We went to machu picchu yesterday. I had heard such great things that i kinda figured there was no way it could live up to its expectations, but words nor pictures can describe the grandiosity of that place. Truly worth it.
Ken and I also had some fun interactions with alpacas. Here are the last of the pics from my journey with my brother.
Ken is gone and now and I am on my own.
This will be the longest stint by myself. Although I am a little apprehensive, I know the challenges I will face will make me stronger and am excited to face unknown adventures.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Guinea pigs, Condors, Pisco, Labor Strikes & Ken
After a nice refreshing time in the states, I thrusted myself back into the world. This time with my brother Ken.
Thanks to all who put me up and took care of me. I love you guys.
So here is the update so far. My last night in the states I spent quality time with some amigos. I barely made it to my 11 am flight due to my extreme hangover. Why do I always do that to myself right before I have to fly. The guy on the plane next to me couldn't look me in the eyes. Not only due to the smell of booze permeating through my pours, but the threat that I may projectile vomit on his recently purchased precious $10 airplane turkey wrap was real.
I couldn't eat anything till 10 pm that night in Miami. I am disgusting.
Got to Lima, Peru at 5 am where I met up with Ken who was waiting for me at a hotel. I caught 2 hrs of sleep before going back to the airport where we both flew to Arequipa to hang out and acclimate.
We stayed in the town center which had a really cool colonial vibe. We ate some guinea pig which is a specialty out here, which tastes like dark turkey meat, but you litterally have to gnaw on the thing like a guinea pig in order to get any of the meat off. We drank a bottle of Pisco, Peruvian booze, which tastes like ass, but once you get down to the last 1 tenth of the bottle you start to warm up to it. We saw a 500 yr old mummy found atop the nearby volcano, apparently the beatiful daughter of some weathy Incan family, which despite all the decay, was still kinda hot, and we explored the largest monastery we had both ever been to.
After feeling no ill affects of the altitude, we booked a trip to the nearby Colca Canyon, the second tallest canyon in the world. Woke up at 2:30 to catch the 3am bus, but waited and watched a drunk Peruvian guy stumble and swagger back and fourth in the same spot for a full hour before we were picked up. It is important to stay patient and not feel threatened by local drunks while traveling. You will inevitably have to deal with both.
Before diving 4000 ft into the canyon, we stopped along this ridge where we watched enormous condors fly in the crease of the canyon. We listened to Simon & Garfunkel's "El Condor Pasa" while we absorbed our impressive and truly awesome surroundings. Forever the song will remind me of that experience. Really cool!
The hike itself was a 2 day trek into the canyon basin. 4000 ft up. 4000 ft down. As is the Inca tradition, we chewed coca leaves to help prevent altitude sickness and to give us energy. The leaves tasted like crap. Like a we just chewed on a bunch of cud. However mixed with hot water the tea is quite pleasant. We stayed the night down below and then hiked back up at 5 the next morning. My legs are still sore.
Next we went to Puno, a town on Lake Titicaca. The town is whatever, but we did go to the floating reed islands on the lake. Really unique. Apparently a local tribe escaped the neighboring warrior tribes and Spanish by building floating islands on the lake made out out reeds. They travel in Vikingesk boats and take shits in little ceramic pots that they laid out for us to see. Enjoy the photos of that :)
We were going to hang out for one more night in Puno before leaving for Cusco (the base of machu picchu) but there was a huge labor strike that is currently affecting the whole region. They put up road blocks on the roads and organized huge protests while the cops stood by with riot gear and tear gas, just waiting for the shit to go down. We literally got the last bus out of Puno before being trapped. Kinda sketchy, but it was fun being displaced by uncontrolled events and forced to the town of Juliaca, which all the guide books label as "the most dangerous city in Peru."
ken and i made it out alive and are relaxing in Cusco right now. Taking a ciesta. when we awake, we'll drink a bottle of Pisco and go out on the town. He has a couple more days here before returning to reality and then i am off on my own.
it feels good to be back on the road again. more to come. enjoy the pics.
Thanks to all who put me up and took care of me. I love you guys.
