Jim Terrorizes Other Countries With His Ugly Mug

2011-08-24T16:26:00.009-07:00

If a taxi driver asks you if you've been there before, say yes
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The Lakers

2011-08-24T16:26:00.007-07:00

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Land of tourism

2011-08-24T16:26:00.005-07:00

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There's something wrong here

2011-08-24T16:26:00.003-07:00

Leg problem
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Beautiful Puerto Rico

2011-08-24T16:26:00.001-07:00

I'm running out of reasons to ever go back to Spain

Tapas

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Lessons learned about packing

2011-08-24T16:23:00.007-07:00

Glue sticks

More contact lenses
Better flashlight
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I am the master

2011-08-24T16:23:00.005-07:00

Spanish help taxi Cartagena
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Hatin' the USA is cool

2011-08-24T16:23:00.003-07:00

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2011-08-24T16:23:00.001-07:00

Santa Marta is beautiful
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2011-08-24T16:22:00.004-07:00

Traveling with people you don't mesh well with is a learning experience
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Santana

2011-08-24T16:22:00.003-07:00

Anthea
Plastic playing cards
Rain
Asking for directions
Cheap water
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Playa Blanca

2011-08-24T16:22:00.001-07:00

Swimming
Sunsets
Ice cream
Fish, chicken, rice
Snorkeling
Octopus
Ray
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Inca Jungle trek

2011-08-24T16:21:00.015-07:00

Bicycles
Hiking
Monkey
Waterfall from a cave
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Taxi to Tacna

2011-08-24T16:21:00.013-07:00

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San Pedro de Atacama and Arica

2011-08-24T16:21:00.011-07:00

Desert
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Panamerican Highway

2011-08-24T16:21:00.009-07:00

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Nicole is everywhere

2011-08-24T16:21:00.007-07:00

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Picking at your teeth with your fingers = nasty

2011-08-24T16:21:00.005-07:00

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Salar trip

2011-08-24T16:21:00.003-07:00

Cementerio de tren
Floating land
Hexagons
Funny perspective pictures
Salt hotel
Drinking games
Orange sunrise
Lagunas
Stone tree
Red water
Flamingos
Freezing cold
Hot springs
Swimming
Pancakes
Money for sleeping bag
Border crossing
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Mine tour

2011-08-24T16:21:00.001-07:00

No teeth
Dynamite
Molars
Ripoff
No lamp
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La Paz

2011-08-24T16:20:00.007-07:00

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Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca

2011-08-24T16:20:00.005-07:00

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Copacabana

2011-08-24T16:20:00.003-07:00

I found the "real" copacabana in Bolivia :)
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Uros and Tequile

2011-08-24T16:20:00.001-07:00

Flotante
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Coca

2011-08-24T16:19:00.003-07:00

Coca cola used to have small traces of Cocaine in it. Did you know that? I found out at a cocaine museum in Bolivia.
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Cuy

2011-08-24T16:19:00.001-07:00

I had groundhog while in Bolivia. A specialty there. Named cuy in Spanish.
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Can't get no head

2011-08-24T16:18:00.001-07:00

I found while in the mountains of Bolivia that no matter how you pour beer from a bottle into a glass, no head forms on the beer. The bubbles pop immediately and it has something to do with the elevation.
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Pisco Sour

2011-08-24T16:17:00.001-07:00

Best alcoholic drink I found while traveling South America. Tastes like a sweet and sour vodka but the liquor in it (pisco) costs 5 times less than vodka.
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Everything I do is done for the eventual acceptance of my parents

2011-08-24T16:15:00.001-07:00

Blog post from 4/2/09 but never posted:

I woke up with this thought.

It is my limiter.

It keeps me on the straight path, but also a narrow path.

Only when I am physically away from them do I sway from their approval, but only so far so that it is undetected due to the physical separation. Nothing directly or intended to be permanent.

I don't know whether I want to break this limiter or not.

Do I want to completely break the limit to test it? No I don't right now.

Not breaking the limiter makes me happy and it has kept me safely on the straight and narrow path, and I'm not sure if breaking the limiter will make me happier.

So I have to figure out if it's worth breaking using baby steps.

I could judge this on a case by case basis if I could identify something outside the limit that is something I want but they don't.

How do I figure out where my desire and their desire are not congruent? It is not a clear distinction in some cases.

How important is their happiness to me? How important is my happiness to them?
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Chile the island

2011-08-24T16:12:00.001-07:00

I found that Chile is sort of an island compared to the rest of South America due to the mountains and deserts that surround it.

There is a slight language difference there. The people also talk very very fast in general, almost like speedy Spanish.

Trust is a near impossible battle with me

2010-11-04T14:38:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I was eating dinner with the Danish people from the jungle trip at the burger place, like I mentioned in the other post.

I forgot what we were talking about but I guess the subject of the conversation is not relevant to this post.

Let's pretend it was prices on the food we were eating. They told me the price. I had to check the menu to make sure that was the price. Then Line, the girl, said "you really don't trust anybody do you?"

It's true. I don't trust anyone I've met on this trip really, except for a rare few that I've grown close to. It has to do with the fact that people's opinions have rarely lined up with mine. If someone says a certain location is an amazing place to visit, I don't usually assume they know what they're talking about anymore. My reaction is "I'm sure it's pretty nice but is it worth it?" I used to think people knew what they were talking about, back in July maybe, or maybe just in June when I was doing NZ.

For example, if someone today tells me Ipanema beach is amazing in Rio or using diction like "the best beach ever", I don't believe them. It's because if I do, I'm usually dissapointed. Not many people have seen as many different beaches as me, and we all have different tastes on what makes a beach awesome.

Back in NZ, when someone told me the beach is awesome, I'd believe them. Then I'd go there, and I would agree. But somewhere in Australia things started changing. I think it was diving in the Whitsunday Islands. Someone told me diving in the Whitsundays was amazing, even compared to the Great Barrier Reef. I dived there because of that. It sucked compared to the Great Barrier Reef. I was not feeling well during the GBR dives either. Remember I had that big skin infection and it was affecting my balance?

Add on top of that numerous people that I've come across either trying to steal my money from my pockets or swindle me over the counter or at their cart and my natural propensity to question people, and the product is me. Someone who just doesn't take any opinions or pretty much any statement anymore as something substantial unless it's backed up by a feeling inside of me that they know because they have the experience, they're being honest, or so many people say so that it's gotta be pretty close to correct.

I think what it was was that I started the trip with an open innocent mind about people. I told myself that I would keep myself open to other people and their thoughts. Then reality kicked back in as I got going a month later.

So when I got to Egypt, and someone randomly told me I *must* go diving in Dahab because it's comparable to doing the GBR with the number of fish and coral even though they've never been to the GBR, I nodded and said "ok" but I didn't really believe them. I don't want to insult them, so I don't tell them they're probably wrong, even though that's what I think.

I only believed Mario when he told me after taking his diving classes in Dahab that a few spots were good and the others nothing special. Mario is from Australia and has done the GBR. I just had a feeling his opinion would not dissappoint me.

This post is not about the fact that people are wrong. Right or wrong, it's really about the fact that I can't and don't trust people on a general basis. If I show trust prematurely, I'm feigning it. Like at work with people I don't know. I just do it because I have to. I was that way before I started traveling, and now I'm even less trusting while I'm going from place to place.

