On the Move

Hello everyone,

The last month has been a crazy whirlwind of movement. After more or less settling down in Boston and establishing a rhythm, I have been bouncing around all over for the past month and feeling always a little out of sorts which has been a really interesting change of pace. Also, after solidifying a community of people who are more or less in a similar place in life while in Boston, I have encountered friend and met new folks who are in very different places in their lives. the biggest shift was when I started traveling with my sister, and then my family a few days ago. I am excited to settle in Quito for a little bit and try to develop a bit of a sense of place again.

Traveling the US
My travels in the US were strange because I found myself straddling two travel philosophies and putting me in a place I'd never been in before. On the one hand were the typical tourist energies that are needed for short visits to big places, and on the other, my general philosophy of moving slowly and feeling at ease. The general result was that I didn't see nearly as much as one may have expected me to. In Philly I spent large amount of time lounging out at the house. In Baltimore I went on walks and did a lot of reading. In DC I also spent a lot of time inside, and in Chapel Hill I watched several episodes of "Better Off Ted" in a row. I did see some main attraction, But in the end I spent most of my exploring time either at occupations or in bookstores. I absolutely love bookstores and I was looking for some specific books. And the occupations continued to draw me and fascinate me. I had a difficult time connecting in Occupy Philly, Occupy Baltimore, or  Occupy Chapel Hill. I didn't have much time in Occupy Miami (although some random man came up to me and talked for 15-20 mins about the alien conspiracy that the government is covering up). I had an awesome experience in Occupy DC though. I really enjoyed the camp and hung out there for an hour or so. Finally I decided I should volunteer and falling back on what I know, I walked into the kitchen and asked if I could help. They were short staffed so I jumped right in cooking and later serving. Not surprisingly, they have their fair share of interesting characters, but it was one of my first sense of really reconnecting with a group since leaving Boston, however brief it was. It felt really good to know that I had this group to turn to wherever I went.
If you would like so see some pictures from the occupations, you can check them out here:
Picasa: https://picasaweb.google.com/109919356111055367898/Occupations?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCOSs04ionf2zfg&feat=directlink
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.542516625268.2034988.9701799&type=1&l=2f617c469e

Many Possible Lifestyles
One of the really interesting things about traveling around outside of Boston was seeing all the directions my various friends have gone in and seeing what they base their lives around. I think it was so revealing because seeing what I was not doing put into relief a little bit what it is that I am doing. I spent time with friends that are leaving school to go work on a farm; that trade corporate bonds; that are living alone or almost alone with a longer term boyfriend, girlfriend, or wife; that are making big permanent purchases; that drink wine every night; that watch reality TV; and that do all sorts of other things that simply doesn't fit into the way my life is looking right now. That is not to say many of them are not also unsure of the near future, or trying to figure out where to go next. It was so strange though to see people my age living life in such a different way and from such a different standpoint. One particular example that stood out to me was when I was a talking to a friend who was fairly put-off by the idea of dumpster diving. I definitely don't expect all of my friends to go dumpster diving, but even four years ago when I first met some folks who made full meals from the dumpster I was very intrigued and wanted to go myself. I guess was was so interesting for me were not the actions but rather the perspectives and attitudes toward different lifestyles. And again, what I found even more fascinating than my friends perspectives on these various lifestyles was how seeing these different reactions helped me recognize my own biases. Being exposed once again to tidy and neat homes with nice furniture and store quality food made em recognize how much at this point in my life I want to be in the middle of a mess with mismatched furniture pulled off of the street eating food that has been reclaimed from somewhere.

I any case, it was a lot of fun to see a lot of old friends that I hadn't spent time with in a long while. One of them I hadn't see in about seven years. I also experienced a lot of amazing generosity form my friends who hosted me and often fed me. And I have profound respect for the different life paths they are all taking and appreciate that I have friends who are taking different paths if for no other reason than just because it helps me to recognize my own.

Leaving the Country
The last leg of the journey from Chapel Hill to Lima was a crazy and long journey. I took a 22 hour train which dropped me off in Miami. I went over to Occupy Miami long enough to realize I did not was to spend the night there and to be lectured about impending alien take over (or perhaps they have already taken over, I didn't pay too much attention). So I went to sleep at the airport, which does not have comfortable seats for sleeping, but has a whole small community that spent the night there (some of which I don't think had a flight the next day). There were obnoxious announcements and music and bright lights all night long, so I spent a good amount of time playing different solitaire games and reading, but a mix of good camping gear and a lot of experience sleeping in public spaces allowed me a fe good hours of sleep. The next evening I got on the very delayed flight to Mexico City where at 1am I caught the flight to Lima. Coming out of the airport, I immediately recognized some of what I will have to put up with while in Latin America. I was barraged with taxi drivers, asking me in English where I wanted to go. My couchsurfing host warned me that taking the bus was very difficult, but I was stubborn and had plenty of time. So I found my way to a street corner by 9am where people told me the buses come, and even recruited an older man to help me identify which bus I needed to get on. Ir appeared I picked peak rush hour time though, because all of the buses had people hanging out of them and no one was going to be patient with a confused gringo with a giant back pack. I had to wait an hour and a half until rush hour died down enough so that I could squeeze onto a bus. an hour later I got off at an intersection that was close to where I needed to go but I still didn't have a good map in my head (and none in my hand) so I had to ask a few people and catch another bus to get close enough so I could find my couch host's house. Finally at around noon after about 64 hours of travel, and after getting charged for my back pack on the bus and getting rear ended while on the bus (not all that exciting, everyone got off to see what happened, then got back on and we left), I had finally arrived in Lima.

My couch host was a photographer who grew up in Colombia, spent a lot of time in Italy, and was in Lima to do some projects he had received a scholarship for. He was very chill, although we didn't have that much to say to each other. I ended up spending more time with one of his housemates, a Chilean student studying abroad in Lima. He hosts all the time, hardly ever refusing anyone, and so when I got there I discovered I would be sleeping in someone's room who was away traveling, because the living room was reserved for a Russian couple ho would be couch surfing. It turned out the person came back sooner then expected, but everyone was extremely chill and somehow there was no problem with me keeping the room (actually an alcove off of the dining room separated by a screen) for the rest of my stay. I enjoyed simply walking around Lima, trying different foods and soaking in the smells, the sights, and the Spanish. The Spanish by the way, came back extremely fast. I think my German and especially my Chinese have suffered a bit in the process, and even after I was speaking fine I would still say "bu" (no in Chinese) a few times if someone misunderstood something I said, but overall things have been great linguistically. The best part in Lima though was meeting up with my friend De, who I met while traveling in China. She lives and works in Lima now and apparently had a day off because of a holiday so she took the whole day and evening before to hang out with me and show me around, as well as tell me all about Lima and Peru history. Not only was this an awesome experience which allowed me to see and learn about many sides of Lima that I would have never had access to otherwise, I also just really enjoyed hearing about her life. Her and her friend who she was traveling with recently opened a small business for the main purpose of employing traditional unskilled workers and but treating them properly. They actually earn substantially less than their workers do, and she was in Lima to work to pay off debts for the business. The whole thought process of how they works through things and the challenges they have been facing was fascinating to listen to.

After a few days in Lima I took a much dreaded 21 hour bus ride to Cusco, which goes through such intense curves that everyone gets a bag before we started taking them. I luckily managed to sleep through most of it so I did not get sick. The bus also had some high quality movies (all dubbed in Spanish, even the really low quality Chinese kids films and Hollywood crap.) I arrived in Cusco feeling less than stellar mixing in the long ride, the beginnings of traveler's food issues, and feeling that 3300 meters of elevation. I mostly laid low in Cusco the first few days, although there was a big festival for some patron saint that I managed to check out at least for a little bit between bursts of angry rain.
Here are some pictures of Lima and Cusco:
Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.542513726078.2034987.9701799&type=1&l=4fbc1863c5
Picasa: https://picasaweb.google.com/109919356111055367898/Peru?authuser=0&feat=directlink

Then after a day and a half my sister and her friends arrived. The following day we left for the Inca Trail, headed toward Machu Picchu. Travel since then has been completely different, traveling with guides, with my sister and her friends, and now with my family. I'll share about all of that and about Machu Picchu next time though because now it is very late and I need to wake up early tomorrow morning to leave for a small Shuar Community in the Amazon.