Adventures and Misadventures in Peru
As you know, there are few things that get me going like exploring a new country. Peru was no exception, and was completely exceptional. I will try to summarize my weeklong trip with far too many photos and some highlights. For the more extended play-by-play version, check out: Cate and Krista’s blog.
Mishappenings
The unexpected and unplanned things that happen on trips always make for the best stories. Given that my plan consisted of…
• Board plane
• Find Krista and Cate
• Hike to Machu Picchu
…I left a lot of room for good stories. Here are some photos to start you off. Stories after the jump!
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Here is the short version: Lost bag, bought new Peruvian wardrobe, joined 16 people in 4 day trek to Machu Picchu in the rainy season, got pretty intense altitude sickness, passed out, lost my lunch, and dinner, fell off of a horse, twice. Saw 4 days worth of Andean beauty topped off with Machu Picchu in all of its ancient wonder complete with llamas and unreal cloudy mist. Got to spend a week with 2 of my favorite people doing my favorite thing.
Here is the slightly longer version: It began in Mexico City. That was the last time I saw my bag. The story of how this happened is much longer and probably not that interesting, but ended with me arriving in Cuzco sans bag full of all of my athletic and hiking wear that I own, plentiful amounts of medicine and all of my generally awesome preparedness. Things that I still did have: fleece jacket, clothes on my back, cameras (YAY!), passport, and one extra pair of underwear.
However, I was meeting up with Krista and Cate at their cute homestay attic apartment at the end of their two weeks of volunteering. So, between them clothing me and their homestay family that fed me, I was pretty happy.
Thus, for a few days we explored Cuzco, and had a night out on the town with Krista and Cate’s new friends—that’s right, after 2 weeks in the city, they had a group of about 10 people, both locals and gringos, that they were already friends with. If you know these two and their magnetic personalities and up for anything attitudes, this is not surprising at all. When no bag turned up by the day before our upcoming trek, I went on a mission to find a new wardrobe. Just a note here, in Peruvian sizes, I am an XL (in the US, I am a small. Awesome.), and even though they repeatedly assure you something is waterproof, it is, in fact, not. Enjoy the pictures of me in my ill-fitting clothes!
On my third day, we were picked up at 4:30 am for a 2 hour careening bus ride ascending another couple thousand feet in altitude to the starting point of our hike. Krista and Cate have done a great play-by-play over on their blog of the hike itself and some of our colorful trip-mates and guides. Thus, I would like to continue from this point forward to enlighten you on the lessons I took away from our trek:
Lessons Learned
Humility
I am a triathlete. I play ultimate Frisbee most warm sunny weekends. I’ve played most other sports, as well. I have hiked in the Tetons, the Rockies, the Shenandoahs, in Tasmania and Rwanda and skied in the Alps (okay, it was more like falling down the Alps because I don’t know how to ski, but either way, I was there). Thus, when by the afternoon of the first day of our trip I was a good twenty minutes behind our group and the guide had taken my pack from me to lighten my load, I was not only fighting with my body, but mostly with my mind. Altitude sickness affects people randomly and has nothing to do with your physical fitness. However, when I was gasping for air hugging Krista trying to put one foot in front of the other through the mud in the pouring rain, I was questioning why I had allowed myself to fall into such bad shape, and why I couldn’t just power through.
Friends cannot be overestimated
The following day, we decided it would be best for me to rent one of the packhorses to get through the grueling morning hours uphill to the summit we needed to reach that day. Again, no amount of sheer will power could get me to that summit. I had to rely on Krista—to repeatedly tell me I was actually sick and to let people help me, on Eduardo or Mary Luiz our guides—to lead my horse (no reins), on Cate—to make me laugh with her stories of digestive mishaps in the previous weeks, and on our whole group—to wait for me and my very stubborn horse at various points throughout the day. It was a great lesson in humility and trust for me and though it seems a small thing, when you are weak and literally breathless in the Andes, I couldn’t have been more grateful to have these people to carry me forward on our journey.
