Backpacking/life lessons!

This is the end of the road, for now. We have spent almost a year in South America, working and traveling. I am so happy we ended the trip in Colombia because it is truly one of the most diverse and gorgeous countries on the planet. I know I will be back here because places this beautiful and inviting are a rarity.

So as I say goodbye to South America and my new favorite country, Colombia, I am reflecting on the last year and all that backpacking and being a vagabound has taught me. I am so excited to go home and get back to reality, but at the same time I want to integrate backpacker culture into my everyday life.

Beyond getting to see amazing places, learning about new cultures and gaining new perspectives, I feel that traveling has taught me some highly practical lessons that I am hopefully going to keep on using. Here are some of the lessons learned over the last year of travel:

1. Shower the people you love with love!
Travel has given me an even greater appreciation of my loved ones than I even thought was possible. I already knew how much my family meant to me, but being so far away has made me realize how important it is to show my loved ones as much appreciation as often as possible. I would not have been able to go to all these amazing places or live out this adventure without all the love and support I have gotten, and continue to get, from my wonderful family and my friends. Being far away from the people I love has made me feel incredibly lucky to have so much love in my life, and to be friends with so many people worth missing. I am very fortunate and grateful to have parents that will pick my butt up from LAX every few months and forgive me for missing their Birthdays. Thanks Mom and Dad, and Carly and Crawford, I love you guys and appreciate you all so much.

2. Getting dirty is not a sin.
Sometimes in my super sanitary, antibacterial world full of clorox and wet wipes, I forget how liberating it is to get a little grimy and stinky. Often on this trip when my clothes were muddy and my hair was a little greasy I was having the best time. Initially this was really difficult for me to get used to, but in reality getting sweaty and dirty and having Bob Marley rasta hair really was half the fun. I realize now that looking like a hobo means adventure, you are letting loose and enjoying life. It is okay to get smelly and not use antibacterial gel every 30 seconds. I plan on incorporating this new found love of getting dirty into my normal life, within reason.

3. Sticking to a daily budget is frickin´ $!
While traveling, budgeting is a serious necesity. There is no way around it. I had to stick to a gnarly budget while traveling because even if the country seems inexpensive, those dollars can add up very quickly my friends. The better you manage your spending, and the more of a tight wad you are, the longer you can travel. While traveling the daily budget I was on was really meager, between 15-20 dollars per day. It became a real exciting challenge for me to see how well I could stick to the amount I gave myself per day. I had to tell myself no--quite often--but it was not really that hard to do, and I ended up not buying unnecessary crap that I did not need in the first place. If I could keep myself on this kind of daily monetary leash at home I would be one money savvy lady. Suzie Orman eat your heart out!

4. Be a turtle!
I have way too much junk! It is ridiculous how much stuff one person can accumulate at only 24 years-of-age. When you are backpacking everything you bring or purchase you have to carry. The lighter your pack is the happier you are; I had to learn this the hard way. Almost every trip I packed way too much stuff and ended up giving stuff away. Backpacking has shown me that it is possible to live without very much stuff. It is amazing that the fact that you will have to carry something on your back will totally discourage you from buying it. This has made me think about my closet at home and the horrendous amount of crap I have and will probably never use. Moral of the story: I need to keep myself in-check and ask myself before I purchase something ¨Would I still buy this if I had to carry it in my backpack?¨

5. People are the best resource.
I usually hate small-talking and chit-chatting with people just for the sake of it. I had to get over this, in a big way. If you do not use the people around you for information, you will miss out on great places and experiences. I had to get over my fear of talking to random people. I realized that I am not too cool for small-talk and that sometimes it is actually nice. Sometimes talking to someone I had just met would really brighten my day, and I was surprised at how helpful people can be if you take an interest in them or give them a smile and a friendly ¨Hola.¨

Obviously, these are just a handful of the practical lessons I have learned thus far. Traveling has taught me so much about the world and the people that live in it, but mostly it has taught me a great deal about myself. In reality this is the end of one trip, but the real journey is just beginning. I know it sounds majorly cheesy, but it is so true.

Finding a Caribbean jewel

After having an amazing time with Roozbeh´s dad and Colombian girlfriend, Margarita. We were intent on finding some extreme adventure and getting to some place rugged as soon as possible. We needed help waking up from the serious comatose state we were in, we had spent too much time eating good food and getting way too pampered by Roozbeh´s Dad. Living in the lap of luxury kills your travel drive and makes you soft.

So we hit the road and headed to a little unknown slice of heaven called Capurgana.

