Insanity

So this was the last week of Winfly before the “hordes” from main body will arrive.  The last bit of quiet before all the groups come.  It’s nice having plenty of table options at the galley, always having open computers, and spots on the rack for our coats.  Winfly is a very calm and relaxing time, but the craziness will soon start with main body.  But with main body comes a lot of my friends back including Shuttle Elisha, Shuttle Jen, and Shuttle Cassa.

The food here has been so good and my lab/office job very sedentary, so I decided I needed to start a more intense workout scheme.  Cargo has started this weigh in thing to monitor weight loss and it’s a competition to see who can lose the most by Christmas.  I joined this and then joined some friends (FSTOP Chandra and Cory,  Cargo Twan, MC1 Kelly, and Shuttle Queen)in this intense cardio/core program called Insanity.  It has been very tough, but fun, especially since it’s with friends and we like to laugh at the people in the video.  But I pushed myself a bit too hard and strained my back, so I’m on recovery for a bit.

This week we had 9 Emperor Penguins head out across the sea ice a couple of different days, so that was cool to see.  They were the biggest group of Emperors I have seen here.  It still gets dark here, but much later at night.  Now about 10pm, and it’s definitely light when we head out to work.  But the lighting and sunsets are still amazing!  And now the moon is nearly full, so we’ve seen some gorgeous moonrises over the Royal Society Range and up over arrival heights.

This week I also had snowcraft 1 refresher (aka Happy Camp refresher which is the outdoor survival/camping class)  I took the actual training last year where you get to spend a night out on the ice shelf, but this one is just classroom stuff as well as tent, stove, etc set-up in one of the big garages.  I also had the field portion of sea ice training this week.  It was pretty cool bc we went out in a hagglund onto the sea ice and made a crack profile so that you can analyze whether it’s safe to drive your specific vehicle over it.  While we were out there, we saw the best fata morgrana I had ever seen.  Really amazing!  It was super cold too.  About -15 to 20F, and we were out there all afternoon, so we all had cool frost things in our hair, on our goggles, on our big red hoods, and on our face and neck gaiters. 

It’s been pretty cold lately.  -25’s of ambient temp and some -50F with windchill.  And one day we even had some -70F windchill.  It’s always amazing how cold it is and how quick it can affect things.  If you walk the 100mts to the galley after you’ve taken a shower, your hair is instantly frozen.  And if you walk anywhere, the liquid in your nose also freezes instantly and your nose gets hard and feels funny

Yesterday we had an all-hands meeting and they told us that they are going to allow the craft fair now, but that bc of funding cuts, there won’t be C-17 flights from the end of November until mid-January, which means there won’t be so much freshies or mail during that time.

Yesterday was a day of parties to celebrate the hard work being done at winfly as well as to have a final get together in the calm before the storm.   In the crary lab, we had a calm before the storm get together where we used liquid nitrogen to make ice cream.  In the galley, we had a luau with a bbq’ed whole pig as well as lots of icecream and other Hawaiian things.  There was a big carp shop party at night, but I wasn’t really feeling like partying, so I ended up just having a chill night and watched some daily show episodes.

Right now I’m watching the Wisconsin-Nebraska game.  Go Bucky.  Huck those Fuskers!

The Fungergames: The War on Fun

Everyone has been calling this year in Antarcitca, the Year of Change.  There have been tons of changes.  To start with, Lockheed Martin replaced Raytheon as the contractor.  So now I work for the Antarctic Support Contract under Lockheed instead of Raytheon Polar Services.  Lockheed is contracting out, so actually most my friends will be working for PAE, while I am an actual LM employee.  With this new contract has come some changes in policy and finance.  Lockheed and the NSF want to reduce the population of the station by 20%, but still do just as much science.  That means that most departments have lost at least 20% of their employees from last year (In my lab office there were 4 last year, and this year there will be 3).  Shuttles lost about 60% of their drivers going from 26 or 27 last year to 11 this year!  This of course is making the already hardworking workforce down here (we work 60 hour weeks in tough conditions) work that much harder.

In addition to this, they have made lots of changes around town.  One example that is actually helping me out, is that they are not issuing dorms based on how many ice years you have, but with how long your contract is this year.  Both Jerod and I have the longest (winterfly contracts) so we were put in one of the best dorms--a dorm we couldn't have hoped to get normally until our 4th season down here.  But of course this makes some of the long-time people very upset especially if they don't fly in until mid october or november and thus can't get their old room back.

Some of the other changes that are making people unhappy.  They are no longer allowing Yoga in the chapel, so to make room for it and other classes like that, they are moving everything out of the gerbil gym (the gym with the cardio equipment) and putting all of that stuff (along with some new machines from the military) into the library.  The library is getting moved (sadly bc some books will have to be shipped off continent due to lack of space) to a lounge in one of the dorms.  So there is lots of talk about the NSF "burning" books.  They are also closing the bars at 11pm now instead of 2am, even on Saturdays.  They are now charging for haircuts, which has a lot of people upset.  One of the things that has people the most upset is that they will now be following som US rule that you can't sell or make a profit on anything on gov't property.  They have several craft fairs here each year including a huge one before Christmas.  They are awesome bc people down here are just super creative and talented.  But since the whole place down here is basically private property, there can be no craft show.  Another thing they are doing which has people up in arms is adhering to the fire codes for the number of people allowed in a building.  This basically means that all these work center parties and parties in the big gym would not be allowed or must have a bouncer bc they are always way over capacity.  Everyone knows that this could have a serious effect on the fun of the parties

People are also upset about how they are cutting back so much on money and stuff and paying attention to all these minor things all of a sudden, but not helping improve things for us.  For example, at least 3 of the work-centers are in condemned buildings.  So it seems sort of hypocritical to have people working long, hard, and tiring hours doing dangerous jobs in unsafe buildings and then to enforce this fire code thing for the first time.  Apparently there are lots of things in dorms and in workcenters that really need to be done and have been put off bc this contract switch ended up taking 5 years.  To try to alleviate this the station managers is trying to do this thing called "the smell of fresh paint" in which we are doing some minor and cheaper repairs (like re-painting) so that the population thinks and knows stuff is moving forward.  This also of course has people angry bc it's not "real" progress.  Stickers have been being passed around and stuck up everywhere that say "the smell of fresh taint"  Another of the many hypocritical things is that they are going to enforce the fire codes for parties and such, but for Crary science talks, crary labs for the busy part of the season, the galley at dinner and all hands meetings, where we go over the limits, these codes won't necessarily be enforced.

