The fifth tone

2011-08-31T03:48:00.000-07:00

Lares Valley Day 1, Peru

Sorry for the delay, but here goes; The day before our trek we had a debriefing at the tour guide office. I knew there were a few people from my hostel going and one of them mentioned that there were going to be at least fourteen on this backpacking trek. I let a little sigh out when i heard that. I like smaller groups, it's easier to manage and get to know new people.

We show up to the meeting greeted with tea and cookies. Half of the people wearing their alpaca hats. We go over the basic logisitcs for the trek. Two days of serious hiking through Lares Valley, then half a day of hiking and a train ride to a hostel, and lastly the long anticipated Machu Picchu.

Here's a short conversation between our friend Jake and Aldo the guide.
Jake: I heard it's going to rain, how should we prepare?
Aldo: Nah, nah... it's dry season. Don't worry about it.
Jake: Well, what about snow?
Aldo: Nah, the only snow you have to worry about is the snow peaked caps, but that's above fifteen thousand feet.
Jake: Will we have to cross any rivers
Aldo: No, nothing serious.

Lake at Huilquijasa Pass
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It's pitch black out. My phone alarm is going off and it's 3:00AM. We quietly get out of bed trying not to wake the other dorm mates. Changing in the dark and putting on our backpacks. We sneak out and meet up with the other hostel people doing our trek. Waiting for the bus to arrive we hear the pitter patter of rain on the plastic roof. Not looking good. We pass out on the bus for a few hours. I wake up slowly to the bus taking turns on the top of a mountain with what I think is a dirt road, I can't tell it's covered in snow. Looking even worse. I can feel Aldo slowly eating his words.

We arrived at the bottom of a valley with a few houses made of mud, straw, and corrugated steel. Things were looking good while we had breakfast, but then right after it started to rain on us. Aldo actually gave us the option of turning back and skipping part of the hike. Half the people raise their hands to go back. That wasn't enough to convince Aldo, so we trekked on. The rain started to turn into sleet. Every once and a while there would be a break in the clouds. I'd unzip my two layers of jackets and whip out my camera and try to take a few pictures here and there.

Some of the guys On the way down.
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The way our group was setup was one guide was at the head and another at the tail. The porters and horsemen would go at their own pace. I have to say I was probably the worst hiker in the group. My 65 liter backpack was probably a third full. and my camera strapped to my chest. It felt like I was wearing bricks at this altitude and my feet began to move slower. It became harder to put one in front of the other. The higher I went the more frequent I would need to catch my breath. Apparently the guides would typically make more and longer stops for us to catch our breath but they wanted to book it because of the horrible weather. Lovely. The picture above is part of our descent. If you look closely, you can see two of the hikers Jake and Sam wearing their huge backpacks which to me look full and pretty damn heavy. Of course they were always in the front of the pack too. Not doing cardio in my work outs is definitely not paying off.

The porters/mules passing us. [photo cred: Step]
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We passed a few more beautiful lakes on the way down. Crossed some ice cold streams. We stopped to talk to the local kids and gave them some food. In fact the guides told us to stock up on food and snacks to give away to the poor farmer kids. we all make it down to the bottom of another valley and find all these tents setup for us with a huge tent for our dining/cooking hall. Finally a place to get out of the rain. They brought us a late lunch which felt like heaven after the first day of trekking. We ascended and descended about 650 meters in only two miles. The hot tea and hot soup was amazing. Maybe because we just touched the sky and came back. We arrived early to the camp site so we took a nap after lunch. Woke up for dinner, and then slept early. End of day one.

2011-07-26T15:42:00.000-07:00

Cusco, Peru

Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus
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Back when we were in Costa Rica we realized we didn't book our Machu Picchu trip. Being two weeks out from our ideal time and it being high season there wasn't much of a selection of tours. For some reason we were convinced that the only way you could see Machu Picchu was by booking a tour because there was only a limited amount of tickets to reach the top. The most popular trek the "Inca Trail" was obviously booked ahead of time probably about half a year ago. Two other alternatives were sold out which left us an eight day and a four day trekking tour. We didn't have too much time on our hands and the Inca trail was a four day tour itself so we figured, let's do it. You can't visit Peru and not see Machu Picchu right? We shrugged off the steep price and booked it. Later as we did more research we found out that the limited tickets are for Huayna Picchu which is the steep mountain that you always see in the postcards of Machu Picchu. Well, we already put our non refundable deposit down and read good things about this trek.

Qorikancha the golden Court Yard
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The same company that we booked our trek with said we could join their city tour for free. We figure it was an easy tour and something to do on our last day before our Trek. We met at the tour office at noon and were handed off to someone, who then handed us off to someone else, who shoved us into a huge tour group of maybe 30 people. Our tour guide sounded like he was an announcer of a boxing match. Or rather he would be so enthusiastic it sounded like he was telling a children's fairytale and every other sentence was the climax. But in actuality all he talked about was how much gold and silver there was in the church and how he couldn't believe it. He also boasted how he was once a teacher and proceeded to give us lessons on the sun and how the Incas were great astronomers. It really is interesting, but after he kept repeating how the sun travels after we visit each site it seemed like that's all he talked about. The sun in winter, gold, the sun in summer, the sun again. We considered ditching the tour but the more interesting sites were up next.

Saqsaywaman [Photo cred: Steph]
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This picture is probably my favorite one of the day.

So we made it to Saqsaywaman, a short bus ride right above Cusco sit's this ancient ruin of giant stones walls. I actually got yelled at because I started to climb up one of the rocks. Here's a little fun fact not learned from the guide; the name Saqsaywaman actually means "Satisfied Falcon", as most Americans will say sexy-woman. I'm absolutely sure the tour guide was talking about the sun again but i stopped paying attention. We found out the tour was to go on for a few more hours and we decided to ditch it this time around because we had to wake up at 3:30am to catch our bus for the trek.

2011-07-18T20:25:00.000-07:00

Sacred Valley, Peru

Alpaca grazing in the Andes

Since we're taking our time in Cusco we did a day trip to the Sacred Valley. We weren't sure if it was going to be worth it because we already booked our four day Lares trek to Machu Picchu. Really, who wants to see more ancient ruins? We asked a few people and heard it was actually quite different and well worth it. And yes, they were right. Although I would recommend not doing the tour. Our dorm mate had a better deal, she somehow met someone by chance who knew a taxi driver that hooked them up and drove them around all day for free. That is my ideal way of visiting anything really; they're not trying to sell you anything, you take your own pace, and you get personal service. Lucky.

Incan family dressed up for tourists

The worst part about any tour is when they make their stops at the tourists spots where they get their kick backs or what not. So one of the first places we were supposed to visit was the Pisac ruins. We stopped in the village of Pisac and they said to get off the bus for 30 minutes. We did and walked around, looking for the ruins, getting lost in the tourist stalls. We come back and then they say now we're going to the ruins. I hate tours.

We ran into this family of Incans. Since I wanted to take their picture, we tipped them a little. This is after Stephanie stopped saying how cute the little lamb was. As we walked back to the bus I saw another five more families dolled up in their traditional clothes, carrying little lambs or alpacas, and holding a baby on their backs. All of them came up and asked for money. It kind of made me sad how people rely on tourism to make a living.

Terraces at the top of Incan Pisca ruins.

I believe the Peruvians pride them selves in how many different varieties of corn they produce. On the way up to the Pisac ruins we picked some up and it was crazy good. Each kernel was like a little plump potato. I've never seen kernels so big. The cool thing about this place was that we could spot the terraces from far far away as the bus drove around the mountains. These agricultural terraces they created allowed them to produce an abundant amount of crops which I imagine would have been hard at this altitude. That's probably why they have such a great selection of corn.

[Unimportant side note: So our tour of Pisac was done and we were ready to move onto the next site. After getting on the bus we realized two of our people from the group were missing. We had our own personal time to explore the site and then we were supposed to meet up at a certain location at a certain time. Thirty minutes pass, other members are getting impatient, they start to yell at the tour guide. Some had good reason because they were catching a train at the next site. After some bickering and another twenty minutes pass, it's decided that the bus leaves with out them. I don't exactly know what happened but they show up at the next site where we had lunch, and the tour guide wanted it on record that the entire group decided to move on with out them because people had to catch a train. So he wrote out the facts and wanted the people to sign it. The couple that showed up late grabbed the paper, crumpled it up, and threw it out the moving bus. The bus driver stops. I thought a fight was about to break out. Sorry for the anti-climax, but nothing ends up happening and Stephanie and I write down the facts on a strip of paper from my guide book and have everyone else sign it but them and hand it to the tour guide later.]

Standing ontop of Ollantaytambo ruins [Photo Cred: Steph]

Getting to our second to last and coolest place was this ruin. Ollantaytambo. It was the last resistance of the Incas against the Spanish Conquistadors. Every view from this place was scenic. Even if not the view from it, the ruins them selves were amazing. There were these giant stones which looked as big or possibly even bigger than the stones used in the Pyramids. It must have taken an amazing amount of man power to move some of these giant stones.

2011-07-13T07:46:00.000-07:00

Cusco, Peru

Stephanie bargaining for the first time on our trip.

