Poetic Wax

The Potable Pull

Wind whipped and sand blasted.

Glaciers, mountains, and clouds collide...

rather they wrestle.

Their struggle carving canyons...valleys.

Blue hued glaciers groan thunderously,

perpetually losing themselves...

yet growing.

Patagonian stars paint night skies,

Patagonian sheep paint landscapes,

Patagonian wind paints your face,

Patagonian peaks tower...demanding contemplation,

they come complete with aqua-marine reflection pools.

This is where umbrellas go to die.

This is where tents go to shred.

Freshwater potably pulls you to your knees to fill your Nalgene,

Or fill your face.

Difficult to access,

harder to leave...

this land and its magnetism draws an ever increasing flood of humanity rushing...

the south pull swelling the riverbanks,

which struggle to contain many waters.

Good news. Bad news. Old news.

Good news is we now have a camera thanks to our miles Dustin and Ashlea-Ann, we were able to replace everything from cameras to credit cards and leathermans. Bad news is we cannot post photos with it due to a lack of a key cable abiding safely in So Cal. Old news is the time we had in Chile. The following post follows our misadventuring until the end of January. We hope to do two more picture less posts...one over Patagonia and one over Argentina. Then, when we get back to the North, we will make and share some slideshows. Here is what happened in Chile!

First of all...everyone keeps asking me, what was your favorite question you had while you have been on this trip? The answer to that question...rather the question to that answer..? was asked by my three year old nephew Simon...or my brother Casey (it is hard to tell who is doing the asking these days.), "Uncle Andy are you and Uncle Dud eating chili in Chile?"

Is that not the best question ever? Sadly, we didn´t get around to eating chili in Chile (but we did in Argentina, sorry Simon...or Casey). But we did get around to the following!

• In Santiago we met up with two of our favorite people in the world! My brother Dustin and Brigitte´s best friend Ashlea-Ann. 
• Dustin and I were especially excited to make the long overdue pilgrimage to Valparaiso...Chile. This is because we are from Valparaiso, Indiana. After visiting the other Valparaiso we can definitively say the following. Valparaiso, Indiana has better pizza, corn, and Buchers. Oh and Valparaiso, Indiana also has an incredible business called Bucher Technologies that can Plan IT, Deploy IT, and Secure IT. But when it comes to views of the ocean. Culture. Brightly colored pastel houses. And random characters...Valparaiso, Chile is the Valparaiso of choice. Dustin, Brigitte, Ashlea-Ann, and myself all agreed upon leaving that we could have spent much...much more time there simply enjoying the view of the harbor from our hostels patio or getting lost and wandering its streets.
• We hopped on a tour bus called Pachemama which allowed us to see a lot of Chile in a little bit of time. What we liked about Pachemema was our driver who taught us that there really is no such thing as "going the wrong way" as well as the people we met like our buddy Frank from Montreal (we long to drink deep of the maple syrup from his parents farm). With Pachemama we hydrospeeded through Chili, stopping at a different town every day for five days straight. We saw fairs, drank blueberry beer (thanks Dustin and Frank...who doesn't love a good fruit beer? Said nobody ever) went down class three rapids with nothing but a piece of foam and a prayer (I still cannot believe we didn't have to sign any liability paperwork...seriously doubtful that hydro speed will ever make it in the lawsuit happy USA), camped, watched the best marionette this side of Gepeto (seriously, you should have seen this guy make his puppet dance like Elvis! Dustin lost it when he had his John Lennon puppet look in the money bag to see how much money people had donated. The puppetteer somehow had the puppet take off his glasses to peer closely in the bag and shook his head disaprovingly. This blew Dustin´s mind!), Ashlea-Ann and Dustin kind of surfed (insert picture of Dustin surfing here) and we perfected the art of cooking for large groups! We had a great time with them both and cant wait to see them when we get back!
• When we said good bye to Ashlea-Anne and Dustin, Brigitte and I were in southern Chile on an island called Chiloe. We tried for a full day to figure out the logistics of getting to Patagonia. We looked into 32 hour buses. Airplanes. Helicopters. Horses. Canoes. Motorboats. Tricycles. But entering Patagonia by way of Chile was not meant to be. So instead we had to change plans. We took the long slow way down to Patagonia by way of Argentina! And we lost a brother and a best friend...but inherited our aformentioned buddy Frank as a travel partner!

