Friends and Foooooood!

It´s been a while since I´ve had a chance to update this old thing..which is a good thing!
Brad and I have been muy busy...so I´m waaay behind
Northern Argentina is hot and humid. After staying in Salta a few days, I met up with a friend, Sheeva, who has been studying photography in Tucuman,AR through the Sacramento Rotary Club. As soon as I got off the bus in this little city the heat and humidity hit, and I soon found out that 100 degree weather is nothing compared to the middle of the summer! Nonetheless, the heat felt good after the dry and cold of the mountains. Sheeva and her roomates welcomed us into their little student crash pad, shared their beds and food and beer and music. The pace of life is very different here. We would get up at 11, eat breakfast and lunch sort of, eat a snack at 5, then go to the store to buy dinner at around 10, eat at 11 or 12, go out at 12:30 and saty out until 3 or 4 (or 6 or 7)They taught me how to drink Mate (the traditional Argentinian tea) and her roomates who are musicians played a beautiful show at a little cafe one evening. Sheeva started a children´s photography program in Tucuman at the food kitchen and has given a group of kids the chance to take picures of their own lives, families, and homes. She is showcasing their pictures this wednesday! (So awesome!)

Anyway, hanging out with Sheeva and her friends was a great change of pace, and they went above and beyond for us...it was really a wonderful treat!
Cordoba

We would´ve loved to stay longer with Sheeva but had to keep on moving South. Our next stop was Cordoba, a university city in the middle of Argentina known for its horses and beautiful countryside. Brad and I stayed with friends of my aunt and uncle and found out, right before we left Tucuman, that Manu Chao was going to be playing in Cordoba while we were there. As soon as we arrived we picked up tickets and a few hours later headed to the packed stadium to dance like mad. The show was awesome, and we got a chance to explore the city a fair amount since we were staying on the outskirts. Right as we were about to head out of town, the people we were staying with told us their friend would be going to the country that day and wanted to take us out to explore the countryside and see one of the Jesuit Estancias built here-Before the Jesuits were kicked out of South America for being ´subversive´(i.e. a little too powerful)...they built huge farms and monasteries powered by the natives (the devout and the slaves). Once kicked out, the estancias were sold. Alejandra´s great great great grandfather bought this one outside of Cordoba. It now belongs to his ancesters...all 2000 of them. They are really beautiful.

But-First stop, one of Alejandra´s favorite restaurants, a little parilla (grill) in a little country town where they serve up some killer steaks..One the way out the car breaks down...The chef comes out in his apron to help Brad push our little Renault to the gas station

Second stop--Alejandra´s family home. Here father built it out in the middle of nowhwere and it´s become pretty delapidated so she took us out there while she met with some people who would fix it up for her. It was hard not to entertain fantasies of taking it over and building a huge garden on this beautiful property..., and then we headed to the estancia to look around the secret rooms and have a beer with some of her family. Truly a wonderful end to our trip in Cordoba.

Next stop--Wine Country!! Mendoza!

