Buenos Aires

We spent the end of our trip, almost six days total, relaxing in the modern city of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires is actually commonly likened to a European city rather than its Latin neighbors. There we enjoyed excellent food (plenty of meat), wine, soccer games, and of course tango.

We started off our weak in BA by attending the last soccer match of the season for the renowned Boca Juniors team. For those who do not know, the fans of the Boca Juniors team are known as the most passionate in the entire world. The fans certainly lived up to their reputation even though the game we attended did not matter at all technically for the Boca Juniors team. At that point they had already been eliminated with a poor record over the season, and the team they were playing were to become champions whether they won the game or not. Regardless, the Boca Juniors supporters cheered louder than anything we had witnessed in our lives. The real "fans" were restricted to one section of the stadium, where unfortunately (or fortunately) we were unable to purchase tickets for. From our seats on the other side of the stadium we could not hear each other speak over the singing that peaked in volume in the final minutes before the start of the game. The fans continued to sing, beat drums, wave flags, and jump up and down for the entirety of the game. The fervor apparently paid off and the Boca side won the game 2-0. However this had some implications for ourselves. One major drawback of the seats that we were assigned was that they were located directly under the upper section where the fans of the opposing team were sitting. This is a bad place to sit, since we were at the mercy of their wrath that increased after each goal scored by our the Boca side. Various items were thrown into our section from above including lolly pops, rolls of paper, water bottles, spit (which landed on Kaitlyn's arm), and even fireworks (M-80s no less) at the end of the game. All in all quite an eventful afternoon and certainly home to some intense sports fans.

The rest of the week was filled with much eating, drinking, a lot of shopping for Christmas gifts, and wandering around the cities many, many beautiful neighborhoods. We visited the Evita musuem and later her grave at the Recoleta Cemetery, which is a 150 year old collection of extremely ornate mausoleums. Some brand new, some immaculately preserved, and some in such disrepair that you could literally stick your arm inside a hole in the wall and lift a coffin lid...if your into that kind of thing. We also made sure to see plenty of tango shows, which left us thoroughly convinced that Americans are totally inept at dancing, but that one day the two of us will make our best efforts at learning that mother of all dances.

After 42 days of rambling through South America and a 24 hour trip back to the US, we arrived in JFK just a few hours before the snow storm hit, perfect timing to arrive punctually yet take full advantage of a phenomenon that we've been deprived of for over two years. We're both elated to be back home and very excited to see everyone very soon.

Pictures from Argentina

Street-side dancing shows, gaucho (cowboy) in this case.

Boca Juniors stadium, and jersey.

At the falls in Iguazú Park.

Butterflies in Iguazú Park

Recoleta cemetery, probably the most ornate in the world, in Buenos Aires.

The colorful Italian neighborhood of La Boca in Buenos Aires

Argentina

After over two weeks of roughing-it in Bolivia we were ready for some leisure in Argentina. We knew our hopes would be fulfilled when we crossed the border, and the road turned from dirt to prime asphalt. Our first stop was the Northwestern city of Salta. There wasn't a whole lot to do in the city, which was exactly what we were looking for. We spent three days sleeping in comfortable hostel and eating good food. Argentina is known for three things gastronomically: empanadas, wine, and meat.

The big sight that we had been waiting for lay wait in the other corner of Argentina. After a brutal, 23 hour bus ride across the north of the country, we arrived at the small town of Puerto Iguazú, the town next to probably the most impressive waterfall(s) in the world. Iguazú Falls consists of over 275 waterfalls in one area. Certainly one of the most stunning places we've ever seen. We spent a full two days walking around the national park, enjoying the different views, swimming, and even taking a boat ride under some of the largest drops. Apart from the waterfalls, the park preserves a large area of rainforest that was full of wildlife. In two days we managed to see an armadillo, many giant lizards and raccoon-like animals, a monkey, many colorful birds, two snakes (one venomous and way too close to my leg), and multitudes of different butterflies.

Today we take another excruciating bus ride to Buenos Aires for the final part of our trip, six days of relaxing, eating more good food, and buying Christmas gifts for a lucky few. See some of you in a week!

Pictures from Bolivia

Protest by the indigenous population in La Paz,

much more harmonious than most.

Giving props to Uncle Satan.

