where's peter

the planning for the trip

2011-12-05T22:41:00.000Z

it was mid october when i really began to think seriously about coming back down to chile. i had a decent amount of air travel miles, so i started to explore those options, there were some pretty decent flights available for 20,000, and even more appealing was a 1st class seat for 35,000 (miles, not dollars not pesos, miles). i was getting close to clicking the buy button, i simply had to contact several people in chile to see if they would be home to receive me (summer is round the corner, much of the country heads to the coast or mountains).

before i'd heard back from anyone, i received a notice from the los angeles county court system, that i had been randomly selected to serve for jury duty during the week of nov 14th - 18th (that's what you get for voting) the problem is, the way the system now functions is that they have you on hold, so you don't have to appear in person, you call in the night before and their system notifies you if you are obligated to appear the next day, nice because you don't have to show up everyday, however there is the risk that you could be called upon to appear the last day of the week and if chosen to serve that case could cross over into the next week.

so i was unable to commit to a ticket or date not knowing if i might be held over. and so i waited, survived the week without having to appear. but all those great flights were now gone, suddenly the 20,000 mile fares had crazy itineraries - lax to phoenix 23 hours at the airport then a flight to dallas and 9 hours more. the first class flight was long gone. the next option was buying a flight or ponying up another 10,000 miles for a more reasonable flight; all the lax flights were still anywhere from 9 to 12 hours of layovers some over three flights. then i saw a flight out of burbank and jumped on that: it was burbank to dallas, a 1 hour and 10 minute layover in dallas, then off to santiago.

with ticket in cyber-space, i set about the task of preparing to get everything ready to go: the boat; i wanted to clean the bottom, get everything buttoned up topside and interior, tanks, electrical systems, bilge, and address some leaky spots in some of the ports. the biggest inhibitor to beginning these tasks came from the presence of my laundry, which seemed to be strewn about the boat, with a variety of mail that required shredding, dirty dishes in the sink, a fridge that needed to be shut down and cleaned out, it was a bit overwhelming. to distract me more from the seemingly insurmountable task at hand was a friend who had need for some serious medical attention. several members of the congregation came together to get him into a county hospital so as to address his condition which he'd been living with for several months with no sign of healing. the six days that he was in the hospital seemed to have had a positive affect on him both mentally and physically.

in addition i wanted to see my siblings and their new babies before leaving, this self invitation came with a warning that both households were sick. i felt it was worth the risk, so i went down on that saturday afternoon, and enjoyed a few hours of time with them all. that sunday afternoon i went back to the hospital to visit our friend with another friend (zara) from church, she claimed not to be able to smell. later that week on tuesday i cleaned the bottom of the boat, the water didn't look so good, so i pulled the boat half way out of the slip so while i cleaned it would be in a less confined space. where am i going with this? well; i got sick -- was it the babies, the hospital, proximity to zara or the dirty sea water, only One can say, but the prospect of being toxic and in a state of weakened immunity on a plane was not very appealing to me.

the procrastination had continued long enough i needed to do my laundry . . .

this saga will continue

he'sssss backkkkk

2011-12-05T20:18:00.001Z

where to begin? -- let's start all over again,

i know over the last few months and years i've expressed an intent to return to chile, in march of 2012 it would have been three years since i concluded my last visit. the plan at the time was to come back to the states and visit family and friends, with the expectation that i would return to santiago to be with my friends prior to the november due date of their baby matteo. most of you know that never happened, as i got caught up in a number of different activities; through church, extended visits with family, some courses online, other personal studies, and an amateur recording project, in addition; a great deal of time was waisted. there are many of you i could have spent more time writing too, socializing with, and just developing closer friendships with, i hope to improve drastically in that area. restarting this blog is an attempt to do just that.

you might ask, why not facebook? (can i use that name without having to pay a licensing fee?) seems confining and impersonal to me. i don't really know if this is much better, some of the positives i see: is that i'm not repeating myself, meaning my individual emails can be more personal; i'm not limited in characters, so i can ramble on forever, and you can choose to read or not; my names not popping up to your friends as a potential new friend, i have a hard enough time giving those of you who are friends the appropriate attention a friend should. so lets see how this goes, the hope is that i can spend a short amount of time reaching many with as much info as pertinent and then concentrate on language skills here and the advancement of the Gospel.

what was i thinking?

2009-08-22T23:34:00.002Z

hey, the laziest blogger you know, is an even lazier facebook friend.

i don't know who still checks this out anymore, many of you may have resorted to sending me emails to which you have probably not received a reply. many apologies. brief history in my time. i have been back i the states since the 3rd of april (still haven't completed my taxes) hit the ground here in the marina with boat maintenance and visits with friends, family and plugging in at church. two months later and i was on the road again; what was supposed to be a two week trip to utah expanded to a full month, this resulted in my not returning to la but rather, going on to the bay area to visit with more friends and family and attend the wedding of my friend jodi. again my plans were not set in stone, so i expanded my visit to a four week period.

now i've been back in los angeles for another 4 weeks, getting more boat items removed from the "to do" list (taxes still on that list) if you are one of the many emailers who has given up on getting a response, i'm trying to change my ways.

26 march 2008

2008-03-26T23:41:00.002Z

what to report, what to report.

the weather has been really nice. i'm pretty comfortable with the public transportation system. wishing i'd brought my bike instead of the surfboard, not many waves to catch in santiago. i'm usually good with directions but sitting in the back seat has left me a bit confused about some of the directions where i'm staying. we seem to take a number of different routes coming and going. the bus is only one direction so now that i've taken that things are falling into place.

i've been catching up on class work and getting somethings together for the project, we are moving forward and there are some people who have expressed interest in helping. i'm trying to get into a personal study program for spanish but i've been finding a great number of resource tools online for my studies. i may take some private classes as i may need that kick start.

back? - i didn't know he'd left

2008-03-05T17:12:00.000Z

deepest apologies to all who've used this to keep up with me. some of you know i was home and running all over seeing family and a few of you i had the great pleasure of getting to share some brief visits. to those of you who i didn't manage to see or even contact i'm sorry. perhaps upon my next visit.

so here's the latest tale: i had lots to accomplish on my short visit, the biggest expense and concern was the boat. i really didn't fully resolve the issue, but it won't be totally neglected as my brother is going to be able to use it as a resting place if any opportunities arise for him in the film industry in los angeles. then there was the hope of getting together with the producers of "the way of the master", this didn't pan out as i was on the road out of los angeles for much of my visit. but they did have some very interesting news concerning a couple who live in santiago who expressed and interest in helping to get this series into the hands and hearts of the spanish speaking community. they were in the southern california area while i was there, but again our schedules were not quite compatible. i'll be contacting them today in hopes that we can meet here in santiago and work together.

the other event that took place while in los angeles was that my computer which was 5 and a half years old, by apple terms it's an antique, had a video card failure. the miracle here was that this took place just after i'd backed up the entire system. that includes all photos from the last year as well as the entire project with 24 translated episodes, i have to testify that i believe this was divine intervention. my friend nigel was gracious enough to allow me to use his employee discount on the purchase of another computer. so now if you skype me you can see me.

i've been taking a couple of classes online and the loss of the computer really was a bit of a set back, i'm playing catch-up now, so i'll have to keep this short. i have made it my goal to keep this blog up todate more often.

merry Christmas

2007-12-23T05:38:00.000Z

many of you may not know that i'm back in the states, i wanted to surprise my mom, so i didn't let you know. so i'll bee around until the 29th of feb. i hope to contact and see as many of you as possible. have a merry Christmas.

it's a long story on just why i came back i'll try to give the details in a bit.

no problems here

2007-11-16T18:22:00.000Z

i felt some rumbling but the area affected is 20 hours north of us. hadn't even heard of the damage until some of you called. thank you for your prayers. my apologies for not keeping things updated here, i am pushing hard to keep up on the class work i promise updates soon

3 aug

2007-08-04T19:54:00.000Z

today we did in 5 hours what a forklift could have accomplished in 10 minutes - we moved three tons of bricks from the ground floor to the 2nd story which is not yet built. much of the construction in chile is constantly in progress. this church will soon be two stories. the job was actually fun as we were tossing the bricks to each other in a fire line. most everything that people feel they me use again one day is thrown up on the roofs of their homes, it's baffling as some homes don't look like they can hold the weight, add to that the fact that this is earthquake country and some folks are going to have repercussions one day.

our group is being split in two days, i'll spend the rest of next week here in arica and the other half of the group will head south closer to the city of acica where our last two weeks will be spent. time is really moving now as we've been kept pretty busy with this church.

29 july - 22 july

2007-08-04T19:53:00.000Z

camping

four more weeks left, two in arica and then to a city which is a bit larger and south called acica (sp) from there it's back to pichilemu, where they've been battling the cold, apparently they've had a breathing epidemic in the town, i'm praying things will warm up and folks will be getting healthy again by the time we return there.

the last week has been one of much rest, we stayed outside of arica in a campground. i'm not quite sure if i have the details completely right: the pastor at the second church we visited a month ago is somehow involved in ownership or renting this property (but they didn't come out to visit us) the congregation from the last church we visited was very actively involved with us. they brought us mattresses and bedding, food and water. there was a pool, that was half full of green water, so the guys started bailing it out with 5 gallon buckets. samuel and robinson lead the charge, this was pretty ammusing as the soil here hasn't seen this much water since the last tsunami. the sandy soil just pooled the water. the next day the water was gone in most areas but when we walked over those places the soil caved in. we also had an incident with the loss of electricity in the commodore which is doubling as the guys sleeping quarters. i'm always leery of electricity (even in the states) but things are down right scary here. the area that flooded was also where the subterranean power supply was located. it started sparking and burning later in the day which when i thought about the fact that we'd been walking around that area in the puddled water and sinking into the soggy mud made me conscious of how we were being protected. i did get a pretty good shock trying to turn on an outdoor light switch 220 volts ain't fun.

the rest of the week was spent filling the pool back up and fighting off wild dogs. they were pretty bold, entering our kitchen and eating anything that wasn't tightly enclosed. they also were able to dump over the 55 gallon barrels which held our trash (pretty impressive for a cocker spaniel) i chased them off from day one but someone in the camp was feeding them and encouraging them to come around. i didn't eat for the first 4 days i was there a group of 4 of us were baptized in the pacific, then the congregation threw a party for us. benjamin made ceviche and they brought out a chinese chef (yes, he made chinese food) i went a bit overboard (having not eaten the previous day) my stomach was upset as i ate much and did the heavy spice thing.

