then using it to make purchases and withdraw money at ATMs! I have no idea how they get around the PIN number but apparently they do.

Ok, back to last night. After a great day seeing some of Lima’s sights, my night was ruined when I got online and checked my bank balance. I noticed two fairly large debits that I knew weren’t mine, so I quickly emailed the people at my bank. As I’m emailing them the exact dates and amounts, I go back to my account and hit ‘refresh’ and two more debits show up! Now, it’s my turn to freak out.

I think I used my card twice the entire time I was in Chile, but they got me. For a little over 800 bucks! I am still not sure if they did it through an ATM or as a business transaction, but it doesn’t really matter how they did it- I’m out $800 while the bank investigates!
I spent all day today emailing and texting back and forth with the bank and I think I’ve gotten everything straight. Had to go through all the hassle of canceling the card, transferring funds, filling out forms and faxing them to the bank, etc… Not exactly how I wanted to spend my day in Peru, but at least I got everything taken care of before they could empty my account like they did to poor guy from New York.

On a positive note, I gotta send a big ‘thanks’ out to my man Neil Faulkner over at Iberia Bank for helping me through the entire mess. Neil, you were a life-saver and I really appreciate the help.

If you are a traveler, always be careful when using a card- but in Chile, don’t even take it out of your pocket!

More pics in the Lima City gallery in the photo section.

Peruvian Trivia

2008-09-30T09:12:00.000-07:00

Many of my friends I have talked to back at home were also not that familiar with the country of Peru. I wasn´t either before I studied up on it several months prior to coming here. So after being here for a few days, I thought I´d post 10 facts you may or may not know about the country of Peru!

1. Peru has a population of 27 million people with 9 million of them living in one city- Lima.

2. It´s biggest attraction by far: Macchu Pichu (photo above). The ancient city in the Andes mountains found less than 100 years ago now draws over 800,000 tourists per year. I´m headed there in early November, my last stop before coming home.

3. Many Peruvians still eat Cuy, or in english: Guinea Pig. Yep, they cook the whole thing rotisserie style and it supposedly tastes like chicken. I haven´t had the nerve to try it yet, and I probably won´t. I love experiencing the culture here but I gotta draw the line somewhere.

4. Growing coca, and the use of its leaf (from which cocaine is made) in Peru is totally legal. They actually sell the leaves at small convenience stores so you can walk around chewing on them.

5. It is South America´s 3rd largest country- behind Brazil and Argentina.

6. The Holy City of Caral is the oldest city in the Americas- built between 2627 BC and 2000 BC!

7. Inca Cola is the soft drink of choice here. It doubles the sales of Coca Cola, the number two soft drink. It is extremely sweet; almost like drinking corn syrup if you ask me- but the people down here are hooked on the stuff!

8. There is a new type of music that is crazy popular here, called Cumbia. They say that it is different than Salsa, but I still can´t tell. Every Peruvian I have met when the radio is on in the background has stopped the conversation to tell me that the song playing right now is Cumbia. They are really proud that it is catching on in the other countries down here and it originated here in Peru.

9. The currency in Peru is the Sole. Roughly 3 Soles make up a dollar and, like Ecuador, things are pretty cheap down here. I bought a huge meal today, complete with soup, salad, entree, desert and drink- impossible to finish it all- for 6 Soles. (That´s 2 dollars, Lacey)

10. The Lima bean is Peruvian. The tomato, taken to Europe by the Spaniards is also Peruvian. And get this: Peru has over 5,000 different types of potatoes.

Roasted Cuy, aka Guinea Pig:

The Bullfight

2008-09-29T02:37:00.000-07:00

I just attended the craziest event ever.

Two Australian friends from the Hostel and I met Roberto and Giselle (locals) earlier today and they suggested that we attend a bullfight/cockfight later in the afternoon, out in the country- maybe 30-40 minutes from Lima. The Aussies thought it would be lame and turned it down, but I said 'count me in'. Now, first let me say that the 'animal lover' side of me doesn't support this type of thing, but the 'curious traveler' side really wanted to experience the culture of a local event like this.

We caught a bus, then another bus, and headed out of town as Giselle explained to me along the way that this was not a legitimate bullfight we were going to. Bullfighting season runs from early October to late November here in Lima and this was simply a festival to mark the end of the bullfighting pre-season. Its a festival that lasts 6 weekends. Tonight was the final night of this 'festival'.

We got off the bus and began walking down a long, long dirt road that seemed to lead us further and further into the country. Finally we arrived at a farm/facility that was surrounded by 12-foot, concrete walls. We entered the walls, paying ten bucks to get in, and then found ourselves in an area that included beautiful palm trees, tents sponsored by local beer companies and what appeared to be a pretty elite crowd walking around. It felt and looked more like the Nike Open Golf Tournament out at LeTriomphe back home.

First we grabbed a seat in this round, outdoor bullpen stadium. People were filing in left and right and immediately I began noticing that the crowd was not what I expected. The crowd was very upscale, with the average age being about 27, and the girls were beginning to outnumber the guys by nearly 2 to 1. Strange, but cool.

The show began with some traditional dancing and then a game of Torro-Goal. Two soccer goals are set up on opposite ends of the bullpen, while two 3-man teams compete against each other. The object is to get the bull to run through the other teams goal. All of the guys in this game, and the other games, were all guys from the crowd. They looked like average college guys from competing fraternities. Obviously none of them were trained to handled a charging bull!

Torro-Goal:

There were several other games with the frat guys trying to run obstacles around the bull or get out of his way, or whatever. It was mildly amusing at first, but after a while I found myself totally cheering for the bull. Even though he was in no danger at all, I felt sorry for him. All of these guys were out there picking on him and I kept thinking, "What did the bull ever do do to any of them?"

As the sun set and the games ended, the crowd started to move to the indoor 'pit' that was a few meters over from the bull pen. It was time for the cock fights. Now, I had the opportunity to witness an event similar to this a few years ago in Kaplan. La. Let me tell assure youThe real party was about to start.

The Face-Off:

For the next 3 hours we sat and watched about 10 cock fights. It took 3 hours because in between each chicken fight the DJ played current Latin dance hits that had everyone on their feet, there were dance-offs and even a big karaoke contest at the end. The chicken fights came off looking like the intermission/filler for the other festivities. The whole thing reminded me of the Ice Gator games back in their heyday. It was standing room only and a total party from start to finish.

Check out this short clip to see what I´m talking about:

Now that´s a party!!

Dance-Off Contestants:

After both the last chicken fight and the karaoke finals had ended, everyone began pouring out of the building- but the night wasn't over yet. Just like earlier when we all filed out of one building into the next- again everyone moved directly into the next building. This building was a barn that had been converted into a discotheque and now it was time for everyone to cut loose, and thats not just a good choice of words by yours truly...

Yes, Footloose was the only American tune played all night. Go figure.

I stayed at the barn, I mean club, for about an hour and then headed back to the hostel.

Check out the rest of the Bullfight pics in the photo gallery when you get a chance.

The Debate

2008-09-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

I am back in Lima, staying at the Barranco’s Backpackers Inn. The Barranco Province is a quieter version of the neighboring Miraflores Province- known to be one of the best areas in Lima. The hostel is located right on the edge of a cliff which overlooks the Pacific Ocean. So far I really like the area and the hostel is just as interesting as ever. Hostels are such a unique way of traveling- sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. It's a great way to meet other travelers, much more so than a normal hotel- and its a whole lot cheaper.

Friday night was another one of those surreal moments, and it was at the hostel in Santiago, Chile. I had been anxiously awaiting the McCain/Obama debate for most of the day and I got to the TV room a few hours early to take control of the remote- just to make sure no one would sabotage my chance to watch it. As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one interested in the debate.

About 5 minutes before the debate began on CNN, a couple of more guys came in to watch. Then a few more, and a few more, etc... About 30 minutes into the debate, I realized that complete silence had taken over the room ever since the first question. Not one word had been spoken in this huge TV room- not even a wisecrack from the Brits who were intoxicated every time I saw them. I tried to get a count from where I was sitting on the floor, and there were about 25 in all and only 3 of us were American! There were individuals from Denmark, Canada, Israel, U.K., Australia, Ireland, Brasil and Greece- and that’s just out of the people that I had met previously- there were others whose origin I didn’t know. It was one of the largest hostels I had stayed in so far and here was a group of 25 travelers, ages 20-35, many of them there just to party hard in Santiago- and they're all TOTALLY SILENT - and the room stayed that way for the ENTIRE DEBATE. Not one word.

AND... it’s a FRIDAY NIGHT!

It doesn't matter who you are voting for- just make sure you vote.

I can tell you first hand- the whole world is paying attention to this election.

Hostels can be really cool.

Drums and Cigarettes in Santiago

2008-09-26T16:04:00.000-07:00

When I landed in Santiago yesterday afternoon (from Easter Island), I exited the secure area and ended up on the first floor of the terminal where your friends pick you up- or a taxi driver in my case. I heard some loud drumming music coming from the third floor in the airport - it’s the floor where you go check in at the gates for your flights. Curiosity got the best of me and I just had to go check out the parade or whatever party was going on up there. It was really, really loud- just imagine a marching band playing in an airport. It seems as though everywhere I go in South America there is some sort of parade going on, so I really didn’t question why they would have one going on in the airport itself- I just wanted to try to get a picture or two.

When I got to the 3^rd floor, there was hardly a parade. I was shocked to see a very small group of women standing around with one or two drummers and quite a few tourists off to the side watching them. There were handmade signs lying around them and I got close enough to read a few. Get this- the duty free employees were on strike! As if the world of duty-free shops wasn’t mysterious enough- now I really don’t understand that whole concept.

Speaking of live music...

I just had lunch at a nice little cafe and I sat outside to enjoy the pleasant weather for a few minutes. In the past I've seen street musicians walk up to people having dinner and start playing a guitar, or maybe a violin or something, hoping to get some spare change out of their small audience. Today I saw a new twist put on that money making method. I'm sitting there waiting for my food when all of a sudden, another small parade seems to be approaching from the street behind me. It's getting louder and louder by the second and when I turn around... no parade in site. Just one guy with a massive drum and a couple of symbols attached to his body - he's like a little human drum set. When he gets to your table, you can't even here yourself think. He's walking up to people who are trying to eat and won't leave until you throw him some change. Very irritating, but very effective.

One of the funniest things about Chile are their cigarette boxes. On every box/carton of cigarettes in Chile, they place a picture of one of the world’s worst grills- and the picture aint small. The photo covers half of the box on every single box; plus they add the cute little catchphrase Yo tenge mal aliente- which means “I have bad breath!”

Despite all of the false parades and the great anti smoking campaign, I am probably only staying in Santiago for another day, then it's back to Lima. It’s just a little too expensive around here for my taste.

Rapa Nui

2008-09-24T23:43:00.000-07:00

I am writing this from the most remote island on the entire planet.

For those who don’t know, Easter Island (real name Rapa Nui) is an extremely small island in the Pacific Ocean. Another island near Tahiti is the closest land at 1300 miles to the west and the second closest is Chile, which is more than 2200 miles to the west. But the main attraction here at Easter Island is not its distance from the rest of the world; it’s The Moai (Pronounced Mo-Eye). Moai is the name given to the huge statues of faces/people that are scattered all over the island. They were carved over a thousand years ago out of volcanic rock in the quarry located in the middle of the island and then hauled to different spots, miles away, for reasons still unknown. There are nearly 900 of them- some still intact, others partially destroyed, and some that were only partially built to begin with. The history of the island, its people and the Moai is filled with intrigue, controversy and speculation.

First, let me address the plane ride there. I flew to Easter Island on LAN airlines, the largest airline in South America and the only airline offering a flight to the historic island. Only one flight per day to and from Santiago is offered, and there are two flights per week to and from Tahiti as well. The plane ride took 5 ½ hours and was the best plane ride I’ve had in a long time. I guess I’ve become accustomed to the domestic flights back home and their cost-cutting measures, but I sure felt like country-come-to-town on this flight. Every seat on the 767 has its own touch screen TV screen on the seatback in front of it, complete with a choice of movies, TV shows, games and music. The meals were incredible and included a free glass of wine. I was in awe.

From The Plane:

I had met a guy from Chicago back at the hostel in Santiago who was on the same flight here- so the two of us decided to conquer the island as a team. With only two days on Easter Island, we hit the ground running. We arrived at 11:00am local time and by 12:30 we were already checked into the hostel and were ready to get our Moai on! We rented a couple of Yamaha scooters and with Born To Be Wild playing in my head, we took off.

My Hog:

The island is shaped like a triangle with the longest side being about 12 miles and the other two sides at about 7 or 8 miles each. There is one little section that is ‘town’ (called Hanga Roa) and the rest is just hills, cliffs, views of the coast and Moai- so the ride was awesome. I’ve never been a motorcycle guy but this was definitely the way o experience Easter Island. One by one, we hit the different Moai spots and tried to get as many photos as we could. I must’ve taken about 200 just yesterday when we were riding around. By 6 that evening we had seen almost everything and decided to head back to town. We were 18km away when the sun really quick and the temperature dropped from a warm 70 degrees to a chilling 45 in a matter of seconds! To make things worse, it started raining. Now, its 45 degrees and it’s raining in my face as I’m doing about 45 mph on a moped on Easter Island. It was another one of those moments that’s just hard to put into words. I’m freezing cold and can barely see anything- but surgery couldn’t have gotten the smile off my face. The long flight, the afternoon in the sun, and the tense ride home must have worn us out because we both passed out before 10 pm last night.

