A Search For (My) Life

The Machu Picchu Shot

Wow. Five days trekking around the national park with a finish at the famed Machu Picchu which was much more impressive than I had anticipated.  What really made the trip was our group, which consisted of a couple from Hawaii, one other east coast American, three Brits, an Irish girl and two Swedish girls.  We all got to know each other really well over the course of the week, and a few days later in Cusco, we’re still having meals together and going out til 6 in the morning.

Hiking in the Five Finger 'shoes' was awesome...

The hike covered a lot of different terrain… glaciers, mountain passes, rainforest and regular dirt paths.   I started out the hike in my Vibram Five Fingers, which never ceased to attract attention… I managed the whole 80K trip in them, and am now a solid covert that they are the best hiking shoes in non-freezing temperatures. I could bounce off rocks and scramble up boulders with ease… and other than one morning where I had to put them on cold and wet, they were a pleasure to wear.

The food on the trip was also great.  We had a cook who stopped at nothing to wow us with Peruvian and traditional Andean cuisine.  We even had hot coca tea delivered to our tents on the early 5am mornings.  Machu Picchu itself was pretty amazing to see in person.  I’ve seen it in pictures a thousand times but to be walking among the ruins and marvel at how they put them together was really impressive.

Balloons for Andean kids

The balloons came along for the trip as well, as is usual for me.  Making balloons for some of the kids that we came upon on the trek was really a highlight.  It’s amazing how something so simple can be so entertaining, for both me and the kids.

Here’s the link to some of the photos…

I haven’t processed the panoramics as yet, but you’ll notice a theme of jumping photos and shoes… something to spice up the photos, since I’ve taken so many at this point.  Oh yeah… and the beard has continued to grow… and feels foreign on my face.  As if I didn’t have enough ambiguity when it comes to guessing my ethnicity, now people think I’m Israeli.

After my adventures in the mountains last week, my journey around Peru (which is being made up as I go along) took me to the famous Lake Titicaca.  After only 4 hours sleep, we took off on an overnight excursion to the islands on Lake Titicaca, which included visiting the floating islands made of reeds, staying a night with an indigenous family, and catching sunset from the highest point of the island.

All in all a good trip, and met some cool people.  Now I´m in Cusco, and we spent the last two days around town.  I´m taking off for my five day hike to Machu Picchu tomorrow.  We were supposed to see some Inca ruins via bus today, but missed it due to a heavy party night with new friends yesterday.  Maybe I´ll do it when I get back from my hike.  My friend Katie who I met in Argentina has been traveling with me all this time, but tomorrow I´ll be parting ways and she´ll be joining up with another friend.  She´s been great to travel with, and I´m wondering how I´ll fare with my non-existent Spanish.  I can understand almost everything, but they don´t understand Portuguese at all.  I´m trying to Spanishify it, and it works like 30% of the time. 

Food so far has been pretty hit or miss, but incredibly cheap.  I finally tried the ¨cuy¨ at the insistence of my friend Filipe back home.  Cuy is Guinea Pig.  Yes, that same pet you had as a kid, only de-furred and served extra crispy with teeth,  eyes, ears, paws… all right there on my plate.  It was a trying moment, but I ate it and now won´t be doing it again.  It wasn´t that tasty, and the sight of it was pretty gnarly.  I also tried chicharrones, which is essentially fried hunks of pig.  Better than the cuy, but not something I´ll really seek out in the future. 

Some other random news…  Cusco is at about 10,000 ft, and my runs in the morning only last 30 minutes and I have to stop about every 2 minutes on the slightest of inclines.  Also, I´m not shaving on this trip so after a week I´m starting to look pretty grizzly.

Tags: Peru, Traveling

So… I´m in Peru.  For about three weeks, and just because.  I had friend traveling around South America and really, it´s not very difficult to convince me to join.  This is my third trip to South America this year and it´s only May. 

Anyhow, I flew into Lima and then hopped on another flight to meet up in Arequipa.  So far, we´ve done a day trip to see Colca Canyon, which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The highlight was definitely seeing the huge condors at one of the points overlooking the canyon.  The birds are so big (10-12 ft wingspan) they can´t take off without wind and so they only live is specific places in the valley.  They look really unstable in the air… like a plane that´s at the mercy of the wind.

