This Summer

It seems like Google has all the answers. You type in anything and out pops a whole list of possibilities. Unfortunately it doesn't have anything worthwhile to say when I type in "Kirsten's perfect job" or "What Kirsten should do with her life". It's kind of like using your car clicker to try and open the front door.

Since God doesn't appear to be using Google as a portal to tell me his will, I've been ambling about the best I know how. My friend Shannon helped me get a job at a press company and gallery that she worked at. Although I've been glad to have an excuse to be done at the pool, we both hate it and were each other's only dose of sanity throughout the day. Unfortunately she (along with a few others that I liked) were let go so I am stuck alone in this crazy environment for another few days waiting for my internship to end. Some days I seriously consider moving to Bali because I don't know if I can handle sitting on my bum in the cold office listening to CNN and working on completely menial tasks all day - I just know that one day I will snap and next thing anyone knows I own a Vespa Rental company on a random island.

As for Jordi's job front, he's crazy busy as usual, finishing a climbing gym in Temecula for his brother and starting multiple more local jobs in the next week. So far, so good for Sacher General Contracting, which is a huge blessing (and probably a large reason why we aren't already in Bali).

The highlight of my summer hands down was a week in Cayucos with my whole family. Cayucos is the perfect little town where everyone can be happy doing something or nothing. It was great to be able to talk to any member of my family with zero aforethought. A question to ask a sibling could pop into my head, and all I had to do was ask it!! No emails, skype, time differences, etc - so nice.

Another highlight has been that unlike last summer, this summer has been mostly sunny and beautiful, affording us plenty of perfect beach days, which is my favorite thing in the world. Nothing like surfing in warm water and reading in the sun all day!

Other fun summer goings on: My best friend since 3rd grade, Corrie and her husband came to visit which is always so much fun! It's amazing how well we get along after all these years.

Little Sister Stephanie is now Impressive Pilot Stephanie, but mostly I'm just glad she's home, allowing us summer coffee and beach dates.

Well, I may not be God or Google, but even as I continue searching for a job I don't hate, our life is constantly blessed by family and friends as we work hard and play hard. A Chinese proverb I recently came across said, "Be not afraid of going slowly, be afraid only of standing still."

Jobs and Family

Jobs and Family - some of the most important things in life, and our lives are full of both at the moment!

A few of you have enquired after my new job at the press company. It focuses mainly on photojournalism, so I learn a bit about photoshop, photography and world news every day! Photographers, newspapers or agencies from all over the world send in their pictures every day, and we resize, caption and organize them all, putting them up on the website and sending them directly to clients. Most of the pictures are either News, Entertainment, or Sports. I know way too much about the Mexican soccer league after captioning hundreds of their pictures! I also get to caption pictures from the Cannes film festival, the Tennis Pro or Formula One in Monaco. I learned all about the Danish Royalty while looking them up online so I could correctly tag them in some pictures.

Anyways, it's a bit monotonous and tedious, but for now I'm glad to be done working at the pool and am hoping that this is a stepping stone to something even better :)

Everyone I work with is great, and one of the best parts is the location - a five minute walk from our house!

Jordi is working hard at the moment helping his brother and partner build their second climbing gym, this one in Temecula. He also put an ad in the local newspaper and has already received callbacks! So far, so good for Sacher General Contracting :)

On the family side of things:

My oldest sister Andrea and her husband Scott came back to California from Cambodia for a summer long "furlough" in which they will be visiting all the churches that support them, as well as catching up and connecting with friends and family. It is the nicest thing in the world to have them home, and I love being able to call and text my sister at my convenience! When they go back to Cambodia, they will be living in a remote and rural area, learning how to plant rice, immersing themselves in the language and culture - I doubt I will be able to text her at that time...

Soon after the Swards came back, my little sister Stephanie graduated from LeTourneau University in east Texas. She is now a certified pilot and has a bachelors degree - wow, how am I related to that?? She is so cute and impressive with all her mechanical and aeronautical knowledge! And I am so excited that she is now back living in California! Flight to Catalina, anyone?

My mom wanted to take advantage of having us girls all home at the same time, and took us all to Palm Springs this last weekend. It was so much fun catching up on life, shopping, lounging by the pool, and going for bike rides. On the way home, we stopped in downtown Palm Springs to walk around and get lunch. I always forget how much fun it is to hang out with so many sisters - we're so alike! And what a great Mom for organizing it all! :)

This last weekend our brother came home as well! Aaron hasn't been back from Australia in nearly three years! It was so nice to see him, and he got to spend the night with Jordi and I in San Clemente before we took him to the airport (he flew to San Francisco to meet up with Melissa and her family).

Anyways, we get to see more of all of them next week when we all go on a family vacation/reunion to Cayucos. Can't Wait!!!

Being Back

I haven't written since we've been back from Argentina and South America! Unfortunately Being Back isn't as exciting as Being Gone. I love Being Gone - it usually means travel, seeing and learning new things, interesting places, exploring, eating, relaxing, and spending all day long with Jordi! Being Back means work schedules, cooking, cleaning the house, arguing about the endless things there are to argue about, going for jogs, and filling up the calendar. Of course it also means hot water showers, a clean bed, and all the other fantastic comforts of home....pro's and con's.

Anyways, I wanted to give you an update on the past couple months!

When we came back from our trip, we came back to a roommate. My brother Aaron in Australia works at Burton, and one of his coworkers was getting transferred to Irvine, California. Burton had already transferred Laura from Austria (her home) to Australia, and now they wanted her talent in Irvine. Aaron asked us if she could stay with us for a bit while she figured out where to live, and we said "Sure!" So when we came back, Laura was all moved into the guest bedroom, and working full time at Burton in Irvine. She lived with us for the next two months and just moved out to Laguna last week! We came to love our Austrian roomie were sad to see her move, although luckily she is still close. I loved having a new friend, a yoga and jogging partner, and I even learned some new recipes from her :)

Jordi worked on a whole bunch of estimates the first few weeks we were back, and now he in full swing working on a few different projects. He's been blessed with steady work and loving his job.

