Bolivia

Click here to see my pics!

Back to South America, that lovely continent of varied and breathtaking terrain, delicious food, fascinating politics, and welcoming people with a strong sense of their identity and culture. Yes, I sound like a travel channel special, but I can’t help it! I’m becoming obsessed…

Bolivia is the poorest country in South America, with a life expectancy of only 63 years. It’s also the most forgotten country in the Americas. A recent poll showed that the majority of U.S. citizens don't know where the country is located. The presence of the United States is never forgotten in Bolivia, however. The livelihoods of many Bolivians literally depend on the United States for survival, as the economy depends on exports of zinc, tin and oil to the U.S. and Brazil. And, of course, on the exports of the biggest industry – trade in coca leaves. Bolivia is the world’s third largest producer of cocaine. The U.S. recently suspended trade benefits with Bolivia, and that combined with the global financial crisis is currently posing severe challenges for the Bolivian economy.

I spent all of my time in La Paz, the capital city. Few cities in the world can claim such a spectacular setting, built in a narrow canyon in the midst of the Andes mountains. The permanently snow-covered mountain Illimani looms over the city, and many of the city’s inhabitants still revere it as a powerful deity. The city as a whole is unlike most capital cities I’ve travelled to, where usually, more so than any other part of the country, you can feel the effects of globalization. La Paz, however, still feels removed from the pace of the rest of the world and less affected by globalization. It has retained its distinct cultural heritage, made up of two very different societies: the indigenous and European. La Paz was founded as a center of Spanish power in the Andes, but many of the indigenous Aymara people from the surrounding countryside were resettled right across the river from the Spanish city to serve as a pool of cheap labor. Ironically, this section of the city is also where most of the churches were built as part of the effort to convert them to Christianity.

The population is still very divided, with the colonial city center full of banks and government ministries on one side of the river and the main indigenous neighborhoods full of bustling markets on the other. I spent one of my afternoons wandering through one of the markets, where Aymara women were selling llama fetuses, dried frogs and lizards and a manner of other dead animals that are still commonly purchased for use in Aymara rituals. One of the women I was travelling with recently visited a small village and watched one of the rituals, where the priestess burned the llama fetuses during a ceremony of several hours and used the ashes to predict the future. my friend didn't catch all of it, but thinks it had something to do with anticipating the crops for the coming year.

More than 60% of Bolivians are of Indian decent, but traditionally the Bolivians of European descent have controlled the positions of power and wealth. Recently, however, the country elected its first indigenous president, Evo Morales. Much of the language used in the election stirred up nationalist questions about who is truly Bolivian, and as a result, the country is very divided at the moment. When the public discourse emphasizes the rights of the indigenous people who, although the majority of the country, are the poorest, most marginalized and oppressed, it makes room for dissention very difficult. Many of the hopes initially placed in the new president to are waning. While I was there, I heard a political economist speak about the current context of the country, and in many cases poverty levels and discrimination are actually increasing. There are concerns that although the indigenous discourse is used, the structures still haven't changed, and the same people still control the country's wealth and power like they always have.

I spent most of my time working with CARE Bolivia’s staff, who, given the changing social, economic and political environment, are determining how to be most strategic with their work. This entails assessing the root issues in the country that are causing poverty and social injustice, and deciding what work would be most effective in addressing those issues. They focus their work on indigenous women and children, who suffer disproportionately from poverty and lack of access to opportunity. So the conversation was incredibly interesting, learning about the people they’re working with and the issues they face.

They promised that when I go back, they'll take me to the Amazon, where you have to get permission from the tribes to visit. I spoke with the guy who runs CARE's programs there, and his stories were unbelievable - snakes the size of trees, herds of the largest rodents in the world that swim, crocodiles on every side as you canoe through the rivers. Sign me up!

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Ecuador

Click here to see my Ecuador pics!

I am absolutely fascinated by South America. The diversity of culture, astounding range of ecosystems, the delicious food, the art and music: both Peru and Ecuador have been amazing trips. And as a plus, this was certainly one of the easier trips I’ve taken: Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar as its currency, the same plugs, and it’s only a one hour time difference and a 5 hour flight!