15 july

2007-08-04T19:06:00.000Z

today was a pretty great day of relaxation. i was a bit concerned about the timeline as i'd been invited to have high tea in the early evening with friends we'd made at our last church. meanwhile during the day the assistant pastor had offered to take us out for the day. my worry was that we might be out for the full day and be unable to contact our hostesses.

we rose early and had quiet time and breakfast at the regular times, then it was sitting around and waiting for the cars to arrive. it was supposed to be 11ish but the actual time was 12:30ish. we ventured up to the largest of the three fertile valleys, which surprisingly was not far out of town before you could see the groves of olive trees, banana trees and tomato vines. amazing fact we were told that each mature olive tree will yield a ton of olives, a kilo (2.2 lbs) is $4 here, an eight oz can in california is over a $1 that's pretty amazing when we saw these fields of thousands of trees. i thought it odd that the villas weren't grander.

we made our way up to a museum in the valley where the claim to fame there is the oldest recorded mummy. the cost was preclusive to some members of the group so we drove around the valley. there were the geoglyps - ancient designs out of rock on the hillsides. we then scales a hillside, i did it barefoot as my flip flops didn't do so well in the sand. down was much faster and easier, bounding. this is sort of short and cryptic as i'm in front of the school, getting strand looks from hte locals.

we managed to make it to the dinner with our hosts had a there's more to this and i'll hopefully update it all in the future.

updating the blog is a bit more of a challenge

2007-08-04T19:04:00.000Z

this week as the one hotspot i found is at a school, the problem is it's closed for their winter break, and in order to pick up the signal i have to pass my computer through the bars of the gate and hold it in one hand and hunt and peck with the other.

the "it's a small world" aphorism is an excuse to avoid recognizing that there are no accidents. i've had these chance encounters on so many occasions recently and in the past -- i used to write them off as amazing coincidences, but i've come to the realization that stasticticly everyone of you would have to be traveling every single day i've traveled in order for me to have had these encounters by mere chance. since most of you don't have blogs indicating that you are out there everyday traveling i have realized that these encounters are not random statistical coincidences, but that there is a Creator -- He has a sense of humor, He reveals Himself daily to those who are open and earnestly seeking.

i was going somewhere with this, oh yeah, yet again i've had several run-ins that are confirming i am in the place where i'm supposed to be: two weeks ago i was in a local supermarket here in arica (pop 180,000ish) i was waiting in the area near the cash registers when this guy who was also waiting asked if i was from california, this threw me as i hadn't said anything or spoken near him. he thought i was in town for the rip curl surf competition. turns out he saw the travel badge on my back and recognized marina del rey. after a bit more discussion he mentioned that he is in a shooter living in santa monica, his mother lives in arica. strange to met someone in the same union in a line for groceries in south america, in la most everyone you meet falls into some industry category, but down here i left town to get away from all of that.

so the latest encounter was last week at the church we are working with; the pastor here knows the pastor i went to cambodia with in november, "the circle is now complete" that pastor from cambodia wrote my referral letter for the discipleship program i'd applied to ywam in australia, i was visiting his fathers church in santiago when i met mitch, the director of the ywam base here in pichilemu, are you confused?:

muddy explanation --

met isreal and debbie in cambodia (oct 06)
while traveling through so. america i started ap process for ywam surf dts in perth australia (jan 07)
had asked israel to write a pastoral referral for the application
stayed at the church of israel's father (jose) while in santiago. (feb 07)
met mitch anderson director of ywam base in pichilemu
that same day recieved email from perth that israel submitted pastoral referral
went to pichilemu to check it out.
a week later perth folks sent odd email that they couldn't find referral (march 07)
israel had sent a copy to me which i used for the pichilemu application
home for twelve days (march 07)
back to chile and began dts classe (march 07)
after the first week i wanted to move over to the counseling school - leaders wouldn't let me.
had to decide where i wanted to go on out reach (stay in chile or go to so. africa via germany) (april 07)
got a clear message in writing that i was to stay in chile.
outreach to arica (june 07)
met camera guy in market, (july 07)
at the church met pastor who knows israel and debbie, (july 07)
same day got email from base in australia

chile is living up to it's name . . .

2007-07-04T01:43:00.000Z

in temp and in spice!

many of you have been wondering where i've been and what i've been up to. well i'm going to tell you. it's been almost four weeks now that we've been in the north of chile - - most specifically arica, it's a city of about 100,000, twenty minutes from the peruvian border. we've been over the border once in order to get our re-entry stamp, qualifying us for another 90 days in chile.

pichilemu was beginning to get a bit cold and just after we departed the rains came which i'm told makes for quite the mud bog, the big miracle there was the lack of rain while several projects got buttoned up. the major one was the delivery and installation of the steel for the roof of over the pool. the strange thing is that i feel like i was in on this from the outset, as i met mitch the director of the ywam base in february when he was in santiago buying the steel and hiring the the welders. i helped offload the semi trailer in the middle of the night (20 guys per beam and me in my flip flops) i was scaling the cross members to paint the welds (in my flip flops, mom you would have been proud! . . i mean freaked) the last coats of paint were being applied the day the rains came. that same day i was helping one of the leaders wrap his construction project in plastic as we put the last few nails in the rain began to fall. i left pechilemu four days later. spent a day in santiago running errands then the next day it was into a bus and 27 hours later i was in arica.

this city is much larger than pichilemu, and my current living circumstances are much more comfortable than the boat, actually the last place was better than the boat also. odd because i'm here on a mission outreach yet i've had four meals served to me everyday, the bathroom is closer and it's been warmer. people have been doing my laundry. it's not supposed to be this easy. i feel bad because i came to serve and somehow i don't feel like i'm giving as much as i'm getting in exchange.

one of my biggest struggles here has been the dramas we've been practicing and performing from time to time. over the last three weeks that was a main focus. i was really resistant, because i saw so many other places where i felt i could actually be of service or interacting with people. the biggest missed opportunity was the rip curl pro invitational which was here for two weeks, we went on a friday to scout it out and there were thousands of kids milling about. but no one was excited about going back. finally i spoke with the assistant pastor about going back out on the last friday and taking sandwiches to give out and talk to people. we heard a rumor that the competition might have ended so thursday evening we went down and discovered that it was over. still not sure what to make of that, it seems a shame because we could have had a major impact on people here. i'm trying to figure out where and when or if i should be more vocal. we are here learning to submit to our leaders, who in-turn are submitting to the will of the pastors at the churches we are visiting but i didn't get a feeling that the pastor was totally opposed to us going to the comp. it's water under the bridge but i'm still trying to figure out my lesson.

saturday i made my first pasta sauce from scratch, the tricky thing was that it was for 250 people. we got tomatoes, garlic, oregano, onions all in bulk. oh yeah and some red chile pepper. well those of you who know me know i like it hot and that my taste buds are fried, there in lies the problem i put a 1/2 kilo of peppers in the sauce -- you'd think people who live in a country called chile would like chilies -- well they don't - i got some very interesting responses, the first taste was usually a positive look followed within seconds by looks of agony as some ran for glasses of water. the strange thing is i couldn't taste a the slightest hint of spice. the kilo of garlic didn't seem to bother them. an emergency purchase of bland sauce was arranged as the vast majority of our victims (i mean guests) were children. the following day we took the left overs down to an area where there were disadvantaged people living many substance abusers, these folks probably didn't suffer from the excessive spice, having abused themselves in so many other ways. we nourished them for one day and hopefully the time we spent with them was a time of encouragement.

i had some really encouraging interaction with some children here, one young girl was exceptionally kind to me. which made it very difficult when we had to depart. we had such brief interactions but her aunt said that she really made some major break throughs since she'd been with her. it's very sad here to see the absences of men in the lives of their wives and families. i guess it's everywhere but here it seems that women are given this role of servant, and men just kind of come and go as they please. i notice a bit of that behavior even amongst the guys in my group, their used to having been raise this way so they have no problem living that way. i have hire expectations of myself and these guys who are calling themselves christians. but that's me harping and i'm trying not to do that so much, i've got much in my own life that i need to address.

so that's a taste of what i've been up to in the last three months since i filled you in, hope you are all well.

back in pichilemu

2007-05-15T17:14:00.001Z

got back to pichilemu yesterday, spent the day re-provisioning and getting moved back in.

so things are moving along quicker than expected. we actually leave for our big outreach in the beginning of june, as opposed to the end, so there is much to get in order here, but it's a blessing as the rains will begin soon and this place becomes a mud bog. arika is north of the tropic of capricorn so things will be much warmer there.

back in pichilemu

2007-05-15T17:14:00.000Z

it's about time

2007-05-13T17:46:00.000Z

not a whole lot to update you on, i've been in chile now for 8 weeks, pichilemu for most of that time, the class and schedule here hasn't allowed for much free time, fortunately there are two sessions of sports each week which allows me to get down to try and surf, the water is pretty cold down in these parts, it's an antartic flow and the continent here doesn't take a gentle slope, apparently just a few miles off shore it just drops and that allows all that deep water to surge upward, the 3.2 mil wet-suit isn't going to work much longer, fortunately we'll be up north for the dead of winter

the last week and a half i've been in a town called teno, it's about 3 hours by bus southeast of pichilemu. we have been doing a mini outreach here. this has involved several things; we're working with a church here, the typical day begins with getting up around 7:30 for personal quiet time, although i seem to sometimes wake up at 4 for a few hours, if that happens i'm back to sleep until 9 - which is when we have breakfast. at 10 we go down to the church for some prayer and worship, then if we're lucky we get some academic time but usually it's drama practice. this takes us to 1 pm when we go and have lunch. everyone has been gracious enough with meals to make me meat alternative dishes ( they eat so much white bread down here) on the bright side there is also a great amount of avocados. the produce and fruit here is amazing but very few of the locals really take advantage of all the varieties they have, dishes usually have potatoes or rice sometimes tomatoes.

i got sick about a week ago, there were multiple reasons; the weather here, it's pretty cold, being fall and an agricultural region there is burning in the fields right now (so it's pretty smoggy, much like the san joaquin valley in california), the smog sometimes burns off to give some nice warm days, the hosts were sick and one of the guys staying with me was sick also and not very cautious about trying to get better. i've had one of the worst bouts of congestion ever. we don't have a warm shower available so i've had to use a kettle and pot, this limits full body washes to one or two a week. i feel like i need to get back to pichilemu to get on a better diet.

back to my day at 2 pm we're usually at the local hospital for a time of visitation with the patients and a prayer table for those who may be visiting someone sick or there for their own personal ailments. from there we usually have something else to do then we run back to our houses for a brief snack and back to the church for a service or visitations. the bigger meal is after the evenings events usually around 10 pm so i'm finally in bed by midnight or later, i try to catch up on some of my class work or reading as long as i can stay awake.

getting to the internet has been an issue also, the whole town closes down for lunch so the internet cafe is closed. i've not really even had time to write many personal emails. please forgive me if you were waiting for a personal response. last day an i've discovered the city park has free wireless, go figure.

mon 19th - sat 3rd mar 2007 mon 5 mar 2007

2007-03-06T17:50:00.000Z

i'm a tiling man, i spend several days learning to tile while i did it. the first room actually came out better than the second. they finally brought a professional in who dis in two hours what i accomplished in 2 days. but i finally got to see how it's supposed to be done, so i went ahead and started some more today only to have the base foreman, who up until this point had been saying "very good my son" come up and quickly disappear and then reappear with the guy who had done the work the other day. he inspected things and then showed me some flaws. they left and i thought he'd said i should continue, but soon someone who spoke english was brought in to tell me that they were going to let the other guy finish the job. shortly after they left another person showed up with someone who spoke english to tell me the same thing. i realized that they would rather pay someone to do the job now. at this point i was kind of getting the hang of it. oh well. where did the month go? 28 days is part of the problem 2 days short from the start.

