Friday, May 29, 2009

Two (or three) week countdown back home....

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."
Sir Winston Churchill

I just finished reading Endurance, F.A. Worsley's account of Sir Edward Shackleton's courageous expedition to Antarctica. It was not a mere coincidence to read this book towards the end of my own journey, as I picked it up recently in one of the hostels I was staying in. Though we both took very different tracks and had unique outcomes, Shackleton and I have at least one thing in common-- the curiosity to keep exploring the world no matter the cost. Though this trip is coming to an end, I will continue to quench my thirst for travel and adventure whenever I have the opportunity to do so. I did not get additional pages in my passport for nothing!

There are so many little places, nooks and crannies of the world I am glad I saw. I never thought I would get the chance to explore places I never even heard about prior to the trip, much less even thought about visiting. From the idyllic countryside of Mariestad, Sweden and Krelingen, Germany, to the sleepy beach towns of Cabo Polonio, Uruguay and Canoa, Ecuador, to the surprisingly amusing Rovaniemi, Finland (Santa's residence) to drunk bumper-car driving in Munich, Germany to the awe-inspiring sounds of glaciers calving in Patagonia, to the soul stirring experiences of teaching kids how to add and subtract in the remote villages of Ghana, to cliff jumping in Krakow, Poland, and lava walking in Antigua, Guatemala, *sigh* this truly has been the experience of a lifetime.

I also thought at the beginning of this trip that some profound "A-ha!" moment would arrive, in which I would see the error of my previously foolish ways and discover what I truly wanted to do in life and "voila" suddenly change into a different person. Instead, what I have figured out over the past year travelling and meeting so many different and interesting people is that I have not changed at all. Rather, this trip reinforced what I knew I enjoyed most about my previous career in sales-- relating to people, engaging with them and forming relationships. Admittedly, I probably have changed, ahem, evolved in other ways though-- I have gone from a 32-year old beer-guzzling dude, to a 33-year old beer-guzzing dude who has travelled around the world. Big difference!

Though I will be trying to return (currently interviewing, so any job leads you may have out there, let me know!!) to my old career in software sales, I will be rounding it out with an added focus on things outside of work. Besides travel of course, I would like to write more (a book maybe in the future??), read more, surf more, help my village in Ghana drink more clean water, and also start planning the first few steps towards opening up my hostel in Mammoth. I know, big things, but I am lucky and fortunate enough to not only be able to dream, but actually have the opportunity to accomplish them as well.

Speaking of dreams, I am headed off to Columbia for a couple weeks to propose to my long lost love, Shakira. If all goes according to plan, WE will be arriving into LA sometime June 17th. Details on the wedding party to be announced shortly!

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Water caving and lava walking in Guatemala

Ash and I arrived into Guatemala City, and it was our first time flying into an airport since the whole swine flu "pandemic" hit. We exited our plane only to be greeted by a few stone-faced health inspectors, and Ash, in his perfect wisdom and timing, decided to sneeze a couple of times right in front of them! I was half expecting him to be tasered, wrapped up in a bodybag and dragged off into a quarantine, but unfortunately, that did not occur. We were also given a standard health form to sign off on upon entry. I thought to myself that I could (in my hungover state) actually say yes to probably about 7 out of the 8 questions available... Fever? Nope. Cough? Yeah, from all that smoking.... Headache? Definitely yes. Limb and joint pain? Pshhhhyeah, my knees belong to an 80-year old.. Eye redness, umm.... lemme check, yeah... Nasal flux? My allergies always act up on an airplane! Difficulty breathing? Well... I suppose it depends but sometimes. I guess I had swine flu after all!!

From Guatemala


We headed straight from Guatemala City and took the 8-hour night bus to Flores, to see the ancient Mayan ruins. One of the highlights that day was climbing up this rickety old staircase up one of the temples. I am usually not afraid of heights, but I am, however, very afraid of faulty Guatemalan engineering. I climbed up anyway, and when I got to the top I was nearly frozen in fear. There was maybe about two feet of clearance before you would tumble over and become, in the wise words of the Mayan gods, "ruined." (Bud-dump dump ching! Two shows nightly everybody!!) Anyway, no handrails were present either, and again reminded me how sheltered and protected we are in the US. When I asked one of the tour guides why we could not visit another temple down the way, he said that it was closed because two German (?) tourists fell down the previous year, killing one and critically injuring the other.

After just a couple of days in Flores, Ash and I headed over to Lanquin to visit the water caves and natural pools of Semuc Champey. On our 7-hour bus ride from Flores to Lanquin, we stopped for a quick lunch break at McDonalds. I ordered the usual Quarter Pound with Cheese combo and Ash ordered a Big Mac Meal. The cashier asked him, "Coca Cola?" and maybe it was because of the long bus ride, (not) or more likely, that his brain was on pause, but Ash looked at me completely confused, waiting for me to translate what this lady just said. An impatient teenage next to him told him in perfect English, "She is asking you if you want a Coca Cola!" Apparently still stunned, I told him, "Coca Cola in Spanish means Coca Cola in English!!!"

Oh yeah, I have to add yet another Ash Deer-in-Headlights-Lost-In-Translation-at-a- Fast-Food-cashier moment: Typically everywhere you go in this world, whenever you order food, cashiers will always ask you, "For here, or to-go?" Translated into Spanish, "Para aca, o llevar?" Keep in mind that Ash has been travelling through Central America for over 6 weeks by now, so you would think that when the cashier asked him this rather simple question, he would have been able to understand. But not this genius. Ash replied, "Australia!" thinking that the guy asked him if he was from America. How Ash misunderstood "para aca" from "America" remains a mystery to me. But then again, I suppose if you can't understand Coca Cola in Spanish...

Semuc Champey was awesome, as it was my first time ever swimming in and wading through water caves, with nothing but candles to light our way through. We later went tubing down the river and even had some time to jump off a bridge, one of my favorite childhood pastimes. Later that night, we had a 14-person poker tournament amongst some friends from the hostel for about a $1.25 buy-in. I ended up in third place even though I was the chip leader going in..... ahhhhhhh well, it was well worth the enjoyment of playing with new friends from all over the world.

Our last stop in Guatemala was Antigua, an old cobblestoned city that is best known for its tours up the live Pacaya Volcano. For about $13 you can hike up this thing with a guide and literally get to within feet of, as Dr. Evil would say, "Liquid hot mag-ma...."

http://www.killerclips.com/clip.php?id=79&qid=756

It is so hot in some places that one of the girls' shoes had both of her soles burned off! I always had this idea in my head that you needed space-suit type clothing and outerwear to get so close to lava, yet there I was amidst 50 other tourists dressed in nothing but my Nike Air Force Ones, shorts and a tshirt! I have to say that poking a stick in lava and seeing it go up in flames was one of the most amazing things I have done on this trip.

Complete pics to come up shortly (another virus!) here is what I have salvaged so far...

Monday, May 11, 2009

Cruisin through Costa Rica like a crackhead

After travelling through Panama, it was time to check out the western coast of Costa Rica. Given some time constraints, we had to blow through Costa Rica on a schedule I normally wouldn't even entertain. However, I had a friend from LA I wanted to catch up with in Montezuma, so Ash and I pretty much blazed through San Jose, Manuel Antonio, Puntarenas, Montezuma, and Monteverde in about 7 days.

Manuel Antonio was not as special as I had expected-- just another nice expensive beach town filled with mostly American gringos. There is a national park there but we decided just to get down to what we do best, boozing it up with random people we happen to bump into wherever we go. It's been cool to have a travel buddy like Ashley, since he is doing an around the world trip as well. Between the two of us, telling random people we meet of our adventures and stories tends to get people thinking of, or at least considering doing the same. We've told some of these stories a few times already, (they never get old, do they?) so key details and punchlines are always delivered on cue. Between the two of us, we could probably make some money on the lecture circuit!

We only spent one night in sketchy Puntarenas, and headed out to Montezuma the following day to meet up with Cathy and Char, friends from LA who were in Costa Rica for a short while. It was nice to hang out in Montezuma for a few days, given the hectic schedule I was on. Funny story about Char... we went to the beach one day, and the waves were pretty rough. It did not really deter me, nor Cathy from heading into the water though, but Char was a bit ambivalent about the whole idea. Char had actually studied at the University of Hawaii, so her reluctance to getting into the ocean was a bit of a surprise to me. Upon further goading and peer pressure, and against her will, she slowly inched her way into the water. By the time she got knee-deep into the water, Cathy said, "It's not so bad, right?!" I followed up and chided her as well, "And you said you studied at U of H!!!???" Not one second later, and I am not exaggerating here, a wave (whitewash, really) not higher than her thighs washed past her and the next thing you know, two legs shot up into the air, synchronized swimming style, scoring (in my opinion) a perfect 10! Char got up and said, "I'm outta here guys." We left shortly after for happy hour, a much safer option...

After Cathy and Char left back to San Jose for their flight back home, Ash and I headed over to Monteverde after a couple of days, and the main reason was to hit up the canopy tour, where you can zipline through over 1.5 kilometers of rain forest. It was totally worth the 7 hour bus ride from Montezuma. We chose Extremo canopy tours and highly recommend it as it had one of the longest ziplines at over 700 meters. For those of you who are not familiar with the metric system, that is about the length of 7 football fields. And this is not just a regular zipline-- you are probably going about 15-30 mph, high up through this huge freakin canyon, with wind blowing you around like crazy with nothing but a strap connected to this cable. Needless to say, it was quite an adrenalin rush and the most fun I have had in awhile.

From Manuel Antonio, Montezuma and Monteverde, Costa Rica


Sunday, May 3, 2009

Scootin and raftin around Boquete, Panama

After escaping starvation in Santa Catalina, Ash and I decided to head up to Boquete, Panama, to check out the hot springs and do a little whitewater rafting.

Boquete's a really small quiet town, (population 5,000) but surprisingly filled with American retirees. I was really excited to go whitewater rafting after trying it for the first time in Mendoza, Argentina. Unfortunately, the river level was fairly low, and we got stuck a few times on some rocks so the thrill factor (despite a couple of Class IV rapids) was a bit disappointing. Sadly, in about a few years, the river will be gone due to the fact there will be a dam built to generate electricity only for export purposes. It has caused quite a bit of controversy, but apparently the investors behind it include Carlos Slim, one of, if not the richest man in the world. According to the local guide who took us whitewater rafting, the environmental impact to the area will be incalculable. However, most of the locals affected were paid off a meager amount for their votes and the project was approved with very little local interference.

Ash and I met two couples the following day at Hostel Boquete (highly recommend) Tony/Tanya and Scott/Amanda and decided to rent some scooters to run around town. It was the first time I had ever been on a scooter, and it was a pretty thrilling ride, going up to 100km/hour (around 60 mph) on the highway heading to the hot springs.

Given my political science background and general interest in all things politics, it was interesting to be in Panama during its general elections. One rather odd law actually makes it illegal to sell alcohol from Saturday 12pm through the entire weekend until Monday 12pm. Apparently, this is to prevent people from getting drunk and forming angry mobs and civil disobedience, but little did they know about a rather sneaky guy named Daniel, who figured out how to buy alcohol BEFORE the ban. Unfortunately though, I was not able to lead any alcohol-fueled riots around Boquete!