Machu Picchu!

So.....I went to Machu Picchu for Thanksgiving! With a couple of friends from D.C., we had way too much fun. Here are some snapshots of what we did:

We hiked Waynapicchu, the mountain peak right next to Machu Picchu, so we could get amazing photos like this:


We saw llamas. LOTS of llamas. It was so exciting!


We gave thanks on Thanksgiving by saying "thankful" things all day long, and took our pictures with Turkey hands (you know, elementary school style) during our Mexican restaurant dinner (which in Aguascalientes I guess means making the tortillas like crepes. Weird).

I just love this picture.


We visited a salt mine -- each of those rectangulary-circley things is a "well" of salty water. The water would run down from the mountain, collecting salt, and land in the wells.


I got to live my dream of being a National Geographic photographer.....not that I'm getting published any time soon, but I do think I got some good shots.


OK, let me tell you something, the Incas had things figured out. Below, you will see a circular terrace for their crops. It is 10 degrees Celsius warmer down there than at the top! They could grow all kinds of things on those terraces! They also had a bunch of silos on a hill where the wind would hit just right, it was freezing there! They would store dried fruit, meat, grain, you name it.


I don't have a picture of this, but I think it's hilarious, so I'll tell you anyway (please take all of this with a grain of salt, I haven't had any time to verify its veracity). We went to one Inca ruin that was specifically ceremonial. One part of the ruin was used for dating/courting/marriage ceremonies, whatever you want to call them. Anyway, once a year, all the girls would line up on one side and the boys on the other, with the priest in the middle. Then the girl would point to the boy she wanted (probably they knew each other, fyi), and then the priest would tell them that they had 6 months to decide if that's who they wanted to be with for the rest of their life. (At this point, I'm thinking 'Wow, that's a pretty good deal. The girl gets to do the picking!') . Then our guide tells us that after the 6 months are up, if they decide not to get married, they can both go to the ceremony next year and try again. EXCEPT -- the girl only gets one more shot at it! The boy can keep going back as many times as he wants! And it gets better -- if the girl botches it the second time, she gets sent to a temple to be a Sun virgin, aka get-thee-to-a-nunnery. AND in the temple, all the Sun virgins had to be ready to be a human sacrifice at any time (which apparently wasn't very often, like it happened once every 50 years, but still, it was on their list of convent obligations).

Well, that's that, Peru was a beautiful country, and if my internet were any faster, I'd post ALL my awesome pictures, but then you probably wouldn't have scrolled all the way down to read about the Sun virgins. I'm thinking dating in the modern world isn't that bad.

Christmas in.....October?

So, to answer the first thing you're thinking, yes, Halloween is celebrated here. The embassy does trick-or-treat for the kids (so cute!) and my local church congregation is having their costume party today. But.....

On the 30th day of October, the following things I did see: 1 choir of angels, 4 racks of holiday wrapping paper, 3 strings of lights, 2 Christmas trees, and a partridge in a pear tree. So if you're the kind of person who is totally against ANY type of Christmas decoration or music before Thanksgiving is over, do not come to Venezuela. This is the earliest I've ever seen the Christmas stuff get broken out -- it even beats the Christmas music they played on Oct. 31 in the BYU student center to advertise the annual Christmas concert. HOWEVER, if you're the kind of person who doesn't mind Christmas-y stuff year round (I find it unavoidable, especially when I hit "shuffle" on my iPod, since half of my music is apparently Christmas songs), then you would have loved today. I loved it.

My LDS congregation (ward) went to visit a rest home this morning. I love doing that! That's what we did every day while studying in Mexico, and I miss it. I wasn't sure it was going to be such a success, though -- we all shuffled in and stood there, you know how it goes, and everyone kind of looks at their shoes, and the old people look at you, or at the sky, or at their elbow, or keep humming whatever love song from the 40's they were humming before. And you mumble a "hello, what's your name?" and then back off again when they answer "I don't know why the food here tastes so awful, you go have a word with the cook right now, it's unbearable!" So everyone keeps standing there awkwardly. Which we did today, until one old lady at the back of the room yelled "Hey, I hate it when people come visit, they just stand there and gawk at us like we're animals!"

So we sprang into action. We sang some of the kid songs they learn in church, you know, like Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, and If You're Happy and You Know It. That worked for awhile, but they weren't so much into the action songs. So we started singing Christmas carols. And they sang along! It was sweet. And they already had their Christmas tree up anyway (?). Maybe it was planned all along that we were going to go Christmas caroling, I'm not really sure. But it was nice (though a little bizarre in 80-degree weather in October).

We talked a little bit with all the folks there too. I realized that working at the same rest home every day in Mexico was great, because they would tell us the same stories every day, so by the 4th or 5th retelling, I pretty much understood what was going on. Today, I get the feeling that two of the folks I was talking to both told me really sad things, like "my children abandoned me here," or "I'm dying of cancer," but I couldn't really understand them, so I just patted their hand reassuringly. I hope we can go back, I need another go at those conversations.

