The Traveling Travelers Travels

2010-01-13T23:48:00.000-08:00

My book about Antarctica should be ready soon. Stay tuned.

Who Knew?

2009-05-03T14:59:00.000-07:00

1. Looks full size? Just really far off? Well its not.

2. Eva is so strong

3. Ah Europe. Look closely, I bet you wish you were on that boat guys.

4. The Brandenburg gate (Berlin), complete with moving tractor knocking down slab of the Wall. 20 years this year by the way.

5. The Atomium in the background

I've been traveling Europe for years, trying to see it all. Who knew all I had to do was make a trip to the Bruparck in Brussels to see many of the countries most famous building......in miniature. Who doesn't like miniature? Incidentally this is the second miniature display I have attended in as many months. My friend Joe, my brother Jeff and I went to Victoria, Canada for one night (from WA state) on St Patrick's day. There they have a great mini museum that my brother and I visited. It was cool to see all the details in the dioramas with a variety of themes, until we got to the end and I said to my brother "you realize now we're just looking at doll houses," as the battle scenes had waned a bit. Anyway, mini Europe...enjoy.

Last Tour Season in Europe

2009-02-17T16:07:00.001-08:00

The first three are in Interlaken and the next two are in Berlin.

Thought I would put up some photos from last summer in Europe. For those who forgot, or those who didn't know, I was working as a tour guide. Most of the summer I was responsible for a two week tour that went to Paris, Interlaken, Munich, Prague, Berlin and Amsterdam.

this is a test

2009-01-09T08:17:00.000-08:00

this is a test

Death Valley

2009-01-08T15:08:00.000-08:00

Eva and I just got back to Belgium this morning after two weeks in California visting my family. When we first arrived we spent a few nights in Death Valley with my mother's side. To see some good pictures, and of my nieces and new nephew, go to the other blog. www.erniebert08.blogspot.com

The other Blog

2008-12-21T10:48:00.000-08:00

Eva and I are here in Belgium for three weeks. We planned to be here to spend Christmas with her family. Then the day after Christmas we fly to California to spend time with my family which will include a few days camping in Death Valley. Then back to Belgium for a few weeks to sort out my papers, then off to South East Asia for three months or so. Eva has posted some more photos and a few 360 videos on the other blog, you have to search for them in the Novemeber and Decemeber posts. The other blog again is www.erniebert08.blogspot.com.

Gauchos

2008-12-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

Because beef is such a big part of the Argentinian diet, so of course are cows a big part of the Argentinian economy. With all those cows, of course there needs to be Cowboys, but they call them Gauchos. The Gaucho has a big roll to play in Argentinian national idenity. Before arriving we found out that Nov 10th is Dia De La Tradicion a day to celebrate these horseback heros. Also we found out that the biggest festival of them all was in San Antonio Del Areco, a town about 2 1/2 hours away from. We were going to be in the area during the festival, so we had to go. We had a great time, even though we didn't stay the whole festival. It was a bit too expensive. All hotel prices were jacked up during the festival, so we couldonly aford two nights there, but it was well worth it. We got to see racing, roping, dancing, singing and eating (we partook as well) as the Gaucho does. San Antonio itself is a nice town although possibly a little sleepy for most peoples tastes, outside of festival time.

MEAT!!!

2008-12-06T11:32:00.001-08:00

1. They don't only eat meat, they also eat lots of empanadas.....filled with meat.

2. Eva does her best to get through a tough cut

3. A Gaucho getting ready for he party

4. Meat on the grill

5. Me and Meat on the grill

They eat meat in Argentina. Boy do they eat meat. If you were a vegetarian you wouldnot find it impossible, but it wouldn't be easy to be there. I am not a vegtarian however and I did my share of beef eating. My brother in law recently sent me a picture of meat on the grill tha was labeled: Animal Rights: Animals have the right to be tasty. I think Argentinians would agree. I did read that there is only one country in the world that eats more beef than Argentina and that is the US. But that is only because we have a lot more people than them, per capita they eat the most in the world. I have to say, I didn't mind but maybe I should go veggie for a few weeks to balance out.

Thanksgiving

2008-11-30T12:09:00.000-08:00

So the American holiday of Thanksgiving has just passed and my search for turkey did not end unsuccessful. In Uruguay and Argentina, they eat meat, meat and more meat, but Turkey (pavo) is not generally one of them and it is not so easy to find. During the day we were in a small fishing/surfing village on the Uruguian Atlantic coast called Punta Del Diablo. We spent three great days relaxing in our little beach cabana (that cost us about 30 US a night) and it was the last place on our whole trip I expected to find the elusive bird. But not too long ago an American (also named Brian) decided to move there and open up a hostel and restaurant. Sympathetic to the craving for Turkey, stuffing and mashed potatoes at the end of Novemeber, Brian had that as the daily special. He did have some trouble aquiring the turkey and we had to wait until 11pm to have dinner but we got it. Punta del Diablo officially only has about 1000 (surges during the summer) people, but I think it is growing fast and will be a very different place in ten years, but for now it is a little (relativly) untouched paradise. Tomorrow we take a boat across the Rio del Plata back to Buenos Aires where we spend two more days before flying back to Belgium. Can´t believe we have been here a month already. When we are there we will have more time and the facilities to put more pictures.

2008-11-23T04:40:00.000-08:00

Eva and I were part of a tri-national drug smuggling operation the other day. Well if you consider cigarettes a drug. We were in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay a town not too un-like Tijuana. We wanted to cross into Argentina to go to Iguazu falls, but had heard a lot of conflicting information about the crossing. The problem being that you can not get from Paraguay to Argentina in this part of the country without passing through Brazil for 10km or so. Well, I´m never one to skip out on going to a new country that is close, but in this case, Brazil charges Americans 131 USD (may be up to 160USD) for a visa, which I was not inclined to do for a half hour transit. As of Jan 1st Argentina will charge Americans the same and Chile already does if you fly into Santiago. I know these countries think fair is fair as it the US charges their citizens the same, but I really think they need to swallow a little pride and let Americans in for cheaper. It may sound a bit arrogant, but to me it just stems from government pride and greed. It stops some flow of American tourist dollar and really only impacts the local people and local businesses that miss out on some tourist money. Think about it if all countries jump on that band wagon. If you plan a grand trip of South America, hitting say 10 countires, and have to pay 1600 USD in visas, you´re probably going to skip the region all together. I am on board with a nominal processing fee but 160 USD, come on. Of course I feel the same for the US charging that costly fee for visitors.

Enough rant, back to the smuggling. We heard their was a direct bus that did not stop at Brazil customs on either side, but werent sure. There are very few other travelers in Paraguay to ask. By the way, Eva (EU) does not need a visa anywhere down here. So we got stamped out of Paraguay and looked around for the bus. Eventually it did come and we zipped through Brazil customs on both sides, with no troubles. The only event along the way was when the bus slowed down near a bus stop in Brazil, and some of the passengers through out bundles of cigs for thier cohorts to pick up. For our part (our silence) in the operation, Eva and I did not receive any compensation. But not having to pay for a Brazil visa was good enough. But I spent a half hour in Brazil on the bus and 15 mintues earlier that day on the Brazil side (from Paraguay) of the Itaipu Dam (biggest operating hydro electric dam in the world) tour. So can I count Brazil as country number 53 visited? Probably not, what do you think?

Yesterday we spent the day at Iguazu falls which was the main reason I wanted to come here, and it did not dissapoint. It was amazing, but more about that will follow. We cross into Uruguay tomorrow, and are headed to the Atlantic beaches.

No time to proof read or check spelling, live with it.

New Stuff on the other Blog

2008-11-21T09:44:00.001-08:00

Its all in Dutch (Eva wrote it), but there are some pictures on the other blog (see previous posts). I was too busy making my football picks for tomorrow to write anything. It is a nice day and our hostel has a pool, so don´t want to spend any more time inside. We are just back in Argentina after three days in Paraguay. We are near Iguazu Falls and tomorrow will go explore them, so stay tuned.

New stuff on other Blog

2008-11-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

go to www.erniebert08.blogspot.com to see more updates from Argentina

New Blog address for the trip

2008-11-06T03:08:00.000-08:00

Eva and I are in Argentina right now and while we are are traveling togehter, you can chack for updates on another blog that we will work on together.

go to

www.erniebert08.blogspot.com

Burning Man

2008-10-24T06:49:00.001-07:00

See the next three posts for Burning Man Pictures:

1. You should have seen the size of the bath tub.

2. The Man burns
3. The duck car parked at the Temple
4. Nice huh?
5. Sign speaks for itself really. But in case it doesn't. What more culd you want? Chewbacca, Clubber Lang, and topless women in the vecinity.

Burning Man

2008-10-24T06:29:00.000-07:00

1. So many credit cards, all belonging to the same person. They hit the American dream dead on.__
2. It was hard work.
3. That was the best head stand I could muster on the magic carpet car.
4. You can see it was massive.
5. Lets hear it for Belgium

The theme for Burning Man this year was “The American Dream.” Boy do wish it had taken place after all this financial shit hit the financial fan. There would have been so much more enjoyable ironic art targeted at the theme. The burning man crowd has never been the first to buy into “the dream” but does anybody anymore?

For those who are reading this and have no idea what Burning Man is, I’ll sum it up in five words or less. Self-sustained, temporary-community, gift-economy, art-project, party-in-the-dessert. That’s five words right?

I took a break from tour leading this summer, and as well as a few other things I went to the festival this year, for my third time. Eva was there for her second. We camped into the dessert with a group of about 15 close friends and 40,000 not quite as close friends. Some of course got closer than others over the week.

Burning Man

2008-10-24T06:16:00.001-07:00

1. It isafter all and art festival and Eva is a artisit
2. The early morning ride and we climbed the tallest structure.
3. This piece of art is very apropriatly named "The Bummer"
4. The Man himself
5. Just arrived.

I'm not lost

2008-10-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

The Man, Before he Burned

I have been really slack about putting updates on this Blog. The last time I wrote anything was about three months ago in early July. At that point I was in the middle of leading 5 (2 week) tours in a row that ended in the middle of August. Then I took a month off, three weeks of that was spent in the US. Eva and I were mostly in California and Nevada, visiting family and attending the Burning Man festival. Then it was back to Europe with only one night passing through Belgium before heading to Paris to do one final tour for the season. This one was a bit longer, a four weeker asopposed to a two weeker that I had been doing. On that tour I went to Paris, Interlaken, Annecy, Nice, Florence, Rome, Venice, Munich (for Oktober fest) Vienna, Budapest, Prague, Berlin, Amsterdam and back to Paris. It was quite a trip. I did cheat a little bit in that time, when I picked up country number 50 visited. Maybe 50 should have been more of a celebration, but instead I caught the train an hour out of Berlin and walked across the border to Slubice, Poland. I spent a few hours there, had two meals, walked around a lot and bought some very cheap cigarettes for a friend. Not really glamourous, but I had been so close all summer and kept meaning to head over, so finally did. It is nice to be done with the season though and have some time to myself. So what am I doing in my off time (people always ask), well I'm going traveling of course. In about three weeks Eva and I leave for 6 weeks in South America. I'm a bit behind of coure, so in the next few weeks before we leave I will get some pictures up of the last few months.

Greetings from Prague

2008-07-10T04:30:00.000-07:00

!. Me and the Berlin wall
2. The Dutch football fans invade Interlaken
3. Switzerland sure is scenic
4. Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin
5. Back to Switzerland

I admit, I've been pretty lax with the Blog since I started leading tours again. It's a combination of being busy, not always having internet connection, and just being plain tired. For those that think my job is just one big vacation, you may be right, but vacation can be tiring. Anyway I'm in Prague right now, and taking a day off the sight seeing because the weather is crap. Because I will come here a lot this summer I have the advantage of deciding which days to wander the city. Unfortunatly for my passengers, they are stuck with whatever lousy weather they are dealt. Had a bit of crisis this morning as a passenger had lost their passport. After a bit of panic it was located at the restaurant we were at last night, so all is well.