totally accidentally witnessed the eclipse. i was walking out just as the sun was setting and looked up at the moon and it didn't look right, then i realized it had been full a few nights before, so i got my camera out and snapped a few shots. it's a pretty amazing sky down here, very clear and not alot of light to distract, i guess the hole in the atmosphere helps also.

so now i'm off to santiago, it's 19:47 and i'm on a bus, my flight is 12 hours from now, the trip is 2 more hours, so i'm not sure where i'll be hanging out until 05:00 when i have to be at the airport. i got a super deal on this round trip flight to lima, $140 the one way flight was $511, i'm trying to figure out how all the penalty provisions will apply when i don't show up for the return flight. i've got company, the base foreman has decided to accompany me. he was going to drive me, but the base car ended up having mechanical problems so he insisted on coming with me, i guess he thinks the cab drivers will take advantage of me in santiago, i didn't want to put him out but he insisted. we make an odd pair as he speaks about the same amount of english as i do spanish. he's asleep now which averts some of the awkwardness.

i got the word that the car was out of the picture about 2 and a half hours ago. i had just comeback from town with some food for the trip (expecting to leave at 0200) suddenly i had to get my act together, shower and pull out all the things i am leaving. i'm coming home light but may not have room for my own things. i've been asked to return with two spray paint systems and a router, a repeater, some headsets, and cables. i was hoping to bring a surf board down and warm cloths, sheets etc. we'll see how it all goes. there is a group coming down a week behind me, so i hope to possibly pawn some of this off on them.

sun 18th feb 2007

2007-03-06T17:49:00.001Z

up and over to tim's place so we could go back to town and get some fruit. the rest of the day i went over to the internet cafe.

sat 17th feb 2007

2007-03-06T17:48:00.000Z

went out and mitch invited me to go surfing so i grabbed a wet suit that he had and waited while he finished his meeting. we got down to the beach, they went out to the big surf he sent me to another break where it was a little lighter. i got down and into the water and it was cold. i wasn't expecting that at all, to top that off the rip tide was really strong. i'd paddle out into a spot to catch a wave and if i didn't keep paddling i was 100 yards away in a few seconds. never caught a wave.

i expected to sleep really good and to be sore from all the paddling, neither became the case. saturday evening i met this guy tim from canada who had spent two years working on catalina at micheal cousoes camp. we hung out and he took me down to the central part of town. got an empanada and grabbed some food at the market.

fri 16th feb 2007

2007-03-06T17:47:00.000Z

i got up and it was raining, they said it never rains in santiago in the summer. - it was heavy, i didn't realize just how bad it was until i said my goodbyes and hit the street. they don't have a gutter system in place to handle this amount of water, i had to cautiously choose my steps and pay attention to on coming traffic as they would hit the flooded areas and shower the innocent caught in their wake. i got to one point where i had no other choice but to cross the street and there was no getting around it. i had to step off the curb into seven inches of road scum to reach the other-side.

i had a few things to check on my computer. as i left the shop the woman asked where i was going and when i told her she told me it was raining there also. this wasn't happy tidings as i was told i could sleep outside if i came to check it out. i made it to the bus station after one subway mishap that resulted in me exiting the station only to see i wasn't where i wanted to be (50 more cents off my bip) there was a bus leaving at 15:30 so i'd have a two hour wait. more confusion as there were several buses that all had pichilemu as destinations. the one that was supposed to leave at 15:30 didn't show up until 15:45.

three hours later i was in a really pretty place looking at pine trees and long stretches of coast. a few minutes later i was in town and walking back up to the base. i saw mitch who set me up with a sleeping bag and a place in there dts building, which is still under construction .

i went to there friday evening gathering. from there i went back to the room and tried to make a comfortable bed with the different mattresses. it was a chilly night but no rain.

thur 15 feb 2007

2007-03-06T17:46:00.000Z

thursday, began a bit slow but i finally got out and wandered down to this travel agent's office who had been recommended to me. i got there and it was closed, so i walked down this ramp and there was a guy sitting on a park bench reading, i walked up to him and said ola. he responded in spanish and i immediately defaulted to english, he was also waiting for the agent as we spoke i told him about my application to ywam in perth to which he informed me that he was the director of the ywam facility in pichilemu, this all seemed quite the strange coincidence. turns out pichilemu has the most consistent waves in the world. so i ran around with mitch and his director of the dts program for the rest of the afternoon.

we ended up at this mall that looks like something right out of southern california, they even had a hooters restaurant. this was very strange, as so many of you think i'm in constant danger down here. chile is actually the most stable nation in south america, all that fruit they export to the states in the winter has done them well. we parted ways at the mall so i had to find my way back to the central part of town. this became another adventure, santiago had been in the midst of a whole public transportation overhaul. rather than phasing the system in they decided to do it all at once: change routes, instigate a credit system to eliminate cash on the buses. the card is called a bip card and credit is deducted when the card is passed by a reader. this became an issue because they failed to produce enough bip cards to meet the demand, as a result there was chaos in the streets over the weekend, the planners chose to let everyone ride for free to quell the storm, this backfired as many people chose to ride the bus since it was free. at least they did have the forethought to make this change over during the summer when most people are on vacation.

i managed to get a bip card and then a cab driver who was loaded with 4 people already offered me a ride. i got in and soon we weren't heading where i wanted to go. he eventually dropped us in a part of town where there was a main bus transit intersection. so i found a map and a bus. back to town. that evening i checked my email only to discover that one of the references was turned in to perth. this left me a bit confused. i've since come to realize that this saved me from having to track them down again and request that they resubmit to pichilemu.

mon 12 feb - wed 14 2007

2007-03-06T17:44:00.000Z

went out for a walk. spent the rest of the week catching up on my online classes, and readings. on wednesday evening i was very confused about several things in my life. i did not want to hound the people i'd asked to submit references for me. so i took it all to prayer, in addition i was struggling with feeling bound by sin so i took it to prayer (which i'd already been doing) this time i asked for victory or death. i figured if i was going to continually struggle with this sin and ultimately be defeated by it i would rather die now and face the consequences as opposed to struggle for years only to be turned away.

sat 10 feb 2007

2007-03-06T17:43:00.001Z

got up and went to a spanish church service, i actually caught about a third of what the pastor was saying they asked a guy who spoke english to translate for me but he was only translating the parts i was picking up on.

sat 10 feb 2007

2007-03-06T17:42:00.000Z

slept in, got up and spent the day catching up on the classes i've been taking and reading. wandered out again and found an internet cafe to go back to. the little girl who lives up stairs has become bold entering my room. she was filthy and insisted on jumping up on my bed near my pillow, i was going nuts trying to get her to play lower on the sheets where my face would not be resting in a few hours
switched rooms that evening as there was a little apartment, with it's own frig, i was offered the space, when the couple who had been staying there moved into there new apartment.

fri 9 feb 2007

2007-03-06T17:34:00.000Z

santiago, chile

hey it's another big city. i got to the airport and grabbed my bags exchanged my travelers checks and then caught a van, similar to a super shuttle to the miney's home. these folks are residence of santiago, he is the pastor of a church there and i was introduced to them thru his son and daughter in-law who i met on my cambodia trip. some what of a small world. we visited in there home and then they drove me over to the church with and adjoining seminary (which was down for summer break) they set me up in a room took me to the local market and then left me on my own. i wandered around that evening before sunset, but it is just another big city. one of the blocks had the micky d's, kfc and pizza hut (can't seem to escape those labels these days)

08 feb 07

2007-02-09T01:31:00.004Z

pourto igauza - buenos aires

my travels continue, today i rose and managed to miss yet another complimetery breakfast (they always end by 0900). the room change ended up being a blessing in disguise as there were people up until 0100 in the morning drinking and talking, my new room was further from the group, the owners were right there with them.

got ready and checked out by 1000 they called for a van to take me to the airport, it arrived just about the time they said 1115. now i’m at the airport checked in and hoping to update the blog for those of you longing to know what i’ve been up to.

i'm in a very remote part of a suburb of buenos aires, 5 km from the airport but surprisingly quiet. free ride to the airport, laundry maybe free? and a high speed connection to update blog and flickr. what a blessing.

something i did not know -- that you may not want to know

i thought flies laid their eggs or larva and that the maggots formed latter. well apparently not in argentina. a pesky one kept buzzing me and i made a grasps (which usually comes up empty handed) to my shock i got it and when i opened my hand i surveyed to see if i'd dealt it the fatal blow, well i noticed something moving so i looked closer --- the faint of heart may want to move on to the next blog.

i suddenly realized there were many tiny maggots exiting this dead fly, i observed it for a few moments and then the germ paranoia kicked in and i had to wash my hand and then take a shower.

07 feb 07

2007-02-09T01:31:00.003Z

pourto iguazu

i woke up today and figured i’d better hit the ground running. didn’t get out for breakfast. i had to vacate the room as they had it reserved for someone else. i was a bit hesitant as i was going to have to leave my computer there with the owner, i wasn’t about to lug it around a national park full of water falls and the past two days weather had not been very favorable. today didn’t seem to be shaping up much differently.

i got confirmation from erika, that my ticket had been changed for my departure to santiago. now i was able to purchase the ticket to fly from pourto to buenos aires and get out to the falls. i was having major problems with the internet connections at the hostel, my skype calls were broken up. i had a crucial call to make to the folks in santiago that i was going to visit. the call started off fine and then dropped, i hope he wasn’t offended i was never able to get back to him. the bulk of the message got passed on.

i set out to the travel agent to purchase the ticket i’d reserved yesterday. this process took a bit longer than i’d expected, plus i was booking a place to stay in buenos aires through them. once all was said and done i questioned her about the issue of my having arrived in argetina without officially leaving brazil and the implications i might face as a result, i thought mainly my ability to return to brazil but the agent thought they might not let me leave buenos aires. so i took the bus back to the border, exited argentina, crossed the river and got the exit stamp from brazil. at this point i’m standing there waiting for another bus, the sun is starting to peek through the clouds and i don’t want to make that hike without my hat which i’d left at the hostel - expecting rain.

i try to flag down a bus or van to no avail so i get a guy driving to pick me up and take me back across the bridge. he didn’t speak any english and my spanish is infantile. i had him drop me off right in fornt of the crossing, probably a mistake. i passed through customs with little issue but as i came out the security people pulled me into their office and were asking me questions in spanish, i tried to explain to them why i’d gone over and back so quickly, they looked through my rain jacket and let me go. as i came out to the curb i saw the guy who’d given me the ride pulled over with two guards going through his car, probably the last pick-up he’ll make at the border.

