Friday, June 29, 2007
Its the Final COUNTDOWNS
so with 4 days left here in Santiago (and only 1 with internet acess) I figured nows the time to wrap this thing up, and what better way than with countdowns...if it works for vh1 when theyve got nothing else to show (namely, all the time) ¿why not here? most of these things have previous entries and photos if you go back through the blog...
top 5: cities
honorable mentions: Valparaiso, Chile- too much dog poo to crack the top 5, but a cool city nonetheless; Cuenca, Ecuador- pretty little city but i sort of raced through it...nice hats
5. Lima, Peru: a surprise entry, after tons of people made me expect it to be a crapfest, I only spent 1 day there, but it seemed lively enough and people were jumping off cliffs on hanggliders.
4. Santiago, Chile: Pretty good, pretty pretty good. not too much to say about it, a bustling city with some cool streets/neighborhoods, not the most interesting place, but immenently liveable
3. Quito, Ecuador: where this whole crazy trip started - stuck up in a valley with a beautiful historical center, lots to see and do, and unlike everywhere else, really close to the rest of the country
2. La Paz, Bolivia: now, i only spent a couple days here, but this city was CRAZY, if there is one word to describe it its syncrotism: in the shadow of glass skyscrapers, a witches markey selling pickled or dried llama fetuses (feti?). say no more
1. Cusco, Peru: Those Incas really knew a thing or 2 about city planning. Designed in the shape of a puma with the impressive Sacsayhuman temple at the top, Cusco is all old stone buildings, plazas, windy streets, and shortness of breath - the most beautiful and culturally interesting city I've seen this trip.
top 5: the great outdoors
5. Salar Uyuni (& environs), Bolivia: this part of SW Bolivia has a dried up former inland sea (the Salar), volcanos, mineral laden lakes, hot springs that stink of sulfur, odd rock formations and geysers, essentially, the land before time
4. Galapagos, Ecuador: Just a few little volcanos jutting out of the pacific with some wierd animals on them, whats the big deal? Darwin, Evolution, blahblahblah...
3. Amazon, Ecuador: I barely got into the Jungle (really just beyond the bottom of the andes) but from what I did see, WHOA.
2. Perito Moreno, Argentina: here my taste for winter over summer becomes evident, but this, the largest glacier in South America, is a truely awesome sight.
1. Torres del Paine NP, Chile: Chile's all star attraction, this national park has to be one of the most stunning places on the planet- special mention to the french valley, with forests, glaciers, mountains, a river, lakes, and an amazing view down over the park.
top 5: swimmin' holes
one of the things i've missed most about VA is the swiming - but there are a couple not to shabby swimmin' holes down South America way...
5. Piscina Tupahue, Santiago: ok, ok, its a pool, but still, theres a huge bolder sticking up out of it. cool & popular pool with a view over the city
4. Hot Spring, Salar Uyuni: the highest elevation swim, bublling hot water inside freezing 5am altiplano air outside, needless to say, i didnt want to get out
3. Anakena Beach, Easter Island: do beaches count as swimmin' holes? whatever. this is the archetypal polynesian beach: white sand, palm trees, ancient Moais in the background...water was a bit chilly, but even so, a spectacular swim.
2. Snorkeling, Galapagos: seeing sharks and all sorts of fish was a bonus, but the swiming alone in some parts the Galapagos was tight...beaches, rocky coves, sea lions, warm water...mmmmm
1. Random waterfall, Rio Napo, Ecuadorian Amazon: the only traditional swimmin' hole, but probably the best one in the world. a slow water fall leads into a natural depression that has filled up making a 8ft deep pool. rocks on the side to jump from, the upper part of the fall can be used as a slide, the lower half continues down into the rio Napo, amazing butterflies and humming birds in the trees above. shame its sort of out the way.
top 5: walks
5. Pichincha, Quito: the volcano that you can see from pretty much anywhere in Quito - a gondola takes you up to near the peak at from there you can just wander around with a huge view of the city sprawling out below
4. Colca Canyon, Peru: a walk I did along this canyon in southern Peru - changing scenery, cactus in the forground, glaciers on the peaks on the other side, a nice, if bone dry little walk
3. Quilatoa loop, Ecuador: got soaked the day before walking down to the shore of lake Quilatoa - in the basin of a volcano, but the walk around the rim was spectacular what with the sierra on one side, the flatlands down to the coast on the other, and the patchwork of the small farms on every peice of non vertical land.
