why oh why oh why am i dragging my feet on booking my next trip? i'd like an answer on this. and i feel like i know it but i don't want to realize it. or something like that.
i've decided to go to europe to visit friends that i met on my travels... start in london. go to munich october 2-6 to meet up with luke and friends for oktoberfest. can't believe i will have gone to two oktoberfests in my lifetime. my life is great. i also want to go back to prague and visit poland. and fly from warsaw to singapore. travel southeast asia for 4 months (i'll be missing thanksgiving, christmas and new years) then coming back to boston.
that sounds like i'm trying to do a lot. am i? i can work along the way maybe... in a hostel or something. maybe be able to teach english. not sure on the qualifications.
last night i went to an info session about the peace corps. yes, i'm thinking of enrolling there as well. i pretty much have decided that having a "normal" life is not for me. the thought of settling down to one place, owning a house, having kids or even getting married is just stifling to me. i know it works for a lot of people... but for me, i think i need more of a helter skelter life (thank you chris mccandless). i miss the meeting new people EVERY day. i was just talking to my friend in london about it. he mentioned it and i couldn't agree more. eventually you do get sick of saying the same things over and over... but overall... my goodness it's great.
okay.... more to come on booking my trip.... i just needed to get that off my chest apparently.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Thursday, August 1, 2013
as i'm thinking of my next journey...
excerpts from the book "into the wild" by jon krakauer which i instantly fell in love with....
"i'd like to repeat the advice i gave you before, in that i think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing or been too hesitant to attempt. so many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. the very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. the joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. if you want to get more out of life, ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. but once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty."
"don't settle down and sit in one place. move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. you are still going to live a long time, ron, and it would be a shame if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience."
"you will see things and meet people and there is much to learn from them. and you must do it economy style, no motels, do your own cooking, as a general rule spend as little as possible and you will enjoy it much more immensely."
only on page 58 of a 203 page book... these are the people who inspire me to travel... to get out and see the world. and i thank them, because the world is awesome and amazing. thank you chris mccandless for being a free spirit and following your heart and passion to see something outside the norm. and jon krakauer for putting the pieces together so that i could read about it. it's kinda the modern day "on the road".
"i'd like to repeat the advice i gave you before, in that i think you really should make a radical change in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things which you may previously never have thought of doing or been too hesitant to attempt. so many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more damaging to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. the very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. the joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun. if you want to get more out of life, ron, you must lose your inclination for monotonous security and adopt a helter-skelter style of life that will at first appear to you to be crazy. but once you become accustomed to such a life you will see its full meaning and its incredible beauty."
"don't settle down and sit in one place. move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. you are still going to live a long time, ron, and it would be a shame if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience."
"you will see things and meet people and there is much to learn from them. and you must do it economy style, no motels, do your own cooking, as a general rule spend as little as possible and you will enjoy it much more immensely."
only on page 58 of a 203 page book... these are the people who inspire me to travel... to get out and see the world. and i thank them, because the world is awesome and amazing. thank you chris mccandless for being a free spirit and following your heart and passion to see something outside the norm. and jon krakauer for putting the pieces together so that i could read about it. it's kinda the modern day "on the road".
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
being home for a month...
so yeah, i never thought i would be home for a month but... i have been. and overall it's okay. i KNOW i will get back out into the world... i know i will, so i'm not completely depressed on being back here. i waited a while to get my passport back but... YAY... it's back. i just need to swing home and pick it up.
boston is great in the summer. it really is. i love sitting on patios with friends drinking beer, having it be light out until about 830, the warmth and even a bit of the humidity (coming from cartagena, colombia... the humidity we have here is nothing), and honestly this whole boston strong feel that we have going on is pretty remarkable. it reminds me of why i love this city. or, as i like to say, this town.
my comfort in boston would not have been completely possible without some wonderful and generous friends who have let me stay at their houses. amber and william just bought a new house in medford and graciously let me stay for two weeks. a beautiful home which keeps getting more beautiful each day with their renovations. and... i even got to be a dog-liker. i can't say dog-lover. i'm not there yet. but i actually... kinda like dogs. jasper was great. i didn't mind holding his paws as he jumped on me. that is a HUGE step for me. and anyone reading this probably knows that.
