The Wesht

As you may have noticed the gap between the previous post and the one before that was a full four months - the casual observer might believe that nothing has happened to me worth blogging in the time between, but the keen blogging expert will know that this is highly unlikely.


It’s Web 2.0! Everyone is a star, everyone produces content, and everybody is a publisher. By blogging standards I would have to be dead to not have events in my life exciting enough to blog (and that very death most certainly would have been blog-worthy).

So the cat is out of the bag – I’m lazy and just didn’t write anything. Neither about my visit to Ireland’s Wild West, nor about my nephew visiting from Germany (he brought along my sister and her husband) - and that so briefly after the grand post on resolutions. At least I kept these resolutions when it came to taking pictures – so I feel it my duty to you and the beauty of the Wesht to share a few of those images…

As previously indicated, my friend Ilana (for the whole international story check the last post) visited me in Ireland a second time over Easter. Both being the religious people that we are, we ventured on a pilgrimage to the far west of this island – the dry Connemara, the famous Aran Islands, and the Ring of Kerry.

I still don’t have a car – and as detailed in my last post, the public transport in Ireland is pretty much a non-option – so Ilana rented a car that would take us around for the long weekend. It turned out to be a brand-new (and I mean: BRAND new – only 50km on the clock) Open Corsa. Ferrari-red, zippy, pseudo-sporty – and ugly as sin. We aptly dubbed it the “RUB” – Red Ugly Bitch – on the spot before moving it a foot.

First stop of the trip was Galway, the capital of the west. Highlights here were the Kennedy park (one of the least attractive parks I’ve seen in a while) and the drinking water quality…. Or non-quality. It turns out that the surrounding cities had dumped their sewage for decades into the fresh water reservoir – and now after this continued abuse the water quality had degraded to a level that made it undrinkable. Public announcements even declared it illegal to serve ice cubes in drinks at local pubs. I’m sure the bottled water industry thrived. We left.

After a drive through the dry and desert-like Connemara, we arrived in Clifden, where we were to spend the first night in a small B&B. The Mallmore House turned out to be a beautiful B&B just outside the city, with small but beautifully equipped (Victorian?) rooms of which some also sported nice views on the Atlantic coast.

The next day took us to the Aran Islands – apparently world-renowned for the Aran Sweater (which is now produced somewhere else, but still delivered here to be sold to tourists). The Islands are also home to some old defense structures and churches – and by renting a bicycle (cars aren’t allowed on the island, save for a few for the inhabitants) you can quickly get to all those sights. If you aren’t used to riding a bicycle (as neither Ilana nor I were), you’ll know every muscle in your butt the next day.

After the Aran Islands we headed along the coastline to the Burren (of which we – truth be told – didn’t really see much of at all). En route we passed the “Cliffs of Insanity” featured in many famous movies, most notably “Princess Bride”. They had another name too, but I already forgot that. We spent the night in a small B&B in Corofin - that was most likely run by the chattiest woman ever - and that night once again enjoyed the menu and bar of a local pub (while I gave way to the cravings for a steak, Ilana had a salad or something equally unimpressive. Needless to say that she let me pick up the bill…).

From there we headed through Limerick (also known as “Stab city”) towards Kerry and the Ring of Kerry. Wikipedia says about it: “The Ring of Kerry is a tourist trail in County Kerry, south-western Ireland. The route covers the 170 km circular road (N70, N71 and R562), starting from Killarney, heading around the Iveragh peninsula and passing through Kenmare, Sneem (!), Waterville, Cahersiveen and Killorglin”. Before closing the ring we turned south and made our way to Cork, where we were to spend the last night of this trip.

Cork turned out to be a surprisingly nice city – we had a room reserved in a hostel on the north side, just minutes from downtown and the pub scene. Our quest for a restaurant to get some dinner was only moderately successful - our choices were 45 minute wait for a table or going to “Cpt. America”. The burgers were not bad though.

The last day took us back towards Dublin, only interrupted by a few stops at sights here and there. The highlight of those being the Rock Cashel – another quick except from Wikipedia: ”The Rock of Cashel, also known as Cashel of the Kings and St. Patrick's Rock , is a historic site in Ireland's province of Munster, located at Cashel, County Tipperary.The Rock of Cashel served as the traditional seat of the Kings of Munster for several hundred years prior to the Norman invasion, though few remnants if any of the early structures survive.”

