What's the Dilly-o?

July 21, 2009

Well, you may ask yourself "Who planted this idea in her head?!" as my grandmother so happily (not) asked my mother. I am quite sure it all began over a year ago from meeting Mike Z who backpacked some of the world for 6 months previous to my meeting him. Somehow as our relationship progressed, along the way we decided we would backpack South America together. When that relationship ended, and S. America was no longer the plan, I kept in mind that I would still do the trip post-finishing grad school. So in Fall 2008 I met a friend, Leslie, through my job at Suffolk University. She and I planned to travel together, along with a girl named Sara from travbuddy.com (an awesome site for all things travel related), but then that too did not work out. Fast forward to February 2009, my Mom and I traveled to Hawaii together and with much anxiety and whatever else, I decided I DID NOT want to backpack and instead look for a job and move away.
Then in June 2009, after applying for about 80 jobs thus far, I started to re-visit the South America idea mainly due to reading a friend's travel blog, along with seeing her amazing pictures, an e-mail including a link to best travel quotes (thanks Amanda!), countless "Should I/Shouldn't I" conversations with friends, and some intense soul searching. I started to realize I really did want to have this as a life experience and if I did get a job with the government (as I was applying for), it would be tough to leave a good gig in the beginning of my career. So it was basically YES I'm going, NO I'm not, and then..YES I am! I figure I'm entitled to change my mind at the age of 24. And as a female :)

So, I again posted on travbuddy.com that I was interested in finding some travel buddies to backpack South America with in Fall 2009. Pretty quickly, a young lady named Teja from Slovenia (if you know me, you probably know I'm awful with geography, so yes, I had to pull up a map to see where this was in Europe!) sent me a message expressing her similar travel interests. From there, a little online friendship began to materialize. After a few travbuddy messages, branching off to facebook messages and chats, leading to g-mail chats, we started to get to know one another.

Of course, we quickly covered the most important questions for travel buddies: Age, time frame, do you drink (yes, socially), use drugs (no), and of course two of the most important "partner in travel" questions: Will you be single and do you like to dance?! Yes and yes. Score!! A travel buddy has been born! :)

There's Teja! So she is 23, from Slovenia, in the process of finishing up University and looking for a big adventure! After about a week or two of chatting for hours, emailing back and forth several times each day, and continually getting each other really psyched up for the trip, I gave it some serious thought and decided I definitely wanted to do this!

BUT not before I had to break the news to Mom, Dad, and Grammy Laura. Mom basically already knew since we live together, so she had some preparation. Telling my Grandmother and father was like going under the Becker firing squad...NOT my favorite memory in life. It included a series of comments such as "NICE thing to do with your master's degree MELANIE!" "Melanie, I hoped for better for you" "You're going to go to some disease ridden country!" "Why don't you just go travel to the Middle East to the war?!?!" "As if you haven't done ENOUGH traveling!" (Feel free to envision shouting (over the phone), flushed cheeks, awkward silences.. the works! So clearly, it went very smoothly.

I wanted to be honest with them, I didn't want to lie (and how could I possibly keep up a ridiculous lie for 4 months?!), and I knew I needed to share this with my family before deciding. A little while after finishing up both very wonderful phone conversations, after the emotions calmed down a little, I felt very calm and like a weight was lifted off my shoulders. I guess that's what it feels like when you're true to yourself. I then knew the hardest part was over!

As Janis Joplin said: "Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got."

The Game Plan!

July 28, 2009

So here is a rough idea so far that we have for our trip..

Tickets are booked: we leave Thursday, Sept 17th (day before my Dad's birthday, sorry Dad!) to Quito, Ecuador. Our return tickets are for Thursday January 20th and we leave from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! That's four months and a few days of traveling! Teja and I both booked through STA Travel, which provides discounted tickets to students. Umm..right, I'm no longer a student. Thanks, University of Delaware, for not having an expiration date on the student id. :) Anyways, these tickets are great because they are flexible, so it's only a small fee to change the dates... meaning if you need a little flexibility in your trip (that would be us), these are great tickets to have. Don't be 100% shocked if I stay a little longer. ;)

So, the route will be something like: Start in Quito, Ecuador, work South through Ecuador into Peru, working South through Peru, then heading east into Bolivia, heading South through Bolivia to Chile, working South through Chile all the way to the bottom, then into Argentina, working North through Argentina, and eventually Northeast to Brazil, finishing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

We plan to mainly travel overland, which means avoiding flights and opting for buses instead. Reasons would be because not only is taking a bus cheaper, but hopefully we will see more along the way.

We will be backpacking..yes, all my essentials for 4 months will fit into a backpack...We will be staying in hostels. Two important things to note: No, I do not have a backpack (yet). And no, I've never stayed in a hostel. Guess what? One of the main reasons for this trip is to get out of my comfort zone. You know..that little part of like that makes things like this scary..daunting..life-changing.

Volunteering: We plan to do some volunteering while we're over there. We are set to volunteer at Santa Martha Rescue Center in Ecuador Sept 21-October 3 (about 2 weeks).

http://www.santamartharescue.org/ Rescue center for animals-we will be at the Tambillo location.

Ideally, Teja and I would like to do some volunteer with children closer to the end of our trip, but plan to see how everything works out with timing.

Preparation:

Vaccines: I have an appointment at a Traveler's Clinic in August at Beth Israel in Boston. They'll give me the necessary vaccines..Yellow Fever, Typhoid, Hepatitis A, prob a new Tetanus shot, Malaria pills...they also counsel you on water purification, and cool stuff like Traveler's Diarrhea!

