A lot has gone down this week. After arriving in Pisco, I went to a rural community a few hours away to work on a water filtration system, only to walk through the host family´s door and lie down in a fetal position for almost two days. It´s the worst being sick in a house with no running water(the toilet doesnt flush). Luckily, I sucked it up before I got here and overpaid for some anti-biotics, which took care of whatever was causing chaos and violence within my stomach. It was that bad. As seven or eight other group members would soon find out.SSSSoorrry. On the second day, while bathing in the river and recouperating, I coasted down with the tide underwater only to head face first into a large rock and bust up my nose. Andrew, theres blood coming from your nose, a lot of blood. But the end the week left me down in a good way. charging down a giant sand dune on a snowboard. Get down, or go home.
I´m back in the crowded bunk room at HODR´s headquarters and I´ll spend most of the week on the rubble crew, bringing down the cracked brick walls of former households and adding more debris to the street. I spent my day off, yesterday, at an oasis nearby and took a dune buggy tour of the sand dunes. This is like taking a small boat through a choppy ocean, only sand. The beauty of the dunes is accentuated by the absolute silence, but of course I just cant be happy until I rip through the natural landscape on a board. The sunset, I took in on its own.
I dont have much time to write. No more wit or satire. Ive been in south america for nearly two months and Ive been on the planet for nearly 23 years. I dont want sentimenality to turn off faithful readers, but I will note one simple, obvious, realization. I believe its most important to be where you are entirely, content and with passion. This only seems possible when you make the decision to turn time from a restriction to an absolute freedom. I wont make any difference to myself or anyone else, waiting for the right amount of money, the right degree, or the right circumstance to indulge in everything Ive been brought up to desire. Ive been lucky enough to find enough encouragement to take off, feet first, eyes closed--and yes it feels like dreaming.
´´We are here on Earth to fart around. Dont let anybody tell you different.´´
PS, If anyone is ever interested in visiting, or traveling together in the future, do as the aussies here say- GET IN THERE!
Monday, November 19, 2007
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Pisco Sour, Pisco under Rubble
I made it to Pisco, with Hands On Disaster Relief. I was met by two crazy guys and a girl who handed me a bottle of champagne, (lemon flavored?) and we walked to the beach which is five minutes away. The Australian guy and the other one from seattle keep calling me Charlie, or something of the sort. The water was cold and refreshing and dirty like the east coast, like east coast.
I was in Lima for 4 days and there are undoubtedly a few things I´ve learned. When you´re traveling around Lima, it´s good if you have a guide. It´s safe and secure when your guide is an off-duty cop, and he keeps his glock under his leg when you´re driving around in the city. But you might be with a mayor driving around in an SUV, (I was) so you´ll need to move the shotgun from under your legs onto the back seat--it´s just better to keep one around. Enough of the hypotheticals, Lima was ridiculous and different and in many ways, for a few days, I was "living the life." We drove through sand dunes, charging over 50 degree angles and through steep, narrow, paths. I had my first pisco sour at a health club on the coast, and afterwards sat in a sauna and talked to a young lawyer, and then had another. He spoke perfect english and I forced more bad spanish. Mi Maestro was the perfect host. We talked about Fujimora and being rich and being poor, and still its tough to find any definitive answers. We want to help, we want to be happy. There is plenty of room for sacrifice, but I know mental health is important. You need to get your head straight.
Its funny to be with a guide, a bodygaurd, someone dedicated to constantly entertaining you. For example, because my guide didn´t speak any english, I tried my damndest to make conversation and to have fun. I asked Rodriguez if he liked the beach, if it was close. Do you like to go with your family. An hour later we´re in a boat. Yeah, I was just asking about your interests, but I like la playa, the beach, la mar, and the ocean.
I left in a rush, overslept and again I´m on the bus. Its only a few hours and next thing I know the woman on the bus is asking, in english, where I am staying (something new). She says its a bit unsafe but I ravage through my luggage and find an address and within 10 minutes Im at the HODR house. Now its back to the house. I´m the newest member of a wine club (its sunday) and the beach is a stones throw away. Busy day under the sun before its back to work. They say its all sledge hammers and shoveling. I think I´ll manage.
