All Of The Pages

Salt Flat tour (Days 2 & 3)

2010-01-30T06:38:00.000-08:00

Hello!

Sorry we don't really keep up with our blog. When we were traveling through Bolivia we didn't have any internet! We are in Lima now but I'm going to try and catch you up on what we've done.

So Shane wrote about our first day on the Salt Flat tour and still hasn't written about the other days so I'm going to take a crack at it because I want to write about recent stuff! :)

Now, I don't remember a lot because I spent most of the time laying down in the jeep on Shane's lap!

So the second day we woke up bright and early around 6:30am.

Our group misunderstood the instructions the night before so we were really late and Lucas (our driver) wasn't too happy. He keep walking by the room yelling "It's a long drive!" so we quickly packed our things, through them on top of the jeep and went on our way.

That day was dedicated to the Lagoons. I can't quite remember the order because I was half asleep and I couldn't really tell the difference... but we saw a blue, green, red, and white lagoon that day. The first was the blue I believe and it was FULL of flamingos. Lucas told us they feed on the microscopic organisms in the slaty lagoons. The lagoons were all very beautiful and we stopped for

lunch at our second one. I'm pretty sure it was the green lagoon. Shane took some pictures while I sat on a rock trying to catch my breath. On day one, we started at 3800 m above sea level and then continued to climb from there. So by day two, and once we hit the second lagoon we were at around 4300 m. I know it sounds like I'm a wimp but if you lived on sea level your whole life and climbed 4000 m in two days then you would lose your breathe too!!

The boys we met and took the tour with were awesome. During lunch Shane and I learned some hebrew words that are not appropriate to type on here. It was pretty funny for me to try and say them because if you know me my accents are HORRIBLE! Shane was very good

, but the boys video taped me and made fun of me the rest of the trip. haha :)

After lunch we saw the other two lagoons then made it to our new hostel by 4pm. At this hostel

we sat at 5200m above sea level. As soon as we arrived there my head started to ache a bit and I felt a bit dizzy and sick to my stomach so I asked everyone if they just wanted to chill out and take a nap and do a walk around later. Everyone agreed and we all curled up in our beds in the freezing cold hostel. Before we all fell asleep the boys decided to try and make me laugh because I was feeling so crappy. During the trip we taught our friend Dudi how to say suicide, awesome, shut up, and few others which are also inappropriate to put on here. So, all three of the Israel boys started doing impersonations of me and Shane and I almost died laughing! So funny... and what made it hilarious was that Dudi started saying how if anything happened to me (because I was feeling so sick) that they would all do suicide. It might not sound that funny on here but it was actually hilarious!

After we woke up from our nap the altitude really hit me. It's worse when you sleep because of lack of oxygen. As soon as I opened my eyes I was running outside to throw up. Shane, like a

good boyfriend (note the sarcasm), started taking pictures! But after I yelled at him he started to take care of me... God love him. It was freezing outside (atleast 0 with the wind chill) and he stood right by my side rubbing my back and hugging me in between. After a cup of coco leaf tea and a dozen chewed up leaves in my mouth, my pounding headache eased up a bit, my tummy settled, and I was able to lay down and go to sleep. It was a very rough night!

The next morning we woke up around 4:30am. Lucas woke us up this time because we had to go see the geysers while it was still freezing out. I was still really sick but Shane packed my bag for me and sat with me in the back of the jeep while I laid on his lap.

Shane got out of the jeep to see the geysers while I watched from the window.

Geysers are a very rare phenomenon. What they are caused from are boiling water under the surface of the earth. The water runs over hot rocks, which are caused from active volcanos, and causes the water to boil. Once this happens the pressure causes the steam from the water to shoot up from the ground. We were told not to go too close to the Geysers because they can be very dangerous. Shane didn't listen of course and went right up to it and put his hand over the steam. He told us that it wasn't hot but a bit chilly.

Shane was lucky, because later I met a girl who told me on her tour a guy from Brazil stepped

too close to one of the non-controlled geyser. He stepped on a soft piece of earth and his leg sunk in causing his skin to burn. The girl told me that it was so badly burnt that they had to airlift him to the hospital and back to Brazil. Pretty scary stuff!

After the geyser we headed to a hot spring near by. I was feeling alright but it was so cold outside so I didn't get in. Shane and a

couple of the boys got in though! Shane said it was amazing and I'll take his word for it. There was ice all over the ground around the hot spring so that made me change my mind about getting in.

