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Published: April 27th 2007
Aaaah, hello Friends!
In the last couple weeks I have received a number of emails asking the same question . . . “WHERE are you?!” - one friend actually wrote my mom to try to get the scoop on my whereabouts (sorry Al). My apologizes to all - as suspected I’ve proven that I am not a “blogger” . . . but I am alive and happy with much to tell about my last 5 months on the road (has it really been that long?!). If you’ve been reading any of my entries you’re aware that I’m extremely thorough (aka long winded) so if you’re only interested to know where the heck I am now skip to ** before the last few paragraphs 😉 That being said I must also acknowledge my gratitude for allowing me relive all this - since I don’t keep a travel journal (imagine that) this is as much for me to look back on as to be able to share with all of you. It’s a great reminder of how blessed I am to be on such an amazing journey!
I ended the first leg of my trip in New Zealand where I spent the first three weeks of December exploring its two islands. Although the beginning of summer it happened to be their coldest December in recorded history (thanks to an iceberg off the coast) and I had booked a two week cycling/camping tour, brrr! Before I left for the tour I had one lively night in Auckland where I enjoyed the company of a group of cool guys from across the globe and unexpectedly (seriously) ended up staying out all night. I stumbled to join my tour group a half hour late the following morning and spent much of that day sleeping off my hangover. Having gotten a good party out of my system (at least temporarily) I was able to enjoy a great two weeks seeing the country in the best way possible . . . outside. New Zealand lived up to its reputation - so much different scenery in such a relatively small space. I traveled with the tour company, Flying Kiwi, on a bus with the option of cycling each day - my longest ride was 39 miles which was worth my sore butt the following day since I felt like in my surroundings throughout that one ride I had seen all four glorious(!) seasons. My group was a mixed bunch from high school aged foreign exchange students (again, lots of Germans?) to an elderly pair of doctors. We spent our nights at amazing campsites overlooking crystal-clear lakes at the edges of mountains or volcanoes, or near hot springs where after dinner (which we took turns preparing) we’d take candlelit soaks . . . I learned to be careful though because one night I nearly fainted after getting out of the hot water into the cool air!
On the North Island we visited the thermal wonderland of Rotorua, mud pools and geysers of Wai-O-Tapu, saw more waterfalls than you can imagine (including Huka Falls) and one of the largest crater lakes in the world, Taupo. In Taupo I attempted to skydive with some of the others in my group, but after getting geared up the weather turned and our trip was cancelled due to the bad conditions. I naively (because of my reluctance to research anything) agreed to hike the volcanic range of the Tongariro Crossing. It was an intense 8 hour day-hike which took us straight up while the temperature kept dropping. After the harsh winds and cold I was extremely thankful to reach the bottom again not having blown off at the top (honest) and with all my extremities clear of amputation. I was proud to have crossed it, but reaffirmed that I best enjoy hikes where there’s nothing to prove! Before moving south we stopped in the artsy coastal city of Wellington. I have to give NZ props because it didn’t seem to be just cities such as Wellington, which are known for their cultural scenes, but almost all the towns I visited (including those in the middle of sheep pastures) had a creative and progressive vibe.
Next we jumped to the South Island by ferry (a HUGE ferry with movie theaters and shopping . . . I’d never been on anything like it and the Brits found it funny I was so impressed) and landed in the cute town of Picton to spend a day. From there we took the Pacific coastal drive to Kaikoura seeing fur seals and albatross along the way. In Kaikoura we woke up before the sun one morning to go swimming with dolphins. Unfortunately the weather was once again working against us and after enduring a boat ride through choppy seas to find the dolphins we were informed that it was too rough for us to join them in the water. I wasn’t too bothered since it was freezing outside and I knew that even in my wetsuit the water would only have been worse. It was actually super cool just seeing the dolphins (including calves) swimming along with the boat and entertaining us with their tricks! Spent a day in Christchurch before heading to Rangitata where we camped by the foot of the Southern Alps. Next we traveled along the Main Divide and stopped at a teeny church on Lake Tekapo where stunning mountains were perfectly reflected and surrounded by fields of purple, pink and yellow lupines. It was probably my favorite spot in NZ - it made perfect sense why people fly in just to be married there. We ended the beautiful day camping at the edge of Lake Pukaki where we enjoyed spectacular views of Mt. Cook.