Someone how we spent an entire day doing errands; laundry, post cards, shopping... Stephanie was never a really big haggler, in fact neither was I. But after just experimenting a few tactics, we've managed to get away with a bunch of warm clothes for our trek up into the mountains. It also really helped out with the freezing cold weather at night in Cusco.

Peruvian women making belts on the street.

There were a lot of people trying to sell things to the tourists on the streets. Some of the things were Alpaca goods, fake raybans, and massages. Massages? At first I thought it was really strange that everyone was asking if you wanted a good massage, but after I thought about it, doing a four day trek over the Andes mountains actually sounded nice. The fake raybans were awesome. Guys would come up to and tell you they have real raybans, they would continue to bend them to prove they were real as if they were going to break it. After you would call them out and say they're fake, they would say "noooo, not fake, stolen my friend, stolen".

Plaza de Armas at night

After our day of errands, i went and climbed up the hill to take pictures at night. As I left the hostel I asked the lady if it was safe to walk around at night by myself since the book said there were lots of thefts at night for tourists. Not one problem. I deem Cusco safe.

2011-07-11T21:15:00.000-07:00

Cusco, Peru

Sipping on Coca tea at our hostel

We flew to Cusco, Peru from Bogota, Colombia in hopes of doing day trips from Cusco, acclimating to the altitude, and psych ourselves up for Machu Piccu. Our plan was to check in to our trekking office for Machu Piccu and then spend a night or two down in Puno to see Lake Titicaca. When we got to Cusco, there were some strikes going on and apparently the 7 hour bus ride there turned into a 17 hour bus ride. Hurray for strikes. So we had some time to kill in this tourist town. We ended up sipping on Coca tea, took it easy, and did research. Luckily we didn't get altitude sickness but were close to it. I mean Cusco sits on the Andes mountains at 11,100 feet which I really didn't think we would feel any sort of effects. But we would fatigue easily, breath heavily while walking up small hills, and have slight headaches all day long. Yeah, our days were short.

Our view from our hostel of Cusco

Probably the best thing about our hostel was the view of Cusco. You can see on the mountain in the back it says Viva El Peru. Actually it seems like every town we visited would have something written on the side of the mountain with initials of something or the town name. Cusco is a beautiful town, just extremely cold at night.

Pisco Sour

Night came and we wanted to eat some local cuisine. We set off looking for a suggestion in Lonely Planet but found this hole in the wall where we only saw locals eating. Score. However it still had a tourist menu which is pretty much just a prix fix menu. I got the recommended Lomo de Alpaca, Sopa a la Criolla, and a Pisco Sour. the Sopa a la Criolla was amazing there, best one I had in town. It's a lightly spiced, creamy noodle soup with beef and vegetables. Lets just say I wouldn't order the Alpaca again. The pisco sour was surprisingly good. Here's some random facts about it; The alcohol Pisco is a brandy made from grapes. The actual mixed drink is Pisco, Lime juice, simple syrup, beaten egg whites, and bitters. You know, just in case you want to make it at home. Cheers.

The Lomo de Alpaca and fish fillet. [Photo cred: Steph]

2011-07-10T20:09:00.000-07:00

Bogota, Colombia

Night life in Zona Rosa.

In Bogota I was sitting in the common area writing one of my blogs. A group of other backpackers come into the room and sit down with a handful of limes and a bottle of vodka. I could here some different accents; British and maybe Australian. After they asked me to take a picture, one thing led to another, and the next thing I knew Stephanie and I joined them in a night out on the town. One of the guys reminded me of my friend Charlie. He would always have his hands in his pockets, smoking a cigarette, and stumbling around. At one point he tripped on a curb and smashed into the side of wall, body slumped into the wall like a sack of potatoes. He rebounds and pretends nothing happened stumbling back into the darkness of the night. We drink a few Colombian beers at another hostel and then split up to check out other parts of the town. Stephanie, myself, and our new found Scottish friend Harry decide to check out the night life in Zona Rosa.

View of Bogota from Mount Monserrate.

The next morning we eat some food and walk up to the bottom of Mount Monserrate. We took this giant gondola up to the top. We hiked to the back side of the area where these two young police men offered to show us around. We watched the rain clouds come and go raining on parts of Bogota. The clouds would open up here and there allowing some sun in on occasion. On the way down we tried some Coca tea. I read in the guide book that it helps with calming altitude sickness. The lady at the stand poured each of us a cup. Steph's reaction; "It's really good!" My reaction; "what? it can't be th... oh my god it's hella tasty." Supposedly the mixture was with sugar cane, honey, and Coca tea.

Stephanie standing in the doorway of the church ontop of Monserrate.

We sat on the steps of the church sipping the Coca tea looking out into the city of Bogota. When we walked into the church and i looked back it almost looked like something out of a movie where Steph was an angel, standing in a glowing doorway. But nope, it was just Steph, nothing special. haha j/k.

2011-07-05T18:38:00.000-07:00

Bogota, Colombia

Sorry for the late post; we're alive and well. We just finished our four day trek to Machu Picchu. Great pictures to come for that post later.

Hanging out in Plaza De Bolivar. [Photo cred: Steph]

So being the frugal travels we were trying to be, we booked a bus ticket from Cartagena to Bogota. The twenty hour over night bus turned out to be a twenty seven hour bus ride. Whoops. A regret we learned to live with. One of the things that you take for granted while traveling is toilet paper, something desired on bus rides like this. Since then we've stored some in our day bag. Anyway, we made it to Bogota and found it to be much larger and city like than we expected. Walking the busy streets during the day it reminded Steph a little bit of New York. Almost everything we wanted to see was pretty much walking distance. We walked through Plaza De Bolivar, dedicated to Simon Bolivar, the man who helped free Colombia from the Spanish. This square was spread out with four different types of architecture for every side. This one I'm standing in front of is the Mayor's office which is a French style Alcaldia.

Steph in the middle of the plaza.

I caught steph staring at the statue in the middle of the square while it started to drizzle on us. It was riddled with graffiti. Actually everywhere we walked you would see stenciled graffiti or tagging of some sort. I don't think it was real banksy graffiti but someone was borrowing his icon of the rioter throwing a grenade of flowers. FYI, Banksy is a is English graffiti street artist with a flare for politics. In fact, here's an example of some street art we saw on our way to the plaza.

Street art on Av Jimenez, artist unknown;

This painting is actually just a small snippet of an entire wall. But for some reason i liked the black and white punk rocker. It's kinda interesting to see street art taking up an entire building wall. I mean like three stories tall and it's untouched by other artists. You'll see people's walls tagged with random pieces of art, some even overlapping old art. But this one was thought out and had organization to it, and seemed somewhat accepted.

Looking at Picaso

Street art was not the only art we appreciated that day. We stopped by the Donacion Botero where they displayed probably ten rooms of Fernando Botero's art. Only a few other rooms were dedicated to other artists like this Picaso. You can see the pictures of his work later when i post all my pictures or you can just google him. You'll recognize his work since all the people he depicts are quite large or "fat" as he says.

Dipping bread in to hot chocolate at the Puerta Falsa

We were walking from Plaza de Bolivar to the Botero museum and of course I spot out of the corner of my eye some delectable sweets. Curious I was, I looked at the name and realized it was the place that Stephanie had already chosen for dinner. La Pureta Falsa. There were two things here we came here to try; first was the hot chocolate, second was the tamales. It was a small cute little shop with only stool bars lining the right side of the wall and an upstairs that completed the cafe atmosphere. The window display was filled with these banana leave wrapped goods and other confectionery desserts. After drinking half of the hot chocolate we realized the guy next to us and others were dropping their cheese inside the hot coco. I tried it, not sure if I was a huge fan. But damn was the tamale delicious and amazingly cheap! we ordered a second one.

We liked Bogota so much that we almost forgot we survived a twenty seven hour bus ride to it.

2011-06-27T22:35:00.000-07:00

Convento De La Popa, Colombia

Kitten milking on the red tiles

Funny thing is, the reason why I chose this place to visit was not for the historical aspect or the religious value, but for the view of Cartagena. The view sucked. Haha, I'm slightly joking. You basically would have to have a lens that costs over a few thousand dollars to see Old Town. Don't get me wrong, getting a view of any city from a vantage point is enlightening. You just get the bad with the good. Enough of what I'm not showing you.

We hired a taxi to take us up here as there was no other public transport. We had to agree on a set price before hand because he had to stick around to drive us back down. I think we got ripped off. Somehow prices were agreed upon, and then changed.

The first exciting thing we saw was five little kittens curled up on themselves sleeping. As we take a few pictures of them, the mom comes up meowing waking them up while carrying two green lizards in her mouth. It was kinda gross but felt so natural. Two of the kittens play with the lizards like a ball of yarn. The others roll around, and this one just buried his little face in his mom's belly. Hungry little kitten.

Where our Taxi driver got married.

After viewing all the religious artifacts we noticed our taxi driver was wandering around the courtyard. As we talked to him he told us he got married in this part of the church.

Steph staring out into the atrium.

Probably my favorite thing about the Convento De La Popa was the atrium. A little well in the middle. Arches lined the brick courtyard. Vines growing on the columns. And a Stephanie looking into the sky.

