kerrieandraza-blog

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Biking around Buenos Aires and its suburbs and some kayaking of the Tigre delta - NOTE: The bikes were made of bamboo and I need one badly. Excellent bikes. We got so many weird looks as people were pointing at them and wanted pictures of them. I did some posing ;) The most looks we got was when we had to walk through a crowd of thousands trying to get into an amusement park in Tigre. The lineup was massive and completely chaotic. The kayaking was great, but our arms almost fell off. People live on tiny islands on the delta feeding Rio de la Plata (over 35km wide!!!!) and there are grocery store boats and bus boats that get people around if they don't want to paddle.

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Racially ambiguous

An interesting thing about travelling around South America is that no one can figure out who my race/people ("Raza" in Spanish) are. I'm not insulted or anything, but it's neat how only a Rastafarian selling cheap tourist products and dreadlocks (yes, real hair he'll tie in) got close. "India?" "Close", I replied. "You're the closest." Here is the list of what I have gotten:

Peruvian (from a Peruvian on a bus to Cusco)

Brazilian (from most Argentinean shopkeepers when I look dumbfounded when they start speaking a most indecipherable version of Spanish)

Portuguese (when I shake my head at the same shopkeepers and give them a second attempt)

American (everyone from Europe who hears my English)

Mexico (because of my first name)

Italy (I was eating pasta)

It's a fun game. Kerrie is always assumed to be German. We were having lunch today and were conversing with a German who said it was her blonde hair and green eyes. It's the whole Aryan thing ;)

Everyone in Buenos Aires looks Spanish or Italian because all of the massive immigration from those countries over the years.

There are now a lot more Chinese immigrants who run the best grocery stores. They look shady, but have the best supplies. One guy ran a great veggie/Chinese buffet. You would pay by weight and it was fresh! That was our dinner for a week. It was cheaper than making stuff at a hostel or wherever.

On a side note, I barely see any local desi people (South Asians for anyone out of the loop). I did in Quito...we gave each other the "brown people" stare and nod :)

It'll be weird to see people of all colours and creeds speaking perfect English in Canada after South Americans spent two months trying to figure where the heck I was from and what I was trying to say in Spanish.

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Some random shots of Buenos Aires - those crazy flag-wavers are from Uruguay. They won Copa America.

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Cholita/Lucha Libre Bolivian Wrestling!!!!! Took place in a crappy little gym. The wrestlers were great as they played up the comedy and over-the-top gimmicks for the little kids in the crowd. The ref was swearing up a storm and giving everyone the finger as part of the festivities. Very child appropriate ;) He even would start to randomly wrestle the wrestlers. We were very confused. Ha! They even had men fighting women, but the women would go all Hulk Hogan and beat the guys down in the end. Everyone was jealous of our Lucha Libre masks.

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Walking around BA

No one told us that Buenos Aires is a great walking city. Yes, there is a subway and oddly coloured buses that do 60km/h through side streets, but with our Merrell barefoot shoe thing-a-ma-jigs we can walk like no ones business. I think we've walked all of the major areas and had a blast. San Telmo and Recoleta have great markets where we've bought a lot of great stuff. Today, we decided to stalk (walk) behind a North American couple while we were walking around Recoleta. No clue where they were headed. Drug deal? Kidnapping? Sadomasochist tango? It turns out they were walking to the coolest graveyard in South America. Big graves with large shrines, looked like little homes. Evita is buried there. We actually didn't go in. We saw it from the outside. There was an art market going on and lots of cool buskers. Dead people just aren't a big draw when guys playing electro-tango-fiddle music are jammin'. I love Calgary, but this one area of BA had more culture than the whole history of Calgary ;) Well, the Stampede tops anything here! Ha! They have a big agricultural expo here and the gauchos (cowboys) must be out in full force.

Although the food here is pretty plain, we have found a great veggie/Chinese buffet that is dirt cheap and tastes great. Don't worry, it's a clean place. Tomorrow we pick up more hot sauce in San Telmo!!!!

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The food in South America has been great until it got bland in Buenos Aires. We were walking through a very large Sunday Market in San Telmo and Kerrie suddenly leaped a table and yelled, "Hotsauce!!!!!". Behind the table were two young Yanks from Washington, D.C. We bought a bottle of their awesome hot sauce and spoke with them for a bit. They're running a hot sauce business in Argentina...crazy! Actually not. There is no hot sauce here. No where :( I guess they found a great niche. Check out their video of customers pictures. We are in it early on

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Horseback riding in La Paz. We rode for 4 hours to Devil´s Tooth (or something like that) and then rode back with only the moonlight to guide us through the Lost Valley. It was an amazing ride...for me at least. Kerrie´s horse was slightly insane and fell once and then kept on moving in weird directions. She didn´t get to enjoy the views as much as me. My horse, Senador, was a beast. I think everyone was jealous that I got to ride the best horse ;) He was a white stallion who was well-behaved and galloped like the wind (I held on for dear life). When he saw a hill he was trained to gallop to the top. There were lots of hills! Going downhill was slow and easy...phew!When we got to Devil´s Tooth or Point or Toothpick, we had to climb up a steep and dangerous path that was not marked at all. There were times when our footing was very precarious and coming down was an even bigger adventure. Nonetheless, we had a great time and were very sore the next day.

