Creative juices are simmering...

...and in the meantime, one of my favorite quotes of all time:

"I'd rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself than be crowded on a velvet cushion" ~Henry David Thoreau

Hello My Lovelies...

...this is perhaps the longest that I've gone without updating my posts - I'll be back soon and I promise to come back with juicy travel stories, complete with photos to match! In the mean time - take care and travel safely! Or recklessly. Whatever. ;)

Pic of the Day - Tiny Argentinian Man Dances with Tall American Woman

This shot was taken in the beautifully eclectic neighborhood of La Boca in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Jax and I had been wandering through the neighborhood, casually shopping and taking in the sights, and we decided to stop at this little cafe for a glass of wine. Right after we sat down at one of the sidewalk tables, the couple in the photo began dancing the Tango, right in the middle of the street! At the end of their dance, the couple invited patrons of the cafe to dance with them (for tips, of course). I resisted at first, but the draw of Tango in the street was like the draw of karaoke - it seems like a really bad idea at first, but once the idea marinates for a few minutes, it becomes irresistible. So I let the man pull me up out of my chair and into the street, where he tried to make my awkward steps look graceful, to the laughs and cheers of other people in the street.

To this day I still don't know if those people were laughing at my lack of dancing skills, or the fact that my dance partner's eye-level was not one centimeter higher or lower than my boobs. This photo really doesn't do justice to our height difference, but take my word for it - I'm practically standing on my knees! And no, that is not my hat.

Have you ever...

...forgotten that you put laundry in one of the communal washing machines, then remembered about it a couple of hours later and returned to the laundry room, only to discover that someone has piled your wet clothes on top of one of the driers with a Post-It note that not-so-delicately asks whether you would prefer to be "responsible" about using the machines or "donate" your clothes to the needy the next time you leave them unattended? Or is it just me?

I think that someone who enjoys the same communal laundry room as me has some Passive Aggressive issues happening...which is not to say that I don't appreciate a healthy dose of Passive Aggressive behaviour every now and again, on a strictly personal level. After all, I'm thinking of sticking Post-It notes in strategic places around the laundry room...the only part I'm uncertain about is what to say on my Post-Its.

Any ideas?

:)

An Interesting Juncture

I have reached an interesting juncture in the posting of my travel emails. Following the last email posted - Wine Country en Espanol - I only sent out two more emails from the road before Jax and I returned to the States. I will post those emails here, as I have posted previous emails, but you may notice that the following emails have a distinctly different tone than others I've shared with you. The reason for this difference is that Jax and I had also reached an interesting juncture. The relationship was over - neither one of us talked about it, but I think we both knew. We just sort of kept on keepin' on, pretending like everything was fine.

In a little town south of Mendoza, Jax and I had a bit of a medical emergency that shaped the course of our travels together. We returned to Mendoza, where we learned first-hand the bureaucracy of a foreigner staying in a government-funded Argentinian hospital for five days. The hospital administrators obviously didn't like the fact that an American citizen was receiving free care - it was very clear that they would provide emergency care as needed, but that we should have enough money to pay for care at a private hospital, rather than receive care funded by Argentinian tax-payers. We did have money, but we didn't know if it would be enough to pay for private care, and we were afraid to move to a new hospital. We had gotten ourselves TO a hospital and as far as we were concerned, that was the important part. So Jax and I stayed at the public hospital, where we were constantly encouraged to transfer to a private institution.

A translator was provided for us so the doctor could explain that foreigners usually prefer to seek care in the private hospitals because, as described in excruciating detail, theft and personal injury are rampant in the public hospital. Ironically (or maybe not so), a translator was never provided for the doctor to explain his diagnosis, or the treatment, or medications, or any of the things that were keeping us up at night. Luckily, we could understand just enough Spanish, and we both have just enough medical knowledge, that we were able to consult with my dad and mom (a doctor and nurse, respectfully) via telephone and feel like we had a solid understanding of what was happening. And for what it's worth, we never had any trouble with theft or "personal injury" at the hospital. In fact, with the exceptions of the hospital trying to get us to leave, and the confusion of trying to translate medical terms from Spanish to English, and the fact that patients at the hospital have to provide their own meals, our hospital experience was actually very smooth and pleasant.

From Mendoza, which is on the west side of Argentina, we flew to Buenos Aires, on the eastern coast of the country. Jax and I spent a few incredible days together in Buenos Aires, which I'll tell you all about in my next blog post. But we only had a couple of weeks left in South America before our flight home to California was scheduled to leave from Lima, and I had the Travel Itch again...BAD. I wanted to see as much of South America as I could before we had to go home. Jax was going to stay in Buenos Aires - that part was certain. I just couldn't sit still. I didn't feel good about leaving Jax, but he was with friends, and he understood why I had to go. Besides, by that time the emotional distance between us felt monumental, despite (or maybe because of) spending 24 hours a day together, and I think that as a direct result of that, the idea of traveling alone - without Jax - was not as scary as it would have been otherwise.

I didn't have any plans or intended destinations, but I did have money and I had two weeks with no obligations. So one afternoon while Jax was exploring with friends, I visited a travel agency in Buenos Aires and consulted with an agent as to how best to spend my remaining time in Argentina. Forty five minutes and $600 later, I walked back to our hostel to meet Jax, with two round-trip plane tickets in my purse - one between Buenos Aires and Iguazu, to the north, and one between Buenos Aires and El Calafate, to the south.

It was the first time I had ever made plans to travel alone in a foreign country. And that, my friends, is what my next few blog posts and travel emails are about. Coming soon, with photos! :)
Take care and travel safely!

Pic of the Day - Inspecting Bottles

I'll admit it - I was spying. We ran across a tiny winery (bodega) in a tiny town somewhere south of Mendoza, Argentina, and there was a warehouse on the grounds where I could see people working inside - wheeling equipment in and out, hosing out and stacking barrels, taking measurements of barrels' contents, and generally being very very busy. This woman caught my attention - she was sitting perfectly still and staring at empty bottles passing in front of her on a little conveyor belt with a big light machine behind them. The conveyor belt disappeared through a plastic curtain along with the empty bottles - I really wanted to find that room where the bottles were headed, as I had a sneaking suspicion they were about to be filled up! But alas, all the doors were locked and we couldn't get in.

