Im Wolkenwald

Winter blues

2009-02-10T02:53:00.000-08:00

Finally, this morning the sun is out again. We had a week of snow, followed by a day of rain. At some point the council stopped clearing the roads and so the only way to get to the village - or to get out of it - was to walk, or to wait for the village-jeep-owner.

Not yet a month ago it was impossible to find clothes which were flimsy enough to help me cope with 36C whilst protecting me from the sun :(

Dulce de Leche recipes

2009-02-02T03:43:00.000-08:00

Having been quite taken by Dulce de leche ice cream and alfajores, I'm keen to make them myself. Dulce de leche is available here and here, and I'm quite certain I've also spotted it at Lidl, but apparently it's also easy to make yourself:
"Just put the can of condensed milk, unopened, in a saucepan with boiling water and simmer with the lid on for about 4 hours. Don't let the water boil dry though or the can is at risk of exploding!" (Emmario, UK Parents Lounge)

For further processing, the following recipes look rather good:
Scoopalicious Dulce de Leche and Chocolate Chunk
Cafe Johnsonia Dulce de Leche

More on Buenos Aires

2009-02-01T15:09:00.000-08:00

I had a fabulous time in Buenos Aires. Predictably, both B. and I were - I sheepishly admit - always especially happy when we had a reason to hang out in Palermo Viejo. I'm sure everyone who has read or heard anything about BsAs knows about the delights of this leafy neighbourhood. And yes, it is unabashedly middle-class, full of nice restaurants and cafes and even fuller of trendy clothes shops. It's like being back in my native country, plus great weather. I did almost all my shopping there - one can get both designer wear (see here for anything new and interesting) and cheaper items, such as the latest poopy pants (needless to say I didn't buy any).
Also predictably: there is a lot of good dulce-de-leche-icecream around...
And there are lots of doggies.

Buenos Aires

2009-01-29T02:41:00.000-08:00

At the beginning of January we finally went on our long postponed trip to Buenos Aires. We had booked with Iberia because it was a cheap flight and it promised us a 2h transfer to Madrid followed by a 12 hour non-stop stretch rather than a 16 hour non-stop stretch from Heathrow. We ended up with what looked for a good while like no non-stop stretch at all because Iberia was struck by strike action. After missing the connecting flight (even though they had reassured us we wouldn't) we had to queue amongst aggravated Spaniards at Madrid airport to beg for transfer. We, and some 5 Brits, queued patiently for 6 hours whilst the overwhelmed and decidedly unfriendly Iberia staff served the people who pushed past us. In the end I had to summon all my half-forgotten Germanic powers to jump the queue myself before all was too late. We were sent back to Heathrow that afternoon and got put on the 16h flight we had refused before. Of course Iberia lost our luggage on the way...
I don't think I want to fly with them again.
When we finally stumbled into the heat and sunlight of Ezeiza Airport it was just like heaven. We had booked our airport-transfer in advance and so we were met by the great Dante who took us to our destination in no time:

2008 - All Change

2009-01-25T14:40:00.000-08:00

The last time I added an entry is more than a year ago.
Almost everything has changed since then. We've finished the restoration and started living in our beautiful old house.

I gave up my Peruvian project because funds were sorely lacking. I started working in a new group on an old subject: microbial communities. I started having some sort of life again. B. discovered he had arthritis in his foot and needed to dance less tango, so we postponed our Buenos Aires trip. I needed to dance more tango, and so started going to the continent at least once a month. The only thing that hasn't changed is that I'm still teaching what feels like too many tango courses per week.

Mercury Retrograde

2007-11-05T16:09:00.000-08:00

In the last two weeks my fieldwork laptop got stolen, my colleagues in the field didn't manage to connect to my dataloggers to download my data, and a major design flaw was discovered in our still not working heating system in the old house. I had been warned by somebody less astrologically-challenged than myself that we were in a period of Mercury retrograde. Now I wish I had taken good note of her words and spent more time in bed whilst everything collapsed around me anyway. I hope now that mercury moves forward again I will too.

Tiling

2007-10-28T15:27:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last Aeon tiling. And I'm still not finished, even though the kitchen looks as if all necessary tiles were in place:

But I am painfully aware that there is a gaping hole under the window. I know that we work with lime to keep the house breathable, but I don't know why everything one does with it has to take extremely long.

Summer break perhaps over

2007-09-06T14:27:00.000-07:00

I felt sufficiently bad tempered about almost everything in the last 5 weeks that I saw no reason to blog. We have, however, for quite some time now finished the dreaded lime screed. It took almost three weeks and was quite back-breaking. The result seems to be worth it though - the house is deliciously cosy and warm and quite unlike anything I have experienced in the UK in all the 15 years I have been here.

Some success

2007-07-29T15:09:00.000-07:00

The first layer of our beautiful,insulating and moreover all breathable lime-screed-and-leca floor has been laid in our historic building. Now the old ground floor will hopefully stop having problems with damp.

Floods

2007-07-25T23:51:00.000-07:00

We didn't get flooded after the recent downpours, so, in a fit of flood-envy, the husband and a friend and builder ripped the mains water pipe in our house creating an artificial flood just for us. To save our floor, which in its current stage is nothing but a layer of clay, this got diverted onto the road from hence it flowed downhill through the village to join the big lake that is under normal circumstances the river at the valley bottom. This, I assume is the reverse of rainwater harvesting.

tango etiquette

2007-07-21T03:39:00.000-07:00

Here are concise-ish musings on the perennially frightening aspect of asking people to dance at a milonga.

Holidays - hm

2007-07-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

The last month was filled by a trip to San Francisco, a trip to the Netherlands, several decisions which will hopefully change my life, a cracked wall in our house and a computer disaster over there in Cuzco. The latter struck a few hours ago and looked like this (at least in the subject line):" PROBLEMAS CON EL LAPTOP"
I hope somewhat that this is easier to solve than a malfunction in the plot. Probably even easier than a crack in one's wall...

donkeys and fairies...

2007-06-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

...is the motto of this year's summer ball:

I'm grateful to the model.

Reminder

2007-06-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

They don't just have an important public loo (past the musicians, up the stairs and to the right) - they also know how to dance in Paucartambo:

Fifa ban

2007-05-30T17:10:00.000-07:00

Fifa has decreed that - for health reasons - no international football games should take part at high altitudes, thereby prompting protest from a number of the more mountainous Latinamerican countries and praise from some of the flatter ones, such as Argentina. Fifa is concerned about the effects of altitude sickness but given the enthusiasm that all Cusqueño taxi drivers I spoke to had for soccer this ban seems very cruel. I was often greeted with special warmth simply because there is a Peruvian player in the team of my hometown (which is located maybe 2m above sea level - will he feel unfit if he ever returns to the Andes?).
Maybe fear of altitude does not only stop Argentinians from bringing their soccer teams to the Andes ?
If the protests are successful I will consider similar measures - this might tackle the lack of Tango in Cuzco.