When we woke up this morning we took a ride down the other coast and saw a few more points of interest on the island and then turned our mopeds in around 3. It was then time to find some souvenirs. I haven’t mentioned one of the negative aspects of the place yet- the price of everything. It is ridiculously expensive on Easter Island. Nearly all the food on the island has to be imported from Chile- except for the fish- and on top of that, tourist prices are in effect year round! Yesterday afternoon I had a grilled cheese along with a bad cup of coffee for $9.50!! So imagine what souvenirs cost! I bought a few small Moai replicas for family and friends from a local guy who carves them and they were definitely not cheap.

Afterwards, we hit the hostel for a quick nap and then went to a restaurant in Hanga Roa for a traditional Rapa Nui dance show- which resembles a Hawaiian-type show with all the drums and the dancing. I was even called up by two of the dancers to join them onstage- very cool.

If you ever have the chance to visit this place- definitely do it, but only stay for 2 or 3 days. Some people come for 6 or 7 days and I think that would be a bit long. There is literally nothing to do except visit the Moai, take in a show and maybe go horseback riding but after you’ve done all of that- there’s very little left.

Our flight leaves tomorrow morning and despite the ridiculous prices for everything- I am so glad I came here; I’d do it all over again. It was a total dream-come-true and it was two days that I will never, ever forget.

For more pics check out the Easter Island photo gallery.

Santiago

2008-09-22T19:59:00.000-07:00

I arrived in Santiago today. I’m staying at The Bellavista Hostal here in the Bohemian district of Santiago. This city is more like an everyday American city than any of the others I have visited. Driving from the airport to the hostel I watched out of the window and realized that things here looked a lot like… Houston! Santiago is more advanced in so many ways - the advertisements and marketing on billboards, the restaurants and bars, even the way traffic flows so smoothly. The other immediate difference, unfortunately, is the cost of everything. There are so many things that cost far more than they do back home. It’s difficult to get used to when Ecuador (and even Peru) were so much cheaper.

The standard and cost of living is not the only thing that appears to be a step above the rest of the South American cities I’ve visited- the street dogs also seem to be a grade higher. Believe it or not almost every street dog I’ve seen in Chile (and there are lots) has been a German Shepherd- or at least part German Shepherd. They are everywhere, and like the street dogs in Quito, they are also extremely street-smart and like to run in packs. They can be very entertaining to observe when you are sitting outside somewhere eating.

So far I have hit at least one large mall in Quito, Lima and Santiago and Santiago definitely wins the mall competition- Lima wins second place simply due to the presence of Starbucks! (It’s been ridiculously hard to get a good cup of coffee in S.A.) I went to two malls today, and in addition to Starbucks they’ve got everything from T.G.I. Fridays to The Apple Store are here in Santiago. Of course I didn’t come here all the way to South America just to hit The Apple Store after eating some Taco Bell but sometimes you need a dose of home.

Hopefully I will be able to see a little more of Santiago when I return here Thursday night. But tomorrow morning is one of the things I’ve looked forward to the most since planning this trip: visiting Easter Island.

More Pucon

2008-09-21T21:12:00.000-07:00

Today was the first day of Spring here in Pucon, Chile. I´ve been here since Thursday morning and luckily the weather has been absolutely perfect the entire 4 days- clear blue skies with bright sun and a perect temperature so you´re not too hot or too cold.

I took a 6-hour tour of the area today. We stopped at some spots where you can best see the volcano, a few waterfalls, some beatiful rivers etc. It was a total ´John Denver Day´as nature was the highlight of the tour.

I met some more new friends on th tour, there were 8 of us, all from Chile except for a girl from France and myself. The guide spoke total Spanish so it was difficult to figure out what he was saying at times but I think I got about 60% of it. Just like everything else in Pucon, the tour was really expensive (I am glad I am not staying here much longer- I can't afford this town) but overall it was worth it. The scenery looks great in some of the pics but in person it was indescribable.

I have to give a quick thanks to my Chilean family- whom I met couch surfing prior to starting with UBECI. Veronica, Michaela, Orlando, Jorge, Mr. Jorge and Mrs. Veronica. They are from Santiago but were vacationing in Pucon for the weekend. They took me in and welcomed me to th family dinners Thursday and Friday. It was so typical of a Fourth of July day in the U.S.. Cooking outside in the sun, a few drinks and a lot of chit-chat made both days a great experience. Never once did I feel uncomfortable, they all made me feel totally at home.

Tomorrow morning its over to Santiago for a night, then on Tuesday morning I fly to Easter Island to visit the Moai- the ancient statues scattered all over the little island that give it its mysterious reputation.

I will post pics from the tour in the More Pucon folder in the photo gallery as soon as I can.

Pucon

2008-09-19T21:58:00.000-07:00

I am sitting at a restaurant table waiting for my food. I am surrounded by wooden walls and furniture and a whole lot of Chilean yuppies on holiday. There is a fire burning in the background because its about 40 degrees here at night and E.L.O.'s Rock and Roll is King is playing over the house speakers. I am convinced that I am the only one in the restaurant picturing The Rock and Roll Express making their way to the ring right now.

This is Pucon, Chile- a small ski lodge town that reminds me of Breckenridge, Colorado in a lot of ways. When you walk down the street, every building on the main avenue is built from wood. Its really pretty and like Ron Burgandy's apartment, it smells of rich mahogany. One thing different about Pucon than Breckenridge or any other typical ski town, is that everyone here skis Villarica- the huge volcano that you can see from any where in town. Like Cotopaxi or the huge volcano that sits above Banos in Ecuador, this one here is also active. You can actually see smoke coming from the top of it on certain mornings. It seems as though here in South America it is really common to build a town at the base of a volcano. I haven't quite figured that one out yet.

I am hardly noticed here in Pucon, quite the opposite of living in Quito. I am one of the only gringos in town right now since it is the low season for tourism and the only people here are locals to Pucon and tons of Chilean tourists who come here strictly for the holiday. In some ways I feel like I am intruding- its like I can tell they picked this particular time to come to Pucon so they can avoid the camera-carrying, map-holding tourists like me. But oh well, I am here and I am enjoying myself. The scenery is stunning and the weather during the day yesterday and today was picture perfect: 65-70 degrees with blue skies and sun all day. The only downfall to the town so far is that prices are a bit high.

More tomorrow after I take my tour of Pucon!

36 hours in Lima

2008-09-17T19:45:00.000-07:00

I am sitting in the Lima, Peru airport waiting for my flight to Santiago. I've only been here for about 36 hours and to be quite honest, there is very little to report because I didn't get to see too much.

The highlight of my stay was staying over at Hostal de Mayte. Located in a really safe area of Lima, Mayte has turned a 4 story apartment into a cool little hostel for travelers. Once again, it was like a mini-UN meeting as our group consisted of reps from America, South Africa, England, Taiwan, Brasil and Peru. It always makes for pretty interesting conversation at the dinner table.

Starbucks has hit Peru. And like in the U.S., they have opted for many, many locations.

The money thing is killing me. Ecuador was so easy because they were on the dollar- no conversion needed when you buy something. But here they are on the Soles, which is valued at a little less than 3 to 1. So every time you buy something you have to divide by 3 to see what you are really paying. The other tough part about this is the coins. They have bills for 10 soles and up. For 1's and 5's, they use a coin. So now I've got a pocket full of change that I am scared to throw away- some of it is American coins, some Ecuadorian coins (from before they switched to the U.S. system but they still accept them), and now some Peruvian Sole coins. Quie confusing to say the least.

I noticed something pretty funny on the way to the airport. I remember last summer when I was in Brasil that I was really impressed to see that they still had the old school gas attendants. When you pulled up to the pump, one or two workers came up and did everything for you. The fill up, the windshield, the oil- total full service, like I remember we had in the states when I was younger. Well here, in Peru, they have taken this concept a step further. The little attendant guys are all dressed in these uniforms that resemble NASCAR pit crew uniforms. It's hilarious. Picture a pit crew for a Shell race car running out of the station and immediately going to work on your car! I have to get a picture of this when I return.

I am boarding the flight to Santiago in a few minutes, then flying down to Temuco where I will then drive to the small town of Pucon, Chile. I'm hoping to get 4 days of relaxation in, while surrounded by volcanoes and lakes.

Saying Goodbye

2008-09-16T10:10:00.000-07:00

I´m currently on a plane writing this in my diary - will type it up later for the PC.

It´s Tuesday morning and the plane is about to land in Lima, Peru.

Last night was my final night in Quito, and my final hours with the Carrera family. It went about as bad as I thought; my eyes are still swollen now and its nearly 10am. I don´t think I´ve cried that much since that 'My Dog Skip' movie years ago. Seriously.

I spent the better part of yesterdday running erronds with the girls (Mrs. Gladys, Elizabeth and Alexandra) and went back to my apartment around 6 for a nap and final packing. At 8:15 or so, I went back upstairs.

When I got up there everything seemed normal- Los Niños (Brandon and Ronald) were running around making noise, Alexandra was studying and talking with me and her possibly-soon-to-be-boyfriend Renauto, Mrs. Gladys was in and out of the kitchen etc. I sat comfortably in an armchair just watching and listening, trying not to let my mind acknowledge that this was the last night here. Then all at once, they entered the room with different looks on their faces- while I was playing with Ronald and Brandon I hadn´t realized that they had all disappeared to congregate in the kitchen.

I knew something was up.

Renauto came up to me and in his best English effort said, ¨For you, because you are my friend.¨

Renauto and I have been tight ever since a couple of weeks ago when I told him what a creep was. You see, he is about 18 or 19 and plays guitar in a little rock band. He speaks a tiny bit of English but with that and my tiny bit of Spanish we could always have a pretty solid conversation. He proudly explained to me one day that he knew all the lyrics to Creep by Radiohead, but almosted shamefully admitted that he didn´t know what the title word actually meant. He must´ve been really hung up on it for a while because we were serious amigos from that day forward.

Anyway, Renauto hands me a small bracelet- just a little one that you buy at the market for a dollar or so- and then helps me tie it onto my wrist and gives me a hug. This stung a litttle, but I was okay, I sucked it up and made it through telling him ´thanks´without losing it. But that was simply the first jab.

I think maybe Kayla (the other volunteer who has been staying with us for the last 2 weeks) told them how much I love trinkets- the little bracelets/necklaces you´d get at a market in Ecuador or New Orleans or wherever- because after Renauto gave me one, they each came up to me with a different trinket or two and said something very sweet before helping me put them on.

Alexandra was next. She gave me a necklace, a bracelet and a t-shirt that said Ecuadoriano on the front (which means ´someone from Eucuador´- kind of like if one of us gave a foreigner a shirt that said American on it). Her lips trembled as she told me it was because I was no longer a gringo, I was one of them now. Seeing and hearing her explain the shirt was enough to open up the old the flood gates. No turning back now.

Elizabeth followed with yet another bracelet and necklace, and she was so proud to turn the necklace over to show me the back where she had my name inscribed.

Los Niños then hit me with more pictures and notes that they had made for me. They really surprised me with my second pasta necklace from Ecuador- the first being from Alessi during my first week in the market. Ronald, the younger of the two, had made this one earlier during the day at school- you can see it around my neck in the picture with Fernando below.

One after another they all took their turn and I cried a little more for each one.

Even Fernando (the older son who I didn´t get to know as well because he wasn´t around as often) gave me a toally pimpin hat from Quito that I can´t wait to wear back at home, especially when I go somewhere in public with my sister.

To top it all off Mrs. Gladys, who I noticed had been staying off to the side wiping her eyes during all of this, came in last with a hot pan from the kitchen. I knew immediately what it was.

A couple of weeks back, she had made this outstanding meal for dinner- it was a ham and cheese, casserole-type dish that was covered in melted cheese- and I couldn´t get enough of it. I remembered that I had commented that night when we ate it, jokingly, that I really needed to take some of that on the plane with me when I leave because it was so good.

When she put the pan down in front of me she tried her best to hold back tears as she explained in Spanish ¨that this section is for us to eat tonight, and this section is for you to take with you tomorrow morning when you leave.¨

We all ate some of the delicious dinner and then hung around the den chatting- Mr. Gonzalo eventually got in from a late night of work and hung out for a while too. As it got later and later, people started heading off to bed. Fernando first, then Kayla, then Mr. Gonzalo and eventually even the wild pair known as Los Niños had to hit the sack (knowing that they would not yet be up in the morning when I was actually leaving, telling them goodnight was especially tough).

The plan was to wake up the next morning at 4:00 am so that Elizabeth and I could leave by 4:30 to get me to the airport; my flight was at 7am. It was now 11:30pm and it was down to just me and the girls- Mrs. Gladys and her two daughters- and it was like we all just kept stalling. None of us wanted to go to bed. Around midnight I finally forced myself to get up and give them each a hug so that I could go downstairs and we could all get some rest. Mrs. Gladys assured me that she would be up at 4 also, and Alexandra then told her mom that she wanted to be up also.

4am this morning....

I woke up after sleeping for about 2 hours and grabbed the last of my things and at 4:15 there was a knock on my door. Elizabeth was ready to go, and to my surprise Mrs. Gladys was dressed and ready to go with us. We through my stuff in the car and before heading off to the airport, I ran upstairs to tell a groggy Alexandra goodbye for the last time. Alexandra had been like my kid sister for the last month. I will really miss her.

It was a long, quiet ride to the airport. It was like all 3 of us were so fragile; there was a little bit of chit chat but it was like no one wanted to say too much in fear of starting up a sequel to last night´s tearfest.

