rufmita

My arsenal for my impending boat trip. Why would I ever get on another boat again, you ask? Well, I've been asking myself the same question.

It's not that I'm forcing a reason that I moved back to this frigid inferno of ice cold arctic hell, but I think I've found one anyway. A while back I found this poem by my favorite artist...

Why is it that everyone that I've ever talked to thinks there should be some sort of test before you can procreate and yet only stupid people are breeding and I don't even own a TV.

Traveling in North America over winter break can be a nightmare. Luckily it looked like the nightmare was staying in the Northeast and Midwest, but as I was sitting at my gate with Fresa in tow I hear an announcement that we won't arrive in Denver until 1:30, which is two hours later than my scheduled time. Of course the boards say that our departure is on time and as the mumblings start we find out that indeed the flight is being delayed. Now I've got to make my way outside to let Fresa pee and stretch. When I walk back in I hear that the flight is now leaving at 7:05 pm. Another girl is standing there and tells me that she is having her friends pick her up, they live close. Damn. I call my sister and she needs to shower before she leaves, so I wait.

All this time I am checking my phone updates for Southwest and the 7:05 changes back to 11:30. What? I confirm that the new time is now 11:30. That poor girl had already been picked up.

At 11 they tell us they are starting to board and I am hopeful, but not too optimistic. I need to be in the air to really think we're leaving.

We board, Southwest has that stupid open boarding policy. Just assign me a seat so I can go to it. I feel like people take longer looking when it's open seating.

We're in line for takeoff and get the news that it will be at least 9 more minutes.

Then there's a huge THUD. Loud. Bam. Followed by screaming. A tiny baby is laying in the aisle 3 rows in front of me. The man across the aisle leans over as the mom realizes that she has fallen asleep and dropped her kid.

A man comes up the aisle and presents himself as a doctor. He was tall, handsome and part Asian, which made me giggle from stereotyping. The flight attendant was worried about a concussion and, although she was a bit dramatic, I mentally agreed with her push to have the baby checked before we took off. Of course now I'm thinking about my delay, selfish, I know, but that's what popped into my head. That and that baby is probably better off if it's life ended now. I know people make mistakes, but imagine dropping your kid. I silently patted myself on the back for choosing not to have kids.

We rolled back to the gate and the paramedics came aboard and decided that the lady and her kid should be removed. Of course when this was mentioned the lady asked about her luggage and worried that if she got off she wouldn't have her bag. I am not sure if she was in shock or flippant about dropping her kid, it was a strange interaction.

Hey, maybe with that blow to the head the kid will now have two different colored eyes...

For the first time in my adult life I am the one left behind. My whole family is on a trip to the tropical island of St. Lucia and I'm stuck in the midst of exams, grading, not taking. Normally I'd be the one traveling someplace with no access to phones, busy with daily needs that I wouldn't consider hanging out in an internet cafe. Well this time, I am the one left to worry. Did they make it? Are they ok? I reach for my phone to dial my mom and remember, oh crap I can't talk to her right now. So, this is what it feels like being on the other end of traveling kids. I know they are having a blast and I can't wait to catch up and hear about their trip. It's weird being on this side of things...

When you live in a 3rd world country you pick up some strange habits. Going to the grocery store has always been a chore for me. I don't like shopping because I don't like cooking. Well, at least in the US you can go to the store, walk down the isle and buy what you usually buy. Not in the 3rd world. Going to the grocery store is like russian roulette. You never know what you're going to get. The worse place I've been? Bolivia. We all swore that what was on the shelves was just whatever got crammed into the container ship and slowly made it's way South. There were mac and cheese boxes that when you buy don't expire for 5 years and in Bolivia they were going to expire in a few weeks. Dinged cans, old packaging, Halloween candy in January. What happens is that when you do go to the store and find something you like you end up buying the whole shelf. Laura did this with diet coke. We heard a rumor that the special part at the coke plant broke so when we shopped she bought the entire shelf. Good thing too because diet coke went missing for a while.

In the DR it was hummus. You never knew if the store would have it and what kinds.

It is so weird to be back in a place that just stocks their shelves. Unfortunately I've picked up this bad habit of hoarding products when I find ones I like.

