Simple Man

And be a simple kind of man.
Be something you love and understand.
Be a simple kind of man.
Wont you do this for me son,
If you can?
--Lynyrd Skynyrd
Last Friday was a day full of simple pleasures and it just makes you realize how much enjoyment you can get out of the smallest things. Here’s some highlights:
· Walking through the streets of Montevideo
· Sunshine on a cool fall day
· Kicking through fallen leaves on the sidewalk
· Cleaning and doing chores for someone
· Pork chops with home-made applesauce
· Peach cobbler and ice cream (I’m seeing a food trend here…)
· Fresh tortillas and breakfast burritos that a group of friends pitch in to make together
· Modeling mathematical systems on my computer (so what!?!, I’m a nerd…)
Try to go out today and find some small things that give you enjoyment or brighten your day even though they might seem insignificant if you weren’t looking for them.

Greet one another...

All the brothers here send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss.
1 Corinthians 16:20
I can’t believe I’ve forgotten to mention one of the most defining cultural aspect of our trip down here: the kiss-on-the-cheek greeting. We were warned about it from the beginning, but it didn’t make it any easier to go cheek to cheek and make a kissing sound with someone you had never met before. It was especially interesting the first time we went to church, to get have to greet about 15 people as soon as you entered the door in this manner. But the cool thing about it is the fact that you have to put a lot into your greeting, instead of just sticking out your hand and nodding. You have to put your whole body into the greeting. Now, don’t get me wrong, I really miss a good, firm hand shake, but this is kind of growing on me, so don’t be surprised if you get an authentic Uruguay greeting the next time I see you… :) Another thing to note: in the U.S. it’s acceptable to go into a room and go off to do your own thing. Here, it’s customary to go around and greet everyone that you know. I’m going to try to make it a goal to be more Uruguayan in the future regarding this aspect, to show interest in people and not just my own agenda.

Viaje a Brasil, parta uno

Finally you get to hear about some of our recent week long trip to Brazil!
It seems the biggest mode of transportation here in South America is bus and because of this we took a bus all the way from Montevideo through the Misiones Region of Argentina (a thin little strip between Paraguay and Brazil that doesn’t look like it should belong to Argentina) and on to the Brazilian town of Foz do Iguaçu. In total it took us over 20 hours to reach our destination. We had a couple of cute little meals provided on the trip in true Uruguayan fashion: about half is ham and cheese items and the rest is covered or filled in dulce de leche, a sweetened condensed milk very common in desert type things. We had a little game room in the bottom of the bus (that’s right, it was a double decker!) so we were able to play cards and some games to keep us entertained. There was a TV/music system as well, so that we could zone out while watching a movie to help pass the time. Then, the bus had very comfortable seats but it was still long night of not much sleep.
Traveling through Argentina, we stopped at the house of an author who, I think, has his roots in Montevideo. His name was Horacio Quiroga and he had quite the interesting life filled with tragedy. He built a house in the middle of the jungle and raised his children in the home that he carved out of the forest. Most of his writings (including one that I’ve read, “The Decapitated Chicken”) are dark, yet raise moral questions of human relationships. From his property you can see the Paraná River and across into Paraguay. Quiroga became quite the jungle-man: building his own canoes, furniture, and practicing taxidermy of the animals in the area.
Then we moved on to see an old Jesuit Mission. If you’ve seen the movie “The Mission” you know a little bit about the history of these missions. The Jesuits came in an effort to convert the natives and therefore their missions became sanctuaries for the Guaraní people as they learned the ways of “civilized” culture and practiced Colonial Christianity. Even though the mission itself was crumbling, the architecture was very impressive. We also got to see Timbó trees which the natives used to make canoes and a live Yerba Mate tree. Later we went to a lunch with asado, Latin American BBQ and a geode showcase from the local mines next door.
When we finally got to our nice 4 Star Hotel, we were pretty exhausted. So most of us lounged around and relaxed for the rest of the day. Several of us watched the 1st Harry Potter movie in Portuguese, none of which I understood, but I had just finished reading the book so I had a pretty good idea what was going on. Following dinner we had the first of many late-night, epic soccer games out on the field next to the hotel.
The next day, Sunday, was the Argentina “Falls Day”. Cataratas del Iguazu (since Argentina speaks Spanish), know on some lists as a Wonder of the World, is split down the middle by the Argentine and Brazilian border, and the national park is therefore shared by the two countries. The majority of the falling water is found on the Argentina side and during the morning we walked all along the top of some average size water falls, taking pictures, sweating in the heat, and staring gape-mouthed at the gorgeous scenery. Then, some of us took a boat ride on the river that took us around the corner so that we could look up the river and the amazing Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s Throat) where most of the water drops over the basalt layer. It was so much fun to open up and actually get to act like a crazy tourist! Screaming and yelling, we were driven into some of the falls for a quick shower and then rocketed in the jet boat down a set of rapids and on another mile at full speed.
We were let off and hiked up a hill to a truck that was to take us back to the main visitor’s area for lunch. The truck had benches in the open air and we had a tour guide supposedly to point out the flora and fauna as we drove back. Well first, there was no “fauna” per se, which was expected from the noise of the truck. Second, the microphone didn’t really work and our guide had a heavy accent, so she was hard to understand. But we did get a 4x4 drive through the jungle and saw plenty of different types of trees, plants, and butterflies. The coolest of the plants were the hanging plants living in a symbiotic relationship with the trees, not being parasites but only using the trees to get high enough to get sunlight. Also, we got to see a huge Rosewood Tree, possibly one of the rarest, and therefore most expensive, woods in the world. There are so few of them left that I think they are protected.
After lunch, we got to take a train, which played “The Mission” soundtrack as it went along, up to a trail head that would take us out over the Devil’s Throat to look into the mist and witness the power of the waterfall. The “trail” itself consisted of a raised walkway that went over the water of the river above the falls. We continued seeing fish, butterflies, and even a caiman, a small alligator, along the way. When we reached the falls, I can’t begin to describe the emotions you have as you stare into this giant horseshoe of water throwing itself over the lip of the falls, splitting into a thousand tiny droplets, and descending amidst rainbows to the river below. It’s another one of those things that you can actually consider awesome without flippantly using the word. I took a lot of pictures, some of which you are seeing now, and some video to try to capture the feelings I had, but sadly it never will. I hope that I can view some of this documentation with you so that I can try to share some of my excitement.
We hiked back to the trailhead and then rode the train back to the main tourist area. Along the way back to the bus, we saw a lot of sellers of crafts and even a little music group of Guaraní children singing in traditional fashion. It was very pretty to watch and listen to. Then it was back to the hotel for some food and relaxation. We met later on in the evening for a mini communion service and sang some songs. It was really cool to reflect back on the power of God we saw in the falls and how that makes his method of saving us that much more poignant. Thus ends part one of Colter’s Brazil story…

