The B Side

Whackiness and Hilarious Consequences

2009-07-07T06:11:00.000-07:00

It's a funny thing, this blogging. Who really reads these things anyway? The power of the internet has given millions of people the ability to share their thoughts and drivel with the broadest of audiences in an instant. For a long time I thought blogging was best served for celebrity gossip and political rants. When I decided to take a little trip (see entry #1 in Jan '09) I thought I'd give this blog thing a shot in hopes to save myself some effort in having to write a mass email or having to answer the question "how's the trip?". I was able to write things as they happened, and anyone who was interested could read along in real time or go back through the archives and catch up. Plus, it was like a journal I knew I couldn't lose in a bus station or have stolen from my backpack; allowing me to permanently keep a chronicle of my epic journey.

What I didn't realize until recently, is how much I enjoyed it. I've always loved writing, and missed it once I entered the working world. Having the opportunity to share my opinion and experiences has never been something that I've avoided, so when I came across a fair number of people who told me they enjoyed hearing about The Great White Hike, I briefly entertained the thought of continuing to write. But, shortly after returning to reality, or at least America, I felt I didn't have much to write about or say compared to such an exotic and fast-paced trip. Then I realized I am me and having something to say would never be a problem.

So, I have officially decided to give the blog a shot from reality and see what comes out of it. Without the specific focus of cross-continental travel, there is little doubt the subject matter will have a much broader spectrum from stories to updates, pictures to videos, coherent thoughts to brain droppings. I don't really know who, if anyone, will read this. While having a large following is not one of my priorities, if I can entertain some people at work or just keep the people who care up to date on my life, then my goal will be accomplished. I'm not looking to get rich or famous like some bloggers. As Garth Algar once said: "Its like people only do things because they get paid, and that's just really sad."

I figure that since the Great White Hike has concluded, carrying the title is no longer appropriate. So, in a reference to obsolete technology, the continuation of an existing piece or work, and my favorite initial... I bring you: The B Side.

The Grand Finale

2009-06-09T19:11:00.000-07:00

Hi faithful GWH readers! First off, I must apologize for my abrupt disappearance from bloggage at the tail end of the trip. My last entry mentioned a few factors that led to my total abandonment of what was once a well maintained chronicle of our journey, but those are no longer excuses here in the great US of A. The internet is free and plentiful and I certainly have the time. So, I felt the need to bring the Great White Hike to proper close after a month of being home.

*Just to wrap up the last few weeks from the point where we left off: We left Buenos Aires, saw some waterfalls in Iguazu, got a ride into Paraguay while illegally/accidentally passing through two immigration points in two countries unchecked, flew to Rio, met up with my girlfriend who I hadn't seen in 3 months, sat on the beach, went to an island off the coast of Brazil which was pretty much paradise, finally got sick 95% of the way through the trip (not paradise), ate a lot of Acai on the beach, and then came home. Some pics:

(You can see the rest of the 2,500 pics HERE or for those with shorter attention spans, on Facebook)

Anyway, I've been home long enough to tell a lot of people my trip was "really good" as well as say "yes I am back" and "yes it really was 4 months" and "yes I am very glad I went". What I was not initially prepared for was the overwhelming number of people who immediately asked: "What was your favorite part?". I understand the need to just get the Cliff Notes version of the story and/or that those people may or may not even really care about the answer. However, the question is virtually impossible to answer as so many of the places really aren't comparable and all had their charms. I would expect the same reaction if I asked a parent which of their children were their favorite. Though tempted to name one, you just can't.

So, I have come up with a few "awards" for the best of the best, the worst of the worst... in an attempt to answer what my "favorite part" was. I now bring you the 2009 "Hikies" in no particular order:

Best Looking Women (2nd most popular question): Buenos Aires, Argentina

Best Restaurant: Wild Mango's, Belize

Worst Food: Machu Picchu Trek

Worst Food in an International Terminal: Lima International Airport

Biggest Meatball: The Guy at the Front Desk of our hostel in Salvador, Brazil

Best Sports Fans: Brazil (video)

Beverage Missed Most: Fountain Sodas and Ice

Best Celebration: Bus Removed from River After 12 Hours (video, Binder in black sweatshirt)

Best Animal on My Bed: Cat in Lima (video)

Best Animal on Zack's Head: Monkey in Peru (pic)... 2nd Place: His Beard

Best Beach: Tayrona National Park, Colombia (pic)

Best Beach Snack: Acai, Brazil

Scariest Moment: Scooter Taxi in Peru (video)

Best Natural Scenery: Torres del Paine, Chile (pic)

Country I'd Most Likely Go Back To: Brazil

Country That's Not As Dangerous as People Say: Colombia

Weirdest Country: Bolivia

Diamond in the Rough City: San Pedro de Atacama, Chile

Hugest and Boringest City: Santiago, Chile

Worst Attempt to Fight Gravity: Zack Falling Through a Roof, Ecuador (sorry no video)

Best One Man Dance Party: Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia (video)

Well folks... That just about does it. I can't say this will be the last blog entry I ever write, but this concludes the I-just-decided-to-pick-up-and-go-to-South-America portion. I've thoroughly enjoyed writing this blog and will miss being able to share a great experience with such a wide group of people. It was nice to find out that such a broad audience avidly followed the blog, from people we met once at a bar, up through parents and siblings of friends of friends. So, thank you for all those who followed along and commented over the last four months and to those who joined and provided the material... it was a blast.

-Binder

Almost There....

2009-05-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be wondering what happened, some of you may not care... but I will admit I have been lagging on the blog posts recently. I could blame it on any number of factors: the extremely slow and expensive internet in Brazil, knowing I´ll be home in about a week anyway, or my lovely girlfriend showing up and me not caring at all about checking the internet anymore... but I´ll just say I´ve been lazy. This post being brief and pictureless can also be attributed to the afforementioned factors.

Since the last update, we´ve seen Iguazu Falls which was rad but the water was a little low. We then flew to Rio where Nick, Julie, and Zack let out a collective sigh of relief when Brianne finally made it down here and I stopped my minute by minute countdown. We spent a few days in Rio, then went to Ilha Grande which is an amazing Island off the coast just a few hours south of Rio. It was pretty much paradise. We are now in Salvador de Bahia, a 2 hour plane ride north of Rio to see another part of Brazil and for me to see where my dad lived like a million years ago. The weather is unfortunately not cooperating, its pouring and not looking like it is going to stop, so we are going to spend one more day here and try to get back to Rio ASAP for the last 3 days. Cant believe its coming to an end, I will see most of you very soon... then I might post a few pictures.

100th Day Photo Spectacular

2009-04-28T15:43:00.000-07:00

Thanks to the endless coverage of Obama's first 100 days on CNN, I just realized that today is exactly our 100th day travelling as we left of January 19th, the before he was sworn into office. To celebrate, and because I finally got a decent internet connection, I am going to share a few more of my favorite pics from the last month... and a little video too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKQHWxR8yNI

Only 16 more days to go. Enjoy...

