So Stacey's contacts went and annihiliated themselves... somewhere in Sydney. They are completely MIA, and we are now in Melbourne. Stacey is a bit on shaky ground without these contacts, so some madness has ensued in chasing the trail of the ghost contacts. A call to Sydney Airport, where security so non-chalantly ripped the guts out of Stacey's backpack to fry it in the X-ray scanner. A call to the unfortunate party hostel we stayed at as a last resort. (The Scottish? girls had staggered in at 4am and taken 1-2 of the 3 internet computers. Their English is nearly not English at all, but a confused gurgle. The advertised wireless didn't work there.) Stacey decided to enlist the Mom-transport system (who has yet to be informed) to deliver a new more-valuable-than-gold contact, when she arrives on the 16th - that, failing the intelligent people working at the hostel actually finding the contact.

We took a break from the Hunt to go visit a gym in the town center. A tram ride to town, a swim in a 30 meter pool (makes for more difficult pace calculations), and I was feeling refreshed. We decided to find a new contact case for Stacey, which led to all kinds of interesting places. A Korean grocery store that had hair dye next to q-tips; another grocery store manned by a comical Asian fellow ("We have razor, BUT NOT FOR YOUR HEAD!!!"), a theater, a carpark nestled by skyscrapers, Aldi - a 99 cent store feeling bulk goods store (lots of laundry detergent there), and finally a well-hidden shopping mall. While Stacey spent his time in the toilet, I let the diversity of the crowd whirl my head. A wide array of Asians, Greeks, Indians, whites, etc, but Stacey is the only black, and still gets a lot of stares. (A man the other day came up to him and asked if he was from Africa. !?!?! ) The fashion is likewise across the board - suave suits to super-punk to sporty and Asian chic, etc...

Finally we found Safeway, which referred us to the pharmacy upstairs in the corner, which referred us to the optometrist shop 2 doors down. Alas, a little plastic case was successfully secured, and we were able to go shopping for food - roast beef.

Much disappointment back at the hostel when I found that my cold foods bag had been stolen. Mayonnaise, butter, pears and green apples are GONE. Note that I brought this food with me on the plane from Sydney. Stacey and I are going to find some high security refrigerator system - chain mail and locks, to make sure are future grub stays in place.

Stacey's blog.

Labels: australia, culture, food, melbourne, people, stacey

I woke up early to catch the private line train to Sydney airport. The irritable Canadian had snored, choked, and garbled most noisily throughout the night, and I didn't fall asleep til late. I took care in the morning packing my backpack, so the weight would be well-distributed across my shoulders, and I could stand comfortably with all my gear in the airport for a while.

QF40 - Stacey's flight. I waited at Exit A/B for about an hour before Stacey showed up - same benevolent giant, but a bit trimmer. It is good to have an 1) American 2) friend 3) that I can trust and 4) discuss in depth with. Right now though, he's resting, while I have found the grocery store in Glebe district. This area has trendy bookshops and cafes and a fairly business-class pedestrian base.

The next four weeks of travel = travel with friends and family. I am glad to have a new constant element added to my adventures. Nomadic relations get old.

Labels: australia, people, sydney

I'm in a party van, headed southwest, on yet another tour. This one is 5 days, from Perth to Esperance and back. I hear Esperance beaches are paradisical, so maybe that will make the social discomfort well worth it. Having so quickly shucked off the last group in Perth, I am now rather missing them. Alex, our tour leader, had been very professional and confidence inspiring; the travelers, headed up by Annemarie, were more than friendly. My current tour has 2 training tour leaders along with the main tour leader, and they are all young and partyish. "Like, the trees are old and stuff. So... cool." The people in the group have been harder to chat with. I'm trying not to be prejudiced against any of them though.

We saw the most impressive cliffsides today: a rocky gap in the ocean cliff where the waves angrily bash into each other. Since the tour began, we have also visited a winery, a dolphin discovery center, a chocolate factory, a lighthouse at the meeting of the South and Indian Oceans, walked through a cave, strolled along several nice beaches, and seen a lot of big trees, and stuff. So... cool.

Labels: esperance, people, south, tours, westernaustralia

It started drizzling yesterday in Cairns - a pleasant little pitter patter - and has stayed overcast and a chillier throughout today. I am rather glad I'm leaving Cairns. I don't feel I've done a very good job in finding the resources to get myself around town to the interesting sites. But it is always harder to figure out the resources of a larger cities quickly. I probably should have rented a bicycle.

