Thursday, March 29, 2012

A snapshot of Uruguay


Uruguay, one of the smaller countries in South America with just over 3 million people, is often overlooked to the traveler/backpacker, but with its proximity to Buenos Aires and beautiful coastal towns, it makes for an excellent weekend or extended trip. I set off for Colonia del Sacramento, a quaint UNESCO town just a 3 hour ferry ride from the port in Buenos Aires. I headed over earlier in the day on Friday and planned to meet two other friends, Melanie, who would be traveling on with me to Montevideo and introducing me to her family that lives there, and Paul, a new friend introduced to us by way of P&G friends back at home. Thanks to Paul, and his Starwood status, we took up a room at the nicest hotel in town, the Sheraton, for a total bargain. It was heaven to stay in a 5 star hotel complete with breakfast, pool, spa, the works...going back to the hostel is certainly going to be rough.. I spent the first day wandering the historic district of the city and enjoying the sunshine along the beach. Once the rest of the group arrived we shared an awesome weekend of great food and wine, bicycling self-tours of the city and a lot of relaxation. Colonia was picturesque, friendly, easy to get around..I would definitely recommend it to anyone wanting to venture to Uruguay.

view of historic colonia from the top of the lighthouse


Entrance to the historic district


Sheraton= heaven
first night dinner

From Colonia, Melanie and I made or way via bus to Montevideo, the capital city of Uruguay where the majority of her mother's family lives. We stayed with her grandfather, Pedro, in his condo overlooking the beach and although the weather didn't cooperate much with us during our stay there, it was still beautiful to wake up to waves crashing below. In addition to Pedro, I met many of Melanie's cousins, aunts and uncles...a true Uruguayan family immersion. It was a great experience to meet not only someone else's family but someone's family from another culture. They were so wonderful and friendly and I wish I had more time to continue on to Punta del Este with the group for a close of summer beach vacation.

view from Pedro's apartment
Pedro drawing one of his maps

 From Uruguay, its back to BA for a night and then off to Peru to meet Sabrina and prepare for our Machu Picchu adventure...updates and internet could be limited in the next few weeks, but I'll do my best. Wish me luck on the Inca trail. Besos!






Thursday, March 22, 2012

Namaste Series: Eco Yoga Park


This week I had the privilege of experiencing a truly unique and spiritual experience at Eco Yoga Park, a type of yoga monastery just 1.5 hours outside of Buenos Aires. Originally, I had read about this place and was interested in visiting for the day during my last week in BA to get a break from the city and enjoy some quiet relaxation and yoga. What I discovered was an amazing community I hadn't known existed and one that I wish I would have been able to stay at for an extended period. Eco Yoga Park is an eco-village run by members of the Hare Krishna movement, a religious community based on the principles of the Bhagavad-gita scripture. It is a movement originally from India including the practice of bhakti yoga, spiritual chanting, prayer and a life dedicated to these beliefs including, but not limited to seeking unity, peace, consciousness and truth. As a yoga enthusiast and one that has a general interest in studying religions, I have been fascinated with learning more about the Hare Krishna community, life and principles.

view of the property
At Eco Yoga Park, travelers are able to come and volunteer on the property, and with an additional small fee, in return receive room and board and participate in the yoga classes, musical thereapy/chanting sessions and other activities; a type of work/volunteer exchange. The community  that Eco Yoga Park receives truly make it such a magical place. I met fascinating people from all over the world that were living at the park for as little as a few days and as long as a month, creating a true mecca for open-minded, curious and adventurous travelers.


