The adventures of Molly and Ryan

Home bittersweet home

2010-03-31T22:39:00.000-07:00

It's been 2 weeks since we inhaled our first gulp of PNW air in six months, and the culture shock has finally settled in. For the first week or so that we were back, the unalloyed bliss of being home skyrocketed me to cloud 9 and I was convinced I was going to escape the post-travel depression and culture shock that everyone warned me of unscathed.

False.

Early December, sitting on a balcony above the shores of Lake Titicaca, I made a list of goals to accomplish back home. 4 months out from the return to U.S. soil and I was already getting excited for the life I was going to return to, but I distinctly remember that I was not homesick. I was only reflecting on and evaluating the life I took for granted in Seattle and was merely missing the permanence it had to offer: going to lectures everyday, climbing and going to yoga 3 times a week, having more than 2 t-shirts to choose from, the ski season... You get the picture.

Being on unfamiliar soil in foreign land for so long gifted me the perspective I so desperately needed on the U.S., Seattle, my schooling, etc.; my search for which was one of the reasons I left in the first place. It was time for me to halt my American life as I knew it, give up my sense of permanence and sense of self related to it, and sustain myself for 6 months traveling through Spanish-speaking countries with all the possessions I would need, including sleeping bag and tent, fitting in a 62-liter backpack with my 2 constant companions being my boyfriend and myself. People travel for a myriad of reasons, each one esoteric and yet the thing I ended up battling with constantly, was ultimately what I was searching for.

Now that I am home and I have eaten the Thai food I craved for 6 months, slept in my big comfy bed, driven my green subaru to the mountains to ski, climbed a marked 5.10 at Stone Gardens (the routes are unmarked in climbing gyms in South America), and hugged my family and friends hello, the grass is greener somewhere else. As usual. The sense of self I thought I was losing through all the thousands of kilometers we traveled in South America, was actually just changing and adapting. And thus, the shock of American culture is hitting me now. Is there really a need for my 15 pairs of shoes and sandals, while young children walk around in their solitary pair of worn leather sandals in the high mountain village of Vaquería, Peru? Does my neighbor and his wife really need their large SUV just for themselves to commute around the Seattle area? Their kids don't even live at home anymore... Do we need to buy $100 worth of groceries once a week when some of the food doesn't even get eaten and is rediscovered in the back of the pantry 5 years later? An old man approached me near Huaraz, Peru, asking me for bread. He couldn't afford BREAD.

It's not even a question of what I took for granted anymore. I have come to conclude that we live our lives with an excess of everything: clothes, cars, food, electronics, money, entertainment, even rooms in a house! How many of you have at least one set of spare sheets for your bed? What about a spare backpack? Or extra pairs of tennis shoes, or jackets. I know I have double of everything. And the only reason I can think of why, is because of our society or culture, if you can call it that. I, and I know I am not the only one, am never satisfied with just the minimum to get by. I need more. I want more.

Getting off track... Anyway I could honestly write a 100-page book right now but I'll spare you guys further details of my muddled reaction to the reality that is American culture.

Maybe we went to the Costco in Woodinville a little prematurely...

Peace and love, of course,

Molly

"And so I'll go, yes I'll go, yes I'll take that train... and ride" -the Kooks

TERREMOTO!

2010-02-27T14:32:00.000-08:00

Hi All,

You thought we had given up on this blog? You thought wrong! Though I admit, once all the parents were on facebook, "blogging" stopped. Anyway, long time no blog.

We are in Puerto Varas, Chile. We have traveled long and far since Salta... Too far to bore you all with the details as we are coming home soon anyway and you can actually talk to us in person, but, I´m here to write about the terremoto, ie, EARTHQUAKE that occurred around 3:35 am last night.

As you know, the earth shook off the shores of Chile last night, registering an 8.8 magnitude, which according to Chileno news, is the 7th largest EQ in recorded history. We were woken up by the shaking and bolted for the doorway once we realized the shaking was not due to the fully hopping club/discotheque next door. You never know! Chilenos love to party allll night long!

Anyway, for now, we are still in Puerto Varas, but we talked to a friend in Valparaiso and one in Santiago and both said the cities aren´t as bad as the media is making it out to be and it is indeed safe to travel up there, as we had planned. There is supposed to be some cool bouldering over near Valpo so we were going to go check that out and very well might still be.

Although the Santiago airport is closed, our flight is not for 2 1/2 more weeks and we should be fine without having to change our flight or anything. So do not worry! We and our friends are fine plus being geologists, we cannot deny the excitement about being in such a large earthquake. Crazy shit!

On a sad note, the freestyle skiing world lost another great and inspirational skier 3 days ago: CR Johnson died after hucking off a cliff at Squaw Valley, Tahoe area. RIP man. Another great gone to shred in another world.

Alrighty, this will probably be the last blog of our adventure, I apologize for the lack of posts and photos. I´ll try harder next time for sure!

Paz y amor, y hasta muy pronto EEUU!
Molly

BEEF... Its whats for dinner.

2009-12-20T18:54:00.000-08:00

ARGENTINA:

We have arrived. The promised land. The land with toilet seats, drinkable tap water, beautiful people, and THE BEST BEEF ON THIS PLANET EARTH. Oh, and maté. (This is coming from a former non-beef eater keep in mind. Ryan is currently jamming with some locals on his beautiful new guitar purchased in La Paz so I have been delegated update responsibility.)

What happened in Bolivia? Well, we toured a mine in the highest city in the world after a brief stint in La Paz. Cerro Rico is the backdrop of Potosí, and is a mountain with over 180 mines currently in operation that over the last 500 years has killed more than 8 million people. We gave gifts of dynamite and coca leaves to the miners than spend over 60 hours a week mining in terribly poor and primitive conditions.

