Question time?!

Aloha readers...

My field school has started here in Antigua and its officially 1 more month before I head home.  I've been sorta of lagging on blogging (yes, I will be blogging about Quetzaltenango) but before that, I wanted to give you the opportunity to ask me anything about my travels...  It could be about anything really, food, culture, Guatemala, Ecuador, my pre-travels in the U.S, Paris, my daily life... etc?!

All questions POSTED in the COMMENTS section BELOW, will be answered in a blog next week Tuesday.

Miss you all very much and can't wait to hear from you...

Yes.. you can ask in English, Spanish, French, Pidgin or Tagalog!

P.S.  We are almost at the $1,000 mark!  http://cyclingforacure.info  Special thanks to Emralino family for their recent donation of $100!

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Ecuador - So Much to See... So Little Time...

Originally, I planned my trip for 10 days thinking that that would be enough to see Ecuador, when in actuality I barely sort of skimmed the surface, Ecuador like many countries has a lot to offer, you just have to have an open mind and a propensity to try Spanish!  jajajaja (my new Spanish laugh)

Edu... yes he's petting an iguana...

When people ask me, is it worth it, I never understand how to correctly answer the question... Example, I'm talking about Baños and then someone asks me, is it worth it...  To be honest, sometimes, I'm on the fence, to me having an experience (even bad ones) are part of traveling and what shapes you as a person... but for the purposes of this blog.  Ecuador is worth it.

On this short trip, I managed to make a couple of friends in Guayaquil, party like a rockstar in Porto Lopez and do a lot of adventury-thingys in Baños... (yes, I just took an overnight bus from Baños to Guayaquil and waiting to check into my hostel, so if I'm making up words - you know what I mean...)

Ms. Adriu and moi...

Guayaquil is a pretty cool city, its mostly a business district with access to great boardwalk along the water, lots of cheap foods and hotels you won't find online.  For example, if you walk along Malecon (the boardwalk on the water) food is rather expensive, by expensive I mean cheap by US comparison ranging from $3-$6... where you can just walk inside the city and find many many many restaurants ofering breakfast, lunch or dinner ranging in the $1-$2 range... and they're complete meals with drinks, a salad and even soup to satisfy your hungry tummy...Thanks to Adrienne and Eduardo for showing me around Guayaquil and introducing me to cheap eats!!

In addition to finding cheap foods and cheap hotels (see tweet - Me encanta! Hotel Casa Blanca en Banos, Ecuador por $10 a noche! Un cuarto privado! http://twitpic.com/5lay8d)... It's possible to even find cheaper rooms... I would almost suggest not booking online (unless you're in a time crunch) as 90% of the hotels are not online!

Porto Lopez is a cool place!  Thanks to my Couchsurfing host, Patricio for dragging me along and allowing me to experience the city, an awesome party, great people and good food... did I mention caña?  Everything is just along the beach, this quiet town has a lot to offer... Maybe next time I'll stay a wee bit longer...

Baños was an adventure!!  See my previous posts... In addition to the small quaint city with lots of adventure, I was lucky to make a new friend... yes, we did a couple of activities together, such as rafting (CLICK HERE), canyoning - both a first for me and jumped off a perfectly good bridge... lol... Other than that, just hanging out, a little shopping - you guys know of my bag obsession... as well as lots of food and a half day of treatment! bwah hah hah... Sort of well needed as the overnight bus right from Baños to Guayaquil was somewhat brutal... A quick 5 hour bus ride at night, 7 on my way to Baños which was during the day..., sleep was hard... swerving through the mountains and the temperature change of the cold, mountain breezes of Baños to the warm, humid weather of Guayaquil...

New buddies!

Weird part is, I almost didn't go to Baños... My mind was set on Galapagos or Cuenca... But a $400 ticket and a $100 entry fee knocked Galapagos out of the equation... so spacial thanks to Patricio who told me of Baños... a city I've never heard of!!  Also, best of luck to Hueling in Lima - Macchu Pichu (consider me jealous!)!!




Thanks to all of you for making this trip so awesome!  and yes... I didn't forget about you Fernando, for which I probably would not have had this awesome opportunity...

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

ima wo ikiru - extreme edition part deux...

Prepping...

Sometimes people don't realize how hard life is for travellers, there are many things to consider on a daily basis... budget, weather, food, bills from home, what to do, etc...

Today was one of those days... after waking up and having breakfast with a newly found friend (see yesterday's blog - we went canyoning together), I went back to the hotel room and watched Friends in Spanish... because the weather wasn´t cooperating... after a couple of hours, around noon, I decided that I was going to just go jump off a perfectly good bridge... why? part boredom and i've been actually wanting to do it... so I had to walk 3 blocks to the bridge and luckily there was no other people wanting to jump off this perfectly good working bridge... so i was next...

Ummm... do what?

yes, the views were spectacular and the weird part is, I wasn't even that nervous... Instructions were given to me in Spanish, to which I nodded yes, which I normally do even if I have no idea what is going on... then, when i stood on the podium looking down to what felt like eternity and the sudden chill of the winds from the mountain taunting me and sending chills down my spine at the same time, I heard the the countdown... 1, 2 (which of course you know what 3 means)

The ride was short, yet exhilarating, jumping to what felt like liberation and release of all my inhibitions, to be suddenly yanked and swung like a pendulum under the enormous bridge.  I almost wished that the freefall lasted longer, to the point where you doubt your safety... but that's just me and my weird personal opinion...

