Bedding down in the sand

Well I have a month left before I head back to the states and Keith starts his slow decline towards depression.  After leaving Huanchaco where we spent the majority of our time fighting off the cold water, fighting off sickness, and fighting boredom via surfing and eating cheap yet tasty food, we are now in Mancora.  I can see why so many people flock here for their summers.  The soft sand is flooded with tourists and locals alike, all out to catch a mixture of sun and waves.  I personally have been very successful in the former of these two endeavors as I ripped off my toenail on a rock coming in after our first surf session.  This has left me doing plenty of reading, wave watching, writing and chilling with some of our other hostel goers who themselves are usually nursing hangovers or catching up on sleep.  However, my toe is looking better and tonight we leave for Ecuador.  Our first and possibly only long term stop is Mantañita.  If things go well both Keith and myself should be able to trade work for free room and board at a hostel allowing us to save some change while meeting plenty of people.  Of course the relatively shorter work hours would provide ample time for me to catch the one good wave I have been jonesing for since we first bought our boards back in lima. 

In other news I am fairly sure that I have reached an all-time high in the freckle department, I was also able to go for a jog without wanting to keel over and die so that was nice.  Minus the toe the beaches have been great to us and I while I cannot wait to get home, I am definitely stoked to take full advantage of the next three or four weeks.

Yay the coast

Well Keith and I have finally left behind the elevations whereby walking up and downstairs leaves us winded as we are now in Lima Peru.  We had a great month working with the Collins and their team of missionaries in Bolivia where most of our time was split between painting their new offices/living quarters and working at their carpentry shop.  At the shop I passed many an hour talking with Carmelo who (long story short) was deported back to Bolivia after his second drug charge even though he was adopted by a family in the U.S. at a very young age.  It was great to have enough time to build a relationship with someone from a completely different background and our conversations ranged anywhere from the validity of the bible to our favorite rap and hip hop artists (he greatly appreciated my collection of akon albums on my ipod since our boss listended solely to rock and country). Keith and I also got along well with a great guy named Alejandro (yes every time I said his name is reminded me of the rather odd music video by Lady Gaga).  He took us on an overnight fishing trip to the amazon basin where we fell asleep in a random boat tied to the shore.  We also ate at one of his friends houses which might have gifted me with some of my current stomach issues.  Overall we were both thankful to get to serve in a somewhat more stable environment while also leaning about the lifestyles of many missionaries in Bolivia, but now are quite glad to be back on the road.  We also managed while were there to pick up some strange intestinal disorders-Keith is just finishing his last dose of pills to kill of the amebas that took up residence in his lower intestine, i tested fine but my stomach at times looks similar to that of a child from one of those 'save the children' commercials, and while my condition has improved, it's been nearly a week since I felt close to normal.  So I think finding a place that sells prescription drugs over the counter is in my near future. 
In other news, we plan to stay in Lima for a few days, trying the many different foods, relaxing in a nice hostal with good breakfast, and trying to regain some energy before heading to the northern coast before Christmas.  There the plan is to take a few trips into the jungle, surf, and try and work at one or two hostals in order to save money on rent. By that time I will be close to my departure date, but still want to see a good portion of Ecuador, possibly via rafting and a zipline tour, before I head back to start real life in the States.
Miss you all greatly, hope all is well wherever you might find yourself reading this-Logan

Bolivia (wow I forgot to blog for an entire coutnry)

