Just finished my first week of classes here in Sucre. It´s a terrific place to study! The town is a good size, not too big or too small- about 200,000 people. It is a colonial city and the controversial capital of Bolivia (Evo wants to move it to La Paz and two of the branches of government are currently located there, but to anyone from Sucre, this is still the capital...). There are loads of lovely churches and museums and everything in the town is white, hence the nickname "The White City". Sucre is at 2700 meters so not as high as La Paz and Copacabana but still decent elevation. The weather is moderate year round so even though it is winter we have sunny afternoons where t-shirts are fine, but then you have to bundle up a bit at night. I´m really enjoying my time here.
I arrived on Sunday morning and wandered around for an hour looking for a hostel. I spent the day just kind of making my way through town and later met a couple of Irish guys to have dinner and drinks with. Monday morning I started classes. I´m attending the Bolivian Spanish School which is right on a park about a 10 minute walk from my hostel. I am doing 4 hours of one on one classes 5 days a week from 8:30 to 12:30. We have a break at 10:30 and on Monday a group of us went out for salteñas (similar to empanadas) during the break which was a good way to meet some other students and teachers. After class my first day, the head of the school told me that I was more advanced than they had anticipated and they wanted to switch me to a teacher with more experience with students at my level. Unfortunately that would only be possible if I switched classes to 2:30 to 6:30 which I didn´t want to do. So next week I am switching teachers. My teacher this week, Ana, was fine though. I kind of told her what I wanted to work on and she´d put together lessons and we did a lot of conversing and some excursions. But I am hoping to really improve a lot more after next week. I guess we´ll see.
The excursions I went on with the school were to the local cemetary and to a castle south of the city. The cemetary is gorgeous. Loads of trees and flowers and huge, marble masoleums. At least for the rich. The poor are buried in the back in graves marked with simple wooden crosses and apparently the people can only afford to rent the graves. So, after a year or two, the bodies are dug up and moved and new ones put in. I´m not exactly sure where the bodies go when they are moved... Former presidents of Bolivia and many of the famous martyrs are buried in the cemetary as well. The castle is called "La Glorieta" and was built by a former prince who adopted like 40 orphans (ha and his wife had no children of their own). It was another interesting excursion.
Yesterday after classes, I went with another student, Tim, to see the Dinosaur Park. We took the local transport up instead of the tourist bus which was much more intereting and a whole lot less expensive. A cement company in Bolivia unearthed the world´s largest area of dinosaur tracks here back in the 1990´s. There are over 5000 tracks including the world´s largest single track which is more than 350 meters long. The tracks were made on flat ground but with the movement of the plates, it has become a wall on the side of a mountain (vertical). The park has an overlook so you can see the wall and also displays models, a skeleton and molds of the tracks of the different types of dinosaurs. It was pretty fascinating in my opinion.
Yesterday night, Tim and I met up with Stephen, Michael and Makala (also from school) to go watch a local futbol (soccer) match. It was fun to go, but the locals were not really into it which was somewhat surprising for Latin America. There was one group of erious fans at the end of the field that sang, danced and cheered the entire game and sporadically set off fireworks. So they were fun to watch. The local team, Universitario, won 1-0.
Tonight the students are getting together at the school for dinner and drinks and Sunday a group of us are going to a local market town. Good times all around!
More next week.
Friday, July 31, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Isla del Sol, La Paz, and Cocha with the Huertas
Isla del Sol was awesome! Amazing scenery from both Peru and Bolivia (although the mountains on the Bolivian side were definitely more impressive). We arrived on the north side of the island and hiked to the northern tip to see some ruins. Then we took a path down the island to the south and the village of Yumani. Most of the people from the morning boats left the island at 4 but I decided to stay the night. I went up to a hilltop to watch the sunset over Peru and then headed to a restaurant near my guesthouse for dinner. I think a few more people than planned chose that restaurant for dinner because they ran out of nearly everything (you can have trout or trout) and it took nearly 3 hours to have a simple 3 course set meal. Luckily I was at a table with a really nice uncle and niece from Spain (she works in the Galapagos and he was visiting) so I got to practice my Spanish with friendly people while waiting. Turns out I am quite adept at whining in Spanish, but definitely can work on my vocabulary :). The next morning I watched the sun rise over Bolivia from my room (seriously, the scenery on the island is fantastic!) and then walked down to the southern ruins before the morning boat departures. I met a nice tour group from Sweden who let me join them on their fancy private boat back to Copacabana and got a late morning bus to La Paz.