Travel insurance: Gotta figure out how much I'm covered by my insurance when out of the country. STA travel gave me a Traveler's Insurance pamphlet and it was just about the most frightening and anxiety provoking thing I ever read. All about how much coverage you get if you lose a hand, an eye, a foot (100%, so it's all good) and accidental death or dismemberment..

All this other random stuff..suspending my cell phone, freezing my gym membership, getting my finances in order like loans and other bills. Shooting to have enough money when I return to maybe move somewhere...


Speaking of finances, a friend asked me where I was getting all this money to finance a trip like this. Well, as I explained to my friend, it's called working, living at home, and saving, saving, saving. Since I finished my master in December 2008, I have been working two part-time jobs adding up to 36 hrs/week. I also babysit a few weekend nights a month. What will happen to my jobs, perhaps you're wondering. My nannying job was set to end at the end of August due to my travel plans being set when I started the job (even though that changed several times, it all came full circle) and I will be giving my notice at my job at Suffolk University. This is completely a self-financed trip.

I've joked with people saying "Oh wouldn't it be funny if I quit my jobs, decided to travel South America for a few months, then moved to California, all during a recession?" Well, haha, 2 out of the 3 will be happening. :) We'll see about the California thing post-South America. I'll probably be too broke to make a move, but we'll see! Trying to remind myself that I have my whole life to work...

Oh man...it's August!

August 4, 2009

Once August hit all I could think about was..oh man my trip is NEXT MONTH! It has lit a little fire under me!

This weekend Dad and I went to Bass Pro and EMS and checked out backpacks and hiking boots. (I am lucky that he would tolerate going with me to these stores for my "dreadful" trip. Of course, he did not neglect to tell the sales people how "pissed" he was about my trip. Haha, dear old Dad). I got a lovely purple backpack at Bass Pro which I was quite happy with. Then I got some hiking boots at EMS...well, I wished that the cute blue/gray boots were good because then I could be cute as I hiked (obviously important), but the EMS guy told me if I stepped in more than one puddle during hiking water would seep in, then I'd have wet feet, and some mention of foot fungus! ...so I went with the manly looking ugly, more-pricey, leather boots. Sure are comfy though!

Of course when we got home, Dad and I looked online and found the bag for $50 cheaper and the boots for $20 cheaper so now I'm not even keeping either. However, I did do a test pack (or two :) ) and was a bit perturbed by how little I could fit in my 60 L bag. Started to do some research online and have seen some nice bags with a daypack (like a normal backpack) attached, which seems quite ideal. Trying to see if I can find some around here, otherwise inquiring about how much it would cost shipped from England. The one I liked from England was cute, had the daypack attached, and came with a raincover (apparently important to not soak all belongings inside -intelligent), whereas normally those things would cost extra-so it may make sense to pay extra for shipping for what I need! Unfortunately I feel that the U.S. is lacking a bit compared to the UK and Australia in terms of travel gear, backpacking stuff, etc. I guess because it's more popular in those countries. Anyways, will post cool pics of me wearing my backpack with my lovely hiking boots once I get my stuff!

Today I went to the Traveler's Clinic in Boston. I got my first Hepatitis A vaccine (out of 2), got a new tetanus shot, Typhoid vaccine pills, will get a yellow fever vaccine soon (currently a shortage), and prescriptions for traveler's diarrhea (eek, gross), altitude sickness, and malaria. Got lots of info on health & safety stuff. Also been researching which countries I need Visas for (only Bolivia and Brazil), what to do about my cell phone/communication (just use my own Verizon or get a global phone), researching which will be our first hostel to stay in...making lists about what I need to buy...feeling overwhelmed..

A few favorites: My Dad said he thinks he should take a life insurance policy out on my since "If you're dumb enough to go then..." That was really sweet.
I love how the travel clinic doctor told me to avoid salads, raw veggies, fruit with skin..I mean, I understand it's about not knowing if stuff is clean but am I really going to avoid salad for 4 months?
It was also entertaining reading some of the other travel pointers..Don't sit directly on sand (bugs), don't wear bright colors/jewelry (attracts bugs), don't open mouth in shower (dirty water)..... Mom and I had a good laugh about all those!

New additions!!

August 11, 2009

We have some new additions to the traveling family...Tom and Nadja!

Tom is 24, from the UK, and has recently finished college. He messaged both Teja and I about traveling in South America. He will be joining us for about the first month or so of our trip!

Nadja is 23 years old and is also from Slovenia like Teja! They met on travbuddy.com but then were able to meet in person since they live about an hour away. Nadja is still in school in Slovenia. Nadja will be traveling with us for about 2 months or so!

Teja and Nadja will be taking the same flight together from Slovenia. My flight gets in at the exact same time that their flight does! We all plan to meet in Quito, Ecuador and volunteer together at Santa Martha and then set out on our journey!

Fear & Inspiration

August 20, 2009

Not until I started considering and planning this trip did I notice how much people base their perceptions of reality on movies. I can't tell you how many people's first reaction about my trip was "Have you seen 'Taken' or 'Hostel'?" (And for the record, no, I haven't, and will not be seeing them before my trip!) It's amazing that people base their perception of reality off horror movies. A few others have referenced back to "Locked Up Abroad" with the mention of my trip-"I think it was a South American country..I'm not sure though."
One of my favorites was a family friend who was talking to my Mom on the phone. She says to my Mom "Tell her not to swim in the water." THE water?? What does that even mean! I of course questioned--well, the ocean? A lake? A river? What country? The entire continent of South America? The response was "Well...she doesn't know, she just saw a documentary."
I've also learned recently that no countries in South America are third-world, so people can drop that comment ("You're going to third world countries?!?")
Of course, the most popular "Is there a guy traveling with you?"
I have really realized what fearful people we are, and how most of it is based off of everything but fact. This goes back to my criminal justice education in a way. Most of us spend most of our time fearing becoming a victim at the hand of strangers..but most victimization is done by people we know. Of course, how would we ever know that based on the media? Shows how we base our reality on a few, isolated incidences, then turn that into an entire continent being dangerous.
Anyways! The moral of the story is...fear of the unknown is very much alive in our culture and we should keep that in mind when making decisions in our lives! :)

