Our scenic route to India

Hey friends. We will keep this a little brief otherwise it could be mammoth.

Since the last email Talitha and Tyson have participated in one enormous world and religious history lesson.

Firstly Egypt, a land of mind-blowing history. It was great to catch up with one of Ty’s uni lecturers, Sue Hartshorne, in Cairo for some local knowledge and tasty falafel. We spent time looking at pointy structures, climbing down tombs, climbing mountains of biblical proportions and relaxing on seaside cushions.

Jordan, a land of spectacular deserts and red ruins.

Israel, a confusing land of “chosen ones,” oppression, history, beards, hats, attitudes, tension, kids with guns and U.S. accents.  We had the privilege of staying with Devorah Sherman and her Israeli housemates in Jerusalem.

London. The motherland. Our social life is more hectic here than at home. We had the generous hospitality of our long lost mate, Simon Bills, and our “Prisoner of the motherland” friends, Neil and Kaye. We spent a night with Liz and James Lay in Coventry. A day at the cricket with Lucy and George and a few weekends and warm up curries with Josh Stewart and Leona.

Highlights:

• ·      The pyramids of Giza and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
  
• ·      The Valley of the Kings and old temples (although there were gastro issues literally “on” this 3000 year old history).
  
• ·      The red rock ruins of Petra.
  
• ·      Sleeping in the desert of Wadi Rum in Jordan.
  
• ·      Seeing many religious sites – climbing Mt Sinai, various locations of Jesus’ life and the Dome of the Rock (the most sort after piece of real estate in the world).
  
• ·      The occupied territory of the West Bank.  Seeing human faces to this tragic scenario. Walking the amazing streets of Hebron while people went about their day under the watch of 2000 soldiers protecting 400 Israeli “settlers.” Walking the “Security wall”, “apartheid barrier” or “separation wall”, depending on whom you speak to.
  
• ·      Floating effortlessly in the Dead Sea.
  
• ·      Pita, hummus, and felafel.
  
• ·      A day of cricket at Lord’s and a premier league football game.
  
• ·      Spending time with great friends.
  

Our travels have landed us in India for maybe six months. We are living in a town called Raxaul on the Nepal border helping out in a hospital. It averages between 42-45 degrees Celsius when the sun is out, with only the operating theatre and the computer server experiencing air-conditioned comfort.  Tyson watched the IPL final with the boys and we have put a poster of Gilchrist up in our office.

Love to you all. There are loads of photos on our blog and Tyson’s Facebook.

 http://tysonandtalitha.blogspot.com/

Love Tyson and Talitha

 

Feel free to read about our time in Peru:

http://www.peruschallenge.com/march09.htm

 

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Rambling from the confused……

 

Tipping cultures, the bane of the Aussie backpacker. The cause of much confusion, embarrassment, and discomfort. They are such a foreign concept to us.

Some countries have reasonably clear guidelines of tipping expectations, while others do not. Some countries appear to only jump on the tipping band wagon to trap unsuspecting tourists. At times restaurants add the tip automatically, but sometimes only for groups of six or more, or after eight pm. Without permission opportunistic men lift your bag into the boot of the car, seeking financial reward. Bell boys deliver a towel, that should have been there anyway, and request a tip. Do you tip at bars? What about fast food, transport or organised tours?

I have heard the line that tipping cultures promote good service. In New York this once meant an over zealous waiter pulled up a chair to our table for two. It ensures that your meal is forever interrupted, with “Is everything alright?” It means that you can never know exactly how much you will spend. It means you break local customs. It means a guide will indirectly ask for a tip by saying “Don’t forget to tip the driver for his hard work today.” It means that free tours are not free. It means that once you have paid your bill the service is rubbish.

The North American arrangement of under paying workers to allow for the generosity of others has never sat well with me. Lets say you work for a quiet little café or a poorly attended hotel. This must impact drastically on your wages. I do not understand why the “little guy” should be economically punished for a company they have no control over or vested interest in.  Our Miami taxi driver thought it awfully novel that Australian employees get a set wage that allows us enough money to live off.

But what about the service? I struggle to remember bad service in Australia. If there is, you do not return or complain to the manager. It doesn’t sit will with me to underpay someone.

Rio de Janeiro

We spent a relaxing time in Rio de Janeiro. We enjoyed walking the beaches and seeing the sights around this beautiful city.

"The Girl from Ipanema" was written about 50m from our hostel. For the majority of the time the surf was too enormous to swim at Ipanema (helicopers plucked people from the surf) so we swum at Copacobana beach.

A definate highlight was a semi-final clash between two Rio football teams. 72,000 people standing on their seats singing and cheering constantly for three hours.

Lots of thongs here (all kinds).

Peru, Bolivia, Chile

Highlights of Peru:

• The kids at the school, although our class control is pretty average with next to no Spanish under our belt.


• The mountains.


• Inca trail to Machu Picchu. 4 days, 3 nights, almost 50km. At times this almost killed us. It took our breath away, sometimes due to the scenery, but the rest of the time the altitude had that covered. The ruins of Machu Picchu are an amazing sight.


• Spending time with Aussies has been fun. One was a male model for Dolly magazine. Another a butcher who has the claim of eating a BBQ everyday for lunch! At least we have finally got a grasp on the true Aussie dream.


• Spending time with our dear Latin-Australian friend Brugh (who got us into this mess) has been great. Meeting up with George and Lucy from home was also fun.


• Foods eaten - alpaca (tick), llama (tick), guinea pig (tick).

