Islands

I'm back in Washington. When I was gone I missed being here, and now that I'm back, I miss being there. Went to the grocery store, about 8 times the size of the one I've been going to every day. I DROVE there, didn't walk. The lady bagged my groceries, instead of me loading them into bags myself. They had mac n cheese. The kiwis aren't as good here. Milk from a plastic carton, instead of the cardboard boxes of milk. I didn't have to buy bottled water because the tap water here is drinkable.

Everything's different. It's what I was used to I suppose, but now it all seems foreign to me.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 09:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I left Fuerte today to head to Switzerland to visit my grandparents. I didn?t realize I?d have such a hard time leaving my island. I didn?t realize how I had begun to feel rooted in Corralejo, and that walking around the town one last time, and saying goodbye to some people, and going out last night would be bittersweet. I was sucking in the last fresh, warm air as I boarded the plane today, and then I watched Fuerte dissappear and become just a speck in the ocean.

Then I missed my flight to Zurich. The flight leaving Fuerte was a bit late, and then we had to take 2 transport buses to the terminal in Madrid, and I ran through security, and to the gate, and the plane was long gone. I freaked out a bit, but sorta tagged along behind a German family who seemed like they knew what they were doing. A bunch of people missed the flight, so a bunch of us were put up in a nice hotel. I was even invited to dinner with the nice German family, so it was nice not to have to eat alone. Free room, free food, and most important... I finally get a long HOT shower. I haven?t had a hot shower in two months, so you bet that?s exactly what I?m going to do after this blog. And tomorrow at 9 a.m. I will be flying to Zurich. Everything?s coming to an end. It?s odd.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 06:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I am cutting my trip short by a few days to go visit my grandparents in Switzerland. My grandfather is pretty sick, and my dad can?t make it out there right now to be with them, so I had my parents change my ticket to go see them for a few days. It should be good though, I haven?t been there since I was about 12.

Needless to say, I am scrambling now to get everything done, especially since I?m leaving Fuerte early. Today we went to the church service for Easter, and it was a bit awkard. Religion has never played a role in my life, so I always feel a bit uneasy about it. It was interesting though; mostly in Spanish, but also had bits in English and German. The other day we hiked Tindaya. When we drove there, and looking up at the mountain from the base, I was thinking, "Looks like every other mountain here, what?s so special..." We had a guide (prior to then we were unaware we needed a guide) named Pepe, who was really awesome. He showed us all these grabados (markings) made from the first Aborigines to arrive on Fuerte, and told us amazing stories of the past. It was especially intense because he was telling us in Spanish. But I understood him, which was really gratifying. The mountain, in the past, was seen as somewhat of a church, people would go and pray atop the rocks for rain and food for their families.

I did another interview today for my project...in Spanish. It went really well. On the walk back to the apartment I came up with some project ideas that I will toy around with, and see what I come up with. I?m just trying to soak up my last week here, be productive, and wrap things up.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 04:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It being week seven, I am feeling quite overwhelmed with all of my project stuff. But I think perhaps I'm getting it together. We went to see Cheaper by the Dozen, where I was quite psyched that I understood the dubbed Spanish version. It was difficult to document the audience, seeing as though besides Crissey and I there were just two other people. This morning I wandered over to the Friday flea market and used that as my cultural scene. I ended up buying a rather overpriced wooden trinket, from Africa, but I really wanted to take a picture of the vendor with all of his woodwork, and felt better asking after having bought something. He was really friendly, and when I said I was from the States he said to me, "Bill Clinton was a good president...I do not like Bush...I am sorry for saying that." I told him not to apologize. I have already developed the film because I've yet to find a place that will develop overnight, or during the course of a few days -- Only one hour photo. I have found two language schools, and ventured to both today, although one was closed and the other I spoke with a receptionist who gave me the number of the teacher. So I have some potentially really interesting leads on interviews for my project, that if works out, will be perfectly fitting. I also have an interview set up for Monday with the owner of the apartments we're staying at.

