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lisalisasf - Lisa Englert

First extended solo-travel trip. AND first blog. Decided to take a sabbatical from job in San Francisco to travel Central America, learn Spanish, and make my way back to Argentina.

"For a long time it seemed to me that life was about to begin- real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way, something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life. This perspective has helped me to see there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way. So treasure every moment you have and remember that time waits for no one." -Souza

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Joined on: January 15th 2007
Last Login: May 3rd 2007

Blog Entries: 24
Photos: 364

TB Code: [blogger=30233]
Status: BLOGGER

Blogs & Travel Journals

by lisalisasf, order by Date newest first.

By lisalisasf
April 26th 2007

La Ultima Parada

South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires Obelisk
In middle of the widest street in the world, so you would think that there wouldn't be so much traffic with 9 lanes going each way, but no, it doesn't work like that.

The last stop I decided to spend the last week of my trip in Buenos Aires starting to wind down and prepare myself for the transition back home. A great week in a great city. Made some new friends, ate delicious food, and heard some fantastic tango music. Everyone should experience the magic of Buenos Aires at least once in their life. It has been quite the journey when I reflect back on all the amazing experiences I have had over the past few months. Everyone told me before I left that I would go through much self reflection and [View Full Entry]

By lisalisasf
April 16th 2007

BAR-I-LOCHE

South America » Argentina » Río Negro » San Carlos de Bariloche

Bariloche
View from top of Cerro Campanario~ small mountain within Bariloche city limits

Bariloche is a small mountain that is still in Patagonia, but further West and North from El Calafate. We had 4 whole days here to explore the lakes and basically relax. Met up with Zach, a friend from my trip last year in Chile and Argentina. Since he lives in Bariloche and took us to some great restaurants. Had some of the best meals in Argentina here. Great trout and lamb at Kandahmar for Vicky's birthday, Naan the next night had delicious gourmet food and deserts, and of course I had to make my way back to what in my [View Full Entry]

By lisalisasf
April 11th 2007

Dynamic natural wonder

South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Perito Moreno Glacier

View of Lago Argentino
On our way to the glacier

Just to give a quick background on what this glacier thing really is (since I didn´t understand all of it before I got there) From Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perito_Moreno_Glacier "The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that are not retreating. Periodically the glacier advances over the L-shaped "Lago Argentino" ("Argentine Lake") forming a natural dam which separates the two halves of the lake when it reaches the opposite shore. With no escape route, the water-level on the Brazo Rico side of the lake can rise by up to 30 meters above the level [View Full Entry]

By lisalisasf
April 10th 2007

HUGE ice cubes

South America » Argentina » Santa Cruz » Perito Moreno Glacier

Iceberg 1
View of blue glaciers from the boat trip

HUGE ice cubes South America » Argentina » El Calafate » Perito Moreno Glacier By lisalisasf April 10th 2007 Lisa Englert After getting our fill of the big city- Vicky and I hopped on a plane and headed to El Calafate [View Full Entry]

By lisalisasf
April 5th 2007

Buenos Aires- my favorite city

South America » Argentina » Buenos Aires » Buenos Aires

Vicky at Henri´s
Our favorite breakfast spot in Palermo. Every day, same order: dos cafes dobles.

I made it! I made it, I made it, I made it! All the way down to Buenos Aires. Arriving to Argentina was exhilerating and such an accomplishment after all I have been through with this silly broken ankle. I felt a strange sadness to leave Central America and the safety and connections that I felt there. So odd to say that I actually missed the *safety* of Central America, isnÂ´t it? BUT, if I thought PanamÃ¡ City was a big city, I really wasnÂ´t prepared to conquer just how HUGE Buenos Aires is. When you pass over it in [View Full Entry]

By lisalisasf
March 31st 2007

PanamÃ¡ City- buildings are big!

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Panama City

Panamá City skyline at sunrise
And this is only half of it! It is amazing how big this city was- rivaling the skyline of New York in my opinion. Maybe it was just being in awe of such a big place after all the tiny towns I had be... [more]

And all of a sudden we hit buildings... after months of flat cities and small pueblos- PanamÃ¡ city is like the City of OZ popping up out of nowhere! So modern and happening with tons of traffic and a sultry nightlife scene- it really is a city that doesnÂ´t sleep. Had heard that the hospitals in PanamÃ¡ City are very modern and many of the doctors have trained in the states, so my chances of finding a bilingual doctor were high. This sounded great after several confusing experiences with the Nicaraguan doctors who spoke very, very quickly using fancy medical [View Full Entry]

By lisalisasf
March 30th 2007

PanamÃ¡ Bonanza

Central America Caribbean » Panama » Bocas Del Toro » Isla Colon

Border crossing

So yes, the border crossing really was as crazy as I had heard it would be. When I arrived at the crossing between Costa Rica and PanamÃ¡ I couldnÂ´t believe that you actually had to walk over this plank bridge from Costa Rica to get to the immigration office on the PanamÃ¡ side. Basically, the bus drops you off on one side, and then you pick up a different bus on the other side. Who thought of that idea? There were tons of people making crossing as I hobbled with my crutches and a lot of concentration very, very, very [View Full Entry]

By lisalisasf
March 21st 2007

Finally made it to the beach!

Central America Caribbean » Costa Rica » Limón » Puerto Viejo de Talamanca

Who says you can't do it all?
Rented scooter in Puerto Viejo and rode up the coast from Manzanillo to Cahuita... it was so exhilerating to have my independence back.

After almost 30 days in Granada, Nicaragua nursing my broken ankle, I decided that it was time to make the dreaded trip on my own through Costa Rica and on to Panama. Although I was very nervous about just how I was ever going to make it with my big bag on crutches across the borders, I decided I just had suck it up and go for it. The bus ride from Nicaragua to Costa Rica was fairly painless. As usual, most people are ready to help out, and sometimes being on crutches actually helps you get to the front [View Full Entry]

By lisalisasf
March 14th 2007

"Central America on One Foot"

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Bearded Monkey

Blue casts unite!
Met Galo from Costa Rica at my hostel Oasis... spotted his blue cast from across the room and we bonded over breakfast about how fiberglass can really complicate your life.

I think this will be the title of my first travel book. I am getting around just fine these days. Not much exciting stuff to report, but have posted a few new photos of Granada and some of my travel friends from Australia. It is so nice to meet people, hang out for a few days- but then you have to say goodbye, which is never fun! Plan is to head through Costa Rica in next few days and make my way to the Carribean Coast by bus. Meeting Jen Cocohoba- a friend from San Francisco in Panama at Bocas del [View Full Entry]

By lisalisasf
March 8th 2007

I can finally roll my "R´s"!

Central America Caribbean » Nicaragua » Granada » Parque Central

Las Islas- in Granada
New blue cast and crutches on boat tour through string of islands on lake in Granada

That´s right... after months of working on my spanish, I am finally able to fool the native speakers. Not that they think I am from Latin America or anything, but they don´t think that I am from the United States! So- just to be clear about why this is such an accomplishment... as Americans we notoriously are known to have a terrible time with the pronunciation of the R´s and the D´s in the spanish language- we just don´t seem to be able to wrap our tongues around these sounds. Especially, not as well as the Europeans for sure! So, when [View Full Entry]

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