The second trip was an overnight to Chachani Mountain, which is about 3 hours outside the city and is 6075m tall.  That´s over 18,000 ft.  We camped the first night at about 15,500 ft, which made it very cold and hard to breathe.  We left at midnight to start the 6 hour hike, and people were dropping like flies.  I made it to about 17,000 ft before I was overcome by altitude sickness and couldn´t walk in a straight line, let alone continue hiking through the snow in crampons. I had to turn around solo and make it back to base camp in the dark In my dizzy state I of course got lost as the trail was not marked.  I was lost for about 2 and a half hours which got pretty scary because my mind was playing tricks on me. Also because being lost alone on a Peruvian mountainside in the middle of the night when I´m dizzy and have a hard time breathing really isn´t an ideal situation.  Anyhow, I eventually made it to within shouting distance and someone in the base camp turned on their headlamp and I was able to make it back.  SO relieved. 

So anyhow, I´m alive and well and ready for the next adventure. Headed to Lake Titicaca tonight and Machu Picchu in about a week.

Andrew and I reading

Another flight, and yet another blog post coming to you from 30,000 ft.  This time I’m finally headed home to Seattle.  It’s been just a tad over 2 months since I initially left for Louisville for the holidays, and I’m ready to be home.

After Argentina, I spent 5 days in New York with Fil, Paul, and Jessica.  I’m racking up serious mileage in their guest room, and as usual Fil showed me a great time.  I had a few meetings, and got in some quality time with Gillian and a few other friends in the city.

From there I headed to Chicago to celebrate my nephew’s 2nd birthday at my sister’s house.  We had 9 people sleeping in my sister’s small 2 bedroom place but it was fantastic to be with my family again.  My grandma passed away the previous week, and because of my flight schedule coming back from Argentina, I was unable to make the funeral in California.  It was a harsh reminder of the costs of living far from my family, but made seeing them all the better.  After only 2 months away from my nephew Andrew, he’d once again surprised me with how much a kid can grow up in a few short months.  He now calls me “Cehg” instead of just “Guh” and just about anything he does makes me smile.

Andrew and I playing in his new tent.

Andrew trying to wake me up.

Checking out the Microcenter with Hugo and Diana

I’m on a flight back to New York City after three weeks in Argentina. Most of my time was spent in Buenos Aires, and after getting a taste of the nightlife, the people, the restaurants, and the running, I’m willing to deem it a very livable city for me.  It is a lot more modern and westernized than most of what I’ve seen in Rio.  At least in the insulated bubble that is Buenos Aires (and specifically, Palermo).

My trip was made mostly by the people I met.  The lack of proper Spanish made it difficult to meet many Argentines in much depth, but the few that I did get to know were very friendly.  (A special thanks to Hugo and Diana!).  I did meet a number of ex-pats, and travelers from all over the globe. If I were to stay in BA for longer, I would definitely have to step up the Spanish efforts (and stop using my Portuguese crutch) and hopefully make more local friends. I found that I can understand Spanish much better than the Argentines can understand Portuguese, which was an observation echoed by the other Brazilians I met on my trip.

So now I’m on my way home, with a load of Alfajores in hand, and will be stopping in New York City for a few days (always a good time), then in Chicago to visit my nephew Andrew on his 2nd birthday, and finally back home to Seattle, after 2 full months of travel.  It’ll be good to settle down a bit and get started on all my goals for the year. I miss my friends, my roommate and my guitar.

Since mid-December, my travel path has been like this:

Seattle > Louisville > Rio > Florianopolis > Rio > Seattle > NYC > Buenos Aires > Puerto Iguazu > Buenos Aires > NYC > Chicago* > Seattle*

I have been so fortunate to get so much travel in these past few years.  Since December 2005, I’ve spent at least 5 weeks abroad every winter, and in some cases multiple months.  As this trip is winding down, I’m really wondering what home is going to feel like and what awaits me in the coming months.

*Current planned itinerary

One of many great shots of the falls.

I just got back to Buenos Aires after a quick 3 day trip to Iguazu Falls.  The falls themselves were pretty surreal.  It kept building on itself where I at first thought, alright, those are some pretty cool waterfalls, but what’s all the fuss?  I mean, it was a bit wider than usual… and then you keep walking and realized the scope of the whole thing.  It got bigger and bigger, and finally, seeing Devils throat from both the Argentine and Brazil (yeah! go brazilian visa!) side were awe inspiring.