Uruguayan Labor Day

Today, May 1^st, is the Uruguayan Labor Day. And when they take a day off for Labor Day, they take the day off. All the businesses close, no busses run, and there is about half the usual traffic on the road. I don’t understand why we can’t do that: take a day off completely and relax (or get out and enjoy nature or something). But no…in the US, our capitalistic ideals cause us to have Labor Day sales in stores where we can go out shopping and “save” money. People work because they know that some people are going to be out shopping and want to buy their product. Or we know that if we work when no one else does we can get a day ahead or catch up a day, whichever our case might be at the moment. It was also very refreshing to go out on a run today and see people outside having fun enjoying the cool fall weather: kids playing soccer with their friends, couples walking hand and hand through the park, and parents spending time with their son or daughter.

The only problem that I have with that, is that “we” don’t get to have a day off! Our first of two days of finals are today. I think they went pretty well, although it continues to signal the end of our wonderful journey here in Montevideo. Things are definitely winding down and most of us are torn between staying here and going home.

Another cool thing about today is that it’s my Grandmother Wagner’s Labor Day. That’s right, it’s my mom’s Birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!!!! I love you.

Ser, o no ser... (To be, or not to be)

Éso es la pregunta.

So I’ve talked about some performances that I’ve been to at the Teatro Solís but not much about the theater itself. We took a tour of the building last week and here are some cool facts that I learned about it:

· 151 years old (opened in 1856) so that Uruguay would have a permanent theater

· 1998-2004 closed for most recent refurbishing

· 1250 person capacity with floor and box seating (5^th floor box seating called “Paradise”)

· Ceiling of performance hall: painted on canvas (looks exactly like plaster sculpture!), 11 masks for 11 emotions, 11 names of writers and composers

· 3 chandeliers (big, medium, and small, in 3 different parts of the theater): made from 5k crystal in a factory in England that was bombed in WWII

· Horseshoe shape inspired from Italian Theater

· Stage/Platform directly in front of the stage that can be moved to 3 different positions: flush with the floor seating to add more seats, raised to the stage level to extend the stage, and lowered for a pit orchestra

· Backstage: 7 catwalks, 6 dressing rooms, state of the art sound and light system

Performances I’ve attended so far this semester (in the TS):

· Classical Guitarist

· Brazilian Rocker

· Argentine Ballet

o Performance of “Carmen” and several other numbers

o Big Band music with swing dance influenced dancing

o Final number was a Tango influenced ballet

o Really fun to see the influence of other styles of dance in the ballets

Oh, to actually be famous...

This afternoon we went out and braved the smoke for a quick game of Frisbee golf. Ken had a few discs sent down in the mail and we thought we’d put them to good use. So, we walked to the park close by and played a “pick-up game,” where we just took turns pointing out the next tree or light pole that we would hit. To top it all off, there was a Nacional soccer game going on in the stadium located in the park where we were playing. Now, if you remember my soccer game entry and all the rabid fans, well, we could hear the deafening cheers across the park. It was so cool to step up to the “tee box” to the sound of cheers, screams, and fireworks. I knew that the crowd was loud, but not that loud. We discussed what if would be like to actually be at the center of the attention like that and perform to cheers and applause like that. We also thought that we could be running away from lions in the Roman coliseum, but it’s always a better dream to think about being victorious to the sound of a riotous crowd…

Humo

No, humo isn't short for humor or humorous. There's nothing funny about it actually. Humo means smoke in Spanish and I can't seem to escape it. Smoking cigarettes is very popular here in Uruguay and you can't walk down the streets without breathing someone's second hand cloud. Now, the sky has become hazy with smoke blowing in from Argentina. We spent what seemed like a solid month breathing smoke from forest fires back in Kalispell and it felt like such a relief when I got away from it. Except, you can't escape it: my eyes are itching again and I have to take my allergy medicine to combat it. The interesting thing about the fire is that it is coming from a forest blaze started by a group of farmers as a way of protesting something I don't really understand. But the fire has grown out of control and is now supposedly the biggest that Argentina has ever had. Lot's of forest and farmland is being burned, but hopefully no property or loss of life will occur because of a silly protest.

Home, Home on the Range

So this entry is a little tardy…well, really tardy. As in it slept through class, but better late than never, eh? Experiencing culture vicariously through a sporadically writing 20 year old is so fun, isn’t it?
On March 29th, about 3 weeks ago, we took a group trip to an estancia, or a working ranch, about a 2 hour drive into the interior of Uruguay. We were planning to have a lot of fun with ample free time to do whatever we wanted to get out of the city and relax in some fresh air and sunshine. We rode bikes around some dirt roads. Branson and I even found some single track through a glade of trees: Mountain Bike Uruguay! Yeah! Then we could take either row boats or canoes into the lake on the property. Cody Veteto and I took a canoe around and had fun singing “Kiss de Girl” to the other row boats, attempting to draw a comparison between their row boats and the one in Disney’s Little Mermaid. Sadly, our amazing humor seemed to be lost on the ears of our compañeros. Later we had a lunch of really good food with grilled beef and chicken and all types of salad. After lunch, a smaller group of us went out horse back riding and talked our guide into letting us run the horses. He, the guide, took us around the lake and ran us through a narrow strip of trees giving me the feeling of chasing deer or elk through the woods. What a rush! I’ve never loped on a horse for that long of stretch. It was an amazing feeling. Back at the main casa, we swam in the pool and took turns being crazy and throwing each other into the pool. Adding to the entertainment, Hansen Penya, our program director’s 6 year old son, kept wanting us to throw him into the air. Naturally, we Core-Four tried endlessly to get him to flip in the air. We never got it, but he was a good sport! :) At 4:00 we had a Merienda, a type of high tea, with more tasty food. When we were completely stuffed, we boarded the bus back to Montevideo.
Upon returning, several of us climbers went to a Rock Climbing BBQ that we had been invited to. It was a fun time socializing (in our broken Spanish) with our friends outside of a climbing context. Climbers have to be some of the funnest people I’ve ever made friends with… Although we had eaten all day long, or so it seemed, we ate a lot of food at the barbeque. This included trying some more “exotic” entres: kidney, intestine, and blood sausage. Mrs. McAlister, my 9th grade history teacher, would be so proud of me. None of us cared much for the texture of the kidney or the taste of the intestine, but both were deemed mediocre by those present who had had it before, so I will never know if it actually would be something I’d like or not.
Some future things with the rock climbing club: we have a climbing trip to Minas next weekend and I’ll try to take some pictures of the gym we’ve been going to in order to post them here.