I've been working at the pool and intently looking for other work. Just last week I was offered a full time paid internship for the summer at a press company downtown! I think it will be a great opportunity to learn more and a chance to do something different from lifeguarding and teaching lessons!

Another thing I've been up to is starting my new blog: What Wonders Await the Wandering Ones - partly to give me a place to write every week, and also to document new things I discover :) If you haven't already, please check it out!

http://wondersawait.blogspot.com/

My 26th birthday was in April, which was fun. And in May we got to see all our Mothers and Grandmothers on Mothers Day. We also got to see Scott and Andrea, who just came home a few days ago, and will be here for the summer! We are super excited to see Stephanie, Aaron and Melissa all this summer as well!

Well, I guess Being Back can actually be pretty good - especially when it means I get to see my whole entire family in less than a month and am starting a new job in less than a week! :)

Argentina

Argentina is a fabulous country. It's vast and beautiful, it has mountains, hills, plains and lakes. The food is good, the wine is good. The cities and towns look and feel European, and the architecture is in many places beautiful and impressive. The people are friendly, although hardly understandable with their almost Italian accents, dropping every other consonant and blending it all together with "jjjshh" sound. Our week in Mendoza and Buenos Aires was pretty much just plain fabulous. Very little drama, very little sickness, very much exploring and relaxing.

I was still a bit sick the first couple days in Mendoza, so was still living off of saltine crackers and Orange Soda (I have to say, I can't complain about the 'sick diet' - I actually quite like it).

Our second night in Mendoza, after a full day of meandering the streets, parks, plaza's and wistfully watching everyone else eat and drink at the countless sidewalk cafe's and restaurants, we decided we were feeling well enough to actually go out to eat. We went to a super nice sushi restaurant and successfully consumed Miso Soup :)

The next day was more walking through the leafy cobblestone streets, figuring out how to get our laundry done, figuring out how to get to Buenos Aires, finding new parks, and eating ice cream.

The day after was a Sunday, and we were planning on going wine tasting in the Mendoza vineyards I see so often on labels. We had heard that they were rather flat and not much to look at, not great compared to Napa or the Central Coast. But we figured if the wine was good, who cares about looks?

So Sunday morning, after our usual breakfast of incredibly sweet rolls spread with thick dulce de leche and washed down with some nescafe, we headed out to the bus station. We got on the bus and started bouncing down toward the town of Maipu, where most of the vineyards and olive orchards are. We bumped along through dirt roads and entered the small, dusty town. We got off in the middle of the town, and immediately noticed how deliciously quiet everything was. Hardly any cars going by, hardly any people about, and no business open (except the ice cream store, of course). I immediately found a park bench to lay down and soak up the sun and quiet.

Jordi looked in our guide book, where he read that everything closes on Sundays. Including Vineyards. So our grand plans of wine tasting in Mendoza suddenly morphed into a dream as I slept on the sunny park bench on a quiet Sunday morning. In all honesty, we weren't

that dissapointed because something about taking dusty, bumpy bus rides to and from dusty, albeit delicious vineyards, does something to hamper your wine tasting motivation. So we decided we'd have to make a trip to Napa to make up for it, and after our nap returned to Mendoza for some urban wine tasting. We went first to Park Hyatt, the biggest and most beautiful hotel in town, right on the main plaza. We sauntered in and found their extensive wine bar.

It was some pretty amazing wine, I will readily admit. I can't recall ever drinking a Malbec, but that's pretty much exclusively what Mendoza produces, and it's definitely a new favorite.

We then found an awesome bistro with a pretty garden area for some delicious lunch and more Malbec.

Unfortunately that night was our overnight bus ride, so we had to gather our stuff and troop to the bus station (It started to rain, and the station was miles away, but of course Jordi didn't think we needed a taxi. I thought about revolting, but figured I might as well get the exercise and utilize our backpacks...)

Unlike Bolivia, this time our seats did go back as far a the agency had promised, and there was an accessible bathroom as promised, and we even got food! The only bummer was a dubbed Adam Sandler movie. Of course it was a stupid movie that I probably didn't miss out on, but I cannot stand dubbing, and all the TV stations and even the bus just love dubbing. Argentina must have swarms of dubbing offices in order to produce all the hours of dubbing that goes on in that country.

Anyways, the trip was about as good as you can ask for, on a 13 hour bus ride.

We got into Buenos Aires in the morning, once again forgoing the luxurious taxi ride, and instead cramming in the subway with hundreds of other sweaty Argentines to get to the center of town.

We already picked out a hostel we wanted, and luckily they had room there. It was a big, old mansion that had been converted into a hostel called the Art Factory. Everything was painted, down to the water tower tanks, and there was a huge rooftop terrace with a kitchen/bar and hammocks.

Books, couches, free tang, and free internet kept us entertained after naps and showers.

We wandered around the cute San Telmo area, which used to be a rich neighborhood until a disease sent everyone running upriver, and the mansions of San Telmo became partitioned apartments and hotels for the artsy middle-class. All the streets were either cobblestoned, or paved over (you could still see the cobblestone) with lots of bakeries, ice cream stores, and parilla restaurants. We got lunch at a sidewalk cafe with leafy trees and a wide cobbled street. I thought I'd be daring and order a salad. Unfortunately, the dressing was definitely flavored mayonnaise, but oh well. At least the ice cream desert was amazing! :)

That night we went to a 'secret' bar where there was no sign or anything, you just ring the doorbell and are buzzed in. We then walked up some long dark steps until we reached the top floor which was a bustling little restaurant and bar, with a pool table in the back. We snagged a window seat, and got to look out over the street as we sipped our cold, cheap beers in the

warm, smokey room.