Capurgana is a little town right on the border of

Panama. It is located on a little isthmus so beautiful and tranquil you cannot even imagine. It can only be reached by boat, which makes for a journey of historic proportions. It took us 4 bus rides on gravel and rocky roads (I felt like my insides were going to come out from all the bumping and shaking), a night in a local town called Turbo (that pretty much says it all) and then a 3 hour boat ride the following morning.

It was worth every torturous minute. Capurgana and the town right next to it, Sapzurro, are little Carribean dreams. There are no cars, only horse and cart, the electricity goes off by about 8 pm and they have only two computers for the whole town. The main pass times are walking around the town barefoot and eating sugar cane candy and coconut ice cream. They eat bananas and fish practically every meal with rice and coconut fish soup. It is very reminiscent of Gabriel Garcia Marquez's One Hundred Years of Solitude. It feels like you have been trapped in a time warp.

In Capurgana there is only one tiny school house. Grades first through fifth go in the morning and sixth grade through twelfth go in the afternoon. Hence all day you are running into groups of school kids drinking soda and screaming ¨hello!¨ and then running away laughing. There are kids everywhere, they are seriously coming out of the wood work. Every woman you see is holding at least one beautiful baby under her arm while she is making food or sweeping.

Capurgana is not one of the places on every backpacker's lips in Colombia. In fact it is not a popular backpacker's hang out at all. There are no ATMs so you have to bring all the cash you are gonna need with you, this seems to put most people off the idea of heading out that way. Sleeping through a noisy night in Turbo near an open sewer and a drunken pool hall, is also not very appealing to most travelers. Most people head east, opting to go to other places that can be more easily reached and are not quite so isolated like Santa Marta or Taganga; I could not be more thankful to them. I am so happy there are not a bunch of backpackers in Capurgana demanding wifi and sandwiches. This is a place where you live and eat like a local because you have no other choice.

Capurgana is surrounded by the thick Darien jungle, which is home to many beautiful hidden spots reached only by a sweaty jungle trek. A number of years ago this region was a real hot spot for the drug trade but now it is safe and highly patrolled by young and friendly members of the Colombian army who will give you crappy directions, but are trying to be helpful nonetheless.

This wild spot is one of the first places I've seen in South America that has not been already over-run with tourism. The people in Capurgana are really relaxed and go about their normal lives not paying much attention to you; it was wonderful. Obviously I did not blend in very well, but they really let me be part of the scenery. No one touts or tries to sell you over-priced, cheesy tours. If you need information about a hike or a hidden beach they will usually just point you in the right direction and then go back to their daily routine of doing pretty much nothing. The best part about staying here is the fact that you can do a three-hour hike to the border of Colombia and Panama and hang out for the day on a beautiful Panamanian beach called La Miel. La Miel was gorgeous and it felt really crazy crossing the border on foot with just your passport and a bathing suit.

When we had to leave I was absolutely heart broken. I felt like I had been let into a bizarre little Latin American Garden of Eden, and then God had abruptly kicked me out. But I know this is one of the places I will be back to visit as soon as possible. My mind is also very much at ease, because when I do get a chance to go back, I know this will be one of the few spots on this planet, that will look, and feel, exactly the same as when I left.

Descansa, estas en Colombia! (Relax, you are in Colombia!)

I was almost too relaxed to write this blog. Colombia has a depressing history of violence and political upheaval, but walking around the charming city of Cartagena; I feel completely at ease. The Carribbean coast is a land of fairy tales. Beautiful people, beaches, architecture, and weather.
It amazes me how much the weather and my enviroment can affect my mood. The Carribean sea has insane power over humans, it makes life feel like a dream, a dream you do not want to wake up from.

Travelling all over South America has introduced me to a lot of different climates, and terrains which are all beautiful in their own right; somehow I always find myself happier and more at ease by the sea.

Here on the Carribbean coast I feel like a less scruffy, less rum soaked, less talented, Hemmingway. I want to get a boat, and sail around, like a salty old sea captain. I can understand why the Carribbean attracts both the masses and the geniuses. It is paradise here.

This is the South American vibe I was searching for! Here on the northern coast of Colombia I am right in the middle of a serious cultural mixing pot. It is Latin, and Carribbean, and African, and even West Indian. It is a little bit of everything rolled into one spicy setting. Salsa music and afro-music is bumping out of every store front and car window. Here in Colombia tropical fruit and fish are the staples, and the sun burns hotter than I even thought possible. The air truly smells of coconut, and fried plantains.
I only just arrived, and I am already planning my trip back.