I ran across a strange fellow today who was pontificating and proselytizing on his political viewpoints, apparently to no one, as I sat reading a book on the public area deck at my hostile hostel. At first, I couldn't tell that his Aussie accent was even English, so I easily tuned him out. Until a few words caught: "Heroin... Afghanistan... a lot of people using heroin.. Bush and religion. A lot of Christians die... Heroin!" I couldn't tell if he was suffering Turrets Syndrome, or thought that the group watching TV on the couches were really listening to him. Well, he might have been an interesting fellow to discuss with over coffee, but it does no good to try to "discuss" with a preacher, of sorts. So I didn't try. (Oh the excitement of these near social encounters!)

Going to Darwin today. My Western Australia tour doesn't start til the 6th, so I'lll probably make some kind of tour of Kakadu or Litchfield National Park. The adventure continues...

Labels: australia, cairns, people, rain, resources

Screw regulator to tank. Turn on air. Check air gage. 220 bars, good. Inflate BCD (scuba inflatable vest). Change into wet, cold, smelly swimsuit. Squeeze into wet, black wetsuit with green stripe on hanger #21. Put on hooded vest over wetsuit. Attach camera lanyard to BCD, and apply anti-fog to dive mask. Put masking tape around toes, and socks over that. Put on 13.5 lbs weight belt. String arms through BCD straps and pull waste belt tight. Carefully, strap on mask so it won't leak, and pull up hood. To deck with tank on back, fins in hand. Looking over the edge of the deck, put the fins on, suck some air from the regulator, and Giant Stride off the deck, into the blue water!

I did this routine about 14 times during my 3.5 days of diving on the Nimrod Explorer Liveaboard diving boat. And what an experience it was!

An interesting crowd of 18 people aboard the boat, and more Americans than I had met in one spot since leaving America. (12 out of 18 were American, 4 were German, one Scottish, one Belgian.) Among the divers: an inventor and botanist from Santa Cruz, a navy man working in Djibouti, an Alaskan musician/firefighter, a collegiate swimmer with a massive lung capacity (and my dive buddy!), a top-level dragonboating competitor, a lovesick Belgian photographer, a Ph.D in marine biology, an oil rig engineer living in England, and a German executive traveling via campervan in Australia for 4 months.

Visiting a new reef site nearly every dive, the Nimrod sailed well north of Cairns in an area that most boats don't frequent. We quickly learned the schedule: wake up early, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, sleep. On top of diving, 4 others and I were also doing coursework towards our advanced scuba certificates, which teaches you some specialties in scuba such as drift diving, night diving, and underwater photography, as well as underwater navigation skills and deeper diving know-how.

All-in-all, I ended up seeing a lot of wildlife: several white tip reef sharks (which are not dangerous), a lot of lion fish, some spotted rays, a huge black-splotched ray sleeping on a rock, some sea snakes, unicorn fishes, trumpet fishes, a lot of nemos (clown fish) hiding in anemones, a sea turtle, a couple giant moray eels, giant clams, the rare flame shell, and the great potato cods! The last was the highlight on one dive, on which the divemaster, Demi, brought a fish box and fed the cod in very close proximity to the rest of us divers, making great photo opportunities!

I had one close call when I forgot to check my air gage before starting my dive. I didn't think to look until the air became hard to pull from my tank. I looked at the gage then, and it was at 0! I was at 40 feet deep, and had only one choice, as my buddy was too far away to grab for air. I made a "controlled ascent" to the surface. (If you go too fast you can get nitrogen bubbles in your blood.) Apparently, my ascent was slow enough though, because I didn't experience any problems afterwards.

I challenged myself by trying to match my dive buddy, Sara the Swimmer, on efficient air consumption. I usually couldn't match her, but I think I did improve. She was quite a good dive buddy, as we both seemed to enjoy underwater photography at shallower depths.

By the end, I was feeling quite comfortable with my buoyancy and diving, although the rental gear was a bit insufficient. I was not warm enough in the ocean, and the fins killed my feet. Regardless, the tedium of scuba gear did not make the scuba diving itself unenjoyable - in fact, I had quite a good time! The various reefs were all very amazing and beautiful. I wouldn't mind going on a similar liveaboard scuba excursion again.

