More Fun from Ecuador

So I have spent the last few weeks in Ecuador, hanging out with my friends Mark, Laura, and Aimee in Quito, and also traveling around a little. My impressions of Quito are mixed. The old town area is pretty cool and a nice place to walk around and see some history. The Basilica del Voto Nacional really impressed with me with both its size and beauty, not to mention the fact that besides Aimee and myself, there were maybe only a handful of other people in the church (something you never seem to experience in any European cathedral). However, Quito is a very large city, and having to take a nearly 1.5 hour taxi ride to get to the bus station one morning, really became frustrating. Those of you who really know me know that I do not like huge cities and hordes of traffic. Well, spending all that time in a cab and still not reaching the end of the city is a little much for me. I know I could never live in Quito, but it still has its charm, in its own way.

Aimee and I first traveled to visit the equator here in Ecuador, in a little tourist town called La Mitad del Mundo. This was my second time visiting the equator, with the first being in Uganda. After examining a map, and also having an intense discussion with Aimee, I found that the only other country I need to visit to straddle the equator in all the continents it passes through is Indonesia. I had never planned on visiting Indonesia, but maybe this gives me a good excuse :) We'll see......... We also visited the rim of a huge crater near La Mitad del Mundo, but were very unlucky, as the clouds rolled in and obscured our view of the impressive community living within the crater's slopes. We did get to hear our guide use his necklace jewelry piece as a flute to give thanks to the mountain by playing a sweet melody that drifted with the wind. I thought that was pretty cool, as I have given thanks to the mountain gods many times as I have been hiking in the mountains of the Wasatch in Salt Lake, or the mountains of southern Poland. We aren't always the ones in control.

Aimee and I also traveled to Banos for a short overnight trip. Banos is located approximately 2.5 hours southeast of Quito, although we managed to find the bus that took 4.5 hours to reach the little town of Banos. I think both Aimee and I were a little restless after spending nearly 6 hours in cabs and buses, so we did what any sane person would do right after reaching a town like Banos, sign up to go puenting! So puenting is a lot like bungee jumping, except that after you reach the length of the rope, you swing back and forth like a huge pendulum, rather than just continuing to bounce up and down. I don’t think either of us knew exactly what to expect, and then arriving at the bridge and standing up on the ledge of the bridge as they double-checked our safety harnasses, peering down at the cascading stream approximately 150 feet below us, we suddenly realized what we had gotten ourselves into. I can tell you that we both successfully accomplished full, head-first dives off the bridge, landing with the grace of Greg Louganis (when he didn’t hit his head on the board, of course). After finishing up, we were both very tempted to take the dive again, but also realized that the famous thermal pools of Banos were calling our names.

We spent a relaxing few hours in the thermal pools, guessing where each person in the pool was from (lots of fun, although a little spying was involved), and healing our aching bodies (Aimee because she had finished a marathon a week before, and me, because I was sick and need to soak my aching bones in my old age).

The next day, we went on a chiva tour through the hills of Banos and the surrounding areas, visiting 8 different waterfalls and taking loads of pictures. For those of you who don’t know what a chiva is, I’ll tell you—picture an open-sided camion/truck that is colored all over with bright colors and pictures. These vehicles are used for travel around rural areas, particularly in Colombia, where people hop on and off with all sorts of things (use your imagination). It was a perfect combination of fun, relaxation, and exhilaration (especially the part where we went over a bridge, I peered over the side, and saw that we had a good 2 inches of bridge to spare before our rear wheel decided to visit the bottom of the canyon). The scenery around Banos is incredibly beautiful, with waterfalls running down the sides of the mountains everywhere you look, and lush, green vegetation covering the mountainsides. The end of our tour took us to Machape Falls, a large waterfall plunging 225 feet to the pool below. We were able to hike down to the pool and attempt to take pictures of the falls as it sprayed us with its mighty torrent. I thought about jumping in the pool at the bottom (normally I would, and Tim J., I was thinking of you here), but then I realized that the pair of boxers I was wearing were the only dry ones I had with me, and then thought of how pleasant another 45 minutes on the chiva and a whole God-Knows-How-Long I would need to sit on that damn bus going back to Quito. Therefore, I opted against it (I still think that maybe I didn’t explore all my options as exhaustively as I could have). Anywho, we left Banos feeling sad that we had to leave such an amazing place, and also me feeling grateful for my dry boxers.