Then we toured the high desert of Bolivia. Julia, Justin, Ryan, Molly: the PNW quadruple threat. The 4 of us in a Lexus Land Cruiser with 2 swiss ladies and Faustino, the best tour guide ever. We got sunburned by the endless miles of sun reflected off pure white salt. We saw flamingoes. We slept in a hostel made of salt. We drank rum. And whiskey. We rocked climbed at 4200 meters. We bathed in hot springs. ETC. The area arround Uyuni was incredible. Pictures to come. Then we spent the night on a train, and booked it to the border.

Looking at a map of Argentina was intimidating. It is MASSIVE. And we have a whole lotta ground to cover in the next 3 months. BTW, half way point, what what! We are officially slightly more than 3 months in the 6 month journey. Wahoo, we have made it this far! And there is still a "we" involved! SO, we waited in line for 2 hours during the most intense thunder and lightning storm I have ever been in the midst of, to get into Argentina: success finally occurred, and our passports are stamped for country #4 in SA.

Currently: 5 days out from Christmas, la Navidad. We are in Salta, northern Argentina. And we are lower in elevation, finally! There is lush greenery all around and crazy fast spoken Castellano Español. Bolivia was great and I do honestly wish we had more time there, but unfortunately we really had to speed through it to ensure time for all of Argentina (with lots of 20 + hour bus rides to look forward to) with Patagonia and southern Chile as well.

Beef is on the menu ladies and gentlemen. It is the only thing we have eaten for the last 2 dinners and it is incredible and SO cheap. Quote our Canadian friend we met today who has been in Argentina for several months now: "I had the best beef of my life last night. AGAIN"

Stoked!
peace and love,
Molly

2009-12-16T04:52:00.000-08:00

SALT FLAT FEAR AND LOATHING STYLE.

THIS IS BAT COUNTRY DAMNIT.

The Picch, as in, the Picchu

2009-12-10T05:38:00.000-08:00

Alright fools, Machu Picchu pictures for all ya'll to enjoy. My camera died about 3 hours in though and Ryan has plenty more with more variety.

This is taken from the top of Huaynapicchu with Machu Picchu down in the background. We spent about 45 minutes scrambing up what could possibly be the steepest staircase in the world to get to the top of that perfect karsty peak in the background of all M.P. pictures you see (see below). It was incredible. They made us sign in and out of the trail to hike to the top because what they don't tell you, is that a few people fall off or go missing every year from this little jaunt up the side of a cliff. Breathtaking views though!

Checking the guide book for info on what is what. They want you to pay for a guide here so they offer no maps or information on the buildings and their significance. Huaynapicchu in the background.

This is Julia and Justin. They are from Portland and if they wear their Trailblazers jerseys in cool spots around the world and take pictures, they may end up on the Jumbotron, so here is their action shot!

Unbelievable.

Whatever you do, do not forget the TP

2009-12-06T09:02:00.000-08:00

Hello from Bolivia! After a long blog hiatus, we are back in action. With the overwhelming amount of traveling and adventuring we have been doing, I have forgotten the blog dealio. Sorry.

Brief update, pictures later (I forgot my cord today, though managed to remember the camera...): Last I wrote, we were in Lima, taking a day layover in the capital of Peru before venturing further north to the Cordillera Blanca to the town of Huaraz.

Huaraz resides at 3,000 meters, or about 10,000 feet. We acclimitized for 3 days and then left on the Santa Cruz trek, the most beautiful hike that I (and I think Ry too) have ever been on. We hiked for 4 days, reaching a maximum height of 4,750 meters, or 15,600 feet. It was awesome! Beat that Mt. Rainier. (Though our hike led us through dry ground the whole time) Anyway, it was incredible, nothing like it, indescribable, yada yada, pictures on facebook. BTW, Lord of the Rings totally could have been filmed here. The scenery we saw easily rivals the landscapes through LOTR.

We left Huaraz when the rain started and refused to stop. The area had some amazing boulder and sport climbing spots, but are all outdoors and wet rock is obviously un-climbable. So we sadly threw in the towel and left the high mountains after about 2 weeks in the area.

After 3 overnight buses, we arrived in Cusco and the Sacred Valley, our final stop in Peru before entering Bolivia, which we decided was a must despite the $135 visa fee. Cusco is overrun with tourists wearing zipoff pants (ourselves included!) and people trying to sell you stuff: Massages, food, jackets, sweaters, gloves, artwork, jewelry, tatoos (followed by a mention of marijuana and cocaina), ETC. Needless to say, it got old real fast. Though it is a beautiful city. We toured the local Inca ruins, our favorite one in Cusco called Saqsaywaman (Sexy Woman) with some killer Incan stonework.

Machu Picchu: This place is for a lot of people, the reason they come to Peru. For us, it was a major plus, and we saved it for last. After 8 hours on a bus and in 3 colectivo vans, plus 2 hours of walking, we arrived in Aguas Calientes at the base of Machu Picchu. We got up at 4 am the next morning to ascend a steep Inca staircase to the entrance of the citadel. Upon entry, we were 100% blown away. No words I can offer of description and no picture we have seen or now taken can really do the beauty and magnitude of M.P. justice. It was un-f*cking-believable, jaw-dropping, stunning, mind-blowing, well, you get the picture. I am sick of promising pictures and then not fulfilling the promises, but I will put pictures up. We are going to La Paz tomorrow where there is more internet, hopefully at our hostel.

Right now, we are staying in a hostal 20 meters from the shores of Lake Titicaca, for $3.50 a night. Despite the fact that we are 12,500 feet high, it kind of feels like home, with the gigantic body of water so near along with the ever-constant mountains. We have taken to eating fresh grilled trout for lunch and dinner with rice and fries, for $1.50. Bolivia is amazing (and cheap).

