Well, the honeymoon is over. I'm settling in now and things are improving but since my last post I have had a string of bad luck that made me think that someone was telling me to bag this whole thing and go home.
Soon after my last post I buggered up my iPhone and it is now disabled until I connect it to my laptop which, of course, is sitting in my room in Seattle. I brought the iPhone specifically so I wouldn't have to lug my laptop around and now that I'm here... I have neither. Deep breath. People have been traveling for centuries without an iPhone or a laptop so I can survive. But it means no music and very limited access to email. Hrmph.
Next, something went haywire with my little photo viewer hard drive which, for a couple of hours, translated to not having a way to store my photos. I jigged it so I retrieved half the space so it works but I still have to be careful not to take more than 20Gb of photos. Hopefully I can manage this.
Then the TV in my room broke. Seems small but after all the other electronic failings I was wondering if I was in some sort of magnetic warping mystery spot. I switched rooms hoping things would improve.
Then (after I got to Merida) my guidebook disappeared. Like a puff of smoke. I was going batty turning over everything in my room for a couple of hours then gave up hoping I'd wake up and the elves would have magically put it back on my bed. My housemate was the elf. I had left it in her room and it had ended up under some stuff so I didn't see it when I searched *her* room in my madness. Okay, one mystery solved.
Many smaller things had gathered and now I also have a cough which feels like it is turning into bronchitis and in general I'm still feeling kinda sickly and not used to this new place and all this strange food.
BUT things are feeling better tonight, despite the sickliness. My spanish is already much improved just by being forced to use it so I don't feel as uncomfortable trying to communicate with people.
But I am getting ahead of myself. Now that I've vented my woes, here is the tale of the last few days:
Second day in Mexico City I was too tired to go out to Teotihuacan so I decided to explore the city instead. I went to the local artisan market then down to the "zocalo" which is the main square in the center of town. Big cathedral, beautiful government buildings, lots of people. Quite cool! I was about ready to take the Metro back to the hotel when it started to rain, so EVERYONE headed to the Metro. Holy crap. It was like being in Oxford Circus during rush hour when there is a bus strike. I'm so glad I lived in London because had I not been used to the tube crowds I'd be lying in a heap in the corner of the Metro station still trying to figure out what happened. Being the tube pro that I am (ha!) I shoved my way on with the best of them and got where I needed to go. Phew! One adventure down.
Sunday I flew to Merida and was met by some people from the school who took me to my host family house. For the first two weeks here I stay with a host family. They feed me and house me and generally be my parents for a while. I've only met the husband once, but my "host mom" (Susan, or Suzie) is wonderful. They are retired and their kids are all gone so she seems to have a great time mothering us students. My housemate is from Texas and she just graduated and has been in Merida for a couple of months. She's been showing me the ropes and showing me around a bit. All the streets here are numbered, each "Colonia", or neighborhood has a similar set of number so if you say "51st Street" it could be anywhere in the city. All the north/south numbers are odd, east/west are even. It's confusing but I'm told it gets easier once you figure it out. But I digress.
Yesterday we had no classes so all the students (about 8 in all) went on an "excursion" out to Calcetun which is a flamingo reserve! Yay! Lots and lots and lots of very pink flamingos. We took a bus out there then piled onto boats to ride another hour or so out to the reserve then stopped at a spring on the way back to go swimming. Awesome day and it was really cool to meet the other students in that kind of environment.
Today was the first day of school! We got up and our house mom had made me a peanut butter sandwich for lunch which I tucked into my backpack and we headed out the door to catch the bus. All I needed was a big yellow bus for it to be high school again. Once we got there it wasn't exactly high school. There was only one other person in my class (another new person) and it turned out her spanish ability was quite a bit less than mine so I was worried I'd spend the two weeks waiting for the teacher to explain stuff to her that I already knew, but then they moved her to the lower class and now I have a one-on-one class! Great but scary. I need to study!!
Speaking of which, I've blathered on enough for one post. Thank you for reading if you got this far! Next time hopefully I will only have good luck to report on!
hasta luego!
-t
Wednesday, 25 February 2009
Friday, 20 February 2009
South of the Border
First night in Mexico City! It feels good to be traveling again. Landing in a (somewhat) new city, struggling with language and exploring my new environs! It´s always a bit upending; transitioning to pre-trip craziness "I know I´m forgetting something" to plane-ride "Crap, I forgot that" to arrival and the quiet realization that the planning is finished, time to start enjoying!
