On My Way to China

Well, apparently the school trip to China last year resulted in a missed connecting flight or two, so this year, we have a 6-hour layover in San Francisco on the way there, and an 8-hour layover in Los Angeles on the way back to Tucson in a couple weeks.  Whoopee.

In any case, I've been getting some good reading done and have to recommend some books (even though EVERYONE recommends books, therefore rendering everyone overwhelmed with books to read).

Right now, I'm reading Blink by Malcolm Gladwell.  It's about the split-second decisions we all make without even thinking about them, usually unconsciously, that can give us more information to make a judgment than hours, days, and even months of careful deliberation and weighing pros and cons.  The problem is that we're often unaware that we've made the choice until a long time afterward, and then once we realize it, we can't explain why we made the choice.  So this means if we all learned how to train our minds to pick up these infinitesimal stimuli and recognize when these blink-fast decisions are made, we could save ourselves a ton of time and trouble and become better decision-makers, thereby succeeding more often than we fail.

He's written two others, Outliers and Tipping Point, which I have on hold at the library.  The other, I'll write about next time.  It's fascinating.

Flying 15 hours to China, and arriving at around 6 PM Beijing time, so 3 AM Arizona time on Thursday the 4th.  Then, going out for Peking Duck.  The REAL Peking Duck.  Delish.  Hope it's hanging well wherever you are.

So it's finally time that I updated my blog again. I've had access to internet here, but traveling with a friend has been quite different than traveling alone. Alas, Kyle ran out of his budget money and had to go home last week from Guatemala, while I went on from there to Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

One of the interesting things about Nicaragua is that the people are SO NICE! On par with the Aussies and the Greeks as far as the nicest people I've ever met. In Mexico, Guatemala, and Costa Rica (and even in Belize) I felt that people were always trying to sell me things. In Nicaragua, I had several nice conversations with many different people while sitting in the square in Granada. A few young girls, a guy about my age, and a really old guy, like 80 years old, named Fernando. It was great. They all have an opinion about the war and the state of the nation, and they are all upset at how life is going these days. One thing that we don't seem to realize in the US is that the Sandinistas, while not preferred by the US government, were actually forward-thinking, progressive, good people. They worked for the people and consider women to be equal members of society, one reason why Nicaragua is ahead of the curve in women's rights in Central America.

Another thing Nicas all have in common is a dislike for the Ticos (Costa Ricans). They say that they're photocopies, they're out to rob you, and they all sold out to the Gringos. They maintain that they, the Nicas, are the true authentic people. Whatever it's worth, it's interesting, and they are really fantastic to talk to.

Also, I experienced one of the single most unique experiences in my life near Antigua, Guatemala, when I hiked a live, active volcano. You could still hear it spitting and hissing every few seconds, and when we climbed over the volcanic rock, there was, about ten feet from where I was standing, a literal river of flowing lava. It was nothing short of incredible. We did the touristy thing and roasted marshmallows on the lava, and they were delicious. Unfortunately, it was rainy that day and I had my camera deep in my bag, while Kyle took all the volcano pictures. Then, the next day, our hostel got robbed and Kyle lost his camera, among some other things. It's a huge bummer, but he handled it well. Another girl I met there said she'd send me some pictures of the volcano when she went, so I can have those soon.

Here are some others:

Roberto Clemente Stadium in Masaya, Nicaragua. It's one of 8 professional ballparks. We saw the gate open and walked in, and asked the grounds crew guys if we could walk around. They said, "Sure! Want a tour?" And so they took us around the field and into the locker rooms. If only it worked like that in the US.
Laguna de Apoyo, Nicaragua. I took a kayak out into the middle of the lake one morning, which is just surrounded by mountains falling into it. So peaceful.
A typical colorful street with the cathedral in the Background in Granada, Nicaragua.
A waterway to Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica. It's only accessible by plane or boat.
Chano, my guide in Tortuguero, showing us how to hunt shrimp out of an invasive but water-purifying plant.
A few pyramids in the jungle of Tikal, Guatemala, former Mayan capital.
Atop one of the pyramids.
Semuc Champey, Guatemala. Beautiful swimming pools among a tree-lined valley.
A tuk-tuk. Local transport in several places. This one in Antigua, Guatemala.
Another picture of Clemente Stadium.

Another canal in Tortuguero.

And that's all for now. Hope all is well wherever you are. Be home on the 24th.

Tulum

A cenote, or sinkhole, where Kyle and I went swimming.

El Castillo, the prize of Chichen Itza.

Kyle working furiously at opening a coconut.

Me, relaxing on the beach in Tulum.

Mmmmmm... that sweet coconut milk tasted so good.

