Andyexplores
Andy Vanderveer Joined: January 19th 2007
Logged in: December 15th 2010
Logged in: December 15th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
I am in Antigua, Guatemala. I arrived in Guate a few days ago. I went to Lago de Atitlan and then to Xela. I signed up for 5 hours of one on one spanish class for 2 weeks, plus housing and 3 meals a day with a local family for 330 US dollars. This is a darn good deal. The school is also gonna hook me up with some volunteering in a Hospital from 2-6 everyday. I am pretty excited and I think I can really get some Espanol skillz in 2 weeks, especially with one on one instruction. I have been riding too many chicken busses, those things are crazy. They dont even stop to pick you up, they just slow down a bit. And some guy will just grab you bag and climb up ... read more
Hey I am in Peurto Escondido on the Oaxacan Coast of Mexico. It is hot as crap down here and the waves are big and brutal. The people continue to be very nice. Right now I am staying a place owned by an expat dude from Texas. I spent four days in Oaxaca, it is a really interesting place with tons of art, culture and history. They had riots here last year, which started as a teachers strike and kinda tunred into burning cars and destruction. I hung with a bunch of really interesting folks from Europe. I stopped by the Street Kids Center in Oaxaca, had some lunch, and the kids used me as a jungle Jim. Also check out some photos at these 2 spots http://picasaweb.google.com/andyexplores http://www.flickr.com/photos/7838390@N05/... read more
I have been in Mexico City for 4 days and it is a great place. Basically so much to see just by walking around. The food is great, the people are extremely friendly. The weather has been super and I am staying a really nice hostel for 100 pesos a night (10 dollars). They actuallu keep the place nice and clean and it smells pretty good too. Overall not the idea of Mexico City that I had in mind. Went to the pyramids today, quite impressive. Tonight it will be luche libre (mexican wrestling) with my British buddy Marc. Then I will head to Oaxaca tomorrow. I have only had one little bout of montezumas revenge, so thats good. Much more later.... read more
Barrel At Banzia Pipeline
Hawaii is nice and the surf is incredible! Lets jump back a week or two and check out some video footage of elephant seals fighting. Here is the link on Youtube.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgjE7Ny-XL8 . Just cut and paste and the film shouold start rolling. So O'ahu was pretty nice overall. Checked out the North Shore, went to the east part of the island. Surfed quite a bit and walked around a ton. Next I went to the big island of Hawai'i. Basically there are tons of active volcanoes and huge mountains. I flew into Hilo and camped for a few days then I stayed in town for a few nights, then I made my way across to Kona. Hilo gets tons of rain and it rained there everyday, but it was kinda light rain that sort of ... read more
Elephant seal, Muffy and Me
I made it to Hawaii somehow. It all started wednesday morning when I took off from the hostel north of San Francisco. I got the chance to experience some SF traffic and pay 5$ for going south on the Golden Gate Bridge. Then I took 1 South and drove for a couple hours precariously close to the shear rock ciliffs of the Pacific Ocean. It was great until I hit a section that resembled the drive to Snowshoe WV, for those who know what I mean (average speed 15 mph, 180 degree turns) . I actually got a little car sick and some of cliffs started to sneak on me and my lead foot, but it ended up okedokey. I made it to Morrow Bay and the greatest Aunt in the World (Muffy) fed me like ... read more
Peruvian Midshipmen/women
Lots of fun stuff going on in California. Right now I am in the Marin Headlands, which is just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. There is a cool hostel here and some beautiful scenery. I went surfing today, kinda cold, my toes got feeling back about an hour after I got out of the water. I also visited the Marine Mammal Center where they rescue animals and rehab them. They have some wild stories about huge seals ending up in parking lots and being shot by crossbows and stuff. They have helped tons of animals, and these darn things are unbelievably cute! So I left my Aunts on friday and headed up to San Fran. I gave Kate a ride and she shared some great snacks and stories. I broke the screen on my camera ... read more
Ready for Waves
So I am still hanging with my cousins and aunt and uncle. Connor, the oldest, went back to school at San Diego State a few days ago. I have been chillin with Elliot, Anders and Grant. The surf sessions have been good, hopefully one of thes days I will have a ride longer than 2.5 seconds. Man Elliot can shred them waves. We went to the rock today. Morrow Rock is a huge volcanic rock that just chills right in the water. The waves kinda wrap around it and form a nice right wave. There is so much life in the water here, all kinds of birds just chillin and seals that sometimes pop their head up and just look at you, as if to say, "hey thats my wave you blubberless landlubber!" It was interesting ... read more
Texas
I am here in the beautiful town of Morro Bay, staying with my very cool Aunt Muffy and Uncle Steve, and their 4 awesome kids. Connor (21), Eliott (19), Anders (13) Grant (12). What a cool family. The trip here was rather long, but I made it without any real problems. So I will take you up to this point. Left Chapel Hill on friday 19th, with Heather and Zena. I had posted a rideshare listing on Craigslist, and Heather said she needed to go to Palm Springs, then to Seattle, and she had some gas money, so I said sweet. Thanks for letting us crash Jimmy. We left at about 6, after waiting all darn day for another rider, who was trying to hitchhike from Wilmington, but he never called back. So we arrived in ... read more
Family at Home
Stopped in Charlotte to see the folks, grab some mail (pay billz), eat some great pizza, visit with Belle and also learn some knot tying from the Godfather of brain surgery and knot tying, my dad. He's got mad skillz, tying knots one handed with eyes closed while eating icecream. Y a so Heather and I did not make it down the road very far, but hey it's late, and 4135 Moorland is a nice place to chill. We shall make much progress man(^)ana, on to Jackson, to see my brother Nate doggy. Andy... read more
