http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Paul/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Paul en-us Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:01:52 +0000 Sun, 03 Jan 2010 03:01:52 +0000 Appendectomy African StyleWhen I woke up in the middle of the night throwing up and having diarrhea I must admit that I thought nothing of it. Letrsquos be honest I have spent a majority of my time here in Ethiopia participating in such fun tourist activities. The pain though was unbearable. It could be likened to the excruciating discomfort of watching Sara Palin in an interviewhellip http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Benishangul-Gumuz-Region/blog-331320.html Why I Love Home DepotI am suffering from efficiency deficiency. Symptoms include headache frustration and fatigue from constant trips back and forth in search of answers and solutions. Causes range from lack of infrastructure to general countrywide lack of desire to be productive.Building a hospital in one of the most remote parts of a country that still doesnrsquot have basic infrastructure http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Benishangul-Gumuz-Region/blog-311630.html A Stool Sample HereBuilding a hospital in a foreign country requires immense amounts of research commitment and determination. Determined to show my commitment to research I decided that the best way to explore the current healthcare situation in Ethiopia was to get a severe bacterial stomach infection after a few days in Addis. Fried fish at the hotel did the trick.Over a span of about 10 ho http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Ethiopia/Benishangul-Gumuz-Region/blog-298830.html Mop up the tears. Put down the gallon of ice cream. Stop the prozac. I'm BackI have finally returned to fill the empty feeling that all of my loyal followers have suffered through for the last 2 years. You will all be excited to know that more Paul Nevin blogs are headed your direction.Irsquom headed out on another adventure and this time Irsquom dragging my girlfriend Courtney with me. I http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/New-York/blog-279032.html In this Update I will discuss one of the most esoterically profound questions in the history of man. This brain buster ranks right up there with some of the famously engrossing queries in history If a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to hear it does it make a sound Which came first the chicken or the egg Is George Bush the missing homo sapien link between chimps and humans http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Connecticut/blog-86760.html As you all easily deciphered from the title of this update I spent the last few weeks leading Sprout trips to Maine Toronto and the Poconos. The first trip I went on was to Maine and it was quite memorable to say the least. If I had to give the trip a word for the week inquisitive would finish a close second to irritation. This group of 7 men and 2 women joined forces to annoy us leaders to http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Ontario/Toronto/blog-84763.html As many of you may already know loud and indiscreet eaters are the source of some serious personal vexation for me. Working with mentally and developmentally disabled people through Sprout forces me to work on controlling the aggravation and moving on with my meal. For those of you who have never eaten a meal with a large group of mentally disabled people I will so kindly describe the enjoyabl http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/New-York/blog-80462.html I got lsquobackroomedrsquo in Ecuadorrsquos airport trying to leave the country. It started out as a normal day at the airport... arriving a few hours early and waiting forever while the people behind the desk type away incessantly and most likely unnecessarily. After waiting for about an hour and moving a total of 7 feet in the line I felt a tap on my shoulder. It was a short round o http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Costa-Rica/blog-70819.html The first inkling that it was going to be an interesting night was when I met Pablo at the entrance to the party and we started chatting and I told him I was from the US. ldquoOh reallyrdquo he said. ldquoI spent 3 years in the US.rdquoldquoWhat partrdquo I asked. ldquoFloridardquo he replied simply.ldquoRight on what did you do while you were thererdquoldquoI sat in j http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Cali/blog-60713.html Parque Nacional Tayrona is an absolute utopia of stunning beaches. Tropical green mountains brimming with wildlife keep watch over deep Caribbean bays with pristine whitesand beaches littered only by massive boulders and shadeyielding palm trees. The hike in is like walking into the pages of a National Geographic. After a 3 hour hike I eventually arrived to a camp site situated on the third b http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Medellin/blog-58131.html With less than 2 months remaining on my trip it is time for me to start thinking about where Irsquom going to live where Irsquom going to work where Irsquom going to back to school and how the hell am I supposed to afford any of it. When sitting on the beautiful Playa Blanca near Cartagena it struck me as to what my calling in life ishellip to be a model In other words watch your http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Colombia/Cartagena/blog-53478.html When strapped to a complete stranger and peering over 2600 ft cliff the last thing you want to hear is all the paragliding pilots arguing over whether the jump was safe with such high winds. My pilot made the decision for us and we were immediately swept straight up into a grey cloud. For the first few minutes of the flight visibility was 2 feet and the winds whipped us to the point where I q http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Venezuela/Andean/Merida/blog-52214.html Venezuela is the world leader in plastic surgery and beauty queens which results in thousands of anorexic teens pumped full of silicone and fearing cellulite more than death. With that being said I did notice on my flight to Caracas that many women opted to bring their own personal flotation devices rather than use the seat cushion in case of emergency. I woke up at 3am Friday to be at the air http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Venezuela/Central/Maracay/blog-49189.html A few weeks ago ok over a month sorry bout the delay I tried my first hallucinogenic ever...honestlyhellip get that smirk off your face Hi mom. A few of us volunteers from Ecotrackers visited one of the indigenous communities we work with for a weekend. We visited the Tsachila group of Indians in a community outside of Santo Domingo de los Colorados called Chiguilpe. The Tsachilia tribe http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-46484.html I underestimated the effects of tear gas. This week however I had the pleasure of finding out exactly how debilitating it is. Itrsquos not too bad at first when your eyes just start to burn then your nose begins to run. As soon as you taste a cinnamonlike taste in the back of your throat you know you are in trouble. Breathing becomes difficult and you canrsquot stop coughing. The irri http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-38264.html On Christmas day I lost a game of beach volleyball to a bunch of cokeheads on a tiny pacific Ecuadorian island called Muisne. It was a normal friendly game of Ecuadorians vs. Gringos when one guy called a timeout pulled out an enormous hunting knife dipped it in his baggie and snorted what he claimed was the reason he loved living near Colombia. The energy level of the other team quickly a http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Ecuador/North/Quito/blog-34263.html After 3 bus rides totaling around 13 hours I finally made it to Arequipa Per. I had a stopover in Copacabana which I put to good use eating a huge fresh trout. I didnrsquot arrive to Arequipa until 10 at night so I was glad that I had met a doctor on the bus who recommended a cheap place near the central plaza. Arequipa is known as the ldquowhite cityrdquo because a lot http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Arequipa/blog-30876.html I just got back to La Paz from my incredible tour of southwest Bolivia. Due to the rough and extremely surreal terrain of the southwest all tours take 4x4rsquos for the typical 4 day3 night excursion. Our 4x4 happened to be a Toyota Land Cruiser from the early 70rsquos. I got to know the back bumper quite well as it never started at a standstillhellip it either had to be pushed towed http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/Potosi-Department/Uyuni/blog-29591.html Irsquom in La Paz After some excellent relaxing in Copacabana Bolivia I am trying my luck in the Big and high capital city. First let me tell you about my time on the shores of Lake Titicaca. Copacabana is a tiny lakeside town overflowing with tourists and hippies. Walking down the one main street in the town you will find tons of shoeless dreadlocked hippies selling amazing handmade http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Bolivia/La-Paz-Department/Copacabana/blog-28689.html I had yet another eventful bus ride from Cusco to Puno but this time it was no joking matter. In Juliaca a 6 year old boy ran out in front of the bus and we slammed into him. There was a thud and then I was unfortunate enough to see a small lifeless body skidding across the sidewalk. It ranks up there with one of the most disturbing things I have ever seen. The boy was put in a taxi and rush http://www.travelblog.org/South-America/Peru/Puno/blog-27855.html