This is what my cabinet looks like right now.

My final weekend in the DR concludes with a visit to my favorite beach, Playa Bonita in Las Terrenas. Awesomeness from sunrise to sunset...

I have a problem. Ok, I have many problems, but this one involves booking plane tickets. For the 3rd time in my life I've managed to book a ticket wrong. The first time I actually booked a ticket in the opposite direction. I was trying to go from Yangon to Bangkok and I booked to leave Bangkok. The sad part was I didn't realize it until the day before I left and it was too late to change, so I had to buy an entirely new ticket.

The 2nd time was when Laura and I were going to Colombia for the month. We wanted to get travel insurance and after I booked my ticket I noticed that my insurance expired on December 26, that's weird, to expire in the middle of a trip... Well, somehow, I don't know how, I booked the ticket to return 2 weeks earlier than our plan. Luckily I caught that one right away and was able to change no problem.

Well just yesterday my sister and I were bickering about my ticket home. She kept telling my mom it was Sunday, when I kept saying Saturday. I've been talking to my parents to be at the airport on Saturday and I've been counting the days for my Saturday departure. Well, Mary kept insisting that they itinerary I sent her was for Sunday, so I looked it up and crap, it was. I went back to my email to the school (they book our flights home) and I put Saturday, June 16. Well June 16 is Sunday, so she just looked at the date and not the day I chose. DAMN. I was sooooo sad to see that date. A WHOLE 24 hours past the point that I've been planning on being here. I know what you are thinking... 24 hours, big deal. Well you don't understand how ready I am to get out of here. Everyone is leaving either Friday or Saturday so no one will be around and my apartment is basically empty now, never mind in 3 weeks! Twenty four hours is practically a life time (dramatic, I know).

What is wrong with me? Why can't I book a plane ticket. You'd think I'd be super good at it since I travel so much. 

It is low season here at DR beaches and you know what that means? Cheaper rates, less tourists and a bit of rain - worth it. Playa Bonita is exactly how it sounds, beautiful, and my favorite place I've been to on this Island. The gov't has been doing work on the roads and a once 5 hour drive has been dwindled down to 2 1/2 hours. The cost for the speed, however is a bunch of tolls. Not a terrible price to pay to leave Santo Inferno for the weekend.
She rarely sits still for very long when she's awake, so I hung out with her in the grassy area above the beach and we had a little photo shoot.

Spending 33 hours on buses in a 3rd world country is enough to make even the most positive person a bit jaded, and well, you know that I wasn't this year's model positive personality winner. Let's see, what can I share... for one thing the vomit ride is alive and well. I briefly took off my headphones to the chorus of gags and hacks of bile being deposited into flimsy plastic bags. How about the cloth bags with top zippers that held roosters being shuttled to their fame, or death, at the cock fight? The lady with her seat reclined into my lap so she could accommodate her caged birds was not too pleasant. The one Paying lady with her litter of children that has to ride on her lap even though a paying customer can't really utilize the seat next to her. Don't even get me started on the smells... Oh Colombia - you will forever remind me of piss and vomit. Now I'm sure that for the total trips I spent less than $100 USD. I can't brag about the distances too much since a lot of the roads weren't real roads, but narrow dirt and rock paths barely wide enough for one car never mind cars traveling in opposite directions. My favorite part is that the bus stops whenever someone needs it to stop, so the "express" bus is just an adjective to make gringos pay a bit more.

Don't worry there are more adventure updates to come! Stay tuned for the latest shannagans of Lisa and her excellent decision making....

My baby sister is getting married - in 4 days - and she's decided on a destination wedding, so the family is packing their bags and we're meeting up in Turks and Caicos. This shouldn't be so bad since I live on the island directly south of T & C, however getting a flight was an enormous pain in the ass and I have to travel 2 hours to a different city (even though I live in the capital) to get to Providenciales. It seems that the old idea of island hopping in the Caribbean is not alive and well, that if you want to explore multiple islands you do a cruise... so tomorrow I get on a bus, head to Santiago, get to the airport and leave at 4 pm only to arrive in Provo at 3:45 pm... nothing like gaining 15 minutes in life :)

There are manatees in the DR!

