Its been a month and a half since I updated on here, and the last update was to tell you that I was going to finish my stories at some point, and a month and a half before that I updated to tell you that I would at some point finish my stories. So its been 3 months since I last told you that I would, at some point, finish my stories. Well my plan is to work diligently over Thanksgiving break to finish my stories. So if you weren't excited enough for Thanksgiving already, now you even have wonderful tales of adventure and excitement to look forward to.
This semester has been what I believe to be the most challenging time of my entire life. For what is really the first time in my life I've put in 110% effort to everything I've done and not succeeded. My GPA is hurt, I still don't have a job, I'm out of shape, certain friendships have sacrificed due to increased focus on other areas of life, and I can't seem to stop questioning what my life is/will be all about. I just can't seem to figure out career paths, life decisions, future studies, relationships, and many other things right now. Its been a tremendous personal struggle for me lately. And as pessimistic as this all sounds, I'm super thankful for all of it. I feel that all of this struggling and weighing of options and searching for meaning and fighting for success has helped me to grow as a person more than I ever have before. I've been forced to recognize what I need and want to do, and really just go for it. My priorities have had to adapt and I've learned what it means to really be determined. At the same time I'm beginning to see how my mind really works and how it is affecting the person I've been, am, and will become. I think I'm turning into an adult. Gross.
I guess this whole growing up thing is cool, but its super difficult and I really just want it to be winter break so I can snowboard and play my drums already. Plus I think next semester is going to be way cooler. I'm only going to have classes on Tuesday and Thursday, and I'm finally going to be able to take my first elective in college (a psychology/neuroscience/biology class called Mind and Brain).
That's my current life in a nutshell. I'm happy I got to write all that down, these are the types of things I'd like to use this blog as after I'm done writing about South America. Maybe I'll see some of you next week. I'm super excited for Thanksgiving, its easily my favorite holiday. Thanks for reading, please stay tuned!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Monday, September 27, 2010
September Update
Dear Followers,
I understand that over a month ago I promised to finish my posts on the roadtrip. This school year has been incredibly busy and stressful. I've been struggling to get more than 6 hours of sleep each night, let alone time to continue to write. To be honest I really wish I could not only finish my tales, but write leisurely on this page. The next few weeks are packed with tests, job applications, interviews, information sessions, group projects, homework, and general oddjobs to take care of. That being said, I do promise to finish my stories. While waiting for the shuttle to take me to the airport in Buenos Aires the day I left South America, I wrote what will be the final reflection post of my blogs for the South American Adventure. The post is something that means a lot to me and I want to share it with all of you, but I can't post it until I have finished the stories. That is my motivation to fulfill my promise to you.
Until leisure time arrives, head over to my photo page to look at a brand new album containing all 547 pictures I took while driving across the continent and back again.
Have a wonderful fall, and really, stay tuned for more stories.
-Dan
I understand that over a month ago I promised to finish my posts on the roadtrip. This school year has been incredibly busy and stressful. I've been struggling to get more than 6 hours of sleep each night, let alone time to continue to write. To be honest I really wish I could not only finish my tales, but write leisurely on this page. The next few weeks are packed with tests, job applications, interviews, information sessions, group projects, homework, and general oddjobs to take care of. That being said, I do promise to finish my stories. While waiting for the shuttle to take me to the airport in Buenos Aires the day I left South America, I wrote what will be the final reflection post of my blogs for the South American Adventure. The post is something that means a lot to me and I want to share it with all of you, but I can't post it until I have finished the stories. That is my motivation to fulfill my promise to you.
Until leisure time arrives, head over to my photo page to look at a brand new album containing all 547 pictures I took while driving across the continent and back again.
Have a wonderful fall, and really, stay tuned for more stories.
-Dan
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Summer Update
Hello everybody. I'm really sorry that I haven't continued to post on here since I got home. I was busy with family for a while, then I was away, then more family, and now I'm studying for a final I have on Friday. Right after the final guess what, I'm going away with family. Crazy, right? Luckily, once Sunday comes around I have absolutely no obligations except to sit by my pool and listen to music. That's when I'll probably continue to write these fantastic stories. So stay tuned!
