Feliz Navidad!

Hey,

It's been awhile since I've written, due to some "hard travelin'" and sketchy internet connections. 

I think the last time I wrote I was in La Paz, Bolivia.  From there I crossed Peru to Lima, then back again to Lake Titicaca.  My plan was to cross back into Bolivia, but just before crossing the border I realized they changed the laws ONLY for Americans, to enter Bolivia.  The new requirements are vaccinations, $100, proof of intinerary, etc...   Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, is basically playing petty politics because these are the same requirments for Bolivians to come to the U.S.  The difference is that Bolivia is a poor country that needs everything it can get.  All the new law is doing is keeping tourism dollars out of the country, not just from Americans either because we often travel in International groups.  Is he worried Americans are going to take Bolivian jobs?   I've always wanted to sell peanuts and socks on the streets in Bolivia, but now that job will go to a Bolivian thanks to Evo's brilliant move.  Enough of my rant.

So now I'm back in Chile.  The price of everything more than doubles when you cross the border into Chile from Peru or Bolivia, but still less expensive than the U.S.  A bit of a shock after being in the other countries for awhile.   I plan to be back in Santiago before the New Year, from there I'm going to have a look around and decide what to do next.  I may go work the grape harvest in San Felipe.  I it could make wine taste better for the rest of my life.

I've uploaded a few new albums.  It's all your getting from me this year.  So imagine it's wrapped!  There are more descriptions online. 

1. The Floating Islands of the Uros are man/woman made entirely of reeds that grow around the shore of Lake Titicaca.  They originally chose this lifestyle to escape the imperialist Incas.  They make everything from the reeds and it provides food.  They also have great teeth from eating the reeds, unlike most other people from the mainland.  The other photos are from the islands of Amantani and Taquile.  We spent one night with a local woman and her daughter on Amantani.  It was interesting how each island has thier own style of dress, with the different colors meaning, for example, if they are married or single, etc...  Gladis, the woman we stayed with, cooked everything over an open fire, and all the electricity came from a single solar panel.  

2.  Machu Picchu  What can I say about Machu Picchu? 

3,  A huge canyon called Colca Canyon near Arequipa, Peru  

4.  A strange festival in La Paz, Bolivia. 


Merry Christmas from Iquique, Chile.  It's here.  It's time for me to go to the beach.   So, how are things on that side of the planet?


Jack

Pics from Patagonia

Dear Friends, Family, Travelers,

A little update on my wanderings....

After meeting up with a couple guys from Ireland on the ship, we decided to go for a backpacking trip in the famous Torres del Paine national park.   It's the big tourist destination from Puerto Natales, Chile, which seems to be the sole source of income for the town.   Anyway we got all geared up and headed for the mountains.  The first day we had decent weather and hiked a few hours to Glacier Grey.  It was here where I saw my first glacier.  Glaciers are wild…ancient, powerful, patient, grand, chunks of water in various states of freeze and thaw.

The second day in the park the weather took a violent turn and kicked up quite a breeze mixed with rain and bits of snow.  Upon returning from a day hike further up the trail we found a huge tree blow over in camp!  (see pic).  The next day we hiked back to the refugio  (an overpriced hostel with restaurant) in freezing, sideways blowing rain.  Once we arrived hungry, cold and wet, we spent the next day warming up and drying out.  The weather forecast was more of the same for the next few days, so most of us decided to head back to town.  One brave (or crazy) man from our group, See-Kui, pushed on despite the weather.   I know he is still alive because I received an email!
 

http://picasaweb.google.com/jackdcarrier/TorresDelPaineAndPuertoNatales

Once back in Puerto Natales, I decided to head north through Argentina to El Calafate to see the Perito Mereno glacier.  It is quite an impressive piece of ice.  You can read about the glacier on wikipedia .

Again, you can see my photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/jackdcarrier/PeritoMorenoGlaciar

I spent one too many days in the tourist town of El Calafate because of travel arrangements.   I also had the pleasure of getting bit by some kind of bugs in a crap hostel.   Maybe bed bugs.  A half dozen nice,  itchy welps.   I got to spend a couple days screwing around, with my current best friend, this laptop.  You can see some of my boredom here….

 http://picasaweb.google.com/jackdcarrier/DogsWithBaldManFromAbove

Now I'm making my way to Buenos Aires through a complicated itinerary.   I hope to meet back up with my Irish friends in B.A.

