to new friends....

i know i still have to update about argentina.. and perhaps this blog can wait until i´m at the end of my trip... but... i feel like it´s necessary to introduce you to some of the people i´ve met along the way so far because the list is growing---

+ nadine - one of my roommates in quito.  she is from germany.  we studied together as well in the same class and have shared many laughs.  we did weekend trips to cotopaxi, otovalo and mindo.  AND we are planning on meeting up in puno at lake titicaca in peru.

+ petra - another of my roomates in quito.  she is from austria and she took 2 weeks of spanish classes.  she wasn´t in our class though.  she also went to cotopaxi and otovalo.  and i enjoyed many nights playing would you rather with her and nadine while watching el capo 2.

+ tom - our other roommate in quito.  he was in the apartment with us but i think was suppose to have homestay.  nice guy.  older.  from chicago.  he was in quito for 4 weeks taking individual spanish classes.

+ saskia - she came as a roommate to our apartment after petra left.  and we didn´t have a clue that she would be coming.  to say i was surprised is an understatment.  she is from holland and was pretty cool.  although i only shared the apartment with her for a couple nights because i was on my way to brazil.

+ jimena - i met jimena in buenos aires after i posted in couchsurfing saying that i wanted to go to a tango class and a wine tasting.  she responded about the tango class and so we headed off together two hours later.  she is from mexico and i got to practice my spanish on her.  she is also fluent in portuguese and teaches people portuguese in mexico.  not only did i do a tango class with her but i also went to a bar two nights later where there are bands which play tango music.

+ mariano, steph, melissa, and kevin (and others) - i met them at a couchsurfing event that mariano set up.  him and some of his coworkers are in buenos aires and wanted to improve their english so they set up an event and put it out to everyone in buenos aires couchsurfing.  i figure... hey... this is something i can help with... and what a fun night.  i really enjoyed his friends as well as others would joined, melissa also from argentina, steph from vancouver, and kevin from los angeles.  it was just a really good night.  i would speak spanish and they respond in english.  a win win situation.

+ sue - i met her on the way from the airport in iguazu to puerto iguazu.  she was a wonderful lady.  older... and just fun.  open minded, traveling solo at the age of 60 or so.  she is from london and also traveled through patagonia.  she said it was a wonderful experience.  while in puerto iguazu i was eating dinner by myself when i saw her walk by... so i tapped on the window and she came in to chat with me for a bit.

+ jessica - i actually met jessica at the devil´s throat in iguazu falls.  we were both traveling solo and offered to take photos of each other.  she is from washington state.  we hung out all day together.  we even survived a major downpour together and made plans to meet up the next day.  we didn´t end up hanging out the next day because she had booked a tour of the dam but it was good to see her again.  she has a good heart.  after argentina she was off to volunteer in africa for a month.

+ ryan and clara - i met them at the hostel in puerto iguazu.  they were cool.  ryan was from australia and clara was from london.  it was a very chill night and we hung out well into the night just talking and drinking.  ryan was at the last 6 weeks of his 10 month tour around europe and south america.  clara was in the middle of a 4 month tour.  she was off to patagonia the next day.

+ ken - he gets a brief mention because he let me borrow his cord to download pics to dropbox.  yay.  nice guy... from london.  was working in a hospital in buenos aires for 3 months before heading to iguazu.  he was off to visit a friend in brazil after.

+ theresa - a gem.  a young girl from sweden traveling solo for four months.  she was a lot of fun to hang out with.  we shared a lot of laughs.  we had one full day together that we didn´t have any plans so we had to make our own fun which consisted of chatting with the guy at reception, dropping off laundry, having a beer, and exchanging money.  it would have been a lot more boring of a day if i didn´t have her.  oh AND she thought i was 23 years old.

+ mireke and audrey - they shared the room with me and theresa in puerto iguazu.  they also were both traveling solo.  mireke was from holland and audrey from new jersey.  mireke studied 3 weeks of spanish in buenos aires prior to coming to puerto iguazu and then was heading to patagonia.  audrey came from rio and was going to buenos aires the next day.

i will add more later... someone wants to use the computer... plus... well, i need to go and buy a bus ticket for tomorrow.  :)

brazil before i forget it all...

it´s been just about two weeks since i have been to brazil and it seems like forever.  honestly.... three days feels like a lifetime when you´re traveling.  and don´t ever ask me what day of the week or date it is cause i have no clue.  i just realized that today is friday.  crazy!!

