South American adventure

i left Alta Gracia on Sunday and went to Cordoba, where i took a train to Rosario. was in Rosario for 3 days, where i went running by the water and explored the city center with the Monument of the Flag and the famous street Las Oroños. today i took a bus to Buenos Aires. i am staying with a friend of a friend in Palermo, in the center of the city. this is a very young neighborhood with a lot of bars and  good restaurants, known as Viejo Palermo. i am very lucky to be able to stay here with good people. from the bus terminal i took the subway to get here, it reminded me of NYC and made me very happy. we cooked a dinner of homemade raviolis, salad, garlic bread and cabernet sauvignon. tomorrow morning is game 2 for Argentina of Mundial, the world cup. it is huge here, the streets are silent when the game is going on, and then after everyone rushes to work. i will wear my Argentina soccer jersey again, and Fred Murdock will watch with me too. i am staying with Amy and her boyfriend Bruno now. Amy is from Clarence, and her boyfriend is from Buenos Aires. they met in Costa Rica, but 8 months Amy has been living and working here. tomorrow after the game i will explore the rose garden of Palermo and the park across the way, then go to the Plaza de Mayo (where the women still protest for their missing children from the Dirty War) and Puerto Madero, maybe have time to see Avenida Florida and Galerios Pacificos. there is so much to see here, so many different neighborhoods to explore and only 4 days! on Sunday night i will catch my flight to Toronto and within a week and half i will be working again in Chautauqua. it is very hard to believe all of this. i am not looking forward to talking in English all the time, i have very much enjoyed my year of Spanish. though with Al we will talk in Spanish through emails and on skype. other than Al i have 2 friends that also speak Spanish, so i will have some opportunities to practice the language, but i will be teaching in English and with my family and most of my friends talking in English. Amy does not speak much Spanish, and her boyfriend does, so with her i am talking English and with her boyfriend Spanish, so it is good middle ground practicing for now, until the real shock of being home again after being away for 10 months. please have patience with me as i do not know how i will adjust to this big change.

¿como andan? ¿todo bien? nos vemos dentro de un rato. cuidense.

un beso,

Annie

i am back in Alta Gracia. through couchsurfing i have met two friends, Diana in Santa Rosa de Calamuchita whom i visited twice, and Emy in Alta Gracia. i am now staying with Emy also for the second time. my plan was to leave here on wednesday night by train but Emy and her friends have almost convinced me to stay until next Sunday so we can go to a tango competition on Friday night and a birthday celebration of a friend of theirs on Saturday night. yesterday i had a very typical Argentina day. we made empanadas with a friends mom, and then went to a tango class. the profe is competing in a tango competition this friday in Cordoba and we might go.

on friday afternoon i went running the longest distance i have ever gone. i ran from Santa Rosa to Villa General Belgrano and back. it was a total of 16km. i was so sore after that i had to take a nap and take a later bus to leave Santa Rosa, i did not have the energy to leave right after lunch. but after my  nap when i did leave, Diana was so sweet, she told me she will be sending me a package with a few of my favorite things from Argentina and invited Al and i to stay with her when we come back to Argentina for our honeymoon. she told me i am always welcome to stay with her, there will always be a bed ready for me. she also invited me to come back for a few nights this week but i had to decline because i will be going to Rosario to couchsurf with another girl for a few nights after going to Buenos Aires for my last few nights. if i stay in Alta Gracia another week, i dont have time to back to Santa Rosa. i only have 2 weeks left! i cant believe that in a trip of 10 months i only have 2 weeks. it is so little. i have been enjoying buying new earrings and borrowing clothes from Emy because i am so tired of the same few shirts and pants i have worn the whole year. i bought an Argentina soccer jersey for me and one for a friend, and will be buying a Mundial shirt too in Cordoba this week. i have been drinking a lot of mate as well, i am thinking of buying a mate and hierba to bring back too. as well as spices for making empanadas because i cant buy exactly the same in the States.