So here is the update so far. My last night in the states I spent quality time with some amigos. I barely made it to my 11 am flight due to my extreme hangover. Why do I always do that to myself right before I have to fly. The guy on the plane next to me couldn't look me in the eyes. Not only due to the smell of booze permeating through my pours, but the threat that I may projectile vomit on his recently purchased precious $10 airplane turkey wrap was real.
I couldn't eat anything till 10 pm that night in Miami. I am disgusting.
Got to Lima, Peru at 5 am where I met up with Ken who was waiting for me at a hotel. I caught 2 hrs of sleep before going back to the airport where we both flew to Arequipa to hang out and acclimate.
We stayed in the town center which had a really cool colonial vibe. We ate some guinea pig which is a specialty out here, which tastes like dark turkey meat, but you litterally have to gnaw on the thing like a guinea pig in order to get any of the meat off. We drank a bottle of Pisco, Peruvian booze, which tastes like ass, but once you get down to the last 1 tenth of the bottle you start to warm up to it. We saw a 500 yr old mummy found atop the nearby volcano, apparently the beatiful daughter of some weathy Incan family, which despite all the decay, was still kinda hot, and we explored the largest monastery we had both ever been to.
After feeling no ill affects of the altitude, we booked a trip to the nearby Colca Canyon, the second tallest canyon in the world. Woke up at 2:30 to catch the 3am bus, but waited and watched a drunk Peruvian guy stumble and swagger back and fourth in the same spot for a full hour before we were picked up. It is important to stay patient and not feel threatened by local drunks while traveling. You will inevitably have to deal with both.
Before diving 4000 ft into the canyon, we stopped along this ridge where we watched enormous condors fly in the crease of the canyon. We listened to Simon & Garfunkel's "El Condor Pasa" while we absorbed our impressive and truly awesome surroundings. Forever the song will remind me of that experience. Really cool!
The hike itself was a 2 day trek into the canyon basin. 4000 ft up. 4000 ft down. As is the Inca tradition, we chewed coca leaves to help prevent altitude sickness and to give us energy. The leaves tasted like crap. Like a we just chewed on a bunch of cud. However mixed with hot water the tea is quite pleasant. We stayed the night down below and then hiked back up at 5 the next morning. My legs are still sore.
Next we went to Puno, a town on Lake Titicaca. The town is whatever, but we did go to the floating reed islands on the lake. Really unique. Apparently a local tribe escaped the neighboring warrior tribes and Spanish by building floating islands on the lake made out out reeds. They travel in Vikingesk boats and take shits in little ceramic pots that they laid out for us to see. Enjoy the photos of that :)
We were going to hang out for one more night in Puno before leaving for Cusco (the base of machu picchu) but there was a huge labor strike that is currently affecting the whole region. They put up road blocks on the roads and organized huge protests while the cops stood by with riot gear and tear gas, just waiting for the shit to go down. We literally got the last bus out of Puno before being trapped. Kinda sketchy, but it was fun being displaced by uncontrolled events and forced to the town of Juliaca, which all the guide books label as "the most dangerous city in Peru."
ken and i made it out alive and are relaxing in Cusco right now. Taking a ciesta. when we awake, we'll drink a bottle of Pisco and go out on the town. He has a couple more days here before returning to reality and then i am off on my own.
it feels good to be back on the road again. more to come. enjoy the pics.
Friday, May 15, 2009
New Cell Number 415-321-0591
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Colombia
I am not dead.
Although i do feel like dying right now. Super hung over from an all night clubbing extravaganza in Cali, Colombia. But that is another story that is not really worth noting except for the fact that we thought it was a good idea, after no sleep and a full night of partying, to start bbqing this morning at 9 am.
I fell asleep before the kindling could catch.
Colombia has been really great. the people here are incredibly friendly and warm. There exists a different culture of trust and honesty that wasn't present in central america. For instance, you never pay for beer one beer at a time. you pay at the end when you are done drinking. In all the hostels there are fridges full of beer and you just take one whenever you want and mark down on a piece of paper how many you had during your entire stay and settle up at the end. That shit would never fly elsewhere, but for some reason it works and nobody takes advantage.