The next day we spent the whole day doing a walking tour of Central Buenos Aires. It was a beautiful sunny day, and we saw statues, parks, government buildings, theatres, the Presidential offices where Madonna sang in the movie Evita, monuments, pedestrian streets loaded with cafe's, an old mall from the 1800's, street tango, astounding cathedrals and more! It was an incredibly easy and fun city to walk around in, with soooo much to see! We stopped twice - once for cafe con leche in an old cafe with leather chairs and fantastic old waiters.

The other was for ice cream. I don't eat ice cream since it doesn't agree at all with my stomach and it usually isn't worth the calories to me. But oooooooh my gosh, this was the most incredible ice cream I have ever tasted in my entire life. It was so good that I ordered a big cone intending to share, but decided I most definitely wanted it all for myself after the first lick. It was so good that even though I felt horribly sick afterwards, I went back for more the next day. It was so good, that I didn't care about breakfast or lunch, I just wanted ice cream. Its so soft and rich and creamy, not at all icey or light. It comes in the most basic and the most exquisite of flavors. I can't tell you what flavors I ordered, since I just pointed at ones that looked good, but they were so amazing!! The flavors were so fresh and quality. Like the chocolate was made from the best chocolate and the strawberry was made from fresh strawberry and the other flavors were made from fresh ingredients, even though I don't know what those would be.....

Anyways, moral of the story is that if you go to Argentina, eat ice cream. In fact, I would suggest going to Argentina TO eat ice cream.

And the amazing thing is that all day long you see people eating ice cream cones, but they are never fat and this is probably because they walk everywhere! (sigh) If only California had better public transportation, and you didn't need a car to get everywhere :( Then we could all eat more ice cream.

That night we went to a Tango show, which was underground in the "oldest cafe in Buenos Aires" We sat at tiny tables, elbow to elbow with everyone else, sipping wine and eating bread while watching the loud tango show. It was very different from the Flamenco show we saw in Madrid, but still really fun and very impressive. I swear those girls have knees that bend both ways.

The next day was pouring rain, but still warm. We walked for a very long time to get to La Boca, a colorful Italian immigrant part of town that I have heard much about and was curious to see. Unfortunately it's incredibly touristy, and along with the colorful buildings and cobblestone streets, it felt more like Disneyland than a neighborhood! It was fun to see it though, although we didn't want to hang out there too long. We spent the second half of the day in swanky Palmero on the north side of town. This was SUCH a cute area!! The zoo, botanical gardens, and acres of park are all located in this area as well. There are tons of super cute shops, wider streets, and green leafy trees. It felt a little bit like being in France, or somewhere nice in Europe. We read about a good parilla restaurant in the neighborhood that we decided to check out. As soon as we started walking down Guatemala street and the restaurant sign read Don Julio (my beloved flute teacher) I knew this was going to be a good place. We stepped off the cobblestone into the bright yet cozy brick restaurant, walls covered with wine bottles and leather hides, and a huge Parilla grill front and center. We spent the rainy afternoon with a room full of other Argentines enjoying the amazing grilled meat, potatoes and more potatoes, and great Malbec.

It was by far the tastiest and most memorable meal we had treated ourselves to, and the bill came out to around $40 - not bad considering our steaks alone should have cost at least that! Argentina in general was obviously not as cheap as Bolivia but noticeably cheaper than the US.

Anyways, after wandering the adorable streets for a bit, we headed home on the subway. Our hostel was having live music, which we watched for a bit. Later we went out for one last heavenly ice cream, and then we had to pack our bags to leave early the next morning.

Now that our stomachs were finally feeling better and we were having such a grand time eating and exploring, it was sad to have to pack up and go. I would have much preferred to get some treats from the bakery and go see the famous cemetery at Recoleta the next day, but instead we had to take a taxi and three flights home.

Don't cry for me Argentinaaaa! (Although I might cry for you!)

Across the Andes

Leaving Santiago and driving towards the Andes reminded us both of driving through much of California. It was dry, the weather was beautiful, and grape vines and olive groves covered the landscape, with low hills in the distance.

Then we began our ascent into the massive, barren mountains....

This was not fun on a bus!

We passed a couple glaciers!

And Mount Aconcagua, the highest peak in the America's at almost 7,000 meters. It did not look inviting, and good luck to anyone trying to climb that thing!

We came to an indoor border crossing, since most of the time it is snowing in the pass. It wasn't snowing when we were there, but it was plenty windy and freezing.

It was a completely different border crossing experience than at Bolivia. Very quick and efficient and all around painless. And thankfully we didn't have to pay the Reciprocity Fee to enter Argentina since apparently it only applies when entering Buenos Aires by air. (Most South American countries charge Americans what America charges them to enter the U.S. Hence there are not many American tourists as it can heftily add up!!)

Coming down on the Argentina side was absolutely beautiful! It was a bit more green and lush, with horses and fields, lakes and mountains...

We got to Mendoza around 9 or 10 p.m. We thought it was time for bed, but when we got into town, everyone was sitting out on the sidewalks and in restaurants having dinner. After an hour of hunting for a hotel, we finally found one and collapsed for the night (dinner would have to wait!)

Santiago, Chile

There we were in Santiago - on the one hand we were both stomach sick and exhuasted, but on the other hand it was so nice to be in a bright, bustling almost European feeling city. The weather was great, felt exactly like California, the air felt so good and breatheable, and it was a pretty and modern city with beautiful old buildings and plaza's.

The first day we mostly napped, watched TV, ate saltine crackers and drank my triumphantly hunted Gatorade. We had to take the metro to the bus station to buy tickets to Mendoza, which wiped us out for the rest of the day.

The second day we were both feeling well enough to walk around the city. After a delicious breakfast of a couple crackers and Gatorade, we set off. Santiago is an easily walkable city - most of the main buildings, parks, plaza's and markets are all in the same area. There is also a huge pedestrian street, which has tons of shops and restaurants and is fun to walk down.

Jordi eating the omnipresent Mote con Huesillo - a sweet peach nectar with corn. Sounds weird, but people ate/drank it like their life depended on it.