Inspiration: It's pretty cool how one person's travel experiences can inspire others. I would say that two individuals definitely inspired me to do this journey. Mike Z was the person who originally planted the idea in my head, due to his travels around the world in Asia, South Africa, Australia, etc. As I got to know him, I saw and learned how much his travels affected his life. More recently, a friend from UD, Meg, recently returned from backpacking Southeast Asia, Figi, Australia, New Zealand. Seeing her pictures and activity through facebook made me realize: 'There is no reason I can't do something like this."

Probably one of the coolest things that has come out of my trip thus far is a friend who mentioned in an email that partially due to inspiration from my trip, she decided to book a solo trip to a dude ranch that she had been wanting to do for a while. What a great feeling it was to hear that I had somehow inspired someone!! :)

Are you CRAZY?!?!

September 4, 2009

I am officially unemployed. By choice. In the worst economy our generation has seen. I don't know, maybe I am crazy. I think some people legitimately think that I have lost it. Yes...I will be giving up this...



For this...


But since when did following your dreams become crazy? What do you call it when you go to school, get your degree, start working immediately after finishing school, work for 40 years, and then retire? Some may call that a pretty crazy way to live life to the fullest.

Anyways, my point isn't to knock how people live. Different strokes for different folks. To each his or her own. Whatever floats your boat.

Lately, lot's of people have been telling me how lucky I am to be doing this. It's very true. I am so lucky to be in good health, have few bills, non-massive debt, have a low-rent home to come back to upon my return, parents who may not agree with my decision yet still support me and love me, friends to turn to..I am a very lucky young woman.
But I also feel that more people could do something like this trip (if they desire) by making the necessary sacrifices...working on the weekend (babysitting or dog sitting, I may recommend, which worked for me) to save more money, pay off bills earlier...turn down some fun activities in the name of saving...
It's scary to make the decision to step out of the rat race of advancing your career and trying to obtain all the representations of success: an apartment, a house, a stable and well-paying job, and to some, a significant other, an engagement, marriage, etc. But even now having made the decision to do this trip has made me question all sorts of things...how important is all of that success?
I saw a backpacker laying on the grass in Boston Common today..I saw his big backpack with him, so I walked over and struck up a conversation. It was cool because I told him about my trip, heard about his experience backpacking the U.S. and he was going on about how nice it is to be able to have everything you need in a backpack and to not need so much STUFF. And how nice it is to live day to day.

So, call me crazy...but I'm going to do it!

2 days left!

September 15, 2009

Two.Days.Left. Oh.My.God! A little anxiety is setting in. :) I have a list in front of me and am trying to get everything done!

In the meantime..I have bought a sleeping bag...







I also had an amazing last weekend full of an awesome Kings of Leon concert, friend visiting from NYC, and a going-away party with many friends and family wishing me off well (with the coolest cake I've ever seen).

Anyways, I have so many things on my list right now, that I am going to leave this entry as is...gotta go do some more packing, organizing, spending time with friends and family...

Last night at home

September 16, 2009


Well friends, tomorrow I embark on my trip to South America! I can't believe it's finally here.

This is going to be very short because I am super tired and simply ready for bed even though it's 10:30 pm. Today has been quite a long day--I must admit, full of phone calls, texts, emails, facebook messages--lots of well wishers. I can't express how much all of this means to me-people really went out of their way to wish me well and for that I am so thankful.

Last thoughts--I'm packed and ready to go! I am ready to leave the comforts of home, friends, and family to embark on my life adventure! I promise to be a smart and safe traveler-and have some fun while I'm at it!

Please stay in touch--your comments mean a lot to me! :)

See you in South America!

Hola from Ecuador!

September 21, 2009

Hi all! So I am a few days into my journey now and wanted to write a quick entry. Everything worked out perfectly with meeting Teja and Nadja at the airport, and then meeting Tom at the hostel. During our time in Quito, we did some sightseeing--took some cable car kind of thing and went really high up to a great view, and did some hiking--honestly, the most intense hiking of my life, haha. The altitude got to me a bit and I felt some altitude sickness, but a nap cured all.
We had some interesting adventures trying to get to a cloud forest, which ended up being quite an interesting sampling of different buses, confusion, and ended up visiting the location of the equator and learning some about the culture of the Amazons, and the animals, etc.
The hostel was cute--well, our room was smelly and we had crunchy beds-but for my first hostel, it went great. It was a pretty quiet hostel (so I hear) and I got to speak a TON of Spanish to the hostel owner and his family, so I was loving that. Also got to meet other travelers from England, Finland, and the U.S. which is fun to talk to everyone. We had some interesting experiences in Quito, which I will write in more detail another time...but overall, Quito was fine but I didn´t love that city. Wasn´t too sad about leaving :)
Today we just arrived in Tambillo, at the animal rescue center that we will be volunteering at. We were shown our house-very simple but "quaint and cozy" (shout out to OCHO for that phrase). All the new volunteers got a tour of the hacienda (property) and we saw monkeys, birds, lions, pumas, etc. There are maybe about 15 volunteers here from all different countries, so that will be fun to experience. Tom and I just went food shopping since we will all be cooking dinner together in our little volunteer house.

Anyways: food is so cheap here--really almost everything is, which is cool. Speaking loads of Spanish and learning new words everyday which is awesome. Will update again soon!

Some pictures from the road..

