The Other Eighth Wonder of the World

  • Posted on July 26, 2008 at 8:38 pm

My brother Brandon and his girlfriend Amanda are spending the summer in Peru, where they are living in a hut atop a mountain and saving the lives of hundreds of Peruvian llama farmers (or something equally noble and selfless. I’m not even sure if they have running water or heat or STARBUCKS.) The other day, they posted fabulous pictures and a blog post about their trip to Machu Picchu, “the eighth wonder of the world”.

In homage to them, Larry, Stella and I ALSO went to Machu Picchu. Here is our story, told in photos.

Larry consults the PRESHUS iPhone for a map. Adventurous hat? Check.

The Preshus iPhone shows us the way to Machu Picchu.

Father and Daughter scan the horizon before embarking on the great adventure.

Larry’s hands grip the steering wheel as we drive through the wilderness. Knuckles white. Gaining altitude, losing breath.

A local boy, selling his wares on the streets near Machu Picchu. Could only afford a simple sign on cardboard, drawn with a marker.

The roads and signs here are confusing. We could barely decipher the signs pointing the way.

Another sign. On the right track. Bailey X Roads=Bailey’s Crossroads? Si?

A local wearing long white robes.

We saw the vestiges from a great civilization looming in front of us. Also, they drive like crazy people here. We narrowly avoided several collisions.

More locals, hanging out in front of a gas station. I guess they have nothing better to do on a Saturday afternoon?

A family crossing a 5-lane highway IN THE MIDDLE OF THE STREET. Not at the crosswalk. Apparently, they needed to get to the entrance ramp?!? (Note the young child. Is this any lesson to teach your children? Why do people do this?)

More locals, hanging out at the Seven-Eleven. Again with the nothing to do.

The road to Machu Picchu. So quaint.

BEHOLD, THE GREAT MACHU PICCHU.

A tour guide? A local? An Incan? I don’t know.

Who knew that Machu Picchu was so close to the middle east? You can get kabobs here.

Larry and Stella approach the door.

The grand hall, honoring many great nations and lost civilizations.

Ooooh, classy. Leather menus.

Ancient Peruvian snack of half-popped popcorn.

Ancient Peruvian appetizer of shrimp, fish and squid ceviche with a pile of onions.

The adventurous Larry, without his adventurous hat, takes a bite of the ceviche.

An egg on top of a steak, plus three starches. Starchy McStarcherson. (Who knew that Peruvians can make delicious rice?)

Peruvian Fried Chicken. Close relative of the Peruvian Char-grilled Rotisserie Chicken, which is popular in Northern Virginia, Peru, and Larry’s belly.

Stella, hiding behind her toy Ken. All the starches scared her, I guess.

A shrine to Machu Picchu…with Buddha? Please explain. How did Buddha end up in an ancient Incan civilization? Does this have something to do with Pangea and sled dogs?

What a view.

Thank you, come again. (look at those ta-tas!)

One last shot as we drove away. The other eighth wonder of the world. Machu Picchu.



Chicago, in fashion, the soft drinks, expansion

  • Posted on October 22, 2007 at 11:39 pm

Guess where I am this week?

Chicago Skyline

Chicago!

I spent the weekend in the city with my mom, grandma and aunt, where we ate delicious food and saw Wicked on Saturday afternoon. Wicked was awesome–and I did not even fall asleep. Usually when I see a musical I get drowsy and my head bobs at least once. I loved the book and wasn’t sure how it would translate into a musical, but I was really impressed. I even got teary a couple of times. Poor, green, misunderstood and framed Elphaba.

Now I’m about 40 miles outside of Chicago, where I’m in Project Management training until Friday. I can’t say exactly where I am, but let’s just say that there are a lot of trees, and grass, and maybe even a farm or two. Very secluded. Behind gates. When my mom and brother dropped me off on Sunday evening, my brother was expecting white-clad men to meet me at the car and push me inside in a wheelchair. It’s corporate training, damnit! I swear! Although I realized tonight that my room looks like the hospital room from this creepy movie I used to watch as a child called Anna to the Infinite Power. It was about a girl who discovers she’s a clone, and is sent to a “facility” for testing. Maybe they’re watching me…

A Letter in Three Parts, Part Three: What I missed about home

  • Posted on July 25, 2007 at 6:41 pm

Even when I was having a fabulous time living in France, eating baguettes and camembert with an earthy cote du rhone in a cafe in Aix-en-Provence, or jetting around Europe, there were plenty of things I missed about home. I even missed the little things, the kind of stuff you don’t really think about until you’re gone, like peanut butter and crossword puzzles.