I just got around to putting up another album from a couple days I spent helping a farmer back in San Felipe.   You can check it out at…

 http://picasaweb.google.com/jackdcarrier/CampoDeManuel

All for now.  I need to get busy waiting for 6 more hours until my flight.  I wonder how long this cafe will let me sit here?

=^)

Jack

Pics of a little boat ride...

http://picasaweb.google.com/jackdcarrier/TripThroughSouthernChile

Notes from a small island

I'm on the island of Chiloé, in southern Chile, in the small peaceful town of Quemche, overlooking the colorful wooden boats the people use to scratch a living from the sea.   In the distance there is a snow covered volcano. 

I write now from my hospedaje.   Many people have a hospedaje sign on a window, advertising they will offer a room.  My room cost $14 (7,000 pesos) and has private bath, TV, ocean view, and breakfast is included.  The meager breakfast was instant coffee, bread and butter, and some "cheese".   The fat owner sat watching futbol on a giant plasma TV, quite out of place with the fisherman theme, while I stared at the ocean with my Nescafé.   Real coffee is a bit rare in Chile for some odd reason.

Today I´m going to make my way north to a town called Puertto Montt where I will catch a long distance ferry (www.navimag.com) that will take me to the southern tip of Chile.  There I can expect to see massive glaciers, fjords, penguins, unspoiled wilderness…and bitter cold.    I´ll be on the boat for 4 or 5 days.   We´ll see how my stomach likes rocking back and forth for that long!

My Spanish, or Castellano as they call it, is getting to a point to where I can talk to people at length which is making this trip much more interesting.  Now I can get around alone confidently.  When I ask questions I can understand the response, rather than nodding and smiling, not knowing what the heck they just said, as I did for the first couple months.    

For me, meeting local people is the fun of traveling.  For example, a couple days ago, in a city called Valdivia, I wondered into a cool little shop, started chatting with the owner about the history of the town.  In 1960, there was a massive, massive earthquake, one of the biggest in recorded history that basically changed the landscape of southern Chile.  A huge tsunami wiped out many towns.  Valdivia was one of the places that was destroyed.  Roberto, the man that owned the shop showed me footage of the wreckage that followed the earthquake, or terrimotto.   Ships were washed miles inland where they sit today, rivers were blocked by massive landslides, the entire town of Valdivia sank three feet!

Before I left the shop, Roberto and Sandra invited me to their house the next day for lunch.  They live on a bluff overlooking the ocean next to a historical Spanish fort.   They make their living as artists, working with metal, wood, fabric, leather, paper, silk screening, poetry, etc.  All by hand, using old techniques, for example, Robert has thousands of little metal letters that he arranges, heats up, and stamps into leather for binding books.  Their house was a creative space with several tiny, orderly workspaces, each dealing with a different craft.   They learned the technical aspects of their art by backpacking around South America in 1992, studying with different artists, for about a year.    They made money while traveling by selling handwritten poetry.  Roberto said he was hungry most of the trip.  Super interesting folks!!

You can see some photos of my day with Roberto, Sandra, and their son at: http://picasaweb.google.com/jackdcarrier/CasaDeRobertoYSandra

They have a blog with a bunch of photos of their work at: http://tienda-taller-denosotros.blogspot.com

Yesterday I met another interesting guy named Carlos Aguilar, a 79 year young man that was working away on a giant piece of wood with a handsaw, as he has for the last 60 years or more.  He makes model ships, exact replicas of famous historic vessels.   His ships are around the world with high-end collectors and in museums.  He is small man with eyebrows that have grown over his eyes like bangs.   His hands were stubby and knobby from working with hand tools day after day.  We talked for a couple hours, at least, about everything from his desire to learn English, to how the French seems less friendly than people from other parts of the world, to how he wants to keep learning and living until the day he dies.  His circular workshop was inside a replica Spanish lookout tower that overlooked the ocean.  Just outside his door was a huge whale skeleton.  

