Quite a Raspberry

It's often referred to as Death Road, The World's Most Dangerous Road and, officially, Yungas Road. They say that the scenery is so beautiful (it is) but that you can't truly enjoy it because, if you take your eye off the road, chances are you become part of the it. Point is, yesterday I conquered this road and am alive to tell the story. I'll get to it in a minute.

I arrived in La Paz last Wednesday and have had a great time here so far. I checked in to my hostel in the center of town only to be immediately greeted by a couple of cracked out Irish accusing me of stealing their cocaine. Please, don't tell them I actually did steal it (Mom, I'll hook you up in Buenos Aires). I spent two nights at the hostel before deciding it was too hardcore for me and I checked into a new one: the Chabad House. I went there on Friday for Shabbat and, no huge surprise, I'm still here. Shabbat was really cool, as close to 50 Israeli travelers shuffled in for their piece of lots of food, alcohol and atmosphere. It wasn't quite what I had been expecting (thanks to Chabad Brandeis, all other Chabad's have a high standard to live up to) but still pleasant. There were also four other Israelis and two Europeans staying here and we became friendly and hung out a lot over the following three days. Since Monday night was Purim, we were asked to stay in the house and help prepare. I've never seen such strictly kosher people in my life [and for that matter, totally religiously extreme - let's just say they like the Rebbe in this house, a bit too much]! We spent two full days cracking eggs checking for blood (6 out of 300 were kosher, if you can imagine the amount of manual labor that went into getting those numbers), checking lettuce for dirt and bugs and sort out rice. The end result was impressive, over 1,000 Hamentashen and a house that was fully ready to host 200 people. Unfortunately, only 60 or so showed up but we still had a wonderful time and I was very happy to have somewhere to celebrate Purim. On Sunday, by the way, we took a 4x4 ATV tour of the Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley) which was excellent, but probably wasn't smart because it got my adrenaline and overconfidence pumping for my upcoming death road adventure.

The day (Tuesday) started early. I woke up and left the Chabad house around 6:30 and had breakfast with three fellow riders at some little place in the center of town. They then bussed us to the top from where we embarked on our crazy journey. I apologize for not having any photos yet - the tour company took hundreds and I have to go to the office and get them later (maybe I'll post a couple here later) but believe me, the scenery was phenomenal. And realizing that the distance between you and that beautiful abyss is, well, close to nothing, is pretty scary. The first half of the road is paved but fairly steep and we went fast. I hadn't ridden a bike in a very long time and didn't feel totally prepared for what was in store for me. But I made it to the start of the gravel road in one piece. This was the hard part. And it took its toll on me. About halfway down the gravel part I hit a big rock and came crashing to the ground. Luckily, it was at a fairly wide part of the road and I wasn't very close to the edge, but I still had a pretty nice bruise on my leg (and, thanks to the excellent protection gear, nowhere else) and could hardly walk. I went most of the way down in the van but really didn't want to reach the bottom in the van, so at a certain point I told the guy I wanted to continue. I couldn't really pedal, but it's mostly downhill, so pedaling isn't terribly important. And it felt great to get back on the bike and finish strong. The other riders welcomed me warmly after I got back and, the best part, we ended at a hotel with a nice hot pool and warm food! All in all a wonderful experience, I'm happy I survived and I have the T-shirt to prove it. Finally, a quick shoutout to Sep who, on our tour, became the first man ever to unicycle down Death Road. This man is extremely dedicated to what he does, which is extremely difficult, and thanks to my injury I got to spend more time chatting with him (unicycle goes a lot slower than bicycle), hearing about his crazy life.

Tomorrow I'm either off to Uyuni, Bolivia or Santiago, Chile, I'll decide later and today I am going to spend time with Julie! I am really excited that it actually worked out and that we're going to hang out - I'll check back soon. Hope everyone is doing well!

Lots of Caca, Not As Much Titi

Lake Titicaca is said to hold mystical powers - legend has it that never has one of its inhabitants suffered from cancer. As the ancient spiritual center of the Aymaran people (I am actually not totally sure of the history here, but I encourage you all to look it up and become more well versed), the lake, which is split nearly equally between Peru and Bolivia, emanates a calm radiance unlike any other, or so they say. I cannot comment on the historical aspects of the lake because, as I mentioned, I am uneducated, but I can definitively say that I have been touched by the special powers of Lago Titicaca. I haven't strayed more than, say, 250 meters from the banks of the lake in the past four or five days and it has permeated my soul, or at the very least rejuvenated my spirit! I'll explain further down.