2. Inca Trail, Peru: some hard work on this one: the second day up and up and up to 4200m above sea level at Dead Woman's Pass then almost harder, down and down and down...but with amazing views, tons of history, and the Machu Picchu as the final destination, this was an amazing 4 day stroll.
1. The 'W', Torres del Paine: we got really lucky with the weather on this one, and hardly any rain on this 4 day walk through what ive already called one of the most amazing national parks on earth - the pictures hardly do it justice,words (well, mine at least) certainly wont
top 5: bike rides
the combination of the altitude and distances in the andes make riding uphill a nightmare, so most of these rides reflect the, catch a bus to the top and ride back down approach
5. Cotopaxi, Ecuador: terrifying. a bumpy hairpin gravel road down the side of this picturesque volcano that ended with a much calmer ride out through the grassland surrounding it.
4. Baños > Puyo, Ecuador: probably the fastest ive ever moved, the paved road drops down fron the town of Baños way up in the mountains, to Puyo, just on the edge of the Amazon, the change in scenery is only matched by...
3. the Death Road, Bolivia: hyped up as ¡THE MOST DANGEROUS THING EVER! this has become one of the 'must do's' of South America...the ride drops from La Cumbre, above La Paz (where there are llamas, a frozen lake, snow etc) down 3600m in 64km (with sheer drops on one side and loose gravel on the road) to Corico, a small town in the Yungas, the part of Bolivia between the Sierra and the Jungle, where all the Coca(ine) comes from....
2. Cordillera Blanca, Peru: this was the only ride that didnt involve taking a bus, basically I rode out from the town of Huaraz up and up and up to the where the cordillera starts to get properly steep, through farms, villages, and dog attacks and then back down around into town...an exhausting ride
1. Sacred Valley, Peru: a 2 day trip through some of the Andes' most amazing scenery - wow.
top 5: food
this reflects how being vegetarian & travelling in South America prooved too dificult - an omlette a day (the only veggie alternative), would not keep the doctor away - so, i got to try some of the regional "specialties"
5. Cui/Guinea Pig: the official food of the andes, turns out its not actually that good, just the shock value of seeing a fried guinea pig with eyes and paws in front of you is a strange culinary experience.
4. Ecuadorian Shrimp Curry: the coastal food in ecuador was amazing, tons of fish with a significant carribean/african influence to it...the coconut shrimp curry down there was delicious.
3. Puerto Natales Mussles: enormous mussles fresh from the market/ocean in a tasty white wine sauce made by the amazing cook in the small little hotel we stayed in Patagonia...all you can eat too!
2. Empanadas: the official snack of chile - most often meat, but also cheese (but really could be anything) wrapped in pastry and backed...tasty, convenient, and omnipresent.
1. Ceviche: who knew raw fish was so good? (the Japanese, thats who) Ecuador, Peru, & Chile all have their own variations on this dish (all good) but basically the idea is fish (or shrimp or oysters)marinated in lime juice and onion with a bit of cilantro. SO GOOD! If i die in the first few days im home its from food poisoning trying to make this at home.
top 5: drinks
5. Escudo: Chile's cheap crappy beer. Omnipresent like the empanda, an old standbye.
4. Cola Morada: hot blackberry juice - an Ecuadorian specialty that is the traditional drink of the day of the dead...nice on a cold sierra evening
3. Pisco Sour: Peruvians and Chileans argue about who invented this drink, but its basically pisco (grape brandy) with lime juice & egg whites...sound wierd? it is, but its pretty good.
2. Coconut Juice: sold by 100s of people walking up and down the beach in Ecuador, possibly the most refreshing thing ever?