Cuzco - Plaza de Armas

2007-05-28T07:29:00.000-07:00

Having been uninspired for more than 10 days, I thought I can at least share some moving impressions from the Plaza de Armas with you:

Click To Play

Back home

2007-05-15T15:52:00.000-07:00

There was a lot of work to do the last morning and it rained cats and dogs. It felt absolutely ridiculous to connect the last few cables to the datalogger literally under shower-conditions. I had brought some handkerchiefs but they had dissolved after some minutes. In the end I collected a days worth of data and took a very hasty leave. I hope I will have some more data sent to me later this month...
And then the journey home was a long one.
From W. to Cuzco to Lima to Miami to New York to London took 3 days. And now I have been back for another three days. Today I went to the travel agent to book the flight back to Cuzco.

early night

2007-05-08T05:47:00.000-07:00

It is 9pm and I'm sitting in the dark - hopefully for the last time in the next two months. It is slightly annoying to have no light if one isn't tired but it is more annoying if things keep flying into ones face while one is sitting in the dark in front of the computer. Tonight I had moths of various sizes, a grasshopper, some mosquitoes and numerous flies.

Hyperactive moths are the most pestersome, of course, and the one on the photo has been tonight's star of bother, closely followed by a small moth which likes to hang out on the keyboard.

Sightseeing

2007-05-04T07:46:00.000-07:00

Cusco is definitely for tourists, and I finally managed to do some touristy things - such as going to the Museo Inca and buying some Alpaca pullovers. I even bargained to get a better price for the latter. A nervewrecking undertaking which I had to make up for later by going to the supermarket were prices are fixed and nobody wants to talk to me. I was quite touched to see the pullover-vendress bless the money she got from me, though - explaining at seeing my surprised face that I was her first customer of the day - at noon. Her shop was in a touristy-purchases-mall located next to ten others of the sort. Maybe things are better for the shop-keepers if the tourist-season is in full swing but life in these malls is certainly different from the bustle in the markets in which I normally buy my stuff for the field.
The museum yielded an interesting discovery, too. More than half my life ago somebody sent me a love letter which started with the photo of an emaciated male mummy, who had his hands raised up to his cheeks and his mouth wide open, like an uglyfied version of Munk's 'Scream', followed by the words 'if I don't get to see you soon I will look like this'. As I turned one corner of the museum I stood in front of this very mummy - very exciting to meet an old acquaintance so unexpectedly.
Another moment of excitement was when I arrived at the Plaza de Armas. A further military parade! This time just by schoolchildren and their shouty teachers.

Later on, when I was driven home in a taxi I saw the same children arrive back in their school at the end of my street. That explained the military music nobody knew about yesterday. They were rehearsing.

nothing much

2007-05-03T16:19:00.000-07:00

I have done nothing exciting in those last two days. I have written many e-mails to probe and datalogger manufacturers, used many handkerchiefs, washed my clothes, went to bed early, drank tea and was treated to some more excellent mournful Andean brass music from a little military band that marched up and down the road both last night and then again at lunchtime today. A little later some cannon shots were frired from a hill not far away, but nobody in the office took any notice and so I will never know what kind of national celebration it was.
People here work long hours - it's 18.23 and there is no sign of anybody going home. Most of them seem to get up around six and are in the office by eight. Times are flexible, though, and some go away to have a long break in the middle of the day.
I also went to the supermarket where the security guard wanted me to hand over my rucksack. Since that had my computer inside I was very unwilling and did what foreigners do in such cases - I looked stupid until he gave up.
My most exciting entertainment was a visit to Wanchaq market to have some keys made. The markets here are great, at least for people who like bargains.

First data

2007-05-02T16:21:00.000-07:00

I managed to take some data for the plot!
Very exciting, even though I had to pay with quite a few mosquito bites, despite DEET. All my sensors are sort of set up and we finished an hour before we were due to get a ride back to Cuzco. The second we mounted the bus I started snotting profusely - at first I hoped it was an allergic reaction to somebodies luggage in the bus that smelled very much of rotting milk with old socks. I figured I could open the window after some time, which made things better but sadly it wasn't an allergy.
A nightly bus ride through the Andes at full moon, though, is fantastically beautiful - and so the ride was a pleasure and a torture at the same time. As so many things seem to be here.
For the next few days I have been given a desk at the Research Organisation W. is run by. There is a radio link between Cuzco and W. In W., when one has an urgent message for somebody in Cuzco one is taken to the solar powered radio by one of the maintenance guys. Chances of success are around 50%. Patience is also required as one sits on a wooden box while the maintenance guy shouts 'Cuuuzcoosssocuzcoossucuzcoossooo' into the receiver for some ten minutes at least before there is an answer. I always thought it takes so long to make contact from the W.-side only. As I'm working in the office here I realize not without satisfaction that the flipside of the coin goes 'Ooossocuzcoossocuzcoossocuzco' for similar amounts of time.

The plot

2007-04-29T16:13:00.000-07:00

After another two days worth of fiddling with sensors, probes and other instruments we finally went to the plot today to do some serious setting up. And we did - we also met some friends which apparently jump and bite:

This one was quite lame, though. When prompted to do either it just curled up and dropped off S.'s hand.
We also thought we would be terribly lonely in W. but instead a huge group arrived - the Director General of the research organization the station is part off and all his family - including parents, in-laws and their friends. They're all jovial. I especially like the economist who specializes in investigating ecotourism and winks at one over breakfast. Cleaning activities and loo-paper provision at the station have also been drastically stepped up.
It seems that I have become the Broken-Internet-specialist for the lodge and so I have explained the system and how it should work to the Director General. Apparently it will get fixed tomorrow...

Bummer that S. has to go home on tuesday and so I will have to go as well because I couldn't work in the plot on my own.

Tonto

2007-04-28T16:12:00.000-07:00

On the way out of Cuzco S. had a chance to prove how patient she is. We had to pick up my remaining throughfall gutters from Huayruropata, an immensely polluted road on which one finds metal and metalworkers. Once there, I realized that the receipts for both the materials and the work had disappeared. And since I couldn't remember the date of purchase it took a full two hours to get copies - which, on Huayruropata, feels like 2 days. But once that had been accomplished with a good dose of por favors to appease many a grumpy shop assistant we were finally driven by E., a new driver, out of Cuzco straight to lunch in a chicharroneria - which serves chicharrone - which, I understand, is pig. And then back to W. And I didn't go to THE LOO.

