More Memories that Make us Cry

Asia


*Star hotel boys* I had made a reservation for us before arriving in India at a budget hotel in one of the most crowded, ancient (cheap) neighborhoods, called Pahar Ganj, in Delhi. I wanted there to be a cab driver from the hotel at the airport to pick us up. I knew that India was going to be overwhelming and I wanted this small comfort upon arrival. Pahar Ganj was certainly overwhelming. And very exciting, too. We stayed there again, when we returned to Delhi before flying out to Nepal. Our second time there, we "upgraded" our hotel (maybe $12 rather than $10). The best thing about the Star Hotel was their young employees. Two 18-year old boys who offered us food and drink ("room service, it is available; very good food it is available; king fisher beer it is available") 5 times a day. They knocked on our door to ask us if we wanted beer. Strange room service. Finally, Joe asked for a kingfisher beer. The boy was elated. He went out into the neighborhood (maybe his dad or uncle owned the beer stall?) and brought us back not very cold beer and marked up the price, of course. It was still very cheap and Joe gave him a tip. Another time, we told the boys that our air conditioner was not working. They came in with a knife, severed a wire, fused it back together with their fingers and told us not to touch the wire or we would make fire. We loved their ingenuity! How many hotel workers in the US would be able to fix an air conditioner like that? My favorite memory of these boys (there were two and they were sort of interchangeable, both cute, usually together, etc), was when we were walking in the dark, down one of the crowded, bazaar, festival like alley-streets of Pahar Ganj and we ran into one of them. He was listening to his headphones, but he quickly ripped them out of his ears, grabbed Joe's hand (a bit of a schock since we knew exactly 2 people in all of Pahar Ganj's 1000s of residents) and with a beaming smile, shook his hand for a prolonged moment. Joe was his friend.


*Queue system* With one exception, we only traveled in first class train cars in India. In first class, they give you beds if it is a night train or comfy reclining seats if it is a day train. They also give you surprisingly good food and cups of tea every time you turn around, on some first class services. The one time we took a 2nd class train (where there are no assigned seats and you have to push and shove to get one or stand up the whole time) was when we went to a non-touristy city called Ajmer. There wasn't a first class service to Ajmer from Jaipur, so we went to the 2nd-class ticket counter! Yikes! We didn't know how it worked, people were cutting us in line and we thought we were never going to be able to buy our tickets. Just as a very, very old (as old as India said Joe), very short and fat grandma-type viciously cut in front of Joe with elbows flying, a helpful Indian man tapped Joe on the shoulder and advised him, "Sir, there is no queue system here." So, we started to push our way to the front, just like proper Indians.

*The Royal Guest House* Aaah, Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Not that we saw much of it. But we did get to see Barack Obama win the presidential election with a group of American and other ex-pats. One of the highlights of our lives. Even on election day, we were coming down with a miserable stomach sickness that was going to knock us out for days. High fevers, chills, stomach cramps, nausea and other ill symptoms I won't talk about. Luckily for us, we were staying at the super comfortable Royal Guest House, run by 4 generations of a Chinese origin family - all women. During our illness, when we were feeling brave and hungry enough to eat, we went downstairs and ordered something from their restaurant (family kitchen). We filled up our water bottle and ordered sodas to bring upstairs with us 5 times a day. They knew we were sick and they kept an eye on us. One night, we woke up to the horrible screaming of a tourist on the floor below us. Such a strange scene: she was convulsing and crying and screaming. It seemed that she had maybe ingested too much marijuana food (there was a restaurant in phnom penh that was infamous for it's pot food, but tourists regularly freaked out from it) and she was losing it. In our feverish state, we were very concerned and bothered by what was happening. But the mama bear proprietress of the hotel was holding her and massaging her feet while an American nurse who was staying at the hotel was checking her out. As long as mama was in charge and taking care of her, we felt comfortable - and went back to bed.