After spending a day with Aimee sightseeing around Quito, Mark, Laura, and I had to say goodbye to her. Aimee flew back to the U.S., while I am continuing my time here. Due to some unforeseen circumstances (some of you know about this), I will be spending an extra week in Ecuador before flying back to Colombia. However, I have changed my Colombia travel plans a little and am super excited about them. I will be spending more time in the smaller areas rather than the big cities. Of course I will visit the big cities, especially on the weekends, to sample what they have to offer, but I plan on really getting to know Colombia by spending the majority of my time in the smaller towns. You will obviously be hearing about all these adventures to come. As for now, more pictures are up at:

http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/AB66E0338450?source=pw980 for the Banos pics

http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/A08679238453?source=pw980 for the pics of Mitad del Mundo

http://www.photoworks.com/slideshow/album/A93023238454?source=pw980 for the Quito pics

Thanks for tuning in and please let me know what’s happening in your neighborhood (hmm, that sounds a little too much like Mr. Rodgers, don’t you think?)

Otavalo and the Famous Artisan Market

I am now in
Ecuador, finishing up a week and a half in the little town of Otavalo, located approximately 1.5 hours north of Quito. I traveled to Otavalo to take a few Spanish classes, and also to get away from some of the bigger cities that I have been visiting, and dive into a place with a little more culture.
Otavalo is an indigenous community located in a valley between two large volcanoes, Imbabura and Cotacachi. The surrounding landscape is truly stunning, providing me with a tranquil retreat from the crazy city life. Life here is exactly what I wanted, slow-paced. The people here are very friendly, despite the hard lives that they lead. It is very common to see an old lady, walking to the Plaza de Ponchos at 6 in the morning, carrying a load 3-4 times as big as her on her back, excited to set up her artisan stand for the day. It does remind me of Africa, except that in Africa, the ladies would carry the load on their heads. I am always amazed by little things like this. These are always good reminders of what our lives could be like.
The best thing about Otavalo is the mix of the old and the new. As it would be cool if it were a little more old-time indigenous, it is nice to have places where you can buy clothes, get on the internet, and find what you need. It is very interesting to see the indigenous folks, walking down the street in their traditional clothing (colorful embroidered blouses, shoulder wraps, and huge beaded necklaces for women, and trousers, blue ponchos, and black hats for the men) ,strolling by a street shop with Tommy Hillfiger jeans in the window. I hope that this place doesn´t lose much more of its authentic vibe. There really aren´t many more places like this remaining. It seems like the broad hand of the West seems to infiltrate everywhere these days.
So the highlight of Otavalo, and what makes the city famous, is its Saturday market. Artisans from all over Ecuador, and even a few from southern Colombia, come to the market to sell their goods, whether they be sweaters, baskets, jewellery, rugs, hats, paintings, produce, or whatever else you can imagine. The entire town is transformed into a huge market. It is truly an unbelievable sight and something that I will never forget. Of course, this kind of spectacle draws tourists from Quito, and you can see the tour buses roll in in the morning with a bunch of gringos excited to score an Ecuadorian souvenir.
I have been staying with a family here who is incredible and so friendly. Viviana, and her 4-year old daughter Romina, invited me into their home. Of course, neither knows any English, which is one reason why I was really excited to stay with them. We eat three meals a day together and I have also had a lot of time to play with Romina and go with her and Viviana to the park. Life here is pretty awesome and I am a little nervous to leave, as I am not very excited to go back to the crazy cities. However, I guess everything is cool in its own way. One of my favorite things about Otavalo is that I can just set out in the morning and walk all over the town, not worrying about getting lost or being a victim of crime. I love just being able to do whatever I would like, not having any timetables or deadlines to worry about, and being able to just go with the flow.
