caroande
Caro Joined: August 1st 2008
Logged in: April 20th 2009
Logged in: April 20th 2009
I've been to some interesting places in the past, and I intend to continue that trend in the future.
I suppose everyone has a dream travel destination. I'd like to visit England and Scotland at some point, maybe even a bit more of Europe. However, my BIG dream destination that I would be so happy to visit has GOT to be Yakushima Island, Japan. I had to do some research on that island for a story I was writing and came across some very stellar travelblogs detailing some visitors adventures while hiking through the forests there.
When I'm not packing my stuff up and heading out with my trusty travel shoes, I'm studying to become a library technician. Call home a little town just north of Toronto, Ontario, Canada and enjoy writing in my spare time. Currently engaged to a lovely man who is an anthropologist in the making.
I've been accused of talking like I'm telling a story, and I think some of my older travelblogs (the ones I wrote before joining the site) will read as just that; a story. If you've enjoyed my tales of my travels, then drop me a note. I like meeting new people who share similar interests and see the world with just the same tilt that I do.
Travel Blog Posts
My new family
Day Eleven - Friday September 29th Home time! Our flight didn't leave until 3 or so, so M and I quickly got ready and went to Metro Centro for breakfast. We returned to that Florencia restaurant and I had some more of those strawberry crepes that I could just drown in. My breakfast came with a free cappuccino, so I gave this to Marta to enjoy, since I don't drink any coffee products. Went to the Coffee Cup where we bought some drinks. I chose a drink with oreo cookies in it, since it LOOKED like it would be chocolate-based and in NO WAY coffee flavoured. I was wrong, it was coffee flavoured and I traded with M for her green tea-type drink. It was good, and my bag was stuffed to capacity by the time ... read more
Roadside advertising
Day Ten - Thursday September 28th I woke up with a headache and feeling a little out of it. The good part? I USUALLY feel out of it, and a headache is something I can deal with. I was so happy. M offered me some headache pills and I declined. If I could maintain that level of sickness, then I'd be laughing all the way home! Marta's uncle was picking us up around 12 that day since we still had stuff to do back in San Salvador and our flight was leaving on Friday. After a lovely breakfast, we went shopping through Santa Ana again. At first we thought we were just going for ice cream, but before that we were taken to a coin museum. I'm very sorry I didn't bring my camera along for ... read more
Tazumal - Pyramid
Day Nine - Wednesday September 27th Wednesday was the day we were going to Tazumal. We woke up early and had breakfast. Then I wanted to make a video that showed the inside of the house, so I made a video tour of Yani's house. It starts in the room that we're staying at and goes throughout the place until the front door and then outside. I say "beautiful" a lot because I wanted Yani's parents to know I was saying good things about their house (and because I really do think it's beautiful). If you click, you will be treated to my verbal explanation of what's going on, as well as my fumbling interaction with Yani's parents. They are TOTAL sweethearts and made such an effort to communicate with me, despite the language barrier. They ... read more
Breakfast at Yani's
Day Eight - Tuesday September 26th Woke up Tuesday feeling sick. I can't remember if it was a regular headache, or not. I think it was a combination of my antibiotics that I had to keep taking and a headache pill that didn't react well with the meds. Either way, after breakfast and while we were on our way to the mountains, I started feeling like ass. We arrived at a restaurant which was outdoors in a series of gazebos placed along the side of one of the mountains. From there all you could see is green mountains, with thousands of coffee plants growing and lines of trees planted amongst them to prevent erosion of the mountain sides. Yani's dad insisted on taking pictures of me against the backdrop of the mountains and my batteries died ... read more
Yani's Dog, Argos
The first half of my trip was spent in the capital of El Salvador which is called San Salvador. For a few days Marta and I went to the town of Santa Ana to visit a friend of hers. This section of the report contains pictures from there. Day Seven - Monday September 25th Before our trip to El Sal, Marta had found the phone number for a friend of hers that she'd had when she lived there. I'm currently her best friend, but before me (BC) there was Yani. She called and they reconnected. Yani invited us to stay with her family while we were there, so from Monday until Thursday we would be staying in a town called Santa Ana. Before going there, I'd hear M and Gaby talking about this down. Not knowing ... read more
Joya de Ceren
Day Six - Sunday September 24th This was the day that M's aunt and uncle were going to take us to some ruins. Throughout the night I would get up to be sick, but I was feeling better and I'd be DAMNED if I missed the ruins!! I wasn't feverish and was able to stand on my own two feet, so come morning I proclaimed I was well enough to look at some old stuff! I must say that I was still feeling sick and running for the bathroom often, drinking shitloads of water and if I'd been home I wouldn't have gone to work. But I wasn't home. I was going to see some ruins in El Salvador that had been preserved by a volcanic eruption that is reminiscent of Vesuvius and a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompeii"Pompeii/a. A city ... read more
Day Five - Saturday September 23rd I woke up every two hours on the hour to puke. I won't get detailed about it because I'm sure nobody likes me THAT much (except for MARTA who got to hear it all) to want to know the details of my illness. Suffice it to say that those over-cooked and crispy eggs from that morning made a reappearance and I wasn't feeling well on Saturday morning to go out. I stayed in bed while Marta went out to meet Gaby. I think I drifted in and out of consciousness, decidedly uncomfortable but not sure what part of my body was aching and preventing me from having a restful sleep. The bed was suddenly too hard and the pillow not fluffy enough. My granny!gown wasn't enough to keep me cool. ... read more
Pit stop on the way to the beach
Day Four - Friday September 22nd We woke up early because it was going to be a packed day. Marta had met a girl online from El Salvador who likes Yaoi. YES an EL SAL yaoi fan! Apparently there are many of them, but they're either spread out too far around the country, their parents are too overbearing and won't let them leave the house, or they are too young and their parents won't let them leave the house. This one girl, Jen, lives in San Salvador and met up with us after her English classes in the morning. We could only hang for an hour or so, so we hung at (where?) Metro Centro where we had breakfast. Her English is *really* good and it was nice to understand a conversation as it happens rather ... read more
Boring Mall 1
Day Three - Thursday September 21st The day we decided to go to see the other malls. There was Metro Centro, but M's cousins told us that MC is "ghetto" and that there are "classier" malls to go to. We called a cab that was blessedly free of seat belts and we were taken to the expensive, cold, emotionless malls that you can find in the super upscale districts in Toronto or any other city in the world. I don't have much to say about them at all. I can't even remember their names! I'd call them Boring Mall 1 and Boring Mall 2. Boring Mall 2 was complicated and we kept getting lost (and ending up in the underground parking lot). I was sitting on this bench when suddenly Colonel Sanders sat down next to ... read more
Family Portrait + Me
Day Two - Wednesday September 20th We'd staked out the Metro Centro as our base of operations while not in our guest house. We trekked down there around noon to grab a bite to eat. We found a breakfast place called Florencia (or something along those lines) and ate crepes packed and covered with strawberries and sauce. Oh god, it was so good! The service there was unmatched. Nowhere have I gone in the world where the service is as polite and friendly as in El Salvador. The people nearly burst at the seams with cheer when they greet you! We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the mall, shopping, and pretty much looking around at all the neat stuff. We were getting a lot of stares, although after a while I got used to ... read more