*Nicest people on earth* Thai (and Lao, who are ethnically and linguistically similar) people are the nicest people on earth. How can I generalize about a country of 60 million people? Because it's true! Every single interaction with a Thai person is a pleasure. It must have something to do with their religion, Buddhism, which they practice in such a serene and beautiful way, by offering fruit and tea and incense each day at the gorgeously colored small spirit houses outside of most homes. Or it could be because of their food which is so fresh and healthy and interesting and delicious that it would make any people kind. They are also so polite! They bow often and never in an obsequious way- they are just too respectful and kind. The pinnacle of Thai kindness for us was the beach resort in Ko Phi Phi where we spent Christmas with Joe's mom, Janie. Every staff member there went out of their way to remember us, take care of us and spread loving kindness with every interaction. On Christmas night, there was a banquet for the hotel's 60 or so guests. While we were eating, the staff, all wearing Santa hats, visited each table as a group, bowed together and wished us a Merry Christmas. Later that night, Joe bonded with the male staff at the bar, drinking beer and playing cards til early in the morning. We loved them!

*Mekong River pub crawl* Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, and the smallest, most relaxed capital we have ever visited. It has a great Mekong River location and there are at least 40 spots along the river to have a beer or eat some food. These places range from fancy establishments to wooden shacks on stilts. We decided to try a few of them one night. Almost as interesting as walking into the different places and interacting with the families who ran them was visiting the bathrooms. Some of these restaurants just didn't have them. At one place, where we ordered a papaya salad which was one of the spiciest things we've ever eaten (but served with such a big smile, we felt we had to eat it all), the waitress brought me across the street to the local police station to use the bathroom there (basically just a hole in the ground). On my way out, the policemen practiced their English on me. They said "I love you" and all giggled loudly. When Joe tried to use the bathroom at the police station, they practiced some more English on him; they said "No."


*Kachenchunga* We arrived in Darjeeling, India after dark, so it wasn't until the next morning that we got a look at the jaw-dropping view of the 3rd largest mountain in the world, Kachenchunga. You can see the Himalayas from anywhere in town, but a wonderful pedestrian promenade on a hillside in town has the best views. We walked along it in the early morning, when the old men were out congregating and exercising. At one point, after we had taken a hundred pictures of the mountains, one old man asked us if we wanted him to take a picture of us. We did! He took a break from his exercise and stretching routine, took our picture a few times and chatted. He welcomed us to his country and asked us about the United States. He had a daughter who lived in California. We loved India; even better than the mountains were the Indians.

*Medan shopping mall* We had a tough time in Medan, Indonesia. I got deathly sick, we got into a fight with a hotel owner and we saw a kid passed out on the pavement with his eyes rolled back in his head (he might not have been passed out). But before those miserable adventures, we visited the mall where there was a McDonald's and an internet cafe. I walked behind Joe in the mall and observed how people stared at him. There are not a lot of white people in Medan. Nor tall people. Nor people with blue eyes and light hair. People stopped walking, lifted their short little heads up and just stared at him. Kids tried to touch him as he walked by. One woman whose whole family had stopped to stare, saw me, someone their height and closer to their color, walking behind him and reached out to shake my hand. I was as close as they were going to get to the white,blonde giant.

Impressions of Buenos Aires

We are getting quite comfortable here (though we are still considering moving cities, and perhaps countries, next month, and renting another apartment somewhere else). We are over our most miserable jet-lag, which lingered way too long; our sleeplessness made us feel like we were going crazy and also like Buenos Aires was not nearly as cool as it is.

We have been wandering around and exploring and these are some things we have found:

• This is a really chill city. For its size (about 12 million in the metro area), there don't seem to be large crowds anywhere (of course, we are not commuting in the morning), people are rarely in a hurry. There is a relaxed and calm vibe pretty much everywhere. Even the bus drivers and taxis who loudly cruise down our street, honking at all hours of the day, do so with a smile on their faces.

• People love dogs here and many people are dog-owners; no one picks up dog poop, though and it is everywhere, on the beautiful streets and sidewalks of this city. What??? Joe reminds me that this was the case in the U.S. until the 1980s or so, but I hardly believe him.

• Argentinos and especially Porteños (people from Buenos Aires) do not like spicy food. The food they like is meat and pizza and empanadas and desserts and coffee and tea (mate). On every single corner, there is a great looking little cafe that serves these things. There are also specialty meat and specialty pizza restaurants. That's about it. You really have to look around for other kinds of food. And the grocery stores? They have 100 kinds of cookies (Argentinos eat more sweets per capita than anyone else in the world, apparently), lots of pasta and sauce (which all looks weird and comes in cans or cardboard boxes), some cereal and milk and not very impressive looking produce.

