The Joy of Hostel

9/7/15

   
   
(Short post today.)

I often take a lot of things for granted: safety, ability to move, breath, breathe, speaking intelligently (well, I am not sure that ever happened for me), and most importantly: sleep. After traveling for so long and staying in so many hostel (good, bad and extra special: I mean, I once saw a used condom, dead cockroaches, and even someone who slept and walked around naked. Also, I have learned it is always people who should be clothed that like to naked), you would think I am used to it. The truth is, and I know I complained a lot about it, there are always situations that top all my past experiences. Last night and this morning was one for record.

I went to bed around 11pm, exhausted after 2 nights of minimum sleep: the 8 beds form was full (due to a holiday: it is Independence Day in Brazil. I had a whole blog post planned, but you know about the best laid plan f nice and men), and the brazilians using the room were really noisy. It is not the rowdy noise from partying too much, but the constant snoozing of alarms at 5am; talking loudly at 2am, 5am, and any other time; the banging of doors; turning on lights at all hours. This morning took the cake: there was an alarm going on from 4:30am to 6am, then lights came on at 5:30am when three people went to shower, which was followed by cabinet doors banging and yelling. At 6am, one person lost his key to the lock, so the front desk person came with a saw and saw through the lock. In the end, I think I slept for less than 2 hours. Launch I only slept 6 hours in 48 hours, my body basically shut off itself and I was groggy with a sore throat the rest of the day.

Not able to sleep and the cleaners had to clean the room, I went to the bus station to get my ticket for Rio, opting to depart the next day. I decided to go for the most expensive bus, since it is the last time on this trip I will get the chance to try the executive bus (no such connection to Iguazu falls and to buenos aires). 

I spent the rest of the day trying to pack my bags, grab supplies and finally managed a 1 hour nap. It add my headache a little worst, and I now have a sore throat. This, coupled with the terrible thunderstorm and rain throughout the day, made it tough to enjoy the Brazil Independence Day the way I wanted. But then, that’s traveling: good comes with bad, and you just have to make do.

Oh, and did I mention there is a creepy guy in my room? He likes to get really close to people, and I think he is currently “rubbing one out”, under the cover of bedsheets and some very loud snoring from another guy in the room. Ah, joy of hostels never ends. 

Island and Pool

6/10/15

   
      
         I have been fortunate to see many wild lives in my trips (and I am sure some will mention I eat a lot of weird things on my trips too…). I am not a huge fan of zoos, since I prefer to see animals in their natural habitat. Well, as “natural” as it gets with humans trampling around anyway. In the past few months, I have been spoiled by some of the most amazing landscapes: deserts, mountains, canyons, lakes, salt flats, etc. of course, there are animals around those areas too, but you are constantly more mesmerized by the landscape and scenery (at least I was. I do have a short attention span after all. Where were we?). 

I woke up at 6am again today for no reason. My tour to Ballestas Island only starts at 7:30am, but I could not fall back to sleep. In the end, I took advantage of the pool right outside my room and did a quick swim before heading off for the tour. (No one mentioned how cold the pool water was, or how long it takes to dry my swim trunks- I forgot I am no longer in very dry climate now…) 

We waited at the pier for another 40 mins before they allowed us to board the speed boats. It was interesting to see how many tourists there were in the small beach town of Paracas. There were easily more than 100 tourists taking the tour on a Wednesday morning. It was a really nice day: sunny but not too humid. I have to apologize in advance: I did not really research on Ballestas Island, so I knew very little about it. All I know is: the islands are around the Paracas district,composed largely of rock formations, and is an important sanctuary for blue-footed booty(heh), penguins, starfishes, sea lions and many other marine animals. oh, and there is a mysterious geoglypj known as El Candelabro that no one quite knows what it actually is. These lines are craves into rocks, similar to that of Nazca lines but much deeper. 