People have definitely been a bit up in arms about al this.  And the All-hands meetings have been quite interesting with people asking tough questions to the station manager and demanding answers and action.  The thing is, in my opinion, he better be a bit careful bc if there was ever a group perfect for an uprising or revolt, it's the Antarctic group.  The population can be described here as highly motiviated, intelligent, and creative.  We are like college students except with experience.  They also all have temporary jobs and are used to unemployment, so that doesn't scare people.  They also are well aware that there is only one US marshall on the whole continent (the tiny station manager) and that in reality the majority of jobs are safe bc the people down here are highly skilled and basically the only people that can possibly know how to run this place. Without them, the program would virtually stop for several years.  It's a very involved and active community as well.  And one thing for sure is that they LOVE this place, and it's their home, so they will stand up to things they don't like or think unfair.  So if ever there was a place ripe for revolution and with the right people for it, it could be here.  So I think the NSF, Lockheed, and the station manager better proceed with care.
There have been these stickers floating around and stuck to many buildings that say "IMPEACH" and have a stars wars character (an ewok) that looks just like the station manager crossed out.  So far things have been pretty civil.  Even at the all hands meeting, though those have gotten pretty civil.  However, come mainbody in Oct the station population will more than double and a lot of these passionate people will be arriving.  Also there has been talk of severely limiting alcohol consumption, so that could fire people up.

So basically people have declared a war on this War on Fun.  If you've read or seen the Hunger Games recently, someone down here (Charlotte from SciCo) made this cool logo (seen on this blog) that resembles the Hunger Games logo, but of course says Funger Games.

It will be quite interesting to see how things play out.  I am not too worried.  If there is one thing I know about the Antarctic population, it's that they are the most creative and smart group I have ever known.  They will figure out how to get around things and actually make them better.  They always have.  There have been many things shut down in the past that they have made better or creatively figured out a solution to.  Plus they just love fun and know how to have a good time, so they will undoubtedly still have fun. 

And of course I received news recently that Miss Fun, Cassa Grant herself, has gotten a contract and will come down.  Her on top of lots of my other fun friends will be down, so I am not worried.  There is really so much to do down here even without things like the parties, shows, Maag, and craft stuff, that I know I will still be too busy and have trouble finding time to sleep!

Joint Spacecraft Operations Center and Night Castle Rock Hike

What have I been up to the past couple weeks?  Mainly doing a lot of work and hanging out with Jerod and Spring and the crew.

The other day I had sea-ice safety training.  The first half of the day is in the classroom and the secondhalf is supposed to be out in the field.  It was a frigid day (-50F windchill), but we loaded up into the Hagglund and headed out to the sea ice to test cracks.  However, when we got onto the sea ice, visibility dropped down to zero, so we turned around and will complete the class at a later day.

Yesterday the Crary staff got to tour the JSOC (Joint spacecraft operations center) building which is run by NASA.  It was kind of a privilege for us to take the tour.  First we took a tour of their building where they showed us all their big computers where they track and control all their satellites and then we went up on the hill above McMurdo to the "golfball" where a giant antennae is housed and got to tour it and see hot it tracks back and forth with the satellites to get the information from the different satellites.  Pretty cool stuff.

Today I called ING about setting up a 401k.  The lady on the other end was in Florida and had a very southern accent and she was just so stunned and so excited to be talking with someone in Antarctica.  She couldn't wait to go home and tell all her friends and family that she spoke with someone in Antarctica.  She told me she would send some of that Florida heat and humidity through the phone.  My favorite line of hers today.  "When would be the best time to call you.  It is currently 6pm here right now.  Is this normally a good time?"  "Well ma'am, actually it's Satruday and 10am here" "I'm sorry Mr. Guy, I don't understand you.  You said it's Saturday where you are at?  How can that be?"

Last night Jerod and I suited up and took a night walk up to castle rock.  It was pretty cold (below 0 and maybe -20F with windchill), but not too bad.  It was definitely cool to do this hike up on the snowfields in the dark.  It's not completely completely dark anymore.  During our hike there was a tiny bit of twilight out on the horizon.  So it won't be long until there is no more darkness or stars.  So we wanted to get out and experience that quietness, darkness, and solitude before it is gone.  Always fun to go on hikes with Jerod.

Tonight is a tour of rooms.  It's a show off your dorm room and serve a drink kind of thing.  You are just supposed to grab a cup and go on the tour.  Jerod and I decided we wanted to decorate our room for the occasion, so we are going with a mtn ski chalet theme.  We have skis and snowshoes and ice skates around our room and we cut out tons of paper snowflakes to hang.  We will be serving spiced mulled wine to go with the decor and feeling

Con 1 and brrr...

From: MCM-Chalet Admins Mailbox
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 4:59 PM
To: MCM-McMurdo All
Subject: Condition One may be approaching

Hello,

There is a good chance we will be going to Condition One in 30-60 minutes.  People are free to go home or to the galley from their work centers now.  Ropes will not be put up guiding people to the galley, so you may want to bring food back to your room now if that is where you decide to go, and you do not live in B155.

Kimber Beachy

Senior Administrative Coordinator for the Chalet

X2207

It's been really cold here lately.  We had about 5 consecutive days where the ambient temperature hovered around -20 to -25 F and the windchill at -50F.  The lowest I saw it go was -30F ambient with a windchill of -63F.  That's pretty dang cold.  If I take a shower and walk outside, my hair instantly freezes.  Abe and I went outside at one point on the coldest day and threw up a beaker of water and most of it turned to ice before it hit the ground!

On Sept 11, around 5pm, we got an alert on our pagers and email that they were going to be calling a condition 1, (you are not allowed to leave a building bc it is a complete whiteout and you can't stand in the wind) so to leave work early, get food, and head to your dorms.  I decided to instead stay in the big building 155 and get stranded there bc they have all the food, the internet access, and nice lounges for movies.  I figured that was a great place to be stranded.  I first ran to Crary (the science building) to get my headphones before they were going to call it. The wind was pretty ferocious.  I had some trouble standing up in it.  I got all set up to wait out the con 1 in 155, but in the end, it only lasted until 8 or 9 and then it went back to con 2 where you are allowed to walk around in the main town.  Con 3 is the fine weather where you can leave town and go on hikes and such.

9-13

The week or more long storm finally passed today.  It felt rather pleasant out without all the wind.  And today was the first time we saw the sun come up over the horizon!  The first day we needed sunglasses.  I got to spend the afternoon of this nice day (-8F, no wind) shoveling out our Ice Core Transit Facility.  It was nice to be outside for sure!

auroras

Aurora Australis! and brr...it's cold!

9-5-12

Around 10pm, I was all snuggled up warm in my bed, going through some photos on my laptop while finishing up a movie before we were to go to bed, when all of a sudden my phone rang.  It was Brenden who wintered over and who I knew from last year bc he used to play basketball with me on night shift.  He was also working on his masters in aeronautical engineering at CU and working for that group full of chinese guys from CU (weng tao, zhibin, and wangho) that I got along well with being that they were buffs fans and liked how I would practice my chinese with them.  Anyways, this was a case where being a buff fan, being good friends with the Chinese bc of my travels, and organizing nightshift basketball games really paid off.