a bus finally came through, of course it was a different company, so i had to pay the fare again. i jumped out so i could go and get my hat as the sun was now fully ablaze. still no word on if there was a room for me. i made it back down to the bus station and purchased my ticket to the falls. while waiting i bought an empanada. the bus trip took about half an hour, so by now it’s getting to be 1315 and the park closes at 1800. i’d purchased this adventure tour which included a ride through the jungle and then a boat ride down the river and up into the falls. the tour was supposed to take 90 minutes. i had about a half an hour before the tour was to begin so i thought it might be a good time to finally have something to eat, i had the breakfast of champions, two pieces of mozzarella pizza and a large beer (large in argentina is a liter - must have something to do with all the german immigrants there) summary - skip the jungle trip, there wasn’t that much going on there and with my time issues i could have covered more ground on park trails. the boat ride was all right, it got pretty exciting up around the falls, my rain jacket did an okay job, until the driver ran the boat right into the falls and water gushed in through the opening on my face. i had the seat furthest forward so my view was uninterrupted and i was closest to the water falls.

at the conclusion of the boat ride they disembark in an area where there were several trials non of which were clearly marked. i directed to one and as i came to a fork i chose to take the high trail, thinking it would take me up to the ledge trails. this was not the case so i had to turn back. i wandered around taking lots of photos. the park guide has colored trails gives an indication of how long it takes to travel the trails. there is also a train, i was wandering up the trail when the sound of the train caught my attention, i was photographing these animals that were an the trail, i never got a successful shot, every time i got low to get a photo they would rush at me and the focus was thrown off. i would have stayed longer but i didn’t know the exact time and i was trying to get to devils point lookout , which required the train ride. i jumped on the train and it set off as it left i felt like we were going the wrong direction. we pulled into the station and i was off and moving quickly, it took me a few minutes of walking to begin to recognize that i was back at the beginning of the park (another reason not to take the jungle truck), so now i realize where i am i move back to the station only to discover that the train is gone. i question the information attendant who informs me that the last train has left. so now i’m feeling a bit dejected, as i’m walking back toward the exit i see this green trail which the maps claim take 15 minutes, it lets out near the middle station, so i decide to try and run down the train. fortunately the trail was mostly downhill. i had to slow my pace a few times but fortunately i didn’t stop or walk because as i got to the station i asked the attendant there if the train was going to the devils lookout and as he began to process my question the train started to leave the station, so i jumped on, as it was going the direction i’d initially thought we should have been going when i first boarded the train.

the trail out to this look out is beautiful, it’s amazing the quantity of water that spills over the edge of these cliffs, yet up above it’s almost like a lake, there is really very little perceptible current. it made me wonder how many explores have forged rivers only to be surprised by a dramatic drop.

i’ve never been to niagara but i’m told that these falls are more numerous and taller. going through the photos it’s not quite like the experience. on my way out i took the train back to the middle station only to see a massive number of people waiting to board. so i opted to take the green trail that i had run down, at a more leisurely pace. this ended up being a blessing as i got to enjoy a relatively solitary walk through a canopied trail and ultimately beat the train to the exit so i was able to get on the bus as the masses of patrons clamored to get on board.

once back in town i made my way down to the travel agent to see if they had confirmed my place to stay in buenos aires and to purchase the voucher if they had. it took a bit of time, i had expected that i would go out and have a nice meal using my credit card, as i’m trying to get out of here without cashing more travelers checks. by the time i got back to the hostel i felt like taking a swim. i kept thinking that my flight was at 1020 in the morning. the confusion was because my flight to santiago is a 1020, so i allowed myself to feel like i didn’t have the time to be out late. by the time it dawned on me it was 2145 and i didn’t think i needed to go out and eat a big meal that late. i figured the carbs, from my lunch, that i hadn’t burnt up in my adventures in the park would be enough to sustain me through the night.

so i spent the rest of the evening organizing my bag and reading.

06 feb 07

2007-02-09T01:31:00.001Z

foz do igaucu -pourto iguazu

i can’t get out of my room to get breakfast. i spend sometime going through emails and i trying to book a bus or flight to buenos aires. i thought i had it all figured out and tried to purchase the ticket online (using babblefish to translate the fine details). but once i got to the purchase page, it timed out after two minutes, i entered everything requested within the time limit but was still unable to complete the transaction. the bus trip was going to be 17 hours and as i researched it more and realized that my flight was at 1020 to make the flight a departure of 1100 was going to be required. i wasted the better part of the day researching travel and accommodations on the argentina side of the falls.

i finally got off the computer and went and spoke with a person at a tourist information kiosk. he suggested i take my bags and head to the brazilian side of the falls which i could see in a 3 or 4 hour period and then stay over in argentina that night. so he told me how to catch the bus and i didn’t quite get it cause i stayed on the first bus he told me to get on and it seemed to go the right direction but then it took that fatal turn onto residential streets. from there i realized i most likely was not going to make it to the falls on the brazilin side. it was already 1630 when i got back to the city bus station, it was raining and i still had to get a place to stay and settle my travel. so i changed gears and found the bus stop for transportation to the border. it took more than the quoted fifteen minutes between buses. i was getting a bit concerned since i wasn’t sure how long businesses would be open till. the bus arrived and was already standing room only so i was fortunate enough to find a place to stow my back and a spot near a window where there was a mix of fresh air and diesel fumes. the bus driver made several more stops loading to beyond any acceptable u.s. safety capacities. this became an issue when we came to the border. apparently most people using this service are locals and therefore don’t seem to need to clear customs from brazil. the driver called something out in spanish which i couldn’t hear. he blew through the brazilian border crossing and across the bridge. i was a bit concerned that he was going to do the same on the argentina side, thinking how am i going to explain this one at the airport when i go to leave a country i’ve never officially entered. well he did stop there, and i checked through almost like going over the border to tj. at this point i know i have to address the issue of the exit stamp in brazil or i may never get a visa for some future trip. but with the hour so late i didn’t want to burn up more time when i needed to get a place for the night and make some travel plans. so i found a room at this hostel i’d located online. it was clean and cheap, and had wireless internet for free, $14 and change for a private room and bath. i spoke with the owner about the border situation and she suggested i should make the trek back over the border. so i set out to do that. i waited at a bus stop for 15 minutes and decided i didn’t want to miss the falls again because of this. i walked down to a travel agent to see what could be arranged. at this point it was clear that my outward bound ticket to santiago on the 8th was going to have to change. not being a native portuguese speaker i was going to need to enlist the help of erika. so i made a reservation and headed back to the hostel hoping that the power which was out when i arrived but came back on just before i set out on my little adventure , was still on and that i’d be able to reach her and she in turn could reach someone at the airline. the connection started out okay but progressively got worse. we resorted to email and i was relatively confident that she’d be successful.

at this point the hour was late and i wasn’t going out so i ate somethings i’d bought at the market on my way back from the travel agent , tried to answer some emails and calls only to have the internet connection frustrate me more. so i decided to take a shower and read before going to bed.

05 feb 07

2007-02-09T01:30:00.003Z

iguape to foz do iguaca

on the road again.

this day began very early. i got up at 0400 to get ready for my 0515 cab to the bus station, my alarm was set for 0445 (couldn’t sleep) the rest of the day was spent on buses, sleeping and hoping i wouldn’t have a rediculusly long layover in the city of curitiba. it worked out i was at the bus station for less than 45 minutes.

the roads in the south are pretty good by western standards, it’s a bit worriesome when the double decker bus you’re traveling on is passing trucks on a blind hill and causing on coming traffic to pull off to the side of the road.

got into foz do iguaca around 2130. i checked into a hotel by the bus station so i could rest. after all the time on the bus the peel started.

04 feb 07

2007-02-09T01:30:00.001Z

today, got up and went to town. erika and her mother went to mass and i read at a cafe. once they were done i we went looking for info on buses. this became a bit of an ordeal as brazilian efficiency is somewhat lacking. i had to learn some patience as there were no clear answers to be found. unlike the states where much of the info you need can be found online or calls can be made to people with computers who can pass info on to the customer. things in brazil seem to go a bit differently, you have to go to the station to check schedules as the info never seems to be quite accurate

30 jan - 03 feb 07

2007-02-09T01:28:00.000Z

finally out of sao paulo, erika and her mother were gracious enough to convince her uncle to let us all go out to his house down by the beach. her mother kept food on the table. the weather finally broke and the sun was out during the entire stay. i have the sun burn to prove it. the lotion staved off the the peel.
erika is the young woman who was kind enough to save me from my boredom in sao paulo, her english is light years beyond my portuguese.

07 jan 07

2007-02-09T01:27:00.000Z

peter, has left the building

so sunday morning - no rain (no sun either) - i get up at 9:30 and decide i’m going to go to this church that i found online that has an english service. its starts at 10:40 and i think i can make it i looked it up on the map and it was a fare distance away maybe three or four miles, but i think i can make it. so i take a quick shower write down the directions in lieu of taking a big map (i do have my little map that covers my neighborhood and surrounding area)

so i hit the street and realize i’ve forgotten the directions. i didn’t want to trudge back up to the apartment on the 17th floor. i figure i’ve got a pretty good fix on where it is so i go it alone. i allowed myself to be thrown at an intersection, the street i was traveling on was supposed to terminate at another cross street. well rather than continuing on with what i knew, i took a left. i knew this street paralleled the one i would have turned at had i continued straight. things got a bit confusing from there as i came to some major streets that i didn’t recognize the names of i followed this one street that skirted the central park. i knew that i needed to go right to get to the street i needed. i finally made a combination of lefts and right and got my self to a large bollard with a name i didn’t recognize.

i continued down that street till it went over an even bigger street which started to walk along but it didn’t seem right. i actually ended up on the cross street that i needed to get to the street where the church was, but at this point i had confused myself, i may have been within a quarter mile of the church, i must have been a half an hour late at that point also. (i didn’t know any of this as i was geographically lost, directionally i knew how to get back)

a new year - - a new country

2007-01-02T09:56:00.000Z

oi!

so i'm writing this that must give you a little assurance that i'm alive. this adventure began on the 28th of dec with me arriving at the airport for my flight to miami, only to discover it had been delayed an hour and a half. this didn't bode well for my 50 minute connection in miami. i waited in the line to get up to the desk to find how american airlines was going to get me to sao paulo. the ticket agent handled things without a bit of stress. they put me on a flight to dallas then with an hour lay over i would be on my way to sao paulo. the only thing i missed out on was my kosher meal that i'd ordered for the international flight.

sat in the section of the plane just behind 1st class. i was surrounded by sergio mendes' family, who were all flying down for his new years eve performance with the black eyed peas. didn't get alot of sleep on the flight. actually the first plane i've been on that had a power supply, but the guy next to me dominated the source. not that i had anything to plug into it.

got into the airport around 10:30 in the morning, i think we beat the miami flight. it took about an hour to cleared customs, they had maybe two or three flights that arrived and only two agents for a long time. there were more people at the beginning of the line telling people where to go. collected my bag and found an information counter to grab a map and be pointed to the bus. it was about a 30 minute bus ride into the central part of the city. i had found the street i would be going to at the information counter.

communication here is somewhat of an issue. i can muddle with spanish, but portuguese isn't familiar to me. basically anytime i find an english speaker i have to take full advantage of their knowledge. got to the location where the bus drive had me get out i walked down the same street and noticed the guy i'd just been speaking with had disembarked a bit further down. tried a shortcut through the park. found the complex where i'm staying an boy was it nice. for $25 a day i have a small kitchen a bedroom, bathroom with shower, and a living room with a balcony. there's also cable tv and internet. the story of how this all came about was on the verge of miraculous, i was looking for someplace to stay and hadn't really put much effort in my search until the morning before my departure. i went on craigslist and found one reasonable place, but it had been listed earlier in dec. i gave it a try, sent and email then went to bed. i woke up a few hours later, the tenant had sent me an email 19 minutes before. she left her phone number so i fired up my skype and gave her a call. everything came together perfectly.

so i got here made my way up to the 17th floor and got comfortable. ran out to a market and bought some food. then came back. and poor pathetic me, i've not been out since. the weather hasn't been very cooperative, its been overcast since i arrived intermixed with thunder storms and rain. i've been cleaning house on my computer; responding to some emails, clearing out some of the old stuff. trying to find what my next move will be, currently in search of a car to buy so i can just go at my own pace and off the beaten track. so sorry everyone, i wasn't dancing with brazilian drag queens on new years eve. i was up for all the explosions off in the distance. but manage to get out of the apartment.

but happy new year just the same to all of you!

dec - what happened?