Labels: australia, boat, fish, flight, people, scuba

The Atherton Tablelands are west of Cairns, rising about 1000 m above sea level. I visited there on a tour with On the Wallaby and was quite impressed with the area. This area was once primarily jungle, but about 80% has been deforested. The result is rich agricultural land in rolling hills, with pockets of jungle in valleys and crevices here and there. This is the only place where jungle grows in rich volcanic soil - usually rain forests live in very poor soil, but are able to thrive due to the sheer amount of rain. So here you have it, extremely rich soil, and tremendous amounts of rain, resulting in one of Australia's better fruit producing regions. And the more amazing detail is that land here is cheap! A land prospector who was on the tour, moving from Perth where house prices have shot through the roof (and he resulted in making $200k in 2 years) noted you could get a few acres out in Atherton area for $150k still. If that is true, then this must be what California was a couple generations ago. But more lush - no water problems here!

The tour visited a couple water falls - the area has a plethora of falls - and did a few jungle walks. Still haven't seen a cassowary yet! We did find a python sitting on the bank of Lake Eacham (a lake form by volcanic explosions), and we saw a number of forest dragons clinging to trees. Later at a platypus viewing excursion, we saw a number of platypuses skirting the water at dusk.

I met a number of interesting people at the hostal in Yungaburra, which is a small, quaint town in the Atherton Tablelands. A German woman, Isabel, was just starting her Australian 4 month journey, and seemed to have the same social frustrations I did with the party scene in Cairns. Craig, the Perth-ian had a lot of interesting stories, and a Norwegian fellow also was friendly. The night at the hostal was a nice respite from the bright lights of Cairns.

The next day we went canoeing, and Isabel spotted a tree kangaroo (amazing eyesight!). We also went cycling through the rolling hills, and swimming in Lake Eacham. For lunch we ate at a Roadhouse restaurant, where I had a "Lot Burger," which is "a burger with a lot on it." The Aussie explained this as if I should have already known! Last, we visited an exotic wine brewery, where they had black sapote port, persimmon and lychee wine, dragonfruit wine, and more!

Today, off to the Reef! I am guessing there won't be internet on the boat, so I may not be checking in til Saturday night. Anyway, here's hoping to see a potato cod at Cod Hole.

Labels: atherton, australia, biking, canoeing, jungle, kangaroo, people, waterfall, wildlife, wine

An exciting change of plans. I decided to go travel Western Australia after my Barrier Reef excursion. The East Coast backpacker party scene isn't doing a lot for me - I came to Australia for the nature. I've heard of how untouched the Western Coast is. Not only are there few towns, but the "big" ones have only 6000 people (with exception of Perth, which has over a million). Other towns have population: 1 human, 1 dog. The Western Coast has a Barrier Reef - the only western reef in the world! - that rivals the Eastern Coast's in magnitude/diversity, but apparently is not as Great. In one town, Exmouth, this not-as-great reef is only 100 meters off shore! South of the reef, there is a bay where they have a human-dolphin relationship going. The dolphins have habitually come to visit humans in shallow water for 30 years! (They also receive a small snack.) Beyond that, there are gorges, undisturbed forests, and great expanses of desolate nothingness, just the way I like it. Just like Bolivia and Arizona. ("There's nothing here!!")

I suppose this hostile hostel I've been staying at the last 3 nights has rather turned me off of the East Coast scene. You don't get much for the $18/night (no power point, which has been a HUGE problem, as I am now currently sitting in a hallway, typing this offline, to let my battery charge; no cutlery in the kitchen, no lighter for the gas stove ("Go buy your own," she told me), and they forget to unlock the kitchen in the morning). But the social scene here: you get a huge lot of party-ers, who drink copious amounts loudly on the deck outside my shared room and obviously cannot be trusted with cutlery. But most significantly: they are quite an unfriendly lot. No hello's in the hallways! I don't mind the noise or the parties (I keep zonking out every night by 10, so I can't seem to stay up long enough to join them), but I don't like the unfriendly meat-market attitude. Oh, did I mention? Cairns's sister city is Scottsdale, AZ! Case closed!

Although I do enjoy this long boardwalk along the ocean that is well-lighted and well-trodded - great for running! There is also a nice, free, irregularily shaped, salt water swimming pool right by the ocean, and right across the road from the hostile hostel.