So if any of you are reading this, then I hope you have also been looking at all of our pictures, in which case I do not need to tell you that in-between northern Chile and southern Bolivia, Keith and I went through some absolutely amazing country.  The salt flats are like nothing I have ever seen and I have never been happier to wake up and watch a sunrise (sorry Charlotte but since we could not actually see the sun on your birthday...)  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, and we have plenty of pictures up, then I will not waste any more telling you about how much I enjoyed that portion of the trip. Instead I would like to share about the different people we have met and some of the funny stories that go along with them. 
By far our most entertaining duo has been two Israeli guys who we ended up traveling with for about a week.  They were both in the army, one as a hand to hand combat instructor and the other as some kind of officer, which greatly aided in helping Keith and I feel very safe when locals would yell what sounded like insults but could have been cheers of praise (again see the blog title) out of their speeding cars at us while we walked down the streets.  However, our two friends were by far the most helpful people I have ever met when it comes to bussing in Bolivia.  Allow me to explain.  The music hear is literally hell for my ears.  If I could go back in time and somehow wipe every single note from human history, I would gladly do so no matter what the requirements (ok not really but for the sake of dramatics let the last part pass).  It is so bad that when the bus driver turns on the radio, Keith and I tend to look to see if there is any way to unplug the speaker thereby returning my ears to a state of peace.  The Israelis however, will stand in there seats and gesticulate wildly while also mixing together English, Spanish and Hebrew until the bus driver relieves us from what can only be described as vocal carnage which I am sure would cause my brain to hemorrage if I were subjected to it regularly. I mean it is so bad that doctors could throw out chemothereapy and radiation and instead subject cancer cells to this music and we would have a cure.  Forget UAVs, just send a blimp with a couple subs and some heavy ampage over to Pakistan and Afghanistan, blast the music, and I guarantee the terroists will beg for us to reopen guantanamo and throw them in there if only to make the music stop.  South Park had it right, the only way to stop something as powerful as a giant pirate guinea pig would be to hire a peruvian flute band to play them into submission.  Suffice it to say, we really liked having the Israelis travel with us.  They would also make bets, the wage being whoever was right got to punch the other guy in the face, they were awesome.
We also found that tall german girls are funny to watch in areas crowded with Bolivians, when some german guys speak English they sound like a middle school kid who is impersonating a retarted person (i know that is not the most PC thing to say, but I told a german guy (Buddy) that and he laughed although he did look a little incredulous), and I know at least one Itialian guy who can talk without being responded to for longer than anyone I have ever seen, and that is impressive considering some of the people we know...

Don´t cry for me Argentina

Today I write to you form the thriving metropolis of Mendoza after spending a wonderful week down south in Bariloche.  But tomorrow, tomorrow Keith and I leave argentina in our wake, trading in the wonderful steaks, great wine, attrociously difficult accents, beautiful countryside, and somewhat tidy streets for the TJ Banick or possibly even Evan Piepenbrink proportioned country that is Chile.  It is a 7 hour bus ride (a seemingly miniscule pennance after some of our earlier attrocities) across the towering Andes mountains.  I greatly look forward to the views, although i can´t say i´ve heard great things about our first destination, Santiago.  Even with the tales of smog and my own apprehensions about staying in cities with 6 million plus persons, it will be a welcomed change after being in somewhat more rural areas for the last 3 weeks.
And about those rural areas, I must say my favorites have been San Carlos de Bariloche (kudos to Matt for this pick), and Uspallata.  A nice google image search (or going to Keith Bergey´s blog) will provide you with stunning images (if you are on Keith´s blog, i will be clear that the figures in the foreground might not be quite as stunning as those in the background, although feel free to flatter and disagree) of snow capped peaks, rugged terain, and rich blue waters.  We were lucky enough to go up to Frey (again thanks matt) where all of these things can be seen within the same 20 kilometer hike.  Plus, we most definitely provided the locals with some chuckles as we hiked through snow in our barely midlength shorts only to find that the hike was not a loop but a there and back (boo not knowing that we could have camped at the top)
This being my last full day in Argentina, I must say that I have thoroughly enjoyed my stay. Although, I wish that we could have started perhaps a month later so that I could watch UofO beat USC on the teli, as well as enjoy my favorite month of October and all the fall festivies that come with it.  None the less, the trip so far has provided me with a wonderful opportunity to look at the world from a different perspective, and I am stoked to continue doing so for the next few months.
Written with love-Logan

Lost and Found

Hitting the three week date, here is a list of my lost and found so far
Lost:
One watch, a bracelet, and a brown hair tie to a 35 hour bus ride
One pair of sunglasses to a stream connecting with the Rio Mendoza
Some blood and a little bit of skin to the Andes Mountains
Between 2 and 5 pounds