Beauty heals all ails
As we reached the summit and the highest point on our trek, I was happy to know it was all downhill from here and having had about 4 hours to “rest” on the back of a horse, I agreed that it would be fine to walk the remainder of the way downhill to lunch. I say “rest” on the horse because riding a horse is no small amount of work, especially when you haven’t ridden a horse in a few years and this particular horse is walking on steep, slippery, rocky inclines…talk about saddle sore. Anyway, it became apparent after an hour that I should not be walking, but it was too late. There was only one direction to go and the horse was long gone carrying our lunch ahead of us to be prepared.
Mary Luiz supported most of my weight in a slow plod down the trail until the group was so far ahead that we lost sight of them as they were tiny specks in the valley far below. We tried to distract each other by attempting to communicate in her broken English and my lame attempt at Spanish. Even talking was a struggle though, so we settled for soaking in the distant cacophony of the waterfalls flowing down the peaks around us into a maze of streams in the lush green valley below. Not a bad place to have to take your time through.
When we were almost down to the valley, I pretty much passed out, only to rouse myself enough to lose my breakfast on the side of the trail. Thankfully, that got my blood flowing enough to make the final push down. Once they saw me coming around the bend (everyone had cooked and eaten lunch by this point, and taken a nap), they sent the horse so that I could ride into the camp. However, we needed to ford a small river, about waist deep for a person, or knee deep for the horse, because the horse couldn’t cross the small stone path. With a lot of gesturing, due to my lack of Spanish skills, we finally came to the conclusion that they would hand me the lead rope (remember, no reins), which I would hand back at the opposite side of the water. The moment the horse noticed it was no longer being led, before the rope was even in my hand, he bolted. He picked up speed across the river, galloping into the field ahead. I frantically thrust my arms around his neck and held on yelling and trying not to bounce out of the saddle and under his pounding feet. As I slid off of his side and onto the grass, he came to a stop.
I stood up laughing and stumbling toward camp too nauseous for lunch, but curious what the rest of the day would bring. It was pretty hilarious and who can really complain about riding a horse through the high jungle of the Andes on a sunny day during the rainy season.
Just so you don’t miss out on any of the story and my second fall from the horse
That afternoon I got back on the horse to make it to the camp that night. This time the trail was on the edge of a ravine and I had to dismount for every steep section and one mudslide. The last dismount at the mudslide was in the dark and I landed on the ground instead of my feet. That’s right, off the side of the horse twice in one day. Well done me.
We finally reached camp, a good, warm meal and dry tents. The next morning I felt great and hiked with the group all day!
Ancient generations were smarter and stronger than we are
The morning we arrived at Machu Picchu, it had been raining a full force downpour for at least 12 hours and we weren’t sure if we would even get to see all of the ruins, much less document that we were there (the really important thing, of course). As the morning mist started to rise, the rain stopped and after an hour of slow feathery clouds floating up and dissolving, we had a clear view of the green terraced village with llamas roaming throughout. Mountains towered around and I reminded of the sheer physical power it would have taken to create such a place, albeit at altitude. Originally there were orchids and agriculture filling each terraced level. It is astounding as it is today, so to imagine it overflowing with colors and aromas of flowers and crops was absolutely unreal. I sat and soaked in the grandeur in the welcome sunlight proud of the effort it took to get myself here and even more impressed with the Incas than 4 days previous. Clearly, it is a place of indescribable beauty and history of which I probably only learned small pieces. Therefore, take a look at some photos to see more.
Things can be replaced, kind of. And when they can’t, be thankful you had them the first time. And always pack clean underwear in your carry on.
When I first realized I would never see my bag again, I felt that I should probably cry. Then I checked myself. Here I am traveling to a developing nation and I am starting off the trip sad and angry that I don’t have my expensive hiking pack and shoes and lightweight wicking hiking gear? So, I decided from that point on that I would not worry about it and move forward and enjoy my trip (complete with funny ill-fitting clothes!), because I can replace everything in that bag, but I would kick myself if I had a bad attitude the whole trip. Admittedly, I am pretty sad that my late grandmother’s New Balances were in that bag, and I miss my perfectly worn in running jacket. But, I will get over it, because really, they are just things.
The Sustainable Tourist (Learning the language)
While I was excited to hear that our tour company had a sustainability focus, I have to admit in my haste of arranging the trip, I left that up to my traveling buddies. One thing I have always felt though that is not sustainable about myself is that I am (shudder) that typical American that shows up in a foreign country without knowing the language. After taking 7 years of Latin and 2 of American Sign Language, I realize that I didn’t exactly prepare myself well for my love of international travel. However, I vowed that this will be my last trip in which I have to rely heavily on others for translation (Thanks Krista!)or on natives for their knowledge of English. Thus, during my commute I have been learning Spanish. Si, hablo espanol un poco.
Until the next adventure…
On Travel
Photo via Flickr by kees straver
Tomorrow I leave for Peru to hike to Machu Picchu piggybacking on The Adventures of Cate and Krista. Some might say, um, you started a new job a week ago, and you are leaving the country? To them I shake my head in wonder and disappointment that they may never understand my need for travel fully.
I say need because it is a need. Not in a negative way, but in the way that you need air to breathe and water to drink. I need to travel. It wakens something in me that nothing else can. An unbridled sense of freedom, opportunity, adventure and wonder. You can never see “enough” or everything. Each travel experience shapes and forms my character, concerns, world view, friendships and self knowledge more than any day in the office has…yet.
So, I am off to travel. To dive into the next continent and culture and I hope to come back with a wealth of art and stories to share with you. (May they not include any large snakes or Montezuma’s revenge)
Employment: fun for you and me
If I have a bit absent, it is due to my recent whirlwind employmet with College Summit! I will be helping out the DC region by engaging volunteers, alumni and community stake holders in our mission to help every student who can make it in college, make it to college. We help low-income high schools to increase college enrollments…and from what I can tell, have a good deal of fun along the way.
Photo via Flickr by college.summit
As someone who has been unemployed for a few months, let me say, AMEN. Granted, unemployment has it’s perks, but so do paychecks. And contributing to the world for a paycheck. Pretty cool. I will be getting paid to form relationships with volunteers and alumni who want to help out these students. Did you hear that? Getting PAID to form RELATIONSHIPS for better education for those who need it most. If you know me and my hectic social schedule (not due to popularity, just hecticness!) and my past volunteer experience, this should be a pretty great job for me.
So, THANK YOU to all of those who have gotten me here through hundreds of emails, networking meetings, encouragement, connections and ideas. You got me here. Thank you.
To anyone out there who is still job searching: hang in there. Yes, the economy sucks. But guess what? You are a well skilled individual and there are still people looking to hire people like you. So, do not lose heart! Also, I will still keep posting thoughts on job searching here.
…but first I will be going to Peru to hike to Machu Picchu with these guys. Long story, but I am PUMPED. More upon my return!
How to be Laid Off Gracefully [Job Searching]
Photo via Flickr by Bob Jagendorf
So, if you have read the news or spoken to anyone in the last year, you are aware that there are layoffs happening. Everywhere. (P.S. If you don’t want to read depressing news all the time, read Alltop’s Good News!) Most likely, you or someone you know has been laid off. Instead of ignoring the possibility of getting let go, prepare for it. You can’t control the economy or your organization’s budget, but you can control how you react to it. Here are some lessons learned from the other side of the fence:
1. Don’t take it personally: If you are laid off, you have not been fired. There was a restructuring, a budget cut, a massive recession, etc. It is not you, so getting angry and bitter will not help you now–see points 2 & 4. below. (Granted, there are things you can do to make your job recession proof, but we’ll cover that later.)
2. Don’t yell and try not to cry: It is hard to control emotional reactions (I will admit, as a woman, I think this might be harder for us), but as best you can, this is not the time to air all of your grievances with your now former employer.
3. Say “Thank You”: Regardless of how long you have been in your role, there are likely people there who you connected with, who mentored you, and who will now be able to help you in your job search. Say thank you, for all of the responsibilities you had and all of the skills you were able to learn and use in your position.
4. Hand out your personal email and phone number: Again, these are the people who can help you, and will want to help you most in your job search. Make sure you keep the lines of communication open and cordial. I would venture to say that most employers do not relish laying people off. It is uncomfortable for them, too. So, they will have extra incentive to help you in your next step. The best option is to hand out your personal business cards (which you should make now and have on hand, anyway. you’ll need it for your next job search, employed or no.).
5. Make a list of contacts: Please note, I am not condoning stealing business from the organization you just laid off. I am, however, condoning making your network as wide and broad as possible. What better place to start than with the people both internal and external with which you have most recently worked.
5. Leave well, then leave your work behind: Many people are awful at work-life balance. Here is your chance to get it right. Before you leave, make a to do list (or just hand the one over you haven’t finished) of all of the things that you meant to get done, but haven’t yet. Hand it to someone who you trust to get these things done. Then leave. And stop worrying about your former responsibilities. You have a new job now: Looking for a Job.
6. Call your friends and family: Job searches aren’t easy, and you need their support. On the flip side, if you are the one talking to your laid off friend, see Penelope Trunk’s excellent post on How to talk to a friend who’s been laid off.
Anything I missed? Add your thoughts in the comments about things to keep in mind when being laid off.
An Overview [Job Searching]
Here is an overview of upcoming posts on something I have spent large swaths of the last three years, and all of the last 3 months doing: the Job Search.
Topics will include:
How to be Laid Off Gracefully
Who Am I and What Kind of Job do I Want?
Career Coaches and what they can do for me
The How: Spreadsheets and Research and Spreadsheets and some more Research
Networking: On and Offline via LinkedIn, Twitter, Associations and Connections
Keeping Up: your Attitude, Productivity, Work/Life Balance
The importance of friends and family in a job search
Resumes: Rules of Thumb and Alternatives
Why Gen Y Rocks the Working World & how this can pose problems with Boomers in management
Career Tests: Which ones are worth it and why
Follow Up and Thank You Notes
Why the Job search Doesn’t Suck
Blog and Volunteer Your Way into a Job
Stay Tuned!
And let me know if there are other things that you want to know about.
Photo by Tom™5 via flickr.
Inauguration!…in which there were many celebrations and events
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Yes, the Inauguration was a month ago. Yes, I missed the boat a little on posting these. BUT, the exciting thing is, I learned how to embed flickr slideshows in my wordpress.com blog. Hurrah for free technology! All thanks must go to Geeky Coder for creating an original post, which I commented on and requested a simplified version for the non-techies among us. AND, he/she obliged! Thanks! Unfortunately, I can’t figure out how to make the font in this post un-tiny after my embedding victory. Anyone know why it won’t change??
Anyway, I keep looking back at the Inauguration and thinking: Why didn’t I tweet more? Take more photos? Get my well-thought-through and compelling post up quickly, like Julia? And then I remember everything that was going on (see photos–also there were an additional 8 events I didn’t photograph…). And that it was FREEZING. To give you some background on this, I am from Atlanta, and I hate cold. To be clear, cold to me is 50 degrees or lower. Maybe 55. Believe me, I am moving to a tropical island soon. The point is, when I woke up and it was 12 degrees on the morning of the Inauguration before windchill, and I was excited about going to the mall, it was a big deal.
I am not sure that I can encapsulate all of the amazing things about that day in one post or my thoughts, feelings and analysis of our political future. So, I will give you the highlights of my favorite parts of the day:
1. My brother was there. And he looked Amish. And he put me on his shoulders to take photos. (Note: My brother likely weighs possibly 10-20 pounds more than me and has almost a foot of height on me. So, also a big deal.)