The other day, I had a little bit of a breakthrough with Romina, the young girl in the family. I was lying on my bed, reading a book and studying some Spanish, when she poked her head in my room, and then immediately decided to run and throw herself onto my bed next to me. She then decided that she wanted me to read to her, in English of course, and then translate everything into Spanish for her. It was a lot of fun and I feel that we kind of bonded in that moment. Now, every time she sees me in my room, I know that a reading time is soon to follow. She really is adorable, and reading to her reminds me of working with my favorite little girls in the afterschool and summer school programs at Holy Cross. Wow, now I realize how much I miss those kids!
Last Sunday, I decided that I wanted to explore the surrounding areas around Otavalo.I opted out of the whole guided tour thing, since I hate spending my time with other gringos, taking private vehicles to the sights, and then being whisked away without any interaction with anyone else whatsoever. I ended up taking a bus to a little town called Quiroga, and then finding a guy to take me up to a lake in his worn-down pickup. It was a lot of fun getting there, and this señor and I talked the whole way up to the lake. He dropped me off at Laguna Cuicocha, a marvelous volcanic lake at the base of Volcan Cotacachi. I didn´t have enough time to walk around the entire lake, but I walked around quite a bit of it, snapping pictures left and right, and enjoying the amazing 360 degree views, truly appreciating the volcanic origin of this area. Volcanoes Imbabura and Cayembe towered over the landscape in the distance, as Volcano Cotacachi stodd guard over Laguna Cuicocha. The landscape reminded me a lot of the Crater Lakes region in Uganda, and I suddenly became nostalgic, missing my students and friends back at Lake Lyantonde.
Another cool little trek was the one to La Cascada de Peguche. The impressive waterfall is about a 30-minute walk from Otavalo, along a railroad track and through some smaller outlyings of houses. The waterfall is a sacred place for the indigenous community here, who believe that the water in the pools below the falls has special healing powers. During the celebration of the summer solstice, nearly the whole community of Otavalo makes the walk to the waterfall, where they immerse themselves in the water, symbolizing the washing away of all their negative energies, and the start of something new. Well, I thought about jumping in, but the fact that the waterfall was raging due to the last 4 afternoon thunderstorms, and the fact that I was wearing my only dry pair of clothes (it's hard to dry clothes when it rains all the time), I decided against it, although it was very tempting:)
The last little jaunt during my time in Otavalo was to Las Lagunas de Mojanda, some beautiful crater lakes above the town. Like Laguna Cuicocha, the scenery was breathtaking, and the fact that I was there very early in the morning gave me some good photography opportunities. I ended up not having much time at all because of travel connections, so, being me and a little crazy, I decided to climb a volcano above the laguna. However, it is a 4+ hour roundtrip, and I only had about 1.75 hours. Needless to say, I ended up running to the top of the volcano with my camera, snapping several pictures along the way, climbing the last bit of rocky terrain to the summit, and then running back down, making my taxi with a few minutes to spare. My legs really didn't appreciate my effort, but the photos I took made up for it. You can see these, along with other pics from Otavalo and the surrounding areas, here:
http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=A3E38A2C94A&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW

It is a little sad to leave Otavalo. I really love this place and the tranquil life I was able to have here, if only for a week and change. It was very hard saying goodbye to the family that I have been staying with, and when I approached little Romina, she gave me a hug and refused to let go. Her mom had to drag her away, crying her eyes out. It is pretty unbelievable the bond that children can develop with us, even in a short amount of time. I will miss them greatly. However, now it's time to meet up with my amigos in Quito for some fun in the Ecuadorian capital! Ciao from Otavalo!

Colombia at First Sight

So the adventure has begun. I am sitting in an apartment in Cali right now (first part of this post), typing up my first blog entry from South America. I must admit that this feels great! I am on a new continent for the first time since back in 2006. Okay, enough of the small talk. I'll jump right in.
The first city on my Colombian/Ecuador adventure was Bogota. So I arrived at the airport in Bogota at about 9:00 at night, and after waiting in the Customs line for about an hour, finally got out of the airport, where the swarm of taxis descended upon me. I was able to figure out how to find an official taxi, and then practiced my Spanish with the driver as he took me to where I would be staying. I had arranged to stay with a family in Bogota, but had no idea where they lived. It turns out that they live in a very poor neighborhood, where you really don't want to be walking around by yourself at night. Go figure! Here I was, a gringo, arriving in Latin America for the first time, in a neighborhood (Comuneros) that was a little sketchy, in the middle of the night. Well, I definitely manage to keep things interesting.
The family that I stayed with was very friendly and continually tried to help me with my Spanish, even when I made a fool of myself. I really enjoyed hanging out with them and they showed me around the city several times, although Bogota is huge and I will never manage to see the whole thing. I visited a few universities, which was really cool, walking around and talking to some of the students. I was also able to walk around the old town of Bogota, called La Candelaria. It is a pretty cool place, with narrow streets, a lot of cafes and bars, and a very fun and rowdy nightlife. I met up with some other young people in La Candelaria for a night and we went to this really cool little bar, where I managed to down a few cups of chicha (a fermented maize drink), try my first Colombian beer, and get up the nerve to ask a girl to show me some of her salsa moves. It wasn't really fair because she is a caleña from Cali, where they are born with salsa genes. It was a lot of fun and a great group to hang out with-- my first Colombian rumba experience!
The other day, I explored the city on my own, by foot most of the day. It was really nice to just relax, go at my own pace, take pictures of whatever I wanted, and drop in to sample the snacks at the various cafes around the city. Getting back to where I was staying was interesting, as I had to try to solve the puzzle of the Transmilenio system (Colombia's first tram system). It was kind of fun, although could have been very frustrating. After being crammed into a car for about 20 minutes, I finally figured out where I had to get out of the car, and managed to walk back home safely.
I also got to experience the fun game of tejo. To make it simple, this bar game consists of drinking a lot of beer and casting metal disks at little objects full of gunpowder. It is actually a lot of fun. My friend took me into one of the barrios (it was a neighborhood in which everyone is on the street, doing everything you can imagine, all night long). I was the first to walk into this little dive, where there were two couples dancing. As soon as they saw me, they stopped and everything went silent. It was actually very funny! I proceeded to make my way back to behind the bar, where the tejo ¨field¨was set up. There were two fields, full of guys that were drunk and tossing things every which way. Needless to say, I caught a few weird looks from them too:) Anyway, it seems that I am a natural in tejo, as I went undefeated and received congratualtions from everyone in the bar when I left. Hmm, I guess I can always become a professional tejo player if things fall apart:)
The people of Colombia are very friendly and warm, the surroundings of Bogota were beautiful, with two sides of the city surrounded by steep mountains. On the peak of one mountain sits Montserrat, a grand monastery. It was really beautiful to visit, and the views of the huge city from the church were amazing.
I am back to washing my clothes by hand, which, funny as it sounds, is kind of nice--getting back to the simplicity of life. I am eating three meals a day, instead of the 4-5 I was managing to put down back home, and have tried many traditional Colombian foods so far, including sancocho con pescado (a type of soup with fish), picuda frita (another type of fried fish, I think catfish), of course fried plantains, and also just the staple rice, potatoes, and carne.
The weather in Bogota is great, with a fall-like climate all the time. It is never really hot, but not too cold either, mostly staying between 50-75 degrees all the time. I know this will change when I move up to the Caribbean coast, so I am enjoying it now.
Yesterday, I arrived on a flight to Cali. After some frustrating attempts at changing my flight that I had already purchased (I just didn't want to use the first part of it; they tried to charge me $150 to not use the first leg; instead, I found a flight that would solve the whole thing, for $50). It is a little crazy that it is cheaper to just buy a whole new flight than to not use one part of a pre-purchased one! I stayed with a friend there, and I can already say, the reputation of caleña girls being really beautiful is right on the money. I can't wait to get back to Cali after Ecuador! What's even better is that Cali is a pretty warm city, so most of the girls are wearing tank tops and shorts. Hmm.....
I was also able to participate in my first class of Hapkido, a martial art. It was a lot of fun, and people were even asking me for how many years I had been practicing. When I told them that it was my first day, they told me that I will be the next Bruce Lee! That is pretty exciting. So I have that going for me now, which is nice! When I return to Cali in a month, I will take up a few more classes and maybe squeeze in a blackbelt or two:)
Right now, I am sitting in the Bogota airport, waiting for a flight to Quito. After waking up at 3:45 this morning to get to the airport in time for my early flight, we sat on the runway for two hours, I missed my connnecting flight, and had to wait around in the airport here for 8 hours. Fun stuff! Well, at least I had some Spanish material with me. I am super excited to visit Ecuador, where I will be staying for about a month. I am really looking forward to Spanish classes so I can enjoy my experience even more, and then also to meet up with my posse in Quito.
So I guess my next post will be from Ecuador. I can't wait to experience some of yet another country. I forgot how fun this is! Ciao from Bogota.
Pictures can be found at http://www.photoworks.com/photo-sharing/shareSignin.jsp?shareCode=A75B052C947&cp=ems_shr_alb_pml&cb=PW

