Neal F
Neal A Freed Joined: September 3rd 2009
Logged in: May 4th 2010
Logged in: May 4th 2010
Travel Blog Posts
Valdivia 1
Lake Region & Santiago, Chile to Mendoza & Buenos Aires, Argentina 1. Valdivia: Sea Lions you can touch 2. Pucon: Snow Hiking and Volcano Sledding 3. Santiago: Couchsurfing, karaoke, and sleeping with the police 4. Mendoza: Wine Country Argentina 1.. Valdivia: Sea Lions you can touch First stop off the boat was Valdivia, a small college city with a hip feel. Its borded by 3 rivers, and has a nice colonial vibe. And, it has an enormous local sea lion population living in the river. During the day, the sea lions hang out behind the city seafood market, hoping to catch some spare parts. In the evening, they climb up on docks and piers along the esplanade to sleep for the night. When i arrived, i didnt know anything about them, and was caught complete off ... read more
Las Velas
Chile´s Patagonia: 1. Punta Arenas: Old Wool Boom and My Recovery Town 2. Puerto Natales & Torres Del Paine National Park: 5 Day Hike in Patagonia 3. The Navimag: Cargo Ship or Backpackers Cruise? Since last time ive wrote (Tierra del Fuego, Argentina) ive crossed into Chile´s patagonia (same but different beautiful scenary, only now on the chilean side of the southern andes). 1. Punta Arenas: Old Wool Boom and My Recovery Town I caught a bit of a cold in the chaotic weather of Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego. So i decided to spend a night nursing myself back to health in Punta Arenas. Punta Arenas is usually passed by travellers because theres not much to do here. And as such it was a perfect stop and a beautiful place. Its the most southern city of ... read more
Bariloche
Contents 1. End of El Salvador, Surfing in El Tunco 2. 2 weeks in Argentina 3. Bariloche Swiss Alps meets South America 4. El Chalten. Hiking Argentinia´s Patagonia. 5. El Calafate and Glacier Moreno 6. Ushuaia, Tierra del Fuego (Land of Fire, and the end of the world). 1. End of El Salvador So i spent the last 2 weeks in El Salvador back at El Tunco beach learning how to surf. It went pretty well and was a great place to spend some time. By the end of my time there I was able to get up on some unbroken waves, and more importantly have a blast. 2. 2 weeks in Argentina But since March 10th, ive been in Argentina. But not just Argentina, Patagonia Argentina, which is the southern part of Argentina and famous ... read more
Top of Perquin
So upon finishing our volunteer work in Estancia, Becky and I spent 2 ½ weeks travelling through the rest of El Salvador. And heres the scoop. Contents 1.Perquin: couples get away in the mountains (with the other couple volunteers) 2. El Tunco: Beach culture El Salvador, with surfing. 3. Colonial Towns and lakes: Suchitoto, Lago de Coatepeque, Ataco, Ruta de las Flores 4. Juayua. Gastronomia Food Fair 5. Barra de Santiago: 6. La Despedida 1. Perquin: couples get away in the mountains (with the other couple volunteers) Our first stop was a joint trip to Perquin with the other 2 volunteers, also a couple. A quick recap on the situation: they were really cool but we all basically shared 1room. There was a wall between us but you could hear every sound, even tossing during the ... read more
Adobe
So it’s been awhile since my last update...actually new years. Things have been a little hectic, and very awesome. Heres the short summary: Becky and I decided to push up our end date a few weeks so that we could spend some time traveling together in El Salvador before she went back to find work. After leaving Estancia, we traveled in El Salvador for 2 ½ weeks, and she, a few days ago, arrived in VA ready to reacclimate to US living. Here’s the scoop from our time in Estancia post New Years. It should be heavy in pics, Enjoy. The Goods 1. Cow Time 2. The Party 3. My Birthday 4. Other Highlights from Estancia 5. Making Ducle (Raw Cane Sugar) 6. Leaving 1. Cow time For the end of the year party, the NGO/clinic ... read more
Killin' Bats 1
Since Mexico, Last 2 Weeks 1. Bats in the Night and Baseball 2. Relationships 3. Honey a la miel. 4. Working the Fields 1. Bats in the Night, and Baseball Last night (Dec 11), a bat got into our house around 9 pm. The problem was that to get it out, it has to go through either the door or 1 of 2 windows, which are pretty low compared to the ceiling. And since it was flying high, it was clear that it needed some external help. Fortunately for us, Bela (the dude), had been to Africa and learned that in these situations, the best tactic is to smack it out. Thus, with a broom in hand, Bat Baseball began. I then spent the next 45 min. swinging for the fences at this little mammal. The ... read more
Church
VISA RUN TO MEXICO Contents 1. Visa’s and San Cristobal, Mexico 2. Indulging 3. Bugs 1. Visa’s and San Cristobal, Mexico. So our visa situation in El Salvador is this: were tourists and we have to leave the region every 3 months. The tricky part is that Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua are all on the same visa. So in order to renew our visa, we have to high tail it to Costa Rica or Mexico. For our first visa run, we chose Chiapas, Mexico. Chiapas Mexico is home of the Zapatistas, a marginalized indigenous group that has been fighting for human rights for the last 10 years and gained international fame when they stormed (and took) the city of San Cristobal. But enough boring history mumbo jumbo, onto the fun. We went to San ... read more
that sums it up, the newest member of our family has arrived, she´s a girl!!!: Baby Noa Leigh Arhangelsky 6 lbs, 4 oz 19.5 in long Born at 4:34 pm on Dec 4 in Phoenix, Az Sorry theres no pics, Noa Leigh isn´t ready for the internet yet. But, I´m heading to Phoenix for the holidays, and ill be there from 12/25 - 1/2. Will probably have a phone, or at least someone i´m with will have a phone, but not sure yet what will be the number. But id love to catch up any way shape or form while there. Lots of love to all... read more
Starting Out
Hiking, Bugs, the 3 Secrets to Life 1. Hiking Cerro Pelon 2. Scorpion Bites and Tarantulas 3. Community Activities: Soccer, Church, Politics. 1. Hiking Cerro Pelon We live in a valley surrounded by rolling hills and mountains. Of all, the tallest mountain, Cerro Pelon, looms in the distance and has a mystical quality to the people here. It’s the only one with a name, and the only one that people hike up just for the sake of reaching the top. Naturally, it topped our to do list and we gathered a group of people early on in our time here. We were a group of 8, 4 Gringos, 2 Salvedoreno friends about our age, and 2 13 year olds. It was 2 ½ hours to the top from our house, and we crossed rivers, streams, and ... read more
FMLN Rally
The Floods 1. Flooding in El Salvador/FMLN 2. Hammocks 3. Becky’s Work 4. Siete Semillas (7 Seeds) 1. Flooding in El Salvador/FMLN As for me, I escaped all of the flooding, but the damage is pretty incredible. As it turns out, I didn’t even know there was a hurricane passing until I heard about the flooding and landslides (which I found out about a day and a half later). I actually was at a rally for the FMLN party (quick history cuz it sets the scene: FMLN is the far leftist political party of El Salvador which represents the poor, campesinos, and the down trodden. They were the guerilla party of the war fighting against the wealthy families who controlled the military, government, and wealth. Eventually the civil war ended with a truce and the downtrodden ... read more