Mmmmmm.....wine......

:)

There is nothing quite like...

...hiking your boobs up to your chin, donning the sluttiest lipstick Mabeline has ever dared to produce, trooping down to the county fair with a gaggle of women you share a blood line with, having a few cocktails, and trying to set your mom up with a man who you don't realize: a) is the father of a guy you dated in high school, b) is very happily married (married men - PLEASE wear your damn ring), and c) thinks that YOU are hitting on him. Really. Nothing like it.

12/03/06 - Wine Country en Espanol

Hi folks!

It's 6:17 on Friday night - what are YOU up to? As for me - I'm easing into another beautiful weekend on the California coast with a new blogpost. :) This next email was sent from Mendoza, Argentina and as always, it's posted here exactly as it was originally sent out. It's funny to read these emails now, after all this time - some parts make me cringe at the cheesiness but mostly, they bring back incredible memories and make me wish I was still traveling. It really is true what they say about the Travel Bug - once you've been bit, you'll never fully recover!

In the email posted below, I wrote a little story about a wine-country tour that Jax and I did on bicycles with our friend Clare. I can't help noticing that the original email leaves out one of the most memorable parts of this story - the fact that Clare and I were both hopelessly hungover because we stayed up half the night before, drinking lots of wine and having lots of girl-talk (mostly about men, of course). Being hungover maybe doesn't sound like that big of a deal...until you're on a bicycle on a rough road in the hot sun and you have a huge headache and you run out of water and it's MILES in between stops and everyone is cranky and Auntie Flo makes an unexpected visit. Then being hungover is actually a VERY big deal, and makes for quite the memorable experience. This pic is a self-portrait taken after we arrived at the first bodega - already hungry and thirsty and tired - only to discover that it was closed! I think the expression says it all.

So without further adieu, here is the full email - happy reading, and happy travels!

Wine Country en Espanol
Date Dec 3, 2006 3:40 PM

Hola from Mendoza, Argentina - the heart of Argeninian wine country. Adios (or more correctly - hasta luego) to crappy coffee, boxed wine, and cold showers! Mendoza is a very beautiful city - in appearance, atmosphere, people, culture, and of course - in vino. The streets of Mendoza are lined with giant sycamore trees which form leafy canopies high above the pavement. There is one hugely impressive plaza - Plaza Independencia - in the heart of the city. This main plaza is surrounded by four smaller ones, each situated three or four blocks diagonally from the corners of the main plaza. In the evenings (and into the night), artisans line the walkways which serpentine throughout the massive park area to display and sell their goods. In the center of the park/plaza, there is a giant, two-level, stone/marble/concrete area which is occupied simultaneously by a cluster of little cafe tables (yes there is also a cafe IN the park), various performers, a beautiful fountain (which reminds me of a smaller version of the one in front of the Bellagio in Las Vegas), and dozens of passers-by. It doesn't get dark here until 9PM or so; my favorite time of day is around 6 or 7PM, when the sidewalks are spotted with little shadows of dancing sycamore leaves.

It is not so unusual to see the sun rise in Argentina - everything seems to work on a different time system here. Siesta begins at noon, which means that all the shops and businesses close down. Depending on the city, siesta may last until 5 or 6PM, at which point everything opens up again, until anywhere from 9PM until midnight or later. Many businesses remain closed between start of siesta on Saturday and Monday morning. Restaurants do not open for dinner until 8PM...at the earliest. Restaurant patrons are never rushed away from a table. Rather, the general atmosphere tends to be conducive to lounging, relaxing, and perhaps partaking in that after-dinner port or cocktail that you would otherwise pass up.

So back to my orignal topic - wine country. After exploring some of the wineries - bodegas - around Mendoza, I must say that I feel a bit spoiled in California! The wines itself are incredible virtually everywhere around Mendoza, but the ease in which the tasting room experience unfolds is not always so incredible....which I say in comparison to, for instance, Paso Robles or Sonoma. There are several provinces surrounding Mendoza which each individually have separate bodegas and champaigneras (spelling inaccuracy noted). On our first day here, we decided to explore the closest province, which is called Maipu (pronounced My-Poo). Lacking a vehicle (and not wanting to drive anyways) we rented bikes for the day, with our friend Clare.

Lesson of the day - look at the map before you leave! The roads in Maipu are unpaved (ie rocky and depending on the bike rider - potentially hazardous) and l-o-n-g. Most of the bodegas are at least several km apart. Some of the bodegas on the bike map are not open for tastings...but you can look at them through a gate. When you do find a bodega with a viable tasting room, you will maybe recieve a small sip of something not for sale, which I can tell you with confidence does not quench the type of thirst one might develop after having a hard plastic bike seat crammed up one's ass on a hot HOT day while on what would seem to be a wild goose chase for a nice little wine buzz. ;)

That being said, we ended the day at an INCREDIBLE bodega called Tempus Alba, which is run by a very handsome older man and his two handsome sons - all three of whom assisted in quenching our healthy thirsts and graciously shared their winemaking passion with us. Tempus Alba has a huge patio (remniscent of that at Chateau Souvereign) overlooking their vineyards. We lounged on the patio sipping wine and chatting with other folks until the sun started sinking. I bought a bottle of wine to preserve the memory - I'm not sure how it will stand up to a few weeks in my backpack, but I plan to bring it home for Christmas!
We are staying in a great little hostel here. It is just off the plaza on the northwest corner of Plaza Independencia - one called Olaza Chile. I was sold the second I saw the garden here - it is paved with huge, flat, weathered-looking stones, with scattered shrubs and trees. One wall supports a mountain of bouganvillia and assorted other vines, all growing wild and bushy (like my hair). There is a plot of grass in the center, which is occupied by a unique assortment of garden ornaments - one small lemon tree, one mini palm tree, one rod-iron lamp post, and one GIANT gardenia bush, which currently displays a hearty bloom of large flowers in all of their sweet fragrant glory. I love gardenias - they remind me of my Grandpa Martin's old backyard.

I also realized today, while admiring the assorment of flowers in our hostel garden, that although I appreciate Mother Nature's purpose in creating The Bee, I have a ridiculously stubborn fear of such creatures (no matter how many time my mom tell me to 'just stand still'!