Buenos Aires, Argentina

2009-04-26T13:36:00.000-07:00

Continuing with the tend of adding to the crew, we picked up a few more travellers on this Great White Hike in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Nick, Zack, and I flew on last Friday and awaited the arrival of Julie, Mike, and Jeff the following morning at our totally awesome apartment in the Recoleta. We were very fortunate to be hooked up with the place by a lovely lady named Anne Elizabeth, who is a friend of a friend and lives right in the building. The place is super rad probably too nice for a bunch of vagabond wanderers such as ourselves but it gave us a fantastic home base for a week of shenanigans in this great city.

Everyone had told us that we had to see a soccer game here in BA, either River or the Boca Juniors. Luckily, they were playing each other on the first Sunday we were there. Its actually one of the premier soccer games on the continent, known as he Superclasico, and we decided that there was no way we could miss it. Despite extreme hangovers after the first night in BA (in which the T Rex made an appearance that would bring a tear to Michael Crichton's eye), we piled onto a bus and bought our home team gear. We had been warned to sit under the overhang so that we could be protected from the River fans above who like to hurl objects below at the Boca fans, their speciality is cups full of urine. While the overhang protected us from recieving golden showers, it provided multiple flashbacks to 1989 when we saw the upper deck rocking furiously under the jumping and dancing River fans above. I assumed it was normal until I saw the wide-eyed locals wondering if the stadium might collapse on our heads. It didn't and the game ended up in a 1-1 tie, the star player for Boca scored the lone goal. Seeing that and the opening ceremony (in the pics) put this game in the top 3 live sporting events of my life (in case you care: the others were Warriors over Mavericks Game 3 of the 2007 playoffs in Oakland and A's sweeping the Twins in the 2006 ALDS at home).

We were in BA for about a week and were able to see all the major sites: the Recoleta Cemetary, La Boca (the colorful neighborhood on the postcards and covers of guidebooks), Tango, steak, and the San Telmo Street Fair among many others. The real sight to be seen is actually Zack.... with huge cans. Best 5 pesos I've ever spent. The days were filled with wandering the glorious city, stopping every few blocks for coffee and/or beer in every neighborhood cafe. The nights almost always involved steak and throwing Zack under the bus (good to have McDonnell around again) then throwing Mike under the bus (thanks Zack). Julie deserves a medal for putting up with us 5 guys, but at least she has a whole new set of good fart and poo jokes.

It was great to see McDonnell and Robinson, especially since it might have been the last time anyone sees them as they are currently enduring a 13 hour layover in Mexico City. Its cool guys, I hear swine flu aint really that bad. Zack, Nick, and Julie and I are in Iguazu, Argentina, home of Iguazu Falls. Nick has a friend who somehow lives in Paraguay nearby, so we have a local guide here for the next few days. Two days here then off to Rio!!!

More pics...

Northern Patagonia, Chile and Argentina

2009-04-16T14:12:00.000-07:00

After hitting the bottom of the continent, we have bounced back up and will continue Northward for the remainder of our trip. The area of Northern Patagonia is known as the Lakes District because, well, it has tons of lakes. We flew and bused it to Pucon, Chile, a town very reminiscent of Tahoe City... on a lake, mountains, trees, a few bars, and tons of outdoor activities. My kind of place. One thing it has that Tahoe doesn't is the huge volcano, Volcan Villarica, looming in the background. It looks just like one of those 8th grade science projects, a perfect cone with snow around the top and smoke coming out. We figured why not climb it. The tour companies equip you with crampons (spikes on your boots) which you need on the ice. They also give you an ice axe, which you don't need and I think they just give to tourists to make them feel cool (see picture below). It takes about 5 hours to get to the top. Once there, you can stand on the rim and see down into the crater. We also went river rafting... we were just a tad hungover. Please enjoy the stupid look on all our faces.

The Lakes District hadn't gotten much fanfare in terms of many tourists saying "you hafta go!!", so we were very pleasantly surprised when our bus ride from San Martin to Bariloche (Argentina) turned into one of the more memorable rides of the trip. Known as the 7 Lakes Route, we wound through the forest and many undeveloped lakes and witnessed a pretty sweet sunset. It was so sweet in fact, that we decided to rent a car the next day and drive the full route and the parts we missed. Our. Car. Sucked. I think it was a 2 door Spec, complete with a broken radio, no power steering, and a pool full of stale beer in the spare tire compartment which we discovered when we got a flat. We stopped at a hotel overlooking the main lake and sweet talked the manager into letting us sit on the pool deck and enjoy a $12 bottle of Argentinian Malbec. Life is rough down here.

Over the past three months, I have been able to share my high school level Spanish with the big French speaking Russian. He has learned to converse quite well, mostly around anything involving food or directions. No word has become more important to our trip than "postres", or deserts. It has been a running joke to says "postres??" after every meal, including breakfast. You can see in the picture taken at the top of the mountain in Bariloche that nothing quenches a thirst like a massive piece of chocolate cake.

We are off to the glorious city of Buenos Aires today to meet up with three more Americans who actually came through on the "oh you guys are going to South America?? I will TOTALLY come visit you!!!" claims. We have a sweet apartment lined up, should be awesome. We have completed over 3/4 of the trip, with just one more month to go....

a few more pictures....

Patagonia, Chile

2009-04-09T09:43:00.000-07:00

We have moved way south since the Pachamama trip and are now pretty much on the bottom of the planet in southern Chile, not too far from Antarctica. To get here we had to stop through Santiago, which really is just another big city that we couldn't wait to leave. The only things really to come out of Santiago were our new addition to the team, Nick Hier... and this picture of me and Zack riding the cable car high on the hill in Santiago and wondering if it was tomorrow yet. Nick went to CU with Zack, and has been enjoying skiing in Colorado and working for the family business. He will be completing the final 6 weeks of our journey with us and adds a new fire to the crew. He is also a soundboard for me and Zack to finally have someone to complain to each other about after 11 weeks. He also rounds out the 6ft-plus white guy crew, promising to make people question if we are all related and further making fitting in small South American cabs even more challenging. So everyone give Nick a big welcome to the Great White Hike.

The big reason we came all the ay down here was to see Patagonia, the large region of Southern South America (Chile and Argentina) famous for mountains, lakes, glaciers, hiking, hiking and camping. We flew into Punta Arenas and bused it to Puerto Natales, the jumping off point for Torres del Paine National Park. The most popular hike in Torres del Paine is the "W", four days and three night of hiking in and out of the valleys along the lakes in which the trails make a big W (see, its not just a clever name). The highlights are Glacier Grey, and the Torres - the three huge towers of rock that you can see from both the front and the back in the valleys.

We spent 4 days hiking all day, and three nights pushing the capacities of our rented sleeping bags and tents that are clearly not made for people of our size. We bought all of our food the night before we left in a hurry and it became apparent very quickly that we did not bring enough food once we saw some girl on the boat gorging herself on a huge sammy. After 2 days of our bland oatmeal and instant coffee breakfasts and trail mix lunches, we found ourselves spending a lot of our time on the trail intricately describing what we would put in a sandwich. It was Zack's 26th birthday on the third day, and we found it a perfect opportunity to suprise the bithday boy with two huge sammys purchased at the campsite kitchen that morning. The sandwiches were a little overpriced but it was worth every centimo to see the joy on the kids face. Not to mention we got to stuff our faces as well.

