It's a beautiful day in Salida. I'm sitting in Salida Café (where I've been for most of the day) researching places to live in Buenos Aires, where I'll be for November and December. I'm about three weeks away from embarking on another adventure, this time to Perú, Argentina, and Chile. I don't have concrete plans for most of this yet, but I'm okay with that. Flexibility is something I'm glad to have come by, though it may sometimes drive my mom a little crazy. Despite my tendency to plan every hour of my day, I'm attempting to take a more easy-peasy approach to my upcoming travels, relishing in my newfound ability to do whatever I'm moved to do. As of this moment, this is what I know: Perú is waiting to welcome me for 3 whole weeks, where I'll travel around, spending a good several days in each place I go, really getting to know them all. I did the whole one-city-a-day thing last summer in Europe, and I've definitely decided that isn't my style. Yes, I'll miss seeing some things because I didn't allow the time to go through a whole laundry list of tourist spots, but on the other hand, I'll be able to say that I got well acquainted with the places I did visit.
After Perú comes Argentina, Buenos Aires more specifically. I'll get there a couple days before my birthday and about a week before I start my CELTA (English teaching certificate) class. I'm not sure that I'm really looking forward to hours and hours of school again (think the block plan, but on mild steroids), but it will be good for me to meet some new people and put myself through a training course that should prove to be useful for my future plans, whatever they turn out to be. Though I'm not much of a city person, a part of me is looking forward to a month in a metropolis with 13 million other people. It will be a sharp contrast to my time in Chile, which begins just after we ring in the new year.
From the beginning of January until the end of April, I'll be interning with Conservacion Patagonica as a host at the small lodge in the future Patagonia National Park. Park headquarters are right in the middle of the Patagonian wilderness, and I can't even begin to convey how much I'm looking forward to being in such an isolated and positively beautiful spot. In addition to being the lodge's host/bartender/assistant cook (hopefully), I'm hoping to help out with trail building, teaching English, giving tours...basically, whatever I can get my hands into. I absolutely love what CP is trying to do, and so I want to learn about and be involved in as much of it as I can. This is really the humongous cherry on top of my South American cake.
This will be the longest consecutive amount of time that I've spent away from home and traveling around, but I'm not nervous...just super excited. I've gotten such support and encouragement from the people who know what I'm planning to do for the next 7 months, and that just feeds the fire. I'm hoping to keep this blog relatively up to date, as much for my sake as for everyone else's.
But enough computer time for now. Time to go get outside and enjoy the beautiful Colorado day.
Finally, more photos!
Hi friends. I've finally gotten around to getting some more pictures edited and posted here. This set goes with the previous post describing my adventures in Sevilla, Granada, Málaga, and Portugal. Next up, the three weeks in July when I traveled around to many places in Europe. They're coming, slowly but surely. For now, enjoy these new photos...there are plenty of them.
Queen Isabel Bridge in Sevilla.
These locks covered the entire bridge. People would put them there to carry wishes or symbolize relationships.
La Plaza de Toros.
Torre de Oro. Used to be a guard tower for the castle.
Inside the cathedral in Sevilla.
Cathedral doors.
La Giralda, the huge clocktower.
Horse-drawn carriages everywhere.
Cathedral and La Giralda.
Castle.
The cathedral. It's huge.
La Plaza España in Sevilla.
Granada!
Fresh spices.
"What dirties the world are our tired minds."
Our favorite place to watch the World Cup games. Yummy tapas and suits of armor.
We wandered around the city all day on Saturday.
Each one is an Arab poem.
The entire street was lined with Arab shops.
More wandering around.
How about this for a language school?
The sign says, "There's nothing like the pain of being blind in Granada." It's true.
Pomegranate tree!
The Alhambra! Seen from the Mirador San Nicolás.
We found some beautiful gardens.
Wandering through a cool neighborhood with lots of tiled signs and Arab doors.
Sacromonte, the old gypsy neighborhood (where we went to see the flamenco show).
Giggle.
The Alhambra!
La Puerta del Vino.
King Charles V's Palace. Now commonly used for concerts.
Los Palacios Nazaries, the Moorish royal residences.
Design on the wall.
Lots of cool liquid mirrors.
The detail!
The fountain is normally supported by twelve stone lions. But they were on vacation.
Ceiling.
Really cool arches.
Pretty courtyard.
Reading room.
The Woman's Palace.
The outside of the Palacios.
The Alcazaba, or military fortress.
Mountains!
At the top of the highest tower.
The city at our feet.
Looking back on the Alcazaba.
Gardens on the side of the Alcazaba. Unexpected and beautiful.
La Puerta del Vino. And a pretty wedding photo shoot.
Beautiful view.
In the gardens of the Generalife.
On the way down from the Alhambra.
Flamenco show. With the best backdrop ever.
The Alhambra by night.
Inside Granada's cathedral.
Playing in the river on a hot afternoon.
Walking down our street in Granada in the morning, on the way to the bus station.
Málaga!
La Malagueta, in Málaga. Southern coast of España.
We saw a gorgeous sunset on the bus ride from Málaga to Salamanca.
The mighty Atlantic in Portugal!
The little town was sandwiched by water. This lake on one side, the Atlantic on the other.
Our hacienda-turned-hotel.
Class photo!
Queen Isabel Bridge in Sevilla.
These locks covered the entire bridge. People would put them there to carry wishes or symbolize relationships.
La Plaza de Toros.
Torre de Oro. Used to be a guard tower for the castle.
Inside the cathedral in Sevilla.
Cathedral doors.
La Giralda, the huge clocktower.
Horse-drawn carriages everywhere.
Cathedral and La Giralda.
Castle.
The cathedral. It's huge.
La Plaza España in Sevilla.
Granada!
Fresh spices.
"What dirties the world are our tired minds."
Our favorite place to watch the World Cup games. Yummy tapas and suits of armor.
We wandered around the city all day on Saturday.
Each one is an Arab poem.
The entire street was lined with Arab shops.
More wandering around.
How about this for a language school?
The sign says, "There's nothing like the pain of being blind in Granada." It's true.
Pomegranate tree!
The Alhambra! Seen from the Mirador San Nicolás.
We found some beautiful gardens.
Wandering through a cool neighborhood with lots of tiled signs and Arab doors.
Sacromonte, the old gypsy neighborhood (where we went to see the flamenco show).
Giggle.
The Alhambra!
La Puerta del Vino.
King Charles V's Palace. Now commonly used for concerts.
Los Palacios Nazaries, the Moorish royal residences.
Design on the wall.
Lots of cool liquid mirrors.
The detail!
The fountain is normally supported by twelve stone lions. But they were on vacation.
Ceiling.
Really cool arches.
Pretty courtyard.
Reading room.
The Woman's Palace.
The outside of the Palacios.
The Alcazaba, or military fortress.
Mountains!
At the top of the highest tower.
The city at our feet.
Looking back on the Alcazaba.
Gardens on the side of the Alcazaba. Unexpected and beautiful.
La Puerta del Vino. And a pretty wedding photo shoot.
Beautiful view.
In the gardens of the Generalife.
On the way down from the Alhambra.
Flamenco show. With the best backdrop ever.
The Alhambra by night.
Inside Granada's cathedral.
Playing in the river on a hot afternoon.
Walking down our street in Granada in the morning, on the way to the bus station.
Málaga!
La Malagueta, in Málaga. Southern coast of España.
We saw a gorgeous sunset on the bus ride from Málaga to Salamanca.
The mighty Atlantic in Portugal!
The little town was sandwiched by water. This lake on one side, the Atlantic on the other.
Our hacienda-turned-hotel.
Class photo!
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