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Published: December 24th 2007
My Birthday
My Ecua family had a little birthday party for me with cake! It was so sweet and made me feel so special. Done so many things it is hard to decide where to start. First off, if time were different, I would pack up my friends and family and move to South America. I love it here. I love the culture, the people and the countries that I have been to.
Cusco is such an amazing city with hundreds of years of facinating history. I have seen a handful of ruins but unfortunately at the time of this blog, I do not have the names of the ruins with me.
The people that have told me about the ruins couldn´t have more pride for their country and their history and preservation. It is all about the Pacha Mama, or mother earth. Everyone seems to have an immense amount of respect for their city, familiy, and land. I was told that out of the 29 million people that live here in Peru, 9 million of them speak Quechua, one of the native languages.
I wasn´t able to do Machu Picchu the way I originally planned. I had signed up for a three day trek, but my knee that I injured about 6 months ago has been acting up, so, I took trains and
My Birthday present
A beautiful green shawl from my Ecua fam busses. The coolest part was that I had a guide all to myself! Most of the groups had at least 8-10 people and up to about 20. I asked all of the obnoxious questions I could think of!
Oh, also, a true Shaman tried to heal my ankle and my knee in a town close to Machu Picchu, called Aguas Calientes. He worked on it for a good 8 minutes, calling on nature, flicking away bad things and putting pressure on different areas of my knee, foot and ankle. I have to say that immidiately after, I did have some relief from my recently twisted ankle (playing catch after a futból game with a beer too many and my easy to roll the ankle clogs on), the pain is back now, but it was gone for the rest of the afternoon after. Man, it sounds like I am falling apart, doesn´t it? Really, these are silly temporary injuries, but they are quite annoying!
Met up with some friends in Cusco that I had met in Ecuador, which was nice. As liberating as it is traveling alone, it is nice to meet up with folks along the way. Looking forward
Llamas in Cusco
Just walking around the Plaza de Armas and there was a parade going on. Not sure what was being celebrated, but it was pretty cool. to traveling with Rose for a bit.
I am actually in Buenos Aires, Argentina now. Got here a couple of days ago and have just been checking the city out a bit with my British friend Julian and this really nice french girl Fritima (not sure how to spell her name). The common language between us in Spanish, which is nice because I haven´t been practing much. The majority of travelers only speak English, so I have gotten out of the groove of speaking Spanish everyday. Went to a posh Tango show last night with Julian. He was a gay man in heaven with all of the awesome moves these dancers had! Perfect person to see a Tango show with.
Tonight is when the big festivities for xmas are. Everyone in my hostel is meeting up with another hostel for dinner. Then, after dinner, the whole city goes out (about 1am). Well, at least this is what I have heard. Also, everything you have read about Buenos Aires is true. People really do stay out until 6-8am dancing (anytime earlier seems to indicate a bad time). They don´t drink much, they just love to dance and don´t leave
to go to the discoteca until 1 or 2am and things don´t really get started until 3 or 4 am. The city is beautiful with a definite European influence. It is such a different city than the previous visited. Fashion and beauty is valued here and the poverty gap isn´t as apparent as it was in the other countries and cities I have visited. At least that is what I have observed in the past few days, but I really haven´t ventured out of the City Center yet.
Rose comes in the day after xmas and then the real exploring of BA begins!
Happy Holidays to everyone. Keep sending me emails. I love hearing about what you are all up to. Lots of love.
Cassandra
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Troy Neubarth
non-member comment
DUDE!
sorry to hear about your stupid knee and ankle thing. good to see it's not getting you down, keeping in true C. Costello form. by the way, thanks for keeping this blog thing. it's really inspirational. makes me think of all the things and cultures i haven't experienced yet. that's really cool your Ecua fam had a little party for you. with the cake and candles, very sweet. those pics of Machu are unreal. i like the one with the lama. and those tombs cut out of the mountain. reminds me of what humans are capable of. but seriously, that shaman picture thing is weird. i'll be looking out for your next entry. _Troy