Further Travel Adventures

Terry sometimes remarks that "travel" and "torture" come from the same root ("travail", perhaps?)

After seven relatively uneventful days in Cuzco (well, uneventful apart from a case of E. Coli and other relatively minor misadventures, mostly bathroom-related) our group divided, amoeba-like, into two groups. One group went off to hike the Inca Trail (4-day stairmaster with ruins) and the other group went off to explore a more roundabout, but wheeled, approach to Machu Picchu.

Everyone spent the night here at my parents' house since we had an early-morning wake-up call and were going to be picked up en masse. But then the taxi-drivers association started threatening to strike and block roads starting at 5 a.m. Thursday, the day we were scheduled to leave. There was some talk of canceling the strike on the part of the union president, but even so our tour agency decided to preemptively reschudule our departure for 4:30 a.m.! Which we did... and then the strike was cancelled anyway.

I went with the non-hiking group. We had a leisurely two days exploring the Sacred Valley, seeing such fascinating sites as this and this, and thoroughly exploring Ollantaytambo.

Then we caught a bus at 9 p.m. headed for the small high-jungle town of Santa Teresa. Only we had to change buses at around 4 a.m. in Santa Maria. Two guys from our tour agency met us on the bus. One of the students described the ride as "interesting," in the most euphemistic sense possible! Another student reported that she was praying the whole time to die quickly rather than prolonged suffering as result of the accident we were certain to have. I found out later that this was the same road I took last time (2 years ago) to Quillabamba, and it's honestly not all that bad. It was just dark out, and all you could see was the winding dirt road, about 1.5 lanes wide, rock cliff face on one side and sheer darkness on the other. The girls were carsick and v. tired; I think myself I might have slept about 20 minutes. At least that's what it felt like.

At 2 a.m. I asked the guy next to me where we were; "not there yet," he said after looking out the window. A block later I saw a sign that said "Santa Maria public bathrooms" (in Spanish). Hmmm.... I thought. A little later the guide asked the driver where we were, next thing I knew we were piling off the bus and looking for a way to get back since we'd, actually, passed it. (Our guides were a little inexperienced.) Fortunately we found someone with a car to drive us back, about 20 minutes, and caught our next bus.

Two sleepless hours later, dawn happened as we rolled into Santa Maria, a tiny little high jungle town crawling with grungy backpacker types avoiding (like we were) the expensive train to Machu Picchu by going the long way around. We had breakfast there (pancakes and eggs) and then chilled out before heading to some absolutely beautiful hot springs to relax for several hours. I fell asleep by the pool and got a little tan! Sorry I don't have pictures - I don't carry a camera, I just rely on other shutterbugs.

In the afternoon we made our way by van and train to the ramshackle jumping-off point of Aguas Calientes. It was relaxing - in fact, three of the girls fell asleep on the train despite the stunning scenery. You could even see the back side of Machu Picchu from below - I had never come this way before so was pretty impressed!

We got a hotel in Aguas Calientes, and the minute I said "this is our room," one girl fell into bed with her glasses on and was instantly asleep. It was pretty hilarious.

Further adventures forthcoming - Terry is wanting to go into town here and do some errands or something.
TTFN!

Interesting Times!

Look at my new socks! They have come with me to Peru and kept my toes warm in the mountains.

So... we have definitely been having some adventures:

Item 1: The day before leaving the US, one of our students did not have her passport. She ended up going in person to the National Passport Center in DC at 7:30 a.m. and getting in line. By 9:00 she had her passport in hand and was able to join us at the airport 90 minutes before our flight!

Item 2: Once we arrived in country, Terry and I made an optimistic change of plans - to take the night bus from Huaraz to Lima in order to catch our flight to Cuzco a few hours later that same morning. (The original plan was to take the day bus, spend a night in Lima, and head out in the morning.) But our optimism was to be sorely tested!
- 2a: Our bus, while quite comfy, got TWO flat tires during the night! I was astonished at the speed of repair, but even so my heart was in my throat during the whole night as I wondered if the delays would mean missing our flight. However, fate was smiling upon us as we reached Lima with a generous 2 1/2 hours to spare. Which we would end up needing, because...
- 2b: When we went to check in, quite early, we learned that our travel agent had made a mistake and changed our reservation at the last minute from the the 9th to the 12th!!! HOW does this happen, you ask? It´s another long story, but it took the better part of an hour to straighten it all out. I pretty much flipped my lid which doesn´t happen too often. This left us just enough time to pay the airport tax, go through security, find our gate, with 15 minutes to spare for the students to get some kind of breakfast.

I have to say, our group is really good. They have kept up quite positive attitudes and good spirits despite the laundry list of the following:
- sunburned lips that blistered and provoked fever
- a running total of about 5 unanticipated hours of uphill hiking, some with luggage
- a lost (new) digital camera with photos of graduation still on it
- sunscreen spilled all over the interior of a bag
- honey spilled all over the interior of a backpack
- a pretty steady diet of potatoes, broad beans, soup, and bread for 3 days in a rural village
- a case of amoebas
- three cases of wool allergy (sleeping under wool blankets - had to swap out for other people´s sleeping bags)
- one case of exercise-induced asthma

That´s all I can think of right now... I feel like I´m not taking very good care of my kids here!

On the other hand, we have had some quite wonderful times as well:
- incredible beauty: green mountains with snow-capped peaks, cold mountain streams, rocky outcroppings, little patchwork fields
- spending time with Quechua farmers in their homes
- eating fresh honey harvested the same day from the hive
- chewing on corn stalks (almost as sweet as sugar cane here, without the chemical fertilizers)
- experiencing a pachamanca (earth oven) celebration with dancing
- hanging out with our local guide, Jhonny, who impressed the students with his detailed knowledge of local history
- being erroneously but persistently identified as Cornell students :-)
- seeing the incredibly bright and clear stars through the thin mountain air

Now we are in Cuzco and Terry and I are a little more relaxed now we´ve shuffled off the kids to various host families. Today we went to Sacsayhuaman where there were actual condors that someone had caught and domesticated hanging out there (I´m really not sure I quite liked that, actually). Tomorrow is a free day but everybody´s going to a local soccer match - even me!

running amok

Yesterday I:
- was a bad immigrant activist and missed any and all May 1 protests / celebrations / demonstrations, etc.
- showed the apartment to a potential sub-letter. Five hours later I moved out, and she moved in!
- attended my last class of the year at CU
- turned in 3 of my 4 final papers and sundry reading responses
- drove to VA and packed for Peru
- finished a knitting project (sorry no pictures yet)
- planned the orientation for the Peru students

Terry, bless his heart, drove to NY to pick me up Monday night, then we returned together. He drove the whole way back, too, while I slept for 3 hours.

Today we:
- oriented the Peru students (everything you need to know, in 2 hours!)
- did crisis management for one student whose passport isn't here yet (we leave at 11 tomorrow)
- ran around like crazy tying up the thousand little threads of paperwork etc that need to get done (like, I had to fill out another I-9 form at EMU)

Spring is in full bore here - flowers, flowers, flowers, and leaves everywhere - dandelions galore - my yard is FULL of weeds. That will have to wait until we get back, however!

But I think we're in good shape, so far...

Nose to the Grindstone

I took a little walk and study break near sunset; this was just so pretty. Now my landlady is baking brownies upstairs and it smells sooo good!

Blooming and Scams

These blossoming trees really gave me a lift today as I was walking to the library (that's Olin there). Things are going well, just going all six cylinders. Terry took off today with a carload of stuff; my bookshelves and closet are quite bare, and my yarn stash is mostly back in VA as well. I'm trying to find a subletter, and almost got caught in a nasty scam. Two people answered my ad on c.raigslist, sounded very nice, responsible, etc. etc. Curiously, both said they were writing from the UK and both asked if they could pay by money order. I said fine, and then went online to find out what a money order actually is (I've never used one before, but a lot of people I know use them to send money home to Latin America). One thing I learned is that a common scam is to offer to send someone a money order and then ask for cash back, only their money order is bogus to begin with, so you end up sending them a bunch of money for nothing. I made a "note to self" in my mind and then went on trying to figure out which of the two Brits to sublet the apartment to. Well! Today I got e-mails from both, each one with a different story that had one thing in common: needing cash back on the money order.
My first thought was, "I can't do that, I'm leaving the country and I won't have time."
My second thought was, "Waaaaaait a minute... didn't I just read something about cash back scams?"
My third thought was, "Those mean people!"
(Mean people suck!)
I wrote back to both and said I can't deal with a cash-back situation and am planning to sublet to somebody local instead. (Hope I find somebody!)
Anyway, all day long I'd keep remembering odd little details about both e-mails, just little things that didn't register at the time, but looking back I'm realizing they were very odd. For instance, both asked a number of questions about the apartment (normal) but they were asking about things that were listed in the ad...(alarm bells!)
I wonder whether I would have been less suspicious if there had only been one?

Spring again

The snow is pretty much completely melted away, but I caught this shot of a glop of snow weighing down a blossoming tree, I think it was Tuesday.

I have about ten days left to finish all my semester's work... wow!

More snow!

Before class, and after class. It snowed straight through until about 9 pm. Looking at the tops of cars, I'm guessing at least 16 inches total. Crazy!

Snow!

From April flowers to snow showers! A few days ago I took this picture of somebody's yard as I walked by; this morning I wake up to this:

It's pretty exciting though. Although, no signs of university closing :-( I'm glad T. decided to head on out yesterday though; the I-81 corridor is supposed to be a mess right now.

Blocking Silk?

Another finished object! Alas the inadequacies of the camera phone. Anyway, I'm quite happy with my new scarf, just in time for another snowstorm in the forecast...









I know I'm not modeling it in the hipster "European" fashion, but this way you can see the fabric better. I love the wavy effect. But I'm wondering, does one block silk?

You guys gotta try this! :-)

Your results:
You are Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic)

Dr. Simon Tam (Ship Medic) 80% Malcolm Reynolds (Captain) 75% Zoe Washburne (Second-in-command) 65% Wash (Ship Pilot) 40% Inara Serra (Companion) 35% Kaylee Frye (Ship Mechanic) 35% Derrial Book (Shepherd) 35% River (Stowaway) 30% Jayne Cobb (Mercenary) 5% Alliance 5% A Reaver (Cannibal) 0%

Medicine and physical healing are your game, but wooing women isn't a strong suit.

Click here to take the "Which Serenity character are you?" quiz...

End of the Weekend

Sunday, Terry and I were walking back from church and I showed him this sign I walk by several times a week. It's near the path to the bridge over Beebe Lake, and it just makes me laugh - "Extreme Caution!" - Oh no! Nature! Dirt! Rocks! Sticks! (believe me, their "bark" is worse than their "bite") (ha ha!) The ridiculous thing is that the path at this point is paved, and leads directly to a bridge with very high rails on the sides. On the other side are steps up to the street. Sure, there's a place you can go off onto an unpaved path around the lake, but really people. "Extreme" Caution???


In other news, here is a Finished Object! I'm thinking of making fingerless mitts to match. Very quick, mindless knit. Don't know if I'll keep it (it matches nothing I own - at least outerwear, that is); don't know whom to give it to either. Maybe the Relief Sale in November.

On the Needles (basically only interesting to Tara!)

I just counted: I have 5 projects on the needles. Two are in Harrisonburg though (a pair of socks and a hat). This mitt here is the same fingerless mitt pattern as before, same yarn too, but only one strand instead of doubling up, and size 0 needles instead of size 1. This one seems like it's actually going to FIT. Yay!
I set my timer tonight at 50-minute intervals. Read for 50 minutes, knit for 10. I found that in 10 minutes I can knit 6 rows on this scarf. I have to wax rhapsodic about the yarn for a moment though - it is Artyarns luxury hand-painted Silk Rhapsody, and it was a birthday present from Tara! If it were food, it would be French Silk Pie. If it were music, it would be the theme from Swan Lake. If it were a smell, it would be gardenias at night. I made a teeny-tiny mistake in the pattern (a misreading, really) in the first section, did it correctly in the second section, and did it wrong again on purpose in the third section because I like how it looks. I think I'll continue to alternate. The pattern says:
Row 1: K1, *yo, skp; rep from * to last st, k1
Repeat 8 times.
Well, the first run-through I thought it made sense on the second row to slip the y.o., knit the knit stitch, and slip the yo over it. This was wrong. But it looks cool. The correct thing to do, if you follow the instructions properly, is to slip the knit stitch, knit into the yarn over, then pass slipped stitch over. The effect of doing it correctly is basically a more open open-work section because by knitting into the y.o. stitch, you pull it up a little. If you slip it instead, it makes the hole smaller.

Anyway, knitting minutia.

I should be taking a nap...

Just a note to let y'all know I'm back in NY safely; didn't sleep much on the bus, so need to catch a few Zs before class tonight.

It was a pretty wild weekend! My presentation at the conference went well, despite having to completely shift my approach at the last minute when I realized that the audience had zero background in social theory. The other people on my panel included the Human Rescources director for Cargill (poultry plant), a woman who works for Homeland Security, and two computer science guys who happen to be highly educated South Americans teaching Spanish at the university pontificating about how Spanglish is a "degeneration" of Spanish (like Spanish wasn't a "degenerate" version of Latin! Come on!) So, just a little bizarre.

