Buenos Aires, Argentina

This was my third visit to Buenos Aires, and I was so excited to spend a few days here because it is one of my favorite cities in the world. It is also an important place for my dissertation, as I am writing about two authors who lived here during the first half of the 20th century: Victoria Ocampo and Norah Lange. I love the mix of old and modern elegance, the bohemian spirit, the melancholy of its music and literature, and especially how you can be at a bookstore crowded with people at one in the morning.

Let's start our journey to some of the places and things that you would definitely see as a tourist in this lovely, hectic city.
George Bush has the White House (though not for much longer!), and Argentina has the Pink House. And a woman President at the moment, though a good many people are not happy with her right now. (And no, there is no correlation between her sex and the color).Buenos Aires is situated at the mouth of el Río de la Plata, which in Spanish means "river of silver" because it was believed to have run through fertile areas for mining silver. The English translated the name as the River Plate (a common word back in the day for silver). It is brown because of the sediment having traveled from deep in the heart of South America to spill out into the Atlantic. In reality, the river is the largest estuary in the world, being the place where the Uruguay and Paraná rivers converge.The buses in Buenos Aires are what we would call in the States, vintage. Each one is painted different colors with lots of personality. Borges, a resident, once wrote about the painted carts he would see in his youth on the streets of city. I think the buses have filled that role nowadays. The Recoleta Cemetery has been called the city of angels, because it really feels like a city, only much quieter. However, like a city, some of the mausoleums are better taken care of than others, and I was shocked to see broken windows, partially opened coffins and garbage-strewn floors in some of them. For the most part, though, they are in fairly good shape to immaculate, as these belong to some of the most important people in the history of the country. Evita's grave was definitely the most popular with the tourists. (Sorry no pic)San Telmo is a bohemian neighborhood with a famous market on Sundays. There are lots of cafés here, as well as antique stores selling anything you can image. Lately, some more hip, artsy botiques have moved in, too. I loved just wandering the streets and peeking in the windows.
These glass bottles are called sifones. You fill them with still water, press the metal lever and out comes bubbly water! I love sparkling water, so I appreciate their use, but they are also gorgeous items that I would love to have decorating my kitchen. Next time, I am DEFINITELY bringing some home with me. (I say that every trip, but this time I mean it).These are mates, gourds that you fill with hierba mate, a tea-like herb that is similar to green tea in taste and health benefits. Unlike green tea, though, you sip this through a metal straw called a bombilla. Passing the mate is a social activity that inevitably happens whenever you are with Argentines and Uruguayans.Everyone associates Buenos Aires with tango. And yes, you can see men and women on the most tourist-populated streets all decked out and dancing, but I actually didn't get a picture of any. Nor did I go to La Boca, this time, as seeing it once was plenty. I'm much more interested in how the real people dance, and we went to a milonga one night where we could watch, though some of us got dragged up to dance, too. I thought someone took a picture with my camera, but I couldn't find any pics, so if I come across some later, I'll post them. I remember another occasion when I was in a shopping mall and they had a space cleared so people could dance, which was cool to see as they were mostly older couples there. Here, a group plays tango music for the tourists shopping in the market.I hope you have enjoyed our walking tour of the city. My next entry will cover my favorite part of Buenos Aires, the people.

Traveling and knitting

Summers don't see a whole lot of knitting compared to the fall and winter months, but I have gotten a couple of projects done and a couple others started. I'm still on my use-what-you've-got kick, trying to whittle down the stash a bit. So, I brought two leftover yarns and an incomplete project with me on my trip to make things that could and needed to be used.