2011-06-26T21:11:00.000-07:00

Old Town Cartagena, Colombia

Looking out of our hostel.

It's the same day but now we're away from the crowded mud volcano and back in Cartagena. Strolling the streets of Old Town Cartagena. we reverse the order of the walking tour of Old Town soaking up the Colonial style architecture. As we walked aruond, one of the things that we agreed on was that other countries have local fruits and juice stands at every other corner. So We picked up these little fruits (The name escapes me) but they're green, on little branches, and they remind me of lychee. You crack the brittle skin with your teeth to expose the meat and suck it out and spit out the seed that unfortunately takes up most of the space.

Steph standing in a typical Colonial alley way

The colors stand out so well, I couldn't but help make Steph stand still. We followed the path but didn't really go into any of the museums or churches. Towards the end we gave up following the path because our stomaches dictated we search for food. I don't remember what logic decided this but we ended up just eating cheese bread and Arepas. A ritual we soon stopped. Even if we were't happy with the food, the drinks were quite satisfying. Before we left to visit the Volcano we walked down the alley way where we saw maybe twenty people preparing their juice carts. One guy slicing up fruits and pouring them into a this giant fish tank of juice, one guy squeezing limes so fast it looked like someone using a switch blade, and another guy chipping away at ice blocks the size of shoe boxes.

Sitting on the wall built by the Spaniards.

As you do the walking tour you see parts of the Las Murallas which is this thick wall built around the port of Cartagena to protect it from pirates and the like. Spaniards would store the riches they would steal from the indigenous people at this port. But after the wall came up it became a cornerstone for the Spaniards allowing them to influence Colombia.

Just another alley way [Photo credit: Steph]

Enjoying the colors of Cartagena

2011-06-23T20:56:00.000-07:00

Volcan Lodo El Totumo, Colombia

Tourists sitting in mud volcano

So when heard of a volcano where you can take a mud bath we assumed it was a giant volcano with a mud spring like the hot springs in Volcano Arenal in Costa Rica. We were completely wrong, it was a mound of mud in the shape of a volcano with a pit of muddy clay that was probably 20 feet tall at most. It's said that there is organic matter below that cause the gasses to rise and create the mud. We got in our bathing suits and jumped in. Supposedly we were allwoed to stay in there for 45 minutes, but it was too crowded to enjoy. It was weird, you would jump in, they would give you a massage and then push you in the middle in the orgy of people. It was so bouyant that you could sit and float. It's a weird feeling not being able to feel anything below your feet. Felt like the dead sea, but in mud.

Mud man Sean. [picture credit: Steph]

Seriously, way too crowded. people grabbing you to move around, a random foot between my legs. We fought our way across the crowded pool of mud and climbed out. Scrapped off any excess mud and walked down to the lake below to wash off.

View of the lake from the mud volcano.

The massage ended up costing 1.50$, there were ladies who would try to wash you down in the lake for the same price. I some how got conned into paying some kids the same price for watching my shoes. Mostly because we didn't want them to spit in our food. I later found out the food on the tour was served from somewhere else. Oh wells.

2011-06-21T20:54:00.000-07:00

San Jose, Costa Rica

Stephanie booking flight tickets at our Tranquilo hostel

This entry is dedicated on our style of traveling. It's crazy and fun is what it is. Every night so far we never have any hostels booked. We look at a Lonely Planet suggestions, show up at the hostel, ask for a room, and say yay or nay depending on the cleanliness of the place. Transportation on the other hand is a bit harder since we have so much land to cover and so little time. So we opted to cut out Panama the other day because of how long it's been taking us to get around Costa Rica. we booked a flight to Bogota, Colombia. We suddenly changed our minds, got a full refund, and decided for a cheaper but longer flight to Cartegena, Colombia. We laughed at ourselves.

Us making dinner in the hostel's kitchen

It's also been a great money saver by making dinner ourselves. This time we were semi inspired by a dish called Casados which seems to be a fairly simple dish of rice, beans, fried Plantains, and any other specialties. I'm making the rice, but Steph prepared most of the dishes. It seems like half of the hostels here in Costa Rica seem to serve breakfast. This place was universally known for their pancakes. Half the reason why I choose this hostel. They did not disappoint.

Sean and Stephs version of Casados

And voila; yellow rice, tomato & zucchini, black beans, and a side of papaya.

2011-06-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

Manuel Antonio National Park, Costa Rica

A boat in front of Manuel Antonio National Park.

So the weather has been somewhat been less desireable. In the morning it's semi overcast with breaks of sun light here and there. Eventually later in mid day the clouds thicken and you can see the rain come. Every day, with out fail, this has been the routine. This was our first day at the beach and was hoping it would be slightly different.

This is the entrance to Manuel Antonio National Park. We were conned into paying full price when we could have gotten student discounts if we had only walked in a bit further to the ranger station.

Stephanie looking out to sea.

We ate lunch on the beach and had to run away when high tide almost swept away everything we were eating.

Trekking through the jungle. [Picture credit: Steph]

Walking in the sand barefoot was nice, but at somepoint we had to put on our sandals to hike around in the rain forest. We didn't get to see too much since the park closed at four and we got there at two. Even though it started to rain on us we trekked on. The majority of the rain was shielded from the canopy of the rain forest, but we were still sweaty and covered with dirt. So we hung up our gear and jumped in the ocean in the rain.

2011-06-18T22:54:00.000-07:00

Monteverde, Coast Rica

Stephanie and I getting geared up for Zip lining.

This probably is the highlight of the trip in Costa Rica so far. We didn't actually know what we were getting ourselves into. We figured it was somewhat exciting, right? They first give us an intro course on how to stay aligned, how to brake, and how to traverse. Ok, Stephanie pushes me to the front of the line. We wait for a group of 6 guys, they run up the stairs and start setting up their posts by going down the ziplines. I get up, they lock me in and send me flying. Ok, not so bad, not even scary, it was only 40 meters. Pretty fun stuff.

Stephaine on 100m zipline.

Here's Stephanie on the second zipline of 100 meters. Our feet dangeling above the tree line. You do each zipline sequentially in a course fashion. On the third one, we spiral up these stairs to find the zipline going across the valley 425 meters away. What the hell, I can barely see the other side. If you fall, you fall what would seem like forever. This time we go in pairs. They linked us up and let us fly. Holy crap. You have to do this. Who ever is reading this, you HAVE to do this! There's some slight up hill hiking on some of the stations, but well worth it. They have twenty four platforms

Doing the tarzan swing

Towards the end they do an assisted rappel for you off this giant tree. We hike up some more and find ourselves on this giant Tarzan swing with maybe a thirty foot freefall. We waited for everyone to do it and everyone's reactions were different. This one girl swore her little head off like she was going to kill someone. Next up was the finale, what they call the "superman". You wear a body harness, and they hook you in and your body is completely suspended except your arms. This time you can't reach the cable to slow yourself down. All you can do is stare off into the clouds that are floating by at eye level and scream.

2011-06-17T22:56:00.000-07:00

La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Stephanie eating Fish Casados, a local dish.

I have to say I've fallen in love with Casados. I've probably ordered it the past three times we've been out. Each one has been slightly different, yet still amazing. The first one had perfect pico de gallo and a fried egg on the rice. the one that Stephanie is mad grinning to had hash on the side. It's really cheap too!

Camping at the hostel.

So we spent the second night in one of these camping it out with sleeping bags. Kinda luxurious if you ask me but it was so comfy. All the windows and doors zip up. There's an outlet for power with a huge lantern on the side. At night it was pretty cool and refreshing compared to the humid and rainy day.

Baldi Hot springs at the bottom of Volcano Arenal.

So the main event of this day was to see Volcano Arenal. Sadly we only hiked up for about an hour to the base to look around for a bit before it started to rain on us. Arenal was mostly covered in clouds so no amazing pictures. Apparently a couple of months ago you could watch the lava flow down at night but it's fairly inactive right now. The second part of this day was to hit up the hot springs at the bottom of the Volcano. We went to the lesser of the two hot springs (the first being twice the price for all natural springs). But it was still worth it. They had crazy amounts of pools, all different shapes, sizes, and most importantly temperatures. I think we sat in one that was 113 degrees F. They had waterfalls, bars, and even water slides. there's a guy at the top of the water slide warning you that if anything happens to you it's not the resorts fault. You end up sliding down 45kilometers/hr(roughly 28mph) at one point.

2011-06-15T05:02:00.000-07:00

Houston, Texas

This book has prooved to be quite useful, as a pillow.

Landing in Houston for an eleven hour layover is not fun. Everything here was closed when I landed. Walking to a resteraunt was too far. Taking a taxi would cost ten times the meal. The only things available was a vending machine. So I set off to break my twenty dollar bill. No luck, still starving. Wandered each terminal for change machines, of course they were out of order. It's midnight, I give up. I'll find a corner to sleep in. I desperately wanted to lay down but all the chairs had arm rests on them. The cold hard floor will have to do.

2011-06-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

In a few hours I leave to Latin America. Strapped with Lonely Planet's South America on a Shoestring, my camera, and my backpack. I'm meeting my friend Stephanie down in Costa Rica and then we're blazing it to the bottom of the Americas. The goal is to reach Uruguay in 5 weeks. It might be a crazy idea but I think it's going to be fun. Depending on our internet connection, I'll be trying to keep this blog updated as often as I possibly can. Wish us luck!