and now i stay with dustin who has welcomed me into his home for what is going on three weeks. this home is a place to feel ridiculously comfortable. which... sigh... now i just want to stay the rest of the summer in boston. plus, within walking distance to davis square dustin and i have managed to enjoy one or two or maybe even three of the establishments which serve beer in davis... and yeah... we have tried all the local beer that isn't hoppy. no IPAs for us, thank you. it's been fun. being in davis reminds me so much of why i love boston and the surrounding area. even talking about the electoral college while drinking 9% beer.
but no matter how comfortable i am in the area, my heart is truly on the road. it really is. i just started the book "vagabonding" by rolf potts and oh my goodness... this book is seriously my travel bible. it is like reading my diary. if i could write about my travels about everything i feel... this would be the book. it just would. i'm half way through. (it's only 205 pages) and i want to tell everyone who loves to travel and ditch their job and just go.... to read this book. i wanted to cry when i read some of the writing in this book because he just gets it. i mean, he's done it, so obviously he gets it... but... it's just such a great book. it won't ever convince a skeptic to start traveling or to make a drastic life change, but for those who are pondering the idea, i think the scales will tip once they read it. or even start reading it.
so yeah, now to plan southeast asia. a whole new world. it won't be like south america... and i'm getting the butterflies in the stomach just thinking about SEA but those are awesome butterflies to have. they really are. because once you overcome them, and you will, then you become a stronger, more aware traveler and person. :)
boston is great in the summer. it really is. i love sitting on patios with friends drinking beer, having it be light out until about 830, the warmth and even a bit of the humidity (coming from cartagena, colombia... the humidity we have here is nothing), and honestly this whole boston strong feel that we have going on is pretty remarkable. it reminds me of why i love this city. or, as i like to say, this town.
my comfort in boston would not have been completely possible without some wonderful and generous friends who have let me stay at their houses. amber and william just bought a new house in medford and graciously let me stay for two weeks. a beautiful home which keeps getting more beautiful each day with their renovations. and... i even got to be a dog-liker. i can't say dog-lover. i'm not there yet. but i actually... kinda like dogs. jasper was great. i didn't mind holding his paws as he jumped on me. that is a HUGE step for me. and anyone reading this probably knows that.
and now i stay with dustin who has welcomed me into his home for what is going on three weeks. this home is a place to feel ridiculously comfortable. which... sigh... now i just want to stay the rest of the summer in boston. plus, within walking distance to davis square dustin and i have managed to enjoy one or two or maybe even three of the establishments which serve beer in davis... and yeah... we have tried all the local beer that isn't hoppy. no IPAs for us, thank you. it's been fun. being in davis reminds me so much of why i love boston and the surrounding area. even talking about the electoral college while drinking 9% beer.
but no matter how comfortable i am in the area, my heart is truly on the road. it really is. i just started the book "vagabonding" by rolf potts and oh my goodness... this book is seriously my travel bible. it is like reading my diary. if i could write about my travels about everything i feel... this would be the book. it just would. i'm half way through. (it's only 205 pages) and i want to tell everyone who loves to travel and ditch their job and just go.... to read this book. i wanted to cry when i read some of the writing in this book because he just gets it. i mean, he's done it, so obviously he gets it... but... it's just such a great book. it won't ever convince a skeptic to start traveling or to make a drastic life change, but for those who are pondering the idea, i think the scales will tip once they read it. or even start reading it.
so yeah, now to plan southeast asia. a whole new world. it won't be like south america... and i'm getting the butterflies in the stomach just thinking about SEA but those are awesome butterflies to have. they really are. because once you overcome them, and you will, then you become a stronger, more aware traveler and person. :)
Saturday, June 1, 2013
being back home...
what does that even mean? i feel like through my travels, home became wherever i was... whether i was there for a day or three weeks. and now i'm back in boston. i guess that is what i should say. not back home, but back in boston.
