Another notch in the book lists

Spending copious amounts on buses and hammocks yields itself to reading books I've been wanting to read for a long time, and books that people I've met along the way have generously given me. Already, I've turned through 5 books. I'm working on 3 more right now. I only brought one book from Austin and I finished reading that sometime in Costa Rica. It was an intriguing looking paperback with an enticing title called The Story of Forgetting.

I felt that it would be a suiting read, a story about forgetting as I was leaving. Sentimental, I know, but what do you expect?
I like poetry.

The story is told through 3 separate narratives, all intertwined and unknowing; a boy, a man, and a town. My favorite of them is the narrative of Isadora; a place where nothing is ever obtained so nothing can ever be lost. Possession of any and everything. Words. People. Ideas. Objects. Perhaps all we are, are our memories. It is our experiences that craft us into the walking wonders we are. The book is entitled The Story of Forgetting but what about the things that we don't that we wish we could? We have memories for remembering, followed by a language we've created to explain what it is we can't forget. We are abstract beings in concrete bodies. If I cut my finger I will bleed like anyone else, but we feel it differently. The feeling is an abstraction to the sensation of pain itself.

The minds selection of memories is mystifying. The things we teach ourselves to remember like test dates, birthdays, and the things the mind decides to remember on its own like certain nightmares, smells, faces of ex-lovers. The narrative of Isadora is an array of mysticism and science. As I read it I couldn't help but wonder what if?. There is a part where a general hears of a town that is filled with gold- all the riches in world; everything one could ever want- but the thing about the town is that it contains no memory. Gold has no value because there is no memory of it. Gold is gold. The only value gold has is what we have asserted to it. The word gold evokes a connotation of wealth, an abstraction. If I said I have oro (the Spanish word for gold) to a person who only speaks English that would have no meaning to them. Things can be both gained and lost by the act of what one remembers and what one doesn't. Gabriel Garcia Marquez wrote, " Life is not what one lived, but what one remembers and how one remembers it in order to recount it."

I agree.

The Story of Forgetting is not my favorite book. Probably not even top 10, but a good read. An entertaining and interesting one. I'd recommend it simply for the story of Isadora.


Next book.

The Turning by Tim Winton.

A collection of short stories that was given to me by a traveling boy from the UK. These short stories are like chocolate cake in bed, surprise birthday, first kiss, moon in the horizon, kinda good. One made me cry. Another made me ill. All of them made me thankful for the inspiration. If you find, buy it.


Living to Tell the Tale by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

I shouldn't have to explain. It is Gabriel Garcia Marquez; the Colombian God of writers.


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Sidenote:
Since I'm churning through books quicker then bottles of beer any recommendations of books would be greatly appreciated :)


cheers!

Made it to Peru!

After a 10hrs overnight bus I took 4 days ago, I'm in Peru. I heard a lot of terrible things about overnight buses as border-crossings, but nothing bad happened on this one thankfully. I sat next to a German guy on a bus to Chichlayo, Peru and he told me that he took the same night bus I was on three days ago and it got robbed by 7 guys at gunpoint. They barricaded the road 10 minutes after they got to Peru and took everyone off the bus and checked them for cash, passports, Ipods, etc... No one was hurt he informed me, but still kind of scary.

I'm in Huaraz right now and plan on doing lots of hiking here. I'm going to do a 10hr hike tomorrow and then a 5 day hike in the next couple of days. They recommend to hang around in town for a few days in order to acclimate. I bought some coco leaves to munch on that is supposed to help out with attitudinal sickness:) Oh! another exciting thing is that I think I'm going to be volunteering at a bar here. Maybe I'll get to make some good 'ol pisco sours and practice my artful wristflip opening Peruvian beers;)

Today I'm going to buy a camera. I should of bought one, oh let's say, 3 months ago, but I'm stubborn and frugal, which makes me terrible at compulsive shopping. I did however buy some San Pedro from a witch doctor. At least I hope that is what I bought....

I adore Ecuador

Before I begin a new chapter with Peru, I'd like to give a quick recap of my highlights of Ecuador:

. How I got here:
the "mishap" in Colombia with my airline tickets followed by my 5 day stay at the Crossroads hostel in Quito

Quito
Even though everyone I met there got mugged, I still enjoyed it. I met 2 really cool folks there and also thought my adventures climbing the Teleferico, the Basillica, and going to the Otavalo market were worth my stay there.

