Slingshot Science

My brother and I got some slingshots from a small booth at these waterfalls called Salto del Lajo.  When we first got the slingshots we were okay at shooting them but we’ve gotten better. We have practiced our sling shots by shooting fence posts and trees. One time a woman asked us if we were going to shoot birds and I said “yes” because I didn’t quite understand what she was asking. Then she talked to my mom and we realized that she was asking if we were going to shoot birds, when we said “no” she was glad to hear that. Today we decided to do some science by shooting our slingshots using different materials.

I like Volcanoes

Volcan Villarica

We are currently traveling in the lakes district of Chile and there are a lot of volcanoes. We stayed in a cabana in the town of Caburgua and had a great view of Volcan Villarica. Volcan Villarica is 2847 meters above sea level and is one of only four volcanoes in the world with an active lava lake. In the Region de la Araucania there are seven major volcanoes. Most of these volcanoes are still active. In 2009 Volcan Llaima erupted for three months. While Volcan Llaima was still erupting, its lava flow melted a giant glacier on its west slope. We saw evacuation routes in case Volcan Villarica erupts.

Ojos del Caburgua

the waterfall

When we were in the town Caburgua we went swimming in the lake and one time we went to some waterfalls which was fun. We were hoping to swim but you weren't allowed to and the water was too cold. The color of the water was crazy because it was so blue. There was even one pool called Laguna Azul and it was literally a blue lagoon.

I also took some pictures, thinking of texture line and pattern. My picture of the waterfall is capturing motion. Here are the photos.

Our Travels by Bus

We have traveled in buses almost everywhere we’ve gone and some were long and some were short. The longest bus ride was twenty hours and the shortest was two hours. 

We have been on some very nice buses with bed chairs and only three seats per row, and we have also been on a bad bus that smelled, was hot, really crowded, the bathroom was horrible, and when we stopped for a rest stop the “toilets” were a hole in the ground and there were no doors.

Plazas, Plazas Everywhere!!

All of the towns and cities we have visited have had a Plaza de Armas, which I looked up and found out that it means "weapons square". They are named this because it is where the Spaniards  would hold refuge in case of an attack and they would be given arms (weapons). We like relaxing in the plazas because we think that they are nice places to sit around and eat ice cream but they were actually built for protecting yourself with guns not eating ice cream. Almost every plaza has had churches and government buildings surrounding it.

Textiles in Peru and Maximo Laura

While we have been traveling in Peru we have seen a lot of textiles and weaving because its a big thing in Peru. We have seen this art in Cuzco, Pisac, and Puno. For example, a lot of women have been weaving in markets, on sidewalks, and everywhere. We also went on an island tour on Lake Titicaca and mostly men were weaving there. The boys on the island were selling hand woven bracelets. We also went to gallery in Cuzco about a Peruvian textile artist named  Maximo Laura.

Maximo Laura was born in Peru in 1959. He is one of the best textile artists in Peru, and his art is very interesting. The way he makes his art is: first he sketches what he wants to make, they use a computer to make a pattern, then his team and him go to their warehouse of yarn, and then they start weaving on a big loom. A lot of the textiles that are big take months to finish.

My Family’s Incan Jungle Trek

A few days after Christmas my family and I went on an Incan Jungle Trek for four days and three nights. We started in Cusco and ended in Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Incas. It was very hard to do but it was still fun. We got to meet a lot of new people on the trek.

Day 1:
The first day we had to wake up really early and head down to where we met the mini bus to take us to where we were going to the highest point of the trip (over 4,000 meters or 12,000 feet). We got out of the bus and got on bikes to ride down the mountain but the bikes weren’t in very good shape. When we started to bike it was raining. There was a lot of rain water on the road that was spraying in our eyes which was not good because the road was really windy and the cars were driving like they were in a race, so that added another scary thing to the ride. When we were going down my brother started going too fast on a turn and hit a pole and flipped over and now he has a bunch of bruises on his leg where he hit the ground and his handle bars. After he crashed we waited for the van to pick us up and take us the rest of the way down.