1. Carmenere: a sort of red wine that Chile specializes in, lovely stuff.
top 5: books by south americans i read while in south america
5. 20 love poems and a song of despair - Pablo Neruda: People wouldnt shut up about this guy in Chile, so I gave it a go...really though, spanish above my level, and even though i dont know what it all means, it certainly sounds nice
4. The Tunel - Ernesto Sabado: Argentina´s answer to Sartre's No Exit - funny, manic, and a brilliant character study.
3. House of Spirits - Isabel Allende: Much better than it was when i read it in high school...
2. Ficciones - Jorge Luis Borges: I love the premise of these short stories: writting books is cumbersome, better to just pretend they've been written and write fake reviews of them - not really doing it justice, but these are some great stories
1. 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez: without a doubt my favorite book. if you haven't read it, get the hell of the internet and get some culture!!!!
top 5: overall
last one i promise, i'll keep it brief (click links for more...)
5. Easter Island: what a wierd place
4. Amazon: In the jungle
3. Inca Trail: getting my walk on
2. Patagonia: HOT DAMN!
1. Galapagos: look! a tortoise!
Now all thats left is to pack my bags, sell my bike, and head home for the shock to my system that will be the 4th of July. ARGH
Adios!
top 5: cities
honorable mentions: Valparaiso, Chile- too much dog poo to crack the top 5, but a cool city nonetheless; Cuenca, Ecuador- pretty little city but i sort of raced through it...nice hats
5. Lima, Peru: a surprise entry, after tons of people made me expect it to be a crapfest, I only spent 1 day there, but it seemed lively enough and people were jumping off cliffs on hanggliders.
4. Santiago, Chile: Pretty good, pretty pretty good. not too much to say about it, a bustling city with some cool streets/neighborhoods, not the most interesting place, but immenently liveable
3. Quito, Ecuador: where this whole crazy trip started - stuck up in a valley with a beautiful historical center, lots to see and do, and unlike everywhere else, really close to the rest of the country
2. La Paz, Bolivia: now, i only spent a couple days here, but this city was CRAZY, if there is one word to describe it its syncrotism: in the shadow of glass skyscrapers, a witches markey selling pickled or dried llama fetuses (feti?). say no more
1. Cusco, Peru: Those Incas really knew a thing or 2 about city planning. Designed in the shape of a puma with the impressive Sacsayhuman temple at the top, Cusco is all old stone buildings, plazas, windy streets, and shortness of breath - the most beautiful and culturally interesting city I've seen this trip.
top 5: the great outdoors
5. Salar Uyuni (& environs), Bolivia: this part of SW Bolivia has a dried up former inland sea (the Salar), volcanos, mineral laden lakes, hot springs that stink of sulfur, odd rock formations and geysers, essentially, the land before time
4. Galapagos, Ecuador: Just a few little volcanos jutting out of the pacific with some wierd animals on them, whats the big deal? Darwin, Evolution, blahblahblah...
3. Amazon, Ecuador: I barely got into the Jungle (really just beyond the bottom of the andes) but from what I did see, WHOA.
2. Perito Moreno, Argentina: here my taste for winter over summer becomes evident, but this, the largest glacier in South America, is a truely awesome sight.
1. Torres del Paine NP, Chile: Chile's all star attraction, this national park has to be one of the most stunning places on the planet- special mention to the french valley, with forests, glaciers, mountains, a river, lakes, and an amazing view down over the park.
top 5: swimmin' holes
one of the things i've missed most about VA is the swiming - but there are a couple not to shabby swimmin' holes down South America way...
5. Piscina Tupahue, Santiago: ok, ok, its a pool, but still, theres a huge bolder sticking up out of it. cool & popular pool with a view over the city
4. Hot Spring, Salar Uyuni: the highest elevation swim, bublling hot water inside freezing 5am altiplano air outside, needless to say, i didnt want to get out
3. Anakena Beach, Easter Island: do beaches count as swimmin' holes? whatever. this is the archetypal polynesian beach: white sand, palm trees, ancient Moais in the background...water was a bit chilly, but even so, a spectacular swim.