Found:
That some mountains are not meant to be climbed, only stared at with awe and wonder
The ability of a book to keep its pages together is not as important as the words written within
A renewed sense of appreciation for all the people and places I left behind
That one shower with soap twice a week and replacing cologne with febreez can keep people from cringing when you stand next to them in the subway
People, especially children, are the same everwhere
The ability of mountians and waterfalls to capture the imagination makes absolutely no sense when they are broken down to their simplest parts
Speaking multiple languages is highly underated in the US
Movies that are bad in English can actually become more bearable when dubbed poorly in Spanish (see Jean Claude in Kickboxer)
I eat more than Keith, and most everyone else we´ve come into contact with
The Bad Romance music video makes a lot more sense after watching hours of 80´s hits on long bus rides
That leaving Oregon during October will make every other place seem a little less worth traveling to

Miss everyone, we leave Uspallata today for Bariloche, trading in what looks like the Himalayan steps for the lake district

Wine is Red, Somtimes White but i like them both in spite...

First I am sorry to all my friends and family who like wine, knowing in the States that I can rarely get more than a glass down without a grotesque look on my face.  But I must say after our very enjoyable wine tour (where one of our guides frequently enjoyed making fun of Keith and I without our understanding what she was saying, Estados Unidos+everyone looking at us and laughing=clear indicator of the joking).  However, seeing as the Argentine version of wine tasting is to fill your glass half full of each different type of wine, we were relaxed enough not to mind too much.  Of all the wines we tried the Malbec aged 9 months in oak ($130 US per bottle) was by and far our favority.  Apparently you can only by the wine directly from the company (and by that I mean in person) and sadly i am too broke to send any home (sorry Mom, Spammy, Richard+Charlotte).  With my amazingly adept pallet I give you the following description of the Malbec wine, it was smooth and after tasting it I could not stop smiling.  That´s about all I´ve got.  Honetsly for the majority of the time I was starring out into the Andes as they loomed empirously behind each of the vinyards.  Needless to say with the mountains as a background the county is beautiful.  Kind of a Napa Valley meets Central Oregon and went for a walk with a distant Himalayan cousin.  After getting a view of the peaks Keith and I have decided to take a short detour about 3 hours towards chili into Uspallata where we can literally walk out of the hostel right into the Andes Mountains.  Hope to send you some pictures soon.
Logan

Iguazu

So if any of you have never read any romantic poetry, google Mont Blanc, Shelley´s Defense of Poetry, maybe some Wordsworth or Coleridge and then come back to reading as you should have a much better understanding of the experience I am goint to attempt to describe.  Or if reading in beautiful metered verse doesn´t quite get you going (then again shame on you) put aside any sense of foolishness the modern world might conjure within you and go have a nice long look at the sun setting over a mountain or sit next to the ocean, do some meditating under a waterfall or anything that makes people stare at you and wonder if you might be on acid (again see Coleridge) and perhaps again you might not think I sound off.  Anyways, Iguazu is by far one of the most powerful and mindblowing sights in all of nature, once you get past the lines of tourists and globs of small children (or in Keith and my case stuck on the path with a group of small children and then if your me getting past them and looking back to find Keith and not being able to pick him out immediately and then feeling bad cause a. you might have left your friend behind and he doesn´t speak spanish or b. he is a 22 year old bearded white male and you are having trouble picking him out of a large mass of 10 year old Argentines)  any ways, suffice it to say that there were lots of tourists but you can find ways around the crowds. 
So, lets shift away from crowds, and back to me staring into the abyss that is Iguazu.  Fun fact, the amount of water coming off of those falls can fill an Olympic sized pool ever two seconds.  More importantly, standing there watching can bring you to a place where possibly you step outside of space and time and simply are aware of yourself and your relationship to the world.  The name of the lookout is called the Devil´s throat, while I experienced something more along the lines of divinity through the awe inspiring power of that sight, its fitting enough that the name reflects something other worldly.  It was as if in that moment the entirety of my life was compressed and I saw the purpose behind not only myself, but all being in the universe.  The simple act of breathing became an act of divine inspiration.  It should go unquestioned that after walking away I was somewhat speechless for ten minutes and probably looked like a stumbling drunk, but seeing as I felt like Adam in the Sistine Chapel (the finger reaching out and almost touching God) just appearing a wee bit woozy isn´t too bad. 
So that experience kept me sane through out 35 hour bus ride to Mendoza from where I am now typing.  But a French couple is sitting here looking envious of the only computer in the Hostel so I will be on my way.  Love to all, hope everything is well-Logan  (PS read more poetry)