New Blog

A number of you have inquired if I plan to or (gasp!) requested that I continue some sort of blog ruminating on the ebb and flow of my daily life. My mother meant it facetiously but I mean it in earnest when I say - I live to serve. So, I now have a new blog that is not so much about me as it is about New Jersey. "Why New Jersey?" ask you. Well... because I am going to live there for the next two years while I pursue my masters degree in Urban Planning at Rutgers University. I know, I know, it's New Jersey! How can I possibly endure two years in the state known for big hair and not much else?! But, I decided to try to give it a fair shake and we'll see if at the end I have the means to defend Jersey to nay-sayers like you or perhaps I will just be better equipped with well researched and thoroughly investigated aspects of its "culture" to mock it right along side of you. Only time will time, but during that time, I give you:
Giving Jersey a Chance
-Katie

Don't Cry for Me Argentina

Well, I fly back to the states today. I have been abroad for almost seven months, to the day. It's been grand. I laughed, I cried, I toyed with death (that's how I think about the entire "Israel" experience), I learned a lot, and I had fun. Traveling has been an amazing experience and I hope I do more in the future (but not for seven months...)
I land in JFK tomorrow morning and I'll be in Seattle in mid-April.
I can't wait to see you guys.
-Katie

A Short Side-Trip Turned Slightly Longer...

I was in Buenos Aires for the past week and I had a pretty good time (saw some tango and soccer, drank some beer, made some friends, etc). I decided, however, that it was high time I check out another part of Argentina before I go home (on Monday). So, yesterday evening I got on a bus to Iguazu Falls. The bus was supposed to get me there in about 15 hours, but we were delayed... by protesting farmers. So much for my big, thick, juicy steak. Damn uppity farmers.

But, I made it to Iguazu Falls in 19 hours which wasn't so bad. Where tomorrow I will see:

And then, I go back to BA for one last hurrah before I return state-side.
-Katie

Buenos Aires

The 20 hour bus trip from Bariloche wasn´t really bad at all. They fed me three square meals and my seat reclined way far back, if the child behind me hadn´t screamed for 60% of the way it would have been a really pleasurable journey. Check out the view of Argentina from the bus window:


I arrived in Buenos Aires at around 11am yesterday. I spent most of the day settling in to my hostel and just chilling out. Today I got off my butt and explored a little bit of the city. I went to the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes:


and the Cementerio de la Recoleta:


Where I saw Evita´s grave!


Buenos Aires is a beautiful city. There are plenty of old religious buildings:

fountains:

huge, beautiful trees:

and dogs out for walks:


I had planned to stay here for my last two weeks, but I might bounce a little early to check out some of the smaller towns nearby. I´m already feeling a little overwhelmed by the size (13 million + people!) and pace of the city.
Ugh, I am such a freakin´ wimp.
-Katie

Bariloche

I left Chile from Puerto Varas which was absolutely gorgeous:


Then I arrived in Bariloche, Argentina and it was also quite a sight:


I was lucky because outside my hostel a bunch of artists were working on murals:
It´s cool because they just asked the residents of the street if they could paint on the walls and everyone thought it was a cool idea. Hooray for art!

And while I´m at it, hooray for ice cream!


My hostel (¨Hostel 41 Below¨) is great. One of the women who works there taught a group of us about the traditional Argentinian mate ceremony. I have had mate in the states before, but I have been doing it all wrong. It is super strong the traditional style and way too intense for me:


After I was high on mate I went on a hike with two hostel friends. Kiko, Natasha, and I had a nice little hike in the outskirts of Bariloche:


Bariloche has been fun and productive. I got my laungry done which I´m sure you´ll trust was absolutely necessary. I ate some good, cheap steaks. Amazingly I am leaving already. Tomorrow I hop on the bus for 20 hours (!) to go to Buenos Aires. Maybe you have heard that BA is totally cool. I hope so because I´m going to be there for two weeks...
-Katie

Chilean Lakes District

One of the last things I did before I left Pucon was to go for a hike in the Huerquehue National Park. I went with fellow hostel-mate Anne (who hails from Holland). We had a great time:


The next day I left Pucon to continue my adventures south. We ended our day in Valdivia which has a number of old Spanish fortress relics around town:


And we stayed at yet another beautiful hostel:

but there wasn´t a ton to do in Valdivia so we left this morning.

We traveled through Puerto Montt where they had decent salmon and a really fun market where they sold cool things like this:


Now I´m in Puerto Varas and I´m here until tomorrow at which point I leave the whole country and head to Bariloche, Argentina.
Chile has been non-stop awesomeness. Let´s hope Argentina is more of the same.
-Katie

Pucon

Pachamama clients can stay in any of the towns we go to for as long as we want, so I decided to stay in Pucon for a few extra nights. It´s this cute little town nestled next to the Villarrica lake and under the Villarrica volcano:


One of the reasons I decided to stay in Pucon is the "La Posada del Embrujo" hostel:
It is pretty phenominal. Clean. Cozy. Comfortable. Everything you would want for about $12 a night.

Another reason I decided to stay in Pucon is because there are really fun things to do here, for instance, white water rafting on the Trancura River. Here´s the group I went rafting with (from L-R, me, Nikolas, Lorent, and Eric):


Don´t be fooled by the awkward smile. I hate wet suits:


The river was great. Mostly class IV rapids and great guides (thanks Yo-yo!). We jumped off rocks, swam in currents, and balanced on the side of the raft. Plus, it was pretty:


Then, today I flew around on cables in the tree canopy of a local forest. I figure if Pheonix lived in a tree for a year and a half I can swing around up there for an hour or two. Who´s a happy camper?