I started with the Rowan Tapestry yarn that had been part of my mom's plaid xmas scarf. I guessed that there would be enough to make some Fetchings. I even gambled that I'd have enough to make finger holes, since the Fetching pattern has you bind off at the knuckles. And wouldn't you know, I had JUST enough yarn. I think there was a three-inch piece left when I was done. The yarn isn't great for gloves, as it pills A LOT, but the more I used them the less that seemed to be a problem. Somewhere in the Andes between Argentina and Chile, I also whipped up a Koolhaas hat using the charcoal grey Cash Iroha that went into Juan's Central Square hat a few months ago. This came just in time, as we spent three days driving through the Bolivian desert. I took a pic of the hat during my knits photoshoot:But then I remembered that I would have some trip shots with the hat on, and thought it would be fun to post those, as I haven't gotten around to doing that yet.This is in front of la Laguna Verde. There are tons of colored lagoons in the desert, of such varying colors as white, green, blue, and most spectacularly, red. The wind here was brutal and the temps got down to below 0 night, so I had my hat on for three days straight. Since I even slept with it on, it got very stretched out by the end of the trip. A run through the dyer last night took care of that problem.Here we've stopped at a refugio (shelter) for lunch. During this part of the trip, we had a cook with us who prepared amazingly delicious meals.
Another thing about Bolivia was the altitude (which contributed to the cold temperatures). Even though I took medication and was spared the raging headache my travel companions suffered, I still noticed the altitude in my face, especially my jaw. It would get all tingly and almost numb at times. Some of us also acquired a cough that wouldn't go away, and which I later learned was a symptom of the heights.In order to cure all these ailments, the locals use coca leaves. While it is the basis of cocaine, the leaves themselves only provide positive effects of reduced nausea, alleviation of headaches and other side effects of altitude sickness, and increased energy, which feels like a caffeine kick. You can chew the leaves, stick them to your temple with a little spit, or soak them in hot water and drink the resulting tea. We did all of the above. You can also buy candies in various forms that have similar effects with better taste. The toffees were my favorite. The taste of the leaves/tea are similar to Sencha green tea or hierba mate.

My other travel-related knitting project was the cowgirl socks I started back in January to wear with my birthday boots. It was a toe-up, custom pattern combined with the jay walker pattern, and I had lost the calculations. I took it along thinking I would be forced to finish it, but just wasn't into it. So, I tried a couple of other things and was convinced that this would be another dead-end yarn I just couldn't work with. Then I went surfing in Lima. And discovered that night the Morning Surf Scarf I had admired in Ravelry was available for free and in varying gauges. And I cast on. And it was magic. Everything came together, the yarn, the colors, the pattern, the context. So, I now present to you, my Lima Surf Scarf:The yarn, by the way, is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport superwash.

Winona

I was checking out what I've been missing this summer in Winona, and came across this cute little promotional video for the town. Funny, they show all the seasons but the one we know best: winter. Just follow the link if you want to learn more about the place we call home:

Video

Old Orchard Beach

Yesterday was another day spent by the seaside. We headed over to OOB for some sun and fun. First off was Pirate's Cove mini-golf. Julian donned the t-shirt I got him from there last year, when he was still living in Germany and we had no idea he would be soon living a couple of hours from here.Golfing pirates arrgggNext we strolled along the pier and couldn't resist getting some pier fries in all their greasy glory.They are hand-cut, and must be accompanied by lots of vinegar, salt, and ketchup. Julian also got some cotton candy, and I tried funnel cake for the first time. So, I think we managed to cover all the food groups in the end. This oceanside town is a hot vacation destination for French Canadians, especially, so there is lots of bilingual signage, arcades, tattoo parlors, fast-food and ice cream counters, bars, and a plethora of cheesy stores.In high school, once in a while after work we'd drive the couple miles from Salty Bay Seafood Take-Out (my place of employment) to here for some jumbo pizza slices and pier fries, watching the cars and motorcycles cruise the strip and marveling at the incredibly short cut-off jean shorts the Qubecoise men would sport. I'm pleased to report that there wasn't a single pair of cut-offs in sight yesterday.We did see this nice sexist sign, though, at the amusement park.

Creature comforts

Many conversations on the trip centered around things we missed from home, especially in the food realm. I have to say that I ate amazingly well the whole time, much better than expected, so I didn't really have any one thing that I was dying to eat once back in the States. I did miss preparing my own food in my own kitchen, but that will have to wait another month or so yet. I did prepare dinner for everyone the other night, and fell back on an old standby, pesto pasta with grilled chicken. Always yummy.