Endless salt hexagons.

The salt flats.

The salt hotel.

We weren't smiling after another 3 hours.

Finishing up in Bolivia

Since leaving La Paz we've had many a long journeys and seen many strange things. Leaving the capital, we took an sleeper bus towards the south of Bolivia. We didn't sleep so much on the sleeper bus but made up for it with many quiet nights in the quiet, university city of Sucre. Sucre is very different from most of the other parts of the country we visited. It's white-washed buildings and roominess contrasted sharply with the claustrophobic chaos of La Paz. We took many strolls in the Mediterranean-like atmosphere, had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner at a French Restaurant, and visited some excellent museums. One of the museums boasts a 1.5 kilometer wall of rock that is covered with various dinosaur tracks.

From Sucre we hopped over to Potosí. Potosí is the highest city in the world at 4,060 meters above sea level and is adjacent to the probably the worlds most famous mine. The strength of the Spanish empire was built in large part on the silver extracted from the "Rich Mountain" that towers above the city. Some 6,000 miners continue to mine the mountain to this day for its silver, zinc, tin, and lead. Indeed, the touristic highlight of visiting Potosí is a trip to the mines. We dared the risks of accidental explosions, collapses, falls, asbestos, etc. and journeyed inside with our guide. It is estimated that at least 8 million people have died in the mountain during its almost 500 years of exploitation. The first part of the tour consists of buying gifts for the miners, which can include coca, cigarettes, dynamite, and alcohol (for ritualistic use). We then ascended into the darkness with only our miner's headlamps to light the way. Near the entrance we gave offerings to the statue of the underworld god, "Uncle", which looks exactly like Satan. We spread coca and alcohol on his head, shoulders, hands, feet, and yes even his protruding penis, all to give us the powers we needed to endure the mine's hardships...and gain more fertility. After nearly 2 hours crawling and climbing through treacherous tunnels we emerged unscathed, thankfully protected by Uncle Satan. Unfortunately his favoritism did not extend beyond the walls of the mine shafts, since that night I (Alex) came down with a vengeful case of the runs.

Next we took the beautiful, yet bumpy ride to Uyuni, the dusty town next to the largest salt flats in the world. We joined a tour group full of Brits and Aussies, leading us to have to constantly control the urge to speak in a false accent, on a two day tour of the hallucinogenic, white desert. We spent one night sleeping in a hotel made exclusively of bricks of salt. This mesmerizing 48 hours can only be truly appreciated by viewing the pictures.

Our last stop in Bolivia was in the small town of Tupiza, which is located in the middle of an extensive network of incredible, multi-colored ravines. We chose the "triathlon" tour which consisted of jeeps, horses, and down-hill mountain biking. Kaitlyn truly impressed me with her mountain biking skills. Just when I thought I had left her in the dust while straining my nerves to their limits while speeding down the boulder-strewn roads, I would turn around to find her right on my rear wheel. It appears that we gained some prime bicycling abilities at the least in Nicaragua.

Trip update

Greetings from La Paz, Bolivia! Well, we successfully made it through Peru. After spending a few days in Cusco, checking out some of the local ruins, markets, and yummy food, we made the trek to the infamous Machu Picchu. To try and save money, we took the "back" way instead of taking the outrageously priced train directly from Cusco. This day long journey entailed taking several tiny vans along perilous twists and turns on dirt roads through part of the Andes (I, Kaitlyn, almost got sick several times and we both spent the majority of the day clinging to our seats praying we would not go over the edge), several stops at tiny towns in the middle of nowhere, seriously, and then a two and a half hour walk along train tracks to the town of Aguas Calientes. From here we spent the night and the next morning Alex climbed up the mountain to Machu Picchu and I (thankfully) took the bus as my legs were like jello.

We arrived before the park opened (Alex was number 30 in line and I was number 295) and immediately joined a small group to take a tour. Nothing can really prepare you for your first view of Machu Picchu. It was literally breathtaking. Not to mention that we were literally on top of the world as we were surrounded by the beautiful Andes mountains. The tour was very enlightening as it helped us understand the significance of what we were actually seeing. The Incas were truly ingenious, and we spent most of the day ooohing and ahhhing. After the tour, Alex made the trek up Wayna Picchu to get another look at the Inca city. We spent the rest of the day enjoying the site and avoiding the large tour groups from all over the world. However, we were lucky as this was the low season and there weren't nearly as many tourists as there could have been (around 4000 per day!). The next day, I made my way back to Cusco partially by train and partially by bus (my stomach could not handle another trip on those roads) while Alex risked his life once more and traveled back the way we came.

