While we were in Paris, it started to rain. We did not like it. Instead of sucking it up and going out there like adventurous travelers, we went on Weather.com and found out that Barcelona had wonderful weather for the upcoming week. The next morning, we went to the train station and bought our train tickets. Less than 24 hours later, we were in Barcelona!
We've been taking it easy here (as usual) and even spent one day laying on the beach and napping. We walk around a lot and get lost often, but it's really enjoyable. On one of our long walks (I think about 8 km), we were walking past the Sagrada Familia, a really ugly famous building, when this guy frantically asked us if we knew English. He asked us to help him with directions and pointed at my map, so I unfolded it and tried to help him out. He kept repeating his questions and asking for more and more details the more I helped him, but he didn't even pay attention when I was helping him. Matt says he wasn't even looking at the map. After about a minute, two normal-looking guys come up to us and stand between us and ask us what we're doing. They flash a police ID and ask for our passports, where we're from, where we're staying, and if we have come in contact with drugs. We explain what we were doing but they still ask for our money (shady, right?) and they just sniff it, count it, and give it back. We were really confused by now, and the other lost man started objecting really frantically. The cops then send us away from the guy and tell us not to talk to people or exchange money for heroine and cocaine. We were very, very confused.
Other than being interrogated by undercover cops looking for drugs, we have had a fairly uneventful stay here. We took a bike tour, learned some history and got to see the famous things in Barcelona. We also went to church earlier today, met a girl named Hillary from Delaware who was also visiting the church while in Spain, and somehow got pulled into a birthday lunch with some Brazilians and Bolivians. It was a bit awkward, but it was tasty and the people were nice.
We also didn't have a place to stay tonight so we went around searching after church, but the hostels we wanted to stay at are full. The receptionist said we could store our bags, though, and we are also allowed to wait until 2 AM to see if anyone cancels their reservation (it happens often) and then we can take their room. Now we are waiting at one of the full hostels hoping that there will be a no-show or a cancellation on one of the reservations. Meanwhile, we will loiter here and wander the streets. We are really tired and want to nap but we can't, but there's not much we can do at this point so we are killing time. I guess living life spontaneously and not planning ahead has a price, but I still think it's worth it.
The more we live spontaneously, the easier it gets. I probably would have been freaking out if this happened 2 months ago, but practice makes it easier to adapt and it's actually pretty fun. I still haven't slept at a train station (my dad always talks about this, I think he wants me to), but if things keep progressing then I might really sleep like a hobo before my traveling time is up.
Oh, and I didn't write about Paris yet. I should, 'cause it was awesome, but I'll do that later.
Appreciation for the Underappreciated
,
Time for another reason that traveling is good for you!
I've found (repeatedly) that while traveling you just start to appreciate a lot of things that you either took for granted or just showed absolutely no interest in before. (And I'm not even going to mention the food I miss).
While I've been on the road, I've been washing my clothes by hand. After repeated hand washings during which I have to wring out the water, everything stretches. Do you have any idea how annoying it is when your shirt collars hang loose and your socks get too long for your feet? No bueno. Plus, you have to take longer showers because that's the best time to do your laundry. I really appreciate laundry machines and I'll be more than happy to do my laundry when I get home.
Another thing that I miss wholeheartedly is the standard American keyboard. In South America, it wasn't too bad but Europe has some weird keyboards. Germany had a few switched around keys (the Z and Y and some of the punctuation), but I got used to it by the time we left. Now we're in France and I'm so confused. The A and Q are switched; along with the M and W and every single punctuation mark. It takes me about a minute to type one sentence, so this post required a lot of work. And if you see some typos I overlooked, you know why. I miss you, Qwerty.
While I was a student back at the good 'ol US of A, I hated history. It was just so boring and not very applicable (or so I thought). Learning about dates and events that held little or no meaning to me just seemed pointless. My dad always complained that I had no appreciation for history and always tried to convince me it was awesome, but he never managed to get me interested. While in Peru, though, Machu Picchu sparked a bit of interest in history and I could actually find myself wondering about ancient civilizations and other stuff that I found so boring before. Once I saw the huge ruins, I had to wonder how people made such awesome stuff so long ago (how did they do it?!). Berlin got me even more interested, and seeing so much history during my stay there really makes me wonder how I could have been so ignorant. I walked along the Berlin Wall, stood under the last remaining sniper tower, walked by buildings with bullet holes from some of the big battles of World War II, stood above Hitler's bunker, and then went back in time and walked through the Ishtar Gates from Babylon in the Pergamon Museum. History overload. And now I appreciate it a lot more. In fact, I might even kinda sorta like it now. Just maybe.
Last but not least, I appreciate people. Not just people in general, but the ones I actually like. Lucky for me, Matty here keeps me from getting ronery (not a typo) but he is going home in mid-December. But even with a good travel companion, I really miss a lot of people. That, along with the many hours where I'm stuck in a train or plane or car, makes me think about my friends and family and value them so much more. I don't know what it is about traveling, but it makes me nostalgic and I miss everyone. Even my dog, and I hardly ever play with her (sorry Mimi).
I've started appreciating so many things that I underappreciated before, and this post doesn't even begin to cover it all. Also, I know that if someone else were to travel, they definitely wouldn't appreciate the same things I have learned to appreciate. It's probably different for everybody, and you don't know what you're underappreciating until you start appreciating it! So go travel!
I've found (repeatedly) that while traveling you just start to appreciate a lot of things that you either took for granted or just showed absolutely no interest in before. (And I'm not even going to mention the food I miss).
While I've been on the road, I've been washing my clothes by hand. After repeated hand washings during which I have to wring out the water, everything stretches. Do you have any idea how annoying it is when your shirt collars hang loose and your socks get too long for your feet? No bueno. Plus, you have to take longer showers because that's the best time to do your laundry. I really appreciate laundry machines and I'll be more than happy to do my laundry when I get home.
Another thing that I miss wholeheartedly is the standard American keyboard. In South America, it wasn't too bad but Europe has some weird keyboards. Germany had a few switched around keys (the Z and Y and some of the punctuation), but I got used to it by the time we left. Now we're in France and I'm so confused. The A and Q are switched; along with the M and W and every single punctuation mark. It takes me about a minute to type one sentence, so this post required a lot of work. And if you see some typos I overlooked, you know why. I miss you, Qwerty.
While I was a student back at the good 'ol US of A, I hated history. It was just so boring and not very applicable (or so I thought). Learning about dates and events that held little or no meaning to me just seemed pointless. My dad always complained that I had no appreciation for history and always tried to convince me it was awesome, but he never managed to get me interested. While in Peru, though, Machu Picchu sparked a bit of interest in history and I could actually find myself wondering about ancient civilizations and other stuff that I found so boring before. Once I saw the huge ruins, I had to wonder how people made such awesome stuff so long ago (how did they do it?!). Berlin got me even more interested, and seeing so much history during my stay there really makes me wonder how I could have been so ignorant. I walked along the Berlin Wall, stood under the last remaining sniper tower, walked by buildings with bullet holes from some of the big battles of World War II, stood above Hitler's bunker, and then went back in time and walked through the Ishtar Gates from Babylon in the Pergamon Museum. History overload. And now I appreciate it a lot more. In fact, I might even kinda sorta like it now. Just maybe.
Last but not least, I appreciate people. Not just people in general, but the ones I actually like. Lucky for me, Matty here keeps me from getting ronery (not a typo) but he is going home in mid-December. But even with a good travel companion, I really miss a lot of people. That, along with the many hours where I'm stuck in a train or plane or car, makes me think about my friends and family and value them so much more. I don't know what it is about traveling, but it makes me nostalgic and I miss everyone. Even my dog, and I hardly ever play with her (sorry Mimi).
I've started appreciating so many things that I underappreciated before, and this post doesn't even begin to cover it all. Also, I know that if someone else were to travel, they definitely wouldn't appreciate the same things I have learned to appreciate. It's probably different for everybody, and you don't know what you're underappreciating until you start appreciating it! So go travel!
Traveling is Good for You
,
Oftentimes, I write about things that honestly don't matter. Most of my blog posts talk about food or something cool that I saw. My parents probably read this and suspect that I'm wasting money or not becoming mature or responsible. Luckily, it's not really like that (I promise, Umma). In order to show them that this year out of school is not in vain and also to share with readers what I am learning, I have decided to explain why traveling is good to you (at least how I see it now that I'm on the road).
I'm only going to share one reason at a time (you don't learn a billion lessons a day, you know), and today's reason for traveling deals with patience.
In South America, I got annoyed easily. When I got sick, people in the hostel would just walk in and be noisy, turn on the lights, and then leave the room. I was sick and frail and it required way too much energy to go turn the light off but I couldn't sleep with it on! I ended up getting up and turning the light off and hating the people who did that to me. And I complained quite a bit (sorry Yoontae) about all the people that annoyed me and the little discrepancies in our trip that irked me. It's not like I was unhappy, I just was impatient with people and obviously that's not a good thing.
Now that we're in Germany, there are even more things that annoy us. Little things, but annoying nonetheless. You know those lights that turn green and red for pedestrian crossings? Well, NOBODY here jaywalks (I loved how in South America we basically ran across freeways and it was normal). Even when there are no cars at all. Matt and I hate the feeling of being judged here in Germany so if the light is red we have to stay put too and it kinda sucks because we're so impatient. We want to walk, even if it only makes us get there 5 seconds faster because we're big fans of instant gratification.
Another thing about Germans is that their understanding of personal space is drastically different from that of an American. Here, people standing behind you in line will breathe on the back of your neck and be so close that you wouldn't be able to fit a book in between your bodies. It's really not fun. Matt hates this oh so much (it's one of his biggest pet peeves, worse than scratching fingernails on a chalkboard) and he was so annoyed by people touching him every three seconds all over his back. He said he even wanted to start yelling and breaking free of the crowd like a monster would do in the movies. Maybe like The Incredible Hulk.
So why am I describing all the annoying things we have to put up with? While traveling, different people have different ideas of what's normal and polite and what's not. Sadly, Matt and I have grown a bit too accustomed to our group of friends and our culture and we don't have the patience to put up with what we're not used to. I mean, it even annoys us that the drinks are so small (or maybe that's just 'cause we're fat). But honestly the longer I spend traveling, the more I become open to little differences in etiquette and the more it takes for me to get annoyed when people don't abide by the rules I live by. I don't think you can just sit at home and expect to become open to new lifestyles and cultures. As amazing as traveling is, there are definitely times when you experience annoyances that you wouldn't encounter at home (like not being able to find a bag of hot cheetos), and learning to put up with all kinds of new things generally helps our patience to grow.
So if you have a problem with patience, maybe it's time to book a flight to Germany and stand in line.
I'm only going to share one reason at a time (you don't learn a billion lessons a day, you know), and today's reason for traveling deals with patience.
In South America, I got annoyed easily. When I got sick, people in the hostel would just walk in and be noisy, turn on the lights, and then leave the room. I was sick and frail and it required way too much energy to go turn the light off but I couldn't sleep with it on! I ended up getting up and turning the light off and hating the people who did that to me. And I complained quite a bit (sorry Yoontae) about all the people that annoyed me and the little discrepancies in our trip that irked me. It's not like I was unhappy, I just was impatient with people and obviously that's not a good thing.
Now that we're in Germany, there are even more things that annoy us. Little things, but annoying nonetheless. You know those lights that turn green and red for pedestrian crossings? Well, NOBODY here jaywalks (I loved how in South America we basically ran across freeways and it was normal). Even when there are no cars at all. Matt and I hate the feeling of being judged here in Germany so if the light is red we have to stay put too and it kinda sucks because we're so impatient. We want to walk, even if it only makes us get there 5 seconds faster because we're big fans of instant gratification.
Another thing about Germans is that their understanding of personal space is drastically different from that of an American. Here, people standing behind you in line will breathe on the back of your neck and be so close that you wouldn't be able to fit a book in between your bodies. It's really not fun. Matt hates this oh so much (it's one of his biggest pet peeves, worse than scratching fingernails on a chalkboard) and he was so annoyed by people touching him every three seconds all over his back. He said he even wanted to start yelling and breaking free of the crowd like a monster would do in the movies. Maybe like The Incredible Hulk.
So why am I describing all the annoying things we have to put up with? While traveling, different people have different ideas of what's normal and polite and what's not. Sadly, Matt and I have grown a bit too accustomed to our group of friends and our culture and we don't have the patience to put up with what we're not used to. I mean, it even annoys us that the drinks are so small (or maybe that's just 'cause we're fat). But honestly the longer I spend traveling, the more I become open to little differences in etiquette and the more it takes for me to get annoyed when people don't abide by the rules I live by. I don't think you can just sit at home and expect to become open to new lifestyles and cultures. As amazing as traveling is, there are definitely times when you experience annoyances that you wouldn't encounter at home (like not being able to find a bag of hot cheetos), and learning to put up with all kinds of new things generally helps our patience to grow.
So if you have a problem with patience, maybe it's time to book a flight to Germany and stand in line.
Free Apartment in Berlin
,
Through the wonders of CouchSurfing, we have come across a man in Berlin. This man, Jens, owns an apartment complex with his friend, and they have an apartment on the fourth floor that is vacant. While Matt and I sent messages on CouchSurfing.com, he replied to a post I made and said we could stay for two nights. We took a subway to the address he gave us, had a little trouble finding it, but finally met up with him today around 7 PM after exploring Berlin on foot. We thought we were staying with him in an apartment, but he gave us the whole vacant apartment on the fourth floor to ourselves, complete with a fully stocked kitchen, laptop, clean linens, and our own bathroom and washer. We talked with him while having tea and realized that an awesome guy he really is. He also told us a lot about Germany and also the neighborhood he lives in (there's lots of prostitutes here, but apparently prostitution is an occupation recognized by the government). He has great life philosophies and he's really laid back but he also has a great work ethic and a lot of self-motivation. He's well off but not too occupied with accumulating wealth and he is open to all kinds of cultures and lifestyles. A new role model!
So now we are in our free apartment, and I am typing this from the laptop he gave us to use. We went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of food to make tomorrow, and life is just amazing. While in Berlin, we've walked about 20 km in two days, eaten nonstop, seen some famous stuff, and met some awesome people. Compared to South America, having nice conversations is much easier here. Tomorrow, I think we will take a bike tour of the area, which is supposed to be really educational.
Berlin is nice, at least the areas we've seen so far. Meeting people this trip has been really awesome so far, and I'm really glad I found out about the CouchSurfing thing. Traveling in general is just so fun and it's making me a tiny bit more responsible, I think. It's also making me a bit better at being able to adapt since we're making plans while we move constantly. Hopefully, I can apply this when I get home too because being able to adapt to unexpected obstacles really helps life become so enjoyable.
Anyways, I'm starting to miss chingoos and family a bit since Facebook always tells me about everyone else's life, so send me nice messages and emails. Thanksies.
So now we are in our free apartment, and I am typing this from the laptop he gave us to use. We went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of food to make tomorrow, and life is just amazing. While in Berlin, we've walked about 20 km in two days, eaten nonstop, seen some famous stuff, and met some awesome people. Compared to South America, having nice conversations is much easier here. Tomorrow, I think we will take a bike tour of the area, which is supposed to be really educational.
Berlin is nice, at least the areas we've seen so far. Meeting people this trip has been really awesome so far, and I'm really glad I found out about the CouchSurfing thing. Traveling in general is just so fun and it's making me a tiny bit more responsible, I think. It's also making me a bit better at being able to adapt since we're making plans while we move constantly. Hopefully, I can apply this when I get home too because being able to adapt to unexpected obstacles really helps life become so enjoyable.
Anyways, I'm starting to miss chingoos and family a bit since Facebook always tells me about everyone else's life, so send me nice messages and emails. Thanksies.
Braunschweig and My Destiny Dream
,
Last time I wrote I had gotten in touch with Jill, a host from Couchsurfing.com, and that same night we went to her place. We talked with Jill and her boyfriend, Frank, and they took us out that night and showed us the town. We got to meet some of their friends and had a great night and knocked out on their couch.
Since then, we haven't done anything too crazy. We do get pretty lost everyday, but it's fun. Other than the extra miles of walking we do, getting lost has no real cons. We end up stumbling upon delicious bakeries, snack shops, and other sources of delicious snacks. We had to migrate from Jill's apartment to another guy's since Jill could only put us up for 2 nights, but our new host is awesome as well. Dominik, our host, works for a company that deals with car engines, and he is one of the guys who does stuff on computers to make sure the engines work well. He is also unbelievably trusting and he gave us a key to his apartment and leaves us there alone at 5:30 in the morning. He leaves 50 Euro bills lying around too. I love CouchSurfing.