Before I get there, however, I'll keep you updated, as always, with my trip! My bus from Arequipa to Puno was fine and I happened to be on the same bus as an Irish girl I met in Arequipa, with whom I proceeded to travel until today. Puno itself is a pretty gross town (Puyes would have been a much more apt name) but it lies on the beautiful lake. During my only full day in Puno I took a tour to the Uros floating islands, which are a series of manmade reed islands. Though their beauty is outstanding, it only temporarily hides the depressing realization that hese islands now totally cater to (or perhaps were created for) tourists. There is nothing like a 4 year old kid asking for money to hinder a beautiful, isolated island. Either way, that night was the final night of Carnaval in Puno and the silly string carnage in the main street was appalling.

The next day I took a bus to Copacabana, Bolivia, which is significantly more beautiful than Puno. From this side, the lake is absolutely magnificent. We got a room at a hostel directly on the water and from there proceeded to book a trip to Isla del Sol, the Sun Island, the location at which the ancient Aymara god reportedly created the sun, the moon and the stars. I had originally planned to take the boat to the north tip, hike to the south tip and then take the boat back, but the laundry lady had other ideas. She had promised to have my clothes ready by last night so I gave her all my socks. Of course, they weren't, and I was thus forced to go to Isla del Sol in sandals. It worked out aright, the island was great, and I had a great time! I spent last night watching the Miami Heat game (great game but heartwrenching defeat) in some restaurant with DirecTV which, if you could see this place, you'd realize how odd that is. All in all, my trip in Bolivia has started perfectly well and I can't wait to get to La Paz tomorrow!

Now back to the magical powers of the lake. Those of you who have been in touch since I started my trip will know that there have been days when I wasn't sure I should have gone on this trip. Traveling alone is quite the unique experience and there are lonely days. It's during those days that one begins to wonder if he made a mistake and whether he should just go home. I can't pinpoint a specific event during which this turned - which is why I'm convinced it's the lake's doing - but I've become completely ecstatic about everything. Last night, while trying to fall asleep (and the Irish girl's snoring didn't help), I couldn't stop replaying everything that I have to look forward to in my head! This happens to me from time to time, when I'm really excited about everything, and I started thinking in excrutiating detail about my trip to the island today, my life in New York this summer, spending time in Buenos Aires and, of course, everything in between. I had to resort to a tactic that I've been using since I was very young - every time I have a nightmare or just want to force myself to fall asleep I make myself visualize a nice, plain vanilla ice cream cone. I know it sounds crazy, but it works - try it sometime. I want to give a lot of the credit to Marni whose messages and help getting ready for Buenos Aires has gotten me super pumped up and even planning to arrive there early!

Finally, I know there is a small army of people out there reading this blog and I absolutely love it. And for the handful of you who have been commenting - and I mean some sort of deformed, fingerless hand, maybe Franky Four-Fingers style - keep it coming. I just wanted to say that I would love to be able to more obviously see the pulse of my readership, so please! Feel free to leave comments on my blog! I don't even care what it is, I just want to know you're alive! Emails, by the way, are good too.

I think that's all for now, I'll check back from La Paz, most likely after I've succesfully biked down the World's Most Dangerous Road! Ciao.

Poo? No!

Whilst traveling South America one invariably learns that, after visiting Machu Picchu, other destinations struggle to live up. I just spent the last two days on a tour of Colca Canyon, apparently the second deepest canyon in the world (twice deeper than the Grand Canyon) and, while undeniably beautiful, it was underwhelming. The tour, in fact, was quite shitty, but I met good people in the group and we had a pretty good time.

Working backwards: after Machu Picchu I spent a few more excellent days in Cusco before making my way to the barren wasteland of Arequipa, in which I currently find myself. One day in particular, Sunday, was probably my favorite day of the trip thus far. Sunday was Carnaval in Cusco which, as far as I could tell, means that Cusqueños spend the day throwing water balloons, spray paint and a colorful chalk-like substance at each other. Of course I had to get involved. Along with about 7 friends from the hostel, we set out to wreak havoc on the city of Cusco. We bought upwards of 1,000 water balloons, spent a good few hours filling them up and then hit the streets. The one ground rule was that, generally speaking, it was Men v. Women, in an epic battle royale. The day was extremely fun and competitive (I got into one particularly nasty battle with some other gringa and, judging by the water-balloon sized welt on her stomach, I'm pretty sure I won) and we spent close to 5 hours running around the city acting like children. I threw one balloon into a taxi whose windows were down and the driver wasn't too pleased. He skidded to a halt, got out of the car and started chasing me around the block. Naturally, I ran. When he eventually caught up to me (I was wearing flip flops and didn't want to fall!) I pulled the 'no entiendo' card and got away from trouble. Despite the deep sunburn on my shoulders, I had a wonderful time and will remember that day for a long time.