We will try and be better at this blog... I swear!

Molly

Things to not forget in Peru and Bolivia:

1-TOILET PAPER (this is possibly one of the most important things to take with you, especially after eating local food and putting your body through extreme bus rides and hikes and non-stop travel. You never know when your intestines are going to protest the horrors you have put them through for weeks on end, and send you running to a toilet-seatless dirty bathroom with liquid on the floor and NO toilet paper. At least they flush, well, most of them)
2-Hand sanitizer. Do you think the seatless toilets would have a sink with running water and soap attached?
3-Water, especially when dealing with altitude for so long. People get grumpy...
4-Camera of course.

Alright, what you´ve ALL been waiting for...

2009-11-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

Photos! Starting in San Pedro de Atacama, here are some selected highlights. (I suck at computers and the bottom 2 are totally out of order). Note that captions are below the photos!

Biking to Valle de la Luna in San Pedro de Atacama, Chile. 13 km in the desert, but totally worth it. And please note the perfect stratovolcano in the background. Just beyond it is the border with Bolivia. And just north and south and east and west of it, are TONS of volcanoes! We could count over 25.

Our buddies, Jimmy and Fernando, from Santiago. We met them at a rave party in the Atacama Desert outside San Pedro after Chile beat Colombia to earn a spot at the World Cup in South Africa, and 2 days later ended up on the same bus to Iquique. So we hung out with them for a couple days in Iquique and will hopefully meet up again towards the end of our trip.

Colca Canyon, Peru. Go there if you can! Like, seriously....

Rich and Eliza, our Aussie friends whom we met on the bus from Iquique to Arica, and then traveled into Peru with. This is the hike out of Colca Canyon, the world´s 2nd deepest canyon. The hike out of the canyon was tough, but gorgeous. Small towns line the road at the top of the canyon, and you can faintly see one behind Richard to the left a bit. Food and supplies are brought in on the backs of donkeys!

Arequipa, Peru: our favorite city thus far.

Lima: We stayed at Hostal España, with 2 parrots, 3 turtles, at least one cat, and plaster statues everywhere. Probably the most entertaining thing we did in Lima besides the catacombs.

Coquimbo, Chile climbing spot: We met some British guys at the hostel we were staying at in Coquimbo, who loaned us their climbing shoes so we could go boulder. It was amazing, and inspired us to buy climbing shoes whenever we next could do so.. San Pedro.

Maritime Museum, Valparaiso. Chile really likes to celebrate it´s naval past including the heroes, Bernardo O´Higgins, Arturo Prat, and Lord Cochrane. Upon near collapse of boredom (on my part), we stumbled across the Pirate Room. Designed specially for kids.

Halloween in Peru

2009-10-31T12:12:00.001-07:00

Hello friends and family!

Yes, we are in Peru! And have been here for about a week and a half now. The posts have been lacking, so this might be a long one... we´ll see ;).

We crossed the border into Peru with absolutely no problems. We were told at the bus station that the border workers were on strike and not letting people through and therefore could not get to Arequipa via bus like we had initially planned (but they actually refunded us which was awesome) so naturally we attempted to get to Peru anyway. We have learned to take a lot of what certain Chileans say with a LARGE grain of salt. We hired a taxi for $3/person to take us to the border from Arica. 30 minutes later, we were stamped out of Chile and getting stamped into Peru. Another taxi for $6/person brought us to Tacna, where we got on a bus for a 5-hr. ride to Arequipa.

Seven hours later, we entered the White City and were immediately mesmorized. This is Peru´s 2nd largest city with 1.5 million in the Arequipa area and it is absolutely beautiful. Most of the buildings are made out a white volcanic stone they called Sillar, aka, ignimbrite (hell yeah pyroclastic flows!) which gives the city an enticing and addicting feel to it. Lo and behold, here we are, 9 days later and we cannot leave. Volcan Misti lies 17 km away from the city and is an ever-present backdrop, large and ominous, and looks so new and young that we think it might explode any day (though it is not expected to). If only right?

We had met an Aussie couple on the bus in Iquique and were traveling with them since. The four of us decided to trek (it´s called trekking here, not hiking) into the world´s 2nd deepest canyon. We spent 3 days in the Colca Canyon area and again, were drawn in naturally by the surrounding mountains, the beautiful indigenous people (what´s left of Inca-like people) with colorful clothes living in adorable towns, and the deep mysterious canyon.

The canyon is about 7 hours away from Arequipa, so we had left most of our stuff with the hostel. Like clockwork, upon returning, the unnatural bacteria in my stomach had undergone some intense division and I was bathroom-ridden for the next couple days. Awesome. It´s a traveler´s rite of passage though and once I gave in and started taking the super-strong 500 mg ciprofloxacin, I was a thousand times better. Only then for it to hit Ryan 3 days later.

Anyway, we´ve settled into Arequipa wonderfully. We made friends with a climbing guide named Guido, and have been rock climbing about everyday with him (on ignimbrite, conglomerate, and andesite, it kicks ass.) We took 12 hours of Spanish classes and are now striving for more. Almost fluent!...almost...We have seen mummies and churches, we have eaten Turkish, Mexican, and Chinese food, and we´ve tried fresh mango and orange juice blended all of 5 minutes before ingestion. We are loving every moment of this city and are getting reluctant to leave.

Ok, so this post has nothing to do with Halloween, as the festivities haven´t begun yet. But, we hear the city´s streets fill with drunk people and that it´s one of the most fun nights of the year. Get ready, it´s our first Halloween away from home!