Hey look! It's a "Watch-Frog"!!!

I'd like a Mate. Shaken, not stirred.

Now, by popular demand, you get to learn about Mate...

While preparing to go down to Montevideo, one of the things that we were told to look out for culturally was a drink called mate (pronounced mah-teh, with emphasis on the first syllable). It’s a hot drink made by steeping the leaves of the yerba mate plant in hot water and drunk from a gourd. Much like coffee or strong tea, mate contains caffeine and people down here were supposed to drink it all day and all night in order to keep up with their crazy lifestyles of late night parties and early rising for work. And, honestly, we weren’t disappointed when we arrived: most everyone does indeed drink it.

Drinkers of mate themselves aren’t hard to spot either. You see then walking down the street with a thermos of hot water under one arm along with a gourd-looking thing with a metal straw sticking out from it. The calabash gourd, itself called the mate, is usually covered in leather and can be decorated any way that you’d like. The metal straw is called a bombilla and strains the leaves as you drink (seems interesting to drink something hot through a metal straw, but that’s what they do). Also something you would notice are all the leather materas, or “mate bags” that people carry slung over their shoulders to hold their thermos and gourd when not in use.

To emphasize its popularity, I’ll point out that it is the National Drink in Uruguay, Argentina, and Paraguay and also has a firm footing in southern Brazil. And people drink it everywhere and at any time. I mentioned earlier that the senators and representatives even drink it while in session at the Legislative Palace. Every gas station that you go to in Argentina has hot water available to fill up your thermos, however you should think twice about drinking and driving. In Uruguay, drinking mate while driving is illegal and drinking it while on the city busses is also prohibited mostly due to the danger of spilling hot water on yourself or others.

Originally, mate was drunk by the Gauchos of Uruguay and Argentina. These original cowboys can attest to the nutritional value of the drink. Their diet generally consisted of meat and mate! It was also something to pass the time while they sat around the fire after a hard day’s work.

There are regional differences to mate. In Uruguay, it’s pretty much only drunk hot and in the calabash gourds. People are very particular about their gourds and even have separate ones if they decide to add sweet water or tea to the yerba leaves. They say that it has to be the certain type of gourd to bring out the flavor. I can’t tell any difference, it’s all pretty bitter. The people in Argentina are less “hard-core” about the gourds and sometimes prefer to drink it in smaller plastic or metal cups. But still the drink is mostly hot. Further north in the hotter regions of Brazil and Paraguay, people drink it more like a chilled drink with iced water or tea with lemon. Most of the plants harvested are located in Paraguay, where it originated. Also, in Paraguay, many people add other herbs to their yerba leaf concoction. Overseas, Syria has become the largest importer of yerba mate and it is a popular drink there and in Lebanon. I don’t know if they drink it any differently or if it is as popular as here.

Another thing that make drinking mate so appealing to me is the sharing culture that goes along with it. Many people drink it alone, but it’s very common to see couples walking down the street with one gourd and thermos between them or to see a group of people sitting in at a restaurant or in front of a house passing a gourd between each other. One person has the thermos and “prepares” the gourd by adding the leaves and the bombilla. Then hot water is poured into a cavity created on one side of the gourd. The preparer takes the first drink to test the preparation/flavor. If it is satisfactory, he refills it with water and passes it to the next person. You have to drink all the water until you make a slurping sound with the straw and then hand it back to the preparer. He will refill it and pass it back until you thank him while you return the gourd. I think it’s pretty cool to be able to share a drink in a community like that.

I don’t think that there is any equivalent in the U.S., although espressos, lattes, and other coffee drinks come close. There is a need in both our cultures for the stimulation of caffeine and therefore it’s pretty common to see many people going to work or class with drink of choice in hand. What we don’t have in the States is the idea of sharing our drinks: “What’s mine is mine and you’re not going to have any of my $4.50 double-shot vanilla-mint espresso.”

Spring Break Part Four: Some Reflection and Final Day in Peru

Our last day in Cusco was a more relaxing, lazy day due to the intensity of the day before in Machu Picchu. I had fully intended on doing an extended hike to some of the ruins outside the city, but due to a lack of interest (on both the people I was with and myself [I needed someone else to be interested because of safety concerns in those particular ruins]) and a general feeling of foot weariness I decided no to. We slept in and had the breakfast we had become accustomed to over the past week in hostels: bread with butter and jam and coca tea to drink. I was ready to get back to Montevideo and have some oatmeal. The rest of the day was taken up with more shopping and wandering of the city. We visited the Coricancha museum, which is the great Sun Temple of the Incas, and had a tour of the catholic church built on its ruins. Then a friend and I hiked up to a large statue of Jesus overlooking the city that we could see from our hostel around dusk, just to say that I had at least started the trek that I had wanted to do earlier that day. After that was a little dinner and some card games. We felt exhausted and certain that it must be midnight when we decided to go to bed. However, when I looked at my watch it was only 9:30. It’s so weird how much our perception of time can be altered.

The next day began our long flight home. We first flew from Cusco to Lima with more amazing views (see Part Two below). Then we had a 9 hour layover in the Lima airport. We all made the best of it with card games, jokes, and reading. Thank goodness all our flights were on time and everything else went smoothly because after a night flight to Santiago and a 3 hour nap in the Chilean airport, tensions were forming in our group and patience was running thin. We made it home all safe and sound, minus some items we had forgotten or misplaced along the way, but with more than enough stories and memories to make up for them.