Some other ‘highlights’

• Overnight bus journeys both ways. On the way there, I got champaign, wine and whisky, which masked some of the crappy food.  On the way back, I switched bus companies, and got stuck beneath an apparently unfixable leak from the air conditioner that dropped cold water on me ALL night.  Kind of like the Argentine version of Chinese water torture.
• Met lots of travelers from Europe, Israel, Canada, and the US.  Trading stories was awesome.
• Left my glasses on the bus upon arriving in Puerto Iguazu.  the story:  had to chase it down on foot, with all my luggage, plead with a passing truck to help, hopped in the truck bed and lost my flip-flops, but in the end caught the bus on the other end of town, and hoofed it back barefoot.
• Met some Brazilian girls on the Brazil side, and breathed a sigh of relief to be conversing in Portuguese.  They took me to an exotic animal zoo and I got to hold snakes and parrots, and see lots of exotic birds.  Brazilians win the prize for friendliness.

  

  My new Brazilian friends at the falls.

Taking down the flag at the Casa Rosada

It’s amazing what a difference a week makes. After not having anyone to hang out with the first few days here, I spent last night trying to coordinate plans with three separate groups of friends.  I met a few people while wandering around in Palermo last Saturday night (asked them for directions), and was connected with Hugo and Diana, a couple that met my friend Elaine when she was in town a few years ago.  Since then, I’ve had more free time and people to fill it with, and the city has taken on a new light.

Sunday I went to the famous La Recoleta cemetery, which has the tomb of, among others, Eva Peron.   All the tombs are above ground, and pretty marvelous.  Some are huge marble boxes with statues and rooms underneath where whole families are buried.  Right nearby was a street fair with fresh strawberries and cream and a thousand other trinkets, mostly aimed at tourists.

On Monday Hugo and Diana took me on a tour of the microcenter, and gave me a full tour of the Plaza de Mayo, the Casa Rosada (their version of the white house where Evita came out onto the balcony)  and a number of other sites in downtown Buenos Aires.  I also found the only bookstore that sold books for teachers and students of spanish.  Unfortunately, I picked up a grammar book and came home to realize that all the explanations are in Spanish too!  Not a single word in the whole book is English.  I guess it’s a good way to start the immersion process.

Currently, I’m contemplating changing my ticket and staying an extra few days here before returning to NYC, so that I have a chance to visit Mendoza, the wine country in the Andes.  It would also allow me to catch my nephew’s birthday in Chicago on my way home to Seattle from NYC.  We’ll see what happens…

Here are some pictures from the trip so far:

Friends in the Startup Community in Buenos Aires

My first three days in Buenos Aires have reminded me a lot of my first time in Brazil.  Not because things are similar here, but because I had forgotten what it was like to land in a new place, not speaking the language, and just try to jump-start life. I had forgotten that I didn’t fall in love with Brazil over night.  It took weeks of wandering around alone before I could fill my schedule with friends.

Before that happened it was lonely as it was my first days here.  I’ve had some success meeting people, but its challenging and the downtime is quite a contrast to the social-blitz during my 4 days in NYC.  This is how its gone so far:

Monday: Arrival, stop at OLX office, then out to dinner with Evan (went to Rice with me) and his friend Andres.  Ate all kinds of strange meats including intestines and blood sausage.

Tuesday: Spent the day at the OLX office, then after work went to meet Diego from Flaptor.com for coffee.  Later I walked to Bar Unico, hoping to meet up with a friend of a friend, but there was a problem with my cell phone and we didn’t see each other.  I ate dinner by myself and was finishing my beer before I had the courage to strike up a brief conversation with some Europeans whom I overheard speaking English.

Sidenote:  In Brazil, I always avoid Americans and speaking English in general which is why I learned Portuguese as quickly as I did.  For that reason, I have an aversion to speaking English here, but since my stay is too short to really make much progress in Spanish, I’m going to have to get over it, and make friends with ex-pats.

