pictures and down to patagonia

hi all,

i have not been the one to write for a good while. i left the duty to my traveling partner and better author, jess. i am still wondering around south america as of right now. i have about three weeks left.

i am currently in ushuaia, argentina. this is the southern most city in the world. it is on an island called tierra del fuego, which means land of fire. when the white folks came here for the first time, they were in search of a trade route to get to the other side of north america..

what they found was a land that was cold and wet and mountainous..and randomly enough. there were fires all over the place. this was because the natives kept fires burning at all times.

since the europeans did not get off and look around, it was just a magical, mountainous area full of fires..

hence, land of fire. that is enough of that..

it has been cold and rainy, and punctured by moments of great weather and beautiful views of the beagle channel and the surrounding mountains that are both in argentina and chile. i head out tomorrow morning on a bus to chile.

going to a place called torres del paine national park. any of you who are mountain nuts like me, know this place well. if not. you have seen it on a calender in a n office someplace. it is wild ,wild mountains. i have been looking forward to seeing this place for as long as i can remember. pick up a backpacker magazine and i am sure that some company has used it as a n advertisement backdrop this month..

so that is my direction. i am officially headed north. for the first time in over two months i am headed north. admittedly i am headed way north. like 10,000 kilometers north. but i will be there in about three weeks. headed into the guts of patagonia first..

i have put some pictures up from the last month of travels. sorry it has taken this long to get some pictures up here. i will put a heading for each picture so you know what it is. but they are of the trip to argentina as of so far.

jess and i went to machu pichu and iguazu falls along with some beach and city time around buenos aries. it was a wonderful trip...but she has now headed back for christmas and that leaves me flying solo. i will be home soon.

so i hope every one is not too freezing cold. i have seen some rough temperatures on the forcast when i check on all of you. i wil l come and join in the fun of north american winter , very soon...

till then,
much love,
marc







camping in tierra del fuego national park. three isrealis, one hitch hiking frenchman and on e big amercian and a bottle of wine



the sign marking the end of the pan american highway. check out how far from alaska.a random game of soccer played in the parking lot at the end of the pan american highway. three isrealis, three argentinians and one big bald american.
an old ship in the harbor outside of ushuaia argentina
the boat we eventually went on that drives directly into the freakin falls.
getting drench at the devils throat in iguazu falls.
the boca junior fans doing what they do best.
jess and i watching part of the boca game from a ceiling support beam cause there was no where else to stand to watch.
out paradise digs on the rio parana. if only for one night...yeah.....


this is just one row of ladies selling fruit a market near cuzco.

the classic calender shot of machu pichu and the huana pichu which jess and i climbed




jess and i chillin at an over look of machu pichu while climbing huana pichu

part of machu pichu in the early morning. talk about a peaceful place two weary travelers on one of many bus trips. you are lucky we dont have our eye covers on.

jess at an inca ruin outside of cuzco. it is crazy how the blocks are huge and fit together perfectly

a 5000 ft scree ski down back down to base camp from the top of 19000 ft volcano el misti
looking into the crater of the volcano which is still very active
about two thirds of the way to the top of el misti
my guide, the three other climbers and i at base camp. 15,000 ft
myself at base camp on el misti

hello all!

greetings from argentina! we have been in this fine country for a week now. i am rounding the corner and headed for home, i will be back in the states in less than a week. this will be my last blog entry for the trip.

we flew from lima to buenos aires on december 2nd. buenos aires is a beautiful city, but quite a switch for our pocketbooks. (who says pocketbooks anymore?!) anyway, it´s back to reality, we´re no longer traveling cheaply. we are just about into the peak season for beachgoers, as it is spring in argentina, so this has made our travel plans difficult. it has been hard to find lodging at times.
we have had fun in the city, the first day we went to see the museum of eva peron, ¨evita¨and the cemetary she is buried in. we also took in a tango show one night, with a lesson before the show and you should see marc and i tango. i mean really.. and you should´ve seen how ready marc was to tango after the three bottles of wine with dinner...
we also saw an argentinian soccer (football) game. we watched the best team in the city, the ¨boca juniors¨ play. being in the stadium was like nothing we´d ever been a part of. we have pictures that simply won´t do it justice!

