The Sacred Meaning of Christ's mass

Here I am on Christmas eve, and surprisingly un-stressed. It is kinda sad that I have to say that, like Christmas is something to be stressed about, but it is true that is what it has basically become: Something that we start to dread in November and something to pain through in December and something that you are relieved is finished, but you know you will have to go through again in January. I am serious, this is what it seems like Christmas has become, that and a huge religious argument over whether you should even say "Merry Christmas", or put up a nativity scene in your own home. You pick up any newspaper or magazine and see the tragedy of what we have turned Christmas into. It reflects the consuming and greedy condition of our country. I just watched a recent episode of "Everybody loves Raymond" and I was disgusted to find that the whole basis of the plot for that episode was filled with the American delusion of happiness, that somehow stuff is what will bring you happiness. Materialism, materialism, and more materialism. Now I am not saying that it is a bad thing to buy presents and give them to others as a way of showing your love, it is just that the act of giving has been misconstrued into something so very much against what Jesus even came to earth on Christmas to teach us. I also just watched the movie Miracle on 34th Street, which is a movie about Santa Claus coming to New York City and trying to help a hardened child believe that there actually is a Santa Claus, and that he himself was that man. Santa is portrayed as a wonderful old man whose mission is to make children around the world "happy", and doing that by giving them what they want, when they want it. I was so boggled by the end of the movie because of the fact that they were creating a new meaning to Christmas, taking the whole reason for Christmas, and why it even became a holiday: Christ's birth, and replacing it with something superficial and stupid. They did not even mention ANYTHING religious once, and this movie was made in the thirties, when I thought that at least some Americans still had their heads on straight. This day is one of the most important days in the history of the world, the day that God's own Son came to earth and was born a human, so that we might have ETERNAL LIFE forever. And yet we all seem to forget this, as we are buried in the mountains of wrapping paper and toys, the mountains that we build for ourselves because of our unwillingness to look beyond it, to the life that Jesus came to give us. Because of what Christmas has become and what it's true meaning is prosecuted for, now in the 21st century, we as the people who have chosen the redemption of the little child Jesus, must not only as our duty but our joy, defend the sacred meaning of Christ's mass, of the coming into the world of our Lord and Saviour.
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
Julia

"Sweet Home California!!!"

Need I say more? :) Well we came home at 6:00 am on the 18 from a day of flying, sitting and driving. You might be thinking "oh, the poor things they must've been so tired," but actually we weren't that tired because we were so excited to see home again, and thoroughly woke ourselves up by running around the house shouting for joy and kissing everything. So because were the crazy Pudewas that we are, and in order to keep an early schedule, we decided to stay awake instead of to sleep. I was actually perfectly fine until 7 pm and then I conked and slept 12 hours... and here I am today. It is really weird coming home though, I am still trying to adjust. To see everything that we have been dreaming about and missing so much is really quite surreal, as if we are in a dream, or we never even went to South America. But we did and here we are back again to our "sweet home California." I will leave you now because carpet calls me, ( I have to replace the carpet in my room because of mold, so I must go and find a new carpet.) Good bye my friends.
Julia

Don't Cry for Me Argentina

...The truth is I really left you, all through those wild days, my mad existence, I've kept my promise, now keep your distance.

That was our story. The story that's come and gone. The story of my life for the past 3 months, and the incredible experience that will mark a huge point in my life, and leave me with unforgettable memories. Don't you always expect that when you travel the world it will feel a certain way, you go there with expectations, and a feeling of wonder? Well at least I went to South America with those feelings. Now as I sit here on the plane, thinking over all that's happened, I realize that those countries and cultures are still part of a world filled with pain and suffering, and that no matter how legendary or incredible a certain place is, it is still going to be affected by the world's brokenness. So I believe that what it really means to experience another culture is, in understanding that brokenness, to soak up the essence of what you find, and not in comparison to your own country, to love it for it's own. Not only have I really come to appreciate Argentina's culture, I have also learned a lot of things about life from it. I have learned how very big and vast this little planet really can be, and how every person I saw, every thing I touched, every step I took, had been done once before by some other person/s. Someone who had their own whole life, a life with joys and sorrows, personality and preferences, lovers and enemies, and that they too will live their lives just as I live mine, that the will still be there when I return home, all completely detached from me. It is all too profound for me to ever fully grasp, but I know one thing now, that I should never underestimate the vastness of mankind and my littleness in the complexity of humanity. Another important thing I've learned from this trip is confidence. I am a very timid and frightenable person by nature, and putting that in the stress and busyness of traveling in a foreign country makes me feel like my whole world is being turned upside down. Everything familiar and all that I have learned to trust is pulled from underneath my very own feet, everything is foreign and unfamiliar even my own language is compromised, you'ld just feel like you want to curl up and estrange your self from the world itself. This is how I felt when I first came to South America. I didn't care how many cool things there were, they were all too weird anyway, but as time went on, it was no longer an option to be passive, your food depended upon it. That is when and how I conquered it. There are so many other things that I have learned on this trip, but it would take a whole book to write it all down. Regardless of all my personal stuff, I want to thank you all for joining me in this journey, with all its ups and down, joys and pains, and for encouraging and inspiring me through it all. You guys are the best. And yes this trip is and was all in God's perfect plan for our trip, praise the Lord I'm comin' home.
Julia

P.S. I have thought about it and have decided that I want to keep this blog going. If I've managed to do 14 posts in the last 3 months, then hopefully, I can try again with my original plan for this blog and post my ideas and inspirations. I hope you will all want to join me in my biggest journey, the journey of life.
I hope to see you all again in the mass world of Cyber communication. Thanks!

Time...it has whole new meaning

Here we are in Montevideo once again. Except this time it's not a new experience, it' an old and familiar one. We have been away from home for 103 days or 3 months and 12 days. It is not even new news anymore, it's just weird, surreal, saddish, and also SUPER EXCITING. We have been here for so long and yet time has gone by faster than a light beam. 3 months ago this very day, in Montevideo. I could never have believed what the future of this trip would hold. And yet here I am with all those as memories, with more unknown moments in the future. It has all really made me realize how incredibly important it is to savor every second of every minute of these short lives that we live. All I ever look at is blindly towards the future, not even letting the present sink in and simmer There is so much to get out of life, and so that is why I wrote this entry at 1 am. To stop, take advantage of my ansomnia, stop and savor, stop and ponder, and stop and let live this crazy life of mine.
All in God's plan for our trip,
Julia

In the Midst of our Coziness and of the Mountains

The Volcano at sunset
The delicious rainbow trout that Chris and Elli caught
The view from our house at dusk
I came home to this... everyone plugged in to their own little universe
This is our cozy little Cabana
On the horseback ride...


All views from the trail
My little horse


Those snow peaked mountains



Typical farmsteads that you see EVERYWHERE
The town of Pucon... the highly touristic haven just down the road

And oh look... it's the volcano... for the hundredth time :P
Villarrica Lake




Here we are as cozy as ever in our comfortable cabana that I mentioned in the last post. Today is our last day here and then we will start heading North again, so join me in my bittersweet parting of this comfortable and beautiful place, which is by far the most gloriously gorgeous one we have been in all of South America. It has all types of beauty: lush green farmlands, surrounded by volcanoes and snow-peaked mountains, Eucalyptus forests and wildflowers everywhere along the roadside. It is never ending you can't look somewhere and not see some kind of beauty. As you can see from the pictures above, we have done lots of different things lately. Living in California I never understood what was so pleasurable about "a Sunday drive", all I see driving through California is dry, dry, dry, (not to diss California or anything) I just prefer green, green, green. So when I came here one of my favorite things to do was drive and look at the incredible scenery everywhere. Sadly I am afraid that other people don't like going on drives with me because I am usually squishing over their bodies to take what they call "pictures of the exact same things " and to which I respond, "it is my passion." I am sure all of you can attest to that fact, from seeing my pictures from this and previous posts. :) I am sorry that you all have to suffer through "my passion" trust me this trip will be over soon enough and you can all rest your weary tolerances while I enjoy looking daily at my thousands of pictures of fields and mountains. :) Oh well I am afraid that I have lost my own mind and do not know what I am talking about anymore so maybe I will just talk about something else... our horseback ride. Yes, two days ago we went on a horseback ride through the wilderness. It was actually quite interesting, other than the fact that my short little horse was ALWAYS trying to steal a bite of the trailside shrubbery, especially while I was attempting to take a picture of the beauti... oop there I go again with my silly rantings about beauty. So I better stop now before we both go utterly insane. So now I'll leave you saying that we have completely enjoyed our time in this wonderful place and (at least I am) ready to say my partings to it and to return home to our dry and wildflowerless California. Until later then my friends, when I have access to free internet. All in God's perfect plan for our trip,
Julia

Millionaire Tourists

Wow and I thought the gas was bad in the US !