a lot of people have asked me why i'm back... and well, i am not really sure. i got a bit complacent when i was in buenos aires. i love that city and spent three weeks there, but towards the end it got a bit too comfortable. and i felt like i needed to be uncomfortable again. plus... my parents kept asking when i would be home, a friend's wedding in june... and... some other things. so i felt like that was what i needed to do.. go to boston for a bit. but i booked my return flight from bogota. i got to colombia... and realized, all i needed was somewhere new. i had already told several people i was going back to boston, so i felt like i couldn't back out. and i had it in my mind (still have it in my mind) that this will just be a short stop. after traveling for almost five months, seeing something new everyday, meeting someone new everyday, that is just what i'm use to. i'm not use to the everyday life. did i get sick of introducing myself everyday? of course i did, but ya wanna know what? i would take that back any second now. :)
to pump myself up for being back in boston, i have to think about things that i look forward to....
+ bbq sauce, peanut butter, spicy foods - you can barely find ANY of them in south america... i missed these throughout my entire trip and if someone asked if i missed anything from back home, it was always these three things.
+ good beer - okay, so i probably could have lumped this in with the food, but... south american beer is so... blah. there was only one that i had that i could actually say was good... and that was club colombia. was so happy to go to on the border in the airport in orlando and order a sam summer!
+ not having to figure out where certain symbols are on keyboards - the @ symbol was alway alt gr + either 2 or q. the _ and the ? seemed to jump spots at every keyboard. and sometimes keyboards looked like keyboards from the states, but the keys were all different
+ doing laundry whenever i want - well, okay i guess i could have done this more often on the road, but when you're also looking to saving a buck, you tend to wear things a little bit longer than usual. or you wear things two days in a row, and wear it to bed. yes, that is what you do, and i thought that was kinda gross at first, but you just do it. and so does everyone else. but when you did do laundry (which was always drop it off at some place and pick it up the next day), you would pull out every single piece of clothing and smell it. it was one of the best things.
+ sleeping without earplugs - while i got use to hostel life and sharing a room, sometimes it was a drag. waking up with one earplug in and one out and trying to find the other one... just annoying. esp when there is some dude snoring away in your room.
+ throwing toilet paper in the toilet - in south america you throw it out in a trash can. all the trash. whether a number one or a number two. i got so use to this, though, that when i went to the bathroom in orlando, i threw it out in the trash. oops! at least it was only a number one.
+ being able to drink tap water - and not have to worry. yes, you could drink it in most places in argentina and some places in colombia. but it was always a "should i? or shouldn't i?"
+ not carrying money in my boobs - okay, maybe i still do it occasionally when i'm in the states, but i don't have that "this is my safety money in case i get robbed" thought. it is more of a convenient way of carrying it if i don't feel like bringing out a bag. and for the record, i didn't get anything stolen. came close though.
+ seeing friends and family - i've seen my family and a couple of friends and it has been good. my parents aren't travelers, so they barely even asked me how my trip was. which, is very frustrating to me, but i know that my friends will be super excited to see me and find out what i have been up to. and if possible i would like to meet up one on one, because then i get to talk about my travels even more. :) haha. selfish, yes.
i'm sure there are other things, but those things come to mind. i really want this to be fairly quick to be at home because getting settled means getting back into real life. and no offense, but real life kinda blows. i want to head on over to southeast asia for a couple months. it is meant to be really awesome. i need more pages in my passport though. i only have two fully free pages. it was three until the nice guy at colombia customs stamped me out of colombia on a free page. nice guy, though. he asked me what foods i tried in colombia. and actually, the guy at customs in the states (i usually don't like the states' custom people) was really cool. he was fascinated at all the countries i went to - 7 (ecuador, brazil, argentina, peru, chile, uruguay, and colombia) and said he missed his chance at backpacking. i told him that he didn't cause i met people in their fifties and even a guy who was seventy. i hope he rethinks it and goes out to see the world, cause it is massive and awesome!
a lot of people have asked me why i'm back... and well, i am not really sure. i got a bit complacent when i was in buenos aires. i love that city and spent three weeks there, but towards the end it got a bit too comfortable. and i felt like i needed to be uncomfortable again. plus... my parents kept asking when i would be home, a friend's wedding in june... and... some other things. so i felt like that was what i needed to do.. go to boston for a bit. but i booked my return flight from bogota. i got to colombia... and realized, all i needed was somewhere new. i had already told several people i was going back to boston, so i felt like i couldn't back out. and i had it in my mind (still have it in my mind) that this will just be a short stop. after traveling for almost five months, seeing something new everyday, meeting someone new everyday, that is just what i'm use to. i'm not use to the everyday life. did i get sick of introducing myself everyday? of course i did, but ya wanna know what? i would take that back any second now. :)
to pump myself up for being back in boston, i have to think about things that i look forward to....
+ bbq sauce, peanut butter, spicy foods - you can barely find ANY of them in south america... i missed these throughout my entire trip and if someone asked if i missed anything from back home, it was always these three things.
+ good beer - okay, so i probably could have lumped this in with the food, but... south american beer is so... blah. there was only one that i had that i could actually say was good... and that was club colombia. was so happy to go to on the border in the airport in orlando and order a sam summer!
+ not having to figure out where certain symbols are on keyboards - the @ symbol was alway alt gr + either 2 or q. the _ and the ? seemed to jump spots at every keyboard. and sometimes keyboards looked like keyboards from the states, but the keys were all different
+ doing laundry whenever i want - well, okay i guess i could have done this more often on the road, but when you're also looking to saving a buck, you tend to wear things a little bit longer than usual. or you wear things two days in a row, and wear it to bed. yes, that is what you do, and i thought that was kinda gross at first, but you just do it. and so does everyone else. but when you did do laundry (which was always drop it off at some place and pick it up the next day), you would pull out every single piece of clothing and smell it. it was one of the best things.
+ sleeping without earplugs - while i got use to hostel life and sharing a room, sometimes it was a drag. waking up with one earplug in and one out and trying to find the other one... just annoying. esp when there is some dude snoring away in your room.
+ throwing toilet paper in the toilet - in south america you throw it out in a trash can. all the trash. whether a number one or a number two. i got so use to this, though, that when i went to the bathroom in orlando, i threw it out in the trash. oops! at least it was only a number one.
+ being able to drink tap water - and not have to worry. yes, you could drink it in most places in argentina and some places in colombia. but it was always a "should i? or shouldn't i?"
+ not carrying money in my boobs - okay, maybe i still do it occasionally when i'm in the states, but i don't have that "this is my safety money in case i get robbed" thought. it is more of a convenient way of carrying it if i don't feel like bringing out a bag. and for the record, i didn't get anything stolen. came close though.
+ seeing friends and family - i've seen my family and a couple of friends and it has been good. my parents aren't travelers, so they barely even asked me how my trip was. which, is very frustrating to me, but i know that my friends will be super excited to see me and find out what i have been up to. and if possible i would like to meet up one on one, because then i get to talk about my travels even more. :) haha. selfish, yes.
i'm sure there are other things, but those things come to mind. i really want this to be fairly quick to be at home because getting settled means getting back into real life. and no offense, but real life kinda blows. i want to head on over to southeast asia for a couple months. it is meant to be really awesome. i need more pages in my passport though. i only have two fully free pages. it was three until the nice guy at colombia customs stamped me out of colombia on a free page. nice guy, though. he asked me what foods i tried in colombia. and actually, the guy at customs in the states (i usually don't like the states' custom people) was really cool. he was fascinated at all the countries i went to - 7 (ecuador, brazil, argentina, peru, chile, uruguay, and colombia) and said he missed his chance at backpacking. i told him that he didn't cause i met people in their fifties and even a guy who was seventy. i hope he rethinks it and goes out to see the world, cause it is massive and awesome!
Monday, May 20, 2013
in 10 days....
sorry i have not kept up with this blog in quite some time. i have much to update... but just wanted to let you know that i will be home in 10 days... may 30th at night. i am hoping that this is a short trip home... a month max... before heading off again. i need to get more pages in my passport... and hopefully a visa for vietnam. i think that southeast asia is my next stop.
i am in medellin, colombia right now and have met some good people and pretty much like this city as well. weird to think of all the changes that happened here in recent years with the death of pablo escobar. flying to santa marta tomorrow... and then go to cartagena where i meet up with a guy i met in valparaiso, chile. will be good to see him again. i love being able to meet up with friends again. it´s great.
but anyway... i am almost done cooking up a stir fry so i gotta go so that it doesn´t burn. would love to see you all for a bit while i am home so give me a ring or a text.
i am in medellin, colombia right now and have met some good people and pretty much like this city as well. weird to think of all the changes that happened here in recent years with the death of pablo escobar. flying to santa marta tomorrow... and then go to cartagena where i meet up with a guy i met in valparaiso, chile. will be good to see him again. i love being able to meet up with friends again. it´s great.
but anyway... i am almost done cooking up a stir fry so i gotta go so that it doesn´t burn. would love to see you all for a bit while i am home so give me a ring or a text.
Monday, April 22, 2013
more thoughts i guess.
i started about two or three blogs but never got far with them. i started one with things ive learned in my travels and another one about boston. and another just basic one. sorry my blogs have not turned into recapping about what i have been doing. i have really sucked at updating my journal as well. i left off somewhere in cordoba... and that was over a week ago.
first off... i am happy that my friends and family are safe after the bombings in boston last monday. it was weird and surreal to see the news. to be so far away and so detached from it. it felt like it was happening in a different city. not my hometown. it couldnt. i mean. who would want to hurt the city of boston? part of me is happy to have missed it... because it must be a horrible thing to remember and to experience. but part of me feels like i missed out on being a bostonian. or something. i cant describe what i am trying to say. but it just feels like i missed out? and now to see photos of medford.... where i use to live not so long ago... on the news sites. it is just so... weird. surreal. scary. all the above. just very confusing. things just dont connect. but anyway. i am happy that the police and first responders kept everyone safe. they definitely deserve all the praise that they are receiving from everyone. although i am far away. i will always be a bostonian.
so... now. i am back in buenos aires because i love this city. i have met several people throughout my travels who live here who i am very fortunate to have been able to meet up with again. some who i truly feel like im friends with. and that is an awesome thing to be able to say. i surfed a couch of one of them for a couple nights. mariano and his boyfriend eduardo hosted me for three nights when i first got back. they welcomed me to an amazing asado (barbecue) at eduardo's family's house. super nice. met the whole family... including his niece and nephew and nephew's friend who speak pretty good english. the friend asked me if americans eat a lot of chicken wings. ha. it is not common here to just eat wings. they think it is funny. but anyway. so nice of them to welcome me into their home... and i have gotten together with them a couple other times and we shared a mate. it is just nice. i like the argentinian way. they are very welcoming. and i absolutely love that you always greet people with a kiss on the cheek. whether you know them or not... whether youre male or female. you greet and leave with a kiss on the cheek. it is nice. it is warm. and i like it.
i am at a place in my travels... where i am just not interested in meeting more people or exploring. not saying that i want to go home, because i dont... not right now. but i just dont feel the urge of going out everyday and talking about my travels, where i am from, where ive been, etc. i would rather strengthen the bonds that i currently have. so... i am thinking of staying in buenos aires for a couple weeks before my next plan of action. maybe i will take more spanish lessons or maybe i will volunteer. im not sure. but i just feel like staying put and this seems like a great place to do it.
i love all the people that i have met. one guy i am traveling with now... matt is just great. he is 23 years old... australian... and pretty much the gayest gay i have ever met. he embraces that last statement so i dont mind typing it here. well... i thought that... until he managed to find another guy... gui. who is absolutely one of the sweetest people i have ever met. he is from brazil. and left today. i didnt say goodbye since he left so early. but matt and i met in cordoba... then i came to ba.... then we met up in uruguay and traveled back here. he leaves for australia on friday. i am going to miss him a lot because we have really bonded over the past 10 days or so. i feel like i have known him forever. and mariano is just an absolute sweetheart. btw... i think that buenos aires may be the gay capital of the world. or at least it is very open and widely accepted so it is nice to see. i hope the rest of the world follows suit soon. uruguay and new zealand and france i believe have all recently passed gay marriage. the usa needs to catch up! but anyway. i will miss both matt and mariano. and the others who i have met recently... or semi recently. gonzalo, sam, and helen whom i had an epic night with in valparaiso, chile. anna and phillipp whom i met up with a couple times in peru. it has been really special and i am lucky to have met them... and all the others along the way.
alright. i need to get off here and find a place to live for a week or two. hope you all are doing fantastic!