2. Snorkeling, Galapagos: seeing sharks and all sorts of fish was a bonus, but the swiming alone in some parts the Galapagos was tight...beaches, rocky coves, sea lions, warm water...mmmmm
1. Random waterfall, Rio Napo, Ecuadorian Amazon: the only traditional swimmin' hole, but probably the best one in the world. a slow water fall leads into a natural depression that has filled up making a 8ft deep pool. rocks on the side to jump from, the upper part of the fall can be used as a slide, the lower half continues down into the rio Napo, amazing butterflies and humming birds in the trees above. shame its sort of out the way.
top 5: walks
5. Pichincha, Quito: the volcano that you can see from pretty much anywhere in Quito - a gondola takes you up to near the peak at from there you can just wander around with a huge view of the city sprawling out below
4. Colca Canyon, Peru: a walk I did along this canyon in southern Peru - changing scenery, cactus in the forground, glaciers on the peaks on the other side, a nice, if bone dry little walk
3. Quilatoa loop, Ecuador: got soaked the day before walking down to the shore of lake Quilatoa - in the basin of a volcano, but the walk around the rim was spectacular what with the sierra on one side, the flatlands down to the coast on the other, and the patchwork of the small farms on every peice of non vertical land.
2. Inca Trail, Peru: some hard work on this one: the second day up and up and up to 4200m above sea level at Dead Woman's Pass then almost harder, down and down and down...but with amazing views, tons of history, and the Machu Picchu as the final destination, this was an amazing 4 day stroll.
1. The 'W', Torres del Paine: we got really lucky with the weather on this one, and hardly any rain on this 4 day walk through what ive already called one of the most amazing national parks on earth - the pictures hardly do it justice,words (well, mine at least) certainly wont
top 5: bike rides
the combination of the altitude and distances in the andes make riding uphill a nightmare, so most of these rides reflect the, catch a bus to the top and ride back down approach
5. Cotopaxi, Ecuador: terrifying. a bumpy hairpin gravel road down the side of this picturesque volcano that ended with a much calmer ride out through the grassland surrounding it.
4. Baños > Puyo, Ecuador: probably the fastest ive ever moved, the paved road drops down fron the town of Baños way up in the mountains, to Puyo, just on the edge of the Amazon, the change in scenery is only matched by...
3. the Death Road, Bolivia: hyped up as ¡THE MOST DANGEROUS THING EVER! this has become one of the 'must do's' of South America...the ride drops from La Cumbre, above La Paz (where there are llamas, a frozen lake, snow etc) down 3600m in 64km (with sheer drops on one side and loose gravel on the road) to Corico, a small town in the Yungas, the part of Bolivia between the Sierra and the Jungle, where all the Coca(ine) comes from....
2. Cordillera Blanca, Peru: this was the only ride that didnt involve taking a bus, basically I rode out from the town of Huaraz up and up and up to the where the cordillera starts to get properly steep, through farms, villages, and dog attacks and then back down around into town...an exhausting ride
1. Sacred Valley, Peru: a 2 day trip through some of the Andes' most amazing scenery - wow.
top 5: food
this reflects how being vegetarian & travelling in South America prooved too dificult - an omlette a day (the only veggie alternative), would not keep the doctor away - so, i got to try some of the regional "specialties"
5. Cui/Guinea Pig: the official food of the andes, turns out its not actually that good, just the shock value of seeing a fried guinea pig with eyes and paws in front of you is a strange culinary experience.
4. Ecuadorian Shrimp Curry: the coastal food in ecuador was amazing, tons of fish with a significant carribean/african influence to it...the coconut shrimp curry down there was delicious.
3. Puerto Natales Mussles: enormous mussles fresh from the market/ocean in a tasty white wine sauce made by the amazing cook in the small little hotel we stayed in Patagonia...all you can eat too!
2. Empanadas: the official snack of chile - most often meat, but also cheese (but really could be anything) wrapped in pastry and backed...tasty, convenient, and omnipresent.
1. Ceviche: who knew raw fish was so good? (the Japanese, thats who) Ecuador, Peru, & Chile all have their own variations on this dish (all good) but basically the idea is fish (or shrimp or oysters)marinated in lime juice and onion with a bit of cilantro. SO GOOD! If i die in the first few days im home its from food poisoning trying to make this at home.
top 5: drinks
5. Escudo: Chile's cheap crappy beer. Omnipresent like the empanda, an old standbye.
4. Cola Morada: hot blackberry juice - an Ecuadorian specialty that is the traditional drink of the day of the dead...nice on a cold sierra evening
3. Pisco Sour: Peruvians and Chileans argue about who invented this drink, but its basically pisco (grape brandy) with lime juice & egg whites...sound wierd? it is, but its pretty good.