On the Road Again

Well, the time has come again to pack my bags and set off on another adventure. It has been over 15 months since my last serious trip, so I am more than overdue to do something crazy again. Tomorrow morning, I am catching a flight here in Salt Lake City, and tomorrow night, I will be stepping off a plane in Bogota, Colombia. Okay, "So why Colombia?" everyone keeps asking me. Well, you know that I like to go places that have a certain mystique surrounding them, an unbelievable past, and that are off the beaten tourist path. I am also addicted to adrenaline-- I admit it. I love the feeling of having all of my senses on overdrive, constantly. What better way to feel alive than to have to focus on each and every little decision, to observe every little thing around you, and forcing yourself into uncomfortable situations so that you can come out of them a changed person? In the process of changing yourself, you inevitably also change the lives of others. I have experienced this change in all of my other travels, and I expect this trip to be no different.
So I have told some of you (consider yourselves the chosen few:) about my three goals for this trip. One of these goals is to really improve my Spanish. For that reason, I plan on staying out of most of the "gringo" places as much as possible. This will be a little bit of a challenge since I will be traveling alone for nearly my entire trip, but this will also put me back into that zone where things begin to get a little uncomfortable, and also where every decision I make will be that much more important. After I step off the plane in Bogota, I will give myself one night of speaking English, and then I will try to pretty much limit what comes out of my mouth to only Spanish words (ha, I know that some of you are making jokes about this phrase:). I'll let you know how successful I am after a few days.
So, to break down my trip for you, here is what's on the agenda:
4 days in Bogota to see the capital of Colombia
5 days in Cali, the Salsa Capital of the World, to what else? LEARN SALSA! Oh yeah, and also to sample the crazy discotecas and check out Cali's famous, beautiful girls!
After Cali, I will fly to Ecuador, where I will take a few Spanish classes, travel around a bit, and meet up with my good friends Mark and Laura in Quito. Another one of our good friends, Aimee, will be joining us for a reunion in the Ecuadorian capital, which also happens to be the 2nd-highest capital in Latin America (almost 9,200 feet). This will be a blast and something I am really, really looking forward to. We'll show those Ecuadorians how we rock it, SLC style! After a total of about 4 weeks in Ecuador, I will be flying back to Cali and continuing my travels through Colombia, including the famous Coffee Region, Medellin (Pablo Escobar, anyone?), the colonial city of Cartagena, and then the rest of the Caribbean coast. This time will be all about having fun, meeting people, continuing to practice my Spanish, and making friends. My time in Colombia will come to an end just before Christmas. After that? Hmm, I guess both you and I will have to wait to find out.

Goodbye to a Fabulous Year

So, I know it has been some time since my last blog entry. The truth is, I really haven’t had any travels to speak of as of lately. Hopefully, that will be changing soon—very soon. Well, having rung in the New Year just a few days ago, it is always nice to reflect and look back on everything that has happened the last year. So without further ado, here is a quick recap and some thoughts on my 2008:

I started out 2008 in Torino, Italy, staying with my good amico Andrea. Despite being sick, I enjoyed a relaxing time with my Italian friend. After a few more days in Italy, I flew back to Poland for a few weeks, to say goodbye to my colleagues down in Twardorzeczka, my wolves in the Silesian Beskidy and the Zywiecki Beskidy Mountains, and my friends in Krakow. It was incredibly hard saying goodbye to all this, knowing how much I had changed and how many significant and memorable moments these places and these people had provided me with.

After traveling up to Warsaw for a few days, I entered Germany for the first time, stopping in Berlin and staying with another friend there. My time in Berlin was short, particularly since I was preparing to leave for a 3-month trip to Africa. I flew to Egypt next, landing in Cairo at midnight, to the sound of the whole city praying. I remember how excited I was to be in a place totally unfamiliar to anywhere I had ever been before. There was no English written anywhere, just Arabic. Most of the women and girls I saw were wearing hijabs, hiding their faces, but allowing glances into their mysterious eyes. After having an ATM machine eat my debit card my first day in Cairo, I had to wander around the all-night bazaars only looking. I was able to go to the Egyptian Museum, where I saw King Tut’s coffin. That was an awesome experience. I had always wanted to see that after reading books about it when I was very young. It is pretty incredible to see it with your own eyes—3000 years old! I also got to ride a camel for the first time, while touring around the Pyramids of Giza, the only remaining structures of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The scale and size of the pyramids is impossible to describe, but the memories I have of these will last me a lifetime.

After my first taste of Turkish coffee (next time, I might as well just drink some mud with my water), several days of dodging speeding cars in Cairo traffic, and about fifty falafels, I was ready to depart Cairo for something a little more relaxed. I had a quick trip to Dubai, where I was spoiled with a stay in a penthouse on the top floor of a building overlooking the harbor, where the most expensive and luxurious hotel in the world is located. That didn’t exactly prepare me for my return to Africa, where I arrived in Kampala, Uganda a few days later. Africa definitely beats within my blood, and I was extremely excited to get back to the real Africa. I stayed with a very loving and generous family in Kampala, and then traveled to western Uganda, where I ended up staying for several weeks, teaching in a community orphanage school. I was adopted into an entire community there, becoming the talk of the town, being invited to a different family’s dwelling for dinner each night, and provided with an endless supply of fresh fruit, vegetables, and eggs from my students and their families. If I had to be away from my family back home, I was glad I was able to share those special times with the people I did. I hope one day to be able to return to that town, where I will see the people pursuing opportunities they did not have when I was there. My heart will always beat partly because of the special people I met during my time at Lake Lyantonde. I know you probably will never read this, but THANK YOU!

