HeyHEy!

I am chillin with Pachi right fightin the lying Colombian president in hand to hand battle. Its tag team so I have time to write as Pachi uses Venezuelan lechoso grip he learned in the jungle of Barquisimeto.
SOOOOOOOOOOOO...
Things are good here, we hear F 16s and sucoy planes (apparently a new Russan fighter jet that Venezuela owns now) overhead every day BUT we bought ourselves an arsenal of AK 47s and some rocket launchers (Pachi's favorite) in the local black market. I personally enjoy the armored tanks which have the sensation of living in a house, but one that could destroy a neighborhood. CHARLIE'S EVERYWHERE, GIVE THE COLOMBIAN PREZ A OSCAR DE LA HOYA STYLE COÑASO (PUNCH!)!
Joking aside, it was crazy when I came out of the Venezuelan jungle and heard what happened.
Right now there's more talks in D.C. than anything else as you can probably see on the news. One thing that the U.S. seems to be overlooking is that Colombia invaded Equator! This is a huge big deal! Imagine if Canada invaded the U.S. and killed people there and then said "it's all good!".
Besides that, Pachi's coming back to Earlham for one more semester so we get to hang out on breaks on the east coast or in the midwest!
I'm havin a great and stupendous time with Pachi and his mum and pops as well as old friends of his. Apparently I have a Brazilian accent when I speak spanish! I guess that's what a month and a half in Brasil will do to you!
I'm also really exited about coming back home on the 12th and seein everyone! Party at my new house in D.C.!! For All (Forro!!)

Con mucho Cariño (Much love) Nicky boy and Pachito!

Life in Barquisimeto!

sooooooooooooooooooo,

after a 14 hour bus ride that uses freezer technology as air conditioning, very big in venezuela apparently, i landed safe and sound in the great city of Barquisimeto! Pachi was there right as I got off the bus looking quite paranoid since its ¨the worst bus station in Venezuela¨ and then his mom came by in her jeep to pick us up.
Pachi and I had a very interesting conversation on the recent situation conflict with Colombia, Equador, and Venezuela and then Pachi regaled me with the various social programs set forth by Chavez in the last few years including one which Pachi works for currently. Pachi´s program is one that tries to have everyone have a college education, even women in their 50s and 60s who never were able to when they were younger which is the big group that Pachi works with.
The current conflict is on tv 24 hours a day and f16s are flying overhead regularly. basically, its the borders that everyone is very concerned about since Colombia entered Equador without telling them.
Besides that, Pachi is the same as ever (slicked back gelled hair, a t shirt with a revolutionary printed on it, and some stylish facial hair). He showed me around his house which has a garden that grows coffee beans, a mango tree and an ever accompanying dog named Tootsie (same breed as Grandma's old dog Honey!).
I'm going to relex a bit and then hang out with Pachi again when he gets back from work. There might be a beach trip in the works but first we'll investigate the old haunts of Pachi Rodriguez here in his hometown!

Hope you are well and can't wait to share pics and stories in just a few days!

Love, Nick

Hey!

I just got back from Angel Falls and am now heading to Barquisimeto! I`m leaving on bus tonight at 9 and gets into Barquisimeto tomorrow at 11 am. I`m really exited to spend some time with Pachi and his family and get to experience more of the culture of Venezuela besides the tourists, hostal, and tour guide life!
Angel Falls was amazing! I was able to take a puddle jumper plane from paraqua to Canaima. Smallest plane I ever took, 6 people including the pilot! I learned some Pemon from the Kamaracoto people who are the the indigenous group in the area and are only 46,000 people in total! Then we motor canoed all the way up the river to our campsite where the tourists (4 Japanese, 2 Austrians, 2 Americans, 2 Brits, 1 German, 1 Swiss, and me the German-American) where fed and then slept in hammocks. First time I slept in a hammock and it was a lot of tossing and turning. Next day we headed to ¨The Falls¨. It might not be the rainy season but damn! that thing is huge! 1 km high and the water barely makes it to the bottom as a liquid! We swam and trampled through the rainforest and finally headed back. I will post pics when I get home because my words will not do justice to the real thing.
Dangerous motor canoeing back to Canaima because it's harder going down river with low water and lots of rocks but our guides got us back in one piece! Thank you Tony, Chino and Captain who I don't know the name of!

So I will be in Barquisimeto until I have to leave from Caracas on the 11th. Maybe we will do some small trips around Barquisimeto but at this point i will be nice just to relax after traveling for 2 weeks.

By the way, we just heard about the recent conflict between Equador, Colombia, and Venezuela and I have been talking with Pachi and the head office of the tour i just did and they have been saying that the main problems are in Colombia and Equador.

Keep tuned in! I'll write more when I get to Barquisimeto!

Border Hopping!

Hola!

I just crossed the border from Brasil to Venezeula yesterday and am now in the small and relaxing city of Ciudad Bolivar which is about 11 hours north of the border.

My plan is to look for a tour program today for Angel Falls (The highest waterfall in the world!) and then head over to Barquisimeto (The city of Pachi Rodriguez!). I will look for a tour that is about 3 days, 2 nights and then hopefully leave tomorrow.

The area around Angel is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in South America and Pachi has described it as ¨The Lost World¨.

So if I leave tomorrow on the program than I would be back on Monday. Then I`ll probably head out Tuesday or Wednesday for Barquisimeto!

I`ve met some fellow travelers from the boat on the Amazon so we are all staying at a hostel together.

First impressions of Venezuela:

-bright vibrant colors on the buildings

-no problem at the border crossing (thank you German citizenship!)

-Saw the letter that Chavez wrote to the people of Venezuela in 2002 after being captured by a coup which stated that he was not giving up his position of president. (At the border control underneath a picture of him)

-things are very cheap! 11 hour bus cost me $9! A full meal of rice, chicken and egg with a coke was $3!

-the only tricky thing is changing money because the rate is always better with money exchanging places than the banks

I`ll let you guys know what else I`m doing in the next few days! Hope all is well at home, my future home, Europe and in Barquisimeto!

Love, Nick

Brasil meu Brasil Brasileiro

"Dadinho e um caralho meu nome agora e Ze Pequeno POOOOOOORRRA!!!" (cidade de deus)

This is a little out of order but it is what it is when it is supposed to be. I am currently home but I wanted to share my thoughts on what it was like to go back to my country of origin after 14 years of being away.

The first thing was the Portuguese rushing back into my head as we started to enter the country from the south and travel from Chui up to Florianopolis. Since I have been living in the US I did not get a chance to practice my Portuguese because my family is entirely from Chile and so at home we spoke CHILENO and out of the house we spoke ... English. I was having this entire identity crisis because in some way I feel like I am Brasilian and could connect with Brasilians in their jokes and the way they play futbol :) but at the same time my entire family is Chilena and ive been in US for sooo long that im almost entirely a gringo now. wow! if you understood any of that more power to you.

Brasil like the US is such a big country that it should really be several countries. There are the different regions such as the south, the northeast, the north, that are all quite different from each other. The people are different and yet they are all still Brasileiros. But one thing that they all have in common is that they are all quite happy when carnaval comes around and all are dancing and coming together to dance and party days away.

But how can I generalize and begin to talk about a country when Nick and I only stayed there a few weeks. The only thing that I can say for sure is that I loved every moment that I was there. I would love to live in Brasil some day where things happen and people know how to enjoy themselves.

Now I am back home trying to piece my life back together. Not that it was entirely well put when I left but now being back to the place where I once lived seems like such a foreign place right now. It is a strange feeling but I hope to learn from this as well.

Un beso a todos, this will be my last entry as I move on with my life, digest everything we seen and did, and well look for a job cuz im BROKE!

-ric

AMAZON BOUND!!

"Well I taught the weepin willow how to cry, and I told the clouds how cover up a clear blue sky, and the tears I cried for that woman are gonna drownd you big river, and I´m gonna sit down here until I die!"
-Johnny Cash

I a bit sad and depressing but I´m starting to think of songs that are about rivers because the time has come for me to ride the amazon for 5 days straight against the current!
I left my dear buddy of 5 months of traveling in America del Sur back on the 15th as he headed back to Chile and I headed up north 21 hours on the bus to Fortaleza. Luckily I came on a Saturday and there were still the sounds of Carnaval blasting through the streets as I searched for a hostal. Later that night I headed to the Praça Dragoa do Mar where frenzy of people were gathered to hear the sounds of pagodi, bossa nova, forro, axe, and rock and roll! And I didn´t even have to go into one of the numerous clubs! Simply live music of all kinds in the praça (plaza) for all to hear and dance to. I met random group of folk who danced in the plaça and enjoyed to question the random, lone, American about culture and life and all in broken portuguese (me) and broken english (them). Then it was stop at Habib´s (the largest middle eastern fast food chain in the western hemisphere) and a quick stint of learning how to dance to the latest song "creo". Basically the song starts slow and then ends up speeding up to the level of the spanish "r" in the beginning of words. Think of the "chicken song" on steroids!

There was a thought to stay for another night since I had only been in the city of Fortazleza for one night but alas I had a ticket for Belem the next day and I had to catch my boat on the 19th!

And that brings me to my current adventure!
I leave for the boat in less than 2 hours and then "set sail" at 18:00. It´s my 25th birthday and I can´t think of a better way to celebrate the event than to be on a boat for 5 days with 300 people in 50 degrees celcius heat with nothing but trees and water. While all that might be true, I really want to do this because I have a side passion for biology and I´ve learned about the amazon ever since I was in Grammar school! It has 10 times more volume than the mississippi and there´s a point in the middle where 2 rivers meet (the "black" and "white" rivers) and don´t mix until miles later so you see them side by side!