2. Coconut Juice: sold by 100s of people walking up and down the beach in Ecuador, possibly the most refreshing thing ever?
1. Carmenere: a sort of red wine that Chile specializes in, lovely stuff.
top 5: books by south americans i read while in south america
5. 20 love poems and a song of despair - Pablo Neruda: People wouldnt shut up about this guy in Chile, so I gave it a go...really though, spanish above my level, and even though i dont know what it all means, it certainly sounds nice
4. The Tunel - Ernesto Sabado: Argentina´s answer to Sartre's No Exit - funny, manic, and a brilliant character study.
3. House of Spirits - Isabel Allende: Much better than it was when i read it in high school...
2. Ficciones - Jorge Luis Borges: I love the premise of these short stories: writting books is cumbersome, better to just pretend they've been written and write fake reviews of them - not really doing it justice, but these are some great stories
1. 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez: without a doubt my favorite book. if you haven't read it, get the hell of the internet and get some culture!!!!
top 5: overall
last one i promise, i'll keep it brief (click links for more...)
5. Easter Island: what a wierd place
4. Amazon: In the jungle
3. Inca Trail: getting my walk on
2. Patagonia: HOT DAMN!
1. Galapagos: look! a tortoise!
Now all thats left is to pack my bags, sell my bike, and head home for the shock to my system that will be the 4th of July. ARGH
Adios!
Thursday, June 28, 2007
Street Art part 3: Santiago
I'll just jump right in with this one...
Animal Liberation - Human Liberation
Because we're from the people, we're children of rebellion
destroy capitalism
thats enough praying
and this one is not so much street art as art for sale in the street. and hilarious art at that:
Animal Liberation - Human Liberation
Because we're from the people, we're children of rebellion
destroy capitalism
thats enough prayingand this one is not so much street art as art for sale in the street. and hilarious art at that:
Friday, June 22, 2007
street art part 2: valparaiso
its a rare wall in valparaiso that isnt covered with stencils, slogans, or murals. the city has the most, and the best street art ive seen including stuff like paper stencils glued onto walls, and even sculpture. generally less political than its quito and santiago equivalents, its like a gallery that has spilled out onto the street. check it out:
josh, this ones for you
make more schools and less prisons
monster!!
political prisoners in a hunger strike for their freedom since dec 12 2004
birth
yesterday against the dictatorship, today against social injustices
the little prince: the essential is invisible to the eyes
with hate and no fear, attacking nazis
turn off the tv, live your life
socialist youth
next up, santiago - ive just realized that most of the stuff i here see everyday i havent actually taken a picture of yet, so thats the plan for the weekend. hasta la pasta
josh, this ones for you
make more schools and less prisons
monster!!
political prisoners in a hunger strike for their freedom since dec 12 2004
birth
yesterday against the dictatorship, today against social injustices
the little prince: the essential is invisible to the eyes
with hate and no fear, attacking nazis
turn off the tv, live your life
socialist youth
next up, santiago - ive just realized that most of the stuff i here see everyday i havent actually taken a picture of yet, so thats the plan for the weekend. hasta la pasta
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
street art part 1: quito
Quito's graffiti/street art was dominated by scrawled sloganeering - with the (then) upcoming elections for president and the proposed free trade treaty with the US, political issues dominated the walls, but, I did find a few others. I'll do my best to translate and contextualize, but cant promise accuracy, here goes:
I'm not going to stop
KILL THE HUMANS
(on the ground in a park)
Vote blank for the [sake of the] country
with bikes, to take [over] the streets
classifies: the country's dignity for sale signed - correa [election winner]
self government
gay with pride
acrossitic poem based on NOBOA - a rightwing presidential candiate, the acrostic logic, like bill murray, gets lost in translation:
Our Own Bush Another Murderer
another acrostic, this one for Bush:
Beast Outraging Human Beings - makes more sense in spanish
i love you bush, signed alvaro naboa (previously mentioned rightwing candidate)
the TLC was the proposed free trade treaty with the US (Tratado de Libre Commercio), there were tons of acrostics based on this:
Time of Criminal Leaders
ive got/am wearing a black shirt (the name of a very popular song by Juanes - refers to mourning a girlfriend)
time to cry farmers
ecuador yes, TLC no
ive seen this one in santiago too
does your cell phone give you love?