Braunschweig is a pretty small town and it is full of these big, old buildings. Jill told us (while she was showing us around the town at night) that some of the buildings actually allowed people to climb up to the roofs or into the towers. Climbing stuff, in case you devoted readers haven't noticed, is really appealing to me. Matt seems to like it too. So we found the buildings the next day and tried to find ways up. One of the buildings, called the Schloss Arkaden, is an old building that was renovated in order to house a huge mall. There's some cool statues on top and Jill told us we were allowed up, but we couldn't find the entrance. We searched every hallway, staircase, elevator, and parking lot but couldn't figure out how to get to the roof. About an hour later and after asking the librarian (there was a library in the building too), we made it to the top. It was pretty cool, but kind of anticlimactic since we had been searching for so long.
The next coolest thing so far was my destiny dream. It's kinda long and weird, but basically I had a dream that I had a next door neighbor who was an Asian girl with short hair and her name was Amy. She dropped her phone and I returned it but she was afraid of me. Seems like just some random dream, right? Wrong. Matt and I are convinced that this is a destiny dream. Represents some sort of woman I am supposed to meet, possibly marry. It's destiny. If you are (or know of) an Asian girl who is my age (plus or minus a few years) and you are pretty and you have short hair and your first name or middle name or last name or nickname is Amy or something similar, then please let me know because we are destined to be together.
Since then, we haven't done anything too crazy. We do get pretty lost everyday, but it's fun. Other than the extra miles of walking we do, getting lost has no real cons. We end up stumbling upon delicious bakeries, snack shops, and other sources of delicious snacks. We had to migrate from Jill's apartment to another guy's since Jill could only put us up for 2 nights, but our new host is awesome as well. Dominik, our host, works for a company that deals with car engines, and he is one of the guys who does stuff on computers to make sure the engines work well. He is also unbelievably trusting and he gave us a key to his apartment and leaves us there alone at 5:30 in the morning. He leaves 50 Euro bills lying around too. I love CouchSurfing.
Braunschweig is a pretty small town and it is full of these big, old buildings. Jill told us (while she was showing us around the town at night) that some of the buildings actually allowed people to climb up to the roofs or into the towers. Climbing stuff, in case you devoted readers haven't noticed, is really appealing to me. Matt seems to like it too. So we found the buildings the next day and tried to find ways up. One of the buildings, called the Schloss Arkaden, is an old building that was renovated in order to house a huge mall. There's some cool statues on top and Jill told us we were allowed up, but we couldn't find the entrance. We searched every hallway, staircase, elevator, and parking lot but couldn't figure out how to get to the roof. About an hour later and after asking the librarian (there was a library in the building too), we made it to the top. It was pretty cool, but kind of anticlimactic since we had been searching for so long.
The next coolest thing so far was my destiny dream. It's kinda long and weird, but basically I had a dream that I had a next door neighbor who was an Asian girl with short hair and her name was Amy. She dropped her phone and I returned it but she was afraid of me. Seems like just some random dream, right? Wrong. Matt and I are convinced that this is a destiny dream. Represents some sort of woman I am supposed to meet, possibly marry. It's destiny. If you are (or know of) an Asian girl who is my age (plus or minus a few years) and you are pretty and you have short hair and your first name or middle name or last name or nickname is Amy or something similar, then please let me know because we are destined to be together.
Brandon's Travels Pt. 2
,
Now I'm in Germany. I don't really know where to start. I'm now traveling with my cousin Matt Choo instead of Yoontae, since he has school, and so far all is well. We took a plane from LAX to Philadelphia, got some awesome Philly Cheesesteaks from Geno's, a famous place in South Philly, and then visited the Liberty Bell. Matt wanted to lick it but there were too many people around. After a few hours in Philly, we flew to Frankfurt, Germany, then to Hannover where we managed to take a train into the city's center. We arrived around 10 AM and tried to stay awake long enough to adjust our bodies to the 9 hour time difference, but that didn't work out too well. We found a decently cheap hotel, checked in and dropped off our bags, explored the city a bit, ate, went into a few shops and bookstores, then became overwhelmed by physical exhaustion. We trekked back to our hotel and knocked out around 4 PM. 15 hours later, we woke up and figured we should probably do something, so we got ready and ate breakfast at McDonalds.
Before you judge us for going ALL the way to Germany and eating McDonalds, understand that we checked a lot of other places, but apparently Germans aren't big on Sunday morning breakfast. Even the cafes don't open until 10. The only places open were Subway and McDonalds, so we chose McDonalds. I tried to order, but the cashier didn't know English and she started yelling at me in German. I don't think she was happy that she had to start her Sunday morning shift with an incompetent Korean kid who couldn't even speak her language. Lucky for me, the other lady who had just bought coffee spoke some English so she helped me order my food. We went back to the hotel briefly and then took the local street train that was kind of like the trolleys in San Diego. We took this street train thingy all the way to Herrenhauser Gardens, which are the most famous tourist attraction in Hannover (according to the tourist information center). It was actually pretty nice. Everything was really beautiful and green, but it was a little too romantic. I think Matt and I were the only couple who went into the gardens that wasn't romantically involved. I took some really nice creeper pictures of couples because the garden made it so picturesque. I'll upload them later.
We went back into town afterwards and walked allllllllllllllll over. We saw pretty much everything there was to see (based on the tourist map that we had). We also got a little lost for a while but, surprisingly, I managed to lead us back to our hotel after dinner. We knocked out really early again and woke up at 7. That brings us to today. We ate breakfast at the hotel, took a train to Braunschweig, walked a few miles all around the city center while looking for a place to stay, ate lunch at some fish place for pretty cheap, and came to this internet cafe. Lucky for us, a lady from Couchsurfing.com had emailed me, so in about an hour and half we are going to her house to sleep on her couch. FOR FREE. Awesome deal, right?
Overall, Germany has been pretty cool but I feel like everyone here judges us. They give us nasty looks sometimes when we don't understand English, and we feel like they're judging us very heavily when we do something stupid like trip or knock down a chair. Other than that, everything we've seen has been so beautiful. The fields, parks, and areas in the city are so beautiful. Now that we're in Braunschweig, we're going to Battle of the Year. I'm so excited!
Okay this post kind of sucks now that I look back but I don't have time to write better stuff. I'll do better next time, sorry readers. I just crammed a lot of stuff and it's not that interesting. Maybe I can write something better tonight if our CouchSurfing host has a computer we can use. And maybe I'll put up pictures!
Before you judge us for going ALL the way to Germany and eating McDonalds, understand that we checked a lot of other places, but apparently Germans aren't big on Sunday morning breakfast. Even the cafes don't open until 10. The only places open were Subway and McDonalds, so we chose McDonalds. I tried to order, but the cashier didn't know English and she started yelling at me in German. I don't think she was happy that she had to start her Sunday morning shift with an incompetent Korean kid who couldn't even speak her language. Lucky for me, the other lady who had just bought coffee spoke some English so she helped me order my food. We went back to the hotel briefly and then took the local street train that was kind of like the trolleys in San Diego. We took this street train thingy all the way to Herrenhauser Gardens, which are the most famous tourist attraction in Hannover (according to the tourist information center). It was actually pretty nice. Everything was really beautiful and green, but it was a little too romantic. I think Matt and I were the only couple who went into the gardens that wasn't romantically involved. I took some really nice creeper pictures of couples because the garden made it so picturesque. I'll upload them later.
We went back into town afterwards and walked allllllllllllllll over. We saw pretty much everything there was to see (based on the tourist map that we had). We also got a little lost for a while but, surprisingly, I managed to lead us back to our hotel after dinner. We knocked out really early again and woke up at 7. That brings us to today. We ate breakfast at the hotel, took a train to Braunschweig, walked a few miles all around the city center while looking for a place to stay, ate lunch at some fish place for pretty cheap, and came to this internet cafe. Lucky for us, a lady from Couchsurfing.com had emailed me, so in about an hour and half we are going to her house to sleep on her couch. FOR FREE. Awesome deal, right?
Overall, Germany has been pretty cool but I feel like everyone here judges us. They give us nasty looks sometimes when we don't understand English, and we feel like they're judging us very heavily when we do something stupid like trip or knock down a chair. Other than that, everything we've seen has been so beautiful. The fields, parks, and areas in the city are so beautiful. Now that we're in Braunschweig, we're going to Battle of the Year. I'm so excited!
Okay this post kind of sucks now that I look back but I don't have time to write better stuff. I'll do better next time, sorry readers. I just crammed a lot of stuff and it's not that interesting. Maybe I can write something better tonight if our CouchSurfing host has a computer we can use. And maybe I'll put up pictures!
Barfing Baby Bus
,
Since the last time I updated, a lot has happened. The day after rafting, we took a van to the lake, took a boat across the lake, and then took a van to Monteverde. In Monteverde, we went straight to the ziplining place. We went all the way to the top, ready to zipline down a few miles, but a thunderstorm started and the guides wouldn't let us continue because the lightning was too dangerous. So we walked all the way down back to the base and had to postpone until the next morning. When we actually did go, it was really fun but a little bit painful because rain would hit our faces so hard it would sting.
While in Monteverde, we visited a butterfly garden, which was actually really cool. Don't question our manliness. There were actually a lot of bugs and stuff, not just butterflies. There were huge cockroaches and katydids and tarantulas (it takes lots of courage to get close to these things). We also went to a coffee plantation and learned about sugar cane and coffee and the processing procedures and stuff. We got to sample all the stuff they grew there too, it was really tasty.
From Monteverde, we took an indirect bus to Manuel Antonio. As soon as we checked into our hostel, we went straight to the beach. For the next few days we visited a few different beaches, all of which were really amazing. The first one was so secluded that we were literally the only people there. The water was too warm, though. It wasn't refreshing at all since it was as hot as the outside air. Everyday, we'd wake up and eat a little something and go straight to the beach, stay there for a few hours, eat again, relax in the hostel that overlooked the forest and the ocean, read, and do other relaxing things. It was great. Also, we ate dinner everyday at the same place because it was delicious and cheap. We had beans and rice everyday and I'm not sick of it. It's delicious! Oh, Yoontae obviously didn't get sunburned since he's already pure black, but I got burned by the time we left. That's the only bad thing about Costa Rica.
Today, we took a bus from Manuel Antonio back to San Jose (since we're flying out of San Jose tomorrow) and in the bus a baby barfed. Not only did it barf, but it barfed in the seat right next to us. Lucky Yoontae, he got a little barf spray on his leg. For the next 2 hours, it smelled like bile and rotten cheese (lovely, right?). Even with the window open, it was pretty repulsive. Yoontae was dying since he was sitting right next to the puddle of barf, so I saved the day! Being the sharp-minded, brilliant individual that I am, I devised a wonderful plan: using our stick of chapstick, Yoontae coated his upperlip. Since the chapstick was lightly scented, Yoontae could then pucker up and his nice smelling upper lip then blocked out the nasty smell of baby barf. I'm a genius.
Now we are in San Jose and it is pouring. We will leave tomorrow at noon, fly to Fort Lauderdale, then fly into LAX by midnight. South America trip is over!
While in Monteverde, we visited a butterfly garden, which was actually really cool. Don't question our manliness. There were actually a lot of bugs and stuff, not just butterflies. There were huge cockroaches and katydids and tarantulas (it takes lots of courage to get close to these things). We also went to a coffee plantation and learned about sugar cane and coffee and the processing procedures and stuff. We got to sample all the stuff they grew there too, it was really tasty.
From Monteverde, we took an indirect bus to Manuel Antonio. As soon as we checked into our hostel, we went straight to the beach. For the next few days we visited a few different beaches, all of which were really amazing. The first one was so secluded that we were literally the only people there. The water was too warm, though. It wasn't refreshing at all since it was as hot as the outside air. Everyday, we'd wake up and eat a little something and go straight to the beach, stay there for a few hours, eat again, relax in the hostel that overlooked the forest and the ocean, read, and do other relaxing things. It was great. Also, we ate dinner everyday at the same place because it was delicious and cheap. We had beans and rice everyday and I'm not sick of it. It's delicious! Oh, Yoontae obviously didn't get sunburned since he's already pure black, but I got burned by the time we left. That's the only bad thing about Costa Rica.
Today, we took a bus from Manuel Antonio back to San Jose (since we're flying out of San Jose tomorrow) and in the bus a baby barfed. Not only did it barf, but it barfed in the seat right next to us. Lucky Yoontae, he got a little barf spray on his leg. For the next 2 hours, it smelled like bile and rotten cheese (lovely, right?). Even with the window open, it was pretty repulsive. Yoontae was dying since he was sitting right next to the puddle of barf, so I saved the day! Being the sharp-minded, brilliant individual that I am, I devised a wonderful plan: using our stick of chapstick, Yoontae coated his upperlip. Since the chapstick was lightly scented, Yoontae could then pucker up and his nice smelling upper lip then blocked out the nasty smell of baby barf. I'm a genius.
Now we are in San Jose and it is pouring. We will leave tomorrow at noon, fly to Fort Lauderdale, then fly into LAX by midnight. South America trip is over!
Costa Rica Adventures!
,
Yesterday, we hiked through a rainforesty little park place around the Arenal volcano. Apparently it is one of the top 5 most active volcanoes in the world. It was so green, so tropical, and so natural-feeling! No cars, no smog, no noise. Only the sounds of bugs, monkeys, and birds. So amazing. After our hike, we went to a volcano viewing area and waited for it to get dark. Once it was dark enough, we watched streams of lava flow down the side of the volcano. Very cool. After our indescribable little nature excursion, we went to Baldi hot springs.
I know I will get more crap for this, but it was pretty much a hot spring resort. We got to eat at a really good buffet (covered by the $45 we payed for the day's transportation and activities) and then went into the water. There are supposed to be 20-something pools of water with different temperatures. We didn't really feel like relaxing yet so we went straight to the waterslides. Yes, they even had waterslides. The slide we went on like 10 billion times was illegal by U.S. standards but it was SO FUN. The turns were so sharp that when Yoontae went down I could hear him jump from one side of the slide to the other and make loud crashing noises from hitting the sides. There's also a drop at the end that was really steep and I would always exit the slide a different way (one time I came out on my belly, I'm not sure how that even happened). After going down the slide too many times, we just relaxed in various pools of water. The Baldi hot springs are filtered so they don't smell like sulfur or chlorine, and it still feels heavenly. After the hot springs, we went back to our cheap cabina and found a huge dead cockroach that is still there because we are too disgusted to move it. Then we slept.
Today, we woke up at 6:35 AM. This was late, since we had to be at the adventure tour office by 7 AM. Yoontae didn't brush his teeth (I did, though). We made it to the office on time, got in the van, and went into a less populated area closer to the volcano. We got some rock-climbing harnesses and helmets, then followed our 2 guides and a dog named Chinga down a path. Lucky for us, nobody else booked for today so we got our very own private tour. We started following a river and rappelling down walls, hanging off of rope down hundreds of feet, and climbing/swimming down the river. The dog, Chinga, also rapelled down in our guide's bag and swam down the river too. Coolest dog ever.
We ended up at a big, secluded waterfall that we stood under to shower, then climbed back up a small path back to our starting point where we showered, changed to dry clothes, then ate a hot breakfast of beans, rice, and eggs. We went back to the adventure tour office where we got in another van that took us down to the river. Once at the river, they unloaded the raft and we got in along with 4 other people and 1 guide. For the next couple of hours, we steered through the rapids, swam down for a little bit during our break, and had an amazing time. Everything looked like the set of Jurassic Park. We even saw a few sloths and toucans along the way. At the end of our river rapid adventure, we changed and drove to a secluded little building and ate beans, rice, chicken, yuca, and salad. I ate twice as much as Yoontae and about 5 times as much as the white people we sat next to (not even exaggerating).
Our traveling has turned into an awesome adventure vacation. We're really living it up in Costa Rica, and it's so amazing here. The wildlife is beyond beautiful, I've never seen anything like it. I don't see how anyone can come here and not fall in love with nature. The people are really friendly since tourism provides 85% of the population with jobs, and activities are fairly cheap. Food isn't quite at Brazil's level, but it's still pretty bomb. The people are all very laid back and seem content here. Our hiking guide was even telling us, "Costa Ricans know that you only live once, so we are happy people." I think we can learn a lot from this awesome place. Top vacation suggestion as of yet: Costa Rica.
