Here are the links to my Facebook photo albums from Peru, I finally put them up and they are all captioned, so enjoy!
Album 1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075556&id=1280460131
Album 2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075565&id=1280460131
Album 3: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2075566&id=1280460131
Sorry there are so many but they are a highlights (90% of everything) compilation of my and my father's photos.
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Galapagos and Inca Trail
So 8 days in the Galapagos, it was not too shabby. The islands are amazing and were definitely worth the trip, I have to say. I cant even explain how great it was but if any of you would like to try and understand how nice of a trip I had you can look at some of my photos, which I have posted on Facebook...
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074799&id=1280460131) is the link to the first photo album and
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074781&id=1280460131) is the link to the second photo album.
After my cruise I flew from Guayaquil to Lima, where I had a LOONNGG lay over waiting for my dad. He finally got into Lima and after taking care of the details we just hung out until 4AM when we could check our bags for our flight to Cusco, at 540AM. We spent 2 days in Cusco, exploring the city and the Incan ruins as well as getting accustomed to the altitude.. (10,860 ft). We took the opportunity to try out some of the local foods while we were in the area, my Dad had a pastry that was just flaky bun filled with dulce de leche called la lengua de la suegra (the mother in law's tongue) and then we shared a dish of guinea pig. Yup, thats right, they eat household pets in Peru, not really, they raise them to eat, and then on Sunday, the 16th we met up with our group at 4:30AM in order to head out on the Inca Trail Hike to Machu Picchu. We took a bus for a while and then stopped to eat breakfast before starting the trail. The first day we saw some Inca sights and got accustomed to carrying out packs on the up and down undulating terrain until the final two hours of our hike on day 1, when we started our ascent up to the highest summit on the trail. From where the ascent started it is a 6km hike up rocky, uneven, unrelenting mountainside. We had amazing porters (20 for our group of 14 hikers) who carried enormous packs. Our group was made up of my father and myself, the only Americans, 8 Canadians from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and then one couple from the Isle of White off of Britain and 1 couple from Sydney, Australia. Our guide Alex was a 43 year old Peruvian and the closest in age to my Dad, by far the oldest person we saw walking the trail.
One of the beautiful orchids that we saw along the way.
The second day saw a grueling 4 hour ascent to the first summit, a rapid descent losing half of the altitude that we had gained, and then a second ascent to the original height of the first peak. We then had a more leisurely descent and a stop at an Inca sight to break the afternoon hiking up. The first two days we had spectacular weather, no rain during the hiking hours but also not very hot and the sun was out but not scorching us.
Dad and Chris (one of the Canadians) descending a very steep staircase.
One of the coolest sights that we saw during the hike before arriving at Machu Picchu, this was a 5 minute walk from our camp on the third day.
January is one of the two rainiest months in Peru, and most people who chance hiking the trail then get poured out, so it made sense when the third day it rained on and off all day and the fourth day, after we got up at 3:20AM to make it early into Machu Picchu was more of the same.
Me, hiking along, wearing the same clothes that I wore for 5 days straight.
We spent 1 night in Aguas Calientes, the touristy town at the base of Machu Picchu mountain that exists for tourist purposes and then ascended to Machu Picchu a second time on the 20th of January. We were pretty wiped out from all of the hiking by then but excited to see the sights. On the 21st we flew back to Buenos Aires and we are now here with my Mom, and tomorrow morning we are flying out to El Calafate, a southern city in Argentine Patagonia. More updates to come!
Oh yeah, a picture of our group in front of Machu PIcchu.
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074799&id=1280460131) is the link to the first photo album and
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2074781&id=1280460131) is the link to the second photo album.
After my cruise I flew from Guayaquil to Lima, where I had a LOONNGG lay over waiting for my dad. He finally got into Lima and after taking care of the details we just hung out until 4AM when we could check our bags for our flight to Cusco, at 540AM. We spent 2 days in Cusco, exploring the city and the Incan ruins as well as getting accustomed to the altitude.. (10,860 ft). We took the opportunity to try out some of the local foods while we were in the area, my Dad had a pastry that was just flaky bun filled with dulce de leche called la lengua de la suegra (the mother in law's tongue) and then we shared a dish of guinea pig. Yup, thats right, they eat household pets in Peru, not really, they raise them to eat, and then on Sunday, the 16th we met up with our group at 4:30AM in order to head out on the Inca Trail Hike to Machu Picchu. We took a bus for a while and then stopped to eat breakfast before starting the trail. The first day we saw some Inca sights and got accustomed to carrying out packs on the up and down undulating terrain until the final two hours of our hike on day 1, when we started our ascent up to the highest summit on the trail. From where the ascent started it is a 6km hike up rocky, uneven, unrelenting mountainside. We had amazing porters (20 for our group of 14 hikers) who carried enormous packs. Our group was made up of my father and myself, the only Americans, 8 Canadians from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and then one couple from the Isle of White off of Britain and 1 couple from Sydney, Australia. Our guide Alex was a 43 year old Peruvian and the closest in age to my Dad, by far the oldest person we saw walking the trail.
One of the beautiful orchids that we saw along the way.