So anyways, he calls me up and said to be outside my dorm in 10 minutes with my warm weather gear.  He and wangho picked me up in their truck and took me up to arrival heights.  Arrival heights is a place of particulary important scientific interest, so you are not allowed to go their without a permit, so really no one from town can go there, well except for shuttle drivers.  Shuttle drivers can go bc we needed to drive these researchers up to arrival heights.  Arrival heights is awesome bc it's the highest place you can go with a vehicle in McMurdo and it has stunning views.  The project up there is a LIDAR project with CIRES at the Univ. of Colorado.  Basically, they are studying the upper atmosphere with a huge powerful laser (if you put your hand by it, it would burn it off.  They demonstrated it with paper for me).  I had gotten the tour last year of the place by wengtao and Zhibin, but not while it was running.

So they drove me up to arrival heights and as soon as we left the lights of town, stretched out before us was an amazing dancing Aurora australis!  Up at arrival heights we stood outside and watched the aurora.  You can watch it move and dance and change intensity.  Sometimes it gets really strong, and other times it gets quite dim.

We then went inside and started up their laser.  They gave me a very in-depth tour.  Then while the laser was busy collecting data, we just hung out and talked and from time to time when we had warmed up, we would go outside to check out how the aurora had changed. 

There project is basically studing elemental composition of the upper atmosphere from roughtly 2km up to 200km (the start of outer space).  One of the things you can do when you are shooting off electrons at Iron molecules in the atmosphere is determine the temperature.  There are these thick layers of air way high up in the atmosphere that have a stable temperature--that is, they remain the same temperature year roun.  Something to do with air's density and particles in the air.  Well, this project at CU has been going on for over 30 years and one of the interesting side things they have discovered in their quest to study the composition of the upper atmosphere is that these layers of air have warmed nearly a degree ever several years.  Yet another huge sign of a global climate change.

It started to get late, and I had to work the next day (they stay up all night as this is the best time for their laser), so around 1am I had them take me down.  I had been sleeping for a couple hours when my pager went off around 3am.  It was Ildi (remember Ildi, the one who helped me get this job in Antarcitca last year?).  She's on nightshift right now, and when I called her back, she yelled into the phone, "check outside.  There's an aurora and it's F**king amazing."  So I walked out of my dorm in my boxers (it was about -15F) and checked it out, and it was amazing, and the reason I knew this was bc I could see it in town even with all the lights.  So I hurried and put on all my ECW (extreme cold weather) gear and head out to hut point.  I ran into Ildi halfway there as she was working by the old incinerator.  She had a huge smile on her face (as she always does) and gave me a big hug.  I then headed out to hut point where I could watch the aurora dance over McMurdo town and over the sea ice.

9-7
It got pretty cold today.  -24F with a windchill down to -51, but I was actually outside a lot today, well alot for me as a "lab rat".  I am signed up to be a volunteer hut guide for Scott's hut, and we had training today, which involved walking out to Hut Point and getting a tour and guide info session.

After that I had Delta refresher training.  Delta's are the huge wheeled passenger vehicles I drove last year.  I have also volunteered to be a driver for Rec trips.  Shuttle Queen "trained" me, though it was more like us just driving around for an hour talking since obviously I remembered how to drive them since it was my job last year.  It made me miss shuttles bc we drove up over the pass and down to scott base and the views of the royal society were just outstanding.  I miss driving around and seeing all the scenery.  It was so cold, even in the Delta that Queen's eyelashes got these cool frost and ice crystals on them.  It made her eyes look really cool.

This afternoon there was an absolutely gorgeous sunset/sunrise.  The sun now briefly rises in the afternoon, but stays near the horizon for a huge portion of the day, so we have a nearly day-long sunrise/sunset which is amazingly beautiful!

The Crary Lab job so far

9-2-12

So I thought I’d talk a bit about my new job (formely ASLO, Assistant Supervisor of Laboratory Operations and now ALO, Assistant of Laboratory Operations) and feelings about it after the 1^st week.

The first week was mainly training, and I have to admit it was stressful.  There is just tons of stuff we have to be doing, and it is overwhelming.  I am also the person in the lab who has been out of science the longest and the only without an advanced degree, so that is stressful being a bit behind them in terms of lab operations and science.  So this adds to my stress bc I want to prove myself and show I can do the job, not just good, but above and beyond. 

We definitely work hard and the full 10 (sometimes plus) hours per day.  Part of why this job has been a bit stressful and difficult is that I have been comparing it to shuttles last year.  This job definitely has some perks over shuttles: I work more directly with the researchers, I have access at all hours to the lab and it’s phones, fast computers, and private rooms which is nice in a place where computers and rooms with phones and privacy are limited.  I also getting a lot more money which is nice, and there is a good chance that I will get to go out to the Dry Valleys which has always been a dream of mine.  But the thing that I miss so far (after 1 week) was all the amazing fun and relaxed culture we had in shuttles.  Crary lab is definitely not a relaxed place and you have to be on top of it all the time.  In shuttles, you could act goofy all the time, except when driving.  Also, I will miss listening to music all the time like I could while driving.  And of course in shuttles, we actually had a lot of free time, which was nice.  Since we work 60 hour weeks, there is not tons of free-time.  And since nowadays we almost need to spend almost an hour each day just answering emails and all that, these things take away from that free time.  In crary lab I don’t have the chance to look at emails, pay my credit cards online, do birthday gift amazon shopping, read the news and espn.com, etc during work, so I must do this in my free-time.  In shuttles I always had time to do all that and more on the internet, so that was nice.  And another thing that I liked with shuttles was how there was 27 of us, and we were one big family.  It’s only week one, so we will see how the Crary family develops.  There are about 9 of us from IT to supply to haz chemicals working in Crary.

Perhaps the biggest thing I will miss though with shuttles was getting around the base, driving around outside, going on the long drive out to the airport looking at scenery the whole time, and having access of the vehicles to go look at cool things when they were reported.  In Crary, we spend most of our time in front of computers or in the lab.  The other day, there was some gorgeous light on the peaks as the sun was getting close to rising (still hasn’t risen yet!), so we got to go outside for 5 mins to take some pictures and look at the mountains.  It was cool and everyone in the lab was just so excited.  And at that moment, I was really missing shuttles bc I was thinking, “dang, in shuttles we were out driving around (with the option to stop), all the time.  Definitely in this job, I will hardly have anytime outside, it will only be during my own free-time recreation, whereas with shuttles, we were just always out in the beauty, looking at Erebus, the island, penguins, etc.  I mean there are chances with this job that if you didn’t make an effort on your free day, you may never see penguins. Actually shuttles was probably the only group last year where everyone in the work center saw penguins, and we saw them all the time.  Shuttles also had a super sweet schedule in that you had 2 days off, compared to 1 in crary, and the hours were very flexible.  So if you wanted to do something on base during your normal working hours, it was easy to switch around.  And lastly, with shuttles you were much more out in the community.  Driving all around it.  Picking up all sorts of people.  People knew who you were.  Everyone knew Shuttle Guy.  But people in Crary are much more of recluses.  Most people don't know workers in Crary.  I have no idea who the people were who had my job last year and neither does anyone, bc we are so confined to crary.  We do know all the grantees, but not the town population so much.  I hope for that to be different for me this year.  I love activities, so I hope I will still be out and I will make lots of friends.  I hope people will know who Science Guy is.

I would be lying for sure if I didn't say that I missed shuttles.  However, it is just the first week and the job will get easier, and I am excited to be trying and doing something different and to be working more closely with science.  Also it is nice hearing everyone congratulating me on my job, bc it is an impressive job on the base, and I would say that a lot of people are jealous.  So I guess I am lucky to have had two of the best jobs on the base

Today Jerod and I are going to go play some bball as it is our day off.  And this afternoon we are going to head off to castle rock to look at the full moon and hope that maybe we can see some auroras!

Winterfly in to Antarctica

8-27
We finally got the call to fly and the weather looked good.  We left ChristChurch in the afternoon and arrived at Pegasus field in Antarctica around 9pm.  The plane had to land using nightvision goggles as it was dark.  It was of course cold (about -25F with -50ish windchill) when we landed.  I immediately found shuttle Jerod and his Delta and hopped in for the hour + ride to MacTown.  One of the bonuses of being an ex shuttle driver is I got to sit up front with Jerod while everyone else was crammed in the back of the uncomfortable and cold delta passenger area where as I had a heater, leg room, and the company of Jerod.

My dear motherly figure Cindy stayed up late to welcome me (and Jeff) back to the Ice.  After such a long journey, it was so nice to have her there waiting for us.  She had wintered over and sadly is leaving in a couple of days back to Colorado (but she did leave me with some extra soft toilet paper and a reading lamp to which I am very appreciative!

After helping some people carry their heavy luggage and such, I headed to my new dorm.  Bc of a change in housing plans, I am in one of the nice dorms and only have one roommate, Jerod.  So that is a huge improvement over being in a small dorm with 3 other roommates who I wasn't particularly fond of.  We do have one issue right now and that's that our heater is broken, so our room was 42 degrees this morning and if we don't keep the door to our bathroom open, the water in the toilet bowl will freeze over.  But it's not a huge deal to me right now as I have my sleeping bag with me and plenty of warm clothes.  I would actually rather it be too cold than too hot like my dorm last year.  But soon they will fix the heat and I actually heard Jerod got a space heater for us from FEMC today (8-28).

8-28
First day on the job.  It was pretty stressful as there is so much to learn, so much to do, and I am the only one without an advanced degree in the office.  But I am hoping that I pick things up quickly.  This year I am working in the Crary lab, which is the big fancy laboratory here.  It's a big change from shuttles and has a lot more responsibility.  I have a pager I carry with me 24/7, special access key cards to get me into all the rooms in the lab at all hours, one of the fastest computers on the base, a huge office that my co-worker Abe and I share,  my own telephone, and things such as this.

It's been cool seeing Antarctica in darkness.  Though for about 6 hours each day, there is a sort of dawn to dusk.  The sun doesn't rise this time of year, but it gets close enough to rising that there is some light during the middle of the "day".

Stuck in ChristChurch

8-24

I was all ready and packed to fly out this morning.  I had a 10 o'clock pickup to the airport, but at 9, I got a call to stay where I was and that I would have another night at the hotel bc for some reason our flight had been delayed again.  I am on the 2nd winfly flight and the first one actually made it in yesterday while I was skiing.  Well actually I was on the 3rd winfly flight, but have been combined with the 2nd.

So today is just kind of a hang-out day.  There isn't too much to do in Christchurch especially since the city center is closed for demolition from the earthquake and it's winter so the beach isn't too appealing.  Probably just going to hang out in the afternoon and maybe watch some tv and do some computer work.

This morning I headed out towards the city center and the River Avon.  However, the city center itself is still completely closed off, so there's not tons to explore.  It's just really unbelievable how much damage the earthquake caused.  Right now I am accessing free wi fi at this new shopping area called the re: start mall, which is made entirely out of mill van containers (the kinds of containers you use to ship things on cargo ships and trains).

Unless I can do more skiing, I think I am kind of ready to get to the ice.  Well, only bc of one reason.  Everyday that goes by that I don't go, it gets 30 minutes of more light down there.  I really want to see Antarctica in the dark bc of the aurora australis and stars and such thing.  Other than that, though, I am quite happy and content to be hanging out in Christchuch.  Basically getting paid to be on vacation.  Just hanging around and relaxing with friends around.  And eating lots of good food on per diem.  Christchurch has an amazing amount of authentic carry out/dine in asian places from Malay to Thai to Indo to Indian to Egyptian, and I really enjoy eating those tasty foods as well as attempting to practice the few phrases from those countries I remember.  At my favorite thai takeout place the lady there is so cute and funny.  And everyday she asks if I am flying out tomorrow, and I say "yes" and she says, "well then I will see you tomorrow" and laughs her cute thai sing song laugh.  She tells me she sees 10 young american men a day and they all tell her they are leaving and then she always sees them again.

8-25

Got the call that we were cancelled again, so I headed over to Jeff's hotel to hang out with Jeff and Gavin.  We ended up going to some outdoor cafe place to get lunch and mulled winter wine and ended up staying for a while to drink beers and play bocci ball.  In the afternoon we walked around the botanical gardens and then I just grabbed some tasty thai takeaway food and watched movies in my room.

8-26

The flight was cancelled yet again.  Today I did more just hanging around the river Avon and outdoor mall with the wireless and watched some movies in my room

(S)kiwi...August Powder Day!

8-23

So bc we had a day off due to the cancelled flights, I decided to go hit up some skiing in NZ.  I have always wanted to ski in NZ and had actually hoped for this delayed flight opportunity.  So it was definitely a dream come true.

To save time bc internet is expensive here and time in a foreign country is always valuable, I am just going to paste in an email to my brother that I wrote about the skiing and it covers basically what I would have written anyways.

Hey Bro,

My flight was cancelled yesterday to Antarctica so I got to head up for some NZ skiing! I took a shuttle at the crack of dawn up to Mt. Hutt.  It was a lot of fun, and I think you would have really liked it.  It was a Colorado bluebird day, but they had gotten a lot of snow the previous week including about 7 inches overnight, so it was a powder day.  They had a huge base, at a bit over 2 meters bc this August they have had double the amount of rainfall in Christchurch than is the average.  So there was excellent coverage.  The snow was a bit sun crusted in the morning on the north facing slopes (but it is the equivalent of late February here and low elevation compared to what we are used to in the Rockies) so that it felt like april skiing in the back bowls of Vail, but the south facing slopes were sweetness with fresh tracks all day.  The mountain was pretty cool bc although there were only 4 lifts and 1 shuttle, it was set up nice so that there was tons of terrain access and it skied much bigger than you would think with that many lifts.  The other thing was that it was entirely above tree-line as the tree line in NZ with its southern latitude is quite low, so in effect, the whole ski area was like a giant bowl and everything could be skied.  The terrain was quite nice with lots of good steep stuff and some good cliffs (which I avoided bc I did not want to risk injury right before Antarctica).  They had lots of backcountry access gates and the alpine touring options were endless and some of the lines I could see that you could ski would be epic.  So much snow that all the peaks had good coverage and huge lines.  There were even some people out doing some heli-skiing.  The views from the top off in the distance were amazing and you could even see some of the huge glaciated peaks including Mt. Cook (NZ’s highest).  One of the other cool things is that the mountains are so steep that they drop straight down to sea level.  So from the mountain if you looked straight down the snow disappeared into bright green fields (of course filled with sheep) and you could even see the ocean in the distance.  It created a cool contrast: the green and the white and the blue sky.  But seriously, the mountains just looked really gnarly and full of coverage for some backcountry skiing that you would absolutely love.  Oh, and several of the kiwis were skiing in costumes although it wasn’t even a special day.

It was nice bc since it was a weekday and the mountain had a lot of terrain and steep terrain that people stayed of off, I got fresh tracks all day.  And they opened up these really cool backside chutes that hadn’t been opened in a while that I lapped quite a bit.  They ended up going lower than the base area, but you could grab a shuttle bus that went by every 15 minutes back up to the base.

I don’t think that the skiing can compare with Colorado skiing bc our snow is better and we have more varied terrain, but it was still pretty awesome.  I imagine though that there are a lot of days with nasty weather and with terrible visibility especially since there are no trees for wind protection or contrast.

And I did a total guy bros ski day.  I had to catch the shuttle at 630 in the morning as it was a 1 and a half hour drive to the ski resort (did you know that Christchurch has 18 ski areas within a 3 hour drive of the city, but this one was one of the biggest and with the best snow this year).  At that time in the morning there was no food available so all I had was a nature valley bar I found in my ski jacket.  Bc the ticket and rentals were expensive, I was using the money I get for per diem on that and not on the expensive food at the resort, so I skied non-stop without a break (partly bc of the powder day) for lunch since the food was expensive.  And btw, New Zealand doesn’t even give out free crackers and hot sauce.  Just small cups of water.  I of course skied until the last run and didn’t get back to Christchurch for dinner until after 7.  I wish I could have found a panda buffet but instead got a big thing of noodles at a malay/Singaporean restaurant and then got a 2^nd meal at a thai takeaway place and finished with dessert and attempted internet for a mcsesh at mcdonalds’.  (btw, mcdonalds’s in NZ has a Lamb Burger and for breakfast as this thing called the kiwi mcbreckie which is a mcmuffin with egg, bacon, sausage, rosti (like hashbrowns), ham, tomato, and cheese…puts the American caloric breakfast to shame!)

I’ll send some pictures of the skiing your way at somepoint.  Hope the 24 hour race goes well.  Are you enjoying the pro cycling challenge?

Love ya,

Bro

8-19 to 8-21

Happy Birthday Bro!

Flew from Denver to LAX where I met up with good friend Jeff, who had just asked Steph to marry him earlier that week.  So we went out for a beer to celebrate.

The 15 hour flight from LA to Melbourne was actually pretty nice.  It was on one of those new huge double decker planes with Quantas.  Good service, good food, free alcohol, and over 180 movies to choose from on the personal screen.

Met up with co-worker Gabe in Melbourne and we hung out until our flight to Christchuch.  New Zealand was pretty much socked in by clouds, but a few of the bigger peaks and their glaciers stuck up above the clouds and were gorgeous.  All the Ice people (due to American Airlines) had their bags lost, so hopefully we will get them tomorrow

Bc of bad weather in Antarctica, the flight today down there had boomeranged (flown all the way there but returned without landing bc of safety).  A boomerang flight kind of sucks bc it means you are on the plane for 9 hours.  9 hours on a commercial intl flight isn't too bad bc you have food and drinks and movies.  But on a military plane you don't have seats that recline, don't have much food, are wearing earplugs bc of the noise, don't have windows.  Also heard that on the first boomerang flight the toilets got filled up on the way there so coming back no one could pee unless you had brought a pee bottle with you!  So not very nice.  Bc of the boomerang, the people that were supposed to be in ANtarctica today are still in christchurch so I got moved to a different hotel.  It's very nice.  3 rooms!  Free wifi and hot tub.  And the lady at the front desk was so sweet.  She gave me a big bottle of "trim" milk, which made my day and bc I didn't have my bag, I asked her if she had toothpaste and toothbrush from the hotel.  The hotel didn't but she told me her partner had recently flown on Emirates and hadn't used the toothbrush and toothpaste so she gave me that.  She also gave me an adapter as Elisha still has mine.  I headed out on the town to get some fish and chips tonight as well.

8-22 Went through orientation and safety and all that.  Felt like a returning year at college.  A bit nervous but then seeing all your old friends again made you all excited and happy.  Hung out with Jeff after the orientation and worked on booking a ski trip.  Then went out to some famous Christchurch bar at night with Abe, Jeff, and Gavin

Hanging out in Colorado and getting ready for Antarctica

My 3 weeks or so in Colorado were very busy seeing family and getting ready for Antarctica and of course watching the Olympics.  I had to do all my medical and dental physical qualifications.  I had to spend a week down in Aurora doing lab safety and radio-isotope training for Lockheed for my new lab position.  I stayed down at the red lion and enjoyed eating fancy food courtesy of Lockheed.  Down in Denver I got to hang out with Sharona, my previous boss, and Steph the postmistress from Antarctica.  I also of course met my new boss Bev (who qualified for the 2008 Olympic trials in the backstroke) as well as fellow lab assistant Abe who is a PhD student at Vanderbilt studying Volcanoes in Iceland.  After my training, Elisha visited for a few days where we did some hikes in the Park and bikes in Boulder.

It was then off to Leadville and Buena Vista with my mom to watch my brother race in the Leadville 100 mtn bike race.  We enjoyed the hot springs of Cottonwood and had tons of fun rooting bro on.  Zach and I then spent a day biking in Leadville before heading over Independence pass to ski Kaitlyn Archambault, watch the Campaign, and do some biking in Aspen.  I then had a day in the valley with my mom doing some shopping and getting the rockie's taco bell specials, and then I had a couple days to pack, which leads me to today...8-19

8-19
A shuttle will pick me up at my house this afternoon.  I fly to LA, then to Melbourne, and then to Christchurch where I have orientation training and gear issue for a day before heading off on a flight to McMurdo station in Antarctica.

