Chan Chan

The photo is of Chan Chan.

I didn't make it all the way to my next destination in one day. As I said, the main way to travel for backpackers is night buses, but mostly I won't take them. You can only go directly to Trujillo from Mancora if you leave at night. Most backpackers will tell you that you can ONLY leave at night, because that's the ONLY time the buses leave. But they have no imagination. You can always hop on a bus heading the direction you want to go, even if its only going to the next major town. Then you may need to switch to the next major town and so on. It takes longer than the direct bus, but if you want to get moving in the direction you choose, you usually can.

So I caught the bus to Piura, where I changed to Chiclayo. I got to Chiclayo mid afternoon and decided to stop moving for the day. Funny thing is on the way to Belgium this time, on the "flight progress" on the TV screen of the plane there was Chiclayo. When they showed the large world map, of all places in Peru, Chiclayo showed up and I had been there. It really was just a stopover town for me, but was nice enough. Mostly I remember the dinner I had of a half roasted chicken, fries and a frozen lemonade.

The next day I made it to Trujillo where I spent two nights before heading to Lima. I stayed in a place one block off the main square that was a wonderful little tranquil oasis in the middle of a bustling city. Charming rooms off a large courtyard which drowned out the city noises and for only 8 USD. Both nights I was in Trujillo I went to the movies. I saw 300 (for the second time) and Proof of Faith. During the whole day I had there I went to Huanchaco and Chan Chan.

Chan Chan is known as the largest mud brick city in the world. It was the capital of the Chimu people, another (as opposed to the Incas) pre Hispanic culture that flourished between 850 AD and 1470 AD. It was massive, and wonderful to wander around, because it was practically deserted. I have been to Egypt and liked it BUT all the ruins were WAY too crowded.

Huanchaco is the beach suburb of Trujillo that is very nice. It is famous for fishing boats made of reeds. They line the beach and I think are still partially used for fishing, but I think they are more used for giving paying tourists a ride. I had a nice seafood lunch there and quite a few beers, which prompted a nice long afternoon nap back at the hotel. Its a good thing I had seen Chan Chan on my way out (its on the same road) to the beach as opposed to the way back.

The north coast of Peru is often missed by travelers doing the normal Gringo trail in the south, but is well worth a visit.

Marvin Gaye

Pictures are:

1. Karla protecting me from the wind

2. The ocean

3. Eva loosing at a wrestling match

4. Marvin Gaye's favorite place

5. Eva and I drinking mint tea with rum

Last night Eva's friend Karla came over for dinner. I was a little embarrassed by what I had made for dinner (didn't know we were having a guest), chili dogs. If the guys back home came over to watch a football game, I would be proud of chili dogs, with homemade chili. In Europe, with a guest over, I was embarrassed a little. But it tasted good and Karla seemed to enjoy it, or was at least polite about it. To go with the dogs, we had fries. Well why not, after all as I said before the Belgians invented fries, so why not get two Belgian girls help me make them. I decided not to introduce Chili Fries. I know some of my friends are thinking "why the hell not!"

After dinner we went on a walk on the beach to experience Belgium's "summer." It was the windiest since I have been here and the waves were so big there was actually a surfer out in the water. There are lots of wind surfers and kite boarders normally, but the waves usually aren't big enough for regular surfers. Still we had a nice walk on the beach, and played around a bit, having races and wrestling matches.

Then it was time for a break from the wind so we went to have a drink. I wanted to go to Potbelly's, the so called American Bar, but it was closed. I actually asked them for work a few weeks ago, but in reality an American could never work there. Why, well because you have to speak three languages minimum to work there. Which reminds me of the joke:

What do you call someone that speaks three languages? Trilingual

What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual

What do you call someone who speaks one? American

Instead we wound up at the Bar Marvin Gaye used to frequent when he lived here. He lived here for a short period in the early 80's and people often mention it (or maybe I bring it up) when I tell them I am American. So as any Icon in a foreign land (I'm thinking Hemingway) he has a bar that is now labeled "the bar that said celebrity used to frequent." We had mint tea and rum, a combo I had never heard of before, but was very good. Maybe I don't know it because I am used to warm climates, and Rum usually comes with ice. We met two guys while we were there, one from Chile and one from Italy. The Italian was VERY drunk. He fell on me twice, pissed himself at some point, spit on himself several times, burned the end of his nose with a cigarette, almost had his pants fall down, dropped his wallet and then got kicked out. Interesting guy and for a short period he was entertainment, any longer though and he would have been annoying. We talked a bit more with the other guy afterwards and had a very strange conversation in Flemish, Spanish, English, French Portuguese and maybe a little German. Eventually he left in search of his friend, we finished our drinks and went home.