We left Cusco on an overnight bus to go to Copacabana, Bolivia on the edge of Lake Titicaca. Little did we know that only US citizens need to pay for a visa to enter the country and that it costs 135 big ones per person! This is the same it costs a Bolivian to enter the US, so I guess that's politics. After frantically running around to secure the visa we were able to enter the country. Needless to say, there are not many American tourists here. We spent a day and a night exploring Copacabana and then took a boat to the tiny island of Isla del Sol (Sun Island) where the Incas believed the sun was born. The island was incredibly beautiful but freezing at night. After two days exploring and enjoying the island we made our way back to Copacabana for one more night and then set out for La Paz.

Currently we planning to stay in the capital for a few days and then make our way to Sucre, Potosi, Uyuni, Tupiza, and then crossing over into Salta, Argentina. We have 25 more days of trekking left and will be sure to update in a few days! See you all soon :)

The Cusco market.

From the ruins on The Island of the Sun in Lake Titicaca.

Quechua women in the Sacred Valley.

Machu Pichu, at the top.

Pictures from the Trip

Just chillin with my crew next to an Incan wall

Central Cusco

Beautiful Barranco...and wife

Pisco Sours...delicious!

Kaitlyn warned me not to leave my socks on the floor...

The crypt...creepy

The coast, at the edge of Miraflores and Barranco, Lima

40 Days in South America

After over two years of roughing it in Nicaragua serving in the Peace Corps, we decided what we really needed was another 40 days roughing it while backpacking through South America. Now there was certainly rational in this decision. At the moment we have: the free time, the Spanish, the knowledge of how to get around a developing country, and even a little bit of money afforded to us by the US government at the end of our PC service. So with those justifications to get us over our yearning to return immediately to the United States, we went directly from Nicaragua onto our southern journey.

First we visited Costa Rica, simply because the flight to South America was much cheaper. In actuality we would never truly want to visit the land of the Ticos...Nica for life! (For those of you who don't know, the relationship between the people of Nicaragua (Nicas) and Costa Rica (Ticos), is slightly strained. Our visit was more of a passing through, since we only took a bus directly from Managua to the capital of San Jose. At the least we can say that yes, Costa Rica has done a much better job of preserving their natural surroundings compared to Nicaragua. Much less trash, many more trees. We spent one night in San Jose and visited the Jade Museum, which as great.

After a short stop in Miami (again, cheaper to fly indirectly), we arrived a cloudy and cool city of Lima, Perú on the 7th of November. Simply put Lima impressed us. Very modern, clean, and bustling. We spent three nights in the Miraflores neighborhood, very cosmopolitan and great food of all flavors (there are great, cheap restaurants EVERYWHERE). We also visited all the atractions in the city's center, the bohemian neighborhood (Barranco) along the coast, and a archaeological site which was a huge pyramid only two blocks from our hotel.

We made a valiant attempt to sleep in the Lima airport the night before our 5:45 AM flight to Cusco, but alas to no avail. We dropped down over the snow-capped Andes and landed in "Imperial City of the Incas" totally exhausted. We were only to become more so as we took the wrong bus, which dropped us off a good 10, steep, cobbled blocks from our hostel. A combination of sleep deprivation and altitude can be brutal. Luckily for us the hostel's prices were more expensive than listed on the Internet so I, Alex, was relegated to sprinting around town to find the best deal. At last we found a $10 steal and crashed. First impression of Cusco, well it just can't really disappoint.

Service Completed

On the 6th of November, 27 months of service ended. Last week we spent saying a great many goodbyes, to students and teachers, to neighbors, to coworkers, to friends and even dogs. Overall it has been an overwhelming, happy, sad, and exhausting few weeks. Of course the full signficance has not yet set in, we still seem to think in the back of our minds that we will soon be returning to our community, house, and friends of these past two years. Even though we were ready and excited to leave, we still felt a strange sense of dread crossing the border out of Nicaragua the other day, leaving a world that has become so familiar for one unknown. I guess that fact reveals that we truly achieved what we set out to accomplish, integrating into a world that at first was completely foreign.

