Cusco & the Sacred Valley

The town of Cusco provided the bookends to our Machu Picchu adventure – staying 2 nights before and 1 night after. A beautiful city filled with illaborate Incan & Spanish architecture, lined with dozens of ornate churches. We spent our time eating delicious locale dishes, further learned the trepid Spanish/Incan coexistence (or co-nonexistence), and fended off persistent peddlers. On our first night in Cusco, we met my buddy Steve (who will be continuing our nonprofit work with NetHope, in Nairobi) for dinner. Steve ordered a local favorite, Cuyo, that is guinea pig. It looked kind of gross – Steve confirmed it was.
The next morning we took a day-long trip through the Sacred Valley, observing local ruins, landscapes and especially mercados (markets), which our guide (nowhere near as good as Juan Carlos) forced the group to spend the majority of the time… a frustrating experience for all.

Julia and I both agree that the city of Cusco is one of the most friendly, safe and hospitable cities we have ever spent time in (no offense BsAs). The trip did end on a sour note – on the last night Julia experienced her first encounter with food poisoning while I chokingly experienced my first vomit plunging exercise from our hostel sink. You know it is true love when you a willingly clean someone else’s barf.

Putucusi Mountain and Maccu Picchu

We arrived in Aguas Caliente, the hub for visitors of Maccu Picchu, after a 3 hour train ride from Cusco. After promptly checking in to our claustrophobically small room, Julia began exploring the hostel’s gardens and terraces, recognizing a large open room offering panoramic views of the river and surrounding Andes. She quickly asked for, and received, an upgrade to the superior suite.


We threw our stuff down and met our tour guide, Juan Carlos, for our climb up Mt. Putucusi. Julia noticed the striking resemblance of Putucusi to the mountains in NES Mario
She began the climb in lead position at an aggressive pace. However, the challenging inclines and lack of oxygen (~3000 meters, nearly 2 miles high) very quickly said “not so fast,” resulting in her quick digression into an angry, gasping-for-air, sweaty mess. Unwilling to accept defeat, we continued at a steadier pace while listening to Juan’s historical and geographical expertise of the surrounding Andean Jungle and the Incas that once inhabited them. The hike was unlike any other back home – it included vertical wooden ladders so high you could not see where they ended, narrow cliff-side paths that did not allow one misstep, and varied terrain including thick canopied jungle to desert-like formations. The 4 hour round trip offered beautiful views of the city below,
,
and our reason for coming, Machu Picchu.

The next day, we rose at the godforsaken hour of 4am to begin our ascent to Machu Picchu. As July is the high tourist season, nearly 4,000 global gringos make the trip to the park daily. But in this case, the early bird truly got the worm as we witnessed the sunrise break the Andean Mountain range and shed its light on the incredible ruins of Machu Picchu.
Alongside Juan, we learned about the sacred temples, religious rituals, and the tragic demise of the Inca Empire after Spanish colonization in South America. Most interesting to me, I feel the Inca provide a useful lesson in sustainability. The enormous Empire spanned the areas that are now Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and even some of Argentina. The Inca respected/worshipped the natural world around them and used it to create a vibrant society and sustainable economic system. However, after the Spanish invasion, the Incas fled their cities and temples to seek protection in the surrounding jungle. With them, they took their treasures, history and answers to the many questions spurred from what little scientist actually know.

“Free Falling" in the Iguazu Falls

To contrast the lyrics of the R&B group TLC… Do go chasing waterfalls. Located on the Argentina/Brazil border, the Iguazu Falls, a.k.a. Foz de Iguazu, are absolutely phenomenal.
2 years ago, during my near one year stint with Nortel Networks, Julia and I had the pleasure of spending a long weekend in and around the Toronto area. During our stay, we made a trip to the surrounding wine country (odd locale, but great wine), and the Niagara Falls. Niagara, the city, is a depressing Vegas wanna be. Niagra, the falls, are impressive, but are absolutely dwarfed to the size and natural beauty of Iguazu. In the words of late Eleanor Roosevelt upon first seeing Iguazu, “Poor Niagra!” Using some Starwood points, we were able to stay, for free, at the Sheraton, the only hotel located inside the national park boundary. Our room provided an eagle-eye view of the falls and surrounding jungle.

Giddy with excitement, we entered the park like two children entering Disney World for the first time. Starting at the first of three park segments, we saw the big daddy, el Garganta del Diablo.

The following two park segments were truly a feat of engineering. Mesh-steel bridges and concrete platforms snaked through the miles of waterfalls. Although my description of the materials (steel/concrete) used to build the pathways may seem invasive, everything blended perfectly with the environment, providing sometimes slippery close encounters with the falls,

and local wildlife,

Each fall was more spectacular than the next, this place is pure magic!