Monday, August 2, 2010
Lake Titicaca and my last post written in South America
August is finally here! As much as I would love this incredible experience in South America to continue, I cannot wait for my flight home in 2 days. It's been over 6 months since I left the USofA and I don't think I could miss it more. Thoughts of warm weather, the beach, family, and friends have taken over my brain and made me extremely eager to come home. Right now we're driving from Tucuman to Cordoba, Argentina where i'll catch a bus back to Buenos Aires to grab my stuff and say my final farewell before my flight on Wednesday night. Now to continue my tale:
On July 15th we arrived in Copacabana, Bolivia on the shores of Lake Titicaca. It's a small town entirely run off of tourism. We talked with an agent for a few minutes and planned out the next couple of days, which would be spent on the Isla del Sol in the middle of the lake.
We took an hour and a half boat ride out to the island where we were met by a swarm of local businesschildren who all told us glorious fabrications of how their hostel was better than the rest. We followed one particularly portly young boy up some winding staircases to a house overlooking the port and lake.
This is when we learned the facts of the Isla del Sol. Lake Titicaca (which honestly should be considered a sea because even after driving for literally hours along its coast, you can't seem to find where it ends) is located at 3800 meters of altitude, or over 12000ft. Imagine putting a sea at the top of the Rocky Mountains and you'll get the idea. Climbing the stairs to the hostel with our bags almost made us all pass out, and the hostel was maybe a tenth of the way up one of the massive mountains that comprise the island.
We dropped our bags off and decided to go explore the island. At the pace of mud and with stops for air every 7 steps, Dave, Max, and I checked out the Incan ruins of the Templo del Sol for a bit and then hiked back towards the village located at 4060 meters (13000+ feet) high at the top of the mountain above the port. There we met Malcolm, who had made some friends who invited us to have a beer and watch the sunset from the peak overlooking the hilly western end of the island and lake, so we did that. It was beautiful. As the freezing cold and blinding darkness set in we headed back to the hostel, getting semi-lost and almost dieing on the climb down. When we arrived a pleasant old lady made us a delicious dinner of fresh trout and rice.
The next day we took another long boat ride to the north end of the island, again almost passing out as we found a hostel. We decided to take a nice hike, however I was actually fairly sick with a fever and congestion from the lack of showering/heat at night/oxygen in the preceeding few days, so Max and I decided to make a shorter loop around the top of the island and come into the port from the other end as Dave and Malcolm continued on. We ended up finding some big rocks towards the peak where we sat and talked and relaxed for a long while before going to find lunch by the port.
That night we learned the further truth of the island: there's only one set of powerlines connecting the island to the mainland, and the wind often disrupts them. As if no heat or hot water (or barely even running water) were not enough, now there was no electricity on the entire island. The restaurant we went to was the only one open and only had soup for food left, so we enjoyed that by candlelight. That night I slept wearing my alpaca-wool hat, gloves, and socks because our mud hut with thatched roof wasn't exactly warm or conducive to my healthy recovery.
The next morning we took the boat back to Copacabana and there boarded the bus to Puno, Peru. Those tales in the next post. See you in 3 days!
On July 15th we arrived in Copacabana, Bolivia on the shores of Lake Titicaca. It's a small town entirely run off of tourism. We talked with an agent for a few minutes and planned out the next couple of days, which would be spent on the Isla del Sol in the middle of the lake.
We took an hour and a half boat ride out to the island where we were met by a swarm of local businesschildren who all told us glorious fabrications of how their hostel was better than the rest. We followed one particularly portly young boy up some winding staircases to a house overlooking the port and lake.
This is when we learned the facts of the Isla del Sol. Lake Titicaca (which honestly should be considered a sea because even after driving for literally hours along its coast, you can't seem to find where it ends) is located at 3800 meters of altitude, or over 12000ft. Imagine putting a sea at the top of the Rocky Mountains and you'll get the idea. Climbing the stairs to the hostel with our bags almost made us all pass out, and the hostel was maybe a tenth of the way up one of the massive mountains that comprise the island.
We dropped our bags off and decided to go explore the island. At the pace of mud and with stops for air every 7 steps, Dave, Max, and I checked out the Incan ruins of the Templo del Sol for a bit and then hiked back towards the village located at 4060 meters (13000+ feet) high at the top of the mountain above the port. There we met Malcolm, who had made some friends who invited us to have a beer and watch the sunset from the peak overlooking the hilly western end of the island and lake, so we did that. It was beautiful. As the freezing cold and blinding darkness set in we headed back to the hostel, getting semi-lost and almost dieing on the climb down. When we arrived a pleasant old lady made us a delicious dinner of fresh trout and rice.
The next day we took another long boat ride to the north end of the island, again almost passing out as we found a hostel. We decided to take a nice hike, however I was actually fairly sick with a fever and congestion from the lack of showering/heat at night/oxygen in the preceeding few days, so Max and I decided to make a shorter loop around the top of the island and come into the port from the other end as Dave and Malcolm continued on. We ended up finding some big rocks towards the peak where we sat and talked and relaxed for a long while before going to find lunch by the port.
That night we learned the further truth of the island: there's only one set of powerlines connecting the island to the mainland, and the wind often disrupts them. As if no heat or hot water (or barely even running water) were not enough, now there was no electricity on the entire island. The restaurant we went to was the only one open and only had soup for food left, so we enjoyed that by candlelight. That night I slept wearing my alpaca-wool hat, gloves, and socks because our mud hut with thatched roof wasn't exactly warm or conducive to my healthy recovery.
The next morning we took the boat back to Copacabana and there boarded the bus to Puno, Peru. Those tales in the next post. See you in 3 days!
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Escrito en tranvia
Right now I'm on a train from Oruro to Villazon, Bolivia. We're heading into the last leg of the trip- returning now to Salta to get the truck and then heading west into the Chile for about 5 days before making our way back east. A ton has happened in the past 2 and a half weeks and it feels like we left on this trip 2 months ago. I'll pick up where I left off last time.
We arrived in Uyuni after that tortuous bus ride and searched out a hotel with some space. Bolivia is about as third world as you can get in most of it, so our hotel had no heat or hot water, and it's located at about 10000ft in a desert so nights get a little chilly. First thing we did was outfit ourselves head to toe in winter alpaca clothes, for a total of about $15 US dollars. That night we went to a bar called Extreme Fun Bar which was actually extremely fun. They had some pretty crazy drinks and very crude names/ways of serving them.
The next day we headed out on a tour of the famous Bolivian salt flats. A local guy picked us up in a Land Cruiser and first drove us to an old train cemetary where there were tons of old broken down locomotives laying in the middle of the desert. Then we drove to where they had a small village of salt packaging houses, which were also made out of salt. We discovered some of the coolest hats ever in a store back in Uyuni, and in this village there were plenty more of them so each of us got some (8 between 4 of us). We continued on and saw a salt hotel (building, beds, etc made of salt) that is now a museum, and then drove about 45 minutes more across the salt flats to the center (I think our guide said the flats we were on were about 11500 square kilometers, but I have no way of checking that on this train so I could be way off) where there is a spot of actual earth called Fish Island. There we had lunch and took some perspective pictures and played cards for a bit before returning to Uyuni. After a tasty 2 course dinner that cost us $1.45, we took a bus to Bolivia's capital city of La Paz, using it as a transfer hub to continue directly to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca. That and more stories to come.
Things I want to say but don't know how to include in the post:
- We are way too big for Bolivia. We hit our heads an average of 2.5 times per day. I hold the record high with 6 times in one day.
- As we have now traveled a large amount in Bolivia, weve discovered that there is almost no comfortable way of transporting yourself around the country.
- Bolivian authorities are not nice. I have a long story to support that claim, if I can manage to fit a reasonably sized version of it in a post, I'll do it.
- Bathrooms are not often sanitary here and there is rarely hot water. We have gone a few days at a time without showering or comfortably relieving ourselves to this point. With my long hair (which is actually pretty curly) and not showering for 5 days at one point, it turned to kind of loose dread locks.
- I finished The Sound and the Fury. Tough read, but enjoyable. I also crushed the Davinci Code in like 3 days, that book was incredible. I tried to start The Road to Jerusalem, book 1 from the Crusades Trilogy, but after 45 pages of incredibly dry text and a warning from my friend that it doesn't change too much I abandoned that. I think tomorrow I'm gonna start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
That's all I can think of for now. There's wifi in our hostel in Salta so I'll have this and hopefully another post up within the next day. Later
We arrived in Uyuni after that tortuous bus ride and searched out a hotel with some space. Bolivia is about as third world as you can get in most of it, so our hotel had no heat or hot water, and it's located at about 10000ft in a desert so nights get a little chilly. First thing we did was outfit ourselves head to toe in winter alpaca clothes, for a total of about $15 US dollars. That night we went to a bar called Extreme Fun Bar which was actually extremely fun. They had some pretty crazy drinks and very crude names/ways of serving them.
The next day we headed out on a tour of the famous Bolivian salt flats. A local guy picked us up in a Land Cruiser and first drove us to an old train cemetary where there were tons of old broken down locomotives laying in the middle of the desert. Then we drove to where they had a small village of salt packaging houses, which were also made out of salt. We discovered some of the coolest hats ever in a store back in Uyuni, and in this village there were plenty more of them so each of us got some (8 between 4 of us). We continued on and saw a salt hotel (building, beds, etc made of salt) that is now a museum, and then drove about 45 minutes more across the salt flats to the center (I think our guide said the flats we were on were about 11500 square kilometers, but I have no way of checking that on this train so I could be way off) where there is a spot of actual earth called Fish Island. There we had lunch and took some perspective pictures and played cards for a bit before returning to Uyuni. After a tasty 2 course dinner that cost us $1.45, we took a bus to Bolivia's capital city of La Paz, using it as a transfer hub to continue directly to Copacabana on the shores of Lake Titicaca. That and more stories to come.
Things I want to say but don't know how to include in the post:
- We are way too big for Bolivia. We hit our heads an average of 2.5 times per day. I hold the record high with 6 times in one day.
- As we have now traveled a large amount in Bolivia, weve discovered that there is almost no comfortable way of transporting yourself around the country.
- Bolivian authorities are not nice. I have a long story to support that claim, if I can manage to fit a reasonably sized version of it in a post, I'll do it.
- Bathrooms are not often sanitary here and there is rarely hot water. We have gone a few days at a time without showering or comfortably relieving ourselves to this point. With my long hair (which is actually pretty curly) and not showering for 5 days at one point, it turned to kind of loose dread locks.
- I finished The Sound and the Fury. Tough read, but enjoyable. I also crushed the Davinci Code in like 3 days, that book was incredible. I tried to start The Road to Jerusalem, book 1 from the Crusades Trilogy, but after 45 pages of incredibly dry text and a warning from my friend that it doesn't change too much I abandoned that. I think tomorrow I'm gonna start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.
That's all I can think of for now. There's wifi in our hostel in Salta so I'll have this and hopefully another post up within the next day. Later
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Another update from the road
What's happening everybody? Right now I'm in the bus terminal in Puno, Peru with the guys waiting for our bus to Cusco. Playing cards has gotten old so I'm gonna start writing some posts on the trip thus far. We were supposed to leave last Friday but there were some complications with the truck and the insurance company, so we left on saturday morning. We took the ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia, Uruguay then a bus to Montevideo then another bus to a small town in the north of Uruguay called Melo. We stayed with a man named Mauricio who is the manager of max's dad's farm in the town. He was super hospitable and helped us prepare the truck, our route, and gave us some advice on where to stay.
We took off in the truck on Sunday morning, driving all the way across Uruguay to a place called Salto where we crossed the border into Argentina. From there we went north to Corrientes and spent the night. Monday we drove from Corrientes straight west to Salta, stopping in a few tiny pueblos for food along the way. We found a long term garage for the truck which cost us only $50 for 2 weeks, about the same as you pay for a beer at a Yankees game. We hung out and explored Salta for a few hours before our bus to La Quiaca on the Bolivian border. Max and I found this cool 99 year old liquor store that had hundreds of old beer cans and liquors and other cool stuff. I think my dad would have found it really interesting. I also had lost my copy of Fahrenheit 451 on the bus, so we stopped in a bookstore to get something for the long bus rides. I got The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. If any of you have read it you'll know that it's a very difficult read, so I'm pushing through it with a little bit of trouble.
We arrived at La Quiaca at about 630am and it was unimaginably cold. We walked across the border to Villazon only to find out that Bolivian migrations doesn't open until 730am, so we stood, extremely unprepared for the cold, on the sidewalk for a while until they let us in. There's absolutely nothing to do in Villazon so we just grabbed some food and outfitted ourselves with a ton of winter alpaca clothes for a total of about $15.
We then took a bus to Uyuni, Bolivia. The bus ride there was more than interesting. It was supposed to be 8 hours long, but as not a single road in Bolivia is paved, it took about 11. And 11 hours of very twisty off-roading across the mountains in seats that we absolutely didn't fit in. It was really miserable.
I need to head down to the gate for the bus now, but next time I'm sitting around and don't feel like tormenting my brain with that book I'll post again. Enjoy the summer everybody, don't take it for granted. Trust me, you'd miss it if you couldnt have it.
Ps- I actually wrote this post a few days ago, we've explored Peru and are actually back in Bolivia now. The problem is I can only update this blog with these posts from my ipod when I have wifi, which isn't exactly a common thing here, so the posts will all be kinda far behind. I'll keep writing when I have time. Real time update- we're in La Paz until Saturday then doing a 3 day tour in the Amazon.
We took off in the truck on Sunday morning, driving all the way across Uruguay to a place called Salto where we crossed the border into Argentina. From there we went north to Corrientes and spent the night. Monday we drove from Corrientes straight west to Salta, stopping in a few tiny pueblos for food along the way. We found a long term garage for the truck which cost us only $50 for 2 weeks, about the same as you pay for a beer at a Yankees game. We hung out and explored Salta for a few hours before our bus to La Quiaca on the Bolivian border. Max and I found this cool 99 year old liquor store that had hundreds of old beer cans and liquors and other cool stuff. I think my dad would have found it really interesting. I also had lost my copy of Fahrenheit 451 on the bus, so we stopped in a bookstore to get something for the long bus rides. I got The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. If any of you have read it you'll know that it's a very difficult read, so I'm pushing through it with a little bit of trouble.
We arrived at La Quiaca at about 630am and it was unimaginably cold. We walked across the border to Villazon only to find out that Bolivian migrations doesn't open until 730am, so we stood, extremely unprepared for the cold, on the sidewalk for a while until they let us in. There's absolutely nothing to do in Villazon so we just grabbed some food and outfitted ourselves with a ton of winter alpaca clothes for a total of about $15.
We then took a bus to Uyuni, Bolivia. The bus ride there was more than interesting. It was supposed to be 8 hours long, but as not a single road in Bolivia is paved, it took about 11. And 11 hours of very twisty off-roading across the mountains in seats that we absolutely didn't fit in. It was really miserable.
I need to head down to the gate for the bus now, but next time I'm sitting around and don't feel like tormenting my brain with that book I'll post again. Enjoy the summer everybody, don't take it for granted. Trust me, you'd miss it if you couldnt have it.
Ps- I actually wrote this post a few days ago, we've explored Peru and are actually back in Bolivia now. The problem is I can only update this blog with these posts from my ipod when I have wifi, which isn't exactly a common thing here, so the posts will all be kinda far behind. I'll keep writing when I have time. Real time update- we're in La Paz until Saturday then doing a 3 day tour in the Amazon.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
One for the road
I've got some extra time now as we drive through gaucho country in the middle of nowhere, Uruguay. I figure I can use this time to write that long awaited post using my iPod touch. So here it goes. I'm going to make one list of all the things I can't wait for in the USA and another list of all the things I'm going to miss about Argentina. Enjoy!
Things I'm excited for in the USA:
-My own house
-Family and friends
- the beach
- my pool
- little vincents at 2am
- delis
- my drums!
- blueberry pie
- my bed
- toilets that flush with some force/toilets that flush/toilets that stop flushing
- efficient/reliable banks
- peanut butter
- ny pizza and bagels
- driving in my car
- good gyms
- milk in cartons
- fast reliable Internet
- text messaging without worrying about wasting your credit
- clean sidewalks
- not having to say "como?"
- word variety
- life being in English
- good old fashioned greenbacks (that's US dollars)
- an abundancy of coins, or the fact that i don't have to stress about not having any
- clean air
- unlimited free water in restaurants
- canned beer
- not wearing the same clothes all the time
- having a printer
- never being at a loss for words (it actually happens to me down here)
- Boston College!
- people not looking at me funny because something about me or something I'm doing is clearly foreign
- not having a marching band wake me up at 8am every day
Things I'm going to miss about Argentina:
- All of the incredible people I've met here
- the never ending parties
- choripans, milanesas, and the beef
- incredible patriotism
- not having any responsibility
- monopoly with the guys
- boliches
- sporadic vacations to amazing destinations
- asados
- low prices
- situations that make me say "what the HELL is going on right now?"
- everybody being laid back and doing there own thing without having to worry
- being taller than everybody
- alfajoreos
- real dancing
- quilmes
-such an enthusiastic and passionate culture
- being excused from stuff because I'm the stupid gringo that doesn't know what's going on
- kissing hello/expected bro-love and affection
- hostels
- living simply
- being able to have anything at all delivered to your door
- not having to shave or cut my hair
- cheap cabs
- 30 minutes away being close by
- crazy futbol fans
- the view from my apartment
- generally never worrying about anything and people that don't either
- hanging out being the national pasttime
- empanadas
- my cell phone not being a necesity
That's all I can think of right now (and i assume that's all anybody wants to read) but I assure you theres more i could think of for both lists. We're crossing the border into Argentina soon and spending the night in Corrientes before heading to Salta tomorrow morning. Catch up with you later.
Things I'm excited for in the USA:
-My own house
-Family and friends
- the beach
- my pool
- little vincents at 2am
- delis
- my drums!
- blueberry pie
- my bed
- toilets that flush with some force/toilets that flush/toilets that stop flushing
- efficient/reliable banks
- peanut butter
- ny pizza and bagels
- driving in my car
- good gyms
- milk in cartons
- fast reliable Internet
- text messaging without worrying about wasting your credit
- clean sidewalks
- not having to say "como?"
- word variety
- life being in English
- good old fashioned greenbacks (that's US dollars)
- an abundancy of coins, or the fact that i don't have to stress about not having any
- clean air
- unlimited free water in restaurants
- canned beer
- not wearing the same clothes all the time
- having a printer
- never being at a loss for words (it actually happens to me down here)
- Boston College!
- people not looking at me funny because something about me or something I'm doing is clearly foreign
- not having a marching band wake me up at 8am every day
Things I'm going to miss about Argentina:
- All of the incredible people I've met here
- the never ending parties
- choripans, milanesas, and the beef
- incredible patriotism
- not having any responsibility
- monopoly with the guys
- boliches
- sporadic vacations to amazing destinations
- asados
- low prices
- situations that make me say "what the HELL is going on right now?"
- everybody being laid back and doing there own thing without having to worry
- being taller than everybody
- alfajoreos
- real dancing
- quilmes
-such an enthusiastic and passionate culture
- being excused from stuff because I'm the stupid gringo that doesn't know what's going on
- kissing hello/expected bro-love and affection
- hostels
- living simply
- being able to have anything at all delivered to your door
- not having to shave or cut my hair
- cheap cabs
- 30 minutes away being close by
- crazy futbol fans
- the view from my apartment
- generally never worrying about anything and people that don't either
- hanging out being the national pasttime
- empanadas
- my cell phone not being a necesity
That's all I can think of right now (and i assume that's all anybody wants to read) but I assure you theres more i could think of for both lists. We're crossing the border into Argentina soon and spending the night in Corrientes before heading to Salta tomorrow morning. Catch up with you later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)