After that is was pretty much all motorway all the time until we made it back to Dublin. I got a drop-off service at my door, and Ilana proceeded with the RUB – aided by her John-Cleese-voice-powered GPS – straight back to the airport.

This trip’s pictures as always on my smugmug site.

Guds hjælp, Folkets kærlighed, Danmarks styrke

I’ve been to Denmark before – at least I think I have, after all when you’re about 8 years old you tend to take everything your parents say at face value (unless it’s “No”). For all I know I could have been to the Netherlands instead!

As you may remember, my friend Ilana from Australia, whom I met in the USA and went to Cuba with (and who recently visited me in Ireland… again) is now working for Microsoft in Denmark. What better opportunity to visit our 55% income tax neighbor could I possibly have? None, exactly. So last Friday afternoon I hopped on an SAS flight to Copenhagen to inspect the Kingdom of Denmark once again!

Denmark is an hour ahead of the Republic of Ireland, so the 7pm flight got me to the Københavns Lufthavn (airport) a little after 10pm. As promised my friend Ilana was there to pick me up; as me, Ilana doesn’t own a car - apparently the Danes like to tax behaviors and things they want to discourage (of which smoking appears to be not one of them), so they tax private cars for example north of 300% of the purchase price. It’s a good idea not to buy one.

If this would have been Dublin, the late arrival would have meant either waiting 30 mins for the next Aircoach (a privately owned bus service) to take me to my neighborhood, or dropping about €30 on a Taxi downtown (yes, Dublin has indeed no rail connection .. or any public transport to speak of.. that connects the Airport to the city). But luckily this wasn’t Dublin. Or even like it at all.

Just outside the terminal doors is an underground train station in which an S-Train was sitting, ready for departure heading downtown. Shortly thereafter we changed into the subway, and mere minutes after I had exited the baggage reclaim area, we were already in Ilana’s neighborhood. Copenhagen reminds me why I like large European cities. By and large, that is.

The next day was reserved for sightseeing – having not been here in ages, I had virtually… actually none whatsoever memory of anything. I’m sure I had seen the Little Mermaid before and looked upon the wondrous palaces and statues… but then again, maybe I was too busy eating ice cream and stealing candy instead (‘”sweets” for my Irish readers).

The 4 hour walk through the city gave me lots of opportunities for pictures and coffee stops, and I learned a great deal. Here is an excerpt:

• The mermaid is on her 3rd head
• The Danes believe that their flag fell from the sky
• Smoking in cafes is perfectly fine
• Alcohol isn’t nearly as taxed as in the other Scandinavian countries
• Don’t buy the roasted almonds from the stand near the mermaid
• The princess of Denmark is Australian
• All the kings are called Frederick or Christian
• The Danish prince could probably seriously kick Prince Andrew’s butt

A showing of “Blades of Glory” in original with Danish subtitles and some cheap but seriously good pizza concluded the day. The next day we slept in way too late, so that after a great breakfast in a smoky café I made my way back to the airport.

Oh yeah, pictures are - as always - on my smugmug account.

And the title is the motto of Denmark: The Help of God, the Love of the People, the Strength of Denmark

Radha mitchell climb quotsilent hillquot!

I like to think that we have rather sophisticated spam filters here at Microsoft - the bulk of the unwatend mail never makes it into the corporate network, and most of those that slip by usually go straight into Outlook's junk mail folder - so it's always interesting to see what mails make it actually past all those safeguards into my inbox.

Today's was rather exciting in appearance and content:


A mail that well crafted must be telling the truth! Go and buy those CBFE shares now before all the sleeping investors realize the true potential!

A day of mourning.

Like for so many other students across the world, they have provided nourishment for me through weeks and months of short budgets and busy schedules of mixing finals and dedicated multiplayer x-box gaming. Even in my poorly equipped student housing in Waco, TX, a warm meal with flavors vaguely reminding of chicken, beef, teriyaki, or even seafood could be provided instantly - with virtually no cleanup and no other required ingredients or preparation.

Granted, with temperatures often rising above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in summer, a warm meal wasn't required very often, but the economic advantages often outweighed the environmental circumstances. Bought in the right quantity at Costco, a single dollar's investment could feed me for almost an entire week!