Kyle and I have spent the past 5 days in Tulum, on the east coast of the Yucatan, in Mexico. It´s a sleepy beach town where we've just sat around, found coconuts, eaten them, played guitar, read books, etc. It's been a nice time.

The interesting thing is that, in those photos above, we found a coconut on the beach, and then, using rocks and my pocket knife, took about 30 minutes to open it. It was delicious. I'm sure there's an easier way to open a coconut than the way we did it, but for a first time, it sure was rewarding. The weather has been hot and humid, but we've been having tons of fun regardless.

Another quirky bit about this trip has been the lack of Americans here. They're probably all in Europe, while many Europeans are here. Maybe Mexico has a bad reputation in the US, maybe it's just too close, maybe Europe is the standard dream backpacking spot for Americans, but most people we've met here have been from Europe and South America, which has been wonderful.

This isn't the most coherent writing, but it's hot and I'm hungry. The next stop is that tomorrow we're going to Belize, and then we'll move toward Guatemala. See you again.

Guadalajara and Cuernavaca

Beto's dad playing guitar, and his younger brother, Omar, a professional opera tenor, singing.  He was, if you couldn't guess, incredible.

Shoe-shiners in a plaza in Guadalajara.

(L-R) Jenny, her husband Beto, and my 6-7 bodyguard (not really) friend, Kyle.

Me and Beto's tio playing guitar at Father's Day dinner in their back yard in Cuernavaca.

The fruit at the San Juan de Dios market in Guadalajara.  HUGE with everything available to purchase.

So, it's been about a year since I've posted here, but I haven't done too much traveling during the school year.  I went to Havasupai Falls in northern Arizona, to New York City, and to Delaware, but now it's the summer and it's time for my (thus far) annual trip to a cool place.  I started in Guadalajara, Mexico, and I've spent the past few days in Cuernavaca, a suburb of Mexico City, with my friend Roberto and his family.  It has been nothing short of amazing.

The first day we arrived was Father's Day, so we got fresh bread from the panaderia in town, fresh corn tortillas (which are not dry and crumbly like the bad ones from the USA, but soft, warm, and delicious) from the shop around the corner, and hot tamales from the guy on his bike down the street.  Then we made steaks for dinner, and Beto's father and uncle, as well as a few other men and women, spent the next 7 hours after dinner playing guitar and singing old traditional Mexican songs.  It was all in 4/4 time with triplets (boom-chick-chick, for those of you less musically inclined), and was so incredibly cultural and pure to hear.  SEVEN hours!  And the entire table was singing.  They knew all the words, and the guitarists knew all the chords to everything!  They saw I brought a guitar, too, so they asked me to sing a song of my own.  I gave them San Francisco Bay Blues by Eric Clapton and Hook by Blues Traveler, and I even joined Beto's uncle for a rendition of Blue Suede Shoes.  It was a great night.

Tomorrow Kyle and I are taking an early morning bus to Toluca, from where we'll fly to Merida, on the Yucatan.  We'll spend a few days there and at Chichen Itza and then head to Tulum, a great low-key beach resort on the coast, before heading down to Belize.  Hope it's not too hot wherever you are.

Ireland

So, if you haven't read the Italy update yet, scroll down. Two updates that are long overdue. Here's Ireland. The Emerald Isle, they call it, and the name is well-justified, because the place is truly GREEN like I've never seen before. It's amazing, but also logical: it rains ALL the time. The weather is pretty horrendous, but you have to take some to get some, right?

I just thought this was hilarious. This is what everyone complains about. WHY WOULD YOU ADVERTISE YOUR PRODUCT THIS WAY?
Ahhhh, the Guinness factory. Delicious, delicious beer, with nitrogen, not CO2, so the beer doesn't bubble in the glass. It's like a living, breathing thing the way it settles after it's poured. Also, I learned this at the factory. (Someone tell Rick DiPietro he's a scrub.) Arthur Guinness, the founder, signed a 9,000 year lease on the property for the brewery. Yeah, NINE THOUSAND!
This is my very own Guinness, poured from the tap, by myself, in the factory. Maybe I should be a bartender...
On the island of Inis Mor, a cow, on the beach.
Annie, Ester, and Glen, at the pub. Annie knows my brother Daniel from like, two years ago! Which was really weird to find out on a random night on a small island in Ireland. Ester is from Holland, and Glen is a Kiwi and was my CS host on Inis Mor. Truly a fun crowd.
Frank, a cool German guy, sitting by the Wormhole, a natural rock rectangle of ocean filled with jellyfish, or, as they say in Slovenia, "Meduza." Cool, right?
Me and Frank being cool.
My attempt at being a fashion photographer. Polona, from Slovenia.
The famous Cliffs of Moher, withing walking distance from a great small town called Doolin, Ireland.
The ubiquitous rock walls of the west coast and the islands. Just stacked without mortar or anything. It's amazing how fragile yet how strong they all are. The locals say that if you took all the rocks from all the rock walls on Inis Mor, and lay them end to end, you would build a bridge to America.
Irish language on the signs. And, Gaelic and Irish are one and the same. Gaelic is simply the Gaelic word for Irish.
Countryside.

Possibly the coolest name for a club I've ever seen.

And that's it! I'm flying to London tonight, to New York tomorrow afternoon, and to Tucson tomorrow evening, and then working on Monday morning. Oh well, this wonderful trip had to end sometime. See you all back Stateside.

Italy

I apologize for the lack of updates, but free or cheap internet was hard to come by for a long time. Phew! Anyway, here's a summary of my travels in southern Italy.

This is not the real David. This is a copy in an outdoor piazza. (Not Mike Piazza, either). The real one is in this place called Galeria dell'Academia, and it is just as spectacular as everyone says it is. There is even a plaque in front of it with a sign saying something like, "Once you have seen Michelangelo's David, you never need to see another sculpture." And they're right! Everything from the definition of his calves and arms, to the bones in his feet and ankles, to the veins in his hands, to the fact that the sculpture is at least 20-25 feet tall, is just incredible. Works of art, to me, never really blow my mind. They're usually "nice" and "cool", but nothing to fawn over, with a few exceptions (M.C. Escher and Norman Rockwell come to mind). But the David was absolutely mind-blowing. Truly truly spectacular.

My friends Thiago and Pedro from Rio de Janeiro. They helped me start to learn Portugese, which I'm going to do this year, so that I can visit them in Brazil next summer. South America is the plan!
The sunset over Firenze (Florence). The river lights up like gold, as you can see. One of the best sunsets I've ever seen.

Rachael, from Oregon, with the Firenze skyline in the background. Her Spanish puts my rudimentary Spanish to shame.

St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican.

The Ponte St. Angelo, which leads to Castle St. Angelo, which you can see, which leads to the Vatican.
The BEST pizza I've ever eaten! From Napoli! Marinara, it's called, with fresh garlic and basil, extra virgin olive oil, and tomatoes. Better than New York, better even than Tony D's! It was incredible and you had to eat it with a knife and fork.
One ridiculous sculpture out of thousands in Rome.

I couldn't get the Fontana di Trevi captured on camera, so this is part of it. Truly DOMINATING a tiny piazza. Really spectacular as well. I never realized it was so enormous.

This needs no explanation.

They didn't let you go down to the underground level, which was a bummer, but I was truly awed by this monstrosity. I know that some people say that it's just like, "oh, the Collosseum, whoop-dee-doo," but the thing was built in like... 500 BC! That is pretty incredible. Okay, I'm at an internet cafe, so I have to get going. Talk to me and I'll tell you more. Italy (especially the pizza from Napoli) was amazing.

Funny and Random Collections

First off, if you're reading this, and you missed the Germany and Switzerland post, scroll down.

Second, I realized that there are many pictures that I wanted to upload but either didn't have time or didn't feel they were essential to the place I was visiting. And, since today in Zurich is rainy, rainy, and rainy, I decided to search around a bit. Enjoy.

Part of a Greek menu. Don't forget those open-colored clothes in case of extreme hot. And remember to hat your umbrella, unless you carry it. Oh, and when it's good weather, feel free to approach the electricity pillars.
From the graffiti artist in Granada. My Spanish isn't perfect, but the gist is: We make things that break in order to fix them, and so that they break again. And I pass my time.
That's me taking a photo in the background, through a mirror. Friends from Granada.
Some more detail of the Alhambra in Granada.
I hate pictures with me in them, but, oh well. I had to. Me and the Parthenon.
Just a great picture that I forgot to include. From - where else? - Cinque Terre.
The sweet ambulance in Venice.
Some ancient hieroglyphs! This was in Cinque Terre as well.
Come on, Tim. Why did I take a picture of this sign? Old-school baseball fans oughtta know. Actually, Fones might be the best authority on this, as he's an NL fan. First one to post a comment explaining this picture wins a prize.
The police...Ford Tauruses? - in Barcelona.
Chickens for sale on the street in Barcelona.
The Greek menu again. But isn't rioting considered moving with a purpose?
Oh yeah, how could I forget this one? Me on a rooftop in Oia, most-northwesterly town of Santorini, about two hours before sunset.
Edwin, the local Polish guy, has his own sign. Ok, no, it was really a restaurant. But it would have been REALLY funny otherwise.
A ubiquitous company in Greece, but it's still fun to go to the market and say "Papadopoulos!" Season Ticket Baseball, anyone?

That's that. I may find some more or I may not. Hey! The weather finally changed and the sun is out! Of course, that's been happening all day, but I think it's time for a walk. Ciao!