• Our internet (DSL) goes out on the weekends. Joe thinks the administrator goes home on Friday night, the system fails and no one looks at it again until Monday morning. Never mind that our landlord charged us $90 for a month's worth of internet when it costs locals $15. It doesn't work 2 days of the week because people just don't care enough to fix the system! Generally, we are amazed by the things in this country that just don't really work. For example: the mail system (mail is opened up and lost routinely). The “tax”/bribe system: there is a 100% tax on technology products; those that are available here are at least two years old. If we were to try and buy a computer in the U.S. and have it sent here (which Joe was considering), we would have to pay a “tax” on it at customs of up to 100% its value. This is a middle-class Latin American country with a real magnetism. There are ex-pats from all over the world here and their tourism industry continues to explode. They have a good education system and a functioning democracy. So, it is ironic to find that in some things, the country is just dysfunctional (when we complained about the internet, our landlord reminded us that “this is the third world.” It just doesn't look like it.)

• We were walking up the pedestrian mall downtown on Saturday, when our destination came into sight: Plaza San Martín. A leafy, large, 200+ year old square- and there were 100s of large painted bears in it! It was the coolest art installation I had ever seen. These bears (all about 6 feet tall and quite fat) are called the “Buddy Bears.”
  They are supported by world institutions like the UN and international companies and they are traveling (very slowly) to different parts of the world. There is a bear from each country represented in the UN (I think about 170), and they had all been painted by an artist from country that the bear was “from.” All the bears had their hands up in the air, close to the hands of the bear next to them and the project's goal is to promote international peace, understanding and friendship. It worked for me! Several times, tears came to my eyes, as I looked at the bears from the countries and regions I have visited - and those I have not, too. I loved looking at each one, so beautiful and individual. The U.S. bear was a Statue of Liberty bear, which was cute but not very inventive. Argentina had two bears, which seemed a little unfair.

• We like how Argentinos speak: an Italian-inflected Spanish. They don't speak too fast, but they have a different vocabulary than any other Spanish-speaker. I took a Spanish class last week that I really enjoyed. The class was composed of 5 women from 4 different countries, whose only common language was Spanish, taught by 2 male, Argentino professors. It was a lot of revision of verb tenses (ugh!) and lively conversation, which got quite rowdy at times. My challenge is now to continue to practice and study on my own, because classes are pretty expensive. I am going to begin volunteering this week at a community organization in a poor neighborhood near ours, so this will provide me with a new context in which to practice. Joe is busy working on his projects, when the internet is up. Even without Spanish classes, he tends to do most of the talking and questions-asking while we are out and about, trying to figure things out. He is not shy like me, which is great!

Upgraded, Downgraded, and Jet-lagged

Joe and I were behaving like Beverly Hillbillies when we unexpectedly received an upgrade to first class on our 12 hour flight from New Zealand to Chile the other day. So fun! Chairs that moved into a million positions (I could not stop pressing all those fancy buttons), good food, wine, movies, service. Ironically, we hardly slept. I may have slept better cramped in with the unwashed masses back in Economy class. We are paying for it now. Our internal clocks are all messed up. We sleep during the day and are awake at night. We have just moved 18 time zones. We left at 5 p.m. New Zealand time on March 25th and arrived at 2 p.m. on March 25th in Chile, 12 hours later. This International Date Line is a strange item.
When we arrived in Buenos Aires, finally, we took a taxi to the neighborhood of the apartment we rented. We were early to meet the landlords and sat at an outdoor cafe across the street for a couple of hours, watching the neighborhood in action. We were mesmerized: nice weather, lively, diverse people, so much street activity! And we were using our Spanish and understanding people, despite the fact that Argentinos speak differently than anyone else. There are a lot of Americans floating around San Telmo neighborhood, and Buenos Aires as a whole . Many expats, and laid of New York bankers, apparently. It is a place people can live a good NYC-ish life for much less money than it would take there (of course).
Our apartment is a bit of a disappointment. The pictures on the brokers' web-site were amazing (and very misleading). It is on the first floor and it is a noisy, noisy corner. It is very small, too. I guess gringoes pay too much in these situations, for the convenience of being able to arrive at a fully furnished place with internet, etc. We are content, nonetheless. It is convenient and comfortable enough. We'll get used to the noise, I am sure. It is nice to unpack, and go to the grocery store and put things in our own fridge. After living out of our backpacks for 9 months, these small things seem like luxuries.
We have been walking around the city and trying to visit new neighborhoods each day. Our first night, we went to the wealthy neighborhood of Retiro to an American-owned bar (over-run with Americans) that was televising the NCAA college basketball tournament. I got to see Duke play for the first time all season: they lost! Horribly! I was so jet-lagged, I could hardly feel anything about it. I am going to start taking a Spanish course on Monday. Joe is going to start working on some projects with colleagues at home. We are going to keep exploring this city and looking into where we will go when our one-month lease is up.