When we got to the airport and I got my bags out of the trunk, I tried to keep looking down to the ground because the tears were coming hard and fast. They walked me to the area where only passengers are allowed to continue and this was finally it. I hugged Elizabeth and then Mrs. Gladys. They were both crying as much I was. When I wrapped my arms around Mrs. Gladys there were so many things I wanted to say to her.

I wanted to tell her...
Thanks for making me feel so safe.
Thanks for making me feel so welcomed.
Thanks for being my security blanket while I was here.
Thanks for the breakfasts and dinners and the little sack lunches everyday.
Thanks for being such a great friend to me.
Thanks for being such a great mom to me - when I didn´t even realize how much I needed it.

I wanted to tell her all of these things...

but I couldn´t speak; I could only cry. I just sat their for a minute and cried on her shoulder.

I finally left and went through the secured area, looking back at them over and over until they were completely out of eyesight. When I got through to the other side I had to sit down and regroup before checking in and boarding.

Mrs. Gladys was such a great person and such a great mom to everyone in that house. You could just watch her doing her daily activities and see how much she loved being a mom. It´s funny because I had no idea that I even needed that mom presence during my first month here in South America- but she did. She knew all along, like all mom´s do - they just know.

Mrs. Gladys was a constant reminder to me that great moms are the best thing in the world.

I´m now landing in Lima- staying only for a night, then heading down to Chile for a little R-n-R before the next month of volunteer work back here in Peru.

The Ecuador experience is going to be tough to beat.

Baños!

2008-09-14T22:38:00.000-07:00

It´s late Sunday night and I am exhausted from a very full weekend. On Friday afternoon Kayla and I hopped on a bus immediaely after work and took a 3 and a half hour ride to the small town of Baños, Ecuador. Now even though the town is named 'the bathroom', I can assure you that its anything but a toilet! It´´s one of the most beautiful places I've ever been.

Friday afternoon when we arrived we went to the hot springs- where locals believe that bathing in the hot, natural water from the mountians has healing powers. We did the whole bathing thing and I don´t know if it heals or not- but it was very energizing to go from sitting in the scalding hot pool to standing under the ice cold waterfall! After a few rounds of that, I felt great- and I smelled like Sulphur. Can´t beat that!

Saturday was awesome. We rented bikes for a whopping $5 per day and headed down 84km Road to Puyo- also known as the Avenue de Cascadas due the insane number of beautiful waterfalls you come across on the way down. It was incredible- and physically demanding as well. We even took a ride in a cable car (that I'm pretty sure isn´t very regulated) that took us across the river- it was really, really high up.

Other highlights included hiking down to one particular waterfall that you could practically stand in if you crawled though some narrow caves to get there. Standing close enough to touch a waterfall that massive is something that can´t be explained.

The bike ride came to end a little bit early when my $5-a-day bike gave out on me and couldn´t be fixed. We hiked back to the last bus stop on the road and caught a bus back to town. I didn´t bother asking for a refund- although I missed out on the last third of the trip, it was probably the best 5 bucks I´d ever spent.

After turning in the bikes we rented Quads (thats 4-wheelers to us Louisiana folks) and took a ride up the road to Tungurahua, the active volcano that sits up above Baños. Unfortunately it was a bit too cloudy to get a good picture of the smoking volcano but, like the bike ride, the scenery surruonding us was breathtaking. The day was so physical and full that I was in bed by nine last night!
This morning we had to skip the planned horseback ride due to rain and decided to head back here to Quito so I coud start packing and spending some time with the family. I called yesterday and changed my fight- so I will actually be leaving Quito Tuesday morning instead of tomorrow (mon) morning.

When we got back Mrs. Gladys had dinner waiting as usual and unfortunately I now have to start packing up my things and preparing to say goodbye to the family and the town that I´ve grown to love over the last month.

Check out all 3 Galleries from Baños in the photo section.

Final day with UBECI

2008-09-12T16:10:00.000-07:00

Today was the final day with UBECI and it was a good one. Thanks to Maria Masino, Mrs. Abraham (Broward County College Dental Hygene Department), Dr. Sherman D.D.S. and Lois with Crest- we were able to hand out toothbrushes and toothpaste to all the children at the market. They were thrilled.

Ever since the first day I worked with UBECI in the markets, I´ve felt like the best and worst part about working in the markets is/was watching them do something simple like washing their hands. Its the best part because they are so eager and excited to do these simple, everyday tasks- and it really makes you feel good about being there with that bowl of water and soap. It´s also the worst part because its obvious that, for some of them, they haven´t washed their little hands since last week when we were there with the same bowl and soap.

It´s hard to sum up our work here with UBECI- its been up and down. Up until today I felt that my personal experience had peaked two weeks ago when the Summer Program at St. Isabella and Chopitana had ended. The work their was more fun in many ways- the children were older, easier to work with, and more eager to learn the things we were teaching while the market kids are younger and can be a lot tougher to keep under control. I have to admit that I was disappointed at the midpoint when working with the fun group came to an end. But today reminded me that while both groups are definitely in need, the market kids need the most help. Without UBECI there one a week, these children just go to work every day with their mothers until they are about 6 or 7. By the time they reach that age, the boys are off to 'who knows where' because they´re no longer to found around the market (when you look around the market its really strange because you see very few little boys over 6 or 7). As for the little girls, when they reach this age, they no longer go with their mom's to work- they are now really working with their moms. The reason our UBECI attendees each week are so young is simply because the average starting age for work- is about 6 or 7 years old.

There have been a few days when I was frustrated. In Ecuador, one of the things I´ve noticed is that there is a lack of efficiency in many, many areas. Several times per day, whether at a fast food place (and I use the word fast very loosely) or simply observing the way a store is arranged, I find myself saying ¨Why don´t they just do it this way!¨

There were times when I felt the same way with UBECI- it seemed like we(the volunteers) always thought there was a better way to get more done with the time we were here and we were often trying to get things done more efficiently. Maybe we were right at times, and maybe we were wrong- who knows? There was also a few times when working wth the market kids that I felt like they were so bad off that perhaps what we were doing may be useless. On more than one occasion I´d ask myself, ¨Is any of this really going to change their future?¨

Watching the kids with the toothbrushes today kind of brought it all back full-circle to the first day when I saw them washing their hands... and it reminded me that good is being done here- and it feels really good to be a small part of it.

If you are a person who prays- please pray for these children and the children like them all over the world.

I now look forward to early October when I start working with another group in the mountians of Peru.

At the bottom of the The Markets gallery over in the photos section, there are several more photos from Toothbrush Day.

Family Gifts

2008-09-11T15:06:00.001-07:00

Today was my second to last day working with UBECI and tomorrow will be my final. Maria brought children's toothbrushes and toothpaste down with her last weekend so tomorrow I am bringing I'll be bringing them to the market with me to give to the kids. I will try to get photos toothbrush day up tomorrow afternoon, but it may have to wait till Sunday because I will hop on a bus right after the market tomorrow and head to the small town of Banos. Banos will certainly have its own photo gallery - its like the waterfall capital of South America!

Last night I realized that I had brought over some gifts for my host family and I had never given them to them. I meant to when I got here, but with the overwhelming newness of it all- I guess I just forgot. Simple stuff- a lot of U.L. merchandise, some Saints things, Tobasco and some 'Slap Ya Mama' Cajun Seasoning. They were all so appreciative. My friend Cindy also sent me a necklace/earrings set to give to Mrs. Gladys which she absolutely loved.

About a half hour or so after I gave them the gifts, we were all sitting around in the living room, and Ronald the 5 year old came up to me with a piece of blue paper. In Spanish, he asked me to write my name on it, and I did. He then gave me the paper and said "Por Tu" meaning it was for me to have. I guess the gift-giving mood made him want to give me something. He had drawn a picture for me- of me. He then explained it- it was me, an airplane and a little stuffed doll to keep me company on the plane ride. It took everything I had not to lose it. I looked up at everyone else in the room and I wasn't the only one misty-eyed. I am really, really going to miss this family.

To my surprise, Mrs. Gladys had a meeting to go to after breakfast this morning and was sporting her new necklace while Alexandra was leaving the house to go run errands around town- wearing a Ragin Cajuns shirt.

Did I mention that I was really going to miss this family?

The Whistle Blower

2008-09-10T10:55:00.000-07:00

Each morning on the walk to work I've become a little more accustomed to my routine and the surroundings. The numerous stray dogs running the streets, the insane drivers honking at everyone and everything, and even the strange smells in the streets were all such a shock during my first few days here. Now, it all seems totally normal. But no matter how routine my routine becomes, there are still things that are just... different. For example: The Whistleblower.

At one point in my daily walk, I make my way down a narrow, one-way street which eventually merges into another street- one a little larger but totally congested. It seems as though 2 or 3 streets decided to merge into one street for about a block, only to suddenly bottleneck back into another small street. So the cars are coming from 3 directions into this one area, and there is only little way out. No lines are on the road to indicate lanes. When you factor in numerous pedestrians like myself, the street vendors and the dozens of four-legged friends- who are all trying to get through this one area rather quickly- Its a total free-for-all.

But there has to be a stop light or something?

No.

Maybe there's a couple of traffic signs?

Nope, none.

(not that stop lights or yield signs mean anything to drivers here)

But there is this one guy.

Fearlessly, he puts himself right in the center of the action each morning attempting to preserve some sort of order for the rest of us. He's usually not dressed to impress, sometimes a little dirty, but he stands tall with confidence. A close look at his face and you see that perhaps he's not quite 'all there' but you wouldn't know it by his performance.

I call him 'The Whistleblower'. Somebody, somewhere allowed this gentleman to get a hold of a coach's whistle. The whistle itself hangs around his neck with a piece of string. It's old and worn out, and looks to have lost its shine a long time ago. It makes me wonder just how long he's been using it, and let me tell you- he is NOT afraid to use it.

This gentleman has taken it upon himself, with no visible signs of any real authority, to direct traffic. He waves both arms around pointing at walkers and drivers and motioning them forward, just like a real traffic cop would do, and the whistle never leaves his mouth. He blows it hard and repeatedly and I still have yet to decipher if it means you are going the right way or the wrong way. My current assumption is that the short, quicker whistles mean 'continue on' or 'your doing the right thing', while the longer, louder whistles (which startle me every time) indicate that you've done something very wrong- but I may be way off. It's kind of hard to tell if the tireless efforts of The Whistle Blower are working. To me, it looks as though no one - drivers, walkers, vendors, dogs- is even listening or paying attention to the man and his whistle at all. But then again, what do I know, maybe I am missing something.

What I CAN tell you is that he clocks in before 8 a.m. and knocks off sometime before 5 p.m. because I see him only in the mornings on the way to work, never when I'm on the way home. Oh, and he also takes Fridays off- which is cool, we all love a 3-day weekend.

The guy makes me laugh a little to myself every time I see him, but I must admit I admire him. I'm not sure I've seen someone doing their job (which I doubt is even a real job) with so much enthusiasm and dedication. I doubt he gets paid anything at all. But for him, The Whistle Blower, I like to think his reward is seeing the traffic at commotion at that confusing intersection go just a little bit smoother every Monday - Thursday morning.

Thanks, Mr. Whistle Blower.

I managed to sneak a shot of the man doing what he does best. On this particular day he was carrying 3 leather belts and what looked like some red tape while doing his job. He is quite mysterious.

4th Tuesday

2008-09-09T21:48:00.000-07:00

I can't believe I've got less than a week left in Quito. It kind of hit me this afternoon that I really don't have a whole lot of time left here. Friday after work, I will head down to the town of Banos, a beautiful town that should be worth a couple of hundred pictures- and I return Sunday afternoon, only to fly out on Monday morning. When I realIt has been a wonderful experience and I will be sad to leave next Monday morning. I'm just now finally beginning to get used to things here- the bus system, directions, the way of the people, etc- and now its time to leave.

Today in the market I didn't even bother to tell the children that it was the last time I would see them. We go to the 3 markets once a week and today was likely the last time I would ever see the children in the 'Tuesday market'. This is the same group that actually initiated me into all of this just 4 weeks ago. A few things have changed since my first time in the market- my spanish has improved to the point where I can now communicate with these little ones, and also quite a few of them recognize my face immediately when we show up. I wonder what will change for these kids over the next few weeks, months, years. I hesitate to think about the futures of these precious little kids- it just doesn't seem like they have a lot of options ahead of them, and thats really sad because some of them are unbelievably bright.

Today, the group had to draw a picture with an Ecuadorian theme and then color it in... and I'm sitting there watching this one girl, Lella (pronounced Lay-ya) draw a picture of a mountain. She was probably 7 or 8, one of the older ones in the group, and she was an awesome artist! She drew the mountain with ease and it looked really good. I couldn't help but sit there and wonder if this talent would ever take her anywhere. It is doubtful that she will ever receive an art scholarship and she will probably never get to open up her own studio. The truth is, Lella will probably never even attend grade school. She will most likely work at the market with her mom- selling whatever her mom sells- until she becomes a mother herself in a few short years. How sad, I thought to myself.

This week's Thursday and Friday markets are the only thing left for me to do with the UBECI program and I have so many mixed feelings right now. More later in the week.

I have added more photos to the Markets gallery and will add more Thursday and Friday.

Busy weekend

2008-09-07T23:36:00.000-07:00

It was quite the busy weekend for myself, Maria and Kayla. Maria flew in Friday and Kayla has only been in Quito for a week, so both were eager to explore Ecuador.