Volunteering at Santa Martha

October 6, 2009

We spent two weeks volunteering at Santa Martha Animal Rescue Centre near Tambillo, Ecuador. During our two weeks, we lived in houses with simple accomodations and cooked our own meals, had cake and movie nights with the other volunteers, and did lots of work with the animals. Monday through Friday we worked am 8am-1pm shift, had a 3 hour break, and then worked 4-6pm. During our time there, we worked with ocelots, pumas, lions, wooly monkeys, tamarin monkeys, Galapagos turtles, squirrel monkeys, mice, rabbits, guinea pigs, jaguars, macaws, hawks, eagles, parrots, pheasants, toucans...hope I´m not leaving anyone special out! Anyways, daily jobs were giving water and food to all the different animals, working in the kitchen preparing their meals, going into their cages and cleaning up their cages of their poop and leftover food (yum). There was also some common phrases such as the "sh*t bucket," which we always needed whether we were cleaning out cages or digging the hole. Speaking of digging the hole, during Week 1 that was a dreaded task-digging the new "sh*t hole" which would be used for dumping in all compost materials like poop, old food, dead chickens, hay...just a general...sh"t pit. :) Pardon my language!
Anyways, my FAVORITES were the two baby wooly monkeys in quaratine. They were little babies were in quaratine because they were so young and couldn´t be put in with others. You would get into the cage with them to clean out the poop, old food, and to clean their bed area..instantly they would jump on you and crawl all over you..they loved hair so they would pull my hat or bandana off and yank my hair a little, try to suck on your neck, eyes and sometimes try to breastfeed. :) haha. Anyways, they were the sweetest little guys around. If you were lucky, you might get to witness the ¨Monkeys on my back, monkeys down my shirt" song (Idan, that one´s for you). It was tough because you need to try not to play with them too much because they need to return to the wild and succeed and hopefully survive on their own. Lots of the animals there would not be returning to the wild because they were handicapped like blind, injured legs, too small, formerly abused, were in the circus...but Santa Martha did such a good job of making their life valuable despite the harships they faced.
So, overall, it was a great experience. The first few days, I couldn´t imagine doing two weeks of this kind of work, as it was harder and unlike anything I had done before. But I really got into the swing of things and was definitely sad to leave. It was fun meeting volunteers from all different places like England, Israel, Norway, Germany, etc. It was a completely new and challenging and rewarding experience for me, which I really enjoyed.

Beebopping around Ecuador

October 14, 2009

Okay! Some serious updates are needed! I apologize for being a bit of a slacker on the blog, but it is tough sometimes to find a lot of time to get online. So here's the overview of Ecuador.

Quito 4 nights

Tambillo/Santa Martha 11 nights

Mindo 1

Banos 3

Riobamba 1

Guayaquil 1

Puerto Lopez 2

Montanita 2

I already wrote about Quito and Santa Martha so I am going to skip to once we started just traveling.

We spent a weekend in Mindo which was a really cute little town where we did some ziplining through the cloud forest. We stayed at a really cute hostel and since we had 5 of us we got the attic which had hammocks as well which is key during traveling! It was the original four, and our friend, Idan, from Israel, who we were volunteering with. The ziplining was awesome because they sometimes let us go upside down..flying upside down through a cloud forest was pretty classic.

After we finished volunteering, we spent our first straight traveling visiting Banos. Again, we had the lovely Idan joining our group. During this time we stayed at Hostel Transelvania...classic name. One morning, after a fun night out, I woke up to some band blasting drums, trumpets....South America can be really damn loud. Anyways, one day during that weekend we did some horseback riding...I was kind of nervous the entire time about my horse falling, or being thirsty, or falling off a cliff or something. Sometimes we got to gallop a little which was kind of exciting..and painful. Anyways, overall we saw a lot of beautiful scenery and I did not fall off a cliff. :)

The following day we did a "downhill" bike ride to another town. Here is my general take on it..we saw some beautiful sights like waterfalls and lovely scenery...but overall it was hell. :) I was really considering throwing the mountain bike off a cliff...at some points Tom and I had to play word games to take our minds off the lovely uphill battle. Anyways, here are the four of us smiling... hahaha. By the way..it was 60 kilometers...whatever that means..hahah. Something like 40 miles...yeah.

More about Ecuador...

Anyways, so after Banos, we went to Riobamba. The intention was to take the Devil's Nose Train...but it was full. The cool thing used to be to ride on the roof which was supposed to be amazing views, etc. Not only was it full but I also heard someone got decapitated 2 years ago so...that's that. We chose to simply spend the night at a gorgeous hostel and just see a little of the city the next morning.We also saw a cool market :)

From Riobamba, we headed to the coast of Ecuador! I was very excited to visit Puerto Lopez and Isla de la Plata. We had to spend a night in Guayaquil, Ecuador's largest city, because the bus station people did not recommend us traveling at night with all our luggage. It's frustrating when you arrive thinking you are going to get somewhere that night, and for the staff to take one look at you and say...No, too dangerous. Manana...tomorrow. But, just gotta roll with the punches. Anyways, so Thursday morning we headed to Puerto Lopez. Seeing the coast made me feel very happy :) The day we arrived we found an awesome beach hostel, Sol Inn, and then after some good food, ceviche...not only was this beautiful looking but also quite delicious. Also got magically acidic as we ate, haha. Our first ceviche in Ecuador, though. SO our first day we simply enjoyed a beautiful day on the beach.

The following day we spent the day visiting Isla de la Plata. Also known as the poor man's Galapagos. Anyways, so we took a boat out which took about an hour and a half, and then spent a few hours exploring the island with a guide. I really enjoyed walking around and seeing the island and making new friends...blue footed boobies! Anyways, it was a great day and later we all went back on the ship and had some lunch, some people snorkeled...just an all around awesome day.