While I was there the country was gearing up to vote for a new constitution and that seemed to be all anyone was talking about. Ecuador has had 9 presidents in the past 11 years, so quite a lot of political instability, but it has never erupted into violence, unlike most of the countries surrounding it.

Quito, the capital city, is in a dream setting, set within the Andes at an elevation of 9,350 feet. It has a beautifully preserved historical center, with old colonial plazas and balconies and cathedrals. Wandering through the old town on Sunday, when cars are banned from the road, I felt like I was back in Spain. I really can’t believe that Ecuador hasn’t become a tourist hotspot from the U.S., given Quito, the jungle, the Andes and the indigenous towns. And oh, the food. I love South American food! The ceviche, fresh fish with plantains and maize, avocado with everything and the amazing ajo, a type of spicy salsa, that you find on every table and that Ecuadorians heap on everything.


My trip fell over a weekend, so I took a trip up to Otavalo, an indigenous town in the northern highlands. The drive alone, through the mountains, past active volcanoes and lakes, was worth the trip. I stayed in a beautiful hacienda with a courtyard full of tropical flowers. The indigenous people who live in Otavalo and the surrounding areas have been the most successful at making markets work for their products, and the town reflects that success. It is incredibly clean and nice, with modern amenities, yet has still retained its traditional customs.

On Saturday morning I got up at 6 am to go to the animal market, where all of the people in the surrounding area buy and sell their livestock. It was unbelievable – a huge field full of all different kinds of animals and noises and smells and people bartering over them and carrying them home.

I then went to the craft and food markets, and bought some beautiful art and jewelry and, of course, went from stall to stall sampling the street food. I think I had one of the best meals of my life - pork with maize and tomato and salsa – although it was a bit unsettling that I was staring at the pig’s face while eating it. I went hiking around a nearby waterfall in the afternoon, and then went to a cockfight that night. Yep, a cockfight. They have a ring for it and everything, and go through such a process of weighing them, and matching them up and betting on them. I wouldn’t go back but it was quite the experience!

Similar to my work in Bangkok, I was in Quito to attend a meeting with all of the directors of the countries where we work in South and Central America, so it was fascinating to learn details about some of the political upheavals in the region. We spent one day of the meeting traveling to visit some of CARE’s work, and I went with a group to the education program for indigenous children. 25% of population in Ecuador is indigenous, and they are the most poor and marginalized people in the country. And in many ways their lack of access to education is what keeps them poor.


Indigenous children were rarely successful in school because classes were only taught in Spanish and curriculum were geared toward the dominant culture. CARE has helped set up intercultural and bilingual schools, and doing so has transformed student success rates and the view of the indigenous community that school can also apply to them and their children, and that they have the same rights and abilities as the majority population. And girls were rarely educated at all, because the community had felt that doing so was pointless when the girls are just going to get married soon. CARE's education program has succeeded in changing this perception, and now the community views education as an equal opportunity.


Additionally, most indigenous children stop attending school when they turn 10 years old to start working long hours in local flower plantations, part of Ecuador's lucrative flower export business. Addressing the child labor issue has proven much more difficult, because families are so poor that they need the income that their children bring in order to survive. So CARE has begun income generating activities at the school for older children, so that they can attend classes in the morning and work together with teachers on a project such as a bakery in the afternoons. This approach is proving quite successful, keeping children in school and simultaneously helping provide for their families.


The day after the trip to the rural indigenous community to visit the education programs I flew back to the U.S. and went to my sister's bachelorette party. It was quite the transition!

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Bangkok

I went back to Bangkok on a last minute trip – I found out I was going four days before I left! I was there for a week last year but forgot my camera, so I was excited to revisit the amazing temples and palaces and canals and capture it all on camera…

Unfortunately, the day I got there violence erupted between the anti-government protesters and the police. It’s been all over the news, but basically about 20,000 protesters led by the People’s Alliance for Democracy occupied the Government compound and claimed that they would not leave until the Prime Minister resigns. Last I heard they’re still camping there, and it’s been over a month. I went to dinner with one of my colleagues and her two Thai friends who live in Bangkok, and it was fascinating to hear their discussion about the current situation. It’s really a clash like many happening all over the world in countries we work in – modern versus tradition, rural versus urban, laborers versus the elite. Anyways, the day I arrived the government declared a state of emergency, so I was confined to the hotel for most of my trip and couldn’t put my camera to much use at all!