Back to now. I am planning on jumping on a bus to Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca tomorrow, where I will bum around and over the Bolivian border for about 5 days before hopefully meeting Julie in La Paz. The excellent bus company I was hoping to take, Cruz del Sur, is booked full until Sunday so I'm going to take my chances on another, supposedly lesser company. I've recently heard plenty of horror stories about South American busses and their passenger's sticky fingers, so I'll be clinging to my bags most carefully. Lake Titicaca, the world's highest navigable lake (I think), is supposed to be breathtaking, so hopefully my camera will be able to do it justice and I'll be able to share these crazy experiences with you all soon. Finally, I'm currently trying to set my schedule for the rest of the trip to get the most enjoyment out of every stop before finally heading home to graduate and start my job. Of course, there's a greater than good chance that I'll be preemptively laid-off. But it's ok - Noah and I have a recession plan. If I lose my offer and he, his job, we'll spend the year traveling Southeastern Asia (on his dime, of course) before getting serious again about real life. I'm not sure which option I'm rooting for!

Anyways, that's all for now. I hope everyone is well and please email me! There are points on this trip during which I really miss the familiar faces of my friends and family, and just hearing from you is usually enough to placate the homesickness. Ciao!

Machu Picchu WITHOUT a Tour Company

Ever since I started planning, thinking about and doing this trip I have had trouble figuring out what to do about Machu Picchu, the ancient spiritual capital of the Incan empire. It appeared that I was going to have to book an expensive, 4 day/3 night tour trip, and I was prepared for that. But then something happened that changed my perspective on the whole tour company thing. The first full day I was here, as I mentioned, I went on a guided horseback trip with the Argentinians. But there always seemed to be something - the guide would surprise with a new wrinkle in the trip we weren't anticipating - usually something annoying. Luckily, after we got back, we were walking with a guy who works at the hostel and he told us of the 'screw the tour companies' way of doing Machu Picchu, the way that the government officials and tourist operaters try to tell you is too dangerous so you'll buy their overpriced trips. Before I describe it, just a quick anecdote from two nights ago, our last night in Cusco before embarking on this crazy trip. We were in a supermarket buying some last minute snacks when an orthodox looking man walks in to do some similar shopping. He was standing right behind me in line so I managed to get a real good look at him, at which point I decided that not only was he orthodox, he was a Rabbi. As we were walking out of the store I decided to ask him where I could go for Shabbat. Turns out, oddly enough, he wasn't even Jewish! I think the Kippah confused me. I had gotten in touch with the Chabad here but, disappointingly, they are in Israel until March. Anyways, he did know quite a bit about the Jewish presence in Cusco and was able to point me in a general direction, so when I get back tomorrow morning I'll go on the prowl.

The next morning we awoke around 7 to buy a few last minute things and then take a cab to the bus terminal, Terminal Santiago. We soon found out that 'terminal' was far too generous a word. All the official, legitimate buses were full until late in the afternoon and we really had to get out of Cusco early since we were anticipating quite a long day. Eventually we managed to band together with a bunch of Chilean kids, forming a bit of bargaining power, and renting a van for the 10 of us (it was a 9 person van). The following 7 hours consisted of bouncing around the most ridiculously windy and undermaintained roads you can imagine, but at the same time it was one of the most beautiful and exhilirating experiences I can remember (plus, one perk of being tall - South Americans are generally small people so they automatically gave me the front seat for the entire ride). The van first took us to Santa Maria where we had to jump into another van headed towards Santa Teresa and, eventually, this thing called the Hidroelectrico. After lots of haggling and bickering, we finally arrived at the Hidroelectrico, some sort of electric station, where a train track towards Aguas Calientes, AKA Pueblo Machu Picchu, the town from which the last leg of each and every Machu Picchu expedition commences, began. We had been told that this was the coolest part of the trip - the unguided, 2.5 hour walk along the train tracks (don't worry Mom, the trains were done for the day) to Aguas. It took quite a while but when we finally arrived we were ecstatic. It got dark about halfway through the trek so we made full use of our flashlights. The town is a cute, yet overly touristy place and yet we were somehow able to find a hostel room for 4 bucks a pop.