today we find ourselves in a pretty beach town called pinomar, about three hours down the coast from buenos aires. we have been here for a few days, and i will tell you that yesterday, our FIRST day on the beach, marc and i got sunburned. big, bad, red, hot sunburns.. so today we´re taking it easy roaming around the town. the town is only semi-ready for the tourist season to begin. there are still several shops that won´t even open until early january.

tomorrow we head back for our last night in buenos aires, and on friday we will fly up to iguazu falls. iguazu falls is one of the largest waterfalls in the world, situated right between argentina and brazil. i can´t wait to see it, the pictures i´ve seen so far are incredible! we will stay there for the weekend and i fly to lima on sunday and home on monday. marc will then fly to ushuaia, argentina, the southernmost city in the world..
we splinter in completely opposite directions again in search of adventure. mine will take the form of playing ¨little people¨with grace and aidan on their bedroom floor, (i wouldn´t have it any other way) marc´s will consist of seeing the southern tip of south america, some of the largest glaciers in the world, and much of the patagonian andes.

i will wrap this up. i hope you have enjoyed the adventures of jessi and marc, and i can´t wait to see you!
love to you all,
jess

Happy thanksgiving everyone!

i hope this finds you well and enjoying the holiday! eat some sweet potatoes for me!!!
mom, you will be happy this year that you don´t need to make vegetarian stuffing!

marc and i celebrate this fine north american holiday today in cusco. we will be visiting four different archeological sites (inca ruins) around the cusco area. This evening we will celebrate the holiday with friends we have met along the way. marc has two friends from his volunteer position currently in cusco, so we will meet up with them. my roomate stephanie from atlanta will join us and we will all find a spot to have "thanksgiving dinner.."

this trip has been many "firsts" for both of us, this included. a holiday in another country. today it is sunny and temps in the 60´s. not a trace of holiday decorations anywhere! i find it funny that i´ll be coming home to snow after spending this time in such a sunny, warm (sometimes hot) climate!

marc and i leave for the big daddy tomorrow-machu pichu! we are looking forward to seeing this once in a lifetime destination. the weekend is spent exploring that area and we return to cusco sunday night. on tuesday, we both depart peru for argentina. i will say goodbye to cusco with mixed feelings, it has been really difficult at times and really wonderful at times. needless to say we´re both really looking forward to a change.. we will spend two weeks in argentina and at that point i will return to the states. marc will then head to the southern tip of the continent and work his way up chile where in santiago, three weeks after me, he departs for home.

we will keep writing as there are more adventures ahead!
love and happy thanksgiving,
jess and marc

hello!

my turn to update, it´s been a while! greetings from cusco, peru, week 3.
marc should be joining me by the end of this weekend. i look forward to reuniting with my traveling partner!

i find myself approaching the end of my public health clinic days, which i´m ready for.. i have enjoyed the opportunity but am ready for a change. the one thing i see over and over again that i grow tired of are the YOUNG, very poor pregnant girls. abortion is illegal in this country, and there is no real sex education to speak of. new and expecting mothers occupy about 70% of the patients. i realize that in america we have the same problem, but there seems to be government assistance, what little amount it is. these girls get nothing. strangely most of them are so excited. sometimes mothers with their young pregnant daughters come in for the consult and they are both giddy. i do not understand this. i think this is my biggest frustration at the clinic.


the other faces at the clinic. some so foreign and some so familiar. a homeless nine year old. a pregnant fifteen year old. an old woman carried into the clinic in a blanket by her two sons because they could not afford a wheelchair. a man with a finger almost detached. a woman yelling at her child as he crouches in a corner. women coming into pediatrics with 21 day old babies, admiring them with awe and touching them like they will break. butts. butts. butts. old men who shuffle in with their old wives, to stand by them and hold their hand during the office visit. men and women whose sandals have become part of their bodies with age, dirt, and wear. kids with rotten teeth. kids discovering that old, discarded plastic water bottles are the best new find. children with baby teeth drinking coke. four year olds being breastfed by their mothers. the list goes on. my favorite are the elderly people who look at me through milky eyes and don´t judge me but greet me or thank me warmly. i also love how the staff refer to the elderly in the affectionate terms of "momie" and "papie." i wish we had terms like that. it´s like they´ve earned them with age. i love it.
the challenging things i´ve witnessed have also been matched with positive things. it is only based on my judgement, through my eyes, that any of these are negative or positive to begin with.

this weekend i will travel to lake titicaca with my roomates. we will visit a native family on one of the islands for a homestay. i´m looking forward to it! i have no idea what to expect.

in my peruvian family house this week a member of the family was lost. gloria and pepe, with their son diego, have been my "family." pepe lost his mother this week. she died of old age, she was 86. it was both sad and interesting to witness how another culture grieves of their loss. i found it interesting that what we refer to as the "wake," or "visitation," was held in the deceased´s home. all family gathered in that home to pray, laugh, cry, tell stories, and eat food. the funeral was then similar to what we do in america.
it´s been touching to see gloria and pepe´s friends come into their home to each take their turn "running" it. witnessing this reminded me of all of you and what we would do for one another. last night for example, one of gloria´s oldest friends from high school was in our "home" to prepare our dinner, serve us, and clean up after us while gloria had the chance to sit with her friend, giggle, wear lipstick, and reminisce. i loved it. today a completely different woman was in the house, cleaning. i loved it.

well, i wind this up to head home for dinner. i will write again soon, and will have marc with me in the same room! yea!!

love to you,
jess

a stolen story and the next attempt

hello all,

i believe what i am about to do is against the blog ethic, but i was told by the author that it was ok. i am very busy and getting ready for a very crazy endeavor. so a girl that went on our guided trip to colca canyon wrote a very well worded story about the colca canyon trip that i just went on. it is entirely more elaborate than i would have given you and i would not have time to write anything worth while right now...so, i will cut and past it. here name is ashleigh vogstad from vancouver british columbia. just so i gave my correct copy right credits.

other than that,...i cant beleive this one,..it might be very painful. but i am going to attempt to climb a 19,222 ft active volcano called el misti tomorrow and will potentially summit on friday at about noon eastern time. it is one day of hiking 4000 ft with a full pack. we start at about 11,000 ft and we climb to base camp at about 15,000 ft. then the next morning at midnight we wake and with head lamps start the last 4,000 ft with a day pack. everyone i know who has done it has vomited on the summit from altitude sickness. that is the worst of it though. for all the moms out there, it is very straight forward. nothing but a walk on loose gravel up a enormous hill. but a really enormous hill. so, i am at peace either way, summit or no. i just could not be in peru and in my hiking days of my life and not attempt it. just so everyone knows, there is nothing in the lower 48 that is over 14,500 ft. so, this is by far uncharted territory. so that is it, i am going to go pack and get a good night sleep.

here is the poached story about colca canyon...much love, marc




Hola mis amigos y mi familia!

Time for another update from your far flung (and hopefully much missed) traveller.

Colca Canyon. Dropping 11,000 feet it is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. We hiked down and back up the bottom 4,500 ft of the canyon from out start and end point. . Desolate yet cultivated, impervious yet permeable. One of the worlds deepest canyons cuts through the Arequipian desert on the Western most side of the Andes where it is home to a lively, colorful, and hardy Quecha culture.

Peering from our lookout into the depths of this laceration, the stratified browns and beiges turn lush with green where the life-giving Colca river is able to support myriad growth. Green bananas, hibiscus and prickly pears (the national flower of Peru) abound and aloe vera grows wild. A plethora of cacti flourish including the spiritually important San Pedro which local Shamans use to induce a healing, hallucinogenic state.

The local people continue the ancestral tradition of maintaining the pre-Inca step terraces along the less percipitous canyon walls making for a landscape that is at once unkempt and yet profoundly ordered. Local women return home in their hand-woven traditional dresses and matching bowler hats, sturdy sandals made from car tires strapped to their feet, a harness of coca leaves slung over their backs. After an early 4am start much work is still to be done from hand grinding semolina into flour to preparing traditional cuy dishes.