Beach Time

The main reason I was so stead fast on the difficult route over the border was I wanted to go to Mancora, Peru. If I would have taken the other supposedly more tranquil border crossing, it would have put me way off course for Mancora, and I wanted to go. I had read about it and heard from a Peruvian-American friend (Karim) that it was very nice.

The Lonely Planet says this about it:

The small fishing village of Mancora, about 30km further north (than Cabo Blanco), has a lovely beach that is popular with surfers and beach lovers and is the most visited coastal resort on the north coast. It is unique in the area because it is directly accessible from the Panamerica (Highway), is far enough from Tumbes to avoid humidity and mosquitoes, and is sunny year-round. Although Peruvians and Ecuadorians flock here, it's not well known by international travelers.

Normally in my Blog I don't want to just quote the Lonely Planet (then you might as well just read their book), but I just wanted to show you what attracts me when I travel, and why I wanted to go here.
-small fishing village
-lovely beach
-accessible
-no humidity
-no mosquitoes
-sunny year round
-not well known by international travelers

Sounds nice doesn't it, well, I had to go, I needed some beach time. After a very crowded Combi (mini-van, usually packed to the hilt) ride of about three hours, the driver stopped to let me out along the Pan America highway that cuts through Mancora. After a little bit of walking back and forth in indecision, I asked a shop owner which way to the beach. I thought I followed her instructions, but ended up walking over some deserted swampy, marshy area that was not very nice. My first impressions of my beach paradise, not good. The busy Highway lined with shops and the swamp with (sinking) planks set up to cross it were not my idea of a beach haven. Then I wandered through some shanty town style shacks and suddenly out onto the beach strand. Things were looking up.

I wound up at a place that was not very nice, but I wanted to get my bag put down and check out the place. Besides it was only 15 soles (under 5 USD), but I think I was the only one staying there, and I wanted to meet others. After about 30 minutes of walking around I saw the place on the beach that I should be staying at instead, and for only 5 soles more I was going to check in the next morning.

I spent three days in Mancora, lounging around, reading, writing and swimming. I bumped into Adi and Lucy (The English couple from Banos) and also hung out some with two Dutch girls and an Irish guy. I had dinner with them one night, and they told me all about their day in a very fancy villa of a rich, gay Peruvian designer. The girls lounged by the pool and sipped drinks, while the Irish guy was encouraged to try on suits by the gay designer and did cocaine upstairs.

Mancora was one of those friendly little traveler communities where you started to see familiar faces and get comfortable. The first two nights (my first two in Peru) I'm not sure if Peruvian food was good, as I ate at the same Mexican place two nights in a row-and almost made it a third. Also Adi and I got really drunk one night on Pisco Sours (pisco is a grape Brandy first made in Peru, but now also produced in Chile), but diving in the ocean the next morning zapped away the hangover.

So all the things the guide book said (and the reasons I went there) were true, except I suppose about it being undiscovered by foreign tourists. But as all things, it had to come to an end, and after three days it was time to push on south.

The Border

So I was ready to head to Peru, and got up fairly early to get on my way. One of the biggest problems I had come to find out is that this border comes with a large "no man's land." I have crossed many Central American borders and generally they are immigration office, bridge, other countries immigration office. One countries buses drop you off on one side, and the other countries pick you up on the other. At most you have to walk half a kilometer. Here, due to long standing boundary disputes (I think) this is not the case. The immigration offices are a couple of km's into the country on either side. Inside this zone it is chaotic, and confusing, and every one and their brother AND their mother who wants to fleece tourists out of money is there.

So I had heard about a bus company that drove from an Machala, Ecuador (about an hour from the border) to Tumbes, Peru (about 30 minutes from the border). apparently they would stop at both immigration posts, and help tourists through. The bus was double or triple the normal price, but still only a few bucks. This is the option I tried for. At the bus station it was confusing. I am no slouch in Spanish, but I could not figure out what was going on. There seemed to be a lot of disagreement about which bus it was and when it would come. Finally after a lot of waiting and pacing, the woman in the ticket office shouted at me to hop on a bus that was just about to pull out. I got on and went to get settled and then went to talk to the driver/money taker guy. I wanted to make sure we were going all the way into Peru. We were not. WHAT???!!!! It took me a long conversation/argument to get him to admit this, but as I was the only tourist on the bus, the only one that wanted to pay the amount to get us to Peru, we were not going. I had heard this might happen.

But I was prepared. Instead of being taken all the way to the border AKA chaoticville, I had them drop me 4km out at the immigration post. That was a quick stamp in the passport, and then back out to the road. One of the main things I had heard is never get in a cab. The cab drivers often will drive you to a deserted field or lot, and their "policeman" buddies will show up and demand money for your protection, because it is a dangerous place. Yeah, protection from them I suppose. Or sometimes they will even force you to go to the ATM and take money out. I have heard of people loosing up to 200 USD that way. So I waved off several persistent cabbies, and hoped on the next bus to the bridge over the river separating the two countries.

When I got there I had to walk down a long street crowded of shops and people. I did not actually get hassled much on this side, but I suppose had I been facing the other direction, I would have. Then, I crossed the bridge and the barrage started. Taxi, taxi, taxi, but no way was I getting in one. I had read that it was better to take a moped/rickshaw type thing, and I eventually pushed my way past all the offers of taxis and money changers to get to the moped turnaround. I did change a little money, enough to make it to Tumbes and ATM, but that was supposedly one of the biggest scams; fake bills. The moped taxi driver told me one dollar for the 10 min ride, but when I got out he said 10 dollars. I laughed him off, and he was a bit miffed, but I told him no way was he getting 10 dollars from me. I looked in my pocket and the smallest bill I had was 10 soles, about 3 bucks. I gave it to him, and said I'm sure he would claim to have no change and that he was lucky to even get that (as opposed to the 10 dollars he was now asking for). I left, and headed towards immigration. Again, a quick stamp in the passport, and back out to the road. I waited for a while for a bus, but none came. Eventually I did hop in cab, but there were four other seemingly unconnected people in it, and it seemed safe. It took me the half hour to Tumbes, and all in all I got through unscathed.

Mainly I think it was because I was prepared. I only really got fleeced out of 2 dollars, and that was more because I didn't have change. If any of you plan to cross, this is my advice. Go in the daytime. Try for the international bus, but failing that, make sure it drops you off at immigration. Don't take a taxi unless there is absolutely no other choice, and then preferably with other people. Only change a small amount of money to get you to the next town. Pay attention, it is pretty much straight the whole way, so if you are in a vehicle and it starts to make a bunch of turns, beware. Good Luck, and remember, knowledge is power.

On my way to Peru

I was a few days behind, and had to catch up. I debated long and hard as to which way to cross into Peru. During my stay in Banos I read a lot, looked on line often and talked to many people about the border crossing. There were two options really via Macara or Machala and I had to decide which route I was to take. I had heard bad, bad things about the Machala (to Tumbes, Peru) option. Many people were saying on line that it was the worst border they had ever crossed, and it was one of the most likely places in South America to get fleeced, robbed, hassled or swindled. But, it was quicker, and it led to where I wanted to go in Peru. So eventually, I chose that way.

It was still a few days bus ride away though. Well for me anyway. Some people are taking crazy 1-3 day bus journeys in south America. It is also very common to take night buses. Not me though. I travel by day (only one night bus), and can only do a max of 8 hours at a time. Maybe I'm not a "real" traveler because of it, or maybe I have more sense. I like to be able to see the scenery and I think it is safer to travel by day. And 48 hours straight of bus travel, not for me thanks.

So my two nights en-route to the border where Cuenca and Machala. I probably could have made it with only one night, but I decided to make the border crossing in the morning as opposed to the afternoon so I holed up in Machala for half a day. Something I had read said there were fewer hustlers at the border in the morning, and I don't like to arrive at my final destination after dark. Cuenca was a very nice city, Machala was not. The former a charming old colonial city reminding me of Merida, Mexico and Machala a border town and city of industry reminding me of Los Mochis, Mexico.

I would actually have liked to spend a little more time in Cuenca, and a little less in Machala, but you never know the first time. In Cuenca I went to the movies, and saw Blood Diamonds. I love going to the movies when I travel. I love the feeling of being in a dark room, movie distracting me, and for two hours I could be anywhere in the world. When I exit, the feeling of, "oh yeah I'm in such and such city, some country" is always strong with me. Also nightlife is not always an attractive option when traveling alone, so movies come in handy. In Machala I had cable TV in my room, which I paid an amazingly high (for me) 13 USD for. I did go out for a little bit, and came home 18 USD richer from the casino on the main square. But after two days of more or less just moving, little site seeing, it was time to gear up for the morning, that would bring the "scary" border between Ecuador and Peru.

In Belgium

So a brief break from the tales of South America, because its the weekend, and Eva an I hit the road again. Well we only went 30-40 km north from here, but that's the great thing about living in abroad. For me, driving 30 km north gets me to some wonderful destination in a foreign country. At home that gets me to Long Beach, not the same. So we went to Knokke which is a ritzy beach community near the border with the Netherlands. It is called the "Monaco" of Belgium. Incidentally, Brugge is called the "Venice" of Belgium, and we passed through another seas-side village today that Eva said was called the "place I can't remember the name of that is in Spain" of Belgium. I teased her and wondered if Belgium has any places that are nice on their own merits.

The weather didn't really want to cooperate though, as it drizzled most of our time there. We of course had no choice but to retreat indoors in search of pancakes. What a shame, more eating. The place we wound up in was not serving pancakes until two PM so I settled for the next best thing; a steak and fries with mayo. That's right, you've all seen pulp fiction, well they put mayo on fries here too. Actually did you know that while they are often called "French" fries, it is more or less accepted that they were invented (if you can "invent" cutting a potato and cooking it) in Belgium?

There are a lot of expensive holiday homes in Knokke. There are also a lot of expensive shops. It is the place where the rich (and I suppose the famous) of Belgium come to play. I am neither rich or famous (although stay tuned for two weeks and the famous may change) but I still had a nice time in Knokke. We walked around viewing all the nice houses and window shopping through town. I also made sure to take a picture of the man peeing statue, something Belgians seem to really like (see manneken pis in Brussels) All in all, it was nice day away from Oostende. From the road in Belgium, Brian Out. -Sorry, Brian back in again, two days later. I was reminded by Eva that I DID get pancakes that day after all. We went home, after a visit to her grandmother's and Eva made me pancakes. Of course they were delicious.

Bad Chicken

The photos are:

1. An Andean bear

2. A capybara

3. The valley in which Banos sits

4. The volcano smoking away

So my next destination in Ecuador after leaving Mindo was Banos, a town known for its hot springs. As I boarded the bus in the morning in Mindo, there was an unfamiliar rumble in my stomach. Also on board the bus was the family from South Carolina I had met at the swimming hole. I spoke with them quite a bit during the journey, happy to take a break from Spanish. The daughter was working at a flower farm near Banos and the parents were down for a visit. So they were headed the same place I was, but we all had to change buses (a different station altogether) in Quito.

In Quito, I parted ways with the three of them, went to lunch, then made my way across town to the main bus terminal. It was a little bit of a scary, confusing place, but I found the right bus and settled in for the 3-4 hour journey south. The chicken in my belly was not settling in however, and I was going to be surprised if I made it to Banos with out an emergency. The bus pulled out of the station, and as we were on the road out the family from SC (along with some locals) flagged down the bus and hoped on. We all smiled at seeing each other again, but weren't really surprised, travel is like that. I sat next to the father this time, and we spoke most of the trip. Then in Banos, being a small town, we crossed paths a lot.

Luckily I made it to Banos without an incident, but things were not getting better in the bowel region, and I felt a fever coming on. I found a very nice hotel, and just in time I might add, as I had some bathroom time booked. I planned to stay in Banos (very appropriate name) for one night and then head south, but I spent three nights there. Not because it was so nice (which it was) but because I could not stray very far from the toilets. I certainly couldn't take many hours on a bus.

The fever added to the stomach issues had me worried so I went to a doctor. She was a Russian, but we conversed in Spanish as my Spanish was better than her English. That makes about 10 countries I have been to the doctor in. Maybe I'm a hypochondriac or maybe its just that in most other countries besides the US, it is fairly cheap to just walk into a doctor. So better safe than sorry. In fact in Mexico I paid 2 dollars for a consultation once. After some blood, urine and feces work she determined that it was nothing major, but prescribed a few things, a simple diet and some rest. That and my toilet dependency is why I stayed two more nights in Banos. Funny side story, I emailed Eva that they had done a test on my feces. Her English is pretty good, but not perfect. She emailed back and said "I don't know what feces is, but it doesn't sound good." How right she was especially if you consider how I had to get the stuff into the little cup.

While I was there I did a few things, short things. I went to the banos for a while and soaked in the hot pools. I am proud to say I did not have an accident in the pool. I wasn't so lucky once in my hotel room. To much information probably. At the pools I met an English couple, Adi and Lucy who were on a long trip around the world. We talked a bit, and then bid farewell when I had to leave to visit the other banos again. I also went to the zoo. I wanted to see some animals that I had never seen before like the world's largest rodent, the capybara. That is one big rat. Also some south America cats, lots of monkeys and something I didn't know existed, the Andean Bear. Some of the zoo keepers even let me go in some of the cages while they were cleaning them. They (the zookeepers) were a little weird though and I had to retreat as the visions of being locked in the cages for who knows what creeped into my head.

I also had several walks around town, and at one point got a good view of the Volcano Tungurahua which most recently erupted in August of 2006 and smokes all the time.

Check this out on Wikinews:

http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Volcano_eruption_in_Ecuador_kills_five_and_destroys_several_small_villages

Banos is in a beautiful valley that can be seen from the bridge heading out of town.

So after three nights there, my stomach was more or less on the mend. It was time to hit the road, south again, with a stepped up pace because I lost a few days. Cuenca was where I was headed.

Heading south towards Lima (well almost)

It was time to leave Tim and Kathy's nest and test out my wings in South America. Besides, I think Kathy was getting tired of Tim drinking too much and playing too many video games with me. So I hit the road and went to Mindo a magical place nestled high in the forest about 2 1/2 hours by bus from Quito. The first thing I had to do was re-acquaint myself with Latin American bus travel. It is not my favorite thing in world and I often sit white knuckled, wondering if the driver is insane and why nobody else seems to be concerned. Maybe its because many of the locals do the Catholic cross motion to themselves before the bus takes off. Maybe if I am sitting next to them, god will protect me by default.

But just 2 1/2 hours of that and I was in Mindo a small town of only about 1500 people. It was Saturday when I arrived, and the place was packed because it was Semana Santa. Fortunately there were a lot of day trippers and I didn't have much of a problem finding a hotel. One thing I love about traveling in cheaper countries is the freedom of not worrying about blowing your daily hotel budget. If once in a while you get stuck and really can't find anything in your price range, you are then obliged to bump it up a category to 10-15 USD a night. Not to much out of your pocket for one night as opposed to Europe, where the same problem may well cost you 60-80 USD, or more.

I spent three nights in Mindo and even though it rained A LOT, I really enjoyed it. After all it was a cloud forest, so rain was not a surprise. The room I was staying in had a tin roof, so during my afternoon naps I really heard the rain. I went on a few hikes while I was there, and fortunately mostly managed to avoid the rain during them.

The town really quited down on Sunday afternoon, and it was nice to have lazy strolls around, deciding where I was to eat. Of course as I said before, it was great to be in cheap country because no restaurant was really out of my price range. Although unfortunately a helping of fried chicken (I think) from Mindo ended up resulting in the worst belly issues I have ever had while traveling. But it didn't hit me until the day I left Mindo, so my experience there wasn't spoiled.

I also went tubing down the raging river that ran near town. It was a fairly common activity in in Mindo. There were countless "boats" around, with 6-7 tubes lashed around a central tube. You then went down in groups with a guide who was constantly jumping off the contraption to right the wronged flotilla. It looked like a fun job, but I bet a broken ankle is not uncommon and I was glad to just be a passenger.

Another day I went to a swimming hole after a long hike. It was a privately owned place so I had to pay a little to get in, but it was worth it. I mostly had the place to myself except a family from South Carolina, a local couple and the guy working there. There was a long cement slide that ended in a 10 foot drop into the fast moving river. Then you had to surface in time to grab a rope to keep from being swept down the waterfall that surly would have killed you. It wasn't that intense (meaning I wasn't close to death), but was fun. I also jumped into the same river from about 25-30 feet up, and had to surface for the same rope grabbing.

If you are going to Quito, don't miss out on Mindo. I actually even thought about moving there and setting up a tourism business.

Quito

For some reason it seems that all flights that arrive into major third-world (for lack of a better term) cities arrive late at night. And even though I have traveled a lot before, it's still nice to have a friend who is living there meet you at the airport. It's much easier to have a "local" guide, at least until you get your feet wet. My friend Tim was living there (he has since moved on to Argentina) with his Peruvian girlfriend Kathy. Tim and I know each other from Trek America where he was also a leader for many years. We crossed paths in the US, Mexico and now Ecuador.

Mostly what I did while in Quito, I have to admit was play video games. Tim had an X-box in his apartment and we spent a lot of time drinking scotch and playing Tiger Woods golf and Madden Football. Tim wasn't earning much money, and I hadn't worked for a month and a half with no job in sight. So we both were all about staying in and not spending, much to the dismay of the transvestite hookers who set up camp across from Tim and Kathy's apartment. I think they would have liked some business from some "rich" white boys.

I did get out and do some site-seeing. One day we went to old town (they lived in the new town) and walked around the old colonial streets. I have heard that Quito is dangerous, but you here that about a lot of places. I've heard it a lot about LA (more or less my backyard) and haven't ever had any problems there. As long as you don't be stupid about it, Quito is fine. I thought it was a nice city with an amazing backdrop.

Another day I was gone all day at the equator. It was one of the main reasons I wanted to come to the country, which of course gets its namesake from the imaginary line. I thought it would be neat to have been recently so close to the pole and then hit the equator. Depending on where you look for information the equator passes through 12-14 countries. The discrepancy I believe is about land crossings or just territorial waters. Anyway, of the list of 14, I have only now been to one so looks like I have my work cut out for me. On the list, the most I would like to go to at this point is the Maldives.

I went to the main monument to the equator (called the Mitad Del Mundo) that has led to a large tourist complex reminiscent of Disneyland. Complete with a little fake train (no actual tracks) that takes tourists around the complex, lots of shops and over priced (by Ecuadorian standards) restaurants. You can climb the 30 m high monument which has a nice museum inside. From the top, if you know where you are looking, you can see where the equator actually is, because apparently the monument is NOT on it. My grandparents who stood there in 1965 thought they were on it. Now that we have sophisticated devices like GPS, they have discovered that the monument is not actually on the equator. So an enterprising man who owns some land ON the equator has built the Inti Nan Solar Museum about 500 m from the main complex. It is well worth a visit, as they show you all the amazing properties of being on the equator, such as;

1. Water flushes one way north, the other way south and straight down directly on. Remember the Simpsons episode where they go to Australia?
2. It is easier to balance things (like an egg on the head of a nail in this case) ON the equator.
3. It is much more difficult to balance your self ON the equator. I know this is contradictory to the last one, but I saw it.
4. You weigh less on the equator

There were a few more oddities like these and I witnessed them all first hand. Always the skeptic, I can tell you I tested them all myself. The amazing thing to me was that a foot or so to one side made all the difference. I would have thought the equator was much more of a broad concept, but it is an actual specific line. Don't believe, me hop a flight to one of the 12-14 countries and find out.

Also while I was there I took a short side trip to Pululahua National Park, which consists of a village inside the crater of a volcano. Sound like not smart planning as to where to put a village? Well, its inactive, MAYBE. It depends on who you ask actually as some classify it as active, but the last eruption was 2500 years ago. That's recent if you are a planet, a long time ago if you are a human, and the soil is ohh so fertile, so the community is a farming one. I did not go down into it, just went to a view point to look down at it from above and from there is was beautiful. With all the stuff I did that day I got back to Tim and Kathy's late, but not too late for Kathy's excellent dish called Papa Rellena.

The only other thing I/we did in Quito of note was go up the Gondola on Pinchincha Mountain (about 13,000 feet) for a view overlooking the city. We waited a long time to go up because they had two classes of tickets. The cheap and you must wait tickets or the expensive but you can cut in line tickets. We are a cheap and we waited. We arrived just in time though as the clouds moved in 10 or so minutes after we arrived, taking the view away. To that point it was the highest (excluding Amsterdam, which oddly is one of lowest countries in the world yet has the highest tourists) I had ever been, but just wait, I will get higher on this trip, but that will come later.

Number 7

The pictures are:

1. My motorcycle diaries at 5000 meters

2. Dune buggy tour in Huacachina, Peru

3. Dried frogs for sale in market-for eating, I guess.

Before the family time which included my sister's wedding, there was some travel time, if you can believe that. For a long time I had wanted to go to South America, but it kept getting put off. I kept telling myself that I needed 6 months to do it right and was going to wait until I had six months to spare. But even with my lifestyle, it never came, so for years South America has gone un-visited by me. Well after getting back from Antarctica (continent number 6) for the winter (southern summer) I said "No longer" and went to South America. I had five weeks total and visited three countries. My brother and I are a tad competitive about our travels and when he learned I was going south he told my mother that the only reason I was going was to beat him to the continent. He thought my timing was not coincidental, as he had a trip to Brazil planned for a week after I returned. It really was not on purpose, but beating my brother there was definitely an added bonus.

Quito, Ecuador was my arrival point and I spent 4 days with a friend who lives there. Then I had three weeks to make it to Lima, where Eva was to meet up with me. When she arrived, we had just over two weeks to do the regular Gringo trail of Peru and briefly dip into Bolivia. So five weeks was not the 6 months I had hoped for, but the trip was still really good. There are of course some stories from the road to be told, but I'm supposed to be looking for a job. So they will be in posts that follow, so I don't spend too much of one day working on this, which does not pay the bills but is fun.

On the Road Again

The Pictures are:



All in or near Calais except the last one which is Cap du nez blanc or White Nose Cape.








Well, I suppose I can't sit still for too long, maybe its a disease. Or maybe its as a ex-passenger just asked me " Do you feel like you just need to go for a five hour drive and visit lots of garage bathrooms?" So I left the country. Not for long, I just went for the day to North West France. I think in general the southeast gets a lot more publicity, mostly because of the weather, but the NW coast is beautiful. Eva and I drove from Oostende, Belgium as far south as Boulogne, France. It was only about 300km total for the road trip, but a lot of it was by the coastal road. Also, in California 3oo km is not far , but when you consider how small Belgium is, that distance felt significant. There are a lot of charming seaside villages along the way, as well as bigger (well known) cities like Calais and Dunquerque. One of the highlights for me was exploring all the long since abandoned German bunkers from WWII. The beaches are windy (lots of wind and kite surfers) but nice now. They were not so nice in June 6 1944. There are no shortage of campsites along the way, and even and I have agreed to go back. We want to make it as far down as Brittany and Mont St. Michel
It was nice to take a little trip away, drop the job search for the day. Well I dropped it for the weekend really, because on Sunday Eva and I went to a BBQ for her sisters B-day, at which there was meat, meat and more meat. I loved it.

Family Time

The pictures are:

1. Me and My sisters

2. My sisters "bringing back the high 5" for Joe Park

3. Eva and I at Multnomah Falls, Oregon

4. My two brothers-in-law and my step-half aunt. Can you write a caption fititng of this picture?

Before the brief stint with Trek America, there was about a week plus with some much needed family time. I don't see many of them often so it was good to do so. But of course in typical me fashion, that family time was spent in four states; Nevada, California, Washington and Oregon. No reason to not include flights in family time. First it was a few days in southern California (Or the OC as so many unfortunately know my home as) to show Eva my childhood home (where my father and step mother still live) and take her to the beach of course. We also had a BBQ at the house and some friends came over that I don't get to see much. All were anxious to meet Eva, and of course the most common feed back was "wow she's great, whats she doing with you?"

I try not to question it too much.

So after a very short California stay we flew to Seattle where we stayed one night with my friends JJ and Soilee. Next morning we drove (my car was being stored in Seattle for the winter) to Northern Oregon and Southern Washington for my (much) younger sister's (Beth) wedding. The wedding was actually in Washington, but Beth and Rich live across the river in Oregon, so time was spent there as well. It was a great family day and didn't rain when it wasn't supposed to. Briefly the five siblings (Jeff, Kara, Jen, Beth and myself) were in the same place at the same time, which doesn't happen often. It was brief, because Jeff had to whisk out of there Fridays night to head to Brazil the next day.

After taking Eva to the airport VERY early the day after the wedding and a little more family time, I started heading south in my uninsured car. I only needed it for about 10 days, and didn't want to pay for a 6 month policy (could not find a short term one) so decided to risk it. The next night I made it, un-crashed to my mothers house at Lake Tahoe, near where I was going to store the car. So after a few days of a nice visit with my mother and step father, it was time to fly south from Reno to Los Angeles in order to start the tour I was to lead.

Shortest Trek America season so far

In May I was back on the road recently, for a very short season. I led only 6 days of a 14 day tour which amounted to a total of 9 days work. The tour left Los Angeles heading north. I had 13 passengers from the UK, Denmark, Korea, Israel and Germany. We went up the coast to Santa Barbara one night and Monterrey. After that we went inland for two nights at Yosemite and then two nights in San Francisco. Normally it would have taken too much writing to tell of my Trek season Itineraries, but that's it for now. I had two weeks to spare (and needed some money) and Trek America had a schedule hole that was hard to fill. So we helped each other out, and I took over for the tour until they could get someone else out to fill in. It was good to be back on the road (leading tours) briefly, for a lot of reasons. My flight to Belgium was out of San Francisco anyway, and I had to make it from Lake Tahoe (at my mother's) to get to the airport. I know Reno-LA-Santa Barbara-Monterrey-Yosemite-SF is not the most direct route, but it got me there. So that was that, and a few weeks ago I finished what I think is my third "last" tour ever for Trek America. We do say in the company though, you have never really led your last tour, and if a job doesn't come to me soon in Belgium, I may call on my back up plans, back on the road

Number 23 and 24

To get to Belgium, I had to sneak across the border. Well, sneak is not really true, but I did get a ride from Breda, Holland. I flew to Amsterdam instead of Brussels to keep a Belgium stamp out of my passport. In the old days I traveled around Europe for six months in a row, working around as I went. There were no border controls so I did not rack passport stamps up in my passport and it seemed I could stay in Europe as long as I wanted. But there is something called the Schengen Agreement, a treaty signed in 1985, designed to abolish border controls between member states. So landing in one member state (Netherlands) is like landing in another (Belgium) and I only get a total of 90 days as a tourist in all of them combined. When I worked here before it was since 1985 (I'm no that old) but I think as the years go by, they get more and more cooperative about enforcing it, so 90 days it is. If you want to know more about the treaty, go to Wikipedia at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement

My path to Belgium though was from San Francisco to London by plane, London to Amsterdam by plane, Amsterdam to Breda by train and Breda to Oostende by car. The flights from San Fran and London were flights number 23 and 24 that I have taken in a little over three months time. Its been a busy, globetrotting three months. I spent a night in London visiting friends from Trek America, some of whom I lived with/worked with when I was in the UK in 2001/2002. There were drinks involved. I also spent the night in Amsterdam with a friend from high school that lives there, Chris Parker, and who incidentally is about to get married. Drinks, actually were not involved. So I am looking forward to staying put for bit as I capped off my string of airports that looks like this:

MCMCHCAKLLAXSNALAXLHRBRULHRSFORNOSACLGBLAXPHXPVRGDLLAXMIAUIOARQ
JULCUZLIMMIALAXSEARNOLAXSFOLHRSTNAMS.

Ferris wheel in front of Oostende's Cathedral

How did I end up here and where is here? I'm in Oostende, halfway up the small coast of Belgium. I am living here now, or at least hoping to if I can find some sort of gainful employment. Its not an easy thing to do in an EU country as an American. Especially a country that has more than one official language that I don't speak. Well I'm trying and at this point I may be able to say "Ik spreek klien beetje nederlands" but I probably will slaughter the pronunciation. I may have spelled it wrong, but I don't spell so well in English either, so no worries. For those of you who aren't sure those words are in Dutch or Flemish, which is more or less the same language. If you speak it in the Netherlands it is called Dutch and if you speak it in Belgium it is called Flemish. It is similar to the difference between British English and American English. For those up for the world languages lesson, there will now be a pop quiz. Without using Google, what are the other two official languages of Belgium? Anyway, how I wound up here is a story that I am not sure has an exact start. I suppose the simple answer is Mexico, December 2005. So for now, I will start here, and work my way back to there. It will be in many instalments, because I have done a lot in that time, so feel free to skip around as needed.

Its time for me to step into this century!

I have been traveling for the better part of 11 years now. If I have not been traveling for my own pleasure (or sometimes pain) I have been working in the travel industry or working a few jobs at a time to save up to travel. During these often aimless wanderings I have been known to put pen to paper to record my thoughts, or more recently finger to keyboard. I have also taken more than my share of photos, which now fill numerous show boxes in some family member's storage unit. Sadly I have only been with the digital world for about a year, and do not have the ability to put all my 11 years of photos here, but I'll do the best I can. It has been the plan all along to post my photos and stories somewhere, somehow, and I am FINALLY gettting around to it. There are no more excuses as they have made the technology almost idiot proof, which I need. I hope you enjoy.

Me in Antarctica and me in Peru