Peru...Favorite port so far!

Coming to Peru was a pretty uneventful crossing. We had a couple of issues with students and drinking to much in Chile coming back onto the ship, but that was not that big of a deal when it came down to it. One thing that SAS does is random drug tests and random room searches for contraband (alcohol mainly). The random drug tests were definitely interesting because the policy states that if a student has taken any drugs they will be removed from the program. The main reason for this is that we are in international waters and if any port official were to find drugs on a student the ship could then be subject to stay in that port and have government officials check the entire ship for drugs…and as you can imagine that would be a slight inconvenience! Well we had some, and had some interesting results…luckily no one was kicked off, but it was a stressful afternoon for one of my favorite students L

OH Peru…well I am not sure If I had mentioned this, but right after we dock we have a diplomatic briefing by local consoler or embassy reps. Well our American friends in Lima, Peru were we docked came onto the ship to give us some basic information and warnings about Peru, and to say that they scared the shit out of us is saying it nicely! Basically we were informed that Lima is probably one of the most unsafe cities in all of south America! Yay! Oh, and the area where we docked being on of the most unsafe…score! So we were told that heading to the area of Miraflores would be best as this is the upscale neighborhood. In any other part of Lima we were told that muggings, express kidnappings and other violent crimes are common. So needless to say I was excited that I only had one afternoon in Lima to kill. Doug and I decided that we would head to Miraflores and check it out and then head back to the ship early in order to get to bed because we had to be up at 3:30am to catch our 6am flight to Cusco, Peru.

Miraflores was a very uneventful day of shopping and eating. We did stop and call our tour agent to confirm everything in cusco and machu picchu. Doug and I had decided back in April to book a trip to Machu Picchu independently of SAS, but we were not sure that our travel was legit and not some scam. Luckily it all worked out great! After getting some Peru stuff and eating McDonalds (we just needed something consistent to eat after Chile) we headed back to the ship and then early to bed.

By 4am the next morning we were up and out of the ship and on our way to the airport to catch a 6am flight to Cusco, the closest city and airport to Machu Picchu. Our flight was run through Taca airlines which turned out to be one of the best airline experiences I have yet to have. The flight to Cusco was only about an hour, but the land we were flying over was amazing! The Andes just jetted out of the ground immediately! This picture I took from the airplane and shows the peaks of the mountains peaking out of the cloud level, stunning!

The one thing about Peru was the lack of efficiency that the country seems to have, starting with their airports! On our way out of the country we had to pay an airline tax, and instead of adding that to the tickets, there is a s separate line that we had to wait in to pay. Then when we arrived in Cusco the flow of traffic of passengers exiting and boarding planes was such that we had to cross paths. That meant that those people getting off the plan had to stand in the terminal for about ten minutes while a flight boarded before we were able to leave the airport, very awkward.

When we left the airport we met with the people from our travel agent who picked us up and took us to the Hotel we would be staying at in Cusco that night, the Royal Inti. Cusco is an adorable little town nestled in the mountains of Peru at an elevation of over 11,000 feet so our tour guide told us to take the morning to just lay around our hotel room and get used to the altitude. Before we did that we had our first cup of Coca tea which is a leaf that the Peruvians believe helps with altitude sickness. It sort of tasted like chamomile tea, it was tasty!

We were also told not to eat anything really heavy that day and to just take in a lot of fluids, which to me sounded a lot like the old wives tales that I used to hear in Venezuela (my favorite being that you shouldn’t read after you eat…ummm…ok). Anyway, we spent the morning exploring the city by foot and then had some lunch before our group tour of Cusco and the surrounding Inca ruins. Lunch was ok, although the appetizer that they brought was basically stinky tuna between layers of mashed potatoes…I almost lost it when I smelled it.

Our afternoon tour ended up being with other English speaking tourists in Cusco (read: the type of tourists that I really don’t like, older Americans wearing fanny packs and asking stupid questions). The tour took us to a local Inca ruin in town, a church, and then some ruins in the area outside of Cusco. Janet, our tour guide was cute, but definitely talked WAY To much and turned a 4 hour tour into almost 5 and a half hours. The one good thing that came out of this tour was my chance to be photographed with the most adorable women and Alpaca…You have no idea, but I have become slightly obsessed with any and everything Llama and Alpaca, trust me if I could have found Alpaca underwear I would have bought some!

A couple of the moments where I wanted to poke my eyes out on the trip:

- We had an American on the trip wearing what I call a Canadian tuxedo (for those unfamiliar it is when you were jeans and a jean jacket, he accented this with a leather backpack, fanny pack and a braided belt). He then felt the need to comment on EVERYTHING Janet would say in order to try and impress the group with his knowledge of Inka history…great…we were looking at some walls in the middle of a field, why it took almost an hour to get out of there is besides me.
- On the way up to the last ruin we were gonna see, we had someone get on the bus with a laptop and try to sell people a DVD with pictures of Peru and background pan flute music. Needless to say many of my fellow American tourists got one…at almost $12…really?
- At one point we thought we were done, but then Janet surprised us with a stop at a local Alpaca shop to show us how to buy good alpaca wears. The problem was that at this point I had a headache from the altitude, I was tired, and we realized that the shop was called Perez Alpaca…our tour guide was named Janet Perez…kickback anyone?

After the tour we freshened up back at the hotel and then headed out to dinner at a local restaurant called Jack’s Café (American owned with a great menu). We were in bed early because we were being picked up at 6am to catch our train to Aguas Calientes the closest town to Machu Picchu.