A Bus Story

I spend a lot of time on buses here in South America. Here's a bus story.
The bus tugged up the mountain road smooth as a steam boat. We'd just passed into Argentina with fresh stamps on our passports and I settle into my seat with a book, ready for the long haul.
Outside the Andes unfold on either side, the sun searing white, licking the shadows right off the hills. The horizon is miles away, the landscape immense and rolling, like God threw a bunch of giant cowboy hats on the ground and draped them with brown velvet...interesting art project...
I'm deep in this book (really good ones are a rare find) when our bus suddenly slows and then stops with an exhale..pshhhhhh...
i look up, the other tourists look up, we look at each other, a whisper rolls through the bus ¨what happened?¨¨why'd we stop?¨ Outside the bus is a dusty brown pueblo with a dirty river running around it. The din of confused tourists gets louder, and suddenly it's like the start of a scene you'd see in a musical...right before a song... ¨Trouble in River City?¨ It starts with an S and rhymes with HIKE!! STRIKE!!
Nooo...
The town has STRUCK! And they are lounging in the middle of the highway with rocks and umbrellas, drinking soda, and staring at the line of trucks and cars slowly forming on each side.
A blond woman in khakis with bony knees begins to walk through the lounging strikers awkwardly trying to figure out what the fuss is about, and pretty soon the road is full of curious tourists trying to figure out why the strike is going on...and more importanly..WHEN will it end??
In typical South American fashion, no one knows...maybe 5:30, maybe 6...the official is on his way...negotiations are taking place...he has to drive from Ukuiti...that´s 2, no 3 hours away!
So, realizing we still have at least 3 hours in the middle of nowhere, I take a hint from the strikers---fiesta! The even had a bbq going on. I practice my french with the french couple behind me, then spanish with an argentinian from switzerland, then I play an israeli game with a canadian, englishman and australian...After we'd exhausted our game...and I lost too many times...i go back into the bus where new news has come from the front...The police have come!! But police don't do anything, says the bus driver...And alas it's true. The police stand there, then they start to chat it up, then they just stare at everyone. After 3 hours the official comes. The bus can't move until something has been decided! So I daydream. I start thinking of funny comebacks I would say if I had a Texas accent.
¨Boy, I'll shove this can o lard up yer ass so far you'll be pooping pecan pies for christmas¨ har har har.... They all involve sticking things where the sun don't shine...and special holidays. Ah the bus! A place for expanding the mind...Finally the strikers decide that we can all go if we sign a petition supporting their cause..Sure...no problem! You can have my first born too..just get me outta here!
And then after 4 hours of exciting political unrest...We are free!! Free and on the road with just 5 hours left of our trip!
The homestretch doesn't look so appealing when the englishman falls ill and blows he roof right off the bathroom. But this is the way travelling should be! Filled with excitement and danger!
We get into the Salta bus terminal at 12:30 at night, and me and 5 others find a hostal and get wasted (well I get wasted) off one bottle of wine because I haven't eaten all day.
Good wine = good nights sleep...Argentina Here I Am!

La Selva!(The jungle)= Hail the heat! But Damn the bugs!!!!!

We actually didn't start this trip right away because Mr. Korpalski got the worst hangover of his life, partly due to the incredible altitude of La Paz, partly due to some free Bolivian rum...

But after a day of rest we were already on our way to Rurenabake, the gateway town to the Mididi Forest Reserve---The Bolivian Rainforest!!! The road to Rure is 18 hours, winding down the backside of La Paz, where on one side you find a barren cold desert, and on the other, a lush tropical rainforest...amazing.
As the bus rumbled down the canyon the air began to get hot and dense. People began to open windows and we passed lazy jungle towns nestled in the canyon. Finally! After weeks of mountain cold, we were going to get some real warm weather!

We arrived in Rure at 6 in the morning and found a great hostal with a lovely courtyard and hammocks to relax on. We stripped to our summer clothes, took a cat nap and then struck out to find some lunch.