I hope to see you all soon!

Take care,
Aubrey

Pic of the Day - Che Day

On this rainy day in Cordoba, Argentina, we set out with a few friends we'd been traveling with to find Che Guevara's childhood home, which is now open as a sort of public museum. We eventually did find the home, but unfortunately the gate was locked, with this sign posted to the outside - the sign is a bit soggy and hard to read, but not to worry My Lovelies, I can translate it for you here -

"Thank you for finding your way here, to Che Guevarra's childhood home in the beautiful town of Cordoba, Argentina. Unfortunately, although we would normally be open to visitors today, for some reason we're not. But hey, if you wave at that lady you can see through the window, she'll probably come out and give you a brochure or something."

And so I am now the proud owner of a brochure from Che Guevarra's childhood home! Having been turned away from Che's house, we continued wanderi

ng around Cordoba, searching for a little entertainment.

Did you know that Argeninians are really quite serious about their Siestas? I speak the truth. So it was Friday afternoon, and we soon discovered that Siesta started around 11:00 a.m....and because it was Friday, "Siesta" would last until Monday morning! So alas, all the shops in town were closed up tight. Luckily, we ran into a woman who invited us into her shop, where she sold mate tea, mate gourds, and other mate accessories...not to mention the wine, cheese, and meats! I couldn't understand her very well, and I'm damn sure she couldn't understand me, but for some reason she LOVED me. And now I have a mate gouurd with a silver straw to go with my brochure from Che Guevara's house.

:)

Pic of the Day - Cow in a Car

You just can't make this shit up. Oh yes, that's right my friends - you are currently viewing two whole sides of beef in a hatchback station wagon. For REAL. This pic was taken in La Paz, Bolivia, near the hostel where Jax and I stayed before leaving the city for our bike ride down the Road of Death, to Coroico. I included a smaller version of this pic in a recent post, but I I just had to give it a little undivided attention. I mean....DAMN. And maybe the craziest thing about this pic is that after I snapped the shot, I bought groceries in the local market, sat and visited with a few friends from the road, and spent about an hour at the post office before returning to our hostel...when I passed this car again, and the cow was STILL in the car. I then vowed to abstain from eating beef in Bolivia...until Jax and I found a hoagie stand later that night. :)

For the Love of Hitchhikers

I know I'm not supposed to pick up hitchhikers. Really, I do.

I also know that I'm not supposed to kiss on the first date, or think babies look like aliens, or wear colored bras under white shirts, or order pizza at midnight, or curse, or stay up late, or forget to brush my teeth, or lots of other stuff that somebody - at some point in history - decided are inappropriate things for a nice young lady to do.

But full-circle-style, I love me some hitchhikers. Luckily, for the sake of my "nice young lady" status, I have found a loophole in "the rules" regarding hitchhikers. It's dangerous to pick up hitchhikers, especially for a solo woman. Check. I totally get that. But...what if they're not holding a thumb out? Doesn't the thumb in the wind define the status of hitchhikerness...a la Tom Robbins' Even Cowgirls Get the Blues? Bingo. It's all about the thumb. No thumb, no hitchhiker, no problem!

Tonight I was driving home from my nice stable job in my nice sporty car, looking forward to a glass of nice red wine on the patio of my nice little apartment that I share with my nice little cat...when I saw them. Their bulging backpacks, their determined strides, their messy hair...it all tugged at my heartstrings and made me yearn for a life that was once my own. Once before...and once again, most certainly. But for now, it's a life that I've put on hold, and one that I admire with Nostalgia of the First Degree.

Their thumbs weren't working the offshore breeze of the ocean-bound road where I first met them. So technically speaking, they weren't hitchhikers. They were simply travelers, out exploring the world. As for me - all I did was pull over and ask if they needed a ride.

I stopped in the middle of traffic, hollered my offer through the open window, and The Travelers were in my car within seconds. They smelled like sweat and they looked tired, but their faces glowed with happiness through their sunburns. I fell in love with The Travelers immediately.

The Travelers were looking for Hollywood Beach, which is less than a mile from where I picked them up. I asked where they were headed on Hollywood Beach, which stretches for about one mile along the coast, and they simply shrugged, at a loss. Remembering the days when I had destinations absent of specifics, I suddenly felt embarrassed for forgetting that traveling the way The Travelers are - the way I once did - is about arriving at a dot on the map; a general destination. Everything else is like an afterthought, because the most important part of the trip is getting to that dot...and the next dot...and the one after that.

In the few minutes that we shared together in the car, The Travelers told me an abbreviated version of their story. They're a young couple from Baltimore, who simply couldn't answer the question of what to do with the rest of their lives when it was posed to them after finishing school. So instead of answering the Unanswerable Question, they decided to travel together, with no expectations, no obligations, and no safety nets.

I've been there before, with Jax. The Unanswerable Question between me and Jax wasn't the same as what The Travelers are currently faced with, but the principle is the same. You're standing at a crossroads in life and you're not sure of which path to take, so you pull in a deep breath, hold tightly to the hand of the person standing next to you, and put one foot in front of the other. Eventually, regardless of the circumstances, the answers will be clear.

I don't know what The Travelers are in for or out for. All I know for sure is that I dropped them off at Hollywood Beach and told them how to get to the sand dunes where they should be able to sleep for the night without attracting attention...and now I'm having a REAL tough time focusing at The Office Job, thanks to my Nostalgia of the First Degree!

Pic of the Day - Valley of the Moon

This is a photo of me and beautiful Clare from South Africa, sitting atop a ridge in the Valley of the Moon, or Cordillera de la Sal, in the desert north of San Pedro de Atacama, in northern Chile (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valle_de_la_Luna_(Chile). Needless to say, the wind was merciless this afternoon! It probably didn't help that we couldn't stop laughing. A truly unbelievable landscape, the valley looks like what you'd imagine the surface of the moon looks like - pocked with craters, peaks, valleys, and an array of sporadically impressive geologic formations (which I would definitely NOT recommend climbing on...Chileans are quite serious about protecting cultural landmarks...a cause which is apparently federally-enforced. Seriously - don't climb on unique-looking stuff.)