i keep putting up new photo sets on flickr, so check there if you´d like.

 chau chau.

un beso,

Annie

i stayed in Santa Rosa de Calamuchita for 2 weeks even though when i arrived i thought i would spend a few days. last weekend the daughter of Diana, the woman i was staying with arrived and later her niece from Rosario. we spent the weekend traveling around the little towns including a town that is pedestrian only called la Cumbrecita, Villa General Belgrano, Villa Ciudad Parque. we went out for coffee and explored around. i left Santa Rosa yesterday afternoon and Diana asked me if i would be coming back after going to Cordoba. i told her i did not want to impose and stay too long with her couchsurfing, but she said she loves having me and wants me to visit again. i will have to see how my plans go but i would like to visit again, whether it is in this trip or with Al on our honeymoon in a few years. she invited us both to stay with her in a few years when we come back. i got off the bus and Emi, another girl from couchsurfing picked me up from the road (the buses here do not enter, they just drop you off on the highway) and we drove around Alta Gracia a little then went back to her apartment. it is little, she lives alone but it is very nice. we went out for drinks last night with friends of hers. it is difficult now because the computers here do not have headsets so i cannot call Al until next week. tonight we are going to her spinning class at the gym and tomorrow Emi and i will go to Cordoba together in the afternoon. tonight also i bought a new bodega torrontes to try out with some cheese and baguette. this afternoon Emi and i explored Alta Gracia, it is the childhood home of Che Guevara, the revolutionary from Argentina that was active in the Cuban revolution and good friend of Fidel Castro. many Argentines idolize Che Guevara. there is a museum in his home that we did not go in but visited from the outside. there was a plaque that explained that in 2006 Chavez and Castro visited the museum. yesterday was the bicentinario de la patria (200 year anniversary of Argentina´s first own government) and we went to the parade and there was a ceremony in which doves were released to symbolize peace and freedom. i ate locro which is a typical Argentina stew and empanadas for lunch and dinner too. if you talk to Al tell him i love him.

that is all i can think of for now.

chao y besos,

Annie

wow a lot has happened since we left mendoza. more than a week ago we took a night bus from mendoza to cordoba, arrived in the morning, walked many blocks looking for a hostal with our heavy packpacks, found one and stayed the night but there were too many rules, like you cant bring in your own drinks etc. that we looked for another for the following nights. we found another that we moved to the following morning. we relaxed, made pizza and other really good foods, explored the churches of Cordoba, running in the park sarmiento. monday we took a bus to the airport. we got there really early expecting to wait in line but there were hardly any people in the airport when we arrived. Al checked in and we waited more than 2 hours for him to board his plane. it was very difficult to say good bye after traveling together for almost 9 months. the last month here in Argentina we have not even been working just spending time together. i was quite nervous because i did not have a set plan of what i would do while traveling alone for the last part of my trip until my flight leaves the 20th of june from Buenos Aires. i had sent many messages trying to make contacts with people on homestay websites, organic farming work opportunities, an orphanage in buenos aires, but all with very little success. the only success was a response from a woman in the sierras (mountains) south of Cordoba that said i could stay with her in her house. after Al left i went right to the park to run because i knew i didnt want to go back to the hostal and just be sad all night. i decided to leave Cordoba the next morning and checked out of the hostal, walked the many blocks again to the bus station (i could take a taxi but i am trying to save money) and the way everything worked out was amazing. without knowing the schedule of busses, i got there and they said one was leaving in 5 minutes for Villa General Belgrano, another town 10km from Santa Rosa where the woman lives whom i would be staying with. the ride was beautiful, passing mountains and lakes, full sun that day, we got in to Villa and they said another bus would come in 5 minutes to take me to Santa Rosa. the woman who is hosting me, Diana, was waiting for me in the bus station. she had told me she would be there at 12:15 but i was not sure of my time of arrival. the bus pulled in to the station in santa rosa de calamuchita at 12:15 exactly. i did not plan it and definitely could not have planned it better than it worked out. we went to a cafe, had toasted sandwiches, then came back to her house and she gave me a key, we played with her cats, one is a saimese named Cleopatra and the other is a baby, a month and a half old named Gizmo but we call him Gizmito or don Giz. she also has a german shepard which here they do call pastor aleman. Diana has been wonderful to me, very welcoming and generous. on thursday we went to the Villa General Belgrano which is a town founded by German immigrants that is very beautiful, reminds me of Lake Placid or Ellicottville. quaint with lots of little shops and restaurants and cafes. we had lunch at a brewery that serves black beer, sausages with potato salad and liverwurst and bratwurst. we also bought mani bañado (chocolate covered peanuts which Al had been looking for since we left Peru with no success) and tasted different cakes. my favorite was the cheesecake. i found out about a concert and a used clothes fare that is happening today, called feria americana. in a few minutes i will take a bus to this German town again to go to both of these. i also learned of a 14km or 42km (marathon) race through the mountains that is scheduled for next sunday. i am thinking of running the 14k. tomorrow we are going to bake a chocolate cake made with dark beer. its supposed to be very moist though we have never tried it. i plan on staying here at least another 5 days, her house is very comfortable and quiet. much more quiet than the center of Cordoba which the traffic kept us up part of the night and we had to sleep with earplugs. here no, it is very quiet with a river just down the street and a creaky pedestrian bridge that crosses it. i have uploaded recent photos to the flickr site. Al has also uploaded his photos from the last month or two to some of the older sets.

Al arrived safely late tuesday night and is spending a lot of time with his family and friends, going to graduation at Fredonia and Bonaventure. skype is wonderful so that we can talk and see each other, though of course it is not the same as being together in person. but it helps.

bueno-chao, que disfruten este fin de semana!

we are now in Mendoza, which is in western central Argentina, 7 hours east of Santiago, Chile. We were able to find a cheaper hostal which is noisy but has a nice kitchen and we have a dorm room to ourselves, I sleep on the top bunk and Al on the bottom. We have been relaxing, cooking excellent meals accompanied with wonderful wines. The specialty of Mendoza are their Malbec wines, a dry red that is smoother than a Cabernet Sauvignon. we have been cooking pasta dishes, bruschetta, lasagna, tonight we made chicken empanadas. we have been going running in the park San Martin which has a lake with and island inside, we had a picnic on the island with our friend Lisa (who is studying abroad here) last weekend. last friday we had our first carne asado, which is the famous grilled argentine beef. we grilled 4 kilos of beef, Al and i prepared a salad and had wonderful Malbec wine and a cookie cake for dessert. dinner is cooked around 10pm, and we started the asado at 11pm, didnt eat until after midnight and did not leave until 3am. it is typical for the youth to go out dancing after an asado from 3-6am, but we were too tired so we just came back to go to sleep. on tuesday night we made empanadas, beef and veggie, with Lisa and 5 of her friends, 2 of whom are from Mendoza. that is how we learned and decided to prepare chicken empanadas tonight. we went to a gospel scripture study at the Cathedral that when we got there was all elderly people, but very friendly and were so happy that ¨the spring has arrived, the youth are here to liven us up!¨they kept saying, were very interesed in our stories of the missions we worked with in Ecuador and Peru. Al has been souvenier shopping, his flight leaves to return home in a week and a half.

on wednesday we went wine tasting in Maipu, an hour by bus from Mendoza. we walked many kilometers between  different wineries, tasting and getting tours of the cellars. we ended up buying 3 bottles of wine even though we planned on buying 1. it is so cheap here we cannot help but take advantage.

tomorrow we will go running again. on wednesday we are taking a bus to Cordoba. my plans for after Al leaves are still undetermined though i am working on a few ideas. i have been invited to go to Valparaiso, Chile for 5 days at the end of May with some friends, i may do that and then head east to Buenos Aires and Uruguay? or stay closer to Mendoza/Cordoba and look for a piano to practice on? or go south into Patagonia a bit? hopefully soon i will figure out my plans for my final weeks here before flying home in June. i cannot believe its already May, when we arrived in South America in August. more than 8 months being away now and it has gone by so quickly. we have meet so many people, worked in such diverse settings, adjusted to living in dozons of hostals in 4 countries, learned to prepare so many new recipies.

i will be teaching music again at Chautauqua again this summer, moving in there a week after flying home.

hope you all are well. buenas noches.

un beso,

Annie 

we crossed 2 borders within 2 days. we left Calama, Chile last week and took a bus all day that crossed the Argentine border, and that was the smoothest border cross yet because we were with a group and a bus that took us to all of the immigration offices easily. we got in to Salta, Argentina that night around 10pm, very hungry. we found a hostal that was very quiet with a kitchen, but we were exhausted and just wanted to eat so we asked the hostal staff where to buy a sandwich. they referred us to a stand on the street that sells milanesas. this is a sandwich of fried beef covered in bread crumbs, with an egg, ham and cheese. extremely bad for you but they are good. served with ketchup and a garlic  sauce, among other sauces if you so choose. Al loves them. i try to only eat them when there is no other option.

we explored Salta for a few days, very large, a million people live there but the plaza was beautiful and we went to a Mass at the Cathedral. very modern and commercial through the pedestrian walkways around the plaza. the market was interesting, sells empanadas and cheap pizzas for lunch. we bought everything to make sandwiches (the healthy version with lettuce, tomato) and a bottle of wine. from there we took a bus to Cafayate which is the wine region of northern Argentina. we spent 2 nights there, and on saturday we walked around town and visited 4 bodegas (wineries) for tours and tastings, we found that we love a wine produced only in this region called torrontes. it is a white wine that is dry but very fruity and smooth. the first wine that Al and i have been able to both enjoy. normally i prefer dry and he prefers sweet but this is agreeable for us both. we also visited a goat cheese factory in Cafayate and bought cheese, bread and a bottle of torrontes wine for dinner. we went to Mass on Sunday that was completely filled with families and children, many people were standing. later that day we went for a walk to the River Colorado and it was a hot day but nice. we met a family and shared mate (traditional Argentine tea) with them, and they invited me to visit them near Buenos Aires. we left Cafayate and arrived in Tucuman at midnight and bought tickets for a bus leaving for Mendoza at 2am. long bus, but we arrived in Mendoza yesterday at 5pm. we found a relatively economical hostal, but still more expensive than we would like. Argentina is not as expensive as Chile but for us it is still expensive. the only thing that is not is the wine. we are buying good wine for $1.50-2.00. made right here in these wine regions. last night we made a ravioli with alfredo sauce dinner, with torrontes and chocolate pudding for dessert. another guest at the hostal is a chef and prepared pizza that he shared that was excellent as well. we are going to meet up with our friend Lisa (from Maine but she is studying abroad for the year in Mendoza) later this afternoon and see if we can find a more affordable hostal. we plan to stay here about 2 weeks. there are 2 wine regions 1 hour and 2 hours from here. we might rent bikes one day or two and explore them. the specialty here is the malbec wine, a dry red. i am making a list of wines that i like here because many are exported to the US and we can find them there. Al only has 3 weeks until his flight from Cordoba. we cant believe how quickly our year together in South America has gone. still dont know my plan for my 6 weeks by myself in Argentina, my ideas are to stay in Cordoba or Rosario, then go to Buenos Aires for my flight, or maybe go to Buenos Aires earlier and take a boat to Montevideo, Uruguay and spend a few weeks in Uruguay. dont think i will go back to Chile just because it is too expensive.

Al received a graduate assistantship at St. Bonaventure University and he will start his Masters in August, free of charge. we are going to celebrate here in Mendoza with a carne asada o chivito asado (grilled beef or goat) and a bottle of torrontes. Al will study for the next two years at Bonaventure and after he graduates we plan on getting married. i am thinking about moving to Brooklyn this fall and looking for an apartment and work. if anyone knows anyone in the NYC area that can help me look for apartments, let me know because in June when i am home i will be looking for apartments. i have a few contacts, but would like a few more.

bueno, Dios les bendiga,

Annie y Alejandro

Al has uploaded almost all his more recent photos from the last few months, and i have uploaded the photos from the trek in Choquequirao on the flickr site so you all can see them.

after leaving Cusco we took a bus and then a convi to arrive in Llanchon, a small Quechua town on Lake Titicaca. we negotiated a cheaper rate to stay in this beautiful lodge right on the lake. we watched the sunset and met a couple of other americans that were kayaking the next day, we decided not to even though we wanted to go kayaking, because it was too expensive. we opted instead to go sailboating, then swam/bathed in the lake because there were no showers in the lodge. it was freezing! we then found another convi to Puno, from there we caught a bus to Tacna overnight, then a convi to Arica and crossed the Chilean border, then a bus from Arica to Calama. 26.5 hours in total on buses, and we´re not done yet. we have to stay here 2 nights because the next bus to Salta, Argentina leaves tomorrow morning at 8am and the bus station closed overnight so we could not sleep there. Chile is much different than Peru or Ecuador. much more modern, more expensive, more peaceful, the bus station was calm! no one was yelling or trying to sell us anything!

we will explore the city of Calama this afternoon, then make guacamole for dinner and take another shower because with all these bus journeys the showers are few and far between. tomorrow we will cross the border to Argentina in the morning, then arrive in Salta by nightfall. we hope to see the wineries of norther Argentina there before heading south to Mendoza.

un beso y chao a todos!

last week during Holy Week we went to a procession on monday night called Señor de los Temblores in which a brown skinned Jesus was processed through Cusco and visited many of the churches in town. On thursday we went to Mass at night then we did the traditional visit 7 churches in which we went in 3 vans all of the community and visited 7 different churches around Cusco, entering and praying as a group for a few then heading to the next. we did not get back until very late. on Friday we went to the girls school Santa Maria Goretti and did a Stations of the Cross walking through the countryside, then later in the afternoon had a liturgical service here in Cusco. on Saturday we ran around town preparing everything for our trek, buying food, gas for the stove, practiced setting up the stove and tent, and then ran out and bought all the last minute things we had forgotten. the Vigil Mass on Saturday night was beautiful, we did not get back until very late though. we went to Mass on Sunday morning, then i baked cookies and granola, then there was a big party downstairs of where all the families live to celebrate Easter. the children played a game where they were searching for the bags of sweets we hid and there was so much good food. it was a wonderful day, very joyous. Fr. Vincent said all of the holy week Masses, and his sense of humor is really good.

on monday morning we woke up at 4.30 to catch our 6am bus, then we went 4 hours to Ramal de Cachora where we caught a taxi to Cachora and met up with our arriero (guide) and 2 mules and started on our trek. we walked all afternoon and arrived at the campsite just before dark, and the flashlight we brought did not work. we struggled to finish cooking and getting ready for bed but we borrowed the flashlight of our guide a bit. the next morning we got up very early and hiked down to the river and then back up. one of the mules was for riding, the other was to carry all of our stuff. we got to the top of the mountain at noon and set up camp and just relaxed and enjoyed the beautiful view and the afternoon sun. wednesday we went to the ruins at Choquiquirao, stayed at the same campsite the third night and then thursday we climbed down the mountain and halfway back up the other side across the river. in the sun it was challenging but we made it with a lot of water and snacks. there were so many beautiful butterflies along the way, of all colors, it made me think of Lauren. last night Thursday we stayed in a campsite nearest the town (16km) and this morning were up just after 5 to get a head start before the sun came out. we walked the last 16km and got into town in time to catch a taxi and a bus back to Cusco and have spent the last few hours arranging all of our stuff, returning all the camping gear to our friends, eating, going to the Mass the community has every Friday night, and saying goodbye to the missionary families. now we can finally go back to one last night in our room at the hostal and shower at last. hopefully the hot water has not run out.

we want Kryn and Ashley to do the trek with us in about 10 years when the ruins are completely restored. right now they are working on restoring them, only 10 percent has been restored. it was a noncommercial trek and not very touristy which i like.

in total we did 64km of trekking and are tired. we are leaving in the morning for Lake Titicaca and then will do straight busses from there to northern Argentina.

Feliz Pascua a todos!

we have been so busy working that i have not had a chance to write. we leave everyday at either6:15 and 7:30, and get back around 3pm, but i have been taking advantage of the piano downstairs and playing a few hours a day. i have also been running again, behind saksayhuaman there is a road that has beautiful views, but it is very uphill getting there and also at this elevation running is more difficult. but it is a good run and i am training a bit in preparation for our 5 day hike that we will do after Easter. last weekend we went to Pisaq, the first town in the Sacred Valley that has really good ruins. we took a bus there, then started from the bottom and hiked our way a few hours up until we reached the first set of ruins, from there we explored and saw another in the distance. along the way we found 3 other parts of ruins hidden in the mountains, and were very surprised there were so many. we have uploaded photos from this hike, so look on the flickr page. on sunday i went to a young persons retreat which was really nice. there were talks by Father Vincent and his mother played the music during adoration and the Mass. she is from Mexico City but was born in California, the half sister of Liza Minnelli, daughter of Vincent Minnelli famous hollywood producer. i bought my flight home, i will arrive on the 21st of June in Toronto because it was cheaper. i have a 9 hour lay over in Mexico City, and Cristiane (the half sister of Liza Minnelli) will pick me up, and take me to the Basilica in Mexico City which is near the airport. i am excited about this, being able to see Guadalupe. i have been working with the 2nd grade room most days this week, today i helped in the artesania taller, which is working on sewing. i was helping some of the high school girls with their projects that will be gifts for their mothers for Mothers day. in a half an hour there is a Mass with the community that we will go to. Friday i have plans with the 4 and 5 year old teachers, i will go on some house visits with them. they are required to visit each of the houses of their students, and i am interested in going to at least a few. afterwards they asked me to have coffee with them. the 4 year old teacher Neli is very interested in English, she talkes to me in English every chance she gets even though her level is very basic. today she was asking me how to say all kinds of phrases like -I am a teacher, -I like my job, so i wrote down all the questions in spanish and translated them for her to study. she was so happy when i gave her the sheet! i eat lunch everyday with the 5 year olds, they are so funny telling me stories and always hugging me. i have taken some photos of them, and will try to upload them this weekend. Al finally found a computer that accepts his memory card, so this weekend he can upload his photos from the last 3 months that he has not been able to upload. we love working with this community, there are so many good examples of faith filled marriages that is very inspiring to us. Al has been giving a lot of suggestions for the improvement of the English classes and doing his best to correct pronunciations. he has finished scraping all of the buildings of the chipping paint and has started painting a new coat on all of it. he works with a maintanence worker named Raul and loves talking with him while they work. we both eat large lunches at school, i also eat breakfast at school because all the students are offered breakfast and whichever teachers also want to eat can. usually it is some kind of hot drink with bread, the drink usually is chocolate, or polenta, or crushed beans. the bread we eat is made fresh at the City of the Boys where Al works, and occasionally there is yogurt which is also produced there.

we will probably not be doing machu picchu, we have decided instead to do the 5 day hike to chokequirao, which is 2 days there, 1 day to explore the ruins and 2 days back. these ruins have not really been discovered yet, most of them are still covered, and it is much less touristy which we prefer.

chao a todos!