Leaving here. Arriving there.

Two Caveats. 

1. We have been without a camera. Please forgive the lack of photos!

2. This blog was written on a keyboard that does not believe in a variety of different punctuation marks, numbers, etc... Please indulge our poorly written post! If you are brave and patient enough for reading, by all means continue!

Reasons that we like Chile so far...

• Pedestrians have the right of way! This crazy idea is not adhered to in either Peru or Ecuador. In fact, whilst crossing the street in Lima, we had an awkward exchange with a car in which he yelled at us for walking across the street when the light was green...and we yelled at him from driving when the little man was green. We exchanged pleasantries and I finished with a real zinger...something like, It is hard for foreigners to understand your culture...where we come from you go when things are green. I am nearly certain that this was a real life changing moment for this Liman. But seriously, in Chile the drivers practically pull over, get out of the car, hold their hands up to stop oncoming traffic, hold your hand and give you a personal escort accross the street! Increible! Or for those of you who do not hablo espanol, Incredible! 
• Wine. Five dollars or less buys a primo bottle of wine. We all know that wine helps the heart. So Brigittes personal goal here is to drink a bottle a day between us. I told her that is crazy and it needs to be more in moderation...but she seems really determined. 
• Toilet seats...at least so far. Fun little fact about Peru and Ecuador is that often times the bathrooms are clean and great except for one small inconvenience...the absence of a toilet seat. A toilet seat is one of those things i think that we take for granted. And making things happen in the bathroom sans toilet seat can be a challenge. Almost to the point where i would prefer a squatty potty or a hole in the ground to a seatless toilet. My dad had a good idea though. He said one person should hold the extended arms of the user of the bathroom while they lean back over the toilet. Great idea. Wish we had learned of during Peru or Ecuador. Its like trust excercise meets intimate marriage. That kind of wisdom is why they made my dad a preacher. Did you now that? Time Bucher is now a preacher. Far out! You can here him Sundays at the Valparaiso Apostolic Christian Church at 1030 and 1230, I think. There is also a free lunch, which my mother often prepares. So get to highway 49 just south of Valpo this weekend! 

Visitors!

• We were so blessed that Brigittes family came to see us! David and Cindy joined for Christmas. After two days of flying and making connections we greeted them on Christmas Eve with hugs...helped them with their bags and gave them a glass or two of coca tea...and then we did not stop for the next week! From Machu Pichu to hot springs to a million sets of ruins, we thoroughly enjoyed our time with them. A highlight for me was when we had our post Machu Pichu pizza meal in Cusco, feasting on things we know..pizza, salad, micro brews...so fun! We miss you guys! 
• A day and a half after David and Cindy left us, our buddy Reb joined us! With Reb we conquered canyons, befriended Swedes, crossed borders, and drank wine. It was incredibly fun to spend time with Cap Hill Small group memeber. She even took us to a very nice dinner where we tagged teamed teaching how to use a credit card to technologically challenged Chilean! We said goodbye to Reb this morning..we already miss you Reb! 

Reasons we have been sad at times...

