The Last Few Weeks...

Ive covered a good amount of ground in the last few weeks. By my calculations, Ive traveled a little less than half of the length of the coast of North/Central America by various methods. Healdsburg to SF to SLO by car, SB to LA by train and then LA to San Salvador by plane. Ill be throwing a bus and boat into the mix in the near future. A pretty good mix of transportation if i do say so myself.

The trip down the coast was great. Had a good time in SB with Jake fishing, bbqing, and hanging out on the beach. Being down there made me kick myself for not visiting more often while he has been in school. Headed down to LA to meet up with Eric after that and then took a miserable flight to El Salvador that was three hours late and had a lady sitting next to me that wouldn't move to the empty window seat so we could have some space between us.

Me, Eric and I-Dad stayed at Playa Sunzal for the next few days and had a great time. I tried surfing one day then decided my time was better spent hanging out by the pool. Eric and I-Dad got out every day, even in crappy blown-out surf, and caught some good waves.

On Tuesday we rented a car and drove up into the mountains. The car was a little Ford Escape with what appears to be a somewhat checkered past, maintenance wise. To make it go straight you need to keep the wheel turned almost a half turn to the right. Needless to say, it is lots of fun to drive. Within 30 minutes of being in it we had managed to blow the radio fuse and were tune-less.

Another endearing feature of the car is this alarm the seems to start dinging every time we drive through a sketchy area. We decided the it is a "Stupid Gringos Are About To Get Shot" alarm, and has been remarkably accurate when it comes to going off only in sketchy areas. Technology really is amazing.

We spent Tuesday night in a little mountain town called Juayuac (sp?) and visited a waterfall there and ate some pretty good food. We went to the local waterfall at dusk and were accompanied by two machete-wielding 16 year-olds who were a combined 8 feet tall. Apparently there have been several robberies of visitors to the waterfall by banditos. We escaped unscathed and the waterfall was awesome.

The next day we headed to Lake Ilopongo, a lake about 45 minutes outside San Salvador. We drove all around the lake on rutted and rocky dirt roads trying to find beach access that wasn't bocked off by massive villas of the San Salvadorean elite, among whom the lake is a popular weekend destination. We finally found a coupe of restaurants with beach access and were enjoying a leisurely afternoon on the dock when our waiter came to inform us that out ride had a flat tire. We tried to change it, but one of the lug nuts was frozen. Luckily for us, a friendly local college student taking a day trip to the lake had a air pump that plugged into the cigarette lighter, which we used to inflate the tire. A mad dash to the nearest gas station followed to further inflate the tire. From the gas station it was 4 miles into town where we were hoping to find a place with a pneumatic drill.

The tire held enough air to get into town. We stopped at a ramshackle service station that unfortunately didn't have a pneumatic drill, but they did have ingenuity. Using a lug nut wrench and a six-foot long length of pipe for more leverage, they had the car jacked up, the sticky bolt off, and the tire patched in a matter of about 15 minutes. The cost for this friendly, efficient service? $1.50. When they said the price I initially thought they were trying to rip off the gringos by charging us $150 bucks because I couldn't believe it could be so cheap. That is one thing we have discovered about El Salvador - people are really honest and we have yet to encounter anyone trying to charge us inflated prices because we are foreigners. It is quite a refreshing change from Southeast Asia.

Anyhow, after the tire adventure and an hour drive to San Salvador, we found a hotel in the nice part of town called Zona Rosa. We watched the US-El Salvador game at a bar across the street from our hotel and then headed to the big mall here because we had heard it was a good combination of safety/nightlife. The safety part was there, but not the nightlife. They bars and clubs weren't very interesting, so we called it a night.

Today my suggestion that we try and make San Salvador a somewhat worthwhile detour by visiting this museum near our hotel was laughed down, and we are about to head back to the beach.

I better go pack as my blogging is holding us up...

The Darién Gap

This is the best lead to a story I've read in a while:

"In Yaviza, a town of contrabandistas, barefoot prostitutes, and drunken men fighting in the streets with machetes and broken bottles, I'm spotted by two Panamanian policemen and ordered to the cuartel (barracks)."

If you don't want to read what comes after that first sentence, I say there is something wrong with you. I ran across this article after having my curiosity piqued by all the dire warnings not to travel to the Darién Gap. Thinking - how bad can it actually be? - I resolved to undertake a bit of research.

After an hour or two of research, I can confidently answer the above question with - that bad. The place sounds like a real hell-hole. If the thick jungles infested with poisonous snakes don't get you, it is easy to drown in a swamp, get kidnapped or just get lost and not be able to find your way out of the jungle. And don't forget the jaguars. They apparently have a taste for people.

The slow boat to Columbia is sounding better and better.

Getting Outta Here...

After being home for a bit over a month, I'm getting ready to get out of here. I haven't been doing too much and just the other day really started thinking about my upcoming voyage to Central and South America.

I've started planning my trip and think I'm going to be country-hopping by bus for the most part. Flights in Central America are really expensive due to a lack of competition, and one way flights are generally just a few dollars cheaper than round trip so it doesn't make much sense to be flying from country to country.

Right now all I have planned is El Salvador with Eric and Ian and then I'll be meeting IB in Panama the following week. After that, who knows. My initial plan was to bus from Panama to Columbia, then I did a little reading about crossing the Darian Gap. Apparently it is the only unfinished portion of the Pan American Highway and is infested with Columbian rebel groups and paramilitary death squads. As fun as hanging out with them sounds, I think I'm going to pass on that. Seeing as how I have no income, it isn't really worth it to anyone I know to ransom me, so I probably would be stuck with whatever group grabbed me until they got sick of dealing with me. Which might be quicker than you would expect...

My tentative plan now that the overland route seems unwise is to cross over by boat from Panama to Columbia. Apparently sailboats will make the run once they get enough passengers, but it takes a while and can be a bit sketchy. I better bring a life jacket.

Back Home And Ready To Go

I arrived back home on the morning of the 26th after a total of 15 hours on 2 planes. I'm finally starting to feel like my body is adjusting to US time and am beginning to get some motivation to actually do something with my day beyond lounge around and watch tv. I think my big project today is going to be to get my passport renewal application in the mail so I can actually leave the country again come February when I'm planning on heading to Central and South America.

It's funny the random things that you end up missing on a long trip. For me, drinking tap water was the biggest thing I missed. It got to the point that I started drinking half-glasses of tap water the last couple days in Saigon, just on principal. Screw you sketchy developing country water. It didn't backfire on me, luckily. Since I've been back I haven't touched a drop of bottled water and don't intend to for as long as I am home.

Other things I missed included cooking, hoppy beers, burritos, and the usual family and friends, blah blah blah. But especially burritos. Burritos are a staple of my diet (average consumption: 4 a week) and I was stuck by multiple cravings for them while on the road. Luckily I held out and didn't eat some crappy simulacrum of a delicious Cali Mexican food treat. Those first bites of a Taqueria Guadalajara carnitas super burrito made it all worthwhile...

I'll have a few posts up later on a few topics I wanted to write about but didn't find the time to while on my trip. Hope everyone has a good New Year!

P.S. I have my phone back and it is the same number I had before leaving. So I can be reached on that again.

Shave and a Haircut

Sometimes a bit of perspective and grooming is all you need.

Saigon is.... Saigon. It lacks the character of Hanoi, the bustle of Bangkok or the beggars of Phnom Pen. To arrive here at the end of a long vacations is a bit of both a relief and a let down. I was already kinda burnt out before Hoi An and being here hasn't done much to recharge/deplete me either way.

But onto weightier matters.

Earlier today I was feeling a bit low and missing my family. The funny thing was it was more due to being alone on Christmas Eve than anything else. As someone who has expressed his dislike for Christmas on multiple fourms and mediums, including this blog, I felt like I shouldn't be feeling this way. It just seemed like a repudiation of all the anti-scharine bullshit I've tried to reject. Then a few things happened to put things in perspective.

First, I talked with an excellent travelling companion who has had a much rougher time of it as of late than I have. To compare:
-Mild flu/cough < Very serious undetermined tropical illness
-Feeling a bit alone on the day before a holiday you have hated on < Being very sick then getting stuck in some worthless city-state on a technicality when you just want to see your family
This smacked me out of my self pity. So I resolved to go out and seize whatever this city gas to offer.

I first got a shave and a haircut. The buzz cut I had given myslef before leaving was looking quite shabby.

I asked the front desk people at the hotel I'm staying where to get a bit of a trim. They advised me not to go anywhere nearby as I would pay to much, but to walk about 8 blocks away and pay a lot less. Which I did. My head newly trimmed and my face freshly shaved by a straight razor of dubious origin, I'm now ready to seize the night. Or what is left of it as Saigon shuts down at 12. I'm now headed to dinner and who knows what else.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hoi An

I arrived in Hoi An a couple days ago after riding the train from Sapa, with a half day stop in Hanoi. Hoi An is a little town in Central Vietnam that used to serve as a main trading post. The mix of influences has led to some pretty cool architecture, mainly Chinese, and a very scenic downtown.

It's been raining pretty steadily since I got here and beyond sightseeing there isn't too much to do. I mainly came here to take cooking classes, but my difficulty in actually getting to attend one has continued. So far the following has happened in my efforts to take classes both here and in Thailand:
• Thailand, Attempt 1: Skipped due to hangover from being out until 3:30 a.m the morning of the class
• Thailand, Attempt 2: Instructor never met me at the skytrain station due to him mixing up the dates
• Thailand, Attempt 3: Great success! Actually made it to one
• Vietnam, Attempt 1: Restaurant who had said they were having one the previous night reneged because I was the only person who wanted to take it. 4 other restaurants also were not holding them that day
• Vietnam, Attempt 2: Paid for class pushed back a day due to very heavy rain
• Vietnam, Attempt 3: Great class!

I took a day long class today that included a tour of a farm, a visit to a market and then the class itself at this restaurant down the river from downtown Hoi An. It was great. I now know how to make pho from scratch (including the rice noodles), clay pot fish, a Vietnamese salad and a shrimp in banana leaves. I doubt I will ever make the salad again as a main ingredient is banana flower which I seriously doubt I’ll be able to find in the US, but the three other dishes are definitely doable. The pho in particular, maybe minus the rice noodles as the results there didn’t differ enough from commercial made ones to go to the considerable extra effort.

Here are pics from the last couple of days:

This is what I arrived to

Hoi An specialty

Farm visit

Lettuce with seaweed in between to absorb then steadily release moisture

Cool dragon fly

Noodle maker

Veggies at market

Frogs. These poor guys were skinned alive and moving around under the net. Not a pleasant sight

Accompaniments to pho

Banana flower salad

Pho before addition of broth

Mise en place

Me making rice noodles

Gaining mass

Winnie

Winnie has come down ill. Wish her well!