It’s really hard to know where to begin on a reflection of this trip. As I’m typing this blog entry I’m sitting in a hotel room in Foz de Iguazu on an amazing Brazil trip that has been a lot of fun (you’ll hear more on that later, hopefully before June), but can’t even begin to hold a candle to the Peru trip. I have never downloaded so many pictures from one trip onto my computer before. It is interesting to contemplate why I have so many pictures from our Machu Picchu excursion in particular because most of them all look the same. All of us with cameras were constantly taking pictures of the city even though we were really only getting different angles of the same thing. What made us take so many pictures? I think it can be explained in a spiritual sense: how we are inevitably worldly beings and when we experience something so awe-inspiring, something with beauty that transcends anything we have ever experienced before, something that allows us to see a little bit of God, we have no idea how to respond. As a result, our group resorted to taking picture after picture in hopes of capturing the entire experience, knowing that digital pixels will never do it justice.

Alone on Putu Kusi, I reflected on another thing: the Incan city of Machu Picchu is so impressive due to the Incan architecture built high in the mountains. Man, made in the image of God, can do powerful things. And yet, even with all the blessings that God gave them, the Incan people still worshipped creation: the sun, the moon, the rain, and even the Inca (the leader of the people) himself. What a huge expression of the grace of God, loving humans even while they completely ignore him.

For some final reflection, I’ll leave you with another underdeveloped thought of mine. I learned a lot about the Spanish conquest of Peru and how the Europeans inevitably had a negative, degrading view of the indigenous peoples, often calling them savages or “uncivilized.” What is it that makes someone civilized? The Incas had a sophisticated form of government, miles of roads built high in the Andes, and social structures that allowed many people of different backgrounds to live together. The conquerors came and plundered the towns that they came across, raping women stealing food from the people. I think a lot of us need to reexamine the way we view other people, even if it be subconscious...

Spring Break Part Three: Machu Picchu

Tuesday morning saw us up bright and early for our bus/train ride to Aguas Calientes, the closest little town to Machu Picchu. Aguas has grown up mostly from tourism to the Incan city and to the hot springs that give it its name, but also from a hydroelectric power plant in the vicinity. The entire trip there was filled with view after view of huge, mysterious mountains shrouded in mist. Once to the town, we dropped off our stuff at the hostel and loaded another bus up to the city itself for a guided tour of the ruins. There are few things in this world that live up the word ‘awesome’ that we throw around so much. Machu Picchu, with its massive stone buildings that have stood the test of time surrounded by the gorgeous Andes Mountains, lives up to such a word. The weather added to the effect: we had a mixture of rain, clouds, and the occasional clear view of the entire city. We learned a lot from the tour guide, about which theories regard the purposes of each structure and the different theories on the purpose of the city itself: how it could possibly be a religious center, a place to study the stars, or even an Incan University. She also informed us about some other possibilities for hiking in the area, and a few of us began to form a plan…

We boarded the bus once again, for our switch-backed road back down the mountain for a buffet lunch included in our package. We were entertained by live Peruvian music just outside the door and enjoyed a wonderful meal with each other after our soggy morning at Machu Picchu. After a little bit of a struggle at the ATM, a group of us walked down the train tracks toward a train head that I had found online and the guide mentioned earlier that day. The hikers’ trail leads up Putu Kusi, or Laughing Mountain, and would provide a spectacular view of the ruins from the summit. However, it was almost nightfall and we only wanted to have a look at the trail which is famed for its wooden ladders leading upward through the rock, one of which is supposed to have at least 161 rungs on it. We made it to the ladders and headed back down, not wanting to get lost in the dark getting back to Aguas Calientes.

While looking for some other members of the group, we ran into a girl from Nevada studying abroad in Chile this semester. She was supposed to meet up with her uncle and go on the Incan trail, but the company botched her spot and she was going to have to meet them in the city on the next day after entertaining herself for 3 days. We ended up eating pizza and playing pool with her and some other students she had run into on her trip to AC. Through our conversation, we discovered that they were planning on hiking up the ruins from the town early the next morning. Being the hard-core group that we were, we made plans to meet them in the square the next morning and accompany them up the mountain to Machu Picchu.

Rising at 4:30 am, we met our new friends in the square and hiked up to ruins in the dark. I had my headlamp and Branson had his flash light, but we ended up not needed either because of moonlight lighting our way. We beat many of the people who took the first busses up the city and were able to get into the sanctuary in time to see the sun top the peaks to the east of the city. Then we got in line to climb Huayna Picchu, or Young Peak, the highest sugar-loaf mountain situated behind the city in photographs. They only let 400 people climb the mountain everyday and you have to early in the morning if you want to have a chance. We stormed the peak, and never looked back in our conquest of the area.

The views from the top were worth every stinkin’ stone stair we had to climb to reach it. One of most incredible things was the building and terraces built on the top for a sort of watchtower to protect the city. We climbed almost entirely in a cloud and were disappointed we weren’t going to get a view of Machu Picchu. Fortunately, the clouds decided to thin and break frequently on our way back down, causing a pause in our descent and a mad scramble for our cameras. Before going back into the ruins, we climbed Huchuy Picchu, the second highest sugar-loaf peak you see in the pictures for more incredible views. The coolest thing about this peak is that there was no one else up there, we had the summit to ourselves. After that, we hiked through the city ruins and up to the ancient Incan Bridge which provided passage along a sheer cliff in order to finish a road system down the Urubambu Valley. Then it was back to the city and up to the Inti Punktu, or Sun Gate, where the Incan Trail comes into the sanctuary. By that time, our group (now nicknamed the “Core Four”) was feeling our escapades of the morning and took our time walking back to the main ruins. We were ahead of schedule and allowed ourselves some chill time just sitting and viewing the city and appreciating the awesome-ness of its structures and location. Walking among us and the other thousand tourists in the sanctuary were a heard of wild llamas complete with several young ones. It was very cool to see them walking around the terraces, trying to picture what it all might have looked like when it was flourishing. Then we literally ran back down the mountain (racing the descending busses) and refueled back in town with Snickers bars and generic brand Gatorades. We topped off our incredible day by climbing Putu Kusi and its many ladders. It rained on us the entire time but, once again, we lucked out and the clouds broke for long enough to catch yet another angle on the ruins of Machu Picchu. Finally it was back to the town for a quick bite of some delicious chicken enchiladas “to go” as we caught our train back to Cusco.