Trying to get home

7-24

I had an afternoon flight from Cusco to Lima, so I had one last tasty Peruvian almuerzo in Cusco.  I also did some last minute souvenir shopping.  I arrived into Lima around 3pm and had to wait until my midnight flight in the airport.  Around 11pm, they came on saying that the plane was delayed for mechanical and security reasons.  So we sat there and sat there and sat there.  Around 2am they brought out sandwiches and soft drinks.  Eventually around 4am, they cancelled the flight.  As this was a Lima to Houston flight, it was mostly Americans, and boy oh boy, after they cancelled the flight the uproar was crazy.  And then when United representatives asked for our passports so that they could cancel our departure stamp so we could enter back into Peru (the customs people didn't want a huge plane-full of people going back through so we were supposed to give our passports to United people) there was another huge outcry as people did not want to give up their passports...c'mon people, like United agents at a big int'l airport are going to run off with your passport.  Almost everyone was so pissed off.  It was actually kind of funny (and embarassing) for me.  Apparently these people had not had the same kind of tour through Peru and South America as me.  To me this wasn't too big a thing.  Just another small bump in travel.  So after we got our passports back we headed retrieved our luggage and then headed back to the check in places to get re-booked for tomorrow.  We then boarded a bus that would take us to the very fancy Sheraton.  I definitely wasn't complaining.  I was going to get a night at a fancy hotel with a bunch of fancy meals.  I was actually excited, just another part of the travel experience.
On the bus I met one of the coolest families ever.  Paul and Kristen and their two daughters Perrin and Eva.  They live in Denver, but they are all Ski Patrol at Winter Park, the two girls being Junior Ski Patrol.  Eva will be a junior at I think Denver East HS and Perrin a freshman at Lawrence College in Wisconsin.  They seriously were such an awesome family.  Both parents were so nice and fun and the girls were best friends and so sweet.  There relationship reminded me of my relationship with my Bro. 

By the time we checked into the hotel and sent off emails letting our loved ones know that they shouldn't pick us up at the airport, it was 7am and time for breakfast.  So my new family and I (they quickly adopted me into their family) had a great breakfast at the big and fancy breakfast buffet.  We then headed off to our suites to take a nap.

We reconvened for lunch which was another buffet with an amazing spread of food, including some ridiculously tasty salmon.  After lunch, we took showers, cleaned up and hit the town.  The family had actually had a quick tour of Lima the day before since we had the late flight, so they toured me around a bit on foot.  I was actually surprised at how interesting the city was.  Lima gets a pretty bad rap, but the architecture was cool and the city was definitely alive.  They showed me the main squares and then we went to the oldest bar and coffee shop in Lima where Paul bought us all espressos.  We then rushed back to the hotel to catch the bus back to the airport.

At the airport the family and i had a big meal at the food court courtesy of United.  Our flight was scheduled to leave at 12am, but it was delayed and we left around 2am, but I was still able to make my connecting flight to Denver.  The family was on a later flight, so I had to say a very sad goodbye to them in Houston, though we have kept in touch via email, and I figure I will see them again. 

I was so excited to see mom waiting for me at DIA.  One of the hardest parts about traveling is being away from my family, especially mom.  She took me out to a nice lunch at an italian place, bought me some cocktails and then we headed to Longmont for me to do my drug test for Antarctica.

Then I finally arrived up to Estes Park, which was as beautiful as ever.  I immediately saw how close the fire had come to our house, which was amazing.

Cavorting in Cusco

7-22

Met up in the plaza with the crew from Salkantay: Jenna, Kevin, Maria, and Sophia.  After the long trek, we decided to go out and get massages.  Massages, though not as cheap as in Asia, were still incredibly cheap.  1 hour was 4 bucks.  We then kind of hung around and walked around Cusco before heading to an Irish pub for happy hour drinks.  After happy hour, we headed out for a very nice meal, in which the Danish girls shared a Cuy (guinea pig) which was indeed better tasting than the Cuy than Felipe and I had shared.

After dinner we headed out to another Irish pub where we had lots of drinks including pisco sours.  Surprisingly none of the Europeans had heard of the Irish Car Bomb dropshots, so I bought a round for everyone.  After we had been at this pub for a while, we headed out to a cool club where we danced until nearly dawn.  It was awesome dancing and included us dancing on top of the bar for quite some time.

7-23

Most of the group was hungover, so we took it slow.  Kevin was maybe the most hungover and he had also lost his phone, wallet, and all his money.  He thought that maybe he was drugged, so he had to stay in Cusco and go to the police to deal with that so he could get help from his travel insurance.  So Maria, Sophia, Jenna, and I headed out and took a bus to Pisaq to visit the fortress and ruins of Pisaq high up on a mountain.  After exploring the ruins we took a bus back to Cusco and had a very tasty last meal together. 

Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu and eating Cuy!

7-17 Day 1

Got picked up by my guide at 4am for the bus ride to Mollepata (2900m/9515ft) where we had breakfast.  I met the people in the group (5 friends from Israel, a couple from Denmark, 2 friends from Denmark, 2 friends from Switzerland, A couple from Brazil, two cousins from Brazil (though one goes to Middlebury college in Vermont), A dad and daughter from Brazil, a guy from Santiago, 2 friends from Spain, 1 gal from the UK, and me as well as our two guides Bernie and Ruso.)

We hiked along scenic farmland and above a deep valley on our way to our first camp at Soraypampa (3910m/12,825ft)  About half way into the hike we came into view of a huge and gorgeous snow-covered peak that we continued to hike towards as we went up a valley.  As we got nearer to the camp I could see the giant mountain of Salkantay (6264m/20545ft)  I was the first one to the camp and the only one fast enough to continue up past the camp to see a couple of gorgeous turquoise lakes at the foot of a glacial moraine and at the snowline beneath a big snowcapped peak. 

I got back down to the camp just as it was getting dark.  In the dining tent our group was having "happy hour" which we would have everyday.  It included tea, popcorn, and crackers.

I was partnered with Felipe, a student from Santiago to be tentmates.  We were immediately best roomies and friends.  He had ski bummed a year in Deer Valley, UT and just had a lot in common.  He was hilarious and we just really bonded.  The next morning everyone joked about all the pillow talk they heard coming from our tent.