The next morning our guide came on time and picked us up and dropped us off at the train station for our 4 hour train ride to Aquas. We had gotten the package on the backpacker train which was actually not that bad except for the fact that the seats were all facing each other so that you were facing two people. The people across from us turned out to be this adorable older Colombian couple (the lady reminded me a lot of my grandmother, well at least what I can remember of her) who actually had a daughter that studied abroad for two year at Ohio State…such a small world! They of course were a little upset when I told them that I had yet to go to Colombia and that it was not on my agenda during this trip…so I guess I need to plan another trip sometime soon to Colombia J

After the train ride we arrive in Aguas and dropped off our luggage with our hotel in Aguas and then took a 30 min bus ride up a mountain on a dirt road to the entrance to Machu Picchu. How can I describe the Andes? I have never been in such an amazing area with a landscape so amazing. These are mountains that literally jet out of the ground and peak everywhere. The clouds sit at there peaks and continue to roll in and out of the valleys. A little about Machu Picchu for those unfamiliar, it used to be considered the lost city of the Incas, but after much debate it is now just known as an Incan mystery because no one is sure what occurred here, some say it was an agricultural center, others say it was an astronomical center, some just say it was an Incan estate/vacation type location. Machu Picchu was discovered by Hiram Bingham who was following the river at the bottom of the ridge looking for Incan remains and ran into a family who the story goes was living up in the mountains to avoid taxes. When Hiram spoke to the family they mentioned some stones they had found in the upper valley between the Machu Picchu (Large mountain) and Huayna Picchu (little Mountain). Hiram was then taken to the top of the ruins and when the clouds lifted he was left with this view (of course all the jungle was over grown and it was not this clear). In this picture I was standing up near the top of the Inca trail which connects Cusco and Machu Picchu (a 10 day hike), in the picture you see the agricultural terraces, rock quarry, some rooms and houses and you all see Huayna Picchu in the background which is the large mountain whose peak is slightly covered by a cloud.

We spent the day just exploring the ruins and learning as much as we could about what this place was used for. My favorite part of the ruins was escaping the crowds and finding some quiet time down at the bottom where most people did no visit. We left the mountain around 5pm and planned on coming back the next day to watch the sunrise and to take the challenge that most don’t which is to climb Huayna Picchu! From the base of Huayna Picchu in Machu Picchu to the top is almost a 1000 ft. climb. Those that want to climb have to arrive early as Huayna is only open from 7am-1pm and they only let 400 people on it each day, which is usually filled by 10am. At the top of Huayna is the temple of the moon and the most amazing views of the area.

In Aguas we spent the evening walking around this adorable little mountain town. The best part was there was a parade for the upcoming Peruvian Independence day which was the towns children dressed in typical outfits all carrying poles with papier-mâché designs with a candle in it. Adorable!

Around 5:30am we headed for the bus and up to Machu Picchu again. Unfortunatly it was cloudy and misty and the sunrise was not anything to exciting. However it was cool to be one of the first 50 people into Machu Picchu and to experience the ruins almost alone with a thick layer of mist…it was eerie yet calm at the same time…amazing. Around 6:45 we headed over to Huayna and got in line to start our climb. We had to wait about an hour in order to get onto the mountain, I was number 129 for the day! I am not sure how to explain Huayna other then the most difficult bit of hiking I have ever done. There were many points that I realized that this was so dangerous that if this was in the US there would be no way we could make this climb. The Inca created this path up the mountain over 1000 feet higher then Machu Picchu with uneven rocks up a 70-80 degree incline at some points. “stairs” were more like 5-6 inch deep slippery rocks. This is a picture of me almost to the top, as you can see all the way to the top we were climbing up in a cloud! How cool is that! We were climbing up a mountain in the Andes in a cloud…love it! At the top of Huayna we waited for about an hour to see if the clouds would break to see Machu Picchu from the top, but unfortunately it never happened completely. A couple of times we were able to see a glimpse of how high we were, but never a full on view. NO worries though…it was an experience I wouldn’t trade for anything!

Some people say that Machu Picchu has its own spiritual energy…we saw many people meditating, some people chanting and praying, others performing odd rituals. While I am not sure what the energy that exists at Machu Picchu really is, sitting on top of Huayna feeling the Andean clouds float by was probably one of the most peaceful places on earth I have found.

After our climb we headed back down the mountain and then back to Aguas to catch some lunch and our train back to Cusco. In the time we had left we went to the Aguas Calientes (hot Springs) which as supposedly medicinal waters that are naturally heated (which means they smell like farts and look like someone had diarrhea in the water). Of course I had not brought any shorts (we were still in winter remember!) so luckily right outside the hot springs I was able to RENT a towel and RENT a pair of shorts for 6 soles (less then $2). Yup…I went in the hot springs in a rented bathing suit…I got a lot of laughs back on the ship for that one J The hot springs were interesting as they were not really that hot…but still an experience that I am glad I had. The view was amazing!

So back to Cusco the train ride was smooth and a lot more comfy as the people in front of us got off on the first stop (about an hour into the trip) so we each had our own seat and could stretch out as much as we wanted.

Luckily we had no problems getting on our flight in Cusco and back to the ship, because as we found out when we arrived to the airport MANY people had either missed their flights or were bumped from flights as the practice of overselling flights was in full force…I just don’t understand how airlines can do that!

