Arbol del Tule

25 minutes outside the city of Oaxaca, a town was built among a giant tree.
Arbol del Tule, or the tree of Tule has been around since the days of the big J-man. The tree is estimated to be over 2000 years old, with a diameter of 14.05 meters. (that's around 60 feet). Word around town has it that 60 something people can fit around the tree...that´s quite a protest.
The tree of Tule isn´t the oldest or largest tree in the world, but it is certainly a spectacle. I don´t know anywhere you can find a tree that is both so old, and big. If you do, leave me a message.

This particular cypress tree has certainly seen its share of settlers and conquistadors throughout time.
If we figure that the Clovis first inhabited the Americas a little over 10,000 years ago- than this singular tree has seen 20 percent of all civilization in the Americas. The tree was already 900 years old upon settlement of the Zapotecs (1100AD) , the first known cultural civilization since the Clovis people in this section of Mexico. It watched the development and the conquering by the Mixtecs soon after, in the 1200´s. Than the Aztecs came in the mid 1400´s. The tree stood strong through the Spanish invasion by Cortez in the early 1500´s, and was still standing to celebrate Mexico´s independence in 1821.
I might be wrong on some of these dates, but I´ve been keeping up on my history so this is the best retention that I could manage...and could miscalculate.

Well worth the 35 cent bus ride, although I had to stand throughout the entirety. It feels good to be back in Latin America and jumping on the chaotic transportation systems. The massive Arbol del Tule proved to be an incredible spectacle and masterpiece of what mother nature can create.

This picture I am posting isn´t taken by me- as mentioned in my previous post...my camera is broken.

the road less traveled

A typical evening in Oaxaca, Mexico. Casually strolling down the cobblestone alleys after a leisurely dinner admiring the landscape of the mountains. After a brief conversation on how to jump start Jess´s and my exercise regiment we both take a glance at the mountains. ¨Why don´t we just climb the mountain tomorrow?¨

After an early morning breakfast, which I rarely make it to at the hostels, we find a bus that will take us ¨that way¨, which is all we know about the large mountain looming in the distance. Our bus driver asks us where we are going, and we explain we want to climb the mountain ahead. He gives us a puzzling look, which may be taken by some as the look of ¨you crazy gringas¨. He tells us its a 2 day hike, and than asks if we have a tent, food, and other arrangements that some people might make ahead.
We tell him we only have 1 day to hike the mountain, and we have 2 big jugs of water, a box of crackers, and a slice of leftover pizza from lunch yesterday. ¨I´m pretty sure we can do it¨ we confidently tell him.
Truthfully, we have no idea. He drops us off towards the base of the mountain in the center of a little village that's lies at a nice elevation above the city of Oaxaca. He also happens to drop us off at the bottom of a massive road that appears to have an incline of 80 degrees. Well...here goes.

We begin our ascent. There appears to be some trails that we are following which means our idea isn´t that ridiculous. Obviously, other people walk up this too. As we follow the path up, the trail varies in substantiability. At times it seems like we are walking up an irrigation canal with years of erosion on both sides. The ravine-like path stands above our head narrowly on both sides.
The entire day is bliss. No contact with any other person, just an occasional site of donkey-dung. This is all Jess and I could have asked for.

When we stop for breaks, we rarely spoke on our way up. We both have the appreciation of pure silence. We´d stand or sit within the forest and admire the slow descent of a leaf falling, the rustling of an acorn breaking through a tree, the buzz of the insects, the swaying of the branches, and the light howl of the wind. Nature at its finest.

This was certainly no ¨Into the Wild¨. We weren´t looking to get lost, or escape the world... only temporarily. It was simply a mountain that stood in front of us asking to be challenged. And we accepted.
As we rose in elevation and we reached our last stretch to the top, the forest floor became a soft bed of pine-needles. Our feet were lost as they sink up to the ankles in every step we take. Each step becomes a moment of anticipation of whether your foot will succeed and progress further, or if you will slide down. The majority of the time we slide backwards but in time we manage.

The feat of the mountain was no extraordinary expedition, but just our desire to conquer the road less traveled. Sure, we could have taken the guided tour several miles north at the National Park, but we preferred the solitude and silence. We prefer the adventure of the unknown.

I will post a picture of the mountains in the next few days. Unfortunately, my camera broke a few days ago...just 1 week into my trip. The woes of the traveling life... Not much to complain about though- my high level of self-satisfaction is making me feel on top of the world.

and it begins again...mexico

The blog is being reinstated as I have started back on the road.

Mexico City, stop 1.

With over 19 million people, M.C is the 2nd largest city in the world. The city also claims to have more museums than any other city in the world. However, I have not visited a single one.