My man crush
yep. every now and then I get one. This guy was a real life, I was birthed from a mountain lion and can make a strawberry pie out of driftwood kind of mountain man. I ran into him twice in two completely different regions and both times he was dressed in his native garment and had a soft look on his face that explained that he could kill a man in a matter of seconds and do a dance for the gods in a corn field. Sexy.

Cotopaxi
Blisteringly cold. Strenuous climb. Worth it.

Banos
Motherfuckin dune-buggie going dead in a pitch black tunnel was a buzz kill. Hitchhiking into town was another experience in itself. I also ate the best fondue in my life there.

Welcome to the Jungle
Found a guy on couchsurfing who let me stay in his hut outside of Puyo ( a small town in the Amazon Basin) His friend Marco, a Quechua Shawman showed me around. There, I swam in the Amazon Basin and held an anaconda snake

Chimborazo
The holy-shit of volcanoes. This guy is the closet point to the sun in the world. It stands at around 6250 meters. Very dangerous due to unpredictable climate/avalanches/lightning strikes... I hiked to the refugee, rented mountain bikes, and ended up in an alpaca field. Oops... Definitely my favorite outdoor activity I did.

Montanita
Strange town. Party 24/7. Seemed a little sketchy. Felt like I had stumbled onto an MTV real world set gone bad. Attempted surfing, and really suck at it. Some dude tied shit into my hair, surprise surprise, as if I don't already have enough shit in it already.. I also decided to go by a different name. Phoenix Ruyo. That is my new name from now on.. or at least for my time being in Montanita.

Vilcabamba
My favorite small Ecuadorian town. It is filled with Ex-pats (literally over 200 living within a 60 mile radius) I did a 4 hour horseback ride which was the most painful experience in my life. The guide asked me if I had any experience, I said not really, and then we took off about as quick as a champagne top on New Years. That was 7 days ago and my ass is still sore. Never again. Never again.


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If you are ever traveling through Ecuador keep these hostels in mind.

Quito- Crossroads hostel
Banos- Plantas y blancas
Riobamba- Oasis hostel
Vilcabamba- Hostel Izcayluma (my favorite)

compliments of my brother

he is artistic.

Apologies

I apologize for the lack of posting lately. Many things have occurred as to why. The main reason is that my laptops wireless card has failed. I'm pretty bummed about it since that is the only reason I brought a computer to begin with. I'm sure it can be fixed but I don't know a damn thing about computers so the likelihood of me figuring it out is slim to none. This means that I have to do all my updating at internet cafes which are few and far between, especially in the rural areas.

The other reason is that I've been on buses every other day trying to get closer to Peru. The longest one was 13 hrs, but I've had many 6hrs as well.

Sickness is my last reason. I was really, really sick for several days and then it took me another couple of days before I regained any energy to do anything. I'm feeling better now, but still not up to full speed. Anyway, even though I haven't been posting as frequently as I like due to internet difficulties and other misfortunes, I have been writing them elsewhere. Below are things I've been meaning to post that I finally got around to though. I went back and posted them all in the order they occurred.

sick sick sick

For the past two days I've been stuck in bed. I think I have a fever. I barely have enough energy to make it to the bathroom which has turned into my new best friend. It feels as if I've got a carnival's worth of funnel cakes and mayonnaise milkshakes in my stomach. My right ear is completely clogged to the point I can't hear anything. I feel drainage in-behind my eardrum and it hurts so much. I know I'm dehydrated but I can't seem to keep anything down. I'm in bed typing this right now, but it hurts to move. Everything hurts—knees, head, muscles, joints—the cold sweats are the worst. I can't seem to get situated. I've been good about taking my vitamins everyday, but I guess they don't work anymore. I finally broke down and took some Tylenol and medicine for my stomach. I had an allergic reaction to the stomach medicine. I hope I start to feel better within the next day or two. I don't want to go to the doctor here, I hate going to the doctor. I hate it so much that the last time I went for a check-up was when I was 12. All I want is some hot soup and a soda. I remember that always seemed to work when I was little. The only soup they have here contains some sort of bone or animal intestines in it. That won't help. I'll just go to bed and wait for the medicine to kick in. This really isn't fun at all.