anyway... brazil before i forget.  i had a crazy long layover in lima (where i currently am actually)... so i got to know the lima airport pretty well and i pretty much read over 200 pages of my book.  so i got to brazil in the morning, but my friend friederike was working so she suggested that i go to avenida paulista.  it is a busy street with shops and places to eat.  luckily i was able to leave my bags in a locker at the airport and walk around.  i swear i overpacked.  BUT... i´ve used/worn everything i brought.  so that´s good.  it´s hard to think back to quito and how we´d walk around in our jackets in the apartment... it is so freakin warm here... esp in brazil, buenos aires and iguazu falls.  but anyway.... brazil....

so i eventually got to see friederike and that was so nice.  we basically just caught up that night and i was crazy tired so i went to bed pretty soon after i saw her... sometime around 9... and i slept until 11 the next day.  i guess the layover in lima caught up with me.  basically the next day i watched some netflix, and uploaded photos... check my prior postings for entries.  it was raining so i didn´t feel bad about not doing anything.  it was nice actually.  that night we were going to maybe meet up with claus but he wasn´t feeling well... the next day we went to an area that has lots of shopping and frederike bought a skirt for carnaval.

we headed off the next day for ihlabela island which is about a 5 hour drive from sao paulo with a 20 minute ferry.  it was very warm... like 40c... which is about 100.  the pousada that we stayed at was basic but since it was carnaval, it was pricey.  the house across the way was rented to a bunch of guys who like to play crap music all the time.  boo.  earplugs def. came in handy there.  we met up with her friends the next day at the beach.  all of whom speak german.  so... i didn´t understand much but all was okay. friederike would translate for me every once in a while.  i think 3 out of the 4 spoke english.  they all spoke a bit of portuguese too.  i´m the only one who speaks one language.  yet again a realy why you should all keep up with learning another language.  i feel so much like an ignorant american not knowing another language... and some know... 2 or 3 or 4... it just feels lame.

at night we went out for the carnaval parades called blocos.  please note that this is also the time which boston got 2 feet of snow.  it made the news down here.  crazy.  it was weird to look at photos on facebook while i´m sitting there sweating my ass off... but anyway.  so yeah... during the nights we went out to see the blocos.  people really are passionate about this.  the costumes are great... and everyone sings along with the songs.  people dress up.  there was even a bloco where the guys dressed up as women.  they were fun actually.  but yeah, everyone´s out.  kids don´t go to bed til adults go to bed.  everyone´s up til the early hours of the night.  we left at 3am and there were people just arriving.  different life there i guess... plus it´s carnaval.

the last day we headed off to the other side of the island where we also did a hike up to the waterfall.  i didn´t realize we were doing a hike so i was so not wearing the right footwear. i had on my havaiana flip flops... which i had to take off since they were getting stuck in the mug.  and if you´re on facebook you know that i slipped during the walk and cut my foot.  yikes.  it is okay and healing now but it was a little painful the first couple days.  luckily there was a nice guy to help me along.  he didn´t speak english and i don´t speak portuguese... but... he was able to help me anyway... on the rest of the way up and the whole way down.  super nice guy.  when we got to the waterfall.. i ended up talking to his wife.... who i had to use spanish with but she understood me.  she was nice.  portuguese is so much different than spanish.  it´s so similar written, but it so is confusing when spoken.  the beach on the other side of the island was gorgeous.  so nice compared to the other beaches.  just a lot more untouched.

we left early in the morning the next day just so i wouldn´t miss my flight.  but there ended up not being a lot of traffic so that was good. but that meant i just got to hang out in the sao paulo airport a lot longer than i would have liked.  sad to say goodbye to friederike but... it was a good time in brazil.  so short.  not sure why i didn´t even think about traveling around more... ah well... whatever... maybe someday i get back there but... not sure on this trip...

i will update on argentina including buenos aires (awesome awesome city... i fell in love with it the second i left the airport) and.... iguazu falls (which is an awesome awesome site).  and... i am thinking on heading back to argentina after peru sometime.... we shall see.  it´s a great country.  i will update later though cause i just don´t feel like sitting at a computer anymore.... :)  i hope you all understand.

ciao!

hola de buenos aires

i have made it  buenos aires.  i realize that i never  from brazil!!!  i will post about that sometime but  i am on my kindle fire now and it is difficult to use touchscreen so i want o make his short.   I'm not sure how you all use your phones... i am missing the keyboard on my blackberry.  i thought this would convince me t touchscreen is the way to go but so far no....

anyway... i have officially stayed in my first hostel.  in all my years of traveling i have never stayed in one.  now that i'm 35 i stay in one.  people staying here seem to do their own thing.  i decided to stay in a private room so maybe that is why.  but it is fine.  there is a dog that likes to bark early in the morning but besides that all is okay.

