South America

Bienvenidos a Pagina 12

Mis amigos de Pagina12 - gracias por visitar, y disculpas por escritar casi todo en ingles.

por favor - Haz un click en "Argentina" de la lista "categories" junto a esta nota, y disfruta (sino la lengua, las fotos).

seria una lastima perder El Britanico.

(for my English speaking audience - a photo of mine got picked up by Page12, a supercool Buenos Aires newsmag, for a story on the unfortunate closing of a historic local bar by where I lived. The story is here, and is copied below-)

Broadband, America, and my love for trackbacks

I love you, trackbacks. You make me all warm and fuzzy. Lauren brings up a solid point on her fresh looking blog Polyglot Conspiracy (linked to your right), one that has been driving me nuts for a few weeks now -

There are no terminal-based internet cafes in America, and the streets aren't paved with cheese. Well, I'm lying - there are a few inconvenient internet cafes, and cheese is readily available for purchase or sample at many retail outlets, but it would be much more pleasant if some of our sacred WIFI cafes offered up an old desktop for plebians like myself who haven't cobbled themselves together a laptop as yet.

Taken in aggregate form, this is part of a noticeable quality about America- picked up on after living abroad for a while - the expectation of havings 'things' around like a laptop, car, CVS card, etc...

I'm not asking for a South American situation, where 6 computers are thrown into a sweaty room for money-laundering purposes and left open for every 12 year old in town to play gunbound. I'm just saying there should be a "public library-esque" internet terminal option at some of these silly coffee shops. Wouldn't cost anything, and would give normal people the option to check email without carrying around a 1-2 thousand dollar piece of equipment.

The situation Lauren describes, where you have to ask a fellow human to play on their PC, actually happened to me whilst travelling. There I was, on my return trip home, in the super-USAiffied international terminal of Costa Rica's airport. I needed to contact old buddy Jeff, who was meant to pick me up at JFK at the wee-hour of 1am - not a task for which many people would volunteer. I needed to confirm to Jeff that my flight was on time, which it indeed was. Though the entire terminal was a WIFI hotspot, there where no internet terminals to be found among the Schlotsky's Deli's and Church's Chicken restaurants.

I had to beg a fellow man, who as it happens was from the south side of Chicago and wore a T-shirt deragatory to women, to borrow his Ibook to send off a quick email. He was quite hesitant at first, then eventually let me do it, all the while holding his laptop with two hands. Did he think I would bound off on the next flight to Panama with his laptop? Apparently yes.

I should know all about free WIFI with no PC now, I live adjacent to 3 hot beverage establishments. Next door is Ambrosia cafe, which faces the Starbucks that is kitty-corner to Argo Tea. My good friend Joe described my new neighborhood, quite correctly, as the "Belly of the Beast." That is, if the suburbs could be described a one singular person, that person is sitting on my corner right now drinking a skim mocha latte.

That said, I am still a tech-obo, techno-hobo, or just plain moocher - thanks to my location (pictured). I have seven wireless networks available right now from my room, 3 of which are amazingly unsecured and one of which is still incredulously called "LinkSys." How do I know?

I'm borrowing Liz's new laptop!

Viva el internet gratis, y viva EEUU.

Reading is fundamental

Look, you can travel all around South America for 8 months without learning a word of Spanish. It can be done, with little danger or trouble, and more than a handful or British and Aussie tourists are a testament to that fact.

However, it really does add more to the experience to, let's say - be able to read the local newspaper. This doesn't take a professor-like level of Spanish proficiency, just a basic ability to understand the language and use the dictionary when needed.

My goal, initally, was to get closer to whatever fluency might be in Spanish.

I realize now that without a homestay, and with so much travel to different parts of the continent with different accents, that was a somewhat unrealistic goal. However, I am pleased overall with my progress in Spanish. Soon, I will be finished with Noticia de un Secuestro, my second book read fully in Spanish. Accent and slang notwithstanding, I am generally able to understand and hold normal conversations with people.

One exciting thing is the prominence of Spanish in most US cities, letting me continue my practice after my return. We shall see how well that goes.