Next stop is Berlin where we will be tomorrow night and be going on a pub crawl. Did I mention that the last stop was Muncih where we went to the beer hall? Sounds like all I do is get paid to drink. There is of course more to it than that though. But I am having a good time this summer and was glad to add a new city and a new country to my list. The city is Berlin, I had not been before this job, But am loving the place. There is so much amazing recent history. The new country is one that many I think have not heard of, Lichtenstein. It's very small and I have ony spent about 2 hours total there on four passes through, but non the less, it was country number 49 for me. Even if we only make a pee stop there. I have now peed four times in Vaduz, the capitol.

Next month I take off for a month to go to the stats and will be going again (thrid year) to the Burning Man festival. Should be some good photos from that all though the best ones I won't be able to post here, but say tuned.

Paris

2008-06-08T11:51:00.001-07:00

1. Place de Bastille

2. A Paris Hilton but not the Paris Hilton

3. La Defense

4. The Arc

5. View from my hotel window in Interlaken

---

I'm actually not in Paris any more I am now in Interlaken, Switzerland. The place is over run with Orange clad, silly hat wearing Dutch. The European Football championship started yesterday and it is being held in Switzerland and Austria. Th Dutch have their first game tomorrow, so I suspect there will be a lot of drunk people out tomorrow night, win or lose. I'm trying to get into the sport because I am living in Europe now, but I'm not sure if I can handle another 1-0 game. I need more scoring. The Swiss lost yesterday 1-0, but most are saying, "oh well, we played well." How you can play a game well and not score is a concept that escapes me.

So when I was in Paris I went to a part of the city I have never seen before. It is not a place in Paris that probably interests many visitors, the business district. I am trying to take advantage of the fact that I am there so often this summer though, and see things I have never seen before.

La Defense area is on the outer edge of Paris and is a very modern (compared with old Paris) area that amazingly is filled with mostly just French people. It's hard to find a place in the city that is not swarmming with foriegn tourists but this is one of them. In 1989 (200 years after the revolution) they built the Grand Arc de La Defense, a much more modern one than the Arc de Triomphe. They are each visable from the other although about 2 km apart.

I also did a bit of the usual, spending some time around the Eiffel Tower and walking along the Siene?

Day after tomorrow and I am off to Munich for a night. Probably will wind up with a hangover the next day after a visit to the beer halls.

Finished my first tour

2008-05-28T10:58:00.000-07:00

1. Napoleon is dead in there

2. Princess Diana died under there

3. You know what that is

4. We went to a Cabaret, but not that one

5. Another dead person, this time Jim Morrison

So I'm back home in Belgium for two weeks after finishing my first tour over here in Europe. It was a two week tour that took me to Paris, Interlaken, Munich, Prague, Berlin and Amsterdam. The visit to Berlin was actually my first ever. It is an amazing city and I look forward to going back throughout the summer. The first week I had 11 passengers and 22 on the second week. It is on a large coach, so potentially I could have up to 48 passengers, but we'll see.

I was very pleased with my newly aquired Dutch language skills as it helped me out in Germany. If I spoke very slowly in my basic Dutch, the Germans usually understood. As far as it helping me out in Holland, not so much. Everyone there speaks great English anyway.

I think for the summer I will have six more tours, all to the same places, excpet mabye the last one (might go to Italy). It works out perfectly because there are six places we visit, so after each of the tours I can add a little to the Blog. I did pick up country number 49 on the tour as we stopped for a very short time in Lichtenstein. I may not have been there long enough for what some people consider "being" in a country, but in relation to its size, I think it was enough time.

My mother and step father landed in the UK yesterday and on Saturday will "pop" over here to Oostende for a three night visit. It will be the first time that my parents and Eva's parents meet. Some people invovled are nervous, but I am not.

For now, I have put some photos of Paris when Eva and I went there three weeks ago.

Paris

2008-05-06T00:24:00.000-07:00

Why sit at home and rest? Eva and I got home from Amsterdam Thursday night and left for Paris Friday morning. I am about to start leading tours for the summer in Europe and Paris (as well as Amsterdam) will be one of the cities I will go. I have been many times, but wanted to refresh my memmory a little so we drove down for a night. We walked around for half of two days to many familiar places, but also a few new ones. On Friday night we went to a Cabaret that was free because I might be bringing some passengers there this summer. We both really enjoyed the show, and it wasn't just because of the topless girls dancing around. There were many other entertaining acts that had nothing to do with bare chested women. The next day we went to a place I had never been before, the cemetary where Jim Morrison is buried. We also went by Oscar Wilde's grave. The weather was great and we had another great visit to Paris. But tomorrow night I'll be back there as my first tour leaves the next day. My camera is acting up, so for now, no pictures of Paris. You know what it looks like and you know what I look like. Picture me there.

Queen's Day

2008-05-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

1. Starting early

2. Eva in Orange

3. Jan (one of the boats co-owners) and Cynthia

4. That was an "empty" canal.

5. I didn't have the heart to tell the guy that the Statue of Liberty is NOT in California.

I just got back from Amsterdam where I celebrated the annual Queen's Day. Every April 3oth the Amsterdamers take to the streets and the canals to celebrate the birthday of their Queen's mother. They would celebrate their Queen's Birthday, but that's in January. The weather should be good for such a celebration and in Holland the odds are higher that it will be better in April. So that's when the celebrate.

My friend Cynthia (from my UCLA days) has lived there for 10 years and owns a boat. Eva and I were glad to get a coveted spot on it and had a great day. All the while that we were cruising around the canals we were looked at longingly by people on the sides that wished they were on a booat. There was drinking, food and general revelry all day. The canals were packed sometimes wall to wall with boats and orange clad (the national color) partiers. Sometimes when people (guys) had to pee they would run across several boats to get to the side and use one of the temporary urinals around town. Then they would run back across random boats to get to their own. Often we had to have one hand for drinking and one hand ready to "repel borders" from the hordes of other boats around us.

We were on the boat from about 11 am to 7pm and were so tired afterwards but it was a wonderful day. It wasn't the warmest day ever but all in all the weather treated us OK. We are back home tonight, but off to Paris for a night tomorrow.

Beer

2008-04-26T13:27:00.000-07:00

1. Ahhhh Beer
2. Eva's sister Marie and I
3. The naughty Boy and I
4. I felt like Laverne and/or Shirley
5. We are both naughty boys

Last weekend Belgium had an open brewery day all over the country. With over 500 beers brewed here there is always a place close by that makes the stuff. Not being one to miss such a thing, I didn't miss it. We went to two breweries (Valeir and Roman) and sampled what they had to offer. The second one had a beer called Sloeber which means "naughty boy." I liked that beer. I like beer in general. I guess Belgium is a good place to live.

Est-ce que la force peut etre avec vous

2008-04-20T02:55:00.000-07:00

1. Can you see me thinking that either I'm going to kill her, or I'm starting to like her.

2. When 900 years old you reach, look that good, you will not.

3. That kid won't look so smug in a minute if he continues to refuse to give the location of the rebel base.

4. That guy is a little short for a Storm Trooper, don't you think?

5. Boba Fett, where?

6. That must be Luke and Leia's other half sister with Darth and the gang. I'm sure Anakin fooled around a bit while he was off on his missions and fathered a few more children.

The title of the post is "May The Force Be With You," in French. Yesterday Eva and I went to Brussels along with her friend Pierre and his girlfriend Delphine. Pierre and I had our sights set on the Star Wars exhibit that is showing in Brussels for about 5 months. The girls, not interested in Star Wars (almost a sin) had their minds set more on shoping. The exhibit was a lot of fun and although I already knew it to some degree you really could see what a amazing project the entire (huge) Star Wars saga is/was. When I was a kid I saw all the movies and had lots and lots of the toys, bed sheets, tooth brushes, etc. One summer (in the 70's) we got a copy of the Star Wars film somehow and I must have seen it 50 times. So the exhibit was like a dream come true. I also watched a little Jedi Training session that was put on in French and Dutch. It was funniest to me to hear C3-PO speaking French. Although, he is fluent in over 6 million forms of communication, so why not French.

Moge de kracht met uw zijn, or "May The Force Be With You," In Dutch.

Golf

2008-04-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

Not that the weather permited, but we went golfing anyway. Well not really golfing but just to the driving range. The local golf course here in Oostende, which is in the middle of a horse race track, had a free day. In order to drum up interest they gave a free beginner lesson and driving range access. Eva and I went with Angel and Gail. Angel is a freind from my language course from Cuba and Gail is his Belgian wife. Gail just started working at the golf course a few days ago and that's how we knew about it. Normally I don't go out seeking anything golf related. It was fun for me, but not really the right weather to be out doing such things. Eva on the other hand has not now become a golf enthusiast. I actually still like the other meaning of golf here better. The word "golf" means wave as in what's in the ocean. But it was way to cold to play in those.

Back from Wales

2008-04-11T02:23:00.000-07:00

1. The (Famous?) Banbury Cross.

2. The old watering hole.

3. Pete got the guitar out.

4. So many charming old buildings in Canterbury.

5. About to leave on a not very enjoyable ferry ride.

On our drive across the UK back from our weekend in Wales we made several stops and spent one night in between. When I had lived in the UK it was in an unheard of (by non Brits) town called Banbury. For old times sake I wanted to swing by there and snap a few photos. Also I wanted to eat at Burger King as they don't have it here in Belgium. I am shamed to admit it but I miss American fast food and I knew Banbury had a Burger King. I had had enough English breakfasts to last me a while. Also we spent the night SW of London with my friend Pete. I met Pete almost 10 years ago (when working in Portugal) and we have seen each other many times in the period, in various spots on the globe. we even lived together for a few months in Miami. Pete's friend Chris an his wife put us up for the night (across the road from Pete's place) in a wonderful old cottage and fed us a very scrumptous Easter dinner. The next day on the way back to Ramsgate to catch the ferry to Belgium we stopped in Canterbury. I had never been there and like to visit new places. It was a very charming city. Then that evening it was time to board the ferry and unfortunatly I was still a little hung over from all the wine I had drank the previous night. It was not a good (four hour) crossing of the North Sea.

Wales for a Birthday Party

2008-04-07T02:37:00.000-07:00

1. What the heck is that doing in Wales?

2. The group about to hike

3. Eva and I in Snowdonia

4. Eva enjoying a hot drink after a frigid hike

5. Me and the Birthday boy, Tim

It's nice to live in Europe for many reasons. One of my favorites is the fact that I can be in many other countries within half a day by driving. If you throw ferries and budget airlines into the mix I can make it to practically any European country for a long weekend without spending a fortune. That's why Eva and I recently went to Wales and England for four nights, because we could.

My friend Tim (from my days in the UK sales office of Trek America) decided to turn his 40th Birthday into a 40th Birthlongweekend. There were somewhere around 60 people at the party. We decended upon a small Inn in Northern Wales and had a great time. Eva and I came from the farthest and got a prize (beer) for it. We took the ferry from Belgium and then drove halfway across the UK. During the weekend, we camped in the snow and rain, hiked in Snowdonia National Park, enjoyed an amazing pig roast and partied with old friends. It was a great weekend and Eva and I were both glad we went.

Stonehenge

2008-04-01T03:39:00.000-07:00

1. mmmmm.... English Breakfast

2. Painting of Stonehenge

3. It was cold and windy

4. The real thing

5. I guess they have the right of way.

Nobody needs much of an introduction to Stonhenge or much explanation about it I think. Most people have heard of it and if you don't know many of the details about it don't worry. The archaeologists don't really know why it is there either. Of course there are a lot of theories but for the most part it will probably always remain a mystery. Anyway it lies in Wiltshire which is sort of between where Eva and I were (Kent) and where we were headed (Wales) so we decided to swing by because Eva had never seen it before. In English terms it was a long way out of the way and many people thought we were crazy but I'm American and I think the scale of such things is a bit different.