The past few days have been filled with getting outside as much as possible. We took Mobi for a walk along a local trail here in Scarborough that goes through woods, a golf course, and the salt-water marsh.We have also been spending time with the Sponsellers. Being a gorgeous sunny day, we hit the beach first. Even though in typical Maine fashion it was foggy on the water, we all had a great time.Amy and GrahamThe boys

Dinner was at the lovely home that Amy and Steve have worked really hard to get this beautiful. The brick walkway is the latest addition that Steve has been completing, and a nice compliment to Amy's gorgeous flowers.The food was delish And the company even better
Thanks guys, we all had fun!

I have missed this face SOOO much

I know she was being taken care of to the point of spoiling, but I still believe my puppy is glad for us to be reunited again.
We've been running around all day, enjoying the lovely summer weather. I'm also working on uploading and organizing all my photos from the trip. There are A LOT, and looking at them, it's just starting to hit me what an amazing experience it really was. (Though you're all probably getting sick of me talking/writing about it).

Virginia

When I arrived at the Minneapolis airport at 11:00 pm last week I had about seven hours before I hopped on another plane to Virginia. Needless to say, I felt I had roughed it enough, so I had reserved a hotel room a very short shuttle ride away, where a hot shower and real bed with fluffy pills were waiting for me.

In spite of all my previous travels abroad, I still felt "reverse culture shock" when I got back. In fact, I think I'm still getting over it now. It just felt so weird to be in familiar surroundings, with everyone speaking English. One of the students had mentioned something similar in Miami- she was so used to not understanding the signs around her that when she saw them at the airport she thought to herself: "I wonder what an escalator [insert Spanish accent] is". I also really missed the group. They were so positive and fun, and I really had a great time traveling with them all.

In Virginia Juan was waiting for me with a bouquet of yellow roses (my favorite, though I don't think he knew that, we'll give him credit anyway). We spent the first couple of days in Charlottesville, VA, a small well-to-do university town. Again, it felt weird to be in a nice hotel surrounded by posh restaurants and shops with everyone all dressed up. It seemed like a Disney version of life compared to where I've spent the past month and a half.

We spent the next night in Lynchburg, which was a bit more "real." We stumbled upon a weekly summer tradition, "Friday cheer." There were people of all ages there, and a really good cover band that played everything from country to hip hop. They had almost everyone dancing by the end of the evening, which was a lot of fun.

The last couple days of our little get-away were spent at the Wintergreen Resort in the Blue Ridge Mountains. While it was yet again a Disney version of life, it did me good to just relax and take it easy for a while. I got through two really good books this past week: Turpentine and Mirror, Mirror. The first is a tale of the Wild West, which I enjoyed immensely. (Honestly, I think because it was written by a woman). The second was a revision of Snow White, by Gregory Maguire, of Wicked fame.

Now we're here in Boston until tomorrow when I can finally see my dog again!!

Last post in South America

Today's a bittersweet day in Lima. We're heading out tonight- well, the flight leaves at 6 am tomorrow morning, so we're off to the airport at 2:30. The plan is to have dinner, go to Maria's house and then to a jazz club until 1:30 or so and then get our stuff at the hostel and jump in a van to the airport. Since about half of us were up until 3:30 last night, it shouldn't be too hard to stay awake.

Some of the surfing guys took us out on the town last night- eleven of us crammed into an old woodie and toured the city. Lima is a huge place, and the only local transport options are taxi or buses and vans called combis that are usually extremely crowded- we've had to sit on each others' laps at times to fit us all in with the rest of the riders. Therefore, it's hard to really get a feel for the city because you can't walk from one neighborhood to the next. So, it was great to have our own private tour van, even if it was as crowded as the public option. The guys were a lot of fun, too, and the students always appreciate the opportunity to meet the locals.

I love how Lima is on the coast, and even though the winters here are overcast, the temps have been decent. I spent the day checking out Barranco, the "Greenwich Village of Lima". I feel, however, that I have a lot more to explore here in terms of the neighborhoods and the food. It's been a great introduction, though, and certainly whet my appetite for more visits.

Surfing Update

The water wasn't as cold as I had been dreading, though it wasn't really warm either. The ocean was choppier than they had hoped today, so we got quite the initiation into the sport. But the most exciting part was our teacher: I forgot to mention this morning that our teacher was none other than the seven-time national surfing champion of Peru, Magoo de la Rosa, who also was 2007's ISA's World Masters Champion. We all feel like we have been battered by the ocean today, but most of us got up at least once, which left us with a good feeling. Laura, the only one of the group who had never been in any ocean ever actually had the winning wave-catch of the day- she looked like a total pro. It was a really fun, exhausting day. The students just prepared dinner, so I'm off to chow!