So a few months ago I was looking through a tourist brochure and I saw an article about a protected bay on the north side of the DR that is a safe haven for a population of manatees. I was instantly intrigued and started brainstorming ways to get up there and check it out. Of course, one of my ideas was to organize a trip for my high school students, so they could see this awesome part of their island. I had no idea what to expect and my expectations were low, but the trip turned out to be amazing.

After a 5 hour bus ride from the capital through the winding mountains we ended up near Punta Rucia.

When we hiked down the dirt road the kayaks were waiting for us and before we could give any instruction a group of students jumped in and started paddling away. The funny part about this is most of our students had never been in a kayak before, they were just so excited to be there that they couldn't contain themselves and left a group of us behind... I had been thinking about those manatees for so long there was no way I was NOT going to see them... The left behinds waited patiently and finally got our chance to paddle out into the bay. What awaited us was a million times better than I could have imagined. The calm, peaceful waters surrounding our kayaks while we patiently waited for the manatee faces to peek up out of the water for a deep breath of air. It was impossible to capture a photo of their face and I decided to put down my camera and just observe rather than obsess about a photo. So here's where we were...

I was thinking of uploading some photos to the National Geographic photo contest, but after several error messages I decided that maybe I would just put a few of my favorites on my blog...

Remember that heavenly place called Playa Fronton that I visited in February? Well here's a video my kids put together...


If you want to find out more about our project be sure to visit our Sea Savers blog and "join"...

Looking for heaven? Look no further, it's right here on earth, which is exactly where it should be, and we should realize that and totally appreciate it.

You need directions? Well, you can probably find a heaven right where you are, but if you'd like to go to the one I just visited you'll have to get your way to the DR and drive out to the tip of the Samana peninsula and get on a boat to Playa Fronton.

Well, this is the view from my tent. Yup, I was sitting inside my tent, organizing my stuff (I forgot how much I enjoy setting up a tent), when I looked up.


Did you know that on the Chaco website you can upload photos of all the places your Chacos have been? I bought these beauties in 1996 and they've stepped on a lot of heavenly places...


A little coral reef snorkeling in the gorgeous waters...

After spending four days for Thanksgiving in Caberete, we decided to head back up this past weekend. The clock's ticking for time left before xmas break and most of us are going home, so we figured we better get in some more beach time before heading to the North American winter. I haven't been home for xmas in a long time, so this will be something different for me.

Caberete is one of those beach places where one wrong move and you could instantly become "lost". It has that party, reckless feel and although I can't compare it to Punta Cana, I am imagining that it is much different. There aren't "resorts" in Cab (that's what the locals call it). The water isn't that crystal clear calm water that you are thinking of, instead the winds and surf bring the kite boarders and surfers out and the town caters to adventure.

I thought I'd try and give surfing a go, but being that I'm not much of a water person it wasn't a thrilling first experience. I'll stick to wandering the beach looking for shells, or in this case, avoiding trash and plastics. We need to have a plastic discussion soon...

At one point I counted 19 kite boarders in my view. In typical tourist fashion some horses came trotting by. The water is clear, but the constant winds cause the crashing waves to stir things up.

On my last night in Colombia, I thought I'd do some reflecting...

Top 6 awesome things about my Colombia trip:

1. The food, damn, I've eaten some good meals here. I think I have a tie for my favorite meal and they are both fish! The first was on Isla del Rosario where I had a huge delicious steak of some unknown fish, fried yucca, and coconut rice (oh man it's good). The second is while we were in the "coffee region" at Valle de Cocora and I ordered the trout with fried plantian. Who knew I liked trout so much.

2. The weather, well mostly, but we were super lucky to miss almost all the rain that has been plaguing Colombia for the past few months.

3. Spending time with my sister. I will always remember this trip as the first time Mary and I were able to travel together as adults! She's a great travel companion, and I'll snatch her away from Kyle again soon :)

4. San Gil - the little town considered the "adventure capital of Colombia" really lives up to it's name not only in adventure (puking 8 times is pretty adventurous) but the scenery and climate. It is the first time in my life I recall just being comfortable - not too hot or too cold, but just perfect. Goldilocks should have found San Gil.