I started in Bogota, which I had originally thought would be a city i'd want to escape fairly quickly, however it was fantastic. There are a ton of college kids out in the old part of town which is a colonial style looking village at the base of the mountains. I got in there at 9:30 at night and immediately found some random Colombians who took me to the dirtiest most awesome heavy metal bar i have ever been to. Imagine 40 long haired, leather clad, bandana wearing, cigarette hammering, members of various local speed metal bands pumping their fists to Iron Maiden in a dark cave lined with kiss, ac/dc, and megadeth posters. My outfit was a little out of place, but my fist pumping abilities were right on par.
I went from Bogota to Medellin. The home of pablo escobar, and implants. Not just breast implants, but ass and lip implants too. Probably the most highly concentrated sector of barby wannaby look-a-likes this side of hollywood. Not that i am complaining. It was fucking awesome. Yes, the night life in Medellin was great fun, but I also managed to go on a pablo escobar tour where we checked out his old homes and offices that were sabotaged by car bombs on multiple occasions, his planes he used to traffic drugs in, his home where he died in, and his grave. Apparently people out here use the address of his home as lucky numbers. you can see in the slide show.
Some colombian guys also took me and a couple other guys fishing. I was stoked. I thought i was going to a picturesque lake or river, but when we got to the place i was a bit surprised. It consisted of 4 different sized bathtubs filled with water where you can hang your hook bated with a piece of dough which is tied to a 3 foot string tied to a 3 ft bamboo pole. Not exactly sport fishing. But it was a funny place to chill and drink a beer as we got soaked by torrential rain and the lighting almost zapped our balls off.
Plus, once you catch the fish they give you this stick to bash it over the head to kill it. There is something about bashing a fish over the head with a stick that somehow makes you feel like less of a man.
Next I headed to this quiet mountain town called Salento. It was a nice break from the party life and I was able to chill out and have some quiet time by myself. There are gorgeous views of river filled valleys and high mountain peaks, all covered with lush green grass. Colombia is a very beautiful country and not as dangerous as everyone makes it out to be.
There is a national park near salento that i went hiking in and i met some aussi guys on the trail who i had met in Medellin. We did a 4 hour hike and climbed 1000 meters through mud, horseshit and rain to the top of this peak where we found a little wooden shack and some guys serving hot chocolate and cheese. It was the most delicious thing I think i have ever put into my mouth. Besides maybe a philly cheese steak from the cheese steak shop which i can't fucking wait to have.
I cruised with these aussi guys down to Cali where we went on a all night bender and here i am. Good times.
I leave for Quito tomorrow and am getting ready for my flight home on the 13th. It has been quite an adventure so far. Looking forward to continuing with more familiar faces and landscapes.
Although i do feel like dying right now. Super hung over from an all night clubbing extravaganza in Cali, Colombia. But that is another story that is not really worth noting except for the fact that we thought it was a good idea, after no sleep and a full night of partying, to start bbqing this morning at 9 am.
I fell asleep before the kindling could catch.
Colombia has been really great. the people here are incredibly friendly and warm. There exists a different culture of trust and honesty that wasn't present in central america. For instance, you never pay for beer one beer at a time. you pay at the end when you are done drinking. In all the hostels there are fridges full of beer and you just take one whenever you want and mark down on a piece of paper how many you had during your entire stay and settle up at the end. That shit would never fly elsewhere, but for some reason it works and nobody takes advantage.
I started in Bogota, which I had originally thought would be a city i'd want to escape fairly quickly, however it was fantastic. There are a ton of college kids out in the old part of town which is a colonial style looking village at the base of the mountains. I got in there at 9:30 at night and immediately found some random Colombians who took me to the dirtiest most awesome heavy metal bar i have ever been to. Imagine 40 long haired, leather clad, bandana wearing, cigarette hammering, members of various local speed metal bands pumping their fists to Iron Maiden in a dark cave lined with kiss, ac/dc, and megadeth posters. My outfit was a little out of place, but my fist pumping abilities were right on par.
I went from Bogota to Medellin. The home of pablo escobar, and implants. Not just breast implants, but ass and lip implants too. Probably the most highly concentrated sector of barby wannaby look-a-likes this side of hollywood. Not that i am complaining. It was fucking awesome. Yes, the night life in Medellin was great fun, but I also managed to go on a pablo escobar tour where we checked out his old homes and offices that were sabotaged by car bombs on multiple occasions, his planes he used to traffic drugs in, his home where he died in, and his grave. Apparently people out here use the address of his home as lucky numbers. you can see in the slide show.