It made me think of my Viejitas in Mexico, and I wander how many of them have passed away by now. I learned so much from them, I think we have so much we can learn from the elderly, and so much we can share with them ourselves. They loved having us there today, and even the deeply offended woman who yelled at the beginning came around. Brightening their day was the best thing I've done in a long time. Dear future children of mine: be prepared to be dragged to rest homes on a very consistent basis. You will hate it, and you'll look at your shoes, and mumble some song, and run home as fast as you can, but it will be good for you. And good for the people you bless too (thank you Mom for dragging us to rest homes when we were little, I'm so glad we went).

Foreign Service Post #2!!!!

Just a quick post, to announce that (although I have another year in Caracas), I got my next assignment today: Vienna, Austria in August 2012! I'll leave Caracas around November 2011, then I'll be in DC for German language training until August 2012. Super excited, it will be another consular job, which is just what I wanted, in a safe and very visitable place, which is also just what I wanted! So remember what Billy Joel told you all those years ago, Vienna Waits For You. Come and visit! (Just remember, not till 2012 :)

No Title Tonight

But just wanted to say that I was able to watch the annual LDS Relief Society General Broadcast, and it was great! President Monson spoke (I'll post a link to it once it's up) about how we view others -- he told a great story about a husband and wife who moved into a new neighborhood. Every week, the wife would watch her neighbor hanging up her laundry outside. "Look how dirty her laundry is!" she would comment to her husband. "She has no idea how to properly wash her clothes!" Then one week, she looked outside, and her neighbor's laundry was clean. "Hey, do you see that!?" she asked her husband. "How do you think she learned to clean her clothes right?" "Well," said the husband (and I thought Pres. Monson was going to talk about helping others and maybe the husband taught the neighbor how to wash her clothes instead of judging her)....."Well," said the husband, "I got up extra early this morning and washed our windows." Awesome! I laughed so hard, well done President Monson. He talked a lot more about how quick we are to judge other people, and how we really should take the time to get to know people first before judging them. As dear old Scout learned from Atticus in To Kill A Mockingbird, you can't judge someone till you've walked around in their skin for a bit (or at least have stood on their porch). OK, the TKAM quote is mine, but Pres. Monson also quoted Mother Teresa, who said "If you judge people, you have no time to love them." Good stuff. True true true.

In other unrelated news, the Venezuelan legislative elections are tomorrow. No commentary here, but watch the news and we'll see what happens. It's pretty much Chavez's first litmus test of his presidency, even though it's legislative and he's not running. Oh, and I wanted to show you my milk carton. Ciao from Venezuela!

100th post!

So, that's kind of cool, right?

I was flipping through some of my posts since I started this blog in 2007, and I realized that I haven't blogged about anything really of substance in a long time.....or maybe ever......well, don't get too excited, 'cause I'm not going to do it now. I love my blog because I finally have a forum where I can spout off my random thoughts and keep in touch with people. But if you want to know how I'm REALLY doing......you'll probably have to call or e-mail me.

OK, so I'll give you at least a LITTLE teaser of how I'm really doing, but only because A) I'm really impressed that you're reading my blog! Thank you!!! and B) Because I feel bad that I don't post more often, and there are folks out there who I think actually want to know how I'm doing, and are interested in my life in Venezuela!

Which to me is like, go figure, I mean, I think God could plunk you down in any corner of the world, and it would become hum-drum in your eyes. Life has finally "normalized" here for me, which probably explains the lack of blogging. I go to work, I go to church, I cook, I hang out with friends, I grocery shop, I call home, I go to work again, and so on. And I'm doing GREAT! In case you were wondering. This is definitely an adventurous place to live, in a word, but I'm having a great time and learning a lot. I'm mainly learning 2 things:

1) How to cook: This is a relative phrase, but I have made some pretty tasty dishes lately -- it's nice to be able to come home and have time to put together a whole meal. For my birthday dinner (the first time I've had more than a handful of people over for dinner.....like ever......) I made Eastern NC style barbecue (that's pork). And it turned out! Like, people ate all of it! I used my Grandpa's recipe and didn't even mess it up. Yum. I'm also learning:

2) To be a grownup. I've had a lot of growing up to do the past several months -- I've been working in the American Citizen Services section (yes, we're the people you call when you're overseas and your passport was stolen). But we get called about a lot of other things too -- arrests, natural disasters, estate disputes, international parental child abduction, fraudulent citizenship claims, plane crashes, you name it. So these crises arise, and I'm expected to take action. To solve a problem. To provide a service, and be mature about it and do it well. I am very grateful to my parents (especially when I'm dealing with custody issues and parents who are......I have no words to describe them). Sure, we're not a perfect family, but seeing the full spectrum sure makes you appreciate what you have. In fact, I'd say we're doing pretty dang good. Well, I mean. Anyway, my mom calls me a kind-of-social worker, which is sort of true, except we don't really provide any social services.....which sometimes upsets people. A lot. Which is why you have to be mature. *Deep breath*