So I was very excited to head back to Uyuni and get out of that crazy place. As soon as Shane and I got back we booked our train ticket to La Paz and sat in a little cafe for 5 hours before it left at midnight.

This blog as turned out to be very long so I'm going to write about our trip to La Paz and then our trip to Peru later! :)

Maybe Shane will write one soon ;)

Love Ash

Salt Flat Tour (Day 1)

2010-01-21T19:26:00.000-08:00

Once we arrived in Uyuni we we exhausted. No sleep for days, being tossed around on a bus for 10 hours and nothing to eat but empanadas. We pretty much crawled to the nearest hotel. We managed to post up in a pretty decent spot as far as this town was concerned.

Uyuni is a town in the south of Bolivia. It's pretty much a gateway for tourists visiting the world's largest salt flats so they arn't to concerned about hospitality. We booked a tour with a company called Croque Tours the same day and fell asleep at 8:00 p.m. I know... boring.

The next day we woke up with the guys from Israel and got ready for our three day two nights through the desert. We hooked up with our driver, Lucas, and another traveler from Brazil.

We were riding in a Toyota Land Cruiser. Pretty comfortable compared to most of the other vehicles heading out that day. Lucas strapped the bags to the roof and we were off. I think we were 2 minutes in when I started thinking about what would be destroyed in our bags after Lucas rolled the vehicle onto its roof. Lucas was a crazy driver!

The first stop was what Lucas called the Train Cemetery. One of the major tourist attractions. It is located 3 km outside Uyuni. The town served in the past as a distribution hub for the trains carrying minerals on their way to ocean ports but in the 1940s, the mining industry collapsed, partly due to the mineral depletion so many trains were abandoned which created the train cemetery.

Then we started for the world's largest salt flat. Some interesting facts about the Salar:

World's largest salt flat at 10,582 km²
^{Elevated 3,656 meters above the mean sea level.}
^{Formed as a result of transformations between several prehistoric lakes}
^{The crust serves as a source of salt and covers a pool of brine, which is exceptionally rich in lithium. It contains 50 to 70% of the world's lithium reserves}
^{The large area, clear skies and exceptional surface flatness make the Salar ideal object for calibrating the altimeters of the Earth observation satellites.}
^{Major breeding ground for several species of pink flamingos.}

We stopped at Incahuasi Island which is in the center of the salt flat. We had some lunch and hiked to the top. On the way up the air is so thin it was hard to breath and we had to stop to rest a number of times. While stopping we noticed some signs by some of the cacti. Some of them were actually thousands of years old.

After that we drove one hour to our first hotel. It was pretty basic due to its remote location. We only had 2 hours of electricity that night and one hour of hot water because the place ran on a battery charged by solar power. We went to bed shortly after the lights went out because our next day was to start at 7:00 a.m.

So far so good...

Bolivia!

2010-01-21T12:12:00.000-08:00

So we made it to Bolivia!! But it wasn't easy...

In Salta we booked a bus for midnight because the guy told us that it would better to arrive at the border in the morning.

We got on our bus and were feeling that it wasn't too bad... a little dirty but fine. Once the driver started driving Shane and I both started fearing for our life. The bus driver must have been in a hurry because he kept passing cars even when you couldn't see what was coming the other way. Many times we thought we were going to have a head on collision. Just to give you an idea of how fast he was driving, we were suppose to arrive at the border for 7am. We got there at 5am! Two hours early...

So the border didn't open until 7:30 Bolivian time and Bolivia is

1 hour behind Argentina. We ended up curling up outside in blankets waiting for it to open. It was so cold outside as you can probably tell by the pictures. When you're high above sea level, and in a desert, the night times get way too cold! South America tricked Shane and I! We misewell be in Canada!

Once we finally crossed the border we met some cool guys from Israel. They were heading to Uyuni as well so we decided to catch the same bus... the more the merrier! Once we walked around for about an hour and the sun was fully out we found a bus that supposedly got us to Uyuni in 10 hours. We were going to take the train but the train wasn't running until 1:30pm and it was only 9am by the time we crossed the border.

So we chilled on the side of the street waiting for our bus to arrive.

We ate some empanadas (like pizza pockets) that a woman was selling right beside us. When our bus pulled up to the station we had to ask twice if it was our bus. It was seriously the most horrid bus you've ever seen in your life! It had monster truck tires and looked like it was all about to fall apart. The pictures don't even do it justice. We should have judged by the way the bus looked how the ride was going to be... Shane and I feared for our lives as soon as the bus took off. All of the roads were dirt from the border to Uyuni.