Oh yeah, and I don't know ANY Spanish.

A bit more than the essentials. [I've actually cut out a few things to reduce weight/space.]

Pictures completed

2011-03-03T16:42:00.000-08:00

Diyarkibar, Turkey

The farewell.

The reason this photo came so late is because I didn't take it. I have to give thanks to the amazing photographer Yosuke for this photo. Throughout my adventures, I have shared with you all my friends I've met along the ways except this band of thieves. From left to right is me, Yosuke, Josh, Wai, and Rajay. This is us in our pink hostel room in Diyarkibar.

I unveil the remaining month of my trip into two Galleries. The sunbathed and refreshing Mediterranean & Agean Coast as Part I, and then the natural beauty of the Anatolian Plateau as Part II. Please click on an album to view the contents.


Turkey - Mediterranean & Agean Coast 2010	Turkey - Anatolian Plateau 2010

I'm posting this as the conclusion to all the pictures of my Middle Eastern travels. If you have not already seen them, here are the pictures I previously posted of Israel, Jordan, and Egypt.


Israel 2010	Jordan 2010	Egypt 2010

2010-10-03T22:24:00.001-07:00

Hasankeyf, Turkey

The end is here; the trip finally comes to a close. It’s a bit depressing to leave the traveling life and back into reality. I’ve been living a dream; seeing amazing places, meeting new people, trying new foods, experiencing different cultures. A book can’t describe it, a game can’t simulate it, a movie can’t make you feel what you feel when you travel. I’m such a novice traveler too; these past two months have been amazing. I’ve met people who’s traveled for so long that their passport are bursting at the seams with extra inserts and visa stamps.

Remains of a bridge and a Hasankeyf Castel built on and into the cliff.

This is the last exciting place we traveled with Josh, Rajay, and Yosuke. We took a bus from Mardin to here passing by this place called Batman. Really Batman? We were dropped off at the entrance to a bridge with the hostel at the foot of it. We set out to get some lunch, but we found out that this place didn’t have any functioning kitchens at the moment because of Ramadan. Most touristy places will have something available for tourists, but one: we were in Eastern Turkey, two: it was a small town, three: apparently the castle we came to see was closed for a few months due to a wall falling down and it being hazardous to tourists. So we resorted to eating ice cream and a bag of chips…

Wai trekking up to the rear entrance of Hasankeyf castle.

The next morning I walked out to my terrace overlooking the river and found Rajay cutting up some incredibly delicious watermelon. I swear, watermelon has never tasted so good. We talked to some people who worked at the hostel and they hooked us up with a guy who would be willing to show us a hidden pathway to the castle. We jumped on the opportunity after some haggling and grabbed our cameras. We walked through some hanging rugs into a hidden pathway down to the river, walked along the Cliffside until we found this carved out tunnel to the backside of a valley, trekked up a pathway to the top of the mountain and climbed through a hole that was obviously meant to be blocked. And there we were, on top of a ruined castle with caverns, holes, arches, and what not.

Staring over the ruins of the castle.

This was amazing, the entire place was to ourselves. No guards, no tourists, no peddlers. Well apparently there were guards in the front so we had to avoid visual contact with them. But otherwise the entire place was ours to explore. We walked into a church with only a partial roof. We hopped a fence to check out an ongoing excavation that the tour guide was working on. It was the best time of day where the sun had about two hours left until it set. Perfect weather and lighting.

Flock of birds above the river.

Until I travel again.

2010-09-29T22:47:00.000-07:00

Mardin, Turkey

2:04 PM Carisa: tell me a story !
2:12 PM me: Yosuke, Josh, Rajay, wai and I got off the bus. We were in Mardin. The way that the lonely planet described it was that it “emerges like a phoenix from the roasted Mesopotamian plains”. It stood on top of this mountain looking over this valley. As soon as we stepped off we had this taxi cab driver shoving us into his cab although it only fit 4 people, and there were 5 of us with back packs as huge as we were. They stuffed the trunk and tied it down with a piece of string they found in the garbage can. We packed in reluctantly, and the driver speed off on the old coble stone road. I watched Wai's backpack shift and shift until it was almost hanging out of the trunk. Luckily the string held. The hostel it took us to is just another story...

2010-09-24T12:42:00.000-07:00

Haran, Turkey

So at this point in the game we were three separate traveling groups; Wai & I, Josh & Rajay, and Yosuke. We each planned our own rough itinerary but we decided to just continue traveling together. It’s hard to leave new found friends. We convinced each other that we’d do a long tour of the Harran ruins in Eastern Turkey. Again, it was just the handful of us which was perfect.

Writing this blog I almost forget how painfully hot it was, it was demoralizing but we trekked on. The first place was the remains of a grand mosque called Ulu Camii. Next door to this were some locals that lived in beehive type housings made of mud and sticks. The kids would ask to wear my sunglasses and then immediately say “gift?” with a huge smile, sadly I wasn’t that kind. We also strolled through the Harran Castle (Harran Ic Kalesi) which looked like it was about to crumble underneath my feat. There were plenty of other places we visited but I’ll just talk about three more locations.

Standing inside the Bazda Caves

So that was the short tour and I’m glad we continued for the long one because I just couldn’t enjoy those ruins and sites compared to the rest. The tour guide brought us out to the middle of this desert no-man’s-land. We walked into this caved that was used for excavating large stones for building structures, the Pyramids? It escapes my mind. The cave was enormous, we saw people drive their cars and bikes in there to take naps because it was nice and cool.

Talking to the local kids.

We stopped at this place called Han-el Ba’rur Caravanserai where these kids ran up to meet us. These kids were as cheerful and bright as their clothes. The guide would sing children songs with them as we just sat across from them in the walk way. Most kids, besides these ones, would always pester you saying “money money” holding out their hand and wouldn’t leave you alone. You feel a little bad, but there are just so many kids begging.

Catching the light.

This picture of Wai was taken in this small underground room at the bottom of a mound in Suayb. There are numerous mounds filled with small rooms and tiny dark passage ways. I had to pull out my cell phone just to illuminate my path. Half the time, you’re hunched over in a dark room trying to listen for someone’s voice and somewhat wander over there. It reminded me of a dungeon from one of these fantasy video games i used to play.

2010-09-22T01:27:00.000-07:00

Sanliurfa, Turkey

I really should write up reviews for the hostels that I really appreciated. I suppose I should also write ones up for ones that sucked ass. (ie: the one where my shorts were stolen.) But I digress; this place in Sanliurfa was great. The host was friendly and reminded me of one of my parent’s friends. It turns out he would be our tour guide the following day. We would sit outside on the patio with all our cameras on the table. The host would bring us chai and sugar, later he gave us ice cream and pastries. Yosuke would smoke his cigarette contemplating our next sight. Wai and the two Australian guys (Josh and Rajay) would argue about what the moon looks like. I’d sit there eating off the ice cream while no one was looking.

Two Canons, and Three Nikons.

I wonder at what point in life I’ll stop staying in hostels.

2010-09-20T15:22:00.000-07:00

Mt. Nemrut, Turkey

What another guided tour? Blasphemy.

Standing on top of the mountain where the Arsameia Ruins are.

After another over night bus ride we arrive at the town of Kahta to be shuffled off to a hostel. People are quick to offer their services or hostels. We started to travel with this guy named Yosuke and decided to follow his guide book recommendation. We setup a tour with this hostel for the latter half of the day to catch the sunset on Mt. Nemrut.

Staring into the distance on the East face of Mt Nemrut.

I think I actually preferred this type of tour because it primarily was just a driver announcing a destination, a brief description if inquired, and no real time limit and we’d leave when the handful of us decided we were done with the spot. It was a nice small group which we made good friends with and continued to travel with for about a week.

The heads on Mt. Nemrut watching the sunset on the West face.

After a small trek up to the top of Mt. Nemrut we realized that it may have been a better choice to catch the morning tour to catch the sunrise. There are statues on both the East and West side but it has better reconstruction on the East face.

2010-09-16T23:28:00.000-07:00

Cappadocia, Turkey

Cappadocia is this huge region in the middle of Turkey and Goreme is only this tiny portion of it. So we’ve lost one day recovering, one day exploring Goreme’s valley’s and open air museums. Some of the people we met at the hostel actually suggested joining them on a tour. After a bit of debate we hesitantly agreed to do a tour only because I wanted to visit this Ihlara Valley which you can only get to if you have a car or if you do this tour. Public transportation to this Valley seemed almost nonexistent.

Giant rolling door to the underground city.

We drive out a few hours from Goreme to these rolling hills and fields of nothingness. Off in the distance you can see an inactive volcano. We arrive in this flat town in Derinkuyu and in the middle of it is this endless underground city. This place is massive. It goes down eleven floors, it could accommodate up to fifty thousand people, and even a wine press room. This rolling door was used to keep out enemies.