Upon arrival in La Paz, I met a French girl named Nina who is spending the year in South America. We ended up sharing a room in La Paz and hanging out for the next few days. La Paz is very hilly, very high (12,000 feet), and right now (winter), very cold. But when it is clear, you can see the nearby mountains from the city which is lovely. Nina and I saw the movie UP in Spanish (good thing it was animated as I didn´t get much of the dialogue) and checked out the very interesting Museo de Coca. We ate local almuerzos (inexpensive set lunch) and I got a chance to see the new Harry Potter (I loved it but it wasn´t my favorite of the movies). We also went and saw live local music and met some mountain climbers.
Since I am coming back to La Paz in October, I only stayed for 2 days and then headed to Cochabamba. My friend Heidi is from Cocha and put me in touch with her family here. The Huetras are the most amazing hosts!! Thank you so much Chichi and Nelly! Chichi picked me up the first day and took me on a scenic tour of the city and to her lovely home. Nelly came and met us and we went out and got marrequetas (fresh, sweet bread rolls) and then went for the most fantastic hot chocolate I´ve ever had at Chocolate Para Ti. Nelly brought me to her house and let me try calling home on her fancy Magic Jack before dropping me back at my hotel. The next day I wandered around the main area of Cocha in the morning and visited many of the churches and squares. Nelly picked me up in the afternoon and we went up to see the world´s largest statue of Jesus (yes, taller than the one in Rio- barely). Nelly is super outgoing so we met loads of people. Plus, I swear the Huertas know everyone in Cocha so we constantly stopped to talk to people and I met more people than I can possibly remember. It was like being with local celebrities! After the statue, we went for terrific empanadas, juice and huminitas (like sweet corn bread with anis) and then back to Nelly´s for a bit. In the evening we went to Recoleta and walked around and then saw a jazz trio playing Bolivian classics (and others) at a wine and cheese event at the upscale Hotel Cochabamba. Such a great day! Yesterday Chichi took me to lunch for chorizos (yummy spicy sausage). I have now tried every single food on the list that Heidi sent me (and then some) and I have to say that I´m a fan of Bolivian food! After chorizos, we stopped and got a cinnamin ice cream for desert. I´ve seriously been spoiled the past few days! Later in the day, I met up with Nina who had arrived in Cocha the night before and we went to see a Brasilian concert in a European mansion in the north of town.
So after a terrific time in Cochabamba, I´m heading to Sucre this evening. Monday I start Spanish classes so I am planning to actually stay in one place for 2 whole weeks. We´ll see how it goes.
Ciao for now!
Upon arrival in La Paz, I met a French girl named Nina who is spending the year in South America. We ended up sharing a room in La Paz and hanging out for the next few days. La Paz is very hilly, very high (12,000 feet), and right now (winter), very cold. But when it is clear, you can see the nearby mountains from the city which is lovely. Nina and I saw the movie UP in Spanish (good thing it was animated as I didn´t get much of the dialogue) and checked out the very interesting Museo de Coca. We ate local almuerzos (inexpensive set lunch) and I got a chance to see the new Harry Potter (I loved it but it wasn´t my favorite of the movies). We also went and saw live local music and met some mountain climbers.
Since I am coming back to La Paz in October, I only stayed for 2 days and then headed to Cochabamba. My friend Heidi is from Cocha and put me in touch with her family here. The Huetras are the most amazing hosts!! Thank you so much Chichi and Nelly! Chichi picked me up the first day and took me on a scenic tour of the city and to her lovely home. Nelly came and met us and we went out and got marrequetas (fresh, sweet bread rolls) and then went for the most fantastic hot chocolate I´ve ever had at Chocolate Para Ti. Nelly brought me to her house and let me try calling home on her fancy Magic Jack before dropping me back at my hotel. The next day I wandered around the main area of Cocha in the morning and visited many of the churches and squares. Nelly picked me up in the afternoon and we went up to see the world´s largest statue of Jesus (yes, taller than the one in Rio- barely). Nelly is super outgoing so we met loads of people. Plus, I swear the Huertas know everyone in Cocha so we constantly stopped to talk to people and I met more people than I can possibly remember. It was like being with local celebrities! After the statue, we went for terrific empanadas, juice and huminitas (like sweet corn bread with anis) and then back to Nelly´s for a bit. In the evening we went to Recoleta and walked around and then saw a jazz trio playing Bolivian classics (and others) at a wine and cheese event at the upscale Hotel Cochabamba. Such a great day! Yesterday Chichi took me to lunch for chorizos (yummy spicy sausage). I have now tried every single food on the list that Heidi sent me (and then some) and I have to say that I´m a fan of Bolivian food! After chorizos, we stopped and got a cinnamin ice cream for desert. I´ve seriously been spoiled the past few days! Later in the day, I met up with Nina who had arrived in Cocha the night before and we went to see a Brasilian concert in a European mansion in the north of town.