I Got Rhythm, I Got Music

The Wednesday night before we left for Brazil, we went again to the Teatro Solis to watch a Brazilian rock artist Chico César. His show was very entertaining and he involved the audience a lot (I wish I could have participated more, but since he was speaking in Spanish and singing in Portuguese…I know, more and more excuses). It opened with him and his drummer accompanist playing/singing a number while he was playing a weird looking instrument and manipulating the sound with a synthesizer. As the rest of the show continued he played two different guitars, sang, and danced while the drummer had some solos. In an attempt to explain his music/style, I would have to say that he was a mix of Bobby McFerrin and John Mayer, light rock with guitar but using a lot of mouth percussion/sound effects and body movements. Overall it was very enjoyable and was a good introduction to our Brazil trip we took the next week.

Another Brick in the Wall...Teachers! Leave them kids alone!

I'm really enjoying all my classes and this semester has been one filled with growth for me as a scholar and a follower of Christ. I look forward to using my experiences in the classroom and on the streets in my future. (Another cool thing about classes down here: we only met 4 days a week, giving us 3-day weekends every week! Talk about getting spoiled…)
Here’s a list of the classes I took:
· Beginning Spanish I & 2
· INTS: Latin American Studies
· Christianity in Culture
· Differential Equations (Guided study)
Beginning Spanish 1 & 2: Studying Spanish in a semi-immersed environment has been a lot of fun. It actually gives you incentive to learn in class because you’re actually going to go out and use the stuff you just learned. We have the class 4 days a week and we really have to work hard to keep up with our crazy teacher Amelia. She is a really great teacher and balances bookwork with oral practice and singing contemporary Spanish songs in class. We also have a Spanish lab where we can practice the vocabulary and grammar and pronunciation in a smaller group context. Many days in lab we learn “scripts” and then have to go out of the house and talk to random people. Very stressful for a introverted person like me, let me tell you. But the people of Montevideo are really nice and all you have to say is that you're learning spanish (Estoy aprendiendo espanol.) and they become really nice and helpful.
INTS: Latin American Studies: This is a class that studies basic structures of culture and the history of Latin America and Montevideo/Uruguay in particular. For assignments we get to go out and explore museums and monuments and statues writing about what we saw and experienced in a journal. Lynette Sharp-Penya, our on-site program director, teaches this class.
Christianity in Culture: This class, taught by Prof. Ken Cukrowski, is teaching us to examine culture while thinking theologically. We’ve discussed issues such as capital punishment, abortion, women’s rights, and homosexuality. It’s been very interesting both to hear the views of other students in my class and to develop my own thoughts and beliefs on these issues. Where culture is concerned, we’re getting a double serving by examining the culture of Uruguay and Latin America and then compare it to our culture back home, often discovering some unfavorable things that we do in our daily lives, especially with regards to our treatment of other people.
Differential Equations: DE has been quite an experience for me and Marissa, the other physics major studying abroad this semester. We had to take the class as a prerequisite to a lot of upper level physics classes that we will have to take in the future, but obviously they don’t offer anything like that down here. So, we are taking it as a guided study, basically teaching ourselves the ins and outs of modeling with differential equations, doing homework on our own, and faxing our tests and quizzes to the professor back in Abilene. It’s been a lot of work keeping up with the class at ACU, but the work will pay off in the long run.

And now next semester I get to look forward to Thermodynamics, Solid State Physics, Math Methods for Physics and Engineering, and Business and Professional Writing. Whew! I'll take back anything I ever said bad about classes in Uruguay...

Spring Break Part Two: First Events in Cusco

Because our flight from Lima to Cusco wasn’t extremely early in the morning, we had a nice and relaxing breakfast (consisting of bread, butter, and jam along with an amazing freshly squeezed papaya juice and tea) and packed up our belongings. The flight itself was mesmerizing. I had my face literally glued to the window from the moment we took off until we landed about an hour later. The views, “Oh the Joy!”, were out of this world: tall mountains and glaciers, high grassy plateaus dotted with villages and crossed by roads that looked treacherous on a good weather day. Unbelievable! The views from that flight were worth the trip already and we had just gotten to Cusco…we still had about a week of fun, filled, action-packed adventure awaiting us!
We met our drivers who would take us to our hostel with a little less difficulty than we had in Lima (thank goodness). Along the way to the vans, we were immediately and constantly approached and asked if we wanted to buy things, most notably coca leaves and coca candy. The leaves of the coca plant have been used for an extremely long time (even dating back to the days of the Incas or earlier) for medicinal purposes and for help in high-altitudes. It is suggested that you chew or drink the tea upon arriving in Cusco, since the city itself sits at 12,000 feet. (Can you imagine that as well: we flew into an airport at 12,000 ft. No wonder we got a good view of the mountains we were flying over, they were right underneath us!)