keep your rosaries out of our ovaries -written on a church wall
you can cut down one of 1000, but you cant stop the spring
sex when i want it, pregnant when i decide
rebel against apathy - women's front
deep throat - this one was EVERYWHERE in quito
lesbians against capital
liberty, my right! to be free, my conquest!
and thats that for quito. next the very different street art of valparaiso and the stencil-heavy santiago
I'm not going to stop
KILL THE HUMANS
(on the ground in a park)
Vote blank for the [sake of the] country
with bikes, to take [over] the streets
classifies: the country's dignity for sale signed - correa [election winner]
self government
gay with pride
acrossitic poem based on NOBOA - a rightwing presidential candiate, the acrostic logic, like bill murray, gets lost in translation:
Our Own Bush Another Murderer
another acrostic, this one for Bush:
Beast Outraging Human Beings - makes more sense in spanish
i love you bush, signed alvaro naboa (previously mentioned rightwing candidate)
the TLC was the proposed free trade treaty with the US (Tratado de Libre Commercio), there were tons of acrostics based on this:
Time of Criminal Leaders
ive got/am wearing a black shirt (the name of a very popular song by Juanes - refers to mourning a girlfriend)
time to cry farmers
ecuador yes, TLC no
ive seen this one in santiago too
does your cell phone give you love?
keep your rosaries out of our ovaries -written on a church wall
you can cut down one of 1000, but you cant stop the spring
sex when i want it, pregnant when i decide
rebel against apathy - women's front
deep throat - this one was EVERYWHERE in quito
lesbians against capital
liberty, my right! to be free, my conquest!
and thats that for quito. next the very different street art of valparaiso and the stencil-heavy santiago
Friday, June 15, 2007
singing and the rain
It rained for the last 3 days, which has 3 main effects in Santiago: 1) huge puddles everywhere, and lots of comedy car spraying of pedestrians 2) a fresh blanket of snow on the cordillera and 3) clears the smog out of the air, so that you can actually remember that the cordillera is there:
Today the air was cool and crisp; for the first time cold and crisp enough to hold steam when breathing. It was the first morning in weeks that ive been able to see the Cerro San Cristobal on my way to work: keep in mind that this hill is only 15 or so blocks from my apartment!
So, despite a few days of soggy pants and damp feet, the rain has done some good.
Last Saturday the Jose Gonzales brought his particular brand of sweedish singer songwriterness to Santiago; more precisely to the jam packed Cine Normandie, an old 1970s designed movie theatre. Señor Gonzales first came to my attention because of his sweet cover of Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', but I have to admit his entire catalogue has really been growing on me lately, especially 'Heartbeats' and 'Teardrop'. Jah bless NPR, you can hear an entire Jose Gonzales concert here. Anywho, the show was good, if a bit impersonal because of sitting in the backrow of a surprisingly big movie theatre. He played a setlist similar to the one on NPR, so not too many surprises there, but he had a lot of magnetism for a dude sitting there with a classical guitar. Opening for him was a guy from Argentina who played some pretty electronic ambient stuff that was recieved surprisingly well.
In older news, a couple of weekends ago was my tri monthly border run. This time I made it in just one day, taking a bus trip up the hills, across the border into Argentina, and to the foot of Mt Aconcagua: the highest mountain in South America. Where we (a friend, a peruvian lunatic woman, a flirtatious spanish man, a quite mexican lady, and our argentine guide) wandered about in the snow for a couple hours before heading back downhill to santiago (via super snobby and not very exciting looking ski resort portillo). The ride from the border to the city would be awesome on a bike, all curves and essentially one long downhill. If only there were a couple less trucks.
Portillo
Proof of Noah's flood!!!!! marine fossils at 4000m above sea level!!!!!
