We left Buenos Aires on a ancient southbound train to Bahia Blanca. There couch surfed one night (hospitality exchange in which you join the club online and can search for people who want to host travelers free of any monetary exchange, just good vibes http://www.couchsurfing.com/) Then we started out on our journey to the end of the earth... hasta el fin del mundo! RUTA 3 We hitched from Bahia Blanca down the Ruta 3 which runs along the eastern coast of Argentina. Ruta 3 passes through some of Argentinas most desolate and sparcely populated areas. We traveled a total of about [View Full Entry]

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It's actually been about a month since I have been in Buenos Aires. Quite a nice place city, great night life, tango, steaks, mate, political demonstrations... The general feel of the city is way relaxed, nothing happens before noon. Then cafes begin to fill up, around 4 pm the parques are full of people sitting around with friends and family drinking a bit of mate (the main drink of Argentina and Uruguay, a bitter tea you drink tradionally out of a gord= which is also called mate, the tea is actually called yerba), dinner is usually not until 10 or 11 [View Full Entry]

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I know I just wrote a long entry but I am trying this new strategy that is all about not waiting several months between blogging, trying to post shorter, more frequent, less intimidating entries... see how it goes. From Rio Dave and I had the idea to go to Ilha Grande about 2 hours south west of Rio and do some long treks. We wanted to hike around the entire island camping in different locations each night. Upon arriving we realized that Ilha Grande is more suitable for paying ridiculous fares to take taxi boats to visit the numerous goregous beaches. [View Full Entry]

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Rio de Janeiro, I believe it is impossible not to romanticized this city, and anyone who disagrees with me only has to come and listen to the samba music streaming out of the local street-side bars, see the beautiful green mountains set against blue ocean and white sands, glimpse the huge statue of Cristo Redemptor and the impoverished felevas looking down on the city from the hillsides, or smell Lapa after any Friday night street party... cachaça, lime, urine, cooking grease... extremes of decadence and human misery... this place is disturbing in the best way possible. People who live in Rio, [View Full Entry]

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This is my first blog entry about Brasil. In short we have been in Brasil for about a month, we started in Sao Paulo staying with a family, went into the interior for a bit to do some trekking on camping, and now we are in Rio which is reveling in post carnaval madness. We´ve seen a lot of the many faces of this imense country: Brasilian meet buffets and caipirinhas, towering waterfalls and mountains, vast farm land and cattle grazing, live samba bands in the streets and crazed soccer fans, extreme contrast of wealth betweem the afluent areas of Rio [View Full Entry]

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This is something I wrote in my journal to pass time during the 17 hour flight from Bangkok to NYC... I hope you find it amusing. Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos: A Comparative Study of Southeast Asia Typical bus journey Thailand: Being sedated and robbed on "VIP" tourist bus Cambodia: Mini van designed for 8, carrying 30+ people including the wife of the driver riding on the roof of the mini van and at least one passenger vommitting Laos: A songthew- converted pickup with benches in the back, stopping every 30 minutes to buy street food from venders that rush the vehicle [View Full Entry]

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It's been about 1 month since I last wrote leaving off in Vientiane, Laos. From there I worked my way through southern Laos and crossed the border into Cambodia making my souther and west. In Cambodia I spent about 2 weeks between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (Angkor Wat). Then I joined the backpacker pilgrimage to the southern island of Ko Phangan, Thailand, where it seemed the entire backpacker population of Southeast Asis was conveening for the infamous Full Moon Party on Christmas eve. I have so many side stories to go into, chance meetings, guitar lessons, impromtu village homestays and [View Full Entry]

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I left off in Chiang Mai, Thailand on my way to Laos. The beginning of my journey was humorous. I learned to never tell a tuk tuk driver in Thailand that you are in a rush. The only local bus from Chiang Mai to the Laos border leaves at 6:00 am, I wake up at 5:45 and had to take a taxi to the bus station. But first you have to haggle the price, it's a long process... I told the guy I was in a rush to catch the bus... we hit a dog on the way to the station! [View Full Entry]

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If this blog title had a subtitle it would be: We like riding buses a lot. Basically the bus ride from Chiang Mai northwest to Pai was the best bus ride I've ever taken... more on that later. I left off in Bangkok, a while ago, its been about three weeks since I wrote an entry and thats because we spent the first week in Bangkok doing nothing. In all seriousness we spent the first couple days sitting at the same table on the patio of our guest house, drinking iced coffee, and making our waiter help us study Thai from [View Full Entry]

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Ahhh back in Bangkok the city that makes me sick to my stomach... literally. I don't mind Bangkok as much the second time around but apparently my stomache does! This entry gets a bit long, if you want to skip to something crazy scroll down to the VEGETARIAN FESTIVAL. and check out this website or google: Phuket Vegetarian Festival http://www.phuketvegetarian.com/index_eg.htm So backtrack to Ko Phi Phi. We took an overnight boat, 4 hour bus, and another ferry to reach the island Ko Phi Phi Don. There are no cars or motobikes on this tiny island but it is full of TOURISM! [View Full Entry]

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