first off... i am happy that my friends and family are safe after the bombings in boston last monday. it was weird and surreal to see the news. to be so far away and so detached from it. it felt like it was happening in a different city. not my hometown. it couldnt. i mean. who would want to hurt the city of boston? part of me is happy to have missed it... because it must be a horrible thing to remember and to experience. but part of me feels like i missed out on being a bostonian. or something. i cant describe what i am trying to say. but it just feels like i missed out? and now to see photos of medford.... where i use to live not so long ago... on the news sites. it is just so... weird. surreal. scary. all the above. just very confusing. things just dont connect. but anyway. i am happy that the police and first responders kept everyone safe. they definitely deserve all the praise that they are receiving from everyone. although i am far away. i will always be a bostonian.
so... now. i am back in buenos aires because i love this city. i have met several people throughout my travels who live here who i am very fortunate to have been able to meet up with again. some who i truly feel like im friends with. and that is an awesome thing to be able to say. i surfed a couch of one of them for a couple nights. mariano and his boyfriend eduardo hosted me for three nights when i first got back. they welcomed me to an amazing asado (barbecue) at eduardo's family's house. super nice. met the whole family... including his niece and nephew and nephew's friend who speak pretty good english. the friend asked me if americans eat a lot of chicken wings. ha. it is not common here to just eat wings. they think it is funny. but anyway. so nice of them to welcome me into their home... and i have gotten together with them a couple other times and we shared a mate. it is just nice. i like the argentinian way. they are very welcoming. and i absolutely love that you always greet people with a kiss on the cheek. whether you know them or not... whether youre male or female. you greet and leave with a kiss on the cheek. it is nice. it is warm. and i like it.
i am at a place in my travels... where i am just not interested in meeting more people or exploring. not saying that i want to go home, because i dont... not right now. but i just dont feel the urge of going out everyday and talking about my travels, where i am from, where ive been, etc. i would rather strengthen the bonds that i currently have. so... i am thinking of staying in buenos aires for a couple weeks before my next plan of action. maybe i will take more spanish lessons or maybe i will volunteer. im not sure. but i just feel like staying put and this seems like a great place to do it.
i love all the people that i have met. one guy i am traveling with now... matt is just great. he is 23 years old... australian... and pretty much the gayest gay i have ever met. he embraces that last statement so i dont mind typing it here. well... i thought that... until he managed to find another guy... gui. who is absolutely one of the sweetest people i have ever met. he is from brazil. and left today. i didnt say goodbye since he left so early. but matt and i met in cordoba... then i came to ba.... then we met up in uruguay and traveled back here. he leaves for australia on friday. i am going to miss him a lot because we have really bonded over the past 10 days or so. i feel like i have known him forever. and mariano is just an absolute sweetheart. btw... i think that buenos aires may be the gay capital of the world. or at least it is very open and widely accepted so it is nice to see. i hope the rest of the world follows suit soon. uruguay and new zealand and france i believe have all recently passed gay marriage. the usa needs to catch up! but anyway. i will miss both matt and mariano. and the others who i have met recently... or semi recently. gonzalo, sam, and helen whom i had an epic night with in valparaiso, chile. anna and phillipp whom i met up with a couple times in peru. it has been really special and i am lucky to have met them... and all the others along the way.
alright. i need to get off here and find a place to live for a week or two. hope you all are doing fantastic!
Sunday, March 31, 2013
happy easter
hello from valparaiso chile. itś easter and i guess that most things are closed here. i probably should have moved on from here but since it was difficult for people to find transport to other cities and places to stay, i figured i would just stay in valparaiso. itś cool here though. a nice city with lots of street art. awesome street art. to call it graffiti would be a sin, i think.
im sorry that i haven been super awesome with my updates on here. and sometimes day to day stuff is not too exciting. and whatever. and sometimes it is.
chile has been great really. i didn`t even expect to come here but i did. i found out that americans can still cross into chile via land without paying the reciprocity fee. i will tell you that the reciprocity fee is getting in the way of my travel adventures. i didn`t go to bolivia for that reason. but people say that bolivia is beautiful and cheap. and it would probably pay me back in that way, but i just wasn`t organized for it. i get the whole point of the reciprocity fee... the united states charges people from these countries to get into the states so they charge us. completely understand. but i hate that us travelers are the ones who have to pay for our government`s decisions. i wish that congress or the president was cutting me a check for this. but until it`s done with i guess that i have to keep paying. and i will because i don`t see myself cutting down on traveling anytime soon.