Of course I am talking about Ramen Noodles. Those "blocks" of dried noodles coming with a little satchel of flavoring that have been copied by so many companies since their invention.






And that's just it! They were invented. Invented not by some anonymous corporation, but by some guy who - most likely - had a "vision" about the future of food and built a million dollar company around this vision. Now that guy is dead, passed away at the age of 96 near Osaka (Did he eat his own invention regularly? Are his noodles a secret to long life? Or lies the secret in their avoidance?).

I doubt many students have ever heard the name of Momofuku Ando, but no doubt they've enjoyed his vision of food. Truly a man that has made great strides for the quality of student life around the world. You may have already forgotten his name when reaching this sentence, but his food will forever hold a place in our hearts.

In fact - his departure has been of such significance that there is even an article about it in the NY Times Op/Ed.

Here's a link to the Official Ramen page. They even invite you to visit them on Times Square. It's not just food! It's fun too!

More real than real.

After reading an article in the German news magazine "Der Spiegel", which described in detail the new HDR (High Dynamic Range) photography a few days ago, I decided to take a look at it myself. Should there finally be an alternative to graduated neutral density filters?

The problem that often plagues photographers is as follows: Cameras have a very limited capability of recording contrast, so images of motives very rich in contrast will invariably have to exhibit some trade-offs, some corner-cutting.

Let's take a run-of-the-mill sunset image for example: A darkening mountainous landscape with exciting textures and shades of rock and snow; above the mountains a bright fabulously lit sky filled with pink and red clouds.

When taking a picture without the help of any tools, it usually comes down to two options - either adjust the settings to optimize for the bright sections of the image, and thus losing all other areas to the shadows (in our example a fabulously lit sky, but the foreground is dark as night and will lose all it's features and texture), or optimize for the darker parts of the image, and thus "burning" out the bright areas (the sky will turn completely white or pink and the individual clouds would be lost).

Traditionally this problem has been solved with so-called "neutral density" filters - essentially slabs of glass that are mounted in front of the camera and which have the upper half darkened, and the other one as clear glass. This allows to artificially darken one half of the image, and allows the photographer to expose the image longer without burning out the bright areas. It works great for images where there is a clear, straight line separating the bright from the dark sections of the image (like a horizon). It's not that great when patches of bright and dark are all over the image.

Instead of trying to get all the information into a single image, for the new HDR technology three (or more) images are taken, and only later combined into a single new image. One of them is deliberately underexposed to record all features of the bright sections, one of them is normally exposed to capture the mid-range, and the third is overexposed to gather all information about the dark parts of the image. I was curious about this, so I downloaded the sample software and took a series of high-contrast shots in Dublin yesterday.

First the three shots taken, the center one being the "normal" exposure. You can see the problems of the foreground being too dark (on the leftmost) or the sky being burned out (rightmost) quite well:



Then the combination with the Photomatix HDR tool:


The results are staggering: Every cloud of the sky is still visible, and so are the green color and the features of every plant in the foreground.

And this was just a few handheld shots in the afternoon. Using a tripod will produce much crisper results and much less ghosting. Some amazing examples can be found at the Photomatix website

The original Spiegel article which prompted me to try this myself can be found here

Autotranslation

The first work week in this year is appropriate now nearly already again behind me - only for 51 up to the year 2008. As I this morning in the office came and with "Good morning", "bon Giorno", "Buenas slide", and "Bonjour" my team welcomed there and to me again once was noticeable, how much my team is more international here than it in talking moon ever was, thought I that it property an idea would perhaps be once for testing how much translation software in the last years became better. For this reason I wrote the today's entry into German, and to it by an automated Website translates. It would surprise me much if somewhat readable thereby comes out, but in any case much fun with to read.

(Altavista Babelfish: http://babelfish.altavista.com/tr)


Now the first week this year lies almost again behind me – only 51 up to 2008. When I came today tomorrow to the office and there with "Good morning", “ voucher of Giorno ”, “ Buenas of slides ”, and "Bonjour" mine team greeted and to me struck once again how much more internationally my team is here than it in Redmond one day I was, thought that it maybe a good idee would be to be tested once how much has better become übersetzungssoftware during the last years. That's why I have written the today's entry into German, and have translated afterwards by an automated website. It would surprise me very much if, besides, something readable comes out, but in any case read a lot of fun with.

(Im Translator: http://www.translation.paralink.com/)

Resolutions indeed!

Instead of procrastinating like I would have done in the old year, this time I'll take the time and actually add some of the new pictures right away.

Glendalough - one of the "must see" destinations of Ireland, conveniently located only an hour's drive outside of Dublin.

That hour's drive would have posed an almost insurmountable obstacle for me, had it not been for my friend Ilana who recently left the US to work for Microsoft in Denmark (and who will enjoy a fabulous quality of living, paid for with a 55% tax bracket). We rented a fine little french vehicle that took us not only to Kilkenny and Wicklow, but also to the fabled site of Glendalough.

Apparently it used to be a remote site chosen by St. Kevin as his new home for its loneliness and the absence of other people. However, a bunch of his followers wanted to "share" this loneliness with him and moved there to learn from him, making this quickly one of the main religious sites in Ireland - probably not what good ol' Kevin had in mind.

I'll have to come back at some point in spring/summer to see the sight in full daylight and with the green environment it will no doubt have - in fall it's all a bit gray there.

Nevertheless, here are some snapshots (as always, a full gallery is on my picture site):

Resolutions...

It's a new year - out goes 2006 with all its ups and downs, and in comes 2007 with a million plans and promises. I am sure that I'm not the only one who begins every new year with a number of resolutions* (like more sports, more pictures, more blogging, less sweets, finding true love) - that usually go out the window together with the Christmas decorations in less than two weeks.

But of course, this year it'll all be different.

This year I am going to stick with those resolutions! And to make sure that this will be the case I decided to go out and start taking some pictures and immediately put them up in my blog - that's catching two birds with one stone!

Admittedly, the first set of pictures was already taken a few weeks back when my friends Anne and Nate came over from the US and saved me from my car-less existence with a swell Avis rental car. We took a road trip up to Northern Ireland (which is a thrillingly unexciting border crossing only noticeable by gas prices suddenly being marked in Pound Sterling instead of Euros) to Belfast and the Giant’s Causeway – and I could have hardly asked for a greater introduction to the scenic Irish landscapes:

The Giant's Causeway is an area of 40,000 interlocking basalt columns resulting from a volcanic eruption. It is located about 2 miles (3 km) north of the town of Bushmills in County Antrim, Northern Ireland along the northeast coast of Ireland. It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 (by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland). In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, Giant's Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom. It's the centerpoint of many famous photos, notably the cover of the Led Zeppelin album Houses of the Holy. The Giant's Causeway is owned and managed by the National Trust. The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, however there are some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 12 meters (36 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 meters thick in places (Thanks again, Wikipedia).

After spending the night in a small B&B (of which we skipped that Breakfast because Anne made us get up at the crack of dawn) we made our way back to Belfast to hop on one of the famous “Black Cab” tours in which the driver takes you to the famous and infamous landmarks right there in the heart of the Northern Ireland conflict. While the open violence has subsided and doesn’t take a prominent spot in everyday news and media anymore, the hate and mistrust still runs deep between many Protestants and Catholics. A 10m wall divides Belfast, target for many a child to cast a stone across, separating the neighborhoods of both faiths. Massive steel gates in the wall can be closed at a moments notice to prevent acts of violence or retaliation. Having grown up in the 80s and 90s and seen much of the IRA and Northern Ireland violence on TV in that time, it is an odd feeling standing in front of the head office of Sinn Fein or the murals depicting the heroes of the Ulster Freedom Fighters.

The next set of pictures that I actually DID take this year will be showing off the Republic of Ireland, namely Glendalough.

I’m sure I’ll get around posting this soon – after all, it’s one of my resolutions.



* Being a big wikipedia fan and often relying on it to satisfy my thirst for immediate answering of questions I decided to look up the history of New Year’s Resolutions. It’s an interesting bit of trivia, but it also shows the flaws of the Wikipedia concept - too many cooks do in fact dilute the precision of the answer... or something like that:

The tradition of the New Year's Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 BC. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar.[citation needed]

With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

The New Year has not always begun on January 1, and it doesn't begin on that date everywhere today. It begins on that date only for cultures that use a 365-day solar calendar. January 1 became the beginning of the New Year in 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar developed a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous calendars had.