So it was a good thing that the work part of the trip was fascinating, since the tourist part was virtually nonexistent. I got to be a part of a meeting between all of the heads of the different Asian countries we work in and learning about the operations in each one. It helps put the reality behind the news stories in places such as Afghanistan and Pakistan. A particularly interesting part of the meeting was the discussion about the complexities of operating in a conflict environment and the constant negotiation that doing so requires. It has been particularly difficult for our staff in Afghanistan – it seems to be getting worse every day, and it is heartbreaking to hear about certain situations and the overall downward spiral of chaos. I really believe that the U.S. action in Afghanistan was a major geopolitical opportunity squandered, and it is having ripple effects throughout the region, particularly in neighboring Pakistan. New terrorist cells are popping up every day, and staff are having to deal with the local mafia and kidnappings. The staff who have worked there for a long time see it reverting back to the kind of chaos and intimidation that the country experienced under the Taliban. One of our major focuses in Afghanistan is around girls’ education, and at this point the staff are having to have the conversation of, is it worth risking our lives to educate girls? It’s come to that point.

What’s always fascinating to me as I travel is the in-depth knowledge of and interest in American politics that I constantly encounter in people from other countries. Staff from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and Afghanistan who were attending the meeting had watched almost all of both the Democratic and Republican national conventions, and they peppered me with questions. When I express my amazement at the level of knowledge about what’s going on – much more so than almost any American I know – they always point out that the outcome of the U.S. election matters almost as much to their lives as it does to ours. It is amazing how much Americans are respected, and how much our ideals are valued and emulated, and it is so disappointing to watch that standing in the world be tarnished. It really affects global notions such as democracy and equality. For example, there’s a big conversation going on about whether or not we should claim links to the U.S. in the countries we work in, because having those connections undermines our legitimacy to take stands against wrongful government actions. We cry foul for torture and detaining without trial, they point to our troops in Iraq and Guantanamo. It is so incredibly demoralizing.

So the one night we went out with everyone attending the meeting, the hotel arranged for us to go on a boat cruise. It was quite the cultural experience. If by cultural one means a bad prom out of an 80s movie, complete with corsages, posed photos under an arch with the Thai hostesses, awful renditions of bad 70’s and 80’s music, slow dances, disco lights and décor. It was a riot.

Perhaps the next time I’m in Thailand I’ll finally get to take some pictures, and get to plan my trip far enough in advance that I can do some traveling outside of Bangkok. Click here to see the few photos I took while on the cruise and from my hotel.

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Refugee Films

As Joshua and I are becoming more involved in the refugee community in Atlanta, we are aware that many of the 'international' issues that I encounter on my travels often hit remarkably close to home. I wanted to note a few documentaries that help give a sense of the struggle of refugees both abroad and in the U.S.

Rain in a Dry Land – This film chronicles two years in the lives of two extended Somali Bantu families as they leave behind a two hundred year legacy of oppression in Africa to face new challenges in a strange new land. The film begins in January, 2004, at the Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya, where the featured families are stunned by what they learn about America in their "Cultural Orientation" class: refrigerators, stoves, bathtubs, elevators, stairs, buildings taller than one storey, schools, and all the things we take for granted in modern life.

God Grew Tired of Us- After raising themselves in the desert along with thousands of other parentless "lost boys," Sudanese refugees John, Daniel and Panther have found their way to America, where they experience electricity, running water and supermarkets for the first time. Capturing their wonder at things Westerners take for granted, this documentary, an award winner at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival, paints an intimate portrait of strangers in a strange land.

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars – A Documentary Film - This stunning documentary captures the triumphant story of six musicians who escaped the horrific violence of Sierra Leone's civil war, landed in a West African refugee camp and formed a band that would go on to travel the world. An unbelievable testament to the human spirit, the refugees' journey exemplifies the power of music. Directed by Zach Niles and Banker White, this film was honored by the American Film Institute in 2005.

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Global Food Crisis

While I was in Malawi, my youngest sister Molly was right across the lake in Tanzania for a summer school program. She sent an email saying that she completely understood my draw to Africa, because "there is so much poverty, and so much beauty." I found this to be particularly the case in both Malawi and Ethiopia, more so than other places I've traveled to recently. There is something so basic and terrible about malnutrition, and starvation, and drought, in a world of so much plenty. It literally robs people of their dignity and ability to just live, and undermines all other areas of development because all that people affected can focus on is how to feed their children.

The issue of food insecurity (the technical term) was a constant discussion point in both Ethiopia and Malawi, where it is a major cause of the widespread poverty. I have never traveled to a country with this scale of food and water shortages, and so learned a lot about the issues on this trip. And with the rising concern about a "global food crisis," and getting several questions from friends and family, I decided to post a seperate blog entry about the issue.

Villagers harvest maize in Malawi
Articles about the global food crisis are appearing in newspapers and magazines around the world - I saw several front page stories online during my time in Ethiopia and Malawi. There have always been cycles of food shortages and abundance, but what’s different about this crisis is that it’s a global one, not just localized. Usually a harvest fails in a particular country or region due to shortage of rainfall, spreading of crop disease, war, etc. This crisis isn’t just happening in one location. It is occurring in many countries simultaneously, which is unusual.

What's also different about this crisis is that it's affecting people not usually hit by famines - not just the poorest. A recent article in the Economist captures what this will mean for different economic classes: "For the middle classes, it means cutting out medical care. For those on $2 a day, it means cutting out meat and taking the children out of school. For those on $1 a day, it means cutting out meat and vegetables and eating only cereals. And for those on 50 cents a day, it means total disaster. The poorest are selling their animals, tools, the tin roof over their heads--making recovery, when it comes, much harder."

And it's not just a matter of going hungry. Food crises are causing political instability in areas of the world where the political situation is hardly stable to begin with. Recently, food riots have erupted in countries all along the equator. In Haiti, protesters chanting "we're hungry" forced the prime minister to resign; 24 people were killed in riots in Cameroon; Egypt's president ordered the army to start baking bread; the Philippines made hoarding rice punishable by life imprisonment.


Global food prices have risen by 83% in the past 3 years. When global issues such as food insecurity occurs, it deals the most severe blow to the poorest countries in the world - mainly in Africa, where 95% of all agriculture success is completely dependent on rainfall levels - and to the poorest people in those countries - the rural population, particularly the chronically ill, women and children. Hence the affect on countries like Ethiopia and Malawi.

Taking Malawi and Ethiopia as examples, there are a lot of similarities between the two countries that explain why they are so affected. More than 85% of people in both Malawi and Ethiopia live off of the land, so their survival is very dependent on drought cycles and the harvest. Traditional agriculture systems for subsistence no longer provides adequately for household needs in most years, and there is little capacity or opportunity to develop other, more vialbe means of income. Agricultural production of one cash crop – tobacco in Malawi and coffee in Ethiopia - drives the economy in both countries, which is therefore also dependent on the harvest, as well as on global market prices.

Global market prices are falling, and harvests have been poor. Both countries have disproportionately large populations for their size, and agricultural development has been hampered by rapid population growth. Additionally, recurring droughts, which have hit this area of the world hard in recent years, deforestation and land degradation are affecting agricultural production. Malawi and Ethiopia have been unable to produce enough food in recent years to feed their populations, and the countries are too poor to import much food.

So that helps explain why a 'local' food crisis is occuring in two specific countries. But why the global one? Why are 36 countries in crisis in terms of food security, all of which will need external assistance this year? Why did the World Food Programme recently announce that, due to rising fuel and food costs, it's 2008 budget won't even cover current deliveries?

It really all boils down to supply and demand. World food consumption has actually been greater than supply for the past 5 years, gradually eroding stockpile levels to where it's just now affecting us. The demand has been increasing, primarily due to two key factors: 1) Rising per capita consumption in rich and emerging economies. In particular, emerging economies with large populations, in particular China and India, are becoming richer and are thus consuming higher quantities of food (burgeoning middle classes means rising purchases of meat and dairy products, which are highly inefficient to produce in terms of grain and water use); and 2) Use of crops to create biofuels in an attempt to move away from a dependency on oil (the U.S. alone spends $7 billion a year creating ethanol (made from corn and grains).

The supply, on the other hand is decreasing. 1) It's costing more to produce food due to rising energy costs. Fuel is used in every part of the agricultural system, both directly (cultivation, processing, refrigeration, shipping, distribution) and indirectly (manufacture of fertilizers, pesticides – the cost of urea, a fertilizer, has almost tripled since 2003); 2) Increasing water and land scarcity. The global demand for water has tripled in the past 50 years, and we're running out. 70% of all water used by humans goes into food production. As for land - only 12% of the world's land is still available for agriculture; 3) Extreme weather. In the short-term, poor rainfall levels in recent years has resulted in poor crops. In the long-term, climate change will increase the number of people at risk of hunger and will lead to an increase of between 40 million and 170 million in the number of undernourished people; 4) Trade policy. Agriculatural subsidies in the US and EU have made agriculture unprofitable for various other countries.

For those of you interested in reading more in detail about these issues, here are two useful links: Click here to read a short list summarizing the key issues driving the food crisis. Click here to read a more in-depth paper on the issues. Or, really, just google "global food crisis." The New York Times, the Economist, and bunch of others have recently run good articles - most drawing on the research and statistics from the above papers.

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Malawi

Click here to see my pictures from Malawi.

Malawi is an incredibly beautiful country, covered by broad, rolling expanses of yellows, greens and purples, mountains and the huge Lake Malawi, which is more like an ocean. It is also an incredibly poor country. The average annual income per person is $160, making it one of the 10 poorest countries in the world. And because it suffers from one of the worst HIV/AIDS epidemics, with around one million people infected and half a million children orphaned by parents dying of AIDS, the workforce is increasingly being decimated. The average life expectancy is only 37 years old.

Rarely for such a state of poverty, Malawi is a very peaceful country. 1/4 of the population is Muslim and the rest are Christian, but there are no major religious or ethnic divides. In fact, our taxi driver told us that "things like that are other countries’ problems – we don’t understand it here!' There is a growing political divide between the current government and the opposition, however, which is to be watched because of everything else going on in the region. Neighboring Zimbabwe isn't exactly a success story. So the upcoming elections may be a concern.

Unlike my time in Ethiopia, I was really able to get out of just the capital city and see different parts of the country. I arrived on Saturday afternoon and two of my colleagues and I took a day trip on Sunday to Lake Malawi. The hour and a half drive from Lilongwe through the incredible scenery was almost as enjoyable as our time on the lake, with its beautiful beaches and crystal blue water. I had some of the most delicious food there – fresh chambo, a white fish only local to Lake Malawi, and mounds of maize. This was really my only “local” meal – the other local food, “Malawian sausages,” or rats being roasted on the side of the road, didn’t look too appealing!!

When I wanted to have chambo again a few nights later back in Lilongwe, I discovered a striking example of the lack of development in the country. The man I was with explained that it wasn’t readily available, and if it was, it wouldn’t be fresh. As for the huge quantities only an hour and fifteen minutes away in the lake? The systems and infrastructure aren’t in place to pack the fish, transport them in a refrigerated truck, and deliver them to Lilongwe.

My next trip was for work. I drove north of Lilongwe, once again through the beautifully endless savannas, to work with one of the CARE projects improving food security and nutrition in one of the poorest areas of the country, Ntchisi. The project focuses on several areas to increase livelihood sustainability for rural families, with a specific focus on chronically ill and single woman-led households: providing basic assistance with seeds, crop diversification and updated agricultural techniques; enabling community members to access microcredit; and bringing together farmers, local organizations, chiefs, village councils, international organizations to advocate to the government about certain food issues. I spent the day with the staff working in the area and learned a lot about the successes and shortcomings they’re facing with their work, and then they gave me a tour of the village and explained a lot of the issues facing farming communities.

85% of the population live in rural areas like Ntchisi and live on what they can grow to eat (called subsistence farmers). Their survival is therefore very dependent on the harvest and the level of rainfall, and even during good harvests food security never really exists. Alarmingly, over half of all children under 5 are chronically malnourished. Besides growing food for consumption, the major cash crop in Malawi is tobacco. Tobacco is Malawi’s main export, accounting for 60% of the country's earnings. It’s really hard on the land and expensive to grow, and farmers are 4 times removed from the actual profit. They grown the tobacco, harvest it and dry it, and then a buyer comes to the villages and purchases the plants that he wants, then takes the purchased plants to Lilongwe and sells them to a trader, who sells it on the trading floor to the tobacco companies.

The tobacco harvest had just occurred, so I was able to watch the villagers drying, packing, selling and shipping the tobacco to Lilongwe for the trading floor. So as you can imagine, the farmers themselves make next to nothing for their work, and they and the overall economy of the country are at the mercy of international tobacco prices. And with one of the lowest 3 GDPs in the world, Malawi doesn't seem to be profiting much from all of the labor and cost and land use that goes into producing tobacco.

I had a great trip, especially because I had several opportunities to see the country. Although the traveling part of it wasn't so great - I had to fight my way onto the plane headed home, they lost my bag, and I sat next to an 85 year old elephant poacher from Texas who talked to me the entire 19 hour flight back to Atlanta! I arrived back just in time for Joshua's graduation.

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Ethiopia

Click here to see my pictures from Ethiopia.

Ethiopia, where the oldest remains of a human were found (Lucy) and cultural remnants date back to 1000 BC, is referred to as the cradle of humankind. As the oldest independent country in Africa, Ethiopia has retained such a distinct culture and rooted sense of history and identity. It feels very different from most of the countries I travel in that were colonized.

I arrived in Addis Ababa on the morning of the Ethiopian Orthodox Easter. Yes, Easter - their calendar is different than ours due to the way they calculate the dates of various biblical events. They just celebrated the millennium last year, and they still tell time differently (never quite figured it out - I think they start at 1 at sunrise and go through 12 at sunset and then start back at 1 -12 again). From the dates and time to the art and decorations, the influence of the Ethiopian Orthodox religion can be felt everywhere. My boss is Jewish and he was having such a difficult time finding gifts to bring back home - everything has a cross or Jesus' face on it!

Another central part of the culture is the food. One of the best parts of the trip was just wandering through the city and happening upon little restaurants and coffee shops with menus only in Amharic, baskets for tables, and young men performing traditional music on drums and some type of string instrument. We ate at people's homes two nights, with amazing huge spreads of food. The raw meat was a bit much (!) but actually really tasty, except that one of the women I was traveling with got quite ill. They serve the food on huge table sized pieces of injera, a type of spongy bread used to eat the food with instead of utensils, and ladle portions of goat meat, cabbage, bean puree in front of each person. It's all incredibly spicy and delicious. And oddly, they bring big bowls of popcorn after every meal as dessert.

And best of all - the coffee. Oh lovely country where I wasn't served Nescafe instant coffee every morning! Coffee is 60% of country's exports and by far their most important industry. It is incredibly good. I attended a traditional coffee brewing ceremony, where the raw coffee beans are brought in and roasted right here in front of you, giving off an amazing smell, and then filtered with water and spices.

Addis is definitely one of the few cities that I've visited overseas that I could live in. I pictured it as being dry and dusty given the famine and drought issues, but it is incredibly green and lush and surrounded by hills. Apparently the rest of the country is exactly as I had pictured, however; it becomes incredibly dry and dusty about 10 miles outside of Addis. Not quite sure why I liked the city, though - there aren't any street names or addresses, there's no center to the city, and it's big and sprawling. But it somehow manages to have a lot of charm. Everyone I met was really friendly and engaging, I was not once approached on the street for money or stared at, and it's safe to walk everywhere, even late at night.

I was working like crazy for most of the trip, so didn't get to do any sightseeing outside of Addis. I will definitely make time for it the next time I go - northern Ethiopia is a fascinating mix of half Muslim, half Christian, dotted with religious monuments and ancient kingdoms dating back to medieval times. Even though I spent most most of my time in the head office in Addis, I did spend a lot of time working with the Ethiopian staff and discussing development issues in the country.

Ethiopia ranks 169 (out of 177) out of all the countries in the world in regard to poverty and level of development. It is plagued by constant drought and famine, causing major issues for a population of primarily rural farmers and herders. Women are some of the most marginalized people in society, and CARE focuses on working to empower them in various ways. For example, tradition holds that a bride price must be provided in order for a marriage to occur. The groom’s family pays a high price to the bride’s family and an even higher price for the wedding. This practice is causing a major issue that CARE is working to reduce: bride abduction. Men who can’t afford the bride price abduct young women and rape them, rendering them unmarriageable to anyone else and helpless to do anything about it. Ethiopian law was finally amended in 2004 to penalize abduction, but the law is largely ignored by law enforcement and the judicial system. A shocking 69% of marriages in Ethiopia result from abduction, with young women forced into marriages based on violence that exposes them to HIV infection, much less psychological trauma.

CARE does some very innovative work fighting against this practice, with their interventions based on the success they’ve had in Ethiopia and other parts of Africa to reduce the harmful traditional practice of female genital cutting. I had heard a lot about the work with genital cutting and some of the successful changes made in communities, but wasn't as aware of the extent to which bride abduction is an issue in Africa - I had only heard about it in Central Asia.

So after a whirlwind of a trip mainly spent eating and working, I flew down from Addis to Lilongwe, Malawi for another week.

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A Day in Paris

I unexpectedly had a 14 hour layover in Paris, which didn't turn out to be all that bad! I arrived at the airport for my flight to Lagos, Nigeria and then on to Ethiopia and they wouldn't let me on the plane. Apparently you have to have a visa to even land in Nigeria, and I was only going to have a 3 hour layover! Turns out that several people I knew told me, after the fact of course, that they knew of instances where people were thrown in jail for arriving without a visa. So I suppose I'm thankful that Delta wouldn't let me on the plane!!

Rerouting issues and long waiting time in airports aside, the day in Paris was lovely! I've been three times, but it was the first time I've been there since I graduated from college and the first time I was able to just walk around and enjoy the city without engaging in a whirlwind of sightseeing. The weather was beautiful and I spent the day wandering through neighborhoods, drinking wine and coffee at cafes and eating delicious French food and desserts. It makes such a difference spending time in a city without having to feel like a tourist!

I only took a few pictures, but click here to see them.

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Istanbul

Click here for my pictures.

Istanbul has been the setting for some of the world's most significant history. It was a small town for a thousand years before Constantine decided to make it the "new Rome" in 326 AD and turned it into Constantinople, capital of the Byzantine Empire and the largest city in the world for hundreds of years. It was sacked during the crusades and then conquered by the sultan of the Ottoman Empire in the 1450s, who turned it into his capital city and renamed it Istanbul, "the city of Islam." I read two books before my trip, one set in Istanbul during the Ottoman Empire period and the other set in the modern-day city, which helped give me a sense of the city's rich history and current events.

The city's culture is just as fascinating as its history, and its beauty rivals both. Straddling Europe and Asia, it is a true port city, with a bustling harbor and ferries shuttling people to and from the various neighborhoods. The juxtaposition of old and new, tradition and modernity is visible everywhere, with monuments from 500 AD alongside modern office buildings, hammams (group bathhouses with attendants that scrub you down and massage you - I went on my first night)operating in the same buildings from the Ottoman Empire next door to modern day-spas, women in the latest designer fashions passing others in full burkha, and all male tea cafes with backgammon sets on every table next to some of the trendiest nightclubs I've ever seen. With intricately woven carpets and colorful tiles and pottery on display everywhere, the Bosphorous river cutting through the heart of the city, the hauntingly beautiful call to prayer echoing from minaret to minaret five times a day, and thousands of tulips blooming throughout its many parks, the city is enchanting.

The best part about my trip was just wandering, stumbling upon ancient monuments, beautifully preserved mosques and churches, sidewalk cafes, and people going about their daily lives. And it should be no surprise to anyone that as I walked, I ate my way through the city! The street food was incredible, with freshly grilled fish and fried mussels along the river, bins of olives and cheeses in the bazaars, roasted chestnuts and pistachios sold by vendors on the street and tiny pastry shops selling freshly made baklava! It has definitely had the best food of anywhere I've traveled.