So right now I need more river songs than my depressing Cash song (though I really love that rythm!) so send any ones you know and reply on the blog!

I love everyone out there and I hope you all have an amazing day on my birthday!

Nicolai

Uruguayos son Argentinos en Brasil

... son bromas pero en alguna forma es verdad lo que dice donfu, mi viejo, Manuel Pizarro :)

With the help of our friendly friends Joy and Jillian's similar situation our transition from Passportless Nicolson to celebrating New Years in Punta del Este as planned was smoother than we dramatized it to be. We met up with them in Buenos Aires and traveled together in Buquebus to Punta del Este where we celebrated New Years in the most unreasonable way. Midnight was normal as we had a delicious asado with Pancho's family and celebrated Pancho's father, Jose, birthday. After Midnight Pancho and his brother Nacho drove us to the party Jillian had told me of to meet up and so we looked and looked for over an hour. After not finding anything we headed to the bars where they dropped us off and who is pulling up right there immidiately as we get off the car in a pickup trucks full of girls??? Joy and Jillian and her crazy friends...

New Years and the entire week after it was great spending it in Punta with my sister, Pancho and his family, Joy&Chilli and her amigas de Buenos Aires. It gave us time to relax a bit and catch up on everything we had not eaten before and wash all our clothes we had not washed since the year before...

The part about Uruguay that I like, enjoy, find amusing, observed and so on is its location and its size and the people. The thing that I find so interesting is that because of the size of the country everyone there knows everyone. Nick and I went to see No Te Va Gustar and we knew three people that knew band members personally or grew up with them or was having an asado with them. The geography of the country is also quite strange because it is surround by the two biggest countries of S. America, Argentina and Brasil and the ocean of course. Never as strange or bizarre as Chile but the entire concept of countries and boundaries and people belonging to a region just hit met entirely. You are living in a country and everything on the television or newspapers or what people are talking about are things going on in that country. Two people living nearby each other on the Argentina Uruguay border can have completely different views of the world and where they are and where they think Carlos Gardel is from. I find this topic of countries and borders quite interesting and yet bizarre as we have crossed and seen a lot of different borders and all sorts of forces that keep certain people out of each others countries... Im exhausted, just a thought.

Un saludon de Rio de Janeiro esperando o carnaval chegaaaa. We are with the Janesssss and Katrina enjoying every minute of this great apt in Copacabana and all the sights of this amazing country. I miss Brasil already and I am still here. Un besote,

-ric

Karma de Boludos

" ... Karma Police, arrest this man he talks in math, he buzzes like a fride, he´s like a detuned raaaaaadioooooo ... Karma Police, arrest this girl her Hitler hairdo is making me feel ill and we have crashed her paaaaarty .... this what you get, when you mess with uuuuussssssss!!!!"

So thats how it was that how it is and thats how it will always ever be. You try to get away with something in the end it always comes back to you. In Argentina we tried to get away with a few things and right up the end when we were ready to leave it all behind us we get smacked in the face with karma. HA!

The north we were very well behaved and absolutely nothing came of it but good memories. Salta, Cordoba, everything was okay. When we got to Mendoza though we did a bit of a scamming. We checked into a Hostel the first day went out in the night did all the typical tourists things and check out the next day thinking we were going to leave and head out of the city. As it turned out we ended up staying an extra night in the same hostel after checking out. And in the midst of the confusion we did not pay for the extra night. We got our bags, called a taxi, and left Mendoza and a hostel bill paid halfway ... nice little scammers us.

And so we traveled to Bariloche a ski resort city that looks like Switzerland. To me very beautiful to Nick quite nice but nothing he never seen before. So we arrived and again checked into a hostel. This time we paid all full in advance and did not try anything funny ... with them. We went for dinner to this restaurant and as soon as we walked in we got a bad vibe from them. They were too snobby for us, did not treat us as nice as other customers, and the food was not that good. I am not someone to be picky about food and have all these high expectations for restaurants but we were hungry and we could still tell the food was not good. On top of it all the server was treating us like shit the whole time and so we did what any human being would do ... Perro Muerto. To remind you perro muerto is chilean for skipping out on a bill. We waited for the server to go into the kitchen and BAM walked as smoothly as you would when you rob a bank. The doorguy opened the door greeted us good night and we were on our way home with a full belly and countless laughs.