The next day (which is now this morning) we woke up at 4:30am to buy a bus ticket up to Machu Picchu. We had been planning to walk this leg of the trip but it's a pretty hard walk and we wanted to conserve our energy for the actual mountain. We managed to get up to the entrance at 6am and had to immediately run to the other side of the ruins to get our passes to Wayna Picchu, the mountain part of Machu Picchu, for which there is a daily, 400 person limit. After getting the tickets we embarked on our tour of the ruins. The place is a lot bigger and a lot more beautiful than you'd imagine. It's incredible how well these ruins have been preserved - the Incas were awe-inspiringly sophisticated for theirs or any era and their architecture, construction capabilities and creativity are all astounding. When I get back to Cusco I'll try to upload the pictures somewhere and I'll let you know how to see them - I took so many pictures so set aside a nice chunk of time! You'll be happy you did. Unfortunately, it started to get really hot and I decided not to partake in the Wayna Picchu part of the experience, which entails an extremely steep 1 hour hike each way, during which, our guide explained, seven people died last year. My Argentinian buddies are better men than I, however, and climbed the mountain. While they were up there I decided that I had had enough and made my way down back to Aguas Calientes, from which I am writing right now. This whole experience has been incredible - I had been dreaming about visiting Machu Picchu ever since Mr. Dobrick taught us about it in 10th grade history class, and now I can officially say I have done it. I'll be honest, though, and say that the site is swarming with tourists, even though this is the supposed low season, and that partially diminishes the experience. Either way, I'm glad I did it and now I'm ready to head back to Cusco and continue on with my trip. I'm not sure if I want to go to Arequipa or to Puerto Maldonado. The former is a beautiful city in Southern Peru and the latter is the closest major place at which I can visit the Amazons. Two radically different options, and I can only do one (that's not actually true, but it sounds much more dramatic that way). If anyone knows or has any input, I'd love to hear it! Otherwise, I'll check in soon with some pictures!

Farting Horses

Hey everyone,

I don't have a ton of time so I'll just write a (relatively) quick update! I arrived in Cusco early yesterday afternoon and have been having a really good time so far. My first Cusco experience was pretty unique. I got picked up from the airport by someone at my hostel and had the window rolled down. Just as we were arriving at the hostel, a girl ran over to the car and threw a water balloon in my face! Apparently this is the usual pre-Carnaval ritiual (I don't know if they target tourists or not) and I completely loved it. In fact, it took a while for me to convince the driver that it wasn't a big deal - he had gotten out of the car and started yelling at the girl ("I have a tourist in here!"). I walked into the hostel, checked in and met my roommate - an Argentinian named Agustin - who I immediately went walking around with. It turns out he is here with a friend and I've become friendly with them both. They definitely have the Argentine player thing down to a tee, so hanging out has been interesting, but they're sweet guys underneath the machismo. We went out to town last night and had a decent time with a few other tourists we met. It would have been better if I actually enjoyed dancing!

Today we went on a tour of the ruins in the immediate surroundings of Cusco. For a bit of background, Cusco was the capital of the Incan empire back in the day, before the Spaniards came and laid waste to everything. There are tons of ruins in the area, most notably Machu Picchu, and we went around on horseback seeing some of them. My favorite of the day was Sacsayhuaman (AKA Sexy Woman) and the horse riding was pretty fun, if terrifying and smelly. Finally, we figured out the best way(or, at least, a way) to do Machu Picchu - we are planning to go on our own, without a tour, on our own schedule, in a way that was absolutely verified as safe...by the guy who works in our hostel. In a turn of events, we're going tomorrow. I should be back in town Friday morning and I'm hoping to find some Israelis to spend shabbat with!

I've already taken tons of photos, planning on an epic picture taking trip these next couple days and I will soon be able to tell you whether Machu Picchu lives up to the hype! Be in touch amigos.

A Freeflowing Conversation Which Occasionally Touches on Mature Subjects

So much to share, I'm just gonna jump right into it:

I landed in Quito around 7:30 on Wednesday night expecting someone to pick me up at the airport. Didn't happen. Like an idiot, I waited at the airport for a good two hours waiting for this mysterious person who never showed before giving up and taking my own cab. I got to the hostel and really liked it. It's in a great spot in old town Quito and has a really cool balcony overlooking the entire city. Just before bed I met a group of Canadian kids who invited me to tag along with them the next day, which I did. First we went to Teleferico, the world's highest cable car, ascending to an astonishing 4100 meters. Quito itself, by the way, lies at a cool 2850 meters. Anyone with experience with altitude would tell you to take it easy the first day or two in high altitude. Not I - the cable car was the first thing I did here and I was definitely feeling the effects (shortness of breath, lack of energy). Either way, the views were incredible and I enjoyed it quite a bit. Next we went to the 'Center of the World', an overly-touristy area which houses the supposed equator line. Apparently it isn't the true equator line, but we can forgive that. Anyways, it was really nice to spend the day with these guys but it did make me realize why I'm very happy to be traveling alone. Being able to do what I want without regard for anyone else's whims is going to be really nice!

The next day I spent walking around old town Quito and then hanging out at night with more people at the hostel. The city is really quite beautiful and interesting too. The hostel is in old town, which has tons of great churches and squares and old narrow streets, but the new town, not 20 minutes on foot from here, is completely modern and has some very trendy places to walk around. I think I've learned my way around pretty well and I'm pretty excited about that. I also visited a great museum of an artist named Oswaldo Guayasamin (cool guy - check him out) whose stuff was pretty haunting and interesting. He was, apparently, very sympathetic to the plight of the Latin American indigenous and his pieces reflected not just different aspects of their story but also human suffering at large. Finally, last night I went out to dinner with the Canadian kids to this great Indian restaurant (of course) before saying goodbye to them since they left this morning. A couple of the day trips I tried to plan didn't quite work out and I have spent the whole time in Quito, but I'm nevertheless pleased with the experience and happy I got to see at least some of Ecuador. I'm flying to Cuzco, Peru tomorrow and I'm really excited to see a new country and have a recent experience with which to compare it.

Traveling alone has been pretty good so far. What they say is true: it's extremely easy to meet people and have a good time. It could be that I simply chose a great hostel, but I haven't ever really been alone (except when I chose to be - exploring a new city alone on foot is actually pretty awesome) and/or bored. I've met a ton of other travelers who either have done what I'm about to do or soon will, which is extremely helpful for planning. I definitely get the sense that I'm sort of cheating by flying to Cuzco, but whatever - I don't want to spend my entire trip on a bus!

Keep the emails coming and I'll check in from Cuzco!

Leaving on a Jetplane!

Hello everybody!

I know it's been a little while since I've written, but today - the
day I leave for the Big Trip - seems as good as any. I got back from Costa Rica nearly two weeks ago and immediately started neglecting my responsibilities and necessary planning for this trip. Becky flew to Florida and we spent five wonderful days together here, including a trip to Naples to watch the superbowl with my grandparents (go steelers!!). After she left I only had one and a half days before leaving again, this time for North Carolina to compete in the Wake Forest marketing summit with Akiva and Avi. We didn't exactly take the competition too seriously, but we had a very nice time, especially once the presentation was over! I landed back in Florida late Sunday night, just over two full days before the next leg of my trip, when my lack of preparation and the enormity of still-unfulfilledl tasks truly hit me. In the past two days, with the help of my wonderful parents, I've:

• Bought a backpack
• Realized that I booked an overly ambitious trip, trying to cover
enormous distances in impossibly short times, and therefore booked a
series of connecting flights to help me along the way
• Tried packing only to discover my pack was too small
• Bought a new backpack
• Spent endless hours trying to form some sort of itinerary

I could not have done this without my parents, not even close. These are all things that any responsible person would have had taken care of well ahead of time. Thank you guys so much!

So here I am, sitting in Miami airport awaiting my flight to Quito. Overall, I'm extremely excited for the trip, but I also feel that this is at once both sad and uplifting. After saying goodbye to my mom and Marni at the airport, which was more emotional for me than I expected, I took a few minutes to collect myself and then headed through security. In many ways this feels like the same strange combination of emotions I've been having trouble dealing with (or, at least understanding) for the past several months. There's an interesting balance between trying to have these incredibly unique experiences and not wanting to leave the people and places that you love and with whom you feel comfortable. I'll try to avoid rambling but this is a time in my life without much stability - which, on the one hand is incredibly rare and valuable and, on the other, totally scary - and never has the difficulty of this balance been more obvious to me. I don't really know what I'm talking about, to be honest, but I just wanted to say that, though I'm far away traveling the world, y'all are not far from my mind..