I know I will get more crap for this, but it was pretty much a hot spring resort. We got to eat at a really good buffet (covered by the $45 we payed for the day's transportation and activities) and then went into the water. There are supposed to be 20-something pools of water with different temperatures. We didn't really feel like relaxing yet so we went straight to the waterslides. Yes, they even had waterslides. The slide we went on like 10 billion times was illegal by U.S. standards but it was SO FUN. The turns were so sharp that when Yoontae went down I could hear him jump from one side of the slide to the other and make loud crashing noises from hitting the sides. There's also a drop at the end that was really steep and I would always exit the slide a different way (one time I came out on my belly, I'm not sure how that even happened). After going down the slide too many times, we just relaxed in various pools of water. The Baldi hot springs are filtered so they don't smell like sulfur or chlorine, and it still feels heavenly. After the hot springs, we went back to our cheap cabina and found a huge dead cockroach that is still there because we are too disgusted to move it. Then we slept.
Today, we woke up at 6:35 AM. This was late, since we had to be at the adventure tour office by 7 AM. Yoontae didn't brush his teeth (I did, though). We made it to the office on time, got in the van, and went into a less populated area closer to the volcano. We got some rock-climbing harnesses and helmets, then followed our 2 guides and a dog named Chinga down a path. Lucky for us, nobody else booked for today so we got our very own private tour. We started following a river and rappelling down walls, hanging off of rope down hundreds of feet, and climbing/swimming down the river. The dog, Chinga, also rapelled down in our guide's bag and swam down the river too. Coolest dog ever.
We ended up at a big, secluded waterfall that we stood under to shower, then climbed back up a small path back to our starting point where we showered, changed to dry clothes, then ate a hot breakfast of beans, rice, and eggs. We went back to the adventure tour office where we got in another van that took us down to the river. Once at the river, they unloaded the raft and we got in along with 4 other people and 1 guide. For the next couple of hours, we steered through the rapids, swam down for a little bit during our break, and had an amazing time. Everything looked like the set of Jurassic Park. We even saw a few sloths and toucans along the way. At the end of our river rapid adventure, we changed and drove to a secluded little building and ate beans, rice, chicken, yuca, and salad. I ate twice as much as Yoontae and about 5 times as much as the white people we sat next to (not even exaggerating).
Our traveling has turned into an awesome adventure vacation. We're really living it up in Costa Rica, and it's so amazing here. The wildlife is beyond beautiful, I've never seen anything like it. I don't see how anyone can come here and not fall in love with nature. The people are really friendly since tourism provides 85% of the population with jobs, and activities are fairly cheap. Food isn't quite at Brazil's level, but it's still pretty bomb. The people are all very laid back and seem content here. Our hiking guide was even telling us, "Costa Ricans know that you only live once, so we are happy people." I think we can learn a lot from this awesome place. Top vacation suggestion as of yet: Costa Rica.
Buddhist Monks and Costa Rica
,
Coming out of Lima 2 nights ago, we pulled an all nighter. We went to the airport around 1 AM (to catch a flight to Bogota, Columbia), checked in around 2 AM, killed time until 5 AM when we boarded our plane, got off the plane around 6:30 AM without going anywhere due to technical difficulties, and waited. While everyone else was freaking out about their flight connections they were going to miss, Yoontae and I chilled on the tile floor. After about 30 minutes, we were approached by 2 small Asian ladies with shaved heads. They started talking to us in Korean, telling us that they were Buddhist monks and asking us for help since they understood neither English nor Spanish. This made it very difficult for them to understand what was going on, and they had a connecting flight to Mexico which they were probably going to miss. I helped them figure things out with the flight attendants and got them booked for an alternate flight that would take them to Mexico. I talked to the monks for a while, and they complimented me on my good looks (no lie, they were super nice) and told me that if I ever visited their area in Korea, I would have a free place to stay at their temple and they would also give me a tour and lend me free bicycles (random... but still cool). They gave me their contact information and then sent me back to Yoontae so I could sleep.
50 minutes later, I woke up and saw the monks again, only this time they were bringing us chicken croissant sandwiches. SO NICE! These sandwiches probably cost somewhere around 15 dollars apiece since it was in the airport, but these nice monk ajumas bought them for us out of the blue. They also brought us juice later. We talked some more with them and they commented on Yoontae's darkness and telling us again that we should visit them in Korea and they would buy us food and house us for free.
Around 9:30 AM, we parted ways and Yoontae and I left for Bogota. We got there, transferred to another flight and got to San Jose, Costa Rica by 4:30 PM. Then we took a taxi to the bus terminal, caught our $2.50 bus to Ciudad Quesada, took another $1 bus to La Fortuna, and checked into our hostel around 11 PM. After 1 day of nonstop traveling, we went straight to our beds and knocked out.
Today, we had amazing beans, rice, eggs, and tortillas with fresh juice. Best breakfast we've had on this trip, since we usually just eat free breakfast at our hostels that consists of cold bread, butter and jam, and tea. Now, we begin the adventurous segment of our trip. Just to give a brief overview... Today, we are hiking to a viewing point of an active volcano to see real lava, then going to some hot springs and relaxing. Tomorrow, we are waterfall rappelling down to a river, then rafting down the river rapids. Later this week, we take a van to the lake, cross the lake by boat, then take a van to Monteverde where we will go zip-lining and Tarzan swinging, then visit the butterfly farms. Other activity updates will come later!
50 minutes later, I woke up and saw the monks again, only this time they were bringing us chicken croissant sandwiches. SO NICE! These sandwiches probably cost somewhere around 15 dollars apiece since it was in the airport, but these nice monk ajumas bought them for us out of the blue. They also brought us juice later. We talked some more with them and they commented on Yoontae's darkness and telling us again that we should visit them in Korea and they would buy us food and house us for free.
Around 9:30 AM, we parted ways and Yoontae and I left for Bogota. We got there, transferred to another flight and got to San Jose, Costa Rica by 4:30 PM. Then we took a taxi to the bus terminal, caught our $2.50 bus to Ciudad Quesada, took another $1 bus to La Fortuna, and checked into our hostel around 11 PM. After 1 day of nonstop traveling, we went straight to our beds and knocked out.
Today, we had amazing beans, rice, eggs, and tortillas with fresh juice. Best breakfast we've had on this trip, since we usually just eat free breakfast at our hostels that consists of cold bread, butter and jam, and tea. Now, we begin the adventurous segment of our trip. Just to give a brief overview... Today, we are hiking to a viewing point of an active volcano to see real lava, then going to some hot springs and relaxing. Tomorrow, we are waterfall rappelling down to a river, then rafting down the river rapids. Later this week, we take a van to the lake, cross the lake by boat, then take a van to Monteverde where we will go zip-lining and Tarzan swinging, then visit the butterfly farms. Other activity updates will come later!
I Hate Lima
,
Okay this title is misleading, but for the first time while traveling, I am truly irritated by our location. Lima is okay, I don't hate it, but I am very angry right now. We walked around for 2 hours looking for a cheap, delicious place to eat with no luck. This never happened ANYWHERE else. Not only that, but I'm getting really sick of the smog. It's worse than LA. It smells bad everywhere, even though we're right by the beach. Also, the traffic sucks. Not just the fact that its crowded, but EVERYONE AND THEIR MOMS honk for no reason. They're so rude and it makes me want to punch their cars. They don't just honk, but they hold their horns for up t0 30 seconds at a time (not even exaggerating). I have never been surrounded by such nasty drivers. While walking around today, some punk kid also threw water on my face from a passing bus, and as I turned to look I saw the kid laughing at me and pointing. I wanted to strangle his skinny little neck.
I just wanted to vent. Overall, traveling is going smoothly. We are off to Costa Rica (with a short stop in Columbia) in half a day and we are excited for all the adventurous things we are going to do there (hopefully waterfall rappelling, river rafting, and zip-lining). Now I am going to drown my sorrows in all you can eat Peruvian sushi, which is quite possibly the best sushi I have ever had in my life. Yes, we are going back for the second time. It's that good. And cheap.
I just wanted to vent. Overall, traveling is going smoothly. We are off to Costa Rica (with a short stop in Columbia) in half a day and we are excited for all the adventurous things we are going to do there (hopefully waterfall rappelling, river rafting, and zip-lining). Now I am going to drown my sorrows in all you can eat Peruvian sushi, which is quite possibly the best sushi I have ever had in my life. Yes, we are going back for the second time. It's that good. And cheap.
Hello World
,
It's been a long time since I've been active online. Not a lot of time to update, but now that we're back in Lima we have easy access to a computer and time to go online. So here's a big update to let you know what life has been like...
Right after my last update, I got sick. Not so sick that I was puking and stuff, but sick enough to be stuck in bed wearing many layers of clothes. Unfortunately, this meant flying to Lima while sick, then some wasted time in Lima. During my sick time, Yoontae had to venture out alone and he wouldn't stop complaining about how boring and stupid I was for being sick. So helpful, huh? After a few days, I recovered to my full health and so we did explore a tiny bit of Lima before we left for Cusco. In Cusco, life got crazy which is why we were unable to email or check facebook. We woke up the first morning at 6:30 AM to catch a van to take an 8 hour trip (half of which was on unpaved roads). We got out of the van at a ghetto train station and took the most efficient train in the universe. It was about as fast as a power-walking person and it stopped or changed direction about 6 times. The train took us to Aguas Calientes, which is the small town at the base of Machu Picchu. If you don't even know what Machu Picchu is, look it up 'cause you're dumb. In Aguas Calientes, we went to sleep around 10:30 PM, nice and early.
We woke up at 2:30 AM, thinking it was 3:30 AM, went back to sleep and then woke up for reals at the REAL 3:30 AM, then climbed about 1300 feet in altitude on uneven stone stairs. In pitch-black darkness. It was hard. We got to Machu Picchu and looked around, but it was disappointing because the clouds and fog were so thick that we couldn't even see most of the ruins. At 7 AM, we went to Wayna Picchu, the mountain overlooking Machu Picchu and climbed that too. That was another 1200 feet climb, but on steeper steps. We needed ropes to climb up on some parts, and my calves really burned. From the top, the view was great because the fog cleared up. Pictures are up on Facebook, but only a few of them. We actually took about 500 pictures. So now we were about 8900 feet above sea level, loving the view, but it was time to climb back down. So we did, and it was more pain for my skinny little legs, but we got down in time to explore Machu Picchu some more. And we saw llamas and we touched them too. It was awesome (pictures of this on Facebook too). At noon, we left Aguas Calientes, took the crappy, inefficient train back to the van, took the van another 9 hours back to Cusco and knocked out around 11ish.
The next morning, we woke up at 6:30 again and took a tour around the Sacred Valley looking at more ruins. I don't feel like writing about it so if you even care what we did, you can ask me later. But you probably don't even care. We stopped at a buffet (part of the tour) and some French people marvelled at my abnormal stomach capacity (I ate 3 full plates of food, 1 plate of just chips and guacamole, and then a banana). I ate so much that I had to make a stop at the bathroom, and I made the whole bus wait while I "dropped off some kids." It was worth it though. Back in Cusco, we ate llama meat, bought a ton of snacks in the market, and laid in bed watching Van Helsing and being fat.
There are about a bajillion details that I'm skipping over, but it's way too hard to write everything that has happened. We've really done a lot, but this only covers the very essentials. We've seen and learned a lot over the past few days but it's too complicated and we are both too lazy to write about stuff. So tough luck, just go look at pictures on Facebook and ask me for better stories when I get back. Blogging is too hard.
P.S. Sorry this post is so crappy, but we really are very, very tired. I'll try to make the pictures on Facebook fun though. I promise.
Right after my last update, I got sick. Not so sick that I was puking and stuff, but sick enough to be stuck in bed wearing many layers of clothes. Unfortunately, this meant flying to Lima while sick, then some wasted time in Lima. During my sick time, Yoontae had to venture out alone and he wouldn't stop complaining about how boring and stupid I was for being sick. So helpful, huh? After a few days, I recovered to my full health and so we did explore a tiny bit of Lima before we left for Cusco. In Cusco, life got crazy which is why we were unable to email or check facebook. We woke up the first morning at 6:30 AM to catch a van to take an 8 hour trip (half of which was on unpaved roads). We got out of the van at a ghetto train station and took the most efficient train in the universe. It was about as fast as a power-walking person and it stopped or changed direction about 6 times. The train took us to Aguas Calientes, which is the small town at the base of Machu Picchu. If you don't even know what Machu Picchu is, look it up 'cause you're dumb. In Aguas Calientes, we went to sleep around 10:30 PM, nice and early.
We woke up at 2:30 AM, thinking it was 3:30 AM, went back to sleep and then woke up for reals at the REAL 3:30 AM, then climbed about 1300 feet in altitude on uneven stone stairs. In pitch-black darkness. It was hard. We got to Machu Picchu and looked around, but it was disappointing because the clouds and fog were so thick that we couldn't even see most of the ruins. At 7 AM, we went to Wayna Picchu, the mountain overlooking Machu Picchu and climbed that too. That was another 1200 feet climb, but on steeper steps. We needed ropes to climb up on some parts, and my calves really burned. From the top, the view was great because the fog cleared up. Pictures are up on Facebook, but only a few of them. We actually took about 500 pictures. So now we were about 8900 feet above sea level, loving the view, but it was time to climb back down. So we did, and it was more pain for my skinny little legs, but we got down in time to explore Machu Picchu some more. And we saw llamas and we touched them too. It was awesome (pictures of this on Facebook too). At noon, we left Aguas Calientes, took the crappy, inefficient train back to the van, took the van another 9 hours back to Cusco and knocked out around 11ish.
The next morning, we woke up at 6:30 again and took a tour around the Sacred Valley looking at more ruins. I don't feel like writing about it so if you even care what we did, you can ask me later. But you probably don't even care. We stopped at a buffet (part of the tour) and some French people marvelled at my abnormal stomach capacity (I ate 3 full plates of food, 1 plate of just chips and guacamole, and then a banana). I ate so much that I had to make a stop at the bathroom, and I made the whole bus wait while I "dropped off some kids." It was worth it though. Back in Cusco, we ate llama meat, bought a ton of snacks in the market, and laid in bed watching Van Helsing and being fat.
There are about a bajillion details that I'm skipping over, but it's way too hard to write everything that has happened. We've really done a lot, but this only covers the very essentials. We've seen and learned a lot over the past few days but it's too complicated and we are both too lazy to write about stuff. So tough luck, just go look at pictures on Facebook and ask me for better stories when I get back. Blogging is too hard.
P.S. Sorry this post is so crappy, but we really are very, very tired. I'll try to make the pictures on Facebook fun though. I promise.
Horses and Hobos
,
We woke up bright and early (7 AM is really early, okay) and took the metro to the big bus terminal, then took a 9:30 bus that actually came at 10:30. It dropped us off 2 hours later in San Antonio de Areco, a tiny little town where everyone knows each other. Once we got dropped off, we had no idea where we were or where to go, so we just started walking in one direction but we realized how stupid that was so we asked for directions. Good thing, because we were walking away from the town.
In the town, nobody locks their bikes, and even some buildings are left unlocked. We know this because we actually went inside one to use their restrooms even though there was no one inside and we probably weren't supposed to go in there. I know, we're rude, but we really had to go. After wandering around the town, we stumbled onto the tourist information center where an English-speaking French woman who also spoke Spanish told us where to ride horses, see art museums, and eat. Once we were done talking to her, we thanked her and left. Following her directions, we went to La Cinacina, an estancia, which is basically a ranch. We reserved a horseback riding excursion for 3:30 and went to walk around the town some more. The tourist information lady had told us about a museum, but we couldn't find it so we just went to a cafe and I got a fresh squeezed orange juice while Yoontae got coffee. We went back to the ranch around 3:20 and went towards the horses, and a gaucho (cowboy) who didn't speak English helped us onto two horses and we just started walking.
The ride was only an hour long, but it was one of the best hours I've had in Buenos Aires. Unlike other horseback riding experiences I've had, this one put us in more control. We were in the front, while the gaucho rode behind us occasionally calling out directions. We had freedom to wander a bit (which sometimes resulted in my horse turning around and doing whatever he wanted) and we didn't really talk. We just sat and enjoyed. Even with the dying trees and the cold air, everything seemed perfect and the whole ride was so calming. We rode through the ranch, through a park, across a river on a bridge, and across fields and down rodes with little houses. It was definitely worth the 60 pesos ($16). I can't really explain the experience, and I realize that my descriptions don't adequately portray the amazing-ness of most of the stuff we do, but seriously. It was amazing times a bajillion.