And so our journey continued as we went to Chile in Chiloe, the south in Torres del Paine, Tierra del Fuego, and all the way up to Buenos Aires. From Buenos Aires we went to Rosario for a few days to check out the city and their bohemian ways. There we had quite an interesting time. The second night we were there we went to a party some guys from the Hostel knew about. The party ended up being quite chill and not much going on. After the party and two beers +we decided to walk home which supposedly took only 20 minutes. On our way back we were walking on a main street when two guys ran full speed past us. A short bit later three other guys ran chasing the first two and stopped right next to us. They asked us if we were with them and quickly we replied we had nothing to do with anything. As they were walking away I asked if they had been robbed and somehow that triggered one of the guys to come up to me and say what my problem was and if I was looking for trouble. And so he nudged me in the shoulder and I turned away trying to walk away when he came and punched me from behind right on my jaw knocking me the F*CK out!!!!

I woke up 10 minutes later in a taxi with Nick next to me in the backseat. I did not have memory at the moment of what city we were in, where I had bought my awesome new Converse All-Stars, not even what hostel we were in or what it looked like. It was like being dropped into the world with no memory of any recent events in your life. It was quite scary. Then Nick retold me eveything that happened and soon it started coming back. After dude knocked me out, Nick tried to help me up and between the three of them they punched Nick three times in the face. (I´m surprised with Nicks stemina). Then a totally different guy came and helped me up and regain consiousness. Once they did, this new guy wanted to go after the three troublemakers and go after them to beat them up. Nick very level headed decided to leave it be and just call a Taxi to go back to the hostel which was where I woke up.

After Rosario we came back to Buenos Aires to catch the Buquebus to Punta del Este. We arrived to Retiro by bus and had to make a few phone calls to figure out what to do with our bags. While I was in the phone booth, Locutorio, Nicolson stayed outside with our bags... all our bags chilling playing the guitar. As I came out to let him know that we had to go downstairs and check the bags a fat guy walked past us and "dropped" his wallet. I picked it up and ran after him to give it back to him. In that moment a second guy came in front of Nick and started pointing to the fat guy and me. Nick looked for three seconds and then came a third guy and stole Nicks small backbag with his two passports, his digital camera, his ipod, many dumb things, but most importantly the futbol. Of all the things, the damn soccer ball. Arghhhhh. Well I guess Nicks passports were important since we were heading to Uruguay that same night. Bummer!

Nick was able to get a US Passport the next day and we were able to travel that same day and making it to Punta del Este for New Years. Well the moral of these ramdom sorts of events ladies and gentlespoons is that we must watch out for the damn porteños, and be careful with karma because you never know when it will come to hit you in the face and knock you out. Hope you´re all having best festivities and I wish you all the best. Saludos de Punta del Este,

-Ric y Nic

¡¡¡¡¡¡ Felices Fiestas !!!!!!!

... ¿Queeeee Pasooooooooo? ¿Queeeee Pasooooooooo? ¿Queeeee Pasooooooooo? ¿Queeeee Pasooooooooo? ... cantava un guitarrista monetero la cancion de Bersuit cuando entramos Argentina por tren en el norte.

Ha sido increible todo que hemos visto y hecho con Nicolas hasta ahora. Por la forma que hemos viajado no hemos tenido problemas serio o tenido que enfrentarnos con una situacion que no sabemos como reaccionar. Amigos, la informacion sea internet o el libro de Nick, la suerte y el resto de dinero nos han ayudado a seguir rumbo pa adelante. Y entonces seguimos el viaje!

Hasta ahora hemos tenido el previlegio de visitar muchos lugares deste gran continente de Sur America. Siempre falta el tiempo para conocer bien los lugares en donde hemos estado y uno trate de balancear ese ritmo de seguir el viaje ooooo quedarse para conocer y al final uno siempre se queda dudando la decision porque me podria haber ido pero me podria haber quedado un dia mas, en fin uno tiene que tomar una decision y disfrutar el momento y no volverse loco con el plan perfecto porque no existe.

Como decia hemos visitado varios lugares en este viaje con Sir Nicolson. De todos lugares que hemos visto yo notaria: Machupichu, el Salar de Uyuni, Torres del Paine, Valparaiso, y Cordoba. Realmente entre la experiencia y el lugar la combinacion me dieron personalmente muy lindos recuerdos desos lugares. No quero quitarle nada de los otros lugares que vimos porque realmente fueron magicos tambien pero pensando en lugares y experiencia propia esos lugares se destacan mas que nada.

Ahora esta Navidad por primera vez me toco pasarla lejos de mi familia. Menos mal la pase en Buenos Aires que en otro lado porque realmente no tienen tantos avisos Navideños como lo tienen en otros lados. Es decir en los EEUU para esta epoca todos estan vueltos locos con la musica de Xmas y todos andan comprando, consumiendo, gastando como si mañana el mundo se fuese acabar. Ahora me acuerdo la locura es tan extrema que la gente VENDE el parking en los mall para el 24 de Diciembre por el dia!