Happy Birthday to me

I think Liz is gonna throw me a party. Let's all drink PEPSI!!!!

I am a youth

It is now official, I am still a youth.

Two days ago, I became the proud owner of a newly minted International Youth Travel Card. Apparently, you can buy these until you are 25 years of age, which I happily am not and will never be (till the 27th).

This card allows me to get fantastic airfare back to the states, and more importantly, reminds people of my official youthful status. When shall I return to the states, you ask?

My return route depends in which city I am thought to be studying the law. I can say this, I will be in Colombia and Ecuador until around mid-July, at which time I will begin a mad dash home. The possible routes:
-Bogotá-BsAs-CHI
-Quito-BsAs-CHI
-Quito-NYC
-Quito-CHI

Time will indeed tell. Youth card 4-evah.

Machu Picchu for UNDER US$100, it can be done, here is how

The holy grail of South American Travel: Machu Picchu.

If you haven´t already been there, you are going to go there at some point in your life, it is nearly inevitable. When you go, Machu Picchu will attempt to take as much money from your wallet as possible, in a very short period of time. Íf you try and fight it, it will suck you in like a ruinous Incan money vaccuum made of stone.

It does not have to be this way.

If you wish to go to Machu Picchu in 2 days, for under US$35 a day, or US$70 per person for the trip, do read on. Otherwise, wait patiently until the time when you do plan to go to Machu Picchu, then read awa
y.

Life in Peril Volume 1: Bus from Uyuni to La Paz

CLANK. SMASH. BANG. Crick, crick crick, BOOM!

These are some of the choice sounds of nondescript metal objects smashing into the bottom of our bus at 3am.

Liz, teeth literally chattering, slowly and deliberately asked me for my thin, sarong-like towel to use as a blanket, in an attempt to keep some warmth near her body. She sat next to the bus window, which was now frozen on the inside.

Like a scene out of titanic, our bus was stuck on ice, and we were slowly freezing inside. We didn´t know it at the time, but we were about to endure 8 hours of sub-zero temperatures.

My first mistake - Salar de Uyuni

"No Busses till 6:30," muttered the world´s most uninterested office clerk, as I attempted to huff what little air was available into my lungs. There I was, just as I had feared, stuck once again in Potosí (my least favorite town in the universe); except this time I had all my personal belongings on me and it was a dreaded Sunday.

The adventure actually began for me at 7am that same day in Sucre, as I arrived lugging my bags at the bus station. I had prepaid my bus ticket to Potosí at the hostal, planning to catch the said noon bus immediately out of Potosí and on to Uyuni, my destination town. One foot out of the cab, a bus company lady grabbed my bags shouting "Potosí, Potosí" and started walking up to her office. I calmly explained that we had already bought tickets, and she calmly convinced me that I had a ticket for her company.

Of course, she was lying. She started to write out new tickets, and even though I was still half-asleep I could tell something wasn´t right. Regardless, she tossed the huge bags on top of a ramshackle bus, literally, and my travel companion Liz and I were about to board.

Rurre, the jungle in Bolivia

Sometime (I really hope) in the next few days, I will be heading off tourist style for the jungle. Needless to say, I love travelling but sort of despise touristing, and booking this attraction isn´t as time efficient as I had hoped, so I´m first headed for the Peru border and lake titicaca to renew my Bolivian visa. That is the plan for today, at least, to visit the seat of Incan civilization while waiting for the medieval times equivalent of an airline (amaszonas) to figure out if they are flying to their most popular destination this week. As I write this post right now, the entire airline is on lunch. I can´t make this stuff up. I´m writing from the cyber cafe next door.

I´ve had enough troubles so far just trying to get a flight out of La Paz to Rurre, and fellow traveller William from England wrote me a hilarious email about his experience there a few months back. Do read on...

Viva Sweden

More travel friends, Gustav and the lovely ladies of Sweden - Sarah and Ina. We shall meet them in La Paz shortly. As for Joel, pictured just left of Liz, I wonder what he had to drink exactly. We took this pic at Mitos, an infamous night club in Sucre with untraditional dancing to traditional music.