7-18  Day 2

We were woken up in our tents at the crack of dawn and given coca tea.  We then proceeded to walk up and up towards Salkantay and Salkantay pass.  When we reached the pass (4650m/15252ft) we of course had great views of Salktantay as well as down two valleys and other mountains around.  We stayed up on the pass for a while, watching a condor and witnessing an avalanche.  We then headed steeply down into the mist and had a nice lunch in a big grassy field by a rushing creek.  We then descended on a cool trail into the jungle and into a jungle canyon with a river below us.  Along the way we saw lots of orchids and other flowers.  We made camp at Chaullay (2915m/9560ft)

7-19  Day 3

Continued hiking down.  Went past some nice waterfalls and continued through the jungle where I found lots of wild strawberries to munch on.  We then hiked past some banana, avocado, and passion fruit plantations.  I of course enjoyed the lots of fresh fruit.  Just a bit after midday, we arrived in the small village of Santa Theresa (1930m/6330ft).  At lunch there was some drama because the Israelis had apparently gotten onto the wrong tour.  They had booked a 4 day trek and ours was 5 days.  They wanted to stay with us for 5 days but the guide Bernie had arranged for a car to come pick them up and take them to Aguas Calientes.  They had wanted to stay with us longer and I dont know all that went down, but there was definitely lots of yelling on the parts of the Israelis and anger and all that.  I didnt really want to get involved so I didnt know all the specifics, but they claimed that he lied and he owed them another day and such and such.  Well, regardless, they were shipped off and our group became much smaller (and quieter).  After lunch, headed to some hot springs for a long swim at some amazing hotspring pools along the river.  When dark descended, we headed back up to the camp, had dinner, and then got the party started.  At first it was just some beers and dancing, but then Felipe and I headed into town and bought 3 fifths of pisco to make piscola and pis7up.  By this time in the night it was just Felipe, Jenna (from Swizterland), Roberto and Anne (from denmark who we called our parents...mom and dad or our "iron parents" since they did ironmans), and also Sophi from Denmark.  At first Felipe and I were pouring Pisco strength to what we called Ironman, which was 1/4 of the cup, but then we quickly changed the pours to Salktantay strength, which was 1/2 of the glass, and finally we moved up to Pachamama (the mother earth god of the Incas) pours which was all Pisco with just a splash of coke or 7up.  As one could imagine, it wasnt long before Special Ted came out and he was initiating honest time with everyone, which of course everyone loved and told me how awesome it was the next day.  We stayed out partying late until the night until it was about 3am when special ted found a bike and went riding around.  Eventually Felipe went to bed and Jenna and I ran down into the town to see if there was anything going on. There wasn't, so I climbed a papaya tree from some papaya and then went to bed. 
The whole trip Felipe had been trying to trade me for the air mattress I was carrying.  The company provided for us these dinky mattresses that were carried on horses (along with our food, tent, and sleeping bags), but I was also carrying my nice air mattress.  He was offering me things like a liter of beer or his reeces peanut butter cup.  But it was too nice, so I wouldnt trade him.  When I got back to my tent I searched in vain for my air mattress and then I felt around and noticed the Felipe was sleeping on by air mattress and both our dinky mattresses.  So I had to sleep just on the ground.  Turns out nice ole loving special ted had given away his mattresses (and jacket) to Felipe for the night. 

7-20  Day 4

Walked from Santa Teresa to Hirdoelectrica.  From Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes (2050m/6725ft) was a 3 hour walk along the train tracks, Stand by Me style.  A lot of people were feeling hung over but Felipe, Ironmom, and Irondad, and myself were all still feeling good, and we had a lot of fun walking along the traintracks which were in a cool, deep canyon with a rushing river going by.  We were singing songs and dreaming out loud of eating Cuy (cuy cuy cuy cuy in a high voice), aka guinea pig.  About 1/2 way on the traintrack walk we got some views up the canyon at Machu Picchu itself.

7-21  Day 5

The night before Filipe and I had found a stuffed animal Cuy that looked extremely and took a picture of him petting it.  On this morning when we gathered at 4 in the morning, we showed everyone the picture and told them we had bought a cuy and had it in our dorm bathroom and were going to cook it when we got back.  We told them its name was Jorge, and everyone believed us and the whole day at Machu Picchu they were excitedly talking about how we would manage to kill our new pet to roast on the bbq. 

Anyways, at 4am we started the hike up to the mountaintop ruins of Machu Picchu and up to the Sun Gate (2750m/9020ft) to watch the sun rise.  Machu Picchu is of course spectacular.  It was my 2nd time visiting the great Incan site, but still definitely worth it.  It is impossible to describe this stunning area of ruins that sits up in the green mountains, one of which looks just like the face of an Inca, and with white snow-capped peaks around, so I will just let you imagine it or look at pictures.  We had a 2 hour tour and then, Maria and Sophie (Denmark), Filipe, Jenna and Kevin (Switzerland), and I explored the ruins by ourselves.  Mom and Dad had tickets to go up Wayna Picchu, so we had to give them a sad goobye.  We had fun taking photos all around the ruins with Cuy faces.

After exploring the ruins and relaxing in the grass of the terraces for a while, we headed back down the steep trail to Aguas Calientes.  Felipe and I were starving so we took the group out to an American style buffet where we most definitely got our money's worth. 

It turns out a lot of people in our group had problems with their train tickets with the companies they had booked with.  Many just didnt have ticket back home.  This was a problem for 4 of the Brazilians who had airplane tickets back to Brazil the next day.  As the only way in and out of Aguas Calientes is via hiking or train, they were forced to walk in the night for 3 hours on the train tracks to get to a place they could take a private car to a place where they could take a bus that would get them to Cusco.  Luckily for me, it was easy and I had my ticket that took me to Ollantaytambo and then a bus onto Cusco.

I arrived in to Cusco around 9pm and waited until 1230 when Felipe's train arrived.  We had been talking about Cuy (guinea pig) all trek, so we headed out and ordered some Cuy.  Hmmm...it just wasnt tasty.  It was kind of gross actually.  And what made it worse is they just bring the whole roasted thing out, head, feet, and all.  So you are looking at its eyes and teeth as you eat.  There is also some possibility that it was rat as opposed to guinea pig, as there is no way to really guarantee you are getting guinea pig when in Peru.

After our Cuy "feast" (there is hardly much meat on it and we couldn't even finish that) we wanted to get something to get the taste out of our mouth.  There is not much open at 2am, so we figured we could get some icecream at McDonalds or KFC, but both places had turned off their icecream machines.  We looked at the meal options and our stomachs just turned seeing all the meat on the menu.  As felipe said, "I think I am going to be a vegetarian for the next month" 
After that we had to say a sad goodbye as he was heading to Puno, but we decided we would meet up for skiing in the States or traveling some other time together.

Mystical, Magical Cuzco

7-15

Bus from Puno to Cusco.  Nice scenery along the way including some fancy dancing for Sunday festivals in villages along the way and a big wool market.

7-16
Do some paperwork for Lockheed and then exploe Cusco.  I have been to Cusco before with my parents, but we never really had a full day in Cusco bc we did the Inca trek, went to the amazon and our 2 free days in Cusco bro and I went mtn biking (by some ruins and salt mines) one day and paragliding another day over the sacred valley.
So it was nice to explore Cusco today.  Definitely a different experience being here on a budget on my own as compared to an American vacation with my parents.  Cusco is now full of tourists and it is crazy how many American accents I hear out there.  You hardly meet americans while traveling but they are all over here.
Cusco is a cool city.  It is the longest inhabited city in South America.  The city has cool architecture in that there is spanish colonial buildings built on top of incan rock foundations.  The streets are all cobblestone and very narrow.  As it is a city built in a valley surrounded by hills, the streets are often steep and often completely made of stairs.  Lots of the streets are pedestrian only bc they are either too narrow or steep.  They also have some very impressive large churches and fancy plazas.
I did a lot of walking around the cool narrow, cobbled streets.  I visited several churches and plazas.  Also visited some markets.  I hiked up out of the valley for some good views of cusco and the one big glaciated peak you can see in the distance.