Igual tuvimos una linda cena en el Hostel "Casa Buenos Aires" preparado por un Brasilero Fernando muy buena onda muy cagado de la risa y muuuuucha comida. Vinieron varios amigos de una chica francesa que tambien se estava quedando en el Hostel y en fin la pasamos muy bien.

Claro, habia mucha comida, y muuuuucho vino, creo que habian como 18 botellas de vino. Nos quedamos en el hostel hasta las 5 de la mañana conversando y de ahi salimos a un bar cerca que conozia un chico ingles de travestis y bixa loca para todos lados. Wajjjhhhh!!!! Fue muy divertido porque era la unica barra abierta a esa hora asi que nos quedamos ahi tomando mas y mas. La chicas se fueron de vuelta al hostel dellas y nosotros con Nicolai volvimos al nuestro y caimos muertos a las 8 de la mañana. Tal fiestita navideña... Espero que ustedes tambien la han pasado bien, espero que mas tranquilo pero igual bien.

Sorry por el mensaje largo pero tambien queria tomarme un tiempito para pisar bien el suelo y dar me bien cuenta de donde estoy y todo lo bacan que ha sido este viaje. Les queria mandar un saludo muy grande a todos ustedes con quen no le voy a poder dar el abrazo del año nuevo hasta bastante mas tarde. Espero que la pasen muy bien esta fiesta y que tengan un muy pero MUY bueno 2008. Que les vengan lo mejor de lo mejor y que este año sea tu año. Que sigamos compartiendo mas memorias para que nos podamos cagar de la risa despues.

Aunque uno sufra ahora hay que darse cuenta de lo que se viene y pensar que lo que uno hace es por el bien de un futuro mejor. O por ultimo para mirar atras y decir que mierda estava pensando y que carajo se me metio en la cabeza. Un besote grande!

-Ri

un Tributo a Jun: el Cyclista Vagabundo

To my English-speak friends,

Time flies. It is two and a half years since I left Japan. And it is the third time that I spend the New Year's Day in the Americas. Two years ago I saw the wonderful dawn of 2006 in Grand Canyon, the US, and one year ago, I welcomed the New Year in Costa Rica with local friends of mine. And now, I'm in Bolivia. They say that it is one of the furthest country from Japan geographically. At last I've come to the other side of the world with two wheels.
The more I'm surrounded by the exotic environment of the Third World, the more I'm conscious of my identity as Japanese. Wherever I am, I cannot help but remember my beautiful country. I carry on the odyssey, while I dream of the moment I set foot on my motherland again and of many places I haven't been to yet by turns.

Merry Xmas and A Happy New Year! How're you? I'm Jun. I'm writting to you to greet you and to say to you that the landscape of Bolivia is just amazing. Especially the immensity of the altiplano knocks me out. Do you know about the altiplano? It's the Andean high plain that sits at around 4,000m above sea level. You know, Lake Titikaka is on the north end of the vast plain. You've been taught that it's the highest navigable lake of the world in your school days, right? Yep, the lake itself is large and beautiful, but towns on the shore are some of resorts, I think. It may be difficult to feel the great nature and even the sacred legend of the Inca due to the existence of too many tourists.
The real wilderness is in far south. Here the sky is just wide and clear, and the horizon seems to have no limit. The sunrise and the sunset can be divine. In Japan, my small country, you'll never get a grand view like this.

Hundreds of framingos which play in a red lagoon, a 6,000m peak which rises behind of an aquamarine lake majestically, and the world's largest salt flat which is blindingly white to the horizon,,,, All the things what I see here are dreamscapes, and seem to say to me;
Welcome to the paradise!
This may be one of the most wonderful terrains on the earth, and, definitely, the trip to here was one of the most scenic routes I've ever taken. If you've got a chance to travel to South America remember that the Bolivian altiplano is a must-see. (However, I don't recommend you that you've got a bike trip around here like me because of the nightmarish roads.)

Now, I'm leaving this immense plateau and descending the Andes. But I don't mean I leave Bolivia. I'm gonna work at a wild animal refuge that is in the jungle to take care of poor animals as volunteer for a month or two. It's gonna be a great experience for me. Since no internet is available there (and no electricity is also available!) I won't respond to your email for a while. When I come back to the civilization I'll give you an impression about the Tarzan's life.
See you!

I'll give you my best energy so that you've got a great time on these Xmas holidays with your dearest person.

Jun, the vagabond cyclist

Torres del Paine

Unreal! Unbelievable! Wow! Amazing! Geezgolly! OH MY GOSH!!!! YAY! SUPER DUP... *stop*

This place is seriously one of the most beautiful places I have seen on this trip. There is something about Machupichu and all the energy you feel when you are there that makes it more magical than this but the experience we had in Torres del Paine was undescribeable. We did the "W" tour in four days which is quite a hard trekk on the amount of supplies we had and considering the distances we traveled, 120km in four days, with our big bags, going up and down the hills in a constant battle with yourself to push and keep pushing until the end of the day when you can sit in your sleeping bag and have that dry sandwich that somehow tastes like heaven.

