Into the Village

The next week and half we spent in Phaitone (Pie-tone) near Phrae (I can't for the life of me get the tone right, but it sounds like a cross between Pray and Pruh) with Liz the Peace Corps volunteer, volunteering, shopping, getting Thai-napped and kicking it village-style.

After another overnight bus from Luang Prabang to the border, getting back across the border, getting to Chiang Rai, then to Phrae, and THEN to Phaitone, we were beat, so the first day or so was pretty low-key. On Thursday, I inhaled some much-missed Pad Thai and orange Fanta (I might be a little addicted to both) and on Friday we chilled, organized, and were once again Thai-napped by the adorable Ba Pat! Ba Pat took us to her house to get her nephew, Bom, who is a 19-year-old university student studying English, home for the weekend, who naturally had to practice on the THREE farangs. Bom, who we had met on the bus to Phrae by chance, is adorable too, and we had so much fun with them!
We went to a random agricultural university to look at the buildings and at their recent environmental efforts--using corn husks as fuel--and I taught Bom a few words in English. After that, we went to my soon-to-be favorite restaurant in the area, Kuma Garden. There, we were introduced to papaya salad (technically we had already tried it, but this was the first time we LIKED it), Thai fried chicken (nothing like ours, but amazing), cocoa yen (basically iced Ovaltine, a staple here) and some other dishes including another favorite, Cashew Nut Chicken. It was a wonderful evening, laughing, eating, and we left more in love with Ba Pat and Bom than ever! (And I fell in love with the puppies that were living at the restaurant, of course). They eventually dropped us off at the bus station, where we saw for the first time the Thai national sport--it sort of looks like volleyball, but you can't use your hands, and the ball is a small ball made out of a holey basket (does that make any sense?). I also unfortunately spilled my water in the lap of a fellow bus rider (shocking, I know) but we made it in one piece, and proceeded to rest up for another Thai-napping the following day!
The next full-day Thai-napping was rather exhausting. We got up early to catch the first bus, couldn't take it as it was too full, and relied on my now expert hitchhiking skills to get us a ride into Phrae (don't worry, Mom, Liz knew the drivers, and I didn't have to show ANY leg). The little family crammed us into the truck, got us water at a stop (GENEROUS) and I'm afraid we traumatized the little boy, who refused to talk or unglue his gaze from the window pane.
After perusing the shops (we do a lot of that on this trip) we met up with Ba Pat, her sister, and Bom at Tesco Lotus, a store sort of like Walmart. After being persuaded to buy coconut yogurt over plain, then being persuaded to put it back as it wouldn't last in the car, we all climbed in to visit what Liz termed the "LSD Wat." On the way, of course we had to stop and visit some local teak woodcarvers and sample some deep-fried bananas (ding ding ding!! don't worry, we got a recipe!).
As for the wat...quite a wat it was! Colorful, crazy, Buddha statues and dragon statues and little mirrors and gongs to ring and good luck to acquire...and of course, we had the best guides ever in our little Ba Pat and Bom.
After the wat, we said a sad farewell to Bom--he was going back to university--and we were unceremoniously switched to another Thai-napper, a crazy teacher Liz knows in Phrae. She had us take pictures with her all of her Saturday-school students, and we went off to dinner, listening to her outrageous music and laughter.
The restaurant was right on a pond--you could even fish for your dinner, if you wished! It also had it's own karaoke bar, another Thai obsession I'm told (in which we did not partake, although Crazy Teacher could have with her endless consumption of whiskey sodas). It was another Thai-style dinner, full of mysterious dishes and surf-and-turfing. None of these dishes caught my fancy as much as Kuma Garden, but hey, they were okay, and the fish was VERY fresh!