Seriously guys, I know my words trying to describe the splendor of the landscapes are somewhat repetitive and inadequate, but it really did look like it was straight out of a photo that you couldn’t imagine ever getting to see in person! Enjoyed a day at Mt. Cook National Park and hiking Hooker Valley, where we unfortunately poked around and didn’t have enough time to see its glacier. Camped along the coast in Oamaru and saw strange Alien (the movie) like cocoons onshore known as the Moeraki Boulders. Spent a day in the lovely town of Dunedin where I had the pleasure of meeting my German friend Teresa’s host family. We took a boat through Milford Sound (totally as impressive as I’d heard) followed by a cool cycle: a 3000 foot descent in approximately 15 minutes from Hommer Tunnel. Near the end of my time with the group I joined a few of them on a three-day hike through the Greenstone Track where we trekked with our packs full of mostly food, some warm clothes and lots of water. The better part of the days were spent hiking to designated trail cabins with bunk beds, fireplaces and other hikers with whom to enjoy the evenings. At the end of our trek we were escorted by a jet boat that did 360s in Lake Wakatipu to what is known as “the adventure capital of the world,” Queenstown. Our group spent our last night together out in Queenstown - it was a fun time with the senior citizens outlasting the teenagers . . . partly attributed to NZ’s drinking age 😉 I ended up walking the last of our group back to our campsite around midnight and then returned to some friends I’d made to bar-hop and dance until the sun came up. The following day I was back on my own and remedied my hangover by jumping out of a plane! I was thankful for the beautiful day since I’d heard that skydiving over Lake Wakatipu from Glenorchy (outside Queenstown) is one of the best spots in NZ. It was so much fun and I wasn’t even nervous since you jump with a tandem master who does an average of 10 a day. The people who worked at the drop zone (from all over, even some Americans) were really cool - between them and the Scottish/Irish/Austrian/Brazilian guys in my hostel I had plenty of friends to hangout with during my remaining couple of days in Queenstown.
I ended my time in NZ with a little taste of home . . . Laura, my friend from college’s, parents were visiting Christchurch (where my flight out was departing) so I took a bus to them and was spoiled for a few days before I went home to my own family. We stayed in a beautiful hotel in the center of town where they put me up in my own room! A real treat after how I’d been traveling for the prior four months. We took an overnight trip (in which Fred masterly drove on the wrong side of the road!) to Kaikoura (home of the failed dolphin-swimming attempt) to go whale watching. Again the weather was not on our side and we learned upon arrival that all tours had been canceled due to rough waters. We made the best of our time there anyway by eating well, wine tasting, shopping, swimming in hot springs and watching movies in our cute cabin. It was fun to spend time together and I was extra lucky to have them around when I went to the airport on December 23rd only to find out that my flight had been canceled and I couldn’t get out until the following morning. Thankfully I was able to go back and crash in their hotel room - so appreciated, thanks for everything Nelsons!
If it seems like a lot was packed in during my time in New Zealand, it was - you definitely should give yourself more than three weeks to see it all! Two bits of advice if you’re planning on visiting: 1) know who the “All Blacks” are. Imagine if the States only had one main professional sport and the entire country backed it, then you’d begin to understand what the All Blacks mean to NZ. I had been exposed to some rugby while traveling (just a week before I had seen the awesome Ruby League Tri-Nations Final where Australia won over New Zealand in overtime), however I guess there are lots of rugby teams in many different leagues(?!) and the NZ team I’d watched were not the All Blacks. I made the horrible faux pas of asking who the All Blacks were . . . fortunately to a German, because I really believe if I’d asked a Kiwi I’d been thrown out of the country! 2) See the Lord of The Rings movies. They were filmed in NZ and people make references to them while traveling through the varied landscapes all the time - I soon found that only having watched twenty minutes of the first movie about five years ago was not sufficient to engage in any of their many conversations.
Although NZ had been good to me while I was there I started to miss my family and was excited at the end of my 5 flight/48 hour trip (including one canceled flight, one missed flight, and lost luggage upon arrival) back home just in time for Christmas . . . I finally got home at 1 AM on Christmas morning! I enjoyed two quick weeks (including a very chill New Year’s Eve) in South Dakota with my family and friends soaking in the luxuries of home before hitting the road again. It was the perfect break and when January 6th rolled around I was ready for Costa Rica . . .