The airport shuttle picked me up at 4am this morning (eeg) and 11 hours later I was in my hotel room looking out over the city! Traffic here is nuts. LA and London seem like a cakewalk compared to this! Luckily my taxi driver flew through it all with nary a honk or scratch. The hotel is great for the price, one of those fancy-on-the-surface-but-a-bit-worn-around-the-edges places. I took a quickie nap when I got in then followed the Rough Guide advice which led me to a local taqueria which was exactly what I needed. Fast, cheap, close and yummy! Now with some tacos and a beer in my belly I am ready to catch up on some much needed sleep!
Tomorrow is the big Anthropological Museum then Saturday I will head up to the ruins of Teotihuacán. Sunday I fly down to Mérida and start school on Monday!
Welcome to my new adventure!
The airport shuttle picked me up at 4am this morning (eeg) and 11 hours later I was in my hotel room looking out over the city! Traffic here is nuts. LA and London seem like a cakewalk compared to this! Luckily my taxi driver flew through it all with nary a honk or scratch. The hotel is great for the price, one of those fancy-on-the-surface-but-a-bit-worn-around-the-edges places. I took a quickie nap when I got in then followed the Rough Guide advice which led me to a local taqueria which was exactly what I needed. Fast, cheap, close and yummy! Now with some tacos and a beer in my belly I am ready to catch up on some much needed sleep!
Tomorrow is the big Anthropological Museum then Saturday I will head up to the ruins of Teotihuacán. Sunday I fly down to Mérida and start school on Monday!
Welcome to my new adventure!
Monday, 15 September 2008
London to Seattle
The last week has been a bit of a whirlwind. Our last few days in Scotland were spent in Glen Coe (where we finally caved and got a B&B for a couple of days - glorious!) then a night of camping in Loch Lomond (it's all about balance). Lots more beautiful valleys and mountains and lochs but many more tourists than we'd been seeing before so I still prefer the remoteness of the north highlands.
We then stayed at a cool little hostel on the southern end of the Yorkshire Dales and spent part of the next day in York, mostly at the York Minster, the largest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. It was pretty amazing and just oozing with history. Sadly we didn't have much time to explore the city as we had to hit the road to get down to Oxford, home of the most expensive hostel on the planet. Oh, there's a university there as well. I actually really loved exploring Oxford. It's a really beautiful town, and all the colleges are designed inwards so it leaves the onlooker constantly curious as to what life is like inside those walls. I did tour a couple of the colleges... Magdalen, Pembroke (alma matres of Eugenie and Nici respectively) and of course Christ Church with the big famous cathedral and formal dining hall. All in all a really cool day, and we had eaten at the Eagle and Child for dinner the night before, the pub where C.S. Lewis and Tokien would meet to banter ideas about back in the 40s and 50s.
The next day was our last day to get lost trying to find highways and once again we fufilled that expectation in spades, but finally made it to Heathrow and dropped off the little Ford Escort. Some quick calculations came back with a total of about 2400 miles driven in 2 weeks. Needless to say I was very happy to be trading in the keys for a bus ride!
I got lucky on Thursday and was able to spend all afternoon leisurely having lunch and coffee (the traditional burrito and flat white!) with Nici due to a power outage at work. Then, despite said power outage that should've sent everyone home, I had a wonderful gaggle of friends show up for my "hello again goodbye" drinks dinner drinks night. It was a really really fun night and it was quite hard saying goodbye to everyone. Thanks to all those reading who were able to come out that night!
Up stupidly early the next morning to catch my flight back to the states. The first leg to LA was as pleasant as an 11-hour flight in coach class could be. My flight from LA to Seattle took off right as the sun was going down. I was on the left-hand side of the plane so I was treated to 2 hours of amazing sunset. The horizon was a beautiful blend of deep red, orange and yellow to dark blue that slowly got deeper and deeper over the flight and finally got dark as we were approaching Seattle. Perfect timing and a fitting end to a long journey back to Seattle!
It's wonderful being back. I spent the weekend playing in the sun with my adorable little 2-year old niece, eating plums and pears out of my brothers mini-orchard in the back yard and generally just enjoying the idea of not going anywhere anytime soon. On that note, this will probably be my last post for a while. I promise to pick it up again when I start traveling again, or if anything exciting happens in the meantime!
Until next time, peace and hugs!
We then stayed at a cool little hostel on the southern end of the Yorkshire Dales and spent part of the next day in York, mostly at the York Minster, the largest gothic cathedral in Northern Europe. It was pretty amazing and just oozing with history. Sadly we didn't have much time to explore the city as we had to hit the road to get down to Oxford, home of the most expensive hostel on the planet. Oh, there's a university there as well. I actually really loved exploring Oxford. It's a really beautiful town, and all the colleges are designed inwards so it leaves the onlooker constantly curious as to what life is like inside those walls. I did tour a couple of the colleges... Magdalen, Pembroke (alma matres of Eugenie and Nici respectively) and of course Christ Church with the big famous cathedral and formal dining hall. All in all a really cool day, and we had eaten at the Eagle and Child for dinner the night before, the pub where C.S. Lewis and Tokien would meet to banter ideas about back in the 40s and 50s.
The next day was our last day to get lost trying to find highways and once again we fufilled that expectation in spades, but finally made it to Heathrow and dropped off the little Ford Escort. Some quick calculations came back with a total of about 2400 miles driven in 2 weeks. Needless to say I was very happy to be trading in the keys for a bus ride!
I got lucky on Thursday and was able to spend all afternoon leisurely having lunch and coffee (the traditional burrito and flat white!) with Nici due to a power outage at work. Then, despite said power outage that should've sent everyone home, I had a wonderful gaggle of friends show up for my "hello again goodbye" drinks dinner drinks night. It was a really really fun night and it was quite hard saying goodbye to everyone. Thanks to all those reading who were able to come out that night!
Up stupidly early the next morning to catch my flight back to the states. The first leg to LA was as pleasant as an 11-hour flight in coach class could be. My flight from LA to Seattle took off right as the sun was going down. I was on the left-hand side of the plane so I was treated to 2 hours of amazing sunset. The horizon was a beautiful blend of deep red, orange and yellow to dark blue that slowly got deeper and deeper over the flight and finally got dark as we were approaching Seattle. Perfect timing and a fitting end to a long journey back to Seattle!
It's wonderful being back. I spent the weekend playing in the sun with my adorable little 2-year old niece, eating plums and pears out of my brothers mini-orchard in the back yard and generally just enjoying the idea of not going anywhere anytime soon. On that note, this will probably be my last post for a while. I promise to pick it up again when I start traveling again, or if anything exciting happens in the meantime!
Until next time, peace and hugs!
Friday, 5 September 2008
Heading South
In Fort William right now at Fort William Backpackers - free internet! woohoo! We've been staying at hostels most of the time, usually in private rooms but occasionally we've had to stay in dorm rooms which has been universally a bad idea. Couples snogging, people snoring, squeaky beds, one chick was blowing her nose over and over. I think I'm too old and grumpy for that now so I've put my foot down on the dorms. I'd rather camp!
The highlands were stunning. We stayed in a wonderful remote hostel on the beach (Achmelvich Beach if anyone is googling) for a few days and one day drove all the way up to Durness at the very tippy top of Scotland. Very wild and remote... wonderful!! We then diverted over to Isle of Skye and shortened our stay there when we realized we miscounted and only had 6 days to get back to London, not 8 ("Isn't it Monday today? What? It's Wednesday?!?"). We'll wander around here for a couple of days then take two days to power south, stopping for some culture and history in York and Oxford.
We've been pretty much driving and gawking and stopping for lots and lots of photo ops. I'm still hobbling on my stoopid bad hip and my traveling partner has a bad knee so much to my dismay, no walks or hikes. I intend to come back when I am healthy and park up in the highlands for a week or two for a much more of a quiet walking holiday instead of speedy shooting holiday. We did stop at a whisky distillery though so now I know all about making whisky!
It looks like a beautiful day out so I'll be off to do more gawking!
Thanks for reading if you've kept up with me so far!
The highlands were stunning. We stayed in a wonderful remote hostel on the beach (Achmelvich Beach if anyone is googling) for a few days and one day drove all the way up to Durness at the very tippy top of Scotland. Very wild and remote... wonderful!! We then diverted over to Isle of Skye and shortened our stay there when we realized we miscounted and only had 6 days to get back to London, not 8 ("Isn't it Monday today? What? It's Wednesday?!?"). We'll wander around here for a couple of days then take two days to power south, stopping for some culture and history in York and Oxford.
We've been pretty much driving and gawking and stopping for lots and lots of photo ops. I'm still hobbling on my stoopid bad hip and my traveling partner has a bad knee so much to my dismay, no walks or hikes. I intend to come back when I am healthy and park up in the highlands for a week or two for a much more of a quiet walking holiday instead of speedy shooting holiday. We did stop at a whisky distillery though so now I know all about making whisky!
It looks like a beautiful day out so I'll be off to do more gawking!
Thanks for reading if you've kept up with me so far!
Thursday, 4 September 2008
Wandering the Highlands!
