Oxnard

Oxnard

Running in the hazy morning light, smelling the sweet scents of strawberries and a sea breeze tinged with tangy salt, I knew I was home. I have been away from Oxnard for about twelve years, first in San Diego and then in Guyana. I have visited now and again, but I haven’t set down for a long length of time. However, no matter where I’ve lived the small smells of Jack in the Box to jasmine flowers remind me of my childhood.

Neighborhoods

Oxnard is neither the richest nor the hippest city in our county, but it does have soul. It has been around for over a hundred years. The Oxnard brothers owned a sugar beet factory near the old part of the city and a community sprung up around it. Moreover, Oxnard has some of the best top-soil in the world for agriculture (no matter how much the developers try to build upon it! Though I think it has gone down in recent years) and still produces vast amounts of strawberries and other crops.  And then there are the miles and miles of beautiful sandy beaches that could easily be the best between LA and Santa Barbara. It has such a mix of social classes and ethnicities; industries and leisure. It’s a pretty remarkable place. Thus, sitting outside of Mrs. Olson’s Coffee Hut (one of the best places to eat breakfast in Oxnard), watching the Pacific waves break against the shore I can feel the pulsing soul of Oxnard reverberate with every crash. Maybe I am being melodramatic but how does one put the feeling of “home” into words? Perhaps the “soul” I feel that Oxnard has is simply the feeling of home? Maybe those who feel a strong attachment to any one place or another always feel their home has a soul? Though I know this won’t be my permanent place of residence, it will always be home.  

Friends and Surf's Brews!

These last few days have been a mix of emotions. Sometimes I feel so excited and happy, but then in another moment I’m overwhelmed and I just want to hide away. There has been some really good times hanging out with my brother and reconnecting with old friends, and there have been frustrating times as we readjust to the “American way.” It’s a rollercoaster just as Guyana was and as we proceed through it and adjust we hope it will become easier. Tomorrow is our first Memorial Day since we left for the Peace Corps and we’re looking forward for some good grilling and good company.

Reconnecting, even in Venice!

Venice Beach, but Oxnard can match it no problem!

Home, Home on the Range

So, we are home in California. Mixed emotions ensue: 

1. So, so, so happy to have been picked up at the airport by our amazing friends Heather and Jeff.

2. Excited to eat In-n-Out burgers (picnicking in the “park”) as our first meal in the U.S.A with a bunch of our close friends

3. Embarrassed to have made socially awkward comments in In-n-Out because we forgot that everyone could speak the language we were speaking and also that it isn’t okay to comment on race and physical appearance like it is in Guyana

4. Grateful for the party, beers, meals, Spirithoods, tours around L.A. and general sense of camaraderie that our generous, talented, smart friends made happen for us

5. Stoked to be back in Oxnard, kicking it with the Tibbses

6. Overwhelmed by the choices of food in grocery stores and on menus, the many cars on the road and the return to the notion that laws are actually enforced and people should be fearful of the enforcers

7. Full (and slightly bloated) from indulging in all the good, aforementioned food

8. Missing Guyana, our friends there, our work, house and lives there

9. Happy and excited and overwhelmed and stoked for what the future holds in this next adventure (law school in either San Francisco or Sacramento, getting fancy phones that are smarter than we are that we have to learn how to use, finding an awesome teaching job for Tim, family reunions, weddings, buying a car, connecting with long distant friends and relatives, not getting sucked in by the consumerism and easy, unhealthy options available here, exercising at any time of the day, not just the morning, since it isn’t oppressingly humid in California, finding and getting settled into our own place, eventually).

All in all, more positives than negatives. It is what it is and we will continue to support each other through it.

Days 42-45: Spas, Malls, Musicals, and More

This is our last ‘official’ day on vacation. We’re back in Santiago with our friend Sebastian.  We fly out of Santiago airport tomorrow night and arrive around noon on Sunday in LA (WOW!!!!).  We have another day of explorations tomorrow, but tonight is our final night in South America. 

Today has been a relaxed day. We arrived in Santiago last night and hung out with Sebastian watching old American musical numbers (don’t judge us nerds!), while drinking wine and Piscolas (Pisco and Coke). Chelsea and Sebastian sang and danced along, while I contributed by own paltry selections that I remembered from Oxnard High School Drama. I then was given a list of musicals and movies that I need to see: Pink Floyds The Wall, Oliver Twist, The Jungle Book, and Nightmare Before Christmas. I promise to watch those when we get back to the States.  Anyway, today Sebastian had a law exam, so he left Chels and me to our devices while he went to do last minute studying and take the test. We haven’t done much today, just some laundry, and reading, and wandering the city blocks of Santiago. We plan on having sushi tonight when Sebastian gets back, and then see where Friday takes us.