The second day saw a grueling 4 hour ascent to the first summit, a rapid descent losing half of the altitude that we had gained, and then a second ascent to the original height of the first peak. We then had a more leisurely descent and a stop at an Inca sight to break the afternoon hiking up. The first two days we had spectacular weather, no rain during the hiking hours but also not very hot and the sun was out but not scorching us.
Dad and Chris (one of the Canadians) descending a very steep staircase.
One of the coolest sights that we saw during the hike before arriving at Machu Picchu, this was a 5 minute walk from our camp on the third day.
January is one of the two rainiest months in Peru, and most people who chance hiking the trail then get poured out, so it made sense when the third day it rained on and off all day and the fourth day, after we got up at 3:20AM to make it early into Machu Picchu was more of the same.
Me, hiking along, wearing the same clothes that I wore for 5 days straight.
We spent 1 night in Aguas Calientes, the touristy town at the base of Machu Picchu mountain that exists for tourist purposes and then ascended to Machu Picchu a second time on the 20th of January. We were pretty wiped out from all of the hiking by then but excited to see the sights. On the 21st we flew back to Buenos Aires and we are now here with my Mom, and tomorrow morning we are flying out to El Calafate, a southern city in Argentine Patagonia. More updates to come!
Oh yeah, a picture of our group in front of Machu PIcchu.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Quick Update
puffer fish
penguins
white tipped reef shark
the group on my cruise after a hike
my roommate on the cruise, nicola (guess her age and I will tell you if you are even close)
sunset sailing
giant iguana
baby sea lion
giant tortise
the first island, south plaza
Addition, I am now bored out of my skin sitting in the Lima airport waiting for Peter as his flight was supposed to be arriving at this very moment but somehow got dealyed over one and a half hours when it was leaving Dallas. Blast the damn Texans.
Hello everybody, I am currently bored out of my skin sitting in a hostel in Guayaquil, Ecuador. Probably one of the most boring cities I have ever been to, as it is quite dangerous and I am not willing to wander around solo, plus I now need to be at the airport in two hours in order to head to Peru. I read a full book today, "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks and I can recommend it to anyone who like "The DaVincci Code" because it deals with an ancient Jewish codex and is quite well written. A little info on what I have been doing..
I left Colombia on the 3rd of January, or so I had planned. The airport in Cúcuta, the city I was staying in (remember..) was closed when my flight was supposed to leave for Bogotá because of the heavy rains that they were experiencing. The rains also happened to knock out the computer system so it was taking a minimum of 5X as long to check all of the passengers in, and I had a few hours waiting in line, probably two, before I actually checked my baggage. When I arrived in Bogotá the airline had someone waiting for me at the door on the plane and we legitimately sprinted for about a mile to the international check point but the line was realllly long and the woman who could have authorized us to skip the queue was apparently in a sour mood, so we just kind of stood there for a few minutes before he told me I missed the flight. This was at about 9:30PM and I was kind of flustered, having just ran all that way carrying a lot of things and being on my own in Bogotá with no clue what to do. The guy turned out to be really quite nice and the airline, COPA, had exceptional customer service. Since the 10:45PM flight from Bogotá to Guayaquil is the only one that runs on a daily basis through their airline I had to sit in a back room reading and listening to my ipod for almost two hours while they organized a morning flight that would bounce me through Panama City, Panama and then get me to Guayaquil relatively early in the day. Around 11:30 I finally got the airport hotel that the airline paid for me, and it was quite luxurious, so that was all great, as I had planned on spending the night in a $10 a night hostel in Guayaquil. I got a free steak dinner, but by that time of night I couldnt bring myself to eat a full meal, so I kind of just left my steak on the table and felt like a real waster. I woke up at 6:30 and headed back to the airport, and got some cool pictures of the Panama canal as we were landing, so the detour wasn't too bad all in all.
I spend 1 day and 1 night and then went to the airport quite early on the 5th in order to catch my flight to the Galapagos Islands, where I spent the next 8 days on a cruise ship with 6 crew members who didn't speak English, 1 bilingual guide, 2 Australians, 3 Scottish people, 3 people from London and 4 other Americans. It was quite a shock speaking so much English and I will update you all on the Galapagos when I have a change to put up my photos, because I can't really do it justice and I don't quite have the time at the moment. On Wednesday, or yesterday the 12th I flew back from Baltra airport in the Galapagos to Guayaquil, and spent yesterday and today insanely BORED OUT OF MY MIND. My flight to Peru tonight is at 730PM and my Dad won't get in until after 9:30 so I have a few hours of sitting around before he gets there. Then, after eh arrives we have an overnight in the Lima airport before our connection to Cuzco leaves around 5AM.
I will post photos after Peru once I am back in Argentina and have my computer. Hope you are all enjoying the start of 2011!
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Colombian Update
At the mall in Bucaramanga with Laura, enjoying the view of the city and the nice weather for Xmas.
Some of the super awesome public Christmas illumination that I talked about in my last post. This is still in Cucuta (from a while back)
Preparing the hayacas, the traiditional Colombian dish that I spoke about in my last post. This is turning into the Rothe Amundson Xmas Letter, calling people up to quiz them on previous posts so that they can understand what is going on!