The next day was somewhat of a milestone for me--I took my first bucket shower! And not out of necessity; it turns out Liz's little roommate Lyette (yet another adorable Thai person) has hot water in her bathroom, so I had used that our first night. I used it because it was a million degrees, I was sweating, and it sounded great. And great it was, even though I let out an involuntary and embarrassingly feminine squeal (well, Court screamed and had me running to the door to make sure she wasn't getting attacked by the giant spider who is a resident of Liz's bathroom fan) as the first bucket full of freezing water cascaded over my head. I can see, though, how it could get old (shaving my legs was an experience I would like to avoid) and taking one in the freezing mornings, ouch! We also made pancakes on Sunday, and we watched as Liz's neighbors watched her, mesmerized, as she ate three whole pancakes. They have an obsession with food and fat and think Western food immediately makes you chubby--they won't even have a bite of peanut butter, but they inhale rice by the gallons!!

Monday was our day of volunteering in Liz's Monday/Wednesday school (she teaches at two, if you hadn't guessed). It started out interesting, as Ba Pat and Liz gleefully announced we had to introduce ourselves to the entire school over the loudspeaker. After sending the students into guffaws when I announced my Thai name, Macgaw (still not sure why--maybe I just have a hilarious face) we went around to the classrooms, teaching kids a song from Girl Scout camp (no, I haven't forgotten those, they are imbedded in my brain) called Bananas of the Universe Unite! and sort of feeling like show monkeys.
The Thai schools are very different from American--all students wear uniforms, they all have to have the same haircuts, the students have to clean up after themselves and the teachers (no janitors) and the organization pretty much ends there. But still, even though I'm not sure how much teaching I did, and how much the students learned from me or really from anyone at that school, everyone is really nice, and most of the teachers really care about their students.
We were treated to lunch there, and I discovered my favorite Thai dessert: pumpkin chopped into a coconut-sugar sauce. It sounds weird, but it's amazing! I have that recipe too :).
The next day, we went to Liz's other school, which seemed more organized, and a little more fun. We learned the Loy Krathong dance (for the upcoming lantern/river festival) and song, and taught the kids the words in music. We also taught the kids about Christmas, which was pretty cute. One kid wanted to put his stocking up tonight to see if Santa would come, and others looked at me like I was insane as I tried to describe Santa's mode of transportation (a flying sleigh pulled by flying deer DOES sound a little crazy, doesn't it?).
After lunch, and after a few other lessons in being stalked by the paparazzi--at one point kids were hiding under cars to look at us, and all the 8th grade boys were comparing their biceps and sneaking peeks at us, and many kids came up just to stare, to ask questions in the few words of English they know, or just to wave and smile, we went on an impromptu field trip with Liz, her co-teacher and some girl students to look for this old man who makes traditional rice baskets. We observed him skillfully make a basket which would have taken me three days minimum, and enjoyed the Thai-style field trip: kids all over the place, taking the long way around, picking flowers, cartwheels in the road, no parental permission, and eventually winding our way back to the school in the blazing heat.
That evening, we made spaghetti with Liz and her neighbors, which almost tasted like spaghetti from home and was a fun, hilarious time spent dancing and singing and chasing the cute kittens around (yes, I'm obsessed with the animals here, ha).
Wednesday, we gave Liz a break and didn't go to school with her in the morning, although we were invited over as honored guests (they even had food brought in from a restaurant) to eat lunch with the principal. More interesting food, some delicious, some weird, all of which I had never tried before. The fish was not so good, but some asparagus/mystery meat thing was quite delicious!
That afternoon, we learned how to make fried bananas, bid Ba Pat a tearful farewell (don't worry, we are already plotting on how to best bring her to America) and spent some time with a villager who is German. As one of the only farangs in town, he was excited to have farang visitors, and we had a little kanom (snack) fest in his little garden.
Thursday, Court and I headed in Phrae to learn how to use the traditional indigo dye. It was fascinating to be taken behind a normal shopfront to tubs of homemade indigo dye in the yard. We dyed handkerchiefs and shirts (and I dyed part of one of my shoes) and played with their adorable puppy, Sugar. We also learned about the organic fabric and all the details of the business for Court's job back home, which is in fair trade. The organizer of the little business, yet another adorable and generous Thai lady, drove us everywhere and provided us with cookies and water. The day also included a visit to the post office and a quest for coconut milk to make the pumpkin dessert I spoke of, which, despite the overflowing of the pot of sticky coconut milk all over the floor, was a success!!
That evening, Megan, another Peace Corps friend that we also love, arrived, as we were all heading to Chiang Mai on Friday for Loy Krathong!! We had a great time at the little restaurant eating Pad Thai and embarrassing the locals (at one point, Megan tried on a policeman's force ring, and the look he gave her was hysterically horrified). Megan also introduced us to Glee, and brought Oreos, so we had a fun little girl night--a good predecessor to the amazing weekend to follow!
But, more on that later, it's dinner time for me!! xoxo