Again, you can see photos of me and Carlos at:  http://picasaweb.google.com/jackdcarrier/ConversationWithAShipBuilder

 

Ok, all for now.

 

Saludos!

 

Jack

 

 

Update from Santiago, Chile

Hey y'all,

It's been awhile since I've written, so I wanted to give a little update.  I finished my teaching commitment at the school on September 1st.  On my final day they had a big festival with singing, dancing, costumes, food.  I had to get up and dance "la cueca" the national dance in front of everyone and also give a little speech over the microphone, in Spanish, of course.  They gave me a nice framed photo of all the students.  The students gave me tons of cute letters with drawings and messages of how much they will miss me.  I will think of those kids often and hope to see them again.

Some of you may not know, but I have decided to extend my travels for another few months.  My flight was supposed to leave Sept. 13th, but I called and canceled the reservation.  The airline will give me some credit when I book another flight.

From here, my loose plan is to travel to the southern tip of Chile, by bus, boat, and boots.  Navigating glaciers, rivers, waterfalls, cities, and volcanoes along the way.  Then head back with a northern route on the Argentinian side through Patagonia to Buenos Aires.   From there I will check my funds and head and either look for job or make my way back to the U.S.

 

I have been in Mendoza, Argentina for the last several days.  I had to cross the border and back again to renew my tourist visa for Chile.  I stayed at this crazy hostel called "Campo Base" that was full of travelers from all over the world.  We all went out to dinner one night and had folks at one table from Holland, Switzerland, Germany, England, Argentina, Australia, and the U.S. (which was me).  It was like a world conference  with no agneda other than getting to know each other and enjoying good food.  Muy bien. 

 

I hope you are well and thinking of writing me. 

 

Saludos!

 

Jack

 

...writing from La Casa Roja, an old mansion turned hostel, in Santiago.

 

p.s.  yesterday, Sept 11,  was also a historic day for Chile.  It was the day, in 1973, that the Socialist Party Leader Salvador Allende's government was overthrown by a military strike led by Pinochet and backed by the CIA.   Imagine the U.S. medling with other countries governments?  Pinochet proved to be a cruel leader that killed thousands of people who opposed him.  He was a dictator here for 17 years.   Yesterday there were many protests and actions here in Santiago.  I don't fully understand it, but it is a sensitive subject with strong emtions on both sides. 

 

moms

ash,

yes, the moms have crushes on me, as do many students.  it's something about having light skin, hair, and bright blue eyes that they really like.  i swear it's like being a celebrity.  i'm getting used to being stared at wherever i go. 

today was amazing as well as yesterday.  this morning, i went to "la feria" 4 or 5 blocks from here, which is like a huge flea market.  you would love it.  it is has many vendors selling everything imaginable, fruits, seafood, socks, pirated DVDs, fish, panties, etc.  it also had many musicians.  one was a family of 3, the father had one leg and one arm, the mother, a couple teeth, and the daughter of about 12 years old was crying for some reason.  they were singing loudly without music.  i felt really sorry for them, their desparation, trying to survive with the talents they could scrounge up. 

today i was on my host brother's bike.  as soon as i got home my family said "vamo?" to a waiting auto with the neighbor driving.  we went to "el campo", basically the country, in the mountains, and spent the day playing futbol, dancing the "cuaca", talking, hiking, playing guitar.  we also had some delicious tea prepared over a small campfire.  

after the sun dropped we stopped at a rodeo.  it was a strange type of rodeo, where two men on horseback try to steer a small cow to certain parts of the ring for points.  it was wild.  i felt sorry for the calves that were scared to death and in "flight" mode.

vamo por bueno vino chileano ahora...

mucho amor,


jack

On 9/2/07, whatahamiam wrote:

Ha!  How funny u email me. Just got back from jack of the woods. Ran into some sous (sp) peps and ur roomy. She's doing good. What an amazing girl. She's very cool. We were watching the Fire cracker jazz band. They just got back from touring.