The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the god of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. He was always depicted with two faces, one on the front of his head and one on the back. Thus he could look backward and forward at the same time. At midnight on December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking back at the old year and forward to the new. The Romans began a tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year's Eve by giving one another branches from sacred trees for good fortune. Later, nuts or coins imprinted with the god Janus became more common New Year's gifts.

In the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year's Day to December 25, the birth of Jesus. Then they changed it to March 25, a holiday called the Annunciation. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar, and the celebration of the New Year was returned to January 1.

The Julian and Gregorian calendars are solar calendars. Some cultures have lunar calendars, however. A year in a lunar calendar is less than 365 days because the months are based on the phases of the moon. The Chinese use a lunar calendar. Their new year begins at the time of the first full moon after the sun enters Aquarius--sometime between January 19 and February 21.

Although the date for New Year's Day is not the same in every culture, it is always a time for celebration and for customs to ensure good luck in the coming year.

Weapons amnesty, Tikka Masala, and interesting vending machines.

It's been a little over two weeks now that I have relocated to Dublin, Ireland. Right now I'm still in temporary housing (and will be for 2 more weeks until my apartment becomes available) in my hotel in the midst of the bustling Rathmines area. It's not so much that it feels weird to wake up in a hotel every morning, it's more that it appears to be the same hotel for 2 weeks now. That's quite different than my last trip.

Rathmines is considered a university district, providing affordable (whatever that means in Dublin) housing and entertainment to many students. That makes this area busy and filled with life around the clock. Dozens of pubs, clubs, super markets, and trendy stores line the Rathmines road, countless eateries make sure that the post-drinking munchies are always cared for.

The Irish cuisine isn't famous, and looking at some of the traditional dishes (that almost always include potatoes), it's not a surprise that it isn't. However, luckily the Irish have experiences a huge influx of people from all cultures and backgrounds, which in turn has brought a tremendous variety of food to the city. And to my utmost delight Indian food is right there at the forefront of universal availability. Chicken Tikka Masala seems to be a national favorite, and I have already had the chance to sample various versions of this dish that I have grown so fond of since my days in Seattle. Without doubt the best I have had so far comes from ....... And not only will they make you freshest take away food, they also offer freshly chilled and frozen food that you can just pick up and eat later. However, what's the most fascinating to me is that you can even buy Tikka Masala sauce in normal grocery stores at every corner - it's that common. In your face, Chutney's Wallingford! I'm sure when Nate and Anne come and visit me next month I'll make sure they get some Tikka Masala as well!

I have gotten used to driving on the left side of the road pretty well now, and I think the cars parked on the side of the road are in much less danger of getting their rear view mirrors shaved off by me (although I'm sure that I'm not the only one who thinks it's hard to judge how much room there is on the left - every day on my way to work I see plenty of parked cars with mirrors dangling by the wires of the adjustment motors).

Now that I'm not totally focused on driving but get the chance of taking in the envinronment while cruising around, I noticed the giant billboards for the weapons amnesty that comes to an end this October. I followed the link www.weaponsamnesty.com - expecting that maybe it's in relation to the disarmament of the IRA (albeit that was Northern Ireland) - but it turns out that a new weapon legislation is being introduced, which will provide harsh minimum sentences for posession of illegal firearms. Thank god I turned in my Heckler&Koch in Seattle already!

A quite exciting change between my last workplace for MSFT in Redmond and here is that they have vending machines in the restrooms, and neatly stacked between the different flavors of chewing gum, are the different flavors of condoms in the same machine. Now that makes you wonder what prompted them to put those up in the first place! Too many pregnancy leaves that drove up the personnel cost? Should the Irish be really such hot blooded spontaneous people? I might have misjudged them so far.

Baile Átha Cliath

Even the best things come to an end at some time. It's been almost 9 months to the day that I left Microsoft and Seattle on a cold Saturday morning in January. My travels took me to the tropical heats of Costa Rica, the gorgeous women and wines of Argentina, the rugged wilderness of Patagonia, the birthplace of Moon and Sun in Bolivia, and the mysterious marks of civilizations long gone in Macchu Picchu and Nazca. I spent some time with my family and new family members, and had the chance to catch up with old friends.... but all good things have to come to an end some time.

Since Monday I am once again what's generally considered "gainfully employed" - and it's all new and very familiar at the same time. The reason it's all new is that I'm now living in Dublin, the capital of Ireland. A country I've heard a lot about, but until my job interview never had visited before. The reason it's very familiar, is that I'm once again working as a Program Manager for Microsoft Office - I even got my old email alias back!