We got to our hostel and were immediately served coca tea which I might say is very good. The view from the upstairs balcony was incredible. You could look out and see the whole valley of the city of Cusco since our hostel was situated on the side of a hill. I’ve already mentioned some of this view before so I won’t go into too much detail. The rest of that day we spent walking around the city, acclimatizing, and setting up tours and adventures for the beginning of the week.
That night, we ate at a little grill down the street from the hostel and I was able to add some more items to my “strange food” list. Everyone ordered a joint cuy so we could all try it. Cuy is a Peruvian specialty and is roasted guinea pig. It didn’t look appetizing at all when it came out, but I didn’t think it was all that bad. I do believe that I am alone in those sentiments however… As my main dish I ordered grilled alpaca, very similar to a llama. It was very tasty, similar in taste and texture to venison. After dinner we had to run back down to the main plaza to talk to the travel agent lady we had found earlier that day and sit through a frustrating session of bargaining with them about prices. They had said one price in the afternoon and had upped it now that we had our money there to pay. It all ended up worth the haggling and the frustrations of the night quickly faded as we climbed back up the hostel (breathing like an asthmatic the whole way) and could see the lights of the city below us. Incredible!
The next day, Sunday, we boarded a bus that took us out to Action Valley, a company specializing in adrenaline sports. They claim to have the highest paintball arena on the planet and offer “sling-shot” rides. However, we had come for the bungee jumping… It is the highest commercial bungee jump platform in the western hemisphere sitting at 122 meters high. When you jump, you free fall a total of 105 meters with a 3 second, un-abated freefall. There were six of us that dared to jump and all six enjoyed ourselves immensely. It’s very difficult to describe the feeling that you have when you jump off a platform at over 400 feet in the air. Lot’s of things go through your mind at once including, “What have you just done?” or “What a cool view.” or “That ground is coming really fast and the wind is bugging my ears.” or “Man, I wish my mom could be here, wait on second thought…” After the first fall though, all your fears are gone and you can enjoy the rest of the ride. Four others in our group also did a really long zip-line and zoomed over our heads at a pretty good clip. The rest of the afternoon was dedicated to more Cusco exploration and souvenir shopping. That night, several of us went in together and cooked our own pasta with red, meat sauce. Very delicious after a hard day acclimatizing. (The daring 6 of us who bungee jumped)
Mondy, we went on a raft trip. Hardly any of our group had every gone rafting before, and what a way to start out rafting through the Andes! Just the drive to get to the put-in was amazing: huge mountains, corn fields, sheep, people spinning yarn in the fields while watching their sheep. The rafting itself very enjoyable and we were blessed to have very good, and fun, guides. They even pulled us over at one point and had us play some “rafting games.” However, right at the beginning we had an accident: on of the rafts didn’t make a corner in the river and got broached, or pinned on a rock. Several fell out and our raft pulled one of them in but the rest were able to remain calm and eventually work themselves off the rock. Our guide also let me take the helm towards the end of the ride and I treated my pals in my boat to some good ol’ fashioned Middle Fork piracy… Back at the rafting headquarters, we had a sauna and a good, hot lunch. Then it was another incredible ride back into town for dinner, some more souvenir shopping, and sleep.

One thing worth mentioning is the Parade of Senor de los Tremblores, or Lord of the Earthquakes. During one of Cusco’s major earthquakes, a crucifix was paraded around the city and as a result the earthquake stopped. Thus, they continue the tradition every Monday of Holy Week in order to protect the city from future earthquakes. The main square was packed with thousands of people standing shoulder to shoulder watching the procession. We couldn’t get through and had to walk a long way around to our hostel after dark. Looking back toward the square at one point, you could see just how big the throng of people was. This is a good illustration of the mix of religions that resulted from forcing Catholicism on the people of South America. You usually got a mix of Catholicism and pagan rituals.
The next day we were on our way to the Lost City of the Incas…

My Peruvian Spring Break Part One: Lima

Our Spring Break excursion started out with class and, once it got rolling, never looked back! On Thursday after lunch we got picked up from the Casa by Remise, a kind of taxi that you can order before hand. We stepped out the door to see 4 jet-black vehicles with our sunglassed and suited drivers awaiting: we felt like we were being driven to the airport by the secret service! The flight itself was uneventful, thankfully, but we did have some trouble in the Lima Airport connecting with the van that was supposed to take us to our hostel. Usually you get something arranged beforehand because the Lima airport is notorious for having taxis sitting outside with bad intentions… We made it safely to our hostel and collapsed into our small, but comfortable beds.

Also important to note, we withdrew some Peruvian currency in the airport. They are called “Nuevo Soles”, or just “soles”. Singular it’s “sol”, or sun, which sounds very similar as one might imagine to the English “soul”. The rest of the trip was filled with puns about people owing each other their souls, or how the dinner cost me my soul. Very entertaining!

The next day we woke up and took a taxi downtown to the main square, Plaza de Armas, and toured the area. We paid for an English tour of the nearby Franciscan Cathedral which is also famous for the catacombs that lie beneath the building. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an actual human skull in real life before and I couldn’t help but shudder when we were taken by a neatly arranged pile of them. After that we walked back to the Plaza to await the changing of the guard which happens everyday at noon at the government palace located on the main square. Looking around at some of the other churches, we ran into the rest of our group which had stayed in a hotel the night before. The fanfare that goes into the changing of the guard is pretty extensive and I am amazed that they do it everyday. A band comes out and plays and the ordeal involves many soldiers in historic garb high stepping to the beat of the drums. It was also interesting to see the contrast between the historic soldiers and the actual military/police in camo that were guarding the politic area.

For lunch, we walked down toward the Plaza de San Marin looking for a restaurant serving ceviche, or cebiche, a famous Puruvian dish made from raw fish essentially “cooked” or pickled in lemon juice. We found a restaurant on the square itself serving an entre and an appetizer and drink for 6 soles. The fish was very good but had an interesting texture considering it isn’t cooked. After our food adventure, we took a taxi to the Museum of Art. The way they had it displayed was very interesting: you enter to see the pre-Colombian art first and move through history. As the Spanish conquered the area they forced their artistic ideas upon the native artists completely changing their form of expression from ceramics, metal work, and textiles to painting. It continued into modern day artists and it was very cool to see actual works from Peruvian painters.

Once outside, we were greeted by the chorus of car, taxi, and bus horns that were our constant companion while in the city of Lima. I’ve mentioned this before, but the traffic of Lima is supposed to be the craziest in all of Latin America. It was here that we witnessed a man try to slash the tires of a taxi next to him on the road…while driving! Another funny site to see in the streets were human traffic lights. A person would sit/stand on a platform at an intersection and actually direct the traffic.

Later that night, after returning to our hostel for some relaxation before another planned gathering with the entire group, one of my friends, Sarah, and I went out for a walk along the ocean’s edge. Now I didn’t say “beach,” because the shoreline of Lima is kind of interesting. The buildings and path on which we walked are above the beach on a sort of bank. The beach in the Miraflores area (the neighborhood that we were in) is also made entirely of small stones, very different than any other ocean shore I’ve ever been to. As we walked we were able to see surfers in the waves, parachute ride things, a famous park with “Love Mosaics”, and some pretty cool statues. The sunset over the horizon was very beautiful and it was hard to pull ourselves away to go to the next thing.

For dinner we caught a taxi to the hotel our friends were staying at downtown and walked to a nearby Chili’s restaurant for dinner. You have no idea how much people can miss chips and salsa when you go out to eat, but let me tell you, once you don’t have it for 3 months, it’s pretty nice. The food was very good and the atmosphere very conducive to conversation and having a good time. Then, my roommate Mark has a tradition of taking pictures at Starbuck’s coffee shops that he finds in foreign countries that he and his parents travel to. After that, it was back to the hostel for a much needed night of sleep. However, to our dismay, it was even hotter than the night before, and sleep was hard to come by.

Palacio Legislativo

This past Friday, we took a tour of the Legislative Palace of Uruguay, located here in Montevideo. The building itself is an awe inspiring construction. You’ll have to look up some pictures online (http://www.parlamento.gub.uy/palacio3/p_visitavirtual.asp?Lang=Eng): it commands a large area and its marble columns at one of the entrances are impressive. There aren’t very many buildings in the area that are as built as high either. Its idea was born in the early 1900’s because the Legislature at that time didn’t have any official place to meet. They met in people’s houses and rented buildings for larger events. Actual construction began in 1908 and was overseen by an Italian architect giving the building its distinct design. They finished work in 1925 in time to celebrate the centennial of the country.
If it’s possible, the inside is even more remarkable. The first room that we entered is called something like the “Room of the Lost Steps” and it separates the halls of the Senators and the Representatives. Located in the center of the building, this room has ceilings, artwork, and design fit to be in some of the cathedrals that we have visited. This in itself is interesting when you remember that Uruguay is one of the most secularized countries in Latin America having gone through an extensive process beginning in the 19^th century. The tour guide informed us that the room was constructed entirely from 52 different kinds of marble, all taken from quarries in Uruguay. Above our heads there were also amazingly detailed mosaics (if I hadn’t known they were tiled I would have thought it was a painting!), beautiful stained glass windows imported from a artisan in Italy, and 24 k gold and crystal lamp stands. Next we moved to the ballroom, where everything is original, nothing being restored. The entire room was built with wood imported from Italy and at the center sat a huge Turkish rug and an enormous table carved from one piece of oak. We were also shown the library which is also completely handmade with wood furnishings including bookshelves of a type of rose wood claimed to be the most expensive wood in the world. It’s the 2^nd largest library in Uruguay and is open to the public. It was cool for us to see some people actually in the room studying.
After being blow away by the architecture, we followed our guide to the rooms which the senators and representatives meet twice a week. It was kind of surreal to step onto the balcony and look into the area where the politicians sit. I’ve only seen scenes like it in the movies. Uruguay’s system of government is very similar to ours and has had tow major parties like us since its creation: the Red Party and the White Party. Only recently has a 3^rd party emerged: the Broad Front, a liberal-socialist type party, which is the party of the current president. As they conduct meetings, the elected officials sit segregated with the older parties on the sides and the new Broad Front party in the middle. In the Representative chamber, there are 99 representatives, most of which are from Montevideo and there is also 1 Independent member elected. I don’t know exactly where he sits during meetings… One thing we noticed, were 2 coasters sitting on each of the desks. When asked about these, the guide laughed and said they were for coffee and tea. She also said that the members are now allowed to drink their mate during meetings (they hadn’t always in the past) but that they haven’t gained the liberty of having 3 coasters on their desks…
Two more cultural things: First, Uruguay flies three flags in many places. One has a red diagonal on it: this was Artigas’ flag as he fought for independence from Spain. One has the inscription “Libertad o Muerte”, liberty or death: this was used by Lavalleja and the 33 Orientales (roughly “Revolutionaries”) when they returned from Buenos Aires to fight for independence from Brazil. The third is the current flag with alternating blue and white stripes on the right and a sun in the top left-hand corner. Second, the Uruguayan seal or shield is shown in many places. It is split into four sections each with a symbol: (going from top left, counter clockwise) Scales=justice, Horse=liberty, Ox=richness, and The Cerro(the highest point in Montevideo)=strength.

The Wild West Should Meet the Original Gaucho

On Sunday, we got opportunity to go to a Uruguayan rodeo and fair. Holy Week, the week before Easter, has been renamed Tourism Week as part of a separation of Church and state process that began the 19^th century and as part of last week they put on a week of festivities here in Montevideo. They call it Semana Criolla, roughly translated at Heritage Week. Gaucho (the cowboy of the Southern Cone) culture is a huge part of the Uruguayan tradition and much of it was being celebrated while in different presentations we were able to attend while we were there. First, Ximena (one of our Spanish lab instructors and good friends) took us to see the end of the rodeo part. The riders, dressed in Gaucho wear, would mount a horse tied to a post and ride the bucking bronc swinging their whips above their heads. It probably wouldn’t have been the favorite place of a PETA member, let’s just throw that in there. Then, we walked through an artisan market while looking for some other form of entertainment. We found a magic show/circus in progress and I at least had a very good time watching the proceedings and trying to understand what they were saying. Man it’s hard to come back to Montevideo and hear Spanish after listening to the clear speaking of Peruvians! Then we went to see a song and dance show presenting folk dances and music of the past. It was very fun. Mom, you would have loved it. Other than that, we were able to talk with Ximena about different aspects of Uruguayan culture and share with her some of the funny things that we do in the States that is different than here.

I tried to take notice of the similarities and differences between a fair/rodeo here and back home. Honestly they were very similar. We saw a lot of families spending time together and the smell of hotdog and hamburger stands filled the air. The biggest difference was the lack of games or rides that you would normally find at a fair in the states. It was a relief not to be accosted by carneys every step you took.