The colors of this place, the size of the mountains, the ruggedness of the trekk, the idea of two young brothas trying to make it to the next camping spot without getting stuck. But this is park is not meant to be seen only by hardcore athletes like us. No. This can be seen at a leisurely pace for the older people we just wanted to do it in four days and stay at all the free places available. Because we had a limited budget and that services in the park were very expensive, $2 for a tea, we brought everything we consumed and only stayed in the places to camp that did not charge money to camp. You can also stay in a nice room in some hostels, leave your bags in the room, and go for a hike to see the park. This was not how we traveled though. We pushed and pushed from one place to the next and were able to see what most people see for a limited amount of money in a short period of time.

It was a great experience for us two "youts" as we both were able to enjoy the park, get a ton of exercise and bring the two of us even closer. After you go through such a challenge with another person you begin to find out what makes the other person tick and what makes you tick as well. You are both faced with the same challenge and you push each other and help each other to get through it. I think I make it sound like a horror story we went through. It was great, just rough at parts, but still amazingly beautiful with heavenly pictures everywhere we looked.

I highly recommend people to go see Torres del Paine at your pace. It is worth the trip all the way down south. We almost killed each other at the end of the trip but we made it and now we are better for it. is joke i make joke! we are not any better...

Saludos desde Mar del Plata. Os quero mucho,

-Ricardo

TREN AL SUUUUUURRR

The title is a song by Los Prisoneros a rock group from the 80s de Chile. Clasico!

From Bariloche Nicolson and I went to Puerto Montt and the next day to Chiloe. Chiloe was absolutely beautiful, and our experience even better. We got to Castro, the main city on the island, and went looking for a cheap place to sleep. After a few consultations we decided to split forces Nicolai would stay and take hold over the bags and I would go and ask more hostals in the area. And so I did and found a really nice one by the water for a really good price too. On the way back I quickly stopped by to get a type of empanada typical de chiloe: milaco, milcao, maicalo, ... no me acuerdo, but it´s a potato bread stuffed with pork and it is absolute deliciosness.

I arrived back to Nicolson´s spot and found him talking with Crisitian "el cofla" our new found friend. He was offering us a place to stay in his friend´s house a lawyer in the city for free! How and when do you begin to trust a person? By their looks? By their conversation? We did and were lucky that he was not a thief and really did let us stay in his friends house who gave us shelter, food, drinks, and good fun. His friend was indeed a lawyer from Santiago working in Chiloe. He had many friends in Castro from Santiago living and working in Chiloe who actually liked it better in the south than in the city. Luis was Cristian´s friend and he was quite nice.

Luis´s friends took us to a festival typical of Chiloe the next day where we saw customs from Chiloe like moving a house with bulls, typical music de Chile, and typical food from Chiloe. Nick and I each had a curanto... what a mistake that was. This massive gigantic dish can stuff almost stuff a small army. It is a pile of seafood, meat, milcao, more seafood, more meat, and more milcao and all of the food is cooked in a whole in the ground with rocks that have been heated up in a fire beforehand. Delicious! Please see the pictures when they come.

After Chiloe we headed even farther south. We took a 33 HOUR-BUS-RIDE from Puerto Montt to Punta Arenas. From Punta Arenas we took a bus to Puerto Natales where we headed farther up to Torres del Paine. Next one we talk more about it. CIAO!

-r

Border crossing in the SOUTH!

Hello everyone on our bandwagon of adventures and escapades!

We crossed the Argentina-Chile border down near Puerto Montt yestday and our heading our way down south to Chiloe (birthplace of my dear friend Joseph Perloff) and onward to the legendarily beautiful park of Torres del Paine! Everything is green here and mountains flank us on all sides as well as lakes (the area is the lake district!) So anyone that reads this in Seattle, know that I am know in the second Washington with similiar color and freshness that surrounds that fair city.

We met three hombres de EEUU (USA) in Salta up in the north of Argentina and again as we were leaving Mendoza for Bariloche in the south. As we all sat in a transitionary city bus station in the south the three lads opened up their guitar cases and gave us a run down of songs that Jerry Garcia and David Grisman would be proud to have heard. Since Ricardo and I purchased a guitar back in La Paz we´ve been trying to learn various songs by ear (which I have to say Ricardo has been picking up in rapid pace!) The lads gave us good tips on how to grapple with chords and learn recently practiced songs in new ways. If you´re reading this pops: do you know the chords for the planxty song you always used to play? Send them to me if you get the chance! Oh and play your guitar while you´re at it! it´s probably up for a new stringing!