We woke up around 4-something in the morning Saturday to catch a bus out to Otavalo, Ecuador- home of South America's biggest 'market'. It was a 2 hour bus ride and by the time we reached the famous Otavalo market it was nearly 8 a.m. If you are the type of person that loves to shop for trinkets and such, Otavalo is a dream come true. I had already went to Otavalo a couple of weeks ago, but it was a weekday, and it was nothing like the action we saw on Saturday (Otavalo's biggest day). Street after street, block after block, the market seemed to go on for miles. After 3 hours of trying to negotiate the dealers down on their prices it was time to go- and we probably only got to see about a fourth of Otavalo's market. There was a good reason we left early.

We needed to be back in Quito for 2:30 p.m. because Ecuador was playing Bolivia at the Stadium Olympico and I bought tickets for the 3 of us plus Mrs. Gladys and Isabella. This would be my first International Football game (that's soccer to everyone at home)!

The game was set to start at 4 and we arrived at the stadium around 3:30. The place was sold out and the entire experience was mind-blowing. With not a single fan of Bolivia in the house, this was a totally one-sided crowd, which made the atmosphere absolutely electric. The chants, the songs, the foul-mouthed guys sitting behind us- it was all awesome. Ecuador ended up winning 3 to 1 over Bolivia and when we left the stadium my body and mind seemed to have no clue that I was exhausted from being up since 4:30 a.m. The game was such a rush!

Afterwards, we headed over to 'Roasters' for dinner. I am not sure if Kenny Rogers owns this one or not, but it was simply 'Roasters'. After dinner it was time to head to bed because Sunday would be yet another really long day.

Sunday was Cotopaxi- Part Deux. Yes, for whatever reason, I climbed Cotopaxi again. It was a whole new group- a little bigger this time- and although I was prepared mentally for every step of the climb, physically it was no easier than Wednesday. Maria, Kayla and I met a ton of new friends from all over the world and had a blast. The biggest difference this time around was that the bike ride lasted much longer. Apparently, the other day, the weather was so bad that the bike trip was cut short. This time the sky was completely clear and the bike ride down the mountain was astonishing. The views of the mountainous region would force you to pull over every 5 minutes and break out the camera.

Sunday night we all slept really good. All good things must come to an end I guess- Monday, Maria goes home while Kayla and I go back to work with UBECI and the kids.

What a weekend!

Otavalo pics

Football pics

Cotopaxi 2 pics

Sick

2008-09-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

I stayed home from work today. I caught a terrible cold (probably from the Cotopaxi trip) and have had a fever on and off since this morning. About an hour ago I started to leave my apartment to go upstairs and ask Mrs. Gladys for something warm to eat or drink but to my surprise she met me at the door. She was just about to knock on my door and in her hands was bowl of hot chicken soup (Sopa de Pollo). Bless her heart. I am taking medicine and will be back at it tomorrow!

Cotopaxi

2008-09-03T22:25:00.000-07:00

I had the day off today so I climbed Cotopaxi. Cotopaxi is the world’s highest active volcano with the top reaching some 5400 meters- that's a whole lot of feet. It was horribly tiring and freezing cold, but it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. We had to meet at the tourism place at 7 am. Two good friends from England, Anusha and Kev, were there along with the group of about 10 of us. It took a few hours for to finally reach the massive National Park as we made several stops here and there to load up on water, snacks and to allow Luis- our guide for the day- to tell us about various plants and wildlife that can be found around Cotopaxi.

When we reached the point at which we began our actual hike, we were right at 4,000 meters. We hiked to 5070 meters. It was 1000 meters of hell. I hadn’t dressed properly, not knowing that at the top of Cotopaxi was an actual glacier and that snow would be slicing up my face for a better part of the day. The craziest part is that I will probably do the whole thing over again because Maria and a couple of the newer volunteers want to go this Sunday.

As I said before, it was incredibly rough, but when we finally reached the Glacier and realized we had made it up there in one piece, it was a profound experience. I almost forgot one of the best parts- I finally got to see some wild llamas!

Click here for more Cotopaxi pictures.

3rd Tuesday

2008-09-02T21:51:00.000-07:00

I spent most of Sunday/Monday worrying and watching Gustav. It was the first time a big storm has come through our area when I was not there- and it was stressful. I was glad to see New Orleans avoided another Katrina-style disaster. It has been sort of surreal to see Ray Nagan on the evening news here! Rest assured myself, my family in Quito and everyone else I've talked to here, have all been praying for everyone's safety on the Gulf Coast.

Monday was the first day of school for Los Ninos (Ronald and Brandon) so breakfast and coffee was a little more exciting than usual. This is Brandon’s second year and Ronald’s first. Their school requires that they wear a suit on the first day. It was the cutest thing ever- the pic is Los ninos and I getting ready for a very serious day.

Both days were also spent working with children in the markets. The work has gotten better in some ways. For one, my Spanish is improving daily and it helps a whole lot when I’m trying to communicate with them. Also, several of the little ones are recognizing me from previous visits. The kids are so loving to begin with, but when they recognize you it’s a whole new level of trust and affection.

Today, a little one (barely 2 years old) was cranky and his sister (around 4) was having a hard time taking care of him. He looked tired and I picked him up to hold him and give his sister some relief so she could play with the other kids. I began rocking him a little and he immediately stopped crying and fell asleep within seconds. For the next 25 minutes I held him as he slept soundly on my shoulder. When I watch them play with others, or wash their hands and face, or fall asleep so quickly when a stranger like me simply holds them – and I see how some of them appear so happy to be doing some of these things, it really makes me wonder what kind of life they have outside of this short time that we spend with them.

There are also 3 new volunteers working with us that started this week. They are all girls from the U.S. and are very nice. I went from being the confused rookie two weeks ago, to the only volunteer who has any sort of idea what’s going on this week. We have tomorrow off, no summer programs, so I will try to do some sort of excursion around Quito with friends.

Call the copyright police!

2008-08-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

I went to a market and a different mall today. One thing is certain; if the copyright police ever show up in Quito- the whole town in going down! It’s funny how many copyright violations you can see in a matter of just a few minutes. Take my small backpack I bought for 5 bucks the other day at the backpack market (by the way, I forgot to mention that I have never in my life seen so many backpacks- it’s unbelievable how many I have seen). It is made of pretty flimsy material and looks like it might last me a week or two, if I am lucky, but it sports a fantastic, official-looking, Diesel tag. Yeah right!

Batman 2 is still at the top of the box office here, despite the fact that you can get a bootleg of it or any other new release at any DVD shop in town, in English or Spanish of course, for only $1.50.

U.S. celebrities are also used just as much as brandnames to sell products, and I have to question some of the legitimacy of these as well.

For example, did you know…

-that Matt McConaughey is pushing Ice Cream bars in Ecuador these days?

-that Madonna is endorsing a small beauty shop right down the road from where I am staying?

-that Lou Ferigno is still the face of a couple of gyms down here.

The funniest are the ones who try to be sneaky and misspell a particular brand name. I’ve seen products made by : Abercrombi and Fich, Holistar, Dolche and Gabbana and my favorite one of all- Guass.

While shopping today I also learned that wrestling is getting huge down here. In one mall, there was a shop with nothing but WWE merchandise. When I went inside I was shocked to see the prices on certain items- there were wrestling action figures that were being sold for 18-25 bucks!

I was even more shocked when I looked around and realized there were no kids to be found in the small store- instead about 5 adults were there instead, some browsing and some haggling with the store employees over prices.

Even the cops can't wait to get one of the bootleg CDs/DVDs this woman is selling:

Noches de Familia

2008-08-29T23:54:00.000-07:00

We got off early from work today, and I spent the afternoon at a local mall with a couple of the volunteers. I didn’t buy anything, but I did get a chance to grub at McDonalds. When I got home from work, my plan was to go upstairs and say hi to the family, then get a shower, eat, then meet some friends out in Modern Quito. It didn’t quite go that way, and I’m really glad.

I was upstairs visiting with the family and before I could go down to my apartment and shower, Mrs. Gladys asked if I wanted to go with them to Parque La Almeda. Los Ninos (the two boys) were running around like crazy and she said they were going to go for a few minutes and let them run around and then come back. Sounded ok to me, so 8 of us (Mr. Gonzalo, Mrs. Gladys, Los Ninos, Alexandra, two of the neighbor’s children and me) all jumped into a really small car. When Mr. Gonzalo pulled the little European-looking car around to pick us up, I thought to myself, “No way.” We fit, and it was actually comfortable- I’m still trying to figure out how.

When we got to Parque Almeda there was a water/light show on the lagoon that was a special one night only thing. It was really cool and kind of reminded me of being in Vegas a couple of months ago except that this one used additional lights to create holographic figures in the water that represented the history of Quito. It lasted about 20 minutes and then Los Ninos and the two other kids went paddle-boating on the lagoon. When we left, I thought the night was over but it was just the beginning.

They then took me to a really historic street in Quito- Calle La Ronda, the oldest one in the city. The area is totally unique; a few really narrow roads that have been there since the 1500s with the original houses/stores on each side. At the main intersection there is a small festival every weekend (reminded me of Downtown Alive back home or maybe even Festivale Internationale). This was incredible: live Ecuadorian music, the crowd enthusiastically clapping and bouncing as they watch the traditional dancers in their old school attire and everyone in the streets sipping on a warm, local liquor drink called Canelezo.

We slipped inside a small restaurant right on the intersection for some snacks and then headed back to the car. From there, we went to some of the beautiful churches I had been to a couple of weeks ago, but they look totally different at night. The city has done an incredible job of maintaining these historic buildings, and the lighting used to accentuate them at night is phenomenal. At every stop, we’d all hop out of the car on Mr. Gonzalo’s command, “Ok, vamos!” I would take photos as he and Mrs. Gladys would try to explain some of the history behind whatever building we were at, while Los Ninos would run around like wild kids typically do.

We finally got home at around 10:40, 3 hours after we left ‘for just a few minutes’. I was tired, hungry, and still wanting that shower that I never got, but I had no regrets. Minutes after we walked in, Mrs. Gladys had our dinner on the table and we all sat quietly finishing everything on our plates. After thanking them profusely for the evening I finally came downstairs and got the shower I wanted.

Maybe tomorrow night I’ll make it out on the town with friends, but tonight was ‘family night’ in Old Quito and it beat anything the local bars in New Quito could possible offer.

For a few more photos from family night click here.

-Judd

It's ok...

2008-08-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

Everyone can relax. The autobus strike is over.

Strike in Ecuador

2008-08-28T12:38:00.000-07:00

It´s Thursday and I wanted to hop online during my lunch break to announce that the bus drivers in Quito are on strike. The strike started today with the drivers refusing to start the busses until 9am. This made it incredibly hard for everyone to get to work at 8 (including me). Then at 9am they resumed their schedules. They told the press that until their monetary demands are met, they will add an hour to the strike each day- meaning tomorrow the busses won´t run until 10am, 11 on Saturday, etc...

People are freaking out over here and school starts in Quito on Monday.

To say that ´public transportation is very important here in Quito´is the understatement of the year!

This could get very interesting.

-more later

4 Square

2008-08-27T20:29:00.000-07:00

Today was the best day yet- and the most physically demanding as well.

No markets on Wednsday, so we spent the morning at St. Isabella and the afternoon at the neighboring school in Chopitana. When we split up into groups, I was in charge of the recreation session today. Which meant being outside with the kids, doing physical games all day. I wish I had half of the energy they have! I am going to be sore for days!

Both of these schools have children from age 3 to 15 and the older ones are often easier to introduce things to. So today with the help of Justin (another volunteer who speaks much better Spanish than I do) I taught them how to play 4 Square- a game that I learned back in Youth Group at Asbury in Lafayette, La. Within 20 minutes they had all caught on, and it was non-stop action for hours- just like old times.

If it wasn´t before, 4 Square is now officially an international sport. I got some of it recorded and will post it as soon as I can.

In addition to 2 or 3 hours of 4 Square, we had about 45 minutes of full-court outdoor basketball and an hour and a half of the most chaotic game of dodgeball I´ve ever been involved in.

I´m totally exhausted. It´s 8:30 pm and I am going to bed.

2nd Week with UBECI

2008-08-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

I’m learning a little more about the UBECI program with each day. There are 4 full time employees: Byron and Monica (the married couple that owns it) and Danny and Anita, who do most of the work with the kids. Last week I worked with Danny and Anita all week but Byron and Monica were out of town, and I finally got the chance to meet them today. All 4 are extremely nice and I think they genuinely have the children’s’ best interests in mind.

There are two small schools that UBECI works with – the one I mentioned in a previous blog in Santa Isabella, and one Chopitana another town just outside of Quito. Right now we are finishing up the summer program I mentioned before, but during the school year UBECI acts as an after-school tutoring type service that is free to the students enrolled in each school. My initial thought after working a few days with them is that these are really good kids. The older group (7-10) seems to really want to learn some English. You can see it in their enthusiasm and participation during the short time we have with them. One thing that is really cool and cute is that they all show up with backpacks on. Even the little bitty ones, they are all so proud of those backpacks.

The end of the summer program is this Friday and the parents are coming to pick them up and see some of the things they learned which aren’t taught in regular public school (art, dancing and English). I believe they will show off their artwork they have done and show the little dance steps they learned (wait till you see the little ones dancing, it’s probably one of the cutest things you will ever see). For the English part of the program, the little ones will perform the Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes song, and we are trying to get the older ones to individually go up in front of the group of parents and say ‘My name is _______ and I like ________ and ______ ’ in English. It should be very interesting and I will hopefully be able to film the whole thing. **It’s much easier to film at the schools than it is in the markets

I will probably get to experience the tutoring sessions during my last week here, since that’s when school starts for the kids at Santa Isabella and Chopitana. More later!

