MENDOZA

My birthday! In the car, roadtripping w/ my sweet beanie


i know, i've been so attentive to the blog lately, aren't you proud? Welll, this city they call Mendoza is fabulosa! Thanks to my amazing hosts, Lindsay Davidson and her Hungarian beau Emil, I have had a fantastic time so far...and I keep pushing back the day I want to leave! I arrived Friday night after a long 8 hour bus ride thru the Andes. Beautiful sights, but cramped quarters...met some nice Brits along the way, and got to watch 21 Blackjack - in English! Made me pine for Vegas...but alas, I am in a better place in many ways. Arrived to the bus station and Linds and Emil picked me up and off we went to grab a handcrafted brew at Antares Brewery in the centro de Mendoza. Stayed there for a couple then came back to their barrio, Chakras (sounds kinda cool - it is!) for dinner. Unfort Lindsay and I were disappointed in the beef we ordered for dinner, but nonetheless it wasn't terrible.

Saturday was a doozy - the entire centro was closed off b/c of some taxi driver strike, which then led to a bus shut down or something. Go figure - the taxi drivers wanted more protection b/c one had just gotten attacked - 5tth time in 2 weeks. yikes-o! So we didn't make it to the centro, but almost as exciting, we made it to "Jumbo" the enormous supermercado where Lindsay and I proceeded to shop for loads of groceries and wine! After that, we enjoyed the beautiful sunny day by putting a table outside of their vodka distillery (checkout Primo vodka if you can find it!) and ate a lunch consisting of fresh bread, ham, various cheeses. Yummmm. They gave me a tour of their small distillery - it's amazing what 2 people can do! They bottled 15,000 all by themselves! After that we came back to their apartment and enjoyed a lazy afternoon, followed by a raging dinner party that night. About 10 people, my age and up, drinking way too much red wine to still be good for you, and enjoying more red meat, salad, fennel and our very own mashed potatoes w/ bacon, cheddar and chives I believe. I helped Lindsay throw it all together, and the bacon was my idea ;) It was a hit! Anyway, after I tried about 5 types of red wine ,all mixed together in my mind by that point (between Temparanillo, Syrah, Merlot, etc), we called it a night...

So yesterday was faboo as well. Lindsay and emil's friends, Karren and Randy, met us at the house and we all went for a hike, along with their daughter Isabella (12), super trooper. We drove about half an hour to arrive at the rocky mountains (not quite as picturesque as our Rockies though). We trekked uphill for about 45 mintues before half the group decided to stop. Being the hard core hiker than I am, and 2 weeks after machu Picchu, I couldn't let the men think us women were weak or feeble, hence I joined Randy (pretty much a mountain goat by the speed he climbs!) and Emil (who although dressed in his Ralph Lauren gaucho pants, flat leather boots and vest looked like he came straight out of an African safari or Conde Nast traveler magazine - oh, and lit a cigar on our way down, even better) a novice hiker. It was a bit more difficult to the top, but a pretty view looking over the Cordilleras and with views of the Andes and a large reservoir with aqua colored water. The way down though was the most exciting. We met up with the girls and took a new way down, and almost thought we had to turn around when we stumbled upon steep cliffs, more than once. We knew we were toast when we saw the metal loop that only rappelers were supposed to hook into! Luckily we searched around for an alternative way down, which we eventually found. all in all a fun hike, full of adventure, and topped off with an Andes beer, which Coors Lite could put ot shame - but after hiking 3 hours tasted no less than the Champagne of Beers itself!

After the hike was over, around 3:30pm, we returned to the apartment to hot showers and Emil's over-the-top "asado" - the Argentinian bbq. No sauce, no fancy accoutrements, just really really good meat (that we picked up from the butcher shop earlier that day) seasoned with just lemon and lots of salt. We had all pork ("cerdo") including costilla (ribs), chorizo (sausage, as you all know), and the best piece of meat - punto de espalda (the shoulder). Oh, and I tried my first "black pudding" - as I will have to get used to moving to England. Not bad actually ,though I didn't ask what type of meat it actually was, as I didn't want to know...just a cute little black sausage looking thingy. I also helped with the tomato/green onion salad, and we had mashed taters again. Mmm mmm goodness. That was the huge meal of hte day, and along with wine and some Primo vodka, made for a very relaxing Sunday :) I am literally being spoiled here!