After 9 Months on the Road...

A Argentina nos vamos! We are returning to our hemisphere: to the Americas, where our hearts lie. We will even be in a time zone one hour later than Eastern Standard time, which will be so much easier to contemplate than 17 hours ahead of EST, as we have been in New Zealand.
We fly out to Buenos Aires this evening. Neither of us has been to Buenos Aires before and Joe has never been to Argentina. It seems everyone we meet who has spent time there recently can't say enough positive things about it.When we arrive, we will go straight to a little apartment we have rented for a month in the colonial neighborhood of San Telmo, famous for it's Saturday market replete with tango dancers and lots of tourists. The apartment has an indoor hammock, which is it's most winning feature, in Joe's mind. Having a home base for a while is something we're both excited about; our costs will be lower, we will get to know one place quite thoroughly, and we might even try to figure out what we are doing with our lives after this trip!

51 Days in Kiwi-Land

We have spent longer here in New Zealand than any other place on this or other trips we have taken in the past. We have visited both islands, 12 of the 13 districts into which the country is divided, innumerable national parks and forests and all of the largest cities. The reasons for spending all this time exploring New Zealand? It is so damn far away from the United States and everywhere else, when will we ever get back? Also, Joe especially was so amped about our visit here, for all the different wilderness and outdoors activities available here. I had visited here once before, 9 years ago, for just 2 weeks, by myself and on a tight budget. This trip was different. We had time. And I had a wonderful companion, who asked me 10 times a day, "how sick is this?" After seeing yet, again, the most beautiful beach we'd ever seen the other day, Joe told me in all seriousness, "I feel bad for Kiwis (a very common way of referring to New Zealanders)." "Why, honey?" "Because every other place they ever visit is just going to pale in comparison to New Zealand." That pretty much sums it up. Following are some Kiwi themes that I want to describe further.

DOC, the beloved Department of Conservation- If we ever win the lottery, or otherwise become wealthy, the New Zealand Department of Conservation is going to get a very large donation from Erica and Joe. 1/3 of this country is preserved in public lands: national parks, forests, and scenic reserves. New Zealand is about the size of Colorado, but it is far more diverse. The density of gorgeous spots and pristine nature is unlike anywhere else. And it is so comforting to know that a responsible public entity like DOC is the caretaker of New Zealand's natural resources, and is doing such a damn good job of preserving them for Kiwis and visitors alike. Throughout the country, the DOC signs are dark green, with bright yellow lettering. Just the sight of them made us happy, because we knew we were about to enter some beautiful place and probably find a very well-run campsite there for us to spend the night.


Flora, Fauna and other Natural Wonders- We have seen some of the largest trees in the world, climbed giant sand dunes that made us think of the Middle East, seen many of the most beautiful beaches we've ever seen, walked up to a glacier, and I spotted a kiwi (a rare, nearly extinct, nocturnal, hairy flightless bird native to New Zealand). New Zealand is different to anyplace else on Earth; these volcanic islands separated from mainland Asia a very long time ago, thus the flora and fauna found here evolved very distinctly. New Zealand did not have any land mammals before the Europeans (accidentally) introduced rats, stoats and possums. Having no natural predators, these animals reproduce at an amazing rate and cause mass destruction in New Zealand's vulnerable environment. Several strange flightless birds have already become extinct, and the funny kiwi bird, the national icon, is nearly there, too. We met New Zealanders who had spent "a lot of time in the bush" and had never seen a kiwi. Yet, the one night Joe and I spent in kiwi habitat, we went for a night walk to try and see one and I spotted the little critter. So funnny looking! Long skinny, orange beak, twiggy legs, shaggy fur, running around in the forest's undergrowth.