so yeah... enough of the rant. life has been awesome. truly awesome really. and the thought of coming home is just... gross. i don`t know how else to explain it. people keep asking me when i will be returning to the states. people i meet here and some of you from home and ugh... i don`t even want to think about it. but it is such a common question. i joke with everyone that you have the 5 main questions when you meet someone new and we should all just carry a fact sheet around with us. first question is generally.... where are you from? second is... how long have you been traveling? third... where have you been? fourth... where are you going to? and fifth... which sometimes you honestly never get to... or you get to it hours or days later... what is your name? but i don`t mind those questions because generally everyone enjoys talking about traveling. duh. but the question of when are you going back to the states? um... not sure? maybe a couple months. maybe a couple weeks? and people generally respond.... that`s awesome. which it is. i like not having an end date. but then at the same time i feel like i`m suppose to. i will figure it out someday. i thought by now i would have a clue but i honestly don`t at the moment.
the thing i love really about this trip is all the people. i have met some great people. a lot from germany. a lot. to the point that i think i should be speaking german right now. but they`ve all been cool. i think i have liked everyone i`ve met with only a few exceptions. and some people i`ve met and didn`t connect enough with to exchange information but have wanted to tell them something later. that always stinks. it is a weird thing to meet people, share something awesome, and then go about your way. cause it is awesome in the moment then is kinda sad a day or two later. i have been able to catch up with a couple people... so that has been awesome. but overall it`s just an in the moment type thing. besides germans i would say i have met a lot of brits, some americans (actually a guy from watertown and a guy from the cape... oh and two guys who lived in dorchester), some australians... but not nearly as many as i would have thought. some people from israel. some from the countries that i`m visiting. it is pretty cool. i wish i had discovered the awesomeness of hostels at a younger age. not that i mind staying here now... but it is such a fun experience that i wish i have been aware of it years ago. i was always so scared of hostels. scared of sharing dorms, of people taking my stuff, of bed bugs (which apparently are quite common here), etc but it has been alright. people are cool and most places have lockers.
after traveling here for a bit of time, i think i can say that south america gets a bad rap in the states. yes, there are super shady parts and yes there are more pickpockets here than in the states, but overall it has been alright. in quito and buenos aires i saw cops EVERYWHERE. like... everywhere. it made me feel safe. and everyone talks about bolivia and columbia back home that it is just the scariest place in the world, but i have met so many people... some solo female travelers who have really enjoyed both of those countries. said they felt safe and that it was incredibly beautiful. and so i am glad to be out exploring the world. to... understand how life is. and to not completely feed into american media cause i think they make it sound worse than what it is. who knows. maybe i`m wrong. maybe i`ll get mugged today. it could happen. but right now... south america is an amazing continent with amazing people... it`s beautiful here. some parts are just absolutely stunning. and the locals i have met have all been cool. and not necessarily just the people working in the hostels or at the tour places.
this is quite a long blog... but i am not done. ;) it is interesting that the world knows about america. everything. they know the national anthem. they know who sarah palin is (which, i`m sorry... that is something you just shouldn`t know). they know the pledge of allegiance. it is just. i don`t know... weird. and i am sure it is just my own ignorance... but... it stinks. and yes america is a big country ... but we are so self centered. most of us. me included. i hope to change that though as i go. i really do. but on the flipside... people from other countries... unanimously have said that americans are the friendliest. we are open people and easy to talk to. and that makes me happy. cause i think that is something pretty awesome and a wonderful compliment.
okay. i am done. a different blog than what i have written in the past. ha. in the past long ago... but... yeah. just some thoughts on this easter sunday i guess. :)
im sorry that i haven been super awesome with my updates on here. and sometimes day to day stuff is not too exciting. and whatever. and sometimes it is.