It didn't escape my attention that the heat in town was sweltering by 11:30am--the kind of heat that sinks to your bones and makes you sweat from every pore. 5 minutes and all you want is something cold to drink...But there was no time to relax...the next morning we began our 6 day camping trip into the heart of the Mididi Reserve...home to thousands of plant and animal species, 3 rivers, small groups of indigenous farmers, and hot hot heat!
In hte Mididi, everyone must have a guide with them, and most companies have simple 'albuerges' set up by the river, for tourists to stay in. They usually consist of a scattering of reed huts, outdoor bathrooms (with no water in the dry season) and a kitchen. We took a wood motor boat on the shallow Rio Bene up to the Rio Tuitchi where our albuerge was. There we unloaded supplies and found our nice little dirt floor hut, equipped with beds and mosquito nets, hammocks in the trees, and a few other travellers lounging in the afternoon heat. We began hiking after lunch, and Renaldo, our guide, took us out on the little path behind hte albuergue and showed us some common trees and a few birds...and that's when my dreams for tropical tranquility ended......
Something about the heat, water and soil incubated one of the most amazing masses of useful plants I have ever seen in my entire life; rubber trees, seeds that make soap, a viagra tree, tree bark for your stomach, leaves that open up into chinese fans, chocolate, dyes, ropes, hair conditioner...no lie..everything is right there in front of you....
That being said...the same conditions that are perfect for growing the most amazing plants, are also perfect for breeding the most amazing amount of insects you've ever seen. They outnumber everything and the second you begin to sweat---which is every second--the flies are there to lick it up. Renaldo was born and raised in the jungle, only a mile away from where we were. He knows the forest like the back of his hand-how to bushwack through the vines to find random trails, where the fresh water is, what trees and plants were used for what... He could recognize an animal by the sound of it's movements. He not only didn't seem to mind the insects, but they didn't really seem to take notice of him either! They were gourmet bugs..they like the imported stuff....
Now, I'm not a great adventurer but I enjoy camping and hiking..but doing so in La Selva---that is another story! Screw the altitude..the jungle beats the highest mountain with the shear volume of heat and bugs raining down on you all the time!
By early morning we would already be breaking a sweat, and I could time my breakdowns to the hour...12pm....{BRAAAD!!! THEY ARE IN MY EARS! AHHHHHHH!! I'm walking back to the albuergue..NO MORE!!!} And he would give me a sticky hug and remind me that it was just a couple days and we'd be glad we did stuck it out...Mornings we'd wake up under our little mosquito nets, eat, and hike for several hours..be sweating within 10 minutes..then stop for lunch..tired...sticky..and then...the bugs would come! In the forest it was the mosquitos and bees (with no stinger)that swarm everything. The second you stop moving it begins--a buzzing in the ear, a fly in your eye, then pretty soon your backpacks are covered! On the beach it was the flies and biting sand flies that liked you for a snack. I learned fast that the only safe place to be was in the river where the water was cool, and the bugs couldn't get you!

On our 3rd night, we made camp in the middle of the forest near a running stream. In the hottest part of hte day the crickets begin to hum in the trees, and they sing so lludly you sometems have to cover your ears. We had just come back after watching the parrots fly home at sunset. It is beautiful to watch them flying, always in twos, the most brightly colored animals in the forest. After dinner I went down to the stream to try to wash off a little, when I saw two gleaming eyes on the ground in front of me...I knew before i shined the light on it what it was...a tarantuala hte size of my fist!!...sitting there motionless on some dried palm fronds in the path. I walked a wide circle around it, came to the shore and there on the rock next to my foot was another giant spider! I gave him a wide birth too...washed up as fast as possible and ran back as fast as i could in my flips flops. ahhh La Selva!

It was from the safety of the cool river water that i found myself really appreciating the jungle...the multi-colored parrots living in the clay walls of hte canyon, the wild pigs, the howler monkeys, the poisonous snakes, the aligators, the amazing trees...there is no place like this on earth. I really felt priviledged to have a guide so knowledgable about our surroundings. On our last day he took us to catch piranhas...we didn't catch anything, but the other guide caught 2! We put a peice of the thick raw bait meat up to its mouth and he bit it off clean through the middle in one bite! glad i didn't meet one of them in the river......
When our trip ended we were exhausted and bitten up, and decided to take a plane back to la paz since it is about $60 and only 1 hour! This may have been my favorite part of this trip. We got the last tickets and had to take motortaxis to the airport with our huge bags--i loove riding behin a motorcycle! It was a blast! Then we literally hopped on hte plane..and left...in a matter of 10 minutes. Now if only flights in the US could be so easy!!!
Next stop...The great Salt planes of the Bolivian highlands!!! (after some mango icecream in la paz)

Where in the World is Elaine San Hall?