11/23/06 - Happy Thanksgiving from Argentina!!

Hello! Did you miss me? Believe me - I sure missed YOU!

The last travel email I posted here was originally sent out from Bolivia, after Jax and I visited Lake Titicaca. It was several weeks before I sent out another email, when we eventually made our way to Argentina. In the meantime, we had an UNBELIEVABLE time in Bolivia! We rode mountain bikes down “The Bolivian Road of Death”, also known as “The World’s Most Dangerous Road” - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yungas_Road - DAMN, what a ride!!

We also spent several days in the Solar de Uyuni – an amazing high-altitude desert full of natural wonders the likes of which I couldn’t even begin to imagine had I not actually seen them. One night on our desert trek, we stayed in an OLD building made of bricks and concrete, where backpackers from other treks were also staying. The building was in the middle of NOWHERE – literally no sign of civilization for miles and miles around. The rooms were very large with high ceilings, and they had plain concrete floors and walls, with tiny windows up near the ceiling. There were about a dozen skinny, metal beds lined up along one wall in each of the three or four rooms, and no sheets or blankets on the beds. I’ll never forget that night – it was SO cold that we wore practically everything we had, but our faces and fingers were still numb. There was no electricity in the building and no moon that night…it was the darkest of dark night skies. Jax and I huddled with the other travelers in our room and we all wore our headlamps so we could see around the room. The guys wouldn’t admit it, but I think everyone was a little freaked out…I sure was. We all shared Power Bars and Ramen Noodles for dinner, and rationed our water because the faucets were broken. For entertainment, an English guy delivered an extremely detailed lesson on the sport of cricket, using charcoal to draw diagrams on the concrete floor…I was grateful to at least have something to focus on besides creepy sounds in the dark!

Jax and I wanted to continue traveling south to Argentina from Bolivia, but after the Solar de Uyuni trek, we decided to enter Argentina through Chile because we heard the border crossings were easier in that direction. So from the trek, we took a bus down to the Bolivia/Chile border where we walked through customs (after having our bags thoroughly searched), and took a bus to San Pedro de Atacama, the nearest town. We quickly learned that busses between San Pedro and Argentina only run every few days…so we settled in to a super cool hostel with a few friends we met on the road, and enjoyed northern Chile for a few days. We had bonfires in the desert, joined drum circles in town, and visited the Valley of the Moon (Cordillera de la Sal), where I was nearly arrested for climbing atop what I thought was an interesting rock formation...failing to realize that it was actually a protected cultural treasure! Woops.

By the time we made it to Salta, in northern Argentina, it was almost Thanksgiving – which is when I sent out the email posted below. I hope you enjoy the story, and safe travels!!!

Happy Thanksgiving from Argentina!!
Date Thu, Nov 23, 2006 at 2:39 PM

¡Buenos tardes!

I love making that little upside-down exclamation point. :) Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I just got off the phone with my parents and sisters and cousins and brother-in-law and even my new little nephew (or one of the puppies - I'm not really sure - ha ha). It feels so good to talk to family! Jax and I are in Salta, Argentina now. What a beautiful city!! I haven't been to Europe yet, but everyone says this place is "very European". We arrived yesterday - no the day before - from a long bus trip, getting in to town around 11PM. After arrival we headed to the main square and sat down to a proper steak dinner - salads, wine, and the whole shebang - at midnight, served by a handsome waiter in a tuxedo! Then, at 1:30 in the morning, we walked across the plaza, which was still bustling, and sipped expresso with some friends in a little sidewalk cafe. I could get used to this!

We've been traveling quickly since the last email I sent out. After visiting Lake Titicaca from Puno, in Peru, and from Copacabana, in Bolivia, we headed to La Paz for more Bolivian adventures. La Paz is a HUGE city - very diverse and very busy. Unfortunately we didn{t have enough time to really explore the city, although we had some very memorable experiences. For instance, I learned how to send a package full of souveniers to the US from Bolivia. I think. Ha ha!

For me, there were two main highlights in Bolivia - first, riding a mountain bike down "The World's Most Dangerous Road" and second, traveling via jeep all ujp, around, and through the Solar de Uni - the great Boliaivan salt plains. The bike ride was unbelievable! We started in the WEE morning hours (we have an Irish friend we like to tease for saying "wee bit" all the time) at the top of this ginormous mountain, where the mist was so thick, in some places I felt like I was just following the sound of the bike tire belonging to the person in front of me. As thew mist cleared, we had incredible views of this lush, green valley. Everyone was wearing protective gear, which got COMpletely covered in mud splatters. Something about being covered in mud makes a girl feel really bad-ass. The road is about as wide as one truck. When two vehicles meet each other going oposite directions, a very delicate dance ensues whereby one precariously backs up while the other slowly inches forward for the pass. Take it from me - it is far safer to be on a bike than in a vehicle on that road!

One of the guys in our group was an experienced mountain biker from Colorado - I gave him my camera and he snapped a bunch of photos for me on the way down (both of my hands were very busy with white-knuckle grips on the handle bars). He said he could hear me "howling like an Indian" all the way down. Geeze - you would think a guy from Colorado might have heard a proper YEE HAW once or twice before in his life! :D

After surviving the road of death and another day in La Paz, we headed to a little town called Uyuni, which is the launching point for explorations of the Bolivian salt plains. I really don't know how to sum up our tour, it was just so incredible. We literally drove around the middle of nowhere in the back of a jeep for three days, completely in awe of the landscapes.

We saw flocks and flocks of wile flamingoes, living in bright aqua-marine colored lagoons at the base of maroon- and sage- colored volcanoes, rising up from the pure, crystal white sands of barren salt plains. We drove through herds of wild vicuña and alpaca, grazing on little cacti and patches of shrubs on high desert plateaus. We got up at 4 in the morning and watched a pale orange sun rise over the dramatic Bolivian landscape, from within a garden of seething hot gurgling mud - geysers pouring steam out of the earth all around us - our boots sinking into warm mud and our faces numbing in the frigid early morning air felt only at an altitude of 4870 meters in the Bolivian desert. We stripped down to our skivvies and soaked in a steaming hot natural mineral bath in the middle of nowhere, staring out across the mind-blowingly expansive landscape - an experience which left my skin soft and my soul calm (and my hair a little crusty, although that's not very poetic!).