I'm beginning to get worn in. I'm sick of having a sandy bed all the time, and eating pasta for dinner every evening. I miss my friends, I miss my boyfriend, I miss my apartment, I even miss the rain. I am determined to make these last two and half weeks filled up with fun stuff, and productivity, but I'm also winding down, and wanting to be back home. I wonder if that makes me a party pooper...

We've been going to this small Spanish cafe almost daily for tea. It's a beautiful daily escape, and I've become addicted to tea. Today, the waitress served us our pastries and brought them to "our" table before we even sat down. It was interesting to me that the waitress had known where we always sat.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 01:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

There's this small buggy decorated in brightly colored flowers, driven by a man dressed in drag that has been making it's rounds around Corralejo constantly for the past day and a half. That wouldn't be so noticeable, if it weren't for the fact that this man has decided to keep his hand on his shrill horn the entire time, honking at all hours of the day, and all hours of the night. I think it has something to do with Carnaval, what I do not know...

I have finally gotten bathing down to an art. A nice, warm shower is simply out of the question here, with the huge shortage of water on Fuerte. I wash my hair, standing outside of the shower, with my head bent into the tub, and wash with cold water, and then use the only hot water to fill the tub to bathe in. However, it only fills about 2 inches before getting ice cold, so then I sort of flop around like a fish trying to stay warm in the little hot water I have and bathe at the same time.

We went surfing again yesterday, and it proved to be much more successful. The waves were beautiful - smooth and long. There were a ton of surfers though, so intent on not getting in anyone's way, and not getting run over, I stayed on the outskirts of the waves. I managed to stand, but my technique is absolutely horrible, so I immediately tumbled into the water. Surfing's a lot harder than I expected.

I am making slow but steady progress with my documentation kit. I have been revisiting my square meter and making some interesting observations on what's goes on there. I've noticed that now whenever I walk by my square meter my senses are acutely aware of what's going on around me, this documentation project has made me a lot more observant, not just when I'm supposed to be documenting my square meter, but all the time. I'm starting to see familiar faces almost daily around town, and it's nice because people have started to acknowledge me as well. Crissey and I have been frequenting Oink, the surf bar, and the other night I even played a game of chess with the owner. He kept swearing at me in his English accent when I took his pieces, but I think I only won because he was drunk and distracted with all the people milling around.