So Oct 2, I'm headed off to a21 day tour from Darwin in the Northern Territory to Western Australia, along the coast, where outback meets sea, down to Perth, where I'll catch an additional 5 day tour that explores the Southwestern coast. I will fly to Sydney Nov 3, in time to meet Stacey. And it pretty much fits into my budget.

Today I am leaving for a 2-day tour out to the Atherton Table. (These tours really seem the most economical way to go. The public transportation is quite limiting, and renting a car is way too expensive for a solo person. Plus, tours are a good way for introverts like me to meet people.) I suppose it is the dry tropics, inland at Atherton. Waterfalls, fig trees, some volcanic craters (some of the newer geological action in Australia), lakes. I was eager to get away from Cairns, so here we go again! (Hold on to your seats...)

Labels: australia, cairns, hostels, people, westernaustralia

The Fijian islands were first populated by refugees from South Africa, who were fleeing an epidemic, according to our Fijian Quizmaster on South Sea Island. The Fijians were cannibals, and in an entertaining skit performed by townspeople on Waya Lalai Island, they deftly covered the most famous incident of cannibalism. The missionary Rev. Baker became the only person of European descent to be eaten by Fijian cannibals when, according to the actors, he went to touch the chief's head to demonstrate how glasses are worn. The Fijians attacked him with big evil cudgels, Rev. Baker fell to the floor, and now we know why a new identity in Christianity is most welcome to modern Fijians (there's innate guilt in such a history).

Our actors also performed a fashion show of traditional dress, in which the moral was: "Imagine how shocked the first missionaries were to find all the natives only half dressed. Now imagine how surprised we are to be visited by the same [half dressed people]." I defintely can concur on that point - some of the visitors have no sensitivity to dress standards of the culture. While all the Fijian women are in full length dresses, the visitors rarely put on clothes over their bikinis for dinner or whatnot. I even saw some girls tanning sunny side up, on a beach that was hardly private. (Bet Jonas got a good eyeful there, scanning the beach from his yacht with his binoculars.)

In the end the Yasawa Islands were quite enjoyable - the resorts and the Fijians more so than the other visitors. It seems about 90% of the travellers were 20-23, in or just out of college. Their holy-grail: tanning on the beach. I think tanning is a great way to ruin your skin, so I don't identify with the girls there. I think this is largely the same crowd I will be running into in hostals on the Eastern Australian coast, so I might have to do more fishing to search out a more interesting crowd.

One interesting couple I forgot to mention: a Hungarian woman, 32, married to a very grumpled man, who apparently was independently wealthy. They have been travelling for the last 3 years, as they will, and they have been married 3 years. They go home only to meet relatives and check on their two houses. I am thinking the Hungarian woman has it pretty good. (So does the man.)

I am off to Auckland tonight, and Cairns tomorrow. I have decided to concentrate more of my coastal travels in Queensland, and then sprint down to Sydney when Stacey comes into town. The goal is to rectify my previous traveling mistake of trucking through an area too fast.

Labels: australia, cannibals, cultures, fiji, people, women, yasawa

Jonas was a fisherman yachtee from San Francisco, who set anchor in the bay next to Korovou resort. With Richard Gere looks and surfer-dude talk, he provided a good dose of American, that I had not been privy to for a few weeks. He is sailing around the world in his 35 foot yacht by himself. The stories! It is a whole other life to drift with wind and current to discover the world, and anchor in places where no other tourist can manage to infiltrate. I have silently added sailing around the world as something that would be agreeable to do... right up there with visiting the moon.

My 3 nights at Korovou resort on Naviti island were quite enjoyable not only because of good conversation with Jonas, but also another American, the 3rd burnt-out lawyer I've met, who was interested in triathlon pursuits, and therefore flattered me with a million questions about it. Also, the Fijians were very friendly there. One silent, thoughtful fellow named Kiloti, who could musingly croon over his guitar, gave me a bit of the scoop on the Fijian life. Apparently there is one Fijian language, called Bula!, and each island has its own dialect. His was called Cola (pronounced Vula). 85% of Fijians are Christian (methodist), the rest are Hindu/other. He wrote off the military coup that happened last December as "war talk", and I agree taht there seems to be little visible evidence of any military presence, especially out in the Yasawa island groups. He had a wife and four children who lived in the village on the other side of the island, but he only got off work 1 week every 3 weeks to visit them.