In order to make relocating over here easier, my company is doing a lot for me: They picked me up right at the airport, for the first month I have temporary housing in a hotel in Rathmines (just 15 from the city center on foot), a rental car (with the steering wheel on the wrong side), and they even take care of taking all my stuff (which is still packed up from the US anyways) and bringing it to my new place in Dublin ... provided I'll find one in the next 4 weeks that is.

My first impressions of Ireland are great so far! It's not only that there is a pub at every corner, but I love the feeling of actually living in a city again - the streets are full with pedestrians at night, the stores stay open late, and the weather hasn't been terrible yet either. With a bit of luck I have already found my new place: It's a small mews in Ranelagh, located in a great neighborhood in walking distance of parks, shops, bars. Mews used to be the horse houses in the back alleys of the rich family homes. They have generally about the sizes of small townhouses, and are a unique Irish type of accomodation. The one I am interested in isn't officially on the market yet, but the real estate agent that Irish Relocation Services provided to help me find a new home seems to have an "in" with the landlord, so if things go well I'll post some pictures of my home-to-be soon!

A new role

It turns out that I'm not only a 32-year old unemployed, carless, illegal alien, tech worker that lived for a few weeks with his mom... No! Since a few weeks I've also slipped into the new role of being an uncle. Meet Matti, my new nephew! Or am I the new uncle? Chicken/Egg anyone?

Of course I do realize that this new responsibility will demand a lot from me - after all, who else is responsible for ensuring that careful parental education and set boundaries go right out the window if not the do-no-good uncle that is criss-crossing the planet? In order to properly introduce myself to the little fellow, I decided to pay another short visit in Berlin before moving out to Dublin. I can't wait for the little guy to come and visit me for the first time. I'm sure he'll enjoy Guinness.

These are just a few quick shots I grabbed from my small camera and uploaded from my hotel room in Dublin - I'm sure once I get my real camera and desktop back I'll add all those pictures that are still trapped in the depths of my moving boxes. And as it is with baby pictures, I'm sure I'll take a whole boatload more pretty soon as well.

In the meantime, view the gallery of my last two Berlin trips here.

Moving on...

It seems that – just like diaries – blogs experience short phases of neglect and silence. Or long phases.

My last entry closed with my trip to Lago Titicaca and then onwards into Peru to see the famous and mysterious sights of Machu Picchu and the Nazca lines. Much has changed since this last entry over four months ago…

Before delving into the new developments in an effort to make blogging again a regular habit to inform friends and family about my whereabouts and daily experiences abroad, I should probably provide closure on the South America trip first – a trip the like I had never done before, and probably will never be able to do again.

After leaving La Paz I headed to a small lakeside city at the shores of Lago Titicaca from which I visited the birthplaces of Sun and Moon – the most sacred site in Inca Mythology. I had now moved into former Inca territory, and the abandoned ruins with the skilled masonry of the Incas were now scattered throughout the area.

After another long bus haul to the City of Puno – a small city at the lake on the Peruvian side – I enjoyed a day trip to the famous floating islands and the remote island of Taquite. The floating islands served as a protective mechanism from persecution – on land the resident Indians faced war and assaults from other tribes, on the large islands, created by piling bundled layers of reed on top of each other, they remained save.

From there on I headed to Cuzco, the gateway town for trains departing for one of South America’s biggest attractions altogether. After a painstakingly slow train ride from here I arrived at the city of Agua Calientes, nestled in a narrow valley below densely forested mountains. A winding road with countless switchbacks propelled me to the heights of narrow mountain ridge from which I can lay eyes on it for the very first time: Machu Picchu. More impressive than any postcard or picture it towers high above the valley and river flowing below on a stretch of rock that seems impossible to hold a city. It is no wonder that the Spaniards never discovered this city during their conquest, and it was only rediscovered in the early 20th century.

Back again in Cuzco I am beginning the home stretch of my journey, which will lead me to Lima where I will have to catch a plane that will take me back to Austin and then via Cuba and Seattle back to Europe. I decide not to take the direct route to Lima, but instead stop for a day to take a quick glance of yet another one of South America’s famous mysterious sites: The Nazca lines. Highly accurate shapes and lines depicting animals, people, and unknown entities carved into the rock – in a size only truly appreciable from high up in the air. Many theories have emerged how and why these lines were created, but none has ever been proven.