I made a quick trip down to the Uganda/Rwanda border region, where I managed to climb two volcanoes in monsoonal winds and rain, and actually jump in the crater lake at the top of one of them (I don’t recommend doing that, since I almost suffered from hypothermia on the trek back down from the summit; but, that doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t do it again:). I then traveled across the border into Rwanda, a country made famous by the 1994 genocide depicted in the movie “Hotel Rwanda.” Visiting sites where such atrocities and death occurred was also an experience that will be permanently etched into my mind. The fact that this horrible tragedy occurred during my generation made this all the more real for me. Another moment that I will never forget is walking out of the National Genocide Memorial Museum, meeting an old man entering the compound holding several bouquets of flowers. After speaking to him for a few moments, I found that he was going to pay his respects to the 11 family members he lost during those two deadly months. He was the only survivor of his family, and now he felt lonely, coming to the mass grave to reconnect with his loved ones. I won’t ever be able to imagine the feelings this man must have been experiencing, and I need to remember to be thankful for that.

While in Rwanda, I was also lucky enough to have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—to see the mountain gorillas (only found in the Uganda/Rwanda/Congo border region, and nowhere else on earth). After a three-hour trek into the bamboo forest, my group came across a gorilla family composed of 26 gorillas, including 3 silverbacks. Being so close to the gorillas gave me an appreciation for these magnificent animals, and their struggle to survive in an environment filled with poaching, forest-clearing, and civil war. I know that if we lost these animals from this world, we would also be losing part of ourselves.

When it came time to leave Africa, I was filled with the excitement of being able to return home to see my family, but also the uneasy feeling of uncertainty, of when I would be able to return to this amazing place and reunite with my Ugandan family.

I returned home, where I enjoyed catching up with all my family and friends, and also resumed my job working at Holy Cross Ministries as a summer school counselor. It was great being home and seeing the children I had taught a year before. Seeing how my students had developed over the past year and how they had grown was something special. I immediately fell back in love with my job and the wonderful people that I am lucky enough to work with. The summer program went really well and I actually was fortunate to obtain a full-time position for the rest of year, as both an administrative assistant and an afterschool program counselor. These positions have also taught me a lot over the past few months and my life has been enriched through being able to get to know my coworkers even more. We have enjoyed some fun times together and I can honestly say that I don’t know if I will ever work in such a friendly and close-knit community of people again in my life.

So, as a quick look back at 2008, I must say that it was another incredible year for me and one in which I was blessed to have the chance to do so much and see so many new places. My pulse was strengthened and quickened with my return to Africa, where I was also reminded of the hardships people endure, but also of their kindness and warmth in the face of these hardships. My friends and students in Uganda showed me the strength of the human spirit and the vastness of the human heart. Their excitement for life and appreciation for each and every day will be a lesson for me throughout the remainder of my life. I was also reminded of the importance of family and friends. Both helped me through some very difficult times during the past year and I thank each and every one of you. When times are tough, we really find out who are friends really are, and I am very grateful to say that I have some great people around me.

Looking forward to 2009, I am really unsure what to expect. I am getting very restless to get back out there and explore a little, challenging my perceptions of the world, experiencing new hardships and difficulties, and coming away a stronger and better person. I keep reminding myself what is really important in life, and looking for ways to show the people I love that they mean so much to me. So, to end this blog entry, I would like to conclude with one of my favorite quotes. This quote comes from N.H. Kleinbaum, in “Dead Poets Society,” and I urge you to just think about it for a few moments: “That the powerful play goes on, and you may contribute a verse.” Goodbye 2008, and I wish everyone a 2009 filled with happiness and meaning.

Coming to an End

Well, here it goes, my last blog entry from Uganda. Tomorrow, I leave peaceful and relaxing Uganda for the craziness and heat of Cairo. This entry won't be a reflection, just because I want to take some time after returning home to look back on my Uganda experiences. Here's a short summary of the last two weeks.

I traveled back to the Uganda/Rwanda border region to climb another volcano, Mt. Sabinyo. I absolutely love this region of Uganda, with the volcanoes towering over the terraced hillsides and villages, shrouded in mist. While not as high as the last volcano I climbed, Mt. Muhavura, Mt. Sabinyo has its own appeal. This volcano has three separate peaks, with the climb up one peak being steeper than the last. All three peaks are along the Uganda/ Rwanda border, and if you are lucky enough to reach the steep third peak, you will be standing in Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo all at once! Mt. Sabinyo is one of only a handful of peaks in the world whose peak is at the intersection of three countries. How cool is that!