All three of the traveling trio go to Colorado college with is a school that has one class for 3 weeks straight every day, pretty intersting learning style. One of the guys went to Sierra Leone for a 3 week stint with this class and studied the societal structures in the post war era country.

In Bariloche, we attended a local bar called Che Papa with a local from our hostal. Wall to wall pictures of Che Guevara (photos and artist renditions as well) made for an amazing collage. Later that night seemingly on a whim the owner pulled out his saxaphone and another attendee picked up a guitar and began to play heartfelt, passionate songs of Buena Vista Social Club (traditional cuban music for whoever doesn´t know, go listen if you´ve never heard it!). The guitarist´s voice was flawless and the addition of the sax gave these old songs a new body. The rest of us picked up any instruments we could find or simply our hands and joined in. Hopefully we´ll find more spontaneous acts of music further on our travels. (I made a video of one of the songs so our next project will be to add a video section to the blog! Stay tuned!)
Right now Ricardo and I are feeling a little of the pressure of time and so we´re not stopping at a local farm around Puerto Montt to work for a few days in order to reach parks in the south and Tierra del Fuego for hiking and camping.

Hope all are well and if you can let us know about news in your respective areas we will devour every word!
Cheers!
Nick and Ric

Border Crossing!!

So I just want to say that we crossed the border from Bolivia into Argentina yesterday so we are freewheelin in a brand new country!! Brand new couldn´t be a truer phrase: roads, towns, cars, stores, food, hostals, etc. are all much more developed than in Bolivia. We enjoyed are 2 weeks in Bolivia with heavy bus travel from north to south (except for 2 trains in the south, love that smooth travel!). For 4 days we stayed in La Paz where we: got altitude sickness (I fainted, something I´ve never done in my life), bought everything we ever wanted (a guitar, a futbol, futbol jerseys from around the world, speakers for our ipods, and goodies for folks back home!), hung out with friends, and met the vice president of Bolivia ÁLVARO MARCELO GARCÍA LINERA who is a friend of our gracious hosts: Joel, Dora, Magali, and Nicole Bransky.
Afterwards we headed to Lake Titicaca where we swam (muy frio!) climbed rocks, and hiked for 7 hours. We caught a row boat through high waves finally reaching isla del sol where there was no dock. I learned to make some necklace and bracelet designs which I plan to use to create an item out of the aligator teeth I took from Bolivia. We met amazing people from all across the globe as well as right next door.

After lake titicaca we headed south of La Paz by train to Uyuni where we entered the Salar de Uyuni which is a salt desert the size of lake titicaca (imagine being in a desert where instead of sand every single kernal you see is made of salt). We stayed for one amazing sunseted swept night and finally made our way down to the Bolivia-Argentina border at 2:30 am on the train. Nothing but desert and cactus for miles on both sides of the border and after 9 hours on the bus (1 hour to navigate along a highway that had burst open with mud, rainwater, and rocks after a heavy thunderstorm, we thought we were in safe developed Argentina!) we arrived in the city of Salta where we are right now. Tonight we head for Cordoba on a 12 hour bus and then try to make our way down to Mendoza over the weekend!
We wish everybody love and hope you enjoy our Traveling Tricks!
Nic and Ric

NEW PICS!

HEY EVERYBODY!

There´s new pictures on our shutterfly link! We´ve been at a house in La Paz for the past 4 days so we´ve been taking advantage of the computer and the insane amount of time that shutterfly needs to download pictures. So now there are pictures up all the way up until the last city we were in. Lima, Valle de Colca, Cusco, Machu Picchu, hangin out with awesome kids in different countries, Brazil, long bus rides in Bolivia, animals of the Bolivian jungle (monkeys, tropical birds, alligators, and anacondas oh my!) Enjoy!

WHOA! we need to catch up

So, sorry about the last message being a little crazy in the order of events. I didn´t notice on the blog that the last entry was in Chile!

So we did spend two weeks in Peru after flying from Santiago to Lima on October 15th. we spent about 4 days in Lima. Then we headed to Arequipa on 14 hour bus ride south to visit with Ricardo´s dad and see the Colca Valley which has condors and a 4000 meter altitude. 3 days later we were off to Cuzco where we stayed with Ricardo´s best friend, Narda´s family. We bought a program for a 4 day hike to Machu Picchu. Then we went to Puerto Maldonado in Northeast Peru in the jungle where we stayed for a night and then headed north to Brazil! We stayed with a Brazilian family who were living in Bolivia and then headed to Riberalta the next day where we are right now in Norther eastern Bolivia. In 45 min we head on another 12 hour bus south where we will be camping in a national park (Shout out to Charles Howard- Mckinney!). Hope all is well and there should be new pics up in 4 days! Love, Nick and Ric

Change of Plans!

