Peso for your thoughts

I went to the Casa de la Moneda de Bolivia museum in Potosí today. The mint was built in 1757 by the Spanish to mint silver coins (mined locally) that were shipped to europe to be used as Spanish currency. After Bolivian independence in 1825, the mint was used to make Bolivian currency until 1933. The building is impressive in scale and style, and well restored as a museum.

Our tour guide told us about the transformation from mule power (those old machines were amazing) to steam power. The new steam machinery were imported from Philadelphia. Years later, when the mint made the transition to electricity, new machines were imported from Princeton, NJ.

I must admit that I felt some pride that my country had been at the cutting edge of technology and innovation during the industrial revolution, exporting its products all over the world because they were the highest quality available. Unfortunately, it hasn´t lasted. I´ve been reading Thomas Freidman´s Hot, Flat, and Crowded, in which he argues that The United States needs to become the world leader in developing new green technologies to increase efficiency and produce clean energy. Under a Bush administration, this proposal was laughable. We´ve pretty much been doing the oposite for the las 30 years. But now we have a new president. Obama is pushing hard his budget plan, and, even in the face of opposition from congress, has been unyeilding in his energy proposals, allocating funds for research and experimentation for clean and renewable energy. It sounds like he´s really taking a stand to uphold his campaign promises.

Do we finally have a leader we can be proud of? It would certainly be a first for me. (The first 2 elections I was of voting age elected Bush and Bush again.) I´ve been holding my breath, releived and proud that he was elected, but not ready to celebrate yet. Time will tell, but i´m feeling more hopeful than ever.

Farewell to Patagonia

I made my farewell to Patagonia (and Chile) with a four day trek in Parque Nacional Volcán Villarica. The first day slid through a open lovely green forest, full of native bamboo and tree species, and ended at a small lake. The next day the trail climbed above the tree line, and stayed there for that entire day and most of the next. It cossed a barren rocky landscape of sand, lava flows, crossing an old (inactive) crater, and with views of the surrounding volcanoes. The fourth day I attemped a trail that went straight up the side of Volcan Villarica, to the edge of the glacier. I got up before dawn (I was already on a very early schedule, camping alone), to see the sunrise on the volcano. Unfortunately, after 3 days of perfect weather, that day turned that morning to windy, rainty, and foggy. There was no view of the surrounding mountains, and the wind pushed me back down the trail as I made my ascent. I did make it to the edge of the glacier, though without the view of the peak I had hoped for. still, the landscape was amazing, glacial streams cutting a valley through grey volcanic rock and ash. Anyway, check out the photos.

I was now headed to Bolivia, where I had been in contact with a couple NGOs in Cochabamba that I was planning to work with. I had heard about a contact Improv festival outside of Cordoba, Argentina, (pretty much on the way) that I decided to check out. After the trek, I got back to the town of Pucón, and took a night bus to Santiago de Chile. Then another bus across the border to Mendoza, Argentina, and another night bus to Cordoba. After another local bus ride, I made it to the festival.

It was a pretty cool place. Good people, great contact jams in the evenings and classes in the day in yoga, capoera, qi gong, etc., etc. My heart wasnt in it though. I was road weary, and could only think of the journey ahead and what I would find in Bolivia. I was eager to get to Cochabamba, where I would stay for a stretch of time, get to know people, and have a purpose. Lounging at a hippy festival wasn´t doing it for me.

So after two days of R&R I got back on the road, this time trying out my luck with my thumb. Luck was not mine this time around. After a day and a half of hitching, I had made it about 90 miles closer to my destination (still over a thoushand miles away.) I gave up the hitching, as it became apparent that the farther north I made it, the thinner the traffic as the road headed into the vast desert. I managed to flag down a long distance bus (usually they dont stop except at a couple larger towns), and 18 hours of bus later, I was at the border.

WWOOFing

Kathryn took off to Santiago to catch her flight, an I, feeling a little lost, decided do do WWOOF. (WWOOF is a worldwide network of organic farms, where volunteers trade labor for food and acomodation, no money is exchanged.) My first WWOOF experience was at a small outfit east of Puerto Montt, where I did some construction work on a new building, harvested lettuce and other vegetables, and worked on new beds. The volunteers were a mix of french and estadounidenses (a word for "Americans" that recognizes the fact that there are 35 countries in America). Since the french (being french) didnt all speak the best english, spanish was the common language, which was great practice. By the end of a week however, the volunteers that I liked the best were leaving and the work wasnt intersting enough to keep me around. I headed north for a stop off in Valdivia (where I am right now), and plan to continue on to Temuco, then to another WWOOF farm on the coast.

Just like home!