2. We made friends with a guy from the Netherlands and his friend from Italy who were shooting a documentary. It felt incredibly appropriate to have foreigners there and excited for this new era. Certainly this would not have been the case for the last few inaugurations.
3. The crowd was massive and peaceful. This amazed me and I was so impressed with the kindness and excitement that surrounded me in the sea of 2 million.
4. I didn’t know what would happen next, but it felt like progress was being made. Right there on the mall, we were stepping forward. Together. Into some unknown new world. I can’t explain it, but that is how it felt. Some background here. I am currently job searching, laid off in early December with about half my colleagues (and many other Americans). One would think that more change and uncertainty in my life would be worrisome, unwelcome. Instead, it was exciting. It is exciting. Change, in what seems like the right direction (both in our politics and in my career), is exciting, not scary. At least not until we run out of money…but we’re not there yet. And hopefully won’t be!
So, those are my very belated thoughts. What are your thoughts now that we are about a month in?
How to Get in the Way with Service
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Photos, by me.
The morning before the inauguration, I joined over 1200 people to participate in Be the Change‘s campaign, ServiceNation’s MLK Day “New Era Of Service” breakfast at Ballou Senior High School. There were so many volunteers that they actually had to turn some away. Julia and I were invited to tweet and blog at the event, and we did so, happily! Julia’s blog post (on the not-blocked blogger platform, rather than my wordpress based blog which I couldn’t get to due to the school’s firewalls hence the extreme tardiness of this post) can be found here. For the play by play recap, My tweets are here and Julia’s are here.
The breakfast was star-studded and inspirational. I left with lingering anticipation and apprehensive questions as to what the year (4 years?) will hold for non-profits and service in general.
1. Volunteerism is in vogue. I mean, Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher and their friends told me. So, what happens if one day service no longer is popular? And how did we get here (thank goodness we did)? To this state of public appreciation for do-gooders (vs. the indifference I recall from my childhood)?
2. How is this a New Era of Service? How will we approach it differently? More social media surrounding it, or more real action, better policies to prevent the need for volunteers to fix crumbling public schools, or simply more media coverage?
3. How does our current economic and political climate affect our volunteering? Time? Motivation? Fear?
4. And my favorite question in recent job interviews: How do you measure success? This is the real kicker isn’t it? Is success having 1000 people show up to volunteer and get to know the Anacostia neighborhood and it’s residents in a different light? Is success having 30 celebrities make a video about the need for us all to chip in? Is success having someone in the White House who backs communities and calls us all to lend a hand and get to work rebuilding our nation? Is success eradicating urban poverty?
Clearly, some of these are more attainable and realistic than others, but it helps to know what we are aiming for before we begin walking, building, advocating and organizing our way to it en masse.
Senator John Lewis of Georgia (my home state!) said in his speech, “We have an obligation to leave this nation a little greener and a little more peaceful for unborn generations.” (And now I may paraphrase a bit) “Continue to serve and never give up. You will not be arrested or beaten. Go out and do what you can. What you MUST. To make our country what it should be. There is a great spirit in America today, a spirit of hope. I believe we are prepared to travel on this unbelievable journey.” My favorite words from Sen. Lewis were his charge, “Martin Luther King, Jr. has called us here today to GET IN THE WAY. Stand up, speak out, and get involved in service.”
So maybe that is all we need to do. Get in the way of the injustice, the inefficiencies, the brokenness, and know that you will not be arrested or beaten as generations past. You will, we hope, be joined, by a host of other servants. And if you aren’t, maybe go grab some friends and teach them of the work that needs to be done.
You can start here: Sign ServiceNation’s Declaration of Service.
Still confused? Follow Stephen Colbert’s lead when he hosted Be the Changes’s Alan Khazei on the Colbert Report.
