worldbycarey

Family Reunion

2010-09-07T05:41:00.000-07:00

Who would’ve known when I left this place in April, crying my eyes out at the friends I thought I’d never see again, that we would all end up back here at the same time, just five months later, ready to start it all over. I got back to Koh Tao on Thursday morning, and the Sunshine Divers family reunion has begun. All of the ‘old timers’ are here, with some very much missed exceptions, and we’re all back in the water, starting the fun that the next month will most likely be. I had my sappy goodbyes and many tears with Adam and Sam early last week and am now celebrating new beginnings with the many that have returned while I’ve been away.

But first, the rest of my trip to Bali…incredible!!! We survived the cockfighting chickens and taunts of Balinese police. We took to the sea and managed some beautiful snorkeling and a fantastic shipwreck. More motorbike action was played out and some good food was had. It was a holiday to remember, and I wouldn’t have wanted it with anyone other than my British lads.
After a day of nothing but snorkeling and sunbathing in the blue lagoon in Padangbai, I took a trip up to Tulamben to see the US Liberty shipwreck just off the coast of the island. I did this trip alone, as the boys decided that motorbiking was a better option for them. Just an hour and a half bus ride up the coast brought me to my first ever shore dive to this coral encrusted boat under the sea. It was an interesting feat, donning my scuba gear and powering through the waves and the rocky sea bottom, but fantastic to know that diving can be as easy as getting in the water and just wading out. We dropped down to thirty meters quickly and came up on the gigantic shipwreck that was dragged to this location years ago. The corals were beautiful and the fishes were plentiful. It’s crazy that there, in Indonesia, I can see everything that I get excited about in Koh Tao on just a single dive, whereas in Thailand, I might get to view these things every tenth. Clown triggerfish, Barry the barracuda that was bigger than me, boxfish of all shapes and sizes, these things all exist here every day….and I’m jealous of the divemasters that get to experience this. I did two dives at the wreck, in perfect visibility, and I was sad that they’d be my last in Indonesia, unless I decide to return someday.

I was fortunate that Sam and Adam decided that they’d be heading that way as well, just with their own transportation, so I was able to ride the coastal highway with them after the dives. We made our way back slowly, dodging chickens and dogs for the many hours it took us to get home on the shoddy bikes that they had rented. They’d already had one run in with the police before I joined the caravan, so we were on the lookout for more scams along the way. Apparently in Bali, you need an “international driving license,” a bullshit excuse to extort money out of tourists. They’d already fined the boys $10 each and I’m sure it would’ve been more if we’d stopped when we heard them yelling as we whizzed by on our way home. In Amlapura, there were at least two that shouted out at us as soon as we passed, not because we were doing anything wrong, but only due to our foreign faces. It’s just another harassment that we all could’ve done without on our journeys through the island.
The scenery was gorgeous though with the small bays and inlets along the way. We made it back to town, without any accidents, by early evening to enjoy our last night with all of us together. We feasted on a scrumptious Nasi Campur and had a few drinks at one of the local bars before calling it an early night. We all had some travelling to do the next day.

On Sunday morning, the three of us woke early, had breakfast, and said our goodbyes. Adam headed to Lombok and will then go to New Zealand, and Sam and I needed to get back towards the airport. I was sorry to see Adam go, but his future destinations include Central and South America, easy enough for me to get to when I return to the states. I have no doubt that I’ll see him again sooner than I think. So Sam and I, without our travel planner, made our way to the small town on Jimbaran to get in some more beach time and the best seafood I’ve ever encountered.

There was nothing in the town, absolutely nothing, other than seafood restaurants and some high end resorts. We found a small guesthouse across from the beach and parked ourselves just there for our last two days. It was so refreshing to be able to relax by the sea without being asked to buy sarongs or massages every five seconds. The locals actually came out here to enjoy the sunsets. The men sat in circles and talked about their days while the kids flew kites and played soccer on the beach. The mothers ran around with the little ones, and the few tourists strolled through the sand taking in the breathtaking views. It was so relaxing, almost too relaxing, and very hard to leave.

No matter how hard I tried to resist, I still had to go to the airport and come back to the sweaty grunge that is Bangkok. Sam and I flew up in the afternoon and made our way directly to Khao San Road, the backpacker mecca of the city. We were both knackered after long days of travel and despondent on our last evening as the final goodbye happened early the next morning. It was another sad one, but I’ve been planning on going to England on my way home anyway. I now have yet another friend I’ll be reunited with in another place soon enough.

With the end of my Bali trip came a fresh start on Koh Tao. Camilla flew in Wednesday morning and I was having drinks with her by midday. I bought my ticket back to the island and made the arduous journey down on my own in the evening. I seriously hate doing that trip more than anything at the moment and don’t look forward to ever seeing that bus or boat again. The bus leaves Bangkok around 8:30 at night and drops us at the pier in Chumpohn at 2:30am, where a gaggle of people sit and wait for the next four and a bit hours for the boat, that might leave on time at 7am. Why they do it this way is beyond me. Really people, we do not need to wait that long. Is a bus out of the city at 11pm that difficult to arrange? I made it though, and promoted Sunshine divers the whole way. I managed to reel in a few new students and give myself a course to assist upon returning.

The first morning was productive, no matter how tired I was. I moved into my new apartment, joining the crew on the Orachon balcony, where I now sit in my hammock typing this blog. Samita is back from England and it’s so good to see her. Morgan was here when I arrived, although just to pick up his bike and leave the other night. Manuel arrived today and moved in just down the way, so I’m sure we’re in for a treat when he gets up from a nap later. Our little reunion is going to be a good one.

So I’m back in the routine again. I just finished the open water course with the new students. I got to do my first paid job yesterday afternoon in the pool. The money isn’t much, but it was great to finally take on a student on my own. I’ve started muay thai, thai boxing, that will keep me sore, but hopefully get me in shape. I’ve signed up for twelve sessions, and I’m going to try to keep it up every other day until my visa runs out at the end of this month. I know I’ve said over and over in the past year that it’s all ending, but this time I think I mean it. My visa will expire on the 29th and I need to start making plans for a new life. I’ve been looking at plane tickets home and am talking of working on my resume. My one year anniversary of travel is this week, and that’s a long time to be on the road. No matter how much I’ll miss it, I think I’m ready to have a life again and use these experiences to better it. I will still be diving, I will still be traveling, but hopefully will be able to reacquaint myself with a normal life somewhere in the middle. Everything happens for a reason, and it will always work out the way that it’s supposed to. We’ll see where I end up when the new era of my life begins, but for now, I’ll enjoy what I’ve got left right where I am.

*** Pictures to be posted in the next couple of days***

A Vacation from my Vacation

2010-08-27T03:50:00.000-07:00

Five days ago, I jumped off a boat off the coast of Indonesia and began a day that I will not forget for quite some time. Covered in full scuba gear, I held on to a piece of bamboo and stuck my head in the water to see what lied beneath. I was shocked to see a landscape of healthy, colorful corals and fishes just meters below my fins, sweeping past me in a current that was undetectable to me on the surface. Excited and anxious, I looked up and screamed that I was ready to go and within moments, the group of us deflated our BCDs, dropped under and were taken away by the power of the sea. We swam through water that blew into us with hurricane force and over a ridge into a bottomless valley of reef and sea life that was whizzing by us as we let the current take us. After 5 minutes of the dive, I looked at my computer and saw that we had hit 41 meters below the surface, the deepest I’ve ever been. Below me, 2 meter bull stingrays were squaring off like they were getting ready for a duel, lengthy sea snakes slithered in and out of rocks to my left, giant blue puffer fish and marbled grouper eased through the waters surrounding me and thousands of brilliant fishes swarmed in every direction. I took all of this in as I tumbled into this deep blue oblivion for 33 minutes. It was the closest to skydiving that I will ever be. The water was crystal clear and warm, and therefore went unnoticed. As far as I was concerned, I was gliding along the surface of the moon. All of this, and I was back on the island of Nusa Lombongan by 9am prepping for two more mind blowing dives that would occur that day.

I’ve been back in Asia for over a month now, and I finally feel like there is something to write about. Sorry for all of you that it had to be about diving. The four meter manta ray that I swam with and the three meter mola mola (sunfish) that I encountered later that day as I swam through a seemingly infinite abyss made me feel like the luckiest person alive and I just had to get it on paper (or internet, whatever).

So, as you can tell, I’m not in Thailand at the moment. I’ve decided to take a holiday, which brought me to the islands off of Bali, Indonesia. After a full month in Koh Tao, I figured it was time to see something else in Asia. In July, I made my way from the States back to Bangkok and then down to Koh Tao to restart my life on the Rock. The transition was seamless. I stepped off the boat and onto the pier in Mae Haad, taxied myself directly to the shop and was reunited with Sunshine Divers within a half hour of my arrival. I found a cheap bungalow and a motorbike and was back in the pool assisting a course by 1pm that first day.

The island is incredibly busy during July and August with most of Europe, mainly Holland and Germany, on seemingly permanent holiday. With only a few DMTs left, and most of them infected with some illness or another, I was easily assisting on as many courses as I pleased. Within the first week, I’d already completed four different programs and was well on my way to finishing what was left of my divemaster. I had my good friend, Adam, back with me and living just a couple of bungalows down. A few of the old DMTs were still working on who knows what after my three months away. I missed my girls and my roommate from my last trip, but have kept in such great touch that I knew I would see them soon enough. Island life was still the same. Snorkeling, diving, studying and a bit of partying in the evenings still prevailed and the real world of work and obligations slowly drifted away into the back of my mind.

I am a PADI Divemaster now. Yes, a professional scuba diver. Hello, I’m number 275322, how are you today? With Adam’s departure from the island becoming closer and closer, I decided it was time to finish with the people that I started with and went through the snorkeltest ritual with four of my fellow divers. It was a Hawaiian themed night of ridiculousness and debauchery. We were tormented with toothpaste and fingernail polish, shaving cream and the not-so-clear water of the Bans upper pool. A hazing that needed to happen, our snorkeltest was a night to remember…. Or not, depending on if you were able to drink the full bucket (not me, I think I got one gulp down before spitting the rest of the Sangsome Coke mixture out, probably the best move I made that evening).

The rest of the month in Koh Tao was pretty much the same. I still kept myself busy with diving and courses. I managed to get a wicked ear infection which kept me out of the water for almost a week at one point. Annoying as it was, Adam had a friend come out to the island and we found many other amusing activities to do. I was actually able to explore and have pool and beach days that I never enjoyed before. Showing people around an island that I’ve completely fallen for is one of the best ways to pass the time.

So with Adam and his friend, Sam, leaving early in August to travel through Indonesia, I started to get itchy feet again. I need to be in Koh Tao in September as some of my girls are coming back and I so want to see them. But a vacation to Bali with two of my favorite Brits didn’t seem completely out of the question. A day or two before their departure, I bought a round trip ticket to Denpasar so that I could join them for a couple of weeks in a place that I’ve always wanted to see. I let them have their boy time for ten days while I kept myself occupied in Koh Tao, and then made the 24 hour journey to Bangkok and finally, Bali. They met me at the airport and we’ve been seeing the sights on this beautiful island since last week.

Indonesia is different. In Kuta, there is McDonalds, KFC, Billabong shops and all of the amenities that I don’t have on my 7km long island in Thailand. The people are friendly, albeit annoyingly in your face 24/7. “You want motorbike?” You need massage?” You need dart gun? I give you sunset price!” Really?! Learn your market people! No, I do not want a dart gun while lounging on a beautiful beach in Bali! Yes, this occurred. A strange man with scary looking weapons came up to us on the beach while we were watching a picture perfect sunset, blew a dart into his flip flop and stared at us for five minutes while we DIDN’T contemplate his offer. A form of seller’s intimidation? I don’t know…it didn’t work.

Our first couple nights in Kuta were a bit rough. We were harassed into a dodgy room that someone may have died in not long ago after soiling the bed and writing all over the walls. It was “cheap cheap,” and that’s what we had asked for. There was a chicken outside that I would’ve happily given up my vegetarian ways for as it crowed every 15 seconds from midnight until 8am both nights. The dogs found entertainment in barking at it, taking up the few moments of silence that we were allowed. All of this was going on ten feet from our room while we listened to the mosquitoes buzzing in our ears. The lights were turned on multiple times during the night to kill the blood-swollen bugs, leaving further evidence of carnage in our already filthy abode. Even a night out of drinking Arak (while watching the four million Aussie tourists dance in foam…LOL!!!!) couldn’t help us sleep in that god forsaken place. Two nights was enough, we made our way to the island of Nusa Lombongan for a little bit of rest and relaxation.

We got to the island after a short taxi and a freakish boat ride. The swells in the ocean here are beyond my imagination. Apparently some of the deepest water in the world resides just off the coast of Indonesia, bringing on huge waves and temperamental weather. We braved the high seas and found a quaint, bi-level bungalow for the three of us to enjoy for a while. We did the aforementioned dives. We rented motorbikes and tooled around the islands in search of perfect swimming beaches and snorkeling. Unfortunately, with the currents and tides, snorkeling and swimming wasn’t possible. But kayaking through mangroves and taking in spectacular views of the power of the sea from cliffs of jagged rock was manageable.

After three days of fun in the sun, a trip back to the mainland, well main island, was in order. Two days ago we hopped a most gigantic barge to the quaint town of Padangbai, where it seems we will reside until the end of this holiday. It’s a bit more lively than the quiet little island we’d been spending a fortune on. There are quite a few tourists, dive shops advertising the Liberty wreck up the coast, and about a million chickens that woke me up an hour or so ago. These poor birds sit in wicker cages lined in a row all day and just scream in torment about their miserable lives. They’re ready for the cock fights, the ones that will take place each day somewhere not in my direct vicinity. While I was taking photos of this awe inspiring sight yesterday, I was given an offer to watch them train, I politely declined.

Despite my first assumptions about Bali, this island is very big, with proper motorways that you can drive through the landscapes of rice fields and coast lines. Yesterday we rented motorbikes and took the island by storm, with only a few death defying hiccups along the way. With scooter rental here, you get a helmet, something unheard of in Koh Tao. Even with my improved skills on two wheels, I was pleased to be wearing it as I ran head on into Adam when he stopped unexpectedly on the side of the road. I had heard a beep behind me and turned my head during the two seconds that he decided to lay on his brakes to take in a view. When my vision turned forward he was right in front of me and the brakes on my bike couldn’t slow at such a short distance. I hit his bike from the side, nearly sending him down the cliff and into the rice fields and river below. Sam was in front of us, heard the commotion and ran to us to find me lying face down and both bikes flipped, but still running. We came away from the scene without a scratch on either of us, just a little shaken at what could’ve occurred.

The rest of the day was gorgeous. The sun was shining as we flew down the smooth, curving roads through endless palm trees and fields of green. I thought a lot about my dad and how much he would’ve loved taking his bike up and down those winding mountains and to the coastlines filled with black, volcanic sand. We stopped in a small town and had some lunch before making our way to an empty, hidden beach for a late afternoon swim. The surf was overwhelming and I neglected to bring my bathing suit, so I was rudely awakened when I jumped in with my dress on and pushed quickly under the surge. Probably not the smartest thing I did yesterday as we almost needed a rescue diver to get me out of it. So with a handmade sarong dress and a bit of a hurt ego, we made our way back to Padangbai for a dinner of fresh fish and some card play. We ended the evening with local drinks and a live Balinese band.

Today, I was rudely awoken by the cock fighting chickens directly to my left. It’s almost 9am now and Adam’s already made his way down to the Blue Lagoon for some incredible snorkeling. Apparently he went down the other day and was able to play with a giant green turtle, something I’m hoping to see when I finish my morning errands. It’s going to be a day at the beach. No motorbikes, no touring around, just relaxing with a good book in the hot, equatorial sun. I’m hoping to get my last two Indonesian dives in tomorrow. I need to be under these crystal clear waters at least one more time before heading back to Koh Tao. I’ll have to say goodbye to Adam again on Sunday or Monday and slowly make my way back to Bangkok. Sam’s flight back to England is from there, so we’ll make the journey together. Then I’m getting one of my girls back. Camilla is flying in from Denmark just an hour after Sam flies out next week. I’ll reunite with her and we’ll return to Koh Tao together. And when I step foot on my island paradise I’ll get one last bit of excitement as my old roommate from the last trip, one of my favorite British ladies, Sam, will be there to greet me. The next few weeks are going to be one for the record books. Even with sad goodbyes I have looming in my future, I’ve got some good times to look forward to very soon.

****Due to extremely slow internet and my impatience I'll post more (and better) photos up later

And the story continues...

2010-05-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

It has been almost a month since my last blog, so for those of you still checking, I'm so sorry to disappoint. The thought that I need to keep it going has crept into my head quite a bit in the last few weeks. I've slowly tormented myself up until now...so here I sit; ready to type. I have made it back to the "real" world. I have seen most of my family and friends, found employment and semi-reliable trasportation, and celebrated the scariest of all birthdays thus far. It is the summer of my 30th year, and I've found myself back in the beautiful humidity of Michigan.

From Christchurch, I did yet another transpacific flight and made my way back to San Francisco to visit my old life for a week. It was so wonderful to see everyone there and enjoy the spectacular views of the bay. Although, it was a bit of a shock for me after four months away. The frugal living I've been doing has definitely ingrained itself into my head. In the six days I was there, I only made it out a couple of times. Knowing that I would spend money every time I left the house kept me humbled on the couch for a lot of my time. I was able to be productive in the end of it all though, as I cleaned out the majority of things from my good friend's garage. If I have to be in the states for over two months, I want everything in one place. I bought a cheap (and enormous!) bag from the flea market and filled with 50 pounds worth of things to take with me to Michigan. The rest of it went to Good Will...I hope someone can find comfort in the things that I used to treasure.

Me and my ginormous bag made it to the airport and I was quite a sight getting to the checkin counter at SFO. Luckily I was able to arrange a ride, and thank goodness it was hours before my flight. I stood on the curb and weighed my bag and found that it was eight pounds over, causing me to throw out and rearrange things with everyone and their small, compact suitcases laughing at this ridiculous traveler trying to get a bag larger a person into the airport. In the end of it all, I got the bag at the EXACT weight required and carried on two overstuffed backpacks, one complete with scuba fins sticking out, which the security people had a heyday with. It was not a day of travel that I'd like to repeat anytime soon, but something tells me I probably will at some point in the next year of my life.

Since I left for Europe last September, I've had "B Day" in my head and the date was May 8, 2010. It was the day that I had to Be Back for my Best friend's Bridal shower. There was a point or two, especially when in Thailand, that I just wasn't sure if I would be able to make it...but I did, and three days early to boot! I arrived in Michigan on May 5th and took off running.

After two long weeks of sitting on couches in New Zealand and San Francisco, I was ready to be productive. Getting to Michigan was the time that I would be able to look for a job, work with Kelly on her wedding and see my family and friends (i.e leading a normal life). All of this being possible because I have a definitive plan (the only real one I've had in a long time) to be here for more than two months.

After my arrival, the turn of events went something like this:

May 5th: Arrival and reunion with Debbie in Ann Arbor
May 6th: Transported to Royal Oak (with monster bag in tow). Purchased vehicle (push bike).
May 7th: Job search began
May 8th: B Day -- Bridal Shower
May 11th: Job hunt resumed
May 12th: Job acquired, start date: May 17th

I have to say, I might just be the luckiest person in the world. Whenever anyone has questioned me about how I will get by after all of this ridiculousness, I always say "it will all work out the way that it's supposed to" or "it will all fall into place." I read the book, The Secret, once. It's all about the benefits of positive thinking and visualizing your goals. I thought it was a crock then, and I still kind of do, but something in that realm of thought seems to be working in my favor. I stepped foot into a state with double digit unemployment and zero percent of the population without a car and managed to procure employment in less than a week. To top it all off, my resume looked something like this:

March 2010 - May 2010
Divemaster Trainee, Koh Tao, Thailand

November 2009 -December 2009
Customer Service, La Brisa Loca Hostel, Santa Marta, Colombia

September 2005 - September 2009
Asst. Operations Manager, Credit Suisse, San Francisco, California

Yes, I actually put that on my applications. I had two interviews at an upscale restaurant three miles from my new abode and I got the job with my stunning personality. I work all day shifts, which is so nice considering the bike rides home at 3am would've been rough (but I would've done it). Last week I trained for five days, and today was my first being out on the floor on my own. I made my first little bit of money that now resides in my wallet. It's nice to see some positives in the bank after eight months of withdrawing money from the ATM. I'll be working almost every weekend while I am here, so I've had to prioritize my time. I will get all of the days off I need for the wedding festivities. But things like concerts, up north weekends and my birthday all needed to be taken off the list. These were hard decisions, but made for very good reasons.

Just before my first day of work, I wandered into the scuba store that I've been eyeing since my arrival. They were having a sale and I needed a dive computer. That is the only thing I wanted when I walked in on that fateful Sunday. I stepped into the store and immediately got consumed by conversations about diving and gear. There was a video of a whale shark showing on the flat screen against the back wall. There were wetsuits, BCDs and regulators that I could touch and play with. Basically, it was full of so many things that I miss about being in Koh Tao. I was there for an adrenaline-filled hour and a half and walked out with a costly new set of scuba gear. I now have everything I need with the exception of wetsuit and tank. Both of those can be purchased anywhere in the world. The conditions that I could be diving in vary too much for me to make those kind of investments now. So there is my reasoning behind missing out on some of the finer things during Michigan summer, I need to make that money back asap.

Speaking of finer things....It has finally happened. I've turned the dirty thirty. Last Friday night, it was celebrated the low key (well, kind of) way. I had to work on Friday afternoon and then again at 7:30am Saturday morning, so a rockin' night out on the town could not be had. Kelly planned a sushi happy hour to be followed by drinks at my favorite local dive. What I thought would be just three of us that evening turned out to include a few more that I have not seen in too many years. Although some of them weren't aware it was my birthday until a few minutes in, it was still a festive evening and I had such a great time. I was supposed to be home and in bed by 11pm at the latest and only fudged that by making it to a taxi at 11:30. I fell asleep quickly and felt on my game for a nine hour day of work on Saturday. It was the perfect way to ring in a new decade. I was so happy to see everyone there.

Since then, it has been work, work, work. I was at the restaurant all weekend and then did some computer work for my old boss yesterday. The weather has gotten hot here and the humidity is kicking. It's finally summer and I'm spending too much time indoors, but it's all for the cause of getting back to Thailand.

On a better note, I went into the shop to pick up my new gear last night and got some exciting opportunities out of it! First off, my new BCD and regulator are beautiful. They're so fresh and new, I just love them. I'm scheduled to head to the pool tonight to test them out and see if I like some of the features they gave me. It's a little different than the kits that I've been working with, so I'm a little on edge about whether I want all of this high tech stuff. Either way, it won't be difficult for me to change things around. While I was there chatting things up with the owner and his wife, he asked me if I'd be interested in assisting on his Open Water course on Thursday night. It's only a pool session, but it's exactly what I've been doing in Thailand. He's an SSI instructor, and I'm PADI certified, so it will be wonderful to see the way that the other half works. They're essentially the same program, but they teach different techniques to their students. Although I'm doing it for free, it's something that I love. I am so stoked about this opportunity and I'm hoping to make a good impression so that I can do more during my stay in Michigan.

There is the last month for me in a nutshell. It's been busy, but I've made it through without too much hassle. My laid back mentality seems to be keeping me sane at the moment. June is going to get tough with bachelorette parties and upcoming weddings, but it will all be so much fun as it's happening! There are still so many people that I need and want to see. There are some gorgeous Michigan summer days to be enjoyed. It's all still part of the adventure. I refuse to let the story end here.

World by Carey Wrap Up

2010-04-27T03:54:00.000-07:00

When I touch down in San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon, I will have been gone for 232 days. I will have taken 31 flights, crossed in and out of 18 countries and rode an uncountable number of buses, trains, boats and cars to get to and around four different continents. I have seen white sandy beaches and the what lies beneath the deep blue seas. I have climbed small mountains and walked into seemingly endless deserts. While doing all of this, I have made more friends than anyone can ask for in a lifetime; people that have touched my heart in so many ways that I will never, ever be able to forget. This has been the trip of my dreams. Although the journey will continue in a few short months, the original holiday (ever-expanding as it was) is ending when I leave Christchurch tomorrow.

I arrived in New Zealand last week to find better than average weather. I took the bus in from the airport and met Amanda in the square on a beautiful, warm, sunny day. I quickly made my way to her house for some much needed rest and relaxation and I really haven't left it since. The weather turned sour after the first two days and I've been wrapped up in a blanket on the couch to keep warm. The initial reaction to leaving Koh Tao still hadn't left me. It felt like a blur from there to here. I've gotten over the shock of it at this moment, but with the gloomy clouds I'm looking at in the window, it's hard not to keep thinking of where I was just a week ago.

It's been really great catching up with Amanda though. We've had some good girl time that we didn't on my last visit. We've stayed in each night, playing cards and talking about what has happened in the last two months. I've shown her the pictures and told the stories that make me smile. She seems to be doing really good as well. Her and Neil have gotten the cutest new dog, Eddie, and he's been the center of our attention. I've found myself more enthused with Neil's fish tanks than ever before. It's been a great week with no big highlights. My body needed to catch up after eight months of constant movement and Amanda provided me with that luxury.

Yesterday, she decided to play hooky from work and we actually made it out of the house for a quick trip to the aquarium, one of the few things I haven't seen in Christchurch. I was starting to feel a bit under the weather as we went to lunch, and funny enough, I had Thai noodle soup to soothe my sore throat. You'd be surprised actually...Thai food tastes pretty much the same anywhere you get it...there are just more options when you're actually in Thailand. I started to feel my mood deteriorating as we made our way to the aquarium. It was actually quite cool, so we lingered a bit longer than my body could take. I got to see the endangered kiwi birds that they keep there...very weird looking flightless birds. They just happened to be feeding the sharks around that time as well, so we had some light afternoon entertainment. As we were just about to leave, the aches hit my system. I officially have worn myself out. We passed by the clinic on the way to the car, and I just had to go in. The first necessary doctor visit of my trip.

To be fair, Amanda and friends have been bugging me to go to the doctor since I got here. I have a third degree burn on my calf from the motorbike, an unhealing scab on my knee and a small crater on my heel from a blister that just stayed open for more than a month due to using my fins every single day. All looked infected upon my arrival, but I think I've been taking care of them quite well. But the sore, swollen throat was the last straw. I was remembering my bout with strep throat a couple of years ago and how miserable I was for days. I needed antibiotics, so I walked in and asked for some while paying a small fee. I now have meds for the numerous problems my body is facing. After waking up with what I'm sure is an ear infection this morning, I can only hope they work quickly.

So I am sat here on that couch again, on the last day of my eight month adventure. My flight is tomorrow at 4:30pm and I'll arrive in San Francisco three hours before that (I get to time travel tomorrow!). I am wondering about the next couple months and the things that I will do. I am well aware of how the last eight have changed me and my perspective on things, so what will happen in the days to come? I know I should probably find some sort of employment. I know that I have my best friend's weddings to look forward to. And I know that I've got all sorts of budgeting and planning to do before heading back to Thailand. But do I need to plan further than that? There are many discussions that I'm going to have with my family and friends about where this new life is taking me. My eyes have opened now to the world and all of the little things that really matter to me. Now it's time to take all of the pieces of this puzzle and put them together to make up the next year of my life.

I haven't decided yet whether or not I'm going to keep going with the blog. While I'm in the United States, it seems silly, as there are cell phones that will relay the same information. I have to admit that I enjoy doing it though, even in the times that I can't figure out what to write. It's a task that I think about every week or so. I need deadlines and structure and my blog is really the only thing that gives me those at the moment. I do plan on going through and editing the 50 posts that I've put up since September. It was fun to have pictures for everyone to see during New Zealand and Thailand, so I'll go back through South America and Europe and do the same. I'm also very aware of the copious amount of spelling and grammatical errors that I made while rushing to save money in internet cafes. Since I quit my personal journal about three weeks in, this is my diary, and I need to get this cherished possession up to par. Just another project of the many that I have when I get home.

So there it is....that was the world by me and what I chose to do with it! I'll be back in San Francisco in day or two and then in Michigan on the 5th of May. I'm excited to keep up my never-ending summer, as winter is quickly approaching where I sit right now. Do a sun dance for me if I'm coming to see you. My hair is almost blond again and my tan is fading quickly. I'll need to keep up my tropical appearances even during my visit to North America. Kelly and Jen, I can't wait to see you get married! I am so looking forward to celebrating my 30th birthday (yikes!) with my dear friends back home. This is it for now, we'll see where I go from here. Catch you all on the flip side...

I left my heart in Koh Tao...

2010-04-20T20:46:00.001-07:00

So this is it, I have left my beautiful island paradise. I am in Bangkok awaiting my flight to New Zealand and from there I will head home. Yesterday I said goodbye to my Koh Tao family. The people from Sunshine have become a part of me and it was the most difficult departure I've had in the eight months that I've been traveling. I can only compare it to the last few days before moving to San Francisco. There were so many laughs amidst uncontrollable tears. I will miss the people and the island more than anyone can imagine. My life there was the best I've ever had it and the memories I made will last my lifetime.

The last week in Koh Tao was an exciting one. Many people have been coming and going. I was not the first or the last. With the first DMT, Mahats leaving just a few days before me, everyone got together and did a DMT underwater photo shoot. We dove at Shark Island and Aow Leuk. The conditions were beautiful and we finally got some shots of all of us together doing what we love. We brought down props and built a human pyramid. There were sword fights and water guns. A bottle of wine was even brought down and drunk at 10 meters (not quite PADI standards, but it was only a sip each....we just needed to see that it could be done). The photos turned out amazing thanks to our beautiful photographer, Alice. Here are a few of them. There will be many more to come later.