"Staying at the Pub" s - Every town in New Zealand has a pub. Even if there are only 5 houses in the town, there will be a pub. And most of these pubs are also hotels; that is actually what they are called. Early on in our stay here, we found that these pub/hotels offer very reasonably-priced accomodation in quaint and historic buildings. And there's a pub downstairs! The patrons are generally older men and they are usually watching some sort of sport I don't understand: cricket or rugby, but the vibe is laid-back and friendly, like everywhere in New Zealand.

Weather - The weather makes or breaks a trip to New Zealand. When the sun is shining here, the ocean is magnificent blues and aquas, the stars are bright and plentiful, and hiking and camping and eating outside is a joy. When it is cold and rainy and windy, you feel like you will never warm up and never dry out. Our last two weeks here on the North Island have been fabulously "fine" (how they describe nice weather), but prior to that, we had the bad luck of following very bad weather around. It was miserable to camp, but we still tried to as much as possible, to keep our costs down. Because the geography of New Zealand is very compact and changes a lot, it might be very sunny and dry just 100 kms away from where we were camping, but we didn't know it! We were just holed up in our sopping tent.

Radio as a portal into Kiwi culture - We spent a lot of time in the car over the past 51 days. Our MP3 player has too few songs that we have heard too many times over the past 9 months, so we were captive to Kiwi radio much of the day.Radio New Zealand, particularly from 8-12 in the morning was our saving grace. The Kiwi version of NPR or the BBC packed in wonderful news and conversations about life and current events in New Zealand and the world. They read us stories, played us good (and bad music) and introduced us to Kiwi perspectives on a range of things from astro-physics to homosexuality in India and the current policies of the Chinese Reserve Bank. Unfortunately, when our favorite program host on Radio New Zealand came in fuzzy or was off the air, we had to root around for other things to listen to on the radio. This generally lead us to much less salubrious talk radio, which generally left us with our mouths open: "did he really just say that?" I am sure that a visitor to the U.S. would have the same reactions to much of the talk radio on our airwaves, but, damn, the things we heard expressed! That all religions (aside from some Protestants) are cults, that the "feral underclass" of New Zealand should be prevented from having children via operations, and that domestic violence is very common household problem here and people talk about (admit to it) quite freely. Listening to these very different kinds of radio made us think that Kiwis were astute and worldly in the morning and dumb and ignorant in the afternoons.

Produce - We have eaten some of the best produce of our lives here in New Zealand. The best avocados, apples, feta cheese, mussels, and oysters I have ever tasted are abundant and inexpensive in New Zealand. What a joy! Seafood chowder, Pinot Noirs and Sauvignon Blancs are sources of national pride. These items made cooking over a camp stove most nights quite all right.

Camper Vans - Nearly every tourist who comes to New Zealand rents a camper van and drives around the country. Thus, they are protected from the weather and are saved the misery of setting up a tent in the rain. They also fit in wonderfully to a thorough camper van culture alive here in New Zealand. Kiwis travel around their country in large vehicles: busses, vans, and trailers, all outfitted to live in comfortably for a week or a year. And we met many older Kiwi couples who did exactly that in retirement: lived in their camper or trailer in a national park or holiday park (camper van cities) for a season or more. We felt like morons, on occasion, with our small-sized vehicle and an orange tent as our home, especially when we saw other people dry in their campers, enjoying a cup of hot tea when it was squalling outside.