Lima, Peru

We've reached our final destination before heading back. At the moment we're waiting for a van to come pick us up and take us to the beach for surfing lessons. It's winter here, so while I am looking forward to the experience, not so much the cold water that surely awaits. The other day in Huacahina we got a sort-of pratice session with sandboarding in the dunes. There was a wild buggy ride, too. It's a cute little oasis town with some great food right next to Ica, another small town. The hostel had a pool, and the weather was actually hot and sunny, so we had a proper couple days of recuperation from the Machu Picchu hike.

Yesterday, Maria (Whose blog you can read at the right), a friend of Jen, our guide, took us to some private showrooms for local clothing designers- young girls who are just starting up here in Lima. We got some really cute stuff for super great prices, and it was a lot of fun to get in a little retail therapy. Last night we went to a salsa place with a live band, and I had a lot of fun watching all the really good dancers.

I really like Lima, and wish we were going to be here more time, but not if it meant going home later. I think everyone's ready to get back at this point. It's been a great trip with a really fun group.

Back in Cusco

We all made it back from the 5-day trek to Machu Picchu. It was especially hard for a few people who were suffering from major stomach issues, but everyone made it through. (Even if they had to ride a mule at times). Thankfully, I´ve been feeling well and though it was a challenging few days, I´m glad I did it. The biggest surprise is after climbing the mountain to get to Machu Picchu and finding a huge line of people who had riden the bus up to the top, who come up to me but Christy Ortega, my friend and former co-worker from Cadiz two summers ago! It was crazy because I haven´t had internet, so I didn´t get her blog message that she was around, so it was a total shock for me, but it was great to see her and meet her guy, Elliot.

Machu Picchu was amazing, and the journey to get there made us appreciate it all the more. We arrived at the top in time to see the sun come up over the mountains. I´m still taking it all in, so I´ll leave it at that for the moment.

We´re back in Cusco for the day. We´ll be taking an overnight bus to Ica this evening and will be in Ica for a couple of days, where it should be warmer (and maybe have a hot shower? I haven´t had a decent one since Argentina). I don´t know if I´ll have internet there, but on the 19th we head to Lima, Peru, the last stop of the trip. I´m still having a great time, but I will also be happy to head back and see my husband on our anniversary. So, my next writing place will probably be in Lima. Have a great week until then!

Cusco, Peru

Tomorrow we are up at 3:45 am to start our treck to Machu Picchu. We have to take a 3-hour bus ride, eat breakfast, and then the walking begins. The first night we´ll be camping at the base of a glacier mountain, and it will probably be a near-death experience for me, as it is supposed to be our coldest night of the trip. The next day is the hardest climbing-wise, as it is four hours straight up to 4,700 meters at the highest point. The following three days will be warmer and easier in comparison, so we just have to get through the first night and second day and things will be good. The plan is to be the first ones to Machu Picchu on the fifth day, which means getting up at 5 or so, I believe. I´m really excited for this!

Yesterday we did a 6-hour hike in the hills outside of Cusco to aclimate to the height and the physical exertion. It felt great to get out and walk all day, though the altitude knocks the wind out of you as soon as you start to go uphill.

The city of Cusco is a good size- it reminds me a lot of Caceres, Spain and I recently found out why. Pizarro, who conquered the city from the Incas, had the main plaza built to look like the one in Trujillo, his home town and a hop skip and jump from Caceres. We visited the market today for some goodies to take home and then treated outsevles to a 1-hour massage for $7. I´m heading back to the hostel to pack and get some sleep. After feeling a bit under the weather yesterday, I´m back to feeling 100% and ready for this next undertaking!

Some photos from Argentina

I`ve had a minute to check out some blogs, and Gaby`s blog has a couple of photos of our afternoon in Villa Ocampo (Hadas y Flores- it`s on the right sidebar).

I`m almost up to an hour, so I have to close this session. A quick apology regarding all the mis-spellings and typos in these entries- time is short and I imagine you get the gist, even if things aren`t perfect.