I visited a village on Naviti Island, but was not told by the fellow at the resort, Moses, that I was supposed to bring a gift of kava or money when I visited. Therefore, not knowing what to expect, I walked the 1.5 hour walk over the crest of the island. Approaching town, old women collecting palm fronds stopped their work to shout BULA! and inquire in faltering English where I was from. Not a person saw me without greeting me cheerfully. An old fellow named William proffered me a cocanut which he had decapitated with his machete. Another old man named Samson bid me to visit him, and he asked me if I had a guide or a gift. I was rather embarrassed that I didn't, and he said it was OK since I didn't know better. (Moses told me later that he thought I was joking about visiting the village....) I must say this village was unlike any of the ones I visited in South America - the most notable difference being the lack of roads large enough for cars. I suppose the only substantial form of transportation there is by boat... they don't even use horses. (There really isn't anywhere to go on the island but the resorts, or maybe another village.)

After leaving Naviti, I had an unfortunate night on the Wana Taki party boat. I spent most of the time sleeping because I was just not in the mood for drinking with college kids.

Now I am on Waya Laila island. The resort lies on a hillside with thd dorm and the cafeteria overlooking the grass huts, which overlook the beach. I was able to go to church here, but I didn't realize the service would be almost entirely in Fijian. Despite that, the choir's 3-part singing was magnificent - enough gusto from 12 people to raise the hairs on your arms. It was also amusing to watch the mongrel dog who would come wandering through the church, and the old woman who would smack! it on its haunches to chase it off.

I must note that the Fijian women are very different from Western women. They wear massive afros like helmets, and they are quite hefty / full-figured women themselves. It's been a thing of wonder.

I am off to the mainland in 2 more days, and then on my way to Cairns, Australia! I will be able to catch up with photo uploading and emails then!

Labels: fiji, people, resort, sailing, village

I left Cook Islands on Friday. Crossing the International Date Line, I landed in Fiji, 4 hours later, Saturday night. Strange.

I saw little of the main island, Nadi, but I don't think I'm missing much. It looks busy and run down. The tour of the Yasawa Island group, northwest of the main island, began Sunday morning.

Awesome Fiji Adventures owns a huge white catamaran that runs a daily route through the end of the Yasawa islands and back. They, with the hostels on the islands, are quite well organized, providing visitors with a booklet of vouchers for both accomodation, transport, and activities.

My first stop is Takewa Island, at a hostel named Coral View. It does seem to be a very young, party-ish crowd out here, and I've somewhat resolved to be friendly, but not to invest myself into connecting with people. Nevertheless, the island - and all the activities here - make it easy to stay more than entertained (well mostly... I still find myself reading my book far too much). I have already snorkeled in the harbor (saw an octupus and an sea snake), visited a partially submerged cave (an escorted trip), and gone scuba diving (saw a leopard shark, 2 octupuses, a huge puffer fish, a clown fish, and an amazing array of hard and soft corals).

The Fijian staff also make the stay quite agreeable, with overally exuberant greetings. Bula! Good morning! Hello! Several have remembered my name already, and they never ignore me. At lunch they sang a parting song for those visitors who are moving on to another island, and the song was the most depressed dirge I've heard! Fit for a mournful funeral.

Internet is scarce out here, much less computers with access to desktop and USB, so I am trying to put up photos as I can.

Labels: fiji, people, scuba, snorkeling, wildlife

I was feeling a bit travel weary (that is bus-riding weary) today, so I went over to Chiclayo´s tiny airport to see what the possibilities were for flying to Lima. The overworked checkin attendant was a bit too busy to address a casual backpacker, so I waited and watched. It appeared I wasn´t the only one being shooed off by the attendant - a bulldog-looking, stout woman in suede was most doggedly persisting in speaking to the attendant. Shortly later, a gringo in a denim jacket with a bandana around his head sauntered in. I noticed first the Southern accent, and then his uncontrolled swaggering about, and then I heard a long line of expletives, addressed at a Latin woman who was with him. He had a beer can in hand, and was apparently upset that he couldn´t get a flight to Lima that night. A redneck in Peru! He was shouting at the clerks, gesticulating wildly, and trying to cut in on Bulldog woman´s space. I carefully avoided making eye contact with him, so he wouldn´t assume we spoke the same language.