My time in South America had come to an end… it was over 5 months that I had set out for Costa Rica to brush up my Spanish, now, thousands of sleepless miles in overland buses and dozens of cheap accommodations later, I was in Lima, waiting for my flight that would take me out to Austin, back to Heather and Mat, and onwards back to my friends in Seattle and Europe.

After some time at home now, I managed to get a compilation of some of the nicest pictures into a single gallery on my smugmug site, yet it doesn't allow me to sort it chronologically... maybe some other time.

Touching the sky....

La Paz, Bolivia: At an altitude of over 3600m (11,000ft), nestled in a valley in the shadow of the Cordillera Real (a part of the Andes) lies La Paz, the capital of Bolivia (overlooking for a moment that the judicial capital of Bolivia really is Sucre, but with the palace of the president, the congress, and the vast majority of the people and financial muscle of the country, La Paz is the de-facto capital).

Coming from the small, remote town of Uyuni, the difference could hardly be any more stark. Sure, people still speak Spanish (or Quechua for that matter)and women still wear traditional dresses and boulder hats - but just as common an occurence on the street at they are the businessmen in fine tailored suits and the teenagers in clothes that could put them smack into Buenos Aires, Berlin, or Seattle as well. La Paz is a bustling city with skyscrapers and fast food restaurants (yes, Burger King and McDonalds have made their way here, too), computer stores and movie theaters (I watched Mission Impossible III here).

"The shoestring", how I have heard my comprehensive Lonely Planet "South America" guide being referred to, usually offers a few sound suggestions for accomodation in any given city - but whenever I get the chance I actually follow the recommendations of other fellow travelers for a new city. A guide book is quickly outdated, and people who have just lodged somewhere a few days or weeks ago have usually a better grasp on the current state. So for my accomodation in La Paz I followed the advice given to me by an Argentinean couple during my Salar de Uyuni trip (and they were a nice elderly couple - if they liked the place, it couldn´t be that bad).

The place that I stayed in here was the "Hotel Torino" - smack in the middle of La Paz only half a block from the cathedral and the presidential palace, and right down in the middle of all the action. Renovated in the 50s it probably wasn´t anywhere near what I would have called "nice" in the states, but for here it was more than sufficient - and that for 50 Bolivianos for a single room with private bath (about USD $6), who can complain?

In order to get a better view of the city, I started hiking up one of the slopes of the valley - in the midday heat a very sweaty business, made a bigger challenge by the fact that the air at this altitude contains a lot less oxygen, so you are out of breath really quickly. After I made it about half way up, I wisened up and asked one of the locals which "micro" could get me up the rest of this slope. "Micros" are little mini-buses that have about 9-12 seats and constantly commute between popular places (in my case the cementary and the top of the hill, Ceja), and for 1 Boliviano (about 12 cents) you can hop on and ride along. I had worked my way up this slope for 1.5 hours, and now I learned that for less than a quarter I could have gotten a ride up AND down again! Needless to say that I didn{t waste much time and stopped the next micro going in my direction. The view from above was spectacular (see picture). La Paz appears antirely brown due to the fact that houses made of plain bricks are "finished" without any cover or paint (to me they always appeared as half-finished constructions, until I realized that they were considered done).

Another adventure to be done in La Paz is to visit the Mercado Negro, the black market. While apparently most of the business conducted here these days is legal, that wasn´t always the case. The market is essentially a maze of market stands and boothes that spreads over several blocks selling everything from shoelaces to fleece pullovers, from fish to office supplies. Many streets are completely blocked for traffic and only very narrow walkways allow you to meander through the labyrinth of merchants. Luckily it is really easy to get your bearing in La Paz (since whenever you head downhill you will hit the main throughfare), otherwise many a visitor might get lost in this part of town.

After only two days in La Paz I headed on to Lake Titicaca - excited to yet again move to another famous landmark of South America, yet sad to feel like not having given La Paz the time it deserved (more from the Lake and it´s highlights the next time). Among the cities that I have visited during this trip, La Paz was a definite highlight ranking almost up there with Buenos Aires (and you know how much I loved Buenos Aires).

(Images from La Paz in this gallery.)