The tour ended with a hectic border crossing into Chile, at a charming little town called San Pedro. I have TONS of photos to share with everyone, which I will upload as soon as I can find an internet connection faster that the shoddy dial-up connections we{ve been finding everywhere! We stayed in San Pedro for a few days, waiting on a bus to Argentina. Luckily we had a great hostel - lots of cool folks living a laid-back hippie-type desert lifestyle. Chilean people are very good looking as well. ,) We coincidentally ran into a couple of friends in San Pedro, and we all traveled to Argentina together.

My Spanish is getting better. Although we meet tons of English speakers along the traveler's route, we've also been spending time in plenty of places where there are NO English speakers, which is good for learning. So, as I mentioned, we're in a city called Salta now. Tommorow or maybe the next day we'll start heading south, towards Buenos Aires and Bariloche. Tonight we will have a Thanksgiving feast of steak and red wine!! Ahhhhhh......

Take care everyone, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving! Hug someone you love and call someone you haven't talked to in awhile. I will send more updates (and hopefully photos) soon!

Love,
Aubrey

RELIEF!

Holy frickin' hellfire, my computer is actually HERE and it actually WORKS and all of my files are actually perfectly wonderfully beautifully exactly as I left them! I had fully prepared myself for the worst...or, rather, I had braced for the worst. I've spent the past few weeks telling myself that if the manuscript is gone, I'll just start over...it'll be one of Life's Grand Lessons. A learning experience, if you will. And yeah, I know they're just words on a screen...but they're also words that I've poured my heart and soul into for nearly two years now. So...PHEW. I just backed up all of my files onto an external hard drive (yes I know I should have done this before, but obviously I did not and now I have learned my lesson, BIG time). Now I have a pizza in the oven, a bottle of wine with my name on it, and a lot of writing to be done! More to come soon...

:) :) :) :) :)

Pic of the Day - Bus on Water

Good news!!! Today I received a long-awaited (automated) call from Dell, and my computer is finally on its way back home (fingers crossed that it arrives safely and in one piece)!! Once that's up and running again, it'll be MUCH easier to post my SAmerica travel stories here once again. So until then - here's today's travel pic - "Bus on Water" - this is a huge, plush tourist bus, slowly making its way across Lake Titicaca on an old, wood "barge" of sorts. The barge was seriously half full of water by the time it reached the docks!

Pic of the Day - Like Sex

"Double entendre" really is one of the coolest phrases in the English language, both in sound and in meaning.

I've hit a temporary yet two-pronged speed bump in my blog posts and the progress of my manuscript (so, really, it's a double-sided two-pronged speed bump). I know, I know - excuses, excuses. And yet, explaining myself seems to alleviate a bit of the guilt (is that the Catholic heritage talking?). Anyways - work is crazy, and quite successfully impinging on My Life, paired with the fact that my beloved laptop is in the hands of techie-fixer-uppers for the next couple of weeks or so. Alas, I am dismayed. And so, the Pic of the Day phenomenon continues, until I can once again seclude myself in the comfort of my wonderful little studio and tap tap tap out the travel stories that are constantly occupying some space of my brain....like sex. Haven't you ever heard about those studies that claim people think of sex every five seconds or something? They're usually referring to just men, but that's simply an oversight...big time. So, full-circle-style - that's how these travel stories are for me - every five seconds or so. Like sex.

My original idea with the "Pic of the Day" (temporarily en lieu of riveting travel journal entries) was that I would post photos in chronological sequence of the actual camera shutter. But considering the tone of the Stream of Consciousness delivered above, I must now skip ahead in the timeline....to Argentina. Yes, my Darlings, it's like sex - the sensations are different, and the situations and circumstances and course of events are different - but the AMBIANCE....the ambiance of Argentina is very, extremely sexy. And if you don't see it or feel it, you just need to hang out for a minute. It's there.

Consider the meal in this photo for a moment - it's just bits of meat and cheese and olives and berries, and it's just a glass of wine, and it's just a little cafe somewhere outside of Mendoza. But it's so much MORE. If only I could communicate via this blog the sound of the music on the patio and bicycles on the street, and the melodic lull of people chatting softly in Spanish all around us, and the way the waiter kept winking at me when Jax wasn't looking, and the way women's skirts flowed in the evening breeze that cooled our sweaty skin...

Pic of the Day - Pissy Pussy

I met this little kid while exploring one of the floating villages on Lake Titicaca. He was so excited to show me his kitten...the photo really speaks for itself. MRAWR!

Pic of the Day - my perch over Chicama

This is still one of my favorite concrete benches in all of South America - and yes, there are other concrete benches that made a mark on my memory, but this one it particularly unique. Perched high above the left-hand break at Chicama, it offers beautiful ocean views, right next to views of the enourmous high desert of central Peru. Even better, it's only steps away from El Hombre's cold cerveza and Senora's delicious cooking!

...can you see the wind turbines in the background, on the cliff above the waves? Pretty neat - especially up close!

I am addicted.....

....to my laptop!!! I hate to admit that my Electronic Leash is so strong, but it's making me CRAZY that I can't access anything on my computer - no files, no photos, no future award-winning manuscript. They're all still there (hopefully)....but not presently available for the purposes of instant gratification. Instead, I'm trying to conjure up some creativity in the office, which is proving to be an effort that - sans comfortable couch, yoga pants, glass of full-bodied wine, and no work-related distractions - is monumental. RAWR.

Pic of the Day - Cusco on a rainy afternoon....

I just realized that the "new travel pic" I posted yesterday isn't exactly new to this blog. Oh well - it's still one of my favorite! Today's pics were taken in Cusco, Peru, while wandering around the city on rainy afternoon. I love all the cobblestone streets and old buildings...

I found this cool alleyway during a brief moment of sunshine :)

View of the city from the ledge of an elementary school

Pic of the Day - one of my favorites!