The delicious, gas station, shack, restaurant

A perfect day

The Volcano

This is my meager little life: the world's most comfortable
pillow, the world's most faithful backpack, and the world's most tightly crammed suitcase


La Colina: the comfortable hotel

Oh, the Andes!


Does it not look like Switzerland or something?

La Casa Chueca German Hostel

Those Beautiful lakes

The family farms everywhere



More of La Casa Chueca

Driving through the Andes



The beautiful view in Vina del mar

Poppies! (and they're not illegal to pick here ;)
Getting pulled over for driving the wrong way on a 1 way street...he was nice and he only gave us directions

I was definitely right about us being millionaire tourists once we got to Chile. I mean after all we started out by going to a very nice Best Western Hotel in Vina del Mar, which felt very luxurious after dysfunctional Cabanas and stinky rented houses, as Morielle put it " I am soooo comfortable " well that was until we found out that she had a severe infestation of lice. Yes, although I have not been lucky enough to get them myself, I have become quite an expert at nit-picking. Despite that realization, we spent a very fun day on Fiona's birthday in Vina del Mar, shopping at Artesenal fairs, eating at a deliciously expensive restaurant whose menu was practically a poem, riding in a dollar a minute horse drawn carriage (that was my mom and Elli's idea), walking along the beach, and watching the sunset.

The next day we drove for 4 hours through a sadly brown and dry Chile, really getting to know the beauty of gas station bathrooms ( trust that it was not my little voice asking for one every 30 min. : ) Fiona, Morielle and I had lots of fun trying to sing trios from Scarlet Pimpernel and Aida but decided that it always sounds much better with real music and gave up. Then with a car full of rumbling stomaches, we stopped at a shack restaurant in the middle of nowhere, and decided to try out the nonexistent menu of soup, lamb, and rice and beans. When the bread came and to my dad's great delight, hot sauce we decided that so far it was better than some restaurants in Uruguay. Our assumptions were immediately shattered, the moment we put the traditional Chilean food in our mouths. We left with wonderfully satisfied stomachs and two delighted old cooks who had probably never seen the likes of us before, and who would probably never get more compliments on their little gas station restaurant. After that the scenery of the countryside got much more beautiful, with more green and less brown, and of all things California poppies growing wild. When we finally got in view of the mountains, there were green farms, lakes, and hills everywhere. When we finally reached our "final destiny" as Elli so adorably said, we were surrounded by small family farms, grazing cows, and adorable little houses. In the midst of that we found our hostel/hotel La Casa Chueca. This was nothing normal, it was a sheltered community and gathering place of German speakers and travelers. They all spoke very good English and varying amounts of Spanish. It was equivalent to a bed and breakfast but more beautiful, cozy, and comfortable. Sadly we only stayed there for 1 night, and moved on, drove on. We drove closer to the mountains with the scenery becoming ever more gorgeous. Verdantly green valleys with yellow and white wildflowers, shadowed on one side by forests, and on the other side by the Andes, those majestic, snow peaked, wonders of nature. I felt like I could've been in Switzerland, it was beyond words. We kept driving through it all, then stopped at another gas station for lunch. My mom was very negative about eating at a gas station, but as soon as she went in and saw vegetables on the menu, she had a change of heart. After another very delicious meal we learned our lesson: Never underestimate! (especially when it comes to gas stations.) Satisfied and optimistic, we headed out to drive the last few hours. We reached the Volcano town of Villarica, and thought it looked more like Alaska than South America. In that town we got to our hotel La Colina. Everyone there speak English and the owner is actually from Montana. We have now been here 2 nights and have been perfectly comfortable, with wonderful service, cozy rooms, a delicious restaurant 3 steps from our door, and some of us (not me because I have another horrible cold) getting 3 scoops of homemade Ice Cream every night, just like any millionaire tourists would. ;)
All in God's plan for our trip,
Julia

Alta Gracian Times

• Talking in Spanglish in the river with our amazing Alta Gracia friends
• Playing the guitar singing and drinking Mate with the same friends at the same river
• Another one of my favorites: a sunset
• Villa Los Aromas (right near Alta Gracia)
• 
• The worlds best Asado (made by Morielle)
• The beauty of the trees
• 
• A Freak Hail Storm
• 
• 

The past few weeks...
I think because it still holds true that pictures are worth 100's of words, I wont write to much and rather let you savor the pictures. But I basically just wanted to summarize our Cabana life, our Alta Gracia times, and our last days in Argentina. So I will let the pictures speak.
All in God's perfect plan for our trip,
Julia