chile has been great really. i didn`t even expect to come here but i did. i found out that americans can still cross into chile via land without paying the reciprocity fee. i will tell you that the reciprocity fee is getting in the way of my travel adventures. i didn`t go to bolivia for that reason. but people say that bolivia is beautiful and cheap. and it would probably pay me back in that way, but i just wasn`t organized for it. i get the whole point of the reciprocity fee... the united states charges people from these countries to get into the states so they charge us. completely understand. but i hate that us travelers are the ones who have to pay for our government`s decisions. i wish that congress or the president was cutting me a check for this. but until it`s done with i guess that i have to keep paying. and i will because i don`t see myself cutting down on traveling anytime soon.
so yeah... enough of the rant. life has been awesome. truly awesome really. and the thought of coming home is just... gross. i don`t know how else to explain it. people keep asking me when i will be returning to the states. people i meet here and some of you from home and ugh... i don`t even want to think about it. but it is such a common question. i joke with everyone that you have the 5 main questions when you meet someone new and we should all just carry a fact sheet around with us. first question is generally.... where are you from? second is... how long have you been traveling? third... where have you been? fourth... where are you going to? and fifth... which sometimes you honestly never get to... or you get to it hours or days later... what is your name? but i don`t mind those questions because generally everyone enjoys talking about traveling. duh. but the question of when are you going back to the states? um... not sure? maybe a couple months. maybe a couple weeks? and people generally respond.... that`s awesome. which it is. i like not having an end date. but then at the same time i feel like i`m suppose to. i will figure it out someday. i thought by now i would have a clue but i honestly don`t at the moment.
the thing i love really about this trip is all the people. i have met some great people. a lot from germany. a lot. to the point that i think i should be speaking german right now. but they`ve all been cool. i think i have liked everyone i`ve met with only a few exceptions. and some people i`ve met and didn`t connect enough with to exchange information but have wanted to tell them something later. that always stinks. it is a weird thing to meet people, share something awesome, and then go about your way. cause it is awesome in the moment then is kinda sad a day or two later. i have been able to catch up with a couple people... so that has been awesome. but overall it`s just an in the moment type thing. besides germans i would say i have met a lot of brits, some americans (actually a guy from watertown and a guy from the cape... oh and two guys who lived in dorchester), some australians... but not nearly as many as i would have thought. some people from israel. some from the countries that i`m visiting. it is pretty cool. i wish i had discovered the awesomeness of hostels at a younger age. not that i mind staying here now... but it is such a fun experience that i wish i have been aware of it years ago. i was always so scared of hostels. scared of sharing dorms, of people taking my stuff, of bed bugs (which apparently are quite common here), etc but it has been alright. people are cool and most places have lockers.
after traveling here for a bit of time, i think i can say that south america gets a bad rap in the states. yes, there are super shady parts and yes there are more pickpockets here than in the states, but overall it has been alright. in quito and buenos aires i saw cops EVERYWHERE. like... everywhere. it made me feel safe. and everyone talks about bolivia and columbia back home that it is just the scariest place in the world, but i have met so many people... some solo female travelers who have really enjoyed both of those countries. said they felt safe and that it was incredibly beautiful. and so i am glad to be out exploring the world. to... understand how life is. and to not completely feed into american media cause i think they make it sound worse than what it is. who knows. maybe i`m wrong. maybe i`ll get mugged today. it could happen. but right now... south america is an amazing continent with amazing people... it`s beautiful here. some parts are just absolutely stunning. and the locals i have met have all been cool. and not necessarily just the people working in the hostels or at the tour places.
this is quite a long blog... but i am not done. ;) it is interesting that the world knows about america. everything. they know the national anthem. they know who sarah palin is (which, i`m sorry... that is something you just shouldn`t know). they know the pledge of allegiance. it is just. i don`t know... weird. and i am sure it is just my own ignorance... but... it stinks. and yes america is a big country ... but we are so self centered. most of us. me included. i hope to change that though as i go. i really do. but on the flipside... people from other countries... unanimously have said that americans are the friendliest. we are open people and easy to talk to. and that makes me happy. cause i think that is something pretty awesome and a wonderful compliment.
okay. i am done. a different blog than what i have written in the past. ha. in the past long ago... but... yeah. just some thoughts on this easter sunday i guess. :)
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