Some colombian guys also took me and a couple other guys fishing. I was stoked. I thought i was going to a picturesque lake or river, but when we got to the place i was a bit surprised. It consisted of 4 different sized bathtubs filled with water where you can hang your hook bated with a piece of dough which is tied to a 3 foot string tied to a 3 ft bamboo pole. Not exactly sport fishing. But it was a funny place to chill and drink a beer as we got soaked by torrential rain and the lighting almost zapped our balls off.
Plus, once you catch the fish they give you this stick to bash it over the head to kill it. There is something about bashing a fish over the head with a stick that somehow makes you feel like less of a man.
Next I headed to this quiet mountain town called Salento. It was a nice break from the party life and I was able to chill out and have some quiet time by myself. There are gorgeous views of river filled valleys and high mountain peaks, all covered with lush green grass. Colombia is a very beautiful country and not as dangerous as everyone makes it out to be.
There is a national park near salento that i went hiking in and i met some aussi guys on the trail who i had met in Medellin. We did a 4 hour hike and climbed 1000 meters through mud, horseshit and rain to the top of this peak where we found a little wooden shack and some guys serving hot chocolate and cheese. It was the most delicious thing I think i have ever put into my mouth. Besides maybe a philly cheese steak from the cheese steak shop which i can't fucking wait to have.
I cruised with these aussi guys down to Cali where we went on a all night bender and here i am. Good times.
I leave for Quito tomorrow and am getting ready for my flight home on the 13th. It has been quite an adventure so far. Looking forward to continuing with more familiar faces and landscapes.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Bocas Del Toro Con Amigos
Bocas Del Toro is the shit.
Not to mention i was blessed to have friends from the states who wanted to come and meet me. Scott also met up for this trip too. There were 8 of us in a room which included a huge balcony overlooking the water, a fridge for us to stock our beer, and our own bathroom.
8 dudes in a room is a stinky ass room. Not to mention there was a water situation which limited our ability to flush the toilet, unless of course we filled up a metal bucket with sea water to aid in our sanitary managment. which was not the best alternative since we were not sure if the toilet water from the hostel was going into the ocean below us and we were just filling the bucket up with what we were flushing down. Gross right?
I actually decided it may be better to flush the toilet with disgusting 8 gallon jug of TANG we baught, but that resulted in a nuclear looking pot of orange brown toxic spooge which would most likely take 8 billion yrs to decay. (sorry for the imagery, but it was noteworthy)
Bocas has a water shortage issue so the water is only on for two hours a day between 7-8 am/pm
Becuase of the bucket situation you could tell when anyone in the whole hostel needed to flush their shit becuase they went to the deck to fill their bucket. I must say, the expressions on the girls' faces when they came to the deck to fill their buckets were priceless.
Water situation aside, bocas was a ton of fun. There are young people everywhere and it seems every night is either 80's night or lady's night. Plus, beers cost 60 cents. Paradise!
The surf swell was not that big which was perfect for me. We found a boat captain, Willy, to take us out everyday. He'd drop us off at a remote beach 30 min away, we'd paddle out of the boat to the surf, then he'd come back to get us 3 hrs later. Really cool experience. Plus i caught the best waves of my life on this trip. I've been improving.
One night we decided to play wizard staff. For those who don't know, Wizard staff is a geniously simple game that involves beer and tape. In short, you drink a can of beer and you duck tape your next beer to the top of your empty can. Eventually, you start to form a wizard staff made of your beer cans. If you drink enough to create a staff as tall as you are, you win. it was a tone of drunken fun and i incuded some pics for your viewing pleasure. oh, we made hats too.
The food situation was pretty good. It is super cheap and filling. for $3-$4 you can get a huge plate of food at one of the local cafateria style restaraunts. Or you can just do what i did and eat dim sum from off a rack at the local hardware store and for dessert, go straight for the carribean burger truck that makes sloppy joe type burgers consisting of the most delicious mystery meat ever.
It was a very successful trip. Oh, and did i mention we partied with the ex hells angel president Rodney Gee. He's a scary lookin fucker who likes to slam $1500 cash on the bar in panama. A good way to attract negative attention quickly. We did not stick around him long.
So all of the guys left yesterday and i said goodbye to governor this morning. Thus ends our adventures together as we both embark on our solo journeys. It has been an amazing ride so far and we both realize, in retrospect, what a no brainer decision it was to leave and venture out into the world. Tryuly priceless.
Originally i planned to take a boat from panama city to colombia, but i changed my mind. The boat will take a while and it costs the same as a flight. I figured i'd rather spend the 5 days in colombia than manning the helm of a boat while the captain is in a passed out drunken slumber. This has been a common story of this boat ride.
So i booked a flight and then decided i'd sell my surf board. I Surfed yesterday morning for one last session, then slapped a 4 sale sign on it and walked with it around town trying to slang it to whoever. I tried everything and everyone and no bites. My throat was dry so i figured i'd have myself a brew. I walked into this bar i know and ended up selling it to the bar tender for $100. which is only $50 less than what i baught it for. Now i am traveling a bit lighter and it feels nice. I don't have to worry about swinging it around the wrong way and hitting some random guy in the balls, or myself for that matter. AND, some guy in bocas will be cruizing around with a surfboard with a big ass profile of my face on the bottom. That makes me smile.
Now i am sitting in the airport in panama city waiting for my flight to bogota in 6 hrs. I got 20 or so days left on this section and i am doing it all solo into uncharted waters. I am really excited and will make the best of every minute of it.
Some reflections at this point: Since i made my decision to come back home i have found myself thinking more and more of what i am going to do when i get there. All the things that pass through my mind are enjoyable, and make me happy, but at the same time i still have 20 days left here. By making future plans and by having something to look forward to, I have to work harder to try and appreciate the present moment. When i had no where i needed to be and nowhere i needed to go, i was just where i was at that moment and that was ok.
Now i have to be somewhere at a certain time and that it is influencing my thoughts and actions as opposed to doing things on a whim because that is the way i am feeling at a particular moment.
I am not saying it is bad for me to have plans, but i noticed the difference in my outlook after they were made. Like i said, I have 20 more days and i plan to work harder at appreciating the present without letting the looming future hinder my ability to enjoy where i am.
That being said, i am really looking forward to seeing freinds and family again.
enjoy the slide show.
Not to mention i was blessed to have friends from the states who wanted to come and meet me. Scott also met up for this trip too. There were 8 of us in a room which included a huge balcony overlooking the water, a fridge for us to stock our beer, and our own bathroom.
8 dudes in a room is a stinky ass room. Not to mention there was a water situation which limited our ability to flush the toilet, unless of course we filled up a metal bucket with sea water to aid in our sanitary managment. which was not the best alternative since we were not sure if the toilet water from the hostel was going into the ocean below us and we were just filling the bucket up with what we were flushing down. Gross right?
I actually decided it may be better to flush the toilet with disgusting 8 gallon jug of TANG we baught, but that resulted in a nuclear looking pot of orange brown toxic spooge which would most likely take 8 billion yrs to decay. (sorry for the imagery, but it was noteworthy)
Bocas has a water shortage issue so the water is only on for two hours a day between 7-8 am/pm
Becuase of the bucket situation you could tell when anyone in the whole hostel needed to flush their shit becuase they went to the deck to fill their bucket. I must say, the expressions on the girls' faces when they came to the deck to fill their buckets were priceless.
Water situation aside, bocas was a ton of fun. There are young people everywhere and it seems every night is either 80's night or lady's night. Plus, beers cost 60 cents. Paradise!
The surf swell was not that big which was perfect for me. We found a boat captain, Willy, to take us out everyday. He'd drop us off at a remote beach 30 min away, we'd paddle out of the boat to the surf, then he'd come back to get us 3 hrs later. Really cool experience. Plus i caught the best waves of my life on this trip. I've been improving.
One night we decided to play wizard staff. For those who don't know, Wizard staff is a geniously simple game that involves beer and tape. In short, you drink a can of beer and you duck tape your next beer to the top of your empty can. Eventually, you start to form a wizard staff made of your beer cans. If you drink enough to create a staff as tall as you are, you win. it was a tone of drunken fun and i incuded some pics for your viewing pleasure. oh, we made hats too.
The food situation was pretty good. It is super cheap and filling. for $3-$4 you can get a huge plate of food at one of the local cafateria style restaraunts. Or you can just do what i did and eat dim sum from off a rack at the local hardware store and for dessert, go straight for the carribean burger truck that makes sloppy joe type burgers consisting of the most delicious mystery meat ever.
It was a very successful trip. Oh, and did i mention we partied with the ex hells angel president Rodney Gee. He's a scary lookin fucker who likes to slam $1500 cash on the bar in panama. A good way to attract negative attention quickly. We did not stick around him long.
So all of the guys left yesterday and i said goodbye to governor this morning. Thus ends our adventures together as we both embark on our solo journeys. It has been an amazing ride so far and we both realize, in retrospect, what a no brainer decision it was to leave and venture out into the world. Tryuly priceless.
Originally i planned to take a boat from panama city to colombia, but i changed my mind. The boat will take a while and it costs the same as a flight. I figured i'd rather spend the 5 days in colombia than manning the helm of a boat while the captain is in a passed out drunken slumber. This has been a common story of this boat ride.
So i booked a flight and then decided i'd sell my surf board. I Surfed yesterday morning for one last session, then slapped a 4 sale sign on it and walked with it around town trying to slang it to whoever. I tried everything and everyone and no bites. My throat was dry so i figured i'd have myself a brew. I walked into this bar i know and ended up selling it to the bar tender for $100. which is only $50 less than what i baught it for. Now i am traveling a bit lighter and it feels nice. I don't have to worry about swinging it around the wrong way and hitting some random guy in the balls, or myself for that matter. AND, some guy in bocas will be cruizing around with a surfboard with a big ass profile of my face on the bottom. That makes me smile.
Now i am sitting in the airport in panama city waiting for my flight to bogota in 6 hrs. I got 20 or so days left on this section and i am doing it all solo into uncharted waters. I am really excited and will make the best of every minute of it.
Some reflections at this point: Since i made my decision to come back home i have found myself thinking more and more of what i am going to do when i get there. All the things that pass through my mind are enjoyable, and make me happy, but at the same time i still have 20 days left here. By making future plans and by having something to look forward to, I have to work harder to try and appreciate the present moment. When i had no where i needed to be and nowhere i needed to go, i was just where i was at that moment and that was ok.
Now i have to be somewhere at a certain time and that it is influencing my thoughts and actions as opposed to doing things on a whim because that is the way i am feeling at a particular moment.
I am not saying it is bad for me to have plans, but i noticed the difference in my outlook after they were made. Like i said, I have 20 more days and i plan to work harder at appreciating the present without letting the looming future hinder my ability to enjoy where i am.
That being said, i am really looking forward to seeing freinds and family again.
enjoy the slide show.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Solo treck
I left nicaragua on the 6th on my own.
Traveling solo has been unreal. Being able to do what ever i whant when ever i want however i want has been a very empowering feeling. I highly recommend it.
I got to playa Samora and checked into a $10 a night hostel right on the beach. I love this town. I met some of the local costa rican guys who work at the hostel and hung out with them all week long. It happend to be a religous holiday that weekend for easter and they had a ban on booze across the country. But these guys had all the inside hookups so it didn't matter
I even got to play on their soccor team. I was the only gringo at the game and i scored the first goal for my team. I felt realy cool. Then on my last night i stayed up partying all night long and caught a 6am bus to panama. Needless to say i went out with a bang.
Then last night i got to bocas del toro panama and went out to a local bar full of indian guys. I made friends with them and a few of us took this guy's boat to some random town 30 min away. We go in the bar and there is a guy literally passed out on the floor right in front of the bar and nobody thinks it is weird. we leave to back to the town i am staying in and the engine breaks down.
Then it starts to rain. Fucking poor actually.
so here i am, with two native panamanians who speak 0 english, in the middle of the ocean, 2 in the morning, drifting. 2 hrs later we drift to an island and wake up some random guy with a boat and he has to tow us to my new friend's house in his village. we get there 30 min later and he gives me some dry clothes to borrow. Dry womans jeans to be exact. So i put them on and fall asleep on his futon which has 0 cushions. I woke up to little kids running around looking at me strange. But i made freinds with his family and they were very warm to me. People live very poor out here but are so giving. it was an amazing experience.
I had to take a pis real bad so i went to their bathroom. it is outside and consists of a few posts, a tarp rapped around to form a circle and a large bucket of water. I didn't know where i was supposed to go.
I try to hold it, but it is too hard. A little embarrased i asked this kid where the hell my piss was supposed to go. 5 min later we figured out what echother were saying and he just told me to piss in the river.
The engine was still broken so i hitched a ride back to bocas with some fisherman.
It was a mentally exhausting night, but the entire experience was not something i could have baught anywhere. And i made some new friends out of it.
Today some friends get here from the states and we will be looking for good surf.
Oh and last but not least, I have booked a return ticket home from quito ecuador. I get back on may 13th to san francisco. will hang there for a week, then go to colorado for a week for a wedding, then to NYC to hang out with family and go to my mom's grave site. the 31st marks the 1 yr anniversary of her death.
Then i come back to the bay area till june 30th and leave for peru with my brother.
So this is a message for all my friends and familly who i may see when i return to the states.
I NEED PLACES TO STAY! YOUR COUCH, YOUR FLOOR, YOUR REFRIGERATOR. IT DOES NOT MATTER.
so if i show up unannounced expecting to be put up, don't say i didn't warn you. And i am probably going to eat all of your food too. and drink all of your beer.
Traveling solo has been unreal. Being able to do what ever i whant when ever i want however i want has been a very empowering feeling. I highly recommend it.
I got to playa Samora and checked into a $10 a night hostel right on the beach. I love this town. I met some of the local costa rican guys who work at the hostel and hung out with them all week long. It happend to be a religous holiday that weekend for easter and they had a ban on booze across the country. But these guys had all the inside hookups so it didn't matter
I even got to play on their soccor team. I was the only gringo at the game and i scored the first goal for my team. I felt realy cool. Then on my last night i stayed up partying all night long and caught a 6am bus to panama. Needless to say i went out with a bang.
Then last night i got to bocas del toro panama and went out to a local bar full of indian guys. I made friends with them and a few of us took this guy's boat to some random town 30 min away. We go in the bar and there is a guy literally passed out on the floor right in front of the bar and nobody thinks it is weird. we leave to back to the town i am staying in and the engine breaks down.
Then it starts to rain. Fucking poor actually.
so here i am, with two native panamanians who speak 0 english, in the middle of the ocean, 2 in the morning, drifting. 2 hrs later we drift to an island and wake up some random guy with a boat and he has to tow us to my new friend's house in his village. we get there 30 min later and he gives me some dry clothes to borrow. Dry womans jeans to be exact. So i put them on and fall asleep on his futon which has 0 cushions. I woke up to little kids running around looking at me strange. But i made freinds with his family and they were very warm to me. People live very poor out here but are so giving. it was an amazing experience.
I had to take a pis real bad so i went to their bathroom. it is outside and consists of a few posts, a tarp rapped around to form a circle and a large bucket of water. I didn't know where i was supposed to go.
I try to hold it, but it is too hard. A little embarrased i asked this kid where the hell my piss was supposed to go. 5 min later we figured out what echother were saying and he just told me to piss in the river.
The engine was still broken so i hitched a ride back to bocas with some fisherman.
It was a mentally exhausting night, but the entire experience was not something i could have baught anywhere. And i made some new friends out of it.
Today some friends get here from the states and we will be looking for good surf.
Oh and last but not least, I have booked a return ticket home from quito ecuador. I get back on may 13th to san francisco. will hang there for a week, then go to colorado for a week for a wedding, then to NYC to hang out with family and go to my mom's grave site. the 31st marks the 1 yr anniversary of her death.
Then i come back to the bay area till june 30th and leave for peru with my brother.
So this is a message for all my friends and familly who i may see when i return to the states.
I NEED PLACES TO STAY! YOUR COUCH, YOUR FLOOR, YOUR REFRIGERATOR. IT DOES NOT MATTER.
so if i show up unannounced expecting to be put up, don't say i didn't warn you. And i am probably going to eat all of your food too. and drink all of your beer.
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