To start things off today I think I will mention that I love Colombia, and there is a 0% change that this will be the only time I visit this country. Any family members should take note of the fact that Lauras parents have offered an open invitation to come back and arrange a trip for my family and their family to go to the coast, and let me tell you, the Colombian coast is most definitely worth going to Colombia for. I have so far only been in the interior of the country so I cant vouch for the coast from first hand experience but Colombia is amazing. For those of you who recieve the Rothe Amundson Xmas Letter, note the misspelling of Colombia (Columbia). Now to the updates on what I have been doing...
Since my last entry I spent a few more days in Cucuta, Lauras hometown. We celebrated her moms (Carolinas) birthday on the 19th and we spent a lot of time hanging out with her friends and immediate family. I quickly snagged a Colombian boyfriend, hes pretty cute but only really lives up to 3 week boyfriend standards, although he did gift me a pretty dandy beaded bracelet of the Colombian flag. Other than that, we continued praying La Novena every day and on the 23rd at about 5AM Lauras parents woke us up and we drove with a incredibly packed sedan to Bucaramanga. Both sides of Lauras family live in Bucaramanga, another Colombian city of about 700,000. In order to get here we had to traverse a 5 hour long mountain roadway that was recently cleared from the horrible mud slides that have been plaguing Colombia. There have been really heavy rains all over the country for pretty much all of December and they had led to a lot of flooding and mud slides. One whole town, Gramalote, in the northern part of the province (Norte de Santander) where Laura lives, completely disappeared. The rains caused the whole mountain that the town sat on to shift and it is now a disaster zone. There have also been floods show on the news that are very reminiscent of the scenes shown after Katrina hit New Orleans. And what most amazes me about all of these disasters and the images shown daily on the Colombian news is the fact that I read bbc.co.uk and I am seriously disappointed in the fact that they have 2 articles from December that mention Colombia and the rains/flooding but they have incorrect facts and dont even mention the worst disasters. However, airport closures across Europe and the USA are definitely front page news.
Above the clouds during the drive from Cucuta to Bucaramanga.
During the drive from Cucuta to Bucaramanga there were so many mud slides that had been cleared from the roadway that I lost count. Also, newly formed pot holes and parts of the road that had litterally fallen down the mountain side and left 1 lane where there a few weeks ago were 2 lanes. We did make it to Bucaramanga with minimal problems as far as the road blockage goes (the one road between the two cities had been closed for the few days prior to our trip) but when we were entering the city we got stopped for almost an hour as two houses had just collapsed down the mountain at the entrance to the city and they were bulldozing them off the road.
We spent the 24th with both sides of Lauras family and we started out the evening with her Moms family. Every family buys a present for every other family member, so there were a LOT of presents to unwrap. Lauras parents even bought me presents, which was divine of them. They gave me a very cute pajama pant and tshirt set, a beach towel with matching flip flops, two Colombian soccer jerseys, an adorable tank top and a plain jane blue tshirt that will be easy to wear any day. And then on the 25th they even prepared me a stocking full of the watermelon flavored blowpop knock offs that I love so much! Continuing with the 24th, after we left her grandmothers apartment we headed to her great aunt and uncles from her dads side of the family around midnight. The first thing we did there was head outside while her Dad hid a figuring of baby Jesus that was wrapped in 140,000 pesos (about $70). After baby Jesus was well hidden we all were allowed to enter and rampage around looking for him, in order to claim the cash. Laura found him within about two minutes, so it was kinda a let down, as I was 1. looking to win, and 2. enjoying the whole weird traiditon of it. And the 25th was quite relaxed, they mostly finish celebrating on the 24th since that is when everyone exchanges presents and eats together, but we did spend the whole 25th with family as well.
A little about Lauras family, her mom has 2 sisters and 1 brother. Her oldest sister lives near Bogota and has 2 sons, Nico aged 19 and Daniel aged 6. They are both great fun and I really enjoyed their company. Her other sister has 3 kids, 2 daughters Gabriela 10 and Mariana 8. She also has a son, Jorge Mauricio aged 13 and I also enjoyed all of these cousins and aunts and uncles. This sister with 3 kids live in a town called Ruetoque, which is one of the top 4 compounds to live in if you are in South America. It is a 10 minute drive minimum up to the house from the front gate where you have to show an ID and have the guard call up to the house you are visiting before they will even open the gate. Her moms brother is younger, hes only 32 and he is recently married. On the 24th they announced that they are 1 month pregnant so that was pretty exciting. On her dads side her dad has 2 older brothers (just like me!!!!!) Walter and Amparo have 2 kids, Daniel 14 and Maria Paola (Mapa, yes that means map in spanish) 19. Their family is very nice and welcoming. This family also has a kick ass apartment and today we went to their cabin that is about an hour away, where we rode the two 4wheelers and the gokart around all afternoon. The other brother is weird, had 3 sons, two of whom are obese, aged 23 and 14 and the third who is SUPER SKINNY and aged 19. Anyway, moving on, we went to Lauras cousin (Mapas) friends house the other day and got there around noon. We spent the whole day in the pool and drinking the local liquor, Aguardiente (buring water or fire water, however you want to interpret the name). It is an anise based liquor and it is absolutely horrible, but all of the Colombians insisted that I drink it and I did, which led to an inevitably raucous and fun time, see Facebook photos.
Hanging out in the pool
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2070331&id=1280460131) is my first album that corresponds with my last post and (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2071629&id=1280460131) is an album full of newer photos and there is another soon to come.