I have 3 minutes left on my internet card so speed is of the essence! The scottish highlands are spectacular!! I've tried haggis (yeeeuck!!!) and had some scotch with the locals (yum!) have driven up down and all around and are now heading down towards Glen Coe. We're in Isle of Skye at the moment and looking forward to more awesome scenery and photo ops in the days ahead. "kay - out of time!
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Lord's and Liverpool
Well I survived London getting my errands done and was able to spend some time watching the last of the Olympics and having some pints with a couple of Andrews. Saturday night found me with Andrew C. at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese for a pint and some proper british pub grub and Sunday I got all dressed up in a fluffy princess skirt and heels and met Andrew W. up at St. John's Wood for a day of cricket at Lord's. I'd never been to a cricket match before so we decided to do it in style in the Pavilion! It was a very fun day and Andrew was very patient explaining all the finer points of the game!
Monday I loaded up the backpack once again and headed to Heathrow to pick up the rental car. It's a peppy little Ford Focus Turbo Diesel... very fun to drive! I'm now in The Wirral where I'm spending a few days at the home of my good friends Craig and Kathy. Tuesday Kathy and I went to the Tate Liverpool for some modern art and culture then yesterday we trundled on over to Wales to go to the Conwy Castle, a beautiful medieval fortress that's amazingly well-preserved! I'm moving on today, heading up to the Lake District for the night then meeting my friend Marty in Glasgow on Friday! Scotland here I come!!
Monday I loaded up the backpack once again and headed to Heathrow to pick up the rental car. It's a peppy little Ford Focus Turbo Diesel... very fun to drive! I'm now in The Wirral where I'm spending a few days at the home of my good friends Craig and Kathy. Tuesday Kathy and I went to the Tate Liverpool for some modern art and culture then yesterday we trundled on over to Wales to go to the Conwy Castle, a beautiful medieval fortress that's amazingly well-preserved! I'm moving on today, heading up to the Lake District for the night then meeting my friend Marty in Glasgow on Friday! Scotland here I come!!
Thursday, 21 August 2008
Last Night
Tonight is my last night in Switzerland. Boo! I'm flying back to London tomorrow then hitting the road to explore the rest of the UK on Monday (after my first cricket game on Sunday at Lord's!). I definitely want to come back here, especially if I can get healthy enough to do some serious hiking and climbing! I will miss having mountains in the distance where ever I go. I'll also miss the little chocolates they give you when you order a coffee! I'll miss the chocolate in general actually. I've gotten quite spoiled here. I've been at this hostel in Gryon for a week now and it's got such a great vibe and really cool people that I've come to feel at home here so it will be sad to leave. Several people who are here have come for a few days and ended up staying for months. Megan and Kevin from Canada have been here for a year. It's that kind of place. We had burrito and mojito night last night (soooo good) then watched Return of the Jedi. Lauren, who has been here for 2 months and leaves on Saturday has never seen Star Wars so they are attempting to get through all of them this week. Three more to go!
Today I took the train/bus up to Les Diablerets which is a quiet ski village in the next valley. From there I took a little ski cable car thing up to Isenau and wandered around, took pictures, took a nap in the grass and generally admired the view of the surrounding mountains. Other than the other hike the rest of my days here have been lounging about on the deck, reading, playing cards and (yesterday) shopping for burrito fixins. It's been a good week.
It's taken the full four weeks down here to really start chilling out and relaxing and not feel like I'm constantly needing to do something somewhere. It'll take all of my Jedi powers to keep a calm mind once I get back to London and have to run around for errands on Saturday.
That's it for Switzerland blogging. My next stop after London is the home of my friends The Michaels in Wirral near Liverpool where I'll spend a few days next week. Then Scotland! But for now, a bientot Switzerland!
Today I took the train/bus up to Les Diablerets which is a quiet ski village in the next valley. From there I took a little ski cable car thing up to Isenau and wandered around, took pictures, took a nap in the grass and generally admired the view of the surrounding mountains. Other than the other hike the rest of my days here have been lounging about on the deck, reading, playing cards and (yesterday) shopping for burrito fixins. It's been a good week.
It's taken the full four weeks down here to really start chilling out and relaxing and not feel like I'm constantly needing to do something somewhere. It'll take all of my Jedi powers to keep a calm mind once I get back to London and have to run around for errands on Saturday.
That's it for Switzerland blogging. My next stop after London is the home of my friends The Michaels in Wirral near Liverpool where I'll spend a few days next week. Then Scotland! But for now, a bientot Switzerland!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)