I hear drumming outside, perhaps some Carnaval shannanigans. I'm gonna take a look at what's going on. Later.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 01:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Well Crissey and I finally took a surf lesson. The conditions were pretty bad - bad enough that we didn't even go to the usual surf beach, El Cotillo. We had these enormous boards, 7'9 long, and after our surf teacher gave us a little lesson we bolted into the waves, still completely unsure of what was going on. The waves were rough, all choppy and too close together, so basically I just got my ass kicked, and wiped out a lot. I even cut my knee - a battle scar. After I rode a bunch of waves in on my stomach successfully (and also after I flipped over the nose of the board many times) our teacher taught us how to stand, but it was a lot easier to do on the sand than on the board. I tried a few times, but the waves were really bad at that point, and our surf lesson had ended. We've been in search of used boards to buy, and have found a few, but everyone we talk to tells us different things, so we don't know which type of board to buy. Tomorrow we're renting long boards again, but a bit smaller, 7'3, and our same surf teacher, Yens, is driving us to the beach. We'll see how that goes... The other night Yens, our teacher, asked us to go to dinner at this bar with a bunch of other people from the lesson. There were about 15 of us, half of the people I didn't know. We had a fantastic dinner! The drinks kept pouring in, and before we left Yens snagged us and we had shots of Absinthe, which was way too intense. We then headed out to find Carnaval, but no luck, so we went to Oink (the surf bar) and hung out with some people there. A long night, but in good company for sure. Sat on the beach today, perfect weather, went in the ocean a bit, got burned, listened to good music and ate a perfectly ripe pear.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Last week I took a two day trip to La Gomera, by myself. I stayed in San Sebasti?n, the town that the ferry took me to. I didn?t really know what to do with myself the first day, it being the first time I was by myself, and someplace I?d never been. I ate dinner by myself for the first time at a restaurant, and had a surprisingly delicions sopa de pollo y tortilla de queso. The next day I took the bus to the national park, with some of the oldest laurel trees in the world. It took me about 20 minutes into my hike to realize I had no clue what a laurel tree looks like, but I took lots of photos so maybe I took a picture of a laurel tree. I had no maps, but I didn?t get lost. I just wandered around the park all day, for hours, by myself. I passed a few hikers every once in a while, but basically it was just me hiking. I haven?t been hiking in years, it felt so good. I felt so independent, and capable - Like I can do anything. I hiked in the shades of huge trees, and then winded along the cliffs by the ocean, surrounded by aloe plants, palms, flowers, lots of lizards and bugs zooming around. I could see the snowy peaks of Tenerife bathed in the clouds, seemingly floating in the sky along the horizon. Then the bus to take me home just never showed up, so this old Dutch man and I shared a taxi. I?m so glad I missed the bus. The taxi driver spoke no English, so we had an amazing conversation all in Spanish, and for the first time here, something in my brain just clicked, and I understood everything, and he told me all these cool things about La Gomera, and all the names of the weird shaped rocks and mountains. It was a good day, but I got really sunburnt. Then I met back up with my parents, who were visiting me for the week, and Saturday we made our way back to Corralejo, and met up with Crissey. My dad took us grocery shopping and hooked us up, and we had a nice meal out with real food, which was a nice change. They left Saturday night, it was good to see them.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I met up with my parents in Caleta de Fuste on Thursday. On the busride there I saw some people I had met earlier and put my backpack in the storage of the bus and was chatting with them and the bus started to drive away! I had to chase after the bus to make sure I got on and didn?t lose my bag. Close call. Since we had a rented car I made my parents drag me to El Cofete, which I was unaware was about an hour and a half drive on a tiny, winding, narrow, dirt road along the cliffs. I thought my dad was going to kill me because he hates driving on roads like that, but once we made it across the island the view was spectacular. It was where Elisa, Crissey and I had tried to find, but couldn?t get to without a car. The beach spread across the whole coastline and was absolutely empty, just as I?d expected it to be. Then yesterday we took a ferry to Tenerife and are staying in Puerto Cruz, a little town that?s very European looking. It?s refreshing being here because there?s so much lush green landscape that I?ve been missing out on for weeks in Fuerte. I feel recharged surrounded by the colors. Then today we headed to el parque nacional de Teide, another long car ride winding up the mountains. I have never before encountered such a contrast in landscapes and climates in such a short amount of time. The first part of the trip began the ascent up the mountain and the land and houses felt very European and everything was flowering and green. Then we were driving through a mist of clouds for about 20 minutes, completely foggy and eery but pretty, followed by a stretch of monstrous trees and green everywhere, felt a lot like Washington. Finally towards the base of Teide everything became strangely similar to the landscapes of Fuerte, jagged and brown, craters of dirt piled everywhere. My mom and I took a cable car to the highest point in Spain and it was so cold once we reached the top! There was snow everywhere, and that?s something I wasn?t expecting to see these two months. From the top there was a clear view of Gran Canaria. Tomorrow my parents are driving me to the south of the island where I will depart alone for a two night stay on La Gomera. I?m very excited about that and will try and get to the laurel forests on La Gomera. Paz.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Yesterday, March 11, there was a big bombing in Madrid. 192 dead, over 1000 injured. I have no t.v. here and we bought a Spanish newspaper so we?re trying from that to figure out what exactly happened. We were in Madrid just three weeks ago, and return again for a night before we return to WA. Scary shit going on. In other news, we have moved into our apartment in Corralejo and bargained for a good deal. It?s nice to finally be settled. Today I am taking a bus to the south again because my parents are visiting so I?m going to stay with them for a while, and hopefully we will see another of the islands for a few nights. That?s all for now. Anything else just seems sort of trivial and silly to write about right now with all that?s happening in Madrid.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 07:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I have discovered the greatest cereal on earth: Globs! So basically my diet has consisted of 5 bowls of globs daily, a few kiwis, and two cups of tea. MMMM. Yesterday we were talking to some guy and he was alright until he decided to be funny and pour water all over me for no reason, and when I asked him why he did that he just said ?don?t worry about it...you look good wet? I?ve been putting up with a lot of shit from guys here, but that was over the top rude and disrespectful. On a lighter note, Crissey and I went out with ?Chap? (aka David the bartender) and Charlette, and it was really fun. We went to a little cozy bar, Havana, and had a few drinks. All I wanted after that was to go home and eat peanut butter and jelly so I called it a night before everyone else headed off to another bar, but Charlette was so sweet and insisted on paying for me to take a taxi up to my apartment instead of walk alone at night. Last night was good, and today Crissey and I are renting a car to go see some of the historical shananigans of our island.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 07:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well Elisa visited us for five days which was great because we got to reunite the canarian goddesses. we spent three nights in morro jable, the very southern tip of the island, and were in costant search of the postcard perfect and isolated beach and sand dunes, but those beaches remain a mystery and we settled for semi-crowded beaches near the lighthouse. we capped off each day with a hike up a little cliff of jagged volcano rock and watched the sunset. now we?re in caleta de fuste, the middle of the island for a week. there?s not much here, so we?ve been spending a lot of time lounging in the sun because we finally have good weather. before elisa left we told the bartender it was crissey?s birthday and ended up with more than we bargained for, but a good night for all for sure. crissey and i booked our apartment in corralejo, and i?m really excited to move in, go grocery shopping, unpack clothes, and be able to cook meals! i?m a bit overwhelmed with my project, even though i?ve been taking daily notes in my project journal, i still am confused about what sort of shape my project will take, but that only comes with time i suppose. that?s all for now, hope everyone?s enjoying their lush, green islands, because as we noticed quite quickly, our island is jagged and brown for the most part. so soak up all that green that you can!