Failing gettng a flight out tonight, which would have cost too much anyway, I am getting the mother of all buses out of Chiclayo. A night bus on the Flores line that costs $30 for the ride. (The typical buses cost $12 for the 12 hour ride.) This line serves dinner, breakfast, has a nice baño, and doesn´t make a million stops. I am feeling eager to get into a spot where I can stay for a few days. I think Shannon, my sister, has it planned so that when she, Jason (her husband), Shane (husband´s bro) come on Weds, we will only make 2 or 3 moves over the course of 10 days. There is supposed to be a long stretch of 5 or so days in Cuzco. I can handle that.

In the meantime, my adventures may not be too exciting while I madly hunt down a bank, my toiletries, and a new camera. My camera hunting adventures yesterday led to a mall that was featuring a Barney (like the purple dinosaur) show in the middle of the food court. A herd of kids in pink and purple jumpers (that is, sweaters) were spinning, singing and dancing along with the 3 dinosaurs and their teenage girl counterparts.

Labels: airport, bus, camera, chiclayo, people, peru

The city touting its long-lived denizens, small-town charm, and relaxing setting, Vilcabamba, which I keep saying as "Vilacabamba," is where I am at now. Presumably to relax. But the bus trip from Cuenca was not relaxing. A good deal of it I sat by an incredibly smelly Quechua washer woman and her coughing child. (They were sharing the aisle seat, but I was happy to have command of the window - the most important air ventilation device on the bus.)

Also, finding a place to stay in Vilcambamba was quite stressful. All over Cuenca I saw flyers for the famed Izchluyma Hosteria on the hill - free Internet!, free mineral water!, free use of bikes!, etc! - and I thought surely on a Tuesday, they will have an open room. Long story short, a taxi ride there yielded no free rooms, a taxi ride to an EcoLodge yielded no owner around. I had to walk back to town with my heavy bags, and as a last resort, booked a room at a hosteria where the same annoying music that plays on the bus was playing, and I was the only gringo there. Where are all the gringos, I angrily wondered!? My day in Cuenca had rendered little interaction with other English speakers, and I was wanting to meet some travellers!

So I found another place the same night, where 3 gringos lounging with a cat, in a "hidden" courtyard assured me that this was the place to stay. I am quite glad to have switched hotels, because I met an Australian couple taht night, and a very fluent Ecuadorian, and we had Good Conversation.

Vilcambamba is indeed a relaxing town though. A quiet square in the middle of the tiny town, little auto traffic; roosters crowing, birds chirping; dry, warm air with an ambitious wind blowing through; the smell of wood burning in the air. It seems like you could sit down, and be stuck there, because nothing wants to move too fast.

I joined the Aussies this morning in moving fast up the Mandango Trail - a 3 or 4 hour trek. A truly amazing hike through amber waves of grain, and along a severely steep mountain ridgeline. The path snaked up a hillside, along the bottom of an indecisive cliff. Part of the path was indeed on a razor's edge, with unforgiving fall-offs on either side. It peaked at what seemed like a pin's point, one high point with a 360 view, and very little moving room at the top. So high up, a mad crosswind would rip at you, and I only needed wings, to take a step and fly off the mountain.

The bad news is that just as we were cresting the first hill, my camera lens completely gave out on me. It takes only black photos, and no fiddling with the lens can fix it now. For a while I was only able to take completely zoomed in photos, but now that even isn't cooperating. I am hoping to get some photos from the Aussies, and to possibly buy a new camera in the next big city, 3 days away.

In the meantime, I am in Vilcabamba til Friday, and hopefully tomorrow I can relax some. Til then, more kabitzing with gringos in the hidden garden, which shouldn't warrant the need for more photos.

Labels: cuenca, ecuador, hiking, people, vilcabamba

It´s such a strange thing to cultivate intimate friendships with a group people over three weeks, and then part, to never meet again. Gwen and Kara, left yesterday morning, leaving invitations to visit New York. Lou, the Swiss woman, left for Spain yesterday afternoon to study Spanish. Stevo is beginning a new tour group, that travels back to Venezuela. He´s been warned of a group of girls joining the group who have been traveling around the continent and are notorious for their difficulty. Holly is joining her next GAP tour group. Harriet is flying to Santiago. The group of 3 from Fresno, CA are chilling out in Quito before they go to Galapagos.

Elisabeth, Natalie, Albert and I spent the evening together in the touristy Mariscal area of Quito. These 12 square blocks practically have every hostal, restaurant, bar, and tourism company in Quito. We found a kitsch, poppy restaurant that offered the first gourmet salad I´ve had in weeks. (We have generally been warned to avoid the lettuce for stomach health.)