We leave feeling satisfied, in our work and our relationships. We received many thanks and heartfelt goodbyes, and of course made many promises to return soon. Our last night we spent together with our entire group, now to a diminished 11 volunteers, marveling at how far we've come and how close we became as friends. One of the unforseen regrets of leaving is the dispersal of our group across the US upon our return.

The two of us now head out on a 40 day tour of South America. After enduring strong urges to cancel our flight to Peru and head home instead, we made it to San Jose, Costa Rica for our one-night stay. Of course the we had to fight an even stronger urge to fly home while waiting for our connecting flight in Miami. At last, we made it to Lima and as we hoped we would, got into the traveling mode.

Busy, busy, busy!

Sorry to all for being extremely irregular with our blog posts. These last few months have been really busy with closing out our PC service. To summarize quickly all the picture from the last post...Kaitlyn and I went on a trip to the island of Ometepe, which is a large island formed by two volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. It was a great time and we were glad we finally made it to this very popular, yet very tranquilo destination. We also attended the wedding of our of our fellow PC volunteers, which was also a great time as are all the gatherings that bring our group of Nica 45 Env. Ed. volunteers together. The two of us are also in the process of saying goodbye to the teachers and students that we've been working with for two years. The good-bye parties include a treasure hunt and piñata with the students. These have been the saddest good-byes, there is no explaining with words the look of sadness on a kid's face when they realize that they might never see you again.

As of late we have been stressed with planning our second annual HIV/AIDS fair, which went off just last Friday. We put a whole lot of work into the fair this year and it truly paid off.
The fair was much bigger and received much more support and participation than last year. There were sports, music, and dancing competitions. Over 150 HIV tests were administered. We had a band play a concert at night. The community, including the mayor, was very pleased and excited to continue the fair in the following year.

As of today we have exactly 10 days left in Nagarote. It took a while for the fact that we were leaving to sink-in since we have been so busy. There is a strong mix of excitement and sadness in our leaving. We have a 40 day trip to South America, returning to family and friends, going to grad school, and finding a job (hopefully) to look forward to. Yet we are leaving a people, language, and way of life that have become our own for the last two years. Although so much of what we have gained will go with us, it is strange to think that much of what we have learned in the last two years will cease to apply the moment we step on the plane.

Weddings, Trips, Trees, and much more...

Fun at the wedding.

On the ferry to the island of Ometepe, which can be seen in the background.

Parrots...evil parrots...

Maderas volcano on the island of Ometepe.

Evening swimming at Charco Verde on the island of Ometepe.

Monkeys at Charco Verde.

Independence Day parade on Ometepe.

Independence Day parade at the foot of Conception Volcano on Ometepe.

Drawing water from the well on the beach in Salinas Grande.

Getting ready for the pinata.

Giving instructions before the scavenger hunt.

Tree delivery day at school.


Tree delivery day, giving a mango tree to one of my teachers.

Drawing their own island, containing all the natural resources

they would need to survive.

Home-made seed beds.


One of my teachers, now taking the reins and leading a class activity.


Kevin, enjoying the new books.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures and 77 days left!

Thats right! Here are some more fun pictures for your enjoyment. With only 77 days left to go in our Peace Corps service we are taking a lot more pictures and trying to spend more time with people. We also recently attend our COS (close of service) conference where we got to reflect on our experiences here and Peace Corps tried to prepare us to re-enter American life aka get jobs and go to grad school. So we are writing up a lot of reports for Peace Corps, working on resumes and applications, and trying to get things sorted out to say adios. So enjoy some of our last pics from Nicaragua!

Bobby, the dog we share with our neighbors, is just so big now!
Working with two of my buddies from El Recreo.

Everyone loves to play in the dirt :)

Working in the garden at Las Parcelas!

Cleaning up in Las Parcelas!

Pictures

Scariest caterpillar ever!!!

With the kiddies.

More kiddies.

Parent's meeting, where we gathered money to buy a box
to protect dontated story books we received.

The church, one block from our house, that had its roof torn off by the tornado.