And back to the woods...

2007-04-26T05:58:00.000-07:00

I have met a new assistant, S., and I think I've explained to her very carefully that she shouldn't expect any exciting equipment lugging through dense undergrowth for any amount of time. That she would indeed have to spend hours doing fiddly things with sensors and computers, combined with some balancing exercises on the slope to read throughfall gauges. She claims that's fine by her and so I hope there will be no surprises this time.
I also got introduced to her Mum who runs a juice bar - and so I had some fresh local fruit juice as well, albeit a bit reluctantly. But all went well as far as I can say one day later.
My new colleague has no time for taxis, and so we walked and took the bus. She said that was just as good and I would learn more about the town - and she was right.
And now it's time to prepare for the joys of the journey back. When I returned to here some days ago I was in such a bad mood, I didn't even used THE LOO. Let's see what happens today.

Back to Cuzco....again

2007-04-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

In a fashion characteristic for this excursion I had to return to Cuzco just when I thought I was ready to set up the plot. Last Friday we brought all the necessary equipment to the plot and it was very little fun. The next day I wanted to start setting up but V. succumbed to some form of depression she had been fighting with ever since we returned to W. Having tried to no avail to understand her problems for an hour or so whilst standing on a little romantic bridge crossing a little romantic waterfall on the way to the plot, my mind wasn't really on the work I was doing - especially because V. oozed out sulky unhappiness as she worked away in the other corner of our subplot (as, I assume, did I in my corner) - and subsequently I managed to cut myself quite badly. In the evening of that day the generator packed in and I was left completely stuck, because my hand didn't work and reading wasn't possible any longer either. I think the only one who was really pleased with these developments was the chauffeur, who (by a stroke of good luck) was nearby, and was very happy at the prospect of a night in his own bed.

logistics

2007-04-19T15:37:00.000-07:00

Time runs now, and there are many logistical joys to solve before I can take any data - such as getting my 2m long throughfall gutters and 1m x 1.20m metal run-off sheets to the plot which is 30 min walk gently uphill. I'm sure, though, that won't feel as gentle after some 10 min wheelbarrow-pushing.
Today the big landslide down the road was at least passable and so we could welcome our chauffeur who had been stuck in the jungle, and more specifically his car, for the last two weeks. He was mightily pleased to have a shower and a bed. He greeted me as 'Profesora de baile' and hence unwittingly put his foot in. I do miss tango to the degree that I even recognized an Orchestra when listening to music today, despite my phenomenal incompetence in telling tango orchestras apart. In the evening everybody seemed tired and so J. got one of P.s films which turned out to be a peculiar pseudo-political thriller which I got stuck with because I recognized the town it took part in. The film was far from finished when the generator switched off and all the mosquitoes in the comedor swiftly congregated near the screen, now the only source of light. Watching was much less fun from then on and after 5 minutes I fled the beasts. Now I will never know if the tough guy rescued the pretty chinese girl.

Down to the river

2007-04-18T17:16:00.000-07:00

One of the biggest problems of the Andes is that they are so steep. And photos capture very badly indeed how steep they are. One meagre example is a photo I took during yesterday's drive:

In the right hand bottom corner there is a bit of the road visible, and the reasons why it is not also visible in the left hand bottom corner is because the road is narrow - and the reason why one doesn't see any further bits of the slope on which it is built is because the slope is too steep to be visible.
This steepness makes the Andes quite tedious - when driving around and equally when walking. I noticed that especially today when we walked to the river at the bottom of the valley of which we live at the top. The river can be heard from our huts and I have for some time been quite keen to go there. We slid downhill through soggy forest soil for some 45 minutes and I am happy to say that it is very beautiful:

There is only so much you can do at a wild river with many mosquitoes, though, and we had also plenty other work to do and so we sadly had to make our way up again. I don't think I have ever sweated so much in my life as in these 2 or so hours I needed to climb up the 500m or 600m again that we had descended. I still haven't totally adjusted and V. was clearly better suited to the climes:

If you think the image is shaky then you're right. I was panting as I took it. I don't think I will try that ascend again - even though we bumped into a nice passiflora on the way:

Journey back

2007-04-17T17:14:00.000-07:00

Despite the state of the road and the steepness of the slopes on which it is build I enjoy the journey from Cuzco to W.
I just love to be surprised by whatever people do at the side of the road. Often they collect plants or guard their animals, but sometimes they do something like knit on a steep precipice far away from any human habitation. Today we passed a spot in the middle of nowhere were lots of clothes were spread out on some bushes to dry. I'm sure all these things are carefully planned but for the passer-by it is hardly apparent how people even get to where we see them.
We did stop at THE LOO, and I was forced once more to use it. I also got laughed at by two school girls - for being foreign, as V. suggested. Lastly, a cheeky dog jumped on me and I was displeased because I was sure it had plenty fleas. V. attempted to chase it away by throwing some bread into the opposite direction - the dog was of course delighted by the success of its strategy and kept coming back once it had gobbled the bread. We could only get rid of him by getting back into our vehicle. She suggested the dog was pestering us because I was scared of it - but I don't think so, firstly because I wasn't and secondly because I do believe the bread was the far stronger incentive to re-visit us.

Martes

2007-04-17T04:47:00.000-07:00

And so back to the forest. Hopefully this time to do a bit of setting up. I'm looking forward to the world's smelliest crouchy-loo. And P.s cooking.

A Sunday in Cuzco

2007-04-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

I decided to take the day off today – because I haven't really had a free day since I arrived. Therefore M -who has only just arrived - and I ventured out this morning to do some sightseeing and maybe find some bearable coffee on the way. The weather was glorious, and as we arrived at the Plaza de Armas (at which one is bound to arrive if one is anywhere near the city centre) we had a surprise treat in the form of a military display.

There was a band playing gloomy andean sounds arranged for brass instruments, accompanied by a display of goose-stepping policemen and schoolchildren. We watched until we were totally surrounded by boys offering to shoeshine us at which point we decided it was time to move on. Finding a bearable coffee was not easy because I had left my city guide in W., and M.'s city guide was three years old – clearly a problem, as all the cafes listed in there seemed to have closed. After some 5 fruitless attempts we bumped into a slightly wasted looking Expatriate who very sweetly pointed us towards the next expatriate hang-out which was situated on a pretty hill just below Christo Blanco. There we parked ourselves for two hours, looked at the scenery and talked to expatriates. The coffee was also good.