Playing and watching chess is a happening pastime

Relaxing in the huge, shady park

Fresh Chilean Sea Bass (and some live music) at the Fish Market

We walked around and saw all the sights, stopping for Huesillo, a rest in the park, and fresh fish at the market. So although we hadn't planned on spending much time in Santiago, we really enjoyed getting to see it a bit!

That night was another exciting night of dubbed TV and me feeling sicker. I really do think that dubbing should be illegal. Do you think Adam Sandler has his own personal dubber, so that every movie he is in he sounds the same?

Anyways, the next day we packed up our things and headed out to the bus station for our journey across the Andes!

Valentine's Day

As I was slouching on the side of the street in La Paz blowing my nose, Jordi asked me which way up or down the street I wanted to go exploring. I said the only way I wanted to go was back in the hotel where our backpacks were being stored to ask for a room. He agreed $35 was a good price to pay for at least a couple hours sleep, and deemed it my Valentines Day present, which was fine with me.
We were given a room, and instead of traipsing around La Paz until it was time to go to the airport, I quickly fell asleep, waking up at 1 a.m. for the taxi ride to the airport.
I woke up feeling horrible, and once we got to the airport it was all I could do to get to our departure gate before I collapsed on the benches. Jordi checked our bags and got us through security while I either layed on the tile floor or on benches somewhat following his progress.
We finally got on the plane where thankfully I got a row to myself and fell asleep.
We landed in Iquique, and once again I flopped and crawled on the tile floor, following Jordi through customs and security onto our next flight to Santiago.
(We were super lucky to have a layover in Iquique because a direct landing in Santiago would have cost us $140 each, according to our research!)
Anyways, we landed in Santiago, by which time I was at least feeling well enough to stand up and walk without pain. We grabbed our stuff and booked it out of the airport before anyone could charge us $140, and were feeling very excited we had escaped the fee.
Our plan was to then go to a bus stop and get a 7 hour bus to Mendoza, Argentina. We didn't have any books on Chile or Chilean money, and were only planning on spending a couple hours to maybe a night there.
We got into a taxi and asked the driver to take us to the bus station. Jordi remembered he didn't have any money, so we stopped at a gas station ATM. Once at the station, the driver asked for 65,000 Chilean. We were retarded and didn't know the exchange rate, and gave him what he asked. Once at the bus station, all tickets were sold out for the day, and Jordi realized the 65,000 Chilean translated to 135 dollars.
I thought we brought it upon ourselves by not knowing the rates, or checking the ticker, but Jordi was so mad he could no longer concentrate on busses, and ushered us back into a taxi to the airport to go look for this sneak.
I sighed and resigned myself to our vengeance task.
We paid the driver $10 and found our terminal, although we didn't see our bald, fat taxi friend. We reported to the airport police, who were very sympathetic and thought he would probably be long gone by now, but gave us a pamphlet of tourist tips, one of which was to only take "official" taxi's, and not just any taxi.
We collapsed at a cafe as we wondered what to do next. I got up and was wandering around when I thought I saw him, holding up a taxi sign. I stopped and stared, and one of the plainsclothes police that had helped us before asked if I saw him. I said it looked like him, but I wasn't sure....just then, like a flash, Jordi ran past us both, grabbed the taxi driver by the shirt and started demanding our money in Spanish. I ran to help him - the driver was trying to get away! But he was old and fat, and we didn't let him get anywhere. He was telling us to calm down, and that he'd take us to his car and pay us back. I yelled to the police, AYUDANOS! and the police came and intervened. I had to go back and watch over our luggage, but they took Jordi and the driver back to the car where he paid Jordi back everything. The police filed a report for us, and told us we were very lucky he wasn't a professional, and to watch out when we get to Argentina because things are worse there.
We were so happy and "justified", and I was very proud of Jord for coming back to try and get this guy, and I'm glad we did before he scammed more people!
Anyways, we decided to just get a hotel for the night and worry about bus tickets later. We took a bus to the center of town, put on our packs and trecked around in the heat looking for a hotel. (which I didn't mind because I was so happy about being able to breathe normal air, finally) We finally found one within our price range, and as soon as I took off my backpack, I flopped on the bed and didn't move for hours.
Jordi eventually woke me up to go get some dinner. We walked for a bit and went to an Italian restaurant, where we were definitely the only tourists. All kinds of people came in carrying flowers or teddy bears, and we realized it was Valentines Day.
"Still??" I asked. I couldn't believe it was still the same day.
I could barely eat, as I still felt pretty sick, and we went back to the hotel and quickly fell asleep.
Until Jordi woke up violently and viciously sick in all sorts of ways. Apparently something he ate didn't agree with him, and he was up for hours in the bathroom. At 4 a.m. we were out of water, and I had to force myself out of bed to go look for some. Thankfully, the hotel had some bottled bubbly water, which lasted us a couple more hours, but wasn't ideal.
I forced myself out of bed a bit later to go out on the town looking for supplies. I walked for at least an hour, but came back victorious with cold water "sin gas" and gatorade!
What a Valentines Day saga! Jordi spent the rest of the day not quite as sick, and I didn't feel well either. We read Alice in Wonderland to eachother, watched a lot of TV and drank gatorade. We had to trek to the bus station to buy tickets, and in the eveing I found some Miso Soup take-out, but that was our day. My mother wisely instructed us to lay low until we were feeling well enough to travel, so we stayed in Santiago another two nights.

The highest lake and the highest city

Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable body of water in the world, and La Paz is the highest city in the world, making our time in Bolivia a high altitude trip to the max.
I don't remember ever being somewhere quite like this lake or city. First of all, it's really cold most of the time! We were there in summer, and it got cold enough that I wished I had brought my new snow jacket. I definitely wouldn't want to be there for winter! But at the same time, if the sun happens to peek from behind a cloud, you can get sunburnt instantaneously and viciously. So one day we took a hike in which it was pouring rain, I was wearing approximately five layers of clothing, and moving to keep warm. The next day on a hike, I got so fried I started to peel!
Anyways, another weird thing about the altitude is it really makes you feel weird. In the morning I would wake up and do a couple stretches, like I do every morning. Only here I would seriously have to go sit on the bed and focus on breathing to bring my heart rate back down! Walking up a hill or climbing a flight of stairs felt like an intense aerobic workout and always required some moments to catch your breath.
Of course, heat was a foreign concept, and "agua caliente" was always a dissapointment, so I pretty much spent our time in Bolivia being cold.