working in the garden
During my day I was able to join the others for breakfast (all food is home-cooked and completely vegan on the premises and of course mostly everything comes from the on-site garden, could it get any better?) After breakfast, volunteers head back to work (the first working session is before breakfast beginning at sunrise) for a couple of hours before a yoga session mid-morning. I took a tour of the property. After our mid-morning hatha yoga class (taught on this day by a teacher from Minnesota who was visiting the property) we had some relaxation time before lunch. Later in the afternoon, we could participate in a mantra-therapy session led by the Swami (monk/priest) followed by a meditation session. In the evening we had a sit-down session with the Swami who answered any and all questions about the Hare Krishna way of life and his own personal path and engaged in discussion with the group about the various spiritual beliefs. It was both a unique, eye-opening and educational experience that is hard to put into words. The most impactful words of wisdom for me  he did share were about their reasons for leading a vegetarian lifestyle and how the treatment of all living beings is really at the core of their beliefs. In addition, his thoughts on how we can only control ourselves, our bodies, our actions and our beliefs and that in and of itself is one of the most challenging things we will deal with our entire life made quite an impact. I had only come to the park for the day, but since the discussion with Swami ended so late, I opted to stay the night and depart early the next day, which gave me an opportunity to enjoy another delicious vegan meal, get to know the other travelers more deeply and participate in garden work the next morning. There is nothing quite like connecting with the earth at sunrise in the middle of beautiful farmland in Argentina, I feel truly lucky I was able to experience it, if only for the short time. 

Inside the temple where we practiced yoga

What I also learned during my visit is that Eco Yoga Park is affiliated with a network of ecological farm/yoga monasteries across the continent called Eco Yoga Villages. There are many similar communities located all around Central and South America, in an effort (according to the website) to strive to establish a synthesis of the need of mother earth and the thirst for harmony in all of us. The goal was to take the yoga lifestyle as discovered in India and spread it across South America to estabish these ecological communities; a beautiful and peaceful concept in my opinion. My small taste of the community created such a thirst for more I might try and squeeze in a visit to the village in Chile on my way back to Santiago in May. Namaste.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

la Pasion de Argentina

After almost two weeks in Argentina, it's hard not to notice...this country has some serious heat and I'm not just talking about the humidity in Buenos Aires. Although "yo tengo calor" is one of my most frequently used phrases in the last week or so, it's the passion and heat of the people, the culture and the city of Buenos Aires that is pretty sureal. Certainly, there is a strong passion for the arts here as evident by a few events I've taken part in recently. Last week, on a recommendation from local Argentines, some new friends and I went to a showing of Hombre Vertiente at the Cutural Center Theater in Recoleta. For anyone who has maybe seen Fuerza Bruta in the states will understand the type of show. It's an amazing performance of visual and physical movement utilizing lights, water, fabric and sound. The audience is even able to partake in the energy by dancing along on the ground level. Both the dedication of the actors in the show, as well as the themes and performances were so electrifying one could only sit, watch and be amazed.
3-D dragon fight at Hombre Vertiente

Later on in the week I had the opportunity to experience another form of artistic expression exemplifying a type of passion I hadn't seen, well, maybe ever. La Bomba de Tiempo is a percussion group that performs every Monday night in a warehouse type-venue to an audience of dance-loving, beer-drinking, artsy, fratty travelers (and a few locals thrown in). Percussion group is probably the understatement of a lifetime. This is a drum circle/beat box/dance party/musical explosion on crack for nearly 2 hours straight. Not only are the performers super talented, they look they are having a blast which of course pumps even more energy into the crowd.





Of course, what would Buenos Aires be without Tango...You see it on the street everywhere, especially in touristy locations and I went one night to a bar which offers a big group lesson in the center as the night goes on. I don't have a huge desire to learn the dance, however, just by watching it's pretty surreal how passionate just movement can be...

group tango at La Catedral


on the streets near San Telmo
Aside, from dance, music, theater, I've started to experience so many other aspects of the passionate life of the Argentine. Food for one, similar to New York, is meant to be a shared, social occasion and your likely to see groups of friends or family dining together for big lunches in the afternoon or late dinners (as in 10pm late...) in trendy restaurants in Palermo or Recoleta or getting together for an Asado on Sundays. Unlike Chile, it is nice to see a wider range of cuisine here, including even organic and vegetarian options (which I'll get to in a later post). Following in the late night pattern is the nightlife, which doesn't even start to begin before 1am...whether its a smoky bar, rooftop lounge or pounding club, young adults here are likely out until the sun rises.