From the DMT shoot, we all just got out diving again. Mahats had his snorkel test last Friday night, complete with scavenger hunt and three legged race. Afterwards, a huge group of up went into Sairee and crashed the DJL pool party. It was a soaking wet night, but a great time for everyone. I think everyone started getting sick after that...there was about that pool that I don't even want to know about.

Then it was down to my last couple of days. I planned my diving so that I could take an afternoon off with everyone to enjoy an afternoon picnic at one of the local beaches. We brought or dive bags full of fins, masks and snorkels, hoping to get in the sea during the afternoon together and made our way down the treacherous road to Aow Leuk. After two people, including myself, skid down one of the roads, we decided to shuttle in on some of the bigger bikes. I'm definitely much better now that I've been driving for a few weeks, but these roads of concrete covered by sand are just too much for me to take.

We got to the most beautiful beach and were almost immediately approached by an insane little Thai man going through our bags and throwing our things around. It was his beach apparently, and he didn't like us bringing in dive bags and food that wasn't purchased from him. He made actions to slap us all and then began karate kicking Adam, screaming for us to leave. We did nothing in retaliation for fear that he might pull out something more that his foot. We left bitching and complaining, swearing no more money would ever be spent there. When we got back and told others about it, we heard that this has happened before. That guy was a nut!

So instead, we made our way to Sairee beach on a much safer road. We went all the way to the north and tucked between some boulders to stay out of the intense sun. We listened to music, some of us swam. All in all, we just generally enjoy one of our last days together. It was worth missing the afternoon dives to be with these beautiful people.

After the picnic, we headed up one of the mountains to Sunset View, a restaurant overlooking all of Sairee. We had our fruit shakes and hoped that the sunset would come out through the clouds, which it didn't. It was a slight disappointment, but gorgeous all the same. From there we did the farewell dinner for Mahats and then I prepped for a day full of diving.

I did four dives on my last full day in Koh Tao. Unfortunately, the night before I burned my leg on the exhaust pipe of my bike, so keeping it clean and dry was my ultimate goal. It's a wicked burn that wen through at least three layers of skin. My new Koh Tao tattoo, I guess I needed to take something home with me as I've bought no other souvenirs. So I bandaged myself up and got in the water. Our first dive site was Mango Bay, one of my favorites, as there is a HUGE cloud of my wonderful fussilier fish that I just love to go play in. Unfortunately, I was assisting on an open water course, so I wasn't able to sit in the school for too long. But at least I got to see them and say goodbye.

The afternoon dives were beautiful as all of my girls came out and we did two girlie dives at Chumporn and Green Rock. We just swam about and played in more schools of fish. We went down over 30 meters and looked for the bull sharks lurking around us in the sea (we found none...thank god). The fishes were crazy that day and I was sure something big would show itself, but never did. The visibility was stunning and although I had the option for diving the next morning before my boat, after two perfect dives with my very wonderful friends, I knew that was it. I'm done diving in the waters off Koh Tao for the next couple of months.

My going away night was spectacular. We made it out to the Caberet, Thai lady boy show, one last time...and the best that I've seen. Even the boys joined us this time and we made a night out of it in Sairee afterwards. It was an emotional evening, but nothing compared to the next day, my last.

I awoke bright and early with Sam and Camilla and burst into tears at the though of having to leave them later in the day. Adam came over and helped console me as well. We went back to the shop and I got everything out of my file. I said my goodbyes to the instructors I will see in a few months and then made my way back home to pack up my bungalow. There was a lecture in the afternoon which everyone attended, so Sam and I were left to ourselves, just hanging out, waiting for the inevitable. Chris and Sam drove me to the pier to catch my boat and I got a text from the others saying they weren't going to make it. As the boat pulled up and I was just ready to get on, I got a call from Adam telling me not to get on, and the next thing you know, I looked over and five more of my friends were there wanting hugs before I left. Of course there were more tears and getting on that boat was one of the hardest things I've ever done. They all stayed at the pier and watched me cry from the upper deck of the boat until I couldn't see them any longer. I got some beautiful texts from them on my way up to Bangkok last night. I left a piece of my heart with them and I just wish I could go back. In July, some will be there, but others will not be. They have made the last two months the best I could have ever imagined. I'm still tearing up now as I write this blog.

So, after six and a half weeks, four pairs of flip flops, three pairs of sunglasses and almost 80 new dives in my logbook, I am back in Bangkok. I made it in at 5am this morning and my flight to New Zealand is at 5:30 tonight. It's going to take me a long time to get over leaving Koh Tao, but the photos and memories will keep me going for a while. I can't wait to go back. I can't wait to see where some of these friendships will lead me. Most of all, I can't wait to tell everyone all about this experience when I get home. See you all very soon.

Happy New Year!!!

2010-04-14T20:35:00.000-07:00

It's another year here in Thailand as we just celebrated Songkran, Thai new year, two days ago. It's the annual festival of water and life that just happened to be one of the most fun days I've had on the island. As with any new beginning, I've been reflecting on what has happened over the past eight months of my life and what will come of the next. I said a while ago that I hoped to one day wake up with an epiphany as to where my life would head. Although that hasn't happened in the way that I expected, I really believe that I have been moving in a good general direction.

Two years ago, I went to Panama. I remember being worried at that point about swimming in saltwater. I hated the thought of large objects (with big scary teeth) sharing the same space. It scared me, and I recall being quite hesitant to get in the ocean for the first couple of days that I was there. And now... well, apparently I am over that. I get in the water each day and dive to depths of 30 meters or more staring at the fishes and exploring new frontiers. I am completing my divemaster, which will make me a professional at being under the sea. It's a crazy turn of events that just brings on so many more questions. How far do I take this? How much more money should I invest? What will I do with it once it is complete? And more importantly, when will it be finished? I have a lot of decisions to make as I return back to the states in two weeks. Although I'm not ready for this to end at the moment, I'm welcoming the break to give me a sense of reality for a little while. Knowing that I have a ticket back to Thailand in July makes it a lot more bearable as well.

I did my second Burma run last week and hopefully it will be my last. It's very simple to do, but the sixteen hours of buses and smelly boats isn't really an ideal way to spend a night and day. I still got the butterflies in my stomach when I saw Koh Tao in the distance that afternoon. It makes me wonder how it will be when I return the summer. I'm going to be like a kid at Christmas jumping around the boat; ready to play with all of the toys on Koh Tao again. Upon my return, things were still the same. Sam was still gone, and I got back to my routine of four dives per day. We get up early, dive, have lunch, dive some more, and then find the time to get some games of cricket and whatever other sport is available in the steamy evenings.

Low and behold, one day I went out on the boat, as usual, only to return to the dive shop and find Sam sitting there waiting for me. She had just texted the day before to tell me that she'd be elephant trekking near Bangkok and that she'd make her plans soon, so I was quite shocked to find her back on the island ready to hang out for another week or so. She also happened to show up on a planned girls night out, so it was the perfect celebration of her return.

Since then, it's been business as usual. She decided to do her open water course, so I've gotten to dive with her, finally. It's so hard when people here aren't partaking in the underwater fun. You come back in the afternoon filled with excitement about what you've just seen, and they have no idea what you are talking about! With the visibility better than I've ever seen and the water bordering on 30 degrees, we had some perfect dives and I got to show her what it was all about. Of course, she was a natural and loved every minute.

The last day of Sam's course just happened to be Songkran. I've been hearing about it for ages, but really had no idea what to expect, other than to be drenched all day. Thai new year is celebrated with buckets and squirt guns, hoses and barrels. After coming up from our final morning dive, the boat turned to chaos. It all started with Natalie hatching a plan to get another DMT into the water. As she pointed to some non-existent fishes in the water, Adam leaned over the boat just enough for me to push him out. Then the boat boys came into play and dumped a huge bucket over the captain. The DMTs were running around like mad filling water bottles and splashing them around. A huge hose was brought out and they proceeded to spray other boats that were tied up to us. It was the best morning I've ever had on the boat. Everyone was high on life and covered in foam and water.

From there, we were wisked away in the dive taxi back down to Chalok bay. Our taxis here are open pickup trucks, so when we arrived at Bans to hop on, we were in shock to see the amount of people out on the road. This island has one main "road" so everybody who's anybody was out on it. Either standing on the sides spraying water, or in a car or motorbike ready to get splashed around every corner. It was like a parade. This island was just one big water theme park, and there's no way to leave.

After returning to the shop and cleaning our gear (and Sam getting thrown in the BCD cleaning bucket), I desperately had to go to the clinic. I had fallen a few days prior and had a small scrape on my knee. This wound turned into a yellow infected mess within a day as things just do not heal here. You'd think that saltwater each day would help, but with all of the reefs and coral in the area, the water is just filled with bacteria. A cut or scrape can take over a month to heal. You go to the clinic and the only thing they tell you is to stop diving....which is just not a viable option at the moment. I went in and the women proceeded to penetrate my knee with tweezers and a needle. If any of you know me well, I am not a good patient. I was very happy when this was over and I was able to resume the Songkran activities.

With a cleaned out and bandaged knee, we went to diving village for an afternoon fiesta, complete with squirt guns. We had snipers in the trees shooting people in the nearby road. It was the best way to spend a hot afternoon in Koh Tao.

From there, things just got better for the next eight or so hours. We made our way into Sairee village for dinner and water warfare and then to the beach for a beautiful sunset. We danced the night away as we were sprayed with water hoses. The evening was one I will not forget anytime soon.

Being wet for more than eighteen hours has caused problems with almost everyone I've seen in the past day. Bumpy rashes and minor bruises are rampant on this island at the moment. Yesterday morning was spent being dry and the afternoon was meant for diving. We went out to Chumporn Pinnacle yesterday and got to take in a cloud of fusilier fish and even had a shark spotting (I did not see them but my fellow divers did..and I'm ok with that). Last night, all craving western delicacies, we went out for Mexican food in Mae Haad. An expensive evening of food, but oh so good on one of my last few days here.

Today Sam is planning her escape again. She will be back, but by that time, I will be gone. I've only got five days left before returning to New Zealand. It's going to be really hard to leave, but I think I'll be able to cope...although I'm sure there will be tears. The last two months here have opened my eyes to what else is out there. It is an era that will always be remembered and I am so fortunate to have had this time. I can't wait to get home and tell everyone about it. And hey, anyone is welcome to join me when I come back in July. A little time in paradise never hurt anybody.

They come and they go...

2010-04-06T01:53:00.000-07:00

The thing about island life is seeing people come and go. There are so many sad goodbyes and hopes to see eachother again. After being here for over a month, I've grown used to the people around me. It's like I've known them all for years. We've all had this incredible experience together and then it's over far too quickly. For me, the time is coming very, very soon. Just a couple weeks left in this tropical paradise. Time to make the most of the time that I have left (as if I haven't been doing that already).

Sam left me yesterday. We've now known eachother in Peru, Colombia, New Zealand and Thailand. Each time we meet up, we know when the next reunion will be. When she left yesterday morning, we didn't have any particular "later" to discuss. She may come back to the island, but by that time, I will be gone. So it sounds like I need to go to England sooner or later. My time with her was too amazing to say it will never happen again.

Last week, I wrote from Koh Phangan, the full moon party. For those of you with grand ideas of what it's supposed to be like, you may not want to read further. It was great because I had that time with an awesome friend, but other than that, eh...I could've had just as much fun staying here and going out in Sairee Beach.

I expected a DJ and dancing the night away with thousands of others on a beautiful beach. There were definitely DJs and dancing, but the beach was just so-so and the thousands of others were just very, very drunk. Haad Rin beach was nice, but not as good as we have it here in Koh Tao. The beach was a bit dirty and just filled from wall to wall with bars. There were people everywhere and medical facilities between each of the hundreds of bucket stands. It was all pretty funny to watch as we got there at 5pm and somehow managed to stick around for the chaos at 5am. We danced to bad pop songs, drank a couple of buckets, we made a few new friends, and I lost yet another pair of sunglasses to the sea. When we hopped in a cab to go back to our luxurious bungalow, Sam and I both looked at eachother and said that we just wanted to go back to Koh Tao. It was a good experience to have once. It wasn't all bad as Sam and I had a blast together. I can say that I did it, but I probably won't be going back.

Neither of us felt all that well on the catamaran back to our island. We craved McDonald's and just wanted to relax when we returned home. And that's exactly what we did. Since the full moon, there's been a lot of hanging out, some movies and a bar night thrown in there somewhere. I've been on a diving binge with my new gear and have gotten to hang with Sam and my gang of DMTs in between all of that.

I've been averaging four dives per day for the last week. As a DMT, you get all of the diving you want. With the visibility under the water getting better and better, I just can't help myself, I'm addicted. I recently got to assist an advanced course. I've been out leading fun divers. I'm finally getting the hang of all of the dive sites and am actually making it back to the boat each time without getting lost. All in good time; I know it will just keep getting better from here.

There was a whale shark spotting on White Rock four days ago, and I had just been diving at that site an hour before. I had done two dives that morning and was on the afternoon boat out to a deep pinnacle in the ocean when we heard the news. We could see the dive site in the distance and the captain was going to give us five minutes of snorkeling with it if we could find it. The boat started to buzz with excitement as everyone grabbed their masks and fins while the boat creeped toward the site. We all stood on the edge of the deck looking out into the deep and although one person on the boat saw it's fin breach, we never found it and never got to swim with this gorgeous creature. Apparently they are attracted to the coral spawning that happens once a year around this time. I will continue my routine of four dives a day until I see it. I swear it will show itself at some point while I'm here.

So that's it. There's not a whole lot going on other than that. I have to go to Burma again tomorrow night for my final visa run before I fly back to New Zealand. From then, there are just a few more leaving and then it will be me. It's amazing how time flies when you're having fun.

On a final note....I've finally gotten some underwater photos!!! I put some of them from the boat above, but I've been dying to snag a friend's underwater camera for weeks...and I finally got to yesterday. Here are some of the things that I get to see everyday under the waters surrounding Koh Tao.

This is my nemesis...the triggerfish. I got attacked by two the other day and it took a nice bite of my fin. I hate them, and of course was surrounded by eight of them on my morning dive today...

Butteryflyfish....

There is a nest of clownfish on the divesite at Twins. Luckily, I get to visit my little Nemo friends almost everyday....

It's like swimming in a giant aquarium...

And the anenome fish in their little houses....very cute as well....

And then there's me, just swimming around everyday...

Just a quickie

2010-04-03T00:49:00.000-07:00

I've been on the internet for way too long trying to get the pics up into the last blog, so this is just a quick one. They are there now and you can see them.

I've just purchased my ticket back to Thailand for the middle of July. It's official, the journey will continue.

I'll post about Koh Phangan and the full moon in a few days. For the time being, here are a couple of shots of a day in my life. :)

A Week in the Life...

2010-03-29T23:32:00.000-07:00

Another weekend has come and gone, even though there are no weekdays or weekends here. Throughout my travels, I have always been able to somewhat keep track of what day of the week it is, but somehow on this island paradise, it escapes me all of the time. A Thursday will feel like Sunday, today is Tuesday and somehow seems like Saturday. I think of time as today and yesterday and the day after next. It's a beautiful thing, but scary when you realize how fast it all goes by.

I took off on my visa run last Wednesday night. Destination: Burma. A sixteen hour journey of buses and boats that took me from Koh Tao and dropped me right back off without a hitch. The night boat was amazing. I got a lift to the pier and immediately plunked myself on one of the mattresses in the dorm for a great five hours of sleep. We arrived in Chumporn and were wisked away in a minivan to the border at Ranong just two short hours away. The border was hectic and it was extremely hot inland. I checked out of Thailand and got on the smelliest boat ever to take me and thirty others across the lake to Burma.

The ride was exciting, as I was sure the longtail boat we were on was going to sink at any minute. I was accompanied by people from all over the planet with the same intent on getting back to Koh Tao. I met some truly annoying British girls that had no idea what they were doing and watched them as they freaked when they saw the sign that said "Welcome to Myanmar." "Where's Myanmar?" they asked. "Where are we going?!" It was hilarious seeing all of the people on the boat wondering what these girls are talking about and then seeing one kind gentlemen go up to them and explain that Myanmar and Burma are one in the same.

We went to immigration in Burma and I really just felt bad. It was a shoddy office with just a card table setup. The poor guy sitting there looked miserable as he stamped our passports in and out of his country thinking about how we all didn't want to be there. This is not entirely true...I have to say that I'd like to visit Burma one of these days. With their men wearing skirts and their kind looking faces. I would definitely like to travel the areas that I am allowed someday. It's just that I have more pressing matters in Koh Tao at the moment.

We arrived back on the Thai side and I was granted fourteen more days in the country. Not long enough, but I'll be going back to Burma in a week or so to do it all over again. We hopped back on the minibus and then on the catamaran across the gulf. After an hour of relaxing below deck, I surfaced and looked out to see my home in the distance. I was back in Chalook Bay and welcomed by my friend, Sam, by 3pm.

Sam came down from Bangkok earlier in the day and was ready for me when I arrived. It was a wonderful reunion and the couple of hours that she'd spent alone on the island made her realize why I'd ditched her to stay there. We went to my apartment and settled in. It sounds like she'll be staying with me for a little while as I try to persuade her to try out the diving scene.

Her first night here was a special one. There were two DMTs that just completed their training and the night was reserved for the pool party/snorkel test. Whenever anyone finishes their training, their initiation is to drink a bucket (small bucket of some sort of alcoholic concoction) out of a snorkel. Not many finish, and I'm sure I won't when it's my time, but it's all in good fun and everyone attends. We went into Sairee to the Ban's pool and had our own private party with everyone around. We finished the night at the local pub with new friends in tow and it was a wonderful introduction for Sam to the island.

The day after the party, everyone decided to relax. We all curled up in the bungalow classroom on the beach and studied and talked and told stories of the day before. We swam in the sea and found some fun floatation devices to play with. I was supposed to dive that afternoon, but everyone else bailed, so I decided to relax that afternoon as well. The next day we were all headed out on the long journey to dive at Sail Rock, off the coast of Koh Phangan.

Everyone had a picture in their mind of what the Sail Rock trip would be like. It was the last dive on the islands for two of the people at the school. It was supposed to be a gorgeous day and the water would be like glass. The visibility would be 40 meters and we would get to see the whale shark we've all been looking for. I woke up in the morning, walked out on my balcony and found the complete opposite. For the first time on the island, it had rained overnight and the storm clouds were still rolling in.

I arrived at the dive school and everyone started taking motion sickness pills...not a good sign. The sky was opening up with buckets of rain as we hopped in the back of the open pickup truck to the other side of the island. We got on the Ban's boat and looked out at the rough seas and knew we were in for it. The swells were huge and water was pouring over the front of the boat. Everyone stayed on the bottom level wrapped in all of the dry clothes that they could find as we made the two hour journey out to the rock.

We arrived and people adorned their wigs and costumes before putting on their wetsuits to get in the water. Being a 40+ meter dive sight, the tech guys were there ready to find whatever lies below the point us novices would go. The visibilty wasn't spectacular, but it was beautiful just the same. The fishes were on steriods there. I saw a grouper that's head was larger than a basketball and it's length was at least a meter and a half. The rock has a chimney swim through which was fun to explore. We swam in at eight meters and out at eighteen a couple of times, watching our bubbles rise behind us. I was in a group with four newer DMTs so navigation was a bit of an issue, especially with the current, but we made it back to the boat safely after both dives. No whale sharks or tropical sun, but all in all, it was a good last dive for the couple of people that were leaving the island.

For the final hoorah party, we all decided to play it cool as everyone had something to do the next morning. Through the brilliance of Bastian, one of the leaving instructors, we found Crazy Mama's restaurant on the rough roads out towards Tanote Bay. A group of 15 of us dropped in on her after 9pm when the restaurant was completely empty. Mama is this truly crazy, and incredible Thai woman that welcomed us all with open arms and broken english. She called in reinforcements to cook us a huge meal while we all chilled on the balcony overlooking the twinkling lights of the bay below us. We didn't eat until after 11pm, but with the excellent conversation, no one really noticed. After dinner, she brought out the props and we all had a good laugh as she dressed us in wigs and hats and gave us fake guns to play with. The pictures turned out phenominal. Check this blog in a few days, I'll post them when I've got my camera with me.

Since Crazy Mama's, I've been on a bit of a diving binge...as if it could get any worse. It's like my job now, and I couldn't have a better one. I feel bad that Sam is left alone all day, but she seems to be keeping herself occupied. We have the evenings to hang out and chit chat. I started assisting my first course, a rescue course. I get to be the victim this time, and it's not as easy as it sounds. Flailing about in the water with full gear takes up energy. And when you've already done two dives in the morning, then spend four hours in the pool trying to play panicked diver, you get tired. I did this the other day and then proceeded to take a night dive afterwards and my body was exhausted...but the events of the night dive, the freakiest one yet, woke me up pretty quick.

One of my fellow DMTs, Lars, and I are in a competition. He started his just before me and is leading me in dives by about five or six at this point. I can't let him get too far ahead, so when I was on the break between the sea and the pool the other day, I decided I'd take him on and power through the night dive with him as my buddy. Both of us are still new at navigation, but White Rock is a fairly familiar site, so we took off on our own in search of whatever we could find under the sea.

We got into the water and immediately saw that the visibility was shit; maybe one or two meters. It's bad enough being in the dark, but in the thick blackness that not even our torches could penetrate, it felt slightly suffocating. We kept our course anyway and slid off the main rock after a few minutes to find the two other pinnacles that reside at the other side of the site. We swam through the sand and kept our compass on what we thought was the correct heading. We turned off our lights for a few minutes and played with the green phosporescents around us. We swam towards the pinnacle, and just about the time I was telling Lars it shouldn't take this long, a huge barracuda flashed in front of our lights. Normally this is an awesome occurence and we both tried to show off that it was sweet with our hand signals. But then we realized that the rock wasn't where we thought it was, and we both seemed unsure of our direction. After a few minutes of searching, I thought I'd found it...we had hit some sort of land mass. We cheered through our regulators and started swimming around it before realizing that this small boulder was not the large pinnacle we were looking for...and we both gave eachother the look. I pointed on the map that we should go back, we set our direction and started swimming....with the giant barracuda still flashing across our lamps. It was cool at first, but with each kick, Lars and I started swimming closer to eachother. We were huddled together watching this one meter fish circle us and wondered what else was going to come out at us from the deep. After a couple of minutes we gave up, it was time to surface. We ascended slowly, and very close together. We stopped at five meters and held hands while the required three minutes ticked by for what felt like an eternity. We surface just 45 meters from the boat and came up hugging eachother. It was a freakish night dive that I will not soon forget. I haven't been scared of a dive in a long time, but this one took the cake. With that horrible barracuda and no sense of direction in the blackness, I will admit I was a bit terrified. Both of us are laughing about it now and it's a great story to tell. I'll be emailing him in ten years to remind him of that night that we had to face our fear...but did everything that the books and lectures have taught us. We were smart divers that evening...and everything turned out brilliantly.

Yesterday, I jumped right back in the water in the morning for the second day of assisting on the rescue. We were on the boat bright and early and I was to play the victim under the water. We got to the dive site and I attempted to be the buddy from hell. I was swimming off into oblivion and flapping my arms wildly. I pretended to start touching the coral and my diver had to calm me down each time. I had to laugh when we came back up after a short 33 minutes and I had very little air in my tank. I'd sucked it all up with all of the energy I expelled trying to play my part. I was a bit embarassed but soon got over it. We did another dive and practiced some more. It will be good for my DMT to continue playing these parts. I learned a lot in the two days I was there for it.

Unfortunately, I couldn't complete the third day. Sam and I had plans that could not be broken. After the dives and some quick shopping (I finally have my own gear!!!!) we hopped on the boat and sailed over to Koh Phangan, just a two hour journey across the gulf. The famous Thai full moon party is tonight and we're here to see what all goes down. We arrived in the afternoon yesterday with big plans to go out last night, but after we saw our luxurious new bungalow, we decided to relax a bit. We walked in to our honeymoon suite of sorts, complete with air conditioning, gorgeous ourdoor bathroom and cable tv and just couldn't leave. We had dinner and drinks at the restaurant and then came back to watch two much needed episodes of Sex and the City, with Thai subtitles of course (PK- you should've been there!!!). This morning has been spent playing on the free internet in between movies on HBO. After this we will have to escape and go see the mayhem of Haad Rin Beach. With just two nights away from Koh Tao, I need to say that I saw something more than my hotel room. Hopefully the current clouds will dissapate and the full moon will come out and we'll dance our cares away until it's time to get back on the boat tomorrow afternoon.

PS -- Due to the sheer amount of people here and the possibility of theft, I don't have my camera on me while posting this blog. Check back in a couple of days. I'll make sure the pics of the last week get posted in their correct place. :)

DMT

2010-03-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

I'm still here. I haven't left the island. My last blog stated that I would be going to Bangkok and on the day that I was supposed to leave, I bailed and decided to stay. This island is a magnet. So many people come here and just never leave. The diving is incredible, the people are fanstastic. It's always warm and there are beaches surrounding you everywhere you turn. So my new thoughts on it are, if I'm so happy, why should I go?

It all started with last week. I was out fun diving almost every day and hanging out with people from the dive school at night. I was still staying at Sunshine on the beach and still hadn't left that area of the island....and then it happened. I got on a motorbike and went up to Sairee, the larger beach, with some friends to see my very first Thai lady boy show. And it was all downhill from there.

The show was actually quite awesome. And the girls...I mean boys....were really, really good looking. They do a whole Vegas showgirl routine, throwing some Thai "culture" into it and everyone has a blast. They pull people onto the stage in the end of it all and dress them up as well. Quite embarassing for everyone watching, but all in good fun of course. My new friends and I all enjoyed and made a night out of it afterwards. It was my first big party on the island and it felt wonderful to have so many people around me.

From there, it was St. Patrick's Day. With so many tourists on the island and so many Irish, it wasn't hard to find something to do. I went out with a bunch of the people from the dive school and it rained green glitter on us throughout the night. We laughed and had such a good time. The next day I woke up, went for two dives, had the most amazing visability yet on the island, and my mind was made up. I've become a new DMT (divemaster trainee).

After my rescue course, I had been contemplating this move, but was really going back and forth on it. Becoming a divemaster requires a massive amount of skill assessments and tests, written and in the water. People take at least two months to complete it, many take much more. The DMTs usually finish with over 100 dives in their logbooks, although with all the free diving you can have, there are a lot that surpass 150. My big debacle is that I will not finish it before I have to return to the states. Starting it here and now means I absolutely have to come back asap. I don't like long term plans, as everyone knows, so of course this was a tough decision. But seeing this place and becoming part of this island has been so wonderful, it won't be difficult to return. I'm looking at plane tickets for the middle of July. I'll be here until I finish my training, and then we'll see where I go from there.

After my decision was made, I got my new Sunshine Dive School t-shirt and attending the Koh Tao Underwater Festival with everyone else. The fest was gloriously decorated with jellyfish hanging from the trees and a huge silver fish over the stage. There was food and drink everywhere. Thai bands were performing. And each of the large dive schools on the island had their own dance routines to show off to the crowd. It was great fun for everyone and I think the entire island attended. The fest lasted two nights, and I was even able to get some diving done in between.

After the festival was over, it was time to get down to business. Priorty one: a new place to live. I was paying an exorbitant price for my last place on a nightly basis, and although it was close to the school, paying that for another five weeks was just not going to fly. I went diving with a few people on Monday and they knew of an open apartment in their complex, so I went to look at it that evening. I was moved in within the hour. My new bungalow is beautiful. I have a bed, two sofas, a small kitchen (sink and refrigerator only, it's way cheaper just to eat out here) and a bathroom (cold shower only, but man, it's hot here, it really doesn't matter). I have a gorgeous tile balcony that faces out to the palm covered mountains. There's even a place to hang my hammock.

So what does this all mean? Basically, I'm not traveling in Asia right now. By the time I leave this island, I will have seen nothing but what lies under the sea around it. I talked to a friend about this last week when I was making this decision, and the main thing is that these countries will still be here when I get back. I have a home for the first time in over six months and I'm quite content to stay in it for a little while. I've made friends here and always have something to occupy my time with. Speaking of which....

Yesterday, a friend an I decided to ride over to Shark Bay to have a snorkel. I had borrowed another friend's huge fins and mask and attempted to get a look at some of these sharks close up. Apparently, I'm getting a little more ballsy as time goes on. Low and behold, I saw my first sharks yesterday...and yes, I freaked. They were small, less than a meter, black tipped reef sharks. They are non-aggressive, but the first two came so close in the very shallow water that I sucked all sorts of water through my snorkel and then proceeded to choke as it swam away from me. With the second, I forgot to put my snorkel back in and then tried to breath underwater like I was diving, which had the same result. After maintaining my bearings and telling my buddy I was swimming to shore, I saw two more of these little creatures. I was pretty shaken, but in retrospect, they were so beautiful the way they glide through the water. If nothing else, I think I'll be a little more prepared the next time I see one. And I'm definitely going to be using better equipment.

So there you have it. That's what I've been doing. Not much different than real life. It's work, taking people out diving and studying things like physics and physiology. I led my first diver alone today and got lost on the dive site, which is pretty easy to do with my bad navigation skills. But it all turned out well, just a small surface swim. In time I will get better. The friend that I was supposed to meet up with in Bangkok will be here on the island tomorrow and I'm so excited to host her in my new place. Unfortunately, my visa is running out very quickly, so tonight I actually have to leave Koh Tao. Luckily I will only be gone one day. There is a boat that will take me to a bus, to another boat, and another, and another bus to another boat that will take me to Burma and back. I will pop across the border tomorrow morning and walk back into Thailand with my visa renewed. I'll have to do this twice before leaving Thailand for good. It's a small price to pay to stay in paradise just a little bit longer.

