is it travel?

A travelog of sorts: Josh and Renate in the Americas

    

About our Trip

From September 2004 to August 2005, we (Josh and Renate) are exploring North and South America - traveling, studying, researching, working, and living. First, a month traveling across the US, visiting friends and urban planning schools (where Josh spoke about Planners Network). Then, onwards to Argentina, through Central and South America.

Or, in more detail:

USA
September 11-13 - Washington, DC
Adams Morgan fest, Eastern Market, reunions over Ethiopian food, museums of course

September 14-15 - Ann Arbor, Michigan
Schmoozing at cafes and the such, aborted Scissor Sisters concert, Botanical Gardens, Planners Network talk at UM

September 16-19 - Chicago
Planners Network talk at UIC, Eyes Wide Open exhibit on the war in Iraq, Millennium Park, visits to Albany Park community development corporation and Center for Neighborhood Technology, Indian treats on Devon Rd., Little Village community mapping workshop, bike ride round town, fabulous dinner parties

September 17-19 - Savannah (Renate)
Jen’s wedding

September 19-20 - Urbana Champaign
Planners Network talk at UIUC, custard cups and chocolate cafe, cheap meals and good times

September 20-23 - Iowa City
Book-browsing at Prairie Lights, pie-shake at the Hamburg Inn #2, Planners Network talks at Univ of Iowa and with community group, surreal films 101 with Jaimie, playing in public fountains

September 24-27 - Seattle/Victoria/Vancouver
Celebrating new Canadian lawyers and the Bars that admit them in Victoria, mashed potato martinis, sushi in Vancouver, The Ex in Seattle

September 27-28 - Portland
Reminiscing, Kung Poa Chickens in concert, Marionberry Pie, breakfast

September 28 - Eugene
Cougar hot springs, lunch at the food fight cafeteria from Animal House, Planners Network talk at Univ of Oregon, cosmic pizza from the Strand

September 29 to October 1 - San Francisco
Record shopping, lice scare, long lost travel companions, Martus training, North Berkeley Farmers market

October 2-5 - Los Angeles
Life on the highway, abstract ecological art (and Planners Network talk) in Pasadena, House of Pies diner, communist chinese food in Venice, visiting punk rock mormons in O.C., visiting radical Jews at the Workman's Circle office, Boyle Heights cemetery and taquitos tour with Keri

October 6-8 - San Diego
Jazz in the Gaslamp district, Encinitas mystic gardens and endless beach, close encounters with starfish, Planners Network and gentrification talk at San Diego State, the official affordable housing and roofless mall planning tour of San Diego (courtesy of Nico)

October 9-12 - Denver
Lost luggage, Casa Bonita (cliff diving adolescents, skeeball, and the world's worst Mexican food served to 800 people at a time, as featured in South Park), preview of Frozen Dead Guy Days in the mountain town of Nederland, hiking to the lost lake in the Rockies, chrome art in warehouses, daytrip to Boulder

October 13 - El Paso + buses galore

MEXICO

October 14-15 - Zacatecas
Rooftop views, experimenting with veggie gorditas, movie night with the EZLN (Zapatista National Liberation Army), testing out our Spanish "skills", marching band practice in the park
October 15-16 - Guanajuato
Cervantino (international festival of music and art), Don Quixote iconography museum, experimenting with the tastes of various forms of fried bread and sugar, charmed by a picturesque canyon town with underground streets, stalking Mexican indie-rockers to discover imaginary secret concerts
October 17-21 - Querétaro
Downtown markets, walks in the parks, reading about and discussing liberation theology and Chiapas, home-cooked meals
October 21-25 - Mexico City
Close encounters with Sonic Youth, Zona Rosa yuppie district, drinking with Fullbright scholars, Mercado Merced (the biggest market in North America), Diego Rivera murals, Plaza de Tres Culturas (Aztec ruins and site of 1968 Tlaltelolco student massacre), Tianguis del Chopo (punk rock market), Museo Nacional de Anthropología, Museo de Art Moderno, Museo Frida Kahlo, Casa de Leon Trotsky, afternoon stroll through Coyoacán
October 25-27 - Oaxaca
gift shopping, gift mailing, coffee and chocolate sampling, fine vegetarian dining
October 28-31 - San Cristobal, Oventic
sweets & handicrafts market, Café Museo Café (coffee museum), La Jornada public forum on indiginous affairs, Pancho Villa film, South African dance troupe, fun and games and bureaucracy at the Immigration Office, Zapatista film, visit to Oventic (autonomous Zapatista municipality), interviews with Zapatista community representatives

GUATEMALA

November 1 - December 5- Quetzaltenango (Xela)
Juan Sisay Spanish language school
Day of the Dead celebrations
Lots of trips: Monterrico (black sand beach and mangrove swamps), Lake Chicabal (on top of a volcano), Zunil (sacred manequin), San Martin (participatory budgeting), Lake Atitlan (mountain-ringed paradise), Almolonga (farmlife and thermal baths)
 