out and about in Palermo

One of my most interesting conversations to date has probably been with my Argentine roomate, the owner of the apartment, Carolina. She is very passionate about her country and its politics and she asked me a lot of questions regarding the youth culture's thoughts on politics in the U.S. In a country like Argentina, where it is literally illegal to not vote for your president (truth, you can get a ticket for not doing so), it is almost unfathomable to them that anyone in the U.S. would not be interested or knowledgable about the direction of our country and the current affairs. She spoke with me about how amazing it is that if the U.S. wants to change something in the entire world, it's possible...and yet, people aren't doing it or they don't take the opportunities.  If there is a demonstration going on or a big announcement happening, you better believe she and her friends are high-tailing to Plaza de Mayo to join the people. She talked to me about the limited power of someone here, for example, if someone in Buenos Aires wants to make a change, it might be able to affect Argentina, but literally our nation and government, even just the people in the U.S. can literally make a change onto the whole world. (I loved especially when she began to talk about Vietnam as an example...) But really, that in and of itself is really mindblowing. We do have this unreal power to make change in the world, so why aren't we doing more of it and why aren't we making better changes in our own country? I almost felt a little ashamed...but these are the ideas and thoughts I hope to take with me along my journey and find a way to harness them in my life moving forward. It is that passion instilled in the people here, that I really admire, both in their culture, their politics and their way of life. Perhaps the weather is just nature's way of reminding everyone here to keep the heat in themselves alive...

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Where I rest my head: Mendoza and Buenos Aires

Upon departing from Chile, I needed to make my way to Buenos Aires where I would be starting additional Spanish classes on March 5, so I opted to take a bus from Santiago to Mendoza, which I heard was worth the 6 hours as you literally drive through the Andes nearly the entire time. The view didn´t disappoint! Although the trip took place along quite a winding road, it was breathtakingly beautiful and well worth spending the morning on a bus.

a view from the bus window

When I arrived in Mendoza, I set out for my hostal, a recommendation from the blog of my friend and former colleague, DeLisa , who had stayed at this hostal a few years prior. The Hostal, Hostal Lagares, was perfect for my overnight stay in Mendoza.


my dorm room
Location: Hostal Lagares, Mendoza, Argentina
Accomodation: Mendoza is a small city, easy to navigate on foot for the most part. The hostal was located not far from the bus station and within walking distance to many of the main plazas and attractions within the city. I found myself taking a taxi only to and from the bus station/airport and once when coming home at night alone. I stayed in a 6-person dorm, but only actually met 2 of the other travellers during my 24 hours time in and out of the hostal, they were a couple from Vancouver traveling around South America, both very nice. Javier, the manager of the hostal, was extremely helpful and friendly and the entire staff was more than happy to answer questions, book excursions, etc... I wish I had more time to explore Mendoza, so I will probably have to take another weekend while I am in Argentina to do so.
Length of Stay: 1 night

The highlight of my Mendoza trip, since I unfortunately didn´t have enough time to take a vineyard tour, was skydiving...yep, I chose on my own free will to jump out of a plane. It was thrilling, scary and all together awesome. I would honestly recommend it to anyone seeking any kind of adrenaline rush. It was like nothing I have ever experienced and I´m still having a hard time putting the experience into words. The man who runs the company has been juimping for years all around the world. His home/landing is about 45 minutes outside of Mendoza among farmland. There is nothing quite like an experience at 10,000 feet in the air with the Andes in the distance and nothing but vineyards below. A few images he took during our jump:

The jump

I screamed the entire free fall
 Following sky diving, I headed back to Mendoza to catch a plane to Buenos Aires that afternoon. Although an overnight bus was an option I decided to splurge on the 1.5 hour plane in order to get settled the night before I had to start classes on Monday.

So.....I've now made it to BA, I´ve truly been looking forward to this since I started my adventure in South America. However I have to admit, I was almost overwhelmed, a little anxious, when I first arrived here. I left a huge, bustling city in the U.S to take a break from busy, hectic life and yet, here I found myself in a similar place as New York. Don´t get me wrong, I am so happy to be here and I know I´m going to love my time here once I get adjusted, it was just more of a shock than I anticipated. I started my trip in Nicaragua, super tranquilo on the beach, and even Santiago, though a big city, is much more closely like Chicago vs. New York in that it is a bit less hectic, cleaner, calmer. Buenos Aires feels more like New York or Paris which is awesome for the cultural experience, but I definitely need to readjust myself to bustling city life. Luckily, my living situation here is awesome. I´m located in Recoleta, about 3 blocks from the school and the apartment is something out of a movie. Super classic and totally eclectic with high ceilings, intricate details, stained glass, an old-school style elevator. The owner of the apartment, Carolina, is a 30-year old teacher from Argentina. She lives with her boyfriend (originally from Switzerland) in the place and there is space for 3 other roomates, although currently it is just me and another girl student who is also great, Clare, from the UK, who now lives in Germany and of all places works for P&G, such a small world! It´s nice to have someone who speaks English, but also someone from Buenos Aires with whom I can practice my Spanish.