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Oh yeah, and we decided after a visit to El Cotillo that we don?t want to live there. It?s too tiny. There?s literally no people there. It?s just too isolated and I think I?d get too lonely being there.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 03:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

It seems as though we have brought the rain. Whereas regular showers are normal in Washington, people we?ve talked to here say it hardly EVER rains, yet it?s sprinkled at least 3 times since we?ve arrived here a few days ago. We also brought the bad weather in general, it hasn?t been as sunny as usual we?ve been told, and the reason we haven?t seen any surfers is because there aren?t any waves. I really hope that changes so we can go surfing a lot. We might have found a place to live...Although until Monday morning when we check out the actual rooms and make a reservation I am not going to get my hopes up. I guess I shouldn?t have expected everything to work out perfectly. I was hoping for a small apartment with a patio that was a reasonable price and within view of a good surfing beach in a medium sized town to meet new people. We all have to make sacrifices though, and I think I?ll be happy if we get the place we looked at today, although we?ll have to make more of an effort to get to a surfing beach if we want to surf a lot.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 03:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We made it to Fuerteventura (Fuerte as it?s called here). I was worried because the landscape is such a drastic contrast from what I?m used to. I find comfort in bright green landscapes, and here the backgrounds are washed over in tan sand dune, brown land replacing grass and jagged barren mountains. Then I realized that it?s something completely different than what I?m used to and instead of fearing that, I should enjoy the new sights. I am glad we decided to come here earlier than next week, and it feels better to be here than on Lanzarote where I felt quite uneasy. We go to El Cotillo tomorrow which is a small fisherman?s village, away from masses of tourists, and near beaches to surf. We are going to try and buy used surfboards for the time we have here. Things are looking up.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 10:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Our last night in Madrid was pretty crazy. That kid Daniel took us out, to discos and the bars that locals go to. We drank a lot of sangr?a (wine, water, fruit, sugar) as it?s the big thing in Spain. We opted for staying up all night and at 4 a.m. being tipsy from sangr?a, having no food in our bellies, and running on no sleep, we trekked 20 minutes to a bus station to catch a flight to Lanzarote. It was worth it though and Daniel was really awesome. The place we stayed on Lanzarote last night was so creepy and we got up early to get the hell out of there. The place we?re in tonight is much nicer. We might stay another few nights here, then head to Fuerteventura to get started on establishing some sort of routine, and get our projects underway. I?m still really homesick, too often, and I hope that once we?re to Fuerteventura and I?ve made a routine for myself, that I can adjust and just have a really good time, instead of worrying what I?m gonna do for TWO WHOLE MONTHS. I?ve been speaking a lot more Spanish which is really good. I?ve learned a lot, it?s just still really difficult when people spit out Spanish really quickly. I?m catching on though. ?Hasta luego!