The rest of the day was spent with more walking, more talking, more cafes, more plazas

and a visit to the market at which we withstood many vigorous attempts to have something or other forced upon us for a very good price.

The sacred valley

2007-04-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

Yesterday V. had offered to take me to a wedding in the Urubamba Valley. But first she took me to her house where I waited in her sisters room until she had dressed. I was then shoved into a taxi and taken to another taxi in which some other people where already seated. I didn't really understand what was going on but then gathered that this was our means of transport to the little Town of Urubamba. After some ten minutes more people entered the car and we finally left. Our driver was the taxi driver from hell. He was very good at speeding and hooting but his real speciality was overtaking very slowly whilst driving uphill or before a hairpin bend. My co-passengers were all very unperturbed by his antics (quite unlike most of the cars on the opposite site of the road) and within 15 minutes I was the only one awake. I can't say that I particularly enjoyed the ride but at least it was educational. When we arrived at Urubamba I was shoved into a riksha-like motorized vehicle in which we got very cold as we pottered up the road for another 10 minutes. We arrived at the registry and found that wedding guests, bride and groom were all standing on the square because the ceremony had just finished. They were entering a broken-looking little bus into which I was swiftly shoved, too. I was then told we were going back to Urubamba and then to Cuzco. So after a quite rocky ride in this bus which had absolutely no suspension we changed into a very comfortable bus back to Cuzco in which I was lulled to sleep by cheesy andean tunes until we arrived back at V.s house where I was shoved into another taxi and finally driven to my current abode. I feel pleased that I now know a whole lot more about peru's public transport system.

More shopping in Cuzco

2007-04-13T06:51:00.000-07:00

Sourcing my throughfall gutters was less straight-forward as V. and I thought (a theme perhaps). When we arrived at the shop which allegedly sells aluminium sheets they told us they do only glass. Ten shops later we had worked out a feasible option but it's more expensive than planned...so back to the computer to check with the budget master. Same with battery chargers which need to be bought new because they have disappeared from my suitcase.
After about twenty minutes of walking from shop to shop I was well ready to pack in. Especially crossing the road here is a precarious affair. Nobody cares about traffic signals and drivers tend to accelerate as they see pedestrians crossing in front of them. This does not only apply to Gringas - I observed many locals scarper across to the other side like frightened chickens. What is worse is that each time a car manages to pass a pedestrian in transit before he/she has reached the other side it spews out huge victorious clouds of PM10s, leaving the pedestrian in breathless agony. The proud Cuzcenos don't even blink when that happens but I know they feel it, too.
In the afternoon V. and her boyfriend R. took me up to Sacsayhuaman. At some point we were stopped as we tried to venture past a little hut in which sat a pale and patient-looking man. He declared that V. and R. were free to go on, but that I, the tourist, had to pay 40 soles. R. wouldn't have any of that and so he devised a new route through dense undergrowth until we had reached our chosen destination without any further interruption. Before I was allowed to see the scenery, though, the situation was carefully checked for security guards by my hosts.

R. then proceeded to give us a very special tour through an ancient, dark and narrow tunnel trough the rocks (evidently used as an alternative loo since I don't know when ) past a gynaecological seat for Mrs Inca-to-be and an Inca-profile made of rock on to the next hillock which is the home of Christo Blanco, a huge Jesus statue overlooking the city. Up here I was shown where my barrio is, which proved useful for the taxi ride home later.
The day ended with work (and it seems I got one more sensor to work) and a chinese take-away stylishly presented by J., the master of the house.

Sunchubamba (reprise)

2007-04-12T06:42:00.000-07:00

So, Sunchubamba is a very small village which is indeed just beyond Quilyabamba. Both, however, are two car-hours away from W. with a mountain range in between. As we passed I must have glanced at V. reproachfully because she immediately admitted that it wasn't likely the cow had come from there. Her excuse was that she had got the information from P. - entonces...

Cuzco once more

2007-04-11T21:03:00.000-07:00

It felt slightly traumatizing to have to leave most of my luggage behind again this morning when V. and I left for Cuzco. I hope it will still be there when I come back next monday. This time the journey was as smooth as can be with only two interruptions, one when we paused to re-visit the worlds smelliest crouchy-loo and one when V. made us all jump out of the car when she felt she had to vomit in one of the hairpin bends with a 600m drop to one side.
We only passed one current landslide and that was in the process to be cleared away by a formidable vehicle.

Even though W. is only some 200km away from Cuzco there are worlds between the two locations - the uplands in between are not only headache-inducing because they are much higher than both, they are also extremely dry. They are nevertheless much more populated than the cloud forest and behind every corner of the road there is another action going on that one doesn't really understand but that often involves pigs, sheep, children or adobe bricks. Many of the extremely steep slopes get cultivated. It must be such an enourmous effort to plant anything on these mountains.

The Cow

2007-04-10T13:08:00.000-07:00

I managed to get two of my probes working at the expense of one failing that has worked until today. And another one didn't do anything even though it worked with M's Li-Cor. Tomorrow V. and I will be off to Cuzco so as to shed some light on the non-working probes and to do some shopping for throughfall gutters which I understood had been ordered some time ago but - as I found out today - this had not been the case. Everything here makes it obvious that I must not get worked up about work any longer. If all the rest of the world doesn't play along I have to learn to have some fun, too.
This has also been the day on which I beat P. running up the hill - though I suspect he let me win on purpose - and I finally met the cow by daylight.

Mañana

2007-04-09T13:05:00.000-07:00

The manager of the station popped by today to announce that they would change the internet provider and therefore there wouldn't be any internet until 'next week'. That means a journey to Cuzco, and also packing up the equipment and putting it into the storage room even though we will only be gone for three days. There is no arguing with somebody whose language one doesn't speak but maybe a native speaker can rescue me from this very dire prospect. My mood is not so good.