Finally, Montanita...a small city of sin

It's not a city at all...Montanita is simply a party haven. Kind of like a little Ecuadorian Dewey Beach, for my Delaware pals.

Anyways, what can I say...we came, we saw, we partied...and that is the truth.

OH!! And I had my new favorite snack... cheesy corn on the cob!! Un chochlito...yum yum yum!!

A 32 hour journey to Peru

October 18, 2009

Our intention was to take a bus from Montanita to Guayaquil, then catch a 24 sleeper bus to Lima, Peru. We left on Monday, October 12 around 10am from Montanita to Guayaquil which took 3 hours. We got to the Guayaquil station and looked for the buses to Lima, but were told the office was elsewhere. So we took a taxi to that office to find out we would have to wait until the next day to get it, waste more time, etc so we just decided to keep taking buses to get closer. So we returned to the Guayaquil bus station and grabbed a 5.5 hr bus ride to Tumbes. Luckily, I sat next to my new friend, Andrew, from San Diego, so we chatted most of the way and then he shared his ear phone with me since my i-pod was dead. Yes..a dead i-pod for a really long journey=my worst nightmare. Anyways, so we arrived in Tumbes (after we had to deal with exit customs from Ecuador and entry customs in Peru), and then had to take these ridiculous motorized taxis/tuk tuks to another station. Then we got set up for an 11 hour overnight bus ride to Tronjillo (check out how lovely I look in the pic). It was a double decker bus..for a little while I was so nervous because it was so dark out, we kept stopping at random stops, bus was a little rocky, and I was worrying about the driver getting tired, etc. Then I got tired and got over it, and slept on and off pretty well.

We then arrived in Trujillo around 830 am. Of course we got to that station, and were told we needed to go to another station to get a 1030am bus to Lima. We arrive at the other, and the bus actually leaves at 930 am instead so we had no time for breakfast. At this point, all I had been eating was Doritos, chips, Gatorade and other crappy snacks.

Anyways, we got this bus and one of the staff guys was walking through the aisles videotaping each person in their seat..normal. A woman came on the bus selling empanadas (real food) and it was delicious!! Anyways, I took plenty of naps, shifted around, watched some random tv they had on. Then we stopped somewhere and had a real meal which I scarfed down!! I also got a Pepsi which tasted amazing. Anyways,we finally arrived in Lima around 630pm or so with all of our luggage...some type of miracle!

It was funny because when we got to the hostel, it was a big party scene! A fun bar, lots of travelers, good music, a pool table...so of course we showered and then rallied up for some fun! :)

Ecuador Highlights

*There is never any change anywhere in Ecuador..they get very wacky when you use any bill larger than a 20...so the real mystery is, who has all the change?

*Prices are rarely listed anywhere--food markets, bus stations...you really never know the cost of anything until they tell you...and theres a good chance they are ripping you off.

*Lots of Israelis travel to S. America after mandatory service in the Israeli army...many signs are in Hebrew in different towns in Ecuador

*The word from travelers is that Quito is the most dangerous city in South America

*Beers are about $1 and a normal full meal $2-$4

*Schedules of buses, etc are impossible to find. To get a bus, you show up at the bus station and listen for what is being called out, and go for it!

*It appears someone has stolen all the toilet seats in Ecuador...

*Toilet paper is seriously lacking, and there is also barely ever any soap in the bathrooms.

*People are always yelling and running around here, which can make a gal nervous.

*Popular snacks: empanadas, banana chips, choclito (corn with melted cheese)

*Ecuador has both U.S. bills and coins along with Ecuadorian coins

*Preachers show up on buses and just preach away for hours

*People also are always coming on the buses selling snacks yelling out "Manzanas, sodas, aguas..." over and over again!

*Children sell snacks on the bus as well, along with marketing hostels in some towns, and they can be quite pushy!!

Lima with Jorge

November 3, 2009
Okay, Ive been a bad blogger! Ive been having too much fun, what can I say? Here are some Peru updates!
We started in Lima, Peru, the capital. During our two nights here we stayed at our first Point hostel, which are a chain of awesome hostels in Peru and Bolivia that we discovered. During our short time in Lima, we almost didnt even sightsee around Lima because several people, including cab drivers, were telling us it was very dangerous. We considered leaving , but ended up meeting a very nice local guy named Jorge who was so gracious to volunteer to show us around Lima. It was a wonderful, wonderful day. Jorge met us in the morning and took us around the ritzy neighborhood of Barranco, brought us to a Museum about the Spanish Inquisition which occured between 1570 to 1820...was very interesting to me to see the old jail cells, methods of punishment-right up my Criminal Justice alley :) He also walked us around and showed us the two very beautiful Plaza de Armas and Plaza San Martin---which made me love Lima!!
Later we all went to lunch together at a place Jorge picked and I had an awesome meal !! It was great because he told me all the classic Peruvian dishes and I ate everything he did. It was so delicious and fun to see how the locals eat! We had ceviche for a starter, and then lomo saltado which was steak with rice and veggies.
I specifically wanted to write this blog entry about Lima and Jorge because he took the time to show us the city, and he was such a nice and friendly host. He really changed my impression of Lima, and I feel we all made a friend in the process. :)

Peru in a Nutshell

November 8, 2009

Time to update on Peru!
Lima 2 nights
Pisco 1
Huacacina 1
Nazca 2
Arequipa 1
Colca Canyon 2
Cuzco 4
Aguas Calientes 1
Cuzco again 4

So, I already wrote above about Lima!
We went to Pisco simply as a jumping off point to visit Las Islas Ballestas, the Ballestas Islands. This was a day trip and was pretty cool. We saw birds, seals, etc. Very nice boat ride. Later in the day we visited Paracas national Park which was the desert. We also got to see where the coast meets the desert which was really beautiful. Here is a favorite picture from that day!