Tomorrow I leave at 4am for my trek to Salktantay and Machu Picchu

Floating Islands of Lake Titicaca

7-13

Took a boat to the floating islands of Uros, and visited 2 of the islands.  The people that live on these islands gather these huge chuncks of these floating soil type things.  They carve them into blocks, tie them together and then put reeds on top of them.  When they do this, they created a floating island, and one that can last for 25 years or more.  Their entire community from houses to kitchens to little gardens are on the floating islands.  They mainly eat eggs collected from water birds, the waterbirds themselves, fish they farm in the middle of the islands, and the root part of reeds.  Must be a crazy life to live on a floating island.  We met the president of one of the islands we visited and she showed us around.  We then took a ride on what they call their mercedes benz boat, which is a fancy paddled boat used mainly for weddings (and tourists).  I then took a boat to the non-floating island of Tequille.  Had a fresh trout lunch there with the group, and then they and all the rest of the tours took off.  I had a homestay there, so I was going to be staying over night, and as soon as the tours all left at 2, I was the only person of non-incan descent on the island.

The family I stayed with was SO incredibly nice.  It was a guy named Celso and his girlfriend and their 5 year-old son.  Celso took me out to some pre-incan ruins and told me all about the island.  I then took a hike up to the highest point on the island, pachamama where I checked out some more ruins and watched the sunset over lake titicaca (the highest navigable lake in the world at 3812m(12,500ft)).  From the island you could see Bolivia and Bolivia's Cordillera Real where I had climbed Huayna Potosi.

The island is heavily terraced for agriculture with a lot of pre-incan terracing.  It is very quiet and peaceful because there are no cars or roads (just stone paths), no dogs, no generators, and no electricity.  The people here live on about 8 usd per month, but this is not bc they are completely poor but bc they grow everything that they need and trade for the rest.  The island is famous for its knitters and weavers.  The men knit and women weave.  The men are always walking around with their knitting project around their neck as they knit and women rolling up spools of yarn.  They wear distinct clothes on the island with the men looking like they are a mix between spanish bullfighting and what a waiter would wear at a very fancy arabic restaurant.  They also wear knitted hats that are famous.  If the hat is all red, it means the man is married.  If the it is red on top and white on the bottom, he is single.  They don't wear rings here, just the hats.  The hat looks a lot like a Santa hat in shape and size, except the ball at the end is usually very multicolored

I had a tasty dinner (by candlelight of course since there was no electricity) at the homestay and worked on a puzzle with their little guy.  Had tea from this awesome plant that smells and tastes so much like a very strong mint, but it doesnt look like it is in the mint family at all.  It was nice to have the island all to myself (in terms of tourists as it gets crazy packed from 12 to 2 when the packaged tourists come) with just the villagers going about their daily life in much the same way they have been for a long, long time.

7-14
In the morning I hiked to the other side of the island to a nice golden beach.  Only one there of course.  I went for a nice cold swim in Lake Titicaca, but it was refreshing as the sun was hot and warm when I got out.  Had another fantastic trout lunch before taking a boat back to Puno.

Back in Puno I visited the main Plazas and churches before it got dark and then had some tasty food: cow heart, cow intestine, peruvian chinese, cactus fruit, pizza and icecream.  All so cheap and all so tasty!

More Canyon Country

7-11



Took the bus to Yanque which was also along the canyon, but higher up where it wasnt so deep. I hung out in the chill square for a little bit and had lunch from a lady that made her soup and chicken right in a little cart there. I then did a cool loop hike.  First visited some pre-incan terraces along the canyon.  I then crossed a cool suspension bridge and then up a hill to the pre-incan ruins of Oyu Oyu.  I finished up at some hotsprings.  I made a little mistake with the hotsprings, but a good one.  The owner of my guesthouse had told me there were hotsprings near the end of the loop i could bathe in.  Yanque was another one of those towns where I was the only gringo sleeping there, but there were tour groups stopping to see the plaza and impressive church. 
As I started descending from the ruins, i saw a bunch of tourist vans down in this one portion of the canyon and i figured it must be the hotsprings.  When i got down, i saw that it was a very fancy, fancy spa resort.  THe fanciest I had seen in South America.  Complete with massage tables, fancy buildings and several hot springs pools along the river.  It reminded me a little bit of times i had snuck into fancy resorts in SE Asia.  I asked the bartender by the hotspring pools how much it cost to bathe there.  And he looked surprised, and said, oh you aren`t staying here?.  And he just waved his hand and said he didnt care.  Enjoy.  So i got to enjoy these really plush hot springs.  There were a bunch of rich package tourists there and it was interesting to talk with them and see how they viewed Peru and these villages from the comfort of their fancy private transports and fancy vans.  They told me they couldnt believe how expensive food was in peru.  This made me laugh bc I was regularly eating 3 course meals (meat soup,  the meat with rice and potatoes and veg and then tea or pastry) for 2 bucks.  they dont take those tourists to the same restaurants. 

From this point on i have been running into many more people on fancy private type tours or families on high budget tours.  Mostly french and Americans.  I guess its that summer vacation seasons.  It is so weird to see families and gringo children out on the streets now.  Compared to Bolivia which is a big backpacker place, peru is much more geared to package tours and much more guides speaking english.

7-12
Took a minivan to Chivay.  There was an amazing market there and I went to town on the food.  Yanque was so small that there was only one place to eat...the lady with the cart in the plaza, and it was her tasty quinoa soup and chicken with rice, but for all 3 of my meals breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  So I was excited to get some other food.  Mowed down on cactus fruits, alpaca kebabs, alpaca steaks, corn rellenos, and icecream.  They had this crazy soup that had an entire llama head in it.  i wanted to try it but i wasnt exactly sure all the parts of the head you could eat...like eyes and brain and such.  The next place I wanted to go to was Puno on lake titicaca.  The only way to go direct without having to go all the way back to Arequipa was to take a fancy tour bus with an english speaking guide.  It was a bit expensive for my taste (some of the people from the hotsprings were there) but it was nice to stop at some places such as some lakes and spots with nice volcanic viewpoints.  We went over a 4800m (15,745ft) pass and then eventually arrived at Puno (3808m/12,490ft) along the shores of Lake Titicaca.  I got to work right away sending lockheed some scanned signature things now that I was in a city with more technology and then I had some tasty alpaca kebabs and pizza.  Yum!