Resurrection

For the many, many out there keepin' up with my blog...my adventure to see the world will continue this fall as I visit Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam with my cousin Courtney and our friend Liz. Liz is living near Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand working with the Peace Corps, so it'll be great to visit and stay with someone who knows what is what in the country! We will fly into Bangkok on the 22 of October and out of Hanoi, Vietnam on the 22 of December, into LAX, where I'll spend a few days visitingfamily before heading to spend some time with my mom's side in San Antonio, Texas. It'll be seriously nice to be traveling with someone--it's cutting down on the terror quite a bit, let me tell you.

A lot has happened since I last wrote--I'm officially published, by writing for a local magazine, a local creative writing publication, and a local newspaper. I am also THREE WEEKS away from finishing my undergraduate degree in English! So excited. It was a long, tough year--I have truly never worked so hard in my life. Make sure to check out my other blog from my major capstone in English here. It was such a fun class and I still miss it! But I am

definitely enjoying summer, alright!! Although currently I'm taking a Spanish class...I hope to continue with that in my future. I also took an online class in linguistics. Otherwise, after my awesome graduation day with an insane party, I've been working at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, and am still working for a local law office, Tarlow Stonecipher & Steele. My traveling has continued with a visit to California for my cousin's wedding, and in a few weeks, an awesome fun-filled vacation to Seattle to celebrate finishing my class AND my 23rd (eeks!) birthday. Also last August I went out to Seattle, but it ended up being a dramatic and not always fun trip (LOoooong story), as did my Christmastime and June trips to California (although still fun and great to see family!), so this is going to be a true VACATION. We're even going up to Victoria, Canada, for one day, my first time back to Canada since I was like, four months old. My parents had me baptized on Vancouver Island by an uncle around 23 years ago...I think that's the last time I was there.

My future is so open right now. I'm writing on the joy of that feeling right now...hello Asia!...and avoiding the inset of reality until next March when I have to start paying off my loans. I have so many ideas on what I want to do next--journalism school, a master's in creative writing, teaching English abroad, the AmeriCorps, the Peace Corps...it's kind of terrifying and awesome at the same time. Choices choices choices.

It's going to be a great year I think, stay tuned!

XOXO

p.s. I finally learned how to add pictures and links into the post! hooray!

More Ruins, More Water, and Lots of Dancing!

