http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Skyfire24x/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Skyfire24x en-us Sun, 27 May 2012 02:34:02 +0000 Sun, 27 May 2012 02:34:02 +0000 Blog About Malaria Month 2012Over half of a million people died from malaria last year. This is more people than in the average American city. Imagine the entire city of Atlanta being wiped off the map. The year before we lost Denver. The year before that all of Boston all gone in one fell swoop.The majority of these deaths took place in Africa. In fact there are six countries that account for http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/District-of-Bamako/Bamako/blog-710214.html I really want to video everything when I walk around to help explain to people what life is like here but I don39t really feel comfortable doing that. I was able to more or less steathily record this street scene from my apartment window. It39s a pretty boring video of the street below and actually one of the quieter and calmer moments. If you have anything that you want me to get on ca http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/District-of-Bamako/Bamako/blog-686974.html Every morning I walk a little over a mile 2 km to work. Between dodging traffic stopping to greet people and picking up some breakfast along the way this can take me almost 30 minutes. This combined with the walk home in the afternoon is by far the most stressful part of my day. It can at times be the most fulfilling but this morning was not one of those experiences.Today as I was walking it http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/District-of-Bamako/Bamako/blog-683379.html Thanksgiving is my friend Raven39s favorite holiday. Aside from the insane amount of food involved I never really understood why. This year however I realized that Thanksgiving is an important time and not just because of the desserts.Thanksgiving is where this all started. It is where everything changed. In 2007 my entire family got together outside of Elkhart Indiana in a place called So http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/District-of-Bamako/Bamako/blog-667488.html After two years I39ve come back to West Africa. The first two weeks in Senegal were surreal. I just dived back into life African Peace Corps lifestyle as if I had never left. My French luckily reappeared. But within 24 hours there were people testing my Pular as well. This proved to be a bit more challenging to recall. But I was never fabulous at Pular so it was really as if nothing had http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/District-of-Bamako/Bamako/blog-659437.html The last three weeks have been filled with enough action to make it feel like it's been a full year. I arrived in Las Vegas two weeks before my sister's due date. Upon arrival I was a little uncomfortable and disoriented as I often am when I arrive in a new place. I wondered what the hell I was going to do for two weeks before the baby came. Then surprise surpise less than 48 hours after I http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Nevada/Las-Vegas/blog-647311.html It is August 14 which means that I must have just spent two weeks in Boston. While I39m sitting in the airport waiting to board a flight to Las Vegas disoriented is perhaps the best way to describe my current state. Three weeks ago I was in Madrid finishing my MBA. Two weeks ago I was in Porto saying goodbye to everyone and everything that I39d come to love over the past year. The pas http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Massachusetts/Boston/blog-634846.html I39ve been told that I need to post a new blog entry so here we goAfter a weekend of finishing up school work and lying in bed watching the entire second season of How I Met Your Mother I39m already ashamed please don39t mock me further I convinced my roommate that we needed to leave the house. Luckily our good friend Miguel called at that exact moment wanting to get out of the c http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Northern/Porto/Povoa-de-Varzim-/blog-626272.html I can't think of how to explain Portugal so instead of trying that momumentous task let's talk about my favorite thing Food. Portuguese cuisine not only varies from region to region but from town to town. There is a well deserved culinary pride. The details of this post are by no means family secrets or specialties but merely a few things that I have found interesting that I hadn't necessari http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Northern/Porto/blog-582677.html I remember saying these words in November 2009 and repeating them many times since. I also remember saying I had absolutely no desire to ever live in Europe. Never say never I guess ...Let's back up a little bit ...After the last entry I went to Morocco for a couple weeks then flew through Lisbon my worst flight experience ever to Boston. I spent about nine months there worked some random http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Portugal/Northern/Porto/blog-554753.html For a long time I've had absolutely no desire to go to Europe. So it's surprising to me that I'm now in Spain for the second time this year. How on earth did I get hereTwo days ago ...330 AM Leave Bamako with about 10 other volunteers800 AM Get to Casablanca Take fellow volunteer Julie to the train station to meet up with my friend Zak in Rabat Your mother is looking for you Polic http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Andalusia/Granada/blog-494944.html The following are exerts of emails that I sent out during my time in Mali.October 9 2009Ok so here's the deal. Yesterday I left Guinea. We can't say we were evacuated but that's what happened. I'm currently just outside of Bamako. I'll be here for 24 weeks. It doesn't look like we'll be allowed to go back to Guinea. But there's no final word yet. You may be seeing me really soon. I don' http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Mali/District-of-Bamako/Bamako/blog-470276.html Disclaimer The contents of this page and all links appearing on this page do not represent the positions views or intents of the U.S. Government United States Peace Corps or Peace Corps Guinea. Kindly do not republish anything found on these pages without explicit permission of the author.I wake up at 730. I rush out of bed. I have to meet someone at 8. I quickly get dressed and run up t http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Lab-/blog-441113.html Saturday around 6 PM I said goodbye to my Dad and hopped the train to the Barcelona airport. My flight with Royal Air Maroc Royal Moroccan Airlines was scheduled to leave around 9 PM. However when I checked in they told me the flight was delayed an hour. After I got through security I saw on the monitors that I was now leaving around 11 PM. After grabbing something to eat the little TVs http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Morocco/Rabat-Sal-Zemmour-Zaer/Rabat/blog-432509.html After getting the last seat on two different flights I arrived in Barcelona on Sunday. My baggage didn't quite make it but I didn't expect to make it myself let alone my bag so no big loss. My Dad got here a couple hours later and together we took the train into the city. We headed to our simple but gorgeous hotel. One it's most attractive features is that it is right in the middle of Las R http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-432133.html I know I know ... what the heck am I doing in Spain Three weeks ago my Dad managed to call me it is possible and informed that I'd be meeting him in Barcelona on the 16th. Why Barcelona The Catalonian capital was chosen to host the 33rd World Convention of Narcotics Anonymous WCNA. So here we are along with about 50007000 NA fellows.So this week thousands of recovering addicts from http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Spain/Catalonia/Barcelona/blog-429823.html The rainy season is finally here There's no more school so all the college and high school students come back to the village for the vacation. No more ridiculously hot weather. And my favorite no more relying on a well 15 minutes away for all my water. Now it's delivered to me straight off my roof. Far from being a vacation time everyone is working more than usual. Practically everyone http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Lab-/blog-427834.html Ok kids here's the deal. I'm still hanging out in Guinea 18 months down 8 to go. A year ago I started fundraising through Peace Corps to renovate the elementary school in my village. This thing was built by the French back in the day when colonization was still in style. In the 50 years since then no repairs have been made. So basically it looks like a bomb hit it. If it were in the http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Guinea/Lab-/blog-414847.html Due to the lack of appropriate medical facilities in Guinea I've been whisked away to Senegal for my midservice check up. Despite all the fun forms and doctor visits I'm choosing to see this as a second vacation.First things first the moment I got off the plane I was greeted by sliding glass doors. I'm travelling with another volunteer from Guinea and we took this as a sign that Dakar would http://www.travelblog.org/Africa/Senegal/Cape-Verde-Peninsula/Dakar/blog-401228.html After three weeks and four cities I'm headed back to Guinea. Of course there are a few speed bumps and pit stops along the way. When I got to the airport they told me I was two days late for my flight and out of luck. As person after person failed to find me in the system I calculated all the money I had on me even in Guinean Francs and wondered if it would be enough to buy another ticket. http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Atlantic/blog-391955.html