Under the Sea

2010-03-14T20:00:00.000-07:00

"Darling it's better, down where it's wetter, take it from me!" I've been singing songs from The Little Mermaid in my head all week. The impending sea festival on Koh Tao and the mass amount of scuba diving that I have been doing are making my head spin. I have officially been on this island longer than anywhere else that I've been in the last six and a half months. I live next to a tropical Thai beach and there is a wonderful community of people here, I see no reason to leave at this point. My original friends have now all left to go other places, but new ones come in every day. The water is getting clearer each time I go diving and I've fulfilled all of my certifications. I've moved to a new cockroach free room that looks out to the water. I think I'll spend one more week here and get some more fun in before going back to Bangkok.

I started my advanced open water course last Monday and have been working hard ever since. the school here is fantastic; far better than where I learned in Colombia. The woman who runs the operation here has been on the island for thirteen years and done over 10,000 dives. The divemaster program is incredible and all of the trainees are so dedicated to their hobby. We have a lovely classroom on the water, which makes the theory part of it all much more enjoyable.

I had to choose two electives for my advanced certificate, and as they have no shipwrecks here that are shallow enough, it was time to try a night dive. When I first got here, everyone told me I should do it, but knowing what kinds of things are in the waters around here, I was terrified. I told them that as well. I don't mind swimming at night, I do that quite often, but something about swimming with the fishes 14 meters below the surface in the dark of night just didn't appeal to me. Everyone assured me that it would be wonderful and the things I would see would be amazing, so I signed up. Last Wednesday I took the plunge to complete my course.

We went out just as the sun was setting and Emily, my advanced instructor, debriefed us on the dive sight, White Rock. There were four of us on this dive and as we were jumping in, I seemed to be the only one with any apprehension. I did it though. I went down the line with the rest of them and had my dive light on. The dive site is just a huge boulder covered in coral. As we descended, the fishes started to come out and I could see all of their silhouettes shining in the moonlight from above. We saw huge barracuda, an octopus, giant hermit crabs and puffer fish all entangled in the stunning environment that we were in. The corals are a different color at night and they fan out as the sun goes down. The phosphorescence glows as you shake your hands in front of your face. Everything down there seemed to slow down. I used a lot less air than normal as I was more calm than I have ever been on a dive. It was an experience I will never forget, and I plan on doing another before I leave the island.

After the night dive, I completed my advanced. My two moped buddies had gotten their open water that day as well. So we were all divers now and happy to join the club. As our friend, Thue, was leaving early the next day, we went out to one of the many beach bars for a small celebration. We had a large group that joined us and it was a great night out laying on cushions at Eazy Bar. Nights out here don't tend to be late though. Usually everyone's got something important to do the next day.

For me, it was the beginning of my three day Rescue Diver course. Rescue is the last one that I needed to be able to go for my Divemaster. It consisted of two half days of theory, one afternoon practicing in the pool, and then four "fun" dives off the boat where anything can happen. My new instructor, Sarah, is American and incredibly good at what she does. She's been on the island for four years and diving since she was twelve. The infamously dramatic Blaize was my victim throughout the course. She got to drown several times, threw up on me once, ripped my mask off and reg out of my mouth while I was 14 meters down and generally drove me nuts for the entirety. It was awesome, but not easy. There were fake shark attacks and people with motion sickness. I can't even count how many times I had to jump off the boat to save someone. It seemed every time I turned around, some catastrophe had affected the boat and it's passengers. After the first day, I wanted to kill some people, but it was worth it in the end.

The water was more clear than I've ever seen it during the rescue, which made it difficult to concentrate. The visibilty was more than 25 meters and Sarah knew I was dying to get down there while not trying to save lives. Yesterday was my last day on the boat and they took it a little easy on me so that I could enjoy it. The last of the original group, Ryan, was leaving in the afternoon, so he joined me on the boat to get his last bit in. He got some good shots of me rescuing, so I'm looking forward to see those very soon. We both got to dive and the water was incredible. There were lots of little creatures and gorgeous blue water. Still no sharks yet, but I keep looking. It was the perfect ending to his trip and the best way for me to finish all of my certifications. I got a proud handshake from Sarah at the end and I feel like I've accomplished something amazing. I am a Rescue Diver now.

After our morning dives, everyone seemed to want to take the afternoon of. A Sunday Funday was in order. We had lunch and drinks while saying goodbye to Ryan. Afterwards, a bunch of us sat in the sea with Tiger beers and Singha for hours. It was a quick 10 foot move up to Eazy Bar in the evening where we celebrated my instructor's birthday. Even though my old friends are gone, it seems that I'm making new ones quickly enough. It was an early night for me as I feel a cold coming on (that would be worse than a hurt back, no diving with a cold!) and I got up early this morning feeling refreshed. Ex-students get a good price on diving here, so I've already signed up for my first two this afternoon. Even if it's cheap, I've still got to watch how much I decide to do it. If divemaster is an option for me, I need to be prepared to drop some money fairly soon. Working on tropical islands and diving as a job? I don't think that sounds like a bad idea at all. Whether I decide to go that route or not, it will definitely be fun trying.

Life Lesson # 563

2010-03-07T02:46:00.000-08:00

Don't do something that you've never done that could cost you a boatload if you screw up....especially when on a limited budget. For the second time on this trip, the first being the time I fell asleep in Heathrow and had to pay $300 to continue my flights, I've done something ridiculous and it's cost me (relatively). Yesterday I decided it would be a good idea to rent a motorbike for the day, even though two wheels and a motor are something I've never experienced before. After two small accidents and (thank god) no physical harm, I can say I've learned my lesson. I think I can officially laugh about all of this now.

Before I begin the story of the mopeds on Koh Tao, I'm happy to say that I made it here with no hiccups after paying such a small amount in travel expenses. I got to my pick up point in Bangkok on Thursday evening to find the travel agency closed. Luckily there was another rider there as well and we were quickly picked up by a small Thai man and wisked down a dark alley and out onto a main road where he held up his hand meaning either to stop, or that he would be back in five minutes...neither of us knew which. After twenty minutes of not really knowing what was happening (and still no sign of our disappearing tour guide) a bus with a magical horse and image of Popeye showed up and we knew our problems were solved. We were on our way to Chumporn.

I got to know my new Danish friend on the bus ride down in between trying to sleep and shivering in the freezing bus (they apparently love their air conditioning here too). We arrived at the dock at 3:30am to wait for our boat that would leave at 7. We really couldn't figure out why the buses were scheduled this way, but we took it for what it was and were glad to be there anyway. When a beer was sat down in front of me a half hour after our arrival, I didn't complain. Sleeping was not an option and my schedule was all thrown off from the overnight bus anyway. I passed the time meeting new people and trying to figure out where I was going. I was able to catch the most beautiful sunrise over the water just before our boat started boarding.

The three hour ride was good. Everyone just relaxed on the deck and was eager to see our new home in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand. There were two dive operators on the boat advertising their programs and I chose where I wanted to go from their information. Instead of the large western beach, I would be taking the free taxi ride down to the south for a more chilled out stay on the island. As we approached Koh Tao, I found that my Danish friend and an Aussie that I had met would be doing the same.

After a quick ride in the back of a pickup truck, I found myself at the beach. I chose Sunshine Divers as my new accommodation and even got a bungalow near people that I had met on the boat. I plan to stay on the island for a week or two, so I actually unpacked and put things in drawers. I must be going through some sort of nesting phase because it feels great to be settled for the moment.

My room is cozy, although I seem to be sharing it with a family of creatures that I guess I'll just need to get used to. The geckos don't bother me much anymore, but the three inch cockroach that taunted me while showering yesterday morning was getting to me a little. I was quite happy when I saw him scurry from the bathroom out onto the porch in the afternoon. I quickly screamed for one of my friends next door and we chased him away with a broom after quite the scene. I was laughed at by a few Swedish guys in the area at that point, but I think I can call the "girl" card on that one. These things are just gross. The geckos, on the other hand, are pretty neat (especially considering they eat mosquitos). I came home to a huge one last night which I just wanted to keep as a pet. Between the bugs, lizards and choirs of birds in the trees of the garden, I feel like I'm in wild kingdom.

So on to the story of the motorbikes... I've grown up seeing my dad ride my whole life and although I've never really tried the whole two wheeled thing, I figured it couldn't be all that hard. That's basically all there are on this island, just mopeds and motorcycles with a few pickup trucks just to shake things up a bit. While walking around on the first day, we found out just how cheap these things are to rent and thought we'd give it a go.

Yesterday morning, we picked up our new rides and proceeded to terrorize the island. We drove to the center to have some lunch and a swim and then started to make our way to some of the more remote beaches around us. Much to our dismay, the bikes were crap. They looked good, but with balding tires and little power for the steep hills, we got ourselves into trouble quickly. The two guys I was with were pretty experienced, and although I was starting to feel more comfortable, I was still shaky. After a couple hours of riding, I had my first wipe out at the top of a hill. There was sand on the concrete and the tires wouldn't grip. I was going slow so had no damage to my person, but the bike got a few scratches. After this first one, I was a little more careful for the rest of the day.

Even with extra caution, my lack of motor skills hurt me in the end. About ten minutes later, I found myself pulling out on the main road from a gas station, causing a tiny bit of carnage in the process. I attempted to turn left and was gripping tightly to overcompensate for the shotty brakes when I somehow managed to turn the throttle and aim my bike directly into another, which then hit a pickup truck coming from the other direction. This all happened in slow motion and the next thing you know I was being pulled out of the road. The other bike didn't fall over and he was gone before I realized what happened. The owner of the truck just stood there and laughed as I shook and was glad to have two friends there to comfort me. The pickup had a nice crack in the front bumper, but no one came to talk to me. The next thing I knew, all of the parties involved were gone without a word and I was at a bike shop getting the brake that I broke off fixed. I managed to get through all of this without a scratch. I'm not really into motorbikes anymore... at least not in Thailand.

After all of this mayhem, we actually continued on and went to another beach to relax. Of course, with my luck, I jumped into the crystal clear water for just long enough to realize I was being stung by tiny jellyfish, and then promptly got out. It was a beautiful day and it would've been nice for a swim, but it just wasn't in the cards for any of us.

Last night was an early one after all the chaos of the day. So this morning I awoke and felt productive. I cleaned my room, did some washing and started reading some of my advanced diving manual all before 7:30. Ryan came around about 8 and told me he was taking the bike for a ride before breakfast and I happily sent him on his way alone. He came back an hour later with a bike more scratched up than my own. He'd had a spin out as well on the crappy roads of Koh Tao.

We had breakfast and contimplated how to deal with the situation. We decided we'd take them in at that moment rather than delaying the inevitable. We brought the bikes back with our eyes looking downward and hoped they'd miss something, which of course, they didn't. They attempted to charge him almost $450 and me $300 and we asked to speak to the boss. The bikes weren't worth much more than that and the thought of so much wasted money just made us sick.

So to try and forget it all for a moment, three of us went kayaking out to Shark Beach this afternoon (yes, there are sharks there...no, I didn't see any...and yes, I swam). The day was hot and the water was beautiful, so it worked at the time. When we got back this afternoon, I ended up having to pay two thirds of what they wanted and it was the same for Ryan. It was a bum deal that we got, but it needed to be settled. I was at least able to rationalize it in the fact that my accident was real and I could've ended up spending money fixing a Ford F150 as well.

So that's it. I've decided not to take anymore risks of that magnitude. I knew what I was doing and am glad that it was only monetary damage involved. Besides some of the drama, life on Koh Tao has been fantastic. It is beautiful here and I've made some friends that are keeping me company. I've chosen a dive school and have my first two dives tomorrow. I think I'll be settling here for the next week or two, so we'll see if I can keep myself out of trouble until then.

Culture Shock

2010-03-03T20:29:00.000-08:00

Traveling is an emotion. It's this butterflies in your stomach, can't keep the smile off your face feeling that I've become addicted to over the last six months. Being in New Zealand was so familiar to me that I lost it after the first few weeks there. Yesterday when I awoke in my own room amidst the hustle and bustle of Bangkok, I got it back. Everything is so fresh and new and different again. I'm getting a buzz off of all of the excitement and culture around me. It's a great feeling to have, I missed it more than I realized.

I said my goodbyes to New Zealand and jumped on the plane over to Sydney not sure what to expect. The ride over was uneventful, although I did get to see some of Sydney's highlights from the plane. I wish I could put it on my travel map, but I don't think the three hours spent wandering the airport counts for much. I had the great pleasure of being in the absolute last row on the monster of a plane from Sydney to Bangkok. With massive turbulence pushing us in every direction, I was glad that I had a couple glasses of wine before boarding. I will be correcting my seat request before getting on that flight again.

I arrived in Bangkok just before midnight on Tuesday and was immediately struck with all of the lights, smells and loud music. I'm staying near Khao San Road, the tourist mecca of the city. It's basically like Las Vegas; I'm pretty sure just about anything goes here. I checked into my hotel and have found that traveling will be different, once again, here. I had my own room with comfortable bed and nice ceiling fan, although sans bathroom, for just 325 Baht...about $8. It'll be different from the dorm life that I've become so accustomed to. I like dorm life sometimes as it's easier to meet people and see what's going on, but after that first night with no big guy snoring on the top bunk, I think I'll just find a new way to make friends.

Yesterday I woke up with a giddy feeling. I could not stop smiling as I faced the extreme heat to take a walk around the city. I am on the move again and there are so many things that I'm looking forward to seeing. Asia is just so different than anything else. With it's guilded palaces and happy faced statues, what's not to love. The people seem lovely, although I feel bad that I know nothing of the language. I've asked how to say thank you about 20 times, and still can't remember it. The words and tones all sound the same to me. I'll just have to keep asking until I get it right.

I made it to only one tourist attraction as I walked around yesterday, the temple of Wat Pho. This temple houses a 47 meter long statue of the Buddha and it's surrounding gardens had a plethora of interesting sculptures and buildings to see. I entered the site and lit some candles for my family and friends and just felt at peace with where I am at the moment. Life is going to be good here, and it's already started off well.

In the heat of the afternoon, I was melting so I decided that it was time to get my first Thai massage. Just before I left Christchurch last weekend, I managed to throw out my back. I talked to a physiotherapist the other day, and she said it was stress related, but I can't figure out how that works with my life and lack of structure. Basically, I felt something funny when I woke up on Saturday morning, and when I went to throw my pack on as I always do, the muscles in my lower back gave out. By the time I got to Auckland, I was immobile. It was a backpackers worst nightmare. It's feeling better now, but still sore when I sit for too long. The magic fingers of that Thai woman yesterday definitely seemed to help. At $4 for a half hour, I may just do it again today.

I was lucky that I got to meet up with another friend of mine on my first day here, even if it was brief. The companion I had throughout eastern Europe just happened to be passing through Bangkok yesterday afternoon before his flight back to the states. It was a wonderful reunion. We got to have a few drinks in between him wrapping up his souvenir shopping. I was sad that it didn't last longer, but as we both plan to continue traveling, I'm sure that we'll be seeing eachother again soon.

I'm leaving this evening on the overnight route to the island of Ko Tao. I went to one of the hundereds of travel agents on the street and bought a ticket yesterday afternoon for the stunning price of 500 Baht. This was by far the cheapest I found anywhere else, and I have to admit that concerns me a little. When I told Dave the price I got, he basically told me to prepare for the worst. Lots of stops, possibly no air conditioning and hidden costs that weren't presented to me when I bought it. I actually considered just going and buying a whole new ticket, but that could end up just the same. So I'm going to try this shady bus to god knows where. If I get lost or dropped somewhere strange, then maybe that's how it was supposed to be. As long as the bus points south, I will eventually get to this island. I've got nothing but time on my hands and with 40 plus scuba schools on Ko Tao, I'm in no rush to get there.

Goodbye Auckland...Hello Bangkok!!!

2010-03-01T12:37:00.000-08:00

A month ago, I was ready to leave this place. I was in the car with Daniel and couldn't think about anything more than getting out of New Zealand and getting to the excitement of Asia. The natural beauty of this country is incredible, but it's missing the cultural depth that I had in other areas of the world. I thought it was too much like home, and I'm traveling to get away from all of that. Now,about to head to the Auckland airport, I realize how much I'm going to miss this country that I've enjoyed so much for the past two months.

New Zealand grew on me, it really did. The people here are so nice. They have the same affinity towards bare feet as I do. And they say cute things like "sweet as" that I've grown to love. The landscapes in this country are sickeningly beautiful. The best part of it is that I have experienced real life here...well, as real as it can get without a job and the stresses of it all.

In the last few days, I've basically been waiting for this flight today. Brad and I made our way up to Christchurch. We had a rockin' night out with friends on Friday. I said my goodbyes and see you soons on Saturday morning and made my way up to Auckland. I am so happy to have caught up with my friend Kitty again, as she graciously offered me a place to stay. I got to meet all of her friends and attend a barbeque on Sunday afternoon. Brad got up here and we went out to see the genious of the band Pavement on their opening night of their first tour in ten years. It's been a great ending to it all, but somehow that always makes it harder to leave.

So today I head to Bangkok! My flight is in a couple hours. I'll make the short hop over to Sydney to enjoy the airport for three hours and then it's non-stop to Thailand. It's going to be a long day of travel followed by the crazy culture shock I'm sure to experience at midnight tonight. No matter how hard it is to leave one country, it's always exciting to get to a new one. I've got a friend to meet up with tomorrow afternoon in the city and then I'll likely start making my way down to the beach. By this time next week, I hope to be sitting on a tiny island in the middle of the Gulf of Thailand.

The Road to Milford Sound

2010-02-25T13:24:00.000-08:00

Before I begin, I'd like to say a few words in memory of two friends who were lost in Queenstown yesterday. After 14 countries and 172 days of constant companionship, I regretfully had to replace my beloved black Reef flip flops. They've lived up to the job better than any others I've seen, but knowing a new adventure is beginning soon, I had to turn them in for a less than satisfactory pair of Tevas. After losing their brown brothers two weeks ago on a bus, they were looking a bit worse for wear. My big toes were officially touching the ground and they were no longer protecting me from the sharp gravel beneath my feet. Therefore, the thongs have been forced into a much needed retirement. They will be sorely missed. Anyone who knows me and my aversion to shoes and socks understands that my flops deserve an obituary.

After the Routeburn trek was over last week, Brad and I decided that we needed one more night in Queenstown. The simple things like showers and beds seemed necessary before another week of camping could commence. We picked up our white 1995 Toyota Corolla (aptly named, Betty) in town and drove it all of 100 meters before stopping for the night and went out on the town shortly after.

The whole point of renting a car was so that we could do things cheaply. I figured I would be like Daniel as I just couldn't be asked to pay for campsites when I had a car. I figured wrong. Having a friend here has officially made me a "flashpacker." I'm spending more money than ever on accomodation and nightly meals. So I guess it's good that I was so frugal in the beginning. We ended up paying for campsites and hostels every night we had the car.

There was really no direction we knew where to go, but luckily only one road out of Queenstown, so we agreed on north. We decided that 400 km to Fox glacier seemed like a good choice. The road up was full of mountains and twisty, winding roads. Betty was a trooper, although her tiny little engine had a tough job to do. We drove through Haast Pass and it's verdant mountains. There were more streams and hundreds of waterfalls rushing down from the hillsides. The drive up and over was gorgeous, although from the drivers seat (this time) it was hard to take it all in. Driving on the left side of the road somehow requires more attention.

We came through the Pass and took in the Tasman Sea on the west cost. We stopped briefly for a photo on the beach and were instantly attacked by sandflies. I mean really swarmed by hundreds of the savage little beasts. I had to jump back in the car and apply repellant, and then still refused to get out of the car for fear that it wouldn't work. What is the purpose of these things on this earth anyway?! The coast was beautiful though, it was a bummer they kind of ruined the moment.

After hours of driving, we made it to Fox Glacier Village. We caught glimpses of the snow covered peaks as we were driving in. The one hostel in this tiny town was of course full, but we were able to set up a camp on their lawn anyway. The next morning, we awoke bright and early and made our way into the glacier.

At 13 km, Fox Glacier is the longest of New Zealands glaciers. We were able to drive into the valley in which it stops and see the tail end of it after a short hike. It was.... a glacier. I wish I had more to say about it. After a 400 km journey there, it was a bit underwhelming. It was quite dirty, although we could see the layers of blue ice underneath. It was really intimidating actually, knowing the power to wipe us all out that it had. There were ice boulders in the stream rushing out of it and huge rocky mountains that it carved out thousands of years ago. I think had we done a guided tour over the snow, it would have been a bit more spectacular...just a piece of advice for anyone planning to visit New Zealand.

We were going to make our way slowly back to Queenstown over a couple of days, but I found out that a friend of mine from South America was in Queenstown for just one more night, so Brad agreed to take the drive all the way back in one day. We drove back through the Pass, swirving around the Powerade blue lakes (yes, they are actually this color...we had the sports drinks to prove it) making it back into Queenstown by 6pm. I was able to find Sam and we caught up on the traveling gossip that's been going on. It turns out she's going to be in Thailand just a couple weeks after me! Looks like I won't be taking on Asia alone either!

Our next, and last real adventure here was the famous Milford Sound. Three hours from Queenstown there is the most gorgeous sound, which I've been told is incorrectly named...it's a fiord (interesting fact). With it's towering peaks that spill directly into the ocean and it's glacial view from afar, it was truly a sight to see. We camped that night at Lake Gunn, 40 km from the entrance to the sound. The camp was good and the wind kept the sandflies at bay. We slept on gravel, which had us both up and packed by 6am. Milford Sound was a dive day for me...and I was excited!

We arrived at the dock early and prepped ourselves with breakfast before a long day on the water. The clouds threatened rain, but the sunrise was still amazing. The boat left promply at 8:15 and we were on the water preparing for our first dive. I had been worried about the cold since I booked the trip, but the water wasn't too bad at 15 degrees. The thick wetsuit definitely held the heat in a bit more. The first dive was beautiful, although frustrating at times. With the cold and the layer of freshwater on the sound, it was hard to maintain buoyancy and I found myself flailing about around the black coral on the rocks below. My mask kept filling with water as well, so all in all, it wsn't the best. The water was dark, so the fishes were a bit more creepy. We saw brittlefish and sea cucumbers, black coral (which is actually white) and colorful sponges that I've never encountered before.

We emerged from the water and took an hour break before our second dive of the morning. Just as we were suiting up, one of the other passengers asked the skipper what kind of things we would see on this next trip under. As we had just parked around the corner from rock full of seals, I was eagerly awaiting this answer. And my worst fears were realized...the skipper said that they quite often see sharks at this dive site. Brad said that the color completely drained from my face. I was terrified and even contemplated not going on this second dive. I faced my fear though; I jumped in. My dive buddy, John, knew I was scared and stuck a little closer to me while we were under. I corrected my buoyancy and mask issues and felt a lot more comfortable with my movements this time, although my eyes were constantly looking out in the deep blue nothing for shadows moving toward me. We came around a corner, and John grabbed me all of the sudden and made a gesture with his hands about something big. Later on the boat, he told me that my eyes just about bugged out of my head. What he had been signaling me for was a dolphin. A beautiful, huge dolphin was circling the waters around us. Just as I was looking for the shark I was sure was coming, this dolphin came out of nowhere and swam right underneath our legs before sliding away around the rock. It looked up at us as it passed, eyeing us curiously in this freezing cold water. It was sensational!!! I didn't freak out too much, and after it left, I wanted it to come back. It was my first large object encountered while diving, and it couldn't have been a better one.

What an incredible time Milford Sound was, but it was the last big adventure for me here in New Zealand. Afterwards, we made our way back through the valleys, catching glimpses of the thousands of waterfalls that the day's rainfall had created. We camped out in Te Anau and then headed back to Queenstown yesterday. It was a heavy travel day as we hopped on a bus a couple of hours after returning the car and now Brad and I have made it back to Christchurch. I rode into town with a smile on my face feeling like I was returning home again. We'll spend just a day here and then it's on to Auckland, the last stop on the islands for a while.

The Routeburn Track: Mainly Fine

2010-02-19T22:24:00.000-08:00

So the weatherman's forecast for our trek down the Routeburn was rain, followed by more rain. On the morning of our departure, skies were looking clearer and there were to be scattered showers in the afternoon followed by "mainly fine" in the evening. We were on the trail for three nights and four days, looking at the weather forecast at each hut along the way. The two words, "mainly fine," were included in each and every report. In my opinion, it's a cop-out. The person reading the weather knows nothing about what's really going on in these mountains...and man, I'm glad for that. Each day, we woke up with a forecast stating showers and then "mainly fine" and we had way better than "fine" every single day. I couldn't have asked for more while lugging 25 pounds on my back down a 32 km track.

When we first discussed doing this hike, we thought that three nights might be too many. It was a lot of stops for a very short hike. Considering I did 19.4 km in one day on the Tongariro Crossing, I thought we might be going a little too slow for what we were in for. In the end of it all, I'm so glad we did it the way we did. We had the perfect pace to take in the views. We hiked through forests and along glacial streams. We walked under the shadows of beautiful mountains, along alpine passes and down to the edges of pristine, blue lakes. It was really a sight to take in and I wouldn't have wanted to move any faster along the landscapes of New Zealand.

We left Queenstown on Wednesday. It was a messy pack the night before after happy hour. We'd known what we wanted to take, but as soon as we put it all in our bags realized exactly how heavy this was going to be. With an 8lb tent, sleeping bag, food and a glass bottle of wine each, it was going to be a tough one. We made the right choice by adding hiking poles to our list of necessary items at the last minute. These things saved my life many times as my center of gravity was way off with all of the excess gear on my back.

The first day took us through a Lord of the Rings-like forest with it's trees covered in green and yellow moss. From there we walked out into a field of brown grass with a perfectly symmetrical tree-covered mountain behind. Beyond that, we saw the glacial peaks that we would soon be crossing, and to top it all off a bright blue river flowing through. Absolutely stunning!!!

Our first hut at Routeburn Falls was out of this world. Who knew a facility like this existed out in the middle of nowhere?! We had the catacomb-like bunk beds and the high tech kitchen, well, meaning stoves and tables (way more than I expected). The whole structure was built with a bird's eye view of the surrounding mountains and the valley we had hiked through, all this with the Routeburn Falls flowing quickly behind us. Brad and I felt like the bad kids immediately upon arriving. No one else found the need to bring alcohol on the trek, and we prepped ourselves with two (very heavy) glass bottles of wine. (I need to meet a scientist who will come up with the solution for powdered alcohol....just in case anyone out there knows someone). We had dinner and talked with a few people in the hut, then quickly moved over to the rocks below the falls to take down a bottle of wine after dinner (just trying to reduce the weight!!!).

The next morning, we woke up to the rain that the weatherman was talking about. It was pretty miserable looking...and this was supposed to be the day with all of the views! We were surrounded by a pea soup-like fog that didn't look like it was going anywhere anytime soon. We dawdled around the hut waiting for a break until after 10am and got extremely lucky. The second we set out on the trail in full rain gear, the sun started to break through. We walked through a valley and up through the alpine terrain as the sky turned perfect and revealed all of the peaks around us. It was really spectacular! Especially after expecting nothing good when we awoke in the morning.

After two hours on the trail, we decided to take a side trek up to Conical Hill to see what all this talk was about. The sky was "mainly" clear, as we could see a lot of blue amidst the white, puffy clouds so we figured, why not? We were able to leave our packs at the nearby shelter and we hiked up to the peak of a mountain with the glaciers underneath us. The view was astoundingly beautiful. The peaks were intimidating, but magnificent. Definitely worth the steep climb to the top.

From there, we thought it was all downhill to our next camp at Mackenzie Lake. This very long downhill slope took us across a long traverse of the mountains. Around each corner, we expected to see our destination, but were unfortunately disappointed. Our feet were sore; our packs were heavy. It was 14 km day and we were ready to be done. With only a little complaining, we arrived at the Mackenzie Lake camp eight hours after starting our day. It was our first and only real camp on the trail, and we definitely felt like we were roughing it at that point.

We made the most unsatisfactory dehydrated meal that could possibly exist and then drowned our frustrations with our second, and last bottle of wine (once again, we needed to get rid of the weight!!!). Bedtime came before it got dark on this second night as we were both exhausted and the weather turned cold quickly after the sun ducked behind the mountains.

It was COLD that night. I'm not sure how cold, but I was told that the temperature was 2 degrees (Celsius) when we woke up. I'm carrying a spring sleeping bag with me....meant for temperatures above 50 (Fahrenheit). Wearing every article of clothing I brought and wrapping myself with a sheet tucked inside my sleeping bag, I was shivering throughout the night thinking of the helicopter that was going to have to drag my ice cube of a body off the trail in the morning. That on top of the fact that we were sleeping on a cement platform with no mat. It was probably the worst night of sleep I've ever had. I woke up at 4:30am and just couldn't wait for the sun to rise to get out of there.

Dawn broke after a few more Z's and life seemed okay again, although still very cold. The morning was beautiful and made even better by a big bowl of steaming ramen noodles for breakfast. I don't think I've ever enjoyed a hot meal so much. We waited out the sun on the lakeside trying to get the tent to dry knowing that we had a mere 9 km to walk on that day. It was to our benefit as the views were still stunning and we were able to really enjoy our last full day on the trail.

The third day took us mostly through forest and across the most incredible waterfalls. We walked slowly and too in the views. We stopped for lunch at Earland Falls and had our last can of tuna with our last bit of crackers (another dip down in the weight!). The 174m falls were so gorgeous! It was a fantastic last meal on the trail.

