In response to the request of the wonderful Miss Laura Huysman, I must tell you all about our super busy Saturday. Watch out, Knot.com! All of those little alarm clocks next to my to-do list won't even see what's coming for them.
We started our day at Mighty-O's, as we do most Saturdays, and we were pleasantly surprised when we ran into Laura and Brian Dower who joined us for breakfast number two. Laura recently returned from South America and it was so fun to hear and share stories. Brian got restless around 11:30 and we had to take off. It was going to be a super busy Saturday.
First stop: Bed, Bath, and Beyond
We registered up a storm! Cook ware, Tupperware, towels, you name it!
Second stop: The Tux Shop
Ha ha, Brian! Your cover is blown! We are still waiting on a final decision, but it was a good start. It was funny to see a tux shop after seeing so many wedding dress stores. The tux shop had college football flags all over the walls, and a catalog of tuxedos that definitely had not been updated since the late 80's. Brian did well.
Third stop: REI
Brian bought a new watch band. Not too exciting. But we did decide that REI would be an awesome place for people to visit if they decide to checkout Portland and Seattle during their West Coast visit.
Fourth stop: Home
Home maybe doesn't sound super busy, but we went straight to work and registered for things from REI online. We also checked out photographers (another looming thing on our list).
After such a busy Saturday, we recovered with margaritas, entomatadas and mole negro from La Carta. What else could we ask for.
Brian, of course, needs extra time to recover and is off to spend the day in the mountains.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Stirring the Pot Revival
Location. Check.
Wedding Dress. Check.
Our beloved friends and family saving the big date. Check.
A blog revival. CHECK!
Brian and I are so excited to bring back "Stirring the Pot!" We plan to use this blog to share pertinent wedding information with all of you. If you want to know more about things to do in Portland, or about our wedding venue, or maybe more about how Brian and I are faring in the chaos, this is the place. Stay tuned for further posts, and check out the links on the right side of the screen for more details.
Read, comment, enjoy. We are so excited to share this time with all of you.
Wedding Dress. Check.
Our beloved friends and family saving the big date. Check.
A blog revival. CHECK!
Brian and I are so excited to bring back "Stirring the Pot!" We plan to use this blog to share pertinent wedding information with all of you. If you want to know more about things to do in Portland, or about our wedding venue, or maybe more about how Brian and I are faring in the chaos, this is the place. Stay tuned for further posts, and check out the links on the right side of the screen for more details.
Read, comment, enjoy. We are so excited to share this time with all of you.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Written Images of La Paz
While I was sick in bed for those 3 solid days in La Paz, I had plenty of time to think about the outside world. It made me realize that we haven`t really described La Paz to all of you. So here are a few mental pictures I`ve taken, and I`ll try to bring them to life for you to imagine...
· Outside of the Plaza de San Francisco, at the bottom of Calle Sagarnaga where all the touristic shoping is, one will come across the fruit juice ladies. There must be at least 20 of them around the plaza - some men, but mainly plump, round, cheery, gossipy women. They sell fresh squeezed mandarin, orange and grapefruit juice (increasing in acidity respectively). One cup of the grapefruit juice and all the pores across your nose would open up and your face would involuntarily pucker. This was a common face seen around the plaza as the orange and grapefruit juices were popular. Some of the women use plastic cups, but save them to clean for the next day; some use glass and wash them there in front of you. Their juicers are large metal handles: they cut the citrus circle in half, plop in half by half, and squeeze every last drop out of them. Brian, of course, found his own juice lady - as he does with all his favorite street food.
· Everything is for sale. There are stores on the narrow streets, but the stuff doesn`t seem to stay in them. The colors, the fabrics, the little knit finger puppets and pachamama figurines flow out of the stores like blooming flowers. Going inside to shop is like passing through a tunnel into a cave. Amazing. And that`s just the stores: the streets also transform into markets. You have your fruits and vegetables street, your blankets street, your skirt-making-fabric street - everything is clumped together and looks confusingly similar. I`m pretty sure that every morning, the women and men haul their merchandise to the corner (their own slice of sidewalk) and every night they back it up and take it back home. They carry everything wrapped up in colorful blankets and strapped to their backs. Again, amazing.
