Returned from the Jungle

I decided rather against my will to go into the jungle. We had a meeting about going to Manu very shortly before we were to be going, and the woman who came to give a speech about our trip said that the one complaint they get is that it is too busy and people don´t usually want to have their Spanish lessons. I thought that it wouldn´t be so good to try to have my private lessons if there already wasn´t enough time to do the group lessons, so I talked to the office about it. I mostly wanted them to be able to apply the money from my private lessons to the cost of going to Manu, which was pretty steep. They insisted they couldn´t do that and that there would be time to do the private lessons in the jungle. They told me that I could have 3 hours a day of private lessons (in addition to the 4 hours of group classes) for the last two weeks I am in Cusco, and they told me that I needed to make a decision for sure within 5 minutes. I was leaning towards not going when they said that I was the 6th person signed up to go, and if I didn´t go then no one would be able to. Everyone in the group was so excited to go, so I decided that I would pay the steep fee, have 7 hours of Spanish a day for 2 weeks, and go off to the jungle.
There were warnings about vampire bats, mosquitos, mold and humidity before we left, but none of them stopped us from taking off early on Sunday morning to make to trip to Manu National Park. We had a big bus all for ourselves, and the scenery on the drive was amazing. We wound through mountain passes for hours on bumpy dirt roads until we arrived in the Manu cloud forest. We hopped out of the bus and viewed some birds and some capuchin monkeys. We even got to see the special dance of the Cock of the Rock (Peru´s national bird) before making our way to the lodge where we would spend the night. The sounds of the jungle were astounding, and we slept like babies in preparation for the river trip down the Alto Madre De Dios River the next day.
The six of us plus our teacher and our guide walked up the road a bit, observing the butterflies and birds of the cloud forest the following morning. The bus picked us up a short way down the road and we rode for a couple hours before arriving in Atolaya where we would catch our boat. I had heard all kinds of rumors bout the boats being unsteady, but I found it very smooth riding. We road for 2 hours or so before arriving at Pantiacolla Lodge, otherwise known as paradise. We each shared a room, and my cabin was called Tumuy Tumuy, no doubt the sound a local bird makes. I shared my room with Nadine from Austria. The lodge had no electricity, but candles and oil lanterns cast a romantic glow over the camp. We had mosquito nets around each of our beds, but we were told this was more to fend off the vampire bats than the mosquitoes! We spent our days hiking in the forest, learning Spanish, and generally going to bed early since we rose very early each day. One night we went for a night hike in the jungle where we saw a lot of insects and frogs. Nadine spotted the biggest frog any of us had ever seen, perhaps 7 inches in diameter! On Thursday we visited the local hot springs, lounging for over an hour and a half and occasionally having to move away because the water was so hot. We visited a local village in the park on Friday, introducing ourselves and talking a bit with the children in Spanish. The park is set up in several different zones, and we were in the cultural zone. Many people still live in the park, and live the same way their tribes have always lived, hunting with bows and arrows and poison darts, and gathering various vegetables and herbs.
Our guide, Jose, was amazing. He was educated as a biologist, and his background was particularly beneficial to us as he could explain why things grew as they did in the forest and how the growing things all worked together. Because he was local he was also able to give us a lot of insight into the local people, providing information about the different types of tribes and even the tribes that want no communication with the outside world. Under Jose´s careful guidance we saw many different types of birds (Manu is known as a birder´s paradise), five types of monkeys, an otter, and insects of all shades. The excursion ended with a 15 hour ride back to Cusco. For the duration of the trip our bus was on the verge of breakdown, and this time we were not alone in the bus, but with two other tour groups. We each shared seats, and all our bags were piled in as well. We had to stop every 20 minutes or so to allow the bus driver to add water to the radiator. Our teacher Libia was very sick for the last 5 hours of the bus ride…not a nice place to be sick! Thankfully, however, we made it back to Cusco in more or less the same condition we left, and are back at it again with our busy lives in Cusco.

A brief update from the navel of the world

Cusco is beautiful. The incas called it the navel of the world, and its name means thus. I have been here for only 4 days now, and feel quite at home I must say. After a good night´s rest things started looking brighter. The classes I am taking are going quite well, and it is truly shocking indeed how quickly my spanish is improving. The private lessons are certainly helping, particularly as far as conversation goes. I think next week I will travel with the Amauta school to the jungle, and attend classes there for a week. I have had a chance to explore Cusco´s markets, and have already successfully shopped for dinner ingredients there in the markets. The people who are going to classes here are truly interesting, and the variety of cultures represented is astounding and enriching. I am unsure as yet where I will go after my 4 weeks here, but I have some time still to decide how to travel the rest of Peru. Hasta luego.