The final night we spent at the base of the Torres, just a 45 minute scramble up the rocks to see them overlooking a small lake. There is about a 10 minute window right at sunrise where the rocks glow orange and the sunrises through the valley so we set the alarms for 530 am and began our climb in the dark. We continued our streak of great weather for the epic pictures and were able to get these shots. We stumbled tired and sore back to the campsite to pick up our packs, eat breakfast and continue to the bottom even more tired and sore. We arrived a pathetic, dirty, and tired mess... glad to be back to civilization.

Getting little to no rest, we boarded a bus early the next morning to see the Perito Moreno glacier, one of the largest in Patagonia, probably THE largest but I was asleep for a lot of the bus ride while he guide was talking. It was a big piece of ice, and we got to see pieces of ice fall off the big piece of ice into the water and make a big splash. It was pretty radical actually. Oh, and you may notice something different about my face in the one picture. On the bus ride home from Torres I found myself chewing on my mustache and realized at that very moment it was about time for it to go. Zack says he "hates change" (as if the beard was normal) and demands I grow it back instantly. I never thought it would get to the point where I got made fun of for NOT having a beard. However, I might be done with facial hair for a while, at least until this Movember.

We are on the move again tonight to head a little more North to the Lakes District, to start in Chile and cross the Andes into Argentina. Its just about a week until we meet up with three more of our favorite Americans in Buenos Aires, rent an apartment, and enter the final leg of the journey. Exactly five weeks to go from today.... Which reminds me, what's up with Bay to Breakers??

The Pachamama Journey, Ecuador

2009-03-31T07:11:00.000-07:00

Although there were obviously many things that drew me to come to South America, this part of the trip was something I had been looking forward to doing for a few years and we essentially planned our trip around. Close and longtime family friends of the Binders started an organization called The Pachamama Alliance over a decade ago and I have seen it grow from small gatherings to a worldwide organization with thousands of members. Initially, the goal of the Pachamama (meaning "Mother Earth") Alliance was to assist a group of idiginous people in Ecuador, the Achuar, to maintain their territory of prestine rainforest as well as their culture. Where it sets itself apart from many of the old Save-The-Rainforest-type causes is that the founders realized early on that just trying to save these people was a fruitless task unless we were also able to understand and change the root casues of the things threatening the Achaur territory and lifestyle: In short, the consumption and lifestyle of The People of The North (us). So, this trip with the Pachamama Alliance is designed to have People of The North like me and Zack see the Achaur Territory and traditions, see why its worth saving, and most importantly begin to think about what needs to change in order to do so.

Our group was about as diverse as they come, with ages ranging from 11 to 60. We had a family of 5 from Boulder, CO, a monk, a mother son duo, a German engineer who recently left the auto industry in Detroit, and of couse the "twenty somethings" as we became known. We met up in Quito and boarded our bus for a town in the Andes to see a market, hike a lake, and of course visit some Shamans. I don't think I can do the Shaman meetings justice through a blog, but they were quite the experience. His comments about each individual (while translated from Quichua, to Spanish, to English) were amazingly right-on about almost everyone. Impressive. We were then all "cleansed" and prepared for out trip into the rainforest though a ceremony that involved 95% alcohol, fire, and plants... performed by the Shamans whole family. Again, can't quite do it justice in words but certainly brought the group together and prepared us for the main part of our trip.

We then took two plane flights, on progressively smaller planes from Quito into the rainforest. You quickly realize the vast and untouched nature of the territory you are entering, only to be reminded that this is of the last such terrain in Ecuador. Its nothing but green in every direction, with the occasional brown cuts of river and small landing strips of the villages (there are no roads, so plane and canoe are the only means of transportation). After landing on the dirt runway, we took a motorized canoe (that immediately reminded me of that ride at Disneyland) to Kapawi Lodge, an ecolodge set on a small lake. We spent the next two nights in the villages of the Achuar, seeing their culture and learning more about how they have able to live for hundreds of years with little to no influence from the outside world. We spent two more nights in the lodge, explored the river and the jungle, and experienced some great rain storms (No, that's not Zack on the left in the picture, its my homey Quin - the youngest of the family from Boulder). I could probably write a book (there are already quite a few) on the profound nature of being exposed to such an environment but I will just say that it was certainly an experience that I will remember for the rest of my life.

Ok, for those of you just here for stupid pictures... onto what you all have been waiting for and missing: THE BEARD WATCH. It had been relatively non-newsworthy since Zack decided to shave and I decided to do nothing but let it flow for 2 months. As you can see from the first picture, the beard (as well as me in general) had become completely untamed and primal after over two months away from society. That meat you see is Cuy... aka Guinea Pig... and is quite delicious. I decided it was time to reconnect with civilization and clean up my appearence once back in Quito. I figured there was no better way to show that I was ready for the real world again than with the Handlebar Mustache. I have quickly learned that no one can take me seriously, not even Zack. Oh well, no one really took me seriously before so its actually not that much of a dropoff.

Next Stop: A short little plane flight to Santiago, Chile and then further south to the wilderness of Patagonia.

Also, Here are a ton of really great pictures from our trip, taken by a member of our group... the great Antoine Bonsorte.

Greatest Hits: First Half

2009-03-20T15:17:00.000-07:00

Amazingly enough, we have survived the first half of the trip. We've been gone over two months, and have just under two more to go. I finally got access to a decent internet connection and computer, so thought I would put up some highlights and favorite pics from the first half (these are just off of one of my memory cards, not counting Zack's pics, or my other cameras... there are quite a few more where these came from). It has flown by and I am sure the next half will be even faster. Looking through all these makes me realize how far we've travelled and how massive and diverse this continent is. I feel we haven't even scracthed the surface. Speaking of which, we are in Quito preparing for a week long trip into the rainforest. Should be a few more pics to come...

Lima, Peru

2009-03-16T15:21:00.001-07:00

Ok, second post in a day... this is what you all get for bugging me about why I haven't done a blog in "forever". We flew from La Paz to Lima, most flights anywhere connect through Lima, so we decided to stop through on the way to Quito, Ecuador. Those of you with maps in front of you might be wondering why we are going backwards, which is a logical question, but long story short we have to be in Quito by March 20th and it just worked out this way, ok? Many people had said Lima sucks, but we have quickly learned to ignore most people and judge things for ourselves. Luckily for us, we had been put in touch with a friend of a friend, a girl named Kara, who lives in Lima and would be happy to show us around. She has been a great host, taking us to great restuarants and bars, giving a walking tour along the coast (as seen in the pics), and connecting us with the locals, and a bunch of American twentysomethings.

Randomly, Kara had yet another friend of a friend come through Lima for the night, 4 bros newly graduated from USC on a one week trip to do Machu Picchu and connecting through Lima for the night. They bought drinks like they were free, rocked V necks so big I didn't even know existed, and sweated profusely while dancing on the local Limenas. Their flight was to Cusco at 6 am, so they went straight from the bar to the airport. Not sure if it was because it was their first night in South America, the fact it is just one week away from work, or the fratacity still running through their veins... but they went nuts and entertained us all. Thanks fellas, you make me feel young again.