· Traffic, traffic, traffic. Taxi rides are terrifying. Not only do you have to worry about pedestrians (who typically know to watch out for you), but dogs as well. The streets are narrow and steep and cars don`t seem to understand that when a car is coming your way on the other side of the street, you should not pass! There maybe isn`t much honking as there was in Trujillo, but the squeaking of brakes can be heard from miles away. The brakes work, they just like to be heard. The pollution rising from La Paz can be seen from the Huayna Potosi base camp: out in the middle of the mountains.
· Some restaurant has people dress up like animals and dance around on the streets. Strange.
Okay - we`re off for our last Peruvian dinner: pollo a la brasa (chicken), papas fritas (fries), and Inka Cola (this Mountain Dew looking, cream soda tasting pop). Delicious. Then, tomorrow morning, we`ll see the floating islands outside of Puno and then head home to see all of you!!!
Paz y amor.
· Outside of the Plaza de San Francisco, at the bottom of Calle Sagarnaga where all the touristic shoping is, one will come across the fruit juice ladies. There must be at least 20 of them around the plaza - some men, but mainly plump, round, cheery, gossipy women. They sell fresh squeezed mandarin, orange and grapefruit juice (increasing in acidity respectively). One cup of the grapefruit juice and all the pores across your nose would open up and your face would involuntarily pucker. This was a common face seen around the plaza as the orange and grapefruit juices were popular. Some of the women use plastic cups, but save them to clean for the next day; some use glass and wash them there in front of you. Their juicers are large metal handles: they cut the citrus circle in half, plop in half by half, and squeeze every last drop out of them. Brian, of course, found his own juice lady - as he does with all his favorite street food.
· Everything is for sale. There are stores on the narrow streets, but the stuff doesn`t seem to stay in them. The colors, the fabrics, the little knit finger puppets and pachamama figurines flow out of the stores like blooming flowers. Going inside to shop is like passing through a tunnel into a cave. Amazing. And that`s just the stores: the streets also transform into markets. You have your fruits and vegetables street, your blankets street, your skirt-making-fabric street - everything is clumped together and looks confusingly similar. I`m pretty sure that every morning, the women and men haul their merchandise to the corner (their own slice of sidewalk) and every night they back it up and take it back home. They carry everything wrapped up in colorful blankets and strapped to their backs. Again, amazing.
· Traffic, traffic, traffic. Taxi rides are terrifying. Not only do you have to worry about pedestrians (who typically know to watch out for you), but dogs as well. The streets are narrow and steep and cars don`t seem to understand that when a car is coming your way on the other side of the street, you should not pass! There maybe isn`t much honking as there was in Trujillo, but the squeaking of brakes can be heard from miles away. The brakes work, they just like to be heard. The pollution rising from La Paz can be seen from the Huayna Potosi base camp: out in the middle of the mountains.
· Some restaurant has people dress up like animals and dance around on the streets. Strange.
Okay - we`re off for our last Peruvian dinner: pollo a la brasa (chicken), papas fritas (fries), and Inka Cola (this Mountain Dew looking, cream soda tasting pop). Delicious. Then, tomorrow morning, we`ll see the floating islands outside of Puno and then head home to see all of you!!!
Paz y amor.
The Finale in the Altiplano
For our final few days of our trip we took off on a 3 day trek in the altiplano. Here are the highlights:
It was cold! Our first night at Condoriri base camp there was ice on the inside of our tent. Our 35 degree F sleeping bags didn´t keep us too warm, and we were really happy for the sun to rise in the morning. Very little sleep was had. The next night we set up our tent inside an adobe house and were luckily much warmer.
It was high! We started at an altitude of 4,500 meters (about 14,850 feet) and we never went lower. Only higher to passes around 5,000 meters. It made it difficult to breath, it was impossible to drink enough water, and headaches were pretty common.