So the moral of the story is, when you get yourself into trouble overseas, be kind to the consular officer when they are just doing the best they can. And then call me and ask if your story can beat out any of the ones I've got in my back pocket.....I'll bet it can't :)

Clouds-Upon-Avon

Hello friends, I'm sorry for the lack of blogging, this has been one of the craziest months of my life. Or two months. I can't even remember the last time I blogged. So here goes. (To be told in various blog posts).

In August, I took my first R&R, and went with my family to the Outer Banks! We went to Avon (just north of Cape Hatteras), and it was heavenly. The waves were much better this year than last year's "lame waves," we went to the traditional Saturday night fish fry at the firehouse, made homemade ice cream, did puzzles, played games, watched movies (and sang ALL the songs in Muppet Treasure Island, and quoted ALL of Princess Bride), and pretty much had a great time.....

Except for the clouds. I was in such a blissful state of being-in-North-Carolina that I didn't really notice, and when I did notice, I thought it was pretty hilarious. You see, we would wake up, and there would be clouds-upon-Avon. And so we thought "Ah, today would be a good day to go to the museum/go shopping/eat out/do something inside." So we would drive half an hour/an hour/10 minutes away, and as soon as we got wherever we were going, the sun would come out. Praise Be! So we would rush home, put on our suits, and run out to the beach where it was......cloudy. One time it even rained, and all of a sudden lightning struck the ocean WHILE WE WERE IN THE OCEAN, and, yeah, we went home. I'm serious, this happened every day (not the lightning, thank heavens), but we would be driving back home to Avon, and there would be that little cloud, hovering there waiting for us. I even got a picture from the Hatteras lighthouse to prove it: (Avon is just past that narrow stretch of land).


At any rate, we still had a lovely time, and our last day the sun was SHINING! And far-away Hurricane Danielle decided to stir up the ocean for a bit, and the waves were huge! So huge, in fact that I (and I consider myself a very adept ocean swimmer and body surfer) got "tumbled" every time I tried to get past where they were breaking. We all got "tumbled" a lot ("tumbled" is a euphemism one of my sisters created to try to lessen the horror of getting smashed head first into the sand, getting salt water up your nose, sand in your ears, and then getting tumbled again because you can't stand up straight). But it was also so fun to be back in the ocean. Maybe I'm out of practice, because Michael and Rachel had a lot more sucess than I did, at getting out past the breakers:

And here is more proof that the weather was beautiful while we were there, despite the clouds:


So, sorry there aren't more photos (especially one of the whole family, I think they're on mom's camera). So more later! But first, check out this great National Geographic quality photo I got of a tree frog on our deck! (I know, I'm such a dork :)

ANGEL FALLS!!!

So, over the 4th of July weekend, I WENT TO ANGEL FALLS!!!

It was pretty much the coolest thing I've ever done. Cool doesn't even come close to describing it, though. We (my 2 great travel companions and I) flew in a Cessna right by the falls, spent one night in an indigenous Pemon village, canoed down the river to the base of the falls, slept every night in a hammock IN THE RAIN FOREST!!! (under a shelter, of course), saw howler monkeys, can you believe it? Hiked in the rain forest, saw a million kinds of plants and animals, felt like I was living my dream of being a NatGeo photographer -- we saw lion ants and giant hairy spiders and kingfishers and cormorants and cock-of-the-rock and tanagers and macaws and orandopola nests and we looked REALLY hard for a tapir but we didn't see one.

I learned a ton too, like how Angel Falls is the tallest uninterupted (free-falling) waterfall in the world (you may recognize as the inspiration for UP), how the tepuyes (giant mesa-mountains) and the canyons cause wind and cloud formations unique to the world - their own microclimate! How the Pemon people build huts with palm-tree roofs that last up to 15 years, and how they season their chicken soup with this great tasting spice that comes from crushed red ants (we found that out afterwards, but it was really good!).

We had a great time with our guide and canoe crew (motorized, so none of us had to paddle, but I tell you, Capitan sure did know how to manuever that thing -- he would swing across to the other side of the river to avoid rapids just around the corner that no one could see coming, amazing!). Oh, another highlight: we pulled ourselves up a rope through a river to see a waterfall at the end of this gorge. Wow, what a rush.

Anyway, I had the best time ever, my internet is being awfully slow right now so I'm not able to upload more photos, but you can check out all my photos here. But I'll leave you with one parting shot, looking up from the base of the falls: