http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Abravo52/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Abravo52 en-us Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:32:09 +0000 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:32:09 +0000 My last post spoke of Sevillan shitstained sidewalks sanitation sorrows sodomizing Senoras that is to say Senoras who sodomize not the act of sodomizing any particular SenorahellipVincenthellip sumptuous 90rsquos singalong songs Spanish semantics spontaneous Scottish sprees and suppertable shame. All alliteration aside for some reason or another it turned out to be an excrement http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/F-s-Boulemane/Fes/blog-392082.html Alas The long delayed update to my mindbloggling sporadic body of work has arrived. I do apologize for the lengthy hiatus I took I can actually say with kind of a straight face that I have been keeping busy and life has been hectic in the good study abroad sense of the word. You could say the frenetic pace of traveling in place of attending class regularly has taken its toll. Since the last http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-385569.html In the spirit of love and lovers and the mysterious Saint Valentine whose day we most recently memorialized by depositing superfluous amounts of money directly into Hallmarks bank account actually those singing cards that play songs like 'Let's get it on' and other erotic love ballads when you open them are kind of awesome I will begin with a poem that I wish to send to a special some one I me http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-374199.html Apologies for the lack of updates I've been staying so busy lately. In no way is that true actually I've just been a sloth. The days here can be so lazy. As strange as it is for me to say this I think there might actually be too much time in the day for napping. Itrsquos so underwhelming itrsquos overwhelming not that Irsquom complaining. Itrsquos how I think my 'happy place' might r http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-371717.html Obviously the primary reason I came to Spain is to learn Spanish and in the process of learning a language one must obnoxiously and publicly reference a dictionary as often as possible. This has proven far more entertaining than I could have ever imagined. Easily my favorite term I have seen so far found by my roommate David is actually an English one. Here we go ldquoFull Blown AIDSrdquo. http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-365234.html Let me begin by noting the title of this entry is a result of an unofficial ldquoWittiest Pun with Sevillardquo contest I held yesterday won by none other than a fellow member of the infamous Bravo bloodline congratulations Mig. Close runnerup was ldquoSevilla Make Ya Andalusia Mindrdquo. Also for educational purposes I will end each paragraph with a bit of Spanish those who have vi http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/blog-363782.html I have arrived and I think Sevilla knew I was coming. I say this because right around 230 it is custom to eat a dinnerlike lunch or do we eat a lunchlike dinnerhellip and then nap like a contented panda cub until 5 pm. Itrsquos fantastic. Itrsquos as if the entire culture has been preparing for my arrival by adapting to my schedulehellipthe lion has finally found his jungle. The arr http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Seville/blog-362514.html It has been 209 days since my last entry and the time has come once more for me to embark on a travel journey of sorts. Unlike my last excursion this trip is guised under the pretense of academics but I think we all know better. I will be spending 4 months mainly in Spain and a month elsewhere leaving tomorrow and still I have yet to begin packing or finish booking flights. Somehow I'm satisf http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Carolina/Cary/blog-360461.html Alright so this really is the last one. Miraflores and Puno are drastically different so I didn't want to blow anyones mind with too sudden of a transition therefore this post exists. Here we go...From Puno I took a bus in the morning to Arequipa not as memorable as the last ride which is a very good thing. When I arrived in Arequipa I immediately booked another bus leaving at 430 destinat http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/Lima/Miraflores/blog-285589.html Today I sit lazily winding down beachside in Miraflores. This might be my last post for Peru as there is no more story to be told but I figured I should detail my Lake Titicaca experience as well as my last few days in Miraflores. After the Machu Picchu trek Chris and I decided to go our seperate ways because he wanted to get back to Colombia to find his beautiful Colombian wife and I was flyin http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/Lake-Titicaca-/blog-285174.html Fresh off a 4 day trek destination Machu Picchu there is plenty of story to be told...So Chris and I booked the mountain biking trek last Tuesday and we went shopping around agencies to find the cheapest price. It would probably be more accurate to say the agencies shopped for us considering hordes of Peruvians try and molest you about Machu Picchu information all the time. That might be the mos http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Machu-Picchu/blog-282585.html Ahh what a road it's been for my poor travel companion Grant. Day 1 in Lima he started losing stuff and ever since then it's been all downhill. He got pretty disgustingly ill it really was gross not long after that which went on strong for about 5 days. That was in Arequipa in what he dubbed Arequipan Hell. We were so excited to leave Arequipa and head to Cuzco and our luck was looking up wh http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Cusco/Cusco/Cusco/blog-280531.html I have recently arrived back in Arequipa fresh from a 2 day 1 night trek of Colca Caon the deepest canyon in the world. There is literally probably a thousand words I could use to describe the experience but itll suffice to just say I went through a hurricane rainbow other various weather analogies of emotions. We chose to do the 2 day 1 night trek instead of the 3 day because it seemed http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Colca-Canyon/blog-279191.html Not pretty but a very real part of traveling the loose stools are flowing plentifully for both Grant and I. Let me start at the beginning...We took the economic bus to Arequipa a 16 hour journey on a bus with no bathroom and 1 stop. Let it also be known that the 1 stop was at around 2 am and Im like 95 sure it was at a dogfighting arena. They did have a movie selection though it was a horror http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/Arequipa/blog-277974.html Oh Lima what a city...it really grows on you sort of like an underappreciated mole. I had resolved the city was mainly just a sespool of smog and crazy drivers. It is in fact a sespool of that plus some beautiful views and plazas and people. We hopped on some buses into the center of Lima and ended up in the shantytowns accidentally which was scary as hell. The plaza mayor though once we arriv http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/Lima/Miraflores/blog-276744.html I am now in Lima but Im about ready to die. Took a Greyhound bus out of Raleigh at 1030 pm to Richmond VA for 50. For some odd reason they didnt let us get on our transfer bus to Washington DC so we had to wait around for an hour and a half before catching the 2nd bus to the middle of DC. Let it be known to never travel Greyhound it is the worst smelly rude disorganized intimidating a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Lima/Lima/Miraflores/blog-276018.html Not Quite Ready So I decided to officially start packing today and I realized how unprepared I am. Still have yellow fever vaccinations and malaria pills I need to get no travelers checks yet and the list goes on. I think Grant and I have decided we're going to Greyhound it up to DC to catch our flight though and since the bus leaves at 1030 at night no lodging costs sweet. However I did http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/North-Carolina/Raleigh/blog-275185.html