We are leaving on Monday for Huaraz. It is northeast of Lima (about 30 hours on the bus I think), so we´ll stay one or two days in there to ease the journey. Huaraz is a mountaineering and climbing mecca. It resides in the Cordillera Blanca, the highest mountain range outside the Himalayas, and there are apparently endless things to do for outdoor junkies like ourselves. We´ll see how long we end up staying there...

We are absolutely in love with Peru so far. It´s absolutely incredible. The streets are clean here, everything is dirt cheap, the scenery is magnificent, and we have SO MUCH MORE TO DO HERE!

So, although it´s only 2 30 in the afternoon here, I am currently wearing bunny ears on my head and the festivities for this Dia de las Brujas (witches) are already beginning. The reason for the bunny ears (besides the fact that it is the day for costumes); everytime any Peruvians hear my last name, Ravits, they think oh, since "v" and "b" make the same sound in Castellano, Ravits is actually rabbits, and then I hear "o, conejo!" with a slight chuckle. Gotta love it.

Peace and love to all from this incredible country! And Happy Halloween!!

Love,
Molly Conejo

Deep Deep thought.

2009-10-19T08:37:00.000-07:00

So,

Here we are, at Issabella`s house in the south part of Iquique, typing on the smallest computer of all time. Isabella spent two years in the UK, so her english is pretty good- about the same as our Castellano (Recieved a lecture on this- the language is Castellano or Cataln, which are both parts of Spain). Entonces...

Here we are at what would be considered a supermassive ultra galaxy sized house in Chile. Extremely tastefully appointed, with Issabella and her family.

Issabella is a dead on carbon copy of the pictures i`ve seen of Abuelita when she married Det (Norma, who is probably the sassiest, most hilarious, sharp witted liberalé I`ve ever encountered, showed them to me. Incidentally, personality wise, mild-mannered abuelita and her and personality opposites, excepting for the matter of dotting upon members of the family. The excel equally in this respect!)
Back to the house, and really the manner of constuction in Chile nowadays. The people here are nothing if not pragmatic. They do not stray from the stereotypical view of latinoamerican time- that is to start late, finish late, take a two hour lunch, a few smoke breaks here and there, and the "hell, we only live once so let`s go the beach for a quick dip and party until 6 AM eh?" attitude that permeates life here.

En oputesto, you never see a waste of space. The cities are compact, same with most of the cars (sin the occasional megayacht the americans are building around the corner). Houses are extremely small, but generally well appointed, with nothing as what would be viewed as rudely frivilous, like a gigantic lawn or something bat shit crazy like that. In the north... and you might have to read this twice... there is no sprawl as we know it. Oh they have there instances, like the gigantic almost-shantytown up on the hill that you´d never guess was there until you drive through it, but as a whole, the only instance of sprawl i`ve seen is the conglmerate of Santiago, which conveniently and abruptly ends, giving way to the beautiful Quillote valley that Darwin describes from horseback out of then booming Valparaiso.

Even then, "sprawl" isn`t taken to a logial absurdity that we`ve seen storm the good Ol US of A over the past 30 years- there are still cute little plazas and people that ride their bikes everywhere. Even the little dots of cities that make up the Valparaiso/Viña del Mar have subways and itsy bitsy bus systems with drivers that just plain step on it. Without a car, in most major cities in Chile (major being over 100,000 I`d say) you can be significantly more mobile than the average bike riding or car driving citizen in Seattle by a long shot. Which is weird because we`re supposedly one of the most well educated and well-to-do locales on the goddamn rock.

Another thing that has struck me fairly rapidly on this trip is the unabashed, well informed and opinionated partiotism of the Chilean people. In fact (don´t laugh) it has lent to the inception of my own little ball of shining `Merican pride over the month i've been here.

(an aside)

¡By the love of god an all that is holy I've just found the apostrophe on this computer! What luck! You'll have to excuse me for a bit as i'm quivering with excitement right now- punctuation on latinamerican keyboards has really gone by the wayside- probably along the road somehere with the whole cleaning up dog poop initiative. Go me.

I digress...

Anyway, when you have a new Chileno, Austrian or Canadian homie tell you that your country- gigantic and omninous at the tippy-top strata as it is- doesn't deserve to have its people hate it; Moreso that it's the people, not just the ludicrous, bumbling economic and foreign policy of its (until now) white-bread-ass-cookie-cutter-protestant-baby-machine leaders that make up the substance of a nation... it might lend to a bit of a new perspective, Nahmeen? Especially when that dude's or gal's country was held in a stranglehold of the Nixon-Kissenger era's most brutal installed dictatorships. I do say i've apologized- as weird as that may seem (I wasn't even a thought yet when the regime-that-shall-not-be-named took power), and been met with a smile and a silent pat on the shoulder- the feeling I recieved was a sort of "Well, yes. That was a big hiccup, now wasn't it? But our nation has moved on, and you need to help yours do the same."

It´s fucking disarming to talk about injustice in your nation with someone that lives in a nation where people were rounded up and slaughtered for a political affilliation. Something like that cuts through broken spanglish like the chinese diving team in a perfectly calm olympic pool. Not a hint of a splash or struggle-- just the cool, calm acknowledgement of those watching that they've got some work to do.

Una punto de vista nueva.

Travel is the greatest thing i've ever done for myself.

R

PS we've been a-cookin for issabella and co . Last night was huge 'merican burgers ( I also taught them how to say 'merican) and today, a declicious salmon for lunch. Bahahah!

Photos

2009-10-17T11:21:00.000-07:00

Photos are finally available to look at! there are 750, so beware.

(Ryan is entirely more computer savvy than me though so he might come up with an easier way to show the photos).

go to: snapfish.com

click log in

email: mravits@u.washington.edu

password: volcano

and voila, photos!

San Pedro... or... San Perro?

2009-10-12T06:20:00.000-07:00

So, many of you have been asking about the blog thing, and about the whole photos thing... etc. etc. etc. ie, we NEED to update it a little more frequently.