Also, we had to drive through some pretty crazy mountains. The bus driver seemed like he wanted to commit suicide. We were driving at least 100km an hour on the side of the cliffs. I will post the video at the bottom... even though you can't really tell how crazy the bus drive was from just that.

When we got to Uyuni we all pretty much kissed the ground. The town was nothing like I've ever seen before. The women in Bolivia have a very interesting attire. I didn't really get any pictures of them yet but I will and post it in my next blog!

Now I promised Shane he could write about the Uyuni Salar tour! So I will stop my post here and then write again to tell you about our trip to La Paz in Bolivia!!

Love Ash

Salta

2010-01-11T17:54:00.000-08:00

So I'm writing here tonight because Ashley has been hogging the blog...

Not much has happened since the last book Ashley published...

We made it though our 21 hour bus ride from Mendoza to Salta. Pretty much slept the whole way but woke just in time to see the drive through the mountains. Then wished I was still asleep when we drove down the other side. The road zig zagged down a super steep cliff. Prayed a couple of times, mostly for good breaks.

When we thought we were at the bottom there was one more descent into the city of Salta which is in the bottom of a valley surrounded by mountains.

It's to bad we don't have enough time to stay here a while. It's a beautiful city.

We booked our tickets tonight to Bolivia but found out that the buses aren't permitted to cross the boarder. We have to walk across and catch a 9 hour train to Uyuni in order to go on the salt flats tour.

We'll see how that goes. Hopefully up date you again on Wednesday or Thursday.

MENDOZA

2010-01-10T08:28:00.000-08:00

Hey,

Our bus ride to Mendoza didn't seem too long. We had the best seats we could get where the se

ats went all the way back into a bed position. It was wonderful and we slept the whole time!

When we arrived in Mendoza and got to our hostel we found out that they didn't reserve a room for us!!! Our reservation had got messed up but it wasn't too bad because they put us in a private room. After we took our stuff up to our room and got settled in a bit we decided to go on a

horse back riding trip!

So it was Shane's "first time" on a horse. He was on a horse when he was younger but got kicked off and kicked by the horse... so you could say that it was the first time he didn't get beat up by a horse!

They took us up on the mountain and dropped us off at a horse ranch. It was really nice and there was a really large family that lived up there a

nd owned all the horses. They gave us some instruction on how to control the horse and then we rode off into the sunset. Literally! The sun was setting over the mountains when we went and it was really beautiful. We rode the horses until it was dark out and then we went back to the ranch for an ASADO and a camp fire. We stayed there pretty late and Shane and I were both exhausted. We went to bed as soon as we got back to the hostel.

The next day we were suppose to go on a tour of the Andes but things got messed up the night before and we couldn't go. So instead, we spent the day walking around town and looking for a pair of shorts for Shane. When we were in BA the laundry place lost one of our bags which had the majority of Shane's clothes in it. Anyway, we didn't find much but Shane bought a couple of shirts! woohoo!

That night we went to bed early because we had re-booked the Andes tour for the next day.

When we woke up we were told that once again our tour got messed up. The people at the hostel sent us on a rafting trip instead. This was the first time I've ever been rafting. It was CRAZY! I loved it.

Half the time I was screaming and trying not to fall in the river. Shane had a good time too. The place that we went rafting was really neat. After we went rafting the place had a swimming pool and restaurant where Shane and I shared half of a hamburger and then I got some sun. It was a really nice day.

Now it is the next day and Shane and I are just relaxing before we have to get on our bus to head to Salta. We're really excited because we are only staying in Salta for one night and then we are off to Bolivia to see some Salt Flats and Volcanos!

We'll keep you updated :)

Ashley

Back on Track

2010-01-07T07:50:00.001-08:00

Hey everyone!

Sorry we haven't been writing. We weren't really doing anything exciting for the months of October and November. Now we are back on our traveling track. I'll just summarize what we have done in the last couple of months.

My parents came to visit in November to watch Shane compete in the World Championships in Mar Del Plata. That was really fun! We mostly relaxed when they were here and Shane trained. When we were in Mar Del Plata Shane one his fight for the team but Canada lost. It was a great experience though!

After my parents left Shane and I moved out of our beautiful apartment and back into the hostel to wait for Shantel's arrival. When she got here we attended a Tango show in Buenos Aires which was FANTASTIC! We had an amazing meal where Shantel had her first Argentinean

steak.

A day after that we got on a 20 hour bus ride to Iguazu Falls. When we got there it was 40 degrees and the humidity was almost unbearable. All three of us were a little cranky when we

got off our bus but once we arrived to our hostel and saw the huge swimming pool our spirits picked up. We spent the first day by

the pool where we met a couple of really cool Aussies, Matty and Linc. Then we made plans for all 5 of us to go see the Falls

together. We selected a packag

ed tour which was called the Green pass and it had three stages where we went on a safari, a boat, and a hike. We were super pumped that day and met a bunch of boys from Israel on our shuttle to the falls. They were hilarious. As soon as we arrived at the falls they named me group leader... I have no idea why! So I picked up the tickets for the whole group and we got on our Safari truck and headed into the jungle.

It was really amazing when we first drove into the jungle. Vines were everywhere and it was exactly what you expect a jungle to look like. The craziest part about this jungle was the gigantic spiders!! While we were driving there were HUGE webs above us with the spiders right in the middle of it! They were disgusting. Shane and Shantel were both freaking out... and that was funny :)

After the drive through the jungle we boarded a river boat. They told us that there were going to be rapids but there weren't. It didn't matter though because the view of the falls were so breathtaking we didn't even notice the river anymore! There were two sections of the falls that the boat took us to. The first one was too big and steamy that we couldn't boat underneath of it... but the second one was a bit smaller and the boat took us right

underneath of it. You could feel the energy and the strength of the falls before we were even under it so imagine what was like when that crazy driver took us right under it! We got SOAKED!!! Thank god for the waterproof camera or we wouldn't have captured the view of the falls when we were under it. I don't think I opened my eyes until we were almost parked by the bank to get off!

After we got off the boat it was like we walked into a world made up of just butterflies. They

were EVERYWHERE!! We were told by our guide that they would land on us because they like to lick the salt off our bodies. I seriously had like 50 on me at one time. I didn't mind! Linc started calling Shane the butterfly killer because he was so clumsy when he'd put his arm around me and he'd squish the poor buggers.

So we hiked around the falls taking in the beautiful landscape and the breathtaking views of the falls. It was a really long day for us and we were pooped when we got back to the hostel. For the next couple of days we just hung out by the pool and spent Christmas with our new Aussie friends. We had a blast!!

We said our goodbyes to Shantel last night and got on a bus to head to Mendoza. This is where we are now and we have some crazy plans for the next couple of days!!

We will be keeping the blog updated from here on in so stay tuned!! :)

Ash

Cementerio de la Recoleta

2009-09-22T12:28:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, Sept 19th we decided to go to Cementerio de la Recoleta. It's known as one of the worlds greatest Necropolises. It has been the burial place of choice for Argentina's elite since the mid 19th century. Here there are presidents, military generals and artists. There tombs are made from granite or bronze, built close to each other and are visited by a maze of streets. We thought to ourselves that this would be the ultimate place for a game of spot light!

This city of the dead was built in 1822 and what was then the Northern limit of the city. The land was confiscated by the Argentinian government from the Recoleta monks of the adjacent Pilar Church. It was the city's first public cemetery. It was initially used for the burial of freed slaves and the proletariat before it became the reserve for the rich from 1860s onward.

We started our morning by hitting the subte (subway) and heading towards the cemetery where we came across a huge market they have every Saturday. They sell every thing you could imagine from cloths, art, food, bongs, jewelery and everything in between. After that we took a walk checking out all of the tombs. Sorry if you guys find any of the photos offensive but we had to... Every corner we turned we could see the guilty look on tourists faces and could only imagine what they had been doing for the camera before we intruded.

The cemetery closed before sun set and security guards make their run around the gated area kicking people out. No worries though, being in the center of Recoleta there was a bar/restaurant near by where we took in some music and ate Empanadas (really good home made pizza pockets) before heading back to Palermo.

Anyway, enjoy the photos we had fun taking them.

S

Catch Up

2009-09-17T19:21:00.000-07:00

Hola!

Shane and I have been pretty busy for the past week! Last weekend we went to two Taekwon-Do competitions. Saturday was the Argentina selections for the worlds and Sunday was just a tournament for the gyms in the community. When we went out on Saturday Shane knew that one of the Grand Masters was going to be there named Grand Master Marano. This was a really big deal for him so I was excited too. When we got there the gym was full of cheering fans. There was so much energy that it was hard to believe it was a Taekwon-Do competition. The ones I attended in Canada didn't have half of the energy I experienced there.

After Master Pini noticed that Shane was there watching he called him to the center of the gym to meet Master Marano. I stayed in the stands of course and a after a couple of minutes Master Marano started speaking Spanish over the speaker. It was nothing I could understand... expect for when he announced Shane's name and that he was from Canada. After Master Marano was done speaking the whole gym cheered really loud. I felt so proud for Shane even though I know he was embarrassed! When Shane came back, he told me that Master Marano just announced that Shane was on the Canada Team for the Worlds and that he was visiting Argentina to train. He said that Shane was the first competitor to arrive and that it was an honor to have him here because not many people make this sort of effort to learn from another country.

It was a really nice day and we saw some really good fights. I'm starting to get more and more interested in Taekwon-Do the more I watch it. Maybe that is Shane's secret plan!

Over the week, we did some walking around Palermo and hung out with some friends from the hostel. We went out with our friend Tammy for supper one night. We're trying not to do too much because we want to save our money for all the traveling we're going to do in December an January!

Today was a great day. It was very rainy but we made an adventure out of it. We both put on our rain gear and head out the door to discover something new about Buenos Aires. We wanted to go see the Planetario which was a little walk away but when we got there it was closed to the public until 4. Instead, we walked a little further and went into an art museum. This was really fun! Shane, the rebel, took pictures when we weren't suppose to. We got yelled at once but that didn't stop him from trying! There was some really interesting art that we looked at but most of it was something that I think I could draw myself. I remember one painting had just one line down the center of it. What makes this stuff art?

After the art museum we walked back towards the Planetario because it was close to 4 and we really wanted to see what it was all about. When we arrived there were a whole bunch of cats around the entrance... and anyone that knows me I thought it was wonderful! Not Shane though. He got mad at me for petting them because he thought that they all had rabies and diseases. I didn't mind and petted them anyway. They were so cute and gave me so much love. :)

The Planetario wasn't what we expected. We went inside and climbed a bunch of stairs. In the top there was an auditorium with a ceiling that looked like the inside of a circle. There was an interesting contraption in the center and had a bunch of seats surrounding it. Shane and I took our seats and the backs of them went all the way back so that you could watch the ceiling. We waited about a half hour until the auditorium filled up with kids. Shane humored them all and clapped along and whistled to their games while they waited for the show to start. It was actually quite funny. Then when the lights went out the ceiling turned into a sky of stars. It looked very real! A video played on the side of the circular ceiling, but we didn't understand because it was all in Spanish. It was interesting to watch for a little bit but then Shane and I got bored because we didn't understand anything that it was saying.

After the Planetario we hiked back to our apartment in the pouring down rain. We had some supper and then decided we couldn't end our day with just that, so we headed out to find some music! We found a nice little restaurant with a Spanish band playing. Shane and I shared a nice dessert (that I don't remember the name of... only that it had Dolce De Lache in it), and we each had a beer.

Now, we're all curled up on the couch watching an English movie on the T.V.

We're enjoying ourselves down here in Buenos Aires. This weekend will be a good time and I will update you all soon.

Much Love!
xoxo
Ash

A Mini Update

2009-09-09T20:05:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

So now Shane and I are pretty much settled into our cozy little apartment!

We've had a lazy week... Its been very cold here in Buenos Aires. It's been hovering around 10 degrees... which is not warm enough for either of us! We're waiting for the sun to come out and warm us up! Hopefully this weekend we will have better weather!

So the most exciting thing Shane and I did this week was go to the Japanese Gardens. It was really nice and had an interesting structure. There were bridges throughout the park where you could cross and watch the giant fish in the pond.

We also saw some dead trees... which were suppose to be beautiful flowers. It's the winter so everything was dead. We're going to go back in the summer because the pictures of the trees in bloom were very nice.

I forced Shane to take pictures with me which he really didn't want to do! I had to beg him to let someone hold his beautiful camera while we did the poses of my choice. It was actually quite nice to see Shane break out of his serious shell for a little while. Haha :)

Then we went to the sushi house, sat down, and tried to read the Spanish menu. After about 15 minutes we discovered that it was just a drinks menu... we missed lunch. We were so excited to try some sushi... next time!

It was a pretty short day. We were freezing after a couple of hours so we quickly went home after the gardens and snuggled in for a movie night.

Tonight, I went and watched Shane train for the first time since we got here. It was so nice to watch him again. The people were so nice at the gym. Argentina is such a friendly place. I haven't been kissed so many times in one as I did tonight! I love how much everyone loves each other. From the time I told you all about how I kissed the Master... well I've learned how to do it properly now. Hopefully I won't embarrass Shane as much as I begin to learn about the ways of the culture.

On Friday, we start our Spanish lessons. I'm very excited because it makes me sad when I can't have a conversation with someone. Tonight I had to sit in that gym full of people and not talk because nobody understood me. Not for long though. Soon I will be talking up a storm to all these people who think I don't know how to speak!

Until next time!

Much Love,
Ash
xoxo

Training

2009-09-07T07:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday I woke up and got ready for my first day of training. Master Pini explained that Saturday would be a special gathering of special athletes who are prospective national representatives for the up coming World Championships so I knew I was getting into a very intense class but I had no idea.

I went alone because our rent was due the same day so Ashley agreed to talk to the owner and make our first payment. I was was there two days before so I knew the way. It took 40 minutes as usual. When I got there it was 8:45 a.m. and the gym was closed. I rang the door bell and a Spanish speaking woman came on the intercom. I tried to explain I was here for the training which I thought was at 9. All I could gather was that Master Pini was at the gymnasium??? I thought it was this one... I was a little panicked because I didn't want to be late my first day and the other location was 15 blocks away and I was on foot.

When I arrive at the other location it was just after 9 and there was no sign of anyone training. I thought to myself that there was obviously some sort of miscommunication seeing how we both spoke different languages.

Very disappointed I began to walk back to the train. I thought that the gym wasn't far from the train at all so I should pop by one more time just to make sure. It was about 9:30 when I arrived and sure enough 30 or people were there training for patterns. I walked in and stood in the back assuming I was to late and that I should at least sit and watch. The 5th degree who had translated for Master Pini ran over to me and asked me if I would like to join. I tried to explain why I was late but he didn't care or mind at all.

I said that I would like to train and he pointed to the changing rooms. Everyone starred as I bowed to the 5 instructors at the front of the gym and took my place at the back. Master Pini stopped class and pulled me to the front to meet the instructors. I assumed these men were from different schools who had students in this special class and they had come to help instruct.

Then he introduced my and the entire body students bowed towards me and began to clap. The instructor who spoke English quietly translated as he stood by me. Master Pini instructed everyone to make me feel welcome, that I was a special guest of his from Canada who would be training for the next 3-4 months. That I was part of the Canadian National Team competing in Mar Del Plata. I could see the look in their eyes, they became excited and interested in me all of a sudden.

I fell in line once more and began patterns. It wasn't long before the class shifted to sparring. We began with a few basic drills as I worked with Master Pini's son who is also the selected National Representative for Sparring. For anyone who doesn't know what that means, he is the best fighter in Argentina for his weight division which just so happened to be mine as well. He explained to me that they had been training for a couple months now because they select competitors for the World Championships in September where as in Canada we select them in the spring. To put it bluntly They were in Shape and I was not.

The drills were fine, I managed with the spare sparring gear they provided me with seeing how I didn't have mine. My gear was to be shipping down when we located a gym. I didn't plan on training immediately. I started to notice the difference when we sparring. The first drill was a 30 second sparring match where we were instructed to go as hard and as quick as possible for that time.

The competitors from Argentina are know for their technique and fighting abilities and I began to see why. Everyone of them, men, women, junior boys and girls were much more intense then what I was use to in Canada. They would hit hard, get hit harder and give it back again. I loved it. I knew at that moment why I wanted to come here.

During this drill and junior boy and girl were sparring. They were both probably sixteen years old. The boy had given her a heavy blow to the stomach and she took a knee. Master Pini came over to her and with the palm of his had quickly gave her a smack on the head as if to say get up! He didn't yell but spoke authoritatively in Spanish. As he hit the boy in the check with a punch and made actions I knew he was telling her to suck it up, don't show weakness and get back in the match.

I've never worked with an instructor with the same demeanor, teaching style or personal involvement he had with each and every one of his students. He smiled at me as if he knew what I was thinking. I asked the instructor who translated to tell Master Pini that I wanted the same treatment as everyone else. I wanted to train how they train. He looked at me and in English said, "You will."

I knew then it was on. Sparring that day was difficult. Being a little out of shape I was a little sloppy as well I thought that air was affecting me. I don't know if it was the altitude or the shitty air quality but I was sucking wind like never before. It wasn't doing anything for my confidence and I felt a little embarrassed.

For my last match Master Pini put me with a guy who was probably the next best fighter than his son and who I thought was in better condition at the time. I thought to myself that this was the last match I had to prove to myself that I belonged there. Luckily I also got a second wind and within the first minute I flattened him with a turning kick to the jaw. Definitely a flash knock out. He stood up after a minute or so. It was strange. No one stopped to look at us. I asked him if he was ok, and took a knee beside him to make sure he was alright but Master Pini grabbed me and put me in with another guy. I thought to myself if that was back in my gym the entire class would have stopped and training that night would have been a little less productive because of everyone's concern. In this case no one cared. That guy was sparring again in a couple of minutes, he said he was alright, Master Pini said nice kick and the class continued.

We ended the class with a cool down. Skipping. I noticed on the wall as we began to skip that Master Pini had boxing pictures. He was once a boxer and had many awards on the wall of his gym. The writing was in Spanish so I didn't understand the significance of them but you could tell how he incorporated his experience in boxing into his Taekwon-Do instruction. These guys had wicked hands.

We stretched then lined back up. Master Pini talked while the other instructor translated once more. He congratulated everyone for their hard work and wished them luck during the selections next weekend. Then he told them to thank me for participating. He said that I was an example for any and all students. That I was different, not all fighters have a desire to travel and learn from other people.

I was blown away by how much his students respected him as an instructor and even more by how much respect they showed to an absolute stranger. We spent the next 10 minutes taking pictures. I still don't fully understand what it meant to them to have me train with them. I was happy to find a gym where everyone was so welcoming and they were equally excited to have me there.

I couldn't wait for the next class. As I left the gym Master Pini handed me a piece of paper it was the location and training times of the National Sparring Team. One of the instructors there coached the Argentina team and wanted me to come to his trainings twice a week.

Settling In!

2009-09-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone!

So Shane and I have finally moved into our apartment! It's really nice. We've got a big living room, a little kitchen, our OWN bedroom (finally) and a medium sized bathroom. Another neat feature is we have a laundry room that turns into a patio. There is a little stick that you can turn and it takes the glass roof off. The weather isn't very good right now so we haven't used it yet, but when it gets nice out we will definitely be using it. Maybe I can finally catch some sun... since we don't have any beaches in Buenos Aires!

It took us a while to actually decide if we wanted to move into this place. During this past week we had some difficulties including money and finding a gym for Shane to train. We discovered this little gym just outside Palermo which was interesting. Shane and I walked over to it (about 20 minutes walk) and watched one of the classes. I could tell from the look on Shane's face that it wasn't really what he was looking for. It was just a little space that the people rented out inside a gym. We decided to keep searching and after a couple days Shane FINALLY found the name of a Master outside of the city. His name is Master Pini.

On Thursday we took a journey on the train to find this hidden gem. The place is called Tropezon. It took us about 15 minutes on the bus and 30 minutes on the train to actually find the place. Our first step of the train, and our first view of the little community made us question what we were doing. It didn't look like a very safe place and we were a little timid to walk the streets in search of the gym. It didn't take us long and when we got there the gym was awesome! The only problem was the Master only spoke Spanish. Thank God his son was there to translate for us. I could tell Shane was more comfortable there than at the other gym. Master Pini was more than accomadating. He took us in his car and showed us around his community and the other two gyms (besides his own) that he teaches and trains his students. The facilities were amazing. The gyms were huge. There was a separate gym that was designated for just boxing which was really neat. There was a swimming pool to train in, a huge gym upstairs for just TKD, and a hotel for the sports people who were visiting and training at the facility. The best part about all of this... is that it is free to use! Master Pini told Shane that he would also train him for free and let him train at his gym. As well, he is allowed to use the other two facilities for free and him and I are able to stay in the hotel whenever we want for free! It was really nice.
Now for the funny part... haha :)

Shane didn't explain to me the importance of being proper in front of this Master so I embarrassed him a little bit. It was getting really cold outside and I was only wearing capris. So when we were in Master Pini's car I decided I should put my wind pants on. Shane stared at me blankly while I started to put them and and he was shaking his head. I just looked at him and told him it was alright I could do it! I thought that he just thought I wasn't flexible enough to put them on in the car. Later, he tells me that it was so improper for me to do that because usually students under the Master don't usually get to even talk to them! Oops...

Another embarassing moment for Shane was when we were saying our goodbyes. It is tradition in Argentina for you to lightly kiss someones cheek and pat their back when saying hello and goodbye. I'm just beginning to learn this as I always pull away. This time I thought I'm going to be brave and just go for the kiss! So when Master Pini was saying goodbye to me I gave him a big kiss on the cheek and a really big hug. Again, later in the evening, Shane explained and demonstrated to me how the goodbye was really done. I was VERY aggressive he said but we just laughed at it. Shane saw Master Pini yesterday and said that everything went smoothly that time.