It was beautiful! The landscape was incredible. Big, glacier filled peaks that rise up above 6,000 meters contrasting with the brown, dry altiplano. We saw gorgeous mountain lakes, small mining communities, and llamas grazing everywhere.
We didn´t carry our gear! We payed about $10 a day to get our gear carried from camp to camp for us because we knew it would be difficult with the altitude. Our packs were first on a donkey, then a motorcycle, and finally with two porters on the final day. The porters were a 20 year old local and his 10 year old nephew. The 10 year carried Kim´s pack and was our guide. He was small for a 10 year old and there was still no way we could keep up with him. Luckily he was a great guide and constantly waited for us. It was unbelievable. The people that live in the altiplano are TOUGH. And they were also incredibly kind and fun to talk and hike with for the day.
Brian climbed Huayna Potosi! On the first day we hiked up to the Condoriri base camp with a guided group because we got transportation from the company. After speaking with one of the guides I found out that I had just enough time to summit Huayna Potosi. We were ending our trek at the base of the trail up the mountain. We arrived at the trailhead and a refugio in the afternoon of the third day. Kim stayed at the refugio, and myself and the guide hiked up to a higher refugio at 5200 meters. We woke up at 2:00 am and started hiking up the glacier. By 7:00 am I was at the top. There were incredible views of Lake Titicaca, La Paz, the fog above the Amazon Basin, and the Cordillera Real. It was amazing to be 6,008 meters (19,974 ft) above sea level. I got back to the refugio where Kim was waiting by 10:30 am, and we were off to La Paz.
I´ll try to post some pictures along with this some time soon. So our trip is coming to an end. We are in Puno right now, and fly home tomorrow night. We´re both looking forward to seeing a lot of you soon.
It was cold! Our first night at Condoriri base camp there was ice on the inside of our tent. Our 35 degree F sleeping bags didn´t keep us too warm, and we were really happy for the sun to rise in the morning. Very little sleep was had. The next night we set up our tent inside an adobe house and were luckily much warmer.
It was high! We started at an altitude of 4,500 meters (about 14,850 feet) and we never went lower. Only higher to passes around 5,000 meters. It made it difficult to breath, it was impossible to drink enough water, and headaches were pretty common.
It was beautiful! The landscape was incredible. Big, glacier filled peaks that rise up above 6,000 meters contrasting with the brown, dry altiplano. We saw gorgeous mountain lakes, small mining communities, and llamas grazing everywhere.
We didn´t carry our gear! We payed about $10 a day to get our gear carried from camp to camp for us because we knew it would be difficult with the altitude. Our packs were first on a donkey, then a motorcycle, and finally with two porters on the final day. The porters were a 20 year old local and his 10 year old nephew. The 10 year carried Kim´s pack and was our guide. He was small for a 10 year old and there was still no way we could keep up with him. Luckily he was a great guide and constantly waited for us. It was unbelievable. The people that live in the altiplano are TOUGH. And they were also incredibly kind and fun to talk and hike with for the day.
Brian climbed Huayna Potosi! On the first day we hiked up to the Condoriri base camp with a guided group because we got transportation from the company. After speaking with one of the guides I found out that I had just enough time to summit Huayna Potosi. We were ending our trek at the base of the trail up the mountain. We arrived at the trailhead and a refugio in the afternoon of the third day. Kim stayed at the refugio, and myself and the guide hiked up to a higher refugio at 5200 meters. We woke up at 2:00 am and started hiking up the glacier. By 7:00 am I was at the top. There were incredible views of Lake Titicaca, La Paz, the fog above the Amazon Basin, and the Cordillera Real. It was amazing to be 6,008 meters (19,974 ft) above sea level. I got back to the refugio where Kim was waiting by 10:30 am, and we were off to La Paz.
I´ll try to post some pictures along with this some time soon. So our trip is coming to an end. We are in Puno right now, and fly home tomorrow night. We´re both looking forward to seeing a lot of you soon.
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