So initially we were going to go to the Amazon in Peru but seeing as we want to spend a good 2 weeks in Bolivia we´ve decided to head up to Brazil! Makes sense right? Well we*re heading up there and then down to Bolivia! Just thought I'd send a quick note! All is well and extremely hot in Puerto Maldonado! Nick

Escucha Familia!

Well well. The technical reason why Nicolas and I stayed in Santiago for so long was that he needed to renew his German Passport. The idiot... i mean Nicolai decided the best day to check when his German passport expired was the day before he flew to Santiago... nice dude! Well in Chile he realized that both for Bolivia and Brasil he needed to get a visa. But for Germans a visa was not required. Anyway we had to stay another week in Santiago after La Serena and get that done.

And so we did. And so my birthday came up, and so did my grandfather's 90th birthday celebration, and so did all my brothers and parents come together. My sister Carolina flew in with Mateo my nephew, my brother Gonzalo, and the dear Diannita. Never have I ever celebrated my birthday in Chile and evenmore never have I ever celebrated my birthday with my entire familia! We did it in style with a lot of food and a lot of more familia from my dad and my mom's side.

For my grandfather we had an even bigger gathering. His four kids were finally all together again and a lot of their family too. That is all my family, a whole lot of my cousins, all of my mom's brothers and sister, and extended family, dogs, nannies, etc, etc. We all enjoyed the party very much and it was absolutely fabulous to see everyone in such high spirits even for a brief moments. The part that complimented our trip with the Nickster was that we were able to see all of them and receive all their support as we were embarking on our trip beginnning with Lima in Peru. Gracias mi Familia Querida.

La Serena y Pisco Elqui

Despues del inovidable Valparaiso viajamos con Nicolas a La Serena. De La Serena viajamos al Valle Elqui donde se hace el Pisco Chileno. Aca no voy a empesar la discusion del Pisco y de cual es mejor y como se prepara y todo eso. El Pisco es rico por lo que es y me gusta tomarlo cuando comparto con amigos, compadres, y nuevos amigos.

La Serena se encuentra al lado de la ciudad de Coquimbo. Ambas me dieron la impresion de ser analogas a Vina del Mar y Valparaiso respectivamente, en el que los cerros coloridos de Coquimbo me hacian recordar los del Valpo, y lo plano que es La Serena como asi es Vina. La Serena es le ciudad de donde viene mi abuelo Pizarro y sus hermanos. Tengo mi Tio Federico, tio abuelo, que vive en La Serena y que nos ha recibido con mucho carino. Tambien fuimos afortunado de qudarnos en la casa de mi amigo Felipe Lira que quedava al lado de la playa.

Y asi con toda el apoyo familiar y de amigos nos fuimos en bus al precioso Valle del Elqui. Visitamos Vicuna donde se hace el Pisco Capel y esta el observatorio de Mamalluca de donder vimos entero el Milky Way, Jupiter y tres satelites, y cuantas constelaciones. Tambien estuvimos en Pisco Elqui que es un poco mas retirado y mas tranquilo, ahi nos quedamos en un camping precioso al lado del Rio. En fin fuimos a Montegrande la casa de la profesora poeta y Premio Noble Gabriela Mistral.

El Sabado en la noche fuimos con Marcela que nos cozino muy rico y Nicolas a Coquimbo a carretiar. Fuimos a un bar reggae que tocava musica rockera de todo tipo de las buena como Pink Floyd, the Cure, the Clash, etc. Luego fuimos a otra discoteca rockera donde la cerveza estava bien barata, buena, musica y buenas chicas. El resto es historia de borrachos...

VALPO!!

Holla!!

Ricardo and I have been a bit, meaning a lot, behind on our entries about our adventures. So here is our written account of some of the events of the great city of Valparaiso! First night in to the city we were planning to spend one night with the brother of a good friend back in Washington D.C. (VITO!). Vito was actually our guide the last time that Ricardo and I visited Valpo. Since there was a bit of an Asado happening at Nico´s house (Vito`s brother) we got to meet a lot of Valpo natives. Every person we talked to said that it`s impossible to spend only one night in Valpo! So we said Ya Po, Huevon! One night turned into 3 and we got a chance to drink in the great beauty that is Valpo! Every nook and cranny surrounding Nico´s house is more interesting than the next. When you mix a lugar like Valpo with lots of artistic history, Pablo Neruda for example, with a giant port, add waves and waves of internationals, great seafood, and lots of students looking for cheap housing you get: paint splashed on every wall, graffiti that would be a crime to paint over with one color, stencils galore, and an ever repeating song about Valpo bursting out of every window at some point in the night on the weekend ("... la plaza de la Victoria ehhh es un centro social...").
If you go to Chile, Valpo is 2 hours west of Santiago...GO!!!!
Love, Nick and Ric