Cuenca

Pretty Spanish architecture




delicious ice cream




bought a bad ass Panamanian hat

Bus ran into a bull

Yep. That is right. On the exhausting ride from Montanita to Guayquil and then from Guayaquil heading to Cuenca we ran into a bull. The front of the bus got smashed with the imprint of an animal, we swerved into a curve, almost flipped, and came to a halt after the fuel tank started leaking. Everyone got off and stood next to the leaking bus as people from all over town came to look at what must have been the most exciting thing to have happened in a long time. Cars were stopping, people were waving, and I was just wanting to be going to Cuenca. Finally another bus came to pick us up, but that bus wasn't any better. The entire bus ride from Montanita to Cuenca was supposed to be 7 hrs max. Instead, it was a grueling 13 hr hell ride. The 2nd bus had some tough terrain to drive through. There was one part in the journey after dark when the fog was so thick, there were no street lights, and it started to rain, all while we were on a narrow, winding, dirt road. Usually when one of these conditions are present you slow down, if many of these conditions are present, you really slow down, but not this bus driver... We just kept trucking along until he slammed on his brakes right before we almost drove over a cliff! Awesome. First we crash into a bull, next we almost nosedive off a cliff. By the time we finally made it to the Cuenca bus terminal, however, it was 1:00AM. I didn't think anything would be open so I found me a nice little corner close to where the homeless people were sleeping and decided to call it night. It was the coldest, dirtiest, shadiest, bus station ever, but everything worked out fine in the end. I slept with my backpack in my lap and woke up at 6:00am, caught a cab, checked myself in a nice place, took a bath, and then went back to bed—in a real bed this time..

MTV Montañita

Strange. Strange. The little beachtown called Montañita. It literally consisted of 3 blocks.. The first one being what I named cocktail cove (a street that was nothing but cocktail stands equipped with boom-boxes that played the worst remixes of 50cent & Guns N Roses I've ever heard) restaurant rank (a row of over-crowded, over-priced, and over-smelly restaurants) and buy my shit block ( where the locals post up everyday trying to sell the same ol' shit). The reason I went to Montañita in the first place was because I heard it was a decent beach where there is a lot of stuff to do. Wrong. The beach was a bit too crowded and there was nothing to do but watch tourists get way too hammered and get taken off with locals. I felt like I had stumbled onto an MTV goes to Ecuador reality show. It really was quite bizarre. Some of the locals were cool, but they had this strange aura about them.. I wish I could explain a little better, but just bizarre is about the best I can do. I did, however, met this cool dude from LA who taught me how to surf. I suck at it. He told me not to worry about not being great because it takes about a year before a person can even half way do anything. I believe him because that shit is difficult. I did manage to get up one time, though. If I lived on a coastal town I might would try to pick it up.

Mountain bikes, alpaca fields, and more volcanos

Volcano Chimborazo is like the Holy Shit of volcanos. It is grand. It is gorgeous. It is gnarly. The sheers looks of it reminded me of a Doberman Pincher at a junkyard. Stunning from a distance, but if you get too close, it won't hesitate to eat you. At a whopping 6,310m in elevation, it is recognized as the closet point to the sun in the world. However, it has a reputation for unpredictable weather and a terrible history of people being killed every year by getting struck by lightning and avalanches. Only experienced climbers are supposed to attempt the summit, but of the few who attempt, far less ever reach it. With that being said I decided to hike half and mountain bike the rest:)

I found this really great guy who runs ProBici (a bike shop who specializes in mountain bike rides of Chimborazo). He drove me and a couple of Canadians from Riobamba to Chimborazo where he explained a lot of the history along the way. The drive there was gorgeous. We drove through several indigenous villages where he explained some facts about Quechuas, their language, and religion. He said that most of them in that area converted to Christianity from Catholicism because there was a large influx of Western missionaries who started to come.

It took about 1hr and 30min before we made it to the base of Chimborazo and the view of this volcano was mindnumbing. The sky was the color of mouthwash, and felt about as clean and crisp as it too. You could see a few of the glaciers and the snow looked like white glitter. It was freakin' awesome! The start of the hike wasn't as difficult as Cotopaxi for me because even though it was higher in elevation the incline wasn't as steep. The wind, however, got up to 50mph- and this was just before the refuge! Once I reached the top I tried to reclaim my breath and took refuge in the base camp. There, I met this Australian family of 4 who were on a 6 month—24 country—family vacation. They looked like the happiest family I'd ever seen, which is strange to me, because a 6 month vacation with my family would be the equivalent of getting bullwhiped with snake fangs (okay maybe not that severe, but close..) I was happy for them, it looked like they were having a great time; plus, the mom gave me the rest of her porridge, which was the most delicious leftovers I've had in South America.

Once I climbed back down from the refuge the Canadian guys and I geared up for our 6 hour mountain biking trek. It was an intense ride through sand, snow, boulders, cobblestone streets, and alpaca fields. I don't think I was supposed to actually ride through the field, but since there were a few dogs chasing behind me I was in no position to stop.. I just kept trucking along... It made me realize how much I miss bike riding. I biked a lot in Austin—a whole lot—but when I got off that 6 hour bike ride around the volcano I have to admit I was a little sore. It was a wonderful day. Perhaps my favorite adventurous activity I've done in Ecuador.
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Skinny dippin in the Oriente

For the past three days I've been living in the Amazon Basin. If you imagine bugs the size of bats and anaconda snakes when you think of the Amazon then you have the right idea. What I saw in the Amazon was beyond interesting, but how I got there is a lot more exciting.

I decided that if I went to the jungle I wanted to stay with someone who lived there and experience how they survive, even if was just for a few days. I didn't want to find a hostel and join some tour where we all sheepishly follow an English speaking man in a safari suit with binoculars while we stare at birds from afar and snap photos of indigenous individuals as if they are a part of the landscape. Nu huh. After scrapping my brainbone trying to figure out how in the hell I was going to find someone who has never left the Amazon I decided to turn to my dear old friend— www.couchsurfing.com and came across Wlady, a guy who happened to have a hut in-between Puyo & Macas. I was completely shocked to find out that someone that far away knew about couchsurfing.com & had the internet! After a few corresponding emails trying to figure out when to go and what bus could take me there we finally came up with a plan. Wlady told me that even though he wouldn't be there to show me around he would get his friend, Marco, to take me to the hut. What Wlady didn't tell me was that Marco is a Quechua (Ecuador's largest indigenous population) and.... a Shawman!

I was supposed to meet Marco at the Terreste bus terminal in Puyo @ 1:00pm. Once I got there I realized one very important thing that I forgot to ask Wlady..What does Marco look like? For about forty-five minutes I sat at the bus stop hoping that Marco could pick me out. I didn't think it would be too difficult since it was just 7 drunk Ecuadorian men and a woman selling pig heads and Powerade. He found me right away.

We attempted to conversate for the first 10 minutes of the 40 minute bus ride to the hut. I would say that I'm about 30% to 40% fluent, however, talking to Marco was freaking difficult because he spoke a blend of Quechua & Spanish, and I speak fragmented Spanish mixed with English curse words. We soon became experts at charades:)

When we got to the tiny, tiny town he introduced me to his family... which was the town. I met his 7 children, wife, brother, sisters, their husbands, sisters, etc... They were some of the friendliest people I've met, and oddly enough I met them all while they were in church. It was 6:00pm on a Tuesday in a shack that they also use as a school for the kids. The teacher (they don't use the terminology preacher) was this lady who was the only one who could read out of the 10 people in that room- all adults. Literacy for all is a something I feel strongly about so it was really disheartening to see firsthand people whose own language is a foreign entity to them when written. I won't get off on a tangent now, but if you don't read- please do! Read anything because it really is one of the greatest privileges, and plus, sometimes you find some good stuff in 'em books:)

Okay. Back to the Amazon.. The following day was when Marco & his wife led me through the Amazon. WOW. First, the mud is outrageous. There were a few times when I was walking and then all of a sudden I'd find myself knee-deep in a thick mud-slush that was struggle to get out. We encountered banana spiders, who knows what kind of insects, Marco showed me plants used for Shawminsitic rituals, and even introduced me to a baby anaconda he found. I made a terrible joke about when the snake gets bigger it will probably eat his dog. He laughed and said that he would probably eat him since this type of anaconda can grow up to 6 meters! I quickly gave the little tyke back to Marco and realized why he carries 2 machetes.

After 5 hours of hiking I was relieved when we made it to this waterfall. With no reservation I stripped down to the bare basics and cannonballed into the coldest water in my life. It was amazing. I swam around a bit while Marco caught tiny fish with his hands. His wife even caught a couple like that too. They caught about 10 total which was what we ate for dinner that night. Tiny fried fish and white rice. I can't say it was filling, but the entire experience was definitely rewarding. It is fascinating to me to see the varying ways people live and the means they have to go through in order to make it to another day.


below is what I saw
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The anaconda Marco had was actually a little bigger and whole lot prettier, but you get the idea..




This is a banana spider. These guys are highly dangerous from my understanding. I held the anaconda, but I wasn't about to hold this guy.

still alive..

in the past 5 days I´ve put my body through the most climatical shock possible. I hiked to Volcano Chimborazo´s refuge ( the summit of this deceased volcano is the closet point to the sun in the world- pretty awesome, huh?!) stayed with a Quechua Shawman in the middle of the jungle, held a baby anaconda, skinny dipped in the Amazon Basin, got chased by dogs while mountain biking through a bull field, and have survived a 10hr bus ride to a beach filled with white people (it is a bit strange..). Going to do a little partying since I´m in the 3X1 cocktail land before I begin my voyage into Peru.. wish I had time to say a little more but I see an ocean in the distance that I´d like to jump in..

Just wanted to say that I´m alive and kickin & will put up pictures shortly..

Todas bien!

some sidenotes on Ecuador

Every Ecuadorian I have met is mind-blowing friendly and are so interesting to talk to. They are beautiful people who are very proud of their culture, and rightfully so despite so much political turmoil they have gone through (10 presidents in the last 8 years) as well dollarization (in 2001 Ecuador dropped their national currency the sucre and adopted the US dollar. The way of life in Quito compared to how it is just 2 hours north in Otavalo, a small indigenous village market town, is too unique to describe. Quito is divided in-half. There is Old town, which consists of old architectural buildings, cathedrals, and basically anything that hasn't been built for a while. Now take a guess as to what the other part is called?...... New Town! a Gringola central, a replica of 6th street with bars named things like Strawberry, No Bar, Dragonfly, and Texas Star American pop culture permeates everything.. From the moment I got off the plane in Quito there were people lining the streets selling stolen Michael Jackson memorabilia, and even a couple of people asked me how I felt about the Pop icons death...Thirty minutes west of Dragonfly and Michael Jackson, I'm having a 5 year old boy begging me for change and wanting to know if he can shine my shoes despite that they were flipflops. Although the dichotomy is strange, it is also honest. Poverty in Ecuador is not something hidden- it is evident and has been woven into the culture. I think I read that 40-60% of Ecuadorians live below poverty- and from what I've seen that sounds about right. Nearly every hostel and restaurant I've seen (unless they are cafeteria style) are owned by Europeans or Americans. The reason for this is that most Ecuadorians can't build up enough capital to start a business. It is the second poorest country in South America, however, it is considered the 4th most expensive, but I think, depending on what one may do, it is pretty cheap- no hostel has cost me more then $8 a night- there are markets everywhere that you can haggle any price down to a couple of bucks- and last night I even had cheese & beef fondue, salad, and a bottle of wine for $16! Unbelievable!

Another thing Ecuador leads in is bio-diversity. I really wanted to go to the Galapagos Islands but for about $1000 bucks a person- I had to pass... Ecuador has over 20,000 different species of plants when the rest of the Americas combined has only 17,000!
There is everything from active volcanoes, glorious beaches, the Amazon, mountains, Rainforest, there is rain, sun, snow, hot, and cold.. You can hike, white-water raft, visit waterfalls, ride bicycles up to a volcano, and then treat yourself to a tasty .80c beer at the end of the day. The climate and landscape of the country is really amazing. I found out yesterday from a Latacunga native that the US is Ecuador's number one importer of broccoli and roses. I would have never of guessed that because I haven't came across that many since I've been here. Their main diet consists of yucas, bananas, and some type of meat (not chicken, pork, or cow..) one of their traditional dishes that I'm a fan of is llapingachos


and when I say some type of meat I mean it is Lomo (alpaca meat), cuy (guinea pig) or parts of animals I've never seen before fried up at this huge outdoor food market. The lomo is good- taste like steak- the cuy... you will like only if you like dark meat chicken.

I've got more to explain about this tiny little country I'm starting to get a crush on, but I've got to go find my bus out of Baños today


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more info on dollarization:
http://www.mindspring.com/~tbgray/dollar.htm

In the morning

Tomorrow morning I will be in Puyo- the jungle- with some guy named Marco. He is an Amazon warrior. His friend has a cabin in the middle of the Ecuadorian Amazon that I found on couchsurfing. Today I started taking my malaria pills. I look forward to the crazy dreams I'm going to have tonight. I hope I get food before then- for the past three days I've been eating tangerines & random meat on the street. Oh the luxuries of traveling!

The Bandits of Baños

After hiking Cotopaxi, eating food that is still alive, and trying to navigate new cities with no sense of direction, you'd figure that nothing would surprise me- let alone- kind of scare me, but then something did.. A friend that I met here in Baños and I decided that renting dune buggies like this



and driving through this



would be a fabulous idea! And for only $14 bucks for 2 hours I couldn't resist. So here we go whirling up and down hills, slinging mud, doing doughnuts, honking at cars, and driving through waterfalls- we were like Bonnie & Clyde, Batman & Robin- I named us the Bandits of Baños and no one was going to stop us until we heard baaa dumm, baaaa dummm, irkkk irkkk irrk, poofff. our get-away vehicle ran out of gas in the middle of a dark, one-way traffic tunnel, with no end in site. Fuck. Before I had time to think I heard one huge tour bus barreling through honking at us to get out of the way.

Push Eric! I yell.
What?
We gotta push, dude- go!

so he gets out and starts to push while I steer us back into civilization trying my best to get the thing to go. All of a sudden it starts so I floor it!

Run Eric! Run!! I shout
I'm trying, slow down! Eric screams with agitation
Nunca! Run faster! Jump in!

If you could just pause. take a moment and visualize this scene.

A huge tour bus stuck behind a skinny running boy wearing a baseball helmet (that is what they gave us) trying to jump in a dune buggie driven by me, a person who hasn't driven any type a vehicle in about a year. It was an astounding site.

We made it pretty far, but when you are out of gas you are out of gas, and eventually you just stop. So when this happened I had to pull out the good 'ol thumb and just start walking. I told Eric to stay behind and guard our piece of shit while I hitched a ride into town. A truck picked me up and thirty minutes later I rescued Eric and we celebrated over Ecuador's only type of beer- Pilsener.

What a day what a day.

the reason why

There is a reason why I haven't been able to update ask much as I'd like... in brief, it is because I've been hiking 15,000ft snow-capped active volcanoes like Cotopaxi (Ecuador's highest active volcano)



I'm from Mississippi which means I don't know the meaning of snow or cold or anything that freezes. In this 2 day hike to the summit I could feel my lungs do cartweels in my chest angry that I thought defying gravity was a good idea. I made it, finally.. and as much as I hated it at first, it was an amazing experience.



_____________________________________
I also hiked another crazy mountain (14,000 ft) and have been hitchiking- I'll explain later, but right now I've got to figure out a way to the jungle....

¿Qué hora es?

Hmmmmmmm. well today marks my 4th and last day in Quito. It is a sprawling city with sooo much to do.. Everyday has been extremely busy so far and I don't foresee me slowing down at all. My days have started at 6:00AM and have ended somewhere along midnight, which is something I discovered by walking down the street and noticing that every coffeeshop was closed. Was it a holiday? I thought. Probably not. ¿Qué hora es? I asked. Son las cinco y media the lonely guy on the street informed. Ohhhhh, that explained everything. If only I had a watch I wouldn't wake us early and maybe I could get to places on time, but I am on a budget (a strict one at that and one I'm probably going to greatly bust) so I'd rather use my money to buy Alpaca sweaters, strange food on the street, and of coarse- cerveza:) For now, asking someone what time it is actually is a pretty good conversation starter.

A serendipitious experience in Colombia.

Serendipity the faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.