Then we went to Huacacina to try out some sandboarding and dune buggying! Not before having breakfast by the pool, of course. Yay! I will elaborate at some point about the dune buggying but lets just leave it at it was the most insane thing I have ever done in my life up until this point. Okay! Sandboarding was really fun and I liked it even better than snowboarding because I didnt have to be cold!

Nazca was an adventure. Tom and Teja did the Nazca lines flight, but Nadja and I were not feeling well so we skipped out on it. Later, then Tom fell ill as well! We chalked up our extended amounts of time in the bathroom to some chicken salad sandwiches the three of us consumed. We had to add another night here because we were feeling "under the weather."
Thank you, Immodium. haha. This is how we felt:

To be continued...

Arequipa & Colca Canyon Tek

November 13, 2009

Arequipa was a really cute city, quite clean and nice looking. I liked it. The Plaza de Armas was really beautiful! It had a gorgeous fountain in the middle which I proceeded to take about 10 pictures of. :) Finally decided to buy a book to read during the trip and decided on Jane Eyre, a true classic..also one of the few books in English in the bookstore that actually struck my fancy! :) We then spent some time getting a tour of Monasterio Santa Catalina which was pretty interesting. Our "English speaking" guide was pretty hard to understand but a sweet woman. It was cool to see how the nuns lived and survived. I, of course, considered joining the convent while I was there.

......Sure! Anyways, another favorite of that day was going on a sunglasses hunt with Tom. He needed my expert opinion (haha) and it was hilarious watching him in action. We´d walk into a shop and he´d quickly say ¨"No!" and walk out..hilarious. After trying on about 300 pairs, he settled. :) Nice job, Tom!

From Arequipa, we headed on my first ever trek in life to Colca Canyon. This was a 3 day, 2 night trek. Started with a 3 am pickup time, ahh. Consisted of seeing Condor Crossing (birds arent my thing), meals, then began our trek in Cabanaconde for 3.5 hours of downhill hiking. Once we arrived to our simple accommodation, I hung around chatting with some of the other trekkers talking about traveling, life, etc. Had some beers before dinner, and later went to bed by candlelight since we didnt have any lights! P.S. The beds were kind of yucky so I slept with all my clothes on and through my jacket over my pillowcase :)

Banana pancakes with caramel sauce on them ---soo yummy!! We set out for our 3 hour downhill hike at 8am to the oasis. I bonded with the guide, Jessica, as we taught each other scandalous words in both of our languages--was definitely entertaining and passed the time! I saw where we were headed--palm trees, pools, bungalows, and I sped ahead listening to my i-pod. For a little while, I was in the lead and was singing aloud and feeling awesome. I got to the bridge, where I had to wait for the others, and rocked out to a classic Nirvana song--felt amazing! (See me there...Im feeling fantastic :) )

It was awesome because we got to spend the afternoon at an awesome pool relaxing, swimming, laying out, reading, lunc, playing cards and drinking beers...was a fun night because there was no electricity and it was pitch black so we had to use headlamps and flashlights to do anything!

The next day we had to get up at 430am to begin our 3 hour UPHILL hike at 5 am!! Ahh!!We rested along the way, ate snacks to stay fueled, and basically climbed uphill for hours!! Tom and I hiked together during the whole time. During it, I must admit I was really proud of myself and thinking of this Dr. Seuss quote:

"Step with care and great tact And remember that Life's a Great Balancing Act."

Also thinking about the Little Engine that Could who kept thinking "I think I can, I think I can.." and at the top he says "I thought I could, I thought I could." :) I was sweating up a storm, drinking lots of water...it was awesome seeing everyone at the top cheering and happy. We all had breakfast together and some Michael Jackson music video DVD was on and we were all singing along and happy. :) Spent the remainder of the day heading back to Arequipa listening to tunes, feeling really good about the day, etc...and then got an overnight bus to Cuzco!!

Cuzco!

November 13, 2009

Ah, Cuzco. I have to admit it was one of, if not my favorite, places thus far. There is something about Cuzco that really sucks you in. It is almost like entering some type of weird Peruvian time warp. We again stayed at one of the Point hostels, the chain that we really liked. Known to be good and party hostels too. Cuzco was a great place for me to reorganize my backpack, meet new people, try new foods, visit the markets, party, sleep late, be lazy....loved it.

During our stay here, made some really good friends and made some really good memories. Here´s a few of the favorites from my first night in Cuzco..

I will try to report on what we did other than spending a lot of time at the bar and bars in Cuzco! I had some really fun times with some Israelis that I met...going out to eat, going to my first Hookah bar with them, also my first Israeli restaurant (my first Shakshukah!), sitting around talking and playing games, a very romantic 1130pm fast food cheeseburger run....

One of my favorite memories of the trip so far was a bunch of people sitting around singing to one of the guys playing the guitar...

We did the Machu Picchu thing which will be its own entry.. after Machu Picchu we returned back "home" to the Point and Cuzco..

After Machu Picchu, Nadja and I got the train back while Teja and Tom stayed in Aguas Calientes one more night. The train ride was fun!! Im so used to riding a train at home but it had been so long I was actually really excited!! :) Nerdy.

I got a little sick after coming back, spent an entire day in the hostel sleeping, being feverish, and then camped out with my sleeping bag on the couch in the common area with a few other people watching tons of Entourage episodes and later Twilight. :) Sick day, but it passed pretty quickly by the next day. One night had some sushi in Peru at an Israeli restaurant--so random! haha but it was actually really good.