2007-01-02T07:31:00.000Z

some of you may know this story already - others will be as shocked as i was. i got home on the evening of the 18th of december. i had come in from hawaii (where i'd spent the last 10 days) so time-wise, i was up and looking to get right on top of some of the things i knew i needed to do. only having 10 days before i'd be leaving again, i had to: get up early and get down to the brazilian consulate to turn in my visa application, get my mail, go through it, take care of bills, clean the boat - topside and bottom, see friends and family. and be packed and ready to go on the 28th. i therefore wanted to get anything done that night so i could get up and get going. my car was on blocks in the structure so i wanted to get it off and make sure it was running fine. i walked up into the structure and to the level where i had thought i'd left it and it wasn't there, so i continued up so the next level, not there either. continued on with no luck so i wandered through the structure thinking i may have been mistaken about where i'd left it. after traversing the entire structure i wandered back to the boat perplexed. i got to my phone and called the management, knowing i'd be transfered to the call service. they put me in-touch with the person who was on call. he was unaware of any vehicles having been towed, but did inform me that the sheriffs dept would have a record of any towed vehicle. so i called the sheriffs dept and they had no record of the car being towed. they sent a deputy out to take a report. this took until about 2 a.m. i was up until 5 doing some other things.

once i woke up i called the management office again and they informed me that they had towed my car. someone form the management company saw the blocks and freaked out. rather than people doing a little research they towed the car on oct 10th. i should have informed them, but it had never been a problem in the past. they suddenly decided to start enforcing a rule that had never been strictly enforced. well this made for a rather spendy return (80 days impounded), and blew an entire day to recovering the car and clearing the police record on the car.

aside from that little set back the remainder of week went pretty smoothly; i managed to see those who were in town and available. cleaned the boat topside twice and the bottom once, the birds were having a hay day. i got everything together for the trip (some things like a place to stay actually came together the day before i left) i was able to visit with family also, and even rested some.

day 43 - goa - 14 nov

2006-11-27T14:00:00.002Z

i was shaken awake and given my vegetable cutlet that i guess i’d ordered the night before i fell asleep. shaken awake again to be charged the 20 rupees for the cutlet (less than 50 cents) then shaken awake again because the train porters wanted the sheets, so i got up and got out of the bunk, thinking i had a much another hour of two only to find out we were about 10 minutes away. this brought me a little joy since the idea of using the squatty potty on a train was just not my cup of tea plus all the water was gone from the on board tanks.

once at the station i took care of business and then decided to take care of the business of of my departure train. i knew that i was going to have to contact sam at my next destination. he had indicated they would come and get me, so i was going to have to get him some travel info. so i found out that the only train to bangalore was on thursday, which worked out perfectly, i bought my ticket and once again, they had no 2nd class ac sleepers (but i was supposedly #14 on the wait list) they told me to check back an hour early, on my day of departure.

from there i wandered out to catch a cab to the beach, those big travel books (lonely planet, let’s go, etc) are too much weight for me, but i guess they give you a heads up from time to time, i don’t know if this would have been one of those instances. when i walked up the stairs from the platform to the cross over bridge, the vast majority of people went , left down a slope toward the city, i went right because i saw what looked like the station offices etc. which i correctly surmised. once i’d walked out of the station to the state controlled taxi cab stand, i think i found out why everyone else went left, they wanted 180 rupees to take me to the closest beach.

day 42 - varanasi - travel - nov 13

2006-11-27T14:00:00.001Z

arranged for a late check-out so i could sleep in. got up around 10:30 tried to read the word, but was distracted by the number of people coming in to look at rooms, i thought it might be best if i get out of the room so they could clean it up and get someone else in it. also wanted to go back to the hotel near internet place to purchase a train tix from mumbai (bombay) to goa, had to get online to see if steven or harpreet had responded to my email with any info about goa. managed to get hold of the cab driver to have him pick me up there instead of back hat the hotel to save me a bit of backtracking. once i got the the travel center they informed me their man who does the train tickets had left for the day. it was barely after noon. this through everything off. thinking i’d have to go to the local train station i called the driver and asked him to come earlier.

i knew i’d be hungry so i went next door and had some more mediterranean food at the restaurant i had visited a few days before. this time everything a few items had a burnt hint to them.

the driver showed up and people outside told him i had left, i had asked some people to tell him where i was perhaps they thought he would go and they could take his fare.

WARNING: the rest of this day goes a bit negative,

he found me and he took me by some guy who told me what my options would be once i got to goa. from there we got on the road for the airport which took us through a couple of traffic jams where i made an interesting observation, if the vehicles are moving ever so slightly then someone is honking, but when traffic is at a dead stop, everyone shuts off their motors and sits, once it begins to move again the horns are blaring.

the ride to the airport was a very long one. before we got on the ground the driver stopped and said you pay me now. i had given him approx. $6 worth of rupees for gas a few days before. so when gave him the equivalent of another $27 i thought he would be happy. at the beginning of my stay in varanasi, i asked a price and he told me you happy you pay nice price. if he had told me what he really expected i would not have ridden in his tuk tuk again. the first trip to the river from the bus station he had offered to do for 50 rupees, so knowing how far that was i figured the trips that he taken me out on and calculated about 200 rupees a day, he wasn’t always with me the full day so there was time for him to get other fares. plus in earlier conversations he’d said that some days he had no fares. now in the grand scheme of things yes it’ s not as if i don’t have the money, however i don’t have the money with me here in rupees. plus i was so miserable i the back of that thing, i was disappointed because i would have been on the street actually meeting people

in the end i gave him another $11 and neither of us parted feeling completely happy.

i got in the airport to the check in counter where this guy jumped right in front of me, sort of pretending to know the guy at the counter in front of me. (i’ve since discovered that is common practice at rail station windows, more on that later.

getting through there security check is a bit of a hassle, seems the women have to go through separately, i don’t know why it was so backed up other than there were three flights scheduled to leave at 4pm then one at 4:20 and one at 4:40. so i think they got slammed and then they were trying to pull people out of line for the first three flights to get them through.

the flight was painless. got to bombay airport around 6:30 and grabbed my bag then off to the tourist info to see how i could get to goa, the train seemed the best option she directed me to take a tuk tuk to the vile parle station (for rs 15) then the churchgate train to the dadar station (for rs 20) where i could by my ticket for the train to goa. the tuk tuk driver quoted me rs 50 (approx. $1.10) and conveniently turned off the meter as we left the airport i questioned him about it and wrote down his cab number to see if he might have a change of heart but he never flinched. at the train station i got a general ticket for rs 4 (about 8 cents) and sat with the locals, i was the oddity amongst the sea of india teen and men.

at the dadar station i got on line and go to the window only to have the guy go to lunch on me leaving me to get in the end of the next line, once to the window there someone tried to jump the line which i could see him positioning himself, i just repositioned my bag to let him know he wasn’t going to do that. at the window i discovered that the attendant didn’t speak english, so now i had to go back to the window i’d just left and ask the guy there to interpret for me. i found out that i was not going to be able to get into a sleeper from that station, so he directed me to another station. i didn’t quite get he directions so i walked over to another part of the station as it was rather larger in its layout, thinking that perhaps the train departed form this other area, there i was informed that i had to go on another train to the central station where the train would originate in order to be able to get a 2nd class ac sleeper.

this was possibly going to be a bit of a challenge as i was going to ride in the general seating car and from that station most of the trains that came through had packed general cars, where fights were nearly breaking out as guys got on and off. i was questioning if that was going to be a bright idea. when the train came into the station i was on the platform the train stopped with the general car door right in front of me, they poured out and as the last guy came off i was able to slip in and get into the car and find a seat. this other guy came and sat right next to me, suddenly i looked around and the car was all but empty, so them i’m wondering why this guy chose to sit right side by side with me.

he spoke some english so we talked a bit until his stop. he was working for an english company doing phones (customer service).

once at the central station i made my way to the ticket counter, while in line this young guys in line started talking with me, they were also going to goa. they had friends in each of the lines waiting to see who would get to the front first, they were going to have their friend purchase my ticket so i could join them but he was done before they got his attention. when i got to the window, the representative informed me that there were no 2nd class ac sleeper seats available. so i wasn’t quite sure what to do he charged me about 480 rupees (about $11) for the general seat he gave me. (later i looked at the ticket and it was 158 rupees, so in my confusion he seemed to have pulled a fast one on me, i’m still trying to go through my expenditures to see if i’m mistaken) not being all that excited about my seat, and the prospect of repeating the journey from delhi to varanasi or worse yet, having to sit up right on a train for 12 hours. i was walking out into the expanse of the main hall when a porter tried to take my bag telling me that i would have to check it since i was in general seating. at this point another porter (older with more of a sense of what’s going on) approaches me, and starts to talk to me about my alternatives, next thing i know he’s grabbing my bag fro the other porter, who is getting upset, they nearly come to blows. he finally calms the first guy down puts my bag down, goes up to another section of the ticketing counter and asks if there are any seats available in 2nd class ac sleeper cars. he gets the same answer from the window. comes back picks up my bag and takes it back to where the other guy had got it from me. he talks to me a little more about my options: other trains, sleeper buses etc. get gets other porter to leave and then grabs my bag and takes me out of the station to a stand where the sleeper bus agents operate. they inform us that the sleeper bus is leaving i 15 minutes from another part of town, i’ll never make it. so back into the station we go and he starts to chat up some other guy in the station.

next thing i know that guy is going up to the window and getting the same results - nada. but they keep persisting. at one point he comes back and tell me he can get me in a 1st class sleeper (private space) for 1800 rupees. this seems much better to me. so he takes me to be seated in a special waiting room, until his return.

while there i started speaking with this german couple who were traveling in india for their first time, we were comparing war stories from varanasi and delhi. he was a social worker in germany building dwellings for special needs children. didn’t get allot of details about where they were from, as the porter returned for me within 15 minutes. from there we went out to the platform and he and the other guy he had enlisted earlier were now speaking to the conductor.