The last few days in Mendoza were both perfect and preposterous; filled with relaxation and intense stimuli. Tuesday (day 42) we met with our new CouchSurfing friend Walter. It was his day off work and he wanted to go to the nearby hot springs (about an hour outside of town) so he invited us to come along. Not having any other plans we agreed to join him.  As the bus drove outside of Mendoza the scenery went from city to the Lujan Valley (another huge wine making area) to arid desert and then to orange mountains.  I was surprised to see what the actual countryside looks like outside the tree-lined streets of Mendoza. It was so dry and barren (but beautiful) and sun blazed down from a blue sky. Walter explained that all of Mendoza is lined with trees only through the industry of man. The trees were all intentionally planted along the sidewalks and only due to the water that flows through the Mendoza trenches that line the streets (at the base of the trees) do the trees survive; without the water all of them would wilt then die within weeks.

As the bus approached the hot springs we stared awe-struck at the mountains.  The hot springs were both inside and outside the thermo-spa complex and they were the best springs we’ve visited within these six weeks of travel. The baths had all different temperatures. There were cold ones, warm ones, and Jacuzzi hot ones; all arrayed within the most beautiful valley. Towering walls of rock rose on each side of the springs and no matter where we sat, in whatever temperature, we had great vistas of the mountainous country. We spent all day lounging, eating, relaxing, turning prune-like and red, and meeting new friends and acquaintances, fellow travelers (even ones from UCSD!) and retirees from all over place. We talked, we laughed. The day was near perfect. When we finally returned to our hostel, we made a wonderful pasta dinner then socialized at our hostel’s bar with travelers from all over the world.

The hot springs looked pretty goofy from the outside!

But they were beautiful inside!

Whereas Tuesday was perfect, Wednesday was pandemonium. We didn’t have any set plans, but we had a feeling it would be our last day in Mendoza. We thought to maybe take a bike ride, maybe eat a fancy lunch, but since we were waterlogged and tired from the previous day’s activities, what we settled on was going to the Mendoza MALL.  Now, it has been a solid two years since either of us has been exposed to such a materialistic, capitalistic place like a shopping mall. Guyana sure didn’t have any and we really didn’t go to one when we were in the States during our two vacations.  It was a mission. The minute we walked in STIMULI assaulted us from all angles: food courts, bars, clothing stores, electronic stores, department stores, sales, beauty supplies--it went on and on. All we needed was to get a couple pairs of pants that weren’t ripped up or stretched out, and maybe a jacket or something else to help us look presentable as we stepped of the runway in LAX. We needed focus. We spent a good four hours in the mall, and as we stepped outside, looking like overwhelmed zombies, we breathed a collective sigh. That night we met with Walter for the last time for a good meal and some drinks and then said our goodbyes.

Thursday we caught an early bus to Santiago because we wanted to see the landscape between Mendoza and Santiago. We had read that it is pretty stunning and we weren’t disappointed: mountains, glacial lakes, and vineyards (both Argentinian and Chilean) flashed by our window. When we arrived back in Chile, Sebastian welcomed us and the rest you know. Good times. It is almost sad that our time is almost up, but the experiences we’ve had are priceless.  

Now on to the next adventure: readjusting and reconnecting in America!

Chelsea and Walter chillin' in a cool pool in the hot springs

No matter which pool we were in the vista was amazing!

From the tree-lined streets of Mendoza to the dry desert

Walter and me on a suspension bridge near the hot springs

Days 37-41: Mendoza, Argentina

The days are slowly ebbing away. We are filled with all sorts of emotions. We are excited to finally be coming home; we are nervous to start a new chapter; and we are already missing some of the travelers and individuals we’ve met along the way. I guess it doesn’t help (or maybe it does, depending on how you look at it) that we have had a lot more time to reflect and think over these last few days. We are no longer hectically backpacking from one place to another, staying so busy and stimulated that we don’t have time to think about much else but travel details. But maybe it is a good thing that we decided to make a long stop in just one beautiful town in Argentina because we are slowing transitioning back into a more modern culture, mindset and pace of life. 