today I finally ventured into the city (by myself), and enjoyed walking around town, checking out the day tours available, and enjoying the sunny weather (again!). I managed to squeeze into a wine tour that took us to 2 decent wineries, 1 olive oil factory, and a church that had a retrato of the Virgen de las Costillera (she watches over the vineyards). I met a really sweet Mexican girl and her sister and boyfriend who I may go snowboarding with on wednesday. nice! Speaking of which, I rented some sweet equipment today including a onesy ski jumper (the likes of which probably made its debut in the States cerca 1994), some hypercolor guantes (gloves) and some sweet goggles (they tried to sell me on the old school 80s Oakleys but I had to decline and pay the extra 10 pesos for the goggles to save my dignity, not that I look that hot in those either...). i am really looking forward to getting in the snow! I had such a disappointing ski season with only 2 trips this year, so I'm ready!

Well, I hope you enjoyed the latest update...I'm thinking of leaving Mendoza on thursday for hte long busride back to Santiago ;( I could stay here much longer though, but I must press on!

Cheers,
Kaitlin

PS. As I've mentioned many times before, check the Flickr link the left for my updated photos - and hey, i spent lots of time labeling the latest ones, so take a look and read the captions! I'll try to post some more from the hike and Mendoza soon...

photo highlights

Monasterio Santa Teresa (Arequipa, peru) - where the nuns are still cloistered FOR LIFE! Ahh, no thanks. Though mom swore I was going to be a nun a few years ago...hardly ;)

Us w/ baby Lucas Bua-Levine. We gifted him this darling sweater set - full with beanie, gloves and booties (not shown). You can tell he's thrilled about the rainbow print [which by the way in Peru does NOT mean the same as it does in the States...let's hope it doesn't in Chile either...]

Typical "huaso" (think gaucho) dance in Santiago Plaza de Armas

At the fabulous Hacienda de los Lingues - one of 20 homes in the world still owned by original family since the 1500s

Ta Da!!
here are a few from my road trip with mama. She was fun to travel with, although we yelled at each other a few times about directions ;) Neither one of us are ever wrong, of course...and wait til you see the fantastic French braid i did for her. After all those years when she did mine for my elementary school pictures, sitting pretty in my pink dress from Hong Kong, I was finally able to repay her :()

It's official

Yes folks, watch out, cuz Kaitlin is officially ON HER OWN!! Why am i talking about myself in 3rd prson? i don't know...anyway, here I am in santiago at La casa roja, my first night alone. I leave for Mendoza, Argentina tomorrow for more delicious wine and perhaps a bit of snowboarding. Killer. i have had the BEST time with my mom the past couple weeks. I last left you all in arequipa, so now I can describe our time in chile.

we arrived super late into santiago and thanks to Monica and francisco, got hooked up at Francisco's hotel, El atton, in a great district of santiago called el Bosque. Moni met up with us for lunch the next day after mom and i walked around and got stared at by pretty much everyone being the only blondes walking thru the business district. It was cool though, it really boosts my self-esteem ;) we had a great Italian lunch with Moni, then hung out at her house for many hours and played with her baby Lucas, so darling, and rested. We met them both later for an awesome chilean dinner with great wine, an dlater went to some local sketch tango bar. Highlight you ask? The drunk girl in front of us sharing her wine and cigarette flying everywhere. We come to find out she and her beau just got engaged that night (no ring though? Hmm, honey don't hold your breath). They get called out to the dance floor, do a terrible tango, to which the mc says, hope she's a better wife than she is a dancer. ha! Mom sees her in the bathroom and turns out the wasted, chimney-smoking skinny chick is preggers. Yikes.