from what i could see of there conversations i was not hopeful. as it go later i became even more concerned thinking that i was going to be turned away and have to go to general seating which at this point was full. after a few more minutes the enlistee ran back to the ticket office and came back with some information, at which time he took me onto the train. the seat was actually in a 2nd class car, and he still wanted the same amount. not really being in much of a position to protest i paid. so this whole leg cost me about $50 (in the grand scheme of things it was still cheaper then a us train ticket in a similar seat)

the train was scheduled to depart at 23:20, so i pretty much made up the bed and sacked out for the night.

day 41 - varanasi - nov 12

2006-11-27T13:59:00.001Z

picked up at noon to head over to the other side of the river. the ride was extremely bumpy, i had to ask if it was going to be like this on the other side, if he’d said yes i was going to have him turn back. once we got to the bridge it was fairly smooth. he drove me down through this street market to this fort on the river, there was a museum there. the entrance was 12 rupees (25 cents) the place was really in shambles. they had some royal coaches and even some cars of dignitaries that were in really bad shape. there was a wing with apparel from various different eras. this was sad as everything was moth eaten and in various states of disrepair. then there was the wing of weapons (it was a fort after all and what fort museum would be complete without a wing of weapons. it was here that i encountered the guy, who started giving me all the information that was clearly there to read, these were not placards containing great details and historical significance, mind you, these were cards that said ivory bed or a miniature carved elephant under a magnifying glass. they were looking to be compensated for these little bits of info, cleaver idea i thought.

upon completion of my museum tour, i strolled down through the market. it was there that i had another odd encounter with a muslim woman, she said hello in a very flirtatious manner, i guess there is safety behind that veil. stopped to speak with a few children then went back to where the driver was waiting for me.

next he took me to another temple, the staff was at lunch, so we hung out and watched this wedding party at the pool. he started asking me why i wasn’t married and telling me how in india, “no money, no honey” and “no wife, no life” he seemed very sad for me. the pool was huge, it was square with three ramps down into it, at one end a man was bathing some cattle. people were picnicking in other areas a woman was washing here clothes. i asked him what feeds the pools and he indicated that it was rain water fed. i imagine that water must get pretty stagnate later in the year. after we walked around the temple, the driver was speaking with a woman at the temple next thing i knew he was telling me the gist of what he had learned from her. it turns out the wedding party was only the bride. for what ever reason the groom was not coming, and they couldn’t find someone to take his place. i looked at him and said “no way”, i thought he was trying to get me to step up. i was a bit confused because he indicated it may not have been a last minute decision on the grooms part, they may have known for sometime, yet they still go through all the formalities anyway.

well lets just say i was a bit anxious to get out of there, we crossed back over the river and the driver dropped me off to walk from bridge back to guest house. on the way i saw monkeys and a new born calf stand up. thousands of manure patties that had been shaped and then lined up to dry in the sun, to be used as fuel for peoples fires. the perplexing thing to me is that i don’t know where they get it all cause there is lots, yet i still had to watch my step as i walked down the street.

as i was walking there was a little girl walking along side me who wanted rupees, i had no small change to give but as we were walking i started egging her on to race me. so we had a few sprints down the river walk, i suddenly found myself back in the area where they do all the cremations and happened to bump into the guy who’d been following me the day before. i ended up getting stopped by him, so i lost the little girl and more importantly, an attractive tourist i was about to turn back to talk to. he of course wanted to take me up to some silk vendor. this is what i get for being nice. just wait to read what i get for being nice.

i managed to tear myself away from that guy, and wandered down into some narrow streets that i’d been down yesterday and again i’m approached by this kid who wants to know where i’m going, since i told him he has now become my guide. i lag behind trying to let him know i don’t need his assistance. once i finally tell him, he asks for money. i tell him that i’ll buy him some fruit but he wants crackers, i finally find a place that sells samosas so i buy him one (at least there were some vegetables in there) - - i know you’re saying so what’s the big deal, this is now the part i was referring to, so hold your horses already i’m getting there. . .

i wandered down a narrow path where there seemed to be some noise and a crowd. there were some police keeping some kids at bay. i got a bit of information, that there was a film being screened down below, this was perplexing to me because the sun hadn’t set yet and they had a bunch of bright lights in the area also. so i was trying to ask how the movie was be projected, whether it was film or video. of course they kept saying yes it’s a film. they wouldn’t let me peer over the side to see. i waited around a short time until some other guy showed up and asked if he spoke english, he did but he was still confused by the question. so i left with no answers, i suspect it was a video projection. i was curious how the image looked with all the lights.

from there i decided to get back to the river bank. there was quite a crowd amassed for something. as i walked out this guy approached me and wanted to give me a hand rub. brace yourself! it felt okay and he said something about , hand neck and arms for 10 rupees, so i let him sucker me in. so now i have to set the scene: there is a pretty sizable crowd in this area a few hundred people. they have these wooden cots in the middle covered by umbrellas. the original guy passes me on to this other guy who sets me on the cot atop a sarong, he starts rubbing away. then after about 5 minutes i should have said thank you, cause the next think i know he’s laying me flat on this cot and rubbing my face, messing up my hair, working his way down to my feet, mean while i’m no where near comfortable. i’m laying on a filthy rag that others have been laying on all day actually probably since the last rain, or if it has been washed it was washed in the ash ridden ganges. -- i know you’re getting a kick out of this michelle -- i’m surrounded by strangers who are all watching this, my computer is in my bag not exactly in my reach. top it off with flash back of the barber i mentioned yesterday. yet somehow i just suck it up and take it. at the end he wanted 300 rupees and i just couldn’t bring myself to give him more than 200. i just felt so filthy that i couldn’t even relax.

i wanted to run back to the guesthouse and take a shower. but there were all these people out. i thought perhaps it was some special festival. so i waited , but ultimately my hunger got the better of me and since the festivities didn’t seem all that exciting i moved on to a roof top restaurant. i washed my face and hands and figured i could survive long enough to have something to eat. i was the only one in the restaurant. i wasn’t sure if it was because the festivities had drawn everyone up river or if the cremation less that 50 yards away was just to unappetizing for most people. i found out from the guy who had been playing drums that it wasn’t a special event, so the latter must have been the reason for my solitude.

i can’t remember the meal, there was a beer (i needed something to calm the nerves) i finished eating and high tailed it back to the room where i took a very long shower and isolated my clothing from everything else in my bag. i spent the rest of the evening packing and getting ready for my departure.

day 40 - varanasi - 11 nov

2006-11-27T13:58:00.002Z

up at two reading, till alarm at 4:30, set out to meet the guys from last night, for sunrise boat ride. waited at the agreed spot - no show. i walked, north along the river bank, shooting photos. along the way this guy started giving me some unsolicited information about the area and trying to lead me around. i just wanted to go at my own pace and find photo ops. after a while he let me be.

you’ll find some of the on flickr of the burning stations, sunken temple ruins. etc. then there were the things you won’t find pictures of, the things i wish i’d never scene, but odds are while i’m here, i will. along these narrow streets, you have to be very careful, where you walk. those of you who know my true germ-o-phobic side can only imagine how freaked i’ve been. in the interest of decorum i’ll keep it this simple, when the barber who had just zipped up from his activity on the adjacent wall approached me to offer a shave, haircut or massage. i politely said no.

back down to hotel around 8:00 downloaded photos from my camera and tweaked some of them. slept till 10, the driver was due at 11. turns out he got stuck in traffic and then a policeman jumped in his tuk tuk and made him take him somewhere. at 11:15 i had gone back up to rest more, he didn’t show till 12. we ran down to a place where i could plug my computer in. checked email, my reservation for dec air change was canceled. sent email hoping that can be resolved, responded to some emails but neglected to do the ones i really needed to: rechecking sean's and contacting steven and preet about things to do in goa.

had lunch at the haifa hotel restaurant. then over to travel agent to book flight to mumbai (bombay) ticket was cheaper than some of the other options i was considering. so the plan is: fly to bombay on monday evening, catch the train to goa spend two days there then a train to bangalore for the rest of the india journey.

stopped at a temple that had a scale model lay out of india, the dimensions were as follows: altitude was 1800 feet to 1 inch, and horizontal was 18000 feet to 1 inch, which gave the mountains a very long and jagged appearance. the north is very steep and mountainous while the central and southern regions are relatively flat in most places.

following that, i really,didn’t have anything else that i wanted to see and since the driver couldn’t entice me to go anywhere else to spend money. i had him take me back to the guest house. i took a much longer nap, as i was wiped out from being up so early having been awake so lake.

i got up around 20:00 and didn’t get all that motivated, until around 23:00, i knew i had to send an email to steven and harpreet this evening in order to get a response from them before my departure. considering, the 12 and a 1/2 hour time difference. so i ventured out with my map in hand to find the internet place i’d been using but up until this point had always been driven to by the driver, who once i looked at the map i was very confused by the routes he’d been taking. couldn’t figure out why he always turned and took longer paths.

i walked down to the rivers edge and south. as the path was poorly lit in the best spots i began to question my chances of getting there. i could see on the map that it wasn’t more than a kilometer down the rivers edge, but from there i didn’t know the street it was on or anything more than an idea that i had of where it might be. finding my way back into some light and onto a street i happened upon another internet establishment, i approached them to see if they would allow me to plug in, they wouldn’t, but i started asking questions, about where this other place might be and then trying to describe the hotel next to it that was built with stripped and stained branches in place of railings, of course my description wasn’t that clear because no one there, had any idea what i was talking about. i finally realized i had a receipt from lunch and pulled it out and sure enough the name was on it. the hotel haifa. once the guy saw the name he pointed 50 yards ahead of me and there it was. i was surprised how close i’d come with the guessing i’d done. had i not stopped for directions i would have found it without incident, not that there was any incident in the first place.

did my email, cost me a bit extra since the guy was about to close and i kept him there and extra 10 minutes (lesson #???? {i’ve lost track} :keep the lists updated and follow them) not wanting to venture back into darkness and risk stepping into something soft and disgusting. i opted for the pedicab back to the hotel. of course since i’d slept all evening i was wide awake, so at midnight i made my way to the roof top restaurant, and the poor guy there stayed up long enough to make me some chicken masala and nan. bed came a few hours later.

day 39 - varanasi - 10 nov

2006-11-27T13:58:00.001Z

moved to another hotel closer to the rive bank ganga yogi lodge went on a horrible quest to find internet connection for my lap top. traffic and exhaust, unable to get a full view of the surroundings. my driver is persistent and he finally found me a place, they didn’t have wireless but the ability to plug in which is just as good, and cheap works out to around 60 cents per hour. after that had a middle eastern meal at the hotel restaurant next door, very good and cheap also, even for a tourist hotel things are cheap, $2 for the food and a fresh squeezed oj for a dollar.

university grounds walking around met two guys (elementary school teachers) spoke with them shared pictures.

monkey temple one got really aggressive with me freaked me a bit, saw the feeding session. couldn’t take cameras in the guard on the way out stopped and talked with me for a bit.

down to river bank in the dark, playing with some timed exposures. shot some photos of the cremations, little girl asking for money or chocolate, i didn’t have anything small to give so started taking their pictures, which they wanted money for, was showing them the results then started swinging them around and twirling them until they had to go.