Also:

I added more pics to both the Markets and Santa Isabella photo galleries.

I just posted a video from last Sunday over at the celebration of Midas del Mundo. It’s just a fun little clip that reminds me of the many festivals back home.

Tomorrow or Wednesday I should have some videos of the kids edited and uploaded.

TeleferiQo

2008-08-24T23:31:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine sent me a nice card before this trip and on the front there was a quote that said every day we should try to do one thing we are afraid of.

I think I killed about a week’s worth today when I rode the TeleferiQo. It’s simply a cable car system that takes you over a thousand meters up above the city to the top of a volcano for a breathtaking view of Quito, but it’s not so simple if you’re afraid of heights. The top is a whopping 4100 meters. I ended up being quite relaxed on the ride, the height never even got to me, but the trip turned out to be kind of a waste of time.

Around 3pm or so, I met up with a German couple at a coffee shop and asked them if they were interested in coming with me. So Yanice, Leena and I hopped in a cab and headed for the TeleferiQo. We got our tickets ($4 each) we soon found out that 5 in the afternoon on a Sunday was NOT the best time to go. We stood in line for at least 50 minutes and finally got on the cable car to ascend to the top (arriba!). The ride up was pretty slow and the sky was still clear enough for some pics on the way up, and after about 10 minutes we arrived at the peak, ready for a breathtaking view of Quito. The only problem was, when we arrived, the clouds had followed us and you could see absolutely nothing!

So we are up there at 4100 meters freezing our tails off and after finally accepting the fact that this just wasn’t our day, we decided to cut our losses and leave. This was yet another problem since the few hundred people up there decided to do the same thing at the same time- and now it’s starting to rain. We waited over an hour in line (about 30 minutes of it in the rain) just to come back down.

In summary: a 15 minute cab ride (there and back), nearly 2 hours standing in line (my father would never have survived that part), a total of $10 bucks spent on transportation and the ticket price- and we weren’t able to get a single picture of the “breathtaking view of Quito”.

Not all was lost, I met two more travelers and got the number for a nice, honest cab driver as well.

On the way up:

Once we got up there:

Cuanto Cuesta?

2008-08-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

My trip to the mall a few hours ago inspired this. “Cuanto Cuesta?” is one of the first things you have to learn when you are in any Spanish speaking country. It simply means “How Much?”

The local currency is actually the U.S. dollar- they switched a few years ago after the breakdown of the Sucre (the old currency)- so there is no need to do any quick conversion in your head. Here are some prices on various things here in Quito:

Any bus ride- $0.25

A gallon of regular unleaded gas- $1.75

An Ecuadorian lunch combo (a meat, rice or potatoes, some sort of vegetable and a drink) - $2.00

A lunch combo at Burger King - $6.50

A bottle of water - $0.35

An hour on the internet- $0.60 to $0.75

A cab ride across town- $2.00

A latte - $1.00 to $1.60

A slice of pizza - $1.20

A t-shirt in the market - $4

A t-shirt in a touristy spot- $15-$25

A designer t-shirt in an American/European store - $50-$80

The iPhone (which debuted in Ecuador this Friday) - $900.00

From my trip to the mall:

Call me naïve, but I thought they went away years ago.

The weekend is here - Finally!

2008-08-23T11:56:00.000-07:00

It’s Saturday morning and after work yesterday I came back to the homestead and had dinner with my family and went to bed early. It was an intense week- and a fun one too. The altitude, the crazy amount of walking and the emotional toll that the work takes on you- all of it just wears you out, and last night I was totally worn out. Thank God for the weekends, because I don’t know if I could have gone another day without a break.

The walk home has been both hard and cool at the same time. It’s the end of the day, I’m drained and I am getting kind of sleepy riding the bus back to the station near my house and as soon as I get off the bus I’ve got about a mile to walk and its extremely uphill. Every afternoon when I walk in the apartment, I fall on the bed and try to stay awake long enough to go upstairs and eat. Well, for the first time since I’ve been here- it rained on the way home. Back home- in the U.S. - if I said, “It rained on the way home yesterday,” it wouldn’t really mean much. But here, when ‘on the way home’ is an uphill walk for a mile- that sentence means something totally different.

I thought for sure that every weekend I would be taking some sort of excursion to another part of Ecuador, but I think I’m just going to hang around the city this weekend and try to relax and get to know my current hometown a little more.

I’m headed to a large mall now, that supposedly carries American/European clothing stores- should be interesting.

-Judd

Thursday report and random notes

2008-08-21T21:23:00.000-07:00

We went to another market today. The UBECI schedule is starting to make a little sense to me now after the last couple of days. We go to 3 different markets during the week – on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday- and we do markets during the morning. On Monday and Wednesday, we go to a school and work with the students in a summer program like the one I talked about yesterday in St. Isabella. The afternoon sessions are also summer programs at schools but I haven’t been able to do any of them yet because for the first week and a half I am taking Spanish lessons during the afternoon. By the middle of next week I should get a feel of the afternoon schedule.

Today’s market was a lot like the one on Tuesday with different children involved. I recorded of video footage of the market and the work we do with the children, but it all had to be done VERY discretely. You can’t just break out a nice little portable video camera in the middle of one of these markets; you’re begging to get it stolen. Hopefully the footage is good enough to put together some sort of montage so that everyone can see how the market days work. The 5 French volunteers who are here working with us have also been filming a whole lot, so I might be able to get some of their footage as well.

Other random notes from being in Ecuador:

-There are almost no short pants here. Only when you see guys playing football in parks will you see people wearing them- and even then it’s not all of them. I know it’s the end of winter here and the morning and nights get pretty cold, but mid day gets really hot and still no one wears anything but jeans and pants.

- The music on the radio sometimes makes a surreal moment even more surreal. Today in the market- as if the market itself isn’t stunning enough- one of the vendors who was selling bootleg CDs had a jam box that you could hear throughout the entire market over everything and it is blaring out the Bee Gees’ ‘Night Fever’. It totally made the moment. Another example: On the bus the other day, there are no seats left so I’m forced to stand up in the front and face the back, and all I can see is a busload of Ecuadorians looking forward. All of them are so straight-faced, sitting there quietly, looking straight at me- probably trying to figure out what I’m doing in this part of town. And then, to make the moment even more bizarre- Rod Stewart’s voice is blaring out ‘If you want my body and you think I’m sexy’ on the bus radio. Just makes for really strange and funny moments.

- One thing that’s really different about living here is how much attention I now give to the change in my pocket. Change is extremely valuable here- sometimes more so than a big bill. Bus rides are 25 cents, so you better have at least a couple of quarters on you at all times and hardly any of the regular little vendors and stores are able to break anything over a 5 (a 5 is sometimes pushing it) but don’t even bother trying to by a bottle of water a little store with a 20, it aint gonna happen!

-Judd

Wednesday/St.Isabella

2008-08-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

Its Wednesday night 8:41 pm

Several friends have called to ask me to go out and I just can't find the energy after such a long day. I hope yesterday's report doesn't come off as sounding negative, because it was a good day- just a bit sad and shocking at the same time.

Today was another good day, with a totally different group of kids, and this group was a little better off than the ones yesterday at the tuesday market. But I didn't think so at first....

Same beginning today but the bus ride took us to another place, this time about an hour and 15 minutes away from the office. Everyone kept referring to where we were going as "The St. Isabella school" or just "St. Isabella" and when we entered what I think was the town of St. Isabella I got a little worried. If you've ever seen a movie with a post-war setting, where the buildings have been half way destroyed so that you see lots of concrete and there's a darkness to it, that's what this little town looked like. It was a very cloudy overcast day and there were 'street dogs' everywhere.

**Note: I forgot to mention one of the other notable things in and around different parts of Quito is the crazy number of what I call street dogs. It seems the worse the area is, the more street dogs there are. It sucks when you're a dog fanatic such as myself because you want to pet almost all of them, but you can't because it's really not safe.

We had to walk down the 'road' for about 3/4 of a mile to get to the 'school' at St. Isabella. (The road was actually path of stones and mud that ran between a row of what used to be houses/stores, and the school was an old abandoned building with no windows, lights, running water or power of any kind)

And as we are walking down this road, I'm actually losing count of the number of street dogs. It was so funny and weird at the same time because these dogs were in their own world. It was like the town was destroyed in a war and there was no humans left, only dogs. I kid you not, they were perched up on the rooftops watching us as we walked by and none of them looked very friendly. It really felt like we might not make it out of there alive- because of the dogs. Take a close look at the photo, there's no photoshop at work here.

So we get to the main building, and I'm looking around thinking to myself that this is going to be much worse than the market because at least the market had a pulse! About 10 minutes later the kids started slowly showing up. They were a little bit older of a group (although there were definitely some young'ns there) and they were much better dressed than yesterdays- the firsts thing that I noticed was that every single one of them had a backpack on their back, most were hand-me-downs, but it was so much more promising than the kids yesterday who were 3 or 4 years old and had never been taught how to wash their hands. According to the others, most of these kids are in public school but the area is really bad- so UBECI runs this summer program as a way to keep the kids out of trouble and give them something productive and fun to do.

About 30 showed up in all (the other UBECI guys told me that it was usually in the 40-50 range) on a cold and cloudy morning that would later morph into a warm and sunny afternoon. We split the kids up into 3 groups according to their ages and sent each group to a different session. The session would last about 30 minutes and there was one for dancing, one for painting and one for English. Myself and two other volunteers were in charge of the English session, down the road in another abandoned building, while the other 2 sessions took place in the larger, much nicer main building. After 30 minutes, the kids would then rotate to the next session.

Our first group was the youngest ones of the bunch- probably averaging about 4 years old and the second was about the same age as the first. We taught them a little bit of English with the use of things like the 'Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' song and games like Simon Says. They were really a bright group and cute as can be.

The older kids group (8-10) was awesome. These kids were so cool because they knew a fair amount of English and were really into learning more. You could see their enthusiasm for wanting more and more English words. Most of the pics that I took over the last couple of days was done so kind on the down low because I didn't want the kids to freak out if they saw the camera. Because of that, I don't have any pics of the older group- not yet anyway.

All in all it was a great group of kids who seemed to really want to learn and have a good time. Next time I will try to get more pictures and add them to the St. Isabella gallery.

Ok, its after 9 now, and I am about to crash.

-Judd

The Tuesday Market

2008-08-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

What a day. I experienced a roller coaster of emotions today and I don't think I was prepared it.

I met up with the other UBECI volunteers at 8:30 am; it was me and 6 other volunteers (5 from France and 1 from Spain). Danny, a local to Quito, is the leader of our group and is one of the only actual employees at UBECI. He grabs two bags of unknown contents and we head out the door, down the street and hop on a bus. For the next 45 minutes I stared out through the overcrowded bus window, watching the neighborhoods get worse and worse, until we finally arrived at the market which everyone simply referred to as “The Tuesday Market.” As soon as we get there, we walk straight to an empty section of a parking lot and I watch over Danny’s shoulder as he starts unpacking the two mysterious bags. Our team is now officially armed with the following items: Two small plastic bowls, a large black rubber mat, what appears to be half a bar of soap, a spool of yard and a plastic bag that I can’t read the label on because it’s in Spanish of course. I was really clueless at this point.

Anita, an older lady who is a Quito native and a permanent UBECI volunteer, shows up with a wadded up black rope in her hand. After a brief introduction she grabs me and two of the French girls and takes us with her into the market.

When it comes to one of these markets- none of my words, pictures or even video clips could ever do it justice. Imagine a huge, square-shaped area in the middle of a really rough part of town, about a half mile by half mile, with tons of little ‘spots’ where the locals sell things. No booths at all, and very few tables, every vendor just gets a spot on the concrete and just sets their stuff up on the ground- Fruits, vegetables, hats, fish, meat, seeds, sunglasses, etc…

I had already gone to a couple of markets last week to browse the handmade trinkets, but this market is completely different than what typical tourists go to when they visit Ecuador. It’s not a bunch of booths set up to make money off of schmucks like myself, who think we’re getting a good deal on that bracelet or blanket we just bought. No, this is like the local people’s version of Wal-Mart, and it’s definitely for locals only. I’ll bet in the entire market there was not one single tourist/gringo outside of our volunteer group.

When you walk into the market, it is a massive case of sensory overload. The sight is so cluttered that it’s impossible for your eyes to take it all in as they jump from one thing to the next, there are people screaming directly at you from both sides of the isle as they try to tell you what a great deal they have at their spot and every smell (both good and bad) hits your nostrils like a freight train whether you want it to or not. It appears that about 90 percent of the vendors and shoppers seem to be women; very few men are there. Along with these women are their children, of all ages, that are basically being taken to work with mom that day- and every day. The whole thing is quite a surreal scene.

Our job is to collect and recruit children in the market who have nothing to do but work with their moms or get into trouble and take them off in a group to play organized games, sing songs and just have fun. The 3 of us will follow Anita around as she collects all the children she knows from previous UBECI and as many new ones as she can find. I was doing everything I could just to keep up with her because we had taken so many turns through the market that I had no idea where I was; it was kind of scary to be quite honest. Before I knew it our group had grown. All 4 of us now had a child holding each hand and some of the children either had another child holding their hand or had one on their back. Yes, several little girls were carrying another little girl either in their arms or on their backs (like the pic I posted a few days ago). This is an extremely common sight in Quito-and I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to it. We were becoming too big of a group to successfully maneuver through the market, and when Anita noticed this she took the black rope out of her pocket and stretching it out. Like little ducks waddling instinctively behind their mom, the children (both boys and girls in ages ranging from 1 to 6) all grabbed the rope which formed a single file line as we walked through the crowds. It was one of the cutest things I’ve ever seen.