This word accurately sums up the strange unfolding of events that luckily happened to me in Colombia. One minute I'm waiting in the airport in Bogota, and the next I'm having a flight attendant apologize to me while I stare dumbfounded by what is happening. I couldn't tell if my bag got lost or if I was about to get deported. All I could catch in the riff-raff of airport lunacy was,
Lo siento, lo siento. Venga, por favor.

Damn, I thought, whatever she was saying was probably really terrible so I decided my best defense was to play the "no entiendo" card and keep a firm stance. I had a list of excuses and practiced phrases for when the time was going to come when they asked about my onward going ticket. I had already sneaked through two gates and was not about to get sent home on the third. I was going to tell them that I left the flight copy in my check-in bag, or I have buss ticket, or I'm a student, or pleaseee just don't send me back!! Then this girl from Miami who I had been talking to started to congratulate me,
"Wow! That is great. I can't believe you just got a free round-trip ticket to anywhere in the world!"

Huh? I said.

"Yeah" the girl from Miami continued "Since they overbooked your flight they are compensating you with a round-trip ticket, putting you up in a hotel for the night with a free dinner and breakfast, and you are getting on the first-class flight to Quito in the morning."

At this point my confusion had escalated into baffled enthusiasm! I had purchased a ticket to Quito, Ecuador with a layover in Bogota because it was cheaper to fly there instead of Colombia, but I had no intention to hop on the connecting flight. If only the dear flight attendant lady knew that this wasn't a problem at all, but a dream come true! I only paid $175 bucks for the flight from Costa Rica to Bogota and now they are giving me an open ended voucher good for one year to anywhere Avianca fly's to. Wahooooooo!

Anyway the lady takes my hand and leads me and a handful of pissed off others to this underground VIP room in the Bogota airport. Alright, now I'm going to get to see how the drugs are smuggled through:) We wait and wait and wait and finally we get our new tickets for the morning, the round-trip voucher, and airport pick-up to the hotel which ended up not being a hotel but a resort! It took me nearly 30 minutes to clean the drool from my face because of how far my jaw dropped when I opened the door to my room. There was a huge walk-in glass shower with more showerheads then I have fingers or toes. I had never been so excited about showering in my life until I saw that bathroom! There was a surround sound IPOD system, 30inch flat screen, bottled room service, 2 themperpedic mattress beds, and an entrance to a garden..

I still can't believe it. I have a ticket back to the States or Europe or Asia or who cares! I'm just glad serendipity finally found me.

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Word History: We are indebted to the English author Horace Walpole for the word serendipity.Walpole formed the word on an old name for Sri Lanka, Serendip. He explained that this name was part of the title of "a silly fairy tale, called The Three Princes of Serendip: as their highnesses traveled, they were always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of...."

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what I've learned from this fabulous tale is that quests are meant for conquering and conquering means possession and anything possessed can be lost. The only thing that matters is what one may discover along the way. So keep your eyes open and your mind wider to all things thought impossible because nothing ever was to begin with. Impossible is just the stuff that hasn't been discovered yet.

mis amigos!!

Since I got to the airport ridiculously too early (i.e 6 hours...) I figure now is the time to upload more pics. I'll keep posting more as soon as my friends post them on facebook or whatever else they got because I haven't taken a single photo since I've been here. Why? ohhhh well because I brought the camera, but left the memory card. Brilliant!



an assortment of us folks in front of the school.



these are two very handsome folks named Jerry & Shae. Jerry likes to smoke cigars and get "rowdy". Shae likes Regina Spektor as much as I do and lives in Arizona. We all like coffee & bicycles. And this is starting to sound like a personal add on craigslist. My apologies.



Sometimes I would be walking down the street and a horse would randomly appear, like this one.



Puerto Viejo.. the best napping spot in the entire world.



Shae is a lot cooler then I am, probably smarter too, and definitely better looking, which all equates to freakin' awesome!



Andres is a pretty upstanding fellow as well! We were going to rent bicycles and ride them to the beach (which was about 50 miles away..) but decided that was a silly idea after we saw the San Jose traffic and the Costa Rican mountains. So we took the bus instead.



I just like this one.



Sabinilla bar. Right across the street from my house and is Costa Rica's version of a dive bar. Cheap drinks, dirty, and always has regulars.



this was karaoke night and me being ridiculous