Starting the second leg of my trip I arrived in CR after midnight in the same fashion as I’d begun my travels in Vietnam - with nothing arranged beforehand . . . it’s been a beautiful way to travel and I highly suggest it. I found a hostel near the bus station in the capital city of San Jose and then left the next morning for the Caribbean coastal town of Puerto Viejo. I had a week there and an instant friend whom I met on the bus ride, Brandee from Canada. The two of us had a fun few days together exploring the town’s rasta/tico (Tico = Costa Rican) mix and hitting up many a “reggae nights” . . . which actually were every night, just at a different bar. We spent our days at the beach and also took a surf lesson together. Even though I wouldn’t call what I was doing surfing (nor would the kids who would cruise on by me) I loved being in the ocean, especially on a day when I went out by myself and about an hour in the weather changed and it started to downpour . . . I’d never been in the water during a storm, but it was incredible and put a big smile on my face. Besides Brandee I made a number of other new friends throughout the week - including some Costa Ricans, an Australian couple, the two Argentinean “Nachos” (yes, both of their names were Nacho!), an amazing Columbian musician who allowed me to be his #1 fan the nights he played at bars in town, a few different groups of Californians (SO many Americans in CR, it took a bit of adjustment after having been one of the few American travelers in other countries), as well as a mom and eight year old son duo from Oregon who rode bikes around town bar/store hopping for beer and candy, ha! I also spent an evening listening to “Crazy Cliff” (as I’ve coined him), who is an extreme conspiracy theorist who had me pretty freaked out . . . he’s one you’ll have to ask me about in person!
After a week I moved on to something that I had prearranged (it’s actually what I planned my entire travels around) . . . a six week certification course in Permaculture, which is a study in sustainability where you learn to live working with nature and using the resources that our amazing Earth provides most efficiently so as to make the smallest impact upon it. I had an incredible experience and learned more from the course and the unique individuals involved in it than I could ever put into words . . . I’m still processing it all myself. The first farm, Punta Mona, sits on the Caribbean side of Costa Rica near the Panama border. To reach it you either have to hike four hours through the jungle in mud up to your thighs or take a 20 minute boat ride from the nearest town . . . I obviously opted for the boat even if it wasn’t free 😉 It was a rough ride on the way there, but I pretended I was on a rollercoaster and focused on spotting dolphins.
We arrived at an isolated jungle community inhabited by people from all over the world. It was a charmed place with wildlife and exotic vegetation like crazy - complete with a river nearby to take mud-baths with caimans and an island to which we’d kayak to watch the sunset. Sadly only one Afro-Caribbean Tico still remained who’d once lived there with an entire village of people who over the years had slowing left. He had a wealth of knowledge about the area and the land, as well as always up for a merciless game of dominos. My time there was magical and sped by - it’s amazing how quickly you can adapt to sleeping under a mosquito net so as to keep the various insects and rodents out of your bed, or to wearing knee-high rubber boots to trek through the muddy jungle trails, or to peeing outside and doing clothes-washing by hand. The jungle is intense and there were stories everyday of something crazy happening to someone . . . I made it through with just a slight staph infection, which cleared up after a week of treatment. During my three weeks there I only left once to the teeny town of Gandoca, about an hour walk along the beach from the farm. I had the best time and was surprised to find that after not having had a drink for about 10 days that a nice cold one tasted extra good! I made friends with a young Tico boy named Aldolfo whose older (gorgeous) brother worked on the farm and we ended our night eating dinner at his family’s home with me (being the best Spanish speaker of the group, ha!) acting as translator. Our first weekend at Punta Mona was extra special because the farm hosted a creative gathering which attracted amazing people from all over. It reminded me of a small sliver of Burning Man with music, fire-spinning, singing, dancing and a variety of interesting classes to attend. It’s incredible what forms of entertainment can be found when there’s no electronics and just a bunch of creative people, a jungle, and an ocean!
After our three weeks at Punta Mona about fifteen of us took a private van to San Jose to spend the weekend (and watch the Super Bowl, damnit Bears) at the farm’s city home known as Casa Mona. When the new week began we took another private van to our second farm, Finca Ipe, on the Pacific side. Although I loved the first farm experience I appreciated that our new one was closer to civilization and just a twenty minute hitch-hike to the cool coastal town of Dominical, not to mention the farm itself was beautiful with nicer facilities . . . I was happy to share my room with three little bats instead of rats like at Punta Mona! The second half of our course was great too - the highlights being the classes on bio-dynamics, animal husbandry, and cheese making!
We took awesome weekend trips while on the farm - one was a ridiculous hike to Diamante Falls, a waterfall with a cave behind for camping. I promised the girls from my group that I’d join them for the all-girls trip, but not being able to resist went into Dominical with the boys the night before . . . needless to say I was the only one who was barfing the next afternoon while hiking! In my defense we stupidly hiked during the hottest part of the day - that’s HOT - and being predisposed to heat exhaustion anyway I potentially would have been barfing even minus the hangover . . . fyi someone else we met at the cave (who wasn’t hung-over) got sick too 😊 The following day made the trip all worth it as we explored a number of other breathtaking waterfalls in the surrounding area. On a separate occasion (actually for one of our classes) we hiked to some more waterfalls and spent the day jumping, swimming and picnicking. Another weekend we hitched to a remote beach and camped there for the night - a fun time until what felt like every crab in the ocean decided to come ashore . . . it made for a skittish night of attempted sleep and reaffirmed that I need to invest in a hammock! When feeling restless at the farm we’d venture into Dominical for the night to hit the beach and go dancing. After the program ended I spent a few days with the group there decompressing and saying my goodbyes.