A few highlights of the historical sites I visited:

Aya Sofia, built 1500 years ago by Emperor Justinian of the Byzantine Empire to be the grandest place of worship in the world, (which it was until St. Peter's was constructed in Rome 1,000 later). It is so immense that when the city was conquered by the Ottoman Empire, the sultan decided not to destroy it but to turn it into the city's central mosque, plastering over the Christian mosaics on the walls. It functioned as a mosque until the mid 1900's, when the Turkish government converted it into a museum and removed the plaster to display the Islamic and Christian elements of the church/mosque together.

The Blue Mosque, built in the 1600s across from Aya Sofia with the goal of surpassing its beauty and grandeur. The walls are covered with over 20,000 blue-green tiles - it is beautiful!

The work part of the trip was exhausting, but really good. I was there for a workshop along with 60 others from all over the world. But it left way less time for touring than I was hoping for - I'm definitely going back, with Josh in tow, to explore the city some more and the rest of the country as well!

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Upcoming trips

So I've had a nice break from traveling but I'm starting to get antsy again... some new trips were scheduled just in time! I'm off to Turkey April 1 - April 9, then to Ethiopia and Malawi April 24 - May 9. I'll keep you posted (no pun intended!)

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Peru

I have always wanted to go to Peru, so it was exciting to be sent for work! I was working at CARE's office in Lima for 2 weeks and took 3 days over the weekend to go to Cusco and the Sacred Valley. There is so much in Peru that I have long been interested in experiencing - the Amazon jungle and the Andes mountains, Machu Picchu, the native Indian culture of 50% of the population, and the interesting ancient and colonial history. It certainly did not disappoint, except that I needed much more time to explore! I'm definitely hoping to go back, in particular to get to the jungle. Click here to see my pictures.

Being in Lima was fine - my work itself was very interesting, and the staff I worked with are young and fun and I enjoyed spending time with them outside of work. But the city itself was a modern sprawl - some pockets that were interesting, but not much. The real plus was the incredible food and drinks - ceviche, Peru's national dish, and pisco, the national drink, a type of brandy made from Peruvian grapes.

So the real highlight was Cusco and the Sacred Valley. Ancient Peru was home to several large and well-developed civilizations, the best known, of course, being the Incas. The Inca empire extended throughout much of South America and was one of the largest in the world upon the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century. The conquistadors were apparently most shocked by the Inca's capital city of Cusco, whose stonework and precious metals adorning the temples were better and finer than any in Spain. Around Cusco is the Sacred Valley, a long, steep-sided river valley in the Andes studded with Inca ruins and holy sites. At one end of the valley is the citadel at Pisac (which I also visited and is in my pictures) and at the other is Machu Picchu.


What makes Machu Picchu so amazing is the setting - literally on top of one of the Andes mountains, surrounded by clouds - and how well preserved it is. The conquistadors never found it due to its ridiculously high and remote location - it wasn't discovered until 1911 by an American explorer. So unlike most of the ancient sites in Peru, it was never dismantled by the colonists for the stones to be used for their own construction purposes or for the gold ornamentation to be sent back to Spain (the former jewel in Spain's colonial crown, Peru's abundant gold was 16th century Europe's main source of treasure).

The pictures don't do it justice. It was incredible! As was seeing the life and culture of the indigenous Andean people, half of whom still practice the Incan religion and use ancient agricultural techniques. It was a great trip and I'm hoping to go back and visit the jungle tribes.

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Jolly good time!

I just returned from working in London and Oxford for a week, and I'm having post-travel depression...remind me why I live in Atlanta? (Love you honey.) I won't write much about this trip - explaining London's sites in detail isn't quite as necessary as the lengthy commentary on my other trips! Click here to see a few pictures.

I had an incredible time. It was beautiful, crisp fall weather the entire trip, a nice break from our still-summer weather here! I had a lot of down-time between meetings to walk around, sit in pubs, go to the theatre, wander through museums that I hadn't visited on previous trips and explore London's incredibly diverse neighborhoods. Best of all was the relative lack of tourists at this time of year and the feeling that I was just enjoying the city rather than trying to cram in the major sites!

As much as I love traipsing around the exotic locales of countries that haven't been developed for tourism yet, I must say that a week on London on someone else's dime was a nice treat!

Up next - off to Peru in 2 1/2 weeks, and in the meantime a weekend visit from my parents!

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