Maori - Thee original inhabitants of these islands were treated perhaps nearly as badly as those of Australia or the Americas by the British colonizers. Their land was taken from them for absurd prices, then exploited for all of its precious resources, guns and diseases were introduced to the detrminent of the Maori. Yet, Maori culture is alive and well in New Zealand. It is incorporated into the psyche of the country. Te Papa, the National Museum, in Wellington, the capital, is mostly a history and monument to the Maori and their culture. After all, the Maori were here for 800 years before Europeans were. And they came here in giant big canoes from Pacific islands like Hawaii! New Zealand, unlike any other Western nation that nearly destroyed its indigenous, has attempted to make reparations for past wrongs to the Maori. Lands and rights to resources taken from them under the Treaty of Waitangi (the document that "legalized" Queen Victoria's government domination of New Zealand and its inhabitants) have been returned to Maori tribes. Maoris are still poorer, on average, than other Zealanders and the places where they are the majority of the population, like the Eastern Cape of the North Island, are obviously more economically depressed than other parts of New Zealand. Maoris use cool Pacific/Polynesian designs, sometimes tatoo their faces and have a very wordy and syllabic language. Maori words and names are often printed next to their English equivalent throughout the country. Our favorite bit of Maori language is that "Wh" is pronounced "F". And there are "Wh's" all over New Zealand. Our favorite place name is "Whakapapa." Don't forget the "F" sound. We like to say it a few times a day, at least.

Tough Elements in the South Island

We are at the ends of the Earth here....even though Joe talks more about Middle Earth and there is a whole sector of the tourism industry that is devoted to visiting Lord of the Rings filming locations. The days are long, there is still light in the sky at 10:30 p.m., and sometimes there is a fierce wind that seems to blow up directly from the South Pole- which isn't all that far away.

The elements are severe down here. The weather can change four times in a day. And the weather and scenery change drastically over short distances. When the sun comes out in force, it feels like our skin is sizzling cancerously and when it rains, I still feel cold when I am inside the tent, in my sleeping bag, with a wool hat and sweater on. But we are loving it! The other night we camped at perhaps the most idyllic, remote and beautiful location yet, in the Fiordlands National Park. We went hiking and skinny dipping and the entire time we had to fight against prolific amounts of sand flies that leave giant welts, enormous mosquitoes that flew inside our tent if we opened it for a second, and strange blue inch-worms, that were falling from the trees into our hair and onto our clothes (one time, I picked 4 inch-worms off of Joe at once).

New Zealand has an incredible National Park System. Much of the land, beaches and waterways are protected. And there are walking trails, camp sites, and public bathrooms in every last bit of this country. What land is not public, seems to be sheep grazing land. The stereotype (that Aussies love to joke about) is true. New Zealand is a country of sheep. There are 40 million sheep here and only 4 million New Zealanders. And sheep are cute! Sometimes we get stuck in sheep traffic jams, when they are being herded across country roads.

Joe is hiking one of the country's "Great Walks" right now: the Kepler Track. I walked the route with him for the first few hours but had previously decided to let him do the hard mountain-climbing and inclement weather bits by himself. I will see him in three days when he returns to the Fiordland town of Te Anau, where I am staying. He was ecstatic about it and I think he probably started running up the mountain as soon as I left him. He is strange and very cute like that; running up mountains with a heavy pack on his back is one of his happiest activities.

Kiwi Camping and Music

We arrived in New Zealand 5 days ago and flew from Auckland to South Island, where our first order of business was to pick up our rental car and somehow fill it with cheap or used camping gear that would allow us to hike, cook, camp and weather 4 different seasons of harsh climate within 24 hours before heading to a 2-day music festival (A.R.E.A. 9) in the high country (near Mt. Cook).
We were successful in finding all kinds of gear (some used, some new and on sale), buying lots of supplies and heading out from Christchurch (the largest city on the South Island) in short order. We are ready! And have camped the last 3 days: no running water, very dry hot days and cold and windy nights. Dust everywhere! But it is beautiful, beautiful, other-worldly, Lord of the Rings geography.
The music festival left something to be desired, sadly. We saw some pretty good music. But the facilities, organization and variety of music was just not up the standard we are used to at our favorite festivals at home. We didn't realize we are music festival snobs, but we are. We vowed to not go to any music festivals outside of the United States ever again. We just kept thinking about how much better High Sierra in Northern California and Jazz Fest in Nawlins was. It was a beautiful setting though, and the music was all Kiwi and there was some good people watching, of course.
Now, we are off to camp and hike at Mt. Cook (the highest mountain in New Zealand). Since we plan on spending a lot of time away from civilization and in the back country, opportunities to blog will be minimal, here, we think. Until next time!