Since being on Lake Titticaca, I haven't had much of a chance to write, so I will provide a brief breakdown of my ''Haps'' here in South America

1. Isla Del Sol= The Birthplace of Incan civilization.
We hiked out of Copacbana around the lake for a ocuple hours along the dirt road, through farms and past fisheries and isla flotantes (floating islands) and bumped into an Australian talking to a charismatic Quechuan man who wanted to take us in his boat to the island. He knew we were coming along becasue his wife had seen us walking in from town. We road to the tip of the Isla del Sol where he dropped us off and we hiked hte next 5 hours through tiny villages and farms with the austrailain and a canadian girl with blond dreadlocks. It was getting late by the time we reached the end of hte isalnd and we still had an hour more to walk when to 10 year olds ran out and told us htey would row us ot the end of the island for 30 bolivianos. 'Who will row'' we asked, and hte bi gger one pointed to the smaller one and said 'Him!'...we couldn{t resist and soon we were in a boat with two 4 foot tall kids rowing 3 grown gringos across the little bay. When they got tired Brad and the AUstralian offered to row andchanged places with teh boys...but after 5 minutes U could tell the guys were sturggling. The boat was an old heavy wooden row boat with thin oars and i was laughing to myself that these bug guys were working ahrder than the 2 kidsm when suddenly Brad gave a hearty pull on the oar, and pulled hte whole seat off with him! we all stopped in shock and the kid{s mouth next to me dropped into a silent 'puuutttaaaaaaa'

But we made it to shore intact, seat fixed, and money in hte kids pockets-they earned it.

Lake Titticaca was one of hte places Che Guevara visited in his travels htrough South America tyhat he painted as iuncredibly backward and isolated...it is still very isolated.even with the constant stream of trouists. The villages are very basic, the resturants are very basic, the people are very simpe, pigs hang out on the beach instead of people.

As for accomodations, I don't know if you have evr stayed in a hostal in SOuth America for a dolalr a night...if you have, you probably haven't since. It was basic. I don't need to explain that we shared atoilet with the family ad we'll jsut say-they definitely were into water conservation..., there was no running water but a little spicket outside in hte courtyard, and the bedding was probably washed right where everything else is--in the lake, next to where hte toilet flushes. But a bed is a bed, good company is good company, and beautiful views of a giant moutnain lake are always beautiful.

2. La Paz = City of Peace, Bolvia's Capital, Voted best place to eat ice cream, by me

We bussed it into La Paz after Lake Titticaca, took a treacherous ferry across a narrow part of the lake, and arrived in La Paz that afternoon. La Paz is shaped like a giant bowl, and the red houses tumble down the valley to the main street- El Prado. We stayed on a quiet plaza up from the Prado, and would walk down to the bustling mainstreet in the day to eat, check e-mails and check out tours and places to go. The Prado is full of dessert places. In fact every day, around 5 pm, masses of families stroll the Prado with ice cream in hand. I hate ice cream so I didn't do that... ,) We also went to a futbol game!!!! Neither of us know anything about futbol, but it was hte championship game for Bolivian soccer and we found great seat! We walked over there in teh evening, loaded up on stadium food (they only have sandwiches--sausage, chicken, hamburger--sodas and candy)

We also searched for inexpensive tour companies who could take us biking on the infamous 'DEATH ROAD'. Truly, that is the name of this one lane dirt jungle road that leads down into the canyon on the other side of the montains from La Paz. One side of the road is sheer cliff going up, and the other side is sheer cliff going down, which leads me into my next blurb....

3. Death Road = Bike riding 5 hours down hill on the most dangerous road in the world (so they say)

I normally don't do much (or any) mountain biking, but I enjoy a good bike ride..People had been telling us to ride the Death Road since we got to Peru. It has become a famous tourist destination and outfitters set you up with a guide, serious biking gear, and promises of buffet lunches at the end of the day. Brad and I found a decent company and met up at 6:30am the next morning with our tour group and a friend we'd met in Copacabana to take on the Road of Death. There isn´t too much to report here...no one died....booring..no just kidding...But really no one died...even so, it was fun riding downhill on this winding gravel road through waterfalls and precariously placed rocks. You don¨t even notice the sheer drop to your left until the end of the trip when you take off all your gear and actually look at the jaw dropping views of emerald forest belwo you...phew...glad I lived though that. The end of the trip we just drank beer and swam in a pool to kill time before driving back to La Paz. Very fun! Back in La Paz we were ready to start our next foray into La Selva!