I`ll write more about Peru later today or tomorrow.

Bolivia

I´m back in civilization for a while! Whew! It´s been an eye-opening past couple of weeks. We eneded up spending three days in the desert, mostly in Bolivia, rather than Chile. The bus ride through the Andes from Argentina to Chile was amazing, and surprisingly not scary (I had visions of curvy dirt roads with steep drop offs- those came later, in Bolivia ;) I loved San Pêdro de Atacama, a tiny town in the middle of the desert with the best food EVER. I had Quinoa with sweet tomatoes and mushrooms, and most places were open-roofed with at least one or two fire pits scattered around the local. Everyone was wearing their llama hats and the ambiance was cozy. I´d love to go back there with Juan and just spend a week trying all the great restaurants and doing fun desert activities during the day, like sandboarding, geyser and salt flat visiting, bouldering, etc.

We then spent three days traveling via 4X4 jeep through the Bolivian desert. It was not what I had expected at all. First of all, it was soooo cold!! Although the sun was shining, the altitude was so high and the winds were just ferocious... But in spite of the cold, we all got into our siwmsuits and jumped into some natural hot springs one day while waiting for lunch to be prepared. I was quite proud of myself, considering how adverse I am to the cold... That first night, everyone but me had an awful headache from the altitude, and several people even got sick. I had started taking my altitude pills that day, and they obviously worked! Some other highlights of the desert: gorgeous lagoons in shades of green, blue, red, and white. (The colors are due to the mineral content). Contrasting with the color of the lagoons were the pink and white flamingoes that migrate there in winter from Chile. We also visted the Salt flats of Uyuni, which is an enormous white desert of salt that stretchs for miles. In the middle, there is a funky island full of cacti- a very surreal scene. The other unexpected aspect of desert travel was the constant shaking- rather than the fine, smooth sand you imagine in the Sahara, for example, it was rough and made for a very shaky ride. That, coupled with the worst bus ride ever from Uyuni to La Paz, really shook us all up- after four days of constant shaking and rocking in a vehicle, you felt like your brain had surely leaked out your ear.

While La Paz was some of the students´ favorite city we´ve visited, I was ready to get to the pampas, in the northeastern part of the country. However, things got a little complicated due to some local referendums that made traveling by plane (our original intention) impossible. So, it was back on a Bolivian bus for 18 hours through the Andes. Let me sumarize this experience by saying that there is no lighting, heat, or bathrooms on the bus, and stops are almost nonexistant. Add to this the fact that almost all the roads in Bolivia are not paved and you have constant shaking (not helping the no-bathroom situation). Oh, and the curvy road only wide enough for one vehicle, even though there is constant two-way traffic. So, every few feet the bus would have to stop as close to the edge as possible to let a truck or car by. And, no, there are not guardrails. I wasn´t super worried because the driver went really slowly, but I did breathe a sigh of relief when we arrived in one piece to Rurrenabanque, our jumping-off point for the pampas.

The pampas of Bolivia reminded me of the bayou outside of New Orleans my family visited a few years ago. After a three-hour jeep ride down yet another non-paved road, we got into a boat (finally! no more jostling around!) and saw tons of alligtors, crocodiles, caimans, a huge variety of birds and cranes, the largest rodent in the world, called the capavera, I believe, which I actually found quite cute. We spent a couple of nights in a camp by the side of the river and went anaconda hunting (we just observed, not to eat) and swam with the pink river dolphins (though most of us who went in were more proud of the fact that they were also croco-infested waters). We also fished for pirahanas and got the eat them for lunch. I caught three really small ones, so I threw them back, but there was still enough for everyone to have a fish at lunch. There wasn´t much meat on them, actually. The highlight for me was on the way back, down the dirt road again, we saw the strangest figure in the middle of the road- it looked from far away like a small man crawling slowly across the road, but it was a sloth!!!! We wanted the other jeep behind us to see it, so the guide picked it up so it wouldn´t crawl away, and a couple of us took turns holding it while we waited for the other group, who turned out to have a flat tire. It was the coolest experience ever- he looked like he was smiling the whole time and he just moved his arms around a bit, ever so slowly. It really hit home how vulnerable they are- he had no defense at all to protect himself against us, and luckily we weren´t out to hurt him.