So after a terrific time in Cochabamba, I´m heading to Sucre this evening. Monday I start Spanish classes so I am planning to actually stay in one place for 2 whole weeks. We´ll see how it goes.
Ciao for now!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Zanzibar
Well there is more to cover here than Zanzibar, but I love the way it sounds... Now that I am in South America I should have no problem posting more regularly. Has to be said, it has been a bit flattering to get complaints about the lack of posts. Thanks for reading everyoine...
Right, back to Africa. From Mombasa I crossed into Tanzania (and paid the $100 visa fee- traveling as an American is expensive!). I spent a night in a cute little seaside town called Tanga and was planning to head to Lushoto to do some hiking, but I could not get an honest fare from the public bus station so I opted to use a private bus company to go directly to Dar Es Salaam. I spent a couple of days wandering around Dar and trying to sort out plans to get to South America. I decided to cut Africa short as I had already done a safari and beaches and it is surprisingly expensive to travel independently through Africa. There is definitely more I want to see there in future trips though! Anyway, my friend Heidi was nice enough to put me in touch with her friend Patricia who lives in Dar and she agreed to meet me for dinner. I had quite an adventure trying to get to the suburb of Mikocheni- my lack of swahili and knowledge of Dar made a 30 minute daladala (public minibus) ride into a 2.5 hour excursion including 3 daladalas and some help from friendly locals. But I made it right about on time. Patricia took me to this great restaurant called Dar Alivc that is right on the beach and decorated with old traditional African wooden boats. We had terrific grilled snapper while sitting on the sand with the waves crashing in the background. If you go to Dar, definitely eat there! Patricia then took me home to meet her family which was awesome! It was a terrific evening all around.
After one more day in Dar (sorted out my South America plans- finally!) I hopped on the slow boat to Zanzibar. Has to be said, Zanzibar deserves the hype. It really is a beach paradise. I spent the first night in Stonestown which is an old colonial town and a great place to wander the narrow, cobblestone streets. For dinner I headed to the nightly market where stalss set up selling cheap, fresh seafood on skewers and Zanzibar pizzas- dough filled with your chice of meat, veggies, eggs, and chiles or banana and chocolate. I had both. The next morning I took a shuttle to Nungwi, a beach town on the north coast. I got a cute little room just off the beach and spent the day reading and sunning. That evening I met a trio from Ireland and through them a couple of Danish guys and a couple from California. We all headed to the full moon party down the beach at a nearby resort. The party was great, music, bonfires, the beach and lots of people. The next couple of days I spent relaxing on the beach and hanging out with that cerw and some others we met. It was pretty much perfect! Finally it was time to head back to Dar. Sawyer and Malana- the California couple, and an English guy named Lee accompanied me back to Stonestown for one more night. We watched the sunset over beer at the Africa House and went back to the night market. Lee and I took the ferry back to Dar the next afternoon and hung out there. He was going to the beaches south of Dar for a few days so I tagged along for the day. Has to be said, as nice as Zanzibar is, the beaches south of Dar are equally lovely and much less expensive... I{m glad I got to see both.
The next few days was a whirlwind. I flew to Cairo where I was hoping to see the pyramids on my 22 hour layover. Unfortunately it took Air Egypt 4 huors to sort out the transit visa and hotel (which was free with my ticket, but had I known how long it would take, I would have passed) so I did not get a chance to go. The next morning I flew to New York and spent a lovely evening and day with my aunt Randi and family (thank you Randi!!). The next night I headed into NYC for dinner with Kara and Justine. Monday morning I flew to Fort Lauderdale for 4 hours and had lunch and ice cream with my parents before flying to Lima, Peru that night. Three continents in four days.
I spent a night and a day in Lima. It was really nice to be there as I know my way around a bit from the 6 weeks I spent there in 2005. My Spanish seems to be rising to the challenge of South America and it is so nice to be able to understand some of what goes on around me! I pretty much flew through Peru on my way to Bolivia. Overnight bus to Arequipa, then bus to Puno. I spent a night in Puno with a couple from Oregon I met on the bus and then crossed the border to Bolivia yesterday afternoon. And now, I am really going to try and slow down a bit! Wish me luck. Last night I met up with Molly and Devin (OR couple) on the top of the hill that overlooks Copacabana and Lake Titicaca to watch the sunset. It was awesome! It is a little chilly here at 12,500 feet since it is winter, but the scenery is lovely and the town is super laid back. This morning I went to the cathedral to see the blessing of the automobiles. Every day the priest comes out and blesses a line of cars and buses. Flowers are adorned on windshields, holy water is sprinkled, beer is sprayed and ashes scattered. It was really interesting to watch. Tomorrow I am planning to head to Isla del Sol- the Island of the Sun, which the Incas believed to be the birthplace of the sun. Should be fun!