Awe what a sweet story goodbye story. I bet those kids are going to miss u ttttttrhhhhhhiiiiisssss.  Mmmmmmmuuuuuuucccccccchhhhhh

Hehe, did all the moms have a crush on u ?  como es tu espanol?  Queries viver en sul America ahora?  Si estas aqui por tres mas meses, possible voy por xmas.   I don't think I said that right so I'll translate. Do u want to live in s America now?  If u are there for three more months,  it may be possible I go there for xmas.

So u want a computer. I'm getting one soon too.  Maybe this weekend. There is an acer dual processor 1024 ddr2 mem n 160 hard drive. Writes DVDs 4 $499 this weekend. There is a Toshia  1024mb ddr2 80 hd writes DVDs 4 $399  damn computers got cheap! If u want me to buy one of these 4 u let me know.

Have a gr8 time enjoying urself where ever u may go.  Don't spend all ur money in one place!  Hehe.  Congrats on selling ur house!!!  That's awesome!  Are u going to buy another one?

To answer the questions I didn't answer bf. I think I'll stay here at least till Nov. I don't know if I want to stay here for a long time just. Don't like the flow of the house. But need to find a place 4 a year or more. Can't take this moving shit any more!  Wanna buy a house w me?
Ha ha, sleep on it.

I hope all is well in ur world. Love ur pics. They are awesome. That girl giving u the attitude is sooo cute. Some of the girls in those pics have some crushes on u. Priceless!

So where are u going to travel!?!?  Going to go hiking in the mountains?  Wanna bike across the Andies?!

A big Big hug and lots of love. Ash

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

-----Original Message-----
From: Jack

Date: Sun, 2 Sep 2007 00:21:30
To:"whatahamiam
Subject: Re: Pss


hey sweets, its really nice be dreamed about! to be honest, i'm not sure. but i imagine i'll be ready to come back by xmas. especially knowing what great fun it's going to be...

today was my last day at school. it was amazing. they put on a big performance for me with singing, dancing, fashion show, speeches. they made me dance the "cuaca" a couple times. they gave me a sweet gift that is a framed pic of all the students as a group. there were tears. lots of little girls gave me love notes complete with colorful drawings. "mucho echo de menos tio jack...." mothers were lining up to have their pics taken with me. god i'm going to miss those kids and this place.

now i'm going to go search for a new laptop. mine is just too slow to handle what i need it to do. plus the neighbor wants to buy this one.

chau for now,

jack

Hello Staranger

From: Mike G
Date: Aug 28, 2007 9:00 AM
Subject: Hello Staranger
To: Jack

what do you say thier Bill bo bo bo jo jangley dooo... how is the deep ol south, first off you have to tell me if their any good ol boys their, you know you kind of folks (hillbills).  i took alook at your web site and you are taking some phantastic pictures. i did not know you had it in you.  any way s all is well around these parts just playin the banjar, bullin and eatin sandwhiches.  when you coming back or have you found a lady to keep you in the southern hemisphere for a while. alright buddy. Mike G

---

Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 09:42:06 -0400
From: Jack
To: Mike G
Subject: Re: yeeehawwwww

billy bo banjer...'i thought you had a real job...not a turd job."

it is definitely wild down here.  folks are poor for the most part.  not many people own cars so transportation gets creative, tons of bikes, horses, motorcyle contraptions, lots of buses, etc...  people live in shanty shacks out in theh country made of mud, straw.  they get by and seems to be fairly happy doing it. 

i've done a lot of cool things, but one that stands out is this:  my host moom cecilicia took  me to a spiritual service at night on a remote hilltop overlooking the city.  probably about 15 people there.  it was a steep hike in the dark to an overlook with all the stars out.  they all started praying in spanish and getting louder and louder for several minutes.  afterward they were saying "look, look at the angels over there!"  and asking me if I could see the angels.  then we got in groups of 4 and held hands and prayed some more.  after the service i wanted to hike a short distance to the summit for a 360 view.  they said it was too dangerous because that spot was reserved for god and angels at night, but i could come back during the day and go there. 

my host mom isn't crazy religious every day just on friday nights. 