Wednesday: Meetings at OLX during the day.  Then a failed attempt to find a book on learning Spanish at the bookstore.  On the way back to my hotel I heard a couple speaking in English and followed them to a cafe, and sat at the table next to them.  It turned out, the girl was Dutch, and the guy was American, and currently studying abroad in Chile for the year.  Both were friendly, and staying at a nearby hostel, which I plan on staking out for friends if I get lonely again. Another difficulty? Travelers typically don’t have cell phones, or set plans, so meeting again is tough.  They invited me out that night, but I had dinner plans which ended at 1am.

I went to a bi-monthly dinner with a bunch of other tech guys in the startup community here.  Apparently tech communities are the same the world over, and I’ve been corresponding with a few of them over the past few weeks and they invited me to join them last night.  Lucas, who runs United Virtualities, picked me up at the hotel, and introduced me to everyone at dinner.  Some of the sites they are running are:

www.unitedvirtualities.com
www.killerstartups.com
www.dataopedia.com
www.socialmetrix.com
www.geelbe.com

I felt like it was my first breakthrough as far as meeting Argentines and having a good time going out here.  I still haven’t experienced the real “Buenos Aires nightlife” but I’m hoping that will happen this weekend.

Tonight, I’m meeting with a bunch of foreigners that I arranged using ASmallWorld.com (thanks Fil!) which is a ‘high-end’ private social network.  While it may seem like I’ve got a full schedule, I still feel a bit alone here, mostly because of the Spanish (or lack thereof).  I introduced myself to the Brazilians in the office, which was a breath of fresh air as I could finally speak Portuguese and be understood.  I really prefer to be the one stuck for words, rather than forcing people to speak English when its not their native tongue.

I’m expecting tonight and this weekend to be much more exciting on the social front…  Will report back soon!

Buenos Aires

After finishing up some glorious days in Rio, a quick stop in Seattle, and a whirlwind 4 days in New York with Fil and Manu, I’m back in South America.  The 11 hour plane ride was actually not that bad.  I’ve gained a knack for sleeping on airplanes, and managed to sleep nearly the whole way.  The airplane movies this month have been exceedingly bad.
They had a driver waiting for me at the airport, which was great.  I’ve never had someone waiting with a name card before, so I felt very special.  The drive to the hotel was a bit awkward… I was speaking in Portuguese, and she could understand me more or less.  I was able to pick out words when she was responding, and get the basic gist, but the majority of what she said was lost on me.
My hotel is great, and so far, no one has even attempted to initiate conversation in English.  This sucks for now, but will be helpful if I’m going to learn Spanish.  The guy at the money exchange thought I was Argentine, and the hotel receptionists thought I was Brazilian.  Cool.
I’m now in the OLX.com office.  People can speak English, but I can already tell that things will be a lot smoother in Spanish.

I have yet to master the art of “cumprimentos” or greetings in Brazil.  I remember getting used to it during my trip in 2006, but after 2 years of Seattle greetings, I’m consistently messing it up over here. 

As far as I can tell, the following is considered normal:

• When entering a group (sitting down for dinner, for example) you greet everyone.  The same goes for when you leave.
• Men give men a kind of half hug and a pat on the shoulder, chest or back.
• Men meeting men for the first time give some sort of secret handshake that appears to change from location to location.  This is followed by a pat on the chest/shoulder.
• Men and women greet and meet women with two kisses on either cheek.  Left side first.

I wouldn’t usually have problems with something like this but I can’t seem to get it straight.  A lot of times I’m paying attention to names (which are harder to hear and remember than in English) or making sure I understand what people are saying. 

Last night I went for the two kisses a couple times, but it seemed that one kiss on the left was all that was expected.  I was left with my neck sticking out like a turkey waiting to be decapitated. 

The other day, I forgot the pat on the chest after greeting my friend’s dad, and caught him awkwardly on the peck when I tried to correct the error. 

I always get the man-hug wrong.  I go for the front-to-front, and it’s really a side-to-side embrace, which is rarely seen in the States. 

I’m working on it.  The other night I was awkwardly introducing myself to some girls and forgot what I was doing and stuck out my hand for a handshake.  It felt so cold and wrong.   Especially for them because most times upon greeting people don’t know I’m not Brazilian.  So far, I’ve gotten (Baiano (north brazilian), Argentinian (what?), Portuguese, and plain old Brasileiro). 

In other news, I’ve discovered my skin does, in fact, burn.  I’m 10 shades darker than when I arrived.  Life on the beach is good, and today I’m in Florianopolis.  A land of gorgeous people.