Leaving the coop

So I leave for Hong Kong tonight. Am I excited?? Hell, yeah. Am I ready? Well, not really. I'm a little apprehensive about leaving home just because everything here is so easy. I don't have to worry about my stuff and I can just leave it around everywhere. Its nice to be able to put my bag down and not think someone is going to steal it. Also, its just so comforting to be at home where I can see all the people I love. Well, at least talk to them. But we can't all just be lazy bums. I have things to do and places to go so I'm leaving the coop.

I'm also not really ready because I'm not ready for this year to be over. I'm already more than half done with my trip. I can't believe that I'm done with South America. It wasn't always the easiest place to be but I loved it. I loved that I knew the language and I love that I got to see and do things I would never have imagined for myself. And it also means that the real world is right around the corner. I have China, Southeast Asia and Australia ahead of me but then I'm done. Once I start on this final leg, I will just be counting down until having to take responsibility for myself. I have some friends who are starting jobs and hearing what they deal with makes me very glad I'm not working. I've worked for the last 10 years (part-time and full-time) but I've definitely gotten used to this lifestyle of mine!

But I'm also soo excited about this part of the trip. I can't wait to eat amazing food, hike the vanishing gorges in China, see Mount Everest, scuba for the first time and just hang out at the beach. I'm a little nervous about the whole language barrier, especially since most people will just assume I can speak the language but I will just muddle through. I'm heading to Hong Kong first so hopefully, I'll be able to ease into the whole China thing.

I also bought the rest of my RTW ticket. RTW tickets make it affordable to travel but its a huge pain in the butt to book. I finally decided to just go with STA Travel especially since I have a fake ISIC card that's giving me some pretty great discounts. They have been so nice and helpful so I would recommend them to anyone trying to book a ticket. I bought my final ticket from Sydney and I'm coming home July 27th. That gives me plenty of time to readjust and get ready for school which starts mid-September.

Oh, and I just found out I got into my number 1 grad school!!! I'm very excited. Thrilled, in fact. Actually, kind of in shock. Yay!! Its located very close to my hometown so after 8 years, I'm finally coming home. My mom started to cry when she found out. And then my dad gave me 50 bucks as a reward. Sweet.

I wish they all could be california girls

So being at home has been so great. I've had absolutely nothing to do except eat and veg out. But it hasn't been all fun and games. I did my taxes (I got a return this year!), paperwork for school, more travel planning and lots of dishes. My mother was definitely glad to have me home, especially since our dishwasher broke down. Well, I gotta earn my keep somehow, right? But really, this break was exactly what I needed. I spent a lot of time catching up with friends (and even helping one move in!) and its so great to see and talk to the people I love and have truly missed the last few months.

But I also got to visit places that I love and haven't been to in awhile. Last week, my parents and I went to Santa Cruz for lunch and it was wonderful. Its been an unusually wet March in the Bay Area but luckily, it was sunny and warm when we went to Santa Cruz. We had a great seafood lunch and watched some surfers catch waves. Santa Cruz is definitely one of gems of NorCal.

Sunny but a little windy! Behind us is the Boardwalk.

Dad, me and Mom in front of the lighthouse. Santa Cruz is both hippy and picturesque.

Well, I have a week or so left so I need to veg more and really take advantage of this time! I have to say, taking time off during my vacation has been so great. It gives me time to change around clothes, clean my gear, and recharge. Traveling is hard! Also, since I'm going to grad school next year, I have lots of things to take care of so I can actually be ready to go. I know, I'm supposed to let go and travel but I'm not that person. I worry too much and I'm way to anal to just disconnect from the real world entirely. Well, I only have 4 months left so I better enjoy it! But until then, back to Gilmore Girls!

South american reflections

Warning! Classic self-indulgent, no-one-else-will-listen-so-I-will-post-my-inner-thoughts-on-the-web blog posting ahead! I've been home for a couple of weeks now but at least its given me some time to reflect back on my time in South America.

What can I say about my time there? Amazing, unbelievable, heart-breaking, eye-opening to say the least. Though I did come home in the middle of my trip for Christmas, it was still the longest I've been away from home. I feel like I've learned so much about what I'm capable of and how far I can push myself. I always felt like a true test of character and strength is seeing how one does outside their comfort zone and in an entirely new environment. If anything, this trip has taught me to accept who I am and become a more confident person. I'm learning how to truly take care of myself and how to follow my heart, from working in non-profit to building my own itinerary. I've always known that I'm an independent person but its amazing the things I can now accomplish for myself. It sounds so basic but in a lot of ways I feel like I've lost that over the last 3 years. At my last job, they never expect you to develop your own ideas but instead just expect you to suck it up and do as your told. The faster and better you take orders, the more you are rewarded. I found myself losing confidence in my ideas and who I was since every idea or workproduct I came up with was always assumed wrong until proven right.

But that's all in the past! My travels have given me confidence but also more awareness of the world around me. I love meeting new people and seeing the world from their perspectives. Surprisingly, the US is not the center of the universe and we aren't always right. Debating about religion, politics and culture with Argentinos, Brits, Bolivians, the Irish, the Dutch, everyone has been refreshing and eye-opening. Not to mention my volunteer work. Its been the complete opposite of any type of work I've done in the past and that also has been good for my soul. I feel the plights of my students and their families not only because I've become more educated about the AIDS problem in Argentina and South America in general but also because I've gotten to know and care about each and every person I've worked with. Having that one-on-one connection has been both a blessing and a curse. I'm fully invested and my heart wrenches at all the things I want to do but am unable to. If I fail to deliver, I can see the direct effects with my very own eyes. That's totally different than making sweeping, life-changing decisions from a boardroom. But its given me new motivation. It will be interesting to see if how I can weave it into my career.

See what traveling has done to me? Its made me question everything I've based my life on to this point. There have definitely been times where I just get caught up in the petty, day-to-day aspects of it but I've also had those Deep Thought moments as well to contemplate my life and the universe. Well, I hope it lasts. Traveling was supposed to be this life-changing experience that gives me more awareness and maturity. Only time will tell! After all I have 4 months ahead!

Whew, I've got way too much time on my hands. I'm also turning to mush. My parents have taken away my car so I spend most of time watching downloaded TV shows, talking on the phone and eating, eating, eating. I can barely fit into any of my clothes now! But hey! I'm on vacation! I should enjoy it!

Wine tasting with drag queens

I know, I know, this post is REALLY late. I don't have any excuse except that I'm at home now and I just got lazy. Eating Korean food, catching up on TV and hanging out with friends just takes up so much of my time! But I didn't want to leave my trip to Mendoza out since it was such a crazy weekend. I thought it would be a relaxing couple of days filled with uppity wine tours and lots of happy hour drinks. And it was but also so much more...

My friend Hunter and I took another super-luxurious overnight bus to Mendoza, which took about 13 hours. Seriously, why don't we have buses like that in the States? With what we pay for Greyhound, you would think we could step it up a bit. Anyway, we got in just fine and checked into the Hostel Independencia, a great homey hostel right next to the main plaza. Fortunately, we got to Mendoza in time for their big annual event, La Festival de Vendimia, their big wine festival. Mendoza is Argentina's main source of its wine, producing over 75% of the country's production. And wine is big in Argentina. What else do you drink with all that steak? The main wine produced in Argentina is the malbec, a very strong fruity wine. Its similar to cabernet sauvignon, which is the second largest type of wine produced here.

The main plaza in Mendoza. Its a bustling city with tons of restaurants and things to do and see. There are also these huge sycamore trees shading the trees, giving it this warm, small town feel.

Yes, that's a man on a bike with a duck. And yes, the duck is wearing an Argentinean flag around its neck.

There are many rules at the internet cafes though their signs are pretty imaginative.

We decided to start our trip off with some asado and since it was my last weekend in Argentina, it was my last chance to try some other parts of a traditional asado. An asado doesn't just include juicy, thick steaks. It also includes many other parts of the cow like the kidneys, intestines, liver and, my personal favorite, blood sausage, which is actually ends up looking like blood goo. Kind of gross. Btw, did anyone see the Amazing Race 7 with Boston Rob? They went to South America and one of the challenges was to eat 4 lbs of asado. And then all the contestants started to throw up?? Anyway, I was told that molleja, translated mysteriously as "sweetbread," was pretty good. So I decided to try them but even though they're called sweetbread, they're actually glands (pituitary) and they tasted just like garbage. But the waiter had made a big deal of me ordering them so I couldn't just leave the plate full! So I tried to eat them, one bite at a time, but then Hunter would say "glands" and I would start to laugh. It got to a point where I couldn't even look at them without almost keeling over. So I finally gave up and ordered an itty-bitty chorizo instead. Small yet satisfying. No more garbagy glands for me!

Anyway, the Festival celebrates wine with a very elaborate pageant, where the candidates from each provenance within Mendoza compete. There's a large parade to showcase all the candidates and a huge pageant like show where the Reina de Vendimia is announced. The president even shows up for this event. We unfortunately couldn't get tickets to the big show but at least we got to see the parade. And what a parade it was! The floats are so elaborately decorated for each candidate with mechanical moving parts, dancers and crazy costumes. Its also tradition to throw candy and little trinkets to the audience. That in itself sounds a bit dangerous but they even through things like melons! You could seriously injure someone with those!

Very fancy float designs for each candidate.

Even dancers! With a gigantic fan.

That's not actually a real man. Its a mechanical gaucho drinking wine out of a huge vat. How they even got these things on the floats is a mystery.

Hmm, I'm sure its a fire hazard to have a live fire and a huge asado on a moving vehicle. They were passing out choripans (chorizo in bread) to the people.

We also found out that there was an alternate festival going on at the same time, Vendimia Gay. In general, the people of South America are much more homophobic than the States because of its Catholic culture and machismo. (I took a samba class in Buenos Aires and the guys in the class made a big deal over having to hold hands with the other guys. In a samba class, for godssake.) But apparently wine tasting and beauty pageants are a magnet for the gay Argentinean crowd. So they throw their own parties and hold their own pageant. A drag queen one, actually. We were definitely intrigued and thought we would check it out and it was a total trip. Hunter informed me that Latin men did make the best drag queens and these ladies were in top form. If I could only have legs like they did! And walk in those ginormous heels! Anyway, we were pretty tired from our all-night bus trip the night before so we called it an early night (which is about 3:30am in Argentina).

And the contestants for Reina de Vendimia Gay! If you can believe it, this was the 11th year of this pageant!

Crowd favorite! We didn't ge to see who won but I'm pretty sure it was her.

The next day, we got up bright and early to go tour some wineries. We had gotten a recommendation from some random people for a guy who rented bikes so we thought that would be a great way to see the wineries. A lot of the wineries are close together so we were able to see a bunch very easily. Good thing considering the wine we were drinking at each tasting! We ended spending more time at each place than we expected so we only got to see a few places but they were very good. We saw a super-modern winery with these huge metal vats and fancy machines as well as the one of the oldest artesian wineries in Mendoza. It was great to see the differences in each place. Though the ride back at the end of the day was a bit wobbly after all that wine!

Wine grapes! We even got to taste them. They tasted just like grapes to me!

Grape vines.

The machinery at one of the biggest wineries in Mendoza. Very modern.

If I knew anything about wine, I would give away the secret sauce recipe but I wouldn't be able to tell even if I learned anything.

We tasted wine. Lots and lots of wine. I wouldn't really recommend it with bike-riding, as fun as it was.

The artesian winery. So different from the big, modern, fancy one!

We took a wine tasting course at the artesian winery. She would tell us to taste the oak, plum, hint of chocolate and vanilla and lactic acid (??). All I tasted was alcohol.

How could you not bike through scenery like this?

Mendoza is famous for it wine and also as the gateway to Acongagua, the highest peak outside of the Himalayas at almost 21,000 ft! Though we were only in Acongagua for the weekend, we knew we had to at least try and see the peak. We talked to like 500 travel agents to see if there was a tour that we could take out into the mountains but our bus the next night cut our time pretty short. So we took a late bus to a little town (well, actually it was like 5 buildings crowded together) that's popular with climbers in order to get an early start the next day. Each of the sites we wanted to see were about 4-6 km (3-6 mi) apart from each other but we only had a couple of hours before we had to catch the 3 hr bus back into town. So we tried to hitchhike. I know, not the smartest move but I was with Hunter and it was a pretty remote, small town area. At first we were passed left and right, leaving us cursing at passing cars. We were finally picked up by some truckers and it was fine. We were only going a few miles and I promise never to do it again! But it’s so classic backpacker.

La Puenta de Inca. It actually used to be a spa with baths. We were on a mission to see all the sites so we spent about 15 minutes here, snapping pictures furiously.

We finally made it to the big kahuna! Acongagua. I still can't believe we actually made it on such a tight time schedule and with trying to catch a ride.

We had about 30 minutes so we walked into the park as much as we could in order to get that perfect shot of the peak. It was a been there, done that type of excursion but I would love to come back and climb it. 21,000ft!

Well, we did make our bus back into town and onto our bus back to Buenos Aires. We even got to play bingo on the bus! Our bus attendant was really nice and would try to call out the numbers in English as well as Spanish but he kept messing them up. Fiveteen! Thirty six (instead of fifty six)! It’s so mean to laugh considering my own Spanish but we couldn't help it. Is that bad? Mendoza was so fun and Hunter and I really packed a TON into just a few days. I definitely would not have had to motivation to get it all done if it weren't for him. Thanks, Hunter! You're definitely one of the best people I've met in BA and I really hope all the best for you!

Hunter was the consolation winner! The actual winner got a full bottle of wine but still, it was very exciting. Yeah for Hunter!

My last few days in Buenos Aires were pretty uneventful. I packed my bags (I even had to buy an extra bag for all my new clothes! Oops.) and had my last cafe con leche and medialunas and came home! I was very sad to leave Argentina and South America but I was happy to see my family. I can't believe my travels are already half over!