Then of course we spent Halloween in Cuzco--so fun! There wasn´t the best selection of Halloween costumes in Cuzco, so I had to work with what I had. Here´s me, Tom, and Teja on Halloween! Had an awesome time this night out at the bars..

Sadly, the next evening Tom had to leave.

Of course that will be an entry of its own.

Worst Day of the Trip & Machu Picchu

November 27, 2009

Okay, I've fallen behind again on the blog!! Oops. Been busy loving South America.

So, for me, the worst day of the trip thus far became the day we made our way to Aguas Calientes, to do Machu Picchu.

We got a bus from Cuzco at 9 am to a town, which was supposed to be a 5 or 7 hour bus ride. Two hours into the ride, the bus broke down and we ended up having to sit around for about 3 hours not knowing what was going on. It was fine because we played with lots of little kids, listened to some Canadian guy play guitar, and talked to some locals, but still kind of annoying. I even met a little baby named Melanie! haha

Finally our bus came and it was a never ending bumpy, stopping, backing up, annoying ride. At one point we went to a rest stop and there were locals just peeing everywhere, no shame, and I also walked in on some guy taking a dump in the yucky bathroom..oops.

When we got off, we got a horrendous taxi ride to the next location. The taxi was whipping around cliffs with no barriers...I was so nervous and upset my body temperature kept rising nd I was crying...The girls asked the taxi driver to slow down luckily.

Then we took a small van with some Argentinian guys which was fine. From there, we got dropped off on some train tracks and were told we had to walk on the train tracks to Aguas Calientes, that there were no other options..no taxis or anything. At this point it was dark out. I was not thrilled!

Overall, I was feeling unsafe, cranky and bitchy. It was a long walk...that guy Mark was playing guitar as we walked, which was nice at times, annoying at others..half the time we didnt know if we were even going the right way.

Luckily, we finally arrived in Aguas Calientes and found a hostel.

The next day was Machu Picchu, and luckily I woke up realizing it was a new day. We hiked an hour and a half up to the site, and spent the morning visiting Machu Picchu.

After such an awful day, my reward was this....not so shabby!

Saying adios to Tom...

November 27, 2009

Tom's plan from the beginning was to move to Canada to work the ski season after traveling with us for some time. On his last day with us, Tom, Teja, and I had a lovely McDonald's lunch together...clearly a classy last meal together. Saying goodbye in the evening was quite sad..Teja and I were both crying like babies. When Tom turned to me to give me a hug goodbye I was crying so hard! I hated the idea that he was leaving, as he had become my closest companion in the group, as was apparent to all of us. He was my little partner in crime and I really forged a great friendship with him.

So, this is my simple tribute to Tom, even though at this point Im writing it about a month later!!
Tom is an awesome guy who I very much enjoyed traveling with. He always kept me laughing and I could really turn to him when I needed advice or when I was upset. I definitely forsee Tom and I visiting each other in the future and staying friends forever! I hope that he is having an awesome time in Canada and I know no matter what he does or where he is, he will grace a lot of people with his presence and that he will be successful.

I miss you buddy!!

Bolivia and Melanie goes solo..!

November 27, 2009

The Bolivia itinerary:

Copacabana/Isla del Sol 1 night

La Paz 7N

Cochabamba 2N

Sucre 1N

Overnight bus 1N

Potosi 1N

Uyuni 1N

Salar de Uyuni 1N

So I´m just going to sum Bolivia up in a nutshell...dirty, stinky, yucky, hot, poor, awful food, and sick sick sick. Clearly, I loved Bolivia. It´s the poorest country in South America, and it´s quite apparent compared to the others.

Copacabana was a little town, and from there we went to Isla del Sol and spent the night. Nothing really to write home about, a cute place but nothing really exciting occured.

During our time in La Paz, we stayed at the Wild Rover hostel an Irish place. Party central! So during my time in La Paz, I made great friends and partied a lot!! During this time, I split from Teja and Nadja and began my trip as a solo traveler. We split mainly due to a pampas tour that they chose to go on and that I chose to skip. It was also time to split due to some personal reasons and it being the right time to move on. :) During La Paz, I did some market shopping, saw some of the city, went to some weird Bolivian wrestling match, helped some sick hostel buddies from Bolivian diseases, and just basically had fun!

From there, me and my two new little La Paz buddies, Irit and Dor (from Israel), and I headed to Cochabamba. After an unfortunate 1 am cheeseburger incident, we spent two nights in this town. We had a very ugly hostel room that looked like a hospital, including weird bathrooms but lots of laughs. We spent time touring the city, enjoying some food and wine, running errands, visiting some parks... We went to what the Lonely Planet book said was possibly the best Italian restaurant in Bolivia...which was okay, but a few hours later Irit was throwing up sick. OH BOLIVIA!

So then the next day Irit and Dor and I parted as they were going to an animal rescue volunteer for 2 weeks. After they left in the cab, I was like OH MY GOSH I am alone in South America!! There were tentative plans to re-meet up with the girls, Teja and Nadja, but it didn´t work out.

So, from Cochabamba I took a night bus to Sucre. Oh man, was this a bad bus ride. Keep in mind, it was my first bus ride alone...Halfway during the ride I felt really nauseous and realized I was going to get sick. I proceeded to throw up for the next hour or so...I was sweating, getting sick in a bag, falling asleep, waking up to get sick...we stopped at a rest stop and I was just sitting on the curb barfing my brains out. Thanks, Bolivia! Anyways, met an annoying girl and shared a room with her. Spent one night and two days exploring Sucre, which was a pretty and cute town.

Next, I got an overnight bus to Uyuni so I could finally do the Salar de Uyuni...

Salar de Uyuni and crossing into Chile..