The last stop in Bolivia was Lake Titicaca. By then, all the constant cold and rough travels had worn me out and I was exahusted. A couple of us had to take a day just to sleep- I literally had no energy left at all. I had lao spicked up an annoying cough i´m still trying to get rid of. But the next day I felt great, and we did a 6-hour hike around the Island of the Sun, believed to be the birthplace of the Inca civilization. It was my favorite part of Bolivia- I loved the island and the lake was just gorgeous. My foot was totally fine, by the way.

We arrived here in Cuzco, Peru at midnight last night. I´ll save that for another entry, though.

Salta, Argentina

Heading off to the bus stop to go across the Andes and into Chile-we´re headed to the Atacama Desert. Salta is in the Northwestern part of Argentina, and reminds me of Utah with it´s mixture of green shrubs and red rocks. White water rafting, zip lining, and wine tasting have been the activities the past few days. Ok, taxi is here!

Iguazu Falls and Misiones

We´ve spent the past few days in the northeast corner of Argentina, next to Paraguay and Brazil, at Iguazu. We spent a day in Iguazu Falls National Park, which are the widest waterfalls in the world and are absolutely gorgeous. Since they are within a national park, the surroundings are almost completely undeveopled and natural.

The next day, we went to a Guaraní community near Misiones. We prepared lunch and an afternoon snack for them, and got to play with the kids and talk to some of the people who spoke Spanish. The Guaranís are the indigenous peoples of that region, and talking to one of their leaders I learned that their way of life has changed dramatically in the past 15 or 20 years. Typically a nomadic community, they would hunt and fish, moving around as needed. They have since been confined to a type of reservation, where there is little to no game available and one of the largest dams in Latin America has dried up their fishing rivers. He told me that they have been struggling to adapt to a completely different way of life, and he has been working to get the government to give them more resources. I was glad to have the opportunity to meet them all and learn about another aspect of Argentine culture you don´t hear much about in the States.

Upon returning from Misiones, we hopped on a bus, and almost 30 hours later arrived here in Salta. Today we hiked the highest peak over town. Tomorrow is zip lining and white water rafting.

Last Day in Buenos Aires

Tomorrow we´re taking a plane to Iguazu Falls, in the Northeastern part of Argentina, right next to Brazil. They are the largest waterfalls in the world, and the weather promises to keep being hot and humid (which is fine by me!) I´ve had a great time, but I´m ready to get out of the city and into nature.

The trip has been fantastic so far. We have an amazing group of students who are all ready and willing to step out of their comfort zones and use their Spanish (or learn it if they don´t already know any), talk to people, hop on a bus or the subte (the metro here) and go where ever, eat organs and intestines- these guys are up for anything. And the best part, they are so open and willing to learn and observe, and are very much on the ball. We don´t have to worry about them flaking out on the meeting time or place- they are just a wonderful group. They are a lot of fun and are doing great. They´ve been staying with families for the past few days, and we meet periodically to do cultural things. Today we went to an extremely poor neighborhood with a volunteer organization to throw the May birthdays a party. The kids were so cute and outgoing, and everyone had a lot of fun. It was also a sobering experience to see another part of the city that most porteños don´t even see.

I´ve been able to get a TON done regarding my dissertation research, and I got to meet Gaby and Alejandra, two blog friends who are "divinas," as they say in Spanish. They patiently took me to some out-of-the-way places I wanted to see, and gave me some lovely gifts, and we had a wonderful afternoon tea on the veranda of a gorgeous house that belonged to Victoria Ocampo, one of my writers. I wish I could publish photos of all these great experiences, but perhaps later on in the trip. Mil gracias y fue un placer, chicas. Hasta la próxima, que sea Winona o BsAs. :)

We´re Here!

Just a quick note to say that we arrived safely and without any major issues. My ankle is healing nicely, and as long as I treat it well, I suppose that it will continue to do so. I miss my husband and puppy dog, but the weather is great and tomorrow I´m meeting up with a couple of friends, which I will share later on. So far so good. Hope all is well with you, too.