Last night was the first time in the last 10 months somebody just pointed that out to me. I was surprised to hear it. I agree though. It's true. I'm sure other people have noticed it, but just haven't said anything to me.

Finishing up some old posts

2010-11-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

I have some old blog posts saved in my blackberry that I never posted because I needed time to finish them off first but never got around to them. I'm going to work on them in the near future and post them on here so that I have all my travel thoughts in one location.

Ramen!

2009-07-02T18:01:00.000-07:00

We're eating at a ramen place in San Mateo called Santa Ramen and here's my niece going at it. Haha she's cute.

urbandictionary.com

2009-06-02T23:20:00.000-07:00

Have you guys ever checked out this web page? It's like a dictionary on how to say the same cuss words in 3,000 different ways, especially if you're trying to mention the male or female genitals or something else having to do with sex.

It could actually be a handy dandy resource for people trying to figure out idioms and other slang in the English language, which of course would theoretically be a good resource for people like my cousins who are trying to learn English. However, the fact that so much of the site is not exactly a good influence prevents me from freely distributing it to everyone I think it might help. I feel that I have to sort of censor it in my mind and only tell people who I hope won't be negatively influenced by it, especially the younger folks.

Oh no, why did I post this on my blog! Eeks!

I trust that everyone who reads this is mature enough to handle the brunt of the intarweb(s).

If you are ever bored and want to spend your free time reading something slightly educational but mostly entertaining, then just scroll through urbandictionary.com.

Best airplane ride ever

2009-06-01T09:20:00.000-07:00

Ice cream on a plane!!

My first meal back

2009-06-01T09:10:00.000-07:00

I love my mom and her cooking.

I'm on my way home :)

2009-05-31T05:56:00.000-07:00

It's 9am and I am going through airport security in San Juan.

Things I'm enjoying once again

2009-05-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

A really hot shower
Snickers ice cream bar
Taco bell (yup, had it already last night)
Driving
Television (I started watching the Hills this morning and then found myself having to force myself off the tv to go to a different beach today. Good thing I never watch tv at home.)
Listening to the radio
Karaoke (last night at the bar)
Not haggling

Beautiful forts

2009-05-29T08:41:00.000-07:00

Castillo San Felipe del Morro

Dumb dutchies

2009-05-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

Too busy eating cheese and building windmills to win this battle :)

Vroom Vroom

2009-05-28T17:51:00.001-07:00

I decided to rent a car for $35 a day because the taxi ride from the airport to old town San Juan alone was going to be $19 one way so I figured why not.

Driving here is fun. It's good to be in the driver's seat again. American road rules except all the signs are in Spanish. Totally awesome.

I drove into old town, parked in one of the public pay lots for $3 until 6am and then walked to the budget hotel that I had heard about from the tourist information office at the airport called San Juan Guesthouse.

The room will be $37 for tonight but I like it. It's got a big bed and air conditioning. The bathroom is shared. So basically it's a little more than the price of a private room in a hostel in Australia.

The owner of the guesthouse seems super cool. He's fluent in both english and spanish, like most people I've encountered here so far.

He recommended a less touristy place for me for dinner tonight. It's called El Jibarito. I ordered pan baked grouper for dinner and I'm waiting for it now. I exercised some Spanish with the waiter who I think is also the owner and now he is making me only speak Spanish to him so that I might learn some more. That's pretty hardcore of him, I appreciate it.

The city is seriously SO beautiful. I am loving this place already. Someday I will come back here for a month. There's supposed to be good diving here and good ocean fishing as well, for marlins and other types.

Woohoo

2009-05-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

My friend Sam (that I met in Barc) called me from Arkansas! That would be my first phone call received in 2009! Haha

Love using my cell phone again :)

Argh

2009-05-28T10:46:00.001-07:00

Damn I just had to tip the bartender. America sucks!!!

Heh

More oddities

2009-05-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

I just asked for hot sauce and they gave me Tabasco. Oh the shame of American life.

I keep speaking to the bartender in Spanish because he looks latin and my brain is still in South America. He's responding in English. Hahahha

P.s. Yuengling beer tastes really really good.

Getting used to it again

2009-05-28T10:29:00.000-07:00

It's good to see this selection of beer again.

It's painful ordering a Mexican Salad for $10 though. LOL

I'm in Miami!

2009-05-28T09:06:00.001-07:00

Currently standing in line at immigration. It's nice to not have to fill out all the forms because I'm a citizen of the country I'm entering, haha.

Also, it's super cool to be able to read both the English and the Spanish on all the signs in the airport. It's like extra credit or bonus points!

It's also nice to see AT&T on my phone.

There was a small spot on my form that asked me to list the countries I've been to before entering the US. When I saw that I literally sighed at the task before me. A woman nearby heard me and asked me if I needed help. When I asked her how to fit 15 countries in the box, she just told me to mark down Colombia and it would be ok.

Soon, I will have 3 hours in the business lounge waiting for my flight to Puerto Rico.

I'm entering the United States today

2009-05-28T03:35:00.000-07:00

Wow. What a weird (but good) feeling. I am happy to be going home soon but also wish I had more time.

I can't wait to witness everything I miss, and also see how my trip has impacted my life.

At the airport again!

2009-05-27T09:32:00.001-07:00

Gonna fly back to Medellin today to take my next RTW flight to Miami and Puerto Rico tomorrow. Woohoo! So I'm just staying 1 night.

Santa Marta and it's airport is beautiful. When I come back to Colombia I am definitely visiting.

Air plans

2009-05-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

I purchased my flight from Avianca for the 27th. It will fly me from Santa Marta to Medellin, Colombia. That means I have 1 day tomorrow to do what I want here. I heard the beaches here aren´t that great, so I´m not going to check out Tayrona for a day.

Instead, I´m going to probably sign up for a diving course from a nice company here and do a couple of fun dives tomorrow. After that I will prepare myself mentally to leave Colombia, because I will be flying to Medellin and then from Medellin to Miami to Puerto Rico the next day, the 28th.

Here's how the town looks

2009-05-25T10:20:00.000-07:00

Just a quick pic of the water area. The entire inlet is about 300m wide.

In Taganga, Colombia

2009-05-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

Taganga is a fishing village on the Carribean coast that is popular among backpackers. It's a bit touristy here because of that, but touristy for Colombians too so it's still reasonably cool.

The beach here is a bit dirty, though I still think it looks nice with all the fishing boats and such. The sand is dirty though. It's easy to tell after being in Playa Blanca for a couple of days.

I'm drinking a mango juice at a restaurant called Bitacora near the water.

I'm thinking about doing some fun dives here tomorrow.

It was a close one

2009-05-18T17:48:00.000-07:00

On the Wednesday night I was in Medellin, I was supposed to meet David in Parque Lleras as Juan Valdez Cafe. (Yes this is a real cafe and it's really named that, haha. It's a big chain.)

Parque Lleras is a public square with a green park in the middle that has quite a few large trees that cover the entire park almost. (to give a description of how large these trees are)

I was walking along one side of the park on the sidewalk and headed to the cafe. I saw it in front of me. I was looking at the front patio area to see if David was around. I wasn't paying close attention to the area around me but there wasn't really anyone around so I just kept walking.

All of a sudden I hear some noise in the tree above me, and a large branch about 2m long with leaves on it and everything falls from the top of the tree that I'm walking under and falls down on the ground 5 feet in front of me where I'm walking. I stopped walking suddenly of course and looked up. There was nobody up there. I was expecting to see some kid grinning because he pulled some kind of prank or something. You never know, I was in a new country.