Good byes to Albert, who is the best man in a wedding this weekend. Good byes to Lis who was very ready to leave. Ultimately I have found over the course of this GAP trip that the appeal of any given location is secondary to the people I am traveling with. It is so unfortunate that the social landscape has to be so nomadic while traveling. At least Natalie is here for a few days yet til her trip for Galapagos leaves. I am having dinner with her tonight.

I have found a hostel today - El Cafecito. I am a bit intimidated by the predominance of hardened, wizened, and laid back travelers there. We´ll see if I can find some people who are as uptight and reserved as I am.

I imagine the pace of this blog will change now that I am planning every step myself. I am thinking to leave for Baños (South America´s bathroom!) tomorrow. It´s a 3.5 hour bus ride away. I may look for a short jungle tour there into the Southern Oriente jungle.

Labels: ecuador, hostels, people, quito, travel

Otavalo: mucho shopping, not enough haggling over prices. In the evening we ate at a fine Ecuadorian restaurant where guinea pig was on the menu. I tried it again, but alas, the second guinea pig wasn´t any better than the first I tried last November. This time I ordered the full guinea pig, and it was served spread eagle, with its head still on. Quite gross.

Afterwards, several of us went to watch a cock fight. All things considered, cock fighting seems a bit more tame than say, playing first person shooters, except that one chicken per round gets its head pecked pretty good. The birds are quite pretty though, and the owners seem to take great pride in them. We only watched two rounds before Stevo, Gwen, Kara, Natalie and I went to a dance club, and monopolized half of the dance floor, dancing our silly, gangly gringo style to Latin beats.

I am back in Quito now, and the tour group is disbanding. We had a very fine tapas dinner with all-you-can-eat treats and wine for our last group dinner. I am truly happy to have met so many interesting people, and sad to see everyone leave. I am staying tonight in the same upscale hotel Natalie is tonight, and then I will look for a hostal to stay in, in hopes of meeting other travelers headed south. I plan to research my next leg of the journey for 2 or 3 days in Quito before taking off. Time to restock, rest, and recover.

I´m on my own now for the true southern migration!

Labels: cockfighting, dancing, ecuador, gap, otavalo, people, quito

Leaving for Papallacta, the group was greeted with dismal news: Albert was sick and would be staying behind. The collective female mind weeped for the group's only available bachelor under the age of 37. And somehow it seemed a bit wrong to be leaving one of our tour members behind in the hotel in Quito while we went to go relax at a spa. The justification for allowing this was that we would be back the next day to pick him up again, if he felt better.

Ecuador reigns as far as fantastic mountainous scenery goes. Snaking through the Andes on yet another bus, being wooed to sleep while trying to pay attention to impossibly steep mountains, generally bald of trees, reminiscent of California's blonde rolling hills. The grass covering the hills was furry and cowlicky, resembling the guinea pigs that people here are fond of eating.

The feature of Papallacta was thermal hot springs, surrounded by rustic cabins, and a nearby spa. The bone-chilly weather was inspiring a new blue period in me, and I was fairly un-participatory in the activities there. No spa treatment for me, no siree! No, hot springs! No hike in the morning through the cloud forest to view birds and mammals. Nope, none of that. I ate a good supper, went to bed early, slept in, ate a good breakfast, and found my waist strap on my backpack would not fit properly about my waste, when we left the place today.

Having stewed in my moodiness though, I now feel quite ready to enjoy this beautiful country, despite the cold. (Note to self: buy more cold weather clothes.) We are now staying at a stately hacienda in Cayambe. A cursory look has revealed a swimming pool (!), a bella vista of horses grazing at the base of a mountain, all within a few kilometers of the equator! We get 2 nights here, so I hope for an enjoyable day tomorrow, even if one little Indian of our group is missing. (We looked for Albert in Quito en route to Cayambe, and found he had checked out of the hotel at 10:30am today. The collective female heart worried, while Steve played it off as some story about him meeting a hot Ecuadorian woman and being whisked away by her. Ya, right.)

Labels: cayambe, ecuador, people, quito

My last day in Cartegena was a clammy, molasses-paced day of putzing around old town by myself. The Monday brought out a horde of pedestrians and taxis that clogged the narrow streets and sidewalks, and the thick, humid heat keeps one from moving or thinking too fast. I managed to get lost enough times in the confusing, multi-named streets that I eventually began to recognize landmarks. I wasn´t feeling quite at home though, rather a bit sour due to the lack of general company and ambition to explore. I suppose it´s important to kick back occasionally, and recoup from all the mad rush activity.