Maybe its because we have had a local show us around, maybe its because we haven't really left the only nice parts of Lima (Miraflores and Baranco)... but I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. It certainly hasn't sucked. It's been the closest I've felt to being back in the states, even California, as the fancy shops and restaurants line the Pacific Ocean. I've eaten well, gotten some sun and had a few drinks. Huge thanks out to Kara for being a great host. Next stop, Quito, Ecuador to prepare for the journey into the Amazon.

Lake Titicaca

2009-03-16T14:11:00.000-07:00

I've fallen behind a little bit, it was bound to happen. We went to Lake Titicaca last week, the day after doing The World's Most Dangerous Road. The two activities couldn't really have been much different, the former being dangerous and heart pounding while the latter was about as slow paced as you can get. While it was scenic and relaxing and for sure a great place to go, I can't say this entry will be long or mindblowing by any means. Anyway, we took a 4 hour bus from La Paz to Copacabana which is on the Bolivian side of the lake (Puno being the Peruvian side), managing not to get stuck in any rivers this time. The boat ride from Copacabna to Isla del Sol, the main island in the middle of the lake and supposed birthplace of the Incas, takes about 2 and a half hours. My guess it would be just slightly longer if you were to swim, judging by the boats leisurely pace. We hiked from the North end of the Island to the South which took about 5 hours and caught the boat back to Copacabana. The next day we headed back to La Paz. Ok, this is the last time I get to do this. "Titicaca"... hahahaa.

The World's Most Dangerous Road

2009-03-11T07:36:00.000-07:00

Mom, I may have mentioned I was doing a "bike ride" the other day, but I intentionally left out some details of where this bike ride would be. There's a road about an hour north of La Paz known as "The World's Most Dangerous Road" or the "Death Road" that you can actually pay to bike down, so we did. Used as an actual main highway from La Paz to Coroico since the mid 1940's, there were many deaths due to cars plummetting off the 2,000 foot drops from the narrow road with little to no guard rails. There are all kinds of contradiciting statistics about the numbers of deaths and stuff, but what I can tell you from my own experience is that it is a very long, steep, narrow road with many winding turns and dropoffs that cars really have no business driving on in one direction, let alone both directions. Admittedly, it has gotten safer in the past few years due to the "New Death Road" they built on the other side of the valley which greatly minimized the amount of car traffic on the Old Road. After arriving in La Paz and hearing it was one of the highlights to do in Bolivia, we set out to find a reputable company that would let us bike down the road and experience it for ourselves.

We decided this wasn't the type of thing to try and go budget on, so we went with the biggest company called Gravity, which is a little bit more but we decided was worth the price. We heard stories of people paying half what we paid and having the back brakes fail, so we felt good about the choice. The bikes are all new with full suspension and disc breaks, and well maintained. The guides are well paid and experienced. A young English couple, Joe and Lucy, who we met and befriended through our Salar de Uyuni trip joined us. We boarded the bus in the morning and headed up and out of La Paz to the top of the road at about 15,700 feet where we pleasantly discovered it to be snowing heavily. We bundled up and got a saftey lecture from our guide, boarded our bikes and headed down the road. Over the course of 4 or so hours, we dropped about 10,000 feet in altitude over about 40 miles of road, mostly dirt, with very little pedaling. The road wound along the cliff side, under waterfalls, and past many crosses and memorials to those who managed to not stay on the road. The temperature went from near freezing to sunny and sweltering heat. We arrived at the bottom to enjoy a cold beer and buffet lunch at an animal sanctuary and resort in Coroico.

It was a great feeling to know we survived, but it wasn't really until the ride back up the road in the bus that we realized what exactly we had just come down. We stocked up on some cervezas for the three hour ride back up the Old Road we came down. It had been a few weeks since they drove back up the road due to mudlsides, so we were told it was quite a treat to go back up. Despite the snow storm at the top, we were also blessed with one of the clearest days in a long time, allowing us to see all the way back down the valley to see the road, as well as up to the snow capped crags up the valley. We stopped to take a few pictures, as well as for a bathroom break, and though I contemplated peeing off the ledge, I got scared. We arrived back in La Paz exhausted, surprised at how much riding a bike without pedaling can wear you out. So Mom, I am alive and well, don't worry. Our next stop is not quite as dangerous, but has a much funnier name... Lake Titicaca.

Oh and when I walked into the bar in the hostel the other day, a girl yelled "THIS IS SPARTA!!!" at me, so I guess the beard is doing just fine.

Salar de Uyuni and Bus Adventures

2009-03-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

We finally got to experience the South American bus system we had heard so much about. With no particular plans of any sort, and hearing rumors of a pretty cool salt flat in Bolivia, south of La Paz, we decided to embark on a few overnight buses from Cuzco, Peru through the south of Peru and into Chile. Two overnight buses in three days turned out to be not as bad as we expected, it was the return home where we saw all the rumors of the Bolivian bus system come to reality... more on that in a minute. The town of San Pedro de Atacama, Chile was unexpectedly awesome, looked like a mini Santa Fe, New Mexico full of mountain bike rental shops and great restaurants. We rented bikes and cruised around, and booked our three day tour into the salt flats of Bolivia.

The Tour consists of three days and two nights of driving across the desert in an old Land Cruiser 4x4. We were told there would be max of 6 in a car, of course we had 7. And every guy was over 6 ft. Needless to say it wasn't all that comfortable, but we made it work. You get out about 12 times a day to see crazy colored lakes with flamingos, rock formations, hot springs you can swim in, and a lot of desert. The drivers dont speak english, and drive whereever they please since there aren't any particular roads. There are a few places where the water is a tad deeper than it appears, as you can see (in my picture with cool effects) our driver just slightly misjudged that one spot. We got towed out in a minute or two by the other car.

The big day was on the third day, where we woke up at 330 am to see the sun rise from an "island" made of coral over the salt flats, or the Salar. It had rained the night before, which was a mixed blessing. The good thing was that it puts about an inch of water on the salt flats so you get a perfect reflection of the sky. The bad thing is it was cloudy and we didn't get the full effect of the bright reflection. With the endless white of the salt flats, you can also set up some cool pictures with the perspective. I guess you could do this anywhere with a flat surface, but everyone does it here so... when in Rome, right?