Then Friday night I had the *lovely* experience of going to a meeting of the Minute Men Civil Defense League, who were trying to help a group of locals start their own grassroots movement to "save the Valley" from immigration. The local activists had been, well, active, though, and the crowd was probably 70% pro-immigrant. Terry and I agreed that the discourse from the anti-immigrant group was basically vicious racism disguised under a rhetoric of rationality and even humanitarian concerns. I'm going to write at least 2 course papers on this so it was very interesting, but at the same time what sticks with me most was afterwards I saw my good friend from Guatemala, a nurse and mother of 2 college students who gives of herself constantly for others. I asked her "how are you?" and she said, "My heart hurts."

more pointless time wastage (but fun!)

According to this web site, the celebrities I most resemble (in order from most to least) are:

1. Eliza Dushku (cool!)
   
2. Jessica Alba (right on!)
   
3. Gary Lineker (erm...ok...)
   
4. Aya Matsuura (who is that?)
   
5. Adam Corolla (huh?)
   
6. Ray Romano (ack!)
   
7. Penelope Cruz (mmmm....)
   
8. Bae Yong-Jun (hmm....)
   
9. Kate Winslet (oh yeah!)
   
10. Lisa Snowdon (ok! whoever she is!)
    

Sadly, the Ray Romano resemblance was the most convincing to me...

Academia

I realized when I came back from spring break how I feel like myself here, in a way I don't at home, not in the same way.

In the midst of this contemplation, as I trudged uphill towards class today congratulating myself for being on time despite the mad dash out the door ten minutes earlier, I felt really full from the lunch of rice and broccoli and cheese I had just eaten. As my mind turned towards food, I was hit by a flash of sudden memory - the salmon! I left it in the oven...I left the oven ON!!!

Crap!!!

My landlady is away; Terry's not here; there was nobody to call. No help for it, I had to run back to the apartment to turn the oven off. My mind filled with visions of charred fish, smoke-damaged rooms, etc. As I crossed the bridge over Beebe I heard SIRENS! Aaugh! Although at the same time I knew it was too soon for that big of a fire to have started in my apt.

Sure enough, there was a fire alarm going off in Balch.

When I got home, the salmon was done perfectly. Just a hint of char at the bottom of the pan.

Ran back to class and slipped in 30 minutes LATE panting and sweating. The professor didn't miss a beat in her lecture; I was impressed.

What a luxury - to be able to show up to a meeting 30 minutes late and not get fired!

Spring in Ithaca

...seems to mean lots of rain. Crocuses are up, but patches of snow linger in cool places. I am taking a little knitting break just now as I ran out of yarn for my current pair of socks and can't seem to find the same make/model anywhere (haven't tried the internet yet...seems like a potential rabbit hole to Wonderland...) yet. Plus, had a bit of repetetive stress in the thumb area (mostly from writing too much) and want to take it easy on the hands.

I'm enjoying the pattern a day calendar I got for Christmas from Emily S., some patterns just make me go WOW! while others are "what were they thinking?" (Mostly the novelty yarn fiascos). Man, though, I'll never make it through all the things I want to make.

Well, gotta go!

Spring Has Sprung!

The daffodils are finally starting to bloom in our front yard! I got yarn for my birthday! Bright notes in an otherwise stressed-out Spring Break.

Spring Fever

toes pale and wrinkled

tap the salt-rimed sidewalk

flinch from cold mud

Happy Birthday to Me!

My friend Catherine gave me this lovely teapot yesterday, and I gave myself this yarn that I bought last fall (50% off!). It felt like Spring today. I read a lot, went to a talk by a Big Famous Anthropologist (the best part was getting out of class for that!). Terry had to leave for VA today but my spring break starts at the end of this week (yay!)

Well, guess I'll go read some more!

Mitt

I finished the first "Broad Street" mitt; it's kind of strange because it's long, but tight. The shell that folds back seems too long, and there's extra room at the wrist. The thumb is kind of long too.

Conversely, the fingers feel quite tight - when I make a fist it feels like the circulation is being cut off somewhat.

I think I'm going to make the second one, but then try another pair knit with just one strand of the yarn and see what happens.

Know anyone with really long, thin fingers (I mean really long and thin, like Jennifer Garner for instance).