As my first live blogging (turned tweeting) experience, I could not have been more impressed with ServiceNation at the event and their follow up. Here is some of the great info they have available for those who want to see more: http://www.bethechangeinc.org/servicenation/happenings/inaugural2009/breakfast
Website: http://www.servicenation.org
Blog: http://www.changewireblog.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/servicenation
Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/servicenation
Think.MTV: http://www.think.mtv/servicenation
Flikr: http://www.flickr.com/bethechangeinc
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/bethechangeinc
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/bethechangeinc
Finally, how have more people not seen this documentary on Ballou’s marching band!?
Hope in the face of humanitarian crises
Hi. Remember that time the job search ate my week. Sorry. I’m back.
So, this post is not meant to depress you, but to show that there are people doing great things in the midst of incomprehensibly challenging hardship. Regardless, this is some pretty tough stuff, so be warned.
Yesterday I spent my morning catching up on the 700 articles from the 74 blogs I follow in my google reader. I had neglected it for a week due to the aforementioned week-swallowing job search. The better part of the morning I spent on two sites that you should visit:
First, The Places We Live is a site that has an interactive photo feature which takes you through some of the most incredible slums in the world. I use incredible in the real sense of, it is so hard to believe we live in a world where people have to live like this. Jonas Bendiksen has used his powerful images to show these slums with a stark beauty, dignity and truth. The exhibit is now on display at the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway. Thanks to Patrick James over at GOOD Magazine for bringing it to my attention.
Second, click on “the story” section in Falling Whistles for a very moving PDF which is well worth the 5-10 minutes it will take you to read/experience. With beautiful, compelling design, Sean D. Carasso tells the story of meeting 5 boys who had just escaped from two of the rebel armies in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This story is so hard. It is not fair. It evokes anger. Hopelessness. Helplessness. Pain. But Sean does well what any advocate of peace and justice does well. He tells the boys’ story. He gives a voice to those who have none, and the voice that he lends is one of urgency, eloquence and love. Make sure you read to the end where he talks about the Congolese artists who are pulling boys like these into a community of rehabilitation.
The way these artists use these horrific stories to spread the truth and point others towards rehabilitation and reconciliation give me hope.
I spent 2 powerful weeks in Rwanda, a country that is a model of progress and reconciliation after the genocide there in 1994 in which around 1 million lives were lost in about 100 days. Even with much progress and healing, there is a long way to go. There will be many more posts here about Rwanda, my short, but clearly life-changing time there, and how it has shaped my world today. For now though, check out Indego Africa, another beacon of hope for me. They blog here. Their work is to help to create cooperatives of women who make handicrafts, import those goods for sale in the states and send 100% of profits back to the women for education and training purposes. Nothing helpless about that.
I give thanks for these tangible places where we can fight against these atrocities by building up strong communities turning with hope to their future. What places and ways have you found to address these issues?
Evening Prayer
I was about to start another inauguration post when I got some more potentially sad news about the health of a friend’s loved one. With so many people close to me in need of medical miracles and hope this week, I offer this prayer that my pastor often closes our services with:
Keep watch, dear Lord,
With those who work, or watch or weep this night,
And give your angels charge over those who sleep.
Tend the sick, Lord Christ;
Give rest to the weary,
Bless the dying,
Soothe the suffering,
Pity the afflicted,
Shield the joyous;
And all for your love’s sake.
Amen.
From the Book of Common Prayer.
And then I met Rev. Jesse Jackson (or Inauguration Party 1 of 36)
I realize that I have dropped off the face of the earth for the past few days, but when you live less than 3 miles from the White House and history is happening in your city, you just have to go and worry about life later.
To begin our recap of the last week, we start with Saturday night, when I went to a party thrown by a board member of a nonprofit where a friend works. The party was less than a block from the White House and full of many political folks I probably should have recognized. While enjoying my first bite of hummus covered carrot, Rev. Jesse Jackson turned to introduce himself. Then, he gave a speech. Then, he took this picture with us. And that is how my inauguration week began.
Stay tuned for more!
Color of Happiness 