As I searched for restaurants that had fires in the stoves, I promised myself I would never visit a cold third world country ever again.
And the Bolivians....The cold and rain didn't seem to bother these hardy Incas, but then again, nothing really did. If you wanted to stay at their hotel or eat at their restaurant, that was fine with them, but it it was just as well if you weren't there. They weren't exactly the warmest and friendliest people I've met, but then again, I was too cold to be that friendly either.
So, the first day we arrived in Copacabana, after the whole border/bus driver debacle, Jordi eventually calmed me down and we hunted for a hotel. The good news about Bolivia is it's reeeally cheap. The bad news is that even when you are willing to pay extra for certain comforts, they were still not to be found.
Anyways, we found a decent dumpy hotel with a pretty friendly owner and camped out for three nights. Our first evening we spent taking lukewarm showers in the cold bathroom (miserable) and watching English TV in the room. What is it about watching TV when you're traveling? I get all excited to watch Friends or a 1990's rerun of Dawson's Creek that I would never care about otherwise. In fact, I had never even seen Dawson's Creek before this trip.
The next day we layered on clothes, drank some Nescafe in really cool thick clay mugs (all the plates and cups in Copacabana were made of clay. Most of the houses and buildings were too, for that matter...).
Anyways, we hiked to the top of hill nearby, wary of the pycho stray dogs (altitude makes them weirder also) and it began to rain. The view from the top was awesome - the Lake is huge and all the mountains surrounding are green and immense. The afternoon we spent relaxing and internetting, and we were excited when the sun came out later. We took a long walk along the lake, and went to a cute place for dinner, complete with numerous South American hippie traveling bands for our evening entertainment.
The next day we took a boat out to an island nearby called Isla de Luz. The island is approximately 10 miles away, you can see the trees growing on it from land. It took us an hour and half to get there. Apparently they save on fuel by going the rate at which I jog?
Anyways, we fiiiinally got there, and it turned into a beautiful day! We were told we would have to pay 20 Bolivianos (about 3 dollars) to tour the island as payment for upkeep. So we purchased a 10B pass, and expected two more 5B tolls. As we got to the top of one hill there was a family asking for 10B's, but the receipt they had only said 5B. We tried to argue it, but didn't have small change and so had to pay 10B's each. We ran into some other American's that said they only paid 5B each and the family yelled and chased them down the hill. But we were met by another 10 year old boy who also wanted a toll, this time we just walked on by. And again we were met by a lady who also wanted a 5B toll. I told her to collect it from the family on top of the hill, and we walked passed. What was this? Any kid or family could just set up a toll stop on the island?
Aside from that, it was GORGEOUS hike, and well worth it.

We put-putted back for another hour and half before finally reaching the shore (reminded me of being in Hollywood traffic - where you can see the building you want to reach 40 minutes before you actually reach it).
Since the evening was still warm and sunny, we sat at one of the ubiquitous lakeside booths that served "trucha a la plancha" or grilled lake trout. The entire thing came out - eyes, tail, bones, you name it - but it was incredibly delicious and cheap!

A great ending to our time in Copcabana.
The next morning, we packed up, got our favorite fresh juices, and got on the 3 (but really 5) hour bus to La Paz - with a stop by the bus driver's buddy's business so everyone could get out and buy snacks, and another stop five minutes later to get gas, and a stop to cross part of the lake on a ferry, etc etc.
Entering La Paz was quite a trip, with red brick buildings cascading from the incredibly steep hills surrounding the city. The city feels old, with cobblestone streets, delapidated cathedrals, and unfinished buildings.

Our original plan had been to spend the night on the town and go to the airport at 1 a.m. for our 4 a.m. flight. However, I wasn't feeling good, and it didn't seem like the most inviting spot to go gallavanting after hours.
We ended up getting a hotel, for which I am extremely grateful, and sleeping for a few hours before continuing our trek to Santiago, Chile and Mendoza, Argentina.

Busses and Busses and Busses, Oh My!

After one more night in scenic Ollantaytambo, we took another crunchy, stuffy minivan (How many people do you think you can fit into a minivan? Well the answer is at least 20) and then to a bigger but just as stuffed bus back to Cuzco.
Inevitably when you have an aisle seat on the bus, you have to succumb to your body being used as a service to those standing in the aisle. I scored the window seat and got to look at the beautiful scenery passing by. Jordi was fine with his aisle seat until a couple different ladies began using different parts of Jordi´s body as a seat, luggage holder, and hand rail - until his personal space was completely obliterated and I could hardly see him.
When we finally got off the bus Jordi asked me, "How do you say, 'I have leprosy' in Spanish?"