From leaving our work in Cusco we travelled with some friends from the volunteer house to lake Titicaca. A fresh water lake so big that you cannot see the other side (as Australians we only thought this possible of the ocean). One night in the highest capital in the world, La Paz, then a few nights with our friends Bec, Bev and Jake Ward in Santiago, Chile. It has been a hectic but fun time.

Until next time.

Love Tyson and Talitha.

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Ramblings from the confused.....

South America. A land of political uprising, coups, protests, blockades, violence, danger and imperialism. So different from home?

I am currently reading a great book by John Pilger - "The Secret Country" (1988). In my opinion this is an important book for Australians and has stood the test of time to still be relevant today.

I was surprised to learn that the CIA had links to the overthrow of the Whitlam government in 1975. These same CIA agents were also installing the dictator Pinochet in Chile (from were I am writing this), supporting the puppet government of Vietnam and influencing the politics of Lao and Cuba.

"The CIA's aim", said former CIA officer Victor Marchetti, "was to get rid of a Government they did not like and that was not cooperative.......it's a Chile, but in a much more sophisticated and subtle form." Pg. 219.

A little scary

We made our way to Peru.....

We finally made it to Peru, our home for the next month.

The first few days were spent in the capital Lima. We met up with other volunteers and explored the city.

Cusco is our home for the month of March. It is a beautiful city at 3400m, surrounded by lush green mountains at this time of year. We immediately felt the affects of altitude once stepping off the aeroplane but this didn’t last long as our bodies accustomed to the altitude.

Peru’s Challenge is the agency that we are working with. Our time is spent teaching kids at a village school, construction projects, and community development. The rest of the time is spent learning Spanish, touring around the historic area, and spending time with the other volunteers.

We have already seen beautiful scenery and Inca ruins. We will do a 4 day trek to Machu Picchu at the end of the month which we’re really looking forward to.

It is nice to stay put for a while, unpack the suitcase and spend time with some great people. We have an upstairs apartment of five, and ten others live downstairs. We definitely have the best deal with a great view of mountains out of our bedroom window.

Miami

On our way to South America we needed to pass through Miami. After some extra attention from US customs (as we had been to Cuba), we made it to Miami Beach.

Tyson lived a childhood dream of seeing an NBA game live. The Miami Heat vs The Phoenix Suns. It was a great experience.

The rest of our time was spent predominantly window shopping, due to the weak Aussie Dollar. We attempted to eat a plate of ribs at the Outback Steakhouse.

Miami Beach was quite nice, especially compared to the Jamaican beaches we had visited. We found it amusing to see lots of people sunbathing in the 16 degree weather, while we rugged up in jumpers and jeans.

Miami is a bit like the Gold Coast on steroids. As with other US cities that we have visited, the class gaps and social problems are all too evident in such a materialistically rich society. 

Jamaica

Next we found our way to Jamaica.

In so many ways Jamaica is just like all of the stereotypes – dreadlocks, reggae music and questionable cigarettes. But at the same time it was nothing like we had expected.

We spent a night in Kingston and visited the Bob Marley museum. This was really interesting. On the property is his herb garden, which included his “herb” garden.

We then spent the rest of our time at Montego Bay. This is a place for American tourists and the super-rich. We had a nice break, but did not find this place to be the tropical wonderland that we had hoped. Due to the price of things we also regressed to our fall back meal of chip sandwiches.

It is funny why Australians bother to holiday at beach locations. Mo’Bay has a 150m stretch of coast that costs you $5US to visit. Not exactly the Australian dream.

One love…..

Tyson and Talitha X

Cuba

Well here is our first update. We are back in the realm where conversation seems to revolve around what is going into your body, but more importantly, how it comes out.  First stop Cuba, following epic flights against the sun and a night in Mexico.

Cuba is an amazing place to visit. It is a bit like walking around in a movie set. The crumbling buildings, old cars, people of all different skin colours, revolutionary propaganda, and the absence of any advertising make it a unique place. It is unlike anywhere else we have seen before.

We spent most of our time in Havana, but we were able to travel around a fair bit of the island.

It was really interesting to see many of the Revolutionary sights and to try and gauge how politics affect everyday life in Cuba.

One thing that seems evident is that the Cubans are a united and proud people. They admit to the limitations of their situation, but at the same time they are proud of their independence and self-sufficiency following fifty years of ups, downs, isolation and crippling foreign policies from big neighbours.

The government allows foreigners to stay in locals homes (those who have a permit), so it was great to live with people in everyday accommodation. Talitha has a good ear for Spanish, which helped us quite a lot.

We explored old towns and streets, frolicked in tobacco plantations, learnt about intriguing people, and smoked fat cigars (and then felt sick).

Love Tyson and Talitha X

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Ramblings from the confused……

It is interesting that Cuba remains to be the devil of the Caribbean. This little island continues to be on the receiving end of stringent US foreign policy. Some examples include the long running trade embargo, the fact that it is illegal for a US citizen to visit the country, the immigration policies and even the fact that all broadband internet connections purposefully bypass Cuba (by about 35miles) to service the rest of the Caribbean.

So why are the US finding it so hard to forgive Cuba?

Surely this couldn’t be solely due to their political persuasion. The US has found it within their hearts to start trading with China (who killed large numbers of US citizens in both the Vietnamese and Korean wars). They also trade with Vietnam (who, like China, is a leftward leaning country).  Throughout history they have also forgiven countries - the Germans, Japanese, English, etc. depending on how far you want to go back.

It couldn’t be due to the fear of military aggression. Cuba would not dare even contemplate aggression towards the US. They would be crushed in a moment. In fact all terrorist activity and military action has only ever come from the US. The Cold War is well and truly over so it can’t be that either.

So what is it?

This is why I find this little part of the world so interesting. I have my theories, but wont go into them.