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Buenos Aires Zoo

South America is as varied and dynamic as they come. After our wonderful stay in La Paz and other areas, evil bus trip excluded (Intrepid are not to be used...ever), we thought we had seen what South America was like for the most part. Nope. Buenos Aires hit me like a ton of bricks. Buenos Aires is too cool for school. Big, beautiful, and smoggy. Very Euro, very Montreal.

We are in the San Telmo area near the city centre. It's an older, but beautiful area. Lots of cafes and restaurants. Tango shoe stores are ubiquitous. The hostel is nice once we switched rooms. The first room was near the front desk and so we heard everything from telephone conversations, loud music, and tv. Oh wait, that was from one person...the front desk guy. He wouldn't take a hint, so we got a room away from him in the morning.

After our short move we decided to trek out to the zoo in the middle of the city, which required an easy trip on the Subte (subway). Efficient, on time, well planned. The return trip was during rush hour. Packed like sardines. I put my hand on the ceiling of the train to stabilize myself. Kerrie held on to me :) 1.10 pesos for a ticket. 30 cents!

The zoo was amazing. Over 120 years old and smack dab in the middle of this bustling city of over 10 million people. They've incorporated beautiful, old buildings into modern structures to give it a comfortable yet distinguished feel. They let various animals and birds roam free to interact with everyone. You can feed them pellets you can buy for 3 bucks. The little mammals looked like if a deer and rabbit had sexual, naughty time (Kerrie's words). Some looked like badgers. The birds were large, but who knows what they were. Peacocks also roamed the streets.

There was the usual zoo sights like lions, tigers, and elephants but you could feed some of these larger animals, including the baby hippo. It was so used to humans throwing those pellets that it would sit at the edge of its open pen with mouth agape waiting for the good stuff! Some of the monkeys would have hands outstretched and catch everything. The various deer antelope would stick their heads through specially made holes and eat from your hands. Kerrie had a riot with these close interactions. She had no idea where to run to when she saw two sets of animals she wanted to see at the same time ;) They would never let these types of interactions happen in North America without legal approval and fifteen signatures. Anyways, there is a whole slew of large parks in the area that are worth exploring. I think we passed the Gardening School for teenagers or something like that. I don't know. My Spanish is rusty...minimal :) We're off to Uruguay on Monday. A short ferry ride and bus trip to Colonia and Montevideo. Maybe their zoo has giraffes roaming free.

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Raza biking down the "Death Road". I have never had such focus and hand-eye co-ordination because my life depended on it. Plus, the views were awesome! Thank you, well-built Kona bike ;)

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Salar de Uyuni - the biggest salt flat in the world! A family got lost for two weeks in this place. 12,000 square kilometers. Mind-blowing. We got lucky because of the moisture and it seemed like we were driving on a lake. The reflections of the sky and volcanoes in the salt water were astouding.

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Potosi mine trip

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Strolling through an active mine with a 14yr old miner

After Sucre, we took a beautiful 3hr ride to Potosi, once the world´s richest city because of its past silver mining glory. It is a UN-protected site and is nothing like its past glory. Like La Paz, it is built into the hills and mountains and maintains a cool charm with cobble streets, etc. It is also freezing :( The city was once the site of South America´s main mint because of the high quality of its silver. They even handled China and Europe´s minting. That is in the past and now the Canadian mint is responsible for some of Bolivia´s coins. Their 5 Boliviano resembles a toonie, albeit smaller.

The main highlight of Potosi was our visit to the active mines at the edge of town. These miners are part of a co-operative, but that is of little help because they have to buy their own equipment and have no health insurance for young miners. The longer you stay alive and destroy your lungs, the more insurance you get. They are at the whim of multi-national companies that exploit them because they know there is no other option. The co-operatives aren´t saints themselves. They basically serve as the middleman to sell any minerals they find. The government dropped out of sight a few years ago. Basically, they have some of the worst working conditions you can have. Their protection consists of a helmet and light. Masks, protective suits? Ummm, no.

We started our trek with a visit to a mining store to buy the miners we would meet some cookies, coca leaves, alcohol (for the weekend and their devil shrine), and dynamite! Not only dynamite, but the detonator and cord. 4 minutes. That´s the time you have. Eeep! The outside of the mine consists of shacks where the miners change and put valuables. Everything is covered in llama´s blood as an offering to Pachamama (or Mother Earth). Our gear consisted of a helmet and light, plus some overalls and boots. The mine was freezing at the beginning and I had to crouch very low to fit and avoid the massive icicles. Even better, it wasn´t wide enough for two people. As we cursed and moaned our way through, the mine opened up a bit and everyone could stand. A wave of heat hit us as we made it about half a kilometer into the mine. Along the way we met a 14 year old boy who was working there on the weekends and went to school the rest of the time. I was shocked to the core to see this kid in person. We all read and watch documentaries and then lament their plights, but to see this kid working in dangerous and miserable conditions was something else. It seems exploitative for tourists to go into the mine and gawk, but our guide said that tourists were a major source of income. I felt slightly creepy about the whole situation, but appreciated that I was given a chance to see these things. I wanted to slap every whiny First World teenager immediately for complaining about their problems. In the end, we handed him biscuits, Red Bull, coca leaves, and dynamite. The coca leaves are important for the miners because it staves off thirst, hunger, and gives them stamina for the long days. They chew enough coca leaves to have to effect of 1 gram of cocaine and it leaves a buldge in their cheeks to prevent masks to cover their faces properly.

