ET Write Home

Saturday we had a long layover in Panama City, so we set out to explore the city the best we could in such a short amount of time. Since it was pretty expensive traveling to/from the airport in a taxi, we opted to do a city tour with a company that left from the airport. It just made the most sense with the amount of time we had and the amount of money we were willing to spend. Plus it was just super nice to be driven around and not have to make a single decision after 30 days of doing that on our own. Unfortunately our tour began with a 1.5 hr. stop at a mall, which we both loathed. But from there we headed into the older part of town, where we drove up ... read more

Greetings from Ecuador! Just wanted to quickly write something, as it might be the last chance I get to before we leave Ecuador for home on Saturday. It´s hard to believe that this trip is almost over, yet at the same time, SO much has happened in the past month that it seems like we've been gone more than a month! We were in Cuenca yesterday, a BEAUTIFUL colonial city in the western part of Ecuador. We were quite excited to arrive, given the crazy bus ride that we briefly described yesterday. We enjoyed a full day of awesome food, walking through the streets, buying pretty jewelry, and taking pictures of all the spectacular buildings. Oh, and we saw a random parade for a virgen saint doll being pulled on a car. You know, that happens ... read more

Hey gang!!! We made it here to Ecuador and right now I'm loving that Ecuador loves Christmas. Decorations and lights are everywhere, a nice change of pace from our last few days in Peru. In Peru's defense, though, it wasn't as close to Christmas a week ago, so perhaps Ecuador's zest for the holiday has more to do with the dates we arrived. But whatever the reason is, it is indeed beginning to look a lot like Christmas here.... :-) So as I mentioned, last week was our main travel week, starting in Bolivia and ending all the way in Ecuador. It was quite the week, filled with long bus trips and crazy encounters. I figured it is appropriate to dedicate this entry to our bus travel and to try to spell out just what that ... read more

Well, we're back in Lima, Peru where we started. Thanks to Jason, we've had a fun day of relaxing in the apartment of PCUSA missionaries Harry and Debbie Horne. It's been so nice to come and chat and relax and eat and do laundry and shower and use free internet....all the things we craved after spending so much time traveling, especially these last few days, as we've traveled a lot of distance, all by bus, and usually at night. Last you knew we were in Sucre, Bolivia, hoping to get out, as we had been told that the highways had "broken." Guess it wasn't entirely true (although we still don't know the real reasons), but we still spent the whole day waiting around and riding two different buses, getting us into Uyuni at 2am. It was ... read more

...you will be eating bread, butter and jam every morning, instant coffee included. But come on....Nescafe...NO ES CAFE. ...you will be spending more than the alotted time in the bathroom because you're folding and hoarding wads of toliet paper. ...the words "WHERE AM I?" fall out of your mouth all too often. ...you'll go on "fluid restriction" hours before boarding a night bus in Bolivia because you know it will be 5 hours before the first potty break, which in reality means everyone milling about zombie-like at 1am in the street (aka a dusty path), looking for the bathroom (aka the spot you choose to relieve yourself on) ...things are still found "al fondo." ...everyone will be assigned the same two setas on a bus, which of course leads to a lot of arguing. ...your clothes ... read more

Last fall when I was living in Guadalajara, I had the opportunity to see the most amazing photography exhibit. Titled "Todos los días, la noche" (Every day, the night), the exhibit by Jean-Claude Wicky showed up close and personal the lives of the miners who live in Potosí, Bolivia and spend years of their lives under the ground. I first saw the exhibit on my own and then later on a field trip with my class (Octavio, ¿lo recuerdas?) and each visit I found the photos to be both fascinating and haunting. Those images that I saw a year ago have remaind etched in my brain since. And today they became real. Potosí is currently a poorer town of about 150,000, but in the late 17th century it was one of the largest and most important ... read more

Well, we made it to Bolivia! Saturday night neither one of us slept very well because 1) our "mattresses" were cheap foam or something and 2) we were nervous about all the things that could go wrong at our border crossing into Bolivia. In the end, we had nothing to worry about. The guard hardly seemed interested in all the documents that we'd so carefully photocopied and prepared beforehand. He attached our cute little photos to our visa forms and then asked for our Immunization cards. Whoops. Yeah...didn't have those. He needed to see them to be sure that we'd had our Yellow Fever vaccinations. An extra $10 told him we did. And that extra $10 told us he really didn't care if we had Yellow Fever or not. And so we were in!!! We arrived ... read more

OK, I keep starting entries and then not being able to complete them, either cause there´s not enough time, or because I was feeling sick and couldn´t write complete sentences. I am better now, though, and Anne and I are here in Puno, Peru, which sits on beautiful Lake Titicaca. We arrived here yesterday by bus and were planning to head into Bolivia today, but for many reasons, we´re still here. It all comes down to odd bus times and the fact that it´s going to take these little US Citizens a little longer (and a lot more money) to enter into Bolivia. Before this year we wouldn´t have needed a visa to enter, but that has changed. We now have to get a visa at the border and pay a stiff fee, which is a ... read more