EL SALVADOR

December 6-8 - San Salvador
Paty and her gracious family, Oscar Romero-related sights, vegatarian all-u-can-eat buffet, pickpocketing dismay, private bank club, University of Central America, malls decorated for Christmas
December 9-10 - Morazán Disctrict
Perquin: FMLN musuem, scenic battleground hike; San Francisco Gotera: Bonding about gloablization with NGO leaders, papusas; Ciudad Segundo Montes: refugee resettlement town
 
HONDURAS

December 11-12 - Choluteca
 Token visit to other Central American country
 
NICARAGUA
December 11-24 - Estelí
CENAC Spanish language school, school trips to coffee roaster, FSLN office, human rights NGO, autonomous university, prison, education ministry meeting, natural medicine foundation, rebel rock concert, Museum of Heros and Martyrs, day trip to León
December 24 - Managua
 
ECUADOR

December 25-28 - Quito
 An urban planner's tour of the town, car free day, errands for the rest of our trip, Guapalo (picturesque hill-side neighborhood), gorging ourselves on Indian, Mongolian and Middle Eastern foods
December 28-30 - Quiltoa Loop
 Latacunga (our base), Pujili and its ceramic statutes, a vigorous hike to the Quiltoa crater and the immense market of Sasquili, more than enough Chinese food, encounters with friendly Ecuadorans

December 30-31 - Riobamba, Alausi, Cuenca
Devil's Nose Train Ride
December 31-January 1 - Cuenca, Loja
New Year's celebrations: fireworks, burning paper-mache dolls in effigy and children blocking roads asking for money
 
PERU
January 2-4 - Chiclayo
Encounter with Peace Corps Volunteers, Tucume pre-Incan ruins (longest adobe structure in the world), witchcraft market, Josh's infected eyes, Hari Krishna food and encounters
January 5-8 - Lima
Peruvian hackers, trova music, Renate's lost sweatshirt, double date with Cesar and Andrea, Brazilian visas obtained, lunch in Chinatown, Renate's meetings with HRIP contacts, African Peanut Stew
January 9 - Puno
Military flag parade, boat trip on Lake Titicaca, exploring markets
 
BOLIVIA
January 10 - Copacabana
Boat ride to Isla de Sol, Incan steps, more ruins, learned of strike in El Alto
January 11-13 - La Paz
Bus ride that began at 4 a.m. concludes with 4-hour walk through El Alto, where all the roads are blocked due to a general strike protesting high water prices. Coca museum (and coca candy), witchcraft markets, more markets, attempt to connect with freemasons, first rainy days
January 14-17 - Uyuni Salt Flat Tour
Four-day tour in a jeep with 2 other couples, stunning scenery
January 18-20 - Potosí
Renate diagnosed with intestinal infection, Josh explores the most profitable and deadly mine in the world (Cerro Rico)
January 21-22 - Santa Cruz
Another general strike, a hunger strike (ours was unintentional and short-lived)
 
BRAZIL
January 23-31 - Porto Alegre
INURA Encounter: Architectural tour of Porto Alegre, boat tour and visits to favelas.  World Social Forum: Josh organized sessions on Participatory Budgeting in the North and progressive urban planning; Renate learned how to sue multi-national corporations and offered her two cents on defending human rights in the age of terrorism; charmed and were charmed by ex-weathermen; indulged in fabulous buffet breakfasts with our housemates; Josh lay in bed as stomach gurgled; Naomi Klein's "The Take" and discussions with occupied factory workers offered inspiration.
 
URUGUAY

February 1-12 - Montevideo
Southern Encounter Conference linking activists in the US with those in Montevideo; shopping for antiques at the sunday street fair; strolling along La Rambla; another prison visit; another meeting with another mayor; and a refreshing dip in the Atlantic.
 
ARGENTINA
February 13 - May - Rosario
Shopping for professional-looking clothes; meetings with harm reduction advocates, participatory budgeters, police cadet trainers, solidarity economy facilitators, museum directors, professors, judges, public defenders, popular educators, and hordes of municipal government socialists; and cooking our own meals!
 
CHILE
May 11-17 - Santiago, Isla Negra, Valparaiso, Limache
Reading Harper's, supporting Mapuche rights, San Paolo Bienniel at art museum, exploring Santiago, Pablo Neruda's house in Isla Negra, outdoor mural museum in port city of Valparaiso, visiting friends of friends in Limache
 
ARGENTINA
May - August - Rosario
Visit from the Kantors, trapeze and silks classes, Argentine trivial pursuit, attending philosophy classes at the law school, interviewing participatory budgeting counselors, renting DVDs, language intercambios

June 22-27 - San Juan, Barreal, Calingasta, Jachal
Go to San Juan province to protest mining and support oregano and garlic growers as part of Norte Americanos por la Destrucción Ambiental (North Americans for Environmental Destruction)

 

RETURN TO USA
August 17th