Our tour ended in Uyuni, Bolivia where the real adventure began. We had heard horror stories of the bus ride from Uyuni to La Paz being the worst ride ever, with tipped over buses and long delays, but with little choice, we made the adventure. We got used to the constant rattling of the bus, like the worst turbulance ever, as we rolled over the rough dirt roads and were actually able to fall asleep. We stopped at about 3 am for a few hours, not sure why, and when the sun came up I went outside to see. There were two trucks and a bus stuck in the river, one of many you have to cross. After about 4 hours, they got the one bus out and it was our bus's turn. Our driver revved the engine, and gunned it, only to get stuck as well. One thought went through all our minds, DAMMMMMMIIITTTTTTTT!!!! There were about 100 people working together, well sort of, with no particular leadership. If this had been America, the police, fire department, CHP, and CalTrans would have been on the scene. But no, its Bolivia and if you can't get your own bus out of the river, you aren't going anywhere. With a combo of a car jack, rocks, boards, and straw, we lifted the bus up and built a road across the river. After 9 hours of work and waiting came the moment of truth. The driver gunned it and we were out. I went ballistic, high fiving the drivers and hugging old Bolivian women. There is a video out there somewhere, that I hope to someday post, of the celebration. We then drove 8 more hours to La Paz where we are now. It was a 24 hour journey in all, and it sucked while doing it (big time), but it was all worth the story. We have about a week here to see Lake Titicaca, do a bike ride, and see this crazy city. Bolivia, what a country.

Oh, and a few more pictures....

Trek to Macchu Picchu

2009-02-27T06:51:00.000-08:00

There are about 1,000 ways to go from Cusco to Machu Picchu. Options range from a one day trip using all trains and buses, up to 5 to 7 day hikes. We opted for the 4 day trip with one day of mountain biking (turned out to be more like downhill road biking) and 3 days of hiking. After a 2 to 3 hour drive from Cusco to the top of a mountain surrounded by snow capped peaks, we bombed all downhill on bikes for a few hours. There are rivers crossing the roads at some points, making it challenge to stay dry. We went from freezing cold temperatures into humid juble in about 3 hours. The views from the roads were exciting, as was dodging buses and cars coming up the road.

The following day we began our hike in the rain, and merged onto a portion of the Inca Trail. Hanging to the side of a cliff, this might have been one of the more amazing trails I've ever hiked on. The views of the river continued to change as we wound up the valley. We stopped at some houses along the way where locals make a living off of hikers buying food and water. One family had a pet monkey named Martin that Zack practiced his motherly instincts by feeding it milk from a bottle. We got rained on multiple times everyday, apparently the Rainy Season has proven to be quite true to its name. I got destroyed by the bugs, while Zack stayed relatively untouched. He claims the bugs are attracted to feta and hummus, while I hold the opposite argument that they are repulsed by smelly Russians who wreak of potato and vodka. The jury is still out on that one. The trek wore on into the town of Aguas Calientes, where we stayed the night and prepared for an early wake up to Machu Picchu.

We had heard that Waynapicchu, the tall peak often seen behind the ruins of Machu Picchu was well worth hiking, but was limited to 400 people a day and was first come first served. Our guide told us that if we wanted to make it there ahead of the crowds, we would have to get up at 3 am and begin the hike by 330, hike for 90 mins or so, before the park opens at 6. We hiked in the dark and the rain at 330 am sharp, got to the top at 450 am, to realize we were the first ones there. We waited for an hour in the cold, were the first ones to get our stamps for Waynapicchu, which of course required me to run back along the line of 300 people holding up the number one sign. Obnoxious American, maybe... but hey, we were #1, right??

Despite being exhausted, we continued to explore the ruins for about another 8 hours. We were exhausted and soaked, but decided to wait for the clouds to clear for the epic postcard shot. I think we may have gotten a few. It was an epic day, starting at 3 am and ending back in Cuzco at 10 after a hectic bus ride home. It was worth the sore legs, bug bites, early wake ups, and utter exhaustion but we did it the right way. No buses to or from the top, and it made it all that much more rewarding. I kept thinking of the times over a year ago, while still deciding if we were going to make this trip when Zack would send pictures of Machu Picchu and a question mark. Well, we did it and its done... now onto the next.

We need to be in La Paz in 2 weeks for a flight, and are considering going south into Chile briefly then west into the Salar de Uyini, some crazy salt flats in the desert seen by Jeep tour. We then have to go back up to La Paz via bus, which will undoubtedly suck, but its all part of the game. Its almost March, the trip is starting to fly by. Also some sad news, I came into the room this morning and saw what looked like a hairless child rummaging through some luggage. Apparently, Zack caved in and shaved his beard. Mine has gone from itchy to bushy, and I have decided I'm in it for the long haul.

We are really looking forward to seeing those of you who have committed to joining us in the next few weeks. In the short term we are not exctly sure where we'll be next, but as Mike Tyson said... "I'm gonna knock him into Bolivian".

The Battle of Cuzco (video!!)

2009-02-22T11:09:00.000-08:00

It all started with Zack getting nailed in the back with a water balloon, then running away and almost falling on the wet cobblestone... then escalated into a full blown war. We learned very quickly that the children of Cuzco are celebrating Carnaval on this sunny Sunday afternoon by ambushing unsuspecting tourists with squirt guns and water balloons. The Dangerous ones have water cannons and buckets of water. People are driving around in pickup trucks soaking tourists, even the old ladies taking pictures of the church. One girl in particular was owning the street with a water cannon. After she soaked me pretty bad, I decided to have my revenge. I bought a can of this shaving cream like spray, which was also being used against us. After she had discharged her weapon, I went in for the kill. I must say, I got her pretty good. The crowd of locals cheered, as their streets were now safe again. You can see the revenge in video here, and my victory lap here. BINDER WINS.

Cuzco, Peru

2009-02-22T07:08:00.000-08:00

We made it back to Bogota for a night before catching our flight out to Peru the next day. We met up with Caleb and Brandon, the guys we had been traveling with in Colombia and they took us to an Electronica party. Yeah, can´t say I´ve been frequenting those at home, so to go to one in Bogota made it that much more interesting. I became fascinated by how fired up everyone was at a DJ holding headphones to his ear. He touched a switch and jumped away like he dunked in some guys face, staring at the record player with a look of triumph. The crowd went wild. It was a cultural experience, I guess. We awoke the next morning and took advantage of our air pass we bought some months ago to make the trip to Cuzco, Peru.

Its been interesting hearing about all the people who bus everywhere, we have been flying mostly due to great deals we got on flights. Apparently the 55 minute flight from Lima to Cuzco is a 24 hour bus ride, more if the roads close due to mudslides and rain. We like flying. We arrived in Cuzco and are staying at a pretty major Hostel, Loki, with about 100 residents. We´ve just hung out and done research on the best way to attack Machu Picchu. There are ton of ways to do it, we settled on the 3 night 4 day jungle trek. It takes you up to the mountains, where you do a half day bike ride down, followed by two days trekking on parts of the Inca Trail. The fourth day you wake up at 4 am to get to the ruins of Machu Picchu for sunrise and to beat the crowds as best you can, because there are crowds galore. We then make it back to our Hostel at 10 that night. This whole trek begins early tomorrow morning, so we should be off the map for a few days. Needless to say, the entry after we return should be of epic nature.

PS... I just read the A´s aren´t going to Fremont, which was awesome. It got a few fist pumps even here in Peru. Hope everyone is well at home, keep the emails and comments coming as they continue to entertain.

A few more Tayrona Pics...

2009-02-22T06:42:00.000-08:00

Didn´t have time to upload these before, but as I said Tayrona was pretty sweet... wanted to post a few more. So here ya go...