To give you an idea of what I am talking about, or as Tim would say, “show you, not tell you”, let me describe our daily lives as temporary Mendocinos: 

On Friday morning we arrived in Mendoza (the third largest town in Argentina), checked into our hostel and went out to find some lunch. The first thing we learned is that siesta is a common practice here! As we walked down the beautiful, streets lined with autumn-colored trees, we noticed the shopkeepers of fancy boutiques, restaurants and coffee shops closing the grates and heading out. If Peace Corps taught us anything, it is to do as the locals do, so we hiked back to the hotel for a nap in the afternoon sun.

On Saturday we had siesta figured out, and spent the morning meandering the streets window shopping. There really isn’t much to DO in Mendoza if you don’t have a job, aren’t a student or aren’t participating in an organized tour of the surrounding mountains and/or wineries. It is just another big city, with no outstanding museums or cultural sites. So instead we, again, did as the locals do and spent a few hours in a coffee shop, reading, chatting, pondering our futures and people watching.

On both Friday night and Saturday night we decided to treat ourselves to fancy cuisine, since food is so cheap comparatively. On Friday we had empanadas, steaks (a must in Argentina) and a dessert of lemon mousse and raspberry jam. And a bottle of wine, of course. On Saturday we went to the best Italian food restaurant in the city (according to locals and tour guides alike) and spoiled ourselves with cocktails, an appetizer of stuffed olives, pastas and (of course) wine!

On Sunday, after siesta, we met up with our new friend Walter, someone we had met via Couchsurfing, and he showed us his favorite parks and plazas, where we spent a few hours lounging in the afternoon sunlight on the grass, chatting and getting to know one another. Then we went to his favorite bar for snacks and cocktails.

If it sounds to you like all we have been doing is walking, sitting, eating and drinking, then you would be completely correct. We are on vacation and we deserve to spoil ourselves a little and it is a nice change from trekking miles and miles a day, sleeping in tents, and eating bread and cheese to save money. And as I said,  it also leaves us with plenty of time to think.

Today however, we decided to mix up our routine and we headed out to the smaller, outlying town of Maipu. Maipu is one of the major wine producing regions of Argentina and we wanted to really get to know Argentinian wine, so we rented bikes and peddled around to a few of the many, many bodegas (wineries) for tours and tastings. We hit up a museum and 3 bodegas and enjoyed wine tastings with a variety of flavors, good company of fellow bike/wine enthusiasts, and the beautiful scenery of the vineyards in fall. Here are some of the many facts we have learned about wine so far:

• The “legs” or “tears” in Spanish, which we had thought indicate quality of wine, in fact only indicate alcohol quantity. The slower or fewer the “legs” when you swirl the glass the more alcoholic the wine is. 
• In general the color of the wine indicates age, among other things, not quality. The darker the wine, the older it is. 
• Many vineyards play rosebushes and lavender every 5 rows to help prevent pests and determine the needs of the vines. One can see the pests first attacking the flowers and then take preventative measures to save the grapes. Also roses won’t bloom without enough water so you can tell if the vines need water if the roses aren’t healthy. This was an Italian idea. Smart Italians.
• A vineyard’s worst enemy is hail. 
• There are two types of oak barrels, French and American, in which red wine is aged. French barrels bring out more suave flavors like vanilla and American barrels bring out more powerful flavors like smoke and leather.
•  It is said that Malbec was named thus by the French in Argentina who thought that it had a bad taste in the mouth (something about “mal” and “boca” became Malbec). 
•   Wine is great! We are enjoying drinking it and, if you are lucky, we will bring you some home….  

Finished with the wine tasting, about to ride off into the sunset

Tim, happy to be biking the wine circuit

Wine cups about to be filled (no, we didn't drink ALL those....)

Huge, old barrels

Enjoying a beer and a mid-day snack at a local artisan brewery while waiting for a wine tour

I found a stubborn bunch of grapes on the fall vines

At the Trepeche super-marco-corporate bodega, looking at 800 barrels of the fancy vino

The Trepeche owner built his own railway t get his wine out to the public at the turn of the century

Drunken monkeys!

Beauty all around!

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Days 35 – 37: Con Con, Viña Del Mar, and Valparaíso

These few days have been amazing. Not only have been treated like royalty, but we’ve made some really good friends in the process. As Chelsea wrote in her last post our new friend, Sebastian, took us to his family’s house on the Coast of Chile. Not only is this place a noted resort spot, but it is also a wonderful place full of Chilean modern culture, from literature, to art, to old architecture, amazing spray-painted street art, “dive” bars and drunken artsy poets.

There is such a touch of home here too. The climate is similar to California; the bay (that Valparaíso, Viña and Con Con surround) reminds us of the Monterey Bay with seals, pelicans, cypress trees, and a military school, while the beaches, sunsets, and overcast mornings   remind us of Oxnard/Ventura. Part of why we’ve felt so at home here because we were living in a home for three nights! Sebastian introduced us to his mama who showed us how to make Chilean food (choripanes: toasted bread with chorizo and a salsa-like pico de gallo sauce with Chilean chiles) and cocktails (Chilean pisco and Chilean sweet vermouth) and barbecue, Chilean-style.  

Taking a stroll in Con Con

Sunsets remind us of home

The only way you can tell it is not Cali is the Chilean flag!

After a few days of the home treatment, Chelsea and I wanted to check out Valparaíso. It was on our agenda for Chile and it was only a short public transportation ride to the city center from his family’s house near Con Con. Sebastian had to go back to Santiago to study his law books, so he dropped us off in this amazing city. The part where we’re staying is the heart of the old city. It’s full of street art, cafes, bars, and restaurants. We’re only staying a night, so we tried to make the most of it when we arrived.

Walking amongst the street art

As the sun went down the town became more alive. As we walked around during the day, it seemed sleepy and slow, but when we went after dark there were people walking all the twisty streets, standing in front of trendy looking bars and cafes, talking and plain enjoying each other’s company. We found a small restaurant/bar in the back streets that looked kinda empty, but gave off a good vibe. We sat drank some Chilean Pisco Sours (the jury is still out on which came first and/or is better: Peruvian Piscos or Chilean…) and had some creamy, buttery, Chilean sea food (scallops and crab! Yum! Even Chelsea took a few bites!) We relaxed and sat for a while, then paid out. 

View from the mirador of Valpo harbor

We were about to call it a night with a 6-pack of beer on the mirador (lookout point with a great view of the city at night), but as we were walking to the lookout spot we heard this voice echoing down the streets. It was beautiful, passionate, and definitely live. Chelsea stopped, looked towards me and said, “If there is live music we need to stop!” I heartily agreed. We walked another block following the Spanish vocal progressions and found this hole in the wall, mom and pop type bar. Not too full, mostly Chileans, and a woman sitting on piano seat with a microphone belting out these wonderful songs. We walked in, sat and enjoyed a good glass of organic Chilean wine.

After the woman finished her set, an old gentleman with three-piece Italian looking suit, stood up and broke out his violin. He played amazingly getting the entire bar (all 16 of us) to sing along (well I tried, but it was still in Spanish). Then, he put his violin down and took out a cat-gut stringed, classical guitar. He played such runs and progressions in such a cool flamenco style (I really need to learn to play like that). Singing and dancing the bar clapped along in ¾ time. It was really enjoyable. As the bar shut down, we paid our bill then returned to the hostel a smile upon our lips.

This morning (day 37, May 10, 2012) we woke up and ate a great breakfast provided by our hostel (Casa Aventura, great place in the heart of the city if you’re looking for a place to stay), and are going to wander around Valparaíso some more and check out Pablo Neruda’s house. And then tonight we are going back to Santiago to catch a bus to the last country of our trip, Argentina. Tomorrow we should be in Mendoza enjoying some Argentinian wine and steak!      

This one is for you, Phil, Banksy?

Day 31-34: Getting to Know You, Santiago!

Our new friend Sebastian and our old friends Mamut and Bernie

How do you not get lost in an urban metropolis of 6 million people? How do you find culture amongst the Starbucks, Pizza Huts and McDonalds that occupy the urban populations of every big city around the world? Will we be able to get to know Chile in a few short weeks without visiting Patagonia or small pueblos in the North and South? These were our questions as we came into central Chile from Bolivia last Thursday on the 24-hour, overnight bus. As it turns out, the answer was simple. We Couchsurf.