This year at Bonnaroo, my friend Sam learned that a blog will generate more traffic if posts are made at least once per day. The good friend that she is, Sam imparted this tasty little morsel of cyber-world wisdom upon me, and I subsequently came to realize that I should make an effort to post more regularly than I presently do. Posting a new and interesting travel story every single day seems like a highly ambitious first step in this new endeavor, so instead I've decided to shoot for posting a new and interesting travel photo every single day...after all, I have thousands of pics, just waiting to be shared with the world! Of course I will also continue to post my travel emails from South America, along with acccompanying stories and images - the random photo posts in the meantime are just to tide you over. ;)

This photo was taken in Cabanaconde, Peru. I love this little cowboy's expression - he's not really afraid of us, but he's also not too sure...

11/08/06 - Passport Stamp Numero DOS!

[I prepared this post last week, but my home computer hit the skids while I was uploading photos. I'm borrowing a computer now and don't have access to my travel pics at the moment, but I'll post more photos to go along with the email/story below, just as soon as my computer get out of the techy hospital!]

Tonight I’m sitting at my computer again, reading through emails sent out by yours truly nearly three (GASP!) years ago. Damn, time really flies.

Focus...Use your words...

The last travel email I posted on this blog (not counting the non-travel-related June 9th and 16th posts) was about the Colco Canyon trek that Jax and I did from Arequipa. The next travel email I sent out from South America was dated almost two weeks later, and by then Jax and I had made our way to Bolivia, via Lake Titicaca.

This email is a long one and so, rather than write a long intro (as previously promised), I think I’ll post more photos than usual – the images really do speak for themselves. As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!

Passport Stamp Numero DOS!
Date Nov 8, 2006 12:52 PM

Hello all,

We've been traveling around quite a bit over the past week or so and I haven't had a chance to get to the computer, so this is going to be a long one! Since Halloween, we've visited Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca (Puno(, and entered Bolivia. I may have to compartamentalize my thoughts here...

CUSCO

Halloween in Cusco was a BLAST! Everyone dressed up and went out together. The manager of our hostel - Ben - even brought out a birthday cake for me! Our costumes were a succuss - before we left, Ben stapled them to a wall in the hostel bar and had us autograph the wall with a sharpie. Fun fun! The weather in Cusco has been pretty cold and rainy. One day when we were walking around, it started to hale out of nowhere! Good thing there was an Irish pub nearby...

One of the popular dishes in Peru - and apparently throughout South America - is Cuy, or guinnea pig. A couple of days after Halloween, Jax and I ventured out to a little village near Cusco with our friends Steve, Clare, and Will, for some authentic Peruvian cuy. Well, I have to admit, when it came right down to it I had to go with the vegetarian plate. The cuy is cooked in a brick oven - just like pizza - and is served WHOLE, with the stomach on the side, stuffed with herbs. Wow! It was a true experience! Everyone seemed to enjoy it...although not everyone said they would try it again.

We left Cusco to visit Machu Picchu for a few days - see below - and when we returned on November 5th, there was a huge party in the works at the hostel. The English residents at our hostel organized a huge bonfire and fireworks show in the backyard, in honor of Guy Faulkes day - they even burned a Guy Faulks manequin in the fire, as per tradition. I believe the story is that Guy Faulks is this dude who tried to blow up Parliament one November 5th long, long ago. Now, every November 5th, there are bonfires all over England, complete with Guy Faulkis dolls, to celebrate the valiant historic effort! I think.

MACHU PICCHU AND WAYNAPICCHU

here are lots of ways to get to Machu Picchu from Cusco - we opted for a bus/train/bus/walk option. From Cusco, we took a bus to this little town called Ollyontantambo and stayed the night there. In the morning we took a train into the rainforest, to Aguas Caliente - the closest town to Machu Picchu. We spent the (rainy( day exploring this little mountain town, which is very toursity due to its location right next to Machu Picchu. In the morning, we headed out early and caught the first bus up the mountain to the ruins. What luck! We had great weather and not too many crowds for the first few hours. The photos really speak for themselves - I'm uploading them now. In the middle of the main city ruins, there's a huge open space, believed to have been used as a marketplace. Now it is occupied by a family of llamas, who keep the grass well groomed.

*Note to self> if I were a llama, I would totally live at Machu Picchu.

If you are standing at the 'main city door', looking down onto the city ruins, you will see the profile of a face in the mountains behind the city. The mountain which makes up the nose is called Waynapicchu, and you can actually climb to the top of it and look DOWN onto Machu Picchu. Jax and I decided to do the hike - the weather was nice, and we had taken the easy road up to the ruins anyways. So we set out on this little path. OH MY GAWD. This was seriously the steepest thing I have ever climbed in my life, and it was SO exhillerating! The pathway is actually very well maintained and there are even steel guide-ropes installed in some places. And yes - you NEED the guide ropes! At the top, there are several places where you have to climb up Inca-built staircases, where each stair is about the size of a standard red brick, and everything on either side of the staircase has fallen away (I had to talk myself through that one(!

One of the really cool things about this hike is that occasionally we would pass other hikers, and there were people up there of ALL different ages and abilities. Very cool. The skies opened up and dumped cold rain on us on the way down - we were very grateful to have gotten clear photos from the top!

On our way back through Machu Picchu, after the Waynapicchu excursion, we passed BUSloads of people just arriving, in the middle of the rain. Ha ha! The bus down the mountain follows a steep switchback pattern, which you can see in the photos from the top of Waynapicchu. There are local kids who run straight down the mountain, beating the bus at each switchback turn! If we hadn't done the Waynapicchu hike I would have felt like such a lazy lump, after watching those kids!

LAKE TITICACA - Puno and Copacabana

After one night back in Cusco (for the Guy Faulks bonfire( we boarded a train headed for Puno, on Lake Titicaca. We opted to take the train rather than the bus so we could see the scenery along the way. Good thing the scenery was incredible, because the train took 10 hours, compared to the bus' six! My favorite part of the train ride was coming through mountain passes, where we could see snow and ice on the ground but the local folks were still out in the fields, taking care of their crops and livestock. Farmers don't have fencelines here, so they tie their livestock to stakes in the field - I think it looks like they tie up the male animals and, for the most part, leave the females and babies free to roam. Late in the afternoon, we passes through a HUGE lightning storm - it was all around us, in the hills! We arrived in Puno in the evening - it was FREEZING! I bought a hat a bum gloves from a lady on the street. Ahh.