We were ready to leave santiago as it is kind of an ugly city to be honest...but first enjoyed an AMAZING 4 course meal at Rosita's, Monica's mother in law. Full with staff and everything. We had mussels (i barely got them down, though they were the best mussels i'd ever had ;) followed by...i can't remember right now. Something good, plus an awesome meringue type pie. yum. After a few hours of eating we were toast for the night. we did manage to get over to the bellavista neighborhood for late dinner and live music before hitting the hay.

we headed down south to wine country and per Moni's recommendation stayed in a great hotel in a town called Santa Cruz. Got the full food/wine package so ate ourselves silly and did wine tasting. Deeelish. I recommend Mont Gras wines if you can find them! That and Montes, another good one. carmenere is a wine known only to Chile, so that was exciting to try. It's a spicy red. I did have my birthday dinner there, though we weren't very hungry and were tired from wine tasting! We made it downstairs for a nice dinner in the dining room, just the 2 of us as no other guests showed up to sing me happy birthday! how dare them...well, the wait staff made up for it. haha.

We drove 4 hours to get to valparaiso onn tuesday, after getting a bit lost thru Santiago. terrible terrible freeway signage! we were lucky we made it out alive. geeez. we arrived at like 830 into VAlpo and went out to dinner, again the only people still eating at 10pm. our sweet boutique hotel was awesome though, with views of the port our our window. enjoyed walking around there all day yesterday, meandering thru the bohemian streets. I even picked up a small painting hand made by some smelly guy at the dock for $4! oh, and we smelled the fish and sea lions on our 30 minute boat tour. arrived into Zapallar, an exclusive, wealthy beach community, yesterday. We were happy to get out of the car adn relax at Hotel Isla seca. Gorgeous, again on the water...

Okay, people are waiting for the compute,r gotta run. Have had a fabulous time so far and can't wait to get more pics up! Keep checking the flicker link on the left side cuz i keep uploading more. still not perfectly savvy but i'll get there.

Mwah ;#

More photos

looking at dead woman´s pass

simon the australian

flying over another sacred site

part of our copious amounts of food...


Okay, gonna put a link to my slide show so far as well, but here are a couple funny ones...

Machu Picchu

Okay, so pretty much, it´s as awesome as you´d think. And I´m not just talking about the famous Machu Picchu, but the Inca Trail in general. You don´t even know how fricken sore my legs were after the 4 day/3 night trek (all 45km of it - and I now use the metric system, so pardon the conversion...it´s probably about 30 miles). The body is an amazing thing though ya know, as my legs are already tackling stairs again after a nice 1 hour, $10 massage in Cuzco (they literally haraass you on the street!) the morning after. But before that it took me about 10 seconds to go down one stair...mainly bc Monday morning i climbed about 1,000 stairs to the top of Waynapicchu, the mountain in the back of the famous photos you´ve all seen of machu picchu (which means old mountain - don´t ask what the American way of saying it means ;) Anyway, after feeling like i was on top of the world (hope to show some more

pictures but me on the rock is one of them), we then had to climb DOWN all 1000+ stairs yet again, hanging onto only rope at some points. Yes, I risked my life for the thrill of adventure! That´s what this trip is all about, right dad?? The first photo is looking up at Dead Woman´s Pass, day 2, hardest part (though not as hard as we all imagined). Pretty steep climb (i was nearly at the top when I took that photo). You can see my excitement in the next photo as i reached the summit :)

I´d even have to say the highlight wasn´t coming over Sun Gate (Inti Punku) to catch our first glance of the ruins, nor taking the first steps into Machu Picchu, but the fabulous, warm, hilarious crew we enjoyed trekking all 4 days with via SAS Travel company (which i totally recommend by the way - like 6 course meals for bfast, lunch and dinner, which i thoroughly took advantage of as we were exhausted and hungry!). We had mainly Americanos, but a few POME´S (which I soon found out meant ¨prisoners of Mother England¨) and a couple Aussies. Simon, the Aussie dude, was absolutely hilarious. he really kept the entertainment coming the whole trip, amen! Yes, the Brits and Aussies combined talked sooo much cricket, Aussie rules football, and crude jokes in slang that i hardly followed what they were saying, but nonetheless, fantastic company. Thanks to each person who made it such a wonderful, once in a lifetime experience...again, i´ll let some of the pictures (and videos) do the talking! Trying to download to Flickr now.