From Sunchubamba

2007-04-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

Most of this day was spent crawling up and down the plot over and over again in an attempt to spread my manual throughfall gauges in a stratified random way. We had only 30 of the needed 100 gauges at hand but even those we didn't manage to distribute in full as we struggled to fit scientific rigour to the peculiarities of the plot which mainly consist of steep slopes, intense undergrowth and treetrunks wherever the random number generator has decreed that I should place my gauge. Walking back to the lodge at dusk (discussing Harry Potter and the English public school system) we followed the mysterious black cow that has in recent days been seen near our hut (and has also left behind cowpads there which are interestingly more heap-like than the European ones). I asked V. why cows are hanging out in the Andes on their own and she replied that they belong to the nearest village, the mythical Sunchubamba behind the mountain, but that they are allowed to go where they like. When I asked her how near Sunchubamba was she said it was beyond Quilyabamba and when I asked how near Quilyabamba was she said she didn't know. I think this was a language thing.
The cows, however, apparently get eaten at some point and so I can understand that the one in front of us prefers to stay with us in the Lodge and not in Sunchubamba, even though I mind that it gives me a shock when I come up the hill from the dining hall in the dark.
The cow is not the only thing to give me shocks here, though - I had been quite proud of myself because I had managed to not acquire any further insect bites. This morning I discovered that I had a whole new set of some 38 of them on my upper arm. They looked like flea bites, but J. told me that they are 'chigger bites', and that chiggers are small and red and bite people as much as they can. I remember seeing one of them on the table and thinking 'ah, a cute little red spider'. Next time I will, I think, be less condescending. Another unappealing chap I've met recently was this enormous fly which I took some time to photograph the other day. I hadn't known then that they bite, too - but thankfully I was naive and lucky and the beast left me alone.

still no internet...

2007-04-07T13:02:00.000-07:00

Two days and two unsuccessful attempts to fix the internet later. We also had a string of inadvertent ramblers passing our little settlement, due to more landslides down towards the valley. Y. and N. arrived late yesterday afternoon and wanted to carry on to Cuzco immediately which was bad for me because I could have done with some more supervision time. We waited with them on the road in the fog until an ambulance passed by and kindly stopped to let them share the medical emergency area in the back with some ten more passengers. Today another rambler arrived at lunch to bring news from the boys downhill, wild rivers and some more landsliding. He too went on to Cuzco pronto to get his flight back home.
V. and I meanwhile ploughed on to get the equipment ready for the plot. Half of my sensors don't get logged properly - but so far I've tried in vain to fix the problem. All the manufacturers recommend that one e-mails them when things don't work or alternatively visits their webpage for further information... The engineers visit has been changed from potentially next monday to potentially next wednesday and I suspect next wednesday it might potentially happen next monday and so I think I will need to go to Cuzco as well in due course.
Tonight was a clear sky, though, and I can't think when I was last able to see the milky way properly. Nor had I seen the Southern Cross yet - or lots of other strange looking constellations. I was surprised when the great bear rose above the horizon, (albeit the wrong way round). I hadn't expected it here and felt somehow taken aback that some chaps can nip over to the other hemisphere once a day whereas others have such a hard time even getting to the next town 200 km away.

Terremoto

2007-04-05T12:59:00.000-07:00

Today was foggy all the way and I didn't see the other side of the valley once, nor did I make a single photo. I tried to catch a flock of blue-and-yellow chaps which - so V. tells me - are called Cardenales and are hated by bird watchers because they are common, yet very good at imitating the sounds of many rarer birds, but my camera was too slow in the bad light. Fog means no mosquitoes and so working on the balcony is very pleasant. I have installed almost every sensor type but I'm not sure I'm not just getting gobbledegook. Most sensors seem to record some form of data, though. During lunch I experienced my first earthquake in life ever. It was very mild but it nevertheless felt quite weird as the hut shook violently even though there was no wind. V. and P. are of course old hands at such things but were concerned lest the epicentre of the 'tremblor' had been at Cuzco. No internet and no radio - and so their concern could neither be dissipated nor confirmed. V. asked me if there were earthquakes in Europe. When I said there were very few she wanted to know if we had landslides - or if there were no landslides what about hurricanes or at least Tornados? She shook her head when I explained that Europe is a bit boring when it comes to natural disasters and the most frequent problem we had were floods. I have of course always known in theory how harmless a location Europe is, but it is far easier from here to gauge how nature appears to most other people in this world. On that note it has to be said that V. and I have a very convenient time compared to the people who have gone on to the next plot. M. came back to collect some soil cores today, covered in mud and with nasty blisters. My next plot - so he explained - can only be reached by crawling up an almost vertical creek and no matter how many rain clothes one wears, after an hour in the water one is wet. Now, that is something to look forward to.

Solita

2007-04-04T12:56:00.000-07:00

So everybody moved on to S.P. except for V. and me. I think both sides had some mixed feelings about it. The boys were doubtful because they were leaving without cooking facilities and lots of dry pasta in their food bags (because they noticed too late that a camping cooker requires gas). They were also not looking forward to facing the mosquitoes, cold showers and other pleasures of the lower plots whereas V. and I were a little sceptical about being left behind in a near-empty fieldstation. We waved them goodbye as all eight of them squeezed into and onto a Toyota pick-up which officially seats four.

In the afternoon - which was busy with building a battery chain and power lead, with equipment checks and with stammering broken spanish at V. - the lack of people hardly showed . In the evening it was a different matter. P., the best cook of the eastern Andes flank, did his best to entertain us at our severely shrunken table but it still felt lonesome. Even though he promised us fried bananas for tomorrow. Coming back to the cabin both V. and I felt that it was better to lock the door tonight - which has a psychological effect only, given that the locks are really flimsy. V. went to bed punctually for nine o'clock - as usual. She falls asleep very fast, sleeps like a log through my turning-and-tossing-episodes late at night when I wake up because I had dug myself into the sleeping bag too deeply and can't breathe and she is also the last one to get up at around seven. I am not as good at sleeping early any longer now that I have got over the jet lag. And so I sit here, depleting my precious computer battery and fretting not only about malevos but also about a cow which has to everybody's surprise turned up in the field station. I hope she is not going to trample on my sensors that I have installed around the hut to test my newly written computer program.

Feeling premenstrual

2007-04-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

Having slept in my own sleeping bag I woke up with eyes only half as puffy as the night before. I wonder what I can do to half the remaining puffiness again. In terms of work, J. tried to help with the sap-flow system but some of the instructions were missing and Y. borrowed my computer because his computer was dying. On top of it, the soldering iron did not do its job and so everything J. proceeded to show me got cut short in the process. We tried once more in a hapless manner to get the internet going but to no avail. So we all send messages home with C., who is attempting to make her way back to Cuzco across the landslide, having not been able to cross it yesterday. Trying out equipment on the balcony, with the sun blazing down and the view to 'the Amazon' as clear as it hadn't been before made things slightly less bad.

At least I have tools and clothes. In the afternoon we even managed to download data from the weather station. L. also reminded me that in our line of work everything goes wrong all the time and that I should enjoy the great landscape. I guess one should make sure that there's always a Brazilian nearby.