Cheeeee hoooooo!!!

After this stressful adventure, I had lunch with my friend... we stuffed our faces over a 3 course meal and drinks included for $2.50... then I had to decide which massage package to get!! ugggggghhhh.  I originally opted for the whole sha-bang, but ended up with a massage, facial and some iodine foot treatment...

Then, I had to go shopping! I bought a shirt of Baños (which I can´t believe I didn´t pack many shirts)... and also headgear to keep myself warm... once I go treking through Guatemala...   Then of course, dinner, and more packing for my trip...

Don´t drop me!

It has been a short, but uber fun 2.5 (3 according to the hotel) days in Baños (check out my twitter to see pics of the hotel)... (where the keyboard I am using has a dedicated ñ key - ooooohh) now about to take an overnight train with my new friendfrom Baños to Guayaquil...

I you've read this far, don't forget to follow on the right ---> you may need to scroll up a bit...


Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

ima wo ikiru - extreme edition

Prior to Level 4 rafting... more pictures soon...

Yes, today my tattoo and motto lived up to its name... well it normally does, but today is an extra special extreme edition of just doing things that normally isn´t in my vocabulary...

Imagine... white water rafting on a level 4 river... but not just any river... a part of the Amazon river... imagine the mountains... covered with green lucious trees and low level clouds as if you were in the middle of an Asian action movie - like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...


That´s not all, imagine the 6 of you paddling through the river and sudden bursts of water come as if you were going to be covered in it and the chill of the cold water reaches the crevaces inside of your wetsuit, reminding you where you are and no matter now much safety precautions you may take, the river is still in charge....

The mountains are beautiful... you almost feel like a dinosaur is just going to come out of the trees and eat you... or King Kong may just pick you up and take you to the top of the mountain...

Once you have exerted your energy paddling every which way and screaming "iguanas" our team motto... you almost feel at ease, and you realize how lucky you are to be in the middle of the Amazon river paddling for your life and sharing this experience with awesome people you have never met before...
 

I actually know what I am doing...

As if that wasn't enough.... another type of -ing... one of my companions from the rafting trip was staying at the same hotel I was at... so yes... I ended up going canyoning with her... and it was so awesome...

down through 8 waterfalls with just a rope to determine the faith of your life...

arrgghh so much to share, but unfortuantely at this time, I am running out of internet minutes and I'd rather get dessert... LOL...

will write again soon with more photos!

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Torn Apart... + Ecuador Edition!

Torn Apart...

Yes, torn apart... Not between external  forces, but within my own mind (be very scared...)

I've been fortunate to travel to 6 continents, tons of countries, made a few awesome friends along the way, but traveling is starting to have a different meaning for me...

Before my mantra... "if I waited for a friend to travel with me, I'd never go anywhere..."

Now that I'm actually traveling for an extended period of time, I might be having a change of heart...

Porto Lopez, Ecuador

Not saying that I'd travel with just anyone... But if you're probably reading this, you're a significant part of my life... I think I'm at the point of my travel career that I've done a lot of exploring on my own... And maybe I'm ready to travel with a friend to new places, or to just visit friends in general...

I've done a little bit of both on this trip... Visiting friends and family in southern California, Washington D.C., and Florida... whilst (ha! <3 that word!) exploring Guatemala and Ecuador...

Me + couchsurfing hosts...

I'm having a great time here in Ecuador... I'm currently in an awesome place called Porto Lopez, yes a place where not too many tourists venture to, and it if wasn't for my awesome couchsurfing host, I would have never explored this place on my own... An oceanfront restaurant celebrating his friend's birthday.  Great good, great company and great music...

I guess what I'm saying is it's about time that I head back to Australia and visit friends I haven't seen in ages... Yes, Melbourne! :) and perhaps also Portugal, and maybe a new place like Winnipeg, Canada...

Apple pie... Ecuadorian style...

I can't say it enough... I've been fortunate to have been to many places, but I am even more fortunate to have made some really awesome friends along the way...

Yes, I truly miss you and I can't wait to see you soon...

Ha... On that note, I'm still in exploration mode with 7 more weeks of awesome exploring to go!

Desserts and laughter!  :)

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.

Dumb American moment...

I landed in Quayaquil, Ecuador after 2 layovers.

I can't believe it, I landed on my 6th continent!!

Wowsers!!

Sooooooo I had a dumb American moment. Ha ha yes even after all the travel, I had a d'oh moment...

After clearing customs where I was somewhat peeved because he put the ecuadorian passport stamp on top of another stamp?! (really?! Check out the other pages!!))

Anywho... I had no check in luggage so I went straight towards the exit... Well, I realized I had no local money or small bills for that matter...

Luckily, there was a money exchange to my right...

After, prepping my best Spanish sentence in my head, "Necesito cambiar dinero." I entered the room and stated my practiced sentence after a polite "Hola!"

He then asked mien Spanish what kind of money did I have, I politely said, dolares de estados unidos. Puedos cambiar aqui?!

He said no. Lol, why not?!?!

Because our official currency is the us dollar.

Ooohhhhh... Can I change for smaller bills?!

Si...

I walked out quickly with a shame...

Tough, I did redeem myself at the Moviestar counter where I conversed totally in Spanish and managed to purchase a sim card for my unlocked phone.

Lesson learned. Us dollars is the only currency accepted in Ecuador...

Mahalo for reading.

Until next time.