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

It rained all day and was so cold. Needless to say, I am very excited to be going to Lanzarote in the morning. (Although it sucks that we have to get up at 4 a.m. and lug all our bags to a bus station a half hour walk away). We went to two museams today, and got to see Picasso, and some really cool fashion/dress exhibit and my personal favorite exhibition of a lot of Dali?s work. We met the son of our hostal woman last night and spoke in Spanish with him, he was so patient and nice and taught us some lingo. He has invited us out tonight, the first night of Carnaval with his friends, we?ll see if we go. Last night we walked out of the internet cafe and there was some sort of protest going on, about lowering the age of retirement. We stayed awhile, although we didn?t understand too much. Things are getting a bit easier. Can?t wait for the warmth of our island... ?Hopefully we will meet up with Elisa ma?ana!

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 03:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

two nights ago we stayed in a hostal directly across from a hotel where Virginia Woolf once stayed. Rad, huh. Well for the second night in a row, I have been lying awake at night for hours, unable to find sleep, and for the second morning in a row, about 3 hours after finally GETTING some sleep we have been rudely awaken and kicked out of our hostals because we overslept our check out time. Luckily, we are staying our last 2 nights in the same hostal with a very nice woman in charge. Crissey and I were eating lunch and this guy from Nigeria tried picking us up. Then along came his friend and for about 15 minutes they wouldn?t leave us alone, tried taking us to bars, and discos, and tried getting us to smoke ?the marijuana, eh eh?with them. It was hard to fend them off, they were persistant. For the first time I realized how careful we have to be traveling, being two girls, blonde haired, young looking, and very American looking. Some people we?ve encountered have laughed at us when we try speaking Spanish, others are very patient. It?s a really hard adjustment I?m trying to make, and from reading blogs it seems that I?m the only one having a hard time, not totally enjoying every moment. Hopefully things will only get better from here. Crissey and I are both itching to get to our island, hace frio aqui en Madrid. Adios para ahora.

Con amor
kate

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 02:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

i ordered beer with dinner last night by accident. now i know not to get ca?a cerveca. i hate beer. the atm charged me 28$ to take out 100 euros. bla.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 09:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I thought our taxi driver was going 100 miles per hour, it took me a minute to realize everything is in kilometers here. Crissey and I made it to Madrid where we?ll be for four nights. There are lots of hostals so it?s just figuring out a good price. People talk so fast and it?s hard to understand but I get bits and pieces. Some people are really mean, but one guy at a hostal we booked for tomorrow is really nice and that?s the type of encouragement we need to speak Spanish. Things are really intimidating right now and it?s going to be a huge adjustment, even hearing all the Spanish is strange, regardless of what I understand. The keyboard is Spanish and very confusing to figure out how to use certain symbols. Will update soon...adios.

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 02:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN FUN

Posted by Kate Ochsner at 06:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)