Today we took a day trip to La Mesa, a town an hour away from Bucaramanga where there is a Gondola that takes you across an impressive gorge into a national park where you can hike around a little bit, take pictures, and zip line (which I did obviously). These are the pictures soon to come and as I am currently too exhausted I will add more details in the near future. Have a great New Years Eve EVERBODY!
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Colombia
I am currently in Cucuta, Colombia. I dont really know how to work the punctuation on this computer so I will write a very grammatically incorrect blog entry. I left my apartment in Buenos Aires at 315AM on Sunday, the 12th (also know as Gail Amundsons birthday) and my cab driver was falling asleep during the 30 or 45 minute drive to the airport. I had to keep asking him weird questions or making awkward small talk to make sure he was still awake because I saw his eyes drooping in the rear view mirror. Once I got to the airport around 4AM I tried to check in but they ended up telling me that I needed a reservation number for my onward flight out of Colombia because you cant enter a foreign country without proof of onward travel. I then went to the internet cafe at the airport in order to access my email and my reservation number but the whole server was down so I had to call my host sister, Candelaria at 4AM and ask her to go into my email and text message me all of my flight information. Luckily she did it more than willingly and quickly, so there were no real problems. I was ready to board the plane and head through customs before they even opened the security zone at 5AM. I ended up waiting in the airport until 640AM when they boarded my flight to Bogota, Colombia. The whole time I was sitting across from a Nun in her full nun wear and trying to not fall asleep, as I did not sleep at all.
I made it to Bogota without any further complications and then had a ridiculously long layover before my flight left for Cucuta, my final destination. While I was waiting in the airport I was amused by the presence of a Dunkin Donuts and the fact that all of the Colombians bought big boxes of donuts to bring to their hometowns because I think the Dunkin Donuts in the airport may be the only one in Colombia. I also met a really nice family from Bogota ~ they were waiting for the flight for their two daughters to go visit family in Santa Marta, a beautiful coast town that I am going to have to come back to visit. Laura and her family were waiting for me in the airport when around 7 or 8PM I finalllllly made it to Cucuta. We went out to dinner and I was more than ready to go to sleep when we got home and I had gotten settled into my room.
Since then I have mostly just hung out with Laura and her family and friends. They are members of a much hugers version of the Saint Paul Tennis Club, it has 7 clay tennis courts, 2 connected pools and a golf course. Laura and I have played tennis three times and one day we even played doubles with some of her friends that we ran into while we were there. Swimming has also been nice too, but I am scared for my white person skin and getting any more sun as it is already bronzed to perfection and I am peeling in places that I didnt even get sunburnt. The food here is amazing and Lauras family has a housekeeper that cleans every day and makes our breakfast and lunch for us, so I have definitely been eating well. On Tuesday we made Hayacas, a Colombian tradition. They are like tamales wrapped in plantain leaves and filled with saffron rice, raisins, olives, capers, chicken, beef, and juicy sauces. They are something that everyone prepares together for Christmas adn then eats together.
Some interesting things that I have noticed... I am one of two natural blondes that I have seen in Colombia this week. Also, all of the motorcyclists wear reflective vests that have their license plate numbers on them in order to deter drive bys. Cucuta, where I am staying with Laura is really close to Venezuela, like I mentioned before. On Wednesday afternoon Laura, her mom Carolina and I all went to San Antonio, a town in Venezuela right across the border. We didnt need to show papers or anything to enter, we just had to drive on through. Not too much happened while we were there, we just went grocery shopping and bought some toiletries. Later that evening when I was with Laura and her friends driving around they just casually mentioned to me, oh hey, we are in Venezuela again, and it really surprised me how lax the border control is. I guess its really easy to cross unless Hugo Chavez goes on a whim and decides to close the border, and then all of the Colombians are stuck in Venezuela until he decides that they can leave again.
As far as the holidays go it is La Novena here right now, a celebration of the nine days before Christmas. It stated on Thursday and we sit downstairs by the lit up Nativity Scene, read from a little booklet (prayers) and then sing a song inviting Jesus into our souls. Its not taken too seriously in Lauras house but everyone does need to be present to pray. Ill leave it here for now and put up some pictures in the near future, although I havent taken too many. Un beso!
I made it to Bogota without any further complications and then had a ridiculously long layover before my flight left for Cucuta, my final destination. While I was waiting in the airport I was amused by the presence of a Dunkin Donuts and the fact that all of the Colombians bought big boxes of donuts to bring to their hometowns because I think the Dunkin Donuts in the airport may be the only one in Colombia. I also met a really nice family from Bogota ~ they were waiting for the flight for their two daughters to go visit family in Santa Marta, a beautiful coast town that I am going to have to come back to visit. Laura and her family were waiting for me in the airport when around 7 or 8PM I finalllllly made it to Cucuta. We went out to dinner and I was more than ready to go to sleep when we got home and I had gotten settled into my room.