Before my arrival to Mexico City I was bombarded with statistics and facts from numerous people (and books) about the high crime rate and lack of safety in MC. I have not experienced anything that would lead me to this conclusion, and using my normal travel safety-measures, I believe that this is a fine city to visit... if you like pollution, smog, loud noises, and chaotic taxi-filled streets.


As I mentioned in a previous email, yesterday we had the pleasure of walking past a protest of naked-people. Well, today we walked by it again and actually found out that they are protesting about the government taking their land. We gave them money. And than I took their picture.

I would have liked to find out more details of the protest. From what I could understand of the half-naked man speaking to me...the masks were of the president, and, the are not fond of him. I would have continued speaking to him but anyone who has ever spoken to someone with a mask on knows...its really creepy. So, instead we continued walking.

The rest of the day consisted of a very long walk thru the entire city, merely observing the surroundings. Mexico City is known for its splendid architectual designs and boasts some beautiful buildings and sidewalk-art. During our 2 hour walk down Avenida Reforma we noticed that there were public benches every 25 feet. Not only is this wonderful because we have the ability to sit and recline wherever we please, but there was a variety of the styles of benches. From contemporary, modern, classic, and just plain quirky- each bench had its own unique style.
These are a few of my favorite benches of the day... Unfortunately, I do not know how to turn the pictures so some are sideways, like the man below me. He is actually hanging upside down...so turn your head to the left to look!

It is good to be back on the road again...

mom comes to visit...PERU!

while mom was busy looking through her binoculars, i was busy looking at our cute guide...

jungle fever

a lil tease of peruvian and bolivian jungle... more to come

Iquique and outskirts

desert on all sides...than suddenly, the Andes mountains, Iquique, and the Ocean.

hello feet.

Parapente.

we´re not in Kansas anymore... random dinosaurs on the side of the highway in the desert.

parapente

I did it. I took my fear of heights, challenged it, and ran off a mountain cliff off the coast of Iquique with a giant parachute behind me....and up i soared. Yes, my knuckles were white and my stomache was in my throat. True story. But my guy Christian who took me was incredible and coaxed me through the whole experience...with occasional moments of laughing at me when I´d ask incredulously.... You really expect me to run off that cliff right now? you gotta be kidding me, I´d prefer being pushed out of a plane when you have no choice, rather than voluntarily run to the edge of a cliff and take a big step into the air.

But, I did it, and it was incredible. Although I sat slouched back in my harness between Christians legs the entire time becuase I refused to break body-contact with him...it was the only thing keeping me confident; that i could feel his legs around my waist, and there was NO way I was sitting straight-upright when i would be suspended by two ¨strings¨, and nothing else.

We glided for about 30 minutes, thankgoodness no longer. Ive heard about other people staying inthe air for 2 hours if the winds are warm, which is NOT what i was looking foward to. 30 minutes was long enough. We landed on the beach- beautiful peaceful landing as I was watching the sand approach incredibly quickly and got nervous I would take a crash landing. But, all was smooth and tranquil. My first AND last experience of paragliding, but I´m glad I did it. Iquique has been a great few days, the city is terrific. Not much to do other than Surf, Paraglide, and Sandboard. Does life get any better?
Pictures will be posted soon.

isla de pascua -pics

Tia Lisa

I had my last day of classes today. After 6 weeks of working at the colegio and residencia, I have gained incredible respect for people that do this for a lifetime.

My days consisted of Kindergarten class, Art class occasionally, and english class. However, the majority of my time was spent with the 5 year-olds in K. I should really stress that I don´t love kids, at least as a total genre. Certain kids, yes- i want to take them home with me because they are fantastic...but 20 hyper snotty crying kids isn´t necessarily my ideal job.

With that said- every day provided me constant entertainment. For my last and final day with the rugrats, we managed a pretty dece bloody nose, 20 dirty kisses from every kid as I said goodbye- (and some of them go for the lips when you reach in for the kiss...i realllllly don´t like dirty mouths near mine, especially when I see what these kids put INTO their mouths during recreation... eeew) and our new kid, who I´ve nicknamed ¨the pincher¨managed to make just about every single kid cry at one point from pinching them throughout the morning. Whew. I´m exhausted just thinking about it-.
I did have several little boys in my class who are also in our residencia- our transient foster home that the Y runs, and which I also work at during the afternoons. THESE 4 boys are my pride and joy of the day...i love them. In fact, I would take all 4 back with me to NY and adopt them all if it was possible- although, Bruno cries all the time and doesn´t listen to anything you say to him, and Eduardo beats everyone up- Regardless, Angel is the cutest thing I´ve ever seen, and they all are in need of someone to love them- So, saying goodbye to them was actually much harder than I expected.

This afternoon after school was over, I headed over to our OTHER residencia, for girls age 11-14. These girls are kinda bad-ass, but also very sweet at the same time. Two of the girls in particular I´ve taken a real liking to and developed a great relationship with them-- this was also more difficult than i expected saying goodbye.