Now we're all settled into our apartment and ready to begin more adventures. Today, we went to the Japanese Gardens. They were nice... but I think they will be better in the summer time. A lot of the trees here have no leaves on them because it's winter time. There was a restaurant in the middle of the gardens that served sushi and we decided we were going to try it. We went into the restaurant and sat down and the guy gave us menus. About 15 minutes later, after trying to translate everything, it was just a drink menu. The guy informed us that they stopped serving lunch at four and they don't serve supper until 8.

That is the way down here in Argentina! People eat so late. You can't go to a good restaurant until after 8:00pm. It's actually really frustrating because we get hungry around 5!
When we got back home we decided to go get groceries. Now we can eat whenever we want. :)
Tonight we are relaxing and watching English movies on T.V. Lately we've been really tired and have been enjoying the peace and quiet of our little apartment.

This week we plan on starting Spanish Lessons, Shane is going to get back into training everyday (he's already complaining about being sore!), and we might possibly take a tango lesson!
I will try to keep posting as much as I can.

Much Love from both of us!
xoxo

One Week In

2009-09-02T19:22:00.000-07:00

Hello all!

So we made it Argentina safe and sound. We arrived bright and early at 7am and took a cab downtown Buenos Aires to search for a hostel. What a busy city was my first thought!
We checked in to a hostel called Milhouse which is known down here as a party place. We were excited and definitely ready for a party. Later we discovered that it wasn't the kind of party we wanted. The hostel held around 200 people and the common area seemed to fit only 50. It was smokey, crowed, and not as friendly as we expected!

Instead of staying in the crowded hostel we took our adventure outside. There is a famous street in Buenos Aires called Flordia which is just for walking and has a crazy amount of vendors. Only a few steps in Shane noticed that our backpack had been unzipped... This street is also known for its thieves! Luckily we didn't loose anything and spent a couple of hours strolling down the street and browsing at the goodies (since we're on a budget!). When we got back to the hostel we just chilled in the room and played some guitar... away from the so called "party".

The next day we packed up our big backpacks and headed up to a little area of Buenos Aires called Palermo. It was a breath of fresh air... literally! The streets and the air was so much cleaner! We checked into another hostel called BAIT hostel which is where we are still residing today. It's very small, holding probably around 20 people. This time we're staying in a dorm room with 4 other people. The people in the hostel feel almost like family members now!
I'm starting to loose track of the days of the week so I can't remember the exact days we did certain things.

We went to the zoo one day. I can't remember which day, but it was really fun. It was also super hot out! When we got here the weather was beautiful and sunny!

Over the weekend we celebrated my birthday. It was proba bly the best birthday I've ever experienced and one I'll definitely not forget! In the morning Shane and I joined two of our friends on a little trip outside the city called Tigre. When we got there, we strolled down the boardwalk trying to find a boat to take us out on the river. It took us a really long time but we eventually found one! It was really nice!

When we got back to the hostel, everyone got together for a party. Our new friend Melvin made a wicked punch... with a little too much alcohol. At around midnight, we all took the party to a club called Crobar. We had a blast. We discovered how crazy the clubs are down here. They don't get busy until 3am and they stay open until hours I don't even know. We had friends crawling back to the hostel at 11am!

Over the past couple of days, Shane and I found an apartment which we move into Friday. We're debating whether or not to keep it because Shane is having a hard time finding a Taekwon-Do gym! Hopefully we can figure out everything tomorrow.

One other thing about Buenos Aires that I didn't expect is the cold weather! It is winter right now, but when we got here it was beautiful, sunny, and around 30 degrees. There was a rain storm on Monday and the temperature now feels like 10 degrees! I'm hoping that it warms up soon because I only brought one pair of jeans!

That is all for now. We will try to post more, and on the days interesting things happen so that we don't forget. It gets hard because we're really busy trying to get settled in!

Pictures will also be posted soon. We don't have very good internet right now and we can't get any posted.

Much Love!
xo

All Of The Pages

2009-08-28T19:11:00.000-07:00

Olá amigos!

Ashley and I thought we would write in a blog as a way to keep track of our journey to South America and also keep our family and friends posted. We are trying to keep it as interesting as possible. We are both new to this so bare with us.

We were trying to come up with somewhat of a creative name for our blog and chose the name All Of The Pages. We stumbled upon a quote by St. Augustine which read:

“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.”

We both agree with it and thought that we would take his advice and read all of the pages and hopefully inspire someone to do the same.

Hope you guys enjoy the pictures and stories to come.

Ciao,

Shane