Taganga and Tayrona National Park, Colombia

2009-02-18T16:50:00.001-08:00

We took a 4 hour ride from Cartagena to a small fishing town called Taganga. The drive in is reminiscent of the drive to Stinson, and the town is not much different. Great town with a small beach, we stayed for a few nights at a hostel right on the water. We had the first floor room with a great view, and bars on the deck to keep someone from coming in from the beach. The guy at the front desk told me not to leave anything on the deck, for good reason, as someone managed to steal two tshirts off my clothesline that night, about 5 feet through the bars. I'm okay with it, I had too many anyway and the person must have really liked them to go though the effort of getting a stick and pulling it off the line and through the bars. I'm not even mad, that's amazing. The prize of our Colombian trip awaited us in Tayrona National Park and after a few days in Taganga we were ready to make the venture.

There are a few ways to get to Tayrona, and we elected to take the boat in along the coastsince the seas appeared to be calm. Apparently they are always calm since Taganga is in a protected bay. It was quite an adventure, as the seas were angry that day my friends. We got wet but made it in about an hour, and pulled into the beach stunned at how much it looked like Jurassic Park. Lush and green with huge boulders lining the coast, Tayrona is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. For reals. We swam and climbed the rocks, then spent the night in hammocks under the shelter. We managed to sneak in a bottle of rum, and some ipod speakers and had a great time.

Our time in Colombia is coming to an end. We are flying back to Bogota tomorrow, then off to Cuzco, Peru on Friday to begin Machu Picchu. Its been a month in, the beards are thick and the adventure is getting thicker. The pace is about to pick up as we are going on the move much more. I am debating what to do with the beard, whether to 1) Keep it going 2) Shave it to a 'stache 3) Something crazy. Let's hear the votes. Next stop, PERU!!

Cartagena, Colombia (pt 2)

2009-02-13T07:06:00.001-08:00

Cartagena is a great city, much more our style with the beaches and sunny weather. On our third day here, we took a cruise to the Islas del Rosario, 20 something small islands off the coast of Colombia. The boat was absurd, blasting salsa music for each way of the 2 hour journey starting at 9 am. We saw the islands and then made our way to Playa Blanca, known as one of the more beautiful beaches in the area, you can see why. Truly enjoying nature, we rented a jetski and jumped the waves, while in turn almost missing the boat back.

The following day we went to check out the big castle, Castilla San Felipe, that overlooks most of Cartagena. Among the good views there is a series of intricate tunnels underneath the castle, poorly lit and damp. I am realizing I have developed an increasingly more severe case of colostrophobia (sp??) over the years and I am now adding tight spaces onto my list of things I can't stand along with olives and pancakes. One tunnel continued on for about 100 yards with no lights, and Zack and our friends trudged on through ankle to knee deep water until they couldn't go any further. I got scared and stayed behind. I think some historical stuff happened at the castle too, not really sure.

Our last night in Cartagena, we were recruited for a Rumba Bus around the city by the Brazilians in our hostel. A crew of about 10 of us boarded an open air bus with about 60 people. With even more salsa music blasting and rum being passed around, we cruised the bays and coasts of the city. We stopped on the large wall that surrounds the city to, well, basically be sold stuff, but to see some dancers. I didn't even see the dancers beacuse I saw a man letting people hold one of God's greatest creatures... THE SLOTH. I want one. (Can someone do some reasearch for me on the vialbility of a sloth as a pet? Thanks.) It moves in slow motion and loves to hug, what else do you need in a pet? You can see more sloth and other pics from the night here.

The next higlight was our friend Caleb really soaking up the culture (and his shirt) by dancing with old Colombian women. I know most of you may not the guy, but this might be one of my top pics of the trip so far. We have quickly found it is all about the crowds at the hostels, hearing about future destinations and having people to go out with. We have been fortunate to have a good crowd, some people who have even continued on to travel with us.

Right now we are in Taganga, a small fishing, diving, and backpacker town outside of Santa Marta. Our hostel is right on the beach and our room is about 3 fee from the water. We plan on diving for a day or two before stocking up for a 2 or 3 night stay in Tayrona National Park. The towns have continued to get smaller (Bogota, Medellin, Cartagena, Taganga...) and soon we will be sleeping hammocks on the beach with no one else in sight. I can't wait.

Medellin and Cartagena, Colombia

2009-02-10T16:19:00.000-08:00

Moving on from Bogota, we made our way to Medellin, just Northwest of Bogota in the mountains and best known for being the home of the infamous Colombian cocaine trade. Things have cleared up a lot as police wander the streets and Medellin has become a pretty significant party town. We arrived on Saturday to a very social hostel full of many international travellers. Our room only had people from SF in it, one who used to work at Advent at the same time but has been travelling for the last 5 months. We spent the night wandering Parque Lleras, awkwardly and unsuccessfully communicating with the locals. I found out later that Colombians dont do well with foreign accents, and apparently Gringo Spanglish in particular. Im bringing out more and more of my High School spanish everyday, but communication is a constant source of confusion and entertainment. We spent the next day wandering the city, the parks, and checking out the view. Yes, I kept looking for Vincent Chase in a fat suit. Longing for more beach after Belize, we were excited to head to the Carribean Coast town of Cartagena on Monday.
Its about 95 degress in Cartagena and sunny. Our hostel is 2 blocks from the beach, and we spent today enjoying the warm Carribean water and shaded by a tent we paid $2 for. The peddlars are pretty annoying, and we got really good at saying NO in Spanish. However, we did give money to the two dudes who rapped to a Dr Dre beat about how we are Americans who don´t understand what he is saying, and how Zack cant grow facial hair. Worth every Peso. We are going to check out the coral islands on the coast tomorrow, Las Islas del Rosario, and do some snorkling. We really like Cartagena and will stay here for a few more days before moving East along the coast to Santa Marta and Tayrona National Park. Hope all is great back in the states, keep the comments and emails coming.

A Word From Zack

2009-02-07T15:38:00.000-08:00

Wow, my very first blog. Its tough to follow an act like Brandon Binder when it comes to describing in detail how this trip is going and how I cannot grow hair on my upper lip. I am reminded almost daily between Binder and Mike Grady about how 7 year old Colombian boys can grow more facial hair than me. Awesome. Other than being immasculated every day, the trip has been amazing. Even though it feels like this trip just begun (because of our brief stop over in the US between Belize and Colombia) we have met some pretty unbelievable people.

In Belize we had the pleasure of meeting some awesome ex-pats from the US including a couple that was originally from the Bay Area who just had their first child. Jules and Tyler would talk about how difficult it was for them to pick a name and when they thought about what kind of a person he would turn out to be they landed on the name Legend. Just to really drive the point home, they gave him the middle name Cornell so their first born son's name is Legend Cornell. We had the pleasure of meeting the young guy and needless to say, Brandon and I are convinced he WILL live up to his name.

In Miami we stayed with Brandon's cousin Kristen and I got a good sense for what Maria Binder was like when she was my age. Just like Maria, we were welcomed into her home with comfortable beds and tons of food. The Antonidas' really know how to host family and friends. Between my Uncle Fo in Belize and Brandon's cousin, we have been very lucky to see family in our travels.

Our first stop in Colombia was in Bogota where we spent the last couple of days and nights taking in the sights and size of the city. Colombians dont speak very much English so we have been trying our hardest to communicate with them. We moved to a new hostel last night where we met all walks of life and learned Colombia's favorite drinking game which I cannot pronounce let alone type out in Spanish. We were hanging out with people from Seattle, Colorado, Colombia, Switzerland, Australia and a few others I cannot remember.

Just to validate that this is an incredibly small world we are staying in a new hostel in Medellin tonight and all 3 of our dorm mates are from San Francisco and one of them lives 3 blocks from where we used to live in Russian Hill...annnnd he used to work for Advent Software where Brandon worked for three years before we left for this trip.

Hope everyone is well and we love reading your emails and comments on the blog so keep them coming.

Zack

Bogota, Colombia

2009-02-06T13:41:00.000-08:00

I think it is safe to say the real part of the trip has begun. It became apparent, when after a 630 am flight out of Miami on about 2 hours of sleep, we found ourselves aimlessly wandering the streets of Bogota. Carrea 7 is like Market Street during Christmas everyday. And everyone speaks Spanish. And there are no gringos. It was the first of many times in the first 24 hours it really hit us we weren´t in San Francisco anymore. They have these people who have cell phones you can use, instead of payphones, and the yell "LLAMAR LLAMAR LLAMAR!!" (Call!). It got stuck in my head and every 5 mins I would yell it out. Zack said he is going to fine me everytime I yell it, but I don´t think he´ll be able to get a Colombian Peso out of me. Yup, we´re getting along just fine.

We toured the city for the day, still delirious, and have begun to realize how cheap it is down here. We got a full steak dinner for about $12 each, cabs are about $2, beers are about $1. Our hostels range between $7 and $10 per night. Awesome. There is a huge mountain range, I mean huge, just at the edge of the city. We took the cable car to the top, just in time for the clouds to roll in, but the view was still pretty insane and you can see how massive Bogota is. Being such a huge city, we are anxious to move on tomorrow when we depart for Medellin for 2 nights. That should be cool, then we will head up to the coast to Cartagena, Santa Marta, and El Parque Nacional de Tayrona where the jungle meets the Carribean.

Last but not least.... and what you´ve all been waiting for... BEARD WATCH: 3 Weeks. I´m sure some of you have some some comments so let´s see em. It´s been great hearing from everyone. Also, its not too late to join the South America train, we have just gotten the news that a few folks will be joining us. Check out the Agenda posted a few weeks back and take a moment to think about how awesome it would be to see our hairy faces in a foreign country. C´Mon....

LLAMAR LLAMAR LLAMAR!!!!!!

Florida, USA

2009-02-01T12:12:00.001-08:00

It's not exactly "South America", but it's America and it's pretty far south. There are about 5 purely logistical reasons why we had to come throug Miami for a few days, involving cheaper flights and some other stuff with the crazy Chilean airline we are flying throughout South America. We are going to get (crossing fingers) Brazilian Visas here in Miami, which has yet to be anything short of a nightmare. If you plan on going to Brazil, just know that they make getting a visa about this much fun.

Anyway, we're here until Thursday when we take off for Colombia. My cousin Kristen lives here and has been a gracious host. We went out in West Palm Beach on Saturday night and had dinner at Opa Tavern, a rowdy Greek restaurant. It was good to see my fellow Grecos dancing on tables and throwing napkins in the air. The rest of the night was spent making stupid faces.

We are going to watch the Super Bowl today, and get our last tastes of American culture for a while. Probably won't have much interesting to say between now and when we get to Colombia on Thursday, so maybe you can check out another one of my favorite blogs in the meantime. Just a few more days until we really get into it, oooooh boy.

Also, here are all the pics from Belize.

Belize (pt 2)

2009-01-27T14:26:00.000-08:00

I'd like to start this post by answering a few of the questions I seem to be getting a lot from many readers of this blog:
1) Yes, we are still alive.
2) No, we are not in jail... for now, pending a more detailed inspection of our rented golf cart (see below).
3) Yes, Zack has managed to sprout some facial hair. It's kind of red and patchy and the mustache area resembles that of a 10 year old, but its all part of the charm. It's not fair for me to make fun of him with no means to defend himself (like that's ever stopped any of us before) so I have to admit my own facial hair has transformed me into the love child of Che Guevara and Mario (the plumber). In fact, the high volume of facial hair related questions has inspired me to start an ongoing section in the blog known as "Beard Watch". More on this below as well.
4) Yes, we're having a great time.
Now, if anyone still cares what we've been up to... We continued our diving certification and are now fully certified SCUBA divers. We did some great dives where we saw eagle rays, sting rays, eels, a few nurse sharks, and even a turtle. My camera unfortunately does not work underwater but I have this drawing. With the training wheels now off, I am no longer required to wear the Mankini. However, I do miss its support. That will take some getting used to.
We also attended the "World Famous Chicken Drop" in town, which is allegedly the world's longest running outdoor game. The toothless man at the bar said it is in the Guinness book of world records, maybe someone should look that up. Anyway, everyone buys a few squares, they throw pick one tourist to throw the chicken into the ring, and whichever square the chicken "drops" in, is the winner and takes home all the money. And then they are told they have to pick up the chicken droppings. Pretty entertaining.

On Cody's last full day, we took a trip to the Mayan ruins of Altun-Ha, a boat ride to the mainland and up the river, followed by a bus ride to the ruins. The ruins were pretty awesome, the best part being that you can climb on them pretty freely. We got to see the original temple that is on the bottles of the beer down here, Belikin (It's pretty much the only beer allowed onto the island, so needless to say we've had our fair share). Far and away my biggest regret is not getting a picture of our tour guide who looked EXACTLY like Greg Benson's Rasta twin. Had the dirty 'stache and all. It was incredible (the Benson cross-racial look alike mostly, the ruins were cool too).

Cody left on Saturday, and his fire and motivation will be missed. Following a gorgeous not-a-cloud-in-the-sky Sunday Funday full of Belikins, amazing BBQ on the beach, and some live music, the weather took a turn for the worse. At first, we were baffled as to what to do with ourselves due to the underwhelming number of indoor activities on this island. We decided to go exploring, via rented golf cart, seeing how far north we could drive it (Mexico is 40 miles, we were hoping we could make it 8). Despite, its bald off-road tires, broken seat, lack of a windshield and suspension, we made it about 5 miles up the coast until we decided we were pushing our luck when the depth and frequency of the puddles were growing rapidly. We returned the cart barely running, with the alignment off by about 45 degrees, and covered in mud. We figure we made up the Karma points by giving a young schoolby a ride home on the back. Even Steven.

BEARD WATCH: DAY 10(ish)
This is the section where we post awkward close-ups to demonstrate the true essence of our (attempt at) facial hair so you all can follow along at home. This was by popular demand.

Just one more day to go here. We hope to get in one more good sail with Uncle Fo to the neighboring island of Caye Caulker, and one last meal at our favorite restaurant Wild Mango's. After that, it's off to Miami to visit my cousin, watch probably the least anticipated Super Bowl matchup in history (prediction: Cardinals over Steelers 30-28), get a Brazilian visa, then catch a flight to Colombia.

Hope everyone is well at home, we miss you all. Let's see some more comments.

Belize

2009-01-22T17:07:00.000-08:00

We're underway. We woke up at around 3:30 am on Monday morning to fly from SFO to Dallas, then to Belize city. From there, we hopped on a Tropic Air flight to the island of San Pedro, about a 15 min flight. The airline just has your name on a piece of paper, doesn't ask for ID, or even cares what flight you were originally on. We got in early and just hopped on the earlier flight. The plane is basically a mini-van with wings, as you can see. That's my view over the pilot's shoulder as we approach the island.

... and a random creepy guy behind me in the mini-van sized plane.

Once we arrived on the island, we made it to Zack's uncle's place at the Belize Yacht Club (The BYC). Very nice place. Cody Liebman, a good friend from NYC, made a power move and bought some cheap tickets and was already here waiting for us. We have our own condo with air conditioning and telvision that's showing SportsCenter, Seinfeld, and even Warrior games (last night we got to see them hit a shot to take the lead with 1.6 seconds left, only to end up losing). Uncle Forrest has taken us sailing, we pretty much just go up the beach to the next bar. Uncle Forrest knows everyone here.

We went fishing with one of the local guides, Chito. We managed to catch a few fish (which we later ate) but the highlight might have been the sunset.

One of our other projects has been to get certified for SCUBA diving. This includes some reading, some dives in about 6 feet of water, testing of some basic skills, and some more dives. Here you can see me putting on some gear, the most important piece of equipment: The Mankini.

I have to admit that the start of the trip is kind of cheating as we aren't exactly "backpacking" or "roughing it" much. It still seems to me like I'm just on a vacation. There will be plenty of time for hostels and roughing it later. We'll build up to that.

3... 2... 1

2009-01-18T21:42:00.000-08:00

So, we leave tomorrow. It really doesn't feel any different to say than "We leave in 2 months... 1 month... a week...". To me, its still the unkown lurking behind that Jan 19th square on the calendar. I think its about time to go already. The preparation has spanned over multiple months, a few sleepless nights (for me at least), a good chunk of change, and about three too many visits to REI. That's just once we decided to actually go, not to mention the time deciding if this type of thing was a logical (still TBD) move in life. I've gone through millions of scenerios in my head, likely none of which will happen, and none of which I am prepared for anyway. I know a lot of useless information about the places I am going to go, yet I have little to no useful knowledge of how I will feed or shelter myself.

Multiple people have told me to "just go already", so that at least I can tell them a entertaining story rather than discuss how many pairs of socks I need to pack. Thanks to the many friends and family members for being there and helping us get ready, couldn't have done it with out you. With that, we are off... Next stop: Belize.

The Agenda

2008-12-31T10:05:00.000-08:00

Like I said, there are a lot of questions. "Where are you going?" and "What the hell are you going to do for 4 months?" are among the popular ones. The first one is easier to answer (see below), so let's start there. In general, I am getting on a plane in January, touring a good majority of the continent of South America, and coming back in Mid-May. I will be accompanied by a good friend Zack Makowsky, with whom this whole idea was dreamed up over a year ago. Like most ideas, it started as a joke. And while drinking. I know for a fact neither one of us thought the other would actually go through with it. As time went on, the reasons why (just a few listed previously) as well as the places we "needed" to go began to pile up. We did some research, found some deals on the interwebs, and now have some plane tickets. All of this is subject to change, but this is the general idea:

Jan 19 - Jan30: Belize - Zack's uncle Forrest (aka Uncle Fo') pretty much lives down there and will be hosting us at the Belize Yacht Club.
Jan 31 - Feb 5: Miami - I realize this makes little geographical sense, but trust us it saved a lot of money and now we get to be in America for the Super Bowl (prediction: Indy over Carolina 34-27).
Feb 6 - Feb 20: Colombia - I know, I know you've heard it's sketchy. We thought the same thing too until we heard great things from many people who have actually been. Cartagena, Santa Marta, and a little Bogata on the way in and out.
Feb 21 - Mar 13: Peru/Bolivia - Starting in Cusco, Peru we plan to hike Machu Picchu and make our way along Lake Titicaca, and down into La Paz, Bolivia.
Mar 13 Mar 17: Lima - Had to make our way back towards Ecuador by the end of March, which required a stop over in Lima. Figured we'd check it out.
Mar 18 - Mar 31: Ecuador - Family friends of mine started a foundation for environmental sustainability that runs trips through the Andes and rainforests of Ecuador. We'll be out in the remote areas, seeing how the Achuar people live.
Apr 1 - Apr 11: Santiago/Patagonia - Lakes and mountains. Not really sure to be honest, but I've heard its cool.
Apr 12 - Apr 27th: Argentina - In and around Buenos Aires, maybe make a trip up to Uraguay. Stop over for one day in Iguazu Falls on the way to...
Apr 29 - May 15: Brazil - Rio, and up to Salvador de Bahia to see where my dad spent a summer in medical school back in the 60's.
May 17th: Bay to Breakers, San Francisco - It's pretty much my favorite.

*If anyone has been to any of these places, has some input, tips, tricks, a friend who lives down there and wants to take in some large bearded men along the way... please let me know. This entire trip has pretty much been built off of recommendations from those who have gone before us.

There you have it. Anyone want to come visit?

I Don't Even Know Where to Start....

2008-12-29T14:35:00.000-08:00

If you're reading this it's because you know that I will be going on a little adventure. "Why?" you may ask. That's a great question. I wish I had one good answer. The truth is, I don't have one good answer, but instead many partially-logical, some non-sensical, and a handful semi-philosophical ones. What really matters, and what many of you who know me can attest to, is that this is something that I have put a lot of thought into.

When you get into the "real" world you realize that there are a lot of ways to go about things. The one extreme would be to get right into it and start working, getting an early jump on something called "the career path" and building a financial foundation and professional future. People who go this route often have nice things, boring stories, a routine, 401(k), and perhaps a nice resume. The other extreme might be to float around and Live the Dream for as long as humanly possible, often pushing the limits - whether it be credit cards, livers, family patience, or otherwise. Many of us young professionals find ourselves struggling to place ourselves somewhere in between these two extreme lifestyles. Let's face it, both have their merits and their downsides. In short, this trip is an effort to touch base with the Why-The-Hell-Not? Lifestyle before finding myself too deeply committed Why-Is-It-Only-Tuesday? Lifestyle.

That is little more than a feeble attempt to sum up the reasoning behind this trip. As I said before, I am not 100% sure why exactly I am leaving a perfectly good job, rent-controlled apartment, and temporarily stepping away from a lot of people that I will miss dearly. I do know this, though: I have to do it. The reasons why I went will only become evident along the way, and long after I return. My hope is that this, like the "Tubby Times" before it (chronicling my Semester in London, with yet another oversized comrade), will help not only serve as a record of the happenings, but maybe provide some entertainment as well. I would expect future entries to have a slightly lower level of philosophy, and an higher level of shenanigans. Without further adieu, let wackiness ensue with hilarious consequences.