We finally get them all to the parking lot where about 15 or so little ones have gathered with Danny and the other volunteers and Anita turns us right back around to the market to go get more. We must have dropped off 12 the first time and then went back and got another 15 or so. When we showed back up at our spot, there had to have been close to 40 of them now.

It is a total frenzy as Danny is trying to shout over the voices of 40, excited little 1 to 6 year olds. I noticed that most of them know exactly what to do when they show up, while a few have to be told or shown. Before joining the group and sitting down on the large black mat, they are required to go off to the side and wash their little hands and faces. Some of them had to be shown how. I'm kind of an 'easy cryer' type and this hit me like a sledgehammer. I found myself trying to quickly think of other things as my eyes starting watering up. There they were- dressed in clothes that barely fit, covered in filth, and happy as I’ve ever seen any child. I stood there smiling as it ripped me to shreds on the inside.

Danny lead them in quite a few playful games and group songs (all of which are in Spanish and have some sort of message to them- either about manners or hygiene, or something) to wear them out a little. They loved it. Then he made the volunteers sit down, each of us with about 8 children a piece, and we gave them each a piece of yarn and some little macaroni shells. The object was to sit in our group and make a necklace, and a couple of them in my group were extremely this. Others weren’t so great at it and due to my lack of Spanish I was having a hard time communicating some good instructions. I must have looked pretty stressed because this one little girl named Alessi (she was older than rest- maybe 9 or 10) decided to sit down beside me and give me a hand helping the young ones out. The situation instantly improved and she looked up at me and smiled with that “it’s okay, Judd, I’m here to help you- don’t worry,” look. The sledgehammer swung for the second time as Alessi and I helped the younger ones finish their necklaces.

After making the necklaces, it was time for the kids to back to their moms. Most of them knew their way back to their mom’s little market spot- where they’ve most likely spent nearly every day of their lives up till this point- while some had to be walked or carried back and others lingered around because their moms work real close to our recreation area. Almost all of them are so sweet and affectionate- they hug us when they meet us and they hug us when they leave. They spend nearly their young lives in the market until they are either old enough to work there with mom - or until they can leave to go make money another way. School is not an option, so when the UBECI staff shows up once a week and gathers them all up - it’s their one chance to be a kid for a couple of hours. Maybe that’s why the hugs are so real.

Danny and the rest of us started packing up and I sat there wishing I had gotten to make myself one of those little macaroni necklaces to keep as a little sentimental reminder of what I had just been a part of. I am not making this part up- just as I am thinking that, Alessi walks up and hands me a little necklace that she made for me, said something in spanish and gave me a huge hug. The sledgehammer hit a homerun this time as the tears came pouring out. It was pretty brutal.

By the time we got back to the office, it was 2:30 and the others went to an actual school for an afternoon session with kids in some sort of summer program while I had to stay behind at the UBECI office for Spanish lessons (I have them every afternoon this week). My lessons ended just before 6 and I began my trek/ride back to my house. It was a really, really long day today and it starts all over again tomorrow morning with a different UBECI project and a different group of kids. I’ll be a little more prepared in the morning.

Click here for more photos from the markets.

-Judd

Mi Casa y Mi Familia

2008-08-18T23:59:00.000-07:00

Monday August 18^th-

Today was incredible. I was picked up at my hostel by the mother of my host family – Gladys. She arrived via taxi promptly at 10am and we headed for their home in the Old Town. She is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met; you can look into her eyes and see how much she loves doing this. We arrived at their house which is like an apartment, up on one of the hills (Quito is like the bottom of a bowl- it’s surrounded completely by mountains- and their house is on the way up the bowl) and she showed me to my ‘room’. I was shocked to see that I actually have my own floor- kind of like a small one bedroom flat- complete with kitchen, living quarters, bedroom and a small balcony with this view:

We then went upstairs to meet some of the family: Brandon (7), Ronald (5) and Dominica (5). The little girl, Dominica, doesn’t live here but the two boys do- I think Dominica is related somehow but I am not sure how just yet. (At this point I should mention that not a soul in the house speaks any English so I am still trying to figure out certain things that would normally be obvious). Ronald and Brandon are Gladys’ grandchildren but I haven’t met their parents yet. Also living here is Alexandra (19) who is just as sweet as her mother and Gonzalo (Gladys’ husband) who’s an attorney in Quito and could only be here briefly to say ‘Buenos Dias’, but he was very nice.

While Mrs. Gladys whipped up a quick snack for us, I sat and watched The Simpsons, Johnny Neutron and FutureRama with the kids and when I showed them pictures of my family on the laptop they became amazed with the video camera on it. The laptop video camera managed to kill about an hour or so and it also earned me 2 new amigos and 1 amiga. Again, they don’t speak English at all and my Spanish is still horrible at this point- but we managed. Thankfully, things like Homer’s famous “Doh!” expletive and Star Wars are pretty universal. During this time I also earned another buddy in Tommy, who also speaks no English- but fortunately it seems as though wrestling the toy out of a dog’s mouth and throwing it down the hall is also universal.

I was scheduled to be at the UBECI office for orientation at 3:00, so Mrs. Gladys and I made our way out at around 2:00. This little journey was pretty overwhelming- basically she walked me through the path I will be taking every day to work. We first walked down the hill for a while and then through the neighborhood for about 25 minutes until we reached the bus station. (The bus ride itself is going to be the subject of one, or more, blogs later on- no time to explain now, but let’s just say that it was a little bit different than the bus ride I took a few weeks ago in Lafayette, La) After about 15 minutes on the bus we had another 10 minute walk to the offices.

Now this part is kind of crazy. I got to the office and had orientation with Henri, who speaks only Spanish (Byron, the program coordinator was out town so Henri filled in). Byron had told me he would be arranging for one of the volunteers to come and translate the orientation to me - since my Spanish is so poor- and Byron lived up to his word…. There were actually two translators there but they only spoke Spanish and French!! For the last week I have been cursing myself for taking French in school, as opposed to Spanish- until today! I only wish I could have videotaped this ‘orientation’ because after a long time without practicing French I am sure it was probably pretty funny.

After the meeting, Gladys and I reversed our steps to get back home and this time it was an uphill walk. Vacation time is definitely over for now. By the time I got back I was both starving and exhausted. Believe it or not, Gladys had prepared this Louisiana boy some good ol’ chicken with rice and gravy! I grubbed like they had never seen before. I think Ronald, the 5 year old, made a comment about how much food I just put away- but I can’t be sure. I know he looked at me and my plate and said something that included the word ‘Mucho’ and they all laughed.

We hung out for a while and I ended up tapping out early to try to get some sleep for tomorrow. Currently, its Monday night and I can barely keep my eyes open nor can I contain my excitement for tomorrow.

-Judd

(L-R) Dominica, Gladys, Ronald, Brandon, Me

Days 3, 4 and 5

2008-08-18T20:21:00.000-07:00

On Monday morning I will meet my host family and on Tuesday morning at 8:00 I start the volunteer work. The first 5 days in Quito have come and gone, and it’s pretty much been a vacation- an incredible one. I have met so many cool people, from both here and everywhere else around the world.

Friday night was a chance to meet several of the other volunteers in the UBECI organization. Susanna (U.S./Spain), Renny (UK),Tom (UK) and I all headed out to the Quito Moderno for dinner, drinks and dancing. Dinner was at a local pizza place called Tomato (Not ‘The Tomato’ or ‘Tomato Food’, its name was simply ‘Tomato’). Next up was The John Lennon Bar, and sticking to their namesake, they played strictly John Lennon and Beatles music all night long- it was great and I could've stayed there all night. The last stop was your typical dance club, but the name still confuses me: The No Bar.

On Saturday, I went into Old Town with two of the other guests at my hostel, Francisco (Ecuador) and Ula (Poland). We had a blast just walking around and taking pictures of the beautiful churches and surrounding scenery. We even witnessed a political demonstration in the town square. More pics and videos of this will be up soon.

Sunday was the coolest day ever. The three of us from the day before- along with Rodrigo (Ecuador), Damaris and her daughter Mireya (Canada)- hopped in a car and headed about 20 miles north to the Mitad de Mundo (Middle of the Earth). The first stop was the so-called equator. This spot was declared several decades ago to be the actual equator and it became a massive tourist attraction. It wasn’t a bad place at all, they had a great band playing (only on Sundays) and some traditional Ecuadorian dancing going on- but it could not compare to the spot just down the road…
Several years ago, when GPS started coming into play, they realized that the equator was actually about a half mile away. The cool thing is, when they found this new spot- it wasn’t ‘new’ at all. It was already declared to be a sacred area by the ancient Incas 700 years ago! Not only was that part totally intriguing, this was much more fun to visit. For 3 bucks a Spanish speaking guide will take you along to explain what they did with this equator back in the day AND she shows you a bunch of little tricks that only happen on the real equator. I kid you not, she even did the sink test. I’d always heard that in the southern hemisphere the water spins the opposite direction when it drains. So what direction would it spin if it were draining right on the earth’s equator? Just wait till you see the video.

A couple of other things I’ve noticed:

The number of Internet cafés here is simply mind boggling. I can’t even begin to estimate how many are in the modern part of Quito. In a 3 block square, I’d bet there is over 40 of them. I’m not kidding.

Apparently napkins were causing business to lose money or something. Every place I’ve been to for eating, serves great food, but it comes with only one small bev nap (For those who’ve never worked in the restaurant industry, that’s one of those little tiny napkins you put your drink on). Getting another one isn’t easy either. I feel so stupid every time I put one in my lap- it just looks weird. Imagine eating a couple of slices of pizza with only one little bev nap.

The local drivers around here are not afraid to use their cars’ horns- and sometimes for no obvious reason. I’ve never heard anything like it.

Overall, the people here are extremely friendly. Some of them are so genuinely nice; it blows your mind at first. You think to yourself, "They must want something in return." But they don't. Walking through any part of the city can be so surreal. You can see the modern business man/woman who looks like he or she belongs in Manhattan, standing right next to a woman and child dressed in the old school Ecuador Indian attire.

It’s painful to see the so many small children roaming the streets. I am sure every country has its share of beauty and its sadness, but I’ve never seen it so intertwined I guess. I am sure that pictures can’t do either side of the coin justice.

Tomorrow (Monday) is going to be quite interesting. I will meet my host family and move to Old Town to live with them for 4 weeks. With work starting Tuesday the next 5 days will no doubt be totally different than the next 5.

-Judd

Notes from day 1 and 2

2008-08-14T10:16:00.000-07:00

So far, so good. I arrived yesterday around 11 am (Quito is on Central time so that's a plus) and my driver was waiting for me at the airport. I booked a room at the Hostal Huauki in a cool part of Quito known as 'Gringolandia'. The place has a Japanese theme to it and so far its been absolutely incredible. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone. I will be staying here until Saturday or Sunday, when I will move in with my host family.

Noteworthy things so far:

-The language barrier has been tough. Fortunately Oscar, the hostel owner, speaks great English- but he's one of the few. I will definitely have to learn Spanish pretty quick- I start some afternoon lessons next week when I start the volunteer work.

-I made the mistake of wearing my boots while walking around town yesterday. The street kids who shine shoes for money are, let's just say, very persistent! I gave in and let them shine my boots for a couple of bucks. Now if you look really close, the left one is a shade different than the right one. Who knows, maybe when I wear them again they will try to correct this issue for a couple more bucks.

-The free breakfast was a 'Japanese breakfast' which an elderly Japanese man staying here told me was indeed not a Japanese breakfast. Had he not told me, I'd have bought it. We got a good laugh at breakfast when he opened the little package that his chopsticks came in and he looked up and said, "Ha! Made in China!"

-The driving here is a little crazy, but so far I'd say the driving I witnessed last year in Rio was much worse.

-In gringolandia, there are internet cafe's everywhere. Simpsons fans will appreciate this one:

-There is a techno version of Duran Duran's 90's hit 'Ordinary World' and apparently someone at the hostel likes it a whole lot. It comes on every now and then at random times and I think they keep it on repeat. At 7 this morning it played about 8 or 9 times, then stopped. It's noon now and it just came back on. They still have it on repeat. Someone really likes this song.

-I had dinner and drinks last night with a group of about 8 people and I swear it was like a UN meeting. At our table there was someone from Australia, France, England, Italy, Japan, Switzerland and even a girl from Arkansas. Most really enjoyed the meal, one guy didn't and the guy from Switzerland had no opinion either way.

I put a few pics up from yesterday and this morning in the pic gallery, I will add more later.

-Judd

From now on, call me Gus.

2008-07-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

In case you haven’t been paying attention, here’s a newsflash for you: Gas prices are rather high right now. At four bucks a gallon it seems like that’s the topic of almost every conversation these days. As some of you may know, I ride my bike around town a lot- despite Lafayette being one of the least ‘bike friendly’ cities around. I didn’t start doing it to save on gas, as the oil service company I work for pays for our gas (there’s some irony for you), but now that the prices are so high I am sort of glad that I got into the habit a couple of years ago. But this isn’t a story about bikes.

Recently I read an article about Americans and the changes they were making due to these crazy fuel prices. Bikes were mentioned, carpooling also, but one thing they highlighted was the drastic rise in the use of Public Transportation over the last few months. “What is this thing they call Public Transportation,” I thought. “And who rides this Public Transportation? Are they talking about subways and…city busses?”

Yes. That’s exactly what the author and the statistics were referring to- the local city bus. I tried to think back to the last time I had ridden the city bus…. Wait, that was never. Then, I tried to think back to the last time one of my good friends (whose name wasn’t Jonathon Duke) rode the city bus…. Wait, that was never.

The next logical step was to ask myself why not? Off the top of my head I came up with some immediate objections:
“It’s probably too expensive”
“It’s not going to get me where I need to go”
“It’s probably dirty on that thing”
“I’ll bet it would be full even if I tried”
“I think it’s probably dangerous”
And so on.

I had no idea if any of these objections were valid or not- simply because I had never ridden the bus in Lafayette, Louisiana. In fact, my only image of public transportation is from seeing all of the various subway scenes in movies and television, and I’m no idiot, I know that something bad almost always happens on those subway rides.

I really wanted to find out for myself once and for all, but a month or so went by, and I still hadn’t had the time to actually give this public transportation thing a try. I did catch a quick glimpse of the local evening news one night and heard them say that as a result of the rising gas situation, Lafayette was actually DECREASING some of the public transportation routes! This drove me nuts, “How backwards is that?!” I said to myself. “The country is seeing more and more everyday people flock to their public transportation for relief, and we downgrade ours!” As, I sat there playing armchair quarterback to the city officials who hatched this genius plan, I realized that I still had no valid argument in the matter because I still hadn’t ridden the city bus, ever!

I even found a pie chart online that revealed census results from a few years ago:

I couldn’t believe that more people walk to work than ride the bus!

(I wonder if the results will be the same in a year or so from now?)

Then, about 10 days ago, I went out with some friends on a weeknight and left my vehicle at a friend’s house that lives near campus, around the old Lafayette Strip, for those who know the area. I ended up getting a ride home that evening and woke up the next morning without my car in the driveway. I figured I’d get a friend to bring me to my truck so I rode my bike over to a buddy’s house who I knew was sitting at home because he had just gotten ran off from his job. As fate would have it, his car was in the shop and he was about to try to call me to bum a ride. So, there we were, two 30-something year-olds sitting around helpless without our vehicles. What were we to do? How on earth would I ever get my truck?

You know, they say the measure of a man is how he responds when he’s down. They say that adversity can lead to creativity. They say… I’ll skip the theatrics; I decided I’d take the city bus to go get my truck.

First, I had to figure out where to actually catch such bus. Again, fate was on my side as my friend told me that there was a stop literally two houses down from his house, on Robley and Ambassador Caffery. It was like one of those pivotal scenes in an action/suspense movie where one main character turns to the other main character and reaches deep down in his gut to ask his friend to join him on the quest. Without an inkling of hesitation, I looked my friend in the eye and asked him to be my partner on this voyage to the unknown. And, equally without hesitation, and very matter-of-factly, he took a split-second break from his TV show and looked me right back in the eye and responded, “Not a chance.”

“Now I see why they ran him off!” I said to myself. I was going to have to go this one alone. I quickly got online and went to http://ridelts.com/ and checked the bus routes and read that the bus would indeed swing by this particular stop once every half hour and bring me all the way to Johnston and General Mouton- just a few blocks away from my truck! It was so meant to be.

I walked over to the stop and for the first time in my life, I sat on one of those big bus stop benches. It was different. Sitting there, watching cars drive by, they looked so big and fast. Just a different perspective, I guess, but it was pretty cool. Pretty cool for the first few minutes, then it got pretty hot. One of the things I forgot to pay attention to on the website was the actual times of the stops! Apparently, this one stopped at 2:00 and 2:30 and I showed up around 2:08. Twenty-two minutes was a long time to sit in the sun and watch the cars go by.

At about 2:28 I looked to my left and saw the big city bus headed my way. I have to admit, I was kind of excited. I had been anticipating this for a couple of months. I noticed two or three individuals now popping out of obscure places and walking toward the bus stop where I had been sitting for almost half an hour. I guess they were aware of the scheduled stop times. The bus was almost here and I was starting to panic. Not because I was about to be in danger or harms way but because I realized that in a few seconds I was in danger of looking really stupid. I had no idea what to do once I got on! So many questions ran through my head at once:

“Do I pay the driver or is there some fancy machine that takes my money?”
“What if they don’t take cash?”
“Was I supposed to pay in advance for some bus pass at the downtown station?”
Like a child going to his first day of school, I thought, “What if they all laugh at me?”

The bus rolled up and stopped right at my feet and the giant mechanical door swung open. I allowed the lady who showed up at the last second to get on before me- this was not so much chivalry as it was the fear of going first. I watched closely as she handed the driver something that he scanned and handed back to her. Shoot! She was a regular and she wasn’t paying with cash- she had some sort of pass or something. I nervously stepped up to the driver and told him I was heading to the UL area. He said sharply, “Put you money in the machine!” I focused on keeping my hands steady as I slid my dollar bill into the slot and received a ticket valued at 25 cents in return. The machine doesn’t give actual change, just vouchers to use on future bus rides. “Impressive,” I thought. I wondered what it would be like if other business should try getting away with that. I could make any business successful with that system- “And here’s your change sir, coupons that you can only use at my business!”

I turned and faced the back of the bus and made my way to an empty seat. Several things jumped out at me. First, there was hardly anybody on there. Out of a total of nearly 20-30 seats, there were only 5 other people seated. With all of us boarding at my stop, there was now a grand total of 9. Next, I noticed how clean and cool it was. There wasn’t a piece of trash anywhere to be found and the seats looked as if they were polished pretty recently. Seriously, it was so much cleaner than I ever expected, and it was very clear that the driver wasn’t letting gas prices stand in the way of cranking that AC up to 10. I looked around at the others. They appeared mostly to be individuals either going to or coming from work. It wasn’t anything I had imagined, and then I realized just how silly my expectations were. What had I expected- Gang fights? A terrorist with a bomb on board? Everyone was quiet. Just people. Just riding the bus

The ride itself was different. I was heading down Johnston Street- something I’ve done a million times, seeing things differently for the first time. I felt safe, I felt comfortable, and I didn’t have the worry about traffic or which way I was going. I watched as another rider sitting across from me reached up and grabbed what appeared to be a black cord, like a small piece of cable wire near his window, and pulled on it. A women’s voice rang out over the bus’ speakers, “Passenger getting off at the next stop.” My eyes followed the cord up and around and I noticed that every seat had access to a cord that tied into the system. When you want to get off at the next stop, you simply pull the cord. Once we passed University St., I bravely pulled the cord and sure enough, the bus slowed down and came to a halt right there at my stop. Amazing.

I got off and had about a 4 or 5 block walk to my truck. During the walk, I had plenty of time to think about what I had just accomplished. I was so pleasantly surprised at the whole thing. It was cheap, efficient, clean, and relaxing. For a second I imagined myself riding the bus all the time. I walked along, calculating the amount of money one would save taking the bus instead of driving. The only problem I could come up with came when I started to get a little hot, and I was still about 3 long blocks away from my car. The bad thing about the bus is that it doesn’t go everywhere. It only goes to certain spots leaving you to get the rest of the way on foot- even if it’s a hundred degrees outside, or pouring down raining. Aside from that, it was great

Now I realize that the city bus is not a solution for some. A mom who needs go to the grocery store and has to bring her two young children with her or someone who has to go make a sales call to an office in Broussard. I understand that there are tons of cases when public transportation just wouldn’t be feasible. Having said that, for many instances and situations it is not only an option, but perhaps the best option available, and it could be an immediate ingredient of the remedy to the many gas price-induced headaches out there.

A few days later when I was telling this story to others, my friend Jonathon Duke was listening- the one who’s never owned a car and thus ridden the city bus for years. He filled me in on another useful tidbit regarding our city bus: For those who ride bikes, there is actually an area at the front on the bus, where you can store your bike when you ride- therefore eliminating the need to walk to wherever your going after the bus lets you off. That was all I needed to hear. Now, I’m really sold.

When I return from South America, I’m going to attempt to use the bus system along with my bike to get all over town for a while. I hear through the grapevine that you can get a pass that allows you as many rides as you want in a month- for just $28! If that’s the case- sign me up.

-Judd

Current prices are for the Lafayette, La city bus:
Adult $ .75
Child 5-12 $ .50
Disabled/Senior $ .35
Under 5 (w/Adult) Free
Day Pass $2.00
Discount Passes Available

Hypnosis-Veggie Story

2008-07-01T03:36:00.000-07:00

My friend Ginelle asked for this a long time ago, but I was too busy/lazy to type it all out. I finally typed it out for Ginelle and thought I should post it here. Its a long one folks, real long! Sorry for the delay, Ginelle. Here ya go:

For 20 years I have eaten almost zero vegetables. My mom tried everything when I was younger, but it’s gotten worse and worse. I won’t even eat a good piece of steak if it has been on a plate and rubbing up against some broccoli. I’m serious! It’s bad. I don’t even remember what they taste like; I just know that if I am aware that the food item has vegetables in it- I’m not eating it!

It was a Tuesday morning in Miami, Fl- a couple of months ago- and I was trying to find a place that would hypnotize me into liking vegetables…..

I had found someone on the internet but I opted not to go with that person after he refused to give me a price. I’m driving along the road looking though strip mall after strip mall trying to read all the signs for various stores etc. I finally found a place that looked like they would either do hypnosis or know someone who did, and I walked right in and told the lady, “I want to get hypnotized!”

I really think they probably thought I was crazy, I mean that was literally the first thing out of my mouth. So, I sat down with a woman named Sandy and explained my dilemma and how serious it was. She told me she was willing to ‘put me under’- but only when I return Thursday. Until then, she wanted me to try other alternatives. I thought this was pretty nice of her, she could have started doing some hocus pocus stuff right then and there and then said, “That’ll be 300 bucks!” I was impressed simply by the fact that she didn’t seem to be interested solely in my money!

So, she tells me to go home and try some vegetables cooked (disguised) in other things, like mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce. I explained to her that I appreciated the suggestion but my mental block was so strong that if I knew veggies were in it, I couldn’t physically put it in my mouth. No way. So, her next suggestion seemed a little funny to me….

She asks me, “Have you ever tried meditation?”

I chuckled on the inside when I said, “No, um, not real meditation, I don’t think. But I do spend a lot of time thinking… and I am open minded enough to try whatever.” So she tells me that over the next two days, before I return Thursday, I should try to meditate. She tells me to get in that stage either before or after sleep, where I am really groggy, and just before I fall asleep or wake up- I should clear everything out of my mind and actually command my thoughts to: “Go to the earliest bad memory of eating any type of vegetable!” and then, she said, I should ‘just wait for it.’ Just wait for the thought to show up! Yeah, right.

She said no matter what comes into my mind, try to remember it- write it down or something- even if it has no obvious significance. I kinda knew where she was going with that, from reading books on this subject. Like, it could be a vision of playing on the playground at school, not a veggie in sight- but in another session, later on, there may be a connection found.

So, I left there on Tuesday, kind of dismissing the whole meditation thing, but looking forward to going back Thursday and saying “No, it didn’t work- now hypnotize me please!”. As I told her, I’m pretty open-minded, but I just figured the hypnosis was the way to go and that meditation was a bit silly. However, I will admit that at this point I totally trust this woman simply because she didn’t charge me anything and gave me some options before actually going through with it.

Okay, now fast-forward to Thursday morning….

(I hadn’t done any meditating once so ever)

I go out to the pool really early that day, maybe 8:30 or 9ish, and sat in the sun to read a book. Anyway, as I am laying there reading, I get sleepy and go ahead and put the book down and decide to take a little nap. Just before going to sleep, I realized that I was in that ‘groggy state’ that Sandy had spoke of earlier in the week and I thought, “Oh, what the heck? I got nothing to lose!” and I decided to try and meditate.

I was being sort of tongue-in-cheek about it, almost embarrassed by the whole thing. But as instructed, I commanded my brain to “go back to the time…” and, of course, I got nothing. I tried it a second time, clearing my brain completely, breathing deeply in and out a few times first, and then it happened…. By that I mean I fell straight to sleep.

I woke up a few hours later and realized that I had overslept by a LONG time! I was running extremely late and had to be at Sandy’s office in like 5 minutes- and on top of that I was probably gonna have a killer sunburn. So, I hop in the Prius (yes the Prius from the Barry story) I’m rushing to get to Sandy’s office when suddenly, I swear, a memory pops into my head that I hadn’t thought of in a VERY long time. Well, probably not since it actually happened. It was a memory of me at a table crying because my father wanted me to eat broccoli!

*** Meditator’s note: The ‘Dad’ in this story refers to my biological father- not my current/real dad. Bio-dad was only in the picture until I was 7 or 8.

So, I’m driving, and I’m getting this memory and I’m getting really excited. I’m thinking to myself, “Why am I just now remembering this? This is crazy! Did I actually force this memory to show up? Do I have mad meditation skills or what?!?”

I really was freaking out, because I have known for a while that the whole veggie thing was 100% psychological and I’ve TRIED so many times over the last couple of years to remember crucial events that could have caused this, but I’ve never really been able to remember any- until right now as I’m driving to Sandy’s office. On top of the memory itself, I’m also amazed at how old this memory actually is! It had to have been nearly 30 years ago, and it just happens to show up right after a long nap that was preceded by my half-assed meditation! At this point I felt like a Meditation Ninja. (I was going to say a 'Meditation Jedi' but TWO blogs in a row with Star Wars references.... Probably not the coolest thing in the world)

I screeched into Sandy’s parking lot and ran inside and told her what had just popped into my head. She gave me props for the meditation skills. (Yes! I knew it!)

As I told her, more details just started pouring out. I would tell her one part, and then before she could say anything, the next part would pop into my mind and out of my mouth- it was nuts!