yesterday i walked around the city.  it is nice here.  i like the vibe it has.  some older english couple  stopped me yesterday and asked me how to get to the river.  they were surprised  find out that i didnt live here.  not  why...  the conversation was in english.  i also posted to the site couchsurfing.org to see if i could get any recommendations for tango  wine tastings.  a girl from mexico responded about a good tango class at 9 so we ended up meeting up and going together.  it was cool but of course the walk to the corner of where we were meeting started to get me nervous.  but she was cool and we are planning on getting together Sunday for the san telmo market.  i didnt get in until 2am.  i am very tired.  i am also joining a couchsurfing group tonight for locals who want to improve their english.  i hope it is fun. and i hope to  practice spanish.

the cut on my foot is doing better but i need more bandaids.  alright... this touchscreen is driving me nuts.  hasta luego.

some photos from ecuador

a look at the mountains from downtown quito

typical indigenous house

indigenous taxi :)

lake quilotoa

a look back up the hill we climbed down.  thank goodness for horses on the way up

my guide and my horse

parque carolina... it was right near the apartment

the fake equator but it has a bigger monument

llama outside the real equator

this is the actual equator and a pretty cool experience

dirty llamas

loved this little boy...

a performance near old town

it was hot this day... not sure how they were dancing around with their outfits

best self portrait ever... in front of volcano antisana

open market...

cuy...  read previous post to know what cuy is.  also a giant piece of avacado

my friend on the hike by cotopaxi.  i did not zoom in.  this is how close the horse was

a look down at the city of quito after a ride up the teleferiqo

our accomodations in mindo.  i felt like we were in a tree house.  it was very nice and clean inside

the cable car that took us to the a walk by the cascades

these plants were everywhere in mindo.  i thought they were so pretty

voy a brazil manana

wow.  i have not posted in quite some time.  i am not sure if i can do a major update right now with EVERYTHING that i did since i last posted, but i will try.

actually - i am just going to do highlights....

+ papallarcta springs - absolutely wonderful hot springs....  there were 4 or 5 different pools to go into.  on the way to papallarcta we saw the most beautiful volcano ever.  i swear.  i wanted to cry when i got out of the van.  it was just such a clear view.  it was antisana.  not the main cotopaxi, but really just beautiful.

+cotopaxi - this was a weekend trip that i went on with nadine and petra.  it was a nice get away but man am i not in shape.  we stayed at a nice hacienda.  we did a mini walk on saturday and then another LONG walk on sunday.  it was 4.5 hours long and reached over 4100 meters.  we were pretty darn high up.  needless to say i had to catch my breath a lot and i was very much behind the other girls and the guide, but i finished it.  came back with a twisted foot and a cold, but i survived.  yay.

+pedicure - okay, so not a highlight but i needed one.  it cost $9.  it would have been 7 but she needed to take polish off of my nails.  it was an okay pedicure but she cut a little too close for my liking, but my feet are nice and happy now.  she did say that my feet were terible.  and then she translated, which well... there's not much difference between terible and terrible.

+el pobre diablo - a restaurant that we went to a couple times.  just really a nice vibe and also a good looking waiter.  he kinda looked like dane cook.  but overall just a cool vibe.  single candles on the table, a little dark, some funky art, and some jazz, electronic, funk, soul music.  it was just kinda good.  and the food was good too. 

+cuy - aka guinea pig.  yes, i tried it.  i wouldn't say it tastes like chicken, but kinda.  it was a little too salty for my liking, as much of the food here is.  but i wouldn't say it was the worst thing i've eaten.

+mindo - nadine and i went this past weekend.  it is a nice little vacation town.  they had activities to do and i went zip-lining for the first time.  it was so much fun.  they call mindo the cloud forrest and you can see why.  lots of fog and stuff.  and a lot of humidity.  we stayed in a hosteria which cost 23 per night.  not too bad.  on sunday we went for a nature walk.  we took a cable car over to the other side and walked along some waterfalls.  i've seen better waterfalls but it was still nice.  very hot.  i sweat so much.

+salsa lessons and cooking class - i went to salsa lessons 3 times since i've been here and they were great all three times.  i just wish that there were more guys to dance with.  it's tough being the guy in the couples dancing.  cooking class was fun.  i only did it once.  we made empanadas.  :)  they were really tasty and especially good with aji sauce. 

i'm sure there are other things that i am forgetting but i don't have much time to think.  haha.  my spanish classes went okay.  i don't think i've improved much.  i have learned every verb tense but when you pack that into a couple weeks it is hard to remember which, esp when you don't build your vocabulary much.  but overall it was pretty good.  i leave for brazil tomorrow.  i have a crazy long lay over in lima.  i hope to make it out to the city to at least use some of my time.  i am looking forward to brazil and seeing frederike and claus but will miss my time i quito.  it was a really great jumping off point.  anyway.. hasta luego!