There was nobody up there. A guy that was sitting on the grass saw it all happen and he yelled out something in Spanish that I couldn't exactly understand. I think he was smiling because nothing serious had happened but he knew the gravity of the situation. I picked up the piece of wood to see if it was some hoax but it was a good 5-10 pounds.

If this thing would have landed on my head I think I would have been seriously hurt. It was so weird. I stood there thinking about it for about 2 more minutes before I continued walking and stepped into Juan Valdez cafe.

David

2009-05-18T17:37:00.000-07:00

While I was in Medellin, I met up with my David who had been traveling arould the world for over a year and then had decided to live in Medellin after he enjoyed it so much there.

I first met him in Egypt, when we were on the same Nile cruise together. He runs several traveling related websites, including gobackpacking.com and medellinliving.com Currently these are his full time jobs as he tries to survive in the Colombian city.

He met up with me once for lunch when I first got into town to catch up and have some Cuban food together. It's nothing like the Cuban food you'd get in LA. To be honest I couldn't tell the difference between what we ate and what Colombian food is, so who knows.

That night we met up and went out to a bar in the same area of town, near Parque Lleres. It was a Wednesday night so it wasn't very wild outside. A pretty chill night I would say. On Friday night I saw him at a bar/club called Blue.

During the week he was very prompt about commuication and he was super nice about emailing me information on where to go and what to do in terms of social events.

From what I could gather, David really enjoys the spirit of the city. The people are friendly and easygoing. The city is full of life, including during the night, and there's a lot of pretty people there, which I think David is trying to take full advantage of meeting before he has to go back home in 2 months.

He's been renting a decent apartment for about $40 a week he says. I've seen pictures inside his apartment. It's pretty nice.

I didn't get to see him the day before I left the city to come to Cartagena, but I have to go back to Medellin to fly out to Miami and Puerto Rico, so I think I'll have 1 evening to say bye to him before I leave the country.

Take ANY seat!

2009-05-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

On the plane flights yesterday from Medellin to Monteria to Cartagena, I was in a very very small jet. The kind that takes you from like Los Angeles to Barstow, CA. It was called a Jetstream and it was produced by BAE.

I was about to board the plane after walking out to the boarding area, but looked at my ticket and couldn't figure out what seat I was assigned to. I asked the lady who was manning the door to the plane and she told me to go in and take any seat.

Take any seat? Awesome! (I thought) except all the seats are small and cramped. There were only 20 seats or so total and none really had any legroom, so I had to put my backpack down on the floor in front of the seat and keep my legs folded on top in cross-legged position for the full flight.

The only seat that was available was behind the pilots. There was no door to the navigation area so I got to watch the pilots fly the whole time. It "looked" like a pretty easy task, though I'm sure it's probably not. I'm sure it's all peace and quiet until something goes wrong, so since my flight was pretty easy there wasn't a problem.

It was quite a bumpy ride still, because the plane was so small. I was sitting right by the engine. They gave me some earplugs while I was boarding. That was pretty thoughtful of them.

Water problems

2009-05-18T16:24:00.000-07:00

I took a 1.5L water bottle full about halfway with me to paragliding because I was still recovering from the night before when we left early in the morning to get to the paragliding site. I was trying to hydrate myself like a responsible individual.

So we get to the top of the hill about 3 hours after we first departed from the hostel. Lonneke (Netherlands) happened to have signed up first so she was called up first to fly. Karst (also from Netherlands) and I, after a couple minutes of taking pictures of Lonneke getting tied in and taking off, decided to sit down and hang out while Lonneke was getting her ride. After about 30 minutes, we realized that Lonneke was landing, so we ran up and started taking pictures of her landing for her. The whole process was quick and we needed to meet the timing, so I just decided to leave my water bottle in the spot where we were sitting and I would come back and pick it up later. (I knew that Karst was going to be next)

After taking pics of Lonneke landing and Karst taking off, Lonneke and I walked back to where my water bottle was, except as we were returning I saw a Colombian guy (happened to be one of the paragliders) putting my water bottle down and walking away from it. From his facial posture I could tell he had drank from my water bottle. I immediately thought, "what the hell man?".

There's a restaurant about 50 meters away. It's not like the guy was dying from thirst. He was just stealing water from me because he thought nobody was looking.

This guy just looked like one of those people who haven't bathed in like a week. I wasn't going to drink the water bottle after he touched it, so I got pissed off that he had just drank out of it without permission.

At some point as he was walking away from the bottle, he looked at me because he had some kind of feeling that it was mine. My face was cross and I gave him the "what the hell is your problem?" look to his face. I made him feel bad, so he said sorry in Spanish. Then he thought I might not understand, so he said sorry in English. I flipped him off and said "fuck you dude." He really triggered a reaction out of me that I thought was only reserved for taxi drivers. I felt like I'd been scammed again, and this time out of a water bottle. I was tempted to force him to buy me another water, but decided to keep my patience because I didn't think hurting him was the best choice for me.

I think my reaction shocked him because after that he got all pissed off and he was cussing out loud to himself. Lonneke and I sat down and continued talking about her flight and about how quickly Karst had taken off after they tied him in. After a minute or so the guy was standing about 10 meters behind me and cussing in Spanish, which I finally understood because he kept saying the word "chino" which means Chinese. There were no other asians there so I knew he was talking about me.

I just kept my guard up in case he was going to try something stupid. After a while to the left corner of my eye I saw a guy throw a big water bottle down the hill off the front of the ramp where everyone jumps off. I knew immediately that it was him and he had taken the time to get the water bottle and walk all the way over and throw it down the hill, as if I was planning to drink out of it again and he was hoping that I would be annoyed by the fact that he threw it away.

Lonneke and I started laughing. He was pissed. He was looking at me and saying "fuck you." I flipped my middle finger at him again with a big grin on my face and said "fuck you" again just to piss him off some more. He was furious but he was tying in to take another person up in the air, so there was nothing he was gonna do about it. He took off a couple minutes later with a customer.

Karst returned from his flight. He got out. They tied me in and we took off.

After I landed, we walked up to the restaurant to eat something. We ordered and sat down on the picnic benches and had a good meal. The guy walked by several times but never said anything. He never even looked in my direction. I could tell he didn't want an altercation when I was there ready for him.

We finished our food, paid for it, and walked down from the restaurant to the middle part of the hill where people were signing in and flying. We walked down the hill toward the road from there and after we were about 100m down the hill, the guy walks out over the top of the hill and yells some random Spanish loudly down to us. I didn't even notice until I was looking back at Lonneke because she was coming down more slowly than Karst and me.

I saw some guy at the top of the hill pulling his pants down and mooning us with his ass. I was confused for a bit until I realized that it was that guy. I immediately started laughing and said "hola! chau!" in Spanish and turned around and kept walking. The 3 of us started laughing like crazy because he was such a coward and I had pissed him off so much that he was making a fool out of himself on the hill. The people on the hill were laughing too.

We walked all the way down the hill laughing and then waited for the bus. While we were waiting Lonneke told me that during their wait for me, the guy had retrieved the water bottle and came over and drank it in front of her bragging about it because I wasn't there. That made me laugh so hard. What a freakin' coward, seriously? Karst was there with her but he didn't know what was going on so he didn't do anything.

That thought annoyed me. He was lucky we were already all the way down the hill when Lonneke told me that.

I hope that maybe next time he decides to steal he thinks about it at least one more time first.

Paragliding

2009-05-18T16:05:00.000-07:00

I went paragliding in Medellin 2 days ago. I had been planning to do it for a while because the Lonelyplanet book had told me that Medellin is the center of paragliding in Colombia. Also, Charlote had told me while we were in La Paz that I could do it there. The cost was about $30, which is a steal compared to what we would get charged in the states.

The whole experience took the full day, but the flying itself was about an hour long for me. There was a 2 hour public transportation experience including the metro and the bus both ways. I went with 2 Dutch people and for whatever reason they assigned us all the the same guy, so had to wait for eachother to finish. Also, after we finished jumping, we were quite hungry so we ate at the restaurant up there on top of the hill before we left.

The flight was nice and calm. The wind was quite cold and so I was glad that someone at the hostel had told me to take a long sleeve shirt or jacket. The entire experience was peaceful except for a couple of events:
1. when the paraglider is trying to catch a thermal (circular upward flow of warm air) to get you guys to float upwards higher in the sky and you're looking down at the ground, you start feeling a bit nauseous.
2. in the beginning there was pretty much no communication with the jumper, and so it worried me a little bit but later on realized that there isn't that much to talk about. He does pretty much everything, including the landing. At the end of the flight he just told me to lift my legs and then we basically crash landed on our asses.
3. There was drama concerning my water bottle. I'll describe that one in my next blog post.

And now, here are the pictures:

Strapped in and flying.

Getting untied after the entire flight and crash landing.

Here's what I looked like during flight.

Getting strapped in in the beginning.

Putting on my helmet.

Room full of Americans

2009-05-18T16:00:00.000-07:00

I'm definitely getting closer to home.

I'm currently staying in a hostel room with 12 beds, and almost half are taken by Americans. This is first for me to ever have this many people in the room from the states. Cartagena seems to be a popular location for Americans, which I didn't know before.

There's a guy from Michigan, a couple from Florida, and a guy from Kansas City.

The people from Florida say they got here with Spirit Airlines, and it was only $200 for their plane tickets. That's an amazing price!

I guess when I want to come back to Colombia, it won't be as tough as I thought it would be on the wallet.

Got sick last night for the first time

2009-05-18T15:52:00.000-07:00

Here's what I ate yesterday:

12pm - fried pastry that had pineapples, ham, and cheese in it
12:30pm - hamburger at the airport cafeteria
4pm - 2 mango fruit shakes from a street cart (1 creamy and 1 without cream)
5pm - chorizo off a street cart that didn't taste like chorizo
7pm - chorizo off a street cart that didn't taste like chorizo
9pm - a fish dinner plate from a restaurant near my hostel
10pm - 2 ice cream popsicles

Throughout the day I was drinking lots of water too.

Then at around 2am while I was trying to fall asleep, I felt the urge to go to the bathroom, and the bathroom is only 20 meters away but I almost didn't make it in time. hehe

Anyway, that went on for about an hour until I fell asleep. I woke up this morning and had to go again.

So this morning I decided to take it easy and hang out at the internet cafe. I ate a chicken grill plate at around 3pm. So far, since the morning, nothing bad has happened and I'm hoping that it's over, although after I had the chicken my lower stomach started growling again.

Tomorrow I'm planning to take a trip to the mud volcano. Hopefully the problem doesn't come back or else I'll have a little something something to contribute to the volcano.

Cartagena

2009-05-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

This afternoon I'm off on a plane to Cartagena. I heard Colombian busses are great but I decided the price was low enough ($100) to avoid another overnight sleeper bus.

This is the start of the Carribean coast for me. I expect amazing beer commercial beaches and wonderful coastal scenery with amazing fresh juice drinks.

We'll see what happens.

More pics of Australia

2009-05-12T18:03:00.000-07:00

Feeding kangaroos at the Australia Zoo.

If you've ever wondered what a kangaroo with a joey inside looks like, here it is. You can see the little tail of the baby sticking out the hole of the mom's stomach.

I'm such a rebel. This was on the lighthouse trail in Byron Bay.

This is my friend Jess (England) eating a gyro (they call them kebabs everywhere else) at a small concert in my hostel's stage area in Byron Bay. I just really love this picture. The lighting and framing came out perfect.

This is Bondi Beach in Sydney during the middle of *winter*. Whoever said Sydney didn't have nice beaches needs a head check.

More pics from Australia

2009-05-12T17:49:00.000-07:00

On Magnetic Island, I climbed to top of a hill to see the sunset when a bird flew into my view.

This was my bed on the boat that took me around the Whitsunday Islands. Quite roomy I must say.

Driving my Whitsundays boat around using my feet because I'm *that* good.

On Fraser Island, which is a place that's like 80% sand and we drove a 4x4 truck around together in crappy weather that weekend. At first I thought the white stuff in the back of the picture was salt, but no, it's just more sand.

I told you the weather on Fraser was terrible. We stood underneath a picnic area to get out of the chilly rain to eat lunch. Then once the Ipod speakers came out it became a discotheque. And yes, this is the weekend where I was stuck in a car with 8 girls.

I never finished displaying my best pictures

2009-05-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

So going back to Australia (I left off right after NZ :) )

Here's my friend Sarah (England) in front of the Sydney Opera House!

Here's my friend Sharon (San Francisco) eating chinese food in Cairns at an all-you-can-stack-on-your-dish place. She ate more food than me and weighs about half. This was one of our classroom day lunches during my open water diving certificate program.

Here's a blurry diving picture of myself in the Great Barrier Reef.

I caught the 3 girls from my diving group napping between dives. haha

This is what the water looks like in the winter at the outer Great Barrier Reef. Really nasty huh? haha

First thoughts on Medellin

2009-05-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

Overall so far, it's ok. I think it would be better as a first impression if I hadn't had such high expectations built up for it.

Are the girls pretty? I guess so, but no more so than other cities (excluding Bolivia) I've been to. I've seen a lot of silicon, which for some guys might be great, but for others like me, not so much.

Are the people nice? Yeah, I've found that most people are very friendly. They smile a lot here and look happy. I really enjoy that and it affects my impression. In contrast, people in Bolivia looked like they were unhappy to be alive.

Is the city beautiful? Yeah, it's pretty nice but nothing to gawk at. The area of the city where my hostel is looks like Westwood or Santa Monica. It's really nice. I mean nice enough to look like the best parts of Santiago, Chile. I can tell people here have some money.

I can tell that most of the people who are in my hostel have been here or are planning to be here for a while. They seem to love this place. I overheard some guy yesterday telling his family that he is going to live here, so he's looking for an apartment. I guess I need to stick around and poke my nose in different places to figure out why, because right now I don't feel like this is a place where I'd stick around for very long. In the back of my mind I'm already wondering what airlines I should look into to fly to Cartegena, which will be next destination in Colombia, right before I hit the beaches on the Caribbean coast.

I'm meeting an American guy named David tomorrow for lunch that I first met in Egypt on the Nile cruise. He's decided to live in Medellin permanently for now and I hope that maybe I can get some insight from him on what he enjoys about this city.

There's some paragliding going on here in this city. I'm going to find out if I can do it tomorrow or the next day.

Kung Fu time!

2009-05-12T17:14:00.000-07:00

I was at a restaurant today called Crepes & Waffles that I found in the neighborhood mall. (I'm in one of the nicest parts of Medellin right now by the way)

I walked up to the counter to look at the ice cream menu, because you know, I *must* have my ice cream. I stared at the delicious looking pictures on the back wall for about 10 seconds until one of the ladies working behind the counter greeted me. I said hello and asked for a small ice cream sundae looking thing that has whipped cream on it. I forgot what it was called but it was like 2 scoops of vanilla and a scoop of chocolate with a chocolate cookie stuck inside.

She says "ok!" and starts making my order. There are 2 other ladies standing there next to me and I hear one say to the other "he is Jackie Chan" in Spanish. As you can imagine my eyes enlarged at the surprise. I looked at them and said, "I'm not Jackie Chan" and smiled. They immediately reacted to that with looks of embarrassment. I laughed.

One of the ladies asked me if I understood Spanish. I said I understood a very small amount. She said she was sorry and told me she wasn't messing around to make fun of me, she really thinks I look like him. So that made me wonder, does that make it better or worse?

I don't really care about it. I thought it was humorous. I'm wearing a tank top today because it's humid here in town (with mosquitoes and everything) and maybe she thought I looked buff. I have this lucky habit of looking buff even though I'm a complete piece of flabby fat because I've now not worked out for almost a year. Or maybe they meant that I look old? GRRRR

I totally understand what they're talking about. You should see how many times I mistake one black person for another or in Bolivia I thought a random woman on the street looked like a travel agent I talked to about 2 hours before and nearly made a fool out of myself.

Saving money as a South American

2009-05-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

In most bus stations that I've used in South America, there has been a station tax that I've had to pay before I enter the departure area to get on my bus. Usually the fee has been around 50 cents.

Which is not a lot of money (you would think), but apparently makes a difference for a lot of poor people in these countries. It makes enough of a difference that almost every time I boarded a bus, the bus would pull out of the bus station as if to depart but then pick up people who are waiting outside to get on the bus.

These people already have tickets purchased and in hand, except they get on the bus outside the station so that they don't have to pay the tax. The bus ticket could be $20 but they won't go into the station to save less than 2.5% of the ticket price.

The whole routine is planned and understood by even the bus drivers. They know to pull outside the station and pick up a bunch of locals before they actually depart the city.

3 hour blitz of Arequipa

2009-05-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

On my way back up to Cuzco from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile, I had to change busses a couple of times. One of the cities where I did that was in Arequipa, Peru. A lot of travelers stop in this city to see the canyon of condors, but I decided that I didn't have time to afford there.

There's a famously huge monastary there and a museum that has mummies that I wanted to see during the 3 hours that I had in town (after I arrived on the first bus and before my next bus departed), but when I walked around town looking for these places, they happened to both be closed and so I never got to chance to see either.

What I did get to see is the Plaza de Armas and I noticed that the town is very busy and full of life. Before I had arrived I had thought the town was small, but after walking around a bit I realized that there are quite a few people who live there. I would also dare to say that it's touristy there but I have heard people who stayed there for a while tell me that it isn't, so I don't know whether I'm right or wrong.

I wish I had had time to stay there longer, but I had to save time for Colombia, so I cut it out of my plans. If I visit Peru again I will have to go back.

Helping destroy the ozone

2009-05-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

One of the side effects that I had from being at high altitude was the constant farting. Apparently indigestion is one of the natural side effects of high altitudes and it gives everyone more gas than usual. It didn't matter what I ate and it didn't stop until I arrived in Lima yesterday.

The other thing that I noticed when I got to Lima was that it was easier to go #2. It didn't take as much effort as it used to throughout Bolivia and southern Peru.

I know you all wanted to know this privileged information so I thought I'd share.

Solo castellano por favor

2009-05-11T16:05:00.001-07:00

Holy crap, nobody speaks English here. I'm so glad I didn't come here first. I would have seriously suffered. I'm not even sure if I would have made it to my hostel.

I made it here using the bus, metro, and walking today. I asked a lady on the bus from the airport where I should get off to get to a metro station. She told me she was headed there too so she led me off the bus to the metro. That was really nice of her and not unexpected because traveler's have told me that people in Colombia are super friendly and nice.

I saw a lot of hot dog stands on the way here but since I was carrying all my bags I didn't feel that I had the ability to eat any of them at that time. I will go street sausage hunting tomorrow.

Made it to Medellin

2009-05-11T15:38:00.000-07:00

All the workers at the airport are wearing masks. That's probably not a good sign.

A girl just passed out in the bathroom at immigration. Eeks.

The customs guy went through my entire backpack. Heh

I'm trying to figure out how to get to my hostel. Taxi or bus? Hmm

It's raining a little outside

2009-05-11T13:31:00.001-07:00

I'm in Quito, Ecuador for an hour sitting on the plane while more passengers board for our flight continuation to Medellin.

I am super excited about Colombia. Super.

Leaving Cuzco

2009-05-10T09:05:00.001-07:00

The skin on my face is dark and peeling everywhere because in my attempt to wake up at 4am and go out the door the morning of Machu Picchu, I forgot my sunblock.

I'm sure it will be ok eventually but right now I kind of look like a big mess. Hehe

I'm at the airport in Cuzco waiting for my flight to Lima. I am sitting next to 2 koreans that were staying at my hostel and happen to be on the same flight with me.

We shared a taxi to the airport and we'll probably share one to our hostels in Lima because they are close together.

I'm a little sad to leave this city. I really enjoyed it here. I hope I will find myself here again someday.

I´m back in Cuzco

2009-05-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

I finished off Machu Picchu! The 4 days were fun and seeing the city on the mountain was beautiful.

I just moved my flight to Colombia to the 11th, and I´m about to go to the travel agent next door and buy my flight to Lima for tomorrow. So today is my last day in Cuzco, which makes me a little sad, but I think I´ll live.

I have really enjoyed this city and I definitely wouldn´t mind visiting again.

Uploading pictures is not going to be possible from here. The connection is not good enough. I am going to try tomorrow from Lima.

Got up at 4am today...

2009-05-08T05:11:00.000-07:00

To take this picture.

Machu Picchu baby! It's beautiful.

P.s. Yes there is a data connection on Machu Picchu

Change of plans

2009-05-05T06:37:00.000-07:00

I changed my rtw ticket so my next flight is from Lima to Medellin, Colombia. I have decided to skip Costa Rica after hearing lackluster reports about Costa Rica unless you're planning to do lots of diving.

I'm flying out of Cusco on the 9th, then to Colombia on the 10th.

After Colombia I will still see Puerto Rico for a few days before flying home to LA.

Off to Machu Picchu!

2009-05-05T06:22:00.001-07:00

I searched through a couple travel agencies yesterday and found one that was $150 for a 4 day jungle adventure ending at Machu Picchu and Agua Calientes.

It starts this morning. I'm guessing I won't have any cell service until the last night.

The first day is biking downhill, and the 2nd and 3rd days are hiking. On the last day we will walk down to Machu Picchu from Agua Calientes for sunrise.

The fee includes entrance into Machu Picchu which is currently $40 so I think the price is a-ok.

Cusqueña Korean food

2009-05-04T16:03:00.000-07:00

Yep, I had me some Korean food again! This time I have a picture of the food.

A good start

2009-05-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight's bus ride is going to be good. Nobody is sitting in the seat next to me, and the tv screen is right in front of me. Woohoo

Omg this bus has free unlimited coffee. Wow again (even though I don't really drink coffee)

Off to Cusco

2009-05-02T18:41:00.000-07:00

For Mama Africa's, I mean Machu Picchu.

(Mama africa is an awesome bar in cusco, in case you don't get the joke)

I bought a ticket tonight from Cruz Del Sur, which is Peru's luxury bus line for $30 for the 9 hour night bus.

A lady just came by and asked me to put my seat belt on and they're playing a welcome video. Wow. Am I still in Peru? It's amazing what good companies will do to impress the tourists.

The price is high enough on this ride that it's pretty much filled with 2 week tourists and almost no long term backpackers. So that means it's gonna be boring for me and maybe I can get some blogging done before I fall asleep in a couple hours.

I splurged on this ticket because I'm quite finished with sleeper busses from hell. They're not that worth it because they screw over your next day if you don't get to sleep well. The Bolivian night bus from Potosi to Uyuni ruined me so now I won't do cheap night busses alone anymore :) I'm glad Charlotte was with me that night, or else it would have been tough.

And yes, since I left Charlotte last night, I'm now traveling alone again, at least until I hit Cusco and hopefully meet more cool people :)

Weirdness

2009-05-02T12:10:00.001-07:00

They're playing the movie "Pathology" on the Peruvian bus I'm on right now. It's got a LOT of gore in it, and sex and violence and there's kids on the bus. What the hell?

Not really an appropriate movie to play for the general audience me thinks.

I hate Chile

2009-05-01T20:52:00.001-07:00

No not really, but they DID take my 50 cent hackey sack that I bought in Bolivia during my Salar trip and loved for 2 days.

They took it away at customs because it is made with corn kernels on the inside. I bet the customs lady just kept it and gave it to her kid. That's such shit.

In Calama, Chile

2009-05-01T19:49:00.001-07:00

I'm in Calama, Chile right now. I made it to San Pedro de Atacama this morning after crossing the border into Chile.

My trip through Salar de Uyuni was awesome. The trip report is coming next.

I just slept through a 2 hour bus ride because I was a bit tired from having waken up this morning at 5am. We slept in a place that had no electricity at that time, so we were all packing while wearing our headlamps. It was the earliest I've ever been awake in my life without power, I'm pretty sure of that.

I'm taking a bus in 20 minutes to Arica, Chile. From there I will look for another bus to cross the border into Peru and get to Cuzco for the second time to see Machu Picchu. This bus ride to Arica will be about 8 hours long and an overnight.

I had to say bye to Charlotte earlier when I left San Pedro. I was sad again, like usual. I'll see her again though, when I visit Montreal on a big Canadian road trip or maybe she'll find herself in Los Angeles someday in the near future.

I sat next to some ass on the previous bus ride just now. I happened to accidentally lean on him while falling asleep and he pushed me off him with a thrust like I was purposely invading his space. What a jerk.

I am thinking again (surprise!)

2009-04-29T06:32:00.000-07:00

The recent taxi story I just posted has got me thinking, how convenient is it that I'm a guy and that I can do things like argue violently with the locals at 5:30am?

Imagine if Charlotte was by herself. Would she have argued with the man for $1 instead of just paying up? Would she have even taken a ride from a random car at 5am in a city she just arrived in? Charlotte weighs like 110 pounds and isn't exactly muscular although can be very tenacious.

It's amazing what size and male genitalia buys you sometimes when traveling. There are many situations where the situation is ok only because of who I am. I have more freedom in some ways just because I'm a guy.

Uyuni

2009-04-29T06:19:00.000-07:00

The town in the day was far different than our impression with the taxi guy at night. The area reminds me of a old western cowboy town, but with Bolivian buildings of course.

Most people seem content to sit around in the sun and relax or sell their goods, whether it be food, gifts, or household goods.

There are quite a few gringos in the area planning their trips to Salar just like we did yesterday.

We had about 4 ice cream cones each for about a dollar total throughout the day. We sat around in the sun. I blogged while Charlotte wrote in her diary.

We walked around to several travel agencies asking about prices and itineraries for Salar. I mad a call to a bank in the states because I lost one of my ATM cards a couple days ago to cancel it.

Right before we got some amazing pizza for dinner at Minuteman, we booked our trip to Salar with a travel agency called Andes Salt Expeditions. It's got one of the best reputations on the internet. The cost was $85 for 3 days and 2 nights but we decided it's probably worth it to pay a little more and hopefully get a better experience out of it, because there are a lot of bad stories from people about Salar trips gone wrong (bad food, bad vehicles, freezing at night, that sort of thing).

So this morning I am getting ready for 3 days of sun, salt, lagoons, rock formations, and hot springs. We are headed out at 10:30 and when the trip is over I will be in Chile again in a city called San Pedro de Atacama.

I chose to exit into Chile so that I can take Chilean busses back up to Cuzco for 3x the money and be done with Bolivian ones. Trust me, it's worth the money. :)

Bolivian wake up calls

2009-04-29T06:02:00.002-07:00

Today in Uyuni I am waking up to the sounds of the military band practicing over the wall from our hotel room and extremely bright sunlight coming through the window right into my eyes.

I couldn't take a picture of the music but those are our windows. Conveniently no blinds or curtains, and so I can only go inside my covers and throw the blankets over my head.

Sunblock will be needed over the next few days for sure.

(Almost a) taxi fight

2009-04-29T06:02:00.001-07:00

We arrived yesterday morning at 5am off the night bus from Potosi in Uyuni. Uyuni is where the great salt flats are located and where we will be starting our tour.

When we got off the bus, it was SO freakin' cold. Seriously what a change from Potosi. It's warm during the day when the sun is out but once that starts going down it's like being in Moscow. It's extremely dry here as well, but if there were any precipitation in the night it would be snow for sure.

Back to the story: we get off the bus and try to get our bearings. There are no taxis at that time. We walk around the corner looking for some kind of vehicle (there are many unofficial taxi vultures in Bolivia) and find a guy driving through that stops and offers us a ride to our hotel.

We tell him we want to go to Hotel Avenida and we ask how much. He says $1.50. That's a lot because I know the city is small but it's 5am and I'm about to cry from the cold so we say yes and get in. Normally we should have only paid like $0.50, to give you an estimate.

We get to the front of the hotel, Charlotte asked the driver to wait while I went to the door and asked if there's any room. An old lady opened a tiny square door at eye level when I rang the doorbell. She said hi and told me there's no room left.

So I got back into the taxi and we asked the driver to take us to another hotel that is less than half the distance of the first drive from the bus station to the first hotel. We're talking like 300 meters here.

When we got there, I rang the bell again and asked for a room. The lady told us there is room so we unpacked our bags from the car and the taxi driver asks for $3. We're like "what?". That's just way too much. $2 is the price of a 3 course dinner at the central market.

I argued with him that it was too much while Charlotte took her bags inside the hotel. I pulled out $2 to give the man for driving us to 2 places. He kept arguing with me that it was 2 trips for 2 people so I owe him $3 which is double of the original $1.50. I knew that was just bullshit so I just gave him the $2 and started picking up my bags to head inside.

He continued to tell me I owe him another $1. I was starting to get impatient. I told him a solid "no" and picked up my last bag, which he grabbed and tried to pull away from me.

We were playing bag grabbies at this point. I was slowly dragging him toward the hotel door. He was a decent sized guy but he wasn't going to be able to compete with me in a physical match.