Well,
Here´s the scoop. We are currently in San Pedro de Atacama, way inland of Antofogasta and a complete gringo/traveler´s mecca. There are more foreigners here than Chileans I think. Thus, everything is twice as expensive as everywhere else in Chile, making this the most expensive place in all of South America.

That being said (and setting aside the overwhelming gringo culture, which does include us of course), this place is absolutely mind-blowing incredible. We are in the desert. Not just any desert, but the driest desert on our planet and it comprises 1/3 of Chile (little did I know). Not only is it desert, but with the incredibly active subduction plate boundary below us, this area is home to the most epic volcanoes and dry mountain landscape I have ever seen in my life.

We left Copiopó on Wednesday night to take a night bus to San Pedro (easy way to incorporate lodging and transportation onto the same bill), arriving early Thursday morning, well, early to Chile standards as nothing is open before 10 am. We wandered the town for an hour trying to find a hostel some friends we met in Coquimbo has recommended to us. The city has no paved roads and the only way to keep cool during the day from the relentless desert sun, is to make all the buildings out of mud and stone, with thatched roofs. It´s pretty cool to see a whole town made out of brown mud.

We did find our hostel (run by musicians and artists and hippies, 3 of them) and have been renting mountain bikes and taking 3 liters of water into the desert to admire the secret little canyons and the stark landscape. 2 days of biking were enough for our bums so one our 3rd day here we hitchhiked to a town called Toconao, about 40 km SE of San Pedro, in search of some supposedly sweet climbing in a beautiful canyon. Yes, we bought climbing shoes BTW. We did not find the climbing but the town was awesome and the canyon was gorgeous. Plus Ryan went swimming at the local swimming hole.

Saturday night, Chile played Colombia for a spot in the World Cup. Chile won, and we ended up at a rave party (sans drugs though, just alcohol) in the desert till about 5:30 in the morning. it was insane, but a nice eclectic mix of locals and gringoes dancing to our heart´s delight to celebrate the win. This put us in bed till around 1 pm yesterday, Sunday. With the late start to the day, we decided to backpack to a canyon called La Garganta del Diablo (Devil´s throat), about 6 km outside of town for the night.

Which brings me to now. We are leaving this beautiful town as it has sucked our pockets dry of cash, and heading for Iquique, where Ry has more family. We do not know how long we´re going to stay there... Maybe 4 days, maybe a week... And then onward to Peru.

No offense to deserts, but I love forests SO much more! It´s strange being outside and literally not being about to find shade anywhere. It´s been a good run San Pedro, but it´s time to move on!

Peace and love to all,
Molly

p.s. the reason we haven´t added photos since Santiago, is because we haven´t had access to computers with our camera´s compatibility. I´m so sorry but I honestly do not know when that will happen! hopefully Iquique.

Cross posted from a family email. I apologize for the bits with the swearing. I really do. Really.

2009-10-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

First off, to prepare you for just how stream of consiousness the following email is, here´s a picture of the dramatic squirrel.

Get ready.

OK here goes:

Hey Dad!

OK first off I´m really sorry we´ve been out of contact- we were without a phone or email in a REALLY sweet hostel in coquimbo, where, among other things we witnessed the filming of a decidedly kerouacian british cooking show, and gained two pet dogs (one extremely stinky, the other not so stinky) for the four days we were there. GREAT. Chile is nuts.

Now we´re with Juan and Norma, and have been adopted as little chileno children to be fattened before we head off to our next destintation. Seriously they feed us at ever turn, which is not a bad thing. Until now Chileno cooking has been composed of fried cheese, fried hot dogs, hot dogs with french fries in them, mayonase, fried mayonaise (kidding) and pretty much everything you´'ve ever imagined dipped in hot grease for a bit before served with some more mayo. That and Aji chileno.

OK. A word about the aji. Chilean food sometimes leaves something to be desired, until you consider the fact that you can smother the stuff in HELLA HOT DEATH KETCHUP!!! That, and you can buy about 8 avacados for the equivalent of two dollars. Amazing.

This country is one of strange contradictions. How can one nation be so incredibly rich in copper resources, be a world leader in green energy, have a bomb highway system, and one of the most perplexingly mobile (another rant, another time) populations I´ve ever witnessed, and all the while keep EVERY SQUARE OF TOILET PAPER UNDER 24 HOUR CIA TOP LEVEL ULTRA TOP SECRET AREA 51 BLACK MAMBA DEATH SECURITY LOCKERS?!?!?!?!!!!! Totally nuts. Not kidding. They lock the TP up here like its laced with gold and atomic bomb security codes. Strange, but altogether not very suprising when you consider everything else that´s going on around you on the average day in Chile. Stray dogs (everywhere) looking both ways before crossing the street like they´ve just gone off to the almacen for a bit to eat before that important meeting they´ve been thinking about all day. Oh waaaaaait, that meeting was actually going barking fucking nuts about the moped that just passed them not 20 feet away from the intersection they so artfully crossed. In the intersection these animals behave like highly trained traffic aware ninjas, but not 10 feet away, they go ape shit crazy over the most random things. That being said, when you give a dog a bit of bread in the street, it´s like getting a rent-a-dog free for a day! Goodbye sketchy "special offer for you!" guys!

Beeee Teeee duuubs (by the way) "special offer" or anything else said by a dude with only OK english in the street actually means "I´m probably the sketchiest dude in a half a square mile." interesting, and good to know.