view from my room

my room

entrance to apartment

Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Accomodation: 4 bedroom apartment with shared bathroom and kitchen in the upscale Recoleta neighborhood of Buenos Aires. Literally steps from Avenida Santa Fe (prime shopping!) and tons of restaurants, bars, etc...in Recoletta and nearby Palermo.
Length of Stay: 3 weeks

Classes have started this week and I have to say, I´m still enjoying learning more Spanish, but it is quite different to learn in another dialect. Argentine´s speak very different from Chilenos and I frequently have to ask the teacher to repeat or slow down so I can understand what she is saying. Once I get used to the differences in dialect I should be better, but it is really challenging right now. The school itself is nice and I´ve met some nice people so far, again from all over the world! I was also excited that another new friend I had been put in touch with before I left for this adventure, Melanie, was going to be overlapping with me in BA and signed up for the same school...and we are in the same class!! It´s been great to have an automatic friend right away. Unfortunately they don´t seem to have as many social opportunities or excursions planned like the school did in Buenos Aires, but we have met some cool girls who are up for exploring the city, meeting new people, going out, etc.. so I´m sure we´ll create plenty of our own fun. I´m looking forward to the rain stopping and exploring the city this week and weekend!

Besos!!!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Breaking Routines

graduacion de Ecela en Santiago

One reason I had a desire to take a career/life break and travel abroad was that I felt like my life had become too much of a routine, not quite a rut, but things felt very planned, very structured and maybe I kind of freaked out that I wasnt ready to call that my life as I know it.....yet here I am again, having lived in a city for nearly 1 month and feeling sad about moving on to the next phase of my adventure. Old habits die hard and I´ve most certainly developed my own sort of routine here, albeit an awesome one, it still is a routine and I need to break it. I´m not sorry I stayed in Santiago for this amount of time as it was really important to get a good basic grasp on Spanish and it was nice to have a more grounded start to this ambiguous trip. It´s certainly bittersweet to say goodbye to new friends and a comfortable life here, but I know it´s time to move on and I´m really excited for the upcoming itinerary! First, a few weeks in Buenos Aires (via bus through Mendoza) to practice more Spanish and return to a city I loved so much the first time, then on to a Peruvian adventure, followed by beach partying in Brazil and then....it´s still undecided. I think I´ll plan to keep the undecided part open for a while to see if I can truly break my old type-A shell and go where the mood takes me, after all, that´s what backpacking in foreign land seems to be all about. Chao Chile, encontramos otra vez pronto....Ahora vamos a Buenos Aires!!!

Friday, March 2, 2012

In Memoriam


I´d like to take a brief break in my normal type of postings to share some thoughts on my Grandmother, Martha Taylor, who recently passed just last night. Martha, or who all referred to as M, fought a strong battle against a disease that ultimately was too powerful against her body. It is that strength that I think about though as I reflect on her life of raising a family of 9 children and countless grand and great-grand children. M was a loving and caring woman who valued family number one. My fondest memories of spending time with her are during christmas eves, many of us there to gather around the large dining room table for a delicious meal. When I was little, my sister and cousin and I would spend time in Decatur during the summer, playing in the river, investigating the house our parents used to call home and trying not to taunt the animals too much. From hearing stories of the past, to helping prepare a salad for lunch, I valued the time I spent with M, because as we know, life is all too short. I also like to think that my love of yoga comes directly through my blood as M was an avid yogi, even teacher, for much of her life. My thoughts and prayers today are with the entire Caulkins/Taylor/Mulligan/Barry family, and although I can´t be there to grieve in person, I know I am in spirit.