Afterwards, we were really hungry and wanted steak but none of the restaurants here open until around 8 PM. We managed to find a cafe that served food, but they didn't have steak. They did have this amazing meat sandwich with unbelievably tender pieces of beef. We only ordered one sandwich (with fries), but it ended up filling both of us up. We bought some pastries, bought our bus tickets at the end of town, then went back into town and ate ice cream.
Ice cream in Argentina is so good. I don't know why Argentina isn't famous for ice cream. It's extra flavorful and creamy here, and there's never any tiny ice chunks like the ice cream you get in America. I just got a plain vanilla today, and it was HEAVENLY. We also bought chips and vanilla crackers. Remember this, it is important.
We took a two hour bus back to Buenos Aires, sleeping most of the way, and when we got back to the big bus terminal, we walked to the metro station. Sitting in the metro, I was still kind of half asleep so I didn't really pay attention when a man walked up to me with a sign. He stopped in front of me and kept pointing at his sign and at me, so I kept looking at him. Realizing that he wanted the food I had bought, I gave him my bag of chips. It was already open and half eaten, but this guy was so genuinely thankful. He beamed at me and kept saying gracias as he walked away from me. Thirty seconds later, he comes back again and shakes my hand, thanking me again. Beggars here really take whatever they can get and I don't feel like I need to worry that they're going to take my money to buy cigarettes or booze. A few minutes later, a kid with scabs and dirt on his face came up to me while I had my eyes closed, poking at me. It took me a while to figure out what he wanted too, and he was pointing at the crackers. I gave them to him and got really sad. With a 60% poverty level, I'm guessing there's a lot of kids who don't go to school and a lot of families who get no aid from the government. We've seen so much of the rich side of Buenos Aires and keep talking about how much we love this city, but we momentarily had forgotten about the level of poverty here because the slums are not as visible as in Brazil. Meeting the two beggars on the subway today really reminded me that my travels have to be open to more than just the touristy part of other cultures and countries. Seeing kids begging on the subway while they try to sell little cards and also seeing them dig through trash as we walk back to the hostel, it was really sad. Today was really fun and I had an amazing time enjoying the scenery while riding on a horse, but I also had a pretty crazy reality check: don't get too caught up in having fun and focusing so much on your own life that you don't have the time to think about the bigger picture. There are such bigger things than what we worry about.
In the town, nobody locks their bikes, and even some buildings are left unlocked. We know this because we actually went inside one to use their restrooms even though there was no one inside and we probably weren't supposed to go in there. I know, we're rude, but we really had to go. After wandering around the town, we stumbled onto the tourist information center where an English-speaking French woman who also spoke Spanish told us where to ride horses, see art museums, and eat. Once we were done talking to her, we thanked her and left. Following her directions, we went to La Cinacina, an estancia, which is basically a ranch. We reserved a horseback riding excursion for 3:30 and went to walk around the town some more. The tourist information lady had told us about a museum, but we couldn't find it so we just went to a cafe and I got a fresh squeezed orange juice while Yoontae got coffee. We went back to the ranch around 3:20 and went towards the horses, and a gaucho (cowboy) who didn't speak English helped us onto two horses and we just started walking.
The ride was only an hour long, but it was one of the best hours I've had in Buenos Aires. Unlike other horseback riding experiences I've had, this one put us in more control. We were in the front, while the gaucho rode behind us occasionally calling out directions. We had freedom to wander a bit (which sometimes resulted in my horse turning around and doing whatever he wanted) and we didn't really talk. We just sat and enjoyed. Even with the dying trees and the cold air, everything seemed perfect and the whole ride was so calming. We rode through the ranch, through a park, across a river on a bridge, and across fields and down rodes with little houses. It was definitely worth the 60 pesos ($16). I can't really explain the experience, and I realize that my descriptions don't adequately portray the amazing-ness of most of the stuff we do, but seriously. It was amazing times a bajillion.
Afterwards, we were really hungry and wanted steak but none of the restaurants here open until around 8 PM. We managed to find a cafe that served food, but they didn't have steak. They did have this amazing meat sandwich with unbelievably tender pieces of beef. We only ordered one sandwich (with fries), but it ended up filling both of us up. We bought some pastries, bought our bus tickets at the end of town, then went back into town and ate ice cream.
Ice cream in Argentina is so good. I don't know why Argentina isn't famous for ice cream. It's extra flavorful and creamy here, and there's never any tiny ice chunks like the ice cream you get in America. I just got a plain vanilla today, and it was HEAVENLY. We also bought chips and vanilla crackers. Remember this, it is important.
We took a two hour bus back to Buenos Aires, sleeping most of the way, and when we got back to the big bus terminal, we walked to the metro station. Sitting in the metro, I was still kind of half asleep so I didn't really pay attention when a man walked up to me with a sign. He stopped in front of me and kept pointing at his sign and at me, so I kept looking at him. Realizing that he wanted the food I had bought, I gave him my bag of chips. It was already open and half eaten, but this guy was so genuinely thankful. He beamed at me and kept saying gracias as he walked away from me. Thirty seconds later, he comes back again and shakes my hand, thanking me again. Beggars here really take whatever they can get and I don't feel like I need to worry that they're going to take my money to buy cigarettes or booze. A few minutes later, a kid with scabs and dirt on his face came up to me while I had my eyes closed, poking at me. It took me a while to figure out what he wanted too, and he was pointing at the crackers. I gave them to him and got really sad. With a 60% poverty level, I'm guessing there's a lot of kids who don't go to school and a lot of families who get no aid from the government. We've seen so much of the rich side of Buenos Aires and keep talking about how much we love this city, but we momentarily had forgotten about the level of poverty here because the slums are not as visible as in Brazil. Meeting the two beggars on the subway today really reminded me that my travels have to be open to more than just the touristy part of other cultures and countries. Seeing kids begging on the subway while they try to sell little cards and also seeing them dig through trash as we walk back to the hostel, it was really sad. Today was really fun and I had an amazing time enjoying the scenery while riding on a horse, but I also had a pretty crazy reality check: don't get too caught up in having fun and focusing so much on your own life that you don't have the time to think about the bigger picture. There are such bigger things than what we worry about.
Korean BBQ in Argentina
,
(A new email I received after my last post)
Brandon, PLEASE DO NOT post my emails onto your blogspot!!!
You're embarassing me.
Love,
Mom
-----
Today, we went to church. Took a metro and walked for a bit to a tiny Korean SDA church in Buenos Aires, where we got the typical treatment we're getting used to at churches. Lots of questioning in a mixture of Korean and Spanish, neither of which we are good at. The pastor came up to us and even reprimanded us for not knowing Korean well. What a hater. Just kidding, the church was pretty nice. Not as outgoing as Sao Paulo, but that's not surprising since the Sao Paulo church was probably the most welcoming church I've ever been to. No lie.
We sat through the service, which was about the Daniel prophecies. I don't even understand most of the prophecy sermons in English, and following them in Korean was nearly impossible. After eating potluck which was basically bap and banchan, we realized how much we missed Korean food. Luckily, the members of the church wrote down the cross streets where K-Town is located. After church, we headed back to the hostel, took a three hour nap, then headed towards K-Town to get us some Korean food. The place we found was very Korean looking. Plain on the outside, with a colorful Korean banner thing. Inside, we were seated at a table with a grill in it. No gas line, it was a coal grill. We sat down, never got a menu, and the waiters started bringing banchan. They brought out about 15 plates of banchan. Our table was covered in plates, and we hadn't even gotten any real food yet. After a couple minutes, they brought out the meat and salad... along with more banchan. We had so many different plates, we had to start piling them up. Bibimgooksoo (spelling?), mandu, maneul, chapchae, kohgoomah teegeem, hobak jook... the dishes were endless. We kept eating the meat and getting more, not sure what the price was since we never got a menu. We were a bit anxious, but we had spent close to nothing today so we were pretty sure it would stay within the budget. After eating 'til Yoontae was complaining about stomach pains, we paid ONLY 90 pesos for everything! A liter and a half of coke, 20 side dishes, a big pot of chigae, and two huge plates of meat for two people... only$25 dollars! Walking back to the metro, we were getting walking cramps after just a block, but it was worth it. Argentina has amazing cheap food, good meat, amazing bakeries... it is a glutton's paradise.
I know I enjoy food a lot and we eat a lot of meat while traveling, but (to answer you, Milee...) we don't get constipated. At least... I don't. Yoontae had some problems earlier in Brazil, but now we are pooping great. Thanks for asking.
Today, I just want to share a bit about how we travel. Like I said in the really early posts, Yoontae and I just have a backpack each and a small sleeping bag that we've only had to use once so far. We have clothes for 4 days and we usually hand-wash our clothes with shampoo (the only soap we have), but in Argentina we have the luxury of having our clothes machine washed for only 10 pesos a load (this comes with a bleaching service for whites). We have no body soap, face soap, and I don't have a real towel. I use a hengjoo.
Basically, our trip is all spontaneous, we don't plan ahead much other than our flights. Even our flights aren't planned too far ahead, and we haven't purchased all of them yet (we should get on that soon). When we get to a new area, we usually use our wonderful Footprint travel book (a gift from Junie noonah, THANK YOU SO MUCH) to get ideas of what to do, where to stay, and what to eat. Once we get to a location, we ask the hostel, pick up free maps, and ask locals and other travelers about what to do. We also go towards nice looking places, and those usually end up being entertaining, and we hang out with other travelers who usually have good ideas of what to do for fun. Occasionally, other travelers are impolite and not very courteous, but most of the people we've met have been pretty nice to travel around with. Traveling is really crazy, and no matter where you go there's something to learn.
Everyone should travel!
Brandon, PLEASE DO NOT post my emails onto your blogspot!!!
You're embarassing me.
Love,
Mom
-----
Today, we went to church. Took a metro and walked for a bit to a tiny Korean SDA church in Buenos Aires, where we got the typical treatment we're getting used to at churches. Lots of questioning in a mixture of Korean and Spanish, neither of which we are good at. The pastor came up to us and even reprimanded us for not knowing Korean well. What a hater. Just kidding, the church was pretty nice. Not as outgoing as Sao Paulo, but that's not surprising since the Sao Paulo church was probably the most welcoming church I've ever been to. No lie.
We sat through the service, which was about the Daniel prophecies. I don't even understand most of the prophecy sermons in English, and following them in Korean was nearly impossible. After eating potluck which was basically bap and banchan, we realized how much we missed Korean food. Luckily, the members of the church wrote down the cross streets where K-Town is located. After church, we headed back to the hostel, took a three hour nap, then headed towards K-Town to get us some Korean food. The place we found was very Korean looking. Plain on the outside, with a colorful Korean banner thing. Inside, we were seated at a table with a grill in it. No gas line, it was a coal grill. We sat down, never got a menu, and the waiters started bringing banchan. They brought out about 15 plates of banchan. Our table was covered in plates, and we hadn't even gotten any real food yet. After a couple minutes, they brought out the meat and salad... along with more banchan. We had so many different plates, we had to start piling them up. Bibimgooksoo (spelling?), mandu, maneul, chapchae, kohgoomah teegeem, hobak jook... the dishes were endless. We kept eating the meat and getting more, not sure what the price was since we never got a menu. We were a bit anxious, but we had spent close to nothing today so we were pretty sure it would stay within the budget. After eating 'til Yoontae was complaining about stomach pains, we paid ONLY 90 pesos for everything! A liter and a half of coke, 20 side dishes, a big pot of chigae, and two huge plates of meat for two people... only$25 dollars! Walking back to the metro, we were getting walking cramps after just a block, but it was worth it. Argentina has amazing cheap food, good meat, amazing bakeries... it is a glutton's paradise.
I know I enjoy food a lot and we eat a lot of meat while traveling, but (to answer you, Milee...) we don't get constipated. At least... I don't. Yoontae had some problems earlier in Brazil, but now we are pooping great. Thanks for asking.
Today, I just want to share a bit about how we travel. Like I said in the really early posts, Yoontae and I just have a backpack each and a small sleeping bag that we've only had to use once so far. We have clothes for 4 days and we usually hand-wash our clothes with shampoo (the only soap we have), but in Argentina we have the luxury of having our clothes machine washed for only 10 pesos a load (this comes with a bleaching service for whites). We have no body soap, face soap, and I don't have a real towel. I use a hengjoo.
Basically, our trip is all spontaneous, we don't plan ahead much other than our flights. Even our flights aren't planned too far ahead, and we haven't purchased all of them yet (we should get on that soon). When we get to a new area, we usually use our wonderful Footprint travel book (a gift from Junie noonah, THANK YOU SO MUCH) to get ideas of what to do, where to stay, and what to eat. Once we get to a location, we ask the hostel, pick up free maps, and ask locals and other travelers about what to do. We also go towards nice looking places, and those usually end up being entertaining, and we hang out with other travelers who usually have good ideas of what to do for fun. Occasionally, other travelers are impolite and not very courteous, but most of the people we've met have been pretty nice to travel around with. Traveling is really crazy, and no matter where you go there's something to learn.
Everyone should travel!
,
My mom is very good at nagging from overseas.
(talking about my camera)
Be careful brandonl. I bet it was stolen and you don't even know it. They are very sneaky and good at it. My cousin told me at some places, down there (like Peru) thats how lots of people make a living, by stealing from tourists. They work in groups. One will distract you while the other steals. BE CAREFUL.
mom
(random email that came out of nowhere)
Brandon, stop eating so much meat and eat more fruits and grains! All I read about is you guys eating meat this and meat that. You guys better eat healthy so you don't get sick! Stay out of dangerous situations too! Be careful!
mom
Anyway, today we had a really chill day. Got up at 11, got ready, then headed out to the far end of the city. We took the metro down to the very last stop and walked around. We found a ton of stores that made me want to come to Argentina just to shop. Nikes are actually CHEAPER here which is crazy because they're three times as expensive in Brazil. Also, I bought a pair of jeans for 72 pesos ($19) because I didn't bring a pair and it's been pretty cold lately. We also looked for scarves since Peru will be as cold as 2 degrees celsius on some nights (Peru is our next stop). We really had no idea where we were going, so we just circled around, looked at the neighborhood, and then decided to eat. We found this regional food restaurant, but we couldn't find any chairs or tables. The owner gave us menus, though, and we ordered some filet thing that sounded good and potato tortillas. When the food was ready, the owner made us follow him into the kitchen, where there was a wooden plank and some chairs. We sat down about 5 feet from the stove and ate our food. The fried fish (filet thing) was great, and it came with delicious fries that were extra crispy. The potato tortilla thing was actually kind of like an omelette thing with lots of potatoes in it. It was also very tasty. We finished all our food and were really stuffed, so we took the metro back towards the hostel, sleeping along the way. Once we got off the metro, we stopped by a street with a lot of vendors and looked at more scarves, but didn't actually buy anything.
Once we were back at the hostel, Yoontae went on the computer and figured some stuff out and talked to his family while I watched random things on TV for 2 hours, basically whatever was in English. When we got hungry we walked down the street for some pizza and meat empanadas with Coca Cola. It was delicious. After eating, we went with our new friends from Manchester, Jemma and Stacy, to this little restaurant/cafe/bar with live music. The first performer was amazing on the guitar but the second guy was really loud and not that amazing. There was this really old guy in the audience who kept dancing and waving his arms though. He was really awesome and fun to watch.
Basically, we just wandered aimlessly around the city and had a relaxing day. Also, this morning Yoontae found out that his grandfather passed away, so he was considering cutting the trip short and heading back home this weekend (that's why he was on the computer so long at the hostel). I started thinking that I would have to start traveling alone earlier than I expected, and we began to look up early flights and email the companies to try to cancel flights we had already booked. In the end, after talking with his family for a very long time, he decided to finish up traveling according to plan.
Just yesterday, I was writing about how having the right attitude can help have a more amazing life, but today I've seen that there are some things that you can never fully prepare for. Even with an adventurous, positive attitude, death hits us hard. Please keep his family in your prayers.
(talking about my camera)
Be careful brandonl. I bet it was stolen and you don't even know it. They are very sneaky and good at it. My cousin told me at some places, down there (like Peru) thats how lots of people make a living, by stealing from tourists. They work in groups. One will distract you while the other steals. BE CAREFUL.
mom
(random email that came out of nowhere)
Brandon, stop eating so much meat and eat more fruits and grains! All I read about is you guys eating meat this and meat that. You guys better eat healthy so you don't get sick! Stay out of dangerous situations too! Be careful!
mom
Anyway, today we had a really chill day. Got up at 11, got ready, then headed out to the far end of the city. We took the metro down to the very last stop and walked around. We found a ton of stores that made me want to come to Argentina just to shop. Nikes are actually CHEAPER here which is crazy because they're three times as expensive in Brazil. Also, I bought a pair of jeans for 72 pesos ($19) because I didn't bring a pair and it's been pretty cold lately. We also looked for scarves since Peru will be as cold as 2 degrees celsius on some nights (Peru is our next stop). We really had no idea where we were going, so we just circled around, looked at the neighborhood, and then decided to eat. We found this regional food restaurant, but we couldn't find any chairs or tables. The owner gave us menus, though, and we ordered some filet thing that sounded good and potato tortillas. When the food was ready, the owner made us follow him into the kitchen, where there was a wooden plank and some chairs. We sat down about 5 feet from the stove and ate our food. The fried fish (filet thing) was great, and it came with delicious fries that were extra crispy. The potato tortilla thing was actually kind of like an omelette thing with lots of potatoes in it. It was also very tasty. We finished all our food and were really stuffed, so we took the metro back towards the hostel, sleeping along the way. Once we got off the metro, we stopped by a street with a lot of vendors and looked at more scarves, but didn't actually buy anything.
Once we were back at the hostel, Yoontae went on the computer and figured some stuff out and talked to his family while I watched random things on TV for 2 hours, basically whatever was in English. When we got hungry we walked down the street for some pizza and meat empanadas with Coca Cola. It was delicious. After eating, we went with our new friends from Manchester, Jemma and Stacy, to this little restaurant/cafe/bar with live music. The first performer was amazing on the guitar but the second guy was really loud and not that amazing. There was this really old guy in the audience who kept dancing and waving his arms though. He was really awesome and fun to watch.
Basically, we just wandered aimlessly around the city and had a relaxing day. Also, this morning Yoontae found out that his grandfather passed away, so he was considering cutting the trip short and heading back home this weekend (that's why he was on the computer so long at the hostel). I started thinking that I would have to start traveling alone earlier than I expected, and we began to look up early flights and email the companies to try to cancel flights we had already booked. In the end, after talking with his family for a very long time, he decided to finish up traveling according to plan.
Just yesterday, I was writing about how having the right attitude can help have a more amazing life, but today I've seen that there are some things that you can never fully prepare for. Even with an adventurous, positive attitude, death hits us hard. Please keep his family in your prayers.
Finally Caught Up!
,
So I'm finally caught up with my blogs, and this blog post is actually about today! In addition, I have uploaded some pictures onto Facebook.
Yoontae and I have been borderline sick (Yoontae more so than me), so we've been sleeping in a bit but still doing everything else pretty much the same. Today, we woke up around 10 to 10:30 and took the metro towards the cemetary we had heard about on our tour yesterday. Between the metro station and the cemetary, we stopped to get a hot dog with mushroom sauce, mayonnaise, and these onion fry chip things. Also, we stopped by some stores to look for scarves and jeans because we are not prepared for the cold that we will be confronting in Peru. We didn't find anything cheap enough for us to buy, so we just went to the cemetary. It's crazy in there. Everybody and their mothers (sometimes literally, the whole family is buried together) has a mausoleum. They're all really nice and fancy, but there are so many that you get numb to it after a while and they're not that impressive. Some of them look like churches though, and they're so big you have to take stairs to climb to the doors or the statues. After walking around the cemetary for a while and taking lots of pictures, we went to a museum where we found a naked exhibit. Basically a big collection of paintings and photographs of... naked people. We're really immature, so there was a lot of pointing and giggling. Upstairs, we found an amazing photography exhibit with crazy pictures of everything, from violence in Kenya (we saw a picture of a guy with his head blown up... it was very graphic) to breakdancing in South America. After finishing up at that museum, we walked to the Bellas Artes, which was another humongous museum filled with all kinds of art from Mexico, Europe, and Argentina. We saw sculptures by Rodin, paintings by Picasso, and ancient tribal work as well.
Coming out of the Bellas Artes, we got really hungry, so we decided to try to find this meat restaurant we had heard about from a friend we met in Brazil. We walked for a really, really long time (30 blocks, about 10 or 11 kilometers) to La Cabrerra... only to find that it was closed. It opened at 8:30 PM and it was 6 PM. We do not give up easily, so we went to a cafe and sat down. I got this coffee mixed with cognac, chocolate, and canela. It was alright. After 45 minutes of sitting, we left and walked around to look for cheap jeans and scarves. If we don't find them soon, we are going to die in Peru. At 8:30, we got back to the restaurant and got seats outside because the interior is for reservation only. We ordered Argentine country sausage for our appetizer and got ribeye steak for our main course. Pictures of the food, along with all the side sauces and dishes, are on the Facebook album.
After paying (it was 110 pesos for both of us, which is about $30 for two people's steak dinners with appetizers), we got some ice cream at a heladeria and walked back to the metro station. We headed back to the hostel, and that basically concludes our day.
We did a ridiculous amount of walking today. It was a good day though. Looking back at the past few days we've had, it's not so different from our lives back at the states. Honestly, the city and the living conditions are not so different from city life in the States, but we're so happy here. Why is that? I think it's about the attitude. While we're here, we feel like travelers and have the motivation to go out and explore, get lost, try new things, and continue to see every mistake and accident as an adventure. The truth is, our lives back at home can be just as exciting. San Diego is just as amazing as Buenos Aires (if not more so), but I don't get this excited about life at home... hardly anybody really does! While we're out here, we take everything in as an adventure, another story to tell, and I can even lose my camera without stressing. I'm a pretty ignorant person, and there are definitely going to be lots of crazy things that will happen that I won't expect. Despite this, if I can maintain the type of attitude I have now, where I go out everyday waiting for life to surprise me, I think life can be so much more amazing. For those of you sitting at home reading this blog, thinking about how crazy my life seems as I travel the world, take a moment to look at your own lives. Have you explored all the areas in your home city or tried walking 10 kilometers from your house just for the heck of exploring? Probably not. Don't sit by at home thinking I have it lucky, saying that you wish you could travel too. Life is an adventure, so treat it like one.
Yoontae and I have been borderline sick (Yoontae more so than me), so we've been sleeping in a bit but still doing everything else pretty much the same. Today, we woke up around 10 to 10:30 and took the metro towards the cemetary we had heard about on our tour yesterday. Between the metro station and the cemetary, we stopped to get a hot dog with mushroom sauce, mayonnaise, and these onion fry chip things. Also, we stopped by some stores to look for scarves and jeans because we are not prepared for the cold that we will be confronting in Peru. We didn't find anything cheap enough for us to buy, so we just went to the cemetary. It's crazy in there. Everybody and their mothers (sometimes literally, the whole family is buried together) has a mausoleum. They're all really nice and fancy, but there are so many that you get numb to it after a while and they're not that impressive. Some of them look like churches though, and they're so big you have to take stairs to climb to the doors or the statues. After walking around the cemetary for a while and taking lots of pictures, we went to a museum where we found a naked exhibit. Basically a big collection of paintings and photographs of... naked people. We're really immature, so there was a lot of pointing and giggling. Upstairs, we found an amazing photography exhibit with crazy pictures of everything, from violence in Kenya (we saw a picture of a guy with his head blown up... it was very graphic) to breakdancing in South America. After finishing up at that museum, we walked to the Bellas Artes, which was another humongous museum filled with all kinds of art from Mexico, Europe, and Argentina. We saw sculptures by Rodin, paintings by Picasso, and ancient tribal work as well.
Coming out of the Bellas Artes, we got really hungry, so we decided to try to find this meat restaurant we had heard about from a friend we met in Brazil. We walked for a really, really long time (30 blocks, about 10 or 11 kilometers) to La Cabrerra... only to find that it was closed. It opened at 8:30 PM and it was 6 PM. We do not give up easily, so we went to a cafe and sat down. I got this coffee mixed with cognac, chocolate, and canela. It was alright. After 45 minutes of sitting, we left and walked around to look for cheap jeans and scarves. If we don't find them soon, we are going to die in Peru. At 8:30, we got back to the restaurant and got seats outside because the interior is for reservation only. We ordered Argentine country sausage for our appetizer and got ribeye steak for our main course. Pictures of the food, along with all the side sauces and dishes, are on the Facebook album.
After paying (it was 110 pesos for both of us, which is about $30 for two people's steak dinners with appetizers), we got some ice cream at a heladeria and walked back to the metro station. We headed back to the hostel, and that basically concludes our day.
We did a ridiculous amount of walking today. It was a good day though. Looking back at the past few days we've had, it's not so different from our lives back at the states. Honestly, the city and the living conditions are not so different from city life in the States, but we're so happy here. Why is that? I think it's about the attitude. While we're here, we feel like travelers and have the motivation to go out and explore, get lost, try new things, and continue to see every mistake and accident as an adventure. The truth is, our lives back at home can be just as exciting. San Diego is just as amazing as Buenos Aires (if not more so), but I don't get this excited about life at home... hardly anybody really does! While we're out here, we take everything in as an adventure, another story to tell, and I can even lose my camera without stressing. I'm a pretty ignorant person, and there are definitely going to be lots of crazy things that will happen that I won't expect. Despite this, if I can maintain the type of attitude I have now, where I go out everyday waiting for life to surprise me, I think life can be so much more amazing. For those of you sitting at home reading this blog, thinking about how crazy my life seems as I travel the world, take a moment to look at your own lives. Have you explored all the areas in your home city or tried walking 10 kilometers from your house just for the heck of exploring? Probably not. Don't sit by at home thinking I have it lucky, saying that you wish you could travel too. Life is an adventure, so treat it like one.
A Couple Days in Buenos Aires
,
The first morning in Buenos Aires, we went on a free tour, which was probably the best tour I've been in. We walked around the National Congress Plaza down to the big obelisk, passing by historical monument, buildings, and protests. According to Macarena, our tour guide, there are about 15 protests a week on that one street. After the amazing informative and entertaining (and FREE) tour, we ate pizza at this old but delicious place and walked around the city. We were in the area that's like the Washington, D.C. of Argentina so there was definitely a lot to see. Our 80 cents watch from Mexico City had been broken for a while, so we bought a new one for 10 Argentine pesos, which is about $2.50. The watch strap broke after 2 hours. PIECE OF CRAP! And we couldn't even find the store we bought it in to get a new one. Now we just keep it in our pocket.
The city is really interesting, so we wandered into churches and went to some malls and the port. The malls were CRAZY. There were indoor fountains and ceiling murals and the interior looked more like a cathedral than a mall. All the stores were American or European brands too, and things were really expensive. We had a pretty relaxed day without much planning, and we just wandered all over the city. When it was time to go back to the hostel, we took the oldest subway in the southern hemisphere, which is still active with all the original chairs and subways! We stopped to eat pasta on the way back and that was pretty much the end of that day.
The next day, we dropped off our laundry at a lavanderia across the street from the hostel and went towards an art museum. We walked all the way there, but couldn't actually find it, but we did find some amazing artsy toy stores that sold really cool stuff like rocking giraffes, lamps shaped like people and faces, cool dolls, and cartoony umbrellas. We also walked around and looked at the clothes stores, which had really nice clothes for cheaper than what you would pay in the states. Walking around, we also met a Patagonian jeweler. He demonstrated his techniques and showed us how he made little designs, and we were so amazed that we bought stuff. It's a secret though. Then we walked really far to go to a museum, but after walking about 8 km, we decided we didn't really want to go so we turned around. We exercised for nothing. Then we went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of junk food and soda, went back to the hostel, sat down on the couches and watched Iron Man while eating our junk food. Once the movie ended, we went out to eat ravioli and other ravioli-like pasta (I forgot what it's called). We also got submarinos, which is basically a cup of hot milk and a chocolate bar. You stick the chocolate bar in the hot milk and it melts, turning into wonderful hot chocolate. Then we went back to the hostel and slept.
The next day, we went next door and got me a haircut. Our Spanish sucked, and the barber's English sucked, so I basically told him I wanted a haircut, and I also threw in a "muy guapo". He seemed to understand, and I was pretty pleased with the result. I showered and we left the hostel, buying meat empanadas and tangerines on the way, and ate in front of the Pink House, the Argentine version of America's White House in D.C. We then took the Metro to a Japanese Garden and fooled around, pretending to reenact The Karate Kid and taking random pictures. At 5 PM, we walked to San Martin Plaza and got another free tour (we like free things) of the aristocratic, rich area. We saw lots of expensive things and even got to walk by the $25000 per night hotel that Madonna and the Jonas Brothers stayed at. It was really cold and windy, but the tour was awesome and we got to see lots of cool stuff, like old women with plastic surgery (it's very affordable in Argentina) and a multibillion dollar steel sculpture of a flower that opens and closes depending on the lighting. We ate after the tour at a restaurant called Cumana with our new friends from Manchester, Jemma and Stacy. The food was regional Argentine food, and it was AMAZING. I got a mashed potato and steak and onion pot pie, and Yoontae ordered a Carbonada, which is a meat, potato, and vegatable stew, mixed with a ton of spices in a stone pot. Basically, we died of happiness. We also ordered an empanada and slice of mushroom pizza because we are fatties and one entree was not enough. Oh yeah, and we were feeling super fat, so we stopped by McDonalds on the way back and got sundaes.
In Argentina, we've been taking it easy. Not forcing ourselves to wake up early and really just wandering aimlessly around the city, we've both fallen in love with Buenos Aires. It's such a great city, and it has bakeries everywhere. Bakeries are good. Looking around as we walk, it's really not that different from home. It makes me really want to go back home and rediscover San Diego, because I know I'm missing out on so much. Honestly, though, Brazil had way prettier people and better street food, but Buenos Aires seems more like a place we could see ourselves living in. I LOVE TRAVELING.
Oh yeah, and also. I forget which day, but while we were riding the metro, three kids jacked our water bottle and started drinking it right in front of us, backwashing like crazy. I was confused and kinda speechless because I felt bad for them and I was really surprised by what just happened. It was also the bottle that Yoontae, the sick boy, was drinking out of so the kids might become sick. That's what they get for stealing our water without asking. Just wanted to share that.
The city is really interesting, so we wandered into churches and went to some malls and the port. The malls were CRAZY. There were indoor fountains and ceiling murals and the interior looked more like a cathedral than a mall. All the stores were American or European brands too, and things were really expensive. We had a pretty relaxed day without much planning, and we just wandered all over the city. When it was time to go back to the hostel, we took the oldest subway in the southern hemisphere, which is still active with all the original chairs and subways! We stopped to eat pasta on the way back and that was pretty much the end of that day.
The next day, we dropped off our laundry at a lavanderia across the street from the hostel and went towards an art museum. We walked all the way there, but couldn't actually find it, but we did find some amazing artsy toy stores that sold really cool stuff like rocking giraffes, lamps shaped like people and faces, cool dolls, and cartoony umbrellas. We also walked around and looked at the clothes stores, which had really nice clothes for cheaper than what you would pay in the states. Walking around, we also met a Patagonian jeweler. He demonstrated his techniques and showed us how he made little designs, and we were so amazed that we bought stuff. It's a secret though. Then we walked really far to go to a museum, but after walking about 8 km, we decided we didn't really want to go so we turned around. We exercised for nothing. Then we went to the grocery store and bought a bunch of junk food and soda, went back to the hostel, sat down on the couches and watched Iron Man while eating our junk food. Once the movie ended, we went out to eat ravioli and other ravioli-like pasta (I forgot what it's called). We also got submarinos, which is basically a cup of hot milk and a chocolate bar. You stick the chocolate bar in the hot milk and it melts, turning into wonderful hot chocolate. Then we went back to the hostel and slept.
The next day, we went next door and got me a haircut. Our Spanish sucked, and the barber's English sucked, so I basically told him I wanted a haircut, and I also threw in a "muy guapo". He seemed to understand, and I was pretty pleased with the result. I showered and we left the hostel, buying meat empanadas and tangerines on the way, and ate in front of the Pink House, the Argentine version of America's White House in D.C. We then took the Metro to a Japanese Garden and fooled around, pretending to reenact The Karate Kid and taking random pictures. At 5 PM, we walked to San Martin Plaza and got another free tour (we like free things) of the aristocratic, rich area. We saw lots of expensive things and even got to walk by the $25000 per night hotel that Madonna and the Jonas Brothers stayed at. It was really cold and windy, but the tour was awesome and we got to see lots of cool stuff, like old women with plastic surgery (it's very affordable in Argentina) and a multibillion dollar steel sculpture of a flower that opens and closes depending on the lighting. We ate after the tour at a restaurant called Cumana with our new friends from Manchester, Jemma and Stacy. The food was regional Argentine food, and it was AMAZING. I got a mashed potato and steak and onion pot pie, and Yoontae ordered a Carbonada, which is a meat, potato, and vegatable stew, mixed with a ton of spices in a stone pot. Basically, we died of happiness. We also ordered an empanada and slice of mushroom pizza because we are fatties and one entree was not enough. Oh yeah, and we were feeling super fat, so we stopped by McDonalds on the way back and got sundaes.
In Argentina, we've been taking it easy. Not forcing ourselves to wake up early and really just wandering aimlessly around the city, we've both fallen in love with Buenos Aires. It's such a great city, and it has bakeries everywhere. Bakeries are good. Looking around as we walk, it's really not that different from home. It makes me really want to go back home and rediscover San Diego, because I know I'm missing out on so much. Honestly, though, Brazil had way prettier people and better street food, but Buenos Aires seems more like a place we could see ourselves living in. I LOVE TRAVELING.
Oh yeah, and also. I forget which day, but while we were riding the metro, three kids jacked our water bottle and started drinking it right in front of us, backwashing like crazy. I was confused and kinda speechless because I felt bad for them and I was really surprised by what just happened. It was also the bottle that Yoontae, the sick boy, was drinking out of so the kids might become sick. That's what they get for stealing our water without asking. Just wanted to share that.
Bye Bye Camera, Hello Buenos Aires!
,
We are in Buenos Aires, Argentina! Out of Rio, we took a bus to the airport and grabbed some acai smoothies on the way (we're going to miss the food so much). We got to the airport 5 hours before departure and played SPEWFI, the card game we created in Mexico City. It's seriously such a great game, we have honed it to perfection. I will definitely teach people when I go back home. After playing for about an hour and half, I realized that my camera wasn't in my pocket. I told Yoontae, checked my bag, and then talked to the information center to try to track down the bus that I probably lost it on. We didn't recall any close encounters with people, so it seemed unlikely that I was pick-pocketed, so we were hoping it was still on the bus. After about an hour of running around and trying to talk to the right people, I concluded that it was pretty much hopeless. The only chance I had was in waiting for the same bus to finish its circuit and return to the airport and that my camera would be with the driver. We waited and made some phone calls, but our boarding time came and the bus had still not arrived. I left my email address with a worker for the bus company, and he said he would email me if he found it, but I have yet to receive an email. Bye bye camera.
We flew to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, and waited for about 30 minutes and flew out on another plane to Buenos Aires. The second flight was less than an hour. Once in Buenos Aires, we withdrew some cash (pesos, 3.8 to a dollar) and went to the bus stop, trying to figure out which line we were supposed to take and where we should get off. Luckily, people in Argentina are as nice as people in Brazil, and three people immediately started helping us out even before we asked them. They gave us change for our bills, telling us that the bus only accepted coins, directed us to our bus, our stop, and welcoming us to Buenos Aires. They made us so happy. We made our way to the hostel where we were staying, Hostel Arrabal, and we were pleasantly surprised. It has warm water, clean linens, climate control, a free computer to use, and lots of space! It's also newly renovated and the place is really pretty and tidy. It was really cold out, 10 degrees celsius, but we still went out in shorts to go eat. Not a good decision. I was wearing basketball shorts and it felt like I was out in the mountains without pants on. We got pizza and meat empanadas (best food item in Argentina yet), and came back to get ready to sleep.
All in all, it was still a good day. Even though I lost my camera, which is probably the most important thing that I have on my trip, it didn't hit me too hard. I think that if I had lost my camera 3 weeks ago, I would have been much more devastated than I was. Traveling, even for this short time, has shown me a bit more of what's important and what's not. Having to hand-wash our clothes, buying drinking water everyday, seeing tourists and beggars everywhere we go, things have changed for me. It's one thing to know you live in luxury, but it's another thing to really feel and understand it. As my travels continue, I'm beginning to feel that I live in luxury, not just know it or have it told to me. Yeah, having a camera was initially really important to me, but it's such an unnecessary luxury and I can still have priceless experiences, learn amazing lessons, and meet wonderful people without one.
We flew to Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay, and waited for about 30 minutes and flew out on another plane to Buenos Aires. The second flight was less than an hour. Once in Buenos Aires, we withdrew some cash (pesos, 3.8 to a dollar) and went to the bus stop, trying to figure out which line we were supposed to take and where we should get off. Luckily, people in Argentina are as nice as people in Brazil, and three people immediately started helping us out even before we asked them. They gave us change for our bills, telling us that the bus only accepted coins, directed us to our bus, our stop, and welcoming us to Buenos Aires. They made us so happy. We made our way to the hostel where we were staying, Hostel Arrabal, and we were pleasantly surprised. It has warm water, clean linens, climate control, a free computer to use, and lots of space! It's also newly renovated and the place is really pretty and tidy. It was really cold out, 10 degrees celsius, but we still went out in shorts to go eat. Not a good decision. I was wearing basketball shorts and it felt like I was out in the mountains without pants on. We got pizza and meat empanadas (best food item in Argentina yet), and came back to get ready to sleep.
All in all, it was still a good day. Even though I lost my camera, which is probably the most important thing that I have on my trip, it didn't hit me too hard. I think that if I had lost my camera 3 weeks ago, I would have been much more devastated than I was. Traveling, even for this short time, has shown me a bit more of what's important and what's not. Having to hand-wash our clothes, buying drinking water everyday, seeing tourists and beggars everywhere we go, things have changed for me. It's one thing to know you live in luxury, but it's another thing to really feel and understand it. As my travels continue, I'm beginning to feel that I live in luxury, not just know it or have it told to me. Yeah, having a camera was initially really important to me, but it's such an unnecessary luxury and I can still have priceless experiences, learn amazing lessons, and meet wonderful people without one.
The End of Brazil
,
On Friday, Chum, our friend from the hostel, invited us to go to this market with him. In the morning we ate breakfast and got ready, waiting for Chum to wake up. We were ready to leave in the late morning, so the three of us and Romana, another girl from the hostel, took the metro towards Maracana, the soccer stadium. Once we got off the metro, we walked through a park which was really nice and pretty and got followed by a beggar. He kept following us and begging us for money but we said no and kept going. Eventually, he left us... only to show up a few minutes later up ahead of us, waiting for us to come closer to him. We tried to go around but he came to us and begged some more. We got so sick of his persistence that we gave him R$1 and he left us alone. We got to the market, which was in a stadium near Maracana (but not the actual Maracana stadium, kinda confusing). Going in, we saw that the stores weren't all open, but a lot of the restaurants were open or getting ready to open. We walked around a bit, looking at the different shops and food tents.
The market was set up kind of like a swap meet. Different "stores" had different tents or little enclosures, and there were lots of souvenir shops, some clothes shops, and a ton of food shops. We got acai smoothies for the first time, and they were SO GOOD. Acai flavored stuff in America has got NOTHING on real acai stuff in Brazil. We ate some beef, rice, fries, molhos farafos (this weird corn powder stuff that's salty and dry), and aipim (a starchy potato-like thing that's fried) for lunch. We really wanted beans too, so we tried to order them but couldn't figure out the word for beans. We tried acting it out, but it's not easy acting out "bean" and we did manage to get beans but they were weird and expensive. So sad. I also tried this soda called Guarana Jesus. I obviously had to try it because I love Guarana and I love Jesus, and putting those two together had to make something good. It actually wasn't that great though, other than the name, and it just tasted like bubblegum soda. We shopped around and looked at souvenir shops. For some reason, the market was filled with wooden penis carvings. I really don't understand who buys them, but apparently they're popular 'cause they're everywhere.
We took a cab to the metro station, took the metro back to the hostel, said bye to Chum because he was going back to Hong Kong, then slept for about three hours. After the nap, we went out to look for rice and beans because we still wanted some and the beans we got at the market were wack. No luck (who would have thought that finding rice and beans would be so hard in South America?!), so we just bought 2 large acai smoothies and pastels (meat pastries).
The next morning, we went to a nearby SDA church for worship and had the sermon translated for us by a friend we met named Igor. They were having a special service for their food drive program, and some guest musicians came. They had lovely voices and it was a really nice service. There was no potluck, so that sucked, but we got free candy for being visitors so I guess that sort of makes up for it. We were hoping for rice and beans for potluck though. We took a metro to Flamengo and went to a modern art museum, which was kind of creepy. The pieces were very bloody looking or vulgar and I didn't really like it. Afterwards, we still REALLY wanted rice and beans (we'd been craving it for so long), so we took a bus to Urca and went back to the cheap restaurant we went to on the day we got lost on the mountain. We paid R$18 for both of us and ate a ridiculous amount of rice and beans (FINALLY).
Afterwards, we decided to try to walk up to the small mountain next to Pao de Acucar and take the cable car from there, saving us money. We were just in love with the view, and really wanted to see it again. This time, we made it to the top with little trouble (no near death experiences) and enjoyed the view for about 2 hours. We came down after it was dark, enjoying the sunset from the top of the mountain, then went to the mall by our hostel, ate chicken and fries, then watched GI Joe. We were unsure of what to do and were pretty tired, so we settled for a movie. We weren't sure if it was dubbed so we tried asking but the employees didn't speak English. We ended up talking to 5 different workers and then they called the manager who consulted with the box office, then told us that it was in English. We caused them a lot of trouble. The movie had horrible acting, dialogue, and way too many mini stories, but the action was neat and the CGI was cool.
Our days seem to be getting a little less extreme. No more ridiculous amounts of walking, no near death experiences, just taking it easy. Even without extreme experiences, traveling is amazing. This concludes our time in Brazil, and now we move on to Buenos Aires, Argentina!
I'm still not quite sure who reads this, but please continue to keep us in your prayers and leave us some supportive comments!
The market was set up kind of like a swap meet. Different "stores" had different tents or little enclosures, and there were lots of souvenir shops, some clothes shops, and a ton of food shops. We got acai smoothies for the first time, and they were SO GOOD. Acai flavored stuff in America has got NOTHING on real acai stuff in Brazil. We ate some beef, rice, fries, molhos farafos (this weird corn powder stuff that's salty and dry), and aipim (a starchy potato-like thing that's fried) for lunch. We really wanted beans too, so we tried to order them but couldn't figure out the word for beans. We tried acting it out, but it's not easy acting out "bean" and we did manage to get beans but they were weird and expensive. So sad. I also tried this soda called Guarana Jesus. I obviously had to try it because I love Guarana and I love Jesus, and putting those two together had to make something good. It actually wasn't that great though, other than the name, and it just tasted like bubblegum soda. We shopped around and looked at souvenir shops. For some reason, the market was filled with wooden penis carvings. I really don't understand who buys them, but apparently they're popular 'cause they're everywhere.
We took a cab to the metro station, took the metro back to the hostel, said bye to Chum because he was going back to Hong Kong, then slept for about three hours. After the nap, we went out to look for rice and beans because we still wanted some and the beans we got at the market were wack. No luck (who would have thought that finding rice and beans would be so hard in South America?!), so we just bought 2 large acai smoothies and pastels (meat pastries).
The next morning, we went to a nearby SDA church for worship and had the sermon translated for us by a friend we met named Igor. They were having a special service for their food drive program, and some guest musicians came. They had lovely voices and it was a really nice service. There was no potluck, so that sucked, but we got free candy for being visitors so I guess that sort of makes up for it. We were hoping for rice and beans for potluck though. We took a metro to Flamengo and went to a modern art museum, which was kind of creepy. The pieces were very bloody looking or vulgar and I didn't really like it. Afterwards, we still REALLY wanted rice and beans (we'd been craving it for so long), so we took a bus to Urca and went back to the cheap restaurant we went to on the day we got lost on the mountain. We paid R$18 for both of us and ate a ridiculous amount of rice and beans (FINALLY).
Afterwards, we decided to try to walk up to the small mountain next to Pao de Acucar and take the cable car from there, saving us money. We were just in love with the view, and really wanted to see it again. This time, we made it to the top with little trouble (no near death experiences) and enjoyed the view for about 2 hours. We came down after it was dark, enjoying the sunset from the top of the mountain, then went to the mall by our hostel, ate chicken and fries, then watched GI Joe. We were unsure of what to do and were pretty tired, so we settled for a movie. We weren't sure if it was dubbed so we tried asking but the employees didn't speak English. We ended up talking to 5 different workers and then they called the manager who consulted with the box office, then told us that it was in English. We caused them a lot of trouble. The movie had horrible acting, dialogue, and way too many mini stories, but the action was neat and the CGI was cool.
Our days seem to be getting a little less extreme. No more ridiculous amounts of walking, no near death experiences, just taking it easy. Even without extreme experiences, traveling is amazing. This concludes our time in Brazil, and now we move on to Buenos Aires, Argentina!
I'm still not quite sure who reads this, but please continue to keep us in your prayers and leave us some supportive comments!
Trail of Pain and Despair
,
After the typical hostel breakfast of bread, butter, and tea, we took a bus out to Urca, which is the area around the base of Pao de Acucar. Pao de Acucar is a really popular mountain in Rio that a lot of tourists take a cable car up to. Being frugal kids brainwashed by our frugal parents, we wanted to avoid the pricey cable car ride. The only other option was to walk up, just like we did on Corcovado, except every guide we read said it was really difficult and that the end required climbing gear. Our cheapness overpowered our sensibility in this situation, so we set off to find the hiking path. We walked down the road that the hiking path was supposed to start from, but we couldn't find it! We did find an old man walking down a path feeding wild monkeys from his hand, though. I thought this was the coolest thing in the world. Anyway, we really couldn't find this path, so we kept looking. We went all the way around the base of the mountain as far as we could go and still couldn't find it. By now, we had wasted a few hours and so much energy that we just decided to stop and eat. We got beef, chicken, and all you could eat beans, rice, salad, and vegetables plus a Coke for only R$9 per person ($4.50). Full and rejuvenated, we set off to find the path once more. We gave up trying to find the path that was specified in all the guide books, and decided to just take whatever we could find. On the way, we bought some bananas and I GOT TO FEED A WILD MONKEY OUT OF MY HAND! It was the most amazing experience ever... I felt its tiny little fingers touch mine and I almost peed my pants, I was so excited. Oh yeah, and then we managed to locate 4 different paths.
The first one we took looked promising. It was only a small opening in the shrubbery, but we headed uphill and started going through some trees. We heard some barking and some shuffling noises, but thought nothing of it and kept going. A bit further up, we saw an old gate that was left open. The barking was getting really loud, but we still kept going. All of a sudden, dogs pop out of the gate and start barking at us like crazy. Yoontae and I froze, not sure of what to do. The dogs, seeing that we weren't going away, started chasing us. We did what anyone should do in this situation: we ran away. We didn't want rabies.
Back on the paved road, we were shaken up but not ready to give up yet! We needed to save money! Our cheapness kept driving us, and we headed to the next path. As soon as we started going up, we smelled poop. It was so nasty. You know how portopotties smell like poop and chemicals that kill the smell? Well, it smelled like that, minus the chemicals that kill the smell. We also figured that it was human poop because... we saw huge mounds of poop with toilet paper all around them. We could have taken this path further, but we got too grossed out by the fact that we had stumbled upon pooping grounds, so we turned around and went back to the main road.
Two down, two to go. So our next path was pretty normal. No trail, just a bunch of plants and stuff, but at least there were no wild dogs or mounds of human feces. We took this path that wasn't really a path for quite a bit, but eventually it just ended in a rock and shrubbery so thick that we couldn't go any further. We turned around and went back.
We only had one more option, so we took it up. This one was our first legit path, with steps that went up the mountain and little signs and string that marked the boundaries. It got really steep, but we kept going until we got to this tiny little clearing and a split in the path. We had the option of going left to a smaller mountain and paying half price to go to Pao de Acucar, or we could go to the right, straight to Pao de Acucar, and it would be completely free. Obviously we went to the right (we're so cheap). We went down the path some more, and it ended in a vertical stone wall. There were some rock climbers with a lot of equipment climbing up, so we asked them where the hiking route was. They told us we had to go back down and take the other path (probably the one with the wild dogs), but we didn't listen to them. If we were going through that much trouble to get to the top for free, we were going to make it to the top! We decided to wander off the path and try to circle the mountain through all the trees, vines, thorns, bushes, and rocks, hoping to find the right path to the top. We wandered away from the nice safe path until there was no way to go back the way we came, and it started getting difficult to walk. Eventually, it turned more into climbing than walking, and we would swing on branches and vines, crawl on rocks, and push our way through thorns. At one point, I was trying to walk across a rock and I slipped on all the moss and fell off the rock. Luckily, my legs caught on some branches and I was literally hanging for dear life. If it wasn't for those branches, I would have fallen off the rock and gone a long way until I hit trees or more rocks and probably suffered a concussion. Or died. Yoontae also almost died when he was walking down a steep slope and the ground kind or crumbled under his feet and he fell a pretty long way, scraping his hands and legs along the way. A vine caught him under his arm. Later when we examined his side, we found a huge mess of scrapes and cuts, even though it caught him over his shirt. His hands also had long gashes in them.
At one point, we found a cave and saw this claw thing and heard this heavy breathing. We got so scared, because I swear it looked like some giant sleeping cat. We just stood there for like 2 minutes, whispering to each other and freaking out. I was very brave and manly so I just went up to the animal and punched it. Just kidding, we realized it wasn't a claw. It was just the beaks of some baby birds. We had stumbled upon a nest, not the lair of a monster cat. We still don't know what the heavy breathing was coming from. We're not pansies, if you were in the same situation you would be scared too.
Finally, after wandering the forest, getting poked by a million thorns, getting tons of dirt in our shoes, and bleeding all over our clothes, we found our way... NOT up to the top of Pao de Acucar... but back to the main road. 4 hours of searching for the path, testing paths, almost dying multiple times, wandering the forest, and in the end we just barely made it back to the main path. We were pretty messed up from our adventure in the forest, so we went to the pharmacy and bought antiseptic and bandaids and cleaned and dressed Yoontae's wounds. None of mine were that bad, but his hands were pretty nasty looking.
Now it was getting pretty late and we still hadn't gotten to the top of Pao de Acucar, so we ended up just buying tickets for the cable car and riding to the top. It was expensive, and our day felt like a waste since we could have just bought it at the beginning, but it really was worth it. We went up to the top of the mountain and the view was SO CRAZY! You could see everything, and the sun was setting, which made it all 10 times prettier.
All in all, we decided our day was perfectly fine the way it was. Yeah, we almost died. Many times. But almost doesn't count, and our danger and "wasted" time provided us with amazing stories. If we hadn't looked for paths, we never would've fed wild monkeys, and we would never have been able to tell stories about how we got chased by wild dogs and avoided heavy injuries/death by getting caught by vines and branches. Also, we would never have gotten to watch the sunset from Pao de Acucar because we would have gotten there too early and we probably would have wanted to leave earlier. Lesson for the day: even if you almost die or spend more money, it's not too bad as long as you have some good stories to tell. Umma, if you are reading this, this is a completely fictional story. We actually sat in the hostel and ate healthy and drank lots of water and didn't talk to strangers.
The first one we took looked promising. It was only a small opening in the shrubbery, but we headed uphill and started going through some trees. We heard some barking and some shuffling noises, but thought nothing of it and kept going. A bit further up, we saw an old gate that was left open. The barking was getting really loud, but we still kept going. All of a sudden, dogs pop out of the gate and start barking at us like crazy. Yoontae and I froze, not sure of what to do. The dogs, seeing that we weren't going away, started chasing us. We did what anyone should do in this situation: we ran away. We didn't want rabies.
Back on the paved road, we were shaken up but not ready to give up yet! We needed to save money! Our cheapness kept driving us, and we headed to the next path. As soon as we started going up, we smelled poop. It was so nasty. You know how portopotties smell like poop and chemicals that kill the smell? Well, it smelled like that, minus the chemicals that kill the smell. We also figured that it was human poop because... we saw huge mounds of poop with toilet paper all around them. We could have taken this path further, but we got too grossed out by the fact that we had stumbled upon pooping grounds, so we turned around and went back to the main road.
Two down, two to go. So our next path was pretty normal. No trail, just a bunch of plants and stuff, but at least there were no wild dogs or mounds of human feces. We took this path that wasn't really a path for quite a bit, but eventually it just ended in a rock and shrubbery so thick that we couldn't go any further. We turned around and went back.
We only had one more option, so we took it up. This one was our first legit path, with steps that went up the mountain and little signs and string that marked the boundaries. It got really steep, but we kept going until we got to this tiny little clearing and a split in the path. We had the option of going left to a smaller mountain and paying half price to go to Pao de Acucar, or we could go to the right, straight to Pao de Acucar, and it would be completely free. Obviously we went to the right (we're so cheap). We went down the path some more, and it ended in a vertical stone wall. There were some rock climbers with a lot of equipment climbing up, so we asked them where the hiking route was. They told us we had to go back down and take the other path (probably the one with the wild dogs), but we didn't listen to them. If we were going through that much trouble to get to the top for free, we were going to make it to the top! We decided to wander off the path and try to circle the mountain through all the trees, vines, thorns, bushes, and rocks, hoping to find the right path to the top. We wandered away from the nice safe path until there was no way to go back the way we came, and it started getting difficult to walk. Eventually, it turned more into climbing than walking, and we would swing on branches and vines, crawl on rocks, and push our way through thorns. At one point, I was trying to walk across a rock and I slipped on all the moss and fell off the rock. Luckily, my legs caught on some branches and I was literally hanging for dear life. If it wasn't for those branches, I would have fallen off the rock and gone a long way until I hit trees or more rocks and probably suffered a concussion. Or died. Yoontae also almost died when he was walking down a steep slope and the ground kind or crumbled under his feet and he fell a pretty long way, scraping his hands and legs along the way. A vine caught him under his arm. Later when we examined his side, we found a huge mess of scrapes and cuts, even though it caught him over his shirt. His hands also had long gashes in them.
At one point, we found a cave and saw this claw thing and heard this heavy breathing. We got so scared, because I swear it looked like some giant sleeping cat. We just stood there for like 2 minutes, whispering to each other and freaking out. I was very brave and manly so I just went up to the animal and punched it. Just kidding, we realized it wasn't a claw. It was just the beaks of some baby birds. We had stumbled upon a nest, not the lair of a monster cat. We still don't know what the heavy breathing was coming from. We're not pansies, if you were in the same situation you would be scared too.
Finally, after wandering the forest, getting poked by a million thorns, getting tons of dirt in our shoes, and bleeding all over our clothes, we found our way... NOT up to the top of Pao de Acucar... but back to the main road. 4 hours of searching for the path, testing paths, almost dying multiple times, wandering the forest, and in the end we just barely made it back to the main path. We were pretty messed up from our adventure in the forest, so we went to the pharmacy and bought antiseptic and bandaids and cleaned and dressed Yoontae's wounds. None of mine were that bad, but his hands were pretty nasty looking.
Now it was getting pretty late and we still hadn't gotten to the top of Pao de Acucar, so we ended up just buying tickets for the cable car and riding to the top. It was expensive, and our day felt like a waste since we could have just bought it at the beginning, but it really was worth it. We went up to the top of the mountain and the view was SO CRAZY! You could see everything, and the sun was setting, which made it all 10 times prettier.
All in all, we decided our day was perfectly fine the way it was. Yeah, we almost died. Many times. But almost doesn't count, and our danger and "wasted" time provided us with amazing stories. If we hadn't looked for paths, we never would've fed wild monkeys, and we would never have been able to tell stories about how we got chased by wild dogs and avoided heavy injuries/death by getting caught by vines and branches. Also, we would never have gotten to watch the sunset from Pao de Acucar because we would have gotten there too early and we probably would have wanted to leave earlier. Lesson for the day: even if you almost die or spend more money, it's not too bad as long as you have some good stories to tell. Umma, if you are reading this, this is a completely fictional story. We actually sat in the hostel and ate healthy and drank lots of water and didn't talk to strangers.
Samba!
,
We went to a bunch of museums today and looked at super cool buildings and churches and walked around the city and took a tour of the National Library. But those are boring things to write about, only the pictures are fun, so I'm just going to skip to night time.
We met this guy named Chum Roa at the hostel, a really cool guy who actually saves up every year and goes traveling. We went out to eat pizza with him, which was amazing, and then went to Lapa. Following Chum's lead, we got to Rio Scenarium, a really nice looking Samba club. It had these colorful lights on the outside, was three stories tall, and looked fancy. We went inside, and it was awesome. It wasn't that crowded since it was a Tuesday night, but the band was still good and watching the dancers was just incredible. There was this one couple, a tall guy and a girl in a red dress, and they were just going crazy. Spins and really fast footwork... it left all three of us speechless. We actually all tried dancing with strangers, and even though we weren't good, it was really fun (and there was this one long-haired Asian guy who REALLY sucked so we didn't feel that bad). We left the fancy club and went to a smaller club down the street, and even though it was crowded, small, and not as fancy, it was even better. The live band was so good that it left us talking about it for days, and Chum actually went back two nights in a row. With one singer, one guitar, one ukelele, a tamborine, and two drums, we didn't expect such amazing music to come from them. The dancers here were even crazier, we couldn't even see their feet move sometimes. Here, we didn't dance but we had such a great time watching and listening. We just sat and enjoyed for a really long time. Once the band finished up, we left as well and didn't get back to the hostel until around 1 AM.
Wow, this is the shortest post yet. Looking at all my posts, it makes me sad that readers will never understand how exciting my travels actually are. Especially since I'm not that good at describing them. But really, the samba club was sooo cool. Just imagine the craziest dancers you know, plus the best singer you know and the best musicians you know, add some locals singing along with the band, multiply that by a hundred, and then maybe you can visualize how awesome it was. Traveling is so coooooool.
We met this guy named Chum Roa at the hostel, a really cool guy who actually saves up every year and goes traveling. We went out to eat pizza with him, which was amazing, and then went to Lapa. Following Chum's lead, we got to Rio Scenarium, a really nice looking Samba club. It had these colorful lights on the outside, was three stories tall, and looked fancy. We went inside, and it was awesome. It wasn't that crowded since it was a Tuesday night, but the band was still good and watching the dancers was just incredible. There was this one couple, a tall guy and a girl in a red dress, and they were just going crazy. Spins and really fast footwork... it left all three of us speechless. We actually all tried dancing with strangers, and even though we weren't good, it was really fun (and there was this one long-haired Asian guy who REALLY sucked so we didn't feel that bad). We left the fancy club and went to a smaller club down the street, and even though it was crowded, small, and not as fancy, it was even better. The live band was so good that it left us talking about it for days, and Chum actually went back two nights in a row. With one singer, one guitar, one ukelele, a tamborine, and two drums, we didn't expect such amazing music to come from them. The dancers here were even crazier, we couldn't even see their feet move sometimes. Here, we didn't dance but we had such a great time watching and listening. We just sat and enjoyed for a really long time. Once the band finished up, we left as well and didn't get back to the hostel until around 1 AM.
Wow, this is the shortest post yet. Looking at all my posts, it makes me sad that readers will never understand how exciting my travels actually are. Especially since I'm not that good at describing them. But really, the samba club was sooo cool. Just imagine the craziest dancers you know, plus the best singer you know and the best musicians you know, add some locals singing along with the band, multiply that by a hundred, and then maybe you can visualize how awesome it was. Traveling is so coooooool.
Rio de Janeiro!
,
We woke up Sunday morning and took a bus to Rio de Janeiro. Pretty uneventful day, since we spent 6 hours in a bus. The kids in the bus kept running around and laughing SO LOUD, so we didn´t sleep that well. I wanted to punch them in the faces. When we got to Rio, we were trying to find the Metro to take from the bus station to the hostel, but it was getting dark and we were having some trouble finding it. The bus station is in a really shady area and it smelled like pee everywhere. One guy just randomly started yelling and cussing at us. It was kinda scary. We walked around for a while, and ended up going up to this guy to ask for directions. We talked in a mix of English and Portuguese, and not very effectively. We managed to understand that he was an African spiritualist and he had been "warned" about two lost travelers who would come to him for directions. He got up from his spot where he´d been waiting and led us to the Metro, dropped us off, and then just left. Kinda freaky. We got to our hostel, got the cheapest rooms with triple bunk beds and no warm water, hand-washed some clothes, ate, killed time, and went to sleep.
The next day was a very epic day. On Monday, August 3, 2009, we climbed up Corcovado. Rio is home to the largest statue of Jesus in the world, and Corcovado is the mountain it sits on. Most people take buses or trains to climb it, but Yoontae and I decided to go on foot. Not because we´re active or because we´re cool, but because we´re cheap. Buses and trains are too expensive.
So, we took a public bus (R$2.80 per person, roughly a buck and a half) to the base of the mountain and started walking. 9 kilometers and 2 gallons of sweat later, we were at the top. On the way, we enjoyed great views of the city, spotted a wild monkey, met kids from a favela, and took lots of pictures. On the top of Corcovado, the view was amazing, and the huge Jesus was really cool. There were so many tourists, though, that getting a clear shot of the statue was sometimes a bit tough. We spent a while at the top resting and discussing our plans for the next few hours, and then we got up and walked back down. We got down the mountain in an hour and half and went to Copacabana to find some Brazilian barbecue. By now, we had walked about 20 kilometers and were starving, so we found a churrascaria (where you eat Brazilian barbecue) but left right away after seeing that it was R$58 per person. We found another place though, that was around R$35, and we ate there. We ate SOOOO much beef. We really ate like 10 different parts of a cow. We went all out on this meal and got dessert too, and it came out to be... much more than we would have liked to spend. But it was worth it and we left with our bellies full of high quality beef. We tried to walk around Copacabana, since it´s a really nice beach area, but we felt too full. So, we went inside the extremely luxurious Marriott to take dumps. I finished in a few minutes and came out and waited until Yoontae came out. Apparently he wasn´t getting enough fiber.
We headed back to the hostel, hand washed more clothes (seriously, don´t take your washer, dryer, and detergent for granted), and slept.
Although I didn´t make it sound that great, climbing Corcovado was amazing. Also, it was very strenuous, so be proud of us. Climbing up, we were sort of afraid since people kept warning us about the danger. Going up, we kind of cut through a favela (the slums of Brazil) and at one point this one guy started shouting at us and ran towards us. I got kinda scared (Yoontae probably did too, I´m not a pansy) but we just stood there anyway because we´re stupid. The guy was actually just yelling to tell us that Corcovado was the other way. I felt very ashamed. People in Brazil are seriously so nice, even in the slums, and I still had this hidden prejudice and this fear, probably because everything that my mom and Yoontae´s mom tells us is negative. They tell us horror stories about people getting mugged or pick-pocketed, but we´ve met only amazing people who surprise us with how nice and helpful they are.
Moral of the story: don´t listen to your moms.
The next day was a very epic day. On Monday, August 3, 2009, we climbed up Corcovado. Rio is home to the largest statue of Jesus in the world, and Corcovado is the mountain it sits on. Most people take buses or trains to climb it, but Yoontae and I decided to go on foot. Not because we´re active or because we´re cool, but because we´re cheap. Buses and trains are too expensive.
So, we took a public bus (R$2.80 per person, roughly a buck and a half) to the base of the mountain and started walking. 9 kilometers and 2 gallons of sweat later, we were at the top. On the way, we enjoyed great views of the city, spotted a wild monkey, met kids from a favela, and took lots of pictures. On the top of Corcovado, the view was amazing, and the huge Jesus was really cool. There were so many tourists, though, that getting a clear shot of the statue was sometimes a bit tough. We spent a while at the top resting and discussing our plans for the next few hours, and then we got up and walked back down. We got down the mountain in an hour and half and went to Copacabana to find some Brazilian barbecue. By now, we had walked about 20 kilometers and were starving, so we found a churrascaria (where you eat Brazilian barbecue) but left right away after seeing that it was R$58 per person. We found another place though, that was around R$35, and we ate there. We ate SOOOO much beef. We really ate like 10 different parts of a cow. We went all out on this meal and got dessert too, and it came out to be... much more than we would have liked to spend. But it was worth it and we left with our bellies full of high quality beef. We tried to walk around Copacabana, since it´s a really nice beach area, but we felt too full. So, we went inside the extremely luxurious Marriott to take dumps. I finished in a few minutes and came out and waited until Yoontae came out. Apparently he wasn´t getting enough fiber.
We headed back to the hostel, hand washed more clothes (seriously, don´t take your washer, dryer, and detergent for granted), and slept.
Although I didn´t make it sound that great, climbing Corcovado was amazing. Also, it was very strenuous, so be proud of us. Climbing up, we were sort of afraid since people kept warning us about the danger. Going up, we kind of cut through a favela (the slums of Brazil) and at one point this one guy started shouting at us and ran towards us. I got kinda scared (Yoontae probably did too, I´m not a pansy) but we just stood there anyway because we´re stupid. The guy was actually just yelling to tell us that Corcovado was the other way. I felt very ashamed. People in Brazil are seriously so nice, even in the slums, and I still had this hidden prejudice and this fear, probably because everything that my mom and Yoontae´s mom tells us is negative. They tell us horror stories about people getting mugged or pick-pocketed, but we´ve met only amazing people who surprise us with how nice and helpful they are.
Moral of the story: don´t listen to your moms.
Super Sabbath in Sao Paulo
,
Okay, I'm going to skip Friday except to say we went on a 5 mile food run. Each part of the food run has a picture on the Facebook album.
So Saturday, Sabbath, we woke up and walked from our hostel to a Korean Adventist church in Sao Paulo. I don't know how far it was, but it took us a while walking so it was probably a couple kilometers? I'm bad at estimating. Once we got there, we felt really awkward because we couldn't find anyone our age, but we asked an ajuma for help and she sent us upstairs to have worship with the youth. The program was in Portuguese, though, so a girl named Changmi came to sit with us and translate from Portuguese to Korean. We suck at Korean too, but it was still better than Portuguese. Later we found out that Changmi is cousins with Richard and David from Glendale (SO CRAZY! Such a small world). Anyway, we finished up the Sabbath school worship and went downstairs for the main service. It was in Korean, so we only understood bits and pieces of it, but we sat there pretending to understand. Once the service was over, a bunch of ajushis and ajumas came to us questioning us about where we were from, why we were in Brazil, where we were staying, and if we knew anyone at the church. We got asked these four questions about thirty times, and got a little better at answering them in Korean each time. The potluck was pretty good, and after we ate we went upstairs for another youth worship. More people came for this worship, and it was in Portuguese again but a new arrival, Daniel, translated from Portuguese to English for us. He's so good at languages, and he spoke the best English I had heard in Brazil since I had arrived. After worship, they asked us to introduce ourselves and share a little story/testimony, so we told them about our experience at the soccer game and about how amazing it was that God was blessing us so endlessly. They seemed to enjoy the story, and they took time to pray for our travels and for our presence at their church.
This really made me feel so happy, seeing how welcoming these Adventists were. I really hate the whole denominational emphasis that Adventists have sometimes, but seeing the brotherly love that we received, I am now a proud supporter of Adventist networking. This church was the most perfect representation of Christian brotherhood that I have ever seen, and their love for us was so touching. Not only did they make us feel so comfortable and welcome at their church, but they invited us to their meeting with another church and also told us that they were going to take us out at night to show us some more sights in Sao Paulo. They really planned their day around us and gave us so much help.
After the youth worship, they took us to another church right outside of Sao Paulo. It was our first time in a regular car since we started traveling, and it was a crazy experience. If you think driving in LA traffic is bad at all, wait until you see Brazil. Lane changing is so crazy, and I really think normal drivers would die here. No exaggeration. A really nice guy named Eric took us to the other church, where we sat down and listened to the speaker. We also met another girl named Carol, who acted as my personal translator for the night. Yoontae's translator was a really funny girl named Erica from the Korean church, so he got a Korean translation while I got an English one. The speaker was this awesome guy with a bright yellow shirt. His name was Donasote or something like that. He grew up in a violent home where his stepfather beat his brother and his mom, so one day Donasote threatened to kill his stepfather if he didn't leave the house. He left. As he got older, he got into the life of a criminal, robbing people, killing people, and he even said that he blew up an armored money transport truck with dynamite. As the money flew everywhere, he waited for people to pick up the money, then robbed those people later. He was so notorious that even the police were afraid of him, and one time when a cop had a gun pointed at him, Donasote put a grenade in the cop's pocket, saying that he would kill them both of the cop tried to shoot him. Eventually he got caught and was shot six times, declared dead for 16 hours, then came back to life as the mortician was about to cut him open with a scalpel. He went to jail, smoked weed everyday, and dealt drugs in jail until an Adventist pastor came to the prison and spoke to him. After that, Donasote changed his ways and now he goes around preaching. Amazing. I took a picture with him.
After the service, the Korean church that we came with took us to Brooklyn, the nicest area of Sao Paulo. There, they took us to the mall, showed us how nice the area was, and bought us Brazilian food. It was SO amazing. They all ate Subway and Burger King because they were sick of Brazilian food. The group was really fun and they kept us entertained nonstop. When it was time to go, Bruno, the youth leader, took us back to the Metro station. Erica, Yoontae's translator from earlier, was really funny and stayed with us all day and she became our good friend. She eventually stayed with us longer than everyone else when we had to leave because she took the Metro home too, and we said our goodbyes and came back to the hostel.
We started the Saturday not knowing what we would do after church. We expected a simple service that we would leave after potluck, but we got a lot more than that. These people we met were all so amazing and kind, and they made our stay at Sao Paulo so much more memorable. I really want to just take everything about them and bring it back to the States. So many times, we don't really include the visitors or really go the extra mile to make them feel welcome, but this church was just so perfect in everything they did for us. Not only did they help us to enjoy our Sabbath, but they made Sao Paulo better for us. We could have left the city thinking it was great and that we had fun, but now it's so much more. It's an AMAZING city, with so much more than we were able to see, and the people are so genuine and kind. AGHHHH I LOVE BRAZIL.
The Most Amazing Soccer Game Ever
,
Still in Sao Paulo, and we really messed up today, but we learned so many lessons. Here is a crazy story for all you readers...
We woke up and had free breakfast at the hostel, which is just bread, jam, cheese, butter, tea or coffee. If you read the last post, you know that our shoes got owned by the rain, and we washed them in the washing machine but they were still wet after a cycle in the dryer so we sat around fanning them for a while in the morning. After a few hours of fanning and squeezing out moisture with a towel, we walked to the nearest Metro station and took it to Centro.
Walking around, we saw a lot of cool buildings, cool roads full of busy looking people, shoe shiners, and lots of really amazing street art (see Facebook album for just a few pictures). We ate some good food at a pay-per-kilo restaurant, drank more Guarana soda, and went up 34 floors in an Empire State building replica. We looked in a mall for a bit, and it's crazy how dominant American urban culture is. Regular Nike Dunks sold for R$350 (about 175 US dollars), and New Era hats cost R$199 (about 100 US dollars). What's even more ridiculous is that these are in a ton of the stores in the malls and kids actually spend that kind of money for American brands. We kept walking around and looking at stuff and eventually came back to our hostel.
Okay, so I sped through our day, but here's the good part. We got back to the hostel and did a little bit of quick research so that we could go to our first soccer game in South America. Yoontae checked the schedule and the bus lines and we quickly got ready and left for the stadium. We took the first bus, asked some people for help and had a fun time playing charades, but they helped us and we got where we were needed to be, a street called Faria Lima. From there, we had to run across a couple busy streets and take another bus towards the stadium. Again, we needed help from a fellow bus rider, and we managed to make it to the stadium. Buying the tickets, we got in the wrong line, had to move to the other side of the stadium to buy our tickets, waited in line, and then found out that all the cheaper tickets were sold out. The only ones left were R$30 tickets, and we only had a total of R$50. We were R$10 short. Standing in the rain after going through all that trouble just to find out that we couldn't go to the game, we were really disappointed. We turned around and got ready to leave, but the guy behind us stopped us and said in English (this was a surprise since most of the people we met up to this point did not speak English), "How much do you need? I will help you pay for your tickets." I don't know about the rest of Brazil, but in America this kind of stuff doesn't seem to happen too much. We were so surprised, but grateful, and we thanked him repeatedly and got our tickets. Now we had absolutely no cash for our bus tickets, but we figured there would be ATMs inside the stadium and at least we got into the game! We went inside and watched the game and it was amazing.
Never have I seen a game where everyone is constantly standing, yelling, singing, and cheering all at once. The noise NEVER stopped, and we got sucked into the intensity of the game. At half-time, we went to look for an ATM but there weren't any in the stadium so we went back to watching the game. We decided to leave a little early, because we needed to find an ATM, get to the bus station, and get on the bus before the huge crowds got there. On our way out, we told a worker about the dilemma we were in and he told us to say to the bus driver, "No ten dinero," which means, "I don't have money," and he would give us a free ride. We tried this out, only to find that the worker had lied. The bus driver was saying we weren't allowed and was going to kick us out, but another passenger came up and paid for our tickets. We were really starting to love Brazil. So many generous people! We got off the bus back at Faria Lima, and now we really needed money. Just one more bus to take back to the hostel... but where were the ATMs? In Brazil, 24 hour ATM means that they are open from 6 AM to 10 PM. That is NOT 24 hours! So we ran around the street, looking for an ATM, but we couldn't find one. The bus lines stop at midnight and it was a little past 11, so we were getting worried. Finally, around 11:20, we found an ATM, got some money and started looking for the bus stop we were supposed to be at, but it wasn't the right one. Whoever gave us directions back at the hostel mislead us, and we started running up and down Faria Lima trying to find the right bus stop. We ran past 6 different stops, never seeing our bus. At 11:45, we knew the next few buses were the last ones that we would see, so we just took one that was headed towards our hostel and crossed our fingers. Luckily, the bus came pretty close to our hostel and we only had to walk a mile. Exhausted but relieved, we walked back, stopping to buy some yakisoba from a street vendor.
We had such a crazy night and got back around 1 AM, we basically just got to our beds and knocked out. Although nearly every aspect of our nighttime excursion got messed up in some way, things fell into place and by some miraculously kind person or sheer luck, we did everything we wanted to and made it back home. Looking back, it was an amazing adventure. I can't say that I prayed for a miracle or that I even thought to ask God for help, but in my mind there is no way that we could have been that lucky. I asked some Brazilians if people are usually that generous, and they were laughing at my story telling me that it was ridiculous how lucky I was. I did nothing to put myself in a position of need or to deserve the generosity of the people around me. The situation just presented itself to me and God used it to show me that He's got my back, even to go to a soccer game.
First Full Day in Sao Paulo
,
Our first full day in Brazil started off slowly. We woke up late because our bodies were adjusting to the time change and we had not slept a full night's sleep since the night before we left LAX. I slept 13 hours, and we slowly rolled out of bed and walked from the hotel to the hostel we found online. It took us a while to get to the hostel since it's a bit far (maybe 2 miles? I don't know, I suck at estimating), but we finally arrived at Hostel Okupe. We got 2 beds for 2 nights plus a R$20 deposit (which we get back when we leave, as long as we return the linens) for a total of R$156. Thats the equivalent of about 80 U.S. dollars. Not bad for two nights for two people, right? After we dropped our stuff off at the hostel, we walked to Parque Ibirapuera where we walked around for a while. On the way there we stopped to buy a big water bottle and two pieces of pizza. Brazilian pizza is really different from what we're used to, but it's really good. We also ate the rest of the trail mix that Ben and Jullie gave us when we left LA.
We got to the park after more walking and found a nice sculpture garden, so we took lots of pictures. We also took a bunch of pictures of the buildings because they were really cool. One of them looked like a giant igloo! Then we went into the art museum which had two exhibits: one was modern art and the other was an exhibit on Roberto Burle Marx. The modern art was really cool and sometimes funny, and Marx's exhibit was really interesting too since he did lots of different kinds of art including tapestries, jewelry, paintings, and architectural designs. We spent a good hour in there and it was definitely worth the R$2.50 that it cost each of us to get in. We left the museum and followed the sound of drums to a student performance group practicing by the street. I sneaked a few pictures of them without asking and also took some pictures of the obelisk across the street, then we headed to the lake where we tried to take artsy pictures (I was inspired by the museum) and tried to scare ducks. The ducks in the park were really creepy though because we would get really close to them and they would just stand there and quack at us and they were also really big so we chickened out and left them alone. We left the park as the sun set and walked towards another big monument to some explorers. There was a man on top of the monument, so we climbed up too (probably not allowed) and took pictures of the city since the view was so good. While climbing down we almost died, and then headed back to the hostel.
We got kind of lost and circled around the freeway and ended up being forced to cross these extremely busy streets, again almost dying in the process. After figuring out where we were, we pulled out our trusty umbrellas and kept walking but the rain just kept getting stronger and stronger, puddles got deeper and deeper, and thunder got louder and louder. Eventually, the water running through the street and sidewalk was so deep that we would step forward and have water up to our ankles, and even in the shallow areas our umbrellas did not protect our legs, sleeves, or shoes. I have never experienced rain like that. We realized that the rain made walking too miserable, so we went into a small streetside restaurant and ordered 2 cheeseburgers with egg and 2 orders of fries. The owner looked at us with sympathy and quickly brought out our dinner, and it was so delicious. We got guarana soda (for the first time) too, which basically tastes like carbonated happiness. It's the best thing since sriracha and carne asada fries! As we finished eating, the rain suddenly stopped, and we saw all these people start coming out of shops and restaurants and we realized that when it pours people don't keep walking, they find shelter. We felt really dumb. But we learned our lesson... the hard way.
So far on this trip, we seem to be learning lessons the hard way. Now we know not to keep walking when it rains because the streets turn into rivers and umbrellas don't protect you that much. We also learned in Mexico that metro workers rip you off so we should check the prices every time. Even though we need to go through seemingly negative experiences, it still seems fun. I'm really loving this trip even when stuff like this happens. My dad told me before I left, "There is no way that you can go 8 weeks without some bad stuff happening to you, so when it does happen you take it in and make the best of it," and he was right. There have been some negative things that have happened, but we've been able to really let it go and have fun instead of stressing about the little things.
If anyone is reading this, please pray for our trip, our safety, and our growth. Obrigado.
We got to the park after more walking and found a nice sculpture garden, so we took lots of pictures. We also took a bunch of pictures of the buildings because they were really cool. One of them looked like a giant igloo! Then we went into the art museum which had two exhibits: one was modern art and the other was an exhibit on Roberto Burle Marx. The modern art was really cool and sometimes funny, and Marx's exhibit was really interesting too since he did lots of different kinds of art including tapestries, jewelry, paintings, and architectural designs. We spent a good hour in there and it was definitely worth the R$2.50 that it cost each of us to get in. We left the museum and followed the sound of drums to a student performance group practicing by the street. I sneaked a few pictures of them without asking and also took some pictures of the obelisk across the street, then we headed to the lake where we tried to take artsy pictures (I was inspired by the museum) and tried to scare ducks. The ducks in the park were really creepy though because we would get really close to them and they would just stand there and quack at us and they were also really big so we chickened out and left them alone. We left the park as the sun set and walked towards another big monument to some explorers. There was a man on top of the monument, so we climbed up too (probably not allowed) and took pictures of the city since the view was so good. While climbing down we almost died, and then headed back to the hostel.
We got kind of lost and circled around the freeway and ended up being forced to cross these extremely busy streets, again almost dying in the process. After figuring out where we were, we pulled out our trusty umbrellas and kept walking but the rain just kept getting stronger and stronger, puddles got deeper and deeper, and thunder got louder and louder. Eventually, the water running through the street and sidewalk was so deep that we would step forward and have water up to our ankles, and even in the shallow areas our umbrellas did not protect our legs, sleeves, or shoes. I have never experienced rain like that. We realized that the rain made walking too miserable, so we went into a small streetside restaurant and ordered 2 cheeseburgers with egg and 2 orders of fries. The owner looked at us with sympathy and quickly brought out our dinner, and it was so delicious. We got guarana soda (for the first time) too, which basically tastes like carbonated happiness. It's the best thing since sriracha and carne asada fries! As we finished eating, the rain suddenly stopped, and we saw all these people start coming out of shops and restaurants and we realized that when it pours people don't keep walking, they find shelter. We felt really dumb. But we learned our lesson... the hard way.
So far on this trip, we seem to be learning lessons the hard way. Now we know not to keep walking when it rains because the streets turn into rivers and umbrellas don't protect you that much. We also learned in Mexico that metro workers rip you off so we should check the prices every time. Even though we need to go through seemingly negative experiences, it still seems fun. I'm really loving this trip even when stuff like this happens. My dad told me before I left, "There is no way that you can go 8 weeks without some bad stuff happening to you, so when it does happen you take it in and make the best of it," and he was right. There have been some negative things that have happened, but we've been able to really let it go and have fun instead of stressing about the little things.
If anyone is reading this, please pray for our trip, our safety, and our growth. Obrigado.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