I'm Hungry, Sandwich Anyone?

2008-03-27T04:25:00.000-07:00

1. Click on the photo to make it bigger so you can see what town is close to Sandwich. It's not a joke.

2. I waited but no sandwich came

3. So are you allowed to eat in the Sandwich Library?

4. If someone puts something on a Sandwich that you disaprove of, you may need to contact the Sandwich Police.

5. I suppose you need a special liscense for that.

Last weekend I was over in the UK for a friends Birthday party. Eva and I took the ferry and spent four nights there; two in Wales and two in England. That is one of the great things about living in Europe, it's easy to pop over to another country for things like that. One of the places I visited on the way back to the ferry was the town in SE England called Sandwich.

"The word sandwich that we use today was born in London during the very late hours one night in 1762 when an English nobleman, John Montagu, the Fourth Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792), was too busy gambling to stop for a meal even though he was hungry for some food. The legend goes that he ordered a waiter to bring him roast-beef between two slices of bread. The Earl was able to continue his gambling while eating his snack; and from that incident, we have inherited that quick-food product that we now know as the sandwich. He apparently had the meat put on slices of bread so he wouldn’t get his fingers greasy while he was playing cards."

-quoted from: http://www.wordsources.info/words-mod-sandwich.html

For some reason, the town's name brought me an incredible level of fascination.

Antarctica

2008-03-14T03:43:00.000-07:00

The picture of me at the top of the Blog was taken in Antarctica. Most people who know me, are aware that I spent a summer down there working as a janitor. But what most don't know is that I am working on a book about it.

I actually just finished it. Well, sort of. I wrote the first draft and now I need to read it straight through and see how it is. Then comes the daunting task of trying to get someone to publish it. So if any publishers are reading this and are interested (long shot, but worth a try) please email me. I have already mentioned it on my Blog, but thought I would try to drum up some interest with some photos. So if you want to be put on a list to know when the books is ready, please email me. travelbribirk@yahoo.com

USA

2008-03-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

1.The Narrows, Zion NP

2. Monument Valley

3. Grand Canyon

4. Yosemite

5. Alcatraz in San Francisco

From the Summer of 2007

USA

2008-03-06T11:18:00.000-08:00

1. Angels' Landing, Zion NP

2. Wall Street Bryce, NP

3. Windows Area, Arches NP

4. Mesa Arch, Canyonlands NP

5. Canyonlands

Last Summer I had to leave Belgium for six months to get my visa paperwork sorted out. For just over four months of that time, I went back on the road for Trek America. If you have been reading all along, you know that of course, but I wanted to post some good photos I took over the season. In total I led six trips.

1. LA to New York, 21 days across the south
2. New York to New York 14 days up into the Eastern Canadian Cities
3. New York to Seattle, 25 days across Canada
4. Seattle to Seattle, 5 days to Olympic National Park and Mt Rainier
5. LA to LA, 14 days around California, Vegas and the Grand Canyon
6. Vegas to Vegas, 12 days in the National Parks of Southern Utah and Northern Arizona.

It was another great season, I have been lucky to have had 8 good seasons with the company and have seen some amazing things. All the while getting paid to do what most people pay to do. So I can't complain.

Lake Tahoe

2008-02-29T00:59:00.000-08:00

1. My mother and brother at on a night walk
2. Me laying out
3. Sunset over the lake
4. A snowy road
5. Older brothers never change, no matter how old they are.

I finished leading tours at the end of November last year, and didn’t come to Belgium until the middle of January. That left me about 6 plus weeks to hang out in California visiting friends and family. I am from Southern California, or what is sadly more popularly known these days as the OC. However my mother lives in Kings Beach which is located on the northern side of Lake Tahoe. So that is where I spent Christmas, a white Christmas. I have not had a lot of those in my life so I wanted to put some nice photos here. For the record, I prefer my “white” during Christmas to be on a “white” sand beach, but of course I had a nice time visiting my mother and step father

Amsterdam

2008-02-26T12:57:00.000-08:00

1. Cynthia and I

2. My favorite "restaurant" where you get deep fried food from a wall.

3. Eva and a canal.

4. What is Eva doing!!!!??

5. What am I doing????!!!

--------------------------------------------------------

This has been added latter to clarify for my mother what "fried food from a wall" is

Febo is like a vending machine I suppose, but on a grander scale. The "cooks" place the fried goodies of this and that in the little slot. There it sits until you put money in and open the little door of said goodies, for your eating pleaseure, although some do not see it as a pleasure. Some locals think that drunk and stoned and homeless Amsterdamers (usually actually foriegners) pee in the little slots. So go for the upper levels and enjoy the fried.

----------------------------------------------------------

Eva and I went up to Amsterdam for the weekend. I have two friends that live there. Chris I know from high school and he has lived there for around 7 years I think. Last year he got married to Melanie who is from the Netherlands, and Eva and I attended the wedding in Baarlo. Also there is Cynthia, who I know from college. She has been living there for 10 years, and speaks Dutch really well now.

I took the train up on Friday, and stayed the night at Chris and Melanie's. Eva drove up on Saturday and we both spent the night at Cynthia's. That night we went out for dinner and drinks in town. There is not so much to report about the trip, just that it was really nice to see old friends. It is great to have the "in the nieghborhood" and be able to pop up to Amsterdam for the weekend. That's one of the great things about living in Europe. Eva and I drove home on Sunday, after looking around the red light district a bit. It is always a good place to people watch and "window shop." I am a little embarassed to admit that we ate at McDonalds on the way home.

Horse

2008-02-21T12:45:00.000-08:00

This is a Horse and below that is Me.

This is horse cooking.

This is me eating horse.

I know it's not a big deal for a lot of the world. But in America we don't eat horse, not on purpose anyway. So for me it was a big deal to eat, although here in Belgium they sell it at all the grocery stores.

The Beautiful South

2008-02-18T14:06:00.000-08:00

More Photos from the weekend, see the next post for the story.

1. The four of us having dinner

2. Can you see the pig?

3. There she is

4. Via Ferrata

5. I climbed that, and look, Belgium isn't only flat

The South

2008-02-18T13:53:00.000-08:00

1. Eva and I in Dinant

2. The church from the fort

3. Also the church from the fort

4. One of the forts old defenses

5. Part of the WWI display at the fort

We had a great, weekend that just past, with a little misfortune as well. I had not really visited the south of Belgium and so we took the opportunity to do so. Eva’s friend Karla and her boyfriend Dirk recently bought a house in the small Walloon (French speaking part) town of Houyet. The house needs s a lot of work, which they have not started yet. They plan to renovate it and rent it out to groups. Going there we knew not to expect much luxury, as they had not started the renovation project.

On the way there we took a small detour to the town of Dinant, a very charming city on the Maas River, with a large church dominating the view, and a hill top fortress. The town was also home to Adolphe Sax. You might know the instrument he invented that he named after himself, not the Adolphephone. We took the cable car up to the fort and had a tour of it. From the walls of the fort, the view was stunning. It has been many weeks since I have seen anything resembling even a hill, and the curves of the Ardennes were welcome.

Dirk came after work and met the rest of us at a bar in Dinant, and the four of us then drove to their house. There was an extra little building attached to the main house, and that’s where we were to eat and sleep. Karla had a very nice meal planned, and we prepared it, ate and drank, filling ourselves with food and alcohol (not Karla she is pregnant). Then it was time to go to sleep, and we brought some mattresses upstairs, set up our beds and laid down for the night.

The next morning we awoke, and we all felt a little off. When I stood to pee I felt a little dizzy, but chalked it up to too many strong Belgian beers. As soon as we all started to compare notes however, we realized it was more than the alcohol (Karla had it too) and that it must have been the stove. There was a small wood burning stove in the room and it must have been the culprit. We were lucky to have woken up at all because Carbon Monoxide poisoning kills a lot of people every year.

Needless to say we had a slow start to the day, but eventually got up to some fun. Dirk and I went for a bike ride to “the castle” and found a pet pig. Seriously. Well the castle was an old railway station that looked like a castle, and the pig was, well, a pig. Near the castle was a young wild boar only she wasn’t wild. She had some tags in her ears, but was just hanging out alone. She took a fancy to Dirk and I and followed us around as we checked out the castle. When we got on our bikes to ride away, along came pig. I decided to she needed a name, so I called her “Dinner.” Half way back the girls were walking along the path and they saw us, with our new friend.

After that we passed the pig off on some locals and went back to the house for lunch, to pig out ourselves. Next it was on to some rock climbing. We went to an area that had a small “via ferrata” and Dirk and I climbed to the top using his harnesses. Via Ferrata in Italian means Iron road, and is a serious of fixed cables, stemples, ladders, and bridges, set in the stone. Apparently they are all over the Dolmites in Italy, but this was just a small version. The climb took about a half hour and was a lot of fun, but a little scary at times.

So we had a lovley weekend but were very tired by the time we made it home. When we were home, we still weren’t feeling 100 percent though, and decided to go to the hospital. When they heard what had happened, they instantly put us on oxygen. They took blood, and found out in fact, that we had had a small dose of carbon monoxide poison. Luckily though, they found that we were only at the level of a heavy smoker, not that of a a corpse. My level for some reason was a bit higher than Eva. So mild poisioning aside, it was a great weekend venture into the south of Belgium

Damme and Holland

2008-02-18T12:53:00.000-08:00

1. Sunbathing in Oudenaarde
2. Church in Damme
3. Another church in Damme
4. Art

About a week ago Eva and I went over to her sister's house for some dinner and a jacuzzi sit. Her sister (Marie) and husband (Lieven) got a jacuzzi a few months ago, and we have been over twice to soak in it. Boy is it nice, especially in this cold weather. But last time we went it actually wasn't so cold. We sat out in the sun for a while on their balcony during the afternoon, and I even took my shirt off.

The next day we went to Damme to get some pancakes. It is a place near where Eva grew up and sometimes she went to the same restaurant for panckaes, when she was a child. I don't usually say no to pancakes, or waffles or fries for that matter. After we left we had a hour and a half to kill before going to visit her grandmother, so we popped over to Holland for the heck of it. We wandered a bit down the main street of Sluis and then retreated back to Belgium

Aalst

2008-02-05T02:56:00.000-08:00

More Carnival Photos, see following post.

1. Here comes the Royal Family

2. So Far from.......Greenland.

3. So far from Jamaica.

4. Hey, that's the King.

5. Controversy in Belgium. The Lion represents the region of Flanders (Dutch speaking) and the Cock represents the Region of Wallonia (The French Speakers). And, well you can see what the Lion is doing tothe Cock.

Carnival

2008-02-05T02:40:00.000-08:00

1. Colorful participants

2. Ahh the beer

3. Ahh the food

4. The Klan, trying someting new?

5. Lots of Munchkin types in the parade.

You’ve heard of it right? Aalst is what you think of when you think Carnival right? Sure Rio, New Orleans and Venice may be more well known for Carnival, but in Belgium when they think Carnival, they think Aalst. Well I’m not about to give anything up for lent, but when I hear there is a festival only an hour down the road, I want to go. So last Sunday Eva and I got in the car to check out the festivities in Aalst.

I come from Southern California and until now I thought that it (home to Hollywood) was the fake breast capital of the world. Apparently though, it is Aalst. Not the same kind though, but fake breasts none the less. People in the parade as well as revelers in the street came in costume. It seemed as if the most popular costume accessory this year (maybe every year) was fake boobs. Not the silicon variety but the plastic novelty sort that you find in a sex shop or a joke gift shop. Not just the random street partiers were wearing them either, they were part of many costumes that were in the parade. It just makes me think about some Chinese factory somewhere, and that’s all the workers do all day is produce plastic fake boobs. What must they think of western society?

Eva and I had a good time, doing a little bar hoping, eating, watching the parade, eating, looking at the crazies in the street and eating. Did I mention eating? We started with some Oliebollen, little bits of fried dough with powdered sugar, mmm good. Then I had a Bratwurst because someone else was and I couldn’t not have one. Then of course the Belgium staple, some fries. We followed the fries up with more Oliebollen and then to finish things off, well why not some more fries. It was a good day, but needless to say I skipped dinner that night.

I was going to go out that night around midnight, and try to find a TV that was showing the Super Bowl, but didn’t feel up to it when the time came around. To bad, I saw it turned out to be a pretty good game for once.

Tournai or Doornik

2008-01-31T11:14:00.000-08:00

1. On the Main Square of Tournai

2. Look, a representation admiting that Jesus was black

3. The 5 towers of Tournai's Cathedral

4. Me and the Five towers

5. Absinthe

Last weekend, Eva and I got in the car for a roadtrip in Belgium. Well, road trip in Belgium, means that you can get a third of the way across the country in not much over an hour, so we went to Tournai, or Doornik, depending on your point of view. Because Belgium has three official languages, many cities have more than one name. Tournai is the French name and Doornik is the Dutch name. I haven't really spent much time in the French region, Walloon, so I wanted to go there. Tournai is the closest city of any interest (In Walloon) to us in Oostende, so that's where we went.

I liked the city, but after all the sun was out and I had a waffle, two things that usually make me enjoy a place. But it has a cool central square, with a few old churchs (suprise to find in Europe), a 72 meter high Belfort (tower) and is known for its main Cathedral that has five towers and is one of the most important architechural monuments in Belgium.

We were not the first ones ever to "invade" the city, through out history it seems like just about everyone has occupied Tournai at one time or another. We climbed the Beflort, all 250 steps or so and then walked to the Cathedral, that was having some restoration work done. After we went for a drink and I ordered cider off the French Menu. I expected something in a manly style pint glass, but instead realized I had more or less ordered champaign. Oh well. Then we got a take away waffle an got back in the car to head home.

The Next day we went to Eva's Aunt and Uncle's house for a quick drink to say hello and hear about their recent trip to Argentina. I already knew this would be the case (Eva thought not for some reason) but we were invited to stay for the lunch that Eva's grandmother and parents were already invited to. We had a wondeful meal that in true European fashion lasted all day long, and then watched a slide show of the Argentina photos. Add that to the list of places I want to go. In their bar, I discovered a bottle of Absinthe, but didn't have any. I did once years ago, and may have to try it again at some point. Speakng of trying things, stay tuned for me eating horse meat. In many places (Belgium included) that is not so out of the ordinary, but as an American, I may have to have a few cocktails first.

Went to France for Breakfast

2008-01-23T01:43:00.000-08:00

1.My Cappuccino,

2. The sign in the window that lied to me

3. At the border, of course no controls these days (I didn't even have my passport with me)

4. Back in Belgium, Ypers' main cathederal.

5. A small WW1 cemetery in town

Thats right, I went to France for breakfast. Why? Well, becasue I can. I had to make it back for language class at 1:30 pm, but had the morning to kill. I felt like a crepe or croissant for breakfast, so what better place to go than France. From Oostende where I am living its only about 35 minutes to the border. Incidentially its probably about the same to the north into Holland, so stay tuned for dinner in the Netherlands possibly. As I am not working right now, Eva pays for the food, but if we head up there, who knows, we may just have to go Dutch.

So I pulled off at the first town just over the border in France, Bray Dunes and looked for a place to eat. As I have often discovered in Europe, early bird does not get the worm, I had a hard time finding a place open before nine. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that it is a small sea side resort in FAR northern France, out of season. The season (weather-wise) really only being about two months long. But finally I found a place which seemed open that had a sign in the window saying Restauarant/Creperie and went inside. The one employee was outside when I walked in, smoking of course. He didn't seem too interested in giving up his cigarette break for me (after all, he is French, they like to smoke) and I waited a bit for him to come in. When he handed me the menu, it turned out they were just open for drinks and so I ordered a cappuccino, wanting to have something. On the way out of France I did find a grocery store open, and stoped to pick up some "pain au chocolat" so that I could really say I went to France for beakfast, and I was hungry.

On the way back to Oostende, I went by way of Ypers tucked somewhere sort of inland of southwest Belgium. The town and its surrounding area was the site of one of some of the worst battles (or stalemates) of World War One. It is where trench warefare and chemical warfare became "popular." 450,000 people died here and the whole countryside is covered with cemeteries. The city was mostly destroyed during the war, but was rebuilt more or less replicating the old buildings. I didn't have much time there, but walked around a little, seeing the cathedral, a few memorials and one small cemetery. I guess the people who remember WW1 first hand are all but gone now, as you'd have to be around 100, but in this town, there are constant reminders.

In Belgium

2008-01-15T01:11:00.000-08:00

I arrived three days ago, via Frankfurt and on to Brussels. It has been great to see Eva after 2 1/2 months, and settle back into the apartment. It was even sunny the day I arrived. Of course it is generally around 9 c in the day time, but I survived Antarctica, and I will survive here.

Yesterday was only my first weekday in the country, but already a very busy day. I went to the city hall to register that I am lving here. The condition of my visa said that I had 8 days within arrival to register, but why wait. They will send the police around ( a normal procedure I am told) to check if I am really living with Eva, so she and I changed the name tags on the door buzzer and post box. After that I will go back to the city hall to get an ID card, and then start the process to get my work permit.

After city hall, I went to a language center, and they signed me up for a course. They also told me that every one who moves to Belgium must take an intergration course, which I think may be 60 hours long. Thats a lot of integrating, and I can't imagine what all they will tell me, but apparently it is required, and allows the language course to be free. Recently I picked up (at the Belgian consulate in LA) a copy of a magazine called Newcomer. It had a FAQ section, and some of my favorites were:

1. Is Belgium Flat and Boring?
2. Is it always raining?
3. Are all Belgians miserable?

So I guess in the integration course they will do their best to dispell these ideas.

After the language center, I went to the school itself. It is about 20 minutes walk form the apartment, short for Belgians, long because I am American. Its not that bad really, and it will be good to get the exercise. In fact just by default I have already lost about 3 pounds, in 3 days by living as a European. More walking less processed crap eating. So I had planned to take the morning classes, which sarted yesterday, but when I got there yesterday afternoon, they told me the afternoon class had half the amount of people. So I took that one, and started right away. There are 12 people in my class, from every continent except Antarctica. One Aussie, one Brazilian, one American (me), and the rest Asia or Africa and Eastern Europe. I will go 4 days a week for 3 hours a day. When I signed in, the guy at the desk, suprised to see my nationality, said "oh are you here for politcial assulym?" Maybe I should be after the last 7 years of politics in my country, but George will be gone in less than a year now.

Well its off to class.

Goed Dag!

Jumping through Hoops

2008-01-09T21:50:00.000-08:00

So the process began over seven months ago to obtain a visa to live in Belgium. Before you read on, just be aware that there is a quite a bit of ranting to get out my frustrations from the whole procedure.

Eva and I discovered that there is something called a cohabitation visa and we set out to get one. Its a little easier for me to up-root, so we decided I would go to Belgium as opposed to her come to America. Most Belgians think we are both crazy when they hear the other option is California but life is long, there are options to do more than one thing.

The road to the visa has been filled with frustration, and Eva and I are glad to have it come to an end. On the Belgian Diplomatic website, we found out that I needed to submit 8 things, and she 5. That was way back in May when I was in Belgium, and we were hopping we could do it all from there and that it wouldn't take that long. We didn't really think that would be the case, but one can always hope.

Her documents were actually pretty easy to obtain. Because it is a cohabitation visa, my status is very dependent on her, and she had to submit various financial statements, pay stubs, proof of residence, etc.

For me, some of the things were easy to get, some not. Passport, Birth Certificate, fees (of course) and application, all easy enough. Doctors report, FBI report, and Certificate that I am not married, not so easy. Also we had to submit proof of our relationship, which we thought would be easy, but turned out to be harder than it should have been. We had to submit more info and pictures, the second time around about our relationship and at one point wondered if it wasn't easier to turn up at the consulate to have relations.

The doctors report was a bit of a challenge, because we were not sure at first if I could get it done in Belgium. We went back and forth a little bit about it, because ideally (according to the Belgian government) I was supposed to apply for the visa from my home country. But I was busy being in Belgium, trying to have a relationship with the Belgian citizen I was trying to get permission to cohabitate with. A bit of a catch 22 really, as they wanted me to prove time spent with her, but also wanted me to be in my own country. Eventually we sorted it out, and I got the report done in Belgium.

The FBI report required fingerprints to be sent in along with the application. I could not find anyone to finger print me in Belgium, except for the inconvenient, expensive embassy in Brussels. In the US, you can go to a police station and have it done, so we tried that in Belgium as well. They said the only reason the would fingerprint me was if I committed a crime. I didn't see that as prudent considering I was trying to get them to let me into there country to stay. So I printed fingerprint cards off the FBI website (they said this was allowed) grabbed an ink pad and did them myself. Again, and again, again. They only required one set, but I figured four would be better, and that they could find one set of usable prints from the four. They couldn't and sent them back to me, saying they were unreadable. They sent them back because I wanted something from them. If I had committed a crime and left four sets of prints, I bet they could have found me, but because I wanted something, I bet they didn't even try. Months later when I passed through home I got a set made in my home town of Fountain Valley at the police station, but this process was the biggest delay. Especially considering the FBI website (in the FAQ section) essentially says: Is there a way to speed up this (4 month) process? No!

The certificate that I was not married was the most frustrating of the lot. I had to have two of them. One was an official document from the county I was born in (Orange County= The OC) stating that they searched their records and I am not married. The document doesn't really prove anything as far as I see. Sure I'm not married in the OC, but what about other counties, what about other countries? This document also had to have attached to it an apostille. In the early 60's many countries joined into an agreement that says that as long as there is an apostille attached, that each other country is to recognize the document. Of course, each time any new document was introduced into the mix, a new few was as well. So maybe they realized this document wasn't proving much, so they had me write one myself, stating I wasn't married. I couldn't for the life of me figure out how someone else would gain by creating such a document. But of course it had to be notarized, another fee and of course it needed an apostille, another fee.

It might have been OK, if all this was able to be done in the same building on the same day. I realize they want to screw me out of more fees, but can't they screw me in the same building? I was dealing with the County of Orange office in Santa Ana and the Secretary of State in Downtown LA. I was also in the middle of my tour leading season and was only in and out of southern California, making it all difficult to accomplish. So here's the most frustrating part. I took my made up document, and my OC notary document up to LA, to get the apostille, and they told me it wasn't possible because my notary document wasn't authenticated. I said, isn't that what a notary is, an authentication? They told me that they needed proof that the notary was still active, I pointed to the notary's seal. Not good enough, I needed an authentication (another fee) document and for that I would have to go back to Orange County, because this was and OC notary. I told the clerk this was ridiculous and that it made no sense, and she replied
"Don't blame me, blame the government." I didn't even start with her about how silly a defense that was, and I said fine, I'll just do it over, here, today in LA with another notary down the street. She told me I would still have to go to the LA county office, IN NORWALK (30 minutes drive one way) to get the authentication. What sense does that make I inquired angrily. I have to waste my time, and gas money, and add more traffic and pollution to the city. Why can't you just have a notary in this office that is already authenticated (whatever that means)? Her response was (and I can't believe she said this) "well that's what these people (pointing to all the other people in line) have been working on all week. That is their defense? This incredibly wasteful and unnecessary system is still in place, because that's what everyone else is doing. Crazy, but that's the government for you. No wonder we have a budget crisis in California.

Anyway, enough of me ranting. Eventually we got all our ducks in a row and then played the waiting game. It took around 6 weeks at that point, which may have gone quicker, but it was over the holidays. So finally, with visa in hand as of last Friday, I made a plane reservation, and will return to Belgium, with visa, in two days.

Have Visa will travel

2008-01-07T23:13:00.000-08:00

I have been away from Belgium for over 5 months now, and have only seen Eva for a week in that time when she came to the US in October, and we went to Vegas. For those that don't remember (or have never read here) before, we started this visa process way back in May. So finally after 7 plus months, a couple of hundred dollars, a lot of hoop jump and loads and loads of frustration I have been issued a visa to live in Belgium. I fly back to Brussels from LA via Frankfurt in a few days. I don't have a work permit yet, but that should come soon. Now the real question is, will anybody hire me without French and Without Flemish. So when I first get there, I will spend a while taking language classes and writing. Meaning, I should be getting more Blog time soon, so stay tuned.

Into The WIld

2007-11-22T17:19:00.000-08:00

So the Into the Wild tour that I lead, which was the prize for the promotional contest for the movie is now up on myspace. Check out the video blog on at the following link. Scroll down though, as the first movie is the trailer for the actual movie, and the one below is of our trip.

http://www.myspace.com/intothewildmovie

Enjoy.

Still doing the tour leading thing.

2007-11-12T19:55:00.000-08:00

Well, one more trip for the season starts tomorrow. So it may be my last tour ever, but as this is my "third last season ever" I can't make any promises. My last one was a two weeker in California, Nevada and Arizona. This one is a 12 day trip in Nevada, Arizona and Utah, going to some pretty amazing parks, Zion, Bryce, Arches, Canyon lands, Monument Valley and the Grand Canyon. Not a bad way to spend a November and to wrap up my Trek career. It is to late in the season for this route to be a camping tour, so it will be all hotels. Pretty cushy I guess.

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.

2007-10-20T21:20:00.000-07:00

Photos from my trip with Eva t Valley of Fire SP in Nevada, and Vegas.

1. Gotta go topless whenever you can

2. Eva on the red rocks

3. I guess the scenery sucks after this spot???

4. Climbing in a slot canyon

5. We didn't win big

Still Leading tours

2007-10-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

I just had a little break from leading tours and Eva came for a visit. Unfortunately she was only here for 7 days, but it was great to have her come. We visited with some friends in Corona, California, then went to Vegas for two nights. During our whole day there we left the glitter and gambling behind and went to Valley of Fire State Park, about an hour drive from Vegas. I can't believe I have never been there, it was amazing. It really should be a National Park, but I know why it hasn't become one, at least in the last 7 years. Our current president isn't into things like that. You know nature.

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.

Still here

2007-09-02T19:50:00.001-07:00

I'm sure people checking this blog from day to day has dropped to practically zero, but I know at least my brother gets an automatic alert when I update.

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.

Southern Sun Done

2007-08-14T19:19:00.000-07:00

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.

Eating Cuy

2007-07-28T08:01:00.000-07:00

The pictures are:

1. Cuy and fries

2. Me and Cuy

3. Cuy Head on a fork

4. More MP

5. Llamas waiting for a cab at the airport.

Here is something I wrote for another website about eating guinea pig. See the next post for more on the end of our South America trip.

It took seven cocktails to get there. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t order seven, but I drank that many and it helped. To prepare for what I was about to eat I went to happy hour first and ordered a cocktail, but it happened to be 4 for 1 that hour. My girlfriend was with me, and I expected her to help me out with the 4 mojitos, but after they arrived she told me she wasn’t feeling well. So I had four, by myself. Then we went to the restaurant for the night’s challenge and I ordered another mojito, but this restaurant was currently doing three for one. So about halfway through the third (well seventh really) drink my meal arrived; head, feet, legs and all. It was what used to be a cute furry guinea pig, now roasted, splayed out and ready for my dining ……...pleasure?

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

2007-07-28T07:10:00.000-07:00

The pictures are:

1. Breakfast in Cuzco

2. Me and the locals at MP

3. Ollaytatambo

4. School kids in uniform

5. Just after the fog lifted early in the morning at MP

I started the tales of the south America journey a bit ago and almost got to the end when I hit the road again here in North America. I didn't want to leave it out or have it be finished in months so I will rap it up here.

Last I wrote about us being in Puno and visiting the Uros Islands on Lake Titicaca. At that point we had seen some amazing things, but the best was yet to come. We were on our way to Cuzco, The sacred valley, and Machu Picchu.

We took a early afternoon bus to Cuzco and after a beautiful drive arrived just after dark. We tried to stay with the brother of the people we stayed with in Arequipa (Marlon of Marlon's travels) but his place was full for the night, so he sent us to his neighbor's place.

http://www.marlons-travel.com/

We then went back to Marlon's place so he could help us book our trip to Machu Picchu. Originally I think we were going to go straight there, but Marlon talked us into adding a tour of the Sacred Valley on the way, and I'm glad he did. There is a lush green valley with various ruins and charming little towns, leading up to Machu Picchu and it is well worth the visit.

I got up early and went with Marlon to the train station to try to get tickets for later that night. The only way to reach Aguas Calientes (the small town at the base of MP) is by train or walking. We did not have time to walk via the famous Inca Trail, so we were after train tickets. Unfortunately they were sold out for the day, so we bought tickets to do the same the next day. We had wanted to arrive back in Cuzco with a day to spare before our flight to Lima, but had the spare day in the beginning instead. All it meant is that the morning we would return from MP we would go straight to the airport. I was a little nervous about missing the flight, but Marlon assured me it would be fine.

So we spent a leisurely day in Cuzco and absolutely loved it. We had breakfast in the main square and there was a parade of school children while we were there. about 1000 of them all in various uniforms lined up for the event. Cuzco was the capital of the Inca Empire and still has a lot of Inca ruins, along with some impressive Spanish architecture. Some of the Spanish buildings used some of the Inca walls as part of the construction. That is quite rare from what I have seen as usually the conquering society wants to totally destroy the other one before setting up shop. We had lunch in a small suburb up a hill with a great view and we had drinks that night with the Belgian couple we had met in Puno. Eva went to go see the Sun Temple while I had a nap. I did get to see it later, in Belgium on stage as part of the set for the musical "Kuifje en de Zonnetemple" or Tintin and the Sun Temple.

The next morning we took off for the tour of the sacred valley. Our first stop was Pisac a small market town in a stunning setting and some amazing hill top ruins near by. Next we had lunch along the way and then on to Ollaytatambo where we were to catch the train that night. We first had a tour of the ruins and then most of the tour group headed back to Cuzco, while we waited a few hours for the train. It was a cute little city with little streams of water flowing through out the cobblestone streets.

The train took less than two hours and we were in Aguas Calientes and at our hotel by 10:30, so we could get to sleep for the early day the next day. We awoke before the sun to get in line for the bus up the hill. It is the most expensive bus ride in all of Peru as it takes under 30 minutes, and only goes 8 km and cost 6 USD. Some people walk it, but Eva and I were not keen on a 8 km uphill pre dawn hike, so we paid the money.

Our whole package included a 2 hour guided tour of the ruins, and then we were free to explore on our own. In total we spent 8 hours there it was that phenomenal. I had always loved the photos of my grandparents trip there in the 60's and had wanted to go for a long time. It did not disappoint me. Around the ruins there were wild llamas and we were able to find some spots where there were no other people in site during the day.

In the late afternoon we were on our way to the hot springs, back in town and Eva tripped, cutting her foot open. I didn't think it was a good idea for her to soak in questionable south American hot pool water, so she just waited for me while I did. That night I had the Guinea pig dinner I already mentioned and we went to bed early again, for another early departure.

In the morning we caught the train back to Ollaytatambo, a cab (shared with a couple from French Guiana) the hour and a half back to Cuzco, and an airplane to Lima. At the airport in Cuzco we thought it was funny because when we pulled up there were two llamas just wandering around the taxi stand. Maybe they were waiting for a cab. We had a bit of time to kill so we went across the street from the airport and I had some soup with questionable body parts of a questionable animal.

Back in Lima we stayed at the same place we had in the beginning (Safe in Lima) for one night before our flight home. But our flight wasn't until 11 at night so we had a whole day in Lima.

http://www.safeinlima.com/

During that day we walked to the suburb of Miraflores and took a cab back and forth from the city center. We had heard that there was a building that was a replica of one in Brussles and wanted to see it. It took some searching, but eventually we found it. then it was back to the guesthouse to collect our bags and to the airport to fly to LA. Eva and I had different flights, but they left only a half hour apart. So that was it, our/my south America journey was over.

7 continents, check.

Vegas Baby! Vegas!

2007-07-27T22:48:00.000-07:00

The Pictures are:

1. The Venetian

2. My frequent Trek America Home in Vegas

3. Cool Reflection

4. Gambling away

Well you guessed it, I'm in Las Vegas. It is appropriate I suppose to quote Homer Simpson, "I curse you Gamblor" the god of gambling. But I actually praise him this time as I am 80 dollars richer thanks to several casinos. It is day three of the tour and things are going fine. All nine passengers are on a six week tour that crosses the country twice. Another leader was with them for the first three weeks, on the northern route from east to west, and I am now with them for the southern route, heading back to New York. It is easy to have a group that already knows the drill.

The first morning I picked them up and drove them to Disneyland. After we set up camp, I took them to the theme park, and turned them loose. They had 12-14 hours of Mickey, probably enough for anyone in one dose. Next day we got up ad drove across the Mojave dessert to Vegas, and arrived here yesterday afternoon. We joined another group that night for a 2 hour, 20 person Limo ride/party in Vegas. It was lots of fun and as you may imagine I was a bit hung over today. Tomorrow we leave the cities behind for a while, heading through the amazing national parks of the south west.

Trek America

2007-07-24T21:39:00.000-07:00

So I am back in the US. A Belgian Visa is going to take longer than hoped, but is still on the way.......I think. So in the mean time, I needed to earn some money, and I came back to lead tours for Trek America again. This is my 8th season with the company, and my third "last" season ever. It happens to lots of leaders.

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

2007-07-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

For those of you who read regularly (if that is anyone) bare with me. I am now back in the US for a few months. The visa paperwork for Belgium will take a while and in the mean time it is best if I earn some money by leading tours. The Blog wasn't really paying the bills, so I will be on the road for at least three tours. I will try to still put picture sand stories up (from the US and Canada) as often as possible, but getting Internet access on the road is sparse a times.

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.

Back to Peru

2007-07-20T01:41:00.001-07:00

The Pictures are:

1. Island of the Uros people

2. "Traditional" boat filled with coke bottles

3. Look how many people it can hold

4. See the cute rabbit

5. Me juggling in Puno-Nathan what do you think?

So as quick as we arrived in Bolivia it was time to leave. We only spent two nights there, and need to go back some day. On the way back Eva did not have to fight for butt space in a small vehicle as we took a direct bus. It stopped for border formalities on both sides and went all the way to Puno. It was a little more expensive than the regular mini vans and was only filled with "rich" foreigners. Incidentally it would have made an excellent score if you were into holding up buses.

About halfway into the journey a guy got on selling tours to the Uros Islands and hotels for the night. He cleaned up and got a lot of business including Eva and myself. It was two things we wanted anyway and the prices seemed good. So when we got to Puno, he put us in cabs (included) and 6 of us went to the same hotel. Two German guys and a Belgian couple accompanied us. We all discussed as to whether we would ever get that tour we paid for or if the guy would run off with our money. It was only 20 soles each (about 6 USD) so I wasn't too worried. But we paid 11 USD each total for hotel and tour and many people had to get their cut from that. The hotel, the cab driver, the boat owner, the tour guide, the mini van guy that picked us up for the tour and of course the salesman. Not much to go around really.

So we had a quick look around Puno and then back to our hotel to await the tour. The six of us waited outside our hotel, and eventually the mini van came. It took us to the docks and we got on a boat with about 30 other people who I think had been waiting a while (impatiently) for us to arrive. More than 75% of them were Israelis. There sure are a lot of them traveling in South America. Then we were off to go visit the Uros people.

From my understanding from our tour guide, the Uros people are a pre-Inca society that fled to the lake to avoid conflict with another local tribe. Instead of fighting for the land, they built themselves Islands out of reeds. Around 3000 descendants still live today with a few hundred maintaining the Island lifestyle. They also build boats out of reeds. They used to be made out of solid reeds, but now they use something else. Empty plastic coke bottles, so they are good for something. We visited two Islands and the families that live there. They showed us how they build their Islands and took us in a reed boat. On the reed boat over to the main Island (with the school) the boatman's little daughter sang us songs in 7-8 languages. A lot of people think that this excursion is "to touristy" and don't like the pressure of the families hawking their goods. But I think, of course it is why else would people invite mass tourism into their home, and I think a man-made Island is worth seeing. I remember our tour guide told us one thing about the lake. He said the Bolivians are fond of saying this about it "We get the Titi and they (the Peruvians) get the Caca."

We got back after dark and there were not enough mini vans for all of us. I guess the cut was not big enough for all those people I mentioned and a few drivers decided not to show. The six of us staying at the same hotel figured safety in numbers and walked back. It was only 20 minutes, a long walk for an American but certainly short for the Europeans. Eva and I had take away pizza in our room that night and fell asleep early. The next day we had the whole morning to walk around Puno before getting on a bus to Cuzco.

Isla Del Sol

2007-07-19T01:44:00.000-07:00

The pictures are:

1.Eva and Ince ruins

2. Coke stop with a furry friend

3. Why is it so hard to resist taking photos of cute little kids and llamas?

4. One of the amazing views

The next morning we set out on an excursion onto the lake. There is a popular day trip from Copacabana, out to the Isla Del Sol. You can have a boat drop you off at one end of the Island and pick you up 5-6 hours later from the other. We joined about 40 others on the boat and headed out for the day.

The Island has a trail across its spine and has several small fishing and farming villages. All over the Island there are amazing views of the lake as well. We had very clear weather and could see for miles. Some directions you couldn't even see the other side of the lake. The Island is a very special place for the Incas and I can see why. The following is from the Lonely Planet website.

"The Island of the Sun is the legendary Inca creation site and is the birthplace of the sun in Inca mythology. It was here that the bearded white god Viracocha and the first Incas, Manco Capac and his sister-wife Mama Huaca (or Mama Ocllo), made their mystical appearances.
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."

We started the day in Cha'llapampa and then hiked our way up to the ruins. Not the most impressive set of Inca ruins we saw, but the setting was amazing. Then over the next 5 hours or so we hiked our way south. It was not easy hiking at that elevation and we had to stop frequently. I felt a painful feeling in my lungs I have never felt before. Fortunately (as I have mentioned many times, the view during our stops was never lacking). Along the walk we often bumped into others from the boat, all going at different paces.

Eventually we made it to the southern village and had a half hour to kill in a little restaurant before catching the slow boat back to the mainland. It was a long day and although we were sun burned (after all we were on the Isla Del Sol) and tired, we were fulfilled.

Bolivia

2007-07-18T00:55:00.000-07:00

The pictures are:

1. Flight from Arequipa to Juliaca

2. Copacabana, Bolivia

3. Church in Copacabana

4. What kind of snack is that

5. More at the church

Should we go to another country today or not? Eva and I debated as to whether or not we should try to make Bolivia on the same day as leaving Arequipa. We also debated as to whether or not we should even go. We wanted to go, but weren't sure if we needed a visa or not. We had two guide books, one in Dutch and one in English. One of them told us Belgian's needed a visa and one said they did not. Also I had seen on-line that Americans would soon need one for Bolivia. Thank you George Bush. We'll see if my brother is reading these blogs, as he surely won't resist commenting on that if he is. Any way, we decided to go.

We had a morning flight from Arequipa to Juliaca which is about an hour from Lake Titicaca. Just out of the airport, we jumped into a combi skipping the town of Juliaca and heading straight for Puno. Puno is the main Peruvian city on the Lake. The lake is billed as the highest navigable lake in the world.

"Lake Titicaca is the world's highest lake navigable to large vessels, lying at 12500 feet (3810 m) above sea level in the Andes Mountains of South America"

In Puno we got in another combi to the Bolivian border. It was about a two hour ride, and Eva had to fight most of the way for room for both of her butt cheeks. There was a large woman seated next to her in a very crowded mini van, and they had a battle of the butts for well over an hour. Eva was out gunned in the butt department and lost the war. Eventually we made it to the border town and another squabble ensued. The driver wanted to take us to the border (another 2 km) for another 1 sole each (60 cents total). But so did they local cab drivers, and they proceeded to fight over us. I felt so popular. In the end we went with the original guy and were at the border in a few minutes.

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.

Colca Canyon Trip

2007-07-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

Photos form our Colca Canyon trip. See the story in the next pot.

The Pictures Are:

1. Me bird watching

2. Eva and I at the Canyon

3. Ditto

4. A condor

5. Back in Arequipa, a dried frog in a market for.........eating I guess.

The second deepest canyon

2007-07-17T04:45:00.000-07:00

The Picture are:

1. The sugar eating bandit

2. My own motorcycle diaries at 5000 meters

3. Aren't they cute.

4. The Canyon

5. Locals dancing, much better than I could.

So where was I on the Peru tales? While Eva and I were in Arequipa we took an over night excursion to Colca Canyon. Colca Canyon is the second deepest canyon in the world. It is over 3400 meters deep. So where is the deepest, anybody know? I mean do you know without the Internet? It is a very common excursion to take from Arequipa and Eva and I had the added bonus of having it be our birthday trip. Eva's is the day before mine so we spent our birthdays visiting the canyon.

We got up very early and joined about 25 others for the trip to Chivay, the base for exploring the canyon. Along the way we saw lots of llamas. We also saw vicunas, alpacas and one guanaco, all part of the same family of camelids. At one rest stop, while we were waiting for tea, an Alpaca burst into the restaurant. He knew what he was doing and went straight for a sugar bowl on a table. He got a few mouth fulls of sugar before the waitress could shue him out. On the drive we also passed a point that was just under 5000 meters (15,000) feet, which is the highest I have ever been. Insert your own jokes there.

When we go to Chivay we had lunch and then checked into our hotel. We had a little free time in town, then we all went to a hot springs near town. It was nice to have a soak even though the pool was packed with tourists. After the soak we went to a group dinner that included a show of indigenous dancing and music. They had us participate in the dancing and because Eva and I were sitting on the end, we did the most participating. I did not put any pictures of that, because well, its not pretty. My dancing at low altitudes is not great, and when I am gasping for air it is much worse. Some how I managed to surprise Eva with having them bring a birthday banana pancake with candles. Ironically that was the same food she threw up on the Nazca flight.

The next day we were again up very early because we still had a long drive to the best view point of the canyon. There are lots of condors at the canyon, and they generally soar around a certain cliff at 9 in the morning. We had to make it there for 9 and still drive all the way back to Arequipa, so an early start. The condors were amazing birds with wing spans over 9 feet. They were really great to see, but to me did not compare to the beauty of the canyon over which they soared.

There was a lot of driving and some early starts on our overnight excursion. It was not a restful birthday for either of us. But we were glad to spend it together, and in such a wonderful place. The trip to the Canyon should not be missed on any Peru trip. It seems that I keep saying that about our Peru visit, but we really didn't go to a place we didn't enjoy.

More parties and visitors

2007-07-16T12:20:00.000-07:00

Instead of having a relaxing rest of the weekend, Eva and I decided to socialize some more. We arrived home form the wedding in the Netherlands and the speeding in Germany with an hour an a half before going to her Aunt (Carine) and Uncle's (Yves) 30th anniversary party. It was in a small town named Vivenkapelle about 10 minutes form Brugge.

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

The Netherlands.......Again

2007-07-15T02:07:00.000-07:00

The pictures are:

1. Mano with Mickey, Minne and the rings

2. The newly weds

3. Jim Krier, Chris Parker, Me and Joe Park

4. Bratwurst in Germany

5. Eva eating ice cream in Leuven.

It was the weekend, so Eva and I took off again. This time we had a much more specific destination in mind though, Baarlo, The Netherlands. My friend Chris Parker, who I know for over 20 years was getting married there. Chris has been living in The Netherlands for 6 or 7 years and this weekend got married to Melanie who is of course Dutch.

There were friends that came from England, The Netherlands, America, Belgium (Eva and I) and Australia for the wedding. It was great to see some friends I haven't seen in too long. Jim Krier and Joe Park, also friends from High school. There were others there that I have known for a long time, Jim's wife Susie, Jim's parents and brother (Mark, Mary and John), and Chris's father and brother (George and Mike).

There are two things Chris and/or Melanie are very interested in (or some might say obsessed) and those are Mano (their dog) and Mickey (the mouse). For a long time Chris has loved all things Disneyland, he has even been to all five of them. Did you know there were five? There were more Disney (well Mickey really) images at the party and ceremony than I can remember. Also Mano came in, with a Mickey and Mini Minnie pillow tied to his collar, rings attached. It was a nice day that blended the traditions of the two countries together very smoothly.

The next day we went back to the hotel to meet all my friends for breakfast. Most people had stayed there, but Eva and I stayed 10 km away for a third the price. It was nice to see them all again in the morning, but as quick as it all started it was over. Eva and I hit the road back to Belgium . As we were only 15 km away from Germany, we thought we would pop over. We spent about and hour in the country, during which we had enough time for some Bratwurst (of course) and driving 180 km and hour (why not) on the Autobahn. Also on the way back we stopped in a very nice University town, Leuven and walked around for a few hours. I think next weekend, Eva and I will not go to another country, we may stay in this one.

The White City

2007-07-12T00:54:00.000-07:00

The picture are:

1. Rocoto Relleno

2. El Misti

3. Cute little girl that lived where we were staying

4. The main square

5. The monastery

So our night bus got us to Arequipa around 7 or so in the morning. It was filled with backpackers, as I said it seems to be there preferred method of travel in South America. I don't like traveling at night though, and it was the only one we took. The reasons I don't like it are:

1. I arrive exhausted (I don't sleep well on them)and sure you save on accommodation, but the next day is almost a wash.

2. I don't think it is as safe.

3. I want to be able to see the country as it goes by.

But Arequipa was a wonderful city, and even though our first day we saw it through tired eyes we ended up staying three nights there and loving it. It is said to be the nations second most important city, and lies in the south of the country. It has a few volcanoes looking down onto its streets, most prominently El Misti, which is snow capped and currently inactive. Many of the buildings are constructed with sillar, a white volcanic rock, and the city gets the nickname "The White City"

We did take an overnight excursion away to Colca Canyon while we were there, but I'll get to that next. While in Arequipa we ate and saw the sites. There is a monastery in town that is like a small city within the city. It is called Santa Catalina and is of 400 years old. While one thinks of a monastery being an empty place for women praying and living in poverty, this was not the case here. It was quite lavish (for a monastery) and supposedly lots of the nuns were from wealthy families, had servants, and music and lavish furnishings. It was more or less the MTV Spring Break Beach house of monasteries.

We also while in Arequipa went out with some friends that we had met along the way. Some from the overnight bus, and then there was Jed from the plane ride in Nazca. Also I had my birthday there and we had dinner with Ben Koss, a tour leader for Trek America that we randomly bumped into. We had our favorite meal from the trip here, Rocoto Relleno, a spicy stuffed pepper dish.

We stayed with at a place that had a great roof terrace and volcano views. Also there was a travel agency on the roof, and that was run by a very nice family that was a lot of help to us. We actually booked our Colca Canyon tour with them and ended up staying with their brother in Cuzco. I highly recommend this family (to stay with and book your tours), check them out at

http://www.marlons-travel.com/index.html

Next I'll tell you about our one trip away from Arequipa to Colca Canyon, the second deepest in the world.

The Lines

2007-07-11T01:32:00.001-07:00

The pictures are:

1. If you look close you can see the space man

2. White lines

3. Vision dreams of passion going through my mind-oh different white lines

4. Eva recovering from the flight

5. The spider in in statue form

I've been doing so many things in this part of the world in the last week or so, I had to take a break from my South America stories. Yesterday however was relatively uneventful though so it's back to Peru.

I left off in the desert oasis of Hucachina. Eva and I stayed there only one night and then we took a bus the next day a few hours farther south to Nazca. Nazca is famous because of the "lines" of the same name. There are many theories about the lines and why they are there. Some of them are:

1. Pictures drawn in homage to the gods

2. Directions for alien landing sites

3. Indications as to where to find water

4. Astrological representations

The lines were not "discovered" until the first half of the 1900's when a plane flew over it. Often when we say things were "discovered" in reality the local people have known about them for years. Not in this case though, as they don't look like much from the ground, and it needed the invention of the plane to be re-discovered. The lines are thought to be over 2000 years old and again their purpose will never really be known.

Some of them are just straight (some are over 6 miles long) lines and some depict images like a monkey, a condor or a "spaceman." They are constructed by simply moving the darker surface rocks to one side, exposing the lighter silt underneath. It barely ever rains there and that is how they are able to stay for so many years.

We couldn't really go there and not see it, so we took a 35 minute flight over the lines, that cost about 50 USD each. The plane was a four seater that held us, and Aussie named Jed and the pilot. Eva made it about 3 minutes into the 35 minute flight before she started throwing up. She proceeded to do so for the next 32 and mostly only saw the lines through watery, miserable eyes. She can laugh about it now by the way. The pilot spoke English, but not perfectly. When we were turning he would say to Eva "lady close your eyes" but sometimes he would mix open your eyes and close your eyes, causing Eva to open up during a tight turn, not helping the situation.

I actually felt a bit nauseous as well. So the experience was..............good? Well, it was something we wanted to do, and now we have seen it. We decided to take our only night bus of the trip from Nazca, heading to Arequipa. But we had about 10 hours in Nazca to kill. Before the flight we were thinking to go see a bone graveyard, but afterwards, Eva needed some chill time to feel better, and we really just hung out in Nazca. We did also go to a lecture about the lines in the evening, and then headed to the bus station around 10:30 to await our night bus.

Tour De France

2007-07-10T03:24:00.000-07:00

The pictures are:

1. Why don't we have these in the US????

2. Beer and a cardboard holder that for some reason fascinated us.

3. Cherie and I are American, so we don't eat snails, but we do take photos.

4. Good thing they weren't throwing out product samples

5. At last, the bikers

The Tour De France started in London this year. Then it made its way across the channel into France and then up into Belgium for a day or two. Yesterday's finish point was Ghent, which is only a 40 minute train ride from where I am living so I went. My friend Cherie (also see her website: http://www.wherescherie.com/ ) is in town for a few days and we went together while Eva went dutifully off to work.

When we got to Ghent Cherie asked me a few questions to see what I knew about the Tour. I told her that unless the answer to the questions was "Lance Armstrong" I didn't know it. I am not much of a biking enthusiast. Cherie new a few things about it though and filled me in. After all when you watch it live, really you stand around for hours and see 30 seconds of biking. But what I didn't know before yesterday was that there were beer and food vendors everywhere. So needless to say it was a good day.

They were selling beers for only 2 Euros which I thought was really cheap. In America they would really gouge you on something like that. In the states I would expect to pay 5-7 USD for a beer at an event. They did gouge us a bit though when it came time to pee. They had lots of porta potties, but they cost 40 euro cents a shot. Ouch, having to pay to be in a porta pottie! The first one we went in Cherie paid for both of us, and I told her the next one was my round. But I don't think I ever paid for her later, so I actually owe her a pee. The food was also quite reasonably priced and we got some fries and Cherie had a burger. I ordered Mayo for my fries on the side, and ordered it in Dutch. But apparently my Dutch sucks and we got a huge plop of mayo on top of the fries.

So Cherie and I decided to walk around for a few hours as opposed to standing at the rail waiting. We hit every (well maybe not quite) beer vendor along the way. Eventually we did settle in along the rail as the advertising caravans came by. They were all throwing things like hats and pens and candy to waving hands at the side line. I caught a pen and a bottle of water. Cherie with camera in hand didn't catch anything. It was fun, except for the part when they drove by and sprayed water at us. Cherie, with expensive camera did not care for that portion of the day.

Eventually the riders arrived, and a couple hundred meters in front of us there was a HUGE accident with a lot of bikes piling up. Instantly there was a massive dash of spectators to a near by Ford dealer that had a giant TV. We couldn't really see the pile up from where we were standing, so people wanted to see it on TV. Then most of the riders came zooming by and it was done. Well not quite, because over the next 5-10 minutes some bloody haggard looking riders came slowly by, not looking happy.

So Cherie and I slowly (stopping at a bar) made our way to the Castle in town as we had plans to meet Eva there at 7. Along the way we asked a cop where the castle was and had what seemed (to Cherie and I, who were drunk) like a very funny conversation.

Me "Excuse me, where is the castle"

Cop "which castle?"

Me "Isn't there only one?"

Cop "Yes?"

Me "Uhh, well... that one then please"

About 15 minutes to 7 (still on our way to the castle) we saw Eva walking towards us, she was on a quest for some fries before meeting us. We went to dinner and waited for over an hour for our food and were not happy with the waiters lack of service during the wait. Eventually we got up and said we weren't staying for the food. We paid for the drinks, and the large bottle of water was 8 Euros. That's one thing that does get a bit frustrating over here; always having to pay to get water and to leave it (the toilets). As we left they said our food was only a minute away, but we were over it at that point and left. We went to a Kebab shop around the corner and had a very nice, quick, cheap meal. Then we drove home getting there after 11, all very tired.

More of the Belgian Bikini Babes

2007-07-09T02:56:00.000-07:00

1. Three babes
2. Me and a babe
3. Two babes
4. Many Babes
5. Me and another babe

Just had to post more pictures of me and the babes, see the story in the next post.

Belgian Bikini Babes

2007-07-09T02:14:00.000-07:00

The Pictures are:
1. Me and A babe
2. Me and The Babes
3. Nice Mullet
4. The motorcycle stunt show
5. Where are we going to get 1.21 Jigawatts?

A few weeks ago I made a comment that I was neither rich nor famous. But stay tuned I said, as the fame might come. Well, yesterday I got my 15 minutes here in Oostende. I was one of the announcers at a car show that had Belgian Bikini Babes, a motor cycle stunt show, the Hells Angels Belgium chapter and lots of classic cars of course.

On a side note, I am really upset I did not get a picture of the Hells Angel I saw taking a nap on the rainbow colored bouncy castle.

How did I wind up there? A few weeks ago I was a walking around town and saw a poster for a festival coming up with cars and girls, called the Coast American. I took down the website and emailed the organizer, saying that "hey, I'm American and I'm from the coast." Turns out Eva used to work with one of the organizers as well. They invited me over to meet them, and then told me to come to a BBQ later that week. The BBQ was set up to plan for the event, and at that point I was in.

On the day of the event we showed up at 9:30 in the morning. I went to work security at the front gate and Eva when to man the door to the kids corral. I basically just checked to make sure people had wrist bands, and the morning was fairly uneventful that way. Over in the kids area, there was a 16 year old girl to play with them, but they needed an adult to be there for legal reasons, so that was Eva's role.

Around mid-day they had me up on stage to announce that the motorcycle stunt show was about to start. After all I am American, and the show was called Coast-American, so I became a guest announcer. There was one other guy from America involved (Pat) very coincidentally from the next city over in the US, but living in Belgium for a long time.

After the stunt show and a band was the part we all (well the men) had been waiting for. The Belgian Bikini Babes came on with me to guide them. It was probably the coolest thing I have ever gotten just for the simple fact of being American. I had the best seat (well I was standing) in the house. So the girls came up one by one and I announced them. It was really cool. Most people in this part of Belgium speak English at least a little so me announcing in English was not a problem.

There were about 200 cars in total and maybe 1000 people. Not really sure on the numbers. If you ever wondered what happened to all the Deloreons in the world, well apparently they are all in Belgium. There were 10 places for the car competition and I (along with Mark-one of the main organizers) were on stage to present the winners.

It was a great day that Eva and I both really enjoyed. So in the last week I have been on TV in Belgium and on stage in front of hundreds of people. I am more or less like the Belgian Paris Hilton, just famous for being famous.

Remember the Brussels Bike Ride?

2007-07-08T12:14:00.001-07:00

Check out this link of the "naked" bike ride. Look for Eva and I.

http://www.vrtnieuws.net/cm/vrtnieuws.net/mediatheek/1.147354

More Zeeland weekend photos

2007-07-08T11:58:00.000-07:00

These are more photos from the weekend, see the next post.

They are:

1. Beer, that's why I came to Belgium, oh wait that's in the Netherlands

2. The beach "nightclub"

3. The tank and the windmill

4. The Cathedral in Veere

5. Me getting blasted by wind and sand

Zeeland

2007-07-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

The pictures are:

1. Me heading into, well you can see.
2. Eva trying to stay upright
3. Me in Zierikzee, with more wind
4. Somebody mowing the dyke's grass.
5. Me and a very surly cup of fries.

Another weekend so Eva and I took off again. After heading to the Netherlands for the 4th of July, we decided to go straight back there the next night for a two night camping trip. Zeeland is a province of the Netherlands not far north of Belgium. Most of you are probably familiar with the name, but rather from New Zealand fame. But we in fact went to old Zeeland, where the Dutch explorer Able Tasmin got the name for the country near Australia.

We had checked the weather report before leaving and it seemed not bad. It said it would be sunny with some wind. Some wind in deed, more like constant, pounding, un-relentless wind. A little rain was mixed in, and thankfully our new tent that we were testing out was a good one.

The first night we mostly just drove and set up camp. We didn't leave until Eva got off work, so we didn't set up our tent until about 9:30, somewhere near Biggekerke in Zeeland. Fortunately it doesn't get dark until almost 11, so we had time for a beach stroll. Although I think stroll implies no gail force winds. We found a restaurant/bar on the beach that was hurting for business with the horrible weather and only had two mom's and their four young children as guests. They may even have been relations of the owners, but the kids were having a grand old time dancing like crazy. Eva and I decided to join them for a dance. It was probably the most happening beach club on the whole coast that night.

The next day we hit the road and first went to Domburg where there is a famous hotel/thermal bath that was closed for renovation. Although a lot of our drive was along the coast, we often didn't see the ocean. You see a large part of the Netherlands is under sea level, and they have a huge system of dikes that keep the water out. So as you are driving "along" the coast you only see a massive grassy hill, not the sea.

For lunch we stopped in Veere. It was a nice little town with a massive cathedral. Eva had been there before but I never. The wind had settled a little bit, but was still going.

Next we drove across a large bridge/dyke area that was loaded with Huge windmills. And boy where they getting a work out today. There was a theme park dedicated to this below sea level/dyke phenomenon, but we did not want to shell out the 22.50 to go in. Instead we tried to walk along a sea wall, but literally couldn't because it was too painful. Any exposed skin was blasted with sand coming off the beach caught up in the wind storm.

We pushed on and wound up in Zierkzee in search of a castle that our guide book said was there. A woman in a pastry shop said she didn't know anything about it, so we wound up with pastries instead. Seems obvious, doesn't it. Then we saw a sign for a zwimbad or swim bath, and went on a quest to find a swimming pool/hot tub combo.

On our third attempt in as many little towns that claimed to have one, we found one in Sophiahaven. There was actually a massive vacation land camping park place that had a swimming complex attached to it. We decided to set up camp for the night and head to the pool. It was quite enjoyable, with some Japanese style hot tubs, a sauna and a large pool with a wave maker and a water slide. It even came complete with screaming kids.

The next morning we got up and headed home. On our way, we stopped in Middelburg, one of the larger towns in Zeeland. It is a very nice town with a few cool churches and squares. In one of the main squares we came across a beach volleyball tournament of all things. They had imported sand, nets and inflatable palm trees, but unfortunately not the sun. No need to import players though as the Dutch are the tallest people in the world.

When we got very close to back home, as Murphy would have it, it was sunny. We went away for the weekend in search of some better weather, and came home to find it. So of course we had to stop at the beach on the way. When we got home, Eva made mussels for dinner, and we both collapsed in bed, early, exhausted.

USA! USA!

2007-07-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

In case my patriotism is in question after the last post, let me just say that I have never been more proud of America, check out this link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2925803

The 4th of July

2007-07-05T03:00:00.000-07:00

The photos are:
1. The Chinese Flag to Celebrate the 4th
2. Don't show George Bush
3. Me, a Belgian and 8 Dutch people
4. Cherie (the other American), Eva and me.

I have never driven to another country to celebrate the independence day of my own. I have celebrated it another (England ironically) but yesterday I actually got in the car and drove an hour and a half to a party in The Netherlands. My friend Cherie is in Europe currently and while staying at a friends place in Goes, in southern Netherlands, she spearheaded a party for the 4th.

For a few more photos of the event go to her website:

www.wherescherie.com

Well it being the closest party I new of, I had to drive up there for it.

It was really good food, with many of the 4th of July staples. We had corn on the cob, apple pie, burgers and LOTS of chips. Eva and I unfortunately arrived a little too late for the hot dog course. Actually, maybe unpatrioticly I have to admit that the apple pie was the best I have ever tasted. Normally I am not a fruit pie fan, thinking rather that it should have chocolate, but this Dutch recipe was great.

I did try to bring Budweiser to the party. It was a little funny actually, living in Belgium (possibly the best beer country in the world) and me searching for Bud of all things. I went in about 5 shops, and none had it. One guy even told me he had just sold out of it. I think it is in low demand and any store that carries it stocks about 3 6-packs, apparently not enough to with stand the 4th of July rush. It's just as well that we don't try to inflict that beer on the world. Is not liking Bud also unpatriotic?

Speaking of un-patriotic, I also put my feet all over the American Flag. On the phone earlier in the day Cherie asked me if I had a flag. I told her that the only one in our apartment was the doormat. I don't think they sell these in the US. Eva bought it innocently enough because she has an American boyfriend, not realizing the significance of stepping all over the flag. But, to be clear, IT WAS A DOOR MAT, NOT A REAL FLAG!

We did have a real flag flying high over the party though. A Chinese flag of all things. In the house where the party was, there was a cute 3 year old adopted Chinese girl named Noa. Noa had just had her 3rd birthday and the flag was still up from that. I However thought it was a perfect edition to our un-traditional (but wonderful) celebration.

The Dunes

2007-07-04T02:00:00.000-07:00

The photos are:

1. Our hotel in paradise

2. Me and the Dune Buggy

3. Eva truly on vacation

4. Getting ready to slide

5. Sunset

We decided to hit the road the next morning and get out of Lima. We were flying out of there in 15 days and had a day and a half to site see then. I showed Eva briefly around Barranco and then we took a cab to the bus terminal. We arrived with about three minutes to spare before the bus pulled out to Ica, and we hoped on as it is was pulling out more or less.

Around 3 1/2 hours later we arrived in Ica, a busy town south of Lima. Our goal was not Ica however, it was Huacachina a small oasis 4km outside of town. When I say Oasis, I truly mean it. It was a small village of probably a couple hundred people or so, with a lagoon in the middle, surrounded by tall sand dunes and littered with palm trees. Exactly what I think of when I think Oasis. We had hear it was nice, but we were soon in love with the place. I had met an American Chiropractor living in Ica who was on the bus and he recommended a hotel to us. We went there, and found it to be a little expensive, but ohh so nice. Besides, it was still under 20 USD and was in fact a little oasis inside the oasis. How many times can I say oasis? The Hotel had a bar out by the pool and the back opened up to a massive dune rising above the hotel.

We didn't have long to enjoy the paradise though as we wanted to explore the town before going on our sunset dune buggy ride. The town didn't take long to explore (I like that in a town actually) and we also had a quick swim before the buggy ride. Then we were off with another couple (Spanish guy and Italian girl) onto the dunes. I strongly recommend this tour, as Eva and I agreed it was one of the best things we did on our trip. If you don't go on a buggy, you are just on the dunes on foot, and really can't cover much ground. Ask Eva how far she made it up the dune behind our hotel.

Anyway, we zipped around for about two hours. Up dunes, down dunes and over what seemed like dune cliff edges. It was great fun, like a roller coaster. Every so often we would stop and bust out the sand boards. Our driver told us we could go standing up, but said it was much more dangerous and he recommend it on our belly. I have snowboarded three times and spent most of the time falling. I did not really fancy traveling around Peru with a broken ankle, so my belly it was. Apparently the belly thing didn't really work as well for Eva though. On our second dune, which in her defense was the largest (probably the length of a US football field) she lost control near the bottom. She wears contacts, and sand started to get in her eyes so she closed them. Then, she started to go sideways but didn't realize it because her eyes were closed. Sideways wasn't really working and she rolled (as my friends dad used to say) ass over tea kettle. She probably rolled about 15 or 20 times and then came to a stop in a massive cloud of sand. I was all the way at the top and could only hope she was OK. I slid down myself to find out that she was mostly just banged up and scratched a bit. Nothing serious except maybe her pinkie. We still don't know, because she never went to a doctor, but a few months later her pinkie is a little tender and we think it was broken. But still she had fun, thinking it was one of the best things she did in Peru.

We parked for a while taking in the sunset over the dunes and took lots of photos. Below us in the distance was a massive chicken farm out in the middle of nowhere. It was said to be there to protect the chickens from the Bird Flu and had only been there less than a year. It was weird site.

Back in town after our ride I bumped into Adi and Lucy (AGAIN-the third time) at the shop where I was buying beers. We sat with them for a little bit, but had dinner plans with the couple from the buggy ride. Travel circles truly are a small world. Dinner was nice, and involved lots of meat and Israelis. Actually we only had the meat for dinner, but the restaurant was filled with Israelis celebrating their Independence day, April 24th.

We loved Huacachina and considered staying another night. I felt I could have gone on the ride every night for a week and still enjoyed it. But we were on a schedule and had to get moving. We did climb the dune behind the hotel before leaving, but then back into town to catch a bus further south to Nazca.

On to Lima

2007-07-03T02:41:00.001-07:00

The picture is taken very near our Guesthouse in Lima

I left Trujillo after two nights and got on a 9 hour, all day bus to Lima. It was just about my limit for length of time tolerable on a bus. But I was discovering something new in Peru that I didn't find in Ecuador or anywhere in Central America. Almost all the long distance buses were nice and had schedules. They had air conditioning, and bathrooms and movies and stuck to a schedule with more or less only official stops. I was amazed, and it made bus travel a little more bearable. This particular one went pretty well until the last hour or so getting into Lima. We sat in a massive traffic jam and barely moved for a while, due to a soccer game just finishing. Of course it was at dusk, and I was anxious to get settled in my place before it got dark.

When I got off the bus, I got in a cab and headed straight to Barranco, the suburb I was to stay in. I had an address of the place, but the cabbie didn't know exactly where it was. When we got to the area he stopped at the police station and asked, fortunately they knew. Eva and I were staying in a guesthouse called Safe in Lima that is run by a Belgian man and his Peruvian wife. It was a little on the expensive side (for Peru that means about 34 USD for a double room) but was very nice and seemed like an easy place for Eva and I to meet. It is a good place to stay to ease into Peru/Lima and the suburb of Barranco is quite nice. Check it out if you're heading to Lima.

http://www.safeinlima.com/

Nothing exciting really to report from this stay in Lima, as mostly I was just waiting for Eva to arrive. Her plane was not due until 1o pm or so on my second night there, so I had a whole day to kill. I did walk from Barranco to another suburb called Miraflores and then back to Barranco along the beach. In Miraflores I indulged a little in Burger King and did a little bit of minor shopping. Around 11:30 pm, I was still waiting for Eva to arrive. I did not go to the airport, because the guy from the guesthouse that does airport pick-ups lives close to it, and not central Lima. So he would have had to go way out of his way to get me first. I was getting a little anxious, but finally she arrived "safe in Lima." At that point it had been just over a month since we had been together, and it was good to see her.

Brussels

2007-07-02T01:41:00.000-07:00

The pictures are:

1. fellow bike riders

2. Me at the Head of Europe

3. Ohh the waffles-I forgot to rotate the picture before publishing, and can't figure out how to now.

4. Manneken Piss

5. The Palace of Justice being repaired.

Another weekend, so Eva and I left Oostende again. This time we went to Brussels, the capital of this country. We went there with three goals in mind. First, I wanted to see another statue of someone pissing, the famous Manneken Piss. Secondly, we were on a hunt for the Palace of Justice. While we were in Lima we had a similar hunt for the same building. In Lima, their is a replica of the Brussels building, and we wanted pictures in front of both. The third mission required our bikes which we had in the back of the car.

Every year in 70 cities in 20 countries, there is a Naked Bike Ride, to protest the world's dependency on oil. If you don't believe me, go to:

http://worldnakedbikeride.org/

I have actually attended the last two years in Seattle. I'm not sure how much less fuel consumption it actually promotes, but it is a fun event, and a chance to break out of the shell of NORMAL life. Well, in case you didn't know, I like to break out of that shell. Seattle is one of the most liberal cities in the US and almost every rider was naked. One of the biggest rides in the world is in London. Belgium however, is not completely up for it, and we (except two or three people) rode mostly in bathing suits or underwear. It was a great way to have a police escorted (well also they were there to curtail the nudity) ride through Brussels for about 2 hours on street devoid of traffic. We ended at an antique car museum where we all rode our bikes into and started chanting something in French. The Manager of the place came out, and in relatively good humor said to the group, "you are right, BUT these cars don't pollute any more." We all left, and the ride was more or less over. But in an ultimate stroke of irony, it started to rain and we all had to take shelter under the front overhang of the museum.

Eva and I were glad to have our bikes in the city, and we rode a round on our own for a few hours more. Eva lives about 100 km from Brussels but had never been there for tourist reasons. It is a very nice city, not to be missed on a Europe trip. I had been there (not counting the airport) only once before, 10 years ago and didn't see to much in the one night.

We went by the European Commission building (they weren't in), went to the king's residence, (he wasn't home) and went to find a little boy peeing (he was there, peeing away). We also went to Groot Markt where I got a waffle. Often we pass by them here in Brussels and Eva asks me if I want one. I have to always remind here, that until further notice, it can just be assumed that I want one, she doesn't have to ask. Finally as night was coming on we also found the Palace of Justice, which is currently being restored. We sat in a lot of traffic during the day as a trucker had accidentally taken out a main bridge that morning, and it was causing ripples all over the city.

Chan Chan

2007-06-29T02:27:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-28T02:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-27T01:51:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-26T02:35:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-25T02:42:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-22T02:06:00.000-07:00

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)

2007-06-21T02:55:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-20T01:31:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-19T02:43:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-18T02:38:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-15T02:57:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-14T05:31:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-13T02:25:00.001-07:00

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

2007-06-12T14:30:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-06-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

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

2007-06-11T07:07:00.000-07:00