On this [almost] eve of my departure, I'm staring blankly at the disaster that is my room. The process of packing is not necessarily a strong suit of mine, mostly because I can't stand to do any packing in advance. I can't tell if the job has been made more or less difficult by the size of my suitcase that I've decided to bring...
In order to arrange my belongings in some sort of rational fashion, I tried to imagine what I will be doing these next 4 months- what seasons I will be living in and in what contexts. In my pondering, it occurred to me that this is the first time I will be taking a long trip simply to "travel." I have no objectives [ie. learn spanish], no exact dates [not even a flight home...], and only a loose semblance of a plan. My flexible itinerary has been created out of necessity because I recognize that these coming 17 weeks will go by far to quickly and I do have some "must do" items on my list.
During my year abroad I did some more traditional "backpacking" around South America, as many of you will remember. I spent 3 weeks in the south of Chile, a month in Bolivia, and a couple weeks in Peru, hostel and city hopping. In that time, I met several travelers who were doing precisely what I will be doing now- traveling simply to see places. To be honest, that type of travel never really appealed to me. What is the point? To see as much as you can see so that you can say you've seen it all?
But now I understand- or I think I do. I understand my motivation behind such a trip, at least. It is not so much about seeing/doing all the things one is "supposed" to do in a country or continent. Rather, it is about the process of going and doing it. "It" being the whole shebang- flying to some foreign country to try and maneuver yourself through its culture for a period of time. Trying on a different lifestyle. In my case, this trip is not too far of a stretch- I already know the pants fit, if you don't mind my metaphor. I'm just excited to slip on that comfy old pair of jeans again this fall [apologies, but this metaphor is continuing]. Maybe I'll even find some long forgotten pesos in my pockets...
8.29.2009
8.21.2009
8.14.2009
If You Want to go to Alcatraz...
helloooooo!
well life has been a whirlwind these last few weeks. antonela, my amazingly crazy, fabulously fantastic friend from argentina arrived in boulder exactly two weeks and two days ago and i have not stopped since! after showing her around my hometown, introducing her to everyone i know, and taking her on her first camping trip (USA-style), we set off for the grand old city of san francisco to countinue our touristic endevours.
the normally overcast city was so overjoyed by our presence that we were graced with 4 incredibly sunny, hot days- all the better for walking, biking, busing and sunburning. the idea of being a tourist has always been a little offputting to me, especially in my own country where i would like to believe that i am bit more in tune with the do's and do not's of my surroundings. however, i found it beyond plesant to slip into the roll of super-tourist, with the added benefit of having numerous insider tips from friends living in the city. the icing on the tourism cake would have been the classic boat trip-tour to the infamous alcatraz jail on alcatraz island. little did we know, however, that tickets are sold out for more than 2 weeks in advance! a word to the wise- if you want to creep around the old jail cells, buy your tickets as soon as you have your flight into SFO. to replace alcatraz, we instead opted to bike across the golden gate bridge. though it may sound idyllic and alternative, it was actually one the most stressfull event of our entire stay in SF. the bike route leads you along a very crowded pedestrian and bike path that follows the bay and leads up to the bridge. however crossing the bridge itself is when the real chaos ensues. bike lanes across the bridge are not open until late afternoon, thus causing the very narrow sidewalk across the bridge to become uncomfortably overcrowded with small children, slow-moving groups of camera-laden grandparents, completely oblivious wanderers, bike tourists, and hardcore distance and commuter bike riders. on top of this, the wind blows through in strong, frequent gusts, making our pleasant little crossing a hazardous affair. we survived however, and i have a picture to prove it...
after SF we escaped down to santa cruz for the day with the now-indonesian-speaking katie loebner. as if the beach wasn't spectacular enough, a pod of dolphins graced us with their presence numerous times throughout the day. the absolute climax of the day, however, came right before we left the beach. as we began to pack up our stuff, one of us spotted the pod surfacing close in (no more than 30 feet from shore) and one dolphin doing a small little jump out of the water. we stood to watch them for a bit, and no more than 2 minutes later, two dolphins simultaneously jumped completely out of the water- one doing a full back flip and the other doing a front flip!! it was like the combination of sea world, planet earth footage, and my secret dream to become a marine biologist had all merged into one phenomenal moment of dolphin joy. we deemed the maneuver the "double jump" (or "doble salta" en espanol) and refered to it at least once an hour from then on.
we departed from the bay area on saturday morning to begin a 3 day camping adventure in the sierras, stopping at silver lake (north of tahoe), and in lassen national park. while in lassen, we visited a site of sulpher vents, boiling mudpots, and femeroles much like those in yellowstone national park. the name, however is probably the best name i have ever seen on a national park map: Bumpass Hell. yah, tell that one to your 5 year old. the long weekend was punctuated by excellent camp fires, compulsive laughter, crystal clear lakes, excellent camp site luck, and delicious food. we emerged from the woods as a filthy, hungry, and just a little bit lost group of gals ready for a margarita and mexican food in klamath falls oregon. anotnela and i parted ways with our other two companions and hopped aboard the train to portland.
portland was stellar. many mini reunions, india cart food, and antonela's first introduction to doughnuts at the off the wall voodoo doughnuts under burnside bridge. i'll be back to ptown in 2 days. now i'm in seattle and just said goodbye to antonela. it was quite an easy-breezy goodbye as i will see her again in only 2 short weeks- except this time in her country!
i'll leave you now. as always i was more long winded than i had intended to be. for those of you who i had the pleasure of seeing over the last few weeks, THANK YOU and i loved every minute of it! for those of you who i will be seeing soon, YAY!
peace
c
well life has been a whirlwind these last few weeks. antonela, my amazingly crazy, fabulously fantastic friend from argentina arrived in boulder exactly two weeks and two days ago and i have not stopped since! after showing her around my hometown, introducing her to everyone i know, and taking her on her first camping trip (USA-style), we set off for the grand old city of san francisco to countinue our touristic endevours.
the normally overcast city was so overjoyed by our presence that we were graced with 4 incredibly sunny, hot days- all the better for walking, biking, busing and sunburning. the idea of being a tourist has always been a little offputting to me, especially in my own country where i would like to believe that i am bit more in tune with the do's and do not's of my surroundings. however, i found it beyond plesant to slip into the roll of super-tourist, with the added benefit of having numerous insider tips from friends living in the city. the icing on the tourism cake would have been the classic boat trip-tour to the infamous alcatraz jail on alcatraz island. little did we know, however, that tickets are sold out for more than 2 weeks in advance! a word to the wise- if you want to creep around the old jail cells, buy your tickets as soon as you have your flight into SFO. to replace alcatraz, we instead opted to bike across the golden gate bridge. though it may sound idyllic and alternative, it was actually one the most stressfull event of our entire stay in SF. the bike route leads you along a very crowded pedestrian and bike path that follows the bay and leads up to the bridge. however crossing the bridge itself is when the real chaos ensues. bike lanes across the bridge are not open until late afternoon, thus causing the very narrow sidewalk across the bridge to become uncomfortably overcrowded with small children, slow-moving groups of camera-laden grandparents, completely oblivious wanderers, bike tourists, and hardcore distance and commuter bike riders. on top of this, the wind blows through in strong, frequent gusts, making our pleasant little crossing a hazardous affair. we survived however, and i have a picture to prove it...
after SF we escaped down to santa cruz for the day with the now-indonesian-speaking katie loebner. as if the beach wasn't spectacular enough, a pod of dolphins graced us with their presence numerous times throughout the day. the absolute climax of the day, however, came right before we left the beach. as we began to pack up our stuff, one of us spotted the pod surfacing close in (no more than 30 feet from shore) and one dolphin doing a small little jump out of the water. we stood to watch them for a bit, and no more than 2 minutes later, two dolphins simultaneously jumped completely out of the water- one doing a full back flip and the other doing a front flip!! it was like the combination of sea world, planet earth footage, and my secret dream to become a marine biologist had all merged into one phenomenal moment of dolphin joy. we deemed the maneuver the "double jump" (or "doble salta" en espanol) and refered to it at least once an hour from then on.
we departed from the bay area on saturday morning to begin a 3 day camping adventure in the sierras, stopping at silver lake (north of tahoe), and in lassen national park. while in lassen, we visited a site of sulpher vents, boiling mudpots, and femeroles much like those in yellowstone national park. the name, however is probably the best name i have ever seen on a national park map: Bumpass Hell. yah, tell that one to your 5 year old. the long weekend was punctuated by excellent camp fires, compulsive laughter, crystal clear lakes, excellent camp site luck, and delicious food. we emerged from the woods as a filthy, hungry, and just a little bit lost group of gals ready for a margarita and mexican food in klamath falls oregon. anotnela and i parted ways with our other two companions and hopped aboard the train to portland.
portland was stellar. many mini reunions, india cart food, and antonela's first introduction to doughnuts at the off the wall voodoo doughnuts under burnside bridge. i'll be back to ptown in 2 days. now i'm in seattle and just said goodbye to antonela. it was quite an easy-breezy goodbye as i will see her again in only 2 short weeks- except this time in her country!
i'll leave you now. as always i was more long winded than i had intended to be. for those of you who i had the pleasure of seeing over the last few weeks, THANK YOU and i loved every minute of it! for those of you who i will be seeing soon, YAY!
peace
c
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