I told him to let go. He was yelling at me to pay up. We were playing tug of war with my spare bag that contained alpaca hats in it.

I lost my patience after about 10 seconds of struggle. I realized I was going to have to beat his ass, so I started putting my big bag down inside the hotel entranceway and then my backpack.

My plan was to drag him into the hotel foyer and then take him down and then ask for the police, but right when I was about to tug him into the hotel he suddenly let go and walked right to his taxi without a word, put the car in drive and left. Not another word from him. Like it was all a show.

So then I realized he probably does this bullshit with every tourist that might get intimidated enough to pay up without wanting to fight at 5:30 in the morning, but it's not worth $1 to him to get his ass beaten.

I'm so glad I didn't pay the extra dollar to the scamming coward. I think it would have been fun to have an excuse to kick somebody's ass but I guess it's better that no actual violence happened.

We had to wait until 6:30 in the foyer for our hotel room so that we didn't have to pay for 2 nights. That was 1 very cold hour even though my adrenaline was pumping for a while.

Charlotte was so cold and tired (physically) she had been talking to the hotel lady asking about the room, so I don't think she realized how close I came to kicking him in self defense, which in restrospect, was kind of a funny situation. After the guy left and while I was thinking about what just happened, she said to me, "we have to wait until 6:30 for the room."

10 year old waiter

2009-04-28T21:08:00.001-07:00

I was served beer by a kid today in Uyuni. Like, literally a kid. He would stop at a table and do homework in between serving the different tables in the restaurant.

I wish I could have helped him with his homework.

Potosi

2009-04-28T15:42:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we took a pit stop in Potosi for the day on the way to Uyuni.

We stopped there to visit the local mines nearby. We left on the 7am bus from Sucre and arrived at 11am to hunt down travel agencies that were providing tours in the afternoon.

We were not planning to stay any nights in Potosi, so we just wanted a couple hours to see the mine and get out. We had heard that Potosi was not that interesting of a city in itself, although for some reason it is a Unesco world heritage site. (We never figured out why, Sucre is much more beautiful)

We did get several ice creams from the walking vendors in the city's main plaza. They were only 14 cents each but the ice cream tasted too watery and they were small. But my ice cream craving is hard to satify.

We walked to the convent nearby to see the inside but it happened to be closed during the hours that we were there, so we could only stare at it from the outside. I've heard that in Peru and Bolivia (and it may be the case everywhere) that the women who are in the convents are basically in that building for life (like a voluntary jail) and live out the rest of their lives there for the sake of god and humanity.

I think that's crazy.

Got new sunnies in La Paz

2009-04-28T10:39:00.000-07:00

These are actually halfway decent.

Cost: $5

Picture taken on the streets of Uyuni, Bolivia.

Museum of Contemporary Art in La Paz

2009-04-28T10:15:00.000-07:00

Charlotte and I visited this museum on our 2nd full day of La Paz along with half of the city on a long walk.

The paintings and sculptures in this place were beautiful, but it was more of a gallery than a museum. Most of the items on display were for sale from local artists in the area.

I really enjoyed the artwork in this place, such as the one you see in the picture above. Seems that my choice in art meshes with the Bolivian opinion.

They had also purchased quite a few works of art from other countries, including a original looking bronze sculpture from Remington Steele of the famous cowboy on a raised horse pose. I was surprised to see that there.

Pink toilet paper

2009-04-26T22:29:00.000-07:00

Yup. The toilet paper in Bolivia is pink. Don't ask me why. It just is. Maybe it makes the bathroom smell better?

Vino Caliente

2009-04-26T16:06:00.000-07:00

I drank this glass of hot wine in Puno the second night while ordering a small pizza for myself. It was super tasty. It had orange juice in it even!

Cost: $1.50

Semana Santa

2009-04-26T15:56:00.000-07:00

In an earlier blog post from Lima I wrote that the holiday "Semana Santa" in Peru probably had something to do with Easter. Well that was exactly what it was, except in Peru they celebrate all week long. Semana means "week" and Santa means "saint" in Spanish.

I watched Peruvians celebrate Semana Santa from Lima and then from Cuzco. Both places were alive and kicking in the most central parts of the cities. Each had a Plaza de Armas that had lots of people in it during the daytime shopping, walking around, socializing, and eating food off the vendors. Both plazas had a large cathedral where parades were held in honor of Easter with people carrying large models of Jesus on the cross and other religious stuff like that.

In Cuzco, I watched hundreds of dancers in the parade wearing traditional clothes dancing along. I took a short video to remind myself later of what I saw. I felt pretty special having witnessed this event because it´s supposedly one of the biggest celebrations in Peru every year, which I found out after I read my lonelyplanet book.

Picture of my skin wound

2009-04-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

Here´s my wound from the Death Road. I was the only person who got hurt on the ride down, so I think that makes me special?

It´s already healing pretty well. There was a bruise under it that was a little painful but that´s going away too.

The Death Road

2009-04-26T15:22:00.000-07:00

There´s a road here in Bolivia from La Paz called ¨El Camino de la Muerta¨ which basically means the road of death. It´s a bit outside the city and heads into the Bolivian jungle. The name comes from the fact that it has been dubbed the most dangerous road in the world by some public agency a couple of years ago. It´s basically almost all downhill and it includes dropoffs of about 600m off the side if you happen to be so unlucky and fall off.

At the top of the hill where the ride starts, there´s a sign that states that 43 people have died so far this year on the road. That´s quite a lot for a 2 lane mountain pass. haha

From La Paz, you can book a ride downhill on this road for 65km. I did this a couple of days ago and would have been completely fine except my back tire had 2 flats. When the 2nd flat happened, they decided to change bicycles for me temporarily until we reached a resting point to fix the flat tire on my bike. Well, I was stupid at that time and forgot that not every bike is the same, and so instead of learning to gauge the new brake system, I pulled on it on a turn hard like I needed to with the first bike and slid out. The rear tire went under my body and I ended up sliding on my right forearm for a couple of feet, which was enough to scrape up my arm pretty good. I´ll show you guys the picture on the next blog post when I upload it from my phone.

I had so much adrenaline pumping through me that the wound didn´t even hurt at first. There was a small flap of skin on my arm where it went in deeper but that´s about as bad as it gets. After we finished the trail down, I put some alcohol on the wound to clean it and that hurt like HELL. I almost had to scream as I applied the alcohol on myself.

Overall though, the ride was exhilarating and the view was amazing too. Sometimes the road got pretty darn narrow and there was fog blocking the view and so it felt pretty dangerous but of course I did it anyway, like always. I took some cool pictures and after I upload those I will display them on here, like always.

Because of my lack of planning on Bolivia, I didn´t even know this road existed until I got on the bus to La Paz and met Charlotte. She told me she was going to do this tour and so I basically joined her on the fun. It sounded somewhat dangerous, mildly expensive, and adrenaline filled so I couldn´t say no.

Something very funny happened about halfway down the hill. Charlotte somehow lost the nut and bolt that was holding her seat to the bike frame, and so her bike seat just fell off in the middle of the ride. To come down behind her and watch the staff picking up the seat and bar off the ground and looking for the missing screw was simply hilarious.

If you want to read a little bit about the road, you can click here.

Light electrocution never hurt anyone

2009-04-26T14:31:00.000-07:00

There has been quite a range of shower quality here in South America in the hostels and hotels that I´ve stayed in. One time I saw a metal pipe coming out from a wall horizontally that just leaked out water when you turned on the water. They called that a shower in Bolivia.