So here it is, part three of the Letter in Three Parts (here’s part one and part two):

  1. My family.
  2. My friends.
  3. My dogs.
  4. Understanding everything.
  5. Driving.
  6. My CDs.
  7. TV–Buffy, Party of Five, Friends, MTV, The Weather Channel, X-Files, The Simpsons (um, not really my favorite shows anymore. Especially MTV and the Simpsons.)
  8. Poptarts, peanut butter, marshmallows, Dr. Pepper, Mountain Dew, and Chewy Sprees.
  9. 24 hour restaurants, grocery stores, drug stores, and gas stations.
  10. Good beer.
  11. My house–summer nights on the porch.
  12. The fluttery feeling when you actually like a guy.
  13. Playing real pool.
  14. Z-Teca burritos, Dragon Express, Jiffy Treat, Unos, Pizza Express, and Ritters.
  15. Dennys. Perkins. In one night.
  16. The corn.
  17. Strawberry milk.
  18. Regular sized people, regular sized clothes.
  19. Half-price Books. Target.
  20. The Greenbriar. Clearwater Crossing.
  21. Caramel Corn!
  22. Weights in pounds and ounces; measurements in inches, miles and feet.
  23. Crossword puzzles.
  24. My plants.
  25. The sound of silence in Carmel on any given night at 10 p.m., except for the occasional siren followed by the national guard to pull over a kid with long hair.
  26. Doing 465.
  27. 9.23 and X103 and yes, even 99.5.
  28. Live music–the Bluebird, Second Story, The Patio, The Vogue, Deer Creek, K of C, that other place on College, what the hell is the name, and where has my memory gone?
  29. Bloomington. Bloomington. Bloomington. Dunn Meadow. The Union. The Von Lee. The Den. College Mall. Sororosluts. Frat boys with khakis and North Face vests.
  30. Good lotion.
  31. Aveda.
  32. My hairdresser.
  33. Morgan-Monroe State Forest and Griffy Lake.
  34. The BBC.
  35. The Princess Bride.
  36. People who can pronounce my name. It’s not Natalie. Not Bedlami.
  37. Kisses that mean something.

How different I am now. I had to really think about some of these to remember what they are, and why I missed them. I don’t even remember liking Chewy Sprees, Z-teca, Uno’s and Strawberry milk enough to miss them. Maybe it was the simple fact that I missed what I couldn’t have in France. Maybe I need to make a list of things I love/hate about D.C., and laugh about it in eight years.

A Letter in Three Parts, Part Two: Things I Hate About France

  • Posted on July 12, 2007 at 6:47 pm

Living in France wasn’t always creme anglais, pain au chocolat and wine. Just like living anywhere, you have to take the good with the bad. (Right? RIGHT?? I think about this a lot lately.) As a follow-up to my post a few weeks ago about why I loved France (from a letter to my best friend when I lived in France seven years ago), I present to you the list of things I hated about France (in no particular order:)

  1. Everything except restaurants and bars closes at 7 or 8 p.m.
  2. French beer sucks.
  3. French men can be too effing forward and pushy.
  4. Dog shit.
  5. French TV sucks. Except for American shows dubbed in French.
  6. No concept of personal space–people shove, people run into you, people nudge you with their cars…(I really did get “nudged” by a car once, and I also got smacked on the ass by someone driving by, obviously slowly enough so as not to really injure either of us.)
  7. Air France. (EXTREME HATRED.) (they lost my baggage when I moved their and only recovered one of the bags. Somewhere in France, someone really made out on a suitcase full of shoes, undies and bras, makeup, cds and ALL MY JEWELRY. Jerks.)
  8. Men on the street notice you when you DON’T want to be noticed.
  9. No live music. And the not-live music is shit. (Lou Bega? Who is he?? Why do French people love him?)
  10. Women are too skinny.
  11. The French have no sense of humor. No joke.
  12. They smell bad in warm weather. The rumors are true.
  13. You can’t go into a pharmacy and just pick out your drug of choice; you have ask for it. Even aspirin. Which is hard in French.
  14. Speaking English way too much. Hearing English on the street.
  15. My upstairs neighbors blare Lauren Hill’s “Zion”. I’m sure they have no idea what the words mean.
  16. Ugly white platform tennis shoes. (We’re talking 4, 5, 6 inches!!)
  17. The campus that looks like 21 Jumpstreet.
  18. Centimes.
  19. Tiny water heaters.
  20. No umbrella etiquette.

