This is the end of this blog. I'm not in South America anymore. You all know what I'll be doing now that I'm back in the USA. I hope you all enjoyed sharing this adventure with me.
I had an itch to travel for a long time. I think this trip to south america did just the trick.
ttfn.
Monday, April 20, 2009
What Now
So, now that I'm back in New York...
I'm looking forward to starting graduate school in the fall. Until then, I'll try to find some work in Rochester.
I'm working at Rohrbachs (my favorite microbrewery) two days a week for a month, but it's a volunteer gig. They might hire me on after the internship is over, if they need me. I'm trying to get a job at the High Falls Brewery also, but I haven't heard back from them yet.
Aside from working at breweries, I guess I'll take a temporary job doing whatever for the summer. I bet some sort of work will surface in the next month or so.
For Graduate School -- I accepted a teaching assistantship at the University of Maryland Baltimore County starting this fall. I'm entering the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering program there, but I'll be doing a lot of work with chemical sensors, particularly sensors that could be used for brewing.
I'm looking forward to starting graduate school in the fall. Until then, I'll try to find some work in Rochester.
I'm working at Rohrbachs (my favorite microbrewery) two days a week for a month, but it's a volunteer gig. They might hire me on after the internship is over, if they need me. I'm trying to get a job at the High Falls Brewery also, but I haven't heard back from them yet.
Aside from working at breweries, I guess I'll take a temporary job doing whatever for the summer. I bet some sort of work will surface in the next month or so.
For Graduate School -- I accepted a teaching assistantship at the University of Maryland Baltimore County starting this fall. I'm entering the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering program there, but I'll be doing a lot of work with chemical sensors, particularly sensors that could be used for brewing.
Friday, April 10, 2009
Yikes!
I escaped a kidnapping attempt last night. That was 4 seconds I'll never forget. Anyway, I'm safe in the Quito airport now waiting for my flight. They've got WiFi, so I thought I'd share last night's exciting activities. My only regret is that I couldn't find a brick to throw through the kidnappers' car window. They deserve to get smashed up.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Winding Down
Things are coming to a close now. Today is my last day in South America. I have a 6:30am flight back to NYC tomorrow morning. I'll let you all know how things end up for me back at home. It looks like I'll be working at a brewery (hopefully two breweries) this summer. Then, I'll be going to graduate school in the fall. I'll fill you all in on the details next week. Then, this blog will be finished.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
After Lima
I travelled north and stayed in a beach town for a day. I could have spent another day there, but I thought it would be prudent to get to Quito a couple days beofre my flight back home. I'm in Quito, Ecuador now sitting in a coffee shop.
Lima
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Back from Macchu Pichu
I'm back, but I've got to move on to the next place. So you'll have to wait for pictures at least until tomorrow.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Inca Jungle Trek
You won't hear a peep out of me for the next several days. I'm going on a 4 day, 3 night trek to Machu Picchu. It sounds pretty cool. It's not the famous Inca Trail, but one of the segments of the trek does use old Inca stone roads.
Qorikancha: Inca Temple
The foundation of the most extravagant Inca temple is still in tact in Cusco. A cathedral was built over top of the looted temple by the Spanish conquistadores. Cusco used to be the center of the Inca civilization. Now it's a tourist hub to Macchu Piccu. There used to be ridiculous amounts of gold and silver cladding covering the temple, as well as solid gold & silver cerimonial artifacts. All were looted and melted down by the spanish. But, look at the insane stonework craftmanship on the temple walls. You can't swipe a credit card between the perfectly fitted stones that's for sure!
My Never Ending Quest
I have a never ending quest to try any new beer that I come into contact with. Here's some Peruvian coca beer that I tried. It was interesting. I don't think I'll buy it again though.
Friday, March 27, 2009
Lake Titicaca
I was at Lake Titicaca for a few days. I went on a boat tour of some of the islands. There is one tribe of indigenous people that live on floating reed islands which they construct themselves. They have done this historically to isolate themselves from outsiders. Intermarriage with outsiders is very rare. But today, they are very open to tourism.
It seems like tourism has spoiled a lot of the indegenous people here. Not just with the floating islanders, but also with the permanent islanders. Today, these groups have an economy that seems to be half subsistance farming/fishing and half tourism. I think tourism has really changed these places. A lot of the time, I felt like we we're getting a show of "what the tourists want to see". But, maybe not.
Our tour group was split up, and we each spent a night on the permanent island with a host family. At night, there was a party. Our families dressed us up in native clothing, and we all danced at the "town hall" with some live native music... That was weird to say the least.
It seems like tourism has spoiled a lot of the indegenous people here. Not just with the floating islanders, but also with the permanent islanders. Today, these groups have an economy that seems to be half subsistance farming/fishing and half tourism. I think tourism has really changed these places. A lot of the time, I felt like we we're getting a show of "what the tourists want to see". But, maybe not.
Our tour group was split up, and we each spent a night on the permanent island with a host family. At night, there was a party. Our families dressed us up in native clothing, and we all danced at the "town hall" with some live native music... That was weird to say the least.
Arequipa at Night
I left Arequipa earlier this week. Arequipa is the 2nd largest city in Peru. I liked it there. It was a nice place, and also very cheap. They had lots of trips for tourists to take, and good shopping too. Here's a picture of the Plaza de Armas at night. All of the buildings are built from a white volcanic stone that is bountiful around El Misti.
Monday, March 23, 2009
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