Last night we found ourselves just an hour from the end at Howden Hut. It was on Lake Howden and covered by the surrounding mountains we had just traversed. Brad took a freezing dip in the lake while I laughed from shore while reading my book. We met some wonderful people in the hut and learned some new card games before calling it an early night. The snorers in the bunks were especially bad last night as my earplugs even couldn't tone them out (another 4 day hike necessity...earplugs!). It took a while to fall asleep, but my aching body soon responded to relaxation and I slept a good eight hours before we had to hike out this morning.

So I did it! Four days of hiking with a whole lot of weight on my back. Apparently, I'm not as out of shape as I thought. There were some tough moments, but the things I was able to see and experience made it all worthwhile. I would do it again any day of the week. I am back in Queenstown now and have enjoyed a good meal and a fantastic glass of wine. We've rented a car for the next four days and have a long haul to the glaciers ahead of us. But tonight is Saturday, and we are in town. It's time to relax before getting on the road again. There is just a little more than a week left of New Zealand for me and I intend to make the most of it.

Nothing out of the ordinary

2010-02-14T18:18:00.001-08:00

This should be a short one, as I've done a whole lot of nothing since the last time I wrote a blog. I've been hiding out in Christchurch since my nightmare of a ride ended. My days have been filled with couches and televisions, a couple of nice days in town and a night or two out with friends. It's been really wonderful to have some downtime as I have a packed two weeks that have just begun.

Christchurch was cloudy most of the days that I was there, so I spent a lot of time getting pictures into my blog and working on fun things like taxes! By the way, I've gotten photos put into all of my New Zealand blogs, so if you go back in time, you can see a few of the shots that I have taken. The past week or so has been quite boring with a bit of normalcy thrown into the mix as I have hung out with friends and seen nothing out of the ordinary.

The only fun thing that I did accomplish was getting a new tattoo. I've been wanting one since the beginning of my travels, but have lacked the time and imagination to figure out what new permanent fixture I wanted on my body. Unfortunately, when you get something like this, you're not able to be in the water for at least a week after. As most of my destinations have been beaches, I couldn't take care of business until now.

Sunday was a beautiful, cloudless day out in Christchurch. A friend and I decided to spend the day in the park and art galleries in the area. Around 4pm I came up with the idea of my new ink...a quote that a friend graciously gave to me in the form of a neckless last summer. This phrase is the epitome of the way I feel about my travels. So within an hour of thinking of it, I was in the tattoo parlour preparing to be a human pincushion. It turned out beautifully and I'm so happy with the result. Just another addition to the many souvenirs I have attained throughout my travels. It was my Valentine's Day present to myself.

The day after, I set off for Queenstown. I had originally planned to come down by bus, but a flight just sounded so much better and more efficient...so I took it. I flew down in the company of the most lovely 80 year old woman. She was sitting next to me on the plane and told me of her similar fear of flying. We kept talking for the duration of the flight and she helped me through the spiralling decent into the valley by holding my hand. I was quite a sight; panicked, so early in the morning. I helped her with her bags and her daughter gave me a driving tour of Queenstown and a ride directly to my hostel.

The town I'm in is gorgeous! It's somewhat like Tahoe with it's huge peaks surrounding a perfecly blue lake. It is the outdoor sport capital of New Zealand, so basically a huge REI. This is wonderful in my opinion. There are outdoor stores and activity booking shops galore!

I came down here to meet up with a friend flying in from the states. Brad got here yesterday afternoon and it's very surreal to have a piece of home with me at this point. I picked him up yesterday from the airport and we've wandered the town. Today was a preparation day for our four day hike that begins tomorrow. We had a cloudless sky all day today and took a hike to the top of the mountains surrounding the town. We took in the view of the lake and paragliders slowly making their decent (crazy people!). The weather forecast for our hike is rain, rain, rain, so lets hope Mr. Weatherman is wrong. I'll get back to the blog as soon as we get back and let you know how our possibly very wet adventure went!

It's not always easy...

2010-02-09T13:20:00.000-08:00

Each blog I write is a different era of my travels. When I finish one, I feel like I get to start fresh and new. I think of things in between each that I'd like to put in and things that I would never include. I try to stay as positive as possible while I'm on the road as there are always little things that brighten each day. But I'm going to be honest with you on this one. This past little era has been hard and not as enjoyable as I wanted it to be. I'm writing now to clean the slate. I've only got a few weeks left in New Zealand and I'm sure that's it's only going to get better from here.

About 80% of the time, I pick good travel companions. I get along with almost everyone and am very adaptable to every situation. I like to think that I can read people fairly quickly when meeting them, and most of us travelers have the same carefree mindset, which generally makes it easier. In the instance of Daniel from Devon, I failed miserably and have paid the price for it over the last few days.

The thing about New Zealand is that it is much better experienced by car or campervan. The bus systems here just don't take you to all of the little places that are hidden away. The opportunity to sleep on beaches and find far away hikes isn't found on an organized tour. Hence, I've found my way around by hitching rides with people I meet. I took the ride with Daniel because he seemed to have the same opinions on what there was to see in this country. I was able to see a lot while riding in the passenger seat of his car, but man oh man, I was really ready to get out of it as we rode into Christchurch yesterday afternoon.

Things started to go a bit downhill just after leaving Takaka while we made our way up to Cape Farewell, the northernmost point on the south island. His incessant chatter about not spending money and problems with his car were already starting to take a toll on my patience. The fact that he just "couldn't be asked" to spend $6 on a campsite for the night was sounding a little overly frugal. And the fact that he stated this to every new person he met on the street just irked me each time I heard the words. Believe me, I'm all about not spending money, but if I have the choice between paying $6 and setting up my tent or sleeping on the side of the road in a very small vehicle, I'll pay the money.

To be fair, his unwillingness to pay for campsites brought us to some amazing places....and I never did have to sleep in the car. That first night, we hiked about 20 minutes in to the most beautiful beach where we met some really great people. We drank wine by the fire and caught glimpses of shooting stars. Tents were unnecessary on this evening as we had a warm sea breeze that drove away the sandflies. There were six of us, and we all slept under the billions of glittering lights in the sky above.

I woke the next morning with the sun blazing down on my face. While the others had a surf in the waves, I wandered the beach and took pictures of the seal colonies that inhabited the area. We all hiked out in the morning, happy to see that our car (parked right in front of the "no overnight parking" sign) was still there and our windows were still in tact. We took the ride back through the green mountains and then went for a dip in the local swimming hole to wash the salt off our bodies. After that, Daniel and I were back on the road again, heading for the West Coast highway.

We had another 200+ km day, getting us into Westport in the early evening. The road down through the mountain peaks was spectacular. The natural beauty of New Zealand really is amazing. It's just one big national park. Put Yosemite, Yellowstone, Shenandoah and Glacier together, and that makes up the landscape of this country. It's been really incredible to see it all from the highways. We came down through Buller Gorge that day; the road winding along the river through the lush vegetation. We were just south of Westport as the sun started to go down, although it was cloudy, so the glowing sunset on the Tasman Sea was lost that evening. We searched for campsites and found a small beach road with few houses along it. There was a magnificent, rocky cove looking out into the sea with lots of driftwood for a good beach fire. We asked the owner of a nearby house if we could sleep on his beach, and he happily obliged, so we set up shop for the night.

We had a lovely older German couple pull up in their campervan just before dark that night and they joined us by the fire for a few minutes. All was fine and dandy, until I started to hear Daniel's "couldn't be asked" conversation coming on again. As I heard him describe his financial opinions to this wealthy German couple, I yawned and politely retired to my tent for the night at 9pm. It was the exact scenario with me for the next three nights to come. I got up the next morning and told Daniel that I would be hopping off in two days instead of making my way to Queenstown with him. I would get out in Arthurs Pass and take a bus back to Christchurch.

This information didn't sit well with him, but we continued our route as planned. Another long day took us up north to Karamea and back. Daniel was looking for surf, and I wanted to explore some limestone arches hidden deep in the mountains around the area. Daniel's search ended quickly as we drove along a sea made of glass; not a wave to be seen. We picked up a couple from Europe along the way and then took his poor little car 15km down a narrow dirt track to the Oparara Basin. The fuel consumption and weight in the car were the main topic of conversation, as Daniel made it clear to the hitchhikers how much they were costing us. NZ hitchhikers don't offer money, something that Daniel was apparently unaware of before deciding to pick them up.

The arches were huge and the caves around them incredible. In my opinion, they were definitely worth the long drive in. I had a lovely time hiking with the Europeans.. The couple, one from Germany, one from France, has been living in Australia on a working holiday visa for the past year. Both had the same goal of travel as me: that one day we will wake up with an epiphany of how the rest of our lives will work out. I've been on the road for five months, they've been gone for over a year, and none of us has attained this yet...but we all still seem to be having fun trying.

With no surf, we made our way back down to Westport and took a tip from the couple about another free camp not far from the town. We found the site on the beach and as Daniel had a surf, I planned my escape. I didn't think I could last even two more days. For the first time since we started, I removed everything of mine from the car and put it all in my tent to be organized. I made dinner and went to bed with my book soon afterward. When I awoke the next morning, I packed my bags and was ready to bolt into town to find the next bus. I was done with this road trip and ready to make it out on my own again. Just as I was finishing with my pack, Daniel woke up. He got out of his car/tent in a decent mood and told me that he'd looked at the map and it was better for him to go to Christchurch as well. This was a frustrating decision for me, but I said that I'd ride along if he was going my way anyway.

The road from Westport to Greymouth was drop-dead gorgeous. We drove along the coast through Paparoa National Park and took in the views of the rocky sea and the ferntree-covered mountains opposite it. We stopped along the way at the Pancake Rocks. The rocks in the sea here have been layered by weather to look like piles of thick pancakes. At high tide and when there is a large sea swell, the water rushes through the blowholes creating a geyser of saltwater. Unfortunately, high tide was not until late in the evening that day and we needed to make our way into the mountain pass, so we missed the sea spray, but enjoyed watching the hector dolphins play in the water surrounding the rocks just the same.

Arthur's Pass was my first up close experience with the Southern Alps. I have seen them from the air and from afar, but riding through them, and all of their glory, was much different. The clouds started to clear as we made our way through the valley. We felt minuscule below the glaciers sitting high above our heads. There were rocky cliffs far above the treeline that rivaled the the peaks around Lake Tahoe. It was a gorgeous winding drive to my last campsite with Daniel.

There was a free camp on the roadside just six kilometers from the village. Not the best one I've seen as there was a busy logging road and a train track about 100 meters from my tent. The sandflies that night were savage, and I am still scratching to this day. There was a lot of trekking to be done in the area that we were in, but we only made our way into the forest for the most spectacular of waterfalls, Devil's Punchbowl.

This is my last bit of negativity when it comes to my company, but the last straw was pulled as we hiked up the steps of this waterfall and Daniel told me that we'd have to work out how I'd get to my friend's house in Christchurch the next day. After giving him $50 extra for the ferry and filling his tank of gas that I would be riding less than half of, I incorrectly assumed that I would have a ride directly to my destination the following day. He did not want to drive the extra 6km into the city center as he feared he would get into an accident while driving in any kind of traffic. At that moment, the pent up anger in me exploded and I let him have it with every complaint that I didn't divulge over the last week together. Being a 22 year old coward, he quickly changed his tone and agreed to take me to Amanda's house. And that was the end of almost all conversation between Daniel and I. I only regret that it ruined the beauty of the waterfall that evening.

Honestly, he could have gotten into his car and left me at any moment, so the fact that he didn't makes him a semi-decent human being. The problems we had were due to personality clashes that could have happened between anyone. Traveling with people can be hard, and you need to find the right companions. You can be best friends in the real world, but being cooped up in a car with someone for weeks on end can bring on challenges beyond anyone's comprehension. As we rode the last 150km to Christchurch yesterday, we were pleasant to each other, although very quiet. He dropped me off at Amanda's house in the early afternoon and even came in for an hour to charge his camera. After he left, I felt a huge sense of relief. I feel comfortable again. I've been annoyed, anxious and angry for the past week of my life (although with some good bits in between). These are three A's that just do not belong in my happy travel bubble.

After a nice long shower (that wasn't a solar shower...yeah!!!) and a quick unpack of my bags, I'm living the high life again. I woke up this morning and feel like a new person. I've decided to stay in Christchurch until the weekend and get some much needed relaxation after the past few weeks on the road. I've met friends along my trip that will be in town throughout the week, so I'll be able to hang with them and enjoy some downtime. On Sunday, I will happily take a bus down to Queenstown.

Hitching a Ride

2010-02-04T17:33:00.000-08:00

Is it bad when sleeping on the ground in a tent becomes more comfortable than a bed? Is it horrible that I became a local yesterday and took a stroll through the grocery store with no shoes? Is there anything wrong with finding a free camp by a river and using that as a shower? Absolutely not! Just after my last blog, I was able to find another ride and I've been doing things the Kiwi way ever since. I've camped my way back down to the south island.

I met Daniel, another British lad, while I was walking with all of my gear to the bus that was to take me to Lake Taupo. It was that easy. He asked if I knew anyone that was going south, and I was, so that was the end of it. I already had a bus ride to take at that point, so we exchanged mobiles and planned to meet up a couple days later. He has a small car and the same need to be frugal, and I needed a ride, so the match worked perfectly.

I made my way down to Lake Taupo (almost exactly the same scenery as Lake Tahoe) that day by bus. My heart was set on doing the 20km Tongariro Alpine Crossing. Tongariro is a volcanic region in the middle of the north island with three massive volcanoes that include Mt. Ngauruhoe, the volcano used as Mt. Doom in Lord of the Rings. The landscape is dramatic and it is renowned as one of the best day hikes in New Zealand. Unfortunately, the alpine peaks are also infamous with bad weather, leaving hikers grounded when storms roll in.

I settled in a hostel in Turangi, about 40kms from the national park to wait out a small cyclone that was affecting my crossing. The rain poured down in buckets with brief spots of sunshine as I was left in a hostel with some new German friends. We were all there for the same reason, so we made the best of it. We played board games and cooked good dinners. On the second day, I was able to convince one of them to rent out the mountain bikes in the rain and had a blast getting muddy on the trails down by the river. Who knew biking could be so much fun!!! The trail took us across golden fields, winded through subtropical rainforest and took us over the stream. It was an exhilarating day and provided me with some much needed exercise.

After two days, the weather was still not so good. So I contacted my new ride and hitched a lift up to the town of Taupo to check out some new things while waiting on the storm. He had found a free campsite just out of town, so we met up and got things sorted at the campsite after taking a dip in some hot springs in the afternoon. On our first evening, we met kayakers determined to shoot down the tunnel of rapids just before the seven meter Huka falls. As soon as they put their boats into the river, we took the car down to the falls and got to see them power through them on their way down. It was really incredible to see, but it all happened very fast. A little to fast for my camera finger, as I really only got them at the very end. Good entertainment for the evening though.

Because I seem to plague cars with problems, Daniel had to get the brakes and a tire fixed the next morning. No, I did not actually cause any of this, but it seems ever car I get into has issues. Could be the sheer number of beaters on the roads of New Zealand though. After the car was sorted, we were on our way further south. The weather forecast for the hike on Wednesday was favorable, and we needed to take the opportunity as we had a ferry to catch in Wellington on Thursday.

It ended up being a cloudy day, so we couldn't summit Mt. Doom. But we were able to do the rest of the crossing which blew my mind with scenery I did not know existed outside the realm of the movies. The rocky landscape, covered in bright green, white and orange moss between blackened lava flows was absolutely stunning. We hiked our way up and over, past the steaming sulfur pools and the glowing turquoise of the Emerald Lakes. The trek took us across a valley and then down into the forest before bringing us to the other end. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be, but 20kms on anyone not used to it would cause a bit of discomfort. My feet healed quickly, but my muscles still ache today. Though, it was all well worth it.

We were in for a long couple of days as after the hike, we got right back into the car and made our way towards Wellington, a good five hours south. The Department of Conservation has a brochure full of free campsites on both islands. They are rugged. No showers or power, but easy to use when you've already got everything you need. We stopped in one an hour north of Wellington and relaxed our muscles for a bit before moving further in the morning.

It was an early day as I awoke at 5:30am and had to pack up my tent. The ferry from Wellington to Picton was at 8:30 and we still had ground to cover. We made it down with plenty of time to spare and set sail for the south island. The weather was beautiful and the seas weren't too rough. Coming into the Marlborough Sounds and their calm waters was breathtaking! We drove off the ferry in Picton and got right back on the road towards the west coast, with the first stop being a double take for me, Abel Tasman.

The winding roads back to Nelson, through vineyards and along the sea were gorgeous yet again. We had a small glitch with some gravel and the windshield on the way, so had to make a quick stop in Nelson where we learned of last night's campsite on the beach. We stopped in the early evening and made a fantastic dinner on the stove. Daniel set up his hammock in some trees on the beach and I made camp and finally got my things organized. It was an early night after two rough days of travel and hiking.

Today, we've driven through the green mountains of Abel Tasman and Kahurangi National Parks and are planning on camping in Golden Bay. Tomorrow is my one month anniversary in New Zealand and I finally feel like I'm in the groove of things. I have a lot to look forward to over the next month and only regret that it's going by so quickly. The plan for now is to move south slowly. I have ten days until I have to be in Queenstown and there are not too many miles to cover. We'll drive along the coast and try to get some beaches in while driving the highway along the glacier-covered Southern Alps.

Roadtrip

2010-01-28T18:12:00.000-08:00

It's incredible how time flies when you're having fun! I'm amazed that the last week has gone by so quickly and I've hit so many spots in such a short span of time. This week was roadtrip week for me as I was able to stick with my English friend through the whole northern tip of the country. I stayed next to the coast and enjoyed the warm water, had my first free camp on the beach and slept amongst the giant kauri trees that dot the landscape on the west side of New Zealand. It's been a memorable week having a ride and making new friends while learning how to really travel across these tiny islands.

I got to do my deep dive while we were still in Pahia. On a cold, gray day, we set out on the water in my first open dive boat, meaning we rolled into the water rather than the usual giant leap off the back (way better this way!). The black-looking water and the lack of sun only added to my usual apprehension of jumping in, but we had a break in the clouds as soon as we were under that turned the water green and made the colors at the bottom brilliant. The shipwreck was small, but riddled with marine life. Thousands of big-eyed fish peeked out at us from the hole in the hull. Little blue fish danced with our fingers and then tried to attack us when we got too close to their young. Swimming under the bow of the boat and looking up at the light coming down just made me think of Titanic. It was truly magical being down there and I'm looking forward to taking the wreck diving section of my advanced very soon.

After my dives, Billy was waiting for me so that we could continue further north. We stopped at a holiday park the first night and caught an amazing sunset along 90 Mile Beach. Yes, there is a beach that long at the tip of the country...and you can drive on it! We did a couple of circles around the area, but never did any serious driving. From what I've heard, there is a car graveyard out there from people not paying attention to the tides. If you're going to drive it, you need to be able to locate the hidden exits and if they're missed and the tide comes in, it's adios to your vehicle. Being the smart people that we are, we decided not to take the risk.

The next day brought us to Cape Reinga and to the warmth of the subtropical sun. It was gorgeous outside and the waters were blue. We walked out to the lighthouse at the tip of the country and could actually see the waves Pacific and the Tasman crashing into each other from opposite directions. The waves do a little dance and swirl about and the two different colors of the water blend together before colliding with the rocks of the penninsula. We were able to find camp not far from there that night and we laid on the beach and played in the surf most of the afternoon.

We went back to the Cape for the sunset that evening and met an Argentinian couple that has been traveling for nine years...and had four kids during their travels!! They are driving around in this weird old car that goes no faster than 55kph, but uses the engine to heat up hot dogs as they drive. Their kids were adorable and spoke both English and Spanish. I got along pretty well with the youngest, Wallaby (born in Australia, of course), who wasn't yet walking. Their story is pretty fantastic and they've written a book, Spark Your Dream, which they tried to have me pay $35 for (this was the second $35 book that I was offered in the exact spot, the first was earlier in the day and the author was an ex-con who used to be the leader of the Mongrols, a gang here in New Zealand...yikes!). They've made it through the Americas and Canada, Australia, now New Zealand and next is Asia. How they've not killed each other or one of their bouncing kids is beyond me!

We met an English girl as we were leaving the campsite the next morning and formed our little Toyota van caravan back down to a surfing beach, Ahipara. We picked up a young American guy, Ben, along the way. Since our 100 kilometer ride with Ben, we've seen him twice and have heard from three others where he is and what he's doing. Apparently everyone in New Zealand knows Ben. It's random.

Ahipara was a beach day. Alexa and Billy surfed and I laid around enjoying the scenery. It was a small town with no accommodation and only one general store, so we stocked up on a few things and then parked the cars by the beach until the next morning. We met another American girl parked next to us who has been living out of her van for a year and heading back to the states soon. I almost bought her van...I need one of these things! That's how people do it out here and I just wish I would've as soon as I arrived. Now I'm down to five weeks left and the time lost on trying to sell it in the end would just be too much. I guess I know for next time.

I got my first little paddle with a surfboard just before leaving the beach the next morning. Billy let me borrow his and I played around in the very small waves for a while. It's a lot harder than it looks! Just balancing on those things is difficult. I didn't attempt getting up, or really even catching a wave. There was nothing to catch on that very calm morning. It was a good lesson in core strength though. I'll be glad I had that when I actually go out and attempt it one of these days.

From the coast, we broke up from the rest of the group and headed down through the giant Kauri forest for a night. It was beautiful, but just a small stopping point on our journey south of Auckland. Yesterday we arrived in Mt. Manganui and this town is awesome. Just a small beach town with lots of things to do and see. We camped last night and this morning Billy and his van left me at a hostel. I've been laying on the beach all day and applying loads of sunblock. The water was warm and I was able to make it out there before all of the kids arrived. Tonight will be chill for me as I am an independent traveler again. Tomorrow I'm pointing my compass south. It's time to leave my beloved beaches and check out some mountain trekking. I'm hoping to stay in one spot for a while down there as I make some decisions on the rest of my New Zealand adventure.

Diving Deeper

2010-01-22T19:54:00.000-08:00

Diving and kayaking and hiking, oh my!!! I am out on my own again and quickly discovering the plethora of outdoor adventures that New Zealand has in store for me. I made my way to Auckland earlier this week and have travelled much further north than I expected to be at this point. It's a small couple of islands that I'm on. The distance between stopping points and the abundance of activities is only making my addiction to change that much worse. I came north with the idea of settling somewhere for a while. After five days and three different towns, I'm thinking that might be impossible.

I flew to Auckland on Tuesday evening and had yet another kind offer to stay at my friend Kitty's house on my first night. It was really really great to see her again, and so funny at the same time considering our friendship is only a few months old but has grown over three continents. She picked me up from the airport and on Wednesday, showed me around her town. Auckland is a big one, by New Zealand standards anyway. It's a sprawling city that houses one third of the people in this country. It's nestled close to the waters of Freemans Bay and contains fantastic view of the surrounding islands. It's a little more hectic than what I'm looking for at this time, so I made my visit brief with promises to return on my way back south.

On Thursday morning, I hopped on a northbound bus and officially became a backpacker again. After three hours of gorgeous countryside scenery, I got off the bus in the town of Whangarei. Whangarei is a well known area for the Poor Knights Islands that reside just off the coast. Jacques Cousteau named the waters around these protruding rocks one of the top ten best dive sites in the world. With my spanking new open water certification, you all know I was on the phone with dive companies the second I got into town. Before having my gear unpacked at the camp, I was booked on the boat leaving for the islands early the next morning.

Now, I talked to a lot of people as I was getting my certification in Colombia and told them my intention of diving in New Zealand. Most just gave me this look; this cold water, scary marine life look...and then wished me a sarcastic good luck. Everyone knows what I'm scared of in the water, and I won't mention them in the blog as I think it's bad luck. But yes, there are a lot of them in the cold waters off the coast down here. Of course, I won't let that fear stop me from taking the plunge. I'll just cross my fingers, hold onto my mask and hope for the best. The only way to conquer a fear is to take it head on. I'm so glad I did, as yesterday I had a Discovery Channel experience underwater that I will not soon forget.

No, i did not run into any large objects in the ocean, if that's what you're wondering. We went to a dive site called Blue Maomao, which took us around a huge rock, through an underwater hole and then spit us out into a sea of thousands of fish gleaming in the sunlight that was penetrating the water. The visibility was 18 meters in this sea of deep blue. The sun came through and played tricks with us on the rock cliffs as kelp floated up at us from the bottom. We saw thousands of curious fish, one very large stingray and an array of rocky, underwater landscapes that blew what I saw in Colombia away. Our second dive took us into the depths of a crack in the rock and down a cliff with only the open water of the Pacific on our other side. This dive was not as memorable, but was beautiful just the same. The water was quite a bit colder than the Caribbean, but an extra thick wetsuit and a whole lot of adrenaline kept me nice and warm.

Back at the campsite, before my underwater adventures, I had met a nice Englishman that was heading in the same direction. We made plans for him to wait for my dives to end and we'd both go north together in his van, sharing the expense of petrol. It's tough to get around New Zealand purely by bus, and I knew that hitching a ride was somewhere in my future, I was just lucky to have all of that taken care of so early in the game. Billy and I took off yesterday afternoon for Pahia, a small town full of hotels and summer homes sitting on Kororareka Bay. We found a hostel quickly and decided to settle here for a couple of nights before starting the journey up to the very north of the island, Cape Reinga.

Last night we dug a bucket of clams out of the sea and made a nice pasta dish in the hostel kitchen. I'm pretty impressed with the amount of cooking I've been doing here as there's a kitchen in every hostel or campground that I stay in. I will admit that I'm already getting sick of pasta and canned tuna though, so the next trip to the grocery store is going to get a little more creative I think. This morning was spent sea kayaking (free kayaks at the hostel, what?!) in the turquoise waters of the bay and it's been a lazy afternoon watching the Australian Open.

I've lined up another dive trip for tomorrow and I've had to study the PADI book yet again. There is a shipwreck dive not far from here that requires my deep diver certificate to get to. The Greenpeace boat, the Rainbow Warrior, went down in 1985 and has become a spectacle for divers in the past few years and I intend to see it. The problem I realized while booking is that the hull sits at 27 meters, whereas my certification only allows me to 18. So tomorrow is a day of tests and dives and it should be incredible. The positive side to all of this is that these dives will count towards my advanced certification, if that is something I choose to do (in a less expensive place, like Thailand). What possessed me to choose such an expensive hobby at a time when I am without a job is beyond me! So tomorrow brings another day on the water and some more excitement! After my dives, we will set our course for further north, hopefully seeing the Tasman Sea and the Pacific collide off the Cape within the next few days.

It's a small world after all...

2010-01-15T12:09:00.000-08:00

I don't even know where to begin with what the past week has brought me. Each new area of the world I have been to has taken a bit of an adjustment phase to figure out where I am and what I'm doing. New Zealand hasn't been that way at all. I jumped over to these little islands just a week ago and I immediately felt comfortable. Maybe a little too comfortable at times. It feels like home, and writing a blog at home has never been my strong suit, hence, I haven't posted in a while.

Last Monday, Amanda and I set out on a road trip to the north of the south island. Our destination: Abel Tasman National Park. I've come to this island packed to the brim with my camping gear and was determined to use it as soon as possible. We set our sites on a little town called Nelson on the first day, the gateway to the park. We drove (on the wrong side of the road) through the plains of Canterbury into the rolling hills that make up the tail end of the Southern Alps. Everything is impeccably green and neat. The farmlands are patchworked through the hills and the sheep...oh yes, there are quite a lot of sheep here. It is true what they all say.

I got my first shot at driving while heading up north. Amanda's car is a manual, and although I'm used to that, driving on the right side of the car and shifting with my left hand proved to be a little hard to get used to. No worries, I got loads of practice and didn't hurt her baby. My first lefthand turn was a little on the sketchy side, as I zoomed the car into the wrong lane afterwards. But luckily I was in a little town, and going very slow. No one was injured, except for some of the million sandflies that buzz around your head everywhere....which I was happy to take out anyway.

We got to Nelson on Monday night and ended up having to go to quite a few hostels before finding one. We had our hearts set on camping, but with the ever present downpour, it just didn't sound like fun. So we holed ourselves up in a hostel near the beach for the night and made our way up the penninsula the next day. We arrived in Marahau on the beautiful, sunny day that Tuesday was and set up camp in a holiday park just a block from the beach. Being the first time I'd seen sun since I got here, I was all about a beach day, which is exactly what it turned out to be.

First off, let me say that the sun here is intense! You cannot, I repeat, CANNOT go outside without a good sunblock on. I noticed it the first day I was here when my chest got red in ten minutes while standing in the backyard. We're slowly destroying our world at this point and the ozone does not exist down here. I was talking to a guy who said he got such a bad sunburn on his nose that it bled. This does not sound very attractive. Therefore, I was a little wary of laying on the beach all day, but I did anyway...consistantly applying SPF 30 to every exposed part of my body.

The water here is the most incredible, tropical looking blue. And laying on the beach with the sun beaming down on you just makes you want to scramble in every five minutes. The problem here, is that the water is like ice. I'm pretty sure that big ice cube of Antarctica just south of here has something to do with it. I can't say that I'll be doing as much swimming on the south island as I would've liked. Not without a wetsuit anyway.

Back to camping... Amanda and I stayed in the Abel Tasman area for two nights. We had our beach time, took a hike in the park, dug up clams for dinner each night and just generally had a great time. On our first night in the campground, I had the most incredible run in of my travels so far. All of you know, that I met my friend, Kitty, while on a train in Italy. We had an apartment there for a couple of days and learned that we would both be in Peru at the same time. We traveled for a week together in Peru and made plans for me to visit at her home in Auckland at some point on my trip to New Zealand. Of all of the crazy things that can happen in this world, I was standing near the bathroom at this campground in the tiny town of Marahau, and who came walking out, but Kitty! I think we were both in shock. I had just emailed her before we left to tell her I was heading to Auckland. She hadn't gotten that email yet, nor did she know where I'd be camping and there she was standing in front of me on the south island of New Zealand. She was catching a bus quickly, but we had a chance to catch up for a minute. It was a most excellent surprise! It really is such a small world.

After our days of beach and sand in Abel Tasman, Amanda and I headed back down State Highway One towards the coast. California, I love you, but really, you've got nothing on this. We were driving through the vineyards in Marlborough, comparing the yellow rolling hills to that of the states, when all of the sudden we came over a hill and saw the most gorgeous blue water imaginable. I had to stop the car. It took my breath away. Continuing further along, it turned into green, lush cliffs spilling into a turquiose ocean with fur seals frolicking on rocks. It was a truly magical drive.

On our last road trip night, we stayed in the coastal town of Kaikoura. A very cute town, and definitely a place I will consider going back to. We ate crayfish as big as lobsters and met people in the hostel. I need these hostel moments every now and again to talk to people about where to go and what to do. In the morning, before we left for Christchurch we took a hike along the water and got up close and personal with the local wildife. There was this seal just sitting there posing for us tourists. We were able to get about two meters from him before I got scared when I saw some teeth. We walked a little further along to a seagull colony, and quickly got run out of that area by some birds defending their young. Literally, this thing came at us just screeching! It was not pleasant. Thinking of The Birds, I put my sunglasses on and ran! Being attacked by seagulls was not something I wanted to blog about. :)

We came back into Christchurch on Friday night and had a lazy night in with Flight of the Concords. I have become obsessed with the hilarity of this show since I got here. It is awesome! Something about two Kiwis in New York City just makes me laugh. If you haven't seen it, you should definitely be checking it out. Saturday was my first bout with the water here in New Zealand as we decided to do some body boarding on a beach nearby. One of my main goals here is to try out surfing, and that was the originaly plan for the day, but with swells over five feet, I just didn't feel ready for it.

On the way to the beach I was bundled in a couple of shirts, warm fuzzy pants, and some woolen socks. It was in no way warm that day. I think I saw something like 12 degrees celcius. Not my idea of a beach day. I was sure I was going to chicken out by the time we got there but I surprised myself once again when I put on Amanda's wetsuit, grabbed the body board and went running into the frigid water with Neil and one of his friends. The current was so strong and there were little jellyfish all through the water (apparently not the stinging kind) but I managed to play around like a kid for over an hour while the rain drizzled down from the sky. I had so much fun and caught a few really good waves. There are some pictures of my smiling face somewhere out there, I'll need to get them and post sometime very soon. It was a great day.

The rest of the weekend was just that, the weekend. We had people to Amanda's on Saturday night and things got a little crazy. Sunday was spent wandering through the gardens and eating Thai food in town. Christchurch is known as the Garden City, and it is well deserved. There are parks everywhere and beautiful botanical gardens with the Avon river flowing through it all. It's very picturesque, and would be even better if the sun would come out at some point while I'm here.

Yesterday I took a bus down the Banks Penninsula to go swimming with some Hector dolphins. They are the world's smallest dolphin and on the endangered species list. There are currently only about 7000 of them now and the majority of them live in the waters in the bays near Akaroa. I was hoping to get in the water with these cute little creatures and it would cure some of my phobias about swimming with large objects. Unfortunately, we saw lots of dolphins, but none felt like playing with us, so swimming did not occur. It was still a great day though, and I got some good photos of them. Akaroa is a perfect little beach town near here...yet another place I'd like to see again when I return to the south island.

As for today, I have a ticket up to Auckland tonight. Again, I have a ride from the airport and a place to stay, so I'm not on my own quite yet, but will be in a couple of days when I start heading north to the Bay of Islands. I have also changed my travel plans out of New Zealand at this point as well. I had my heart set on going back to South America, but it's just going to have to wait. I cannot be on this side of the world and skip Asia. So I'll fly home from New Zealand in late April, but not before spending seven weeks in SE Asia. It's the trip I had originally planned, and I'm sticking to it. We'll see what the next four months will bring me.

Home Base

2010-01-10T09:57:00.000-08:00

I have flown halfway across the world and now find myself in Christchurch, New Zealand. The past couple of weeks have been fantastic. It was wonderful seeing my friends and family throughout the holiday season and I'll admit that it felt pretty good to be back in the states again. There were lots of fun nights out, numerous relaxing days on the couch, far too much food and a little too much bundling to go outside in the deep freeze of winter. Thank you everyone for a great welcome home, I'll see you when it gets warmer over there again. I have made it to my new home base in New Zealand and I'll stick it out here for the summer.

Before my trip even began, I was awarded a pleasant surprise. I got to the airport in San Francisco dreading my flight to LA and four hour layover at LAX before the thirteen hour flight to Auckland. As I was standing in the check-in line, I got a phone call from the airline with news that my flight from LA to NZ would be delayed, which would cause me to miss my connection in Auckland and push up the number of travel hours I was heading into. I love that the weather in London somehow managed to muck up my travel plans from California to the South Pacific. The world truly is a small place. Air New Zealand, being the incredible company that they are, decided to put me on the next direct flight to Auckland from San Francisco, cutting my travel time by ten or so hours. The only drawback was having to sit in SFO for little extra time, something I was willing to deal with to take this new, abbreviated route.

The flight over was brilliant. Thirteen hours in the air really wasn't as bad as I thought. I'm pretty sure the many twelve plus hour bus rides I've taken in South America was the best prep imaginable. Little TVs behind the seats, good food, fantastic service...and the plane wasn't refrigerated like those silly Colombian buses. It was no time before I arrived in Auckland. I felt bright-eyed and bushy-tailed while watching the gloriousness of New Zealand below me as I flew to the south island. From the plane, I could see the green, rolling hills, the deep blue of the Pacific and the snow capped peaks of the Southern Alps in the distance. Lots of farmland, very few roads, this is what I have to look forward to in the next two months...how exciting!!!

I arrived in Christchurch and cleared customs without a hitch. They had to disinfect my shoes and tent, but I was prepared for it, so it was really no big deal. I stepped out into the waiting area to find a face that I haven't seen in ages welcoming me to her world. Amanda and I were like we never left each other and her boyfriend, Neil, is awesome. It was crazy to have a ride from the airport, especially one that drives on the wrong side of the road. It's a treat to have a home base that feels so comfortable, this trip down here will definitely be different.

Christchurch is a cute little city. Everything is very quaint and feels clean. We are in the plains of Canterbury and just a few minutes drive from the Pacific. Amanda's house is warm and cozy and a short walk from the city center. I have my own room, I'm living the high life now! As we've been out and about, I keep seeing backpackers roaming the street and I have to pinch myself to remember I'm one of them. As a matter of fact, I have to remind myself often that I am in New Zealand. With a place to stay, a car to drive me around and the ease of being able to speak English, I forget that I am on a tiny island in the middle of an ocean. Everything seems very familiar here, I could get used to this.

Amanda and I fell back into the swing of things immediately. We took a walking tour of the city in the morning and were on our game for lunch in a pub at noon. After a few pints, we met up with Neil and decided that shopping was a good idea. I blew my daily budget within the first six hours, but I have a cute new dress to show for it. We went out for their friend's going away party and showed Christchurch what it was in for. The nightlife here is pretty great, but much more expensive then I'm used to...I need to be careful over here!

I've somehow managed to avoid jetlag, so yesterday was spent taking care of business. I've gotten my cell phone set up, bought a ticket to Auckland for next week, and successfully destroyed my room with my ever-exploding backpack. It's light out here until 9pm, so we took a late afternoon drive into the countryside on a cold and rainy day. Yes, it's cold, like jacket and jeans cold, I really can't believe that this is considered summer, but apparently this is the worst it's been in months, go figure. Either way, we drove up to a viewpoint over Christchurch in time to see the most vibrant, full rainbow I've ever seen, making the rain and wind worth it all in the end. We winded down through the hills to Governors Bay and drove along the water to where it reaches the Pacific. The water is this incredible blue color due to glacial deposits, or something of that nature. It's really spectacular and I'm looking forward to seeing it on a bit nicer afternoon. We ate some of New Zealand's best fish and chips for dinner and then came home for movie night. Without the noise and chaos of a hostel, I passed out cold on the couch and got a great night's sleep.

I was up bright and early this morning at 6:30am, so maybe my body is a little off still from my travels. It is Monday after all, where to me it should be Sunday. It's strange seeing the NFL reports on msn.com; that's not a normal beginning-of-the-week occurrence. So I'm having my morning tea and soon I will go upstairs to attempt to pack my bag. Amanda and I are headed out on a New Zealand road trip today! It's only been two days and already I'm getting to use my camping gear. Our destination is Nelson, the northern tip of the south island. Apparently there are beaches there, although unless it warms up, there will be no swimming. Abel Tasman National Park is right next door, so we'll see what we can find. We plan on being gone for the majority of the week if the weather holds up. I'm looking forward to getting reacquainted with my camping buddy and seeing what this remote, little island has to offer.

A Wild Ride

2009-12-22T17:16:00.000-08:00

Taganga, Colombia is this cute, little beach town just six kilometers from the city of Santa Marta, on the Caribbean coast. There is one main road and a tiny beach surrounded by scuba schools, hotels and restaurants. It's the kind of town where you don't need to make a plan to meet someone later, you'll see them before it's time to meet. Just hang out in front of the local liquor store on the main corner and you'll see the entire population pass by in a matter of fifteen minutes. If I could choose a place to live in this world right now, Taganga would be my new home. Just give me a little hut up in the hillsides and I think I could be happy forever.

I arrived last Thursday after skipping my flight for the second time and immediately fell into the groove of things again. I was on the bus with an American guy, so he and I set out to find a hostel together. The place we found wasn't the best I've ever seen, but the price was right (prices have doubled since the last time I was there due to high season) and we had the room to ourselves for the majority of our stay. In this town, you really don't need to worry about the atmosphere of the hostel, you're never there anyway.

I spent the entire first day on the beach relaxing...and I got my first real sunburn in South America, which went away after a day. I've been being good and wearing sunblock for the most part, but I think my skin is just immune now. Months and months of constantly being outside have given me some sort of power against sunburn, which I'm not complaining about at all. Anyway, in between swimming and sunbathing, I checked out a couple of the local dive schools to see what this scuba business was all about. The price was right everywhere, but I was hanging with a Dutch girl all day that had just finished her course and she talked me into Poseidon Dive School....the only one in Taganga with a pool for practice. I walked over to it that afternoon and was in the pool within an hour.

Scuba is something I NEVER thought I would do. As a matter of fact, when Anne went diving the last time I was in Taganga, I basically laughed at her and told her I'd be on the beach, above the surface. The nice thing about the schools is that they allow you to take a mini course, just two dives to 12 meters, with the option of continuing to get your certificate. My first day of diving, I went out with my instructor, Girt, and absolutely loved it. I signed up for the full thing immediately after returning to land.

Most of the diving is done in and around Parque Tayrona, which is just around the corner from Taganga. The water was fairly clear, but visibilty got a little worse each day that I dived. There are coral reefs everywhere in the area with the most beautiful colors and incredible wildlife, without sharks, my biggest fear while out in the depths. I saw eels and rays, huge, colorful fish, some dangerous rockfish, lobsters, and on my last day I got to see a seahorse. Because my course was kind of backwards, I had three different instructors, but all were cool and on the boat each day. I passed all of the underwater safety tests and the sometimes difficult equipment manuvers. I was amazed at how relaxed I was under the water. As long as I was near the bottom, I felt safe and calm. It's like going to the moon, but better. It's a completely different world and I'm so happy I took the plunge and got to see it. After five dives ranging from 12 to 18 meters, I took the final exam and am a certified open water diver. It's a pretty good feeling...do I get to add this to my resume?

I just finished the course yesterday, so it took up the majority of my time in Taganga. I couldn't go out at night, at least not for long, because hungover and/or tired is not conducive to breathing through a regulator deep under the sea. I met plenty of people during the afternoons though and kind of felt like I owned the town. Pretty much everywhere I went, I ran into someone I knew from somewhere. Yesterday evening while having dinner on the strip, I got the best surprise of all when the crew from Medellin strolled past me down the street. They'd just gotten up to the area and were staying at one of my favorite hostels, La Brisa Loca, over in Santa Marta. Running into them on my very last day in Colombia made the ending perfect.

Last night I went out with a bang. I went over to Santa Marta to hang with the guys. We drank some Ron (rum...there's just no other option when you're in Colombia) and chatted about what had been happening in the past couple of weeks. We reminisced about our days in Medellin and just generally had a good time. I was able to get a couple of them to go out with me in Taganga afterwards. We went to the only club in town and of course ran into more people from earlier. We salsa danced the night away and took a necessary late night swim. Exhausted, I saw the sun come up on my last morning in Colombia and then hit the bus to the airport.

Tonight I'm finding myself in familiar territory in Panama City, but it's not the same. Just one night in a place is only a bed, so in my opinion, this wild ride in South America has pretty much ended. Like Europe, I am so sad for it to be done, but a new chapter will begin shortly. If I could go back and start the last two months over again, I wouldn't change a single thing. It has been a learning experience that has changed me forever. The person I was when I got off that plane in Lima doesn't seem to exist anymore, there's a better version now. It's a great feeling and I have South America to thank for it.

Since I'll be seeing everyone soon, I'm not going to blog until I get to New Zealand in a couple of weeks. If you don't already know, here is my crazy holiday travel schedule....

December 24-28 Houston, Texas
December 28- January 3 Somewhere in Michigan
January 4 Houston, Texas
January 4-7 San Francisco

Then it's time for a new adventure to begin!

Happy holidays everyone! I hope to see you very, very soon!!!

Goodbyes

2009-12-15T16:43:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be honest, I began this country wanting more of a cultural experience than anything. Anne and I were reflecting the other day on the last three plus weeks here and have decided that it has definitely been more of a natural one, which in my book, is fine. I will be coming back to Colombia to get more of the cultural aspect that I was looking for.

Don't get me wrong, I've been speaking with Colombians and learning as much as I can, but the gloriousness of the landscapes has won me over on this trip. The beaches and mountains, volcanos and farmlands, have captivated me and my camera. This country is a little piece of every kind of heaven. I seem to have been traveling with a group of fifty or so people, experiencing it in different ways in each area. The people I have met from all over the planet and the memories that I have made will be with me for the rest of my life.

My week stuck in Colombia waiting for my yellow fever vaccination to set in has been a fantastic one. Before our thirteen hour bus ride down to Medellin, Anne and I went to El Totumo, a mud volcano about 70 kilometers outside of Cartagena. This volcano stands only 15 meters tall and contains the strangest consistancy of mud I have ever encountered. We arrived by bus and were quickly told to strip down to our bikinis. We climbed the steps and glanced into this pit of grayish gook with about twenty people already inside. It's best not to think of what you are stepping into as they lead you down the ladder to join the others. We got into the bottomless hole and were promptly massaged by the three men working inside. After our therapy, we were slid to the side with the rest of the folks where we floated around for 20 minutes or so before being helped out. I would say the experience brought us tourists to a new level of closeness, one I wasn't expecting, but it was all in good fun. After a few too many pictures, we were helped up the ladder and down the street into a swamp, where some women awaited to wash away this sticky substance. Sitting there in the light of day having a woman wipe me down in some mucky water as 20 people stood by will not be forgotten anytime soon. In my travels, I have learned that modesty just isn't possible.

After our mud bath and wash, we went to the beach for a fresh fish lunch and our last dip in the Carribean for a while. It was no Tayrona or Playa Blanca, but it did the trip on a hot Colombian afternoon. We made our way back to Cartagena where I was finally able to repack my incredibly full bag (what exactly I've bought to fill it so much is beyond me) before heading to the bus station for another night bus through the countryside. The ride down was great...cold, but great. Somehow I've always been able to get a decent night's sleep on these things. I woke up as we soared into Medellin and was ready to go when we got to the hostel. We arrived to find a lot of the same people we've beening seeing throughout Colombia and immediately felt at home.

As for the stay in Medellin, I can't report too much. Basically, the hostal we were in was a compound complete with pool, computers, kitchen, bar, basketball courts, hammocks and a tv room with couches you just melt into. We were there four nights, and other than hitting up the discotecas and going out for meals, we really didn't do anything. There was really no touring to be done, and if there was, we couldn't be bothered with it. We just hung out with a great group of people for a few days and relaxed.

Laziness had really started to set in, so Anne and I made the plan to go down to Manizales, about 4 hours south in the heart of the coffee zone. The views from the bus winding up and down green, tropical mountains would make Bob Ross roll over in his grave. Words cannot describe how beautiful this was! Coffee plantations and green, lush valleys full of palm trees were spotted with these houses that just have so much character! They're so colorful with their clay tiled roofs and perfectly landscaped yards...and the Christmas lights...so many of them, and all the blinky kind. It's getting very, very festive in Colombia.

We arrived in Manizales to find a pretty big university city with hills that put San Francisco to shame. There is a gorgeous cathedral on mountainside surrounded by rows and rows of houses that basically look like the sunset district of SF. It was pretty interesting, I felt really comfortable there.

Our first day in the area was spent at Hacienda Guayabal, a coffee plantation about an hour away. We took a two hour tour and learned the coffee making process from start to finish. Is anyone out there aware that the cup of coffee you drink every morning took more than five years to get there? And that coffee beans, before they're peeled, taste like grapes? I was a bit amazed to learn this myself. Being a coffee drinker, it absolutely made me think a bit more about what I'm sipping on each morning. At the end of our tour we were able to sample some of the finished product while sitting in a garden in the middle of the farm....breathtaking!

There was plenty more that could have been done in and around Manizales, but my travels with Anne were coming to a close. She has to be in the north of Peru by next week, and my flight to Panama was scheduled to take off today. So our last day together, we did what we do best...went to the local park and laid by the pool. We walked around the city a little first of course, but it was hot and being near water sounded nice. We relaxed most of the afternoon and reminsced about the past three weeks, got some last minute photos and then headed for a substitute of our favorite restaurant, Crepes and Waffles.

Our last night was bittersweet. We went out with a group from the hostal and had drinks. We praised ourselves for traveling so well together and had a great time, but each time we thought about the fact that it was almost over, we just got sad. I keep saying that meeting these people really make my adventures, but these goodbyes are just so hard and I don't think they'll ever get easier. The next morning, we made our way to the bus station where she went south and I headed north. It was a shock to my system to be alone again, and it felt like the end of an era.

After that goodbye, I had to face the possibility of saying adios to this country that I've fallen in love with as well. I took the bus back to Medellin and then caught a flight up to Cartagena where I would have one night and then head off to Panama. I met some people when I arrived at the hostal last night and did my last night up right by learning to salsa. I'm not very good, but who knew it could be so much fun?! I ended up staying out pretty late trying to work on my moves and when I woke up this morning, a flight to Panama just didn't feel right. So my first action this morning was calling the airline...I'm staying in Colombia for just a few days more.

I had big dreams of seeing more of Panama on this trip and I've slowly crushed them all...and I'm fine with that. I've already got the idea of a Central American adventure in my head, I'll be back and I'll see it then. Five days in Panama was just not enough time to do some of the things I wanted...and I wanted beach....good beach. So after changing my flight and packing my bags again, I hopped on another bus and have come back to one of my favorite places in Colombia, Taganga. I got here this evening and the place is packed with people, but I think I can manage. It's hard to be back without Anne as I know it just won't be the same. But seeing as I have until next Tuesday, I'm considering getting my scuba certificate while I'm here. I've always been scared of that sort of thing, but everyone just keeps telling me to give it a go. It does sound pretty amazing, and I'd hate for my fear to stop me from doing things, so we'll see. I'm going to get up early tomorrow and check that out. Even if I don't do that, there are numerous beaches I can kayak to from here and there is plenty of sun to soak up. I'm ending my South American adventure exactly where I want to be.

Change of Plans

2009-12-07T14:22:00.000-08:00

Anyone who has been reading this has learned that crossing borders is not my forte. After my rendezvous at the Bolivian border, I should have known to research more thoroughly before trying to go anywhere new. While relaxing on a pristine beach a couple of nights ago, I was told of the problems I was going to have going into Panama this week sans my yellow fever certification. Much to my dismay, I got to Cartagena today to find that these rumors are true. You need a certificate dated more than 10 days ago to cross from South America to Central America. So a change of plans is now in order...looks like I'm staying in Colombia a little bit longer.

First things first, I have had an absolute blast with Anne for the past week and a half. She is from Dublin and our paths met my first day in San Gil. Somehow we have always seemed to be heading the same way so we've paved a path through Colombia together...sometimes leaving a bit of a wake behind. We've been through numerous beaches, jungle treks, hammocks, tents, cities and fiestas together. I was going to be very sad to say goodbye when I left for Panama on Wednesday. So the new alternative of staying really isn't bothering me too much at this point in time. I think there will actually be a bit of a celebration in it's honor this evening.

We spent two nights in on the beach in Taganga and worked on our ever-darkening tans. It was this great little beach town with one ATM (that didn't work the whole time I was there), about ten hostels and restaurants and bars galore. There were loads of hippies who came and decided never to leave, making their living by selling jewelry on the street. The beaches were crowded but not to the point of annoying. And the water was the perfect temperature for relief from the mid-afternoon sun. We met up with some people from earlier in our trip and stuck it out there, just relaxing and eating ceviche, before having to come over to Cartagena.

We basically lived out of day-packs the whole time we were in the Santa Marta area, so upon leaving Taganga we had to go grab all of our poorly packed belongings at a hostel in the city before quickly boarding a bus for Cartagena. Luckily we'd packed some warmer clothes on top and were able to grab them before boarding the frigid bus. This was the coldest one yet, and the 5.5 hours were almost unbearable. Even in the extreme heat and humidity, it was ridiculously cold. I just don't get it.

We got to Cartagena late Friday night and checked into a hostel that had been referred to us, although I'm not sure why. The price was right, and the air conditioning cranked way up, but the cockroaches and space cadet staff was a good reason to check out promptly the next morning. We had our hearts set on Playa Blanca, a beach just a 45 minute boat ride away.

We definitely went off the gringo trail on getting there. Following our Lonely Planet bible, we went to this shady little market early in the morning and jumped on a speed boat full of locals hoping that it would get us there in one piece. Our haggling skills are getting good, so we got them down to a decent price, and our feet touched the white, sandy beach an hour or so later.

Playa Blanca is a tourist beach, but a Colombian tourist beach, so we felt pretty off the beaten path while we were there. It is full of campsites for tents and hammocks. There are little restaurants serving up fresh fish, and just green Caribbean water as far as the eye can see. We ended up meeting an American who was working with a family there, and he promptly lured us into their campsite. We'd heard rumor that the bugs were worse there than in Tayrona, so opted for the tents instead of braving the nights in hammocks this time around. Although I brought my hammock and net, and it would've been cheaper, a couple nights of comfort was more on my mind at that point. Honestly, they were still pretty bad, even in the tents. My feet are scarred for life.

Either way, we indulged in our two nights on the beach. We got massages and drank piña coladas. We swam all day and ate the fantastic food the owner prepared for us. Nothing could really break our moods, until Anne thought she lost her camera (which was quickly found upon returning to Cartagena) and I got the shock that I needed a vaccine to go to Central America. It cut our two nights there a bit short, but we enjoyed it anyway realizing there was nothing we could do about it until today. So this morning we saw the sunrise over the water while taking the 6am motor taxi back into the city. It was a good ending to (possibly) the last time either of us will see the Caribbean in a while.

Upon arriving in Cartagena, I was on a mission to bribe a doctor to put a different date on my yellow fever certification, giving me the required ten days. The first thing was finding a doctor. I was in luck as the Centro Medico was just a few block from where we'd left our bags. I got there and failed miserably on the bribe (didn't even attempt it) but took the shot like a champ and officially have my certification (I'm pretty proud of the fact that this thing I must carry for life is Colombian, and completely in Spanish). Can I just comment on Colombian medicine for a second? I walked in, told them what I needed, took a number and was on the chopping block within 15 minutes. They were so nice, even letting Anne take pictures as I got stuck in the arm, and very official about all of it. When I asked where to pay, they just looked at me like I was crazy and told me it was free and that I was all set. Free?! Medicine?! For foreigners?! I was in shock. I know this wasn't a trip to the hospital, but really, there were probably ten families with kids in there all waiting for various vaccinations that are needed for daily life here and all came in and out easily and efficiently. No complaining, nothing. It was really incredible. People would have to wait hours to get something like that done in the states and then pay an arm and a leg to boot. I think there's a lesson to be learned here.

Anyway, rather than hopping a flight to Panama, with a yellow fever certification just two days old and completely covered in mosquito bites, I've changed my flight to December 17th. I don't have the two weeks I had hoped for in Panama, but I'll have five days to go somewhere and see something new anyway. Luckily, Copa Airlines is incredible and changed my flight in about two minutes flat, free of charge. Now I've got time to go down to Medillon with Anne tomorrow night after soaking in a mud volcano in the morning. Another ten days in Colombia? Not such a bad thing after all.

Fill in the Blanks

2009-12-03T07:40:00.001-08:00

I know I just posted, but I felt rushed the last time. This morning I'm just chilling out, waiting for my travel buddy to get back from scuba diving, so I feel like I have time to fill in the blanks on some of the things I think about this crazy country that I am in.

Colombia has officially surpassed Turkey as the favorite of all of the places I have been. The gorgeous, green mountains and jungle landscapes are captivating. The water is clear and blue and the people are brilliant. It is exactly what I have wanted in the last three months of travel all rolled up into a nice Colombian ball. I can see where people were coming from when they said that I would want to stay longer than my alloted time. I feel like I could spend months here and still only see a fraction of what it has to offer.

It's not just the landscapes for me either, although that's usually the part that I enjoy the most. The energy of the people here is contagious! Seriously, walking down the street, you are accosted by the huge variety of sounds, sights and smells. There is music everywhere and people always seem to be dancing. There never a dull moment, as there are numerous fiestas to attend daily(these people love to party!). Something is always cooking on a grill nearby and there are freshly squeezed juices on every street corner for about 25 cents. (The juices here are incredible!!!) The people are lively and seem genuinely interested in where you're from and what you're doing and how you feel about Colombia. This country is nothing like the reputation it has been given in the United States. It is the most welcoming place I have ever been.

So there you have it, I love everything about Colombia except for one thing...the insects! I came to Taganga, a little beach town just a few minutes from Santa Marta, last night. I am in the best hostel I've ever stayed, with a beautiful courtyard full of hammocks and lots of tables and social areas. The dorm rooms are cozy and have their own bathrooms. But I noticed the mosquito nets hanging above the beds as soon as I got here...and I had every right to be worried. These bugs are relentless! My American blood apparently tastes really good. I was up for hours last night trying to fix the net above my head, but they found a way in anyway. The repellant here does not work at all, and my fantastic REI brand with 40% deet is officially gone. I have never dealt with anything even remotely like this...and I'll probably have the scars to prove it for the rest of my life.

This morning I have been relaxing in hammocks while trying not to scratch. I think this is going to be my last full day in this area, so we're heading to some beautiful beach that's supposed to be about 20 minutes from here. I'll soak in some more sun and hope for some cool breezes before heading to Cartagena tomorrow. I hear the heat and humidity is even more intense over there.

I finally booked my ticket to Panama. My dreams of sailing there are over. It sounded like an amazing opportunity, but very expensive and time consuming. I've already seen the San Blas islands, so the only new thing for me would've been two days of open water. And with the rough December seas, I think I can deal without. If I want to go back to San Blas, I'll make time for it on my way back through Panama. I've booked two weeks there to try to see some of the things that I missed last year. After my trip there, I kept saying I would go back, though I don't know if I believed myself. I guess if you tell yourself something over and over, eventually it will happen. That seems to be the way life has worked for me lately.

Hammock Camping at La Playa

2009-12-01T15:10:00.001-08:00

I've just put a pretty adventurous week behind me, and have loved it all. I swam under waterfalls, soared high above the coffee plantations in Colombia, hiked miles through the jungle and had my first experience with hammock camping. Most importantly, I've made it to the Caribbean and swam in it's gorgeous blue waters.

I had my first jungle trek on my first full day in San Gil. Some new friends and I took a crazy bus ride about 30 minutes out of town and hiked through the forest to find our swimming hole under a 240 meter waterfall. I'm a sucker for waterfalls, and I've seen some great ones, but this was spectacular. After scurrying over rocks and climbing ropes and ladders, we had only made it halfway up the falls, but found a deep pool that we were all eager to jump in. The water was freezing, but when else were we going to have the opportunity to swim under some Colombian falls? So we all jumped in, had a great lunch and en joyed the perfect rainbow that soared over our heads on the walk out. It was a day made of perfection.

I had allowed myself just one paid adventure activity in San Gil, and for some crazy reason, I decided that paragliding was my thing. Anyone out there knows how afraid of flying I am, so what I was thinking jumping off a cliff is beyond me! It was, by far, the most terrifying experience I have ever had....and I will never do it again...but I'm glad I can say I did it just once. Me and two other guys from the hostel all took a van out to the top of a mountain (a small one, but bigger than a hill) out in the middle of farmland. The view was stunning from where we stood, so the parachute wasn't really necessary, but I volunteered to go first anyway.

This kid (he couldn't have been more than 21) took me up in the air and whipped me around for about thirty minutes! The view was awesome, but the fact that I thought I was going to die at any second overshadowed a lot of it. I was shaking the entire time but managed to get some decent photos. The winds were really rough that day, so we had to make three attempts at landing, and when we got to solid ground I silently told myself that I would stay where humans belong for good. It was not all bad though...there were a couple of moments that I did relax and enjoyed flying high above Colombia. It is a view that most people will never have, so I am thankful that I was able to do it (and yes, this was on Thanksgiving as well).