In the evening, Holly, Harriet, Albert and I found an excellent thin crust pizza place near San Diego Square, which is much more low key than Santo Domingo Square, where we ate the previous evening. Following, Holly introduced us to a local friend she had made, a highly political Colombian American, who was certain the Iran had the most religious integrity, and that JFK was killed by Cuban mobsters. Beyond some of his more irritating notes though, he was able to inform us where the term ¨gringo¨ came from. Apparently, the US military was the first to wear green, and some Mexican (or other) revolutionaries who took exception to the military´s presence would say ¨Green, go home.¨ Stevo´s theory however came from a Panamanian street worker, who says that following their visits, American men would ¨grin and then go.¨ Note: google this later...

Yesterday the group flew to Quito. Having come from Venezuela and Colombia, Quito is feeling very metropolitan and wired. Almost logical traffic patterns, sensible bus lines, user-friendly hotels and streets, 75 cent/hour internet readily available. At the same time, the party sector of town seems rather corrupted and shallow with all its cheap shots and house music - I almost prefer the touristy restaurants of the coastal towns.

Labels: cartegena, colombia, ecuador, people, quito

At last I'm in Coro, a fairly large city with English keyboards, access to the windows desktop, and all I need to update my blog and photo site! Yay! We are staying at Tan Tan House in the historical part of town. I have yet to explore, as we just got in today by bus.

The last two nights and yesterday we stayed in Chichiviriche (pronounced as it looks). There is not much to the small town - a lot of tourist shops selling snorkeling gear, swim suits, buckets and pales, etc. A line of restaurants along the sea front, and a line of jewerly venders along the boardwalk. The real attraction to Chichiviriche is an archipelego offshore and easily accessible by speedboat. Stevo, the tour guide, hired a couple of boats to take us to a few of the highlights.

From the boat, you can see 2 or 3 islands at a time. Some of the islands feature long stretches of white sands, others are made up of purely mangrove trees grounded in muck. One island is merely an atoll, treeless, but crowded with beach umbrellas and tourists nonetheless.

I guess Venezuela had its independence day this week, so the tourists (mainly local Venezuelans) are out in force. The first island beach we stopped at was incredibly packed with people, and on finding that we'd be there 2 hours, I went exploring with Stevo. We found a small tiny strip of sand on the other side of the island, nestled in by mangroves, and I stayed to snorkel in very shallow water. I found beautiful conch shell, and remembered another conch shell that I had found once in Puerto Rico, once upon a time. I killed the conch with bleach and took the shell home with me. I left this one put.

The next stop we went to was called "La Piscina" - the pool. It was a shallow azure lagoon where people would hang around their pimped out boats and drink beer. There were vendors walking around in the waist deep water selling drinks in styrofoam coolers. Not quite my scene, but I did some laps across the lagoon, and floated for a while. I really enjoy floating in the ocean.

Lastly we stopped at El Sombrero Cayo (sp?) island. Practically the whole island is surrounded by nice white sand, and a good deal of the beach has an amazingly well intact reef 30 feet off the beach. I spent some time snorkeling, and walked around with one girl Kara, and her mother Gwen.

Those are in short the events. The whole point of this though is in trying to get along with the random selection of 14 people I am forced to spend 3 weeks with. This is always a struggle, and I most sensitively try to interact with these people, while analyzing my own reactions. I do not feel like I clique with anyone, but I get along with several. The Norwegian woman, Elisabeth, is into cyclocross, so we went jogging this morning together. A British girl, Natalie, is very sweet and sensitive, and we've been roomed together most nights, with a couple of other British girls. The only single young fellow on the trip, Albert, is an interesting guy from San Francisco. And the teachers from Fresno (3, all older) are nice to talk to. A very vocal multi-lingual woman from Switzerland is always available to chat. And Kara and her mother seem friendly as well. However, I interact best with these people 1 on 1, and in the group, I feel quite lost. I also realize my world is shrinking, as these are the only people I have regular communication with now. Stay in touch!

Tech note: I will not be able to fix CSS for firefox, because apparently firefox is unheard of overseas. If anyone wants to help me with that one, please do.

Labels: chichivirche, people, snorkeling, swimming, venezuela