Crazy Taxi Drivers and Dog Poo

As I was running this morning, I thought about some interesting things to tell you about city life in Montevideo. We’ll see if I can collect my thoughts:
Trash:
I’ve been taught growing up that you don’t litter and my coaches in High School repeated over and over that they weren’t my mother and therefore were going to make me run if they had to pick up after me. So, upon arriving in Montevideo, they way people treat their garbage was kind of a shock. First, they have dumpsters where we carry our garbage and they are regularly picked up by the city. However, there are a certain “class” of people who live in the outskirts of the city and come around either on bicycles or horses pulling trailers and they sort through the trash for anything that might be useful. This serves as the recycling service as well since they pull out all the materials able to be recycled and turn it in for money. It seems as though this has become a way of life for both them and the rest of the people of Montevideo. Some leave food, usually leftovers, out in front of their houses or hang plastic bags from the trees with stuff that they can use. Also, if you have a plastic or glass bottle, the custom is to leave in on the sidewalk next to the dumpster.
Secondly, people don’t have any qualms about throwing trash on the ground all over the place. You especially see this on the main streets where people are hired to stand out in front of businesses and hand out flyers to passerby. Entire the block around the distributor is littered with the pieces of paper that he or she just handed out. I think the reason behind this is creating jobs. There is a huge unemployment problem in Uruguay and even if you do have a job it’s for very low pay. So, if there is trash on the ground the government can hire workers to clean it up. Everyday that I run through the park close to the Casa, I see workers cleaning up trash from the grass. At the beach as well (I don’t remember if I’ve mentioned this before) they clean the sand of garbage and whatever floats ashore from the river.
Streets:
The traffic is crazy here in South America! It’s very interesting to watch drivers interact with each other via flashing headlights and their horns. As they drive they don’t really give any concern to the painted markings either. If there is a space between two cars you’ll see a driver squeeze through honking all the while to let the others know that he is there. In Peru, we rode in a couple of busses who would pass other vehicles in the strangest places. I think we passed another bus as we went over a speed bump once, so we were both going about 5 miles an hour!
We’ve thought about renting some kind of scooter to get around town faster, but I think I would kill myself! The traffic is crazy, but I’ve never seen such good drivers. They put people in the States to shame with their attention to the task at hand, awareness of the road and other vehicles, and quick response times. I feel more comfortable riding in a taxi here I think than I would in the states. We had a couple of close calls in taxis in Lima, Peru (where the traffic is supposed to be the worst in all of Latin America) but no accidents. We also got to see some road rage in Lima where a man reached out his window and tried to slash the tires of a taxi next to him because the driver wouldn’t let him merge! To be honest I’ve only seen three total accidents while I’ve been here. The first happened in Minas where everyone had the typical small town reaction. It looked as though the entire police force was there directing traffic (all of 2 cars every 10 minutes or so) around the accident and people up and down the street were hanging there heads out windows to see what all the “hubbub” was about. The second was in Cusco where we saw a taxi back into a light pole while trying to turn around in their ridiculously narrow streets and shattered his rear window. The third was this morning while running I saw a motorcycle and a car slide into each other. Both parties were okay and it didn’t look as though there was much damage, but it really surprised me to even see an accident after all the experiences we’ve had.
Sidewalks:
The sidewalks here are one heck of an extraordinary mix of amazing ingenuity and frustrating inconvenience. They aren’t a complete slab of concrete, but instead are made of individual concrete tiles stuck together. It seems like a great idea allowing the roots of trees to grow without breaking the costly sidewalk and when they’ve worked in the water works nearby, all they’ve had to do was pull up the tiles and dig down to the pipes, replacing everything when they were finished. But inevitably as you walk down the street there are broken tiles everywhere, tiles missing, and the tiles put in place but not stuck down. These latter are really annoying after it rains and they seem to float on the surface of a hidden puddle, only to splash your entire lower body when stepped on. There is also the problem of dog poop that one must dodge while walking down the street. This kind of applies to the first category in that we’ve been taught to pick up after our pets in the States. I really don’t know who ends up cleaning up the “sidewalk feces”.

In contrast, people like to take care of their sidewalks. It’s common place to see people outside their home or business cleaning the walk with a bucket of soapy water and a broom or even just sweeping the leaves off into the street. People take pride in having a clean place in front of their respective homes or shops.

La Paloma era muy bonito.

So this is a little behind, but a couple of weeks ago we took a combined trip to La Paloma (along the east coast of Uruguay) and the surrounding area. I liked the picture idea that I had for the climbing trip and BA so that's what I'll do for this one. Here goes:

One the first day in La Paloma, a group of us decided to take surfing lessons. Here are the six guys who braved the cloudy weather and crashing waves to learn the art of surfing.
First part of the lesson included learning to jump up from a lying down position to standing. On the beach it seemed pretty easy, on the board in the water: not so much... I don't have any actual surfing pictures because my batteries died about 2 minutes after this photo. :(
We took a 4x4 ride to a rocky ithsmus called Cabo Polonio and this is the lighthouse that warns ships of the perilous rocks.
We got to hike to some sand dunes just outside of town as well. Here's Branson, Mark, and Holly enjoying the views. It was kind of wierd hiking between the dunes and the surf in the light conditions we had: felt like we were on some strange planet with no life around for miles.

Here are more dunes off in the distance. We hiked to the nearest one visible with the two dots on it in the left side of the picture. The dots in the picture are our resident professor's family Ken, Karen, Krista, and Katie Cukrowski. (I think if you click on the picture it will load in a different window bigger).

A picture of Sarah Boyd and I standing at the top of the lighthouse shown earlier. You could see for miles around (probably because everything was so flat). The four of us up there couldn't do anything else except stand there and take it all in. Gorgeous!

Now here's a fun game. I hope I'm right about being able to click on a picture and loading a larger version in a different frame, because it'll be harder to play without it. Here's the deal. This is a photo from the top of the lighthouse there is a napping kitty-cat on the rocks below. Can you find her? (Hint shown below)
This picture is taken at Punta del Diablo. The waves would come in and crash on the rocks of the point, resulting in amazing photo opportunities. This is Branson in the foreground, one of my hiking buddies you'll hear a lot about in the Machu Picchu Blogs coming soon to a webpage near you.

Lastly, we visited a huge colonial era fort built by the Spanish. From above it is shaped in characteristic 5-pointed star and is now a type of museum with displays of how fort life would have been. As cliche as it might look I was not looking forward to "putting my nose back to the grindstone" the next day at school.
Also, included in this trip, but without picture evidence: French-style breakfast in a room in our hotel facing the Atlantic Ocean, a dinner in which I got to try shark, a horse-back riding trip along the beach, and a Sunday morning service we had on the beach behind our hotel which was awesome! Fun trip. Que pasan bien ustedes (Spanish for y'all...)!

Duh duh duh duuuuuuh, duh duh duh...

Hello friends and family! I have officially returned from my adventure in Peru rediscovering the long lost city of the Incas. Today I've been recovering from a 24 hour stint in international airports. That was rough! The trip was amazing as well, if you ever have a chance to visit the Peruvian Andes, drop everything and do so, they're fantastic. Being looking for a full trip blog (or parts of one anyway) coming soon.

As a tease, here is a picture of an unnamed Indians Jones wannabe climbing on HuchuyPicchu: