The Racial Divide

In Southern Africa, and probably in many other countries that apply, segregation is apparent. It didn't start yesterday, but years ago when white men came to these areas and established their colonies, with their distant ancestors today still wedging an obvious racial divide. (South Africa only abolished legalized segregation in 1994, although it clearly still exists.) The white people have the wealth and property, living in the safe areas of cities, while the blacks live in squalor on the outskirts of town. (I am not saying there are no affluent blacks, but I am saying there are no whites living in "shanty town.") Swakopmund, a tourist city created for sandrenaline pumping activities (yes, I meant to include the 's',) lies on the western coast of Namibia. While the city center looks like the a German Disney world (or Farquad's city from the movie Shrek), the outskirts get progressively worse, solidifying the disconnect between races. The government has created plots of land equipped with plumbing, electric and othr facilities in the area known as the Township, which can be obtained by locals for $30,000 Namibian (about $3,750 USD), who can then begin to build their homes. The idea is good in theory, as the money is required to go to the building of the home and utilities, but leaves little choice for the homeowner, and considering Swakopmund unemployment sits at over 50% the option is unlikely for most. Those people who cannot afford to build in the township reside on the outskirts of town, awaiting the day they can move inward. While these people live in immobile buses or makeshift one room homes built with mis-matching material, pay 10cents per liter of water to "bucket shower" in their back yard, and just generally struggle to get by, we take 20 minute showers and live in a paradasical facade, completely unaware of what lies just miles away. Yet does this disconnect not also exist in New York, Chicago, London, and your own city? Maybe we all need to open our eyes to see it.


Etosha National Park houses a vast array of wildlife, and after two nights camping and 4 game drives (where we saw hyenas eating a rhino with a baby rhino standing nearby, two packs of lions, a million giraffes and tons more), I started taking pictures of birds. You know you have seen too many cool things when you start taking pictures of birds - that is my theory at least (birdwatchers probably wouldn't agree.) From Etosha we headed to a nearby cheetah reserve where a local family houses the cats which gives the local farmers, after having lost a cow or two, another option instead of killing the animal. They have 3 cheetahs that live in their house, and 10 that live in the adjacent 40 acre reserve. More of a tourst attraction than a conservation effort, it didn't matter to us, as we got amazing photo opportunities and even licked by the tame animals.


We then headed down Namibia's skeleton coast to Spitzkoppe, where we camped at the bottom of the majestic red rock formations, smaller but simliar to Australia's Ayers Rock. We climbed the rocks for sunset and took a group photo, forming our bodies to make the word Africa - if you looked hard enough. The following morning we headed to Swakopmund, stopping at a massive seal colony on the way. If you thought La Jolla, California had it bad, you should (and smell) this beach!! Millions of seals and their babies covered the sand, all the while screaming at eachother - I was convinced the babies were yelling "mom" and the moms were yelling "baby", as they scuttled around looking for eachother.
The highlight of arriving in Swakopmund should have been the nearby sanddunes, where you can sandboard and ride on quadbikes, but it was the fact that I got a bed and free internet! After 40 days of camping a bunk bed looked like heaven and the wifi became like crack. The following day I did break away from my comforts - I spent 2 hours with a perma-smile speeding over and up sanddunes on a ATV, and the afternoon doing a tour of the city, but came back to doing nothing.




After three amazing nights in Swakopmund, we headed south through the Namibian desert to Sossusvlei. Here are the most picturesque red dunes you can imagine, and after a two exhausting hikes to the top we wached the sun fall behind the the hills. Dune races, sand fights and a couple attempts to slide down on our stomachs resulted in a lot of extra sand in places it shouldn't be (I had a sand beard), so a thorough shower back at camp was necessary.
The following day we headed to Fish River Canyon, the second largest canyon in the world (after the Grand Canyon) where we took in sunset at the 85K long earthly divide. After a quick stop over in Orange River, where we met our new guide Ally and our new truck Wiley (named after the Coyote), and are headed South to Stellenbosh and onto Capetown.

Knowledge is Only Power if we use it

If you had asked me two months ago to point out Zambia, Zimbabwe or Botswana on a map, I probably would have taken a moment and considered whether or not you had created fake countries to fool me. I can't speak for all Americans but I do believe that many of us know very little about our world, our environment, our fellow people , or Africa specifically. The unfortunate reality is that most people don't want to know. Africa (or Cambodia or Bolivia, the places I went last year) are too far away and too different to our way of life. As I spend my days uncovering that which is foreign to me, I have also learned of sad realities the world is facing - poverty, disease, and environmental destruction - and the beautiful nature and goodness hidden in far corners of the world. With this knowlege I now have the responsibility to pass it on, hoping my words will inspire someone to explore, embrace and get involved with everything that lies out of their comfort zone - maybe to even help change the world I am not sure I can personally make a difference, but I believe we can.




Antelope Park in Zimbabwe doesn't have antelopes, but it does have Lions. Due to the rapid decline in the Lion population (90% over the last 30 years due to feline HIV and hunters) this organization hand rears Lion cubs, in an effort to not save one, but to save the species. The offspring of the hand reared lions will have had no human contact and can then be released into the wild. (www.antelopepark.co.zw) So for $125 I spent the morning walking with Lion cubs, as they cuddled up to my legs and posed for pictures. In the afternoon I watched a lion feeding where 5 gigantic male lions battled it out for a piece of meat that lay right in front of me (with a fence seperating us of course.) Over the next two days I did an additional lion walk, some horseback riding (where I stuck to walking) and drank lots of Antelope Parks coffee (because it was free!)



We headed from Antelope Park to Matapos National Park, situated next to the town of Bulawayo. Early the following morning we met our guide, Ian Armour, a 3rd generation Zimbabwean, stood out in his short shorts and high socks, sporting safari colors over his weathered white skin. He is so passionate about wildlife that he has appeared on several television shows, and told us all about it on our way to find some Rhinos. The knowledge I was made aware of that day is that the Rhino population is also in serious decline, and the black rhino will soon be extinct if something is not done. The trouble, we were told, is that a rhino horn can be sold for about $500,000 (ussually to asians who believe it will enlarge the size of their junk), so poachers will do anything to get the horn. It is hard to blame the poor man, who has nothing to lose already for killing an animal to make money for his family, but the sad truth is that the demand remains. All of the rhinos we saw that day had no horns because in an effort to save the species Ian has tranquilized the animals and cut off the valuable commodity (it is the same material as finger nails), but it still hasn't stopped the poachers from taking even the littliest stump they can get. The only way Ian suggests we can solve the problem is to legalize the trade of rhino horn, they can then be properly harvested, and eventually the demand will go away. We were able to get right next to some rhinos, who Ian had "known" since he was a child, and take pictures.




That day we also went to a local village within the park and met their animated chief, 80 years old with a lot of spunk, who (through translation) told us the story of how he almost got killed by a leopard but was saved by a passing white man. He thanked our ancestors for his life, and then let us wear the stinking outfit while his tribe performed a local dance. He also told us that 5 of his 10 children had died of AIDS, and that at least 1/2 of the beautiful grandchildrenchildren who had just performed for us also had the disease. While statistics say that 50% of Zimbabwe has the AIDS virus, locals believe it is more like 80%. And since medications are so expensive, most people would rather use the money to buy food for their families, and therefore do not have a fighting chance to live very long.




On December 31st we made our way to Victoria Falls, arriving in town just in time for the fesitivies. What we later learned to actually be quite a nice hostel, looked like a scene straight out of woodstock with tents, young people, alcohol, sex (noted by the shaking/moaning tent) and drugs everywhere. We spent the evening playing silly drinking games, throwing eachother in the pool and dancing to strange techno beats. The following day we headed to the falls and took in it's monumental power, with water debris pouring into the air and thousands of tons of rushing water pushing over the edges, all right at your feet (literally - there are no fences seperating you from a swim.) Speakihg of swimming, while we all had our adrenaline pumping activities scheduled for the following day we learned of a fellow overlander (what we call people travelling in overland trucks) who had been the last of her friends to do a bungee jump that day, escaped with her life when her bungee cord snapped and she was pulled down grade 2 rapids with a cord tied around her ankles. (check out the video on you tube, "bungee cord snaps in zimbabwe.") Needless to say we cancelled our bungee jumps, and just did white water rafting, gorge swings, flying foxes and ziplines instead (which were also totally budget, but amazingly fun.) That night we feasted at Boma, a carnivores paradise, gorging ourselves on warthog (the best meat I have ever had), Eland, Buffalo and crocodile.




The last three days have been spent at the Okavango Delta, in Botswana, a beautiful marshland where our local guides (called polers) used long sticks to guide our mokoros (long canoes made out of trees known as sausage trees) through the reeds (while you get slapped in the face with them constantly). The days were too hot to do anything so we sat around our campsite played cards, read, slept and just generally melted. The mornings and evenings were spent doing game walks (where we saw a lot of animal poop, mud and tracks, but not a lot of animals) and sunset cruises. The best part was holding onto the wet reeds, letting them go just in time to get your fellow boatmate right in the face or racing the boats next to you. The last night our polers performed some local songs around the campfire, and I showed everyone how to make smores. Today we are off to Etosha National Park in Namibia.

Life in Motion

If you need to find me my current address is "Pluto", an Absolute Africa Truck - big, yellow, noisy, with open air windows held down by tarps, filled to the brim with 20 people, crates of food for every meal and loaded with tents, sleeping mats and backpacks. To get onto the truck you have to climb a four-step ladder then stairs, because underneath the truck are massive containers that hold everything we need on the road. To get anything you need out of your big backpack you have to move 20 other packs, and for someone whose arms barely reach into the compartment it proves difficult. People hang their laundry in the truck, leave stinky shoes on the floor and everytime you need to get something out of your locker the people sitting in the seat have to raise their feet so you can get in. We spend most days starting at 6:30am and arriving at our second location at 6:00pm, sweaty and wind-blown. We then set up our tents (rain or shine), and depending on what group you're in that day, start making dinner, clean up after dinner or clean the truck. I am slowly acclimating to the lifestyle, but considering there are 20+ other trucks out there (including a bright pink Swedish truck where the campers party like rock stars and sleep on the bus' roof), this seems to be the easiest way to travel through Africa. The only real set-back of a life in motion is we never get to stop and experience the "Real Africa", which we only see out of our windows in between gated campsites.

After a long drive day we arrived at Candee Beach on Lake Malawi. Malawi, one of the poorest countries in the world, is called "The Heart of Africa" because of its friendly people. As you drive through the countryside there are many water pumps, clay homes with grass thatched roofs, and villagers who appear to be somewhat self-sustaining . When we arrived at the campsite we were immediately pursued by local wood carvers who craft beautiful chairs, necklaces, spoons, etc. out of a dark wood, which they sell to tourists for a bartered price of anywhere from $5 to $150. A lot of local people make their living this way so I went ahead and supported them, and my shopping habit. At the campsite, lthough 15 of my fellow campers upgraded to nice rooms for the 3 nights at Candee, my tent-mate Meghan and I opted to save the $15 total and stay in our tent. It's amazing how cheap you get when you're travelling.




The next day we spent the morning dealing with massive amounts of rain, and then got ready for our horse ride. Even after my last experience falling off of a horse in Argentina I thought I would give it another go. Well my horse, Bolt, lived up to his name, taking off at fighter-jet speed, running me directly into tree banches, while I subsequently lost my stirrups, balance and held on for dear life, while screaming "someone help me, I am going to fall off!!" Luckily I wasn't the only one to have problems as two of the beginners nearly fell off, and one Hungarian spent the entire ride screaming "Stop. Why won't you listen to me horse?! Why are you not like a car and stop when I tell you. Stop laughing at me everyone. This is not funny!" (All said in a Borat-like accent.) Pretty hysterical. The BEST and redeeming part of the ride was when we rode the horses bare-back into the lake at sunset and then held onto their bridals as they rolled in the sand.

That night we had a pig roast and punch party, accompanied by a "fancy dress party." Earlier in the day we had arrived in a small town, which had a market (which looked like a sea of wooden boards, haphazardly arranged into a maze of square stalls). As we pulled in, men ran to our truck with bags of the ugliest and most ridiculous clothing, donated by people like you and me back in 1990. Each person had to buy an ugly outfit for one of their fellow travellers, and reveal it that night. With most of the men in 90's prom dresses and the women in ugly velvet two-pieces it made for a hysterical evening.




The next two days were spent on long drives through Malawi (with a stop in the capital city, Lilongwe where we were all excited by several pizza places and even a Nando's ) and Zambia (with a stop in their capital city Lusaka, which had a shopping mall!!) After one last painful border crossing into Zimbabwe (where we all took bets as to how much time it would take, and with our Hungarian disaster it was over 3 hours) we arrived to our Christmas destination, Lake Kariba. The houseboats weren't exactly what I thought they were going to be (think two story sheet metal boat with thin walls seperating each room, matresses on the floor and drapes for doors, with an upstairs "jacuzzi" that was filled up with lake water, and a trillion knat-like bugs on every surface), but the setting was picturesque. All around us where mountains and beautiful green islands occupied with hippos, elephants and other animals. Even though the water was crocodile infested, we did jump off the boat's roof a couple of times, but spent the rest of the day swimming in the Croc Cage. We had an amazing Christmas morning where we were woken up at 2am because the boat was experiencing the most massive storm I have ever seen, and we had to shut our tarp windows and brace ourselves. That day we had top notch lunch, a hysterical game of bad santa (where my face paint sticks were not appreciated), lots of sun bathing in the extreme temperatures, and evnetually an tear-jerking call home.

After two nights we headed back to mainland, and started our journey to Antelope Park where I am now. While here I will walk with Lions, horse back ride again (I am a glutton for punishment) and spend the two days enjoying the beautiful game park before heading south to Victoria falls.

TIA Mzungu

For those of you who aren't great with acronyms, or haven't seen the movie "Blood Diamond" with Leonardo Dicaprio, the letters TIA stand for "This Is Africa." Mzungu is the term locals use when they see a white traveller. The African ways take some getting used to, often different, time consuming and sometimes even shocking, but are almost always explained with the simple phrase of TIA. When our Serengeti tour guide got out of the 4x4 and said he would be back in 10 minutes, we learned about "African Time", after he arrived 1 hour and 20 minutes later, TIA. Whilst driving through Zanzibar Island I saw a man dragging a dead cat by a rope, TIA. Upon our first arrival at the Indian Ocean I dove in with enthusiasm, only to be surrounded by 20 locals, and subsequently groped by any and everyone within swimming distance, TIA. When getting our bags off the ferry after Zanzibar Island you literally get pushed, elbowed, and knocked into while people try to scramble for their bags (I will never again get upset if someone steps in front of me while at a US airport), TIA. During every drive we constantly get locals staring at us with confused looks or waving to us with enthusiasm, some yelling "Mzungu", some giving thumbs up and even some giving the middle finger. While driving through Dar es Salaam traffic, we had our first video taker, so I hammed it up for the camera and did a little smile and dance, only to later learn that while this video enthusiast distracted us, his buddy was stealing our truck's taillights, TIA. Needless to say, "This is Africa" and these are some of the things that come with it, but I promise it does have many redeeming qualities.


After meeting up with 8 members of my group in Arusha, we headed bright and early, via 4x4 vehicles to the Serengeti National Park. It was a long bumpy ride, especially considering Frank our local driver smells pretty fragrant to begin with compounded his manly aroma with consistent flatulence. On our drive in we were lucky enough to see a beautiful Cheetah, giraffes and a lion in the distance. We weren't allowed to get out of our trucks, so anytime we thought we saw something we would pull over, and all 8 of us would pop our heads out of the roof with cameras in hand.



At a lunch pit stop a hawk attacked us for our boxed lunches, coming so close that it scratched one of the girls in the face, but made for a hilarious story afterwards. After a night camping in the Serengeti (making sure our tents were at least 6ft apart in case Elephants decided to walk through) we woke up for an early morning game drive. This morning was amazing as we got to see a tree filled with baboons, ponds swimming with mud covered Hippos, families of elephants, two leopards and more giraffes. That night we camped on the edge of the Ngororo crater - a volcanic collapse thousands of years ago created this breathtaking circular enclosure, permananetly inhabitating a wide variety of animals that do not need to migrate because of the diverse climates within the crater.




The next day we did an early morning game drive in the Ngororo crater and the best way to describe it was a scene right out of The Lion King (minus the singing, dancing, and stampedes in the gorge.) With tall jutting rocks encircling you, Zebras, Wildabeests, lions and all other wildlife walk around freely. We spent most of our day saying things like "Simba, hes alive", "Rafiki", and "Asante Sana, Squashed Bananana" (scenes from The Lion King). In Swaheeli Simba means Lion, while Rafiki means friend, and Asanta Sana means Thank You very much. I didn't know I was learning Swaheeli while watching The Lion King all those years ago, and that someday it might actually be useful!


On our way our of the park we stopped at a Masai camp, a local tribe of people who wear orange and blue plaid material draped over their bodies, and thick beaded jewlrey on their arms and necks. (Some of the more stylish Masai Warriors on Zanzibar island also wore man purses and designer sunglasses.) We were directed into their small dirt huts and told about their culture, where each man gets as many wives as he wants (the Patriarch of this family had 15 wives), the women build the houses and the men tend to the cows. We later performed a traditional Masai dance (and I showed them some traditional American dance, which made them laugh) and were forced to haggle for traditional Masai jewlrey. That night we headed back to Arusha to gear up for our early morning drive in the direction of Zanzibar Island.


After one night camping in Dar es Salaam, on a beachsite overlooking the Indian Ocean, we arose early to head via tuk-tuk, short but packed with people ferry, and then 2 hour ferry to Zanzibar Island. Stonetown is part of the island developed by the Ottoman empire in the 1800's for slave and spice trading, and is exactly as it sounds - made of white stone. Although historical, and boasts an amazing night market where you can buy skewers of all types of seafood (I got octopus and calamari), I wasn't too impressed with it.

After one night in stonetown we headed to the beach, to stay three nights at our "resort". Located directly on the most amazing beach I have ever seen I saw past the dirty bathroom and ant-infestation to have the most relaxing 3 days of scuadiving, swimming with sea-turtles, and sunbathing. Currently badly sun burnt and super relaxed, I am in 12-hour transit in the direction of Lake Malawai.

Kilimanjaro - A Once in a Lifetime Experience

Most of the time when you say this is a "once in a lifetime opportunity" it means this is probably the one and only chance you'll get in your life to do something , but that is not what I mean when I say it. I bet at a later point in my life I could come and hike Mount Kilimanjaro again, but the point is that I don't want to. Although it was an amazing, beautiful and exhiliarting experience, I am sure it will only happen ONCE in my lifetime!

Apparently US airways cannot check a bag completely through that has 4 connections, and I did - Orlando to Charlotte, to Washington DC, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and finally to Kilimanjaro, Tanzania. Because of this set-back the ticket lady in Orlando (at 4:00am) had to hand write my final destination on my baggage sticker - JRO. As I looked out the window upon landing in my first destination, Charlotte, I saw the baggage men panic at the sight of my baggage ticket. Waving their arms and pointing at the ticket with looks of confusion, I knew at this point my bag wouldn't arrive in Kilimanjaro. What I didn't know, is that it would spend 3 days in Frankfurt, Germany. Luckily I have a bulldog of a mother who persisted with US airways to find my bag. I ended up renting all my hiking gear, buying toilettries and even undewear at the local Tanzanian market, and was eventually hand delivered my bag to my campsite at 3,720 meters four days after arriving in Africa.




Upon arriving in Tanzania I was picked up by Sampson, a representative for Absolute Africa. He briefed me on the climb, ending his spiel by telling me that vomiting is normal due to the high altitude. I should have listened! The next day I started the 6 day Marangu Route also known as the "Coca Cola Route", considered the easiest of the six possible options. 50% of all travellers use this route because of the "comfortable" mountain huts with solar powered lighting. At the entrance gate I was greeted by my guide William, my two porters and one chef. As the others ran up the mountain carrying all my clothes, food, and gear on their backs (and heads!), I walked leisurely through the initial rainforrest with William until we reached the Mandara Huts at 2,700m. After a hot dinner of cucumber soup, fried bread, curry, rice and fresh fruit, I climbed into my sleeping bag for a good (but cold) nights rest.




The second day I met up with some fellow travellers who became my hiking buddies - Owen from Norway, Ronnie and Patrik from Sweden and Sam from Canada. On day 2 we walked through grassy moorland, eventually ending at the Horombo huts at 3,720m, where there is a real sense of being above the clouds. Apparently altitude sickness is a serious thing when hiking such a high mountain, so not only does your guide repeat the phrase "polle polle" which means "slowly slowly", but I also had to spend 1 extra day at the Horombo huts to help acclimatize.






On day 4 we climbed very gradually through a "lunar desert", eventually ending at the Kibo Hut (4,700m) which sits at the base of the crater! Here we were told to get as much sleep as possible because we were going to start hiking at 12am the following morning. In what seemed like an instant we were woken up with cookies and tea, and set out in the pitch black night to start our ascent. We started in high spirits, singing and laughing, but as things started to get cold (I thought they were cold before, but didn't know what I was in for), I started to lose my spirit. The zig-zag climb over loose volcanic rock was steep and at about 5,500 meters my Kilimanjaro dreams began to crash in on me. (Only 6 days ago I learned that altitude sickness pills exist, but I wish I had known this before I started my climb!!) I began to get a horrible headache, nausea, and was so cold I couldn't move my fingers or toes. As the other members of my group continued up the mountain I was left behind with William, doubled over in pain. After about 4 1/2 hours I ended up making it to Gilman's point, where I proceeded to drink hot tea and then vomit it all over the Gilman ground. My poor guide was rubbing my back and wiping the snot from my nose, while I moaned in pain.



I insisted on continuing and walked the two painful hours to the summit, just in time for sunrise. It was so cold that my guide William had to take all my pictures because I couldn't get my fingers out of my gloves. But with glowing white ice, glaciers and mountainous peaks in every direction I attempted to shake off my miserable state to take in the scenery. At 5,896m it was glorious. But what was even more glorious was heading back down the mountain! After another 2 days of hiking I arrived back at my hotel this afternoon to a hot shower and hamburgers with my hiking buddies. I have now conquered the highest free standing mountain in the world, and I only cried twice! Woo-hoo!



Today I am off to Arusha to hop on my Safari truck and begin my 60 days down to Capetown.

Thanks for Walking with Me!

I can’t say that I have been too busy to write my final blog as I am currently “retired”, living with my parents in America’s largest community for active seniors, The Villages. I guess the reason I haven’t written is because I am reluctant to admit my year-long travel trip is over. OVER. The word resonates so heavy with me, like the day you graduate college and know you will never be back there, with your friends, enjoying the good times of youth. And young and free is how I felt, traveling in a circle of people living my same gypsy lifestyle, of openness, warm-welcomes and complete lack of responsibility. I will forever cherish the memories I have made and the people I have met, but more than anything, I know I have returned a changed woman, now seeing myself as just a small part of a very big world.

On my trip I learned so much about myself and the world around me, but the most important thing I learned came from a very simple realization. In Asian countries one of the most popular sayings is “same, same, but different”, which street sellers say to get you to buy their products, even though they are the exact same as the items in the next stall. This simple phrase describes the people of this world. Although we speak differently, look differently and live in completely different cultures, we are all the same at heart. In every country I saw children playing together, families embracing after not seeing each other for long periods of time, people taking care of one another, parents doing all they could to make money for their families. The words of John F. Kennedy sum up my thoughts: “For in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s futures. And we are all mortal.” Despite our differences, we need not be afraid of the world around us. It is a beautiful place.

I figured I would use my final post to answer all of the questions people have about my trip, that way, I can refer them to my blog instead of answering the same questions a million times. So here goes:

How many countries did I visit in total?
14 countries!
They are New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia and Peru.

What was my favorite place?
Each country I visited was amazing in it’s own way, but some places I did enjoy more than others, depending on who I was with and the activities I did. Here are the places I liked the best, and the reasons:
New Zealand: NZ is an ecologically diverse country packed into two small islands, which you can see in a short trip. Friendly people. Lots of extreme sports. Beautiful scenery.
Laos: Although all of Southeast Asia was breathtaking, Loas was less touristy than the other countries. Laid-back people. Avatar-like scenery, with jutting green mountains. Very inexpensive.
Bolivia: The second I drove over the border from Chile to Bolivia, I could see the drastic change in scenery, and it was beautiful. Lots of culture. Beautiful sites to see (salt flats, Lake Titicaca, silver mines, etc.) Very inexpensive.

What was my least favorite place?
Unfortunately Buenos Aires takes the cake for worst place. The bedbugs didn’t help the experience, but I felt the city was overcrowded, busy and lacked uniqueness.

How did I travel around the world without a plan?
Well I did have a plan; the no-plan plan!!!! Still, everyone who intends to backpack the world should invest in a Lonely Planet Guidebook for their specific destination, which gives names of hostels, tourist information sites, and all the important places to visit in each area. I started with a one-way ticket to New Zealand and went from there! There are TONS of travelers doing the same thing, so meeting friends to move throughout a country with is easy. I swear it is!! You can work in Australia for a year until the age of 31, and many Asian countries will offer extended visas to stay there and work (at hostels, restaurants, pub crawls, etc) so if you need extra money along the way, it isn’t difficult to find. Anyone who is interested in traveling the world, should not be afraid (even though I was when I first embarked) because it is the best experience imaginable!!

What was the hardest part about traveling the world?
There were maybe 5 to 10 nights on my trip where I was alone - hadn’t met anyone to travel with or just didn’t feel like making the extra effort to meet someone. Those nights were a little lonely, but tolerable.
The other most difficult part was coming home. I know it sounds strange, but I had more culture shock coming back, then I ever had arriving in a foreign country. I guess seeing the world changes you so much that when you come home and see how good we have it here in the USA, you just cannot feel the same about the American culture. We spend $4 on a coffee, which is a fortune to a family in Cambodia. As I flew in to Orlando from Peru, leaving behind the garbage littered streets and crumbling villages, I was awed by the perfectly pruned gardens and beautiful homes I saw out my window. Most Americans have no idea how lucky they are, and I was filled with gratitude for my life, but sadness for people's lives around the world.

Who were my most memorable people?
Mick from Australia - Duh!! He was my boyfriend for 6 months! I miss my Ozzie!
Rego from England - Even though Rego sleeps late, drinks a lot, and rarely eats regularly, we made great traveling companions!! I miss me ol’ English fruit!
Julie and Lasse from Denmark - When they first met me in Australia, they swore I was drunk. They later learned that I am just crazy. I am actually seeing Julie in NYC in a couple of weeks, which is really exciting!!
Jessie from Australia - She was my roommate through Bolivia and Peru, and I just LOVE this girl!
Metro the Busdriver from New Zealand - He made my 4 weeks in NZ the best!!

Not that any of these people read my blog, but I also loved meeting John from Miami, Karin from Germany, Jodie from Australia, Paulette, Anita and Kate from Tasikoki animal rescue, Stevie from New Zealand, Mel from Canada, Brian from Denmark, Toby from Germany, Mike & Emma from England, Nicki from Holland, Jasper & family from Holland, Don, Derrick and Richard from America, Matt E. from England, Craig from England, and soooooo many more. I now have friends I can visit all over the world!!

What was the price of my trip?
Vaccinations $300
Clothing/Gear $800
Flights $4,000
Other $24,900
TOTAL APPROXIMATE COST FOR TRIP: $30,000 (about $75 per day)

What was the cost?
More wrinkles
A new oval shaped motorbike burn on my right calve
A gap on my resume!

Would I do it again?
In a heartbeat!!!!

What’s next?
I have decided that the last thing I want to do is let the travel bug fly out of my system just because it’s “time” to settle down, so I have decided to save up for another big travel trip. This time it will be to Africa for a 71-day Safari from Nairobi to Capetown with an extra week to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, and an extra month to volunteer at an African school. I am planning on leaving in January 2012, exactly 2 years after my initial departure, and returning home in May 2012. In between now and then I will be working my butt off to save up enough money to fund this African Adventure!!!!!


THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR KEEPING UP WITH MY TRAVELS. I HOPE YOU TUNE IN FOR MY NEXT ADVENTURE. AFRICA 2012!!!!

Speed Vacationing in Peru

Gap Tours doesn't mess around when it comes to jamming entire countries into small amounts of time. I have been so non-stop for the last 2 weeks, that most mornings I wake up having no idea where I am. Albeit I wanted this fast pace trip, because I finally come home in just 7 short days and, of course, I wanted someone else to do all the work (that someone is Alim, our Peruvian tour guide.) Gap has also introduced me to some amazing people, including Jesse my Australia roommate and John, my fellow American who reminds me an awful lot of my cousin Robbie (we are always getting into trouble.) Although most days I feel more like a tourist than a traveller, for anyone who wants to see the world with the typical America's two-week vacation, a tour is the way to go.

Peru is the land of plenty. Although rich in natural resources and major tourist attractions, they still struggle economically, falling victim to governmental corruption. One town in Peru, Arricipa, is so rich in copper that they desperately want their independence, and have gone so far as to create their own currency and legal system, but of course it has never been formally granted. To hike Machu Picchu 4,000 - 5,000 tourists a day pay $50 USD each, but only 2% of that $200,000 a day comes back to preserve the site (after both Lima and Cusco take their cut.) While Peru sells low-cost gallons of natural gas to Canada and the US, they charge their own citizens about 10times that amount. From what I hear, unfortunately, there aren't many Peruvians that actually want to be from Peru. Needless to say, I have loved it so far; it is truly an amazing country.

Our first stop in Peru was to Lake Titicaca. Besides it having a very funny name, it is the largest navigatable lake in the world, with impressively large islands and rich in ancient history. Our first stop was to stay the night with a local family on one of the islands.
We hopped off the boat and walked to the center of the "town", first playing a game of football with the locals (where I nearly died from overexertion in the altitude), and then met our new "mama's and papa's". My new daddy happened to be a 16 year old boy, who brought us back to his small clay hut, where Jessie and I played spoons (a fun card game) with him and his siblings all afternoon. That night we all dressed up like the local people (4 layers of colorful skirts, a cumberbun/corset, black jacket, and a hat your grandpa would wear) and went to the dance hall, where I was aptly nicknamed "payasita" by the locals, which means little clown.

From there we travelled back to Puno, where that night we ate Guinea Pig (its little cooked head and teeth were pretty gross, but it basically tasted like deep fried skin), and then early the next morning headed to Cuzco.
Cuzco is the historical capital of Peru, described as the "Rome of America", and hundreds of years ago was the heart of the Incan empire. With cobblestone streets and a duomo cathedral in the center of town it was an amazing place to spend a couple of days. After a cancelled plane ride to the Amazon Rainforrest I did an afternoon ATV ride through the Peruvian mountains, which ended up feeling more like a game of Mario Kart, as we raced through patches of mud and I nearly got driven off a cliff .


The next day we finally got a cleared flight to the Amazon, and after a bus ride, boat ride, and long walk through the forrest, we arrived at our resort. Despite having no outside walls, no ceilings between rooms and no hot water, the place was high class. The highlights of our two day adventure included pirrahana fishing, a hike through the jungle at night (seeing a massive tarantula, lots of frogs and other bugs), and having spider monkeys right outside my window.


The Lares trek is the "alternative" mountaneous hike to the Inca Trail since unfortunately, the Inca trail is closed for the entire month of February. Almost instantaneously I realized our guide was angry at the world (he kept telling me I asked stupid questions and yelled at me like an angry grade school teacher when I made noise during his 20 hour speeches), but that our porters were amazing; they would set up our camp and tents, then break it down quickly and run ahead of us to have our next spot set up, and in the mornings serve us hot tea in our tents!!
Here is my summation of the Lares Trek: knee-deep mud, rain ponchos, mountains, high altitude, lots of llamas, amazing food, and lots of laughs. After the trek I even had to throw out my 3 month old sneakers, and a pair of socks. Disastrous!


Last, but cetainly not least, was my visit to Machu Picchu. After a night in the town of Aquas Calientes (which literally means hot water), where there ironically was no hot water in the showers at our hotel, we took our 4am bus (with thousands of other people) up to the top of the mountain where the Incas built their civilization 600 years ago. We luckily had the best weather EVER and since it is actually quite big, it never felt overcrowded. Hands down the most amazing sight I have ever seen!! I cannot believe I will be home in less than a week!!