Monthly Archives: December 2008
A Visitor!
We’ve been traveling for almost three months now. This means that we’ve spent approximately the last 2000 hours together, with one another being our only consistent support in our grand endeavor. And honestly, while that brings us closer and all that, when you do everything together and see everything together and notice everything together and are removed from the pace of everyday life together, you run out of things to talk about. Everything we take in about the world happens …
Chile Summary Now Online
We’ve added a new page to our Country Summaries; check it out for a review of our time in Chile. Because we have hundreds and hundreds (maybe thousands) of photos of Chile to sort through, we haven’t yet uploaded them but will (hopefully) soon. We’ll let you know when they’re up. We also don’t have the budget page up yet, but we’re planning to do some serious arithmetic on our upcoming bus ride to Lima and will post that info …
A Makeshift Chilean Christmas
It came without brisket, it came without tags It came without 19 types of cookies, without a tree, wrapped boxes and bags But somehow it came, it came just the same. Okay, I lie. It didn’t come just the same. I didn’t get my annual family viewing of the animated version of “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” I didn’t get a bedhead family photo on the stairs Christmas morning. I didn’t get the loud exclamations from my brothers over every …
A Privileged Way of Thinking
As we made our way around the Valles Calchaquies, from Salta to Cachi, Cachi to Cafayate, Cafayate back to Salta, most of what we seemed to see was the vast emptiness of a difficult but stunning landscape. There were a few small established towns, places with a market and a restaurant, running water and electricity, and in the larger ones maybe even a bank and a gas station. As we explored these larger towns, I’d find myself wondering what brought …
The American Southwest Meets Sonoma in Argentina
I’m not 100% sure what most people think when they think of Argentina—perhaps its the European style of Buenos Aires, the sizzle of tango, the melt-in-your-mouth taste of steak, the wilds of Patagonia, or the gauchos of the pampas—but I’m pretty sure it’s probably not cacti. In northern Argentina, however, that’s exactly what you’ll find: huge cacti and marvelous rock formations. And oh yeah, vineyards too. Lying west and south of the major city of Salta, the Valles Calchaquies is …
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Children of the Mountain
We’ve seen the mummies in Egypt. They’re in a small room at the Museum of Antiquities in Cairo, and as it costs extra, we found ourselves bribing the guard to allow use of our student cards to enter. Inside a small room are a world renouned collection of mummies in incredible condition, preserved for thousands of years. Those mummies may as well have been skeletons compared to what is at the MAAM museum in Salta. The story goes back 500 …
Scheme #2
When Theresa was studying in Germany, the first place she took me when I came to visit was to the doner stand. Somewhat like a gyro, but with a little more bread and a different sauce, the donor is the fast food of Germany, having taken on new life from its Turkish origins. And it is oh so delicious. But why do I bother to inform you on the fast food habits of the Germans? Because we found a doner …
Freelance Me
I’m a little bit Type A, sort of an overachiever. I don’t really do well with relaxing, and I’m terrible at saying no. Why do one thing if you can do ten? I got my first job at 16 (well first job that was on the up and up), and I pretty much haven’t quit working since then. My senior year in college, I held down three jobs, volunteered with two Girl Scout troops, took 6 more hours than was …
A Wildlife Bonanza on Peninsula Valdes
Maybe you’ve seen one of the nature program specials that show orca whales literally beaching themselves in order to feast on seals. It’s pretty freaking cool. Well, at least it looks that way on television. Though we recently visited Peninsula Valdes, where this survival of the fittest feat plays out, we didn’t see it. First of all, it’s not the right season. And second of all, you have to have the patience of a saint…or a Planet Earth videographer…to actually …
How to Walk on a Glacier
Begin by walking a few hours over mountains and through scrubby Patagonia valleys all while enjoying the view of dramatic mountains that are usually hidden by clouds but show themselves off the entire time you are in El Chalten. Then clip on a harness and zipline across the river down which flows the melting water from the glacier you are approaching. Next approach the edge of the glacier, which is covered in rock and dirt from the mountain from which …
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