Despite being lower than Mt. Muhavura and the weather being much nicer for this ascent, this was a much tougher hike. Right at the beginning, I knew it was going to be an adventure. My guide and I encountered a lone male buffalo, which then chose to stare us down, huffing and puffing, preparing to charge. Of course our armed ranger (assigned to us for exactly this type of situation), was lagging behind and far from us, providing us with no safety whatsoever. After a long detour to avoid the angry buffalo, we regained the trail and began the long climb to the first summit. The climb became progressively steeper the higher we climbed. After arriving at the first peak, and then making our way to peak #2, we began the tightrope walk along the ridge to begin our ascent of peak #3. This section of trail was crazy, and very lucky for us, it was dry at this time. I'll come back to this part in a minute. The ascent up to peak #3 was vertical in many sections, requiring us to use the rickety wooden ladders to continue our climb. After some slow and deliberate climbing, we finally reached peak #3, and I immediately jumped onto the highest rock I could find, standing in Uganda, Rwanda, and the DRC at the same time! It was an incredible feeling!

After savoring the summit experience for several minutes and grabbing a quick snack, we began the long descent back down to the valley. Going down the vertical ladders was much more difficult and sketchy than going up, and the slow drizzle of rain that had begun to fall didn't help matters. So here is where things got interesting. The tightrope walk along the ridge between peak #2 and peak #3 now became even more precarious. The trail here was only about 3 feet wide, with a fall of a few hundred feet off of each side of the trail. A slip off the right side would result in a long tumble through the clouds below into Rwanda, while a person slipping off the left side would find him/herself falling through the clouds into the jungles of Uganda. The trail had become very slippery because of the rain, and the thirty minutes or so of hiking along this ridge were pretty stressful and seemed to last forever.

Finally, the ridgetop walk ended, and despite a few close calls and a huge headache from having to concentrate so much on every single step, everything was okay. Then the clouds really began to open up and let loose a great downpour, absolutely drenching us for the next 2.5 hours of hiking down. There were several harmless falls on the muddy trail on the way down, covering me in mud from the waist down. It was an awesome hike, but I was glad to get out of the rain and into some dry, warm clothes.

I left the volcano region of Uganda for the crater lake region, where I have spent so much of my time the last two months, and where I have really become part of the community. Unfortunately, this trip could only last two days because of my quickly-approaching departure. It was great to see my friends again. The mood was definitely bittersweet. We always have a great time together, but this time the feeling was overshadowed by the looming question of when we would be lucky enough to see each other again. Life is so hard here and possibilities seem limited. It is impossible to even imagine what their lives will be like in a year, or two, or even three. Things seem to happen much more quickly here than back at home. I pray that the future is kind and welcoming to these friends of mine.

There were many emotional goodbyes during those two days, and I received many wishes sent my way from various people in the villages there, as rumors of my impending departure spread. I think this will be my last time feeling like a celebrity for quite some time.

Well, my time in Uganda and in Africa has come to an end for now. It is a sad time, but also an exciting time for me. I am extremely anxious to get back home to see my family, play with my dogs, hang out with my friends, and catch up on many things. The next week and a half will be spent traveling back home. My next entry will be a reflection, looking back on these special months I have been lucky enough to spend here in Uganda. That reflection will come after a few days of some serious relaxing and pampering at home:) Weraba (goodbye) from Uganda!

Slowing the Pace

Welcome back to Uganda. The last two weeks have been pretty low-key compared to the previous two, but there was still no shortage of fun. I traveled back to western Uganda to visit my friends and see my students again. Although I only got to spend five days there, it was still a great little reunion. The boys at the campground where I stay were eager to show me the improvements they had made in their swimming since I last saw them. I could immediately tell that they had been practicing what I'd taught them, and I feel pretty confident that the boys who were afraid of the water just four short weeks ago, can now safely venture out into the "deep end" without any supervision. You should have seen their faces beaming with pride!

It was also wonderful to see my students again. I was only present for two class days, but it was like we had never missed a beat. We resumed our math lessons, but I quickly found myself bored with teaching math, considering I only had a little time with them, so we ended up playing soccer instead. I also had the children teach me six of their traditional dances (if you're lucky, I might just show you when I get home:), while I taught them some American dance moves (crazy stuff, like disco, Michael Jackson, breakdancing, the robot, and some other personal favorites). I know I must have looked funny performing their dances, but there is no way that I looked as hilarious as they did doing the American moves! I will try to get a video next time. As you can tell, we had an incredibly fun time.