We read about a hostel that was part of a convent and school in Cuzco. We went there for the night, and it was cheap, quiet, clean and orderly. The next day we didn't have any plans, but our bus for Bolivia left at 10:00 p.m. We did a lot of walking around town, played chess in a coffee shop, found a bookstore, and had our favorite meals of huge cheap fresh smoothies and dirt cheap Peruvian food in the market.
We made it to the bus stop and on the bus, sitting right in front of a precariously gumpy one-year old. Though she began crying numerous times, she never fell through with it in a serious manner, for which we were very relieved.
We were told we would have "barely" a layover in Puno (Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca - we were on our way to Copacabana which is the Bolivian side of the lake) "Maaaybe half an hour." Well it was definitely more than three hours we spent at the Puno bus station in the wee hours of the morning. We were also told our seats would lay all the way back into beds and there would be airconditioning, which were also evil lies. I was beginning to suspect they tell you whatever you want to hear.
Then we got a bus that didn't even have a bathroom for the rest of the trip, basically it was a schoolbus. Anyways, we finally got to the Bolivian border and it was freezing and rainy. Everyone had to get out and get in line for this before getting in line for that, before getting in line to be approved before getting in line for immigration.
There were a couple more busses there also, and wouldn't you know it but out of the hundreds of people at the border, Jordi and I were the Only Ones who had to pay the Bolivian government $135 EACH to enter their precious country. This is because the US charges Bolivians $135 to enter America, so they thought they would show Americans the same kindness. The only thing is, you don't usually stumble through America on your way to somewhere else. We were just passing through because it happened to be on our way to Argentina. The guy taking our money said, well for Bolivians to the US, it's only a 30 day Visa, but this will last you for 5 years!
And whyyyyyy may I ask do you think I will come back to this inhosptitable place ever again?
Anyways, while all this paperwork and paying was taking place, our bus left. There we were, in the rain, stripped of $270 dollars, and left behind at the border.
I cried.
The people in the office said to take a taxi the rest of the way to Copacabana and the bus driver would reimburse us. So we took a taxi to Copacabana, and watched the bus park downtown. But the bus driver refused to reimburse us. I followed him when he tried to get away from me, I yelled at him, I demanded money, I asked him what he would feel like if he had just been robbed and left behind, I said I was So Sorry we were too busy paying almost 300 dollars to be on time to the bus, I said it is his responsibility to make sure all his passengers are there, I said could he not have waited a few more seconds?? I said give me 20bolivianos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (which is the equivalent of three dollars - Bolivia is cheap) And so was this bus driver, for he refused. All the tourists and half the town saw this scene, and how ridiculous he was. I even started crying out of exhaustion and frustration, and all he said was "It's your fault, you took too long."
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
In retrospect I thought I should have taken down his name and license plate number, but then complaining to the company probably would not have done a thing, as this was the company the promised first class luxury and delivered this crap.
Welcome to Bolivia.

Stairway to the Clouds

It´s quite an ordeal to get from Cuzco to Machu Picchu. The way we did it was take an hour and half long bus ride to Urubamba. From there we took a combi (minivan taxi) to another little town called Ollantaytambo. From there we had to take a two hour train to Aguas Calientes, and from there you can either hike or take a bus up the mountain to the ruins.
When we got to Ollantaytambo in the afternoon, train tickets to Aguas Calientes were sold out, so we bought them for the next day and looked in our trusted Lonely Planet for where to stay in Ollanta. What would we do without Lonely Planet??
Anyways, it directed us to an awesome hostel run by an American who has lived there over ten years and runs mountain bike tours as well. He gave us a room with hot water and an INCREDIBLE view of the mountains, with ruins of the fortress staring back at us. Ollanta is the original Incan town, and it was really cool to spend some unplanned time there. A quaint town square sat in the middle of long winding stone alleyways. All the roads and alleyways have intricate stone canals that carry the rainwater through the town and into the river. It´s quite amazing! We found a path along the river which took us for a gorgeous little hike. I was super glad the train didn´t have room and we were "stuck" there. :)

The next morning we woke up at 5 and went down to the train station, along with the hoardes of other tourists. It was an amazingly pretty ride through the snow capped mountains and along the angry rushing river.
We got to Aguas Calientes, bought some bananas and set out on our trek. You can get a bus ticket up the mountain for $8 a person each way. Or you can walk it, which is what we did. At first it was great - super pretty, felt good to move, etc...But the path turned into huge stone stairs, and by the time I had been climbing stairs for over an hour, I wanted to die. I´m not kidding, these stairs were immense, and never ending. We climbed them for two hours. All I could think about was, "How in the world did those Incas get up this high in order to build their stinking empire?" and "Why??" We finally got to the top and entered into Machu Picchu. Before you get to the classic postcard view, you have to climb a whole bunch more stairs -I almost cried! But once we did get to the top, it was amazing and beautiful. Seriously, it was so mind boggling to see their city in the clouds, with incredibly steep agricultural terraces going down the mountain. It´s crazy!! We took the whole tour using our Lonely Planet (I´m telling you, these books pay themselves off).
Although I´ve seen pictures of Machu Picchu countless times, it was awesome to be there in person, and explore, and see all their amazing tools and ways of life. And the view of all the other mountains surrounding was so impressive, no picture can ever capture how small you feel in the midst of these mighty mountains, with the rushing river waaaaaaayyyyy below you.
We had been told food wasn´t allowed, so we didn´t bring any (although everyone else around us did!) And our bananas could only last us so long, so by the time early afternoon came around, it was time to go before Jordi started devouring stray dogs and small children. We didn´t want to pay for the Disneyland priced bus, so we decided to walk all the way back down. My muscles were so exausted, my whole body shook any time I stood still. We finally got back to the town, and went to a really pretty hotel on the river for lunch (with all the money we saved not taking the bus!)
We had a couple hours to kill before our train ride back, so we walked around the town a bunch, got iced coffees, and the highlight - a massage! For $8 each we got a half hour massage, complete with Andean flutes playing the theme song to Titanic as our soothing soundtrack.
Before we got on the train we went to a hole in the wall Peruvian place for wheat soup, arroz con pollo (which was really a plate of arroz and 3 small bites of pollo) and mate.
Two hours later we were home, immediately took hot showers, played scrabble and reveled in our accomplishment! Plus, it´s been pouring for days, but the day we climbed up to Machu Picchu was absolutely gorgeous :)

Cuuuuzco - topia! (complete with waterslide)

Our one hour flight to Cuzco was great - I was so glad we opted for that instead of the 22 hour bus ride! Flying into Cuzco we could see the bright green mountains and red roofed town below us, a stark change from the dustiness of Lima and the coast.