Wai lounging at the bottom Ihlara Valley

I thought this place was bad ass. Too bad we were stuck with a tour group because it seems like there’s so much to explore and hike around in this valley. Supposedly it would take a day to walk the entire length of the Valley, or maybe the brochure said you could spend a day hiking here. The reason this place appealed to me was because it’s in the middle of nowhere, flat fields and small rolling hills and then this anomaly of a canyon with its steep walls. In the middle of our hike was a small rugged snack/café place with benches in the middle of the creek, an easy place to take off your shoes and take a nap.

Staring up at the remains of the Selhime Monastery.

At the end of the valley was an opening and at one of the corners was this maze of a Monastery. Supposedly there was ways to climb all the way to the top inside the carved out passageways, but apparently it was too dark, steep, and dangerous. We at least took our flashlights to check out the entrance of this passage way.

2010-09-13T23:03:00.000-07:00

Goreme, Turkey

Pottery tree

On our way to the Goreme's Open Air museum there was this pottery store that placed a crap load of pots all over this dead tree. I'm guessing this was one of the original ideas of hanging their goods on a dead tree, as later i saw fake dead trees holding jewlery and the evil eyes at touristy spots. Just a guess.

Multiple rooms in the Open Air Museum

The museum was filled with endless amounts of tiny churches. Some of them looked like you could only fit maybe ten people inside at most. This picture of Wai was just a normal room but it seemed the roof caved in from the upstairs. I was told that the Open Air Museum at the neighboring town is way better.

Bouldering in Love Valley.

Maybe a V1? I'd go farther if the rock wasn't made of sand. So Wai and I spent half a day Venturing out into Love Valley. The trail wasn't properly marked and we found ourselves back at Goreme. We knew the valley ran parallel to our road so we ventured out and looked for a way down. We ended up finding this animal path that we hiked/slid/tumbled down for a few hundred feet. We saw what we came for, huge falic formations of stone. Hence the name of the valley. If you want to see the giant penis rocks, you can check out my photo set later when i sort my pictures.

2010-09-12T14:42:00.000-07:00

Goreme, Turkey

So this will be the second entry dedicated to a hostel. We took an overnight bus to Goreme to see all of Capadocia. Arriving at 5:30am we started to look for this recommended place but found it was full. Lazy eyed and freezing we wandered up the hill to this place called Fairy Chimney Hotel. It was a bit pricey but we were so tired we said sure why not, it's nice and we can switch to another hostel later.

Waiting for dinner to be served.

Having slept for half a day they asked us if we wanted dinner which was a three course meal. I thought, Let's see what this place has to offer. The food was great. We would eat out on the patio under the grape leaves and fig trees. They brought out this huge pot of boiling soup, salad with Pomegranate sauce, Sactava (Turkish stew?) served on rice, and some dessert with ice cream. I asked for seconds which wasn't a problem at all. A plus.

Fairy Chimney Hotel.

So the big thing about goreme and Cappadocia is the houses created by burrowing and tunneling out the stone and dirt. Almost all the hostels are called cave hotels or fairy chimney type hotels. We didn't even realize this second patio where we could watch the sunset until the second day. Oh yeah, we decided to splurge and spend three nights here but ate elsewhere because the food was pricey.

Watching the sunrise with hot air balloons with Panda.

They had this giant guard dog named Panda who was incredibly friendly and adorable. I woke up early one morning to catch the sun rise and watch the hot air balloons float in and out of the canyons. I saw panda sleeping on the patio, so I climbed up to the roof. As I was shooting away Panda waltzed up behind me and snuggled next to me.

2010-09-08T16:00:00.000-07:00

Even though I'm back in the states, i'm not done with my blog just yet.

Antalya, Turkey

View from one of the coves in Antalya

The past two days i expected the world to just rock back and forth and then a quick jump into the ocean. But we were wandering around the town looking for Mezes. We were still in a mode of relaxation, seeing the sights of Antalya was second to that and food. We had planned to meet up with the two Spaniards for a drink at night and needed a bite to eat. We ended up ordering Lentil Soup for everyone and a huge mess of fries, a new found comfort food.

At a bar in the old part of Antalya

Strolling the old streets we found what I thought was a jazz bar but ended up being a live band playing Turkish rock and covers of American 80's. I don't know if Turkish people are heavy drinkers in general, but my G&T was three parts gin, one part tonic, no ice, no lime. Not a complaint really. Ate some peanuts, drank some G&Ts, and boogied some moves. Good fun for the last night out together.

2010-09-02T13:13:00.000-07:00

Olympos, turkey

Eternal flames from a natural gas deposit.

Maisie, Anna, and myself decided to do the flame tour. After dinner we took a bus out for forty five minutes up the mountain, walked up another forty five minutes in extremely humid weather, and finally sweating like pigs we took pictures of blazing flames. As horrible as an idea as that was, I thought it was still fun. I didn't get enough time to get a really good picture and of course i forgot my tripod at the camp site. The atmosphere was actually pretty chill when the tourists started to disperse, people would bring their guitars and make a night out of it with wine.

Megan, Wai, me, and Kevan hanging out at the beach

There's Piranhas in the water! So for some reason there was something nipping at my feet and i couldn't figure out what it was. I was there by my lonesome self and four girls. (Once again, a tough life i lead. Thanks for taking the picture Lisa, turned out great). And this one guy we met on the trek up to the flames decided to jump into our conversation and talk about how he was in the Amazon and how Piranhas attacked him. At that moment something nipped me, and again, and again, so I decided to walk away as he started to tell the story. Sadly I was the only one he knew, so from what I could tell the conversation turned awkward and he was gone when i got back.

Fresh water running out into the Ocean.

Along the fresh water stream are a handful of ruins, in fact to get to the beach you have to pay entrance to see the ruins and then you make your way there. I couldn't be bothered with ruins as the cool water was calling to me.

2010-09-01T00:17:00.000-07:00

Blue Cruise

We were eating mezes in Selcuk and the next thing I know is that all the girls were asking me to see if I thought going to the blue cruise was a good idea. Hmmmm, going on a relaxing yacht for four days with three girls orrrrrrr taking a cramped bus from place to place checking out more ruins... tough decision. When we arrived at the office we found out we were traveling with eleven other people. In the end we agreed we wouldn't have had it any other way.

First night stop at Ship Wreck yard.

As soon as we set sail it was a consistent cool breeze. When we set anchor we all jumped in for a swim and then ate a pretty decent vegetarian lunch. We'd set sail and lounge on the deck mats. See some sights. Rinse and repeat for four days. What a tough life.

High five with a mermaid

We thought there would be better snorkel gear on board but there was maybe only two pairs of functioning fins and masks. Some of us bought some goggles at one of the stops and i broke out my underwater camera. It's sad that there wasn't much marine life down there so nothing exciting. However the water was extremely blue and clear.

The blue cruise gulet

A gulet is a traditional wooden yacht. It has a enough cabins for everyone and the crew, the bathrooms are typical smelly boat bathrooms, great lounge space with sleeping pads, and a huge table in the back to eat and play cards on. I don't think anyone would actually sleep downstairs in the cabins since we'd all sleep on the deck under the stars.

View from one of the small towns we stopped at.

We stopped by a smallish town where the only form of transportation is by boat. There's a castle on top and a necropolis near by, and a sunken city across the way. The first thing I did, (which has been a common recurrence) was to go to shop and grab myself a pistachio ice cream bar, not just any bar mind you, it's gotta be a Magnum.

Jon and Manu swimming out of the pirates cave.

The two Spaniards swimming out of the cave as the captain yells at us to swim back. It seems our last day was cut short. I completely missed the part where we don't actually reach our final destination and we take a dolmus there. It was advertised as a Fethiye to Olympos voyage, but it stops about three quarters of the way. I feel duped.

Everyone on the blue cruise including one of the ship hands and this very quiet grandma

At this point we've all gotten to know each other fairly well. People were from (starting closest to home) California, Hawaii, Scottland, France, Spain, and New Zealand. We've all asked about each other's home lands, where we have traveled, where we're going next, but i'm sure we talked about everything and anything. This was definitely one of the highlights of my trip and probably due mostly to the people I met.

2010-08-31T11:23:00.000-07:00

Afrodisias, Turkey

Afrodisias was our last classical stop before we laid out on the open waters of the Medaterranean Sea.

Toren Kapisi Gate

The gate to Afrodisias was probably the coolest looking structure other than the full size stadium. Surprisingly the structure is eighty five percent original, where as most structures here are fully reconstructed.

Maisie picking figs

I don't typically pick off fruit and eat it on the spot, but these fresh figs hit the spot. I felt like a kid stealing fruit from a neighbors tree.

Achillies and Penthesilea

There was a section called Aphrodisias-Sebasteion Reliefs inside the museum which contained way too many reliefs for me to look at. But this one shows Achilles supporting the Amazon queen Penthesilea who he had mortally wounded in battle, only to fall in love with her at that moment.

2010-08-28T12:57:00.000-07:00

Pamukkale, Turkey

Walking up the limestone pathway.

Our group has had a bit of a quarrel with the town itself. The hostel people didn't like us, the ticket booth people didn't like us, the restaurant owners didn't like us. But I'll attempt to avoid writing about the quarrels.

Catching the sunset.

On the second day we walked up to the limestone pools. It was a bit strange because we would see all these tourists in their bathing suits and bikini tops waltzing around in this small town. We opted to avoid the crowd/heat and go later to catch the sunset.

Night time of the limestone pools.

As much as I didn't like the town, I had a great time at the limestone pools. We'd walk barefoot up the walk way where they had running water flowing over the pathway. Played in the limestone mud for a little bit. Walked around the museum and the necropolis, and barely made it in time for the sunset. Took some shadow pictures on the limestone walls, and wadded around in the pools at night.

2010-08-27T13:38:00.000-07:00

Selcuk, Turkey

After traveling through the middle east and Turkey I've found that my taste buds have changed. I'm extremely tired of tomato, cucumber, and hard boiled egg for breakfast. I used to avoid eating watermelon and eggplant/aubergine but find myself gorging myself with melon and trying different eggplant dishes.

Stuffed Mushroom

Since we became a group of four our choice in food has been mezes. One: because it's easy to share, two: you get a variety of choices, three: it's vegetarian friendly. We found this place called Okumus Mercan Restaurant in Selcuk that serves these amazing meze dishes. We'd order maybe six dishes between the four of us and it was decently priced for good food. We actually ended up coming back here for dinner after scouring the town for another place with decent food.

Aubergine/Eggplant Melody

I don't have a picture of it, but one of the strangest things that we ordered and I ended up loving was this poached egg dish covered with yogurt and lemon juice. This isn't your typical type of yogurt you find in the states, or at least any that i've had before. Trust me, delicious.

Stuffed Bellpepper

2010-08-24T14:47:00.000-07:00

Ephesus, Turkey

For all the ruins and relics i've seen on this trip, this site has some of the best preserved structures and mosaics. After checking out the theater, soaking in the sun and fighting our way pasts the tour groups we decided to sit in front of the Celsus Library. There was just way too many people, so we set up camp and just relaxed until it died down.

First set of terraced houses

Sitting in front of the library wasn't cutting it, the tourists weren't dying down fast enough. We opted to kill time by checking out the terraced houses. They had put major efforts into preserving this place. I love how they constructed the layout; covered with a membraned tent, raised glass walk way, and the pathway snakes through the entire site. The marble hall was quoted to be the worlds biggest jig saw puzzle. There's just buckets of pieces to be put together.

Ruined pathway at the top of Ephesus

The sun started to set and the tourists started to disperse. We walked around the Colonnaded streets, and snuck into the baths of Varius (which wasn't really sneaking in since it wasn't protected, more like jumping a rope), then sat ontop of the Odeon to watch the sunset.

Celsus Library

It was quite peaceful when we got back to the library. It's amazing when you have no one crowding your pictures. The only problem we ran into was that the Dolmus stopped running so we walked back which took about half an hour. Completely worth it.

2010-08-23T13:48:00.000-07:00

Pergamum, Turkey

Row of arches under the acropolis.

Our neighbors in our hostel were nice enough to give us a ride up in their little rental car to the top of pergamum. Smallie gave Tallie a ride up in his scooter too. We started by walking through the library ruins which was a wedding gift from Mark Anthony to Cleopatra. Looked down at Bergama from the temple of Athena. Walking on the side we found ourselves in a row of arches, which doubled as support for the Trajan Temple and as storage rooms.

Temple of Trajan

I walked through the Arsenal and the King's palace but I didn't find them too impressive. I found a nice shady spot next to the temple of Trajan and watch/listen to the loud Italian tourists walk by.

Theater seating 10,000 people with a birds eye view of Bergama

After losing Wai, I walked the premises twice and just decided to hang out with Anna and Maisie on the steps of the giant theater. A bit dizzying at that height since it is perched ontop of the mountain looking down onto bergama. We found ourselves a fig tree at the bottom, which to that day I have never had fresh off the tree. I'm sorry, the closest to freshness is fig newtens because my brother loves those cookies. But damn those figs are tasty.

2010-08-20T01:26:00.000-07:00

Bergama, Turkey

Sorry for the delay in postings, there's a good explanation which this post will partially explain. This post is all about the people we met to, from, and inside Bergama.

View from the rooftop of Athena Pension into the atrium.

To: We met these amazing girls studying classics at Glasgow University while we were finding our way to our hostel. We had to figure out together that the bus station was all in kahootz and lied to us about the local small buses called dolmush which are cheap mini bus rides. The taxi drivers denied that they existed. We asked a local and said it was on the way which led to the taxi driver yelling at the local for taking his business away. Anyway, It's been a pleasure for us to travel with Maisie and Anna because Wai and I can only spend so much time with each other. J/K I love Wai, but traveling with them for the past two weeks has been great. We kept on extending our travels together and convincing ourselves we should check out our next sight together. I'd have to say that their insight on the history of the ruins and classical sites are priceless compared to any guide.

Anna, "Smallie", Maisie, & Wai

Inside: The people in this town (excluding the taxi drivers) are so amazingly friendly. When we were lost in the hillside looking for a restaurant a local gave one of us a ride on his little scooter. When we asked for some baclava from a store the boy couldn't stop smiling and gave us a lot and added ice cream on top for cheap. When we asked someone where some good food was he called up his friends to find out the name of a place. But the best part was "Smallie" our hostel owner. I don't think I ever asked his real name. But we gave him that name since he named Maisie "Tallie". He owned this great restored Otoman home that had a small atrium in the center where we would eat breakfast, lounge, eat baclava. Oh and the breakfast he prepared was probably the best breakfast any hostel has ever made for us. He would buy us fresh bread that was warm to the touch, he would buy us fresh fruits, he had this amazing honey mixed with soft cream, cheese rolls, nutella, rose jam, yogurt, juice, apple tea, mmmmmmmmmmmm. He gave Maisie a scooter ride to the top of Pergamum because not all of us would fit into this other couple's rental car.

Entrance of Athena Pension

From: Read "To:".

2010-08-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

Canakkale, Turkey

Standing at an old pier

The main reason we came to Canakkale was to do a day trip to Troy. We planned a half a morning to see the ruins, but as we found out at 8am the bus we planned to take didn't leave until late morning. So all we ended up seeing in Canakkale was the trojan horse recreated and donated by the movie troy. Yeah the one with Brad Pitt, which I hear is awful.

2010-08-13T02:38:00.000-07:00

Istanbul, Turkey

One of the ceilings in the Harem area.

The last thing that we saved to do in Istanbul was to visit the Topkapi palace since our hotel was directly across from it. It's surrounded by a large park with these squaking green long tailed parot type birds inhabitating the trees. Mehmet II built this palace containing plenty of pavilions and courtyards. One of the quarters was the Harem section containing the sultan's wives and concubines. You would find intricate paterns painted on the ceiling, in the stained glass, on the tiles, door frames, pretty much everything.

Stained glass in the Harem area.

So i began to just capture all these paterns around the achitecture because they were so amazingly detailed. Well, that and the fact that there was no photography allowed inside the treasury area. As Wai would describe the Treasury; it was just decadant. Thousands of precious jewels, diamond encrusted chainmail, daggers with giant emeralds, thrones covered in gold and jewels. There was the "86-Carat Spoonmaker's Diamond" which is said to have been found in a rubbish heap in Istanbul and bought from a scrap metal merchant for three spoons.

Sulyman I's tugra.

This royal monogram was laced throughout the palace which i actually thought looked pretty cool. Wish my initials looked that spiffy.

2010-08-06T14:39:00.000-07:00

Istanbul, Turkey

On the remaining wall of Yoro's Castel looking at the entrance of the Black Sea

We took the Bosphorous boat ride that dropped us off at Anadolu Kavağı for a few hours. We hiked to the top where the castle remains were and watched boats drift in and out of the Black Sea. Evey so often we would see a tanker float in, and like a check point a little boat from the dock would speed up next to it, follow it, and then go back to the dock.

Fresh Melon being sold by a men on a moving truck in Anadolu Kavağı.

Three men is all you need; One to drive the car, one to hand out the fresh melons, and one to cut you a slice of the fresh melon. Later we went to a restaurant in the Beyoğlu area of Istanbul and started to order meze dishes, which i believe are similar to tapas? We saw someone order some melon so we got a plate full of it. I don't think I've ever had melon this tasty and juicy before in my life. After ordering two orders of melon and ten other dishes we sat around digesting and then requested them to roll us down the hill to our hostel.

Meze options at the sofyali 9 restaurant in Beyoğlu area

2010-08-05T13:08:00.000-07:00

Istanbul, Turkey

I've officially made it out of the middle east and into Istanbul up here in Turkey. I thought I left the heat in the middle east, but i'm still plagued by the weather. Today was a nice warm 85 degrees but with 79% humidity. But as I'm told if I want to travel through Asia, this is nothing. I guess living in San Diego has spoiled me with perfect weather.

Peering up through a chandelier inside the Haghia Sophia.

This place was incredibly huge. It is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque and now a museum. You'll find a handful of mosaics showing Virgin Mother, Jesus, Saints, or emperors and empresses. Supposedly the mosque wouldn't allow faces to be shown on some paintings which were covered up with stars. There seems to be a few things that are in debate whether or not these things should be revealed by removing changes made by the mosque.

Inside the bottom of the Basilica Cistern.

When I read about the Basilica Cistern i assumed it was a boring hole in the ground where water was stored. But when I walked by the entrance we saw this long line going down a stair case, I was curious. We paid an entrance fee and found ourselves in this cavernous vault with rows of collums with water filling the base of this place. suspended above the water was a walk way for us to explore the back where we found Medusa's heads.

Front courtyard of the Blue Mosque.

What a way to end the day. After spending some time appreciating the architecture and artwork in the Blue Mosque, we walked out and realized Wai lost her Ray Bans. :(

2010-08-04T12:45:00.000-07:00

Tel Aviv, Israel

Waves crashing on the sunset in Yerushalyim Beach

Having gone through Tel Aviv I would have to say it felt like New York with a beach , oh and toss in more humidity too. With no historical value here the guide book recommends shopping, going to the beach, and partying. So we hit up the beach for half a day first thing and watched the sunset. From the limited sampling of the food here I think Tel Aviv has the possibility to be on par with Los Angeles culinary. One thing I did love is that every corner you can find a gelato shop.

2010-08-02T16:03:00.000-07:00

Bethlehem, Israel

Dove of peace strapped with a bulletproof vest by Banksy.

I made a day trip from Jerusalem to visit Bethlehem. Checked out the church where Jesus was born. But what really interested me was the divide between Isreal and Palestine territories. I walked around looking for art work by Banksy, a secrative grafitti artist who's become infamous for his work. This piece was posted close to the Isreal West Bank entrance on a store front.

Walking to the entrance of Isreal.

Wai and I walked along the West Bank Wall on the inside of Bethlehem for a while checking out different types of street art.

A slogan written on the West Bank Wall near the gate.

2010-07-30T17:26:00.001-07:00

New Jerusalem, Israel

Walking along one of the isles of Mahane Yehuda Market.

This post deserves four pictures because, well it just does.

My two favorite things of Isreal are these two things, Topolino and Mahane Yehuda Market. Topolino is at the corner of the market which I assume where it aquires it's fresh food. If I could live in any place it would be next to any market like this. There's three long rows of these which have fresh fish, meats, fruits, vegetables, spices, pasteries, breads, dried goods, cheese, chocolates, nuts, and candies.

Girl asking her mom for pasteries in Mahan Yehuda Market.

Fresh sardine bruchetta with garlic, herbs, tomatoes and fresh buffalo mozzarella.

So we fell in love with this place that we ended up going here two nights in a row. The place is owned by a couple who when not cooking or serving food are sitting in front of their restaurant smoking a cigerate and having coffee. The first night we got their home made raviollies filled with ricotta and smoked salmon or ricotta and artichoke with an apatizer of the fresh sardine bruchetta. The next night Wai just got the bruchetta and civeche to her self and I got the Gnocci. Mind you i really don't care for gnocchi but this one the owner recommended. It was amazing. I would come back to Isreal just for this place.

Gnocchi alla Romana and fresh buffalo mozzarella served in tomato and basil sauce.

2010-07-30T02:16:00.000-07:00

Old Jerusalem, Israel

Jewish Quarter - Western Wailing Wall

I have never seen a such a strong mixture of religions and cultures in one spot. The Old Jerusalem city is split between Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and Armanian quarters. The wailing wall is the last remaining portion of the second temple. You'll notice all the Orthodox Jewish men give their sorrows on the left and women on the right.

Muslim Quarter - Temple Mount

Non muslims can only enter through the main gate, we are restricted to certain hours, and we can not enter the temple. We waitied like tourists in front of the Western wall munching on felaffel and lemonade until we were let in. You can see this golden dome from almost anywhere in the city. This temple has multiple importances to different religions which is probably too long to describe here.

Christian Quarter - Ceiling of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Ethiopianm, and coptic churches believe that Jesus was crucified, buried, and resurrected here. I still have trouble pronunciating Sepulchre. It's so easy to get lost in the old city, the streets are narrow and filled with souqs. So everywhere you go people are always trying to get your attention and yelling "Japonese!? Korean?! Where you going?" trying to sell you their wares. So it's nice to come to a peacful church and not be disturbed.

2010-07-29T14:21:00.000-07:00

Amman, Jordan

Mint Lemonade icy served at Wild Jordan Cafe

Probably one of the most common drinks that you'll catch us with, a lemonade with mint. Served as an icy with minced mint is even better. We knew that Wadi meant valley from Wadi Rum. As we explored Amman on foot we found out the hard way that Jebel means mountain, or hill, or some high point requiring many steps and uphill efforts. We found pretty good food in Amman and very refreshing mint lemonades at the end of the treks.

2010-07-28T13:35:00.000-07:00

Petra, Jordan

As-siq at night with candel lit bags

After our adventures in Wadi Rum we went with Keesh and Jolanda to Petra for two nights. We found that they were doing a night show of petra when we got there. We walked a mile in the Al-siq only lit by little paper bags with candels in them. Everyone walked in silence through these towering sand stone walls.

Petra Treasury at night lit by candel light.

As we neared the end of the crevace I spotteda pillar off in the distance and i couldn't but help hum the Indiana Jones song to myself. It opened up to the treasury lit by hundreds of these paper candle bags. We were sat down on mats and then one person sitting in the middle of the candels began to play a string instrument, then a flutist took over, and then a story teller. We sipped tea and watched the moon hoover above and dissapear into the wall.

Al-Deir Monastery at the top of Petra

The next day we did two hikes, one to the very top where the Monastery sits. Then on the way back we went to the high place of sacrafice. I would not recommend doing both hikes in the middle of the day. Both sights were spectacular though. The carving into the sand stone of the monastary was just as amazing as the treasury. Petra is packed with monuments and tombs carved into the sand stone walls. The guide book was right, if there's one thing you do in Jordan, you have to visit Petra.

2010-07-27T15:01:00.001-07:00

Rum Wadi, Jordan

Wai and Keesh standing on top of Umm Fruth Rock Bridge

After visiting a few places in Jordan, this place, Rum Wadi, would be a reason for me to come back. We only spent one night here and a quick few hours for each day touring the rocks and sights. As the sun set we sipped on tea and nibbled on biscuits. sat around the camp fire and talked to the people staying there. They prepared a home cooked meal for us which was great. The guide brought out mats and pads for us to sleep on under the starry sky. The Wadi is so huge I feel like I could spend at least a weekend if not a week here exploring the mountains and canyons. There's supposed to be good climbing here however i didn't get much of a chance to boulder. Next time.

Standing in front of our camp site at night

Let me warn you of their taxi/guide setup. The taxi we took here from the border was a nightmare. We paired up with a dutch couple (Jolande and Keesh) to split the costs. We told the driver we needed to go to an ATM so we could pay him and then proceed to the visitor center. He took us to a broken ATM right past the Aquba city limits and wouldn't take us to another one saying we were past the city. He tries to trick us by bringing us to another camp site when we already scheduled one. Then yells at us to pay him when we make him bring us back to visitor center where we're supposed to meet our guide. Before we make it back to the center the competing guide took his jeep and cut us off just to convince us we should go with him. Shady business I tell ya.

One of the few springs found in the Wadi

2010-07-26T15:35:00.000-07:00

Mt. Sinai, Egypt

5:00AM

5:45AM

6:00AM

We jumped into a taxi and drove to Mt. Sinai at midnight. Trekked through the mountains, battled endless amounts of tourists with their flash lights, and dodged as many camel droppings as you can in the dark. I bet Moses didn't have to deal with the later two. Either way, I'd have to say it was one of the most beautiful sights I've seen. We even claimed a nice spot on a cliff with a lower tier of rocks that I climbed down to and laid down. The sky was clear, you could see the milky way. Slowly the stars faded away, the silhouette of the mountains became defined, and then that giant ball of energy showed it's face over the clouds.

I ended up taking a picture every 5 minutes for one hour in the same location. Check out my photos later when I sort my pictures after my travels.

2010-07-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

Dahab, Egypt

Snorkeling at Lighthouse point in Dahab

The past few days consisted of scuba diving, drinking mango smoothies, smoking mint Sheesha, and drinking Egyptian beer. After all that hard work, I decided to take it easy, haha. I had the option to join kristoffer in his 100th dive or rest up for the night hike at midnight. I can tell you that I missed out on a tall skinny Norwegian guy scuba diving with a viking helmet that says "100th dive" strapped to his chin, using an underwater scooter, and completely butt naked. So, I opted to rest and go snorkeling. I haven't mastered taking photos while holding my breath underwater while snorkeling, so please excuse the blurriness.

Our first picture at a different place called "friends". We always went to this place called Yalla which means "lets go" in Arabic. The new place was infested with cats and the waiters would give us spray bottles to scare them away. In the picture we have (from left to right) Me, Wai, Deepak, Kristoffer, and Siri. We met Deepak in Luxor at our hostel and explored Luxor together in the heat. We met Kristoffer and Siri on the bus to Dahab and we all became friends after complaining about the 21 hour/poorly air conditioned bus ride.

I have to say, if you do go to Egypt, make Dahab the last stop because you'll love it.

2010-07-24T01:35:00.001-07:00

Blue Hole, Egypt

Random diver in the Blue Hole

I paired up with Kristoffer the Norwegian rescue scuba diver I met on the bus to do scuba diving. One of the annoying regulations for diving in Egypt is that when you rent gear you need a guide. The first day we did our refresh course right in the bay of Dahab. The second day we took a 15 minute drive north and did the Bells to Blue Hole drift dive and then Rick's Reef. For the non scuba divers they just drifted while snorkeling above us. The water was crystal clear and had amazing amounts of life.

Rick's Reef

Going head first down a three sided chimney for 25 meters opened up to sheer cliff. We drifted over to the Blue Hole which is infamious for being one of the most dangerous dives because it's about 200 meters deep. It has a tomb stone of all the divers that died trying to reach the bottom and do the arch at the entrance to it. Supposedly a woman last week just died trying to dive it.

Ricks Reef.

Our second dive at Ricks reef was a simple 15 meters deep dive which lasted for about an hour. Technically it was a drift dive from Rick's Reef to the Canyon, but since I was concentrating on photos, I didn't go into the Canyon.

2010-07-23T14:55:00.000-07:00

Luxor, Egypt

Crossing the Nile to the Luxor's West bank

If you wake up early enough you can catch the hot air ballon rides on the West bank. We opted to take a different perspective and view the hillsides where all the kings and queens are burried. hired a cab to take us to the Valley of the Kings, Hatshepsut, and Valley of the Queens. I don't think i fully enjoyed the trip into Valley of the kings because they forced us to leave our cameras with our cab driver. We gave him extra tip when we came back and it was still there. Half of the tombs we wanted to see were still being dug or closed off for reconstruction. Supposedly the spot of the valley of the kings was choosen so that no one would find these tombs, but of course peopole raided the treasures meant for the afterlife and now it's dug up for tourism.

At the bottom of Hatshepsut

2010-07-23T06:39:00.000-07:00

Luxor, Egypt

Reconstructed pillars in the center of Temple of Karnak.

Looking for Wai in these pillars.

If I had one wish, it would to make it standard for all countries to use the metric system. I rarely convert kilos to pounds, inches to centimeters, deg F to C. Anyway, the hottest day in Luxor was 49 deg C which is about 120 deg F. Said to have felt like 130 degrees. We even avoided the hottest part of the day by visiting the air conditioned Luxor museum.

Around 5:30 we headed to Temple of Karnak and it still felt like we had waterfalls of sweat. Even my sandals began to melt and fall apart! If I ever go back to Luxor I would spend more time in the temple of Karnak. Walking through the giant pillars, rows of statues, towering obleisks, and endless amounts of hieroglyphics. It covers about two square kilometers and we only saw maybe a third of it.

After we ran out of water, our only Oasis was a clean air conditioned Mc Donalds. I hate McD. In the US they're awful, internationally they're considered high class... I just don't understand. This one has multiple levels with windows that looks over the Luxor temple. I'm sad to say I enjoyed an Oreo McFlurry and an ice cold sprite looking out at the temple.
Sorry, these posts are out of order. I have had very limited connection between now and Egypt. I'm currently @ the Dead Sea in Jordan.

2010-07-18T01:22:00.001-07:00

Dahab, Egypt

Fresh seafood.

We bought tickets from Luxor to Dahab for an air conditioned bus that takes fourteen hours. For the first ten hours of the trip it seemed like the air condition didn't work. The fourteen hours became twenty one hours. It was full of egyptions teenagers boys who would chain smoke every break the bus took. Even though they would smoke off the bus, the driver would smoke on the bus. When gassing up the driver would close the doors on us and smoke by the pump and then toss the cigerette on the dirt and gas soaked floor.

Night view of Dahab.

However going through that bus from hell, it allowed us to bond to a few other backpackers including one we previously met in Luxor. When we arrived in Dahab it seemed like heaven. The skies were clear and the wind was refreshing. We felt like we deserved to splurge so we went to the recommended seafood joint. We had a rooftop view of the red sea, fresh sea food, and good company.

Apple Sheesha and Mint/Hibiscus tea in the outdoor lounge of our hostel.

2010-07-13T10:09:00.000-07:00

Luxor, Egypt

Sunset on the Nile river riding a fulecca.

We took a Felluca boat trip for a few hours. I expected more of a rustic type boat with a historic feeling, but rather they were a semi-modern type of sail boat with space for a handful of passengers. Also to go upstream they used a tug boat to take us to this island they call Banana Island. We weren't too interested and just chatted with the locals on the bank as they smoked shisha. The wind wasn't in our favor so we rowed a little bit. And then just drifted back using the current of the river as we watched the sun set.

Beautiful lamps sold in the Souq

When we left Banana Island we realized Wai lost her hat in the bottom of the Nile. :( So we set forth to look for one in the Souq but of course we couldn't find anything we wanted. The only thing that did catch our eye was these intricate lamps.

2010-07-12T15:06:00.000-07:00

Abu Simbel, Egypt

Jumping for joy in front of the Temple of Hathor

Quick run down.

3:00 Answer wake up call with a confused and repetitive "what"?
3:30 Jump into van with breakfast box
4:00 Wait for convoy. Apparently we need escorts down to the border.
7:00 Arrive at Abu Simbel and cause a ruckus running around with cameras.

In front of the Great Temple of Abu Simbel

10:00 Depart back to Aswan
13:00 Check out high damn
13:01 Waste 10 Egyption Pounds on tickets and head to next spot
13:15 Haggle boat ride to Philae Temple

Hieroglyphics inside the Temple of Philae

15:00 After boat ride back down one liter of cold orange soda after boat
15:15 Stop at Unfinished Obelisk.
15:16 Get back into air conditioned van...

2010-07-10T08:46:00.000-07:00

Aswan, Egypt

We haven't explored Aswan too much mainly because of the heat. Right now I'm sitting in my air conditioned room of 72 degrees because outside it's 104. We did walk around the As-souq an-Nil last night and this morning. I have to say the feeling of the streets are so much nicer than the craziness of Cairo. Using our guide book we set out for some lunch before the heat was too much. After three unsuccessful tries due to unlabeled streets or closed for restoration signs we walked back to the As-souq. We passed some butcher shops, bakeries, and spice stores and found a hidden jem. I forget the name but it looked like a hole in the wall in the back of an ally way. We got falafel meals with lemon juice and sprite. which turned out to be amazingly good. bread with light dipping sauce, tomato-cucumber-pepper salad, rice, vegetable stew and then our main dish. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Yes i take pictures of food.

2010-07-08T09:39:00.000-07:00

Dashur/Saqqura/Giza, Egypt

Inside the Red Pyramid in Dashur. (like the finger jam/chimney move?)

Yesterday we visited a handful of pyramids starting an hour away from Cairo. Which puts us at Dahshur where we walked into the Red Pyramid. Hiked up to about 23 meters and then found ourselves in this chute that just went straight back down where we had to be hunched over the entire time. When we reached the bottom it smelled like Formaldehyde from 6th grade science class probably due to the mold on the ceiling.

We also visited Memphis for the open air museum and Saqqura for the Step Pyramid (not shown)

Wai walking up to the entrance of the Great Pyramid of Khufu

Once we finally made it to Giza the Great Pyramid of Khufu was towering over the endless apartment buildings. Technically there's 9 pyramids in this area, but the three main ones are Khufu, Khafre, and Menkaure. Walking up to these giants made us question the engineering and techology of these ancient civilizations. Built 146.5 meters high around 2600 B.C.... really?

Wai and I in front of the Pyramid of Khufu.

2010-07-07T14:50:00.000-07:00

Cairo, Egypt

Inside the Mosque of Mohammed Ali.

Walking around the mosque inside the Citadel around Old Cairo. I walked around the Citadel where this mosque sits right in the middle of it. It overlooks all of Cairo from a hill. When you enter the courtyard they make you take off your shoes. Just don't leave your shoes on the carpet like I did, they'll yell at you.

2010-07-06T13:43:00.000-07:00

Cairo, Egypt

Islamic Cairo Bazaar.

Wai and I pushing our way through the small streets of the Islamic Cairo Bazaar. Everyone would yell Koichiwa at us. If they didnt think we were Japanese, they would say "one dolla", "what you looking for?", "come here" and grab my arms. We decided to look for this famous place for tea/drinks/hookah. After making a few circles and getting lost, we made a turn in this laberynth and out of nowhere popped up this alleyway with a big sign for it with seats in the patio. We quickly sat down to fill up on lemonade and mango drinks. Completely relaxing and refreshing. I'm not one for smoking much but the smell of flavored hookah was actually pretty nice.

2010-07-05T12:53:00.001-07:00

Cairo, Egypt

Cairo Tower from the Nile.

After what seemed like for ever in the airplane i finally made it to Cairo safe and sound. A few things to note: Theres never a trash can when you need one, you have to play chicken with the cars when crossing the streets, and the people are extremely friendly.

When I landed the hostel I'm staying at had someone pick me up. Probably the scariest car ride I've ever had. I think he drove faster and faster just to see if he could make me squeal. When i arrived at the hostel I walked up maybe eight flights of dimly lit and dusty stairs. At the top I saw my good friend Wai who I haven't seen for ages. We grabbed some food, caught up, and walked around the Nile until the sun set.