Out on the Town

Since Julia’s arrival we have hit the town hard – frequenting local hotspots and tourist attractions of every kind. Last night, we dined at an Armenian restaurant named Sarkis, in Pallermo. Everything about Sarkis was delicious! Dinner wrapped up early (around midnight) and we hailed a cab back to Recoleta for a night cap in a trendy bar named Million.

The next morning, we toured Recoleta cemetery and completed our afternoon with Four Seasons tea service.

The tea was fantastic and so were the sweets – we both overindulged and left with stomachaches. With hands shaking from caffeine and chocolate covered lips, we checked out of the Four Seasons and moved our things back to my apartment to digest. After several hours of recuperating, we strapped our boots on and walked across town to Café Tortoni, Argentina’s oldest café, for a tango show.

She's Here

After nearly 4 months of separation, my wonderful girlfriend Julia has arrived in BsAs. Following her 12 hour red eye flight, we kick started the day with a bike tour of the city. Luckily for Julia the weather forecast is 65 and sunny every day she is scheduled to be here. Sure beats the 40 and rainy it has been the last few weeks – I guess she brought the good weather with her. The bike tour (I am a repeat customer) was fun, but a little dangerous this go round. Between weaving through bumper to bumper traffic, avoiding the 10 year old hecklers and a crazy hombre screaming profanities at me after nearly hitting his car with my bike, Julia’s introduction to the city and reintroduction to the bicycle was … to say the least, interesting.

We then transitioned from the shoddy bike ride to the ever-luxurious Four Seasons! It has been a wonderful perk of ours, staying at Four Seasons’ properties around the Americas, Toronto, NYC, Washington DC, Whistler, and Vancouver –the Buenos Aires property fits the bill nicely. We cleaned up and met Steve and some of our Argentine friends for dinner and drinks. What a day.
Room View,
1) 2)
Other notables from Julia’s first 24 hours in BsAs:
1) Everyone thinks she is Argentine. She has been approached several times by locales asking for directions, time, and other miscellaneous inquiries (why are you hanging out with this gringo?)
2) Always loco for pollo, Julia and I shared a massive lamb tenderloin for our first meal. She ate, and enjoyed, the well-done outside portion… baby-steps. Thank you, Dr. Leo Marvin.
3) 1 day down, 4 to go in Buenos Aires. Next, Iguazu Falls and then Cusco/Machu Picchu. Stay tuned.

Wrap 'er up

I write this note as I recently sent my final obligated deliverable to my team. Yes, it is my last day! After a seemingly infinite amount of review cycles through our models and presentations, our recommendations including the business case and operating model are complete. As the project charter moves forward, using the endowment from the Rockefeller foundation, these documents are bound to evolve - but I certainly feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment from my contributions and efforts. We successfully storyboarded and proved-out that there are opportunities for substantial savings by utilizing shared services. Furthermore, in hindsight, it is quite evident the nature of the project was extremely complex (gotta stroke the ego) – 22 Organizations, uncountable stakeholders (Accenture, NetHope and Member Organization leads) and very tight deadlines – but we managed to meet and exceed our expectations. There is a stylish new concept in and around the NGO space, and it is shared services. Cheers!

You stay classy, Buenos Aires

It Has Finally Arrived

After years of anticipation, Argentina’s first Starbucks has opened. The lines are phenomenally long as swarms of coffee connoisseur’s, from all over, finally have an opportunity to overpay for a mediocre blend and their daily caffeine/sugar fix. (Sorry Vini, at heart I will always be a Dunkin Donuts fan). Although I must say, the overall quality of coffee and service in BsAs cafes is much better than the average coffee shop back home. The residents of Buenos Aires (they call themselves Porteños) love their cafes. In some neighborhoods there is one on every corner – elegant little places that are busy all day long. Additionally, there are massive cafes with huge banks of pastries on display. Your beverage is always served backed by a small glass of soda water plus a croissant or small sample sized pastry. Families and groups of friends sit around for hours, talking over a cup of coffee. McDonalds has also adapted successfully to the Portenos way of life. McCafes seem to do the trick here.
Also, (I have wanted to blog about this one for awhile) there is McDelivery. Big Mac, fries, and a Coke to your door for $2.50 peso (80 ¢). On the phone they ask what denomination of Peso you will be using and your change is ready in and envelop with your meal. But McDonalds isn’t the only one to deliver. In Recoleta, my adopted neighborhood, everyone delivers! Cafes, restaurants, groceries, even the local supermarket Disco. Just another example of the many efficiencies gained through urban living.

For your viewing pleasure, I thought I'd attach two of my favorite Starbucks commercials. Enjoy!