The next morning, we got on a boat in Lake Titicaca and took a tour out to the floating reed islands. There are dozens of floating islands in this part of the lake - they literally have to anchor to the lake floor to keep from floating away! There are usually 5 - 8 families living on each island. And hey, if you don't like your neighbor, you can cut off a piece of the island and float away, or jsut move your little hut to a new island! We rode on a traditional little reed boat in between a couple of the islands - Jax made friends with the captain and got to paddle for a bit. The people who live on these islands actually use solar panels, provided by the government, to generate electricity.

After the floating island tour, we hopped on a bus to Copacabanna, in BOLIVIA! The trip was only a few hours and followed the lake for most of the way, with spectacular views! At the border, we changed money, got Peru exit stamps, Bolivia entrance stamps, and walked about 200 yards across the border before we could re-board the bus. Hooray! Passport stamp numero DOS.

Now we are in Copacabana, on the Bolivia side of Lake Titicaca. We'll probably stay here another day, then head southeast to La Paz. We will probably move quickly over the next few weeks, so I'm not sure when I'll have this much time at the computer again, but I'll send more updates when I can! Take care, everyone!

Hasta luego,

Aubrey

Date with Opossum at 10:22 p.m.

Do you ever promise yourself multiple nights in a row that you’ll do some particular thing (for instance, work on a new blog post or try to find a literary agent) but then get so busy with Stuff that all of a sudden it’s nearly midnight and you collapse into a chair on the patio with a glass of wine and kick your feet up for the first time in hours and mentally calculate how many hours you’ll be able to sleep before it’s time to get up and get dressed and be somewhere annoyingly “professional” and ironically, you just can’t seem to think of exactly what has kept you so busy that you haven’t been able to keep that original promise to yourself?

I’m nipping this cycle in the bud, right here and now at 10:16 p.m…just far enough ahead of “nearly midnight” that I haven’t started thinking about how much sleep I’ll get tonight. Except that I have. But it doesn’t matter. However much it is, it’s enough. It is what it is. Maybe this is the difference between 10:16 and 11:59. Oh…woops…it’s 10:22.

My dearest Kiddos, Krazies, Kamikazees, Kippers, Skippers, Dippers, and Trippers, et al...et alii, et alibi, et cetera, y esto perpetua - es verdad - I'm back! Anyone been playing with online thesauri lately? Not I, said the blind man (as he picked up his hammer and saw). Heh heh. This is what happens when I get "too busy" to keep up with my writing. It bottles up and I ignore it and pressurize it and mull on it and consider it (but still mostly ignore it) until one random day, evening, and/or Time Warp Moment, it all bubbles out and jumbles my brain into a (beautifully abstract?) stream of words that explode through my fingertips and, in this case, make their mark on the World Wide Interweb.

As you know by now, the emails I’m posting on this blog are worded exactly as they were when I sent them out from the road, while Jax and I were traveling through South America together. The next email that’s waiting in the wings to be posted here was originally sent out on November 8th of 2006, and it’s a long one…which means that my blog-post intro will likely be a long one as well. I just can’t help myself sometimes. :)

…so now it’s nearly 1:00 a.m….I had every intention of posting another travel story tonight, but a (very random) opossum spent the better part of this evening past 10:22 p.m. makin

g quiet little I-might-be-a-burglar noises on my patio and so, after discovering the offending animal, I spent the better part of this evening past 10:23 p.m. shopping for Mace and Maglights on Amazon. That’s right, Nasty Opossum. I’m prepared now. Or at least…I will be prepared in 3 – 5 business days.

I will also post my next South American travel story within the next day or so. I promise.

crazy world.....

Once again I'm diverging from the travel-themed posts of the past and future of this blog.....mostly because right now, I have an overwhelming urge to write Something yet am presently too exhausted to trick my brain into stringing words together in any formation besides that in which they appear when they...well...appear.

See what I mean?

Exercise in Creativity [slash] Stream of Consciousness [slash] Other Clever Title to Describe the Following Words to Follow. Slash.

Wore a killer green dress to an awesome wedding. Felt like Hot Stuff because people kept complimenting the dress and I caught The Ex checking out The Cleavage. Tried to snuggle with The Ex and ended up not. Lack of Amorousness. Oh dear. Bottles of champagne opening. Champagne flowing. Taxi arriving. People piling in. Slumber party on floor. Empty bottle of champagne. Full cup of coffee. Conveniently-timed text message followed by fucking incredible Bloody Marys at the Rudder Room, followed by surprise fishing trip, followed by sunny sunny sunny day with alas no fish on the line, but that's okay because lots of Mackeral (really) are in the bait tank and apparently if you bite the head off one it won't kill you.

Eh hem.

Commercial Break. Cigarette Break. Sanity Break. Break in Sanity. Welcome to Reality. Hello, Reality. So nice to meet you. I think. Except for the part about this red burning skin. It hurts and itches and is making me feel like a Whiney Little Bitch. Is it peeling yet? The skin, that is. My skin, I think. I'm not sure about this Reality. What about Sanity? Anyone have a Cigarette? Commercials are over. Fuck. Oh yeah. Sunburnt Reality and Fish Juice.

Eh hem.

Wore a bra to work but took it off in the car because my skin was screaming at me. Compromises need to be made sometimes. Thank Karma for those band-aids in the first aid kit.

Rescued the BIGGEST teddy bear I have ever seen named him Mister Ball Face and brought him home to Rufus. Decided that Mister Ball Face makes me smile (if not laugh) on a regular basis whereas Kitchen Table has never done a damn thing besides provide a surface for stacking unpaid bills and require dusting every now and again. Thereby justified replacing Kitchen Table with Mister Ball Face. Considered for a moment whether a grown woman (who, Me? dammit where's that Commercial Break when you need it?) should rearrange her furniture to accommodate an impressively over-sized and second-hand stuffed animal that has definite potential for scaring off Potential Dance Partners.

Consideration Commercial. Still not sure about Mister Ball Face, but have arrived at a satisfactory conclusion.

Drum Roll.