Anne and Nate had an amazing time…hopefully no one they know reads this before they tell you, but Nate proposed to Anne on Machu Picchu!!!! How cute is that! Such a great place for that to happen…congrats guys! The not so cool time was when they arrived at the airport they found a student that had missed her flight and was bawling because she had no money on her and had not brought her credit cards (real smart, huh) so Anne helped her and got her money and got her a new ticket…so much for being nice because this caused Anne and Nate not to realize that they had changed the time of there flight by 30 minutes thus causing them to miss there flight!!! Ummm…Nate had to be back in Lima by 10am the next day as he was leaving the trip to go back to work in California, so for the full story check out her blog, but lets just say it took them a 17 HOUR CAR RIDE to get back to Lima…they hired a driver to take them through the Andes Mountains…I am so proud of them for making it back!

Well Peru is over, a lot of headaches with LAN PERU (the airline that bumped and oversold tickets), we left one student in Peru who missed a flight in Cusco and could not get on one before the ship left. Luckily they are letting him get back on in Costa Rica (even though he is missing 3 days of class, which is A LOT) only because him and his friend BOTH missed a flight, but when a flight with one seat came available he let his friend get on the plane because this friend is not on an American Passport (I think he is from China) and would have an EXTREMELY hard time getting out of Peru and into Costa Rica.

Anyway…I miss you all a LOT and I am having a great time…3 more weeks and I am home! Can you believe it!

Mullets, 80s Music and Bad food...CHILE!

Chile…

If I was asked to sum Chile up in a few words it would be

- To much PDA
- Mullets and Fullets
- Constant 80s dance party
- Chilean Cuisine…an oxymoron

Chile is a country that coming in I knew would be interesting for a few reasons the first being that the lady that married my grandfather back when I was little was from Chile, and well she did not leave a very good impression on me, of course this was for more personal reasons. Apart from that, I knew going in that this was probably going to be one of the more expensive/well off countries we would encounter and that was definitely true. Although it doesn’t take much to see right past that well-off exterior and see the same amount of poverty that you see in every other country, it was just a little more hidden.

The weather in Chile is also something to note, as we are in the dead of winter…luckily I packed my Northface jacket and some gloves…Valpo was in the low 60s, but Santiago was a chilly 40-60 degrees!

Coming into Valparaiso (Valpo for short) was beautiful as this town is known for its hillside homes that line every part of the city. It just looked like a twinkling horizon as we approached…breathtaking! The part of town we docked was right near the Chilean navy, we were docked right next to a bunch of navy ships. Tom, the assistant executive dean was joking that when talking to the port authority he was informed that the Navy School was about a 10 minute walk from the port, his response was that most people on the ship would probably be running there.

I spent the first day in port with Anne, Nate and Doug just kinda wondering the city. Our first venture was to try and get some Chilean Pesos, which was actually more complicated then we thought. As we were leaving the port we were told that all the ATMs near the dock were empty because we were arriving on the tail end of a holiday weekend (it was the celebration of some virgin that I can’t remember right now). We ended up going to at least 4 ATMs and started to curse the Chilean economy for not knowing how to keep an ATM stocked. Finally at the 5th ATM we realized that we were just not reading the instructions and that we had to hit a button for a “foreign transaction” to use our ATM cards. Yup…we felt REALLY stupid L

After that we ventured up one of the many Asensores (ass-sensors as my students called it) or funiculars which took you up the hill to the community of brightly painted hillside homes.

Once up here we headed to a restaurant that the Lonely planet suggested which turned out to be a bit more expensive than we wanted, but we stuck it out. My first taste of Chilean cuisine was a seafood gratin which was a mush of shrimp and scallops (which still had what looked like there poop shoots still attached)…I stirred it around and then felt as if I was going to vomit.

The rest of the day we spent in Vina del Mar, a beach town near Valpo, were we went to the Mall and watched the new Harry Potter movie. Trust me I would have rather done something else, but the whole country was shut down due to the holiday!

Dinner was my first introduction to the Chilean gastronomical technique of throwing a fried egg on top of something and calling it a meal…a burger topped with onions, fries and an egg…and yes, this was the beginning of stomach issues I am still dealing with.

Day 2! We hopped aboard a bus and headed to Santiago where we had reserved a hostel (this being Doug, Rasa and myself…actually we found out that some of my favorite students also booked rooms at the same place, so it was fun!) in the area of town called Bellavista which is the art/bohemian center of Santiago. My first impressions of Santiago was that is an incredibly metropolitan city, I can only compare it to New York or even Chicago…of course neither of those cities have the Andes with there snow peaked mountains as there back drop.

Onto Bellavista we found our hostel which was adorable, eclectically decorated and in a perfect part of town full of restaurants and young people mostly backpackers or world travelers. After checking in we realized that our luck was not all that great because our room was the first one by the front door and that our room had no heat…thank god for thick ass blankets!

After checking in we headed off to the El Cerro San Cristobal which was right behind our neighborhood to ride the funicular and the teleferico. On the way we stopped for lunch were we met two Australian travelers who would be come our partners in crime for the rest of the day. Tristan and Byron who were on day 2 of a year long world adventure joined us in some sight seeing around the city. The best part of this was taking the teleferico which is basically like a tram you would find in Disney world which travels the length of the city and gives you one of the best views of all of Santiago.