**Now if everything had gone as planned I’d still be in Costa Rica until May 6th . . . ahhh, can’t let myself stop and think about that for too long . . . but I’ve actually been back in the States since the beginning of March. While at Punta Mona I learned of an opportunity to tour the nation for a year on a veggie bus promoting recycled vegetable oil as an alternative fuel source, sustainable living, and a number of conscientious companies. Everything I learned about the job clicked with what I was looking for and every part of me was saying “I have to do this!” To some of you this will make perfect sense if you can think back to the days when I thought being a truck driver was a sweet gig or in the not-so-distant past when I moved to NYC to pursue a career as a road manager for bands . . . not to mention that this past year has confirmed that I’m addicted to being on the road. I was pretty much signed up for it by the end of a brief conversation with one of the bus’ visionaries, but when the minor detail that the job started in March surfaced I initially thought I’d have to turn it down. I had been harassing my brothers and one of their girlfriends to come visit CR and they had purchased tickets literally days before (they would have just been there - ah, sorry guys!) and I also already had a dear friend coming in for a visit. I struggled with my decision, but my heart said I had to do it and so that’s where I am!
I met the bus crew in Los Angeles and headed to a weekend retreat at Lake Arrowhead to learn more about each other and the job . . . I have never known so little about a job before starting and have gone into this year with an ultra go-with-the-flow attitude. There are five of us living on an ‘86 Vanhool European tour bus that has been converted to run on recycled vegetable oil with a refurbished interior made from all sustainable materials to serve as our home as well as an ecological showroom. We will be traveling around the country until March of next year visiting primarily Whole Foods Markets, other health food stores, natural/conscious festivals, as well as the music festival Bonnaroo (one of the selling points for me!). The bus has organic/eco-friendly sponsors who make up the Conscious Goods Alliance, which is technically where I get my paychecks.
We have already been through most of Southern California, as well as the Las Vegas and Phoenix areas. We are currently en route to Colorado for about a week and then onto the Mid-West. I am excited to go home for a few days while passing through as well as getting to see lots of old friends along the way. Although it’s been cool to meet new interesting people, as well as rub shoulders with celebrities (lots of celeb sightings and hung out with Daryl Hannah in LA), it’s been even better to reconnect with old friends. I got to see the Hiebs my first week back when they were in LA for the Pac-Ten basketball tournament and I’ve seen my brother, Grant, twice since. I’ve also gotten to see a bunch of good friends in the areas we’ve been (who thankfully have been easy going and flexible around the bus’ constantly changing schedule) and I am so looking forward to seeing more of you!
I am unsure if I’ll be sending more blogs from this site as I am supposed to be blogging for the project (great!), but please feel free to keep track of me at our website: www.consciousgoodsalliance.com. The site still needs some work, but there is more info on our mission, our schedule a few weeks out, pictures, etc. Speaking of pictures . . . if interested, below are links to some related to the experiences I just shared (no captions yet, sorry):
New Zealand: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=anr6pk9.5j87516t&x=1&y=m1fnl6
Xmas Break & Costa Rica: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=anr6pk9.7lvmf6t9&x=1&y=v1jlyh
CGA Tour - SoPac Region: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=anr6pk9.adct5w9p&x=1&y=-ck5d5l
I am very excited with where my travels have led and I am looking forward to all that I anticipate learning in this next year in various realms. I bought a skateboard off a middle-school kid and between practicing that and “bus surfing” (a sport that I’m sure has already been invented, but I’m bringing back) I am hoping to be ready to chill somewhere for a few months (possibly Costa Rica again) after this gig and learn to surf for real! I feel like I’m more on the right path in my life than ever before with an inspiring appreciation for life and the beauty our great planet holds, but I still can’t predict where I’ll actually end up in a year from now . . . it’s a beautiful thing.
I hope that this (extremely long) note finds you all enjoying life and happy! Thank you for keeping me updated on your lives - I know there’s a lot of great news to celebrate with many of you as I roll through your towns. I do not have a new cell phone yet and have limited internet access, but will try to be more successful than I’ve been thus far in giving you all a heads up before landing in your spots - so looking forward to it!
Much, much love,
Nikki
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Kelly
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Nik! So good to hear from you! Will the bus be making it to Jazz Fest?!?