• Not sure if we ever shared this information via this forum, but we lost our camera when we left Ecuador. It was in the move. It could have fallen out of a pocket. It could have remained in the back seat of a taxi. Not sure. It was sad but we bounced back alright. Brigittes mom picked up a new camera and personally flew it to us, she also went to Machu Pichu and Lake Titicaca with us! It was so nice to have a new camera! We took photos...photos of people...of lamas...of Machu Pichu...all kinds of really cool stuff! But guess what happened next? We lost it! Or better said...I lost it! I was taking photos of Lake Titicaca from the roof of a boat snapping some Cavalari esque shots of the Peruvian flag with a sunset meets storm in the distance. I had mini fantasies of winning a national geographic photo of the year award...shaking hands with the president...my family crying and hugging me for my cultural contributions...all this was happening in my head when I went back down to the bottom of the boat. There are two options for what happened to our camera then. Either I left it on the top and when we docked it gently kerplunked into the bottom of the lake...or a nefarious tourist took it! Not sure which. But the discovery of the loss was probably worse than the loss itself. I still was not aware that I had lost camera number two. We were sitting in the boat waiting for an opportune time to disembark because it had started raining. We waited 5 to 10, then began filing out of the boat. We had to hop from boat to boat until we reached the dock. As soon as my foot hit the dock I turned to Brigitte and said, Wheres the camera! We became frantic, panting like desert dogs. Just as we opened our backpack to search through it, the sprinkles changed to latter day judgement hail that pelted our heads and sopped the inside of our backpack and the contents. We were screaming at each other attempting to communicate. I decided to run back to the boat and look for the camera. I ran back down the dock. Hopped boats. Looked on top of seats and under seats. No camera. Forgot all my Spanish and tried to mime losing a camera to the captain. He said no camera. I left the boat hoping that Brigitte had found the camera in her bag. She had not. And our bus was gone with her parents. We discussed camera finding strategy in the hail and rain. My pants were now completely wet. Jump in a pool in your pants wet. I decided to go look one more time in the boat. They had to move the boat to a more hoppable location. I waited wetly on a neighboring boat. When it got close enough boarded, looked again, and came up empty again. I left the boat and found Brigitte taking refuge on a nearby boat. We sulked our way down the dock where we tossed our soaked bodie into a taxi and returned to our hostel...camera less. 
• Flash forward a week and a half and I got out of a taxi. But my kindle did not. This story I will keep brief. Kindle down. 
• For those keeping track at home, that is now 2 cameras, 1 kindle, 1 panama hat, and a few articles of clothing...and a bracelet that we have donated to the continent of South America. Good news though. We found the bracelet! 
• Brigittes eye was puffy and gunky. Then we met our friend Reb. Her eye was gunky and puffy. Guess whos eye is now puffy and gunky? 

Visas in My Name

We are nearly two weeks into our Peruvian experience. Thus far we have done the following...

Not brave enough to go "Australian Style" like Rich, I went butt first. 

• Rappelled waterfalls and made some new old friends (Rich and Cherith Chapman) while Brigitte collected some "goods" to deliver to Reb who will mule them to Annie. We really appreciated spending time with Rich and Cherith and seeing what they are doing with the Peace Corps. They are helping develop tourism in Bucay, Ecuador. Now go rappel a waterfall!



Ever the dutiful wife, Brigitte followed my lead.


• Watched a Wolverine movie on a bus (during which our camera may have been stolen...or we just lost it in our move) that even had English subtitles!
• Overstayed visas only resulted in an Ecuadorian "tsking" and a 9 month 'no return' ban...but thankfully not $400. (This was during our night bus border crossing from Ecuador to Peru. The night bus is something that I hate...yet cannot escape. We ended up arriving at Mancora, Peru at close to 4:30 in the morning. The bus stopped. Lights flashed on. "MANCORA MANCORA MANCORA" was shouted at us as Brigitte popped up from a dead sleep and proceeded to headphone whip all of our immediate bus neighbors with her earbuds. I was jamming shoes on my feet, forgetting my kindle and stumbling my way behind her. We left the bus to be surrounded by pitch black power outage and "greeted" by a million taxistas struggling to obtain our business, advertise hostels, and generally just agitate the hell out of us. Brigitte shouted "ESPACIO" which means "space"...and they backed up a centimeter. We ended up waiting for the power to come back on in the lightless police station surrounded by all of our belongings. We spend the time trying to sleep, haggling over a taxi, and sharing peanuts and raisins with officer friendly until around 8 in the morning, when finally the ATM worked and we could take "Soles" (the Peruvian currency) from our ATM. Que bueno!



Brigitte stunned at the sunset and the seeming suicidal birds.




Mancora Sunset

• That said, we loved Mancora, Peru. On the beach, we saw late whales try to catch up with their long departed friends heading south to Chile and Antarctica. We watched birds seem to commit suicide as they dive-bombed beak first into the salty sea, only to resurrect themselves moments later full of fish. And we watched "Argo" the movie on a projector with the sound of the waves crashing on the shore in the background.
• We took buses 9 hours which was actually 11 hours south to Trujillo, Peru, where we saw incredible pre Colombian ruins. Even though our hostel was owned by a justice seeking table turning lawyer, we still were on the wrong end of a fake 10 sole bill (3.63 American dollars, not the end of the world). 