A lot of the showers in South America have small electronic heater systems attached to the faucet end where the water comes out. Because they are electronic though, they require power from the wall and so they have electric lines tracing along the shower pipe all the way to the end where the water comes out.

I don´t know exactly why this happens, but they have installed these water heaters in a way that whenever you touch the knob to turn the water on or off, you get a mild shock of electricity running through your body. The only way to prevent it is to stand on the little rubber mats they give you on the shower tile floor so that you don´t slip. That way, no electricity runs through your body and into the floor.

It´s crazy in a way but also stupid too. I think it´s because they haven´t properly grounded the electric charge but I guess they don´t feel they need to either. I´m surprised I haven´t been electrocuted yet while showering. But hey, maybe it won´t do anything even if I did since I´ve already been sort of hit by lightning once in Manaus.

Lost a couple of things

2009-04-26T13:57:00.000-07:00

2 days ago I went out to a bar in La Paz with a friend named Charlotte (Canada) that I had met on the bus ride into La Paz from Copacabana.

The ratio of foreigner to local in the bar was 50-50, so I sorta felt safe enough to leave my black polyester shell jacket on one of the tables while I was dancing. It was there for most of the night (I checked frequently) but at the end when we were leaving, I forgot to pick it up and about 5 minutes into the cab ride home, I remembered that I had left it. I went back to pick it up and it was already gone. *sigh*

It was a loss but not a big loss. I don´t think I will need that inner shell anymore except maybe in Cusco and Machu Picchu, but I have a sweater and a long sleeve shirt that I can layer under my green jacket instead for temporary purposes. The black jacket had already sort of been ruined by some inconsiderate laundry service in another country somewhere. It was stretched to the point where it looked too big and awkward on me and if I had gotten home with it I would have donated it to somebody instead of putting it on.

Yesterday I was walking around Sucre with Charlotte and ordered some ice cream to eat on a picnic bench. I had found an ice cream flavor named ¨durazno¨, thought it was peach, and wanted to look it up in my english-spanish phrasebook that Yan had let me borrow. I looked up the word and then must have left it on the bench when I got up because I went back to find it a little bit later and it was gone :( This one was a sizable loss because Yan had given it to me as a gift and it meant a lot to me.

Not only just that, right now I don´t have a dictionary to use until I get back to Lima and find a store that sells that sort of book. I don´t want just a cheap small dictionary, I want a book that will help me learn some grammar too.

$135

2009-04-26T13:46:00.000-07:00

is what I had to pay when I entered Bolivia in Copacabana because I was American. I was the only person on my bus that had to pay it. No other Americans on my 50 person backpacker bus was from the states. I think we know why now :) I´m guessing the $135 is just like Chile´s ¨reciprocity¨ fee of $131 that they force us to pay because we charge them that much just to turn in a visa application for the United States. That would be the reason why there´s hardly any Bolivians in the US too. $135 for a typical Bolivian is about 2 week´s worth of wages.

I had only $110 in American dollars in my money bag and not enough Bolivianos, and so I had to complete the other $25 by handing over most of the leftover Peruvian Soles that I had as well. I´m lucky I had those because otherwise I don´t know what else I would have done.

Worst case would have been that I would have had to turn around and go back into Peru to get money out from a bank and take a bus back to the Bolivian border.

Along with the $135, I needed to ask the guy next door to make copies of my passport and my vaccination card for 30 cents, and then fill out a long 1 page form too. Everyone else on the bus had to wait for me to finish the process. I felt bad for them.

I was traveling with Anita (Australia) at the time and she was an angel and stood in front of the bus to prevent the driver from leaving so that I could get back on. The driver couldn´t understand that she wanted him to wait for me until another lady inside the bus who was fluent in Spanish and English came outside and talked to Anita.

The bus driver then came into the immigration office and watched me complete the rest of the process. He looked at me and asked why I was from the US when I was obviously Chinese. Just like I have done this entire trip, I said I am a US citizen and my parents came from Korea. The men at the other end of the table all raised their eyebrows at that announcement as if it´s never happened before in their lives.

I think I felt a tinge of sympathy from those guys for being American and having to pay that enormous amount of money.

If Anita hadn´t been around I would have had to get my bags off the bus and finish the process alone and take a cab into the city by myself later on.

I have entered Bolivia

2009-04-24T12:32:00.000-07:00

I´m currently in Sucre, Bolivia. I didn´t originally plan on visiting Bolivia but several people along the way told me that Bolivia was their favorite South American country, and so I felt like I needed to see it.

There are a couple of things in this country that I´ve planned to see already. I already visited Copacabana on Lake Titicaca, La Paz, and now Sucre. Did you guys know that Sucre is the actual capital of Bolivia and not La Paz? Apparently La Paz has unofficially usurped Sucre in terms of governmental power but the capital is still in Sucre.

Tomorrow I am planning to take the bus to Potosi to see some famous mines there and blow up some dynamite. That´s gonna be pretty awesome.

After Potosi is Uyuni, a city on the edge of the salt flat high desert in Bolivia. Salar is the name of the salt flats there. After a 3 day tour of that area, I will re-enter Chile by road and head to San Pedro de Atacama and then take a bus up straight to Cuzco to do Machu Picchu.

I´ve only got slightly over a month left on my trip now, so I´m moving a bit faster to get as much in as possible before I head home. I will be doing a lot of moving (including plane flights) in the near future to speed things up a bit, which means more money, but that´s ok for now.

High altitudes

2009-04-17T20:40:00.000-07:00

By the way, right now, I'm in Puno at 3800 meters. Cuzco was at 3400 meters. On the way from Cuzco to here, the bus went over some mountains that were at 4400 meters.

These are basically the highest altitudes I've ever been to in my life.

Tiger leaping gorge in China was only 2800 meters.

When I first got to Cuzco, there was a small hill I had to climb up to meet Jill, a Canadian girl I met in New Zealand originally. The hill wasn't that steep but I felt that I was getting cardio tired a bit quicker than I normally would have. My skin has been a bit drier because there's no humidity here.

Other than that I haven't really noticed any altitude effects.

Puno, Peru

2009-04-17T20:32:00.001-07:00

Holy crap Puno is a cold place in the evenings. It's gotta be near freezing and it's still fall here. I think it could be deadly to venture here in the winter.

I made it down here yesterday by bus from Cuzco. Puno is a town on Lake Titicaca that you can get to the floating islands from.

As you can probably already tell, I postponed Machu Picchu because the railroad that takes you partways up to the temple had workers on strike for the last 4 days I was in Cuzco, and so getting up there and coming down would have been a drag and could have resulted in an extremely long layover somewhere.

I will be doing my Machu Picchu hike when I get back from Bolivia. I am entering Bolivia tomorrow and plan to be back in Cuzco in 12 days.

Tomorrow morning I will be visiting the Coca museum here and then taking a bus into a city called Copacabana, Bolivia. From there I will visit the Island of the Sun and then head into La Paz.

Also while I was in Cuzco, I met up with Ronald again (met him in El Calafate), and Nicole again (also El Calafate). Also I met 2 cool girls, Anita from Australia and Inka from New York. I am traveling with Anita now for a few days.

Yes her name really is Inka. How funny is that? Especially because the Peruvians use the word Inca and Inka interchangeably. She took pictures of half the signs that said Inka on them as we toured Cuzco.