Looking out at Russia

From the Governor's house.

Only in Alaska

I am seriously considering doing Peace Corps again in Honduras.

Sailing to Panama

I left from Cartagena and sailed to Panama. It was a pretty city that I wanted to get the hell out of. It was nice to leave.This whale and her baby guided us as we made our way out into the Carribean. I am pretty sure it was a Bryde's whale, but I could be wrong.

We sailed past this tiny island and set up anchor. It was like an island from a Far Side Cartoon.

Another tiny island. There were 2 sets of huts there where the Kuna indians live. They were very hospitable and nice.

On the other side or our anchorage there was this island, which had a few groups of houses, including one that sold cans of cold beer for 1 Balboa, the currency of Panama (which is just a US Dollar).

A long time ago in a Galaxy far far away...

The plane that flew us out of Bolvia. I think it was a C-130. The US gave it to Bolivia to fight against drugs. It was made in the 1950s and probably flew in the Vietnam War.
Inside, we all got strapped in and then at least 5 people puked during the 5 hour, top secret flight that followed.

Going to Panama the old fashioned way

I got to Cartagena and it is like being in a museum from the age of pirates. It was a gold storage area for the Spanish stealing the gold of the natives, and so they made the city walls about 15 feet thick out of coral blocks and there is a huge fortress to protect it. I set sail on Wednesday and fly back to the US from Panama hopefully on the 22nd of October, just in time to get to Seattle for the ND vs. Washingon game that my brothers and dad are going to.

Quickly through Colombia

Still no pictures, but this is what my last week has looked like pretty much. I am too afraid to take my camera with me when I do go into towns and see the amazingly beautiful things that I have seen. And I have been rushing everywhere anyway. Tonight I am getting on a bus to Cartagena, which is on the Carribean coast. It should be a place to relax and finally take a picture and maybe upload some oldies but goodies from the past month. I will be looking for a boat to Panama, and then... dios sabe.

We got evacuated, but you probably knew that already

I am going to post the dramatic pictures of the top secret military transport flight as soon as I can and my ensuing journey north (went all the way through ecuador without taking a picture... DAMN IT), but until then I will just be making fun of republicans or doing other fun stuff. Now that I am not a PC volunteer anymore I can do this. But I might be going to Morocco in March to continue in PC version 2.0 so stay tuned... or not.

Evo Si

The recent referendum saw Evo win with 67% of the vote. Congratulations Evo! Jallalla!

Obama

I finally found his address on the internet:

http://ohiodailyblog.com/content/audio-obamas-acceptance-speech

This is a recording from someone who was in the audience. It isn't great quality, so if anyone knows of a better link let me know please. I am listening to it right now and it is great so far!

Good bye Corque

An old feller who has a tienda in Corque has been inviting me to come visit his campo. Well I decided it was time for me to go check it out and it was way worth it. Just beautiful. I wish I hadn't waited so long!

this is the church for the little community where Don Pedro lives

I would like to know what kind of bird this is

We walked up the hill to where he gets his water, it was really beautiful

Reall, what kind of bird is that?

A cactus forest, which I think is pretty cool.

Summit Panoramalama

My first video. This is the view from the top and my amigo Ryan talking about how that ridge just keeps on going...

My second 16,000 ft. peak

Tiff and Anna doing ballerina excercises before the hike
Tiffany on the bridge... pretty self explanatory
This is a really big rock and a cactus growing on top of it. Pretty cool.
The view from the top. We could see Sajama from here. My GPS says Sajama was over 170 miles away. How cool is that!!!
Heading back down for dinner with Tiffany and Anna leading the way... I couldn't help thinking the whole way that when the next ice age comes Huari is going to be THE extreme skiing destination for the southern hemisphere

Whale Watching

One of the highlights of the trip home for the wedding was the whale watching rehersal dinner. I was unaware that there would be food on the boat, but other than that it couldn't have been better.
Eagles are as common in Southeast Alaska as llamas are here in the altiplano, but they both still blow me away
I still haven't figured out how to flirt effectively, but I think I do a better job than this sea lion.
In your dreams Regina Spector
This was the first time I had seen Orcas, or killer whales, and they stayed with us for nearly an hour performing breaches and rolls and stealing the show.

My uncle Marty took all of these pictures, so thanks for sharing!

New Technology in Comedy!

My sister introduced me to the newest thing in comedyphoto technology. It's called shakey faces, and as you can see, it is awesome. Anna
Carla
Franz
John
John's sister

Lauren
yours truly
Mike did not understand shakey face
Tiffany
triple awesome shakey face

Lauren and Corque

My friend Lauren came to visit and helped easing my way back into altiplano life once again after eating alaskan seafood and seeing my whole family at the wedding. She did PC in Bangladesh so she can relate.

Thanks for coming Lauren!!!!

Rocking out at my site, Corque, for a July fourth bonfire. Tons of fun!
Big fire.Franz and Tania chose to ford the river instead of waiting for the next raft. They saved several days but lost 3 oxen and 50 pounds of flour. Later in the journey one of the party died of ameabic dysentary.
An incredibly curious herd of llamas came right up to us, although there was some speculation that they were being hearded this way.
After a hike we came back to the plaza and had a local specialty, chicharon de llama.

The wedding day

Matt and Paige heard the sincere words of congratulations and we drank our weight in Alaskan micro brews

My godfather taught me how to dance, which is why I rock so hard.
Judging by the fact that I am not in this picture, I think I must have said something funny.
The wedding chapel
My niece, nephew and self
The whole McGuan family together