From Polar Bears to Penguins – Driving North to South across the Americas
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We didn't make the decision, the decision made us. On October 20th, 2007, we left our comfortable city of San Francisco to follow a simple algorithm - go North till the road ends then turn around and then go as far South. In between those two points was the stage, the timeline, the space, where we made things happen and things happened to us.
The past is fleeting and the stories, the sights and the feelings are perishable. One sees what one wants to see, and perhaps we are not capable of more. We saw that people are kind and helpful even if they were not materially rich. Some we could understand even though we didn't speak the same language, the motivations of others were incomprehensible even though we did. In the end fragments remain - the smell of roasting chocolate, a flock of snow Ptarmigians on snow, the creaking of the rainforest, the rough feathers of penguins, and the intoxication of Curanto.
So these are our stories. Every time you visit the site you will see a random post below. Each starts with Lo que pasa es que...
Mar 8th, 2008 by Neena
“Me encanta Oaxaca” – Spanish voices it so much more beautifully than “We loved Oaxaca”. The overused word “love” sounds cheap in English. Oaxaca was so rich – with culture, art, artisans, people, food and drink. As Fred remarked, its a “real” city. (Map this!)
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Oaxaca – Our home for a month |
Yes indeed. Spanish is very elegant and expressive in it’s constructs!
Great pictures!
Thanks Vinay. Our Spanish is at a halt right now, as we are studying this pedantic tome on the Maya culture.
Great pictures! I’m missing Oaxaca already.
Color color color. Beautiful!
Shreesh seems to have shed a few pounds. Caterpillar diet i presume 🙂
Madhuri –
We worked out four times a week at a local gym. That combined with the exotic foods and I may have lost some weight.
Hola Neena and Shreesh, wonderful pictures indeed. And I am homesick for the colours, the scents, the music and the food of Oaxaca as well. Buenos Aires is wonderful, but similar to Europe. Might be returning to Mexico for a while .. And Madhuri, I can confirm that Shreesh worked out quite a lot in Oaxaca, and I thought he looked fit and healthy.. I am taking Spanish classes again, and this time, I am the only one who is asking all the questions! Am getting used to the ‘yeyeo’ – which is the phenomenon of pronouncing the ll’s and y’s as sh..
Chao all – talk soon.