We found a taxi in the rain and found a hotel with a heater and hot shower. It´s pretty cold in this town! It´s also one of the most beautiful and photogenic cities I´ve seen, all cobblestone (streets, sidewalks, walls, stairs...) with an array of churches, cathedrals, plazas, and picturesque alleyways - all engulfed by beautiful and imposing mountains and cold fog.

I still wasn´t feeling well, and the altitude definitely has an affect on one, so after exploring for a bit, I effortlessly slept the rest of the afternoon away. One great thing about naps is that Jordi NEVER takes them, which gives him some good alone time. This time, he happened to scope out the perfect restaurant for dinner. He woke me up and we went up to the church and plaza behind our hostal, where there was a celebration of some kind going on. Live music, dancing, loud firecrackers, smokey street food and kegs of Cusqueña abounded. Our restaurant was right in the middle of things, but a bit tucked back, so it was quieter and there was a wood burning stove to keep us warm and the most delicious Peruvian food ever.

We were no longer in the land of Ceviche, so the food kind of looks like starch, starch, more starch, and a side of starch, with a couple bites of meat. More specifically - french fries, yucca, chocla (fat corn), Peruvian wheat soup, a bit of alpaca meat or chicharon (fried pork) and some chicha (corn drink) to wash it down. But it DOES taste good! On the plus side, there is still an abundance of fruit in Cuzco, anything from strawberries, grapes, and watermelon to all the tropical fruit we had in Mancora.

Anyways, the next day we took a walking tour of Cuzco following the guide in our Lonely Planet book, which took most of the day. We had a great private tour of a Cathedral and convent by the curator himself, who was quite the character.

In the afternoon we hiked up to a big white Jesus statue called the Cristo Blanco who overlooks the whole town. It was reeeeally muddy and steep to get to it, and we were very thankful for our hiking boots! Cuzco is a great town to traipse around in, and we had a lot of fun!

The next morning we took a bus to begin our trek to Machu Picchu. For some reason we thought that Cuzco was close to the ruins, but really it´s about a four hour adventure including busses, minivan taxi´s and trains to get there! Onward and upward...!!!

Plaza de Armas - main town square. There´s a big park and another cathedral to the right that you can´t see in this pic.

Perfect stonework leftover from the Inca era

View of the town and the snow capped mountains on our hike

Classic

Lima Llama

I woke up the morning we were supposed to leave Trujillo and drive all day to Lima with a horrible stomach ache. I proceeded to take the whole morning visciously getting rid of something my body didn't like. I swear this always happens on days we are supposed to travel. So I had to take the wretched ¨plug up¨ medicine, and we began our journey home. The other two girls we were with on the way up took a bus home earlier, so we got the car to ourselves, which was really nice. We stopped at a random beach on our way home and drove along the sand for a bit. It looked pretty good, so Mo and Jordi surfed and I photographed. It was one of the longest waves I´ve ever seen - after they caught a wave, they had a 5-10 minute walk to get back to the point.
After that little adventure, Mo took us to the sugarcane feilds his family owns, and we saw where he lived and worked for the past couple years, managing the company.
We finally made it back to Lima and passed out right away. Mo woke us up the next morning to take us to his beach house in Lima. We got to ride quads, and surf a fun wave, and ride bikes around the whole neighborhood. It was super fun :) Then we raced back into town because Mo has a friend who is a dentist, who agreed to see Jordi last minute and fix his fillings. Jordi got three fillings with state of the art equipment - for $45! I think we will be returning to Peru - if only to go to the dentist!
From there Mo took us to Miraflores, one of the coolest parts of Lima - with a huge park, sidewalk restuarants, markets, and a big cathedral. We then met up with Chino and two other of their friends for Chifa - Peruvian Chinese food. Soooooooo goooooood!!!! Mo expertly ordered and we all had a great time. Jord and I thought it was funny that here we were eating really good quality food, and every single Peruvian at the table was drinking their Inka Cola. They actually love that sugary bubblegum drink.
The next morning we were driven to the airport to go to Cuzco by a driver and bodyguard in a bulletproof tinted window car, passing many Wong and Metro stores along the way. Sometimes I think to myself - who are we friends with, and how did we get into this situation? But both Mo and Chino are so gracious, sharing their house, time, surfboards, drivers - everything with us. We are so grateful, and had a blast with them. Until next time Jord needs a root canal....! :)

Peru

Imagine driving from LA to Sacramento on the 5. Not much happening. Now triple the distance, halve the amount of interesting things out the window, add a couple hundred illegally slow trucks and busses, and a two-lane road the entire way, and you have our car trip from Lima to Mancora, a small beach town in Northern Peru.
Peru has one of the dryest deserts in the world - absolutely no plants grow, not even cactus or shrubs. Just soft dirt for as far as you can see. There are even mountains made of this soft dirt, which would erode in years, if it ever got any rain, which it doesn't, so there they stand. Once we finally passed through days of dirt and got to Mancora, we immediately felt at home in our pleasant little hotel on the sand in front of the surf break. Mancora is a small town with lots of restaurants, shops, and people - pretty touristy, but definitely fun. We spent our time alternating between watching the waves from our hammocks, paddling out in the warm water, and eating delicious food. Mo almost beat us at Scrabble (embarassing) but showed us lots of awesome food to try, such as Conchas Negras - a type of ceviche made with clams that have black juice, pulpas con olivos, which is octopus with olives in a purple creamy oily thing which looks crazy but tastes awesome. They also eat lots yams, sweet potatoes, toasted crunchy corn, fish and seafood. There was also an abundance of perfect mangos, pineapple, sweet bananas and all the other wonderful tropical fruit, half of which I had never seen before.
Now we are in another beach town called Trujillo, which is half way in between Mancora and Lima, on our way back to Lima. We have another really nice hotel in front of another good break, this time with a pool and free internet! woohoo :)
We have another full day of driving to get to Lima, and are planning on flying to Cuzco on Thursday. South America is already way more vast than we could ever have imagined, and we are having second thoughts about bussing all the way down to Buenos Aires, which is an 4 hour plane ride....almost equal to a transcontinental USA flight! So we are proooobably going to fly to Santiago, and from there bus straight through the Andes to Buenos Aires with a couple stops on the way.
I'll keep you posted!