Please, everyone, be in email touch. I can't wait to hear from you and see you all when I get back!

UPDATE: in the interest of journalistic integrity, I think it's important to note that there was no Internet in the Miami airport so I posted this as soon as I was able to connect in Ecuador.

Speak-o Like a Tico!

Hola, 

As I sit here, once again, in a hammock in Sámara on my last day in Costa Rica, I’ve decided that a little education is in order. It seems that an oddly large number of people I know, my parents included, have either recently taken or will soon enjoy a trip to this wonderful country, so I thought I’d make myself and my experiences here useful by providing a Guide to the Costa Rican (Tican) Language. Consider it a 'What I've learned in Costa Rica' post, language edition. “Wait a minute”, you almost certainly just wondered to yourself, “isn’t it called Spanish?” Well, the answer is yes, but only officially. As with every other Spanish speaking country, Costa Rica has it’s own unique set of expressions, phrases, proverbs and sayings that must be mastered in order to truly become one with the people and the culture. Obviously, I initially intended for this to be a complete guide to the Costa Rican Cultural Lexicon – and it certainly approaches that – but, due to time and space constraints, I’ve had to make some difficult decisions and cut some stuff out. I hope you enjoy it and make use of these nuggets on your next trip down here:

• Pura Vida: More ethos and/or philosophy than anything else, Pura Vida, the most important catchphrase to know in Costa Rica, can be used in a wide variety of situations and, literally, means "pure life". Before arriving in Costa Rica I had been informed that everyone uses this phrase, but the only times I had heard 'Pura Vida' during my first two weeks here were on the airplane and from the rafting tourguide; thus, I concluded that it was a contrived and manufactured phrase directed at tourists. However, after a couple extra weeks on the beach here, it appears that everyday people use it quite regularly. For example, Pura Vida is a perfectly adequate response to ¿como estás? as well as the best way to justify any wrongdoing.    

• Tico Time: Though this one is not in spanish it is nevertheless as unavoidable and crucial as the others. The simplest way to explain tico time is via the following anecdote which just took place earlier today. I sat down to lunch with a bunch of friends and, after we ordered our food at 12:15, my friend Ruben said to me 'I bet the food doesn't get here until 1pm - this restaurant is on tico time'. I took the bet and, as it turns out, the food arrived 20 seconds before 1pm! My frustration over the tardiness of the food (classes started at 1:15, so I had to rush) overruled my excitement over winning, but I had already learned that tico time is a very real part of life here and that I'm used to it.

• Mae/Tuanis: These do not mean the same thing, but they often accompany each other. 'Mae' is the Costa Rican equivalent of the Argentinean 'Che' or the english 'Dude', 'Buddy' or 'Bro'. Tuanis is just one word for 'cool', or 'chill'. Thus, together, 'tuanis mae' is a great response to pretty much any question, most notably '¿como le fue?', '¿quibubo?' or '¿que tal?'. 

And, now, a small section on something I hold near and dear to my heart, food:

• Casado/Gallo Pinto/Pico de Gallo/Arroz con Frijoles: They all have different names and may look a bit different, but these are all (with one exception - the Casado often includes other items such as fried plantains, a protein and salad) essentially the same dish - rice and beans - and is served with pretty much any meal in Costa Rice. While many foreigners who travel here often complain about the bland nature of this cuisine, I am personally a huge fan and will hopefully be able to continue eating these long after I've returned Stateside. It must be mentioned that these dishes are never complete without Salsa Lizano.

• Salsa Lizano: This multifaceted and ubiquitous condiment is the perfect complement to practically any meal in Costa Rica, but is especially 'sabroso' with the aforementioned rice & bean dishes. It has an uncanny similarity to the packets of mild sauce that is included with any Taco Bell meal - don't ask how I know this - and it has turned out to be a completely essential part of my month here. I am planning on bringing two big bottles of it back with me tomorrow and hopefully, if you know me and will see me anytime soon, you'll have a chance to try it with..well, anything.

I hope you've enjoyed this and I'll try to be in touch with you all over the next two weeks before I head out on the next part of my trip! And if you are one of the lucky ones who will see me in these next two weeks, see you soon!

Feelin' Kinda Sunday

Hola Compañeros!

Today is my third full day in the Spanish school's other campus, located in Sámara, a gorgeous little beach town on Costa Rica's Pacific coast. I am writing from a hammock about 4 feet from the sand and I have the incredible ocean view on one side and the school on the other (hopefully these pictures will warm you up a little bit!) I got here late on Sunday after a great day of white water rafting with Marni on the Pacuare river which, apparently, is one of the top five rafting rivers in the world. Unfortunately, since we're in the middle of the dry season right now the water level was a lot lower than usual and, thus, the rapids were a bit tame. Still, we had a great time and walked away with some funny stories and awkward sunburns. 

Sámara, as I mentioned, is wonderful! It's the complete opposite of Heredia - the town is safe, people don't really lock their houses at night, the food is expensive (relatively) and the weather is HOT! There is a ton of sand everywhere and it seems like I'm never more than a 2 minute walk from the beach. Life here is very slow and very relaxing - lots of hammocking, beach volleyball, Spanish and beer. As they say, Pura Vida. I also think the Spanish lessons are doing their job because I am having a pretty hard time coming up with the right words in English. I am living in a homestay here as well and there, perhaps, is where the contrast is most evident. They, as opposed to my Heredia family, are informal, crazy and a lot of fun! They are easy to hang out with, laugh with and get close to, especially their 7 year old son, Justin, who was kind of enough to take some time out of his busy schedule last night to teach me and my roommate a few very important vulgarities in Spanish. All told, while there isn't much to do here and there's a lot of just hanging around, it will be pretty tough for me to leave here next week.  

Speaking of which, one more (hopefully not final) shoutout to my Steelers. I am now flying home next Thursday which means I'll be able to watch the Superbowl with my dear Grandparents in Naples! I can't wait to see everybody (or whoever is lucky enough to see me while I'm in The States) and I miss you all!

Pura Vida!

Milk Was a Bad Choice!

This time, you might actually have worried about me. Last thursday, as I was sitting in a cute little Heredian restaurant called Mambo eating the traditional Tican mish mash dish of rice, beans, fish, fried plantains, salad and bread called Casados, the ground started shaking, the elderly Tica women began screaming and Central Costa Rica was pummeled with what we would learn was an earthquake that measured 6.2 on the Richter scale. For roughly 15 seconds, there was no control. Luckily, nothing fell nor broke where we were so it didn't seem quite so bad at first. If you've read the news, however, you'd know that around 20 people have officially been declared dead with upwards of 200 more missing. As far as I am aware, the vast majority of the fatalities were the result of landslides in mountainous areas that simply burried people. It's incredibly scary, we were extremely fortunate and we can only pray that the death toll doesn't continue to rise.

On a lighter note, my first full week in Costa Rica is now in the books! Everything has been incredible, my Spanish is kicking ass and my homestay situation has gotten better every day! My Tica Mama is a sweetie who cooks me great, if simple, vegetarian food with lots of rice, plantains, eggs and bread. School has been wonderful, the people are great and I've even taken a couple dance classes. This past weekend I traveled with Marni to Playa Hermosa, a small, gorgeous beach town on the central pacific coast to stay in a hostel with my Brandeis friend Maya and her brother. The hostel was a veritable surf bum paradise, with cheap rooms, untouched beach access and, most importantly, great waves. We spent the entire time either on the beach or in the hostel lobby hanging out with the absurdly random mix of people that were staying at the hostel. I met quite a few very interesting and/or ridiculous people and, to me, the experience was a bit of a precursor to my further travels in South America. It certainly has gotten me more excited for the crazy and unpredicatable nature of independent travel, spending time with a whole host of people to whom you would probably never talk in another setting. There is so much to learn from these people out there and I can't wait.

Last, but not least, I am extremely fortunate to have a host Mom who not only has cable TV in her bedroom, but doesn't mind my taking over her room for three hours to watch the Steelers game yesterday! I was so happy to be able to support the boys - who looked great, by the way - and here's to their game this Sunday - go beat the Ravens so I can go see you in the Superbowl!

¡Hasta Luego!

Me Gusta Viajar, Me Gustas Tú

¡Hola chicos!

I know ya'll have been worried sick about me so I thought now would be a good time to check in and let you know that I'm alive and well. Marni and I landed in San José yesterday around noon and were immediately greeted by our families (well, I was greeted by my family - she, by Don Fernando). My host's son, Rafa was at the airport to pick me up along with his daughter, Marcena, and as soon as I met them I blanked out on every single word of Spanish I ever heard! Thankfully, their house isn't far from the airport so the awkward car ride was mercifully short. The house is fairly small, really simple but nevertheless comfortable. I have my own room and my own bathroom, so I can't much complain. Last night was really tough from a communication standpoint but I did my best to get the lay of the land nonetheless.

Today has been a really fun day but it certainly didn't start off that way. I decided to use the alarm on my ipod and I sort of messed it up in a couple of ways. Let's just say that I tried to wake up at 6:45 (orientation at school started at 7:30) but instead woke up at 5:15. I managed to battle the exhaustion, show up at school on time and take the oral placement exam for Spanish - I placed into Intermedio 3 (the second highest intermediate level)! After class they took us on a tour of the town and out to lunch. The people are very nice and there is a huge group of kids from Austin, Texas (pronounced "tay-has", en Español) on some sort of program. All in all I'm pleased with the people and a bunch of us have plans to go out tonight in a few hours..don't worry Mom, I'll do my homework first! As we were walking, though, I found out that I was actually somehow placed in Avanzado uno (the first advanced level) and I'm not sure why! The people seem to know their stuff but I should be fine..I'm the only guy in the class so I should be able to coast on my Masculine charm.

Finally, I just wanted to share one paticularity of Costa Rican culture that I am not excited to adopt. Before I got here everybody made Costa Rica seem like a perfectly Western country, but this certainly challenges that idea. The septic system in most parts of the country is extremely weak. As a result, most toilets in the country cannot handle toilet paper. So beside every toilet I've seen so far lies a wastebasket in which one is meant to throw his or her toilet paper! I could be crazy, but that's completely gross! This might be TMI, but I've been holding it in since I got here and I know that a few of the other students are with me on that! Ah!

I'm off to shower and do my homework but, in the meantime, if anybody knows of a good Gringo-style bathroom in Costa Rica, please..please..let me know where it is!

Welcome!

Hey Everyone (or, more likely, Mom)!

Thanks for checking out my blog - the Backpacking Hippo. I decided to start this blog to chronicle my travels, keep everybody who loves me (and, really, who doesn't) up to date on my life over these next few months and, for those of you who will be in South America, to stay in touch and hopefully meet up somewhere!

If any of you are wondering why I think anybody cares about what I have say, so much so that I felt compelled to start a blog, it's really quite simple. I don't like mass emails. We've all received them before from friends who are traveling, studying abroad or going through some other comparable life-changing experience, and, let's be honest, nobody likes to read those. So, while I didn't want to force myself down your throats, I figured I should still give you the wonderful opportunity to keep up with me. 

Here is just a quick rundown of my plan (I'll admit, there's not much there):

Tomorrow, January 4th, I am flying to San Jose, Costa Rica where I will spend all of January studying spanish at Intercultura Spanish School (first two weeks in Heredia, last two weeks in Playa Samara). After a brief return to the USA, I'll be flying to Quito, Ecuador on February 11th. The only other thing currently booked is my return flight, on April 30th, from Buenos Aires. That gives me 2.5 months to get from Point A to Point B. I plan to climb Macchu Picchu, hang out in Cusco, Peru and Santiago, Chile. I'm not really sure where else I'll wind up but, to be fair, that's sort of the point.

Finally, some instructions. If you do want to receive this via email you can subscribe to the RSS feed. I only know how to set it up for Mac users, so if you are on a PC (shame on you), I hope you can figure it out. On a Mac: Go into the 'Mail' program and click into the preferences screen. Under the RSS header, make 'Mail' your default RSS reader. Next, there is a link on the bottom of this page that says 'Posts (Atom)'. Click on that link and follow the instructions within Mail. Now you'll receive my posts straight to your email. NOTE: This only works on the latest versions of Mac Mail. If you have an older version you will not be able to subscribe by email! So sorry - both Mac and PC users can still track the RSS feed through your web browser, however. Lastly, if any of you use Gmail, you can add Backpacking Hippo to your webclips (under settings), so that when I post something new it appears within your Gmail inbox. 

There will be more to come but, in the meantime, I miss all of you dearly and can't wait to be in touch from the road! Please feel free to comment - I want to hear from you almost as much as you want to hear from me.