So i´m currently in Arequipa with my mom - we met up in Cuzco Monday night at the luxurious Monasterio HOtel (THANK YOU MOM!!) Can´t tell you how nice a hot shower was - well, a shower in general to be honest. And real cushy towels...and a bed. My hips were still bruised from sleeping in a tent on my side ;) After my massage Tuesdsay we caught a flight to Arequipa, Peru´s second largest city. Met up with a friend´s boyfriend who is from here and he took us to a nice Arequipan restaurant. Unfort mom and i had our least favorite meal yet, but we made up for it today as we ventured into the seafood department at El Camaroncito - one of the city´s best spots for shrimp. Mmmm. Also just enjoyed another typical Peruvian dinner of empandas de carne, steak w papas fritas, egg, fried banana and rice (sounds Cuban!). Tried ¨queso helado¨today too, which translates as Cheese ice cream, mostly bc how rich it is! Yes, the food is tasty...but off we go tomorrow to Santiago, and I will have to say goodbye to Peru. It has been so good to me ;( By the way, kudos to Brad who was a great travel buddy. I had a blast with you and we´ll do Australia next year!!

TTFN.

Kaitlin

Cuuuuzco!

Okay seriously, this place is AMAZING! I know some of you have gotten recaps from me in brief, but let me just try to break it down...Brad adn i arrived Monday afternoon to a gorgeous, sunny 70 degree sky. that was first surprise. 2nd being that our cab driver nearly skidded down this 80 degree hill that our hostel is on (Loki Backpackers HOstel)...and yes, we have to climb the enormous hill every time we walk back up...which basically makes you completely sober, even if you've only had one glass of wine - as they say, you can be a cheap drunk here bc of the altitude! haha. Thankfully brad and i are on the same wavelength...just enjoying a few here and there, unlike most other people in our hostel, who seem to be here only to party, but more power to em! All are very friendly...

so we explored Cuzco the first night, went in a few of the GORGEOUS churches in the main squares, adn ended up stumbling upon this great restaurant, Los Perros, that Lynn Gladstone recommended. Amen for that cuz Brad ordered the best hamburger we'd both ever had. And it was a wine bar, so we enjoyed some Argentinian and CHilean reds...plus I pounded him in Scrabble. We played for like 2.5 hours...and okay, i won by 4 points. We streched the rules a bit, allowing an occasional Spanish word, and although no 's' was allowed at the end to make a new word, we did allow an 'ed'. hehe.

Tuesday we decided on the ruins of Cuzco - you take a cab to the farthest one adn then walk back thru all 4, then back to cuzco. i think about 4 some miles in total. But seems as though Brad and i were only 2 of a few doing this! Thx for recommending Matt, cuz we sure didn't want to be stuck on a tour bus...not that exciting. Good warm up walk though, and we made friends w/ the local indigenous people an d their alpaca who just walk down the street with them. Very kind faces, helpful, and hard working. Monday night we cleaned up, ate at this swanky place called Fallen Angel (i was a bit leery going there ;) Great steak, great wine, and very very interesting decoration. We ended up sitting on a bed w vinyl heart pillows. our table was a bathtub with clear glass over it - and the bathtub was an aquarium. Flying pigs over head...you can only imagine. Anywya, pics will be posted next week.

Yesterday was by far the best so far. We woke up early, enjoyed another $1 breakfast at our hostel, coca tea, and then headed down to the SAS office to take the Sacred VAlley tour. Ended up being only 6 of us since some dopes didn't show up in time. So our guide, Martin Martinez, was a gem. He had led INca Trail tours for 10 yrs, and probbaly been doing SAcred Valley just as long. Was very insightful, was an Inca, and so nice. We toured 4 towns/4 amazing ruins - Pisaq (which wsa a great warm up hike w lots of stairs and steep upclimbs), Urubamba where we stopped for lunch at a great buffet spot, Oyotomtombo (or something like that), which was incredible incan village still in existaance, and Chinchero, which had colonial church. By that time the other 4 had taken a train to machu picchu, so brad and i enjoyed our private tour with Martin in Chinchero, which wsa his hometown! To my sadness, he explained how when the Jesuit priests came to town, if the natives didn't say they were Catholic or go to church, terrible things would happen to them :( To this day they attend Mass in order to get their kids into school, but none really believe...they worship instead PachaMama (mother earth), amongst other gods. Anyway, they were kind enuf to drop brad and i off at our hostel, saving us a trip up the hill! Last night we ventured into town to try alpaca (small llama) burgers, recommended by friends on our tour. They are called The Big Pack (vs the Big Mac, ah!). Totally tasty, almost likea very tender, bit gamier beef. So yes, there was our crazy meal. We passed on the cuy, or guinea pig - guy next to us at the restaurant ordered it, and it came full with head and little feet too. siiiiick. brad tried it and said it was pretty decent, like tender chicken or duck. I said NO NO NO thank u. hit the irish bar, then came back to the hostel to chill w friends we met in airport, but we were exhausted and hit the hey again pretty early.