So after my final flight without an airplane, I ended up going to dinner with a bunch of people that I had met earlier. It turns out that a bunch of them were taking the overnight bus to Santa Marta the next day. I had planned on staying in San Gil longer, but one thing I've learned is that when you meet cool people traveling, and you're all heading the same way, it's best to just be flexible and follow along. Thirteen hour bus rides are always better with company. So I booked my bus to the Caribbean the next day.

The bus ride was FREEZING! I had heard rumor of refrigerated buses in Colombia, but didn't believe it until I stepped on the bus to Santa Marta. Seriously, people were wearing hats and gloves! It's is crazy hot here, but there is no need for air conditioning that strong. Thank goodness I'd 'come prepared...and they allowed us to get off and thaw out around 2:30 in the morning. Other than that, the ride was smooth and I was able to sleep...when I wasn't shivering.

We arrived in Santa Marta and I learned the true definition of humidity. I have always loved hot, sticky weather, but this is intense. There was a nice sea breeze coming into the hostel (only four blocks from the beach) but I still ended up splurging on a room with A/C...which for me is off the hook, but I'm glad I did it.

The plan from Santa Marta was the Parque Nacional Tayrona to use my beloved travel hammock. I joined in on a fiesta in the hostel the first night and woke my crew early the next day to take off for the park. After much difficulty, we were able to find the bus that got us to the park entrance in about an hour. I had spoken to people about this earlier and was prepared for the 10km hike through the jungle to get to the campsite, but I wasn't quite ready for the water that the forest can hold. Within ten minutes, we were drenched. The hike wasn't hard, the first 4km was on paved road, and not that hot either, just really, really humid...I guess that's the jungle. It was gorgeously green though, and I got to see monkeys! I've been dying to see some since I turned around at the Bolivian border and within the first hour at Tayrona they were playing above my head! So cute and so agile, I wanted to take one home with me.

We hiked into the beach at Cabo and found our home for the next four days and three nights. I got to break out not only my travel hammock, but also my mosquito net that hasn't been opened since I purchased it for Panama last year. (And might I add, it was well needed...the bugs out there were crazy and immune to repellant!) We had a great group of us camping out there. The people always really make trips like these, and although it's not the same as my friends from home, I felt like I'd known them for ages. There were about six of us, sometimes more, that played cards and swam; we took a hike yesterday out to some ruins in the forest and explored the areas around the campsite. (I saw a snake and didn't freak out! So proud of myself for that one.) The weather held out for us and the sea was the perfect relief from the heat. Four of us ended up hiking out together this morning and all came back to the hostel in Santa Marta together.

Two girls I met in Peru have actually ended up at my hostel this evening, so life just through me another loop of fun. They are heading to Panama by boat next week, so I have some decisions to make very soon as to how I'm going to head north. One of the girls I've been with since San Gil is still here and I think we have the same travel plans for the next week, so it seems I won't be traveling alone again anytime soon.

We just got back from the grocery store, which proved to be the most stressful thing I've done in the past few weeks. Seriously, just people everywhere and impossible to find anything....I've stocked up now and am glad that I won't be doing that again anytime soon. I've got some research to do this evening as I think I'm going to leave Santa Marta tomorrow. I need to know where to go and how to get there, but the options just seem endless. The South America portion of my trip is more than halfway over. It's time to fit everything in before braving the USA for the holidays.

Getting Closer to the Coast

2009-11-25T07:45:00.000-08:00

Colombia is insanely beautiful!!! After weeks and weeks in the desert, I am finally seeing green! I took my first Colombian bus ride yesterday and am amazed with the difference between the dusty plains of Peru, to the rich farmlands of Colombia. I really felt like I was in Europe...maybe a tropical Europe. The rolling green hills are patchworked with farms and little villas. The landscape is dotted with palm trees and sugarcane fields. The road was cut right through the dense forests and steep cliffs. There were waterfalls cascading down the hills as our bus sped by. I am in awe of my surroundings!

After a long day in Lima, my friend and I hopped on a plane in the middle of the night destined for Bogota. We arrived at 4am and took the first taxi possible to a pretty dismal hostel somewhere in the middle of...I don't know where...somewhere in the city not next to anything. Of course, the guy didn't have our reservation right and we thought we were going to be forced to sleep on the sofas until he showed us to a private room and offered us a discounted price. We took it, but only because we were extremely tired and Bogota is not a city to be strolling around in the dark looking for somewhere new to stay. We quickly woke up and darted out of there as soon as possible in the morning.

As for Bogota, it is a HUGE city. It's incredibly green, full of parks and surrounded by mountains. The problem is, and I knew this before getting there, is that it's extremely dangerous. You're not likely to be physically harmed, but theft is a big problem. It is not safe to walk alone at night. You have to beware of shady cab drivers. You should never visit an ATM in the dark. Pretty much everyone I talked to had been robbed at some point or another. It's great to hear all of these warnings and be aware of what you should and should not do, but it definitely doesn't make you feel welcome in a new city, or a new country for that matter. Don't worry all, I made it out of Bogota safe and with all of my possessions.

It's kind of sad that it has this bad reputation, because besides that, it is an extremely livable city. The architecture is beautiful and the people seem friendly. I found a hostel in the old city, in Candelaria and stayed there. Luckily, the girl I traveled up here with has lived here before and new plenty of people around. Pretty much everyone in my hostel was living there as far as I could tell. They just come to Bogota and decide not to leave. Although I'm not really sure what they do every day, other than hit up the many fiestas that happen every night of the week.

I was in luck on Saturday night, as this big party that occurs the last Sunday of every month was going on. It just a club with a huge backyard and hundreds of people hanging out and dancing. My stomach was upset (travelers tummy was back again but thankfully gone at this point) so it was hard to get into it, but I did eventually and had a crazy night out for my first night in Colombia. I met loads of people and attempted bad spanish. I came home in the wee hours of the morning and wasted the entire next day relaxing after a long night.

I'm not really a big city person, at least not in South America, so I only stuck it out in Bogota for three days. I did a bit of touring to the main plaza and then to this church up on top of a mountain not far from my hostel. I had dinner with my friend and just generally hung out on my last day. I was pretty ready to leave by the time I woke up yesterday morning.

My goal at this point is to get to the beach asap. I haven't seen beach since Turkey, or not any that I've wanted to swim in, so I'm ready. So I took my first Colombian bus ride yesterday to San Gil, six hours north of Bogota. I had no idea what I was doing when I got to the bus station, but again my luck worked out. I chose a bus company (there are hundreds, all screaming at you trying to get your business) that had comfty seats that recline almost all the way and plenty of room for you to stretch out. As for getting the ticket, Colombia is crazy with prices. Basically, you go up to the attendant and ask for a ticket. You have to be sure to ask for the discount, or else you're charged sometimes close to double the price. I asked for the discount, although I'm not sure why I, or anyone for that matter, got it. Really, it's just one of these crazy South American deals...if you're too stupid to say something about it, they charge you more. I don't get it...but oh well...my ticket was way cheaper than the price I'd seen quoted online the day before.

The bus ride up here was so beautiful! None of the shantytowns of Peru. Some of the places I saw were villas straight out of Italy. We drove through green mountains and gorgeous canyons. The roads were smooth as we passed farms and small towns. There were a lot of police checkpoints and it was kind of random to see a lone officer with a large gun every 10 miles or so, but I guess that makes me feel a little safer. I met an older Colombian guy on the bus and we had a nice conversation using my horrible spanish. These people love their country and after this bus ride, I can see why.

I arrived in San Gil a little after five yesterday and am already planning on staying longer than I thought. It's a small town with hills steeper than San Francisco's. It's the adventure sport capital of this region. I checked into possible the smallest dorm room I've ever seen (literally, I think it's 8X8, with two sets of bunk beds) and met my three new roommates...the first time I've been with all guys (smelly! Thank god there's a window). Immediately they gave me the run-down of everything I can do here...rappelling down waterfalls, swimming under them, paragliding, white water rafting, etc. It's pretty awesome. All I need to do is walk across the street to a different hostel and put my name on the board under the activity I want for the next day. I had initially signed up to rappell down this waterfall, but then realized I can swim under it for free, so cancelled that reservation and will take a relaxing dip in the water instead today. All of these activities, although cheap, can add up moneywise, so I'm going to let myself do one thing...paragliding or rafting. I'll make the decision later, I've got nothing but time.

The other great thing about this town is Andre, the spanish teacher across the road from my hostel. I was introduced to him within 15 minutes of being here and immediately signed up for a lesson. I just got done with a two hour private class on the past tense in spanish and it was pretty good. I've been looking for a good teacher with a flexible schedule. You basically just walk in, tell him what and when you want to learn, and there you go. For $7/hour, I'm in. I think I'll take another session tomorrow.

So I'm getting closer to the coast, but think I'm going to stay here for a few days more. The original plan was to take off tomorrow and get to Santa Marta on Friday, but I'm thinking that the 13 hour bus ride can wait for now. There's plenty to do and see in San Gil. It's safe for me to walk around alone and go out to dinner at night. It's also hot all day and all night here, just like I like it. I'll eventually make it to the beach, but for now, I'm happy where I'm at.

Adios Peru!!!

2009-11-20T10:03:00.000-08:00

Colombia, here I come! Tonight I am leaving this country that I have learned to love over the last month. I have completed the Gringo Trail of southern Peru. I've made some great friends, eaten way too much good food (whoever said being vegetarian in South America would be hard is crazy), drank some local wines and Pisco and just generally lived it up in the last four weeks. My feet are now clean of sand and grit (for the first time in what feels like ages), my laundry is at the cleaners and I have slept in my last Peruvian hostel. What a good run it has been.

I got to Lima last night, after three days of hard labor while volunteering in Pisco. Just after writing my last blog, I made the smart decision to look up Pisco Sin Fronteras on the internet...why I didn't do that before I got to Pisco is beyond me...and figured out what exactly needed to be done to find all of the volunteers. It was quite easy actually. I got up early the next morning, hopped in a tuk tuk (it's an experience to be had on the bumpy streets of Peru) and made it to the house just before their morning breakfast meeting.

The organization is fabulous, and what they do for the community means so much to its people. It was founded two years ago by Burners Without Borders, a non-profit run by all of those Burning Man followers out in California. Burners worked on it for twelve months and then handed over the reigns to form Pisco Sin Fronteras, which has now been up and running for almost a year now. They work in Pisco and the surrounding villages to improve the living conditions of their inhabitants. They have close ties with businesses and politicians in the community that allows them to take on projects as they are needed. It is mostly building houses and laying cement, while doing some fundraising and building the infrastructure to use energy more efficiently. In the three days I was there people were being dispatched daily to about nine different projects.

The first thing I noticed as I arrived for breakfast is that they have developed a family in these two houses that they live in on the outskirts of Pisco. They have beds for the workers and provide breakfast and dinner everyday. They arrange futbol games and barbeques and other team building activities that keep people together as they do hard, and sometimes frustrating, work everyday. Some people had been there for months, and others for just days. It didn't matter, as long as you were there to help.

They had bed space for me, so on the first morning, I volunteered for my project and then ran to my hostel to pack my belongings. My first project was a Miracle Project, a two room bamboo house being built for a family with six children (five of which will be sharing one of the rooms, the sixth will be living elsewhere). These homes are incredible. As far as I can tell, they don't buy property, just find a space amoung the shantytowns that are all over the area and build on it. Most structures are built with the local palm reeds and plastic, and as they save what little money the have, they improve on it. This particular family had nothing, hence it is the Miracle Project. It was paid for by the fundraising of PSF and the house was designed by volunteer architects that happened to be working there at the time. The house was almost complete by the time I got there. I helped with the finishing touches by filling the gaps in the bamboo with a glue and sawdust mixture. It was the first day of hard work I've done in a long time, and it was incredibly satisfying!

My second and third days with the company were spent working in a village just across the Panamericana helping a family that needed us to pour cement floors so that their kids weren't running around in the dirt any longer. We started each morning by loading up Juan's truck with wheel barrels and other gear...and then ourselves, yes we rode 30 minutes in the back of this work truck like a load of livestock. Gringos in a truck! It was like a parade with all of the looks we got. I have lots of pictures...it was quite hilarious! In the time I had, we got two of the rooms done and part of the backyard. It was long days of mixing cement by hand (the mixer died the first day) and moving sand holes from the backyard to the front yard. Babysitting was another job as the two cutest little kids, Omar and Melody, kept running across the wet cement causing us to have to fix their footprints. It was difficult, but everyone seemed happy with the job we were doing and the days went by very fast.

I had to leave the project all too quickly. I could've stayed for months and would like to find somewhere else in the world that I could do this with. I met some amazing people and had such a great time bonding with them. My last night there, I was lucky enough to see their Wednesday night BBQ and sing-a-long. It was a great way to spend my last evening with these phenominal people.

So yesterday, I helped with the morning dishes and chopped some vegetables for dinner before hopping on a bus to Lima. Two of the girls were heading up here as well, so we all checked into the same hostel and went out to a nice dinner in Miraflores last night. The girl I met in Puno has just arrived and I'll be going to Bogota with her this evening. And to top it all off, someone I met in Arequipa will be getting to Lima in a few hours and I need to have drinks with him before I take off. Peru has been fantastic for meeting people. Everywhere I go I run into people that I've seen somewhere else in the country. In South America, travelers seem to buddy up a bit more than they did in Europe. It's a wonderful circle of friends that you get to enjoy as you travel around and see more of the sites. I have no doubt that I will find the same happiness in Colombia.

Wild Wild West

2009-11-15T11:37:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning in an Oasis in the desert and now I have found myself in a city in shambles. The last few days have shown me the crazy contrast of life in South America. To go from Arequipa, a beautiful little city with landscaped plazas and gorgeous vistas, to the Oasis at Huacachina, my idea of the South American Sahara, to Pisco, a town destroyed by an earthquake two years ago and trying to rebuild what it once was.

My last few hours in Arequipa were spectacular. I met up again with my canyon guide and he took me to a district just outside of the city called Sacacha. It was a quaint little neighborhood with a huge tower that overlooks the city and the mountains that surround it. We got there just at sunset to see El Misti at it's best. The sunsets in South America are a pretty incredible second best for me, the first being in Turkey. It was the perfect goodbye to a city that I loved exploring.

The overnight bus to Ica was phenominal. Better than any bus ride I've taken, as I was able to sleep the entire way. I got a semi-cama seat on the top floor meaning my seatback laid almost all the way down and there was plenty of leg room to stretch out. I must have been asleep within ten minutes of boarding and didn't wake up until we arrived at our destination the following morning. The perfect way to travel.

I arrived in Ica and caught a $1 cab to the oasis at Huacachina and saw the enormous mountains of sand that were once deep under the ocean. Huacachina was meant to be a resort for Peru's elite, but somehow became a weekend getaway for Peruvians and a necessary stopover for international backpackers looking for dune buggy adventures. The town, if you can call it that, is just a lagoon surrounded by huge palm trees and hotels and hostels galore. There is really nothing else there, except for the sand, of course.

I checked in to the Casa del Arena (house of sand) hostel and was immediately pleased to see a nice, clean pool for me to relax next to. In the midday heat, I took a dip while I waited for the desert floor to cool down a bit in the afternoon. I hiked for a half hour up one of the mountains and saw the surrounding citys from the top...and then had my first, and only, attempt at sandboarding back down. It's a lot like snowboarding, but impossible to carve, so you just end up flying straight down the mountain hoping to stay upright. I have to admit, I wasn't that bad. I only ended up going down once, as the sun was setting and I forgot my headlamp, but I made it down with only falling once into the soft sand. Makes me think that I might want to try snowboarding when I actually get to see winter a year or so from now.

I've said over and over that one of the best things about travel is the people that you meet and the things that you learn from them. After leaving Arequipa, I got thrown into the mix and now realize that not all people speak english. In fact, I really haven't encountered anyone that speaks english in the last four days. I had this happen when I lived in Spain years ago, and I was so happy to have it again...meeting someone that doesn't speak your language, and you don't speak theirs, and neither of you speak spanish very well, so you're forced to form a bond based on mediocre language skills and charades. That's basically what I did during my entire stay at the oasis, and it was an incredible learning experience. The practice has definitely come in handy now that I have moved on to a new location.

So in my three days in Huacachina, I had a lot of sun, pool, sand and wineries. Yes, there are wineries in the desert. One of the french guys and I took a wine tour my second day there and enjoyed the vinos and piscos. Pisco is like a grape brandy that is only made in this region of Peru. Very strong, and very high alcohol content. It pretty much tastes like tequila...and burns just as bad going down. Needless to say, after three bodegas, I was ready to be done. I opted for the wineries rather than dune buggies, and although it wasn't much compared to my favorite Californian wines, I'm glad I had the chance to test them out.

I was supposed to leave the oasis yesterday afternoon, I had my bags packed and everything, but somehow moving just didn't seem like the best option, so I stuck it out there one more night. This morning I awoke bright and early, had some breakfast and said some goodbyes, and then hopped on the bus to Pisco, just an hour and a half north of Ica. I arrived before noon to find what's left of this town after the earthquake in 2007. The only thing I could think of in my cab ride from the bus station is that I have somehow arrived in the Wild West. Most of the roads are dirt and there is a dust cloud everywhere you look. A lot of the buildings are half destroyed and there is debris everywhere. I can hear chickens clucking as I type this and there are ferral dogs in the streets. I really can't believe the contrast with the last few places I have been.

It's not all bad though. My hostel is nice and the people seem incredibly friendly. I took a walk over to the Plaza del Armas and you can see the progess they have made at trying to rebuild their city. There are a couple of streets where the brick has been re-laid and there is a nice little market with loads of Sunday strollers just enjoying the nice day with their ice creams. It's just a town that got hit really hard, and there are people that refuse to give up on it.

I've been hearing throughout my trip here that there is a company called Pisco Sin Fronteras that allows people to volunteer here on all sorts of projects. I haven't looked too hard for it at this point since it is Sunday and I know they are closed. Apparently tomorrow morning I can get up early and take a cab over and help out if I please. I've heard stories of people coming here and volunteering for months because they loved it so much. I hope that I can find that same passion for it and make the best of my last few days in Peru.

Flight of the Condors

2009-11-11T07:13:00.000-08:00

When I was in Arizona last spring, I was pretty bummed that I didn't get to see the Grand Canyon. The past few days in the Cañon del Colca northeast of Arequipa has finally satisfied my needs. At 3191 meters deep, Colca is one of the world's deepest canyons. With majestic condors flying above and the fast flowing river below, the 22km trek in, out and around was breathtaking.

The trip set off to a rocky start. As with everyone heading into the canyon, the guides are supposed to come to the hostels and pick you up around 2:30am so you can be at the Cruz del Condor to catch glimpses of the condors flying in the morning. Just as I laid my head down at 10pm for a few hours of sleep, my guide came to the door to inform me that he would be back in two hours to pick me up for the 1am bus instead. This was frustrating to say the least. So at 12:30, I woke up and got my ride to the bus station, not to take the nice tourist bus, but the local collectivo over the insanely bumpy roads into the canyon. The condition of the roads, as well as the bus, prohibited me from further sleep during the four hour ride, not exactly ideal when you know you've got a five hour hike to your next bed.

We were the first to arrive at the Cruz del Condor at 5am and the sunrise over the canyon was glorious, it made the agony of no sleep somewhat bearable. Cruz del Condor (cross of the condor) is the viewpoint for all of us tourists see these incredible birds as they hunt for their morning meals. We were there for about four hours and watched as the tourist buses dropped off hundreds of people from all over the globe. I think we saw about five birds while sitting there with our tea, but all from a distance. It was nothing compared to what we would see over the coming days on our hike through the canyon.

My group was made up of me, three Australians, a girl from Switzerland and our guide, Juan Carlos. The Aussies, as always, were fantastic and made the hike for me. You're always worried when going on these tours exactly who will make up your group and if you will get along with them...it's kind of important when you have to spend days on end in the middle of nowhere with someone. The experience just isn't the same when you're stuck with people you don't like (i.e. crotchety old women on the boat in Turkey). I lucked out yet again, and came out of this trip with three new friends to visit on my world tour.

After the Cruz del Condor, we took another terrifying bus ride (I officially think Peruvian buses have topped planes in my book of scariest things ever) to Cabanaconde to begin our hike to our first destination inside the canyon. The hike lasted five hours, across the cliffs, and down the steep hills to the Rio Majes (river). Like I said, I never made it to the Grand Canyon, but if it's anything like the towering peaks and vast plains that make up Colca, I need to keep it on my list. We arrived at our first hostel in the late afternoon sun and found a rustic compound made up of bamboo bungalows and sprawling gardens overlooking the river. Our feet were sore from the long decent and we were fithly from the dust kicked up in our path, so we jumped into the seemlingly subzero river to numb our aches and clean up a bit. We had lunch at 5pm, followed by a nap and then dinner with a starlight soak in the hot springs for dessert. After no sleep and a long day, we called it a night by 9pm.

The next day began our uphill practice as we walked to the garden oasis deep in the canyon. We walked up a mountain to take in the most beautiful views of rocky landscapes around us. The hike took us across a plain where two condors decided to grace us with their presence. These birds start low and use the hot air from the bottom of the canyon to lift themselves up into the sky. We caught them as they were below us and watched as they glided peacefully across the land and to their homes in the caves above. It was spectacular! Without the throngs of people making noise and snapping pictures, we were really able to appreciate how incredible the condors really are.

We arrived at the Oasis before noon on the second day and couldn't have been happier to jump in the chilly pool within minutes. The Oasis is another compound full of greenery that offsets the dusty landscape surrounding it. Walking past the waterfall at the entrance and seeing the lush bushes and huge palm trees on the lawns, I felt like I was stepping into a five star resort. More bamboo huts and and dirt floors stopped my dreaming quickly, but was fine with me...when there is a pool, I could really care less where I have to sleep. We spent the afternoon reading and napping and took it upon ourselves to polish off a bottle of rum before hitting the hay early in the evening.

As we were hiking on the second day, our guide pointed out our path up the hillside for the third day. We all saw it, and knew what we were in for, so we beat the sun up on our last day to make the final push of 1.4 vertical kilometers (I think it's more like 5km with all of the switchbacks) back into Cabanaconde. It took me 2.5 hours to reach the top with an incredible sense of accomplishment. The hike up really wasn't all that bad...I think my muscles are back. I've learned the secret to hiking uphill...slow and steady. It's not a race and I don't know why I didn't get it before, but Peruvian hiking has ingrained that slow and steady rhythm into my head.

We arrived in Cabanaconde, had breakfast at a cool little reggae bar and then got on the actual tourist bus to take us home. We stopped at another hot spring to soak our sore legs and filled our stomachs with an amazing buffet before heading back to Arequipa in the evening. The bus ride was still bumpy, even in a good bus, but we were all more than happy to be chilling out for a few hours on the trip.

So I got back two nights ago and have hung out with the Australians numerous times before they took their bus to Bolivia last night. We went out on the town with our guide on Monday night. We ate pizza, watched Peruvian karaoke and danced the night away at one of the tourist bars. Even with our aching muscles, we all had a blast. Yesterday afternoon, we met up and cruised the local market before having dinner overlooking the plaza in the evening. I was sad to see them go, as always, but know I will see them again when I make it to their side of the world next year.

As for today, I am checking out of the hostel that I have considered my home for over a week. I need recollect my belongings that have exploded all over a corner of my room and get on the overnight bus up to Ica. I think the ride is about 12 hours. Something I'm not really looking forward to, but it's time to move on. I've decided to skip Nazca altogether. No one has given me any good feedback on it anyway. Ica is supposedly an oasis in the middle of sandunes, and it sounds like it's worth a try for a couple of days. I'll get some sandboarding in and lay by the pool as I make my way closer to Lima for my flight to Colombia next week.

Pleasantly Bored

2009-11-06T08:51:00.000-08:00

I finally feel like I am on vacation. It only took two months to adjust. Europe was crazy, like running around in circles trying to see as much as possible in the six weeks I had. Now, I have stepped back and have slowed to the South American way of travel. The last few days have been spent resting in hammocks and strolling through plazas, drinking cervezas and doing pretty much whatever I feel like at any particular moment.

Puno was tough for me. I felt like I was getting beaten down with each new step I tried to make. I hit those phases a couple of times in Europe as well, where you just don't feel like things are going your way. You don't meet people like you want to, you don't necesarily feel social, you're just generally uncomfortable in the place where you are...and that was Lake Titicaca for me.

After my soiree at the Bolivian border, I went back to the lake to see what I could do next. I ended up getting a bed at the hostel after a late night cancellation, so that was good at least. I booked the tour of the floating reed islands for the next day. For anyone reading this that ever wants to go, I say skip it...unless it's a stopover to avoid a long bus ride to La Paz. The lake is incredibly polluted and the smell is not so nice. I took a half hour boat ride to the reed islands to see some of the locals and it felt like I was in a zoo. They showed us how the islands are made, which is actually kind of cool. They're just islands made of reeds. As the ones on the bottom deteriorate, they place new ones on top. These islands are actually floating, as they have to anchor them down to keep from sailing off to Bolivia. The people on them sleep in reed huts and basically live off of the tourists that visit. They tried to dress us in their traditional garb (I politely refused), sell us things and then sang us Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in the language of each person on the tour. I know that they would not survive without the money they receive from tourists, but it was just really uncomfortable and made me feel kind of bad. I was pretty happy when we were back on the boat to the mainland.

After the tour, I quickly went to the bus station to see when the next bus to Arequipa was. I was in luck, as there was one leaving in a couple of hours. I made haste back to the hostel, packed my bags, and said goodbye to Puno....but not before buying the one of those alpaca ponchos I've been eyeing. I have no idea when I'll wear it...but it's soft and blue...and was all of $10, so what the hell, I'm glad I have it.

I had my first experience with Cruz del Sur, the fancy bus company that runs through Peru. It was more expensive, but to get movies and food....I'll take it! The seats lay almost flat and are soft and spacious. To top it all off, my bus was close to empty, so I got to spread out and sleep for a while on the six hour trek to canyon country.

I got to Arequipa and have checked into my third Point Hostel. There are a bunch of chain hostels in South America, the Point being one of them. You get these wristbands that just scream 'gringa' as you walk the streets, but they get you a free drink at the next hostel you stay in...bonus! The hostel is great, comfortable beds, clean, hot showers, a decent kitchen and hammocks in the backyard...luxurious by backpacking standards. I've been very cozy here all week.

This town I'm in is awesome! I do not feel like I'm in South America at all. More like Arizona. There is a beautiful, landscaped plaza, stucco houses, actual stop lights and street crossings and fantastic restaurants and bars everywhere. My first day, I met a couple of girls with similar travel plans (I think they're on the flight just before me to Colombia...and also taking a boat to Central America...their research has been incredibly helpful) and we walked around and checked everything out. I went to this 500 year old covent that was just opened to the public in the 60's. I was fantastic; a city within a city. Once the nuns joined the convent, they were never allowed to leave, so they built this complex over three acres full of rooms and kitchens and gardens and chapels. It was all gorgeously decorated in this deep red and bright blue and built out of rock from the snow capped volcano that towers over the city, El Misti. We spent a couple of hours in there wandering the streets and getting lost in the houses. Apparently there are still nuns that live there...but of course, they're hidden away from the tourists...bummer!

Other than that, I can't say I've done much here. I have been pleasantly bored for the last three days. Each day I get up, drink my tea (yes, I am a tea drinker now...who knew it could be so good!) go out for a few hours, and then come back to relax and read a book. Yesterday I put an end to that as I booked a three day hike through Colca Canyon about three hours from here. My haggling skills are getting good and my Spanish even better as I got the guy down to less than $65 (all inclusive for three days) and let him explain the trek to me without using English. I leave at 3am tomorrow morning and can expect about four hours of hiking each day, glimpses of condors flying above, and hot springs to soak in at the end of it all. The biggest challenge is going to be getting three days worth of supplies into the tiny day pack that I bought in Cusco. That is my mission for today.

Crossing Borders...or not

2009-11-02T14:03:00.000-08:00

Having an American passport is not necessarily the best thing sometimes. As our government puts more and more restrictions on travelers from other countries, we get the same in return. As I've traveled through Europe and now South America, I've met people from everywhere and joined them on their different trips. I've come to meet people and not think about where they're from and whether or not they can cross borders with different regulations than me. I just assume I'm the same...and on this particular day, I assumed wrong.

I had heard from some Americans in Cusco that I would need to buy a Bolivian VISA if I planned on crossing the border. With this in mind, I still headed for Puno, on Lake Titicaca, with my heart set on the Bolivian jungle at Rurrenabaque. I traveled down to Puno on Saturday with my friend, Kitty. The bus ride wasn't half as bad as people had described, but I will admit that each time it stopped, I had this crazy anxiety thinking we were getting highjacked. Luckily we did not. Don't worry family and friends, it's not as bad as it sounds. There are certain bus companies you take, and certain ones that you don't. I am paying extra for secure buses down here. These are just horror stories that I've heard. I am fine and will continue to be...I promise.

The landscape on our way down was so dramatic! Just high altitude plains and tiny villages built with mud huts. It's incredible to think of the way I grew up and the way people live here. So different, yet the people here all seem quite content with the things that they have. All of the farms are planted by hand, there is no machinery to be seen. Most, if not all of the bricks were laid by the owners of each house. They live a life that has been built on their own. It's spectacular. And when I think about it, even their mud huts are more than I have at this point in my life...however, this was my choice.