A slashing, some whales, banana cake and a ¨coup.¨

Ecuador started out sweetly and lured us in like an apple pie cooling on the windowsill.
Little did we know that beneath that flakey crust there were some sinister plans in the works.
Ecuador provided us with the most turbulent four weeks of travel we´ve had yet.

On the local bus to Puerto Lopez we were the unfortunate victims of a bag slashing incident. My friend Jenny (who was spending her ten-day vacation here with us in Ecuador) and I were holding our bags on our laps and we had sadly placed Rooz´s bag on the floor. We were watching his bag like hawks and even had our feet through the straps of the back pack. In the end we were no match for these professional thieves. It is a career for them, stealing from tourists pays the bills and so they are crafty beyond belief.

Ten hours into the torturously long twelve-hour bus ride, Rooz took his bag back from us and saw that his bag had been slashed with a razor at the seam and his had been taken. He was depressed about the camera but also about all his beautiful photos of South America that had been lost as well.

We were all in shock. The bus ride had been unusually hectic with a ton of vendors and beggars with bullet wounds coming on and off the bus at a steady rate. Every seat on the bus had been full and the aisle was filled with women and children getting on and off at different stops along the way. Somewhere along the way, amidst all this chaos, poor Roozbeh had lost his most prized possesion. The camera was gone and all we could do was hold back the tears and go over the details of the trip over and over again trying to determine when it happened. We have no idea how someone got under the seat and slashed the bag. At the time we had felt comforted by the fact that only women and children were sitting near us, but we have come to the realization that most likely a child was put under the seat to slash the bag.

We arrived in Puerto Lopez full of regret and extremely disheartened. But we decided not to let this robbery defeat us, effect the entire trip, or tarnish our opinion of Ecuador. Rooz showed amazing character because although he wanted to lay down and die he pushed through and kept his chin up; he did his best to stay positive for Jenny and me.

The rest of our time in Ecuador went beautifully. In Puerto Lopez we saw Humpback whales at the tail-end of their migratory mating season and a mother and a calf playing together. We also saw the famous blue footed boobie and enormous sea turtles. Rooz had to enjoy all this natural splendor without the help of his camera. You never really realize how much photos mean until you are unable to caputre the moment.

After Puerto Lopez and the Pacific coast we headed to Cotopaxi National Park. Cotopaxi is a volcano (actually the highest active volcano in the world) two hours outside of Quito.
We stayed with Jenny in our first eco-lodge; it was so beautiful and relaxing. They had no electricity in the rooms and served us food from their organic garden. The area was incredibly lush and green and was surrounded by amazing snow-capped volcanoes.

We did two day trekking tours, the first one was to the crater rim of Pasachoa (an inactive volcano) 4,200 meters high. I thought I would never make it up the ridge of this volcano, but when I did the 360 degree view was wonderful. The second trek was on the active volcano, Cotopaxi. We went up to the lowest point of the glacier on the volcano and ended our trek at 5,000 meters.

Altitude is a crazy force of nature. Going up these volcanoes is a strenuous activity that takes both mental and physical strength. The pressure is so low that your lungs cannot properly absorb the oxygen in the air, making you barely able to breathe; your head is pounding like a drum and your brain is screaming for you to stop and sit down. Instead of listening to your body you must ignore everything it is saying and keep moving forward inch by inch. We were literally moving at a snail´s pace up torwards the peaks; it is painstakingly slow and grueling work.
Lucliky for us at the end of both of our day treks we were promised banana cake and hot tea or cocoa. You can not imagine how rewarding it felt, after hours of walking at the slowest pace humanly possible, to get that sweet banana cake and some delicious hot tea. Nothing will ever taste as good as banana cake on the top of a volcano.

After our days of glorious nature and high altitude adventures in Cotopaxi, we arrived in Quito on top of the world. The altitude in Quito is lower so we could breathe easily. My friend Jenny was flying home after a great trip and we were heading to Colombia as soon a possible. Everything was going according to plan...

Thursday morning Jenny went to the airport to catch her 6 am flight. When Roozbeh and I woke up in the hostel dorm room we heard from other travellers that the airport had been shut down by the National Police of Ecuador. We were so worried that Jenny had not been able to board her flight and was essentially being held hostage at the airport by the police. Luckily, the airport had not been shut down until later in the morning after 8 or 9 am. Leave it to South Americans to sleep in on the the day they are going to strike and take over their capital´s airport.