Today is our day off before we start the big hike tomorrow, called the Inca Trail. Everyone we've talked to said it's amazing, but seriously tough hike...oh dear. We'll get thru it though!! Mom, be prepared for some really good smells when we meet u at the hotel ;) oh, i've basically bought the world here - alpaca gloves, hats, leg warmers (yes, they're sooo cool), earrings, neckalces, etc. So cheap. Haven't gotten a sweater, but they're pretty cool too. Bought a few other trinkets that are very cool and not touristy too.

well, i will next be sharing with you all after the big hike, so wish me (and my legs) luck, and say prayers for protection and good weather! oh, it rained a bit yesterday morning, but thent urned out to be a gorgeous sunny day again. Hoping no rain for the hike...

Mwah ;*
K

columbia recap

well, my time in Columbia has come to an end, at least for now...i fly out of here so will be back to hang w- some of the new friends I made with Compassion - amazing, funny, wonderful young people with a heart for God. But that´s far away, so i´ve now got Peru to focus on! Columbia was a wonderful time - didn´t do too much sightseeing other than the Salt Cathedral, obviously bc we were hanging out w- kids at the projects (most of which had amazing views in their own right in the mtns). I am currently trying to figure out how to post photo links to my blog. Thank goodness Deann, our tour photographer, gave us a usb photo album before we left, otherwise you wouldn´t be seeing ANY photos til mom gets here in about a week. no worries...i just hope i have enough room for machu picchu! there is a slideshow to the left, plus some photos i chose to post directly - first my "family" here in Bogota, 2 girls who latched onto me at a project (and i´m picking them up off the ground hence the stress in my face!), me jumping at a vista at one of the projects...last one is me and Kevin, my boyyyyy :)

So yes, the anticipation of meeting the child i sponsor was unlike anything i have ever experienced. All the rest of the project stuff i will let the pictures tell the story. But meeting Kevin, a 12 year old boy from Cali (west side of Columbia, b/t mtns and river, much hotter than bogota), was awesome. No, I'm not saying there were daisies and fireworks, bc it is certainly hard to bridge both a cultural gap aside from an age gap. Funny though, I had a "spanish translator", not an English one. Everyone else, since they couldn't really speak Spanish, had an offical translator, but mine didn't speak English! haha. It was great to work on my Spanish all day, though exhausting. My translator helped me to understand Kevin bc a) he speaks super fast and b) he has an accent from Cali and c) they use tons of slang! My most favorite Columbian word?? "Che´vere" It means cool, awesome, rad ;) Too bad i have to leave the word behind in Columbia...no existe en otros paises!
Anyway, back to Kevin, he was very shy at first, but seemed soo happy. I was crying of course, as it was a very emotional moment. After I got a hold of myself, i presented my gifts to him - a photo album, soccer ball, soccer shirt, toiletries, etc. He was stoked! We chatted all day, I asked lots of questions, and he didn't have too much to ask of me, but nonetheless, i got to know him better, and felt we shared some special moments. Some include when I got to pray for him as we were about to leave the Parque Jaime Duque (complete w- zoo, mini replica of Taj Mahal, rides, museums, big ships - basically a lot of walking,esp w- an empty park!), I gave him a big hug and he gave me a great one back :) Then, as we said goodbye for the 5th time, i walked away from his van, then came back to see him hiding his face (or trying to) bc he was crying :) A smiley face you ask? Yes, it meant that the day and experience had been worthwhile for him, and therefore made mama Kaitlin very happy. It was his first time to Bogota, first time on a plane, 1st time meeting me! Overwhelming i´m sure. He said he wished we could have hung out more, as did i, but unfort that's not how the tour is run :( One thing I would for sure change, and requested so!