OOOOK. So after our stay with Norma and Juan (incredible people, incredibly cute, loving, caring, sassy, all good family adjectives included) and our ABSOLUTELY F)(/%ING STUNNING drive through valle de Copiapó this evening, we´re all heading down to Caldera to stay in the beach house for a night. (That last sentance doé´snt really make sense, and i´m really not in the mood to edit on a latin keyboard to learn to deal or learn to squeal homies.) (I also don´t know what "learn to deal or learn to squeal" actually means, so you can ignore that too). ... Caldera has a gigantic great white shark fossil, and a beautiful beach. That´s all I care to find out about the place. Apparently Mol and I are scheduled to cook tomorrow, so watch out Chile!

Er anyway, we´re heading up to San Pedro de Atacama for, well honestly, probably a good while before we head to Iquique. San Pedro is an insane geological wonderland with climbing, hiking, mountain biking, music, blah blah blah you know the rest. The point is that we´re going to be surrounded by near 10 active stratovolcanoes and we´re both huge geology nerds. Pictures will follow. Absurdly excited phone calls as well. Prepare yourselves for Spanglish riddled hyper excited Ryan encounter. We´ve even downloaded and printed a large paper on the regional stratigraphy, and procured a makeshift fock hammer. We do need 1M HCl, but I hear crushing the rock and squirting lemon juice actually works pretty well (but Chilenos are fairly faceteous so who really knows) for a carbonate test. We shall see. WE SHALL SEE!!!!

Anyway we´re totally safe, having a great time, and miss you all terribly. Please send this to everyone that I didn´t send it to... which really is everyone since I´m only sending it to you.

Erm. Yes. Thanks.

I LOVE YOU GUYS! SEE Y´ALL IN 5.5 MESES!

Ryan.

PS Molly says ´sup

TEREMOTO

2009-09-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

¡¡¡Ay dios mios!!! ¡¡¡Nuestras primero teremoto!!!

En ingles- That´s right folks! Just as we were geologizing about the seismic harzards in Valpo due to the large extent of fill in the harbo (suprizingly similar to Seattle), A little bit of shakin´ in our bacon! It was so sweet. A little shakey chunk of irony to start our journey to the north... WHERE THERE ARE NOTHING BUT MORE EARTHQUAKES!!!

I´m shaking like a little excited schoolboy that just found out about a new pokemón/power rangers duel to the death movie.

Oh Valparaiso

2009-09-23T08:57:00.001-07:00

Hello there!
Molly here, writing from our 2nd spot in Chile so far, Valparaiso. We are officially one week into our adventure! So here´s a little update. We have been pretty much on the go constantly and I have found it a little hard to sit and read my book for longer than 10 minutes at any given time! So I apologize for the lack of entries and photos.

We stayed in Santiago for a total of 5 nights. Marcelo hosted us for 2 of those nights and he and his parents were amazing hosts. Independence day was the 18th (Friday). We got to Marcelo´s house on the 20th, and were welcomed with open arms by his aunt, uncle, parents (Hugo y Patricia), and grandparents. They were still celebrating Chile´s independence on that fine Sunday afternoon, and thus fed us 4 different types of alcoholic drinks:
1-Chicha (sweet wine kind of)
2-red wine
3-pisco sours
4-a Brazilian drink that I cannot remember off the top of my head but it was strong and good!

Then Marcelo´s father threw some steaks and sausages (yes I am now eating all kinds of meat) on the grill for us and proceeded to feed us the same way a Jewish mother does; ie, there was a seemingly endless supply of food. My stomach was rightfully swollen when Hugo told us to save room for more, because this was just the late afternoon snack. Wow.

That night, we decided to delay the departure for the coast by one more day for a very good reason: SKIING. We were a little financially hesitant because we also had to rent the gear, but concluded it was entirely worth it (plus I had my dad´s voice going through my head telling me not to cheap out on anything because we are only hear once. so thanks dad!) The road up to Valle Nevado has 60 switchbacks which were nicely labled for us: Curva 19, etc. The ski resort itself is well above the tree line and was incredible (we have pictures, they are just not uploaded yet!). Spring skiing conditions, which later turned into a whiteout. But it was awesome nonetheless!

We took a bus to Valparaiso yesterday for the equivalent of $6 usd. The ocean is within sight now! (it´s 2 blocks away)

More later with photos!!

Molly

The Toilets DO flush the other way!

2009-09-20T08:19:00.000-07:00

Hola!
We have spent 3 nights at a sweet hostel in the Bellavista Barrio of Santiago. Tonight, we are going to to stay with Marcelo in the southern part of Santiago and tomorrow we´ll head for Valporaiso/Viña del Mar. Thus begins the adventure north!

There are some interesting differences we´ve been taking note of so far.

1-The toilets flush counter clockwise (though everyone knows that, it´s just cool to actually see)
2-Santiaguinos think 60 degrees (15 degrees C) is cold. And so they wear poofy jackets and scarves.
3- They also love to wear black
4-Everyone dresses nicely too
5-Everyone also really likes to wear shoes and not sandals. Maybe it´s because it is winter, even though there are palm trees around and I think it got to 80 degrees yesterday.
6-We could hear the discotech (club) pumping at 5 am the last 3 nights. Sometimes people don´t actually leave till 2 am. This is common.

The Andes are also incredible. Santiago is completely surrounded by mounains. We took the tram up the hill of Parque Metropolitano last night and got to take in the most beautiful view of the city and mountains. Alright, that´s all for now. We are going to go visit La Casa de Pablo Neruda (well, one of his houses, he has a few).

Paz y amor,
Molly and Ryan

This is Marcelo and his lovely girlfriend, Antonela. They have been awesome to us, showing us around the city and they took us clubbing the other night, which was a blast. The club was just getting crowded around 2 am, and we were exhausted by then!

Oh Shit, Santiago!