as far as the chicas, i'm with the only other american in town, emily, a cute girl from texas.  also a volunteer.  the language thing makes it difficult to talk with the locals at depth.  chileans are definitely beautiful.  i'm learning more spanish everyday though.  i'll have another month here after emily leaves so i'll have some time to practice my spanish!  i'm getting ready to travel with her for the next two weeks on a freestyle trip to the north along the coast and into the atacama desert.  it will be awesome, look for pics in the next few weeks.

well enjoy summer and poo bags and rowdy kids! 

chau from the southern hemisphere,

jack

On 7/10/07, Mike G wrote:

Word up there bill bo bully alot. good to here from yous. hope you are keppin it jiggy down the the deep south. , All good here i mean for what it can be it bein summer and all. could definitely use your help and support. so what is the coolest thing you ahave done and the chicas? any ways all good here in the ville, summer time fun. playin alot of banjos and fiddle music, ridding my bike and dancing. get ho,me soon we miss you MIke G

---

Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 13:12:55 -0400
From: Jack
To: Mike
Subject: bully

whats going on there at suws terd burger?  is it crazy yet? 

 

i´m having a swell time here in south america.  i´ll tell you all about it soon.

 

 

jack

Fwd: package received

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jack
Date: Aug 13, 2007 10:23 PM
Subject: package received
To: Kay

hola mama & dana,

we received the package today. thanks so much. felipe and cecilia LOVED their gifts. the table quilt is really beautiful. the shirt design is perfect for felipe. i'm sure he'll wear it a lot. and thanks for the card, extra money, and toothpicks. the toothpicks give my mouth something to do when i'm not talking. the extra money will help too. i'm sure cecilia will keep the quilt for the rest of her life.

i posted a few photos especially for you at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/jackdcarrier/FotosParaMama?authkey=aTnng88D9vs

there has actually been a lot of things i've been doing, but i've been lazy about posting to my blog and/or keeping a journal. i need to write more. it seems like i'm almost integrated into the society to the point that everyday things and the culture are normal. but in reality it is still way different. i'm starting to see things here from a different angle, a view you can only get from being in one place for this long. you know, the realities of living here, the reality of not having much money. sometimes no toilet paper or no dinner, for example. but that is just the way it is. and to think they are still way better off than most of the rest of the world. cecilia and felipe are very poor financially, especially by our standards, but still have way more money and posessions than a lot of people around here.

once my spanish gets a little better i want to meet some people, especially older people with cool bikes and photograph them and interview them. then i'll post the photos and audio on a website. it should be an interesting way to meet people. if it is done right it could start a whole cult following among biker nuts. it's just an idea at this point but basically an expansion of my current biker gallery except with an insight into their life.

i've tried to call you a couple times, but there has been this or that problem with the connection. i'll try to call you again tomorrow or the next day. do you have a regular work schedule? that is another advantage to you switching over to GMAIL because i use gmail all the time and when we are both online it is easy to chat.

you should post some photos for me to see too. everyday regular stuff that is probably boring to you is interesting to me because it is you all and because it is from home.

well i better get to sleep. let me know when you read this.

love,

j.d.

Domingo en el Campo

On sunday, I got to visit Claudio´s, another teacher, family farm. They mostly grow grapes for income that get exported to Europe and the U.S. The farm (el campo) has been in the family for at least three generations. In addition to grapes they cultivate many other fruits such as kiwi, pomegranete, oranges, lemon, peaches, pears, apples. They have a bunch of chickens and use a single horse to work the land. The workers are grandpa and three sons. Some of the vines were planted 40 years ago. Before the grapes I´m not sure what they grew.

Almuerzo (lunch) was prepared by the women of the family on a wood fired stove. There were about 25 or so people there. The walls are crafted of mud, straw and sand. Evidently they get together every Sunday and have for decades. There was a hierarchy at the huge table with the grandfather at the head of the table, then the men and guest, followed by the women and children. The women ate when they could between serving everyone else. The meal was delicious and gigantic. The first course was pork, potatoes, peas, bread, wine... Followed immeadiately by soup with a big chicken leg, potato, broth with herbs. Just when I thought I couldn´t eat anymore out came a cup of homegrown peaches and pears with a dollup of heavy cream. Yummm...