Aconcagua
Around Aconcagua
Things at work are going along at their regular pace: helping set up meetings with ministers in relation to the Human Rights Agenda for the Bicentenial, and designing pamphlets and posters for it; reading the ecuadorian news every morning; doing bits and bops of design for other teams - my specialty has become webbuttons for the website like these:
My last big project is putting the finishing touches and final details on an exhibit of photos by Brasilian photographer Genna Naccache that are going on show at a big cultural center in Santiago to raise awareness about poverty and violence in the Favelas around Rio, a few examples:
And thats that. Finally, I found this pretty interesting 10 minute documentary about resitance to a propsed mining project in Intag, norther Ecuador the other day - interesting film, and representative of a pretty widespread movement in Ecuador at the moment demanding more responasability on the part of the international mining companies that are winning contracts across the country, and to a lesser extent in Chile.
The Curse of Copper
And to conclude, I'll spill the beans on what will probably be the last few posts on this blog, for anyone that cares: first, a series of posts compiling my pictures of street art, graffiti, and stenciling in Quito, Valparaiso, and Santiago, and then an Adios to South America retrospective.
Today the air was cool and crisp; for the first time cold and crisp enough to hold steam when breathing. It was the first morning in weeks that ive been able to see the Cerro San Cristobal on my way to work: keep in mind that this hill is only 15 or so blocks from my apartment!
So, despite a few days of soggy pants and damp feet, the rain has done some good.
Last Saturday the Jose Gonzales brought his particular brand of sweedish singer songwriterness to Santiago; more precisely to the jam packed Cine Normandie, an old 1970s designed movie theatre. Señor Gonzales first came to my attention because of his sweet cover of Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', but I have to admit his entire catalogue has really been growing on me lately, especially 'Heartbeats' and 'Teardrop'. Jah bless NPR, you can hear an entire Jose Gonzales concert here. Anywho, the show was good, if a bit impersonal because of sitting in the backrow of a surprisingly big movie theatre. He played a setlist similar to the one on NPR, so not too many surprises there, but he had a lot of magnetism for a dude sitting there with a classical guitar. Opening for him was a guy from Argentina who played some pretty electronic ambient stuff that was recieved surprisingly well.
In older news, a couple of weekends ago was my tri monthly border run. This time I made it in just one day, taking a bus trip up the hills, across the border into Argentina, and to the foot of Mt Aconcagua: the highest mountain in South America. Where we (a friend, a peruvian lunatic woman, a flirtatious spanish man, a quite mexican lady, and our argentine guide) wandered about in the snow for a couple hours before heading back downhill to santiago (via super snobby and not very exciting looking ski resort portillo). The ride from the border to the city would be awesome on a bike, all curves and essentially one long downhill. If only there were a couple less trucks.
Portillo
Proof of Noah's flood!!!!! marine fossils at 4000m above sea level!!!!!
Aconcagua
Around Aconcagua
Things at work are going along at their regular pace: helping set up meetings with ministers in relation to the Human Rights Agenda for the Bicentenial, and designing pamphlets and posters for it; reading the ecuadorian news every morning; doing bits and bops of design for other teams - my specialty has become webbuttons for the website like these:
My last big project is putting the finishing touches and final details on an exhibit of photos by Brasilian photographer Genna Naccache that are going on show at a big cultural center in Santiago to raise awareness about poverty and violence in the Favelas around Rio, a few examples:
And thats that. Finally, I found this pretty interesting 10 minute documentary about resitance to a propsed mining project in Intag, norther Ecuador the other day - interesting film, and representative of a pretty widespread movement in Ecuador at the moment demanding more responasability on the part of the international mining companies that are winning contracts across the country, and to a lesser extent in Chile.
The Curse of Copper
And to conclude, I'll spill the beans on what will probably be the last few posts on this blog, for anyone that cares: first, a series of posts compiling my pictures of street art, graffiti, and stenciling in Quito, Valparaiso, and Santiago, and then an Adios to South America retrospective.
Sunday, April 22, 2007
the earth moved
I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking a bus had crashed into the offices downstairs. Luckily i was wrong and it was a just a 6.2 strength 'sismo' that shook the city for a couple of minutes. It's the first earthquake I've felt since the really random one at Mary Washington whenever that was...which is sort of surprising since I've been in a pretty active tectonic regions since september...
Sunday, April 08, 2007
easter island