Pics from Africa are up-
http://picasaweb.google.com/stacyb/Africa
All for now- more soon!
Right, back to Africa. From Mombasa I crossed into Tanzania (and paid the $100 visa fee- traveling as an American is expensive!). I spent a night in a cute little seaside town called Tanga and was planning to head to Lushoto to do some hiking, but I could not get an honest fare from the public bus station so I opted to use a private bus company to go directly to Dar Es Salaam. I spent a couple of days wandering around Dar and trying to sort out plans to get to South America. I decided to cut Africa short as I had already done a safari and beaches and it is surprisingly expensive to travel independently through Africa. There is definitely more I want to see there in future trips though! Anyway, my friend Heidi was nice enough to put me in touch with her friend Patricia who lives in Dar and she agreed to meet me for dinner. I had quite an adventure trying to get to the suburb of Mikocheni- my lack of swahili and knowledge of Dar made a 30 minute daladala (public minibus) ride into a 2.5 hour excursion including 3 daladalas and some help from friendly locals. But I made it right about on time. Patricia took me to this great restaurant called Dar Alivc that is right on the beach and decorated with old traditional African wooden boats. We had terrific grilled snapper while sitting on the sand with the waves crashing in the background. If you go to Dar, definitely eat there! Patricia then took me home to meet her family which was awesome! It was a terrific evening all around.
After one more day in Dar (sorted out my South America plans- finally!) I hopped on the slow boat to Zanzibar. Has to be said, Zanzibar deserves the hype. It really is a beach paradise. I spent the first night in Stonestown which is an old colonial town and a great place to wander the narrow, cobblestone streets. For dinner I headed to the nightly market where stalss set up selling cheap, fresh seafood on skewers and Zanzibar pizzas- dough filled with your chice of meat, veggies, eggs, and chiles or banana and chocolate. I had both. The next morning I took a shuttle to Nungwi, a beach town on the north coast. I got a cute little room just off the beach and spent the day reading and sunning. That evening I met a trio from Ireland and through them a couple of Danish guys and a couple from California. We all headed to the full moon party down the beach at a nearby resort. The party was great, music, bonfires, the beach and lots of people. The next couple of days I spent relaxing on the beach and hanging out with that cerw and some others we met. It was pretty much perfect! Finally it was time to head back to Dar. Sawyer and Malana- the California couple, and an English guy named Lee accompanied me back to Stonestown for one more night. We watched the sunset over beer at the Africa House and went back to the night market. Lee and I took the ferry back to Dar the next afternoon and hung out there. He was going to the beaches south of Dar for a few days so I tagged along for the day. Has to be said, as nice as Zanzibar is, the beaches south of Dar are equally lovely and much less expensive... I{m glad I got to see both.
The next few days was a whirlwind. I flew to Cairo where I was hoping to see the pyramids on my 22 hour layover. Unfortunately it took Air Egypt 4 huors to sort out the transit visa and hotel (which was free with my ticket, but had I known how long it would take, I would have passed) so I did not get a chance to go. The next morning I flew to New York and spent a lovely evening and day with my aunt Randi and family (thank you Randi!!). The next night I headed into NYC for dinner with Kara and Justine. Monday morning I flew to Fort Lauderdale for 4 hours and had lunch and ice cream with my parents before flying to Lima, Peru that night. Three continents in four days.
I spent a night and a day in Lima. It was really nice to be there as I know my way around a bit from the 6 weeks I spent there in 2005. My Spanish seems to be rising to the challenge of South America and it is so nice to be able to understand some of what goes on around me! I pretty much flew through Peru on my way to Bolivia. Overnight bus to Arequipa, then bus to Puno. I spent a night in Puno with a couple from Oregon I met on the bus and then crossed the border to Bolivia yesterday afternoon. And now, I am really going to try and slow down a bit! Wish me luck. Last night I met up with Molly and Devin (OR couple) on the top of the hill that overlooks Copacabana and Lake Titicaca to watch the sunset. It was awesome! It is a little chilly here at 12,500 feet since it is winter, but the scenery is lovely and the town is super laid back. This morning I went to the cathedral to see the blessing of the automobiles. Every day the priest comes out and blesses a line of cars and buses. Flowers are adorned on windshields, holy water is sprinkled, beer is sprayed and ashes scattered. It was really interesting to watch. Tomorrow I am planning to head to Isla del Sol- the Island of the Sun, which the Incas believed to be the birthplace of the sun. Should be fun!
Pics from Africa are up-
http://picasaweb.google.com/stacyb/Africa
All for now- more soon!
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