This is pretty much the exact conversation we had:

Judd: And, I remember we weren’t at my Dad’s house, but someone else’s place for a long summer weekend or something. I think there were other families there and we were all eating at this long table, it was daytime, I can see it clearly.

Sandy: Good, that’s really good that you can actually…

J: …And the walls were made of these wooden panels on all 3 sides of the room and the 4th wall had a huge sliding glass door to the backyard!

(I didn’t mean to, but I just kept cutting her off and telling her what was coming into my head as fast as I’d remember it. I was sitting there getting excited as the details kept showing up)

S: Good, now let’s talk about the Broccoli. Can you remember why he made you eat it, did you tell him you didn’t want to?

J: Yeah, yeah, yeah… I told him ‘no’, but he said I had to eat it. And I remember… I warned him “if I eat that broccoli I’m gonna throw up”… because I remember now that the smell was making me think I was gonna throw up…

S: Do you remember being mad or sad when you told him that and he continued to force you?

J: No. I just remember being… embarrassed… I’m not sure why….

S: Well, embarrassment to a child can be very….

J: Wait! I was embarrassed because there were 2 or 3 other kids, just a few years older than me at the table, and…. And I think that….

S: Maybe you thought they were laughing at you or that they would laugh at you?

J: No! I don’t remember them ever laughing but… I do remember that….I threw up....

(I paused because I had tears welling up in my eyes when I got to this point in the story. It was the starngest cry I think I've ever had. It was like the tears weren't a result of this memory- it was like they just automatically came with the memory. )

J: He stood up and grabbed my fork and made me take a bite, and then..... I threw up on my shirt… And I started crying and he got even more angry… and he made me get up from the table and go to some bedroom that I was staying in.

(Total silence now. I kid you not, I am sitting there in some stranger's holistic medicine store/office and I'm actually crying as I'm recalling this stuff)

S: Well, I can definitely see where that could be the root of this mental block you have. You know so many times, a child will tie emotions to inanimate objects.

J: Like, maybe, my mind knew for certain that I never wanted that particular event to happen again. And even though I was little, I think maybe I was old enough to realize that I couldn’t actually block my Dad out of my life or anything like that, but I could…..

Both of us: Block the broccoli out!

(More silence. It was a truly incredible moment. It felt like we had just discovered that the world wasn't flat or that there was life Mars or something. But there was more...)

J: Wait…. And I couldn’t swim!

S: (A bit confused) You didn’t know how to swim?

J: No,no,no... He made me stay in my room for the rest of the afternoon while the other kids went swimming in the back yard. I just remember putting my head in the pillow crying because I wanted to go swim with the other kids so bad!

For years my bio-Dad has been sort of a ‘neutral figure’ in my memory, nothing really good or bad comes to mind- but after regurgitating this memory for the first time in Sandy’s office, I wiped the tears away and I actually said out loud:

"Wow, what a jerk."

Sandy couldn’t help but laugh. Telling her this story probably only lasted a 2 or 3 minutes, but it was such a ‘heavy’ conversation that it seemed like something much longer, much bigger. Sandy was really sweet and was just perfect during the whole ordeal. I couldn’t have asked for a better stranger/listener/therapist/meditation person.

We discussed some more. She said that identifying the root of the problem was a HUGE step that can sometimes take someone years to do, and that now it’s just a matter of removing that root. She’s right. Many of the books I’ve read say the same thing, that these instances when we’re children are the root of almost all of our nuances, habits, unexplained fears, likes and dislikes, fetishes… everything. It’s a process they call anchoring. It happens throughout our entire lives, but the strongest forms of anchoring happen when we are kids. When we have a really strong emotion- good or bad- we tend to anchor it to something in that same scene. It may be something totally relevant, like the broccoli. Or it could be something completely irrelevant, like the wooden walls.

I would probably be much healthier today if I had just blamed the wooden walls!

My 3 assignments from Sandy- to work on removing the problem:

1. Verbalize the scene over and over, tell as many people as I can. In order to eventually become numb to what was once a traumatic experience.

2. Meditate as much as possible (alright, more meditating!).

3. Try vegetables.

So, for those still reading, if you're wondering how it’s going with the veggies. Here is my scorecard of the vegetables I’ve tried (and how many times) thus far:

Judd’s Vegetable Scorecard:
Vegetable medley (2)
Vegetable Soup (2)
Carrots (3)
Green Beans (3)
Vegetable Soup (1)
Guacamole (3)
Corn (.5) Once in a vegetable medley, and once in some egg roll things at Chili’s.
Broccoli (0) Not just yet.

I’m taking baby steps, I’ll get there eventually.

But you can’t mess with my Meditation Skills!

-Judd

Operation: Stalk Barry!

2008-06-30T19:24:00.000-07:00

This is a more detailed reposting of this story for those who missed it; it was up on the old site last month....

Date: April 20, 2008. Location: Miami Florida-

I was in Miami for a week to visit Maria and when she asked what I wanted to do that week, I told her one of the things I really wanted to was stalk Barry. By ‘stalk Barry’ I meant that in the nicest way possible. You know, since he lives in Miami- just a simple drive-by… then maybe sit across the street in the car (stake-out style) for a few hours/days and wait for Mr. Gibb himself to come out to the mailbox to get his mail… then kindly introduce myself and tell him that I was in the neighborhood for other reasons entirely, and that coincidentally I happened to have heard some of his music, yada, yada, yada… then accept his kind invitation to come inside and hang out... You know, something simple like that. Harmless, non-psycho stuff right?

Well, as it turns out, Maria's best friend Gina has a sister Collette, who has a friend, who is the neighbor and good friend of none other than Ashley frickin Gibb! Yeah, I kid you not, Barry's son! Let me say it again, backwards, for those who didn’t follow: Barry's son Ashley- is friends with this girl who lives in a house caddy corner to theirs- and she happens to be good friends with Collette- who is the sister of Gina- who is the best friend of Maria! Coincidence? I think not. Somehow, this extra tidbit of randomness suddenly made it all make sense. This was not randomness at all, this was the f word.

Fate.

Now, Gina has never been to Barry's house, but claims that she knows where it is from visiting Collette's friend back in the day. Keep in mind that this is not the only info I'm relying on. I've done some investigative work of my own and obtained two addresses- and according to my source, one is for Mr. Gibb's residence, and the other is for his recording studio- and the addresses HAVE to be legit. Why? Because I found them on the internet, DUH!

So, with Gina's prior knowledge of the target location and my ‘no-chance-they-could-possibly-be-wrong/ internet-obtained’ addresses, we left downtown Miami and headed for the Miami Beach area. The very stealthy, enviro-friendly Toyota Prius was my Millennium Falcon on this mission, while Maria sat Chewie position and Gina road R2-style in the back.

We arrived in the designated area and R2 spits out: "Turn left up there at the next street," followed by "Now, turn right up here." Sure enough, I had already entered the address into my iPhone's map program and she was leading me right to the same street Google Maps was leading me to. We're on the right street now and I'm looking out the window and realizing that according to the progression of the house numbers Mr. Gibb's place is probably a few blocks up ahead on the left, and at the same time I’m thinking this, R2 simultaneously whistles from the back, "Ok, I think its a few blocks up on the left."
This was really it. This was going to be the day. While Chewie and R2 are now engaged in some dialogue that I can no longer really hear, I start envisioning the next few hours of my life…

(‘Dream scene’ music starts now)

Barry and I are laughing aloud after finishing up a nice game of tennis in the backyard. Enrique- one of the employees - comes over and offers us a moist towel and a cool glass of lemonade.
We walk inside, into the den, where Barry’s wife Linda sits on the couch chatting it up with Maria and Gina about all kinds of stuff that Barry and I are so ‘whatever!’ about.
“I won another one honey! 28 to 21” Barry says to Linda, as I give Maria the old ‘I let him win cause it’s his house’ look.
Barry continues, “Ladies, if you’ll excuse us, my friend Judd and I are going to head up to my music room for bit. I’ve got some new stuff I’ve been working on and I just feel like something is missing…Perhaps my friend Judd can help me figure it out!”

(Dream music comes to a sudden stop)

The sharp, piercing sound of R2’s whistle snaps me back to the present, “Its one of these up ahead here,” she says.

Then we all notice that up ahead, on the left, an electronic gate is sliding open and a big black, not-so enviro-friendly Escalade slowly pulls out of the driveway turning onto the street towards us, heading our way. The Prius comes to an immediate halt. The Escalade is rolling slowly towards us and the windows are extremely tinted. As it rolls passed us I strain to see through the tint and the glare of the sun in order to get a glimpse of the driver. In one of those slow-motion moments: I’m staring up out of my window directly into the windshield and the driver side window of the giant Escalade that slowly rolls by us and I can barely make out the image that’s driving the black mammoth before us. I see a full beard, long brown hair and an all-too familiar set of pearly whites. I freeze. I can’t speak.

The momentary silence is broken when Chewie howls out, “I think that was him,” and R2 starts chirping excitedly. It was his house alright, and that HAD to be him driving. There was only one thing to do….

I whipped that Prius around as fast as it would whip around and began a high-speed pursuit chase that would make Sheriff Buford T. Justice proud. We must’ve gotten to speeds in the upper 30’s as we zigzagged through the beautiful Miami residential streets, coming to a complete stop at each stop sign of course. The chase lasted almost an entire mile until the Escalade turned into the parking lot of what looked to be a small, children’s private school. I followed.

As I pulled in, the Escalade had already found a parking spot and we had to pass it up, make a U-Turn up ahead, and then come back around. I slow down the Prius as the driver’s side door to the Escalade is now opening towards us.

My heart is beating like a drum.

One foot steps out of the vehicle, then the other. The driver shuts the door, turns around and faces towards us…

“No!!!” I screamed.
“Aarrgghhrrr” Chewie howled.
“Whistle-beep-whistle-long chirp” R2 said solemnly.

It was his son, Ashley.

Damn, we were so close.

I picked my heart up off the floorboard of the Prius and put it back in my chest- very quietly- so the others wouldn’t see me doing so. I gathered my composure, retraced our drive back and cruised by the house again. It was, after all, the actual home of Barry Gibb; I needed to at least scope it out. We took a couple of pics and then it was time to leave. I took a moment to reflect and then, as R2 let out one of those sad little whistles and Chewie just put her head down with a quiet growl, I drove away.

Yes, it was a long ride back to Ft. Lauderdale that afternoon. I hadn’t accomplished what I set out to do. But it was on that long ride home that I realized that this day was not a failure.

It was not a failure at all because I learned a very important lesson that day.

I finally realized that I can’t just stalk someone like that one time and expect to get what I want right away! That’s just too unrealistic. I've got to be willing to reach deep down and grab hold of all that passion and determination that lies within me and I've got to get back on my feet and stalk that person as many times as it takes!!

I've got to be willing to scale walls! I've got to be ready to endure long hours of staking out the place watching for different patterns! I've got to be willing to put on costumes and disguise as a delivery guy or a landscaping helper.

I realized that Operation: Stalk Barry had only begun and that the day's events had only been the beginning!

I left more focused and determined than ever, ready to return to Miami and take it to the next level. The Goal: A pleasant picture of me and my buddy Barry in the sort of pose that really doesn’t look like we’re posing for a picture at all- like we’re simply hanging out or playing a game of pool or something. The Deadline: One year from now- April 20, 2009.

That picture will be mine. This is far from over, Barry!

To be continued....

Ready Or Not....

2008-06-24T19:34:00.000-07:00

It's official. After staring at the screen for 10 minutes and checking the itinerary about 100 times, I just pressed the "Purchase Now" button over at LAN airlines' website.

I leave the U.S. on Wednesday August 13 heading straight for Ecuador, and then return from Peru a whopping 91 days later on Tuesday, November 11. Up until recently, this has all still been just an 'idea'. Now, that it is actually happening, I will admit I am getting a little nervous.

For those who don't know, my original plan was to leave work for a year and travel South America, Central America and India while doing volunteer work. While the U.S.'s economic situation is less than stellar, I thought it might not be a brilliant idea to leave a good job for a an entire year. My company has been gracious enough to allow me a 90 Day Leave of Absence from work so I will spend the entire 90 days south of the equator in South America- saving India and Central America for next time. So, while I will return from South America in time for Turkey Day, I will most likely be enjoying that Turkey with the guys out in the Gulf of Mexico instead of friends and family. But that's cool with me because exploring South America is gonna rock.

Here is the tentative agenda:

August 13 - 17, Get acquainted with the city of Quito, the capitol of Ecuador, and its altitude, temperature, pace, geography... etc.

August 18 - Sept 12, I will be working with young children in the streets of Ecuador in conjunction with IVHQ (International Volunteer Headquarters).

Sept 13 - Oct. 3, This is the REAL tentative part of the schedule. For these 3 weeks I will be backpacking across South America, hoping to see some of the world's wonders on a shoestring budget. My target areas: Galapagos Islands, Chile's Easter Island, Buenos Aires, Iguazu Falls and maybe even Rio de Janeiro to visit some old friends.

Oct 6 - Oct 29, I will be working with a small group high up in the Andes Mountains, helping to teach English to underprivileged kids in Huancayo.

Oct 30 - Nov 11, Sight seeing in Peru: Nazca Lines, Arequipa, Cusco, Lima and finally on November 5- the 3 day hike up the Inca Trail to visit Machu Picchu.

Some small adjustments may be made between now and then, but that is pretty much the plan! I am both excited and nervous at the same time.

Now, I have got to get back to the Spanish lessons. I have been procrastinating for weeks now.