We met other older miners along the way and they appreciated our gifts and showed us how they do their job. We made pretty far into the mine and on our way out we met up with the devil. The miners are a religious bunch, but they respect whose ground they enter and work in. As such, the inside of a mountain was the devil´s domain and they paid respect to him as they would Mother Earth or God. They felt their lives depended on making the devil happy and so they would offer him cigarettes, alcohol (96-proof) in large jugs, and other things. Anything to make their job and lives easier, I guess.

The whole experience was eye-opening and well-worth the danger to us. Another great thing about South America is that you can experience things that we would never get a chance to back home. It´s a good kick in the ass to see how lucky we are that our parents raised us in a setting to give us a chance at something. I hope that 14 year old has the same chance once he´s done his weekend job.

[kerrieandraza-blog]

Watching futbol with the locals and human heads

Sucre is Bolivia's old capital and beautiful as they come. It is much more younger than La Paz because of the many universities and much more clean. It has it's own charms, but La Paz has my vote. Not that Sucre is bad or anything, but there was something missing with all of the cleanliness and overwhelming number of white buildings. It is actually a law there that buildings in the main area have to be whitewashed every year.

One highlight of Sucre was the Museum of Anatomy (I forget the Spanish name). Anyways, it was a collection of very morbid and not very well-kept samples. Case in point, a severed human head in what looked like formaldehyde and a bunch of brown gunk. Also, lots and lots of fetuses at various stages and pathologies. I think the creepiest thing was the plasticine casts of people who died of various diseases and what it did to their faces. Creepy is not the right word. I have lots of pictures, but I won´t post them for the sake of taste. A viewing will be held if enough people want it ;)

I think the most fun I had was watching some Copa America action with a large group of Bolivians in the main square in Sucre. Argentina was the opponent that night and I figured it would be over in the first 10 minutes. Boy oh boy! I was wrong about that one. Messi looked like a midget chump as a Bolivian player headed butted him and then proceeded to trash talk him. I´m sure there was a mention of shoving a saltena up his rear end. The whistling and cat call from the crowd in Sucre was amusing. I wish I knew more Spanish.

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Llama fetuses

If you have an exam coming up, building a new house, or just want some good luck, then you need a llama fetus. I'm serious. As part of a bigger package, including a chunk of llama fat, llama hair, and other random plastic trinkets, you put all of this together in a basket and voilà! An offering to a higher being for all of your needs. Now you may ask, "Where does one get a llama fetus and a chunk of fat?". Well, any street corner in La Paz's Witches Market will do. We have pictures of said materials, but due to the lack of a good USB or SD card slot these pics will have to wait.

If you find this disgusting or offensive, then let me describe Cusco's fried guinea pigs. Whole. With teeth. Some hair. Sold on the street. Oh right, all organs included. Bon appetit!

Even more disgusting are the human fetuses in jars of formaldehyde at the Museum of Anatomy in Sucre. They include fetuses with various congenital defects. The most interesting thing was the adult human head in a box. I have a picture of this head because I know no one will believe us. No pictures were allowed, but I was willing to risk my $1.50 museum entrance fee to get a pic. That's how we roll.

Until the next post. K and R. Happy Canada Day!

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Bank Charges

A quick tip to anyone who travels to South America is to realize that you will incur quite a few bank charges. Thank fully, Peru has Scotiabank and so no charges. The same cannot be said for the rest of my travels. Boo!

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Altitude sickness

Even having mild altitude sickness sucks. Walking the crowded, boisterous streets of La Paz confirmed this to me. Even if you live above sea level being almost 4km in the air means you are going to breath harder, have a higher heart rate, get flu-like symptoms, get magical diarrhea and have the feeling of pins in your feet. It will instantly "decrease your mental alertness" (read: seriously cause your partner to wonder if you had a swift lobotomy or an alarming drop in your IQ. Examples include - Kerrie struggling to find money to buy a beverage, having trouble subtracting 8 from 100... And then eventually walking away without the beverage. Immediately followed by almost accidentally swallowing a boliviano instead of an Aleve pill. Also, Raza desperately seeking Kerrie to figure out what 7 x 80 is). They should include brain farts as a medical term because of us.

Oh yeah, for those people who think that "I'd be fine!", I dare you to spend two weeks at least 3km above sea level. Take that and that's the way it is :) So far we have had sea sickness on the Pacific and altitude sickness in the Andes and beyond. Eye-opening experiences.

K and R

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This is why Incans are cool. The rock was carved over 700 years ago to match the peaks the artist saw at the very site I took this picture from.