Allergy and not enough to do

2007-04-01T12:52:00.000-07:00

I woke up with immensely puffy eyes and sore throat this morning, suggesting that whoever came up with the theory that dust mites don't exist above three thousand meters was not right. Strangely enough everything was fine the first night. I was probably so tired that even my allergy couldn't be bothered. As there was still no sight of L. today there was little for me to do. I hence tortured V., my lovely team, with my bad spanish and hope that I somehow got across to her what we are going to do in the next months. As it was raining hard all morning I didn't mind not visiting 'our plot' too much as I have only one pair of work trousers. I have already tested that nothing dries up here by washing my one pair of knickers. It was far more of a bother that the internet still didn't work, though - and nobody knows what is wrong with it. So no e-mail and no skype, and I hope very much that P. - the chef-and-all-sorts-of-other-things of the station misses his buddies as much as I do. Funny enough, people who have been here assure me that neither the road was ever as bad as this time nor was it ever a problem before to go online. They also never had problems with their luggage.
As V. and I came back from an outing to the weather station later in the afternoon a car drove towards us, and much to my happiness it carried L. and N. who had finally managed to retrieve our luggage from the customs people and hence it carried my suitcases, too. I was tremendously pleased to have some equipment to set up but I cannot start to describe how fantastic it is to be able to wear ones own knickers - despite all gratefulness one might feel for ones colleagues who are kind enough to spare some of theirs. Unpacking the suitcase (which took several hours) I noticed that two items and some manuals were missing. Sadly all stuff that pertains to the dreaded sap-flow system which I don't really understand.

Midges and Hummingbirds

2007-03-31T12:37:00.000-07:00

The rainforest looks like a good mixture of greenhouse and garden centre. It is distinctly different from those two, though, in as much as it has no paved paths to walk through, nor is it over after 25 meters. It reaches in fact as far as one can see - in every possible direction. Y. claims that one can see the Amazon from the field station but if truth be told 'the Amazon' is a grey smirch on the horizon. The scenery before the grey smirch, however, is very sightly.

On this first morning I was marched upwards along the 'main road' past big cow pads (allegedly belonging to big cows), past a waterfall and rivulet, past many orchids, lichens and trees to a particularly dense looking part of the forest which is called 'our plot'. 'Our plot' is somewhat steep and overgrown, and therefore hard to navigate - especially if one is lacking in oxygen as I do at these heights. It is also very damp. But otherwise it is lovely.
It is not a good idea to stand still in it because as soon as one does a swarm of midges descends upon one. Y. claims there are no evil illnesses up here so I have saved my DEET for the plots lower down in which I might encounter the real pests later. So far I have only got two bites, but with time I'm sure they will accumulate.
I was also introduced to V., who will work with me and who carries an english-spanish dictionary - which is good, because mine is in the suitcase and the suitcase is in Lima. But I have said that already.
I don't only work in the plot, I also work at the weather station which is in 'the pampa'. Not only because it is far away, but also because a lot of grass and shrubbery grows there. And midgets and mosquitoes grow there, too. Between weather station and plot is a clearing which looks like an art installation with a little multi-coloured wall and lots of square concrete stumps. I was told those were the beginnings of the fieldstation which got abandoned because of land-use conflicts. Now it is a playground for butterflies and - if one is lucky - for little green hummingbirds or a flock of blue-yellow blackbird-sized chaps.

A lot of the day was sunny and warm and whilst I expected to be too cold and wet up here I came home with a slight sunburn on my nose - because my hat, alas, is in my suitcase and so is my sunblock. L. was supposed to come today with the suitcases from Cuzco - but there is no sign of him and neither the internet nor the radio work so we cannot contact him. It might be the landslide or it might be the customs officers which delay everything.

¡Vamos con Diosito!

2007-03-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

The first part of the road to W. was scenic but quite uneventful as our driver took us in a very considerate manner to our lunch destination. Lunch was quite uneventful, too, if one doesn't count an encounter with the world's most smelly crouchy-loo. They told us, as we were about to leave, that the landslide had been cleared and that there was no problem to proceed. This did not match what people said in the next village, though - but what we were told in that place didn't match what we were told in the village thereafter, and so it was altogether difficult to come to a conclusion as to the shape of our remaining journey. Time and space, however, eventually helped us to discover the truth, which - in short - was that several landslides had been cleared several times but, as they had not finished their sliding, had closed the road again. And when we arrived at the place of multiple slides an enormous bulldozer had been parked precariously on what had once been a road, one wheel hanging over the abyss, another tucked very firmly into a heap of gravel and boulders. One chap was picking at the heap whereas some eighty others (excluding women and children) were watching him. We watched as well and then decided to go back to a close-by village and hang out (and we were not the only ones).

We hung out sufficiently well enough for some two hours to miss for a further half an hour that small cars had been allowed to cross the landslide area - a fact held against us a little later with much bitterness by our driver. Another half an hour was spent on discussing how to proceed and when we were ready to leave we found the road closed again. The driver was getting very upset at this point because he was meant to be back in Cuzco to do a job at 6 o'clock in the morning and we were still an hour and a bit from the research station. Meanwhile some trusty trucks were send upslope to flatten the new material that had come down and much to our delight the road was opened once more. Crossing himself vigorously our driver uttered "¡Vamos con Diosito!" more than once and off we went over bumps and humps. We reached the other side after what felt like some seriously long three minutes. We felt quite victoriously for a short while but for our driver the worst part of the journey was yet to come, as he drove up and down a muddy dirt track in the dark towards the other side of the Andes, just to return on the spot and do the whole tedious drive back to Cuzco without even a break. Having schlepped our equipment down the hill the day ended with a good supper in what must be one of the most stylish research stations and then with a sudden generator switch-off at nine o'clock which left very little choice but to stumble to bed in the dark.

Cuzco

2007-03-30T07:15:00.000-07:00

The flight to Cuzco had some tremendous views. Once there, we were taken by our lovely hosts to a little neighbourhood restaurant were we were treated with tripe soup followed by cows stomach or chicken wings followed by chocolate cake. The rest of the day was spent with shopping - I really know now where to go if one needs some truely vicious hardware in Cuzco. Meanwhile our luggage apparently travelled from Miami to Lima and if all goes well it will arrive in Cuzco today. We can, alas, not wait for it and so C. is very kindly lending me some socks and knickers. There was a landslide on the road down to the Amazon yesterday but they (whoever they are) think it can be cleaned up before we pass that stretch of the road. Our baggage will then be driven to us tomorrow (ha!).
Neither tiredness nor frustration meant that we had a bad day, though. We had a very jet-setting way of travelling from market to market by taxi - which costs two soles per ride. The taxis are shabby and small and hoot at one incessantly as soon as one stands on a pavement.

At the evening we went for food at the Plaza de Armas in a restaurant which had beautiful and perfect Inca walls. The only draw-back was that half an hour into the dinner we were sort of under the table due to exhaustion.