Without a Hitch

Well, I made it to the grand adventure. I think the biggest lesson I must learn about all these travel plans is not to always go with the cheapest, but to look at all aspects of the flight plan. For example, the Miami airport is neither a fun nor a comfortable place to spend over 8 hours. In the future I will take this into consideration! All legs of the trip did go smoothly, though. Boston has never been easier to get into and out of, and the first plane I went on had very few people on board, so I had a row all to myself. Once I was finally on my way from Lima to Cusco it was exciting. The view was amazing from the airplane. The mountain tops seemed like they would hit the bottom of the plane! Cusco is alive today, and though I am unsure as yet of the occasion bands are heard throughout the city, and the army was having a gathering by the plaza. My room at the Amauta School is quite fine, and I am the only one on the third floor. The views from the school are stunning, and the one meal I´ve had there so far was delicious. I have a meeting to attend this afternoon at four, and plan to go directly to sleep after that, since I have only about 2 hours under my belt for the past 2 days. Peace and Joy. I will update again soon.

Ketchup

     See how ketchup is a summer condiment, and I also have to play catch-up since it has been so long since my last post?  Well, I've been pretty busy, so I think my lack of attention to this blog is justified.  The trip out to New Mexico was just the beginning of the adventure I have been looking for.  

     As I entered the Portland airport terminal I hefted my brand new backpack onto my shoulder and felt a snap.  Yes, my maiden voyage of the backpack quickly turned awry as the shoulder strap broke off.  Quickly swallowing my frustration, I prepared to head to my gate.  My flight path was to take me from Portland, ME, to Washington, then to Indianapolis, then finally to Denver.  Why I bought a ticket with so many stops is beyond me.  Due to thunderstorms on the East coast, I was delayed in Portland for several hours, thus throwing off my connections.  I made it all the way to Indianapolis (my first time there), where I realized that it is a smaller city than I had originally thought.  I was stuck.  

     After a couple tears of frustration, I picked up my backpack by the remaining strap and felt another snap.  There went the other shoulder strap.  I spoke to the women in the USAirways booth (a couple of the very few employees remaining in the building at such a late hour), and they told me matter-of-factly that I should have tried to re-rout myself in Washington.  A manager came to see me, and was able to put me up in a nearby hotel.  Thank goodness.  She booked me on an early morning flight to Denver, and gave me vouchers for dinner and breakfast.  Too bad all the restaurants were closed at such a late hour.  I went to bed on an empty stomach, hoping I would awake to the early morning alarm.

   The early morning wake-up went without a hitch, and I was quickly in Denver.  Diane arrived to pick me up, and told me that the car she borrowed from her mom had just been serviced and was ready to rock and roll.  We hopped in and headed to her house to load the car up in order to leave by 11am.  As we pulled away from the airport we heard some loud belt sounds from under the hood.  We pulled off to check on it, and Diane quickly contacted Sears, who had done the work the day before.  They didn't give her the answers she wanted, so she asked to speak to a manager.  They informed Diane that a manager would be available on Wednesday.  This was Sunday.  Diane took the car out to Brighton to her ex-husband to take a look at.  The air conditioner was broken, and it was discovered that nothing under the hood had been re-bolted after the work was done.  A fancy, LED flashlight was also discovered floating around under the hood.  Diane's ex-husband, Abdul, re-bolted one item, and we took off for Sears.  When we pulled into Sears no apologies were forthcoming, rather the young men there were happy to see their flashlight again.  After they re-attached everything we drove away with Diane feeling much more comfortable behind the wheel.

     We finally made it to Diane's house, where we packed up everything in order to get out of town by 3:30.  Four and 1/2 hours late, but all was well because we were on our way to Santa Fe at last.  The girls who went with us, Anne and Kristen, were very nice and we all got on quite well.  We had the windows rolled down since the air conditioner was broken, and the music was up loud as we blasted south.  When we reached Colorado City, 2.5 hours from Denver, we pulled off the highway for gas.  We noticed the hind end of the car giving off a bit of smoke, and when we sidled up to the pump there was smoke pouring out from under the hood.  "Not a good sign," we thought to ourselves.  Diane quickly called Abdul to ask about this problem.  I'm not quite sure what Abdul said, but Diane approached the car and removed the radiator cap.  Since the car was still very hot there was suddenly steaming antifreeze shooting out from under the hood, leaving an EPA nightmare underneath the beast. 