Listening to our guide coach us through the litany of accents in the world in both English and Spanish. (Oh, and there were ruins too.)




Me sitting beneath a very very very loud speaker.

• We took a night bus to Huaraz, Peru and I finally successfully slept on a night bus, after the snacks, drinks, and movie had ended. We are in Huaraz right now and are thoroughly enjoying the Peruvian Andes. We have enjoyed water of all forms...aqua-marine lakes, hot springs (really a bath tub that three of us shared), glaciers, water-falls, and lots and lots of rain...and even hail, ya?



Good Work Anna!



Listening to glaciers snap, crackle, and pop...and moan.



Chasing waterfalls



This is what hot springs look like in other countries. Which would you prefer, shower or tub?

• One more very important note about Peru thus far. The food is really tasty. We have eaten the following so far...duck, goat, fried potatoes filled with onions and meat, trout (Brigitte of course), mashed potatoes meets shrimp, fried pork sandwiches, and lots of different spicy sauces of which may or may not be affecting my very stomach at this very minute!

  

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An Invitation

Our lives have been fairly comfy here in Cuenca. We have had an apartment, routines, and good friends. We have explained to a variety of people what we are doing next...but just in case you have not been privy to that information, here is our graphic organizer with notes to follow.

Oh the places we will go! From 'A' to 'T'.

Peru

Our plan is to arrive in Peru this Saturday. In Peru we plan on doing the following...

• Going to the beach
• Seeing ruins that are NOT Machu Pichu
• Seeing ruins that ARE Machu Pichu
• Going to the mountains
• Going to Lake Titicaca
• Going to Colca Canyon
• Being there until January 7
• Meeting Brigitte's parents David and Cindy
• Meeting our good friend Reb Duke

Chile

Our plan is to arrive in Santiago Chile to meet one...maybe two people on January 17. In Chile we plan on doing the following...

• Meet our good friend Ashlea-Ann
• Hope to meet my brother Dud (BUY YOUR TICKET!)
• Go to the desert
• Go to the beach
• Go to Valparaiso
• Drink wine
• Eat meat
• Go to the Lake District
• Go to Torres del Paine
• Hope our gear for Patagonia will be sufficient
• Probably get wet
• Camp
• Be there until the middle of February

Argentina

Our plan in Argentina is less clear. 

• We hope to go to Tierra del Fuego
• Go to Bariloche
• We hope to take trains
• We hope to go to Mendoza
• Catch a plane on March 18 from Buenos Aires heading back to the states

There is still time!

If you have any free time, have the means (I am thinking of certain family members who like frequenting Latin American countries all in the name of "tires"), or are about to have the time (you are a week or so away from quitting) we want to invite you to come join us for any part of this journey! Seriously, we mean it! Come back pack Patagonia with us. Come explore Buenos Aires with us! Join the now growing list of visitors (Greg Boecker, David Anderson, Cindy Anderson, Reb Duke, Ashlea-Ann Thorton, Dud Bucher (?)) and share in this adventure with us!

The People: Part 3

It usually takes me about 6 months of netflix and frozen pizza/beer weekends to make friends in a new place. What do I mean by frozen pizza/beer weekends? That is when I move to a new place and I do not have any friends, so I end up eating a lot of frozen pizza accompanied with beer and netflix. But that is not the issue at hand. Usually it takes 6 months for me to feel like I fit in...like I have friends...like I belong. This time in Cuenca I feel like it has happened so much faster! And without frozen pizza (though there has been beer involved...though it is see through). This is mainly because Brigitte is a better friend maker thank me. 

So we begin our last segment of "the people" in Cuenca.

Monica and Brigitte displaying the tools of the trade.

 Monica is a worker at the Fundacion Arenal. For those of you who don't "hablo espanol"...that is Foundation Arenal. She patiently put up with our attempts to help little pre-school to kindergarten age chicitos work on their homework. This meant her both patiently explaining the homework to two groups. First, to the ninos. Then to Brigitte and I. She is incredibly patient and uses all sorts of tactics to motivate the kids to work. It is only by the grace of God and Monica's patience that we were able to lead kids across town on the buses (it was craaaaaazy. we filled up half the bus!).We will miss Monica!

Fausto taking a rare pause from work for a photo.