Since then I have mostly just hung out with Laura and her family and friends. They are members of a much hugers version of the Saint Paul Tennis Club, it has 7 clay tennis courts, 2 connected pools and a golf course. Laura and I have played tennis three times and one day we even played doubles with some of her friends that we ran into while we were there. Swimming has also been nice too, but I am scared for my white person skin and getting any more sun as it is already bronzed to perfection and I am peeling in places that I didnt even get sunburnt. The food here is amazing and Lauras family has a housekeeper that cleans every day and makes our breakfast and lunch for us, so I have definitely been eating well. On Tuesday we made Hayacas, a Colombian tradition. They are like tamales wrapped in plantain leaves and filled with saffron rice, raisins, olives, capers, chicken, beef, and juicy sauces. They are something that everyone prepares together for Christmas adn then eats together.
Some interesting things that I have noticed... I am one of two natural blondes that I have seen in Colombia this week. Also, all of the motorcyclists wear reflective vests that have their license plate numbers on them in order to deter drive bys. Cucuta, where I am staying with Laura is really close to Venezuela, like I mentioned before. On Wednesday afternoon Laura, her mom Carolina and I all went to San Antonio, a town in Venezuela right across the border. We didnt need to show papers or anything to enter, we just had to drive on through. Not too much happened while we were there, we just went grocery shopping and bought some toiletries. Later that evening when I was with Laura and her friends driving around they just casually mentioned to me, oh hey, we are in Venezuela again, and it really surprised me how lax the border control is. I guess its really easy to cross unless Hugo Chavez goes on a whim and decides to close the border, and then all of the Colombians are stuck in Venezuela until he decides that they can leave again.
As far as the holidays go it is La Novena here right now, a celebration of the nine days before Christmas. It stated on Thursday and we sit downstairs by the lit up Nativity Scene, read from a little booklet (prayers) and then sing a song inviting Jesus into our souls. Its not taken too seriously in Lauras house but everyone does need to be present to pray. Ill leave it here for now and put up some pictures in the near future, although I havent taken too many. Un beso!
Friday, December 10, 2010
Heading out
So now I am starting my South American summer adventure. Up until now I've only made it to Uruguay and done a wee bit of traveling around Argentina. This Sunday at 7AM I am flying out of Ezeiza International Airport to Bogota, Colombia and from there I have a connection to Cúcuta, Colombia. Cúcuta is a border city with Venezuela and it is also where my friend Laura Jaramillo lives with her family. I doubt that I will actually enter Venezuela even though you could technically walk there from Laura's house because of the whole dangerous blonde American aspect of entering a country controlled by someone as INSANE as Hugo Chavez and the complications involved with procuring a Visa last minute and from outside of the good ol' USA.
This is a map of Colombia that has the cities that I am going to be in on it. You can see here that Cúcuta really is a border city and for Xmas and New Year's Eve I will be in Bucaramanga, in between Cúcuta and Bógota with Laura and her extended family. I am pretty excited for the whole Colombia adventure so I will try to keep you all updated more than I have recently, as it's something more noteworthy that is happening in my life.
I'm in a pretty weird place as far as self-identification goes right now. Most of you probably know my uncle Jonathan Rothe, my Dad's youngest brother, was in Buenos Aires last weekend with his work as he often has done business trips throughout South America in the past. He traded me some American dollars for pesos and it was a shock to see American money after 5 months without $1US to my name. His visiting also helped me realize that 1. I am not ready to move back the United States permanently so I am really happy that I elected to do my study abroad for a full year and 2. That it will most likely be a BIGGER culture shock for me moving back to the states than it was to come here. I think this because coming to Argentina I was 100% prepared and pre-talked about the dangers of culture shock and I knew that I didn't know the place at all, so I came in with basically zero serious expectations as well as an open mind. When I go back to the states I already have pre-conceived notions about how things should be in my life because I've only lived there for 20 years of my life. Updates to come in about 7 months when I actually am packing to head back to MN.
To continue with my travels.... after three gloriously HOT HOT HOT weeks in Colombia I have a flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Here is a map that shows where Guayaquil, a coastal town and the largest in Ecuador currently, is located. You can also see the Galapagos Islands on this map which was a purposeful addition. I am going to spend 8 of my 9 or 10 days that I am in Ecuador doing a cruise of the Galapagos, and I keep talking about it non-stop because I am ridiculously excited and I can't wait to get there and see how amazing it is. The Ecuador trip will be a 100% solo trip, I won't know anyone that I am going with nor will I be visiting anyone I know while I am there, which I am excited for. My Spanish at this point I have been told is quite good, although I obviously still struggle with limited vocabulary and grammar at times. I find that when I compare how I can understand, joke around, and express myself at this point I am impressed with how far I have come from my interactions during my first taxi ride.
I'll take this opportunity to gloat just a little bit and throw in a picture of the boat that I will be on and the deck plan....