Well hello all you out there anxiously awaiting more news...I do not have too much more to report, but I really am adjusting well and loving it here more everyday. Last week was fairly uneventful, I went out dancing on Tuesday night with my housemate Laura and Dorien, a girl from our school. I had my first Pisco Sour--delicious!--and my first foray into the discoteca´s of Cusco. We had an great time hopping from place to place, getting free drinks and dancing to Spanish music...a few places I will have to return to, such as Mama Africa (one of the most famous clubs in Cusco for it´s dancing, although not much when we were there!) and this club that had great music and tons of soccer fans all over the place (did I mention what a big deal that is here?) However, we did get home quite late, and it took me much longer to recover from that than it normally does! Still getting adjusted, I suppose!
Last week was rather frustrating lessons-wise, but I think I´m starting to see more results. Maybe not as quickly as I would like, but results just the same! On Thursday there was also a gigantic fiesta, part of the Carnivale celebration. San Blas, the neighborhood my school is in, is the oldest neighborhood in Cusco, and one of the last to celebrate ¨Compadres¨ in addition to the rest of Carnivale. It was fun to see, the street was full of people and music and dancing, and presents were falling from trees and vines strung up above the street. Of course it was pouring, so I didn´t stay long, but I was amazed that one family in the neighborhood paid for everything--music, candy, toys, food, beer...lots of expense! I guess it rotates every year, but still!
Speaking of Carnivale, it hits it´s peak this weekend, and you can definitely tell--I don´t think I´ve been dry in a week! Everyone else now is starting to experience it, the men and boys who are mostly throwing the water tend to target whities (like myself, although I´m more of a bright pink these days) and attractive females. I don´t know how much I´ll be venturing the streets this weekend if it´s cold, because apparently the entire city is dripping! The little boy I live with, Rodrigo (who I learned is my host sister´s son), proudly showed me his collection of water balloons and massive squirt guns.
This past weekend was eventful, full of dancing, ruins, walking, and even an earthquake! Which I did not feel as I was dancing the night away in another discoteca--this one called Muki, which looks like the inside of a cave. Me and Linda, my favorite travel buddy, hiked up the mountain to Saschyhuaman (which always sounds to me like ´sexy woman´ slightly slurred), famous Inca ruins right above Cusco. They are massive and gorgeous, and apparently a famous hideout of Franscico Pizarro´s during an Inca rebellion. I learned that Inca architecture is so sturdy for four reasons: the giant stones on the bottom, the smaller rocks on top, the trapezoidal shape of doors and crevices, and the fact that the wall is always larger on the bottom. Pretty interesting, and pretty cool to see all this in a pretty field overlooking the valley. I even found some channels leading down from the altar that used to carry maize beer!
From there we walked over to Q´enqo, and old Inca cemetery, where everything was carved out of rock--seats, walkways, stairs, tunnels, and caves! I slipped into one cave briefly and had a panic attack as I stepped on a twig and broke it, thinking it was a bone...overactive imagination, a great help as always!
After Q´enqo we wandered up to Tambo Machay, the worshipping site of a water cult, where it appropriately started to pour. It was cool to see the old Inca baths and man-made waterfalls. Just below there was Pukapukara, a site probably used for storage of goods and animals. The view was the best part, although we found a few carvings of flowers and animals on the rocks. I was getting a little tired of ruins at this point, but it still rocked (haha)! We caught a collectivo (small bus/van) down the mountain because taxis up there were waaay overpriced (at about four dollars) and we wandered around Cusco for awhile, visiting my favorite bakery near my house and the like. AFter this, we headed off to finish up our rip-off tourist tickets, to see the Monumento Pachacuteq (the ninth Inca, and the one accredited with glorifying Cusco) which wasn´t much but had a great view!
Then the dancing began--first in the form of traditional dancing and costume and Cusco´s cultural center, which was very fun to watch, although all of the woman had terrible voices...seriously, the most nasal I had ever heard! We ate a decent and super cheap meal and Linda´s favorite vegetarian restuarant, and from there we met Laura, my host brother Paul, and some other people from our school for a night out!
It happened to be Valentine´s Day--much more toned down, but the first place we went still had petals lining the stairs and balloons everywhere. We met some more people there, had a few drinks, and then headed out dancing! We danced and danced until around four a.m...which canceled most of my Sunday plans! Still a good time, and nice to meet some more people!
This week has been fairly uneventful, although I did discover the tea I´ve been inhaling by the gallons is actually made from cocaine, which probably explains most of my ´altitude´ sickness...good to know that my Spanish is improving enough for me to understand that! I also figured out that the ´stray´dog is actually my family´s, named Beetlejus...at least I am slowly learning! I also went over to the contraband market to buy some movies (they sell everything from music to movies to shoes to microwaves to cameras...)--I scored a few new ones in Spanish that will hopefully be a big help! I can catch about every third word now, woot!
I am beginning to discover more food that I like, and the school takes an hour out of classes every Friday for a cooking lesson! I still need the recipe for the first week, as it remains a delicious mystery, but this last Friday we made Pisco Sours. My family continues to overload me with the soup, but I´ve discovered a few great bakeries, a coca shop, and some snack foods that I like. Eating most of the soup is quite painful--although I do enjoy the squash soup! We also have interesting dessert, one jello type thing that was made from corn (I think) but inexplicably purple...Hopefully as I continue to improve in Spanish I will figure this stuff out!
Well here´s the end of my news! Here´s hoping my Spanish is beautiful SOON, Adam buys his plane ticket to come visit (!!) and the endless rain stops...although I do manage to get sunburned every time the sun comes out! Love you all mucho and hope things are well wherever you are!! xoxo