5. Bogota, now my official favorite South American big city, sorry Buenos Aires, but you ain't got nothing on Bogota, ok, well, maybe the long summer nights, but as far as cities go, this place is pretty darn nice.

6. Having an awesome travel partner. Seriously, this girl is like a sister to me, and well, you all know how well I treat my sister sometimes... No, really, we are great travel partners and whenever the going gets too rough we just play "would you rather" and all things are put into perspective.

Top 6 "are you freaking kidding me" things about my Colombia trip:

1. Sleeping in a hammock that is hanging in an area with 60 hammocks under a thatched roof in the middle of the jungle.

2. Spending New Year's Eve in the jungle with nothing to do and $8 drinks :( AND having to suck it up and sleep in a hammock after that!

3. The Panaca farm. Now don't get me wrong, I'm glad we went there and I got some awesome animal photos, but I didn't come all the way to Colombia to go to an "amusement park" of over 4,000 domestic animals.

4. Colombians not living up to their widely known image as being highly beautiful people. Now don't get me wrong, my flaming gay dance partner was cute, you know, if you like stick thin, tiny little men that act like women, but man we've not seen one fabulously gorgeous man OR woman.

5. The tour we paid for... I should have known better. I just wanted our extra three weeks to be awesome and fun filled, and with our limited Spanish we decided to pay for a personal package through Mantayra Travel here in Bogota. DO NOT EVER use that company. Laura and I could have done a much better job on our own, next time...

6. I guess I should put puking on here. Who knew I'd be sailing around the sky, something I've thought of doing for a long time, and puke up my entire breakfast of eggs, toast, melon and coffee.

** Please note: there is no particular order in which I've described my trip. I certainly do not like food better than my sister!

How to sum up the last 9 days in Cartagena... after some flight delays in Lima and Bogota we (Laura and I coming from Bolivia) finally arrived in Cartagena. My sister was already there and waiting for me in the hotel lobby and it was so awesome to see her! It's been a year and a half since we have seen each other and for her birthday this year I decided to get her to Colombia so we could hang out. I try not to have any regrets in life, but my true regret is being a terrible sister when we were growing up. Mary is such an amazing human being and I was such a super huge bitch to her when she was little that I feel like I want to make up for lost time. We have never done a sister vacation, so this was it!

We decided to splurge while she was here and stay at the Hilton. Luckily one of Laura's friends was also here and had Hilton points so we got hooked up with an awesome free breakfast every morning and access to the "excutive lounge".

Our first big excursion was to get on a bus (Las Chivas) and do a night tour of the city. Of course we had no idea what to expect, but it turns out that you get a free bottle of rum and some coke and ice to go along with it. I think they sat us five girls in the very front seat because they could translate more easily and it turned out to be a benefit for us because we kept getting new bottles of rum. Of course we end up at a "disco" and the fun begins...

Next day we wake up early to head to Islas del Rosario to chill on the beach. The ride to Bocachica (the little mouth) was ok, but then we reached open waters... whew, not a fan. I luckily didn't have to puke over the side.

Not 10 minutes off the boat we decide to jump back on and go see some coral. Mary orders the extra huge fins and we jump overboard and get masked up. Mary couldn't get her mask on right and it kept squishing her ears and the guide must have asked her 15 times if she was ok. She was kind of pale and looked pathetic, but we adjusted and enjoyed the waters. It wasn't as clear as I thought it would be, but still nice.


Mary left after 5 days and it was really sad to see her off at the airport. I wish I had planned to go home with her and spend the holidays with the family. Actually Raleigh just had 8 inches of snow, so maybe I'm glad I didn't head home. Hanging out with her made me realize that I want to be around my people. Thanks to Larry we all have similar travel styles, you know, get out there and explore!



The last 4 days in Cartagena were really unnecessary. Laura and I didn't know when we planned the trip that 5 days is a perfect amount of time to see what you want around here. I have done a bit of exploring and have some great photos of the walled city. We went to another island and hung out for the day, did laps around the streets in the city, ate really good, expensive food and found the Starbucks of Colombia... Juan Valdez. We made friends with street beer sellers and jewlery vendors, and hung out in the ritzy plazas as well as the ghetto plazas.

Now it's time to have one last meal in the city and then get on a bus and head north to Taganga and some real beach time!