Potential Dance Partner MUST be down with Mister Ball Face in order to even potentially qualify for Dance Card Consideration. It's not about Mister Ball Face, on a personal level. It's the Principle. Mister Ball Face will actually have a new home soon because every time I look at him I think about how much a kid - you know, one of those small humans who would never consider Kitchen Table versus Mister Ball Face because OF COURSE Mister Ball Face is the one and only - would be a better home for Mister Ball Face.

It's a matter of Principle because I refuse to be judged by Potential Dance Partner as severely as I judge myself. It's a matter of Principle because ONLY the true Potential Dance Partner wouldn't see the whole Mister Ball Face situation as ridiculous. It's a matter of Principle because I still feel undecided. And the Un part of the Decided part is all mine.

Eh hem.

Commercial break.

10/27/06 - Colca Canyon

The Colca Canyon trek was PHENOMENAL. It was also tough and trying at times, but definitely well worth it. We walked through a mountain-side Quechuan village, and had dinner by the light of a single candle in a lean-to kitchen on the floor of the deepest canyon I've ever seen. We traversed rickety rope "bridges" suspended high above a rocky riverbed, we swam in natural springs, and we slept under a roof through which we could see the stars. We laughed and we loved and we fought and we struggled. We couldn't stand each other in the heat and sweat and strain of the afternoon sun, yet we instinctively supported each other in the truly difficult moments. An invisible wedge was working its way between us and it ironically drew us together as much as we grew apart in its presence.

You know how people say that one of the true tests of the strength of a relationship is whether you can travel together? Well I think it’s more than that. I think that equally telling is whether a couple can travel with a group, while continuing to nurture their relationship with each other.

The Group Dynamic is one I hadn’t considered before Jax and I set out together, but it’s a big one, and it surprised me. In traveling with people we both got along with really well, Jax and I began spending less time with each other and, after the Colca Canyon trek, we began staying in dorms more frequently, sleeping in separate beds more often. After all, we’re all friends and we’re all on a budget and we’re all going to be up late anyways, so doesn’t it just make more sense to stay in the dorm? Sure. Yeah, it does. But after awhile, it also changes things.

I’m not saying that a couple should be attached at the hip – not in the least. In fact, I think that having time apart is crucial to a healthy relationship. But whether two people are physically together or not, a certain tenderness needs to be reserved especially for each other…which can be easy to forget in the midst of an amazing travel adventure. So things began changing for me and Jax – not in terms of negative or positive things, but simply in terms of the Grand Scheme of things. In the moment, while it was happening, I almost didn’t even notice. Almost.

I don't want all this relationship stuff to detract from the Colca Canyon adventure - it's just part of the deal. Welcome to my brain...you may want to brace yourself for the ride. :)

The next travel email was sent out from Cusco, after Jax and I returned to Arequipa from the Colca Canyon trip. As mentioned before, these emails are posted exactly as they were sent out from the road......

Hello from Cusco!
Date Oct 27, 2006 5:11 PM

Buenas noches!

I hope everyone is preparing fabulous Halloween costumes! As you know, Halloween is one of the most fantabulous holidays in the universe. Today I bought a showgirl-type dress from a Goodwill shop in Cusco- fun fun!
Our trek into Colca Canyon was incredible. I have now survived my first truly SCARY bus ride. Did I mention SCARY? Well it was freakin SCARY. Oh course Jax didnt´t think it was SCARY, but he´s traveled on busses in India. Ha. So we´re on this bus. It´s a big bus. BIG bus. Lots of pèople. LOTS. And we´re going on and on on LITTLE roads. Mostly dirt or gravel roads. Oh yeah, and we´re on the side of a freakin moutain. At one point we passed a sign which, with my mediocre Spanish abilities, I was able to translate as saying something about crossing a huge FAULT. As in earthquakes. Then right after that we go through a big tunnel. Then, while going/rocking around a blind curve on this dirt mountain-side road that is surely about to crumble in an earthquake that will hit at any second, we pass an OIL TANKER. Every now and then we swerve to miss cattle or other obstacles in the road. And the movie of choice on-board said bus, you wonder? A horror film. Wel we survived. Phew.

We arrived in the town of Cabanaconde (3900m?) in the early afternoon and began our trek down into Colca Canyon straight away. Most tourists go into the canyon with a guide, but we spoke with other folks who did it with a guide and got a pretty good idea of where to go. A couple of friends - Claire from South Africa and Steve from Australia - were with us. It took about 3.5 hours to get to the canyon floor, and by that time we were exhausted, hungry, and very very dirty.

We met a woman in traditional Quechuan dress who offered us rooms at her house for the night and we gladly accepted. She led us UP the opposite side of the canyon for about 30 minutes (OUCH) to a beautiful and extremely rustic set of huts. She prepared dinner for us on a wood-burning stove and we ate by candlelight. In the morning, she drew a map in the dirt for us, indicated how best to travel down-river to the oases. The hike to the oasis was just over 3 hours - up, up, up (OUCH OUCH OUCH) the canyon wall, opposite that which we climbed down, then flat, flat, flat (PHEW), then down, down, down (surprisingly - OUCH OUCH OUCH).

On the way, we traveled through two remote mountain-side villiages that actively used land tiering for growing crops. The views were stunning - I´ll send photos soon. In one of the villiages, a little old toothless woman approached us but no one could understand a single word she was saying. Finally we realized she was speaking Quechuan (s/p?), a language which is currently only used by the older folks in rural areas and is rapidly dying out. Just like we did not understand Quechuan, she did not understand Spanish. Fascinating.

The oasis was incredible - truely complete with lush greenery, waterfalls, and swimming pools - right in the middle of this dry, dusty canyon. Yee haw! That night we slept at the oasis in a simple bamboo hut with a dirt floor. There were actually vines growing through the roof above Jax´s head! In the morning we got up early and hauled ass straight up the canyon wall, gaining 1200m elevation in about 3 hours. Whew! We did not ride the mules, but we did send our packs on one.

I was pretty sick that night and the next day - I think a combo of the altitude and some sort of bug - but I´m better now, and I´m very glad for the experience (let me know if you need tips on how to puke on a public bus). We´re in Cusco now - we´ll probably stay here for about a week, then head over to Agua Caliente. I hope everyone is doing well! Will send more updates soon.

Take care,ç
Aubrey