Thursday, November 22, 2007
Into The WIld
http://www.myspace.com/intothewildmovie
Enjoy.
Monday, November 12, 2007
Still doing the tour leading thing.
On another subject, I finally submitted all the paperwork (I hope) for the Belgian visa I am working on getting. I hope to be back over there with Eva before the year is over, but we'll see. It's hard to have optimism when waiting on a bureaucracy to get its act together. Along with many other things I had to submit to them my passport, and this is the first time in 21 years I have been without one. So I can't leave the country right now even if I want to. A bit of a weird feeling.
Not able to post photos right now, hopefully next time.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Still Leading tours
I also recently submitted all the paperwork to obtain a Belgian residency visa, so who knows how long it will take. I am about to start my 5th trip for the season, a two weeker that goes to San Diego, Grand Canyon, Vegas, Yosemite and San Fran. I will be in Vegas the Saturday before Halloween and SF for Halloween. Should be fun. The last trip I led was a very short promotional tour called "Into the Wild." There is a movie out by that name directed by Sean Penn, based on the book by John Krakower about a guy named Christopher McCandless who went to live in the wilds of Alaska and ended up starving to death. Do yourself a favor and read the book and see the movie, they are both really good. Oh and buy the soundtrack as well, with music by Eddie Vedder. Anyway, to help promote the movie they gave away a tour to six winners, and Trek America won the bid to lead it. Myself and another leader (JJ, who I worked with in Seattle) did so and it was a lot of fun. Unfortunately it was not in Alaska (too late in the season) rather it was 2 nights Olympic National Park and two nights Rainier NP. It was my 6th visit to Rainier, but my first time to see the mountain from the park (I have seen it many times from Seattle) as it is usually clouded in. Also while sea kayaking, we saw a whale. There should be some footage of the tour coming up soon on My Space, so check it out. Something is wrong with the photo upload section, so sorry, none of those.
Sunday, September 2, 2007
Still here
Been back on the road leading tours for 6 weeks or so now, and have a very hard time to keep up with this stuff, while doing so, but will be back to regular at some point.
I just finished a tour of Eastern Canada, all of which (except Niagara Falls) was new to me. The tour was two weeks, I had 13 passengers and I went to Niagara, Toronto, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City, Acadia National Park, and back to New Jersey.
Two days in between tours, and then I will have a 25 day, New Jersey to Seattle tour, across Canada. Sorry no pictures, my new camera fell into a river when it was only two days in my possession. I am getting it fixed, but don't have it yet.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Southern Sun Done
The Pictures are:
1. Zion
2. Monument Valley
3. Monument Valley number 2
4. Louisiana Swamp tour
5. Sponge Bob Birthday Party in Alabama
I'm in New Jersey now, just finished leading the three week tour called the southern sun. I had nine passengers, all but one were British (the other was an Aussie). I was going to try to put some more regular posts from the trip up, but its hard to get time when you are leading camping tours. Free time is often spent sleeping, not working on Blogs.
Today someone asked me what the best part of the tour was for me. Sadly, the single most enjoyable moment was when I beat a sweet little old lady (I had a full house she had a straight) out of 85 dollars at Harrahs Casino in New Orleans. I did see some amazing things though, and was glad to get back to Zion, Vegas, New Orleans and the Grand Canyon.
My next tour is in four days, and I will be going up to eastern Canada. With the exception of Niagara Falls I have not been to any of the places on the tour. So even though it will be a lot of work, I am looking forward to going to so many new places. So those of you that enjoyed the Blog, stay tuned, and bear with me.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
Eating Cuy
I visited Peru for a few weeks with my girlfriend. We were on the typical Gringo trail around Peru, which includes The Nazca Lines, Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca, Cuzco and of course Machu Picchu. It was our second to last night and we were in Augas Calientes, the small town that serves as a base for visiting the ruins of Machu Picchu. I had been putting it off for long enough and it was time to pick up knife and fork and just go for it. The seven cocktails helped drown out any ideas of cute cuddly pets. I did not have them as a kid but my girlfriend did and I had mice and hamsters. So they weren’t what I thought of when I think dinner.
It is served in several South American countries and is called Cuy. Supposedly they are called that because of the sound they make sounds a little like “kwee, kwee” which is how Cuy is pronounced. Their cute little cooing sound doesn’t make them more appetizing, but I pride myself on being adventurous in my travel eating. The dish goes back to before the Spaniards, and was a popular dish of the Inca’s. My brother always claims that “they” would not make it if it wasn’t good, and I had to/wanted to try it while I was in Peru. After all, they’ve been making it for quite some time now.
I even bargained for my meal. It was listed as 50 soles (about 15 USD) on the menu, but the guy out front said he would give it to me for 30. I even got the 3 for 1 drinks down a bit. I wonder if he is used to having to sell drinks to foreigners trying to get up the liquid courage to try to eat a pet. The dish is served all over Peru and it is often a question among travelers “have you eaten it yet?” I never actually saw a Peruvian eat it (although I did see a Bolivian with about 20 in a little pen in here home-close to the kitchen) and wonder if it is one of those dishes kept alive by the sheer novelty sake for tourists. Well I am a tourist, and I wanted to eat it.
You can order it two ways. You can have it delivered to you as just cut up meet, or it can be with all limbs and head attached spread out on your plate. I had to have it the second way, I needed a photo. My girlfriend would not eat any of it, still too fond of her childhood pets, and without a cocktail(s). I did (almost) force her into having one bite, but she does not like to admit now that she had a bite.
They are in fact tough eating. Not that the meat is so hard or chewy, rather, it’s hard to get any meat from it. I suppose not surprisingly by looking at them, but the meal is a wrestling match to try to get much eatable meat off the bones. I did get a little silly while eating (remember all the cocktails). I made my girlfriend take a picture of me holding its head on a fork, and the open mouth had a French fry in it. Yes, I did play with my food, even though my mother told me not to so many years ago.
So what does it taste like? Well you guessed it, chicken. A lot of people say rabbit, but I’m not sure I agree. I am much more familiar with chicken than rabbit, but still I would say chicken. If it was cut up served in a stew and you were told it was chicken, you would never know the difference.
It was an experience to have Guinea pig for dinner, that for sure. On our last day in Lima we bought a Peruvian cook book. Often when I get home I have a hankering for something I had eaten during my travels, and try to cook it up at home. Let’s just say that won’t be happening in this case. I will not be visiting any pet stores and stoking up the BBQ any time soon.
Ending the South America Saga
Friday, July 27, 2007
Vegas Baby! Vegas!
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
Trek America
So I leave tomorrow, on my first tour and as I said I will be posting on the BLOG a little less frequently, but will still try to do my best. My first tour is as follows:
Day
1. Disneyland
2. Vegas
3. Vegas
4. Zion
5. Lake Powell
6. Grand Canyon
7. Grand Canyon
8. Monument Valley
9. New Mexico
10. Carlsbad Caverns
11. Del Rio Texas
12. San Antonio
13. Louisiana
14. New Orleans
15. New Orleans
16. Alabama
17. Tenn
18. Virgina
19. DC
20. DC
21. NY
5000 miles in three weeks. After that its up to Eastern Canada, where I have never been. Then a tour across Canada to Seattle, and then we will see.
So stay tuned, I will have some photos up from the US as soon as I can.
Stay tuned
It wasn't easy to get here by the way, as my flight from Brussels was canceled, and I had to fly the next day. That cut my time to prepare for the upcoming trip down from 2 days (normally it is three) to a jet-lagged hour and a day.
As I said, stay tuned.
Friday, July 20, 2007
Back to Peru
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Isla Del Sol
With a population of around 5,000, Isla del Sol is dotted with several villages, of which Yumani and Cha'llapampa are the largest. The island's Inca ruins include Pilko Kaina at the southern end and the Chincana complex in the north, which is the site of the sacred rock where the Inca creation legend began. At Cha'llapampa, there's a museum with gold artifacts from the underwater excavations near Isla Koa, north of Isla del Sol. The Museo Templo de Sol near Cha'lla features a collection of all things Aymara, one of Bolivia's largest indigenous groups."
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Bolivia
On the Peru side we had to get our passports stamped for exit, and then some drug cops called us into the office. They searched my bag and then wanted to search Eva's stuff with me out of the room. That made me a little nervous, not for her safety but that one of them may have sticky fingers, but it turned out fine. There was a VERY long line of Israelis at the Bolivian side but fortunately we soon realized that was to get out of Bolivia, and we were headed in. There were no visas needed for either of us.
We got in another Mini Van and 20 minutes later we were in the lovely Copacabana, Bolivia's main town on the lake. We thought Peru was cheap, but we quickly realized how much cheaper Bolivia is. We got settled into our hotel (that had a great lake view) had some lunch and wandered around town. We went to a nice Mexican restaurant for dinner, and really splashed out. I think our bill was under 10 USD for two. We felt we had done enough traveling for the day, and were glad to not be moving at least for the moment. More about our two days in Bolivia to come.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Colca Canyon Trip
The second deepest canyon
Monday, July 16, 2007
More parties and visitors
There where about 30 people there total and lots and lots of food. In fact it was the second night in a row that Eva and had and all you can eat dessert buffet with a chocolate fondue fountain. We ate a lot for the second night in a row and lucky for me Eva drove home for the second night in a row.
The next day we picked up Joe Park (who is in Europe for 6 days for the wedding in The Netherlands) in Antwerp and the three of us drove to Oudenaarde for a BBQ. Eva's sister and brother in law live there and we had a meat party. Lots and lots of meat, which topped off a wonderful weekend of eating, drinking, friends and family