We had a great time at the tour, taking lots of photos of cute penguins, sealions and anything that was cute and photo worthy. The tour was excellent, with the dual soundtrack of English and Spanish. It was such a transition from Bolivia, where majority of tours were conducted solely in Spanish and I had to guess the meaning 75% of the time (the other 25%? I was falling asleep). It was fun to get really close to the Penguins and see them diving off cliffs. It was interesting to see so many birds and other animals living in close proximity. You can see crabs on the rocks, and thousands of birds around the same area. As expected, the sight of all these creatures made me hungry for some good sushi. Thankfully, with the presence of so many birds, the smell of bird poo was overpowering, even in open ocean. My appetite for almost live seafood went away quickly.

Back on land, I went for a quick run in an expensive looking beach front resort (filled with giant swimming pools, white pool chairs, and some very red tourists). Getting envious of the luxury lifestyle, I sat by my hostel’s pool to cool down and enjoyed the sun. It was nice, peaceful and relaxing, especially with a bar selling cold beers.  I caught up on my reading about future locations, tried to study Spanish, and went for a few quick dips in the pool. It was probably the most luxurious portion of my trip so far, in terms of time spent relaxing.

I bidded farewell to a new couple I met in Cuzco, and on the bus: Lucas and Jess. ( They have already been to Ecuador, and will be returning to England soon. Safe journeys!) I am now going to Lima to meet an old friend. I was actually all excited until he told me my mistake: he will only arrive on Thursday night. I had made the rookie traveler’s mistake of forgetting dates. Of course, being an independent traveler means I can do whatever I want (within budget that is), so I will just get into Lima and plan for my next portion of the trip. 

As I mentioned. I am a big advocate for saving habitats. While humans have a right to survive, we also have a duty to preserve the world so everything else can survive. A barren earth would not be the best habitat after all. Also, I guess there are lots of advantages to living in a biodiverse environment. I am sure the crabs on Ballestas Islabd are pretty grateful there are so many fishes for the birds. If not, they will be bird sushi any minute.

(Also, imagine living so close to all your friends and family. No Lon distance communication=no messing up appointment dates….)

Sleep and Travel

4/25/15

   
                 PSA: I will be on a bus to San Pedro de Atacama for 24 hours. I have also been warned that the Internet in San Pedro is really crappy. So you may not see an update until I finish the Salar de Uyunni tour. Sorry!

I am a light sleeper. I have grown accustomed to nice bed, dark room, quiet environment for sleeping. (The comfort and joy of living in U.S.?) also, I need a few days to adjust to a new bed. When I was on assignments, it usually takes me 2-3 days in a new hotel room to get 8 hours of sleep. (Which is just in time for me to check out, go home and have a new hotel room the next week) now that I am full time traveling, sleep has become quite the luxury, especially in a hostel dorm room. Your roommate may snore, smell of BO, drunk, puke, have sex, set alarm for 6am, pack their bags with lights on at 1am…you get the picture.

With my last day in Santiago, I decided to walk around the squares and find GAM ( museo Gabriela mistral). I was brought here during the walking tour. The complex has a complex history: it was built by the people during Allende’s presidency, as a showcase to United Nations of chile’s growing economy. It was built by volunteers, finished much ahead of planned schedule. The building is beautiful, with interesting finishes in copper(main export of chile). Under Pinochet, the building became a  headquarter for torture and detention.  The population feared the building and its connotation. It was only in recent years they reopened the building as a cultural center. If only the building can speak and tell its story…

Being a Saturday, the neighborhood I am staying in was a lot quieter. Lots of people were just sitting around drinking coffee and enjoying the weather. As a city. Santiago has left a very favorable impression. If I have more money. I’d love to stay for a few weeks and enjoy life here. (Well and if I know Spanish a lot better).

As I sit back in the hostel typing this up and enjoying the wifi, I am also prayin I can get a decent night rest on the upcoming 24 hours bus ride. But knowing my luck, I will probably just toss and turn a lot, irritating my neighbor, who is most likely a bigger gentleman….