BUT- I am now done working at the school and foster home, although still helping out with activities taking place in the Y. Wednesday I leave for Easter Island for 8 days... more to come on that upon my return.

My story of the week: I have this infactuation with one of the guys who teaches classes at the gym here at the Y- I´ve been seeing him since I arrived in january, andalways am somewhat googly-eyed when we pass. We manage the usual hellos, and how are you conversation, but never anything more (probably because I´m trying to close my gaping mouth everytime he walks by...) ANYHOO...I´m in the gym the other day and he comes up to me and asks my name... we start chatting and he asks me how long ive been doing different exercises, etc.

--now let me mention before this that I have tendencies of not fully understanding everything when I am talking to someone new- because I´m adjusting to their accent and rate of speach. My friends and other people who I am familiar listening to isn´t difficult, but new voices trouble me sometimes...
So, as I´m listening I´m concentrating super hard on what hes telling me- because I usually can get the main concept, but miss out on the supporting details.. WELL, i was concentrating so hard on the details, that 5 minutes after we finished conversation of what he was asking me to do...i realized I had no idea WHAT it was I was supposed to do!

Heres what I got.... after asking me how long I work out for he said they are doing something that they need people for, and wanted me to do it. I said I´m only here for 3 more weeks, and he said its not a problem... its just a oneday thing. I asked how much it was- he said free. He told me to come in tuesday to the office during the afternoon, no specific time and.... thats what I got.

I feel like George when Steinbrenner tells him ¨It´s just like the song george...Downtown...¨ and now I´m on this search trying to find the meaning of all this. I COULD have asked, but the problem is I sometimes need a few minutes to grasp things, and by the time i realized I missed the main point, it was too late and I felt stupid asking. However, now my friend are all laughing at me because its even stupider that I have no idea what I´m supposed to do tomorrow. Ah, the life of a stupid gringa being overwhelmed by good looking spanish speaking chilean guys. :-)

pre birthday funnnn

monday night...watchin the gators carry out a second national championship... and prebirthday funmidniightttt

we dont know whoooo this guy was, but he hopped into my picture as i was dancing, and i was NOT happy...he was weeeeird!

santiago...in shambles?

After two concerts in Santiago in a 8 day time span, I would say that I´m getting fairly comfortable navigating myself around the city. However, Thursday afternoon brought plenty of unexpected sites.

Wednesday was the Il Divo concert. I brought my friend Jon along because I thought it would be more fun to have someone enjoy the show. Little did we know that IL Divo is a total boy band for women over 50. I think it could successfully be compared to a backstreet boys concert, but instead of 15 year old girls screaming and crying, its middle aged women. WHOA. I wasn´t expecting that. I envisioned a classy theatre with older couples who payed the expensive ticket, but instead I got psychotic women waving signs and screaming the whole time. I thought Jon could´ve killed me for dragging him along. However, the show rocked, and I became a loyal fan, and admirer (because they ARE super cute...)

Thursday, a friend of mine from Argentina came to visit, so we spent the day walking around the city before heading back to Valpo. However, their was a bizarre feeling in the air, and we shortly found out why. Throughout all the main streets of Santiago, kids were rioting- breaking phone booths, smashing glass, it was totally chaotic. We happened to just be walking down thestreet when we stumbled upon this. Armed police with total riot gear where EVERYWHERE in the city, and we couldn´t seem to get away from the crowds. People throwing rocks, bottles, and anything else they could get their hands on AT the police- it was rediculous. And then swarms of these kids would go sprinting down the street as the police chased them. Their were armed tanks crusing down the main avenues, and all the stores were closing down early.
We kept trying to avoid the mayhem and taking detours, only to find gates not allowing us out. We felt completely trapped, but eventually managed to squeeze our way onto a side street.

Than came the huge tanks- the armed vehicles were riding down the street spraying streams of water at the people on the sidewalk, and it didnt look like a friendly shower. (pictures below). Later on we learned that this is a yearly event. Apparantly 25 odd some years back, during Pinochet´s ruling, two kids were killed by the police (the government) for unjust reasons. Ever since, this day of the year results in rioting and chaos in the streets of Santiago. One guy told us that 10 years back it was a lot more violent than it is today,but another lady said that usually its confined to the university these recent years, and this was a little nuts.
SO; at least this wasn´t just random rioting, which could have been abit scarier, but it would have been nice for our hostel to warn us about walking on the streets this day. Instead, we found ourselves in the middle of a mini-war zone. I took some pics that are posted below. Along with a few pics from Il Divo, Bela fleck, and some otherrandoms.


ooh Il divo... soo cute

Valparaìso.

who doesnt love a sunrise

Vic....wailin on the bass