1) Glen!, Glen Glen Glen! This Survivor spoof from the Rocky song "Eye of the Tiger," perfectly depicts how I felt my first week of work fresh out of undergrad. But alas, an internal monolgoue can take you so far.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0XOogOe1Ps&feature=related

2) This clip reminds me of my roomate in college, Matt McDonald, who might bite your head off if he didn't have his 44oz "cup of Joe" in the morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbmoLQrqPvo

Rocksteady

Per the most recent blog about the project, I mentioned some of the difficulties we faced while creating a business case for NGO's to utilize a shared services operating model. Because no NGO operates in the realm of profit, they tend to run as "lean" as possible. No cost exists worth cutting - everything is a necessity. However, we have recently made great progress in creating a compelling story for a shared services strategy, an “ace in the hole” if you will.

Large charitable trusts and foundations exist solely to donate their funds to the noble and practical causes of NGO’s and non-profits. Such foundations include the Gates Foundation, J. Paul Getty Trust, Ford Foundation and others. We have recently come to an agreement with the Rockefeller Foundation to finance the near-term organizational design, location selection and governance model. This is huge! The more time consultants (even at 50% cost) are on the ground analyzing the situation, the quicker the business case for quantitative benefits diminishes. Furthermore, Rockefeller has expressed interest in becoming the sole investor in such strategic long term investments, including outsourcing and shared services. This exponentially simplifies, at least one scenario, of the business case. Foundational funding could be used broadly to set up the new environment and annual grants could continue the service based on outcomes. Steady rockin!

Dr. Strangelove

What I was going for...

What actually happened...

Needs improvement

Colonia, Uruguay

Last weekend I took a 3 hour ferry to Uruguay and checked out the old town of Colonia. Colonia is a very quiet town and there was not much going on. With in a few hours I had combed the entirety of the town’s views and plazas.

The weather was perfect for the majority of the day, but good thing it took such a short amount of time - as I approached the dock to wait for my ferry, it began to torrentially downpour.

I safely made it to a nearby café and ordered a humongous desert. I have never really had a sweet tooth, but something about South America has changed my eating habits to that of a pregnant lady in her 2nd trimester.

Malbec and Mendoza

A follow-up to my previous blog – A full day was spent biking around the vineyards of Mendoza. After renting bikes from “Mr. Hugo”, we continued to 4 wineries (La Rural, Tempus Alba, Viña el Cerno and Familia di Tommaso). Additionally we stopped at a little place that made liquor and chocolate (a good combo) and lastly an olive oil plant.

Many glasses of Malbec were consumed and a few other Pinots and Cab’s – I lost count after 6 or 7.

After the 10 hour day of drinking in between bike treks, Mr Hugo insisted we promptly open another bottle of wine as tourists rolled in, returning their bikes. We sat around and talked with folks from Canada and Wales until the bottle and sunlight was gone.
What seems to be the Occifer problem?

Andes and Aconcogua

It’s the midpoint of our assessment and the workload has lulled for the time being. Time for more adventures... Por la provencia de Mendoza. Mendoza is a laidback little city with a population of several hundred thousand, located about 1000 kilometers / 600 miles due west of Buenos Aires. A true antithesis of Buenos Aires, the clean streets and quite boulevards of Mendoza were a refreshing contrast to the hullabaloo that is BA. Our first day was spent touring the surrounding Pampas and Andes Mountain region.

The day started at the ripe hour of 7am on the Pan American Highway towards Chile. Soon enough we were in the foothills watching a beautiful sunrise light up the Andes. The day was effectively progressing, but soon after sunrise the driver pulled over and opened the hood as steam poured out of the engine. After a haphazard attempt to repair the bus, the guide instructed us to “sit tight” while he headed to the nearest town to call us a new van. I couldn’t help but observe the parallels with several recent horror films, “Turistas”, “Hostel”, the list goes on…

We anxiously watched bus after empty bus pass us by. In a purgatory state, we waited one hour… then two... then three. Finally, just as we were seriously considering hitchhiking back to town, a new bus pulled over and whisked us away.
Since we had lost three hours, most of the stops were reduced to the bus driver slowing down, saying "foto, foto, foto" and pointing left, then all of us jumping to that side, throwing open windows and frantically snapping pictures. Finally we made it to Aconcagua which is 15 kilometers from the Chilean - Argentine border.

There we had a nice hike around the national park at about 2500 meters or 8000ft. The peak of Aconcagua is 6,962 meters and is the highest mountain outside of Asia. Similarly to peaks located in the Himalayans, Aconcagua has a relatively ‘young’ and rugged appearance. However, unlike the Himalayans, there are supposedly some fairly simple, non-technical ascents that you can do if you are fit and acclimatized.Our last stop was Punta del Inca which is a natural land bridge created over time by sulfuric hot springs. The springs run down over the bridge and riverbank, covering the rocks with extraordinarily colorful mineral deposits.