Fausto is another worker at Fundacion Arenal. Fausto reminds me of my father (and I have an incredible amount of respect for my father). He is constantly working. He is a musician (he said he plays a variety of Andino instruments), a teacher, a worker at an after school program, he visits the sick and the lonely...he just does not stop! He has a magicality about him that gets kids to listen. Whenever the kids were acting out of line, all we had to say was, "We are going to tell Fausto," and suddenly they were saluting at attention standing rigidly and waiting for orders. His Christian passion for service and sharing love with others is enviable. We are going to miss Fausto.

Don Gabriel and I hamming it up for the camera.

Gabriel, or Don Gabriel has been one of our closest friends in Cuenca. Early on in our time here in Cuenca he looked at us and had compassion on us. We have traveled to his home town and sampled the finest salchipapas this side of the Mississippi. We have been with him on Harry Potter buses. We have snorted tobacco together. We have swam behind waterfalls together. We have attempted running early in the morning together (it lasted about two weeks and we only actually successfully met up about 2 times. The other times we made plans to meet each other, but for some reason or other couldn't find each other in the morning...it became a running joke, "See you tomorrow to run," one of us would say, and of course we would not see the other when we ran...). Did I also mention that he was Brigitte's teacher for nearly three months? We are going to miss Gabriel. Ya tenemos un amigo. Tenemos a Don Gabriel.

Don Gabriel and Brigitte

Brigitte and Esperanza take a moment out of negotiating.

Esperanza has been our go to in the market. She points out what is in season. She can make a bag of 10 oranges in 2 seconds flat. Esperanza means hope...and her bright spirit and joyful attitude always made us feel like we had done so much more than just conducted a transaction at the market! She would even sometimes throw in a "yampa" (a yampa is an extra...an extra tomato...an extra orange...we learned this and then would ask for yampas all the time).

Marcela y Anita doing what they do best. Marcela explaining how we are going to cook some food, and Anita taking notes over how to cook the food!

Marcela taught our cooking classes. She is a great chef. She likes everything to be tiny. We will miss her shouting, "MAS PEQUENO!" at us when we are cutting up onions (seriously...I have never seen onions cut so small). From her we learned how to make empanadas, papas locras, empanadas, and a million other dishes. We are going to have withdrawal tomorrow afternoon when it is time for cooking class and we will not be here! We will miss Marcela. 

Anita is the secretary at Amauta. She let us into the building every day when we would buzz the door. She just got married last Friday. She would always talk to us about how she didn't want to go to her English classes on Thursdays (she wanted to stay with us and eat after the cooking class). She is a sneaky English speaker...we think she is very fluent, but she hides it. And only when you need a random word translated does she bust out her English. We will miss Anita!

Brigitte and I with Isabel, our last teacher we had at Amauta.

Isabel was our last teacher. We had Isabel after we decided to take classes together the last month (up until then, we had taken classes separetly when I was under the impression that I was more "advanced" than Brigitte...she caught up and we combined classes). We enjoyed Isabel's advice on parenting (kid wants to try a cigarette, make them smoke the whole pack...kid wants to try a alcohol...hear comes a hangover), her love stories (ask her about her declaration of love to the American whilst singing ballads in the room next door), and her grammatical explanations (something about rum and whisky). We will miss Isabel.

Adriana and I...Adriana was my teacher for one day!

I started out with Gaby as my teacher. But when Gaby went away I had one day with Adriana. She introduced me to Oscar Wilde (that is irony, isn't it?). She is a really good teacher, we had many friends who had classes with her who said very postitive things about her. We will miss Adriana. 

Daisy and I. Daisy was the teacher I had for the longest period of time. We shared a love for bikes and talking about Justin Bieber.

Daisy was my teacher for the month of September and October. She was incredibly patient. She put up with my pathetic Spanish and my pining for things American (she endured my stories of the Cubs and how we never get what we want (Joe Girardi)...how I missed pizza...etc...). She pushed us to speak Spanish. She said, "I don't want to hear you speaking English any more during the breaks!" We needed to hear that. After that rebuke, it was all Spanish all the time...so much so that other students asked us, "Do you guys ever speak English during the breaks." No. We don't. We didn't. Thanks to Daisy. We will miss Daisy.

Brigitte and Miriam lounging on a couch at school. 