After the binge eating session we walked around the family´s gorgeous land. Just outside they have another wood fired oven for baking bread, an outhouse, chicken coop, lots of fruit trees, a stream. We strolled through the vineyards in awe of how the late afternoon light filtered through the vines. The clouds gathered around the peaks of the Andes creating interesting shadows on the 50 year old vines.

I was thinking about what a dream life this must be, as Claudio (26), who has lived here his entire life, fantasizes about getting out of this tiny town. I wonder if his father had time to dream.

After an hour or two of wandering the fields Claudio got a summons from Mom via cell that the next course of food was ready. What!? Yes, it was time to eat again. This round, more meat, avocado, olives, peas, potatos, coffee. (pictured above) It was delicious. That was two days ago and I´m still not hungry.

I uploaded a bunch more pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/jackdcarrier. I added more photos to the existing albums too.

Chau for now,

Jack

Como esta from San Felipe

6/23/2007

I finally had a chance to upload some photos: http://picasaweb.google.com/jackdcarrier

I arrived in San Felipe yesterday to a warm welcome (not temperature wise because very few have heat here) where all the local teachers and host families meet us for lunch. The teachers are really excited to have the volunteers here. The Spanish-English dictionary has been a key communication device.

It is difficult to describe the living situation here but so far I love it. The apartment is very small and was owned by Cecilia's parents. She has lived here her entire life. The 13 year old son, Felipe, moved into the bedroom with his mom so I could have my own room. (As I write this he is watching female pudding wrestling in Spanish). The door is covered with Simpsons stickers and the walls random South American teenage graffiti. From the window there is a great view of the Andes. They do not turn on the single heater downstairs because it is too expensive. They do have all the electronics, stereo, tv, cable, computer (no internet). The front porch is surrounded by metal bars that go to the roof. You have to hit a button to get out. Felipe is an awesome kid that loves soccer and professional wresting (mixed in with some good mud wrestling). He plays the flute and does the traditional Chilean dance dressed as a huaso (cowboy). He is my buddy. Cecilia will not let me help with any dishes..."Soy tu Madre, tu no ayudo..." They are both very patient with the language thing and we are learning a lot constantly. She is very proud to have me as her "mujer". Several times she has said "Yo, tu madre, si!?" with a big smile.

Last night we went to a big family birthday party. It was wild. There were about 20 - 30 people there. Luckily one of the daughters spoke some English, she is majoring in English at the University. One of the first questions I was asked is "Do you believe in God?" A church like service proceeded around the kitchen table with singing, praying, preaching, reading scripture. Evidently they do this every Friday night instead of Sundays. After quite awhile the birthday party started. From the start, especially with all the younger kids, I had celebrity status. They were surrounding me all talking at once trying to hear things in English. One girl sang me a song and made me dance with her to some Reggeatone, popular music here that is kind of like techno and reggea. It was good fun.

As we were leaving the party Felipe got on there computer and turned up the volume to show me this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KiAvmzcZbg

I started teaching yesterday and it is completely wild. I don't think a lot of these students have ever seen a gringo before. So as you can imagine all the students want to hang out with me contantly. If you want to know what it feels like to be a movie star, move to a rural town in Chile volunteer at a school. As I type this message there are about 10 students peering in the window! They brought fruit and candy this morning. All the girls want me to dance with them. It is awesome. I have to go play now or else there will be a riot.

Peace,

Jack

Adios Santiago

Hey y`all,

I haven´t had a working computer to upload any pictures yet, but I have loads of good ones. For some reason my laptop will not connect here at the hostel. I´m kind of beat down right now because we have had class everyday for the last few days and we party every night. There are a lot of English speaking people here from all over the states, europe and canada at the hostel so it is a lot of fun.

Tonight is the last night in the hostel. Tomorrow I go meet my host family in a town an hour or so north of Santiago called San Felipe. You can look it up on maps.google.com...click on the ´satelitte´ view. It is a farming community where they grow a lot of Avacados. I´m a little nervous about the language barrier because my host family do not speak any english and my spanish sucks! I´m sure I will learn fast. It is a single mother and a son of age 14. She is a teacher in my school which is about a 20 minute bus ride away. San Felipe has about 70K people. It will be good fun. There will be one other volunteer from Texas in my town.

I´ve been hanging out with a guy from Ireland named Niall all week who is on an ´`around the world` trip. He is my age and we´ve had a good time exploring the city together.

When the smog isn´t too bad the mountains surrounding the city are really beautiful. There is so much going on here politically and socially. This country was under military dictatorship for almost 20 years. Just 4 years ago divorce became legal. It is an interesting time in Chile. People seem to be really excited and interested to have us here, especially the host families and teachers. You can just tell they are super interested in how we speak. There are a ton of different meanings to words and slang. For example, one woman called the sprinkles at the ice cream at lunch ``jimmies`` so a conversation proceeded about what ``jimmies´´ are in our language.

I´ve been surprised at how organized this program is. The logistics of the whole thing has been pretty smooth. There is a fuzzball table here at the hostel that has been a lot of fun as well. I also bought a ´bamboo saxiphone` for like 10 bucks that has been fun for everyone. You all will hear it I´m sure if it makes it back to the states. The wine here is delicious. For a 5 or 6 dollar bottle you can get the best wine you will ever have. Tres Medallion 120 Cabernet is a good one if you can get it in the states. Another is something, something Diablo.

There are so many little differences between the cultures and the´`things` from the plugs in the wall to the tiny urnals and how everyone kisses for a greeting, but male and male still shake hands. People eat dinner at 8:30.

I´ve got to go and pack now and get ready for the trip tomorrow.

I made it!

Hola,

I arrived yesterday morning in Santiago and made it to the hostel after surviving the bus ride. The flight was on time and everything went smooth.

I met a couple interesting people on the flights, one guy, Migueal, is a Chilean fighter pilot that was flying back from training in Texas and the other guy, Jesus, (I never thought I would ride a plane with Jesus!) was a Cuban who worked with the CIA during the Bay of Pigs to oust Fidel Castro. He has not been back to Cuba since, moved to Costa Rica for 20 years working for the the first color TV station in Central America. Got a divorce and moved to Miami. We spoke Spanglish.

It is definitely interesting over here, mostly because of the language barrier, of course, everything is in Spanish and most people only speak Spanish. The hostel is pretty nice, just had a free breakfast of bread, jam, and instant coffee. I was kind of waiting for the eggs and bacon but it never came.

Yesterday, I felt like I was one of a few among several million with blue eyes and light hair, definitely got some second glances. I was eating alone at some random place and an cute little girl about 6 or 7 comes up and starts speaking fast Spanish, the main theme being ´monero¨. After several minutes of realizing this gringo isnt Santa Claus she headed back into the street and got swept away by the huge crowd. A few times people stopped me on the street wanting to show me this or that, give me a poem, etc, always with an story about how they need money. Reminded me of getting hassled in Asheville, except for the poetry.

I´m about to go get lost in Santiago... again.

Here is a pic of Santiago:
http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imagen:Stgo_Abril.jpg


Jack

Soldier's Joy

Joe and I had good time on the front porch playing some classics like Arkansas Traveler (well hello, stranger...), Soldier's Joy, 8th of January, a cool John Hartford tune over the R & B that the Tourists were so kind to share from McCormick field .

We proceeded to eat beans, rice, and collard greens at a local sports bar.

I need to write a 'blog' soon

I'm at work right now, should be 'working' but instead I'm tweaking around with this blog. I think the work 'blog' is dumb. It sounds like something you need to see a doctor about.

Anyway it is hard for me to be present when my mind keep wandering south, way south, to Santiago, Chile. I'll be heading out June 14 to teach English with the Chilean Ministry of Education for a few months. The program is called "English Opens Doors".

It will be winter there. I'll be packing winter clothes in 80+ degree heat. Odd. I'm excited about winter and hoping to get to go snowboarding or skiing in the Andes mountains. Awesome.

I'll be living with Chilean family that probably will not speak English. My Spanish is equivalent to about at a one year old's level.

My grand plan is to keep this page updated. We'll see how often reality provides an internet connection.