Luggage - Before and After

2007-03-29T17:04:00.000-07:00

The journey did not get better - and Chicago Airport was the last time I saw my trusty bags...
The flight from Chicago to Miami was delayed and so my luggage did not get transferred when we got onto the Miami-Lima flight. Now I possess very little ... not even a computer lead ... and there are only three hours battery life left on my computer. And nobody knows when we get our luggage back.

Only two more flights to go

2007-03-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

Only two more flights to go

It is 2.45 Oxford time and I can say (in ways of a general resume for the day) that flying is an experience one should get paid for, not the other way round. When we arrived in Heathrow yesterday afternoon I believed at the time that the check-in process was quite chaotic. There were long queues everywhere, of course, and the security checks were not made easier by the fact that I was traveling with two laptops, not one. Having packed and re-packed our hand luggage several times we had to board pronto, so all we could do to get lunch was try out the drinks- and chocolate machines in the boarding lounge. These, alas, turned out to have the sole purpose of swallowing change and after L. had invested £1.20 and Y. another 20p we boarded without further ado. The flight was acceptably pleasant, though, and I even watched James Bond. I was also very impressed by Y.s ability to fall asleep while writing.
Arriving in Chicago, however, impressed me far less. Some further queuing opportunities were provided, but over and above these it was especially aggrieved by the fact that only a third of our luggage had travelled with us. The discovery that one of the suitcases got ripped in transit was somewhat less annoying as a result. I was also very unimpressed with the American Airlines service when we tried to find out what had happened to the other suitcases. They finally let on that they were travelling via Paris and would arrive in Cuzco later.
It was hence a heartbreaking experience to see my rucksack disappear once more on the conveyor belt...to be taken to the plane to Miami, then on to Lima, then on to Cuzco...or perhaps not, as it were.
The journey has not been without moments of reconciliation, though: having had to unpack my hand luggage once more to check in for the flight to Miami I was then asked to divide it into four different plastic trays in a specific way. When I subsequently tried to march through security with my main bag on my back because I had by then forgotten that it was still there one of the conveyor belt security guards just exclaimed 'Don't worry, we're all driven into madness here', which earned him a general cheer from his colleagues.

Almost there!

2007-03-27T11:10:00.000-07:00

Here is my last English sunset for some months

It seems somewhat unfair that I have to go to a land where darkness falls around six no matter what time of year just a few days after the clocks have been changed to summer time. But as it is I shall not dwell on it because I have only packed 4 big suitcases today and there are two more to go. J. looked at his one doubtfully and explained that he was going to take just those items that would fit into his second bag at home but not the whole suitcase because we can only take two bags. Thank god he changed his mind after some thought and decided to take only his rucksack plus my equipment suitcase. And so I feel very guilty for making my colleagues carry my equipment - but also relieved that it is indeed all travelling with us.
I think I have got most of the things I need to take - I think...

Logger works

2007-03-22T04:04:00.000-07:00

We managed to program the logger, connect a leaf wetness sensor and raingauge and make them speak to us!
Here is the evidence:

Both the above and the graph prove that it did rain heavily indeed:

Research Group Outing

2007-03-14T11:03:00.000-07:00

We spent two and a half hours in the camping shop today. J. claimed it's because we're scientists. We will know in due course if our choices were the better for it.

More hectic days

2007-03-12T07:38:00.000-07:00

A mere 15 days left now before we leave. There's so much to do that I just feel like stuffing my head into the sand (as we say -). And so much apparently left to work out somehow. Hm.

Why women think they don't get dances - c'tnd

2007-03-08T02:31:00.000-08:00

On the Valentango 07 feedback blog are some interesting comments on the apparently poor gender balance at the festival which left many followers in dire straits. I have yet to experience an evening where the gender balance is tipped the other way round. On occasions when this seemed about to happen, leaders in our community were generally seen to make a hasty exit - a classic example of negative feedback. Clearly homeostasis is less of an issue to women. They seem much more willing to sit it out for the one nice dance they might get in an hour, at the next milonga or next year. At least where I dance. I suppose this proves that we don't live in Daisyworld.

Equipment

2007-03-06T16:55:00.000-08:00

Here is all the Amsterdam equipment (complete with lovely colleagues):

and here is how it fitted into the car:

I have no clue how it's going to fit into my suitcase....

Hooray -

2007-03-05T17:56:00.000-08:00

I've finished my upgrade report. And so I submitted and went straight to the Chained Salon, for which I had a good excuse as I needed to go to Holland anyway to pick up hydrological equipment from Amsterdam this morning.
I did dance plenty - even though it was not the favourite of all weekends and I saw the fantastic eclipse. And there was a sale in one of my favourite cloths shops, so I did not only come back with a car so full of fog gauges that I don't know how we're ever going to get the stuff out again, but also with two great trousers for which I will have no use until I get to dance again properly next November...

Angst II

2007-02-24T04:43:00.000-08:00

I want to retract my statement below: it's even more Angst-inducing to have an impending deadline and to have organized a tango-workshop to which one cannot go because of the deadline...

Angst I

2007-02-21T15:02:00.000-08:00

There is nothing as angst-inducing as an impending deadline.

恭喜發財

2007-02-17T15:12:00.001-08:00

It's the year of the fire pig!

Lots of photos

2007-02-15T10:43:00.000-08:00

If you like tango photos there are plenty at tangovision, both from Europe and from Buenos Aires - plus a photo journal of a journey to the Argentinian north.

Squid

2007-02-14T06:39:00.000-08:00

Neither tango nor tropical forest - but the discovery of a giant squid with inbuilt fairy lights must be the best thing of the day. And it's the third of the length of a London bus...

Spring early?

2007-02-13T04:11:00.000-08:00

Having had the pleasure of receiving two further jabs this morning (four for the price of two: rabies, tetanus, polio, diptheria) I decided to walk back home rather than cycle . As I turned a corner I got hit by a bumble bee speeding along the pavement at at least 56 mph. I hope she won't regret her decision to start business that early.

Breakfast

2007-02-12T08:33:00.000-08:00

This neighbour had breakfast at the same time as me this morning.

Why women think they don't get dances II

2007-02-12T01:49:00.000-08:00

Here is another one who has done some research on the subject.

teaching how to follow

2007-02-10T07:32:00.000-08:00

I find that group classes are hardly the best way to teach - especially when it comes to working with those who follow. But, alas, unless one is a full-time tango teacher (and lives in a world where people are able to pay - say - £30 for a class instead of - say - £3) group classes are the format to go with. Many issues such as groundedness, though, seem impossible to communicate, no matter how many excercises and explanations are being given. I'm often quite astonished by how difficult it is for me or my teaching partner to communicate anything physical verbally - or how easy to misunderstand - if there is not already a concept in the learners brain of what is meant. Being of a skinny disposition myself, for instance, it took me years to understand what 'connecting with the floor' could possibly mean (- and I'm still working on it).
Yesterday I worked with two of our women in class on grounding themselves and relaxing into the connection. With much feedback and concerted concentration there was a sense of where things could go - until they were handed back to their beginner-leaders. But it is probably illusionary to think that anything other than practicing could cut the process short.