You've got to be kidding me

So, yesterday I was finally doing the hand-washables that had been slowly stacking up on our spare bed, because it was finally sunny out and I could put them on the porch to dry. I was walking down the stairs with a laundry basket of heavy, wet sweaters and so I couldn't see where I was going. I thought I had reached the bottom, when in reality I had a step or two to go. Down I go, basket and all, twisting my foot in a very unnatural way. Juan was in the living room and got to witness the whole thing. As I was writhing around the floor howling in pain, all he kept saying was "Vanessa!! Ohmigod!! Two Days!!!"

That's because I'm scheduled to head up to the Cities on Wednesday for the big adventure trip. You know, the one where we do all kinds of extreme sports and 3-5 day hiking expeditions. At the moment I can't even walk.

Granted, I surely aggravated it (a bit) yesterday. After a couple of minutes of intense pain that was mostly mental panic as I contemplated the possibilities of what this ridiculous situation could mean, after icing and elevating and calming down, it felt almost fine. There was no swelling, bruising, or bones sticking out at weird angles. So I put on supportive hiking boots, went to Target to get the rest of my trip supplies, came home and spent an hour making dinner, and then felt so great I decided to take Mobi for a walk. You see, I was determined to ignore the whole thing and go on with my life as usual. Bad idea. 40 minutes walking and a hot bath later, I was in major pain. Meridith asked me if I was trying to cripple myself for life. Juan was convinced that I was trying to sabotage my trip. Nope, unfortunately I'm just stupid. I have never in my life broken, sprained, or twisted anything.

So, after wrapping the foot/ankle area and icing it again; after a fitful, painful night of sleep; today I am staying off it completely. I learned my lesson, I swear. Of course, I have a hundred things I need to get done, all of which involve my being mobile and upright, but I going to have faith that tomorrow it'll be all good and I can do it all then. The hopeful bit is that as long as I can walk unassisted and pain-free, I'll have a couple of weeks before the major excursions start to keep healing.

So, please, send healing vibes of radiance my way- and focus them on my right foot.

Cooking and knitting

Now that classes are over and we've been on a more random schedule of meetings and workshops, I've had a chance to get some projects done. And a little bit of cooking.
The other day I grilled Barefoot's Asian Grilled Salmon, which has a complexity that belies its really basic pantry ingredients. That was served on a bed of greens with sauteed Brussel sprouts and fresh squeezed lemonade. You can see in the background the pine nut shortbread cookies that are great for dessert or with afternoon tea. I also did one of my favorite dishes: baked beans with a side salad and New England Brown Bread, which is what you see here. It is bread that is actually cooked in a coffee can. You simmer the can in a water bath until the bread is done. It is chock full of good-for-you grains and the molasses makes it sweet and moist. Though it's best while still warm and slathered with butter (what bread isn't), I also like it toasted with butter and jam for breakfast. Oh, by the way, I went super authentic and added turkey frank rounds to the baked beans- yum!

On the knitting front, I've been working to use up leftover yarn from Christmas, and after making five different pairs of the Log Cabin socks for others, I wanted my own pair of warm handknit socks. Since I was using leftovers, I knew I wouldn't have enough to make the Log Cabins for me, so using my One Skein book by Leigh Radford, I whipped up the cabled footies in a couple of nights using Lamb's Pride Superwash in Lichen and Finches. Mobi likes leaning up against them while chewing on her bones.I didn't have any feltable stash yarn, so I had to buy a skein to make a case for my new camera. I got Malabrigo, because I had heard so much about it. I made it fairly bigger than wanted so I could felt it down nice and tight, and I think it took two wash and dry cycles for it to get to this size.
My big project of the moment is a fair-isle sweater that I'm thinking about taking with me to South America- finished or not. Most of the yarn is leftovers, but I had to order the three skeins of dark grey Peace Fleece for the body. Although the motif is not done here in the photo, I've actually completed the back and am about here on the front. The pattern is Helga, from Rowan 36.I should have the front done today, as I'll have a couple hours in the car on the way to a workshop in Rochester, but getting both sleeves done before Wednesday will be a challenge, as I'm still writing as much of chapter two as I can before leaving. It's two hours to the airport and then a really long flight, so no matter what I could have it done before touching down in Buenos Aires. I'm just not sure I want to take the bulk at all. We'll see...