December 11, 2009

Okay, so as so nicely pointed out to me by my dedicated reader and friend, Corey, I am behind in writing!! But here are some updates :)

Salar de Uyuni was a really fun journey. We left the town of Uyuni, Bolivia, and spent three days and two nights exploring the salt flats and desert areas between Bolivia and Chile. It is a 4x4 jeep trek, this time I was traveling with 3 guys from Israel, a girl from Brazil, and a guy from Columbia. The first day we explored the salt flats, which were really cool! One of the favorite parts of this for travelers are to take pictures which look really distorted due to the reflection of the salt flats. There are examples scattered throughout this entry!

Anyways, the salt flats were really cool looking and fun to do the pictures. We ate our lunch along the way, then spent the night at a salt hotel. It was pretty cool because the walls were made out of salt, salt floors....fun little adventure!

The next day we spent driving through the desert and visiting Isla de Pescados which was really an area with cactuses on it...then we visited some different colored lakes with flamingoes and beautiful scenery. It was just really nice spending the day driving with awesome scenery like mountains, colorful lakes...very beautiful! That night we stayed at a "simple accommodation" and me and the girl from Brazil tested out some of the rum of the region... :)

The final day we had to get up at 430am and leave by 5am to see the sunrise (very lovely) and visit la Laguna Verde (green lake). It was supposed to change color as the wind blew but there was no wind that day...it was beautiful to see anyways!

We finished around 11am and got dropped off at the border of Chile! After waiting for about an hour with lots of tourists, our transfer came and we crossed the border to Chile. They were much more strict than any other countries! They made all the tourists line up and searched all our bags...Everything went fine! I was now in the very cute and very touristy and very expensive town of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile!

This little town was really just a quick stopping point for entering into Argentina. I stayed in San Pedro de Atacama for one night in a very cute little hostel and had a really nice girl as a roommate, which was nice..basically just had a quiet evening of showering, organizing my belongings, and having some quiet and a good night sleep before my bus ride to Salta, Argentina the next morning!

I´ve fallen in love.

December 11, 2009

Yes, you read correctly! I have fallen in love. With a country. It´s called Argentina. And it´s AMAZING!

My first stop in Argentina was the town of Salta. Made friends with a few people in San Pedro de Atacama and on the bus (by the way, the bus ride was the most magnificent views I´ve ever seen. The mountains were huge and beautiful. The bus turned back and forth with each turn so each side of the bus got to enjoy the view through the beautiful windows. Not to mention the bus was SO nice, especially compared to Bolivian buses, eek! Got to listen to my music a lot, updated my journal...did a lot of thinking during this bus ride. PLUS we we got a snack of juice boxes, peanuts, crackers and later we got tea and cookies! Adios Bolivia, HOLA Chile/Argentina!).

Anyways! So at this point I was traveling with an English girl, Italian guy, and Columbian girl for the first few days in Salta.

Our first night there once we got settled, we went to the main street, Balcarce St, and WOW! It was so happening and literally crawling with people, lively and exciting. We sat outside, and let me tell you, the people watching was quite entertaining. Hello beautiful Argentinian women! So good looking, fit bodies, so well put together...wow! Had my first Argentine steak and wine!! Delicious! Here´s a pic from one of the nights out...Me and Helen!

So what did I do in Salta? Ate steak, drank wine, did some dancing and nightlife...explored the park (lovely),..more wine...then after 2 nights all my new little buddies left and I was "alone" again but made some new friends at the hostel that I...drank wine with!

Anyways, the next morning I was so happy because guess who was meeting me at the hostel?? Irit and Dor!! :) My new friends were complaining about how two people had arrived at 5 am and made noise in the dorm room. I said "Is it a boy and a girl???" and ran into the room and promptly woke up my little buddies to start some fun! During the time with them, we explored the plazas and parks, ate lots of ice cream, had an amazing dinner at a great restaurant, drank more wine..! One afternoon Irit and I were invited by the owner of our hostel to go to the river with him, which was so exciting since Salta was so HOT! We went and spent a few hours hanging out in a river with beautiful scenery, drinking some beer and chatting about everything. It was so nice of him, Rami, to invite us along. It´s the simple things like that that are the best.

Our final day in Salta we spent some time in the park enjoying some bread, different cheeses, white wine, olives...and great company. Here we are enjoying ourselves in the park :) That day we also took a gondola ride up to the top to see Salta from the top. Check out the awesome view...

From Salta, we headed south to Cordoba. Wasn´t overly thrilled with this city...was mainly a stopover for some partying....lots of it. During the time here, I did some of my first SHOPPING! Cordoba had some amazing shopping, got some shirts and a cute pair of sandals. And that was restraining myself! Also went to the movies one afternoon and saw that New Moon was playin and of course I HAD to go due to my love of the Twilight series and Edward Cullen. But anyways! Again had some steak dinners...went out and enjoyed the nightlife..saw Che Guevara´s house...Oh and had a really lame Thanksgiving dinner due to lack of turkey and non-existence of Thanksgiving in South America. The meal was silly but it wasn´t a big deal :)

One night a group of us went to a Caberet show which ended up being mainly in German with Spanish subtitles, and a lot of opera kind of singing. We were starting to fall asleep and it was killing our mood (Friday night festivities were planned for after) so we bailed...we left during it and chose to be un-cultured backpackers...oops!

Then I got to see Teja again!! My original travel buddy!! She was visiting a friend in Cordoba and brought along him and his brother and a big group of us tourists and locals went out on the town for a fun and interesting evening :) We´ll leave it at that! It was awesome seeing Teja again and spending time with her...she´s an awesome girl and I miss her!

Anyways....after Cordoba was one of my favorite places....Mendoza, Argentina!