I was in Lima for 4 days and there are undoubtedly a few things I´ve learned. When you´re traveling around Lima, it´s good if you have a guide. It´s safe and secure when your guide is an off-duty cop, and he keeps his glock under his leg when you´re driving around in the city. But you might be with a mayor driving around in an SUV, (I was) so you´ll need to move the shotgun from under your legs onto the back seat--it´s just better to keep one around. Enough of the hypotheticals, Lima was ridiculous and different and in many ways, for a few days, I was "living the life." We drove through sand dunes, charging over 50 degree angles and through steep, narrow, paths. I had my first pisco sour at a health club on the coast, and afterwards sat in a sauna and talked to a young lawyer, and then had another. He spoke perfect english and I forced more bad spanish. Mi Maestro was the perfect host. We talked about Fujimora and being rich and being poor, and still its tough to find any definitive answers. We want to help, we want to be happy. There is plenty of room for sacrifice, but I know mental health is important. You need to get your head straight.
Its funny to be with a guide, a bodygaurd, someone dedicated to constantly entertaining you. For example, because my guide didn´t speak any english, I tried my damndest to make conversation and to have fun. I asked Rodriguez if he liked the beach, if it was close. Do you like to go with your family. An hour later we´re in a boat. Yeah, I was just asking about your interests, but I like la playa, the beach, la mar, and the ocean.
I left in a rush, overslept and again I´m on the bus. Its only a few hours and next thing I know the woman on the bus is asking, in english, where I am staying (something new). She says its a bit unsafe but I ravage through my luggage and find an address and within 10 minutes Im at the HODR house. Now its back to the house. I´m the newest member of a wine club (its sunday) and the beach is a stones throw away. Busy day under the sun before its back to work. They say its all sledge hammers and shoveling. I think I´ll manage.
Monday, November 5, 2007
by land, by river, by 24-hour bus
(pictures to come, just an update for now)
I am a bit behind. Really I am, I missed my chance at the 24 hour bus from Guayaquil, Ecua to Lima, Peru so Im ¨just kicking it¨ (as PJ would put it) in the highest-populated city in ecuador. All this means is that I spent a good amount of my day in a park with prehistoric looking lizards, giant iguanas, reading and drinking fresh mora (blackberry) juice. A three or four year old girl had one particularly large one by the tail, and drug it behind here like a toy car on a string- this was both horrific and hilarious.
I took a trip to the Oriente a couple weeks ago. This was the jungle, and it took 3 and a half hours on a motorized canoe, after 11 hours on the road, to get there. The huts in the lagon I stayed in with only one other guest were amazing. No electricity, only candles for your room and gas for the kitchen. However there wasn´t a lack of giant insects, and the most amazing frog found on the trip was in my toilet bowl.
My jungle experience was pretty much like jungle book. Me mogley. I ate larvae, stuck my hand in an ant nest, went out in the dark night river to find smal aligators (camens) and finally fished, gutted, and ate a giant pirrahna. I made some videos of some of these events that I will have to dedicate to any family member living south of pennsylvania. (I will post soon) Aside from these native activities, although the ¨natives¨ were much more civilized than the grigo loco, I saw saw beautifully exotic birds and loved every minute I spent on the river.
This past weekend was a fiesta in Cuenca. It wasn´t entirey loco, but we spent friday night in the park listening to Andean music and some fusion (the latter the smooth Jazz of the Latin world) drinking sangria and liter bottles of beer.
I am a bit behind. Really I am, I missed my chance at the 24 hour bus from Guayaquil, Ecua to Lima, Peru so Im ¨just kicking it¨ (as PJ would put it) in the highest-populated city in ecuador. All this means is that I spent a good amount of my day in a park with prehistoric looking lizards, giant iguanas, reading and drinking fresh mora (blackberry) juice. A three or four year old girl had one particularly large one by the tail, and drug it behind here like a toy car on a string- this was both horrific and hilarious.
I took a trip to the Oriente a couple weeks ago. This was the jungle, and it took 3 and a half hours on a motorized canoe, after 11 hours on the road, to get there. The huts in the lagon I stayed in with only one other guest were amazing. No electricity, only candles for your room and gas for the kitchen. However there wasn´t a lack of giant insects, and the most amazing frog found on the trip was in my toilet bowl.
My jungle experience was pretty much like jungle book. Me mogley. I ate larvae, stuck my hand in an ant nest, went out in the dark night river to find smal aligators (camens) and finally fished, gutted, and ate a giant pirrahna. I made some videos of some of these events that I will have to dedicate to any family member living south of pennsylvania. (I will post soon) Aside from these native activities, although the ¨natives¨ were much more civilized than the grigo loco, I saw saw beautifully exotic birds and loved every minute I spent on the river.
This past weekend was a fiesta in Cuenca. It wasn´t entirey loco, but we spent friday night in the park listening to Andean music and some fusion (the latter the smooth Jazz of the Latin world) drinking sangria and liter bottles of beer.
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