The food, especially fruit, is extremely cheap. It is all home farmed and is priced so that most people can afford to buy it. The homes that people live in are mostly sticks held up by clay with some sort of metal or branch roof. They are very small, about 10×10 feet with one or two small open windows.

The people here can’t afford “commodities” such as: malaria medication and treatment, bug nets and spray, birth control, screens, nice clothing, shoes besides flip-flops and much more.

Schooling for kids rises in price as they get older, but starts at around a dollar for a year and high school costs around 50-60 dollars for a year’s tuition, and is often helped paid for by the government. To attend a college in the city, it costs around a thousand dollars without a government scholarship.

Being here in Uganda is a huge eye-opener. When you watch a commercial about giving 15 cents to help feed a village, it really will. The widespread poverty and general poorness is astonishing. However, everyone seems to deal with it and continue living their lives.

After art we went to music class. We were all given instruments and taught a simple beat. With the help from two chilean musicians, we were able to put together a sweet cuban song in an hour. After music class we went to lunch and had the normal cafeteria lunch.

It was really cool to be around that many spanish speakers our age. Most of them spoke good english and were very patient with our gringo spanish. We played frisbee and soccer with them and were able to communicate well enough to strategize. I think we all learned a lot of spanish and about how a chilean school works differently from an american school. I also think we all had a ton of fun!

-Alex

-Alex

Here I am with my new hat and stickers:

The model is a life sized tunnel that is lined with flashing lights (for a visual effect) and small metal rods. The entry starts at ground level and goes up towards the celling. It goes around a few curves and comes to a four way intersection. In the middle of the intersection is a “router” with four buttons on it. Each button has an image on it corresponding with what “packet” you chose at the beginning of your journey. You press the button with the correct image and continue in the direction it tells you to go.

After a bend or two, I arrived at another “router” and was once again directed. I followed my path further and took a minute to enjoy my awesome vantage point. The tunnel is the only way to get above the museum floor and is thus the only place to see the majority of the museum from one place. I thought to myself “wow, what a great view!” It occurred to me that data packets don’t get a view or even have eyes, so I thought to myself, “self, I should probably continue,” so I went down my path and towards my final destination of a HUGE LCD 27” computer screen.

I reach my final “router” and could see my portal to a computer. Feelings of accomplishment and excitement rushed through my body. I ran in slow motion towards the slide down to the computer screen. I had high hopes of finding out that my data packet was something interesting like a youtube video or a funny failblog picture. When I arrived at the bottom, I found that I was an illegally downloaded mp3 file. I felt used and stolen, but my trip was exciting and worth the risk of jail.

All and all, our trip to the Canadian Science and Technology museum was a fun and educating day of school.

Once there was a man who was sad because he defied his morals and became corrupt. His name was Siddartha. He traveled to the city from the forest in hopes of expanding his knowledge and learning on his own. He met a beautiful woman who told him he must be rich in order to do well in the city. Siddartha set out to make his fortune, and did very well. He acquired lots of money and became close friends with the woman in the city. Slowly his unique way of thinking about life distorted into the stereotypical simplistic human citizen mind. He began to gamble away his riches in hopes of being able to return to his old self.

Siddartha traveled to the forest because he was so disgusted with himself. He wanted to put his past life in the city behind him and continue to learn. He traveled through the woods and had lots of thoughts. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to do next, but he knew that he didn’t want to return to the city. He was so alone and uncertain that he even considered suicide.

Unfortunately, before Siddartha was able to end his life, he tripped over a root in the ground and fell unconscious. He slept for many days and when he awoke he was very surprised to see his childhood friend Govinda. They talked and caught up for a while. Govinda had seen Siddartha sleeping on the forest floor and went to wake him. Govinda saw how deep of a sleep Siddartha was in and decided to wait for him to awake on his own. During the wait, Govinda had also fallen asleep. After a while, Govinda went to return to his group of traveling Samanas that he had left in order to stay and protect Siddartha.

After his meeting with Govinda, Siddartha did a lot of thinking. He considered his life and everything he had done. Siddartha knew that this moment would define the rest of his life. He could return to the city with his money and live out an unfulfilling life. He could go with Govinda and become a samana again, where he would study the teachings of others. Or he could return to the other side of the river to the forest and live on his own. He could learn more for himself and would be free to do whatever he wanted.

So Siddartha traveled to the river. There he met the ferryman. It was the same ferryman that had taken Siddartha across the river when he was a young man. He still had the same green kayaks. As the ferryman was taking Siddatha across the river, Siddartha confessed to not having any money and offered his clothing in payment. The ferryman declined graciously and said it wouldn’t be a problem. Siddartha reminded the ferryman of many years ago when he had taken him across the river for free also, since the samana Siddartha had no money to give. The Ferryman still didn’t mind the lack of payment and insisted that Siddartha stay with him for the night since Siddartha had nowhere else to go.

When the Ferryman and Siddartha arrived on the other side of the river, it was growing dark and the two men went to the Ferryman’s home. He allowed Siddartha to sleep where his once beautiful wife had slept. They had a good night and in the morning, Siddartha asked the Ferryman to teach him his trade. The Ferryman obliged and that is how they came to live together. The Ferryman taught Siddartha the ways of ferrying and also the meaning of the river.

Siddartha is now happy; he has a great friend who he enjoys living with and his job is peaceful and enjoyable. He is able to continue learning like he wanted. He discusses everything with the Ferryman and is still trying to grasp the meaning of the river. His life is perfect for him, but unfortunately for Siddartha, that doesn’t last long. One day when he was awaiting potential customers on the other side of the river, he was very surprised to see someone he hadn’t seen in a very long time.

He was approached by a desperate Kamala. She had been walking through the forest to cross the river in order to see the Buddha before he died. On her way, she was bitten by a poisonous snake and was forced to hurriedly run away, in hopes of living long enough to reach the Buddha. She also had her son with her; Siddartha had never seen him before and was surprised but excited to finally meet him. When she reached Siddartha at the river, she collapsed and soon died. Siddartha took his son and began to raise him. Unfortunately, his son was a spoiled brat and hated his father’s lifestyle of not needing material possessions. Suddenly Siddartha’s life got much more complicated, but with help from the Ferryman and the river, he was able to get through it.

In the Junior K1 division, Eric Bartl got 3rd, Matt Hill got 5th, and Alex Anderson (me) got 6th. We are all very excited to have had the opportunity to compete in this competition.

On the school side, we have done full hour classes all week except taking the day off on Monday to kayak and sleep in. Our physics class took a quiz on waves and algebra is finishing up logarithms. Our English II class finished up Siddartha and is now working on writing essays about it.

-Alex Anderson

Make sure to visit the Rio Achibueno on your trip to Chile.

Alex