View of the City


Around 5pm Rasa headed off for a nap and Doug and the Aussies and I headed for a beer…around 7 we met up for dinner at this little Thai restaurant and then continued on for some more hanging out and drinking. Now most of you all know that I am a light weight when it comes to alcohol…so lets just say that when I took myself home at 11:15pm I was not feeling very well. All I am going to say is that the lesson learned is never drink with Australians. Never.

The next day we got up and needed some greasy food (and about 3 advils), Doug had the bright idea of finding the McDonalds we had seen the day before. Nothing like some McD’s to get you going in the morning. The only problem is that in Chile the breakfast menu is not your typical Sausage egg and cheese with a hash brown. Rather it was French bread with an egg…no hashbrown. Not what we wanted. We went next door to doggies for our first and only taste of a Chilean hot dog called a “complete” the picture says it all (and yes that hot dog has guacamole and tomatoes on it).
The rest of the day was sight seeing and phone call making…we did get a chance to meet up with some of my favorite students Shannon, Jesse, Sarah, Brian, Mackenzie, and Ashley for dinner…most of these folks are from big 10 schools or from Pitt. We ate at a French restaurant. Chilean French food = not good.

On a side note I need to comment on the 80s sound track that seemed to playing throughout all of Chile! Every store we entered, every restaurant, every metro station had some 80s hit playing. At some point I started to wonder if the countries pop culture was really that behind, but then I would see some Justin Timberlake or Shakira posters. The fact is that Chile is just one huge 80s party…one hit wonders of the 80s are still going big in Chile!

The other side note is the mullet and fullet (female mullet, thank you Byron) which was the cut de jour of Chile…it wasn’t even a question…it was the average haircut of most people 20-35…a mullet! I mean I know its cold, but folks, they invented things like scarves and turtle necks (although not cute) to keep your neck warm…get rid of the mud flap!

Our last full day in Santiago we spent sight seeing again, local markets, coffee shops, etc. It was nice to have a pretty normal average day in a city not jam packed with stuff! The sad part was that this was the first day of poor Doug really going down hill with his sore throat and mucus grossness that had been going around the ship. That night he and Rasa were out of commission so I headed out with some of my favorite students for some drinks to watch the Chile/Argentina soccer game and then to a bar for some music and dancing. In true Chilean style when we asked the live singer to sing a classic American love song she belted out Sweet Child of Mine…hilarious.

I think my favorite part of Chile was getting the chance to hang out with some really amazing and fun students and have a good time with them. As I was talking with Lisa about this morning, I think unfortunately sometimes we are forced to only interact with our students around bad things like extreme intoxication. But when you have a chance to hang out and get to know students is when you truly start to love this job. And that is what Chile was for me, students becoming friends that I hope and want to keep in touch with after this voyage.

Caribbean Sea takes FIRST :-)

I am on vacation!!!

Yup


Well not really, but like I had mentioned before, my big day was yesterday, the Sea Olympics! All I can say is…Grrreat Success! After a few weeks of planning with only the help of a few students due to the high amount of academic work they had we pulled a late night making sure everything was in place and ready to go for our Sea Olympics. I belief I mentioned this before, but each floor is a Sea (for example I am the Caribbean Sea, Doug is the Yellow Sea, Anne is the Arabian Sea, Etc.) and the faculty and life long learners are all apart of there own sea which they called the “Si”Sea..cute…

The day started off with our opening ceremonies and every team entering with their banners, colors and cheers…the Caribbean Sea was blue and we of course had a pirate theme (I am pretty sure there is no other theme as appropriate). The union was filled with an amazing energy as every team came in chanting and cheering and trying to be louder then the other. I think the best part of this was the positive energy that had been lacking the last couple of days due to an abnormally high stress level that the students have been experiencing because of midterms and papers on the ship. I had about 6 students that helped me put together the different events and organize the whole day as well as run the day. Joe, one of Doug’s resident was our MC for the opening ceremonies and did a great job.

The Si Sea won…a bit controversial because our judges were all from the Si Sea…but I am gonna blame it on all the kids on the team.

The second event of the day the obstacle course which involved a saltine whistle, balloon toss, egg carry, orange role, and of course a soduko puzzle at then end. While the Caribbean sea had a bad start coming out last from the cracker whistle, somehow we have a soduko genius who started the puzzle last yet finished it faster then anyone else! So score a victory for the Caribbean!

On to a flip cup tournament (and yes there were 9 year old girls playing flip cup) and a mini Iron Chef (first time ever on Semester at Sea, and one of the most popular events!). Caribbean took first in flip cup and 2nd in iron chef!

The afternoon had a few competitions including trivia, taboo, basketball shootout, dodgeball and limbo. One of the most popular events was the Syncronized swimming which was hgilarious! In case you forgot, we are in the southern hemisphere and our water and air temperature are usually around 57 degrees…not something you want to be swimming in! But of course, we had a delegation from each team. Caribbean did a little number in which they came out in bathing suits but then put on sweaters and sweat pants cause the water was to cold and then jumped in…it was cute…It got us third. The first place team was a group of 5 guys all wearing matching orange speedos (well more like orange underwear they purchased in Ecuador).
The evening was topped off with a pie eating contest and twister…by this point the score was obviously in the Caribbean sea’s favor being almost 300 points above the 2nd place team. The last event was the Lyp Synch, which for us entailed a pirate dance off to Michael Jackson’s Beat It…fun, but didn’t get us any more points. Doug’s team did a Brittany Spears 8 minute thing…HILARIOUS…although it did not follow any of the rules, it won first place. So at the end of the night, the Caribbean sea took FIRST place by a land slide and that got us the right to disembark first when we get to San Diego in August. This is a pretty huge deal because as you can imagine getting there and having to sit and wait as your families are waiting to pick you up as a student is hard!

