Brittni’s Blog

For my good friend, Rebecca’s birthday we went all out. First we went paragliding, then we got tattoos, and then had a big party with her family.

The paragliding was so much fun. It was completely calm and relaxing, and felt just exactly like it feels when I fly in my dreams. Its tandem, but I never noticed the guy behind me. The wind just comes and swoops you up and you feel like a weightless leaf blowing in the wind, but at the same time totally in control. As we left the grounds we both yelled, “Carpe Diem!” and afterward concluded that there is no better way that seizing Rebecca’s b-day than going flying.

Paragliding from Brittni Daley on Vimeo.

Okay, getting a tattoo for my friend’s birthday might sound a little extreme, but I’ve actually been wanting it for ages, and this just felt like the perfect time. First of all, I hate it when people get tattoos that don’t mean anything, but the term “carpe diem” has always meant a lot to me. I think most of my readers (hahaha…my readers..that’s you!) would agree that I always seize the day and that the motto fits me well. Not sure I should be admitting this, but it helps me to get out of bed in the morning when I think to myself “carpe diem” and then think of something crazy I can do that day that wasn’t planned and would make it a great day.

Oh, and it cost 50 Soles which is like $16. I love how cheap everything is here.

The party that night at Becca’s family’s house was one of the best birthday party’s I’ve ever been to. The closeness of even distant family and the amazing warmth when welcoming strangers is what I truly love and respect about Latin families and culture. Rebecca is from Australia and doesn’t speak much Spanish, while some of her relatives are from Peru and don’t speak much English (I was the translator). Still, she was more than welcome to come here and move in with them, and they treated her just like one of their own daughters. She’s had a great time her the last 5 months with them and now will always have family and a home here in Peru. (Hey, Dad, why can’t I have roots in Peru????) When I grow up, wherever I end up, whatever I’m doing, and whoever I’m with, I want a big, loud, crazy, affectionate, loving family to have big, loud, crazy, affectionate, loving parties.

Paracas is a little beach town near Pisco, in the South of Peru. I wandered around the market and spent a bit of time at the beach, playing with the pelicans.

Pelicans in Paracas from Brittni Daley on Vimeo.

Just outside of Nasca, in the south of Peru, I went sandboarding down Cerrro Blanco (”White Hill”), which is the largest sand doom in South America. It was just me and one guide which was nice because I got a private lesson. First we had to do a 3.5 hour hike to the top of the sand doom, which was quite tough because every step you take doesn’t get you very far because you end up sliding back down the doom a bit, and the sun felt like it was beating down on us so hard it wanted to kill us. Then we practiced a bit on a few short runs at the top of the doom. It feels like snowboarding in really thick powder, and you have to lean forward to build up speed and not sink in the sand. At the end we had one, long ride down to the bottom, but, unfortunately, my ankle was hurting for most of the long ride, so I ended up sitting on the board and using it as a sled, which was really fun.

Here are a few pics from around the city of Nasca:

In Nasca, Peru I took a small 6 person plane up to see the famous, ancient Nasca Lines. We don’t know for sure who made them and for what reason, but it is theorized that they were made between 900 BC and 600 AD by the ancient Paracas and Nasca cultures. Some of the theories of their purpose are (1) astronomical calendars mapped out by sophisticated mathematics, (2) ritual walkways connected to a water/fertility cult, (3) giant running tracks, or (4) extraterrestrial landing sites. The lines design many different shapes such as a whale, a person, a dog, a monkey, a hummingbird, a spider, a parrot, a tree, and hands, and they are so big that they can’t be appreciated on the ground. Unfortunately, the pictures didn’t come out as pronounced as I had hoped. The next day a local told me about a plant that grows around the area called the San Pedro plant, which is a hallucinogen and the locals have taken for thousands of years for spiritual purposes. He told me that by taking this drug the spirits of the ancient cultures would float up above the city and lines and that is how they could see them from above. Of course I started to question how exactly that worked, but shortly realized is wasn’t going to be a logical conversation. But the lines where very intriguing and looking down at the lines from above I could see how people get the idea for shows like The X-files and The Twilight Zone.

I entered Peru in the patriotic and historically rich town of Tacna where a few friends and I got an especially passionate, local tour guide who took us around to the monuments, museums, cemetery, and the battlefield of the War of the Pacific in 1880. Along the way he enthusiastically explained to us the history of the war. This war is especially meaningful to the area because it was fought by Peru, Chile, and Bolivia. Chile won the war and the area was occupied until 1929 when the people of Tacna voted to return to Peru. There is still a lot of hostility to the Chileans by the local people of Tacna, which I could feel by the way the locals picked out and talked about the Chileans. Looking at drawings of the war, the uniforms and weapons in the museum, and seeing the battlefield, I was reminded of the Civil War, probably because they were around the same time.

A few seconds after he started talking, our guide came up to me and said in Spanish “What, your camera doesn’t have video?,” obviously implying that I should be filming his lecture. Although you might not be able to understand what he says (if you don’t speak Spanish), I think you will still be fascinated by the heartfelt passion you can see in this video.

History Lesson in Tacna from Brittni Daley on Vimeo.

After the history lessons we got lunch in a market in town and had delicious, fresh smoothies. We were a wee bit worried when we saw them putting the local water in the smoothies, but luckily my stomach of steel can handle anything Latin America can through at it. One of the smoothies, called the Vitamina, consisted of everything accept the kitchen sink, including every fruit, milk, honey, beer and a bunch of other things I didn’t recognize. Beer in a smoothie. Now why didn’t I think of that?

There’s a lot to do in San Pedro, but most of the things to do there I had recently done in a nearby city so I didn’t stay long. For example, there’s an observatory, but its not meant to be as good as the one I went to in La Serena, you can do salt flat tours and geyser tours, but I had recently seen similar ones in the south of Bolivia, and you can go sandboarding, but I was planning on going in Nasca because it has the largest sand dome in South America.

I did have one interesting, cultural experience that I don’t think I’ll forget. I’ve gotten used to just showing up in towns without making reservations at any hostel because they are almost always very easy to find and cheaper if you show up an negotiate. Its usually not hard to talk the price down a little bit because they know you can just walk down the road a bit and find a different hostel. After arriving I went out into the town to find a hostel, some dinner, and see if there was anything fun going on. A nice local boy took me down the road to this very nice and cheap hostel where I paid about US $7 for my own room. This was even cheaper than I expected because it was a little bit outside of town. After checking in and putting my bags down I headed back into town for dinner. I had a good meal, a few drinks, and good conversation with the local guy that hooked me up with the room. We made plans to go bike riding, sandboarding, and have lunch the next day. However, when he walked me home and I said goodnight it took quite a bit of effort (verbally and physically) to convince him I wasn’t interested in a kiss goodnight. The crazy part was the next day when he showed up at my door, I told him I didn’t want to go, and he started to cry, saying he loved me and begging me not to leave.

I don’t mean to make him sound like a crazy, pushy asshole, which is how most of you are probably reading this, but I have learned in my time down here that it really is a cultural difference. I’ve often heard girls idealize Latin men for being romantic and passionate, but there’s a thin line before you cross over into pushy and needy. I thing dating people from other cultures is always fun and exotic at first, but once the novelty wears off, the cultural differences are too deep of problems to overcome. My opinion on this not only comes from this event, but a few very similar experiences I’ve had before this and from hearing many girls I’ve met in Latin America talk about experiences they’ve had. I’ve think in the end I’d take a standoffish, disconnected guy that is also respectful and independent, over a romantic, passionate guy that is also pushy and needy. I guess for now I’ll just keep hoping there’s a guy out there with a good balance, like me.

complain about guys from the US and most European countries being too , while girls . After this experience, and, actually, I have had 2-3 similar ones before this, I

I just passed through Santiago for a few days on my way north to visit the Chilean family I lived with for the 3 weeks I studied in Santiago last October, and my old church camp friend, Amelia. It was great to see my Chilean family again and they were very excited when I showed up at their door. I felt right at home and it was almost as if I never left. It was great to catch up and talk about all the fun things we did while I was living there. It was also great to see my childhood friend and meet some of her friends.

During the day I had a little adventure taking local buses to this small winery in a rural village outside of Santiago. The winery was a lot smaller than I expected, but everyone around was very friendly and helpful.

I wasn’t planning on going to the Perito Moreno Glacier after seeing so many in Antarctica, but since I hurt my ankle and had to leave the hiking trip early, I had some extra time to kill before my flight up to Santiago. But, it was quite an amazing sight to see. One of the cool things about this glacier is that throughout the year it grows and falls back and during my visit we got to see quite a few huge pieces of ice break off and fall into the channel. It still baffles me how the ice doesn’t melt because it was quite a warm day, but the way the tour guide explained it is that the ice is very dense. “Perito” means “expert” (not “perrito” meaning small dog) and the glacier was named after Perito Moreno who explored a lot of the land around the area, set the boundaries between Chile and Argentina in that area, and donated funds to set up the national park.

Torres del Paine is a famous national park in the south of Chile where people spend anywhere from 3 to 9 days backpacking, hiking, and camping in the forest. The park is famous for its rock formations which are in the shape of tours. I was planning on spending about 4 days in the park, but unfortunately slipped and hurt my ankle on the second day so I had to cut it a bit short. But I did get to do what I really wanted to do, which was hike up to the torres and watch them at sunrise. This is a common activity because the torres glow a beautiful reddish yellow at sunrise.

After I hurt my ankle I spent a good while waiting to see if I was going to be able to keep hiking. In the meantime I walked (or hobbled) around this little area and got really into taking photos of the vegetation and a few insects, playing with the macro settings on my camera.

In the end I hiked out and gave my ankle a bit of rest for a few days, but I think it turned out to be a blessing in disguise because I went to the Perito Moreno glacier instead (next post).

Some quotes I like, just for fun:

“Carpe diem” -Horace

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” –The Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr

“Not all those who wander are lost.” -J .R.R. Tolkien

“Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t mind.” –Dr. Suess

“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.” –Albert Einstein

“Lost time is never found again.” –Benjamin Franklin

“So many people tiptoe through life so carefully, to arrive, safely, at death.” –Jermaine Evans

“Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.” –The Dalai Lama

“Pain is temporary. Quitting last forever.” –Lance Armstrong

“We must become the change we wish to see in the world.” –Mahatma Gandhi

“A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” –Bob Dylan

“Life is about creating new opportunities, not waiting for them to come to you.” –Salma Hayek

“The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.” –Samuel Johnson