Arequipa & Colca Canyon & some thoughts on friends & traveling

On Monday, back in Cusco, Verena and I had an lovely day: post office (sending home  the latest picture dvds), the most delicious breakfast at Granja Heidi, a German restaurant in Cusco, sightseeing, HOT STONE MASSAGE (and waxing - that was funny!) – awesome, back to the hostel, ran into Kati and Daniel, also on their way to Arequipa, but on a different bus, and then took at taxi to Cruz del Sur. As we arrived there at 8 pm (the bus was supposed to leave at 8:30 pm) we were told they had just cancelled the bus as the company was too concerned about the protests that were announced for the next two days around Cusco. Of course no one spoke English, but Verena and I are getting better in Spanish every day. Our grammar is  still rather bad, but we   often surprise ourselