Lima lima do ya wanna LIMA?

Lima was our last city to visit on the trip, and the students were sad.

Our last days were filled with amazing moments. We went surfing with the X-champ of peru, Magoo. The students did a great job catching some waves, and so did I.

7 of the students ended up geting tattoos. We had our second annual cook-off. Breakfast and night vs. a night at the grill. Both teams did an amazing job.

Our last night comprised of dancemoves and pisco sours. We ended up going to sing Kareoke at a bar and then made our way to a discoteca and sook our bon-bons!

Pacific Challenge South America 2009 was a great success, thanks to Steph, my co-guide, and all of the wonderful participants!

Ica to Huacachina

After a taxing few weeks of hiking and traveling, a poolside roomcalledmy name. THe 13 of us took a windy overnight bus, 16hrs. One of our participants, Clay, vomited most of the way, and let me tell you, this kid vomits, it sounded as if there was a lion roaring, no joke!

The pockets of my shorts filled with sand as I hiked up one of the many sand dunes,and then slid down. WE went sandboarding and went for a ride on the sand buggie. The driver,Sonrisas, was great, he even took us to a great spot to watch the sun set. From there we played push off or kind out the mountain and ate lots of sand!

Lima here we come!

The Manifestations to Save the Amazon

Respect for the autonomy and self-determination of the native peoples!
Long live the struggle of the native communities!
Down with the Jungle Law and the privatization of water!
Down with the expropriating laws of the State!
Against NAFTA - submissive and anti-popular!
The jungle is not for sale, it is for protecting!
Trans-nationals out!
Create and build popular power!
Long live those who struggle!

Peru authorizes military to intervene in protests

2009-06-23 19:39:05 -


LIMA, Peru (AP) - Peru's government is authorizing the use of military force in a region where anti-government protesters have blocked highways and burned down a local customs house on Sunday.
The declaration published in Tuesday's official gazette also suspends a state of emergency in Peru's jungle provinces, where police clashes with Indian protesters in early June left at least 33 dead.
Those protests eased after Congress revoked decrees that opened Amazonian tribal lands to private development.

The new demonstrations in the highland provinces of Cuzco, Apurimac and Junin cover a wide array of demands, ranging from opposition to privatization of water to demands mining concessions be voided.

http://www.anarkismo.net/article/13338 click to learn more!!!

Cusco, the home of the Incas

Cusco was the capital of Tahuantinsuyu (or Inca Empire). The city was planned to be shaped like a puma. The city had two areas: the hurin and hanan, which were further divided to each be part of two of the four provinces of the Inca Empire: Chinchasuyu (NW), Antisuyu (NE), Cuntisuyu (SW), and Collasuyu (SE).

A road led from each of these quarters to the corresponding quarter of the empire. Each local leader was required to build a house in the city and live part of the year in Cusco, but only in the quarter of Cusco that corresponded to the quarter of the empire he had territory in.

With more than one week in Cusco, the PCSA participantes were excited! Our time started with an -Amazing Race like hunt accross the city, end ended with three empty Tequila bottles to celebrate the winning team!

River rafting was a blas, a bit colder than the last!

Jose, my all time favorite guide in South America, presented his beautiful baby girl, Maria, to the group. Mari a took to the group, and the group took to Jose. We now hope that Jose will fulfill his life long dream of going to the US by join us in MN to study English in the comming year. He did an amazing job leading us on our 5 day hike to Machu Picchu which entailed days of hiking, finding fresh avocados and coffee beans, enjoying the natural thermal waters in Santa Teresa, and climbing the hour long stairs that enabled us to reach our final and breathtaking destination; Machu Picchu!

Copacabana and Lake Titicaca

Copacabana, a sacred city to Bolivia, is where the National Cathedral is located and where the Inca civilization was born.

Why the funny name Titicaca?

The origin of the name Titicaca is unknown. It has been translated as "Rock Puma", allegedly because of its resemblance to the shape of a puma hunting a rabbit, combining words from the local languages Quechua and Aymara, and as well as translated as "Crag of Lead." Locally, the lake goes by several names. Because the southeast quarter of the lake is separate from the main body (connected only by the Strait of Tiquina), the Bolivians call it Lago Huiñaymarca (Quechua: Wiñay Marka) and the larger part Lago Chucuito. In Peru, these smaller and larger parts are referred to as Lago Pequeño and Lago Grande, respectively.

The group took a boat to the Isla del sol. Situated on the Bolivian side of the lake with regular boat links to the Bolivian town of Copacabana, Isla del Sol ("Island of the sun") is one of the lake's largest islands. There are no motor vehicles or paved roads on the island. The main economic activity of the approximately 800 families on the island is farming, with fishing and tourism augmenting the subsistence economy.


are over 180 ruins on the island. Most of these date to the Inca period circa the 15th century AD. Many hills on the island contain agricultural terraces, which adapt steep and rocky terrain to agriculture. Among the ruins on the island are the Sacred Rock, a labyrinth-like building called Chicana, Kasa Pata, and Pilco Kaima. In the religion of the Incas, it was believed that the sun god was born here.

The group hiked along the ´spine´of the island, it was unfortunate that one of our participants, Maria, my good frined was not feeling well. For those of you well traveled people, it was about a every 15min thing...

Rurenabanque Bolivia

How about those teeth?

La Paz at night!

La Paz

The HOTEL in La Paz was good to us! Three days with no running water = 13 DIRTY people!

The ´trip´ to the Jungle

Flight one to the Jungle: Cancelled
Flight two to the Jungle: Cancelled
Solution: A three day, bug filled, boat ride down the Beni River, which yes, does meet up with the Amazon River. (my legs are still healing from all the bites, sand flies are NO good)

The next three days were a blast. They guys in our group are terrified of spiders, so yes, I had fun with that one, and being the great tour guide I am, made sure to point out every spider to them. We loaded up our gear into a 12 meter long boat made out of ONE log. Down the river we went as we wntered into the cloud forest and then the rain forest. We saw a LION, many birds, a tucan, loads of bugs, and fished. We cammped on the shores of the river, enjoyed a campfire made of DRY driftwood, swan in waterfalls, and hiked through the lush forest. The hilight of the trip was me pulling one of our participants, Lauren, out of quick sand.

4x4 time

Three days, two Jeeps, and a sand storm

We jumped into our Jeeps after crossing the chaotic Bolivia-Chile border. Sonia, our Bolivian guide greeted us, for the 2nd year in a row, with hugs and kisses.

The Jeeps drove through the lagoons filled with flamencos, passed the crazy rock formations, weaved in and out of volcanoes, and got us safe and sound out of a big sand storm.

We sent our first night, fighting altutude, in a ´mud hostel´ and the second in a ´Salt hostel´. The third day we arrived to the endless miles of salt in the famous Salar de Uyuni, and eventually made it to the small town of Uyuni.

From Uyuni we enjoyed the Bolivian roads, and busses, as we made our way to La Paz.

Chile: San Pedro de Atacama

Crossing the boarder isalways a fun thing, especially when your entire pack gets searched.

San Pedro de Atacama has no recorded rain fall, it is hot during the day, and COLD at night. It is a town filled with adobe buindings made of mud and sand.

We rented some nice mountain bikes and geared up for a great day, too bad the group go their butts kicked on the 40km bike ride to the Valle de la Luna. (the high altitude only complicated the entire stay, but helped us aclimatize for Bolivia) We pulled into the bike rental shop after sun set, needless to say the stars were bright as could be.
Bolivia: Salar de Uyuni

Do ya wanna Salta Salta?

Salta

12am, and we just arrived to Salta after a 27hr+ commute from Missiones -I had to learn how to use my legs after such a long bus ride. Good thing the 7 block walk to our hostel, Terra Oculta, turned into a 12 block walk. I got a little turned around due to poor directions, oops! We arrived at our hostel, got all the students checked into their rooms, and took advantage of a Friday night.

A free day for the group. Steph and I got everything crossed off on our to- do list.
- washing our clothes
- paying for the hostel
- picking up the bus tickets
- paying for our rafting trip the following day
- buying food
- eat some empanadas, it was empanada day!
- cooking up a Mexican Fiesta with ´hostel´kitchen stuff, not an easy task.
- making sure everyone had an awesome day
A very productive day I must say.

Rafting and Zip-lining.
A windy bus ride to the river bed and a beautiful view was an OK way to start the day. We slowly put on our rafting gear, split up into two rafts, and the war began. Good thing I had grade A splashers in my raft. We had a ball, we pushed everyone out, got the dog, who yes, was ridging in the raft on class 3 rapids, to jump into our raft, and even managed to get our Guide´s sister, who was 12, into the river.

After the rapids, we hiked up a valley and zipped lined accross four times. It was fun to see the fear or excitiement in some of the students eyes.

LOCOMOTION

Monte Carlo to Posadas to Tucuman to Salta. -Yes more than 27hrs in transit.

The Guarani

La Communidad Guarani in Monte Carlo

Dark hair, bleached with bleach, dirty faces, dirt incrusted finger nails, big bellies, smiles and attentioned deprived children welcomed us as we arrived to the indignous community of the Guarani.

We cooked food, taught about basic health, and played for hours.

The Guarani are a community in Northern Argentina. They are in the midst of integrating into society, what does this mean, learning to addapt to ´our´ ways, and keep their ways. A hard position to be in.

We spent two days in the community. We brushed through nappy, snarly lice filled hair, cooking protine rich food, and smiled and giggling with the kids. They took us to their watering hole and showed us how to swing on vines. It was an experience that once again, has enriched my life.

Iguazu Falls in Missiones, Argentina

The flight to Iguazu Falls was great! Our driver, the same a s last year, Miguel was waiting us with a warm smile. Pedro Pan, our hostel also awaited for us with a nice clean pool.

Steph, my co-guide, and I got to work. But first, I had to get a COLD beer and some peanuts. After a walk to the grocery store and who knows how many Lbs. of food, we cooked dinner for our 11 wonderful students. Good thing we got two brand of noodles. One turned out to be complete MUSH, and GROSS!

Iguazu falls was, for the 3rd time breathtaking. The students were amazed at the cuantity of water spilling over ´la garganta del diablo´ the throat of the devil, and crashing into an abis of spray and waterfalls.

Buenos Aires

One week later…Buenos Aires
The Santamaria Family, Eze´s aunt, uncle, and cousins gave me a WARM welcome like always! We had a sushi feast at their home and Eze´s mom, Gabriela was there as well. It was my 2nd time spending time with her and loads of fun. The next day we went to Lobos to purchase some meat for a traditional barbecue with my students. Yep, ½ cow, not a bad deal. We also loaded up on fresh produce picked earlier that morning. On the car ride there and back we spent the entire time laughing about life. Like always the Santamaria family was amazing to me.


The students arrived the following day. We toured the beautiful hustling and bustling city of Buenos Aires. We explored the Casa Rosada, Puerto Madero, El Cemetario de Recoleta, and made sure everyone tried the local delicacies. Empanadas, Alfajores, Marroc Bars, my favorie ´Ser´cracers and of course Malbec wine. Attending a Boca soccer game was intense, and of course the won, however didn´t do so well the rest of the week and are now out of the ´copa libertador´ tournament. And like always, the dance clubs were a blast.

The student’s favorite part of BsAs was our traditional barbecue or ´asado´ at the Santamaria´s home. Dani grilled up the meat while Cristina prepares salads, bread, and little things to munch on. Most of all, the laughs, comparisons of cultures, and hospitality of the Santamaria´s were amazing.

I also got to meet up with some old friends, Yanina and Flor, which was very exciting!

PCSA 2009

Pacific Challenge South America 2009

Another trip to South America, another group of amazing students, and another year of exciting adventures.

A going away party-graduation party for my sister was the send off this year. (Congrat´s Sarah J. Scholz for graduation from the University of Minnesota). Friends, family and a bon fire were one big hit! The next day I flew to Miami, Florida to find Mr. Ezequiel waiting for me at the airport. I spent the next week doing some last minute planning for the PCSA trip, enjoying the warm weather, and most importantly spending time with Eze.

Moving right along..

A few highlights of this past month...

The Minnetonka School District offered me a job at one of their four Spanish Immersion Schools...Yes, I excepted the job, and am SO EXCITED!! I start my 1st full time job, which means, holding a job for more than 5 months; this is VERY new to me. I never stick around in one spot, so cheers to being a full time, yes full time, Spanish Immersion teacher!

My first "Adult Spring Break" took place in FL. Maria and Meagan helped celebrate, and Ezequiel was our 'supervisor', he was NOT on spring break, so not as much fun for him. We had AWESOME weather, HOT AND SUNNY! I say my first submarine, very interesting I must say. We ate a lot of tasty food, and consumed a lot of tasty cocktails. Fun fun fun in the FL sun!

Next up...South America round three!!! Stay posted for the Pacific Challenge 2009 trip!

PEACE!

 

OHHH how I miss South America

Only in South America


I typed this up after my trip and forgot to post it...


- Will you see signs on all of the bathroom doors, stating “ do not trough paper in the toilet, no botes papel al hinodoro”. And only when one returns from South America do they continue to throw toilet paper in the trash, yep, I did it for about 1 week, I had to mentally say to myself, IN THE TOILETT!

- Is there so much public transportation. Bus systems, in Colombia they call it the Transmilenio, in Buenos Aires, they use the Subte. Everyone walks! In Peru on our way to Machu Picchu we saw kids making the 2hrs trek to school hiking up and down the sides of mountain passes.

- Fresh produce is sold in abundance. The vegetable and fruit markets are a daily trip for most families, the women, who purchase what they will cook that night in the morning. The markets are about the size of a soccer field and have everything from fresh flowers for making organic teas, to chicken skin being tossed in the trash.

- Bartering! There are NO set prices. Always start low and work your way up! Buy in bulk, and show the seller you know Spanish and are not afraid to use it. However, one always has to take into consideration all the work that goes into some of the handy crafts and be careful how low the price becomes.

- The diversity in the Spanish language. In Argentina cool is “Barbaro”, in Colomabia it is “Chevere”. In Argentina to party is “salir de joda” and in Colombia, “salir de rumba” ahhh it is so hard to keep it all straight! In Colombia the youth slip the phrase, “marica, and huevon” into every sentence at least 3 times!


Being home, well in the USA, I already miss it all! The travelers that I met, the locals who helped me arrive to my hostel at 2am in the morning! The bugs, well I just stopped itching a few days ago, and actually ended up with a poisonous rash on my leg, lasting 2 weeks after I returned! The food, asado, mariscos, ceviche, alfajores, guayaba juice, arepas, dulce de leche, aguardiente, well not really! Being able to wake up and think, what will I do today, who will I meet, and what adventure will be had. Moreover, the ability to be as free as a bird, to literally stand in front of two b uses and think, “which bus am I going to take, the one to northern Ecuador or to the south”. To be able to feel like a minority, and to experience life to the fullest! With that said, I can’t wait for my next trip! Thanks to all of the people who made this, another one that will never be forgotten!

Cheers!

A winter snow in Minnesota

One has to love a good old Minnesota winter! Snow, cold, and fun! There is nothing like a fresh snow, accept when driving is required! Last night a 20min drive from work to home turned into a 1hr drive, YIKES! ON a positive note, it is so fun to watch Ruby, our 1 1/2 year old golden, play in the snow, she is like a winter leap frog!

24th Birthday

24th birthday, one more year millions of new adventures await me. For the B-day celebration I was accompanied by my good friends to Buca di Bepo Restaurant. We had a great time, food, wine, and cake, served family style. The real festivities took place on the 20th. Tracy, Diane, and I all have birthdays in the same week, which equals one BIG celebration! Needless to say there was a superfluous amount of beverages and fun the entire night!

Best moment = Diane Kalin and her 'Dance dace revolution' moment!

Back to good old MINNESOTA

After eight months of adventure I finally arrived home to a balmy -10 degrees F, nice welcoming hu?

The end of my time on Blue, the catamaran, was amazing! I taught a few Spanish lessons to Richard and fellow boaters. It is always handy to say "una cerveza por favor" using the correct grammar! Richard and I did a little road trip to see the first establishment in the new world. Columbus definitely had a good view out of his windows, overlooking a beautiful bay of blue and green waters!



Being on Blue was amazing and I will NEVER forget my experience!


It has been amazing seeing all my family and friends, what a perfect time to be home for the holidays! Like my sister Sarah said, "There is nothing better than being with family for the holidays!" Ezequiel flew to MN for Christmas, so did Sarah, my sister's boyfriend from NY. The parents were both happy to have us home!