The villages that dot the Canyon walls are inaccessible accept by foot or donkey along a percipitous cliff-hugging trail. Formally horses were the dominant mode of transportation but their less robust stature caused them to jump into the canyon from fatigue on occasion. (Watch out!) As we pass through each village a Chrisitian cross stands grim against the stark landscape, reminant of the Spanish conquesition, protecting inhabitants from evil spirits passing by. Many crosses are adorned with red roses, each flower representing a married woman from the village, with occasional white ones encouraging suitors to come find their future wives.

It is a five hour walk to collect salt, six hours for some children to attend highschool and about four days to pack in something the size and weight of a refrigerator. Solar energy is predominant though electricity was brought through the mountains 9 months ago.

Over the course of three days a group of 11 of us treked this canyon and witnessed its beauty and vitality. The Andean condor, largest bird of flight in the world, soared overhead its black coat a shadow of warning to weary travellers against clear blue skies. Part of the vulture family the Andean condor is a formidable carrion eater, friend of the fox, enemy of the eagle.

Another member of the bird family (but at the other end of the size spectrum) was the "burro qentis" or Giant Hummingbirds which are only found 2000-3000 meters above sea level in the Andes and measure about 8 1/2 inches in length. We were lucky enough to spot several.

Alright loved ones, hope thats enough adventure for a little while. I am back to volunteering all this week and nursing a slight cold. Miss you all lots and Ill continue to do my best to keep you updated.

a toast to Ron Sieg.

today was quite wonderful.

i did not teach. i went to my spanish class first off. after doing half way well with getting the taxi driver there using my obviously steller spanish. i did try and get him to drive down a wrong way..but i regrouped and told him no problem, that i would just get out and walk the two blocks to the house...

the spanish classes are good. freakin overwhelming but good. my teacher is so helpful. we are working on irregular verbs. i am having trouble remembering them. not really having trouble working through the verb tenses or concept of them...just simply remembering them. virtually everthing that is told to me about the language. i understand...but then when it comes to having no paper in front of me, to remember the words is tough.

especially keeping in mind that i have two weeks to try and retain as much as i could about an elaborate topic. if i tried to learn quantum physics in two weeks. the broad concept might make sense,..i may enjoy the lectures...but i certainly would not walk away having retained more than 10 percent of what was told to me...it is a practice thing.

but i then headed to the job site..which is the same as the school site. an hour combi-bus ride up to the outskirts of town. today was cement the floor of a small school building day. i mean small...12 foot by 12 foot. but that is all you could do with such conditions.

they were waiting on the man with the concrete mixer to show up when i arrived. when he did it was a small concete mixer,..not a truck or anything...the engine started like one of those crank engine cars from like a hundred years ago. he got it started and left us to our devices. we used filthy water, cement bags and the gravel that was on the ground to make concrete.

there is one volunteer named andrew from the uk that has been the main construction force at the school. he does constructon for a living in the uk. there was a few other volunteers there to assist. i told him that i worked for a concrete company back in the late 90s. that officially made me the main cement finisher.

he had a thousand jobs..he had to make sure concete was being made properly, pointing folks in the right directions, over see the whole situation and not to slight the idea that he is the only one with a firm grasp of spanish...so everything falls on him....

well, being the main finisher and organizer of when the concrete is laid down was mine.

i would like to raise a toast to one Mr. Ron Sieg. he was the man whos company i worked for and the man who taught me how to finish concrete. although it was with large scale driveway concrete tools, a cement truck, american oranization and he still was the one who did most everything.

today, i finished my first concrete floor in a school building at the base of a mountain in peru with ultra subpar conditions. he was toasted this evening.

Ron past away a couple years ago of lung cancer. he was a good family friend and a wonderful person. he would be proud that such a humble skill to teach was used in such a way as today.

i am very proud of the whole experience. there is something tangible in ariquipa peru that marc ankenbauer made and would not be there if i did not show up to this country. or at least it would not have a nice M in the corner scratched in the floor with a trowel.

to ron,
be well all,

marc

Hello everyone. greetings from cusco, peru. day 10, week 2. wait that doesn´t make sense. oh well.

where to begin? i´m keeping extremely busy every day! i would like to walk you through a typical day being jessi adams in cusco, peru. for your reading pleasure.

the alarm goes off and i sprint to the bathroom. (can any of you actually believe that? i know.) i do this because i share this bathroom with 4 other people. (it is a race to beat out three other shower seekers.) i then dart downstairs for my coffee, and my house mom Gloria can´t believe i´m so crazy and late and unorganized. it makes her laugh. she has now just gotten out of the way of the tornado that blows through her kitchen seeking REALLY BAD, and i do not use that term lightly, really bad coffee. i believe it´s like some sort of scoop powder stuff. i bought a "to go" mug in a local market this past weekend. it is like a child´s thermos, only cheaper. like it should have scooby doo on it. i think i really shouldn`t put hot liquid in it. oh well.