some local guys saw me taking photos of the burning sight and wanted money. i took there picture time exposed and we talked i gave them about $2 they were trying to get me to give like 20 or 50. they took me up to this lookout where we sat for a while shot some photos of one of the guys who was very flexible (yoga you know) he said he would meet me at 5 am to take me out on a boat. so i headed back to the hotel

day 38 - varanasi - 9 nov

2006-11-27T13:56:00.000Z

arrived varanasi station and made my way out a tuk tuk (not the proper indian term, i don’t know what they call them here, three wheeled scooters) driver offered me a ride to a hotel and then to show me around. went to one that looked nice but they were booked so on to another around the corner that wasn’t bad, so i checked in there, then went back to the other hotel for breakfast.

internet quest
travel agent
silk fiasco
river boat pay what you like

day 37 - delhi - train to varanasi - nov 8

2006-11-27T13:54:00.000Z

checked out of room, met carl from san diego photographer and photo tour guide in the lobby, got my train ticket and did more photo uploads to flickr, tweaked with the blog site.

had dinner, carl came up an joined me.

first venture out of the hotel down to the rail station which was very close less than half a mile, a bit of a challenge with bag hanging off my side with all the people bikes, vendors , vehicles and animals viewing for position on the streets.

go to the station and found my way to the train car, it’s a sleeper car with 6 bunks that all fold down. i was already ready to bunk down, but the others were not. my bunk was a middle bunk so had to wait for everyone on that side leaning against it were ready to go down. after awhile it was apparent they weren’t going down soon so they suggested i sleep up on the top bunk, i was concerned about the light which was pretty bright and he wouldn’t turn off, to top that off the cooking car uses wood and the smoke was coming in, by this time one of the guys has taken over my bunk, they finally turn the light off, i end up reading until about 4 am when this guy wake up and turn the light back on. so i get up and move everything to the middle bunk above him and finally fall asleep once he stops talking. at 6 am he starts pushing me wanting me to move out from above him so he can have the seat to look out the window, so i ended up back in my original assigned bunk, the lesson here, i guess, i should have held out for my original assigned place.

2006-11-13T06:52:00.001Z

day 37 8 nov

checked out of room, met carl from san diego photographer and photo tour guide in the lobby, got my train ticket and did more photo uploads to flickr, tweaked with the blog site.

had dinner, carl came up an joined me.

first venture out of the hotel down to the rail station which was very close less than half a mile, a bit of a challenge with bag hanging off my side with all the people, bikes, vendors , vehicles and animals vieing for position on the streets.

went to the station and found my way to the train car, it’s a sleeper car with 6 bunks that all fold down. i was already ready to sleep, but the others were not. my bunk was a middle bunk so i had to wait for everyone on that side leaning against it were ready to fold them down. after awhile it was apparent they weren’t going down soon so they suggested i sleep up on the top bunk, i was concerned about the light which was pretty bright and . he wouldn’t turn it off, to top that off the cooking car uses wood and the smoke was coming in, by this time one of the guys has taken over my bunk, they finally turn the light off, i end up reading until about 4 am when this guy wakes up and turn the light back on. so i get up and move eveything to the middle bunk above him and finally fall asleep once he stops talking. at 6am he starts pushing me wanting me to move out from above him so he can have the seat to look out the window, so i ended up back in my original assigned bunk, the lesson here, i guess, i should have held out for my original assigned place

day 36 - delhi, india - 7 nov

2006-11-13T06:51:00.001Z

my days are really messed up here with the sleep thing. i've actually not been out of the hotel in the 36 hours i've been here. what was i doing you maybe asking? well, the jet lag was bad in part due to the inablility to sleep on the flight. i’ve spend alot of time in the hotel lobby with the wireless signal only available there, dealing with some issues concerning my travel in dec. so i’ve been on the net better part of the afternoon.. (this whole blog is going to be about places to fine wireless around the world, i love you all, and since i’m not really into the journal thing or motivated to give you each a daily or weekly personal update, this is the closes thing i can come up with).

there is also a travel assistant/agent in the lobby who i’ve been working with to find transportation to varanasi.

this evening i discovered the tv in the room does work. big mistake up again all night. speaking of the room. i found out that this really was a gold mine of a find for delhi. it’s less than $30 a night the place is clean, room has a fan (which could use variable speed control) i spoke with this other traveler who is a tour guide and he was amazed at everything the provided . i guess the big draw back for most western travelers is the neighborhood (which i never seemed to get out into anyway) in house laundry: had mine done for like $4 everything looks new again. i didn’t request or pay for ironing, either they did or this stuff was pulled from a hot drier and folded perfectly right away.

you’re probably saying, “how can he write so much when he’s not doing anything?“ i don’t, know!

day 35 - india - 6 nov

2006-11-13T06:50:00.001Z

i had made a reservation for a hotel that i found online, they indicated that they provided transportation from the airport, but since i was leaving shortly i was concerned about making the request in an email and not knowing if i received a response, so i used my trusty skype service and got through and it was seamless, once i cleared customs the guy was there with the name card waiting. i'd wanted to exchange travelers cheques at the airport which would have been better. i ended up having to give out dollars, which was over tipping in a few circumstances, but i spotted the driver and he me. plus there was a line at the exchange. my flight arrived at 5:15 and i was at the hotel by 6:30. i guess traffic is still a bit light at that hour, although it was a whole new experiece. it’s much more intense here then anywhere else i’ve been, but the aggression isn’t the same as la, people just pass and cut over the the driver behind gives way.

at the hotel the room attendant was making it up, so i had to wait a few minutes. not having slept, once i made it into the room i was pretty much down for the count.

got up around 16:00 went to lobby to check emails try to post a few picture. spent the rest of the evening putting together the whole blog site. beyond that i made my way up to the roof top resturant for my one meal of the day around 10pm. since i’d slept all day i wasn’t able to fall asleep until 5am.

gorry details: western toilet, jet powered sprayer in lue of paper.

a french photographer miegiul helped to get me on connected to their wireless network. he does arial photographs from kites check out his website, http://www.nicopix.com/

day 34 - petra to amman - nov 5

2006-11-13T06:42:00.000Z

day 34 - petra to amman - nov 5

i woke up and it was raining, the cab driver told me it was the 1st rain this year. the cloud cover was very low (on the ground), so our drive to amman was going to be very long, he took some back road that got us out of the fog and then headed north on a pretty good highway.

once we arrived in amman we got stuck in a bit of traffic, he dropped me at this hotel where the travel agent, who had booked our petra trip was located. the plans was to leave my bag there and then wander around a bit. the weather didn't make that all that appealing, so i stayed in the lobby and writing some emails and making some hotel arrangements for my arrival in delhi.

the jordanians were much more attentive servers than the israelis. in the hotel lobby i looked up and this waiter saw me and immediately walked up to me, so i ordered a beer and asked about some food, but his english wasn't so good. he misinformed me that they took amex, then when i tried to pay the bill he came back saying they didn't take it. so now i had to dig into my cash reserves, which are dwindling, i can't seem to exchange the travelers cheques as easily as cash. i expected to really only use the cash in cambodia, but i've had to use it everywhere, egypt, israel, jordan and now in india. i should have brought more. the travel agent came down about 17:30 and drove me out to the airport personally then he walked me through the check in, i was actually surprised that with that kind of service the airline didn't bump me up. so, royal jordanian doesn't live up to the standard the name implies, maybe because the route was india they may use their older equipment. the crew that were working the economy class were more attentive to other passengers and really didn't give me much in the way of friendly pleasantries. the aircraft was older. i wasn't able to sleep in part because they never lowered the lights and the woman behind me kept fidgeting and her husband had his reading light on which with my seat reclined shined right into my face. so i rigged up a light shield using the head protectors from the headrest and the safety card.

day 33 - petra - 4 nov

2006-11-10T07:13:00.000Z

got up at 7:45 for 8:30 lobby meeting. grabbed a quick shower. then it was down to the restaurant for a quicker bite, a hard boiled egg, some cheese, grapefruit, sardine and some danish. we gathered in the lobby and made our way out of the hotel, a short walk had us at the entrance of the park. you'll have to look at the pictures to get a feel for what this place is like although they, don't even do it justice. you really need some good shoes and a few days to really soak it in. our tour was mi- represented as a three day. we had two days of travel and one day in the park. i wanted to make the most of my day in the park, so when the tour guide we had, brought us into a tent where they wanted to give us tea and get us to shop, i saw this and an opportunity to wander off up a mountain side. i guess the signs they have warning that climbing alone is dangerous are true. these people had cut everything into the slopes of the cliffs. i was conscious that my wandering off might be delaying the group, but i had also been running off to anything i'd found interesting, i knew they would push on and i'd catch up. and there seemed to be a peak up ahead that promised a commanding view, well peaks can be deceiving so when i discovered there was yet another to be scaled i left the trail to climb a rock, hoping for a good vantage point. didn't find it, but as i made my way down i caught the edge of my shoe and tripped off the ledge of the rock i was on . . . . that fact that i wrote this and you’re reading it should indicate it survived, but i don't know how, i went from a head first fall, to getting my foot in-front of me to catch the ledge of the rock below i was expecting to smash into and then slide off (some 15 or 20 feet). i instantly knew, i'd been protected. that fall may not have killed me but it would have left me damaged and in a remote place off the trail. surprisingly, i didn't walk away in that shaky ball of adrenaline that i've had in other circumstances, instead i felt comforted and protected.

i ran down the stairs to meet up with the group, a ways down the road. we had a buffet lunch and most of the group returned via camels to the entrance, but i wanted to explore more of the park (when will i get back to jordan?) so glen, bridget and myself proceeded up the path of 1200 steps to the monastery and eventually to a peak that offered that commanding view i was looking for, we could see out to the valley where israel is nestled between jordan and egypt. then i saw this guy climbing atop the monastery and i wanted to do the same, so i found my way up. when i saw what he was climbing around i thought better than venturing that way, considering the earlier mishap, i thought better not to test to much.

i made my way back down and down to the road leading back, caught up with glen and bridget who were on camels, but they didn't look like they were going to be moving with any kind of pace that i needed in order to get out and back to the hotel to go to the turkish bath that everyone was raving about. so i pressed on. once i got ito where i was about 2/3 of the way back these kids were trying to get me to take a donkey ride, they offered to take me the rest of the way for two dollars, so i figured okay that's pretty cheap and it will be and experience. he pulled it up near a rock ledge and i got on this thing that wasn't much larger than a pony, but he said it was strong. so i got my feet in the stirrups and as he moved forward his left front leg went out from underneath him, then the right stirrup broke on me, i somehow got my left foot out of the stirrup before he rolled over on my foot. at that point i was over the idea of riding anything out of that park. this other kid was trying to get me on his donkey, stay tuned to flickr for photos of the bruise on my inner thigh.

i made it back to the hotel, but they were less than helpful in getting me in-touch with out tour guide, these 5 star hotels are over rated, actually saw a piece on the news i found very topical with my own experience. customers are complaining that the high end hotels are charging $25-30 for full access to the wireless internet. i was helping one of the women on the tour get on-line and was really upset to find they were charging $7 for and hour of use, and the hour begins the moment you log in and the timer runs even if you log off.