After 10 amazing days in Ecuador (where the official currency is the USD) I will fly to Lima, Peru and spend 9ish hours in the airport waiting for my DAD!!!!! I am sooo excited for this. I am a little sad now that I didn't choose to go home for Christmas but then I think of myself as having a more true exchange experience for it. Going home is nice but barring any epic tragedy home will be 99% the same whether I come home in December for Christmas or July for the fourth or even in August for Door County. (This way I get to fully skip one whole winter cycle, which is throwing off my internal clock). My Dad and I are meeting up in Lima and flying to Cuzco, Peru together. Note: I am having a, let me check this up to be accurate..... 8 hour and 45 minute layover in Lima just so that Peter didn't have to take a flight by himself in Latin America. But it's okay, he paid for the more expensive plane ticket, I will eat at the Pizza Hut at the Lima airport and I will be happy to see him a few hours earlier than if we were to met up in Cuzco. We are going to then spend two days in Cuzco checking out local Inca ruins and acclimating to the elevation before we do the Inca Trail to Machu Pichuu, which is a 4 day rather strenuous hike. Last night a Colombian friend told me how she was crying during one day of the hiking and her group was with 2 obese women and she has NO idea how they were physically capable of doing it if it were so bad for her, a thin rather in shape, young Colombian. I guess we will have to wait and see, but it is comforting to know that even if it takes me 9 hours to hike a section that takes really in shape, seasoned trekkers 2 hours I WILL MAKE IT!
One final picture of Peru. You can see in the north there is the city Iquitos, where I was in Peru 2 and a half years ago right after graduating from high school. I went into the rainforest then and now I am going into the mountains so I am pretty excited to have the opportunity to explore another aspect of Peru. (which was awesome last time I was there, so it better not let me down.)
Anywhoo, I have been writing this rather than packing which is probably not a good thing. A few last minute updates about what I have been doing in Buenos Aires. I am on summer break and Wednesday this week was a national holiday, so I decided to go out Tuesday night until 6AM, get picked up at 9:30AM to go to a friends pool and soccer club type place and spend the whole day there. My friend Dan Rubenstein from the United States is visiting and it just so happened that I am here. He is on vacation so he got in Wednesday morning and I immediately went to pick him up and bring him to the club with me. It was basically a really lower class version of a Country Club in the states. We then had a really delicious $1.25 each homemade dinner that consisted of dried mushrooms that were rehydrated with $1 white wine, sauteed chopped onions and garlic, rice and some vegetable stock and butter as well as some spices. It was delicious, filling, and SUPER CHEAP. He and I also spent most of yesterday together where I brought him to the Stakeholder's Gala for AIESEC and then we went to a bar for the after party and since it was Thursday, almost all of the AIESEC people went home around 12:30AM and we went out to a gay dance club which turned out to be prettty fun. Today I am just packing and attempting to get my room in order so that I can go out two final times tonight and tomorrow night.
This is a map of Colombia that has the cities that I am going to be in on it. You can see here that Cúcuta really is a border city and for Xmas and New Year's Eve I will be in Bucaramanga, in between Cúcuta and Bógota with Laura and her extended family. I am pretty excited for the whole Colombia adventure so I will try to keep you all updated more than I have recently, as it's something more noteworthy that is happening in my life.
I'm in a pretty weird place as far as self-identification goes right now. Most of you probably know my uncle Jonathan Rothe, my Dad's youngest brother, was in Buenos Aires last weekend with his work as he often has done business trips throughout South America in the past. He traded me some American dollars for pesos and it was a shock to see American money after 5 months without $1US to my name. His visiting also helped me realize that 1. I am not ready to move back the United States permanently so I am really happy that I elected to do my study abroad for a full year and 2. That it will most likely be a BIGGER culture shock for me moving back to the states than it was to come here. I think this because coming to Argentina I was 100% prepared and pre-talked about the dangers of culture shock and I knew that I didn't know the place at all, so I came in with basically zero serious expectations as well as an open mind. When I go back to the states I already have pre-conceived notions about how things should be in my life because I've only lived there for 20 years of my life. Updates to come in about 7 months when I actually am packing to head back to MN.
To continue with my travels.... after three gloriously HOT HOT HOT weeks in Colombia I have a flight to Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Here is a map that shows where Guayaquil, a coastal town and the largest in Ecuador currently, is located. You can also see the Galapagos Islands on this map which was a purposeful addition. I am going to spend 8 of my 9 or 10 days that I am in Ecuador doing a cruise of the Galapagos, and I keep talking about it non-stop because I am ridiculously excited and I can't wait to get there and see how amazing it is. The Ecuador trip will be a 100% solo trip, I won't know anyone that I am going with nor will I be visiting anyone I know while I am there, which I am excited for. My Spanish at this point I have been told is quite good, although I obviously still struggle with limited vocabulary and grammar at times. I find that when I compare how I can understand, joke around, and express myself at this point I am impressed with how far I have come from my interactions during my first taxi ride.
I'll take this opportunity to gloat just a little bit and throw in a picture of the boat that I will be on and the deck plan....
After 10 amazing days in Ecuador (where the official currency is the USD) I will fly to Lima, Peru and spend 9ish hours in the airport waiting for my DAD!!!!! I am sooo excited for this. I am a little sad now that I didn't choose to go home for Christmas but then I think of myself as having a more true exchange experience for it. Going home is nice but barring any epic tragedy home will be 99% the same whether I come home in December for Christmas or July for the fourth or even in August for Door County. (This way I get to fully skip one whole winter cycle, which is throwing off my internal clock). My Dad and I are meeting up in Lima and flying to Cuzco, Peru together. Note: I am having a, let me check this up to be accurate..... 8 hour and 45 minute layover in Lima just so that Peter didn't have to take a flight by himself in Latin America. But it's okay, he paid for the more expensive plane ticket, I will eat at the Pizza Hut at the Lima airport and I will be happy to see him a few hours earlier than if we were to met up in Cuzco. We are going to then spend two days in Cuzco checking out local Inca ruins and acclimating to the elevation before we do the Inca Trail to Machu Pichuu, which is a 4 day rather strenuous hike. Last night a Colombian friend told me how she was crying during one day of the hiking and her group was with 2 obese women and she has NO idea how they were physically capable of doing it if it were so bad for her, a thin rather in shape, young Colombian. I guess we will have to wait and see, but it is comforting to know that even if it takes me 9 hours to hike a section that takes really in shape, seasoned trekkers 2 hours I WILL MAKE IT!
One final picture of Peru. You can see in the north there is the city Iquitos, where I was in Peru 2 and a half years ago right after graduating from high school. I went into the rainforest then and now I am going into the mountains so I am pretty excited to have the opportunity to explore another aspect of Peru. (which was awesome last time I was there, so it better not let me down.)
Anywhoo, I have been writing this rather than packing which is probably not a good thing. A few last minute updates about what I have been doing in Buenos Aires. I am on summer break and Wednesday this week was a national holiday, so I decided to go out Tuesday night until 6AM, get picked up at 9:30AM to go to a friends pool and soccer club type place and spend the whole day there. My friend Dan Rubenstein from the United States is visiting and it just so happened that I am here. He is on vacation so he got in Wednesday morning and I immediately went to pick him up and bring him to the club with me. It was basically a really lower class version of a Country Club in the states. We then had a really delicious $1.25 each homemade dinner that consisted of dried mushrooms that were rehydrated with $1 white wine, sauteed chopped onions and garlic, rice and some vegetable stock and butter as well as some spices. It was delicious, filling, and SUPER CHEAP. He and I also spent most of yesterday together where I brought him to the Stakeholder's Gala for AIESEC and then we went to a bar for the after party and since it was Thursday, almost all of the AIESEC people went home around 12:30AM and we went out to a gay dance club which turned out to be prettty fun. Today I am just packing and attempting to get my room in order so that I can go out two final times tonight and tomorrow night.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Uruguay Recap
Howdy folks. So last night I got back from 7 nights and 8 full days of traveling throughout Uruguay, the very small country directly across the Rio de la Plata from Argentina (it's to the northeast, more or less). In order to get there, last Saturday my friend Taylor and I took a boat at 9:00AM across the river to a city called Colonia de Sacramento. The trip took three hours and it was a beautiful and sunny morning on the deck of the boat. After a really laid back questioning at Uruguayan customs (the man literally just asked us why we were coming there and we said vacation and that was that) we hopped on a bus and within 15 minutes we were on our way to Montevideo. I have always wanted to go to Montevideo, ever since junior high school Spanish class where you are forced to learn all of the countries in South America, be able to locate them on a map, and identify their capitals. I'm not too sure why but I think I always thought the name was cool because it sounds like the word 'video'. After about 2.5 hours on that bus we got into the bus terminal (3 cruces, or three crosses) in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. The whole bus terminal complex is also a shopping mall and after we bought our bus tickets to continue on to Punta del Diablo that evening we had a two hour layover so we went to the food court and almost jumped out of our skins when we saw the prices at McDonalds. A big mac meal was about 155 pesos Uruguayos, which translates into about (155/20 = $8 US), so still expensive but not as expensive as it appeared to us. We have gotten used to the Argentine peso exchange rate (approximately 4pesos = $1 US) so when we got to Uruguay with Argentine money it was confusing. The exchange rate is about 20 pesos to $1US but if you are paying in Argentine pesos its about 4.5 uruguayos to 1 argentine peso. Moving on to Punta del Diablo.
The view of Buenos Aires as we were pulling out of port.
This is a picture of the beach and how it looked just about all weekend in Punta del Diablo.
Here I am enjoying the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Although the water was surprisingly swim-able and enjoyable.
It was an almost 5 hour bus ride from Montevideo to Punta del Diablo but it was definitely worth it. The town is right along the coast, not far south of Brazil, and it is beautiful! We ended up meeting some really cool people there, seeing a baby seal hanging out on the rocks when we went for an evening stroll, enjoying 1 full day without electricity when the power went out and staying four nights instead of three. We didn't get in Saturday night until after 11PM so we were pretty tired from traveling all day when we did finally get there and spent the first night just heading to bed early rather than taking a nighttime stroll along the beach. We stayed in the hostel (El Diablo Tranquilo, Playa Suites) that I talked about in my last blog post. We ate some great seafood, we hung out on the beach in the sun, and we played with the sea anemones that we all over the beach. There were blue ones and really small scarlet red ones. We kept cracking open mussels and feeding them to the anemones, which was reallllly fun. After four days in Punta del Diablo we decided to head back to Montevideo so early Wednesday morning we hopped on another bus and spent the afternoon/evening and 1 night in Montevideo. Taylor and I booked rooms in a 6 bed room at a hostel but it was such a slow night that we ended up being the only two in our room.
The view of the Montevideo skyline in the background.