Miriam teaches Spanish as well, but both of us have never had her. But, she is the one who introduced Brigitte to "bailo terapia", which means dance therapy. The whole province has a new initiative to make the women of Ecuador healthier, so they are now counseling at dance therapy...it is really just a dance/ aerobic like class in the park. Brigitte will miss going to "bailo terapia" with Miram. 

Gaby and I. The first of many teachers that I had!

Gaby was the first teacher that I had when we started here at in Cuenca. Her and Gabriel were a killer combination of teachers. Every weekend was a different excursion around the town of Cuenca...all mixed up in with different legends and stories of Cuenca past. We will miss Gaby!

We are so thankful for the people we have come to know here in Cuenca...and we did not list them all...the guy that sold us milk and yogurt, the German girls who volunteered with us at Fundacion Arenal, the many different students who came through and took classes with us (such as Raymond and France...Steve...John...Kevin to name a few)...we are so thankful. It has been a great experience...tomorrow we will finally get up and leave our apartment and head south. 

The People: Part 2

We have been going to a church that meets every Sunday at Fausto's car repair shop. So, it is like we have been going to a  Goodyear or Firestone every week for church. It has been refreshing to go to a church that is not dealing with new locations or "staying relevant". It has been what church should be. Family. Here are some of the people we will be missing from our iglesia. 

Jennifer caring baby Nicolette Ecuadorian Style.

The England Family founded our church. Let's start with the youngest England. We will miss Nicolette's kicking, dancing, squirming, and pulling on her mom's earrings during the music portion of the service. Next, Micheal Jr. will be missed for conversations about music. Andy still has hope for him to start a brother sister band a la White Stripes with his sister Natassja. Also, it was always fun to see what Natassaja was crotcheting every week...from braclets to little stuff animals.  She really has a gift. Jennifer is always friendly and welcoming to everybody she meets. Jennifer has a unique approach to Spanish grammar in that she doesn't always follow the rules, as Micheal pointed out one week. Micheal is the pastor at our church. He has a "Lon like" ability to learn new languages (Lon is Andy's best friend, who speaks English, Spanish, and Hindi). Every well prepared, Bible based sermon is "en espanol".  One teaching that we will remember (we kind of knew it but we needed to be reminded) is that we have already started a family by getting married and family doesn't start when you have kids...it only continues. So next time someone asks when we are going to start a family the answer is we already have.  Andy will miss their semi weekly discussions about American Football and the inferiority of the Seattle Seahawks.  We will miss all five of the Englands. 

Micheal using his two favorite languages. Spanish and body.
From left to right Andy, Micheal, Fausto, and Davidcito are using a part of a plow to cook meat.

Fausto, Estaban, and Hilda at the Wawa competition. 

Fausto is the officially unofficial greeter and usher of our little church. His mutant power is word play and puns.  Sometimes our Spanish does not pick up the nuance of his jokes, but we can tell they are funny by both people's reactions and Fausto's hearty belly laughs post pun. Hilda is his wife and the glue of the church... glue being meals made, competitions organized, and helping with Sunday School. We are going to miss Hilda's insights and thoughtful conversation and we will miss Fausto's one liners and strong handshakes. 

Christmas boots made of recycled Coca-Cola bottles. 

The women of the church are pretty active with crafts and get togethers. Alex who is next to me, has the gift of craftiness with a focus using used and recycled materials. Erika is on the other said of Alex,  and is from the cost, but unlike the people of the cost she speaks slowly so that us gringos can understand her. I am also amazed how she is able to pay attention at church while she patiently runs around after 2 year old daughter. Nancy is down below and helps with Sunday school. She is also the reigning champion of the Wawa competion. 

 We were humbled and surprised at the generosity and love we received during our last day of church. Fausto gave us some t-shirts with the name of his business on it and the church women made cards and gave me some jewelry.  We will miss our churchito. We should have called Michael a month earlier. A shout out to eSteve Heinold for connecting us with Michael and Jennifer. 

T-shirts courtesy of Fausto and the cards we received from the church. Alexandria exhibiting her incredible craftiness once again!

Alex made this "kitchen" out of cardboard and recycled materials (plastic bottle caps etc...). We thought it was really cool because it has an oven and we don't, so we cooked a lasagna.