Preparing

I wish you could prepare for trips like you prepare for Christmas. By the time the tree is bought, decorated, and lighted, cookies are baked, Christmas music is on, family and friends are home for the holidays, and glitter pens and wrapping paper all over the living room floor, I definitely feel prepared to meet Christmas. And then of course it's gone before I have time to digest, and people throw out their trees before I've even put my presents away.

But no matter how excited I am for a trip, it always seems to present itself before I am anywhere near ready. Not like it takes too much to be ready - pack our backpacks, clean the house, and remember our passports. But here are SOME things things that help my mind prepare:

Books - I love reading about a place before or while I am there. Especially novels, because it gives a genuine and interesting inside into a place.

Itineraries - Not only is it a good idea to have some notion of where you are going to be, but it makes you focus on what is to come - kind of like wrapping presents. You have to look at maps and research little towns, reference the guidebook and ask for recommendations. Then give all this detailed information over to your mother, who will have much better peace of mind.

Food - What do they eat? One of the greatest ways to experience a place is by their food. What would I have done without Melissa's mini food guide in Paris, and how amazing was Smoking Pot Khmer cooking class in Cambodia? Very Important.

(I have already bought Argentinian olive oil and wine from Mendoza - I need to prepare my palate.)

Movies - We've already watched Motorcycle Diaries, and a Peruvian surf dvd...:)

Trying on Outfits - nothing gets you pumped for an activity like trying on your new gear, and same goes for traveling. It's definitely a mind workout trying to figure out clothes for hiking and city life, mountains and beach!

And no I do not walk around the house wearing my new hiking boots and backpack. Well, maybe.

On that note - any South American novel recommendations??

chaRISSStmas!!

December has been quite the month!

At the beginning of the month we had a Norwegian house guest for a week - I met Vegard while working at the pool this summer, and we became friends. He was working on a book, and going to Fuller, and started coming to church with us and becoming friends with our few friends here. Anyways, he gave up his lease in December, and it was fun having him around. Our next travels will probably lead us to his parents ski house in Norway :)

Anyways, later in the month, a couple from our Bible study threw a HUGE Christmas party. Everyone dressed to the nine's, and there was an abundance of food, drinks, and people. We only knew a few people, but it was really, really fun!

We also had my lifeguard party, Jordi's dad's birthday party, our good friends Shannon and John threw a Christmas Sushi making party, etc etc. It wasn't even Christmas yet, and we found ourselves partied to exhaustion.

THEN Christmas came:

Thursday the 23rd - we went to my parents house and drove with them to my cousin's house in Torrance. I hadn't been able to join my dad's side of the family for Christmas in a while, so it was really fun and we had a great time. Auntie Donna made an incredible Italian dinner, Ana wandered around drinking sweet wine and eating gummy houses, Joel and Dad had sophisticated talks about aged wine and theology, and we all had too much gelato. And to top it off, David brought a big box of clothes from the Pacsun warehouse which we quickly rid him of.

Friday the 24th - we had spent the night at my parents, so we woke up and opened stockings, and then had Christmas breakfast of mom's almond bread, chili egg puff, oranges from the tree and tea. I saw somewhere that a tradition in Mexico is to set the empty places for the family members that aren't there, but are there in spirit. Well, we didn't set all the extra places, but I put out all five of their pictures on our breakfast table and I liked seeing them there :)

After breakfast, we opened all our WONDERFUL presents!! Our family is pretty darn thoughtful and generous when it comes to presents, and even though the Swards and Amavisca's weren't there, it was fun to open their presents and feel like they were.

We hung out all afternoon, and then Jordi and I went back home. We were planning on making a fancy dinner, but we were pretty full, so we made a delicious salad instead, opened presents to each other, and went to church later that night.

Saturday the 25th - We woke up and drove to San Diego and opened presents with Jord's fam. Then his dad's parents came over and we had another delicious breakfast (although nothing can compete with mom's bread).

In the afternoon we didn't have much to do, and ended up going to Dave's climbing gym to get some exercise. In the evening all of Jordi's mom's side of the family, plus lots of friends and neighbors all came over for a cozy and chaotic Christmas open house.

Sunday the 26th - We went up to my grandparents house to see them and my cousins down from Santa Barbara. More presents and more food! In the evening we all went down to Buca di Beppo, which was really fun, and then we went to Balboa and walked around the whole island to look at lights. It was fun to hang out with the fam and even get a bit of movement and Christmas spirit :)

Luckily the week following Christmas I didn't have work, so I got to relax and get back to normal a bit. I sprained my knee at the beginning of the month, so I've been going to Bar Method a lot since it's the only exercise that I can do. For New Year's we decided to stay local and keep it mellow. We went to Vine, a really nice restaurant where my friend Shannon works, with her and her boyfriend John. We had a great time with them as well as amazing food and drinks. Then we got to walk home, which was so nice!!

The parties don't stop in January - it's Jordi's grandpa's 80th birthday this weekend, so they are having a big party for that, it's Jordi's birthday, my mom's birthday, my grandparents 60th anniversary, and then we are leaving for Peru!

Unfortunately Steph, Ben, Alyssa and Kels all head back to college, so we won't be seeing them for a bit :(

MERRRRRRRYYY CHRISTMAS!!!!!

I apologize because the only pictures I have to work with are off of Jordi's cell phone - we left our camera at Jordi's parents house...

Getting our tree was the most stress-free event of the season. We walked a block over to Rite-Aide, were the only people there picking out a tree, and carried it home. It took like ten minutes total!

Jordi's favorite Christmas decoration on Balboa Island

Me wearing all our Christmas presents - hiking shoes, backpacks, travel books, headphone splitters - we are ready to go! :)

Happy New Year! (or as one person yelled at midnight, two thousand ten SUCKED)