We woke up on Thursday and realized that it was Thanksgiving, packed up our stuff, and headed back to Colonia de Sacramento where we met up with our program for our official Thanksgiving celebration. We ate at our program directors bed and breakfast that was a palatial estate. He has a lemon orchard, a pool and is about a ten minute walk from the river beach. The water at the beach was amazing, you could walk out hundreds of yards and have it still be waist deep so the swimming was great, especially for just hanging out and tossing around a football.
Sitting on the deck at my program director's bed and breakfast with Taylor.
We then spent the next two nights in a nice hotel and exploring the city of Colonia which is the oldest city in Uruguay.
Here is a picture of one of the Portuguese cobbled streets. The city was fought over for many years by the Spanish and the Portuguese, due to the fact that it lies right in the disputed region of land distribution when the Americas were first settled.
We spent Thursday eating and having an evening tour of the historical part of the city, where we stayed, and then we headed back to the hotel for a good nights rest. At 8AM the next day Taylor and I got up and went around taking pictures of the city on our own before we met up with a group of friends and took a bus to the beach, where we spent the rest of the afternoon.
After an amazing dinner with our program and getting up early a second day, Taylor and I decided to rent a go-kart/bugy type deal and cruise around the city. We ended up actually leaving Colonia because we were going on the highway but we didnt quite realize until we re-entered the city and saw the welcome sign. It was a fun experience to say the least.
On Saturday evening around 7PM we headed back to the boat terminal and struck out for Buenos Aires once more, after a long week of the intense Uruguay sun and relaxation. Now I have 1 final this Wednesday and then I am on SUMMER VACATION for a little over 3 months!!! I will definitely be keeping you all updated as I travel through Colombia, hopefully Venezuela, Ecuador and the Galapagos, Peru this summer (South American summer) and potentially Brazil, Chile and Bolivia next semester.
If you want to see more of my photos from my trip I put up two Facebook albums and the links to them are:
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067983&id=1280460131) for the first album and (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067981&id=1280460131) for the second album. I hope you enjoy them!
The view of Buenos Aires as we were pulling out of port.
This is a picture of the beach and how it looked just about all weekend in Punta del Diablo.
Here I am enjoying the crashing waves of the Atlantic Ocean. Although the water was surprisingly swim-able and enjoyable.
It was an almost 5 hour bus ride from Montevideo to Punta del Diablo but it was definitely worth it. The town is right along the coast, not far south of Brazil, and it is beautiful! We ended up meeting some really cool people there, seeing a baby seal hanging out on the rocks when we went for an evening stroll, enjoying 1 full day without electricity when the power went out and staying four nights instead of three. We didn't get in Saturday night until after 11PM so we were pretty tired from traveling all day when we did finally get there and spent the first night just heading to bed early rather than taking a nighttime stroll along the beach. We stayed in the hostel (El Diablo Tranquilo, Playa Suites) that I talked about in my last blog post. We ate some great seafood, we hung out on the beach in the sun, and we played with the sea anemones that we all over the beach. There were blue ones and really small scarlet red ones. We kept cracking open mussels and feeding them to the anemones, which was reallllly fun. After four days in Punta del Diablo we decided to head back to Montevideo so early Wednesday morning we hopped on another bus and spent the afternoon/evening and 1 night in Montevideo. Taylor and I booked rooms in a 6 bed room at a hostel but it was such a slow night that we ended up being the only two in our room.
The view of the Montevideo skyline in the background.
We woke up on Thursday and realized that it was Thanksgiving, packed up our stuff, and headed back to Colonia de Sacramento where we met up with our program for our official Thanksgiving celebration. We ate at our program directors bed and breakfast that was a palatial estate. He has a lemon orchard, a pool and is about a ten minute walk from the river beach. The water at the beach was amazing, you could walk out hundreds of yards and have it still be waist deep so the swimming was great, especially for just hanging out and tossing around a football.
Sitting on the deck at my program director's bed and breakfast with Taylor.
We then spent the next two nights in a nice hotel and exploring the city of Colonia which is the oldest city in Uruguay.
Here is a picture of one of the Portuguese cobbled streets. The city was fought over for many years by the Spanish and the Portuguese, due to the fact that it lies right in the disputed region of land distribution when the Americas were first settled.
We spent Thursday eating and having an evening tour of the historical part of the city, where we stayed, and then we headed back to the hotel for a good nights rest. At 8AM the next day Taylor and I got up and went around taking pictures of the city on our own before we met up with a group of friends and took a bus to the beach, where we spent the rest of the afternoon.
After an amazing dinner with our program and getting up early a second day, Taylor and I decided to rent a go-kart/bugy type deal and cruise around the city. We ended up actually leaving Colonia because we were going on the highway but we didnt quite realize until we re-entered the city and saw the welcome sign. It was a fun experience to say the least.
On Saturday evening around 7PM we headed back to the boat terminal and struck out for Buenos Aires once more, after a long week of the intense Uruguay sun and relaxation. Now I have 1 final this Wednesday and then I am on SUMMER VACATION for a little over 3 months!!! I will definitely be keeping you all updated as I travel through Colombia, hopefully Venezuela, Ecuador and the Galapagos, Peru this summer (South American summer) and potentially Brazil, Chile and Bolivia next semester.
If you want to see more of my photos from my trip I put up two Facebook albums and the links to them are:
(http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067983&id=1280460131) for the first album and (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2067981&id=1280460131) for the second album. I hope you enjoy them!
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