day 3 - eilat - sharm el sheik - 5 oct

2006-11-07T13:00:00.000Z

upon my arrival in eilat (5am) i found a taxi to the border, and made my way through the crossing, i paid my exit tax and exchanged some travelers cheques for egyptian pound (yet another mistake) once i got to the israeli border control the gal there wanted to have a superior look over my passport (long back-story: grandma washed it while i was in hawaii, the dry cycle is what really did the number on it, those covers . . . they shrink!)

made my way through the eqyptian side without incident. i had failed to review my email from the people at the dive company they told me what i should expect to pay for a cab to sharm el sheik, the cab driver got the better of me, and then proceeded to rip me off further, at which point i discovered that the exchange office on the israeli side of the border, that handles the exit taxes ripped me off by about $20. i was a bit tired but managed to stay awake to see the sinai desert and some of the formerly held locations that the children of israel were supposed to have wandered through. once we made it to sharm el sheik i was told that the driver couldn't drive into the community so i would have to transfer to another taxi for the 5 minute drive to the hotel where the dive shop was. this driver tried to rip me off but i held my ground with him and came to find out he still got more than the locals would pay. ahhhhhhh!

it was now 9am and i was really beat and just wanted to go to the bathroom and then sleep somewhere. the dive shop allowed me to leave my bags then they gave me a pass to get onto the hotels private beach. i went over and the towel guy wouldn't let me in. so i wandered around and then stopped at a beach bar for a beverage, the drink was $11, this is when i discovered how they took me at the border exchange. things aren't getting off on the right foot here. i finally get into the beach area: take a nap, swim and a shower. from there i go off to find some food, this place is like an open air vegas mall, because it's daytime and it's hot most things are closed. but this one guy asks me to come into his shop and sign their guest book (big mistake) it's this fragrance place and these guys offer me tea and sit me down then proceed to try and sell me this fragrance. i'm really not interested and just want to leave. the guy keeps putting different scents on me, saying "which one do you like?" he's showing me these huge bottles and quoting prices, i'd have had much easier time walking out were i not starved for some interaction with people. i kept telling him that i was traveling and didn't want something cumbersome adding weight to my back, and somehow the smallest bottle he had became smaller, this happened about three times, finally had a size that didn't seem to outrageous and even though i had no need for it, (other than to disguise some multi day clothing use) i left with $18 few dollars in my pocket. it was nice to get onto the boat away from the pressure of the vendors.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34792093@N00/

day 2 - tel aviv - 4 oct

2006-11-07T12:59:00.000Z

i woke up early so i did my devotional, then went down to breakfast, i made it down to the egyptian embassy a half hour early, there were a few people in line, not nearly as many as i'd expected, i guess there aren't a lot of israelis going to egypt these days. so i got the visa in just about an hour, (apparently, they take this ramadan thing pretty seriously). now i had the visa and not much beyond that to do except figure out a bus itinerary down to elait plus cab to the border and cab down to sharm el sheik. i went back to the hotel and tried to book a bus ticket online since i cant read hebrew i was unable to purchase a ticket . i brought my bags down and left them with the front desk. according to the map i had there was a tourists information office just down the road from the hotel, plus this deli i'd been told not to miss, on the same street. i set out to find the deli on this street, (how the emergency services find there victims is beyond me, try to find a street sign or an address) after a bit of wandering i found the deli, and soon became acquainted with the service (or should i say lack of service) in israel. i set for quite a while before the menu came my way and then the visit for the beverage was several minutes following that, finally the food order was taken, i thought it was a pretty expensive bagel until i saw the plate. the waiter never returned following dropping the plate, i might have ordered a dessert, he didn't know or seem to care. i finally had to walk up to him for my bill, then he hands it to me and tells me service is not included, i wanted to say "oh well that explains it" i paid the bill and went to walk away and he became indignant that service was not included. i was still a bit out of sorts on the value of the coins i had, so i fear i over compensated him. following my map i wandered off in the direction of the tourist information office, only to discover that no one was there. with a bit of concern, i headed back into an area where i'd recalled seeing another tourist office. fortunately they were open and the woman there was a canadian transplant (of 25 years) who helped me get a hold of the bus company and acquire my ticket for 00:30 that evening.

now i really had nothing to do, the emails confirmed i had a place on the boat, my visa was in place, i had a bus ticket confirmation #, and several hours to spare with no place to spend them, i decide to venture south on the beach toward the old seaport town of jaffa (avoiding all parks along the way) israel is eastern most edge of the timeline and they don't seem to observe day-light savings time, so the sun seems to set near 4:30, (which for a country that starts sabbath at sunset, really seems to complicate matters. i made it down to the old city in time to watch the sun drop over the med, then i wandered around the old city in dusky light (my first exposure to narrow cobblestone whindy streets. upon returning back to the area of the hotel, i went in to get my bags and just sat in the lobby for a few hours charging the battery in the computer and checking a few things on-line. round about 10:30 i decided it was time to get out of the hotel clerks way and find the city transport on to the bus station. with my three bag in tow i made my way to the bus stop. it was a bit of a struggle onto the mini bus, and all the seats in the front were full so i had to get the bags on pay the guy and then he's moving so i'm trying to get to a seat without taking someone out. there was a bit of confusion from how the entry to the bus station was explained to me. i was told the mini bus driver would drive into the complex. so i stayed on the bus, well he pulled into a gas station and looked at me like "i don't know where you think you're going but i'm not taking you there" so i found my way back to the bus station and went through the check point (just an observation, i've found that women with guns are much more friendly and flirtatious then the unarmed variety)

once in the bus station i figured i'd better have a bite to eat to tied me over until the following day since i wasn't sure what to expect. i got a falafel and for some reason the vendor didn't offer me a tray to put the sandwich and extras on, everyone after me got a tray. as it got closer to the departure time i found my way over to the gate where the bus was supposed to load. there was this shorted israeli guy wandering around drinking and smoking who chose to intentionally step on my feet several times, i'm not sure what he was saying to me, though he seemed to be getting into other peoples personal space although i was the only one he actually accosted. some girls offered me a seat to get me out of his path, shortly there after we boarded the bus (which turned out to be 4 buses, all full) the ride was not very comfortable, i guess your average israeli is a few inches shorter than me. so i was pretty cramped for the entire trip not allowing any real opportunity to sleep.

day 4 - ghazala 1 - 6 oct

2006-10-06T10:27:00.000Z

see bottom of page for link to my photos

the pictures will speak best of this whole experiecne. the majority of the divers were from austia, i was paired with alex, who also found the trip on a last minute fare deal. he is from swistzerland. we got along very well, and as dive buddies i felt that we were equally matched with regards to abilities, sense of adventure and exploration.

day 1 - tel aviv - 3 oct

2006-10-03T12:58:00.000Z

got up and had breakfast, walked out to the mediterranean coast and started walking north up the shoreline. about a mile or so up there was a marina, so i took a walk around to see what the conditions and boats were like. actually saw one catalina. most the boats were pretty beat up. the docks were a maze of dock-lines and power cords as everything was strunnded about. following my wandering around there i stopped and sat on a bench and read. i continued up the beach until it became impassable because of some cliffs, i walked up a path into a park, nature was calling so i thought i'd wander off the path and contribute to the airid soil, (big mistake) i walked down a path and as i looked to the right there was a guy there, so i turned to the left only to come face to face with another guy, so i picked up my pace and didn't look at him as i walked past. my thought as i walked out of the park was that everyone driving by who knew what goes on there was assuming i was one of those guys (mind you this was broad daylight). now i was getting a bit needy, so i went up to the sheraton, but the guard wouldn't let me in if i wanted to use the restroom, instead i had to ask if i could go to the bar for a drink and then suddenly i was free to walk in. at this point in time i figured i'd better come up with some plans, so i went looking for a travel agent to inquire about the possibility of doing some diving, somewhere, well the travel agents were less than helpful. at one they told me that they don't have a good rapor with the egyptian resorts. so i went back to my hotel and looked up sinai divers (dave had been on one of their safaris in the past so i thought i should try to check them out. well they had a last minute deal on a safari that was leaving on the evening of the 5th (it's the now the afternoon of the 3rd mind you) i sent an email inquiry and dana responded quite promptly, but she informed me that i would need an egyptian visa, which usually takes 3 to 5 business days or i could get it by flying into egypt (that was going to be kind of expensive) so i made my way over to the egyptian embassy, only to discover that they were closed and would be open from 10 to 11 because of ramadan. so i figured if it was meant to be i'd get the visa and all the connections i needed to get down to sharm el sheik. since i wasn't going to be able to do anything further on this day, i made my way back down toward the hotel.

walked into a mall looking for an internet connection with no luck, as i left i thought i'd better get some cash. i stopped in at an exchange and they informed me that they didn't exchange travelers check, only post offices and banks do, they directed me to a post office and i made it there just before they closed. from there i went back to the hotel and had fully intended to go out and grab some food, they had evening cake available so i had two pieces and then went up to my room and passed out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34792093@N00/

it begins

2006-10-02T12:56:00.000Z

my journey began, so long ago now that i'm not quite sure if i remember it all. . . . i left los angeles on october 1st, dave and christina accompanied me to my last meal on us soil (thai, in westchester) role it back at little, my lufthansa flight was scheduled with a center seat. so, i had it all planned out; we'd get to the airport 4 hours early, beat the rush and i'd get a bulkhead seat. then we'd go out and enjoy a nice meal for a few hours before my departure. well, come to find out lufthansa allows their passengers to check in as soon as they open at the airport. i found this out when i called to inquire about the check in process. this of-course through off my whole itinerary.

now i was panicked since i'd yet to pack, nor button up the few loose ends i'd planned on completing that afternoon. once i arrived at the airport, several bus loads of passengers were in line in front of me. this drove me a bit batty as for some reason eastern europeans seem to have a different sense of personal space, i started to think i was at a pick-pocket convention . the check in process took about 50 minutes, (thanks dave for hanging in there) so now the back story has caught up with the beginning of the tale. (got an isle seat)

flight to frankfurt, uneventful, slept some. at the frankfurt airport i walked around until i could find an outlet to plug in the puter. this was the first opportunity to test out my adapter, for those of you who've not heard let me give you the low-down. most of you know what a cheapskate, minimalist, weight conscious traveler i am, will not be surprised at all with my gerry-rigged adapter. i cut about 16 inches of a lamp power cable and using a three pronged to two prong adapter, some heat shrink, and electrical tape, i built my own universal adapter. i simply take the bare wires and plug them into any power outlet then plug my computer power cable into the three prong adapter. the transformer is universal and so is the battery charger i'm traveling with. so i don't have to drag around several different plugs and a transformer, it's all in one.

i arrived in tel aviv at the end of yom kipper, so there were no trains running from the airport into town. i contacted the tourist information center and a very friendly woman contacted a hotel for me and informed me of all the info i'd need to get there. the hotel maxim, was $55 a night with breakfast and wireless internet included. it was less than 100 yards away from the beach and my room had a slight view of the coast, (i had to walk over to the window to see it). the breakfast was pretty good, it's been the only hotel to date that has had internet access in my room (a must if i'm trying to use skype voice over internet).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/34792093@N00/