Funny though, these things don’t really seem that bad now. And notice I could only come up with half the number–there’s so much more to love there rather than hate. My life really must have been mostly pain au chocolat and wine. It makes me miss France.
Stay tuned for part three: things I missed about the U.S.

A Letter in Three Parts, Part One: Why I Loved France

  • Posted on June 21, 2007 at 9:58 pm

When I lived in Aix-en-Provence, France, during my senior year of college, I wrote my friend Aubrey a letter. In this letter I included a list of everything I loved about France. To make it fair, I also included things I missed about the United States and things that I hated about France.

I think about this list often, especially when I dream about moving to an exotic, far-away land. I would love to move back to Europe–not forever, just for a year or two, or three.

I also think about this list when I meet or talk to people that just can’t deal with change, or trying new things, or anything out of their climate-controlled little boxed-in lives. I would fall into a serious depression if I couldn’t travel or try new things. It’s like some sort of syndrome, or a little bug inside me that makes me wander, makes me crazy with routine, makes me eat grasshopper tacos and makes me not want to go back the same way I came.

Thank god I had the foresight to photocopy this list before I sent it to Aubrey, because I JUST KNEW that one day I would want to type up this list and put it on my blog. (And yes, I had heard of blogs in 2000. Of course. Duh. I was so forward thinking and technical at the time, especially with how I had to SHARE AN EMAIL ADDRESS WITH 2 OTHER PEOPLE when I lived there.) And I think it’s interesting to see how things have changed in the past seven years (see number four, for instance). So here’s the list, with just a tiny bit of editing.

Everything I love about France:

  1. Bakeries everywhere-fresh, yummy bread and enough awesome desserts to make you really fat.
  2. Kinder eggs.
  3. Cute dogs everywhere-stores, streets, restaurants…
  4. Bars are open until 7 a.m. (um, I went out a bit more then. I’m on my way to work at 7 a.m. these days.)
  5. Cheesy pickup lines sound more romantic in French.
  6. The TV Commercials-they are hilarious. (Case in point-only in France would the Commission for Milk and Dairy Products make a commercial promoting milk that is sexier than any Madonna video. A girl eating cheese, glancing longingly at a gorgeous man, and oops! white milk dribbled on her chin. They make out, eat cheese and be sexy.)
  7. The men are mostly beautiful.
  8. The women are not. (sorry French women, but I guess that’s what I thought then.)
  9. Fresh produce markets every day.
  10. Little specialty stores-like for meat, for cheese, for tea, for salmon, for hats, etc.
  11. People drive like maniacs and all the cars are tiny. And stick shifts.
  12. The roads are narrow and confusing and cobblestone.
  13. Red roofs.
  14. They all take 2 hours off to eat lunch.
  15. The garbage men come everyday. And they’re cool mo’fos. (note from present me: actually, I thought they were so cool, I would throw them beers from the second-story window. And they would give me treasures they found in trash. On one of my last nights in France, I actually invited the garbage men up to the apartment and we had a little farewell party. I’m not joking.)
  16. French money is just prettier.
  17. The coffee is ten times better.
  18. Cafes. They’re everywhere. And men have no problem sitting at a cafe, even on a Friday night, discussing whatever it is men discuss together. Never would that happen in the United States. (well, I don’t know about that, or why I wrote that…I guess men in Indiana, where I went to college, weren’t big into cafes.)
  19. Men on the street notice you when you want to be noticed. (well, I was 21…)
  20. Wine. Is. Cheap.
  21. French children are adorable.
  22. The ATM machine gives you your card back before the money. Smart.
  23. People eat dinner around 8 or 9 pm.
  24. The shoes. The clothes.
  25. I can walk virtually anywhere in my town. The grocery store is 2 seconds from my apartment.
  26. I have a buzzer intercom!
  27. Olive oil abundance.
  28. Hardly any school work, ever.
  29. Classes only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
  30. Bisous. (Instead of shaking hands, you “do the bisous”–kisses on the cheeks.)
  31. There are no gang-banging low-riding mall trashers. Well, hardly any.
  32. Warm baguettes.
  33. 20 franc pieces.
  34. bon appetit, bonne journee, bonne soiree, bon voyage, bon cafe, bon examen, bonne chance.
  35. Other cool countries are just a train ride away.
  36. Preset menus.
  37. There’s no law against liquor containers in public (=walking down street, beer in hand.) (not really sure why I thought that was so cool…I don’t think I ever walked down the street with a beer. I guess it was just the idea that I could if I wanted to.)
  38. Opening the shutters in the morning. “Bonjour, Aix.”
  39. Hi, it’s France.

God, it makes me miss France.