Puno is a port town on the shores of Lake Titicaca. This lake sits above 3500 meters, one of the highest in the world. Kitty was only here for one night before leaving, so I met another girl in the hostel and wandered the streets with her yesterday. The town is apparently still growing brick by brick as people build new houses, but is still much bigger than I expected it to be. There is a huge contrast between each block. You'll walk past houses with dried mud fencing and debris filling the streets and the next minute you'll see a new, modern buildings that just seem out of place. The markets are bustling and the shopping is fabulous. I want to buy everything here. I've got my South American pajama/all day pants and tomorrow I'll be out for the perfect alpaca sweater. It's hard to resist in South America. Everything just looks so comfortable!

So yesterday, I was stressed with what to do next and how I was going to get there. I pondered my plans all day as I was nervous about crossing the border alone. Last night in the hostel, I met an awesome English couple that were heading my way. The girl had actually just bought a ticket to Colombia for November 21st, which was exactly the time that I wanted to go, so an hour after we met I booked a seat on her flight to Bogota. I am so excited!!! Her and I will meet in Lima before the flight and go up there together. She has been and knows what's up there, so I've got a really cool person to hang with for a few days while I figure out my Colombian plan. Everyone has said such great things about this country, I just have to go.

They were also heading to La Paz, Bolivia this morning, so I quickly booked a seat on that as well...without doing much research on US passports and what I would have to pay to get in. I just figured it would work itself out...and it didn't, of course.

I arrived at the border after two hours on the bus. I checked myself out of Peru and walked up the hill to the Bolivian border. I walked in and they quoted me the insane price of $135 USD just to get back on my bus. Now, I would've had this money on me, had the cab driver not picked us up from the hostel 10 minutes before the bus was to leave. There was an ATM in the bus station, and I planned on going, but since we were rushed, I didn't have time. I expected a price of $50 USD, and I had more than that and my new friends had a little they were willing to spot me if I needed it....but even combined, we didn't have that much.

I have to say, there were a bunch of people I had met previously on the bus and they were all so great. I probably could've made it in had I taken the money people offered me, but it was just too complex. Things that are supposed to happen just aren't that hard. I'm kind of glad I didn't have the money, as I don't need to be spending that much just to go into a country for one week. There was a moment when I almost had tears, but I quickly picked myself up and realized it was just another bump in the road. Luckily the bus driver told me I could take that same bus back to Puno at no cost...the only hiccup was that the bus wasn't until 1pm...at that point it was 10:30.

Another lesson in patience had me waiting for a few hours and it was actually quite good. I made friends with the shop owners and the policemen and got to practice my Spanish and learn about their lives. It was quite awesome. The time flew by as I read my book and spoke with the locals and soon enough it was 1pm and the bus was there. Another two hours later, I was back in Puno. Of course, with today's luck, the hostel is booked up tonight, but they say I can have a bed. I think I'm taking one of the worker's beds tonight, or I'm sleeping on a sofa. Either way, I have all of my things and I am with friends here. Positive attitude has kicked into gear.

So now I have a week more in Peru than I expected and have to figure out what to do with it. I'm going to need to do a tour of the lake, which I'll take care of tomorrow. Then I think I'll head up to Arequipa to see the Cañon de Colca, which supposedly rivals the Grand Canyon. I've heard of some volunteer opportunities closer to Lima and I'm still contemplating the Peruvian rainforest, but it's kind of far. Tomorrow is a new day and Peru is a huge country. I can live without Bolivia for now, I'll just have to save it for the next trip.

Machu Picchu

2009-10-30T04:25:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was able to catch the sunrise over the Andes at Machu Picchu and it actually brought tears to my eyes. ¨Tears of awesomeness¨as Shauna called them. In the last two months, I have proclaimed to see the ¨most amazing thing ever¨ more times than I can count, but I think my experience at Machu Picchu takes first prize. What a beautiful journey the last couple of days have been.

We lefty Cusco early Wednesday morning and took the three hour train ride over to KM 106 to meet our guide. Let me tell you about trains in Peru...it's not Europe. Peru Rail runs a very lucrative business here getting hundreds of tourists daily between Cusco and Aguascalientes to take in the beauty of Machu Picchu. Do they spend it on new tracks or high speed trains? No. As we eased past the farmlands in tiny Peruvian villages and made our way through canyons into the Andes, the train jumped and swayed and at one point got on the wrong track, so we had to back up and try again. I'm not complaining as it was incredibly beautiful; I guess the comparison between Europe and South America should just never be made.

We hopped off the train somewhere along this river with the gorgeous green mountains towering above us and met our guide, Jorge. After being attacked by bugs in the first five minutes (I think I understand how bed bugs must feel...I am covered with bites and they itch!...sexy, I know) Jorge led us across a bridge and onto the Inca trail. He warned us that the hike would be tough before lunch, but a mile of jagged steps straight up was not what we envisioned....however, that's exactly what it was. As Shauna and I struggled up the steps in the jungle heat and humidity, Jorge told us about the Incas and why and how they built their cities. He gave us the low down on the people in the area and what the Inca trail was used for. It was great to have our own private tour guide to ask questions to and to get the inside track on everything that we were seeing.

We stopped for lunch a couple hours later and saw some ruins at the top of that particular mountain. We then hiked the next six kilometers and walked through the Sun Gate to see the gloriousness of Machu Picchu below us. Looking at this from above, you have to wonder how and why 400 people decided to make their home on the top of this mountain. Machu Picchu is just one ruin surrounded by these Andian peaks that soar high into the clouds. Apparently they wanted to be closer to the gods, but at what cost? The hardships of living on cliffs and farming terraces that step all the way down these mountains must have been incredible. The Inca civilization amazes me.

We wandered around and took hundreds of pictures. I truly believe we had one of the most beautiful days ever to walk through the Sun Gate. The sky was blue and the clouds surrounding the mountains almost made it look fake...nothing can be that perfect. To top it all off, just as we were about to head down to catch the bus to town, two rainbows came out on either side of the sky. I couldn't have asked for more.

Our tour company hooked us up with a ritzy hostal (everything in Machu Picchu is a hostal, but this was definitely more of a hotel) and we had an excellent dinner with Jorge in Aguascalientes. The avocados here are amazing!!! Both Shauna and I were so tired after a full day of hiking that we passed out early. Probably best, as we had to get up at 4:15 the next morning to get in line for the buses up to Machu Picchu.

All of the walking and waking up early was so worth it when we got into the ruins yesterday morning. We kind of missed the exact sunrise, but what we saw was good enough. Jorge took us on a tour of the ruins and we had some time to ourselves to explore. There is another mountain, higher than the ruins at Machu Picchu that has the remains of four Inca houses on it that was used for communication between other villages (think Lord of the Rings, fire on the mountain style), Waynapicchu. From what it sounds like, they only give out 400 passes each day to go up this particular trail, and being up so early, I got one and decided to make the trek. The trail is not what could be described as safe as it is an hour straight up a mountain with steep steps and sheer cliffs and no railing to stop your fall, but I did it. I got up to the top and sat on the rocks high above Machu Picchu and took it all in as butterflies buzzed around me. It was an adventure that I'm so glad I took advantage of.

After our wanderings in the ruins were done, Shauna and I made our way back into town, had some lunch and then got on the train to come back to Cusco. It was a long ride, and I felt the exact moment that the elevation was a little too much for me. Going from the lower altitude at Machu Picchu to the high, dry air of Cusco made it hard to sleep last night. That and the malaria medication I'm taking giving me crazy vivid dreams. Shauna ended up getting a place down the street last night and she should now be at the airport heading back to Lima for a couple of days. My ticket has been cancelled at this point. My friend, Kitty, should be getting back this evening and then her and I are heading down to Puno, on Lake Titicaca tomorrow. This will be my first experience with the Peruvian bus system. I've heard the stories from other travelers...this should be interesting.

Happy at 11,000 feet

2009-10-27T05:21:00.001-07:00

I have powered through the jet lag, almost rid myself of a terrible head cold and am now sitting at 11,000 feet apparently immune to the dreaded altitude sickness. Life is getting better with each passing moment.

I arrived in Lima late on Saturday night after a short, but much needed visit with my dad in Texas. It seemed that everyone in the hostel was waiting on me as Shauna had a crew ready to take me out on the town. No matter how tired I felt, I just couldn´t let these good people down and went out in the Barranca neighborhood in Lima for the night. I can´t say it was much different than a typical American or European club other than the fact that I paid less than $10 and for all you can drink beers until 2am. Pretty good steal for a Saturday night I would say. I didn´t go too crazy as I was completely exhausted from two days of travel, but all in all, had a pretty fantastic time.

I awoke the next morning to the culture shock of South America. There are constant warnings to watch your bags and be careful where you go...which I wish people would just stop with. I am sure it can be dangerous, but no need to frighten us poor travelers out of our minds. It took me a bit to leave the comforts of the hostel, but as I walked out, I found a parade and families and seemingly happy people everywhere, despite the heavy fog that clouded the city on Sunday. It is definitely different, and there is a need to be cautious, but really, South America is just another place on the map with beautiful people and incredible things to see.

Shauna and I only spent one day in Lima, which I was fine with. I´m sick of cities and the hustle and bustle, I like being out in the villages and seeing the outdoors, the main reasons that I am here right now. We took an ass early flight to Cusco (5:40am!!!) and I had somehow managed to fly us business class without knowing. I think this is the first flight I haven´t wanted to get off. With big comfy seats and free breakfast that coach did not get to enjoy, I could get used to that. Shauna and I were like kids at Christmas, taking pictures and stretching out properly...absolutely the newbies in the cabin. An experience I´d like to have again very soon.

We arrived in Cusco yesterday and passed out in our snug bunks until 1pm...hoping that altitude sickness wouldn´t get to us while we slept. Both of us are apparently immune...just the slow threat of a headache that can be treated easily with my hardcore prescription IBprofun. I just constantly feel like I have a bit of a hangover...nothing I can´t handle.

A devastating event occured yesterday that I didn´t realize until the afternoon. My trusty headlamp is gone. I cannot find it anywhere. It must have fallen out of my purse when getting out of the cab in Lima and I almost cried when I found out. Shauna saw my distress and we immediately set out for an outdoor store where I purchased a cheaper model...not as good, and I miss mine incredibly, but it´ll do for now. It´s something that I have used everyday in my travels and I can´t live without it...a new one for Christmas maybe? :)

After wandering around Cusco, we arrived back at the hostel to find the girl I stayed with in Italy had smartly checked into our room. It is so great to see her again and she has the same plan as me to head down to Lake Titicaca from Cusco, so I´ll have a travel buddy for a couple more days at least. Her, Shauna and I did some grocery shopping last night and cooked an amazing risotto. We enjoyed a beer from Cusco and I think I passed out around eight. Hence, I´m up at 7am posting this blog.

So far, I am loving South America. It seems to be geared for more outdoorsy activities which I´m going to completely take advantage of. We´ve had our debriefing for Machu Picchu and we hit the trail tomorrow at 6:30am. It is just Shauna and I on the tour, and we´ve gotten some great tips from people who have done it. I can´t wait to get out there and see what the top of the world really looks like.

The Next Chapter

2009-10-23T19:36:00.001-07:00

The flights back to San Francisco were flawless and I used my newly found patience to navigate through the city to get to my friend's house where I have stayed for the last few days. It has been wonderful seeing everyone and being back in my little SF comfort bubble. Although I've only been here for three days, it feels like ages ago that I was in Europe.

I can't say that I've ever really experienced jet lag before, but that can only be the cause of the strange way I still feel today. Apparently I am not immune to the nine hour time change like I thought I would be. Most people say that they sleep for days after a trek like this, but of course, I was the opposite and have barely slept since I've been home. I've been up before five each morning with the wheels in my head turning with all of the things I needed to do. However, being all the Carey I could be, I powered through and did the dinners and drinks like a good girl should. You can sleep when you're dead. I needed to get my fill of San Fran before I leave it for another couple of months.

One of the things I accomplished was buying the South America Lonely Planet guide...just two days before I get to Peru...good job me! I didn't want to plan ahead and I have definitely been successful on that front. I really don't know what I'm going to do after Machu Picchu next week and I'm so excited for that!!! I'm a little nervous, but I was the same when I went to Turkey. I'm sure it will be fine. My friend is already down there and it sounds like Lima is incredible. Life will be good in another 48 hours or so.

I'm off to the airport in a little bit here. Thank you so much to everyone in San Francisco for showing me a good time and letting my bags explode in every corner or your houses! I had so many laughs and so much fun and can't wait to see all of you again soon. As for everyone else, I'm sorry if I neglected to call or talk to you as much as I should have. Being without at cell phone was officially annoying, but kind of freeing at the same time. I have a ten hour layover in Texas and will try to make contact if I have time and don't fall asleep at my dad's house.

As for now, my backpack is lighter; my travel hammock and mosquito net are secure. I'm ready for the next chapter to begin.

And in the end....

2009-10-19T04:31:00.001-07:00

The love you take, is equal to the love you make....

I am absolutely in love with Europe and this trip has been more than I could have ever wanted it to be. I feel as though I've lived 100 lifetimes walking its streets and exploring its landscapes. There was the ease of Western Europe, the incredible culture of Turkey and the new beginnings around ever corner in Eastern Europe. When starting to plan this 'round the world trip, I wasn't all that excited for this continent, but it has surprised me with each new destination I've ventured to.

I spent my last full day in Como on the hike of my dreams. I met a girl from Berkeley in the hostel and her and I set off through the mountains on an amazing four hour tour through the countryside. We had lunch beside the most picturesque river, admired a trout farm and the livestock around it; saw ancient villages packed far into the woods and climbed up yet another mountain. I must have taken more than 50 pictures. It was fantastic to be outside and enjoy the greenery around Lake Como.

After the hike we took the ferry over to Bellagio (I'm pretty sure that's where George lives) and had a dinner of fresh lake fish. We ended up missing the last ferry back to our town and had to take one that dropped us about two miles away. We had to walk the winding road around the lake to get back to our hostel with a million stars over our heads. It was brilliant!

I've made my way back to Florence at this point and I love it even more than the first time I was here. It was odd to come to a place where I knew exactly where I was going, but I like the familiarity of it. Last night I met people in the hostel and consumed some Italian wine for my last real night here. We ended up going out in the freezing cold for a little bit and did the town up right. I took the free walking tour of Florence this morning and saw some things I missed last time. My train ticket just got purchased and I need to make my way back to Rome in the next couple of hours. I think I'll end up taking the late train in and head straight for the airport. At 8am tomorrow, I'll be on my way back to the Bay.

Some things I've learned on this part of the trip:

--Patience...after 11 planes (after tomorrow's trek), 10 trains (not including day trips), 5 buses, 1 boat and 1 car road trip, patience is all you have going for you.

--Never underestimate the power of a positive attitude....you are always going to get there, or somewhere. It will always work out the way it's supposed to.

--When you find yourself in a predicament, don't panic. Just sit down, have a beer, and a solution will present itself.

--Always think at least one step ahead, but never more than two unless absolutely necessary...it just creates confusion.

--Tonight is always gonna be a good night....friggin Black Eyed Peas....

--Flip flops and hiking do not belong in the same sentence.

--"Piano" means "floor" in Italian...that arrow pointing up the stairs will not take you to the very first piano ever made.

--Watch your step, hold hand rails and slow down on treacherous terrain. Knees are important when traveling the world.

--If you have an alarm clock, and you need to be somewhere, set it.

--Doesn't matter where you are, there will always be a McDonald's.

The soundtrack for my trip so far has been Iron and Wine, The Shepherd's Dog. I must have listened to it 100 times. Perfect for any kind of travel: trains, planes, buses and cars...it fits any mood. I'll have to redo the 8G playlist when I get home and find something more suiting for South America.

So I'm off to Rome! Just a couple more flights and I can get back to American convenience...for a few days at least. Then the real adventure will begin.

Close your eyes and point...

2009-10-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

While in Berlin, I was trying to decide where to go next once I hit Italy, so I literally just closed my eyes and pointed to the map of northern Italy and my finger landed on Menaggio, on Lake Como...and it is exactly the type of place that I had wanted to be. Funny how things sort themselves out that way.

I did it up right on my one day in Berlin. I got a good night's sleep, and woke up to a couple of guys coming into the room at 10am, just getting home from the night out on the town. Apparently they were out with some of the people that run these free walking tours in different cities around Europe and they were supposed to be great. So as those two went to bed, I got up and packed my bag, yet again. I put on every warm article of clothing I had and braved the weather to take this four hour tour.

It was fantastic! We had this girl from North Carolina that has been living in Berlin for the past four years and is completely in love with the city. Berlin is not like Rome or Prague, where the sites are completely obvious and you can look on a map and figure it out on your own. It is a city where 90% of the buildings were devastated by war and torn down, so it's modern architecture doesn't do much from a touring perspective. And of course, the hostel I was saying in gave me the subway map as my point of reference, so I needed guidance on this one.

The tour showed me everything I needed to see. From the Holocaust memorial to the street corner where Hitler's body was burned. I saw the remaining pieces of the Berlin wall and some wicked graffiti to top it all off. All the while we were on this tour, she taught us the history of what happened there and why it turned out the way that it did. For not being much of a history buff, I really enjoyed it. It made me want to stay in Berlin for another day, but unfortunately with my flight to Italy, I couldn't.

After freezing in the 40 degree weather all day, I made my way back to the hostel and hung out for a bit and then headed to the airport. The Berlin airport wasn't too bad for a night's sleep...I think I actually got about four hours. I saw the Alps for a second time on my flight down and then realized that I was kind of heading there. I guess I didn't look at the map well enough, but Lake Como falls directly underneath them.

I took the train to the bus and ended up on the shores of heaven. No wonder George Clooney has a house here! Just this lake surrounded by gigantic mountains with churches and villas galore. I met some people in the hostel last night and went out to dinner and then saw some live jazz. Today I took a hike to the top of the world with yet another person leaving for southeast Asia. We hiked up stairs for about 45 minutes to reach this old church surrounded by cliffs and overlooking the spot where the two legs of Lake Como meet. Gorgeous!!! Today was a big picture day. After the hike, we indulged in a couple beers and some pizza before he set off on his journey to Bangkok.

So the original plan was to stay here for another night, then two nights in Venice before going back...but I'm sad to say that Venice is out (I think, my mind could still change). Hopefully it won't sink before the next time I come back to Europe, but I just don't have it in me to trek all the way over there and then back down to Rome. It's just too much, and there's a hike I'd like to do here tomorrow. So the plan is to go back to Florence for a night and make my way back that way. It's cheaper and sounds more relaxing, which I'm starting to realize San Francisco is not going to be. I woke up at sunrise this morning thinking of all of the things I need to take care of while I'm in the states next week. But I'm not going to think of all of that anymore. I'm going to enjoy my last couple of days in paradise and deal with everything else later.

The Final Push...

2009-10-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine posted in his blog that if Halloween was a town, it would be Prague...and I 100% agree. With its ghoulish statues and tall, black towers, its red-roofed houses and cobblestone streets, one wants to carve some pumpkins and pull out the costumes. It was beautiful and different. The vibe there was amazing with its little cafes and great nightlife, I really enjoyed my time in the city.

I spent my first day in Prague by leaving it. I took a train to Kutna Hora to see the Kostnice Bone Church that Ive heard so much about. During the 13th century, this guy sprinkled some soil from Palestine on the ground around the church, and after that, a ton of people decided that they wanted to be buried there. The legend goes that bodies put into the ground in this area will decompose within three days, leaving only the skeletons behind. Because of this, the number of burials outgrew the space available and they began to exhume remains and store them in the back of the church. In the 1800s, a woodcarver decided to make art out of the bones left in the church and now the building is decorated with chandeliers of skulls and pyramids of bones in every corner. Apparentely it houses the remains of 40,000 people...pretty creepy, but Im glad that I made the trip out there.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon touring the city. I crossed the bridge packed full of tourists over to Prague Castle and the neighborhood on that side. I wandered through the old town square and climbed the clock tower to see the hour turn at 2pm. It was raining on and off all day, s0 I did as much touring as I could, but I just didnt pack the clothes for this wintery weather. So I found myself popping into pubs and cafes throughout the day to warm up again. It was kind of nice to space out for an hour or so with a glass of wine, just people watching in Prague and thinking of the last five weeks and what theyve taught me.

I got some souvenir shopping done and dropped off my laundry for cleaning...never underestimate the power of a clean towel...so fresh and so clean, I feel like a new person! When I got done last night, there were a few people in the hostel going out and I ended up hitting the town for the evening....Prague nightlife is amazing, even on a Monday. I ended up at this underground (literally) club that was something like a mouse maze with different dj rooms ( I felt like I was in Toronto again!!!) and these winding little hallways connecting it all. I danced the night away until 2am and loved every minute!

And that brings me to Berlin. There was a guy in Prague who was heading to Berlin today as well, so he and I rode over here by train this afternoon. What a gorgeous ride!!! I almost got off the train in the country just across the Czech border. The train was winding along this river and it was just so green! These picturesque little towns with the perfect German houses and the rolling hills surrounding just blew my mind. I wanted to sleep, but couldnt keep my eyes closed with all of the scenery around me.

Ive got a flight from Berlin to Milan early Thursday, so Im spending a night here and then planning to sleep in yet another airport tomorrow night. Im getting good at it...and really, its not all that bad when you have these 6am flights. Im hoping that Italy will be a little bit warmer as Ive been freezing my butt off without the proper attire. Ive booked a hostel on Lake Como for a couple of days and then plan on hitting Venice this weekend before doing the final push back to Rome.

Eastern European Detour

2009-10-10T14:55:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning with every intention of heading to Zagreb, Croatia...but with last night's consumption at the Slovak Pub in Bratislava, I just couldn't be bothered with a 9:50am train. So then I thought I'd take the night train out to Krakow to see what Poland is all about...but the hefty fare they quoted me at the train station just didn't seem to fit. I now am residing in Prague instead...only a 4.5 hour journey from Slovakia and a third of the price Poland would have been. Good deal!

The past week has been a little slower on the travel than previously, which is nice. I've enjoyed the pace of finding somewhere and staying for a couple of days. Slovakia was beautiful and I'm glad that I got to hang out there. My friend and I did end up renting a car from the Bratislava airport to do some countryside touring. Oh and this car was a good one. A VW Polo with a doughnut on the front driver's side (this was not noticed until we got gas 200 kilometers in) and windshield wipers that did anything but wipe the windows (which was awesome when it started pouring on the highway back to the airport). Either way, we made the journey safely (somehow).

After about an hour of driving around the city trying to get out (the signs here mean nothing to me) we made it up this little two lane highway through what could easily be described as Michigan. The countryside was quaint and colorful and a few castles were on our route up. We stopped at the first one we saw which also housed a bird "sanctuary," which was the saddest thing I've ever seen. We paid 4 euro each to see these poor birds perched on these stakes with leather straps tied to their legs to keep them from flying away. After seeing one of the hawks with a helmet shading it's eyes, I'd had enough. But the castle was cool. We saw one other castle, but couldn't go in and we ended up driving up a hiking trail (oops) to get to this cave that wasn't open either. The cave area was pretty beautiful though, with the rolling hills and the fall colors, we hiked up to the top and looked out at all of Slovakia in front of us. It was afternoon and the sun was going down and there was nothing but forest as far as we could see. Spectacular!

We ended up in the sleepy town of Piestany for the night, eating pizza and drinking wine. We got a killer deal on a huge apartment for 20 euros each, which was pretty sweet. I could've lived there, had there been more to do in the town. The next day we headed back to Bratislava only to find out that the dog convention there this weekend had filled up all of the hostels and hotels (there were dogs everywhere!!!). We were able to find a place, but it was the most expensive I've seen so far at 28 euro/night, but we needed beds, so we took them.

Oh and then there was the Slovak pub...yes, that's the name. It was rockin'...viking pictures on the wall, old, uneven wood floors and long tables to mingle with the locals. It was discovered during lunch yesterday and it looked like such a fun place to hang out at night, we decided to do dinner and drinks there too (much to the non-English speaking waiter's dismay). They had the best food...lots of cheese and beans and heavy comfort food (Slovakian food is my favorite so far). Also great beers and decent red wine for just 0.50 euro per glass...so of course I helped myself to a few. It was after meeting some locals who bought us some shots of who knows what that the night needed to end. Luckily the hostel was just a block away...I made it home safely and had a great night's sleep.

Which brings me to Prague. I said yet another sad goodbye to my travel companion today and made my way to the train which brought me here. It's dark, cold and rainy at this point, but I'm hoping to wake up tomorrow and take on this city rain or shine. From here, I have no idea where to go or what I want to do...let's just see what happens.

A Diamond in the Rough

2009-10-07T12:08:00.000-07:00

I keep writing saying that I'm heading south to make my way back to Rome, and each time I do this, I somehow manage to get a little more off course....

I have enjoyed Budapest for the last few days...with it's tree-lined streets, good shopping and efficient trolley cars, I've felt comfortable and at home. I've taken in the Hungarian cuisine, listened to gypsie music and taken walks along the Danube during my time in the city. I can't say that I'm incredibly impressed, as I'm just not so sure why tourists flock to Budapest each year. It's beautiful, don't get me wrong, but other than the palace, bridges and a few statues here and there...I don't really get it. Even so, I did have fun.

I wandered everywhere throughout Budapest. I saw said palace and got some great pictures. I did a little souvenir shopping. I found the Hungarian Walgreens which made me incredibly happy. And damn...I ate some good food. Falafel, I missed you. I took a bus to the biggest tourist trap I've seen yet, Momento Park. This park now houses all of the statues and plaques that were once all over Budapest representing the communist regime and revolution that occured back in 1956. After a stomach-turning bus ride, I ended up in the middle of nowhere reading a manual as to what each historical relic means....it was interesting at first, but after about five...my friend and I just started taking random photos of us sitting on, imitating and making fun of the poses each of these monuments hold. It's a good group of photos...can't wait to post them up.

Anyway, as you can see, I'm struggling with what to say about Budapest. It was nice, but a little too familiar to call it extraordinary. So as of yesterday, I was trying to figure out where to head next. Croatia and Slovenia are on my list before I head back to Italy, but I was hoping to squeeze in one more location before I head back down. From the movie Euro Trip, Bratislava was taking over my thoughts, thinking it was the last real Eastern European frontier. I pictured Soviet block housing and sketchy areas full of graffiti...as well as only a 3 hour train ride (after 11 hours just a few days ago, the thought of long distances scares me)...and it excited me. I asked a few people in the hostel last night about it and I had three say it was no good...but I now think they are idiots...this place is a diamond in the rough.

I took the train from Budapest to Bratislava today and walked out in complete awe of my surroundings. This town is quite impressive. I was hoping for a little more Eastern Europe vibe, but what I've gotten makes up for this fault. It's a small town, with a castle up on a hill in the distance. I had dinner in old town, which is a bunch of cobblestone streets with pubs and restaurants galore. The city is lit up and people seem to be lively...and it lacks the constant tourist attention that you get everywhere else. I don't see postcard stands every 50 meters, I don't feel as though everyone I encounter will be speaking English. This place is fantastic...definitely one of my favorites so far on this trip.

I just got back from dinner, and stopped for a beer at a local pub on my way back....beer in Slovakia is good as well. As I didn't get in until late today, I'm looking forward to exploring further in the morning. I'm thinking of renting a car at this point, and heading up into the surrounding mountains for tomorrow night. My fellow traveler from Italy is still with me at this point, so as long as the price is right, I'm thinking that will be the way to go. I hear the hiking around here is amazing and I'd like to check it out if possible. It's fall in Eastern Europe and the colors are starting to change. I've pulled out my long sleeved shirt and tomorrow I will need shoes and socks. I've been missing the seasons for so long...I'm glad to finally see them as I travel through Europe.

Just another traveling fool...

2009-10-05T07:44:00.000-07:00

Since the last time I blogged, I have had 2 bus rides, gotten onto and off one plane, crossed three borders and had an incredibly long day on a train. So unfortunately, there is not much new to report. I hopped on the bus from Pamukkale to Istanbul and somehow managed to make it through the ten hour ride. I slept some of the way, but being cramped into the window seat I can't say it was very good sleep. Don't get me wrong, the Turkish buses are quite nice, with their Turkish soap operas and bus attendent service that give you food and drinks along the way, but ten hours is a horribly long time to be on a bus.

I made my way to Istanbul and got on the bus into Sultanahmet, which would take me to the tram which would take me to the subway which would get me to the Airport for my flight five hours later. And of course, I screwed up again and got off at what I thought would be a short cut but landed me clear across the city on the opposite side of where I wanted to be. It ended up taking me over two hours to the airport, but only cost me 4.50 Lira...whereas a cab would've cost me 40, so I guess I came out on top in the end.

From there I ended up in Sarajevo...and wow! It was more of a culture shock than Turkey. I stepped off the plane with gray skies above and a bone chilling cold that could only mean that I was in Eastern Europe. The city is small and haunted with these shelled out buildings from the recent war as well as thriving with the spirit of new beginnings as they rebuild these structures a few at a time. It was incredibly moving to seeing some of these things knowing the horrors that happened here just in my lifetime. The night train that I was hoping to catch to Budapest no longer exists, so I ended up staying in the Turkish district of Sarajevo for the night. I just wandered the streets and took care of some business that needed to be attended (aka toiletry and granola replenishing as well as a good night's sleep).

I got up at 5am and went to the train station the next morning and was so happy to meet a nice couple from Seattle that were just finishing up the trip of a lifetime in Eastern Europe. They'd spent the last three weeks on a road trip with a Bosnian couple they knew (refugees now living in the states) traveling from Bosnia to Montenegro to Istanbul and back again staying in local homes and learning about the culture and how the wars in the 90s affected them. They were also getting on the 11 hour train to Budapest and I had the pleasure of staying in their cabin on the train. I learned a lot just from our conversations and it made the train ride somewhat bearable. Had I been stuck in a car with a bunch of people speaking Bosnian all day...probably about the foreigner in their car...I probably would've freaked and got off. Either way, by 7 last night I made my way to the most San Franciscan city I've found yet.