After entertaining a few invitations to have lunch at some of the homes of the community elders, I had to say goodbye to my friends and students. I hope to see them one more time before leaving Uganda.

Unfortunately, I also experienced something that I thought might come, but was hoping wouldn't. Since I made several donations to the school and started the livestock income-generation project for the school and community, people have looked up to me, almost like I have some sort of supernatural powers. This trip back to the community, I no longer felt like the people looked to me as a superhero, but rather now as a savior. It was a more uncomfortable feeling for me, as I know I am not that person. I was bombarded with inquiries about other possible projects and requests to donate more money to start up these projects. While the community would clearly benefit from some of these projects, the beneficiaries of the others were less obvious, and I believe people started believing that I would help them, personally. I also received letters from a few students, asking me to sponsor them and their education. I understand that the people are desperate and see me as a means to a better life, especially considering that I am the only person whom most of them have ever spoken to who makes more than ten or twenty dollars per month. However, it was difficult to help them realize that I am not made of money, and that twenty dollars in the U.S. is much different than twenty dollars in rural Uganda. It seemed to me that the community members wanted an immediate relief from their poverty without having any responsibility. They were somewhat impatient with wanting to wait to see the positive effect of the income-generation project I started. I respectfully had to tell them that I cannot donate more at the moment, and also had to tell some students whom I have grown very close to, that I cannot sponsor them. It hurt me to do so, but I also realize that I am not their savior and can't solve all their problems. This situation got me thinking though, if this is one of the main problems with Africa, and with developing countries in general--are they always expecting handouts to fix their own problems? It is a difficult and controversial question, and one that I cannot answer, but one that I think is worth thinking about.

You all know me--I never like life to be boring, and am always looking for my next new adventure. About 90 kilometers east of Kampala lies Jinja, the adventure capital of Uganda. I chose to get my adrenaline fix by going whitewater rafting on the Nile River (called the Victoria Nile here). The source of the Nile River is in Jinja, so basically I could have just continued rafting for the next few months, through the war zones of southern and western Sudan, and then through the deserts of Egypt, in order to reach Cairo, where I start my journey back home. I know I am adventurous, but that is just slightly a little too much for me to bite off at this point. Maybe someday though:)

This section of the Nile is rated a Class 5, which means it is pretty gnarly. Most professional raft guides rate this section of river as one of the top rafting destinations in the world, ahead of the world-famous Zambezi River near Victoria Falls. I happened to be placed with a group of four Chinese guys, whom I immediately started disliking. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against Chinese people, but these guys really pushed my buttons. For one, they very rarely listened to our guide, despite the fact that they had never been rafting before. They were constantly yelling in Chinese, never wanted to paddle, and had some very bad manners. One situation sums it up pretty well: we were just floating in a large, flatwater area, needing to paddle in order to reach the next rapid several hundred meters ahead. After the Chinese refused to paddle, they asked if they could jump in the water to cool off. Our guide said that they could get in the water, but that they had to hang onto the raft because we were floating over a crocodile pool. Not only did the Chinese guys jump in and swim about 20 meters away from the raft, but they also took off their lifejackets before doing so. They refused to come back to the raft before swimming and splashing around. Now I am generally a nice person, but I have to admit, a small part of me (actually, a pretty big part of me) wanted to see a crocodile attack at that point. What can I say? I must be honest, right? Well, no such luck this time.

The river was pretty low after about a week of little or no rain, so the rapids and waterfalls we traveled over weren't as large as usual, but they were still pretty crazy and we ended up flipping our raft twice (awesome!). We also had to bypass two or three sections because only kayaks could pass through safely. Overall, it was an awesome experience. There was only one bad part-I got incredibly sunburned. I am always very careful with my sunscreen use (most of you know this), and this time was no different. However, at the end of the day, I found myself suffering with the second-worst sunburn I can remember. Like the worst sunburn I've had, I can only attribute this one to some crappy sunscreen I bought here that is obviously not waterproof (I know, I bought a French-made sunscreen, not Ugandan, so I thought I was safe; this is just one more thing we can blame the French for:). Unfortunately, it was a painful end to a fun day.

With a little over two weeks left here in Uganda, time is running out. I only have one more "big" thing planned in my time left, and that is hiking to the top of another volcano. Besides some shopping and a few goodbyes, relaxing and enjoying every minute here will occupy my time. So adios, ciao, arrivederci, do zobaczenia, a bientot, weraba, and auf wiedersehen until my farewell to Uganda.