Now it´s time for the bus. let me explain. i rush down the street about 3 blocks and stand at the bus stop. there are "combi´s" which marc explained, (picture mini vans with a few extra benches for good measure.) so the morning commute involves being packed like a pickle between a child going to school and a wierd old man who´s trying to sit real close to you and smells funny. oh and you have to yell "baha" really loud when you think it´s your stop. if you don´t, they won´t stop. then you´ll go on a nice tour of the city.

i go to one stop and change combis and hop on another for the ride up the hill to the clinic. the road is cobblestone, but rises above cusco to reveal the entire valley. it reminds me of missoula. this is the most peaceful part of my next 4 hours. and i did explain what riding the combi is like, for some perspective.

i go into the public clinic where you are first faced with wading through a long line of people waiting for triage, where i worked last week. patients need height, weight, blood pressure taken before proceeding upstairs. it costs 3 soles 50 centiminos, which equals a little over a dollar, to enter the clinic. beyond that, every service is free.
i have survived the line, and head upstairs. this is where the waiting room is. it is a circus. there are at any time 40 patients with wailing babies or extremely old parents waiting to be seen.
the waiting room is packed with people, and smells bad.
i would like to briefly mention breast feeding. the reason i mention it is because i witness four year olds toddling up to their mothers, lifting their mother´s shirts and going to town. i do not understand this. there is much breast feeding going on, fun for the whole family.

i now go into my new room, "topico," which i refer to as the "stitches and shots" room. this room is a trip. we have to keep the door closed while working with one patient at a time while others knock and try to bust in. Picture a famous singer trying to get away from crazy fans and the security guard is fighting with arms, legs, hands, etc. to close the door. that´s how it feels! i´m serious! i am not, however, a famous singer, and i hardly suppose they´re seeking me... anyway, i digress.
i´ve seen so many butts in the last two days, giving shots. it has been a festival of butts, if you will. keep in mind that as all of this unfolds before me, i hardly understand the language. i have never experimented with hard drugs, but this must be its equivalent.

so, the 4 hours at the clinic come to an end as i hop on the combi to go to my school. i meet with a local girl who wants to learn english as i want to learn spanish. her name is kelly and we talk for an hour. she is very good at english, i a dullard at spanish. kelly finds it helpful to correct my "tenses." (i feel a major victory when the point of what i´m trying to say is understood, needless to say what tense i say it in.) whatever.

i proceed throughout my day, and finish with my two hour spanish class taught by my new friend george, pronounced "horhay." we had some drinks last weekend and he is a hoot. needless to say i know way too much about horhay. anyway, my spanish class is fun. it is fun only because horhay is extremely patient and has a good sense of humor.

i end my day by rushing home for dinner. dinner is a formal affair. my housemates, gloria, pepe, their son diego, and joe cocker. joe cocker is their cocker spaniel, and pepe is very proud of that name. every time he says the dog´s name he looks at me, waiting for a reaction, because the first time i heard it i just bust out laughing, loudly, at the table. there are 7 of us eating dinner. they all chit chat away the hours while i play with my food. i see how many small bites i can take just to kill time...sure i understand what they are saying.
then there is dessert. dessert varies on how much time gloria had to go for it. last night, for example, was cherry jello with fruit. it was not set. so it was like jello soup. very interesting.

my treat is being able to watch "friends" with spanish subtitles in the evening. then i go to bed, only to start the whole cycle over in the morning.

i hope i have amused you. i am now at the section of my schedule where i pack into a combi and head home for dinner and hopefully a repeat of the jello...

love,
jess