For those of you who haven’t heard about this wonderful organization, it is basically this: generous hosts (and usually fellow travelers with temporary roots in one place) around the world offer to host us globe-trotting travelers in their homes, free of cost, in exchange for a sharing of culture, friendship and the assumption that their guests will pass on the goodwill someday and host another traveler on their “couch” (or bed or hammock, or whatever). If you plan on going somewhere new, you can look online for free couches, scanning many profiles and learning about your hosts via their confirmed information online, and send out couch requests. If your host likes the look and sound of your request and they have the time and interest in hosting you, he/she/they will write you back and meet up with you. Tim and I started Couchsurfing on this trip and so far we have been incredibly lucky. In Cusco we found an amazing host who not only gave us lodging, a tour around his city but hooked us up with a budget trek to Machu Picchu, taught us card games and shared delicious meals with us. We decided to try our luck with Couchsurfing again in Chile and didn’t find any hosts in the North, but lucked out big time with an excellent host (and now friend for life), Sebastian, who is giving us an authentic, firsthand perspective of Chilean city life. 

On Friday, after our grueling bus ride, we arrived at the Santiago bus terminal and were assaulted by modernity! Lights, advertising, commercialism, clean, busy, bright. Overwhelming. A young man, we had still yet to meet, had given us directions to take the metro (yikes, modern public trans-p!!!) and then walk a ways to his downtown apartment. When we arrived, tired and funky feeling, we were greeted with such a warm welcome. Sebastian, a law student at the (second?) best law school in Chile who is now studying for his Bar exam, had coffee and warm showers for us, good conversation and an open invitation to treat his apartment like our own. Within minutes we felt like we had known this guy forever and we were joking, opening a bottle of Chilean wine and making plans to meet up with his friends at a Salsa bar. Sebastian took us out dancing, teaching us a few suave salsa moves and we thoroughly enjoyed dancing until dawn.

The next morning I woke up and decided to brave the supermarket. Now, keep in mind that I am not accustomed to SUPERmarkets, having shopped primarily in open air, developing-country mercados for the last two years. Walking into a supermarket in a Spanish speaking county was a little overwhelming. I walked around the store at least twice before putting anything in my basket. There were SO many brands of things and SO many things in general! Plus it didn't help that I had to work my brain to translate all the Spanish labels on things! Anyway, I did manage to find ingredients to make omelets, coffee and yogurt and granola for breakfast. After breakfast the three of us lounged around the apartment, chatting and getting to know each other, sharing music and Youtube videos and plenty of laughs. Then Sebastian invited us to meet his Dad at a rugby game in the afternoon. I don’t know much about rugby (Tim does from his time in England) but we both were able to enjoy the feeling of family-time with Sebastian and his dad outside the city, in a beautiful park, surrounded by sports lovers and a grand sense of community. 

Rugby is crazy!

Tim and Sebastian in a beautiful park in central Santiago

On Sunday morning we went out, on bikes borrowed from awesome neighbors, on a mobile tour of Santiago. We rode through the well-maintained public parks, along the river and plazas of the city and finally we met up again with Sebastian’s dad to ride up into the hills surrounding the metropolis. We had a blast (despite me huffing and puffing) riding up the bike path in the rural hillside outside Santiago, observing the health conscious Chileans running, jogging and biking and walking up the steep climbs to get to the giant Virgin statue/church at the apex. After our ride, we made tuna melts to share some "Americana food" with Sebastian and then he introduced us to his neighbors who we sat with to watch a local football game and drink some Chilean wine (I LOVE even the cheapest Chilean wine!!!!). Then, in the spirit of Couchsurfing, we decided to share some Guyanese culture with our hosts by making them a meal of curry and rice. Sebastian and his friends loved the curry and, as we ate, I got the chance to practice my Spanish with the very fast-speaking, self-proclaimed bastardized-Spanish-speaking-Chileans. It was a great night! 

Today we went with Sebastian to his home town of Viña del Mar, a little beach town 1.5 hours outside of Santiago, to spend the week with his Mama. We ate home cooked lunch(!), walked and drove around his town and heard all the stories of his childhood. We feel so included in his family, Chilean tradition and culture. It is a great feeling and we are grateful to our hosts and to Couchsurfing for making this global interaction possible. 

The monkeys made it on the ride up to the Virgin too

Biking with locals in Chile!

We found, in the giant dizzying metropolis of Santiago, a way to belong. The answer to our question, "how do we navigate around", is we make a friend and borrow bikes to tour the city as locals do on the best bike paths and routes. The answer to: "how to learn culture and history?" is to make a friend and meet his mother and amigos. Basically the answer to any of our traveler doubts and problems is to make a friend and get a firsthand perspective on their city, culture and life. We are so grateful to have had this experience, spending some time with a passionate, proud Chilean. Because of him, we have learned to love Chile, even in the hubbub of the big, urban mess.VIVA CHILE!