Needless to say, I´m having a ball.
-Katie

Pachamama

Okay, so the tour I´m on is totally perfect for:
1. Where I want to go and
2. My non-existant Spanish skills.
The name of the company is Pachamama. I did not know that it meant "Earth-Mother" when I signed up, but besides the name everything is great.

Here´s the van we drive around in (thankfully they didn´t paint pictures of trees or the wind or women giving birth, phew):


Before we left for our long drive yesterday, we enjoyed a sunset off the Chilean coast:


Then, early in the morning we hit the road and our only real stop was in Santa Cruz at the Museo de Colchagua. It´s the country´s biggest private museum built by Carlos Cardoen. Who is this guy? Um... an arms dealer who was on the US Government's 10 Most Wanted list for years. So, going to his museum was strange. Here was one of the exhibits:


I left Santa Cruz feeling confused. Fortunately I had pleasant views of Chile from the van window to get my mind off warfare:


Now we´re in Pucon which means "Entrance to the Mountain." I´m going to be here until Wednesday. I hope to get in some rafting and hiking. It´s possible to hike up a volcano, but that´s not my style. Somethings are better seen than experienced - like lava.
-Katie

Santiago and Environs

I was only in Santiago for a couple days, but I was told by the locals that that´s all you need to see the sights of the city. Pretty much as soon as I got off the plane a few days ago I started feeling not so great and yesterday the not so great feeling morphed into a fully formed illness. It´s not anything too exciting, no explosive diarrhea or anything, it´s just a headcold. I am pretty sure I got the cold because the air quality here sucks. But, I didn´t let that stop me. The only thing I had to skip was a gay night out with some locals which is a bummer, but I think I needed my 12 hours of sleep. Anyway, I saw Santiago! Here are the pics:

A sculpture garden:


I went on this long walk through a city park that was up on a hill. I was able to get a view of the city. What? You can´t really see it? Oh, that´s the smog that will clog your lungs and make you sick and snotty:


Here´s a fountain commemorating something (it was in Spanish):


And the capital:


So, that´s it for Santiago. I already left this morning on a tour, usually I wouldn´t splurge for something like that, but this one seemed pretty cool and I think I´ll get to see more of the country this way.

Our first stop was in Pomaire where the inhabitants are known for their pottery skills:


Next we stopped at Rapel Dam, but the pictures suck and a dam is a dam no matter what country. Our tour guide, Jorge, said Chile gets most of its energy through hydropower. Wow.

Now I´m in Pichilemu. It´s a touristy town on the coast. We´re staying at a cute hostel with an underwater theme, whoa...


We´ll be here for the night and then we´re off to Pucon tomorrow. Hopefully I´ll be over this cold by then.
-Katie

Valparaiso

Valparaiso is a great little city an hour away from Santiago. I had a totally fun time just wandering around for the day. Here´s the scoop: it has two levels, the normal ground level but then a higher level on a hill that is accessible by crazy long steps or cable car. For example:



It is a beautiful city for a number of reasons. First, it has cool, fun architecture and alleyways:



Second, it has really cool murals:


Third, there are beautiful parks through out the city, complete with statues commemorating things, fountains, nice trees, and stray dogs:


And fourth, it has kick-ass graffiti art:



So, I spent the day just basking in the beauty of the city. It was totally great. Look! I made a friend. Andreas (he´s from Oslo) and I decided to take the day trip together. Here he is catching his breath after our climb up those god awful stairs.


That was today. Tomorrow: Santiago.
-Katie

Time Warp

So... I landed in Santiago at 12:15pm on March 3rd which is weird because I left Auckland at 5:30pm on March 3rd. Whoa. So, the only acceptable explanation is that I went through a time warp. Here's what a time warp looks like:



Santiago is... small. I'm acutally only going to be here for a few days before I head south. My hostel is kind of ridiculous. Think: "The Real World." I know, sick. So, I'm avoiding in the drunk 18 year olds and trying to enjoy South America!
-Katie

Cash-flow

So... I started my travels abroad in early September. Y'know what else happened in September? The dollar lost a ton of its value. Here is a chart that shows how many Euros a dollar would buy over the past 120 days:

I know I am not in Europe, therefore the value of the dollar to the Euro isn't totally relevant to me, but it would have been annoying to put charts of the dollar against the shekle, the rupee, the Australian dollar, the New Zealand dollar, etc. and it is indicative of how the USD has been faring globally. It ain't pretty. Dammit!

One USD is currently buying about 0.65 Euros. Sweet Jesus. I need to go home. And I will. But first, Chile.
-Katie

Bye Dids!

You're leaving...
Gonna miss you.
Love,
Katie

Business

Here are the updates:
1. I got into graduate school, hooray! (That may mean bad news for all those reading this in Seattle...)

2. I left Rangiora for good a few days ago. I stayed there with (Pheonix's parents) Kate and Rob off and on since December. Who knows how they put up with my nonsense since then, but they did and with grace and generosity to boot. I know it doesn't suffice to just say thank you so thank you a lot. You guys rock. For real.

3. This is from a while ago, but it's... a pig that sits on command.

Hil.ar.i.ous. The video you just watched is of Lucy, a kuna kuna pig. She is in one word: horrific. Here's a close up:

See. Pheonix thinks she's cute. I think not.

4. All of you reading this already know I no longer look like this:

but you didn't know that I look like this:


see:
Heh heh.
To finish up the big news, I'm in Wellington and I'll be here until the 27th when I fly up to Auckland for a few days and say goodbye to Pheonix...
-Katie
Confidential to Lexi again: you're not allowed to comment on this post.