The National Police were protesting a cut made to their benefits by President Correa. Rooz and I left our hostal to get lunch and saw some police riding around after setting tire fires and then saw a lot of the President´s supporters rallying in the Plaza around the Presidential Palace. Everything seemed rather calm and most Ecuadorians did not seem too worried about the police protesting. Most Ecuadorians dislike the police because they are extremely corrupt as a whole.
The President´s supporters were chanting in support of President Correa and his spokes people were giving speeches to rally the crowd and starting chants of ¨This is not Honduras, this is Ecuador!¨ This was the first we had heard of this being some type of ¨Golpe de Estado,¨ a strike against the government, a coup d´etat! We left the Plaza as quickly as possible, realizing that this had turned into something more than a protest against cut benefits. We called my parents and got more information about this domestic unrest.

We pieced together what was truly happening at the moment. With information gathered from people on the street, the news and talking to my dad at home, we came to the conclusion that Correa had had a clash with the Police, was tear-gased and sequestered to the Police Hospital were he was being held hostage by the National Police. Correa was charging the Police and his political rivals with trying to overthrow the state.

As always, these types of situations look worse on television than when you are actually there.
Later that night, safe in our hostel away from any of the violence going on mostly outside of Quito, we heard the rescue mission. The mission was carried out by the army who broke into the Police Hospital in Quito, rescued the drama-queen Correa and took him back to the Presidental Palace in order to restore order and presidential power.

The whole ordeal was essentially exacerbated by Correa running his mouth and claiming this was some sort of ¨coup d´etat¨ set up by his opposition. President Correa has being trying to consolidate power and basically get rid of congress so that he can have more control over the country. He was elected as a man of the people and has done some positive things in Ecuador, but at the same time he is a little unnerving and even dangerous because of his lust for power.

I believe that the police were merely protesting the loss of benefits and perks and did not think about overthrowing the government or killing Correa until the President taunted them and charged them with the crime. Once they were charged with attempting to kill the President and overthrowing the government I think their motives changed.

It was very complicated and dramatic South American politics and I am definitely over simplifyng it. I personally believe that this was a domestic clash that was wrongfully used by Correa to rally personal support and discredit his opposition. He did seem to rally a lot of national support, but unfortunately people lost their lives in the process. People dying for political gain is never justified in my opinion.

It was a frightening but also powerful and educational experience. We were staying in a very safe part of the city and were never in danger. We survived our first fake coup and saw first hand the instability of South American politics; it definitely put a stolen camera in perspective.

Thanks to our wonderful parents we flew out of Quito as soon as the airport opened and are now safe in Cartagena, Colombia with all the turbulent experiences of Ecuador now behind us.
I want only to remeber the beautiful nature and the lovely, open Ecuadorian people. Adios Ecuador!

Top 5: Things I love about Ecuador!

I am taking inspiration from John Cusack in High Fidelity and I am naming my top five favorite things about Ecuador (in no particular order):

1. Alumerzos!!
These are three course set lunches that you can get for under 3 bucks. These meals save my life! They are tasty and oh so satisfying. It is a poor man´s dream come true. It proves that pobres (or poor travelers) deserve some good eats once in a while, plus a 3 course meal makes me feel fancy.

2. COCO!! Coconut is ubiquitous in Ecuador.
They have coconut milk shakes (batidos), ice cream (helados) and aqua de coco (coconut water). I love cocnut everything!! Coconut really makes life feel like a constant tropical vacation. It doesn´t matter if the weather is gloomy, give me a cocnut and I will feel like an islander.

3. People love my spanish here!!
I have gotten so many smiles and compliments, it is ridiculous. It has truly helped this little gringa with her spanish skillz, I want to talk to everyone I can. My ego is getting enormous.

4. Shortest bus journeys in South America, by far.
Eight hours on a bus may sound like an eternity or some peoples personal hell. Here in South America, eight hours on a bus is child's play, you are usually just about half way to your destination. But in Ecuador, this small and cute little country (by South American standards) eight hours can take you almost anywhere. I can go the whole journey with- out even worrying about making the driver stop to let me pee, this is good news.

5. Ecuadorians eat Breakfast!!
This is a first in South America. I am able to get eggs (anyway I want them), toast, cereal, and juice, all for about 2 dollars. In most South American countries they turn up their noses to Breakfast, preferring instant coffee or a stale croissant. Here in Ecuador they know how to start a day off right, with some frickin BREAKFAST! It truly is the most important meal of the day.

Cuenca and the Ecuadorian Keith Moon.

Cuenca is a beautiful city in Ecuador, very charming and full of magestic architecture. The plazas and cathedrals are absolutely breath taking.

But my stay in Cuence was highlighted by my interaction with a brooding seventeen year old Ecuadorian boy who played the drums like he was having violent seizures.

We arrived at the bus station, tired and low in morale. So when we got approached by a friendly hostal owner at the station we figured that they price sounded fair enough and that we lacked any desire to go searching for a better place to stay.