A friend of mine from Italy is here in Budapest and I was lucky enough to have my hostel and transport there taken care of on my arrival. The hostel is great and there are quite a few cool people here on the Pest side of the city. Today we spent the day wandering around and enjoying some of the sites that I know nothing about (it's officially off my radar as it's not in my book...but I kind of like it). With it's street side cafes and Union Square type plazas I feel like I am home and am happy to be sitting still for a moment. I'm going to relax and enjoy myself here for a couple of days and hopefully figure out how the next few weeks will get me back to Rome for my trip home. I can't believe how much I have managed to accomplish in such a short time, but wish I could have done more. I still have two weeks...I'll make sure to do it up right as I make my way south.

Teşekkür ederim Turkey!

2009-10-02T03:19:00.000-07:00

Thank you Turkey!!! Wıth ıts landscapes that rıval Yosemıte and the overwhelmıng kındness of ıts people, I have had a fantastıc tıme ın Turkey and I wıll mıss ıt ıncredıbly. I have seen mountaınous terraın and prıstıne beaches, valleys of farmland spannıng for mıles and some of the most beautıful sunsets over the Medıterranean. The people here are always wearıng a smıle, wıll go out of your way to help you and make you feel at home when you dont know where youve ended up on a nıght bus ın the mıddle of nowhere. I have loved thıs last week.

To begın wıth, shortly after the last tıme I blogged, I managed to roll an ankle and fall onto a pretty hefty rock my last nıght ın the treehouses. There was concern for a moment that I have permanently damaged my knee as ıt was the sıze of a softball the next mornıng...but as Im wrıtıng thıs the paın has somewhat gone away. I thınk Im just goıng to end up beıng one of those women whose knee starts achıng every tıme ıts about to raın. Im a clutz...I saw ıt comıng...my own damn fault.

So I hobbled away from the treehouses and got onto my boat for a three day, four nıght cruıse through the Medıterranean to Fethıye. As these are advertızed as party boats and thats what Id been hearıng from others, thats kınd of what I expected, but got exactly the opposıte. There were only 5 passengers on the boat...a fun Canadıan couple, me and two crotchety old women who just bıtched about the crew the whole tıme. I dıdnt let them spoıl my fun though! The crew was great....teachıng us Turkısh words, takıng us to pırate bars run on petrol generaters and showıng us how to play backgammon (I suck!). We spent each day swımmıng and fıshıng and muckıng about the boat. Can I tell you how awesome my tan ıs rıght now?!? I got to drıve a jetskı out ınto the sea to watch the sunset and have a beer...I attempted fıshıng, but faıled mıserably to catch dınner. I made the capıtan dock ın the harbor at Fethıye on the last nıght so that we could get away from the party poopers, and he and the chef took us for a nıght out on the town for a last hoorah. The last mornıng, I had to skıp Turkısh breakfast (one more tomato or cucumber and I mıght dıe) and start jumpıng from the boat ınto the clearest water Ive ever seen ınstead. It was an ıncredıble last day!!!

After I got off the boat, I wandered Fethıye for a couple hours and then caught the bus up to Pamukkale whıch ıs where I resıde for the afternoon before takıng the overnıght bus up to Istanbul. I endured breakfast thıs mornıng just because ıt was free (Im realızıng that ıf food ısnt readıly avaılable and served to me, Im forgettıng to eat :\) Thıs town has these amazıng calcıum deposıts (lıke mountaıns made of the stuff! Its crazy!!) wıth the ancıent cıty of Heırapolıs sıttıng atop them. I told you all Im not much of a hıstory buff, but seeıng these old theaters and graveyards from 352 AD kınd of blew my mınd. And the calcıum pools all around ıt are saıd to have healıng powers. As I walked down them (no shoes allowed) I waded ın a couple of the pools...soakıng my knee and my mosquıto bıtten legs hopıng that the spırıt of thıs ancıent cıvılızatıon wıll heal my many wounds.

I had a room to myself last nıght ın a real hotel. I have to say, ıt was a lıttle weırd. I had my own room on the boat, but slept on the deck every nıght, so that doesnt count. Im used to people beıng around all of the tıme...but I got a great nıght sleep. After all of the relaxatıon I just had, ıt sounds lıke Ive got a couple of travel days ahead of me. Im goıng to attempt to get out of Sarajevo rıght after I get there to head up to Budapest to meet some people that I met earlıer ın the trıp. Earlıest I can get there ıs Sunday....woot! Planes, traıns and automobıles...thıs ıs my lıfe! I love ıt!

Mecca

2009-09-27T08:33:00.000-07:00

Right now I am having a beer on a platform surrounded by pilliows in a valley filled with orange trees and treehouses with rocky cliffs sheltering us from the rest of the world. There is a beach just 10 minutes away that's bottom can be seen clearly when it's over thirty feet deep. This is complete heaven!

My arrival here can't be described quite as well. I left Istanbul a couple days ago and flew down to Antalya, on the southern coast. My travel agent gave me pretty good details and I made my way to shuttle to the bus station with no problems from the airport. Now, I was told I needed to make my own way to Olympos, so I got on the bus that was clearly marked 'Otogar - Bus Station'. The bus filled up as I sat there for a half hour and finally departed for what I thought would be an easy ride. The driver kept stopping and people kept getting off...and there was one person left on it, with no bus station in sight, and no one speaks English in this area. I got up the nerve to ask what was going on as it was starting to get dark and I had no clue of the bus schedule to where I was going. When I asked this guy, and he translated in Turkish, the bus driver seemed to get really mad and opened the door and yelled 'taxi!'...being the stubborm bitch that I am...I said no...I paid for the bus to the bus station...it should take me there...and with that, the driver got stopped at a light and jumped out of the bus to let this other guy drive. He eventually dropped me in a field across the way from the bus station and just pointed the direction I needed to head...it was awesome with my pack and flip flops...let me tell you!!! Anyway, made it to the bus station and apparently, there was a bus to Olympos in 3 minutes that I hopped on. After over an hour in a crowded van....just saying 'Olympos' every time the driver looked my way, I was dropped off at a convenience store in the middle of nowehere with a sign that said 11 km to Olympos right outside of it. I waited there for a half hour while furiously scribbling in my journal and giving myself about a 60% chance of making it to my destination that night (it was 9pm...I was seriously considering asking the store owner if I could sleep on his floor if all else failed) when a bus pulled up, grabbed my bag from me, asked me for three Lira and where I was going. By 10pm, I had made it to hippie mecca.

I wish I could've seen the ride down here, because I hung out that night around a campfire with loads of people knowing that there were mountains all around me, but only being able to see the shadows in the moonlight. I was shown to my room, in not a real treehouse, but a cute bungalow amidst the trees. The treehouses don't really exist, but whoever marketed them that way is brilliant! I woke up the next morning and saw the rocky cliffs around me and the beautiful blue sky and knew I would be happy here. And I have been since.

I've been hanging with two of the girls in my room and one staying right below us....all Aussies, of course. We spent the first day on the beach soaking in the sun and swimming all day followed by a night hike to the flames at Chimera...this natural gas wonderland with fires burning (from what I hear) eternally (I'm pretty sure they light them each morning though). Today we all woke up and climbed a Turkish mountain for 3.5 hours...which was incredible! I can't wait to upload the pictures! We followed our very sweaty hike with a couple hours on the beach and a bottle of wine just got set down in front of me to keep us full until dinnertime. The food here is free and fantastic and the atmosphere is everything a wannabe hippie could ask for.

I was actually supposed to get on the boat this morning, but since I was the only one booked on it, I was delayed by a day. I leave tomorrow morning at 10am and am completely happy that I got to spend one more day with my new friends enjoying the Turkish countryside. Can I say that I am in awe of the women that I have met on this trip?! So many women of all ages traveling alone and dreaming the same dreams I have had for the past 10 years. It makes me feel good for myself and the girls that do this from all over the world. It has been wonderful bonding with them and I feel like I have learned so much from the spirit we all share.

Dinner is about to be served and the sun is going down quickly. Jason Mraz is playing in the background and I'm thinking of the Rix wedding I enjoyed just two months ago. I have a feeling this evening will be filled with stories and pictures and sad goodbyes will be had in the morning. But as I'm at the halfway point of this crazy European extravaganza, a couple more days of relaxation and then Eastern Europe awaits!

How the hell do you get out of Turkey?!

2009-09-24T01:58:00.000-07:00

I know I just posted. But I just spent so much money I want to cry...and the ınternet ıs free.

So Ive started havıng nıghtmares because I have no ıdea where I am or how Im goıng to get out of here. I just got here...and I dont want to leave yet, but goıng to the ınterıor of Turkey and not beıng able to fınd my way out because I dıdnt plan ahead ıs scarıng the hell out of me. And everyone I speak wıth has no clue how to get out of here eıther! So today I dıd the unthınkable...I went to a travel agent. I told you, theyre everywhere here...so I just sucked ıt up and had them plan the my escape from Turkey for me.

So tomorrow I fly down to Antayla, on the southern coast to stay ın the famous Olympus treehouses for two nıghts. Then Im doıng a three day party boat\cruıse through the sea and then busıng back up through a couple towns ın the ınterıor of Turkey to Istanbul. It doesnt sound lıke much, but Ive seen the pıctures and heard the storıes and thıs ıs absolutely somethıng I have to do whıle Im here. Just waıt, Ill post pıcs...youll see.

And as for gettıng out of Turkey...crazy enough, the cheapest flıght that gets me anywhere near Croatıa ıs Sarajevo...so Bosnıa, here I come! Totally not somewhere I expected to end up and probably not somewhere Ill stay for long, but my book ıs tellıng me that there are buses and traıns to Dubrovnık from there...so lets gıve ıt a whırl!

So after blowıng through a ton of money, I am offıcıally not spendıng any more money today. The 1 lıra corn on the cob ıs the way ıts goıng. And luckıly there ıs an Aussıe gırl sıttıng next to me thats ın the same boat...so her and I have just decıded to sneak beers to the terrace for the afternoon.

Woot! Lovıng lıfe and cant waıt to see the beach tomorrow!!!

Munchen to Istanbul...

2009-09-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

Oktoberfest was an absolute blast! I got to hang with my two favorite boys and drink the largest beers ever all day while wearing a German drindl in a big beer hall. Really, how does life get better than that?!?

My first night in town was kind of a bust due to the fact that I was unbelievably tired. We wandered around Munich, made our way up to the top of one of the towers...had some very big beers and at what I think is spatzel (excuse my spelling), some amazing kind of German mac'n cheese. We hung around for a while and I said I was going up to my room to splash some water on my face, and when Brad said "alright, see you in the morning" I just scoffed at him...so of course, I went to my room and crashed out at 9:30pm from lack of sleep. This is the problem with sleeping in airports, you lack the motivation to make it very far the next day. So I woke up at midnight to realize that there were 3 Italian twentysomethings coming into my room, new roommates. They were harmless, but drunk and annoying...thank god they passed out quickly after getting back...and I was able to gain vindication by my alarm going off bright and early at 7:30 the next morning. Don't you just love the hostel lifestyle?

The next day we woke early and put on our drindls and leiderhosen and headed to the tents to try to get in right away....little did we know that Hippodrom didn't open til 10. So we mucked around for a bit and were there right as the door opened and had some of the first beers in the place. We met some new people and drank the day away. I was of course dragged onto the scariest, highest swing ride ever after we left the tents that afternoon. It was all good fun with German music, and costumes and loads of people everywhere. I would love to say that it all ended with a night of crazy debauchery and ridiculousness, but after spending 9 euros per beer plus food....we were all wiped out. We somehow managed to get our stuff from the first hostel and take it to our new digs on the other side of town. Brad napped, and Darin and I found the most beautiful old cemetery across the street and strolled through that for a bit. After that, there was a lot of sleeping and internet uploads....then some dinner...and that's pretty much it. It was a great time, and the one day that I got there seemed like plenty. We the sheer amount of carnage on the streets that morning (i.e. I've never seen so much vomit in my life), I was cool with just making it an afternoon affair. I had to get to Turkey early the next morning.

You all know how bad my fear of flying is, and I have to say that with all of this, I think I've gotten better. I even keep the window open now! The flight was flawless and the landscapes were beautiful. I need to make it up to Croatia and Slovenia before I leave this continent. From the plane, it was just beautiful, green, rolling hills and peaked mountains as far as you can see.

I arrived in Istanbul and somehow managed to make it to my hostel. Everyone seems incredibly nice...maybe too nice...I'm just cynical like that. I had about 5 people help me with directions and all of them were wrong (but kept getting me closer) except the last one. Either way, I made it, the hostel seems nice and there are tons of people all over this street that seem cool. I went over and saw the Blue Mosque today and wandered through a gorgeous park all the way to the Maramar sea. It was late by the time I got here...so it will be an early night and early mornıng to get as much in as possible. I'm still not sure how long I'll be in Istanbul or where I'll head from here.

Some things I've learned about Turkey so far...

-- They don't believe ın street signs, traffic lights, speed limits, etc.

--The Italian machismo that I thought I'd get ın Italy...it all right here in Turkey.

--When you're near a tourist site you will get many men wanting to give you information as to what you should be doing, but insist that they are definitely not guides.

--If you want to be a travel agent, move here...I've already gotten a job offer to be one...I would run the travel agency while the owner sells carpets on the side.

--Everyone wants you to eat at their restaurant...everyone...these Turks are the best marketers/pushiest salesmen I've ever met. (But they're telling the truth, the food actually is the best!)

--Istanbul is by far the most beautıful city that I have seen yet...and I've only seen one small street, two mosques, a park, and the view of the sea.

Barcelona in an nutshell

2009-09-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Hannah, Steve and my big night out on the town ended up in this cute bohemian neighborhood that we'd heard of called Gracia. We did dinner and drinks, mingled with the locals and hit up the rock and roll bar to play some darts. I convinced this guy to teach me Spanish pool, which just so happened to be the longest game EVER. Hannah was convinced that he was just letting me win in the beginning, until she realized that, no, he was just really bad. We ended the night trying to speak Spanish with a couple of people in the bar and generally just enjoying the laid back atmosphere of the area. We got some tips on beaches close by for the next day and called it a night sometime in the wee hours of the morning.

The following day was a rough start, but I ended up rallying the troops and getting us to the beach in Sitges, about 30 miles south of Barcelona, before 1pm. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, the sun was shining and the water was cool, but refreshing. I loved it! So far the Mediterranean has been more than I expected. It's clear waters and soothing waves have been a dream. We spent the entire afternoon lying in the sand and then made our way back into the city.

I have to say, the hardest part about traveling up until now has been leaving behind all of these amazing people I meet at each stop. In Florence I met loads of friends, in Cinque Terra I had the apartment with Kitty for two days, and in Barcelona, I've had not only Hannah and Steve, but I met a great couple of people in the hostel. You befriend these people and you hear about their lives and what they think and where they're from and they become a part of the experience each city brings....and then they are gone. I met Mike and Zahar in Barcelona and they became wonderful friends to drink, eat and just generally hang out with during my down time. I really enjoyed it and I was sad to leave that place.

On my last day, I wandered up to Parc Guell, this stunning park with beautiful view of the entire city and the sea. I slowly made my way through there and then decided to walk straight through the city to go meet Hannah and Steve for lunch. The walk over was perfect, with Ipod blaring and all, until I was standing at a cross walk and somehow a bumble bee came up and stung me on my stomach. It really friggin hurt! Luckily, I found a place to run into the bathroom to check it out, and shortly after, a cold beer bottle next to it made it feel just fine. It hasn't swollen too much. Just more of an itchy annoyance than anything. We had an absolutely delicious lunch and a few drinks while doing our last stroll up La Rambla, I introduced Hannah and Steve to my new friends in Barcelona, and then I headed off to the airport.

Nothing too bad about the sleeping in airports bit this time around. Except my flight from Barcelona up to Gatwick was through a thunderstorm. Apparently we have what is generally termed as a "normal misapproach" landing. During this, all of the landing gear is down, you can see the ground, and the pilot freaks out and aborts the entire landing, taking you straight back up into the air at an alarming rate...only to go back and try again. Yeah...for a person who hates flying, I was pretty terrified. Luckily the anti-anxiety meds had kicked in at the time and I was feeling alright. Apparently due to weather conditions in London, the pilot was attempting some sort of manual landing due to the fog...and he it took him two tries to figure it out. Probably the scariest flight ever...

After getting a few hours of sleep in the airport in England, I caught my flight down to Munich and Germany seems wonderful. Brad and Darin met me in the lobby of the hostel, and the 40 bed dorm is worse than it sounds. Luckily there was a screw up and now we are in 4 bed dorms above the chaos of the bar below...life is a lot better than it was 30 minutes ago. All of the girls and boys in Munich are wearing their Drindls and leiderhosen....and I just went out and got myself one for tomorrows festivities. I'm hoping to get some pictures to you guys before I leave Germany. Oktoberfest will definitely be an experience.

I will not let it rain on my parade...

2009-09-18T06:52:00.001-07:00

It was a long and tiring journey to Barcelona from Cinque Terra, but I made it. The train ride to Milan was rainy and pretty slow, but the weather broke just in time for the most beautiful, glowing sunset over the Mediterranean. The hills and valleys covered in trees and spotted with buildings amidst the green made up some of the best landscapes I've seen yet. I met a nice couple along who have been traveling for a year that gave me some good insight into the places I am looking to go. We chatted for a while and it made the 4.5 hour train ride a little more bearable.

I have to say, nobody has told me anything good about Milan, but riding the bus through it to the airport intrigued me a little bit. It's tree lined streets, trolley cars and muni-looking trams made it look a lot like San Francisco. It seemed to have any edginess that I like, so maybe it would be worth a day trip if I have to fly back that way at some point.

So here is the problem with thinking you can sleep in airports....other people. I got to the airport and was relieved to see those welcoming benches with no armrests just waiting for me to settle into....and luckily they were right where I needed to check in about 5 hours later. As soon as I laid down, the cleaning guy saw me and the others trying to sleep in the area and set out to prevent this by making as much noise as possible. I'm sure he took some sort of sick pleasure in driving that zamboni machine by me about 5 times for no good reason. After about an hour of that, he took off and I just started to doze when these three Spanish guys decided to come in and invade my area...banging their bags down and going in and out of them. They were soon joined by two Slovenian high school girls with a big bottle of vodka. Now, had this been my idea to booze it up in the airport all night before a flight, everyone else could go to hell and I'd be happy...but dammit, I didn't think of it first and these two chicks were just annoying. Anyway, I ended up getting a couple of hours of shut eye there and then slept pretty much the whole way over to Barcelona.

I met Hannah and Steve at the airport yesterday, and luckily the were feeling pretty tired as well, so no crazy touring was necessary upon our arrival into the city. We wandered around La Rambla for a bit, went out to lunch in one of Picasso's old haunts and hit up an outdoor bar for some sangria later in the afternoon. Being exhausted, we separated for the rest of the day and I came back to take a much needed ciesta.

My hostel here is nice, very small, but good people (and FREE internet!!!). I'm in a great neighborhood with lots of bars and restaurants. After my nap yesterday, I woke up to a fiesta of paella and sangria going on with everyone hanging out. I made the mistake of sitting right next to the chef and as he heaped spoonfuls of (what looked like) sausage filled paella on my plate, I didn't really know what to do. Not to be rude, I pushed the pork to the side of my plate and just dealt with it. I didn't want to offend, and I know it will probably happen again at some point in my travels.....don't be getting any ideas though....I will not give up my vegatarian ways!!!

This morning I woke up early and did a huge walking tour around Barcelona. I feel very comfortable in this city. The streets are beautiful and the neighborhoods give it a homey feel. It's easy to get around and there is lots to do and see. On my way over to Sagrada Familia, it started to pour on me...this is the fifth day in a row that I've had to deal with the rain. I think I'm just following it around the Mediterranean. Rest assured, I didn't let that stop me from doing anything...I simply bought an umbrella and just dealt with wet feet in my flip flops (my feet still haven't forgiven my new walking shoes since the hike at Cinque Terra). I got lost in the narrow streets of the Barrio Gothic , got denied at the Cathedral due to my sleeveless top, and took a couple of hours to explore the National Museum. The sun is now shining and my six hour walk felt wonderful. It time for a ciesta and hopefully a night out on the town.

Hiking the Mediterranean

2009-09-16T04:35:00.000-07:00

As I type this, I'm looking out a window into the blue waters of the Mediterranean. I made my way up from Florence to La Spezia by train on Monday to see La Parque Nazional de Cinque Terra. I had heard of it's clear waters and five quaint little towns on the mountainsides from so many people, I just had to see it for myself.

I met a girl from New Zealand who seems to have the same round the world schedule as I do...including tickets to Peru from SF just a day before mine...and we hit it off right away. Me being crazy and without hotel reservations, stuck to her and took her advice as to which town I should try to stay in. I ended up at the first town of the five, Riomaggiore, and her hostel had a bed for me. They actually put us up in an apartment, with kitchen, meant for three, but we didn't have a roommate during my stay. It's this cute little village on a hillside with just one road going straight up and all sorts of bars and restaurants on the street. The town always seems festive and the locals don't seem to mind us tourists too much. Honestly, there's not too much to do here...I'm sure they enjoy the entertainment.

One of the main things people do here is hike the trails between the five villages. Due to torrential rains the night before our arrival, the trails were all closed on the day that we got there....which is fine. After the train ride up, we weren't much up to a hike anyway. Instead, we just wandered around the town and got some pasta. There is a beautiful rocky beach around the marina and I got my first taste of the salty sea. The waves were huge and pretty intimidating, but the water was warm and felt good if you got far enough out. We swam for an hour until it got chilly then went back to the apartment to relax. I got to bed early that night to prepare for the 9 km walk the next day.

It rained during the night and in the morning again, so only two of the hikes were open in the morning. Luckily, we were blessed with sun in the early afternoon and all of the trails were open by the time we got to them. The first two were quite easy and the towns were adorable. As we walked up the 382 steps to the third town, we got a taste of what we were in for during the rest of the hike. The last two legs just kicked our asses. Not only were they narrow, but steep steps going up and down the hillsides with only the Mediterranean to catch you hundreds of feet below. We saw a couple of hidden beaches, but decided to push on through to what we thought would be a sandy beach at the last town we would get to, Monterosso. By the last decent down into the town our feet ached and our legs were shaky, but the beach was in site and we darted right for it. As we were walking up to it, there was a girl coming out with a jellyfish sting, so that put me off right away. The beach was nice, but the little rocks got my feet pretty bad. I braved the water twice, not letting the jellyfish scare me away, but both times I saw them swimming pretty close to me and got out quickly. I think I saw four people get stung in the half hour or so that I was there...so I think I made the right decision to steer clear of that one.

Today it has been raining on and off all day, so it's a low key day in Riomaggiore. I have a train to Milano to catch at 5:13 so I'll hop on that after one last lunch in Italy. It is wonderful having a kitchen! And so much cheaper! So since Kitty has the room another day, she's allowing me to store my things and we're making a nice pasta dish in a little bit. After I arrive in Milan tonight, I'll take a bus over to the airport and sleep there rather than getting a hostel. I hear Milan is expensive, and my flight is too early to deal with it. I will join Hannah and Steve in Barcelona bright and early in the morning!!!

Dance Magic Dance

2009-09-13T14:48:00.000-07:00

So I just typed this entire blog for the last 10 minutes only to get logged out and lose everything. So I'm sorry, the first one was probably better...

I am in love with Florence!!! All of you haters out there that told me not to even bother, that I would only need a day...whats up with that?! I would stay here for a week if I had the time. With all of the narrow, winding streets, ancient buildings and little piazzas, whats not to love?!

I took the train up from Rome on Saturday. This is my second destination and first without a hostel reservation, so I was a bit on the edgy side wondering how the home base was going to work out once I arrived. There were loads of backpackers on the train...competition for beds. So once the train stopped, I grabbed my heavy-ass pack and booked it into town. I came up on the first hostel on my list and they looked at me like I was insane for coming in on a weekend without booking ahead, and then politely sent me down the street. I got the same response from the second as well as the third. I had exhausted my list, and now only had the name of a random road, so I just started walking down it...where I ended up finding my fourth and final destination. It was a little pricier than the others, but had a pool, sauna, bar and what seemed like some pretty cool people. I was home.

I ended up meeting a girl in the line for my bed and her and I went over to see the David as soon as put my stuff down. Ah David....every man needs to learn a lesson from Michaelangelo. How he made such a perfect human body out of a single piece of marble is beyond me. I could have sat there and stared at it all day....and I did for about an hour, before being dragged out of there.

Upon returning to the hostel, I met some more people and went out for pasta (I have to say, I've had better gnocchi in SF) and many, many bottles of wine. The night dragged on and became a bit debaucherous, but it felt good to socialize as the place in Rome wasnt quite like that. I know I told you all that I didn't want the party hostels, but I was hanging with the older (and not much wiser) folks. Some of these kids are about 19 and going out to foam parties while they're in Europe (yes, I was invited to a foam party...no, I did not go ). Anyway, I ended up waking up with a wicked wine hangover this morning and going back to sleep for an hour before beginning my day.

Today I entered a town out of one of David Bowie's dreams. I took the train over to this little town called Siena that is basically a giant maze with 8 story buildings as its walls. I only wish I had the Labyrinth soundtrack on my Ipod as I was singing "Dance, Magic Dance" all day long. I wandered around there for a couple of hours and then decided to walk back down to the train station instead of taking the bus. Much to my dismay, I have my mom's sense of direction and got completely lost in some random train graveyard with no one around. After walking around forever (and apparently past the train station twice) I found it 10 minutes after my train had left. This trip will definitely teach me patience as I had to wait another hour and a half for the next train.

I was going to go to Venice after this, but with the film festival going on, I'm not even going to try. Brad and Angelina will have to do without me this year. I'll try to do Venice later in my travels. I've decided to head over to Cinque Terra, five little towns on the coast with hiking trails and beaches with crystal clear blue water. Time to take that much needed dip in the Mediterranean.

Where are the Romans...

2009-09-11T10:29:00.000-07:00

Let me preface this by saying sorry for poor punctuation. Italians don't have the same keyboard; therefore, I can't type quite as well as I normally would. That being said...

So I don't know much about European history, outside from 6th grade social studies, so the meanings of a lot of the sites in Europe are going to be lost on me. However, I can definitely appreciate the ancient beauty that is sitting in front of me now.

I arrived in Rome after a long night stuck in the airport, found my hostel, and then took off running. This city is full of art and architecture. I walked a full circle on my first day catching all of the sites, eating some panini, basking in the sun...you've got to love this humidity (picture Michigan in the height of summer, plus the stifling traffic of the city, minus a lake nearby)! The Colloseum, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Vatican City, all gorgeous, but I have to say.... where the eff did all of these people come from?!? I thought San Francisco was bad when it came to tourists, but man oh man, they have taken over this city. There are no Romans here! Everyone on the street has the same map and apparently the same destination in mind. My first thought when I got to Trevi Fountain was, "Sea World," I was waiting for Shamoo to shoot up out of the waters. All of this aside, I can't complain as I am one of them now.

My hostel here is nice, although there is a noisy, blue piece of plastic under the sheets due to a lesson that they must have learned a while ago. Who knew I needed bugspray in the city as I woke up with mosquito bites (not bedbug bites, thank you) this morning. I have yet to eat any pasta and I'm avoiding gelato for now as I know it will become addicting before the week is out.

Today I hit the Vatican as well as Ville Borghese, the Roman version of GG Park(minus drum circles and hippies). After going to the local market, I took a rest from the afternoon heat since I'd sweat through my first change of clothes, mmmm. :) I then decided to go out and get lost in Rome. I got completely turned around and ended up having to walk an incredible ways in my flip flops..only to get within a few blocks of my hostel to find the street blocked off with some huge protest that is going on...I feel home again. Tonight a glass or two of wine is in order and then it will be an early night as I've got a ticket to Florence in the morning to see what Tuscany has to offer.

The $300 catnap

2009-09-10T04:17:00.000-07:00

I left Berkeley on September 8th with the good wishes and happy memories of my SF crew still lingering in my head. I had a flight scheduled from SF direct to Heathrow and then Heathrow straight to Rome, Italy. I would be there dinner time on the 9th.

The flight went off without a hitch. My normal flying anxiety didnt even get to me, with a little help from the 2X2 recommendation I received from a good friend. I slept most of the way to London and felt somewhat relaxed when I got to the airport.

I had three hours to kill and no money to spare, so I did the responsible thing and stayed out of the bar. I read my Lonely Planet and listened to Italian Podcasts on my Ipod. About 50 minutes before my scheduled flight, they announced the gate and I immediately moved that way to claim a seat. Being that I was already there, I chose to put my head down for a few minutes, just to relax. The next thing I know 45 minutes has gone by and I look up at the clock to see that my flight took off without me 7 minutes ago!!! I can hear you all right now....leave it to me to do something that ridiculous! And I even bought a travel alarm clock just before I left. I have learned my lesson and am carrying it with me from now on!

To my detriment...this little error cost me $255 to change the flight, plus about $30 for the bus from Heathrow to Gatwick, where my new flight would take off from, plus $15 in phone cards to call Spain about my reservation. Of course, my luck being as it is, my flight was delayed and I had to sit there for hours waiting getting in to Rome well after the hostel closed and the subway shut down. I knew I would have to get used to sleeping ing airports, so I stuck myself there for the night and got a couple winks while waiting for the 6:30 train into the city to wake my hostel up.

So all in all, my 17 hour trip to Roma ended up being somewhere in the vicinity of 33. I am now a day behind schedule, but could care less as the city is beautiful and I have nothing in the world but time.