     Anne held a AAA card, so she called a tow truck, while Kristen called some family members who, coincidentally, lived nearby.  After nearly 3 hours' time, the arrival of Kristen's uncle and the tow truck driver, and the hypothesis that the thermostat was the source of our problem, we decided to head back to Denver.  We would have access to Anne's mother's car and we would leave first thing the following morning to try again for the Ghost Ranch.  

     Our 6.5 hour drive to Abiquiu, NM on the following morning was without much drama.  We pulled into the Ghost Ranch at 1:30 in the afternoon. After setting up camp we went out for groceries with our orientation packets in hand to peruse during the drive to the "grocery store."  We noticed in our info packets that one of the instructors for the week would be none other than David Bowie, and as the evening's orientation and safety meeting drew closer we could feel ourselves becoming more and more excited.  The meeting particulars seemed to drag by as we waited to be introduced to the instructors.  We were mildly let down when we learned that our David Bowie was not THE David Bowie, but rather a very serious-looking African-American man.  

     The week flew by as we learned our new art arena.  Our days were very routined since we had to be up and out of the campsite for the day fairly early.  We were the only ones on the ranch for the week who did not get dining hall food, our original thought being that if we were camping we could make food at our campsite.  This didn't work out so smoothly since we couldn't seem to acquire any cooking fuel.  Luckily, the building where our art class took place was equipped with a full kitchen, so each day we brought our groceries and dishes to the arts building to cook (about 1 mile walk).  Our days were filled with visits to Santa Fe, hikes, "grocery store" runs, and morning and evening classes.  We produced a great deal of work, and were often hard at work during our afternoons off.  The art show on Saturday was an excellent opportunity to feel like a genuine artist as we all showed off our products.  We attended the gospel music concert on Saturday night, and enjoyed the high energy there.  (The ranch is owned by the Presbyterian Church, so many of the classes are religious.)  

     On Sunday we arose leisurely, and were off again, heading back to Denver.  In Denver we created a slideshow of our adventure, and Diane and I were able to spend a few last moments enjoying each other's company before heading back east.  The biggest adventure on the return trip was when Diane backed her mother's car into an audi parked behind her.  Everything else went off with no problems, and Spencer even remembered to pick me up at the airport:)  All's well that ends well, and there are plenty more adventures to come.

An English Professor's Husband

Though my little blog has been in existence for but less than 36 hours it was brought to my attention that I didn't mean what my tagline said (Not All Who Wonder Are Lost), that in fact I meant Not All Who Wander Are Lost.  This was clear because I carry these words where I go, on my car and in my pocket.  Upon close consideration, however, I guess I mean both.  One is neither lost if they wander nor if they wonder...right? 

For these past few weeks I have been slowly easing into my adventure.  I arranged for the Spanish classes and bought my tickets.  Enormous steps numbers one and two.  This past week I notified my place of employment of my resignation.  Families of the children who bring me sunshine each day were sad to learn that I will be leaving, but all wished me well.  My final day at my job will be July 31st, and I hope to make it a memorable finish.  I tell Spencer that he will have to hug me a lot more, and I worry about what I will have to talk about when I don't spend my days with three year olds anymore.  My hope is that that will be replaced with other wonderful topics of discussion.  

For those of you still perplexed by the story of the Zax, please visit YouTube.com and type in Zax.  This search will lead you to an animated short of Dr. Seuss' story.  Peace and Joy.    

A Zax Dilemma

The story of the Zax, by Dr. Seuss, is one of two creatures. There is a North-going Zax and a South going Zax, and of course they meet up. Each refuses to take one step to the East or West, so they stand there, nose to nose, face to face, refusing to budge while life ends up passing them by. The moral of the story, I suppose, is one of compromise, and how silly we become when we are set in our ways. My darling husband, Spencer, and I found ourselves nose to nose when it came to where our lives were headed. Spencer was beginning to realize his dreams of small-business ownership, and I was newly freed from a higher education...ready to travel. Our solution to this "want to go" versus "want to stay" tug-of-war is that we crawl up over each other (neither taking a step to the east or west might I add) so that we can continue on our ways. I have signed up for Spanish classes in Cusco, Peru and bought my airplane tickets. I am on my way:) ViaSpanish.com outlines the school where I will be attending Spanish classes for 30 hours a week. I am planning to begin my inoculations in the month of July, and will sign up for travel insurance through CareMed to set my family's minds at ease;). I plan to regularly update this blog with pictures and trip details as a means of keeping all those curious about my well being in the electronic loop. Peace and Joy. Carie