Depression

2007-02-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

Ever since I've started my current project I have struggled to fully focus on it. I put it down to simply feeling tired after a long period of too much work. I should be looking forward to my three-months of field work in one of the last sort-of-pristine forests on this planet but instead I just feel uninspired and unproductive. What is worse, Tango has taken on the role of devil's advocate. There are few days in which I don't ask myself why I don't dance more, hang out in Buenos Aires like my tango aquaintances or even change direction in a radical manner. At this point I normally tell myself that this wouldn't do anything for me, seeing that I have done it already three times.

Weather

2007-02-08T16:17:00.000-08:00

This morning a colleague and I had an appointment with a weather station that needs to be wired. We were very much looking forward to our geeky outing but then the unimaginable happened: we woke up to 8 cm of snow.
As is English custom on these occasions everybody felt totally overwhelmed, traffic flow broke down, schools closed and pictures of the winter wonderland were quickly dispatched to the bbc news.
And that was prudent - everything had melted by approximately 11 am.

Snow!

2007-02-08T09:06:00.000-08:00

2007-02-06T16:56:00.000-08:00

I thought I should qualify my last blurb - I didn't mean to say that an approach to dancing which is different from mine is negative. I just like it if differences are made clear - that saves me feeling bad about myself.
I also didn't mean to imply that there are no male tango dancers out there who choose their dance partners for entirely different reasons. I know a fair few.

Last weekend

2007-02-06T03:41:00.000-08:00

The weekend was wonderful even though I missed some of my favourite dancers - maybe because the salon was full half an hour after El Corte had opened it's door. More than 100 people didn't get in. We only arrived some ten minutes before the doors closed. A worrying thought given that we travelled for 7 hours to get there. Next time - we decided - we'll make sure we're there earlier just to be safe, thus adding our bit to heighten the 'getting-there-in-time'-panic.

I did not only dance this weekend, though. I also continued my ongoing research on 'reasons why women think men don't dance with them a lot' and 'reasons why men dance more with some women than others'. There seems to be a great discrepancy. When asked why they didn't get asked, women all too often assume a lack of dances is linked to their tango skills and some men even strengthen this. Looking at what happens at big Milongas where people don't know each other well it is often obvious that skill has nothing to do with it. I have seen some of our least experienced followers busy dancing all evening just because they happened to fit a particular female stereotype whilst better dancers sat out even though they were just as - but somewhat differently - pretty and perfectly smiley. Some people think a certain expression of bliss or way of sitting is needed to get many requests. This I believe can be pure snake oil to some of us.

When asking and observing some male tango aquaintances the following emerges:

what counts is not if a woman is a nice dancer but if the perceived 'top-males' of the group think she is a nice dancer
'nice dancer' does not always mean 'she dances well' but might mean 'looks, moves and behaves like we think a nice dancer would'.
a woman-beginner in her late teens or twenties is deemed more attractive to dance with than one which is in her late thirties, late forties, late fifties, late sixties, late seventies etc.
women who attend a milonga without partner dance more than those who come with their partner
a good dancer who is available for 'romance' is thought more interesting to dance with than one who is not
women who seem to dance very well and are pretty are scary to ask

These are obvious points, but men rarely mention these to ailing and insecure gals who don't understand what is wrong with them. Often that would actually help - like when a friend of mine declined dancing the last tanda with me in favour of somebody he was in the process of pulling. He just shrugged his shoulders and said 'you know why'. And because I relate to tango and dancing in a different way I actually hadn't known until he said it. A little later, when this affair had ended I said to him 'but that must be terrible - you liked to dance with her so much!' and he replied 'no, it isn't, there are hundreds of good followers around...'. And I guess that's the big difference. I enjoy dancing with so very few men that I would never risk having an affair with any of them - that would be total waste.

Climate

2007-02-02T03:53:00.000-08:00

The 4th IPCC report is out, accompanied by some more or less dispiriting comments from the wider public. Meanwhile I'm not an angel either as I have given in to the temptation of booking a cheap flight to get to one of my favourite milongas tomorrow. I haven't used aeroplanes for almost seven years now but the thought of not being able to tango for three months had brought about this frivolous fit!
Needless to say that I will also fly to get to my fieldwork destination - but for these flights at least there will be a carbon offset scheme in place. Hopefully a good one.

Teachers like dancing too

2007-01-31T16:20:00.000-08:00

On two nights we have a practica after class and I find that many of the leaders don't ask me to dance. Yesterday somebody asked the friend I was practising with if she wanted to dance and so I replied in jest that not only did he never ask ME to dance he was also out now to steal my dance partner. He replied to my surprise that he thought asking the teacher wasn't done - but if it was he would. So today he did and I had an amusing time of it. I do like getting asked - after all I'm a girl, too.

All change - not

2007-01-31T16:13:00.000-08:00

Revolution in the beginners class ... when asked to change partner they refused. They didn't want to try with a person other than the one they had come with. It was their third class. Sad.

On a totally unrelated matter: the Guardian tells us that Buenos Aires is not a bad place for vegetarians.

Less hydrology

2007-01-30T16:40:00.000-08:00

Monday is a tango-free day. At least in terms of physical involvement. That doesn't mean that I do not - somehow pathetically - stop by in a virtual fashion at a variety of different tango blogs or watch a video or two. This waste of valuable work time often angers me - especially if I've spent time reading tango-L, on which I shall not bestow any further comment and to which I shall not link.
Why tango has a tendency to induce an unhealthy obsession in so many of us is not clear. Mine has taken a peculiar turn as of late in so far as I have stopped taking pleasure in dancing since I've had the most lovely dances ever some weeks ago. That doesn't mean I've stopped, though - I just don't enjoy it.

Inefficient Weekend

2007-01-28T11:54:00.000-08:00

Whilst the days are inevitably rushing towards the big lift-off to the world of clouds and fog-drip the purchases of the last few days don't look anything like preparing for water. Girly hair utensils have been bought:

and a shirt which is so flimsy, it can only be worn somewhere warm (i.e. tango).

Hold on, though - I've also got a nerdy torch which is 4.5 cm long and extremely bright: