Back in Guayaquil, well past my one-year anniversary, a few days from returning back to the United States, and lemme tell ya, folks, it's been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for me, inasmuch as I can feel emotion. I'll explain more within the entry, but needless to say, there's been a veritable hodgepodge of feels. So let's look into what brought about said feels in the last few days, as this may be my last entry before my days will be filled with photo uploading and other computer-planning thingamajigs, which make for terribly dull narratives. So let's hop to it!
Showing posts with label Cities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cities. Show all posts
Entry #070: Friday, March 28, 2014 (Guayaquil, Ecuador)
And here I am in Ecuador. My 22nd country, if you count every country where I gave my passport to a migrations officer. And my last country. It's a little bittersweet being here, but I really am starting to hear the siren song of home in my ears. So I'm just going to keep on keeping on. But before I talk about this hot and humid country, we need to finish up my time in Peru. And also talk about my bus ride between the two countries. It was a 28-hour bus ride. That's a long bus ride. Anyhoo, let's get on it.
Entry #069: Sunday, March 23, 2014 (Lima, Peru)
Hola from Lima, my last stop in Peru. It's been...well, fairly uneventful the last few days. That's partially because I was just in transit, and partially because I haven't had much motivation these part few days. This lack of motivation might be due either to a kind of travel version of senioritis, or it can be due to the fact that I've come down with a cold (thanks to the fact that my tent-mate on the Inca trail had a cold), and I don't have Emergen-C to fight it. I've also been sleeping a lot more and have had a general sense of lethargy, so I'll just chalk it up to the latter possibility. And truth be told, all the coughing I've been doing hasn't contributed to my writing spirit, so let's get to this.
Entry #067: Thursday, March 13, 2014 (Cusco, Peru)
Alright, here we are, the night before my Inca Trail trek. This is my last big multi-day trek of this trip. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't seem quite as grand as either the Kilimanjaro trek or the Everest Base Camp trek. That's probably because it's only four days, from being picked up in my hotel to being dropped back off. Since it is so short, it probably won't have either a two-hour video or seven-hour podcast covering it, so, um, don't get excited for that. However, it mean that I'll likely not have a new entry up for at least five days, if not more. In short, nothing much is gonna change. But enough of the future, let's look to the past.
Entry #066: Tuesday, March 11, 2014 (Cusco, Peru)
Hey folks, this is a tri-city blog entry today! Mainly 'cause it, uh, covers me being in three different cities (to various extents), but more than that, I'm in a new country. This time, it's Peru, my second-to-last stop on this trip. More specifically, I'm in Cusco at the moment, prepping to go on the Inca Trail to see Machu Picchu. What's my thoughts on Cusco? Well, you're going to have to read on to find out. But suffice to say, people in Peru know the tourist business better than the folks in Bolivia, for better or for worse (and believe me, it's very much for worse).
Entry #064: Sunday, March 2, 2014 (La Paz, Bolivia)
Hola from Bolivia! Yes, as should be no surprise to anyone at this point, I'm in another country! But hey, maybe I'll have two full entries in this one before I move onto the next! Dare to dream. In any case, I've only been in Bolivia a short while, but it's been a pretty enjoyable little while. And there's been some unexpected elements to it, namely how planned it's been. Though, um, not by me. You'll understand before too long.
Entry #063: Thursday, February 27, 2014 (Santiago, Chile)
Before I begin, I gotta level with ya, folks. I'm again in one of those moods where I get no pleasure in the prospect of writing, where it's just another burden that I have to deal with. It's been a while since the last one of those, no? But, of course, this blog is for my own personal record benefit, as well as for the benefit of the Chinese phishing websites that Google Analytics says makes up two-thirds of my audience. So still I write. I'm not going to say "I'm gonna go qucikly through everything", because every time I do that, it's a 10,000-word entry, but still, I apologize if the quality here isn't up to whatever usual standards I might have. Anyhoo, moving along.
Entry #062: Friday, February 21, 2014 (Santiago, Chile)
Hola from Chile! Yep, I'm in a new country now, just for the next week. That said, I've only been here for a couple of hours, and so the fact that the title has it listed as the location of this blog entry is a bit disingenuous. But regardless, I'm here, and I'm here with a big bruise on my side. No, no, I didn't get into any fights. But I won't tell you what the bruise is from; you'll have to read on and guess where it came from in these last three days. Ready, go!
Entry #061: Tuesday, February 18, 2014 (Mendoza, Argentina)
You have no idea how much I want to make a Simpsons/McBain reference now that I'm here in the city of Mendoza. Really, I do. Still, I'm gonna keep a stiff upper lip and resist the temptation. Still, it's hard to believe two things. First, I'm almost done with my time in Argentina. Admittedly, that's gonna happen a lot while I'm in each South American country, so I'll get used to it. Second, as of today, I have exactly two months before my flight home. But now's not the time to contemplate my triumphant, rose-raining return to American shores, but rather the last couple of days, and the things happening therein. It includes cream sauces, I promise!
Entry #060: Friday, February 14, 2014 (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
Hola, mis amigos, and welcome to Argentina! Or, at least, a blog entry about Argentina (unless you happen to be reading this in Argentina, in which case we should totes meet up!). It's been an interesting few days, not least of which because my sleep pattern has been royally screwed up. As such, every time I've wanted to write and post this entry, I've become all tuckered out and dozed off. But let's not talk about that (yet). Let's talk about what's been the goings-on in the last couple days.
Entry #058: Wednesday, February 5, 2014 (Auckland, New Zealand)
Entry #054: Monday, January 20, 2014 (Hastings, New Zealand)
Well, if you're reading this, that means I survived my time
in that overcrowded hostel. Well, I survived even if you're not reading it. So
that's good, although it wasn't guaranteed, especially with how weak the walls
were to prevailing winds (more on that later). But now I can't dwell in that
past, because I'm now in a new hostel, in a new town. I've been in both for
less than two hours, so I don't have too much to say about them, but there are
some interesting aspects so far. So let's get started!
Entry #053: Thursday, January 16, 2014 (Wellington, New Zealand)
One island down, one to go! Well, technically there's the Cook Islands, but those are legally their own country. But yeah, I am now on the North Island, so maybe we'll be getting slightly more summer-like weather here than I've been having for the past month. Maybe? Hopefully? In any case, the last few days haven't been necessarily the most action packed (in fact, two of them were almost exclusively dedicated to travel), but that doesn't mean they haven't been interesting? Or does it? Maybe you'll have to read through to see. I've forgotten, that's for sure.
Entry #048: Sunday, December 22, 2013 (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Coming to the end of Week One in New Zealand, and I still haven't caught any hobbits. They're tricky little buggers, I tell ya. But I have seen plenty of sheep, prompting me to maybe think that they're hobbits in disguise. In any case, I actually didn't think I'd be in Christchurch as of the posting time of this entry; I thought I'd be at my next locale, Lake Tekapo. But wait to you hear the wacky reason why (actually, it's just that I didn't pay attention to my own bookings). But what really happened in the past few days is I saw a lot of pretty views, walked a good 45 miles or so, had a hostel-induced crisis of faith, and had a really bad allergy flare-up. Hot dog! Let's go in for a closer look!
Entry 047: Tuesday, December 17, 2013 (Christchurch, New Zealand)
Well, I'm in my new home...for the next seven weeks, at least. Yes, I won't have to deal with boarding airplanes until sometime in February (at which point I'll have a 41-hour flight). Hurray! Instead, I'll just be getting on bus after bus after bus. But I haven't noted where I am yet, have I? ...I'm in New Zealand. There. No major adventures yet, but I should have the opportunities to see some cool things while I'm here. It's funny, my mom sent me a email saying how it's been my dream to visit New Zealand. At this point, I'm not sure if I really have any dreams or aspirations; not the way other people do, at least. I just do things. But brief psychological musings aside, I have always had an real interest in visiting New Zealand, even before it was Middle Earth. Now, allow me to take off my hipster glasses and let's talk about the last couple days.
Entry 045: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 (Cairns, Australia)
Well, I'm currently in Cairns, my last stop in Oz. You might think I came straight here from Sydney, but you'd be wrong. Dead wrong. In fact, I had a whole little adventure in the outback, based in the central city of Alice Springs. It's just as well I didn't post from Alice Springs proper, because that town is kinda dull. The things I did in the Red Center (aka the dry, arid parts of the outback), though, were quite exciting. I ate a live bug, for one thing. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.
Entry #044: Tuesday, December 3, 2013 (Sydney, Australia)
Ah, Sydney. It seems like just a week ago I arrived. In fact, it was eight days, and I'm just about ready to head on to new and different places...in Australia, still...but it's been quite eventful, has it not? And the time I spent in the Blue Mountains, don't you remember when...oh, wait, I haven't talked about that part yet, have I? Well, as it turns out, that just happened, so let's have a look. I'll give you a spoiler: I probably should have died! But before I go on, I will quickly note that today, for maybe the sixth time on this trip, I have been told (in various ways) that I have an almost quintessential American accent. So keep that in mind: my voice is representing you and everything your nation stands for. (Unless you're not from the US. In which case, um, ignore that last sentence.)
Entry #043: Friday, November 29, 2013 (Sydney, Australia)
G'day! My, has it been a week already since my last entry? Time sure does fly when you're also flying (and walking, and doing other stuff, I suppose). In case my shoehorned salutation didn't clue you in (or the title for the entry, for that matter) I have now reached my fifth continent, Oceania, beginning with Australia, aka "The Sunburned Country". I now have a better appreciation for that moniker, but let's not get ahead of ourselves! We still have some plenty to talk about in Vietnam and in the air before any talk of Vegemite is relevant. So let's get to it!
Entry #040: Saturday, November 9, 2013 (Sihanoukville, Cambodia)
So, I'm starting out a new planned trip, cycling through
Southeast Asia with my mother. Well, I don't know if "starting" will
be the appropriate word by the time this posts. I'll be honest, I've been
putting off writing this entry - just haven't really been in the mood. If you
remember my discussion earlier about "Plan to Do", "Do",
and "Review What's Been Done", I have definitely been in the planning
state of mind. So that's definitely part of it. Or maybe the last enormous entry
has drained me a bit. Whatevs. The fact is, I started writing this on the first
day of the cycling trip; you'll probably figure out when it was posted by the
end of it. [EDIT: As of me posting this, it's now Day 12 of the trip, more than halfway through the entire thing, meaning that "starting" couldn't be less appropriate. In fact, I should have just changed this opening paragraph.]
I know, I know, I'm rambling. I'll get on with it.
Entry #037: Monday, September 30, 2013 (Kathmandu, Nepal)
Well, barring a "I'm gonna be on a mountain, hold up" post that will be going up shortly, this is my final entry prior to my trek up Mount Everest...Base Camp. It...it really loses a lot of impact with those last two words, doesn't it? In any case, I've been prepping in Kathmandu the past few days, not just for this trek, but for lots of stuff that's...not really so far into the future anymore. So, what's Kathmandu like? Well, you'll have to read on. (But I'll give you a hint - there's hippies. Lots of hippies.)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)