Water and Sun, Temples and Churches

I´ve spent the last week or so getting adjusted to Cusco and my crazy new surroundings! My Spanish has been improving quickly (although not as quickly as I would like) and I can now successfully hail a taxi, give him directions he can understand (my teacher´s are impressed at my progress--I got many compliments on my accent, but also many comments on how I mostly spoke gibberish) and travel from one end of the city to another. I´ve been exploring some of the old Spanish cathedrals...gorgeous! Although oftentimes they have really creepy dolls at their altars, dolls of Jesus and Mary and the like...I know, I´m speaking pure blasphemy probably, but they truly look alive! I can´t look at them for very long.
I´m getting to know my host family a little better as my Spanish knowledge increases, and they really are a great family. I´m pretty much in love with my host papa--he has to be the cutest old man ever! He always makes sure to eat with me, and usually he breaks out the atlas and/or his Spanish-English dictionary. The oldest son, Paul (I´m 95% sure that is his name!) is an engineer, and spends a lot of time at Machu Picchu for some reason, although the careers and names of the rest of the family elude me, except for the little boy, Rodrigo. Although I don´t know how he fits into the family yet...I´m still trying to figure out all the dynamics! Thankfully I did find the shower, although the water is rarely hot, and only slightly lukewarm...hence I´m much smellier here than I was at home. Not to mention crazier hair, if you can even imagine that! There is also a spider that´s been in my room that I´ve been trying to set free, and today my teacher told me that it´s one of the most venomous spiders in the world...knowledge I would have happily lived without! It´s just a teeny little thing that shows it´s face usually right before I go to bed...hopefully I catch it or I might never sleep!!
I´m slowly adjusting to the altitude, although some days I still am very weirded out by it--the city is pretty hilly, and when I go exploring I can definitely feel it! I like the city more and more every day, (still on the hunt for a bookshop!) although it´s tiring to constantly be harassed by little kids trying to sell stuff. The little boys seem to be even more persistent, and will follow you until you jump into a taxi or a shop! I feel bad about not giving them any money, but after the first few days of caving, I realized I´d better stop or soon I´ll be trying to sell postcards right next to them!!
Last week was rather uneventful when I look back on it, although every small thing feels like an adventure to me now! Just walking around the city is still really exciting--and I love it when I can actually find my way!
It´s Carnivale in Cusco right now, which as far as I can tell, mainly consists of random cars and people throwing water, candy, manure, and who knows what else at passersby! I seem to be a popular recipient of the water--much more than anybody else I´ve talked to, of course--as I´ve been drenched a few times! I´m definitely a big fan of the candy throwing--a rare occurance unfortunately...but thankfully not as rare as poo throwing! That only happened to me once, and I dodged successfully (and surprisingly--they had good aim!).
I´m still getting used to all the cultural differences, such as the millions of dogs, dancing in the street, and soccer playing everywhere, as well as the little beggar children and their llamas, and the food!! Too much soup! Although I love this vitamin milk they have, and leche con arroz (milk with rice) is delicious! We also have this delicious bread with fruit in it every night, that only comes around at Carnivale. That´s mostly what I´ve been living on, although I go to the grocery store quite a bit to buy new random treats, some of which are great, some just plain weird!!! The music is also different--my host sister plays the Backstreet Boys nonstop, and they´re all big fans of ABBA and other bands from the 80´s. I feel like I´m back in fifth grade when she has the Boys on repeat!! I like it best when they play salsa.