Anyway…we arrive in Chile tomorrow…as I keep saying to folks, I am on vacation now J I just have a couple more things to do on the ship, but mostly I am going to be reading and relaxing.

Oh ya…the other night we had our Sea Social which is a time for students to hang out in the Faculty staff lounge with the faculty and the staff and enjoy food and drinks. It was great, everyone came and dressed up. It was at the beginning of this crossing, so a bit stressful because of the Latin America Today exam, but over all a good time!

I will try and call again tomorrow…hope to catch some folks at home!

Love ya!

With only a 2 day trip over to Ecuador the days on the ship went quick and were extremely busy! Nothing to exciting happened that I haven’t already talked about (no hair/crossing the equator) so I was very glad to get into Ecuador and back on land and in SOUTH AMERICA! It has been a few years (what…almost 13 years now? Since I have been in south America?) so that was very exciting to see this part of the world again!

A little about Ecuador, for those that don’t know the whole country is about the size of Colorado yet is known as one of the most diverse countries in the world both in terms of its populations as well as its geography. We ported in Guayaquil Ecuador which is a very industrial port city, also the largest city in Ecuador, is located somewhat inland along a river. So the cool part of coming into this port was that we actually traveled up a river into the port city, apparently we were boarded by the port pilot at approximately 3:00 AM when we entered the river. I only know we entered the river because te ship started to rock so much that every thing in my room stared to fall off of shelves and in the bathroom. It was rocking so much that at one point I thought I might fall out of bed I was moving so much! Luckily it was only for a few minutes, things started to calm down once we actually entered the river.

Guayaquil is not known for a being a pretty city, and we definitely saw what people meant by the port area. The port was very industrious, not a place where cruise ships usually dock (not that this is a cruise, but it is nice to know you are going to be safe as you walk into town). Usually when we port, we have a diplomatic briefing, and the one for guayaquil talked mostly about how careful we needed to be in this city…my favorite part was the warning of the speedy kidnapping which is where someone follows you into a cab and then forces you to an ATM where you must withdraw money…wonderful!

So a few of us decided to spend our first day in port enjoying the hot spots in Guayaquil which took us to the safest part of town which was the Malecon 2000. This is probably the most touristy part of the city that was cleaned up in 2000 and made into a really cute riverfront walk way. Since it was so early in the morning (1000 or so) we decided to take a detour to La Plaza Semenario which is known for the hundreds of iguanas that live in its gates. The cool part is that the iguanas are not caged in, but yet they never leave the park which is located literally in the middle of the city! The iguanas were HUGE and they were all over the park and the trees. One tree in particular had so many iguanas it was hard to tell them apart from the leaves. The only way you knew it was full of iguanas was because every few minutes a huge amount of iguana pee would come falling to the ground. Tasty. We then headed off to what would really be one of my only true Ecuadorian meals at a restaurant called Los Nuestro. Here most people tried the Yapingachos (not sure what it was) but I had something that involved a steak smothered in onions and tomatoes and rice with eggs on top.

After lunch we headed to the Mercado Artesenal and I bought some gifts for people, they had some really cute stuff for pretty cheap. We then headed up to the neighborhood known as Las Penas. I guess this is another part of the renovated Guayaquil which was really pretty. It was a neighborhood of really quaint little homes along a mountain side which had a lighthouse at the top. The climb up involved 444 steps which were all numbered. Along the way were a number of shops and restaurants…we stopped at one on the way down and had a beer. After the climb we decided it was time for a quick dinner and then time to head back to the ship as most of us had to be up early (I had to be up and ready by 4:30am)…dinner was a quick stop at an empanada stand for some Colombian style empanadas.

So the reason I had to be up so early was that I was trip leading a trip to Quito with students and we had a departure time of 0500. On the trip I had 38 students, I was suppose to have one more, but the girl decided to sleep in versus go on her $500 trip to Quito…oh the privilege some of these students live with to just be able to throw away money like that! I must say that Quito has GOT to be the most beautiful city I have ever flown into. For those that don’t know, Quito is the 2nd highest capitol in the world at almost 9000 feet of elevation. Flying in the mountains start to appear almost immediately and so do some of the almost 60 volcanoes in Ecuador. The 2nd highest and closest to Quito is one called Cotopaxi and was so amazing to fly near its snow capped peaks.

The first day in Quito just involved a trip around the old town and through some of the famous churches and sights in the city. Quito has got to be one of the cutest and most quaint cities I have ever been in. The people are simply warm and inviting and so is the city as a whole. The first thing you notice about the people of Quito is the height of the people, the majority being under I would say 5’10 made me feel like a giant and I am not that tall at all! The second thing you notice is how conservative the dress is in the city, color being almost absent and shorts not even around. Some of the churches we went to were totally amazing, my favorite and the one that I could not take picture in is known as the gold church. Literally every corner of this church is COVERED in gold leafing, it is so incredible the detailing in the workmanship.

After the city tour we grabbed lunch in the hotel (5 star hotel in Quito with single room, check) and the we all had the rest of the afternoon free. My plan was to take a nap and then explore the area around the hotel and then meet up with Anne and Nate who were in Quito on there own excursion. Of course, a student spoiled this plan after she started to feel sick and thought that she might be having an allergic reaction to shellfish (which she said she never had had before). For SAS trips they give us each a medical kit so as we are waiting for the doctor the hotel calls to come I give the student an antihistamine to see if that helps. Eventually then non-english speaking doctor shows up and there I am trying to translate medical terms for the student and the doctor…lets just say I earned my 50% off the trip from SAS. After a couple of hours the student was in her room with her roommate taking the night off and I was off for my much needed nap!

Dinner I met up with Anne and Nate and headed to a steak restaurant that there guide book recommended. When the taxi finally dropped us off we realized that the place was EMPTY despite the sign stating that we were about to have “The Steak For Our Lives”…we ended up going in cause the owner opened the door and saw us out in front debating if we should enter. Of course, the steak was amazing but the restaurant and its sea foam green napkins, table cloths and chairs left much for the eye to desire. After dinner we went to a Bar across from my hotel…MARIO’S BAR!

Day 2 in Quito…White Water rafting! We were picked up and took a 3 hour trip to the river. On the way we took a road that took us down and mountain where the road dropped 6000 feet in 20 miles of blind curves and sharp cliffs on a 40 passager bus…thrilling to say the least…especially for the 3 students that lost there breakfast, literally…luckily there was only one moveable trashcan and no bags on the bus! One girl decided that coming up to me with her mouth full of vomit and then reaching over me to the trashcan in my row was a good idea…I almost vomited myself after that one!

White water rafting was a blast and defiantly something I want to do again! We were on a river that gave us about 3-4 hours of class 3 rapids. My favorite moments include paddling the boat up to a water fall and just letting us sit under the falling water for a good minute, a feeling I will always remember. We also got a couple of chances to get out of the rafts and float down the river just in our life vests (this was also a perfect time to pee, but of course I had to remember the famous pee + fish episode of Greys Anatomy…alas I had to hold it). I think the best part of the trip was that while rafting I definitely drank about half of the water n the river…I quikly learned that when I am excited and having fun I open my mouth, the problem is that when you are doing that in a river in Ecuador is that you get mouthful after mouthful of water. After getting a pretty big scare during preport that the water in Ecuador was BAD, I was afraid I was going to get the runs that night…so do I have the explosive D’s? well lets just say that Imodium and pepto are my friend J The ride back to Quito was just as eventful as the bus had many close calls making passing attempts on blind curves on the cloud filled mountain…trying to force myself to sleep was about the only option I had!

Our last day in Quito was a zip lining trip in the mountains at the base of the volcano Cotopaxi. The logistical mess that was our tour guides got us lost on the way to the zip lining area and that placed us on a steep mountain road dodging HUGE potholes and boulders. At one point the road was so steep that we all had to exit our buses and walk next to them because we were to heavy. After about a mile of walking, the tour guides realized they had made a wrong turn and that we had to go back down the mountain….of course now it was to steep going back down so we had to walk again…We also had a chance to stop by a Cuy stand. For those that don’t know what Cuy is…it is well…guinea pig…roasted usually. Some of my students definitely decided to buy one and give it a try. The best part was that at one point the Cuy lady hands the students a Cuy on a pole that was still cooking so they could take pictures…my students misunderstood and started gnawing on the little beast. After a few bites they were informed that they started to eat raw Cuy…yuck.

At the location we ended up zip lining on two different lines that expanded the length of a canyon cut by the last volcanic eruption of Cotopaxi. The first line was about 220 meters long and the second one over 400 meters…amazing! While there we also got to hike to a water fall that was near by, a hike that took us climbing over volcanic rock, black as night and really smooth, you can see how the lava dried and formed these structures. We ended this day by going to lunch at a Hacienda literally in the middle of no where (which can be said for a lot of this trip), the food was great but we were running behind to catch our flight back to quayaquil, so we had to speed through the meal.

Out last day in Port I spent it with Nate and Anne again and just had a “normal” nothing planned day in Guayaquil…which was great and much needed!
Finally I want to say sorry for not calling anyone in this port, the phone card that I had did not work on any phones and when I finally had a chance to try I didn’t have time to try and buy a new calling card. I am hoping that the card that my mom sent me works in Chile! Also…a HUGE thank you to everyone that sent mail, getting a little hello from you all at home here on the ship is amazing…and let me just say that everyone is jealous of the mail, and I like it that way! Love you all so much and can’t wait to catch up soon!

Half a world away!

Yup...I am on the other hemisphere...crazy!

mmmm...no hair...?

SO ya...you may have thought that last summer my hair was short, wait till you see me now! It is basically the shortest it has ever been in my life! {aying respects to King neptune as we crossed the equator seemed like something that just needed to be done! All pollywogs (those who have yet crossed the equator via a ship) have to go through a ritual which includes getting soaked in fish guts, jumping in the "sea" (the pool) and then kissing a fish...capped off by sacraficing your hair to king neptune...so here you have it!

I am off to ecuador with no hair!

Panama...Amazing a second time!

The four day trek down to Panama was definitely one that started to get long. I was super anxious to get off of the ship when we finally arrived in port. A little about Panama, for those that remember I was in Panama last year about this same time with some OSU students and had a blast, so I already sort of knew my way around. Panama is a county that is based mostly on the service industry, from the Canal, to its really liberal banking policies it is a country that has definitely had an impact on me. Panama has three native tribes that are still active and living cultures. The Embera and the Kuna are the two more well known tribes and both have great influence in the art that you find in the country. The skyline of Panama is amazing, and looks very metropolitan as we pulled up on Friday morning. Most of the tall skinny buildings reminded me of Miami and the beach front high rises in that city. I think someone mentioned that the buildings are a lot of new offices and of course new condos as Panama is the new place to come and retire (any takers???). A little about the Canal since it is Panamas main source of income as a country, and is also a engineering marvel. Built almost a 100 years ago, the canal has not been updated or changed since. Each of the locks in the canal are filled by gravity and waters from rivers and lakes in the middle of the Canal. The ships that go through the Canal actually end up being elevated 85 feet about sea level…which is incredible when you think about the weight of these ships! One 8 hour trip through the canal saves a tanker 21 days of travel around South America, which must be expensive, since the average ship pays upwards of 200,000 to pass through!

On Friday I spent the morning trying to help students leave the ship because our tendering process became extremely difficult due to the large swells the ship was in where we had anchored. At one pint the gangway which is basically a platform off the side of the ship was moving up and down at least 10 feet while the tender boat we were trying to get students on was also bobbing up and down that same amount. At one point the tender got caught under the platform and then launched the platform up against the ship. Lets just say that it was stressful and scary for not only the crew who had to do all this, but also the students who had to get on there in order to get into the city! Needless to say many students chose to stay in port the whole time and not return to the ship in order to avoid having to tender! Friday I spent the day at the Gamboa rainforest in the Soberania national park and did a SAS trip going up a tram that was very much like a the sky ride at cedar point or Disneyland…basically a people mover in the forest. I was with a bunch of cool students on this trip and really got a chance to get to know them better. Some of the girls on my floor are really sweet and really interesting to hear there experiences at there schools, the similarities and differences are stark at times. Anyway, the tram took us up the mountain where I was able to see a couple sloth’s, monkeys, toucans, and a lot of bugs. The funny thing is that everyone that took the tram, on three different days all saw the same animals, so it made me think that they had these guys somehow tied to the trees J OK probably not, but it was cool to see that those animals actually still live around this tram and the people of the park. The rest of the night I just spent with the students at dinner…we went downtown Panama and had our first taste of home…Pizza…tasty…Getting home, the only good news was that the tender was definitely smooth.

On Saturday my plan was to head over to the Caribbean side with Tania, Anne, Nate, and Lisa…all student life folks. Lisa and Tania has a trip to the Embera tribe in the morning and thus could not leave until 5pm that night. We met up in the city and all five of us all coming from different places ended up somehow at one place all within 5 minutes of each other…truly amazing! When we all met up, Anne told us that she had talked to some people that recommended not going to Portobelo, the city wanted to head to late at night as that there was nothing to do there at night, nor was there any place to stay that late at night. So we had a change of plans and decided to get a hotel room in Panama City and catch the 7:00 AM train to Colon and then take a Bus to Portobelo and then a boat to Isla Grande, our final destination. After finding a hotel (the room I was in with Anne and Nate had a twin and a double, the double bed was literally the squeakiest bed in the world…you looked at it and it made a noise) we headed out to dinner in Casco Viejo. This area of town is a newly gentrified area that is beautiful! The only thing is that in order to get there you head through a part of Balboa that is not very safe at all. We catch a cab (4 people in the back of a 4 door sedan…always a good time) and the driver recommends dinner at Manolo Caracol…so of course we take it and head there for dinner.

The following is a recap of what was so far one of the most amazing meals of life. The thing to note about this restaurant is that there is no menu, the chef cooks what he has that night and brings food out till he runs out pretty much. The restaurant was decorated in local art, paintings and mosaics that all had a pair of the opposite gender, for example there were a group of mosaics of people, each group had a pair of men and women. Each table was set with wine glasses, bottle of wine, and crisp white linens. As we entered we walked by an amazing wall of wine corks filling this floor to ceiling container at least 3-4 feet wide and 8 feet tall FULL of corks…so cool…When we walked in the restaurant we were the first table of diners to arrive and sat down…I will now try to describe the meal in the order of entrees:

1) Bread: fluffy white bread was brought to us with two spreads, a vibrant tallow spread made with kiri fruit (looked like red balls on a vine) and a fish pate of sort.
2) Sashimi 1: a fish sashimi with a Panamanian twist served a top a pineapple ring and topped with meat from the inside of a passion fruit
3) Inside out Ravioli: Hearts of palm cut into thin strips wrapped in a cold piece of beef topped with olive oil and herbs
4) Sashimi 2: a white fish topped with red onions and a light olive oil vinaigrette…perhaps some lemon in there as well?
5) Salad: A lettuce salad with slightly ripened mango, avocado, carrots and an amazing light and refreshing dressing
6) Mushrooms: Button mushrooms sautéed with herbs and butter…simple but amazing
7) Shrimp: large whole shrimp(head still on) grilled and covered in an orange and panela (sort of brown sugar honey thing) sauce
8) Papas y Pulpo: potatoes and octopus…not much more to say other then delicious!
9) Clams: a large bowl of clams steamed with herbs and butter…tasty shellfish with an amazingly fresh taste.
10) Rice: an Asian inspired rice dish with cabbage and other vegetables.
11) Fish: A white fish cooked on a grill topped with a fruity tropical sauce light enough to want to drink it
12) Beef: a beef filet toped with what appeared to be a think red plum sauce…this was most folks favorite dish
13) Dessert: small cubes of fruit including papaya, watermelon, mango and pineapple next to a coconut ball pressed together with honey and brown sugar.

Well if you are starting to wonder how much this amazing meal cost us…$40-50? More? Nope…all for the low price of $17…gourmet food in Panama! My quote of the night “You can’t even eat out Outback Steakhouse for that much”. All of us thought the same that this meal is going to be hard to beat for the rest of the trip…so many good things! After dinner we headed back to the creaky bed hotel and got up at 5:30 to catch a cab at 6am to make it to the train…and the beginning of our adventure!

Our plan for Sunday and Monday was to make it out to the Caribbean coast and spend the night. We were going on the hope that we would easily make it out to the island and find a place that had an empty room…its Sunday night right? Shouldn’t be to tough! Oh read on! From what we read in all our guidebooks was that we needed to get to Portobelo and then from there boat it out to Isla Grande. In order to maximize our time on this trip we decided that it would be fun to take the Panama Canal train that leaves Panama City every morning at 7am…one way and does not return until 5pm. Basically this train is used as a commuter service train for people that work in the free trade zone in Colon (the largest free trade zone in the western hemisphere 2nd only to hong kong in the world!)

We caught a cab and made it out to the train stop only to learn that the train doesn’t run on Sunday, a fact that at least 4 people we asked and the guide book we read before this didn’t know…something to tell the folks at Lonely Planet and Moon Handbooks…So with no train we were left the option of taking a bus. At the bus station we confirmed that we needed to take a bus from Panama City to Colon, but transfer in Sabanitas to a bus heading to Portobelo. So we were off…we got on an air conditioned coach and relaxed as we started out trek…luckily they were playing the newest Steven Segal movie to entertain us on the hour trek to Sabanitas. When we arrived at our stop we realized we were basically on an over crowded street corner in a small town in front of a grocery store and as each bus for Portobello pulled up is was PACKED and about 500 people tried to squeeze on…Sunday grocery store rush hour? Who knows. So we decided we would take a cab…they decided to charge us 20 bucks for what we were told would be a 20 minute ride. So we got in our 5 passengers in a Toyota corolla, basically Anne sitting between my legs in the back seat for what turned out to be a 35 minute ride to a small boat dock in the middle of a small bay. We got out and asked how much was a ride to Isla Grande…when we were informed it would be $50 a person we all laughed and realized that we needed to burn the guide books that told us it would be only $1.50 to the island. After seeing our reaction the cab driver informed us that there was a small town about another 30 minutes down the road that had said $1.50 boats, La Guiaria. So for another $10 we were off to this other small town in hopes that we would finally make it to this Island.

Once we made it to the boat dock, after a 35 minute car ride on what has to be the WORST rode in all of panama (picture the cab swerving from one side of the rode to the other every 10 seconds to miss the larger pot holes still falling in small and medium size ones) we made it out the island. On the way to the boat dock we read in our trusty guide book (haha) that Bananas resort had a $20 shuttle back to Panama city, check, so we decided to have out boat driver take is directly there. Unknown to us this resort was on the complete other side of isla grande then every other hotel, basically a private beach resort that left nothing to be desired. As we rounded the corner we pulled up to the heaven that we had been awaiting, a small beach with cute little cabins all waiting for us! After getting a couple rooms we headed out to the docks were we were able to snorkel for free! We also had kayaks, a pool, and many other inflatable floating devices we could use. The most amazing part of the resort was that it was Sunday, so the 30 or so people on the island that were there when we arrived ALL LEFT by 3pm and from then till the next day at 2pm when we left the Island was only inhabited by us 5 and the staff! Yup…the trek from hell paid off BIG TIME! Our own Private Island!



I spent the day snorkeling, napping, pool side, tanning, marvelous…a little dream come true! That night at dinner we all got cute and come down to enjoy our meal ocean side only to find that a large thunder storm was rolling in (I mean it is the rainy season in Panama).

We continued to eat as the rain started to come down really hard and the lightening bolts and thunder started to get closer…so close in fact that one hit RIGHT NEXT to were we were eating…the crackle from the lightening bolt and the intense roar of thunder were so intense that it sacred the bejeezus out of us and the staff of the hotel…I was a little jumpy the rest of that night! The best part was that for the ride home we were able to call a friendly van driver, Pedro that Anne had met early in the week. We arranged for Pedro to come get us the next day in hopes that he would find his way to this remote part of Panama and to the right dock on the main land. After our morning of lounging around and beach and pool we headed off the island expecting to have to hunt down Pedro our worse, try to find a new way home. The good karma of all we have done in Panama manifested itself in Pedro literally turning the corner into the boat launching area at the EXACT same time we were walking from the dock, the timing could not have been more perfect…not be a millisecond!

After almost passing out from joy of not having to figure my way back to the pacific side of Panama via public transportation we started our trek home making a few stops at some ruins and at a grocery store (mmmm….passion fruit juice). We pulled up to the docks to tender back to the ship and then started to help the students all tender back as well…to our amazement, every single student made it back on time and was on the ship even with the tendering factor before 9pm, on ship time! Way to go guys…I was so proud! I spent the night chatting with students and enjoying hearing there stories of Panama, so far one of my favorite places to visit in the world…I definitely feel a 3rd time coming up sometime in the near future!