When we arrived at the "hostal" we realized that we were actually staying in the spare room of this man's home. We had our own room by had to share the living areas including the bathroom with a family which included 3 teenage children. The youngest of which was a seventeen year old boy.

The children seemed unaware that their father was running a low budget Bed and Breakfast in their own home.

We were greeted with suspicios eyes and moody glances.

The youngest son was a typical seventeen year old boy, rude, sullen, a little akward. This little rock star was either hogging the computer due to his facebook addiction or letting off some steam on his drum kit.

If you asked to use the internet for a few minutos, or the bathroom or bothered him with questions about the town or the house he would seem extremely put out by your requests. Eventually he would begrudingly help you out or let you check your email and then a few minuted later you would hear him wailing on his drums so hard the house would shake. He would come out twenty minutes later like nothing had happened and carry on being a little prick. t was like clock work. He would become annoyed by the demands of sharing his house with foreigners and then go and wack the hell out of his drums.

He truly was an impressive drummer and he was so easily ruffled that it kind of made you want to piss him off. The reaction you got for any minor offense was twenty to thirty minutes of a wicked drum solo.
With the help of more enraging gringos the kid could have some real skills.

El Chofer y El barro

We got on a 9 hour bus from Peru to Ecuador. We were heading to Cuenca a supposedly gorgeous colonial city and Unesco World Heritage Site. We made it through the shady Peruvian border and then had to travel through the Pueblo of Aguas Verdes.

Due to poor border relations between Peru and Ecuador, they have set aside a 4 km buffer zone of no mans land, this is Aguas Verdes. This shady little region, where their are no police or organization of any kind is a gringos nightmare. In this shady little village, their is nothing but thieves and dodgy people selling basura as far as the eye can see.


Here in this dog eat dog little pueblo is where our bus got stuck in the mud for over two hours.

El Chofer or the bus driver in all his infinte wisdom and prudence decided to take our 25 year old chicken bus filled to the gills with people, and a big old picture of Jesus "El Amigo" down a cramped little dirt road. In this dusty little excuse for a road, there was a huge pool of mud waiting for us right in the middle.

Anyone watching this bus would of seen a driver slowly coasting into a big of black hole of mud, that resembled a prehestoric tar pit. And his great decision to take us through that pit of doom was only the beginning of the fun.



As we coasted into the sea of Sludge El Chofer decided it was now time to panic and started accelerating causing the wheels to spin and thus secured our fate, deep in the mud.

Then as if the bus sent out some kind of signal to the inhabitants of the village, men and young boys began appearing out of the woodwork. They began working on our bus and the surrounding mud sea like mischevious little elves, all doing different tasks.

Without consulting any of the other men, they worked side by side. Some men were digging, some putting rocks and bricks under the wheels.
No one had discussed on overall stragedy or game plan. They just walked up and start working in what ever manner they so desired.

None of the passengers on the actual bus were consulted or listened to for any direction. The locals were happliy digging and getting incredibly muddy, meanwhile the bus driver was constantly turning on the bus and accelerating, causing the bus to sink deep into the back wheels of the bus to sink deeper into the holes the men of the village so wisely dug.

Every now and again the men who were riding on the bus were commanded by the driver to push on the front of the bus or the back of the bus, depending on his mood.

This was all going on for about two hours. Local men and boys digging, men from the bus pushing on the bus. Wheels keep spinning in place while the mud coverd bus driver scream curse words from the drivers seat. El Chofer keeps trying to drive forward and then backward and is doing a fine job of getting the damn bus deeper into the dark thick mud.

Women, children and older people are for the most part ignored and although they are the ones who realize early on that all of these efforts are fruitless and infact only making the situation worse, they are completely written off.

Women who try to help our pathetic situation or give suggestions are ignored by the brillant men who scratch their heads, dig, and keep on pushing that 5 ton bus in every direction.

Rooz is trying hopelessly to coordinate a movement against and digging and create a real plan. I am in the background with the women and children trying to create anarchy and rile the troops. Telling them that the bus driver or El Chofer should call us another bus or go to town for real help.

Finally after watching this circus act for nearly 3 hours a woman goes to talk to some local construction workers near by and gets one of the men to bring his truck and tow us out.
In the end the men all cheered and the muddy little Chofer smiled smuggly at their great accomplishment. In their eyes they were the victorious ones who had rescued the bus!

In reality it was an woman, cast off by the ditch digging local men, who took matters into her own hands and got us out of the man made ditch. And she managed to do it all without getting a drop of mud on her.