I haven´t made many friends, although I did make one in the form of a dog! I´ve christened him Señor Perro, and he follows me to the corner every morning! I accidentally let him into the house once, and since then he´s never left, and tries to sneak back in occasionally, although as far as I know he´s never been fed there!
I was planning on just hanging out in Cusco this weekend, but I ended up buying a tourist ticket that gets you into tons of cultural sites, mostly archaeological stuff, although some museums and churches are also included. The ticket is only good for ten days, so I signed up for a tour of the Sacred Valley this past weekend.
The Sacred Valley of the Incas, also known as the Urubamba River Valley, is gorgeous and full of old Inca sites! Our tour visited C´orao and it´s market, as well as the world famous Pisac market, and the ruins at Pisac, called Pisaqa by the Incas. Pisaqa was amazing--so high up in the mountains!! I got way behind taking pictures and had to run to catch up, generally a bad idea, but apparently the Andes are turning me into a mountain goat:). There were lots of terraces and temples, and at the very top we could visit some Inca tombs--awesome!!
We also visited Ollantaytambo, more Inca ruins, and Chichero, which has a church that´s a combined Inca wall and Spanish church, like much of the ruins around here. It seems that the Spanish merely used whatever was left of the wall and built up from there. It was an amazing day, including a lot of hiking in the Andes (I have a vicious sunburn as a result of that) and wandering around the old ruins. We also stopped a few markets, I picked up a few items here and there. Linda, the lady from my school I was travelling with, was quite impressed with my haggling ability--I can sometimes almost cut an item´s price in half! I should probably just suck it up and pay the soles, considering the price is usually decent anyway, but I´m kind of addicted to haggling at this point!
In Urubamba, right before we were to stop for lunch, there was an explosion on the bus right beneath me--two of our tires had burst! The driver was in awe; apparently he´s never seen both explode at the same time...I think I might be bad luck... We had a slight delay, but eventually we got our lunch and headed to Ollantaytambo. There we hiked up past the agricultural terraces used by the Incas up to the top, and a gigantic piece of rock in the shape of a puma, along with many temples and the like. There was lots to see and many stories from our guide (only half of which I understood, as my Spanish still sucks!), but it was still a fun hike! We went back down past the old Inca aqueducts which still successfully run water, and visited a temple of the water.
I got briefly lost in Chinchero while buying some postcards, and ended up wandering the streets for a half hour while the rest of my group was in a textile demonstration. For about half of this time, a little girl was following me, begging me to buy her stuff--and if she had been selling anything else but finger puppets in the shape of fish (pescado pescado bonita senorita!), I probably would have caved!! I eventually made my way back, and we headed back into Cusco, a few hours later than originally planned, but oh well! It was an amazing trip, and I can´t wait to see more of the ruins on my little tourist ticket!
I think I am adjusting quite well, and I get a little less homesick every day. It would be fun to have people with me, so come visit!! (Adam!) Carnivale is supposed to get crazier in the next few weeks--I hope that doesn´t mean more manure!! I also hope the weather gets better, I´ve gotten spoiled with all the sun this past week! I spent tons of time in parks and in plazas and near fountains (I even fell in one and got on a few tourist tapes...one guy from Germany proudly showed me his footage) but today it is pouring down rain! Ah, the unpredictable weather...seems to follow me wherever I go! Keep in touch! Loooove....