All in all it was a great experience. I would recommend this to EVERYONE who sponsors a child. If you don't, i may have to lecture you bc Compassion is the most amazing company, and the people who work for them here in Columbia, plus all the church partners and their staff are the most giving, warm, loving people ever. Each day they pour themselves out for these kids. I am coming back to Columbia most def, whether in 2 years or 10, to do another tour.

and on that note, let me say a couple things about Columbia. Contrary to rumors or stories you may have heard n the States, it is a relatively safe place. Nothing has happened in Bogota in a long time (in terms of kidnapping, etc). Yes, certain areas are still not entirely safe (such as Cartagena), but all in all i felt safe here. they take precautions in the hotels, and yes, you have to watch your purse, but nothing unlike Europe. The sponsor tours just started again 2 years ago b-c for a long time people didn't travel to Columbia...now the gov´t has things a lot more under control. as i mentioned before, i loved the people i met. I for sure would love to see the beaches and other beautiful sights it has to offer. Bogota is a HUGE city (8 million someone said!). green, smoggy, buses everywhere (hard to have a car here bc taxes are high for vehicles).

Okay, so this is particularly long, only bc i will be in the airport a total of 8, yes 8, hours today. thank goodness for this internet post up. Now i gotta get some amazign Columbian coffee to stay awake til my flight. Hope to catch up w- you next time from Cuzco!!

Columbia

Hey guys...well, to say Ì`m being incredibly blessed so far is an understatement...these kids here light up my days! First day after we got in we headed to a special church service where we were the guests of honor (and here i thought we'd just be sneaking in the back to listen) and received demonstrations from lots of children - dancing, singing, etc. The pastor presented us as Sponsors, "padrino o madrina", of Columbian children...the looks on the parents faces moved me to tears. They were soo thankful, loving, grateful and sweet. Wow. After we heard a sermon we got to hang out w- the kids and buy some handmade jewelry! Good stuff.



The group i`m with is very eclectic and all so sweet. There are people here from the likes of arkansas, Maine, lots from Colorado that are on staff w- Compassion International, but sponsors as well, and my roommates from Miami and Louisiana - i asked her if she and Britney Spears were be fri`s. well, actually i didn`t, but wouldnt that have been great? anyway, they all love the Lord, love these kids, adn are very inspirational!

okay, kind fo ticked off bc i wrote a really long post and tried to post and the internet cut off and it lost about 3/4 of it. awesome. patience...arrrrgh.

So today was the highlight of my time so far. We arrived after an hour busride to this town called Paraiso (though it was nothing like that - paradise) - reminded me of slums in Mexico except with green grass and more scenery. It did rain today so there was lots of mud! They welcomed us just as openly and w lots of thanks. Each age group was responsible for a region of Columbia to explain, adn they did a dance, showed us the food (i had some rice pudding, yummy!), and explained animals and other stuff. Many in costume ,which was darling. After that we enjoyed lunch (food here has been quite good actually - lots of rice, fried bananas, chicken, steak - and yes they call it carne asada - beans. We are forbidden to eat raw vegetables, which is really sad for me cuz that means no salads. their avocados put california to shame as they`re about double the size! TONS of fruit - i believe columbia has most kids in the world, and i´ve had new kind of juice every morning!).

Okay, this may cut me off soon, but anyway, today...the faces, the love, the care each staff person puts into thiese children is priceless. >Loved playing with them (i am games coordinator), laughing, hugging, kissing cheeks. Some for sure latched on, and i captured some of their cute faces on film :)

yesterday was a trip to the salt cathedral, apparently the "9th wonder" of the world (though i thought there were only 8? haha). all underground, all carved otu of pure salt...15 stations fo the cross, a full sancturay and 2 naves! Nixon, our cute tour guide, left me w- a gift of fools gold for our parting (though he wanted to come w- me on my travels farther south - i had to regretfully decline ;)

Lots of rain, so hoping weather gets better...but we`re going to be busy from here on in, so doesn`t matter!

I can`t attach pics yet cuz i think i forgot my camera cord (though i SWEAR) i brought it. Dad, please check my laptop bag or the drawer next to my bed. small white cord that I NEED you to get to mom!!

peace otu, god bless, and have a great week!