2009-09-17T18:37:00.000-07:00

Hello!
We are currently at our hostel in Santiago and all is well so far. We got off the plane early this morning and while looking for Ryan´s friend, Marcelo, got scammed and lost some money to what seemed like a taxi pimp. He insisted on helping us call our friend and then insisted on getting us a cab when we found out there had been some miscommunication with Marcelo, who showed up to pick us up the airport on the 16th instead of the 17th. So we paid this taxi pimp, and got in the taxi. Through our miserable attempt at broken Spanish, our taxi driver informed us that he didn´t know the "pimp" at all and proceded to call him a "Chileno Diablo", translated to a devil Chilean.

We only lost a few bucks though and now are laughing at the whole issue. We called Marcelo from the hostel and he and his lovely girlfriend spent the afternoon and evening showing us around the city.

We really lucked out with the timing of this whole arrival date. September 18th marks the 199th anniversary of Chilean independence from Spain and the festivities began this evening. Tomorrow we have more "carnivals" to attend and then are planning on eating mariscos, followed by Chilean partying/clubbing.

Hi this is ryan and the only instrument i Have with me for six months is playing "knee drums" to the wu tang clan and its working out well. peace!

Pictures soon, we swear!

M & R

The perfect 4 gigabytes of music.

2009-09-16T01:44:00.000-07:00

So yeah, that's what I'm up to, 12 small hours away from blasting off this rock momentarily to land in Miami.

And then Chile.

For six months.

Which feels strange.

We get in at 8 am though, and It's going to be Empanada city. See you all in 6 months! We'll post our first pictures soon.

Ryan

So, twiddle-dee, twiddle-doo

2009-09-13T09:52:00.000-07:00

We have three days left. As with Molly, I have only a small list of things to accomplish before I leave, and even those are some "meh, I could try that in broken, painfully slow Spanish when I get down there" tasks. I need to go to the bank, another bank, a pharmacy, REI (again), goodwill (to get rid of stuff, thankfully, not add more), and do a small vision quest on the peninsula here to say goodbye to the land that has nurtured me for all but a small portion of my waking life. That and poke as much fun at my parents as possible to exhaust their laughs and guffahs as to make our departure that much less weird and (hopefully) a sigh of relief.

Washington exists as a land of strange dichotomy for me. I am continually stuck by its beauty. When I was a small child, I gazed across our shire-like bay to the Brothers and thought what a great journey that would be to cross all that land and water and climb that mountain.
I have been there now, and though we did not reach the summit, the Brothers seem just as grand, but so much more attainable. The dichotomy I speak of exists in my perception of our daily lives here. People aimlessly wandering in pursuit of material and physical pleasure.

Tengo esperansa que nuestras pequeno aventura diéremos perspectiva.

Insomnia? Or shear anticipation...

2009-09-13T03:53:00.000-07:00

I awoke at approximately 3:12 am to an incessant beeping noise. Thinking it was part of my vivid dream, in which I was comparing dairy-free ice cream flavors with 2 fellow geology majors on the side of a highway next to a stalled semi-truck, I thought I was going slightly mad upon opening my eyes and realizing the beeping was still going on. Somehow, my watch alarm had been turned on (that watch is so sensitive, I swear) in the ruckus of my Mt. Si hike. You know how hiking makings your hands swollen? Well, I took my watch off, attached it to my backpack's chest strap and dropped it on the floor when I got home, thus turning on the alarm.

Which leads me to why I am WIDE awake right now, at 4 am. Wow, long-winded intro? I felt it needed a little explanation. :)

We had a lovely Ethiopian dinner tonight with our parents on Capital Hill. It was super delicious and we are probably not going to find that food in South America. Or at least, I do not believe we will be seeking it out.

The anticipation of leaving is consuming my mind and I have reached an all new level of procrastination. I have about a half-day's worth of errands left and cannot get myself to just do them. And I know it's because I really don't have a lot left to do and have sort of become idle. Except one more trip to the bank. And the pharmacy. And a shoe store. And Best Buy. Annndd....

Not to mention soaking up the company of our families and friends. And eating good Thai food.. one.. last.. time.

So anyway, here I lie, incredibly sleep deprived and lazily battling a sore throat and painful cough (swine flu? I think not) and yet I cannot sleep. I kind of just want to leave already! Alright, I REALLY just want to leave already! I have the essentials. I am mentally prepared. Or at least I think I am. Can one be fully prepared to leave the country with just a backpack for 6 months until one actually leaves and reaches that foreign country where people speak another language at the speed of light (I hear Chilean Spanish is ridiculous) and give us stares that make us believe we have a giant bumper sticker across our forehead that reads, "GRINGO"?

I cannot wait for that!

The plan: Enter Chile the day before their Independence holiday, celebrating how Bernardo O'Higgins and company liberated Chile from Spanish power. Great name, huh. We are hanging out in Santiago for a few days and then heading to Valparaiso and Viña del Mar for a few days. Then we head north, hopefully stopping in (and probably not in geographical order): Copiopo, San Pedro de Atacama, Iquique, and Arica. Then we enter Peru. Possibly visit Lima, definitely spend time in the Sacred Valley exploring Incan and pre-Incan ruins at and near Machu Picchu. Acclimatization with occur here for Lake Titicaca, presiding at 12,500 feet. (Summit of Mt. Rainier will be NBD when we get home!) Then the question is to enter Bolivia or not. We'll play in by ear. And then comes Argentina, which is so overwhelmingly huge, I have been avoiding reading up on it. But do not worry, we have countless hours on buses ahead of us to prepare for that. We are definitely going to romp over to Iguazu Falls, and spend ample time in Buenos Aires. etc.

For the last couple months of our trip, we're going to explore the Patagonia region. To express my excitement for that, I am going to drop an f-bomb. I cannot fucking wait for Patagonia. I mean, I'm excited for it all, but if there is one region of breathtaking scenery South America has to offer, it's Patagonia. It is unreal. I swear the pictures I have seen are paintings construed in a geologist's exaggerated (and likely drunken) mind. We'll let you know where the line between reality and disillusion is drawn when we get there! ;)

We have 3 more full days in town.

Stoked factor = 2.43058345987234 billion!

-M

12 days left on American soil!

2009-09-04T13:34:00.000-07:00

Alright, the countdown has begun! We are leaving in less than 2 weeks for our grand adventure.

The past month has been pretty busy with lots of moving, finishing up work, running errands, and still setting aside time for music playing, climbing and going on other various local adventures (like sailing around Puget Sound). I (Molly) am currently trying to tackle the room-clean at my parents house. I'm basically going through 6 years of schoolwork, posters, clothes, random items, etc., some of which I cannot for the life of me figure out why I kept it in the first place.

Let's just say that I am incredibly excited to rid myself of these material possessions and not look back. Time to live off the bare essentials for 6 months.

Well, off to more room-cleaning. More from the Southern Hemisphere when we land in Santiago on the 17th!

Molly

2009-08-11T12:39:00.001-07:00

OK time for a bit of an update.

We both have BS after our names now, and in about one month, we're leaving for South America for 6 months.

'Gonna be nuts.

Almost home...

2008-07-25T16:23:00.000-07:00

Hey all, sorry we haven't written in a while, things kinda got a little crazy.. We finished up our Block Mountain mapping project, which is worth 25% of our grade and then we went on a 6 day field trip to Stillwater, Yellowstone, and the Tetons. Yellowstone was pretty lame, we saw a few buffalo... and a bear from really far away... and some hot springs... and a whole lot of tourists driving 20 mph and stopping on the road conveniently where there were signs stating "no stopping allowed". The Tetons were incredible, the product of a normal fault, which is why there is flat land for miles and then, BAM mountains and then more flat land for miles on the Idaho side. Definitely some of the coolest mountains that I (Molly) have ever seen. I guess we'll have to go to the Himalayas and compare some day...

Anyways, we just finished a project mapping glacial deposits, which Ryan was super stoked on, and experienced a horrible thunder storm at the end of one of those days. It was pretty sketchy, there were around 7 of us running through this open field with lighting striking basically 360 degrees around us and thunder directly overhead, trying to get back to the cars for safety. There wasn't a single dry spot on our bodies or backpacks by the time we reached the cars; it was insane and awesome at the same time. So, we have 3 more days of mapping in the field, 2 1/2 more days of writing up our maps/reports, 1 1/2 more days of field trip to look at our final metamorphic rock mapping locations, 1 more day off, and 1 long day driving from Dillon back to Seattle. To put it simply, we are SUPER stoked to go home. Dillon, MT is definitely not our cup of tea. They don't even know what Thai food is here! Blasphemy. So peace out for now, hope all is well!

-Molly

Dinosaur bone!

2008-07-07T21:37:00.000-07:00

there is a large dinosaur leg bone in one of the rock units we've been mapping the past week. We can safely say that we have seen and touched a REAL dinosaur bone! It's illegal to remove it from the outcrop though :(

OOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH MY GOD 6 MONTHS, 4TH OF JULY AND A DAY OFF...

2008-07-03T18:11:00.001-07:00

... all at the same time.

Tonight, the Metlan.

2008-06-29T18:35:00.000-07:00

At the Metlen

2008-06-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

We spent our day off today cliff jumping into a reservoir. It was awesome and we did not use our brains at all.

2008-06-29T09:26:00.000-07:00

Ah the Metlen....

Yesterday was our first "office day". We were done mapping the Frying Pan area (for our first project) and spent all yesterday writing up our final maps, legends, strat columns, etc. for turn in by 9 pm. So naturally, come 9 pm, all 36 students and 2 of the TAs were way too ready to go out.

And out we went.

The Metlen, founded in 1805 by Bobby Rickenshweitzer and his brother Kennsworth, was formerly a beef auction site. As we all know, the beef industry in those early days was but a young thrush among the wide world around them, and as such, it was easy for Bobby and Kennsworth (B and K as the locals lovingly psuedonize them) to make a strong foothold in the beefsteak with beefsauce industry.

By 1810, the Rickenshweitzer brothers had completely domninated the cattle industry in the mountain states. Dazed by their newfound glory and success as "beefy barons," the Rickenshweitzer brothers became obsessed with their newfound fortune. Beers and wine was had in excess almost every night, until one fateful evening on the night of Feburary 31st, 1812.

Kennisworth, in a drunken rage, had gone on a rampage, wiping out all the cattle population with nothing but a small spoon.

Many said that Kennisworth's downfall was the amount of beefsauce he had taken in after all these years. Beef can accumulate in the brain, causing insanity and some, and super powers in a few.

And this was the downfall of the Rickenshweitzer beefsauce and beefsteak empire.

Soon after the death of Kennisworth (after the "bovine rage" ends, the body is ravished, and ultimately dies), Bobby traveled to the subcontinent of India, where it is little known that he reconstructed indian religion and history, deifying cows.

And as such, the Metlan as we know it was born, a hive for drunken geologists after office days.

We love you all,

Ryan and Molly

2008-06-24T18:21:00.000-07:00

Clark Reservoir in the background, a few miles outside of Dillon. The island in the background is limestone.

2008-06-23T22:22:00.000-07:00

Ahoy from the thriving metropolis of Dillon, Montana! Life is good, the food is bad, there are cowboys and country music everywhere, the mountains are near, and day 1 in the field is complete. You'll hear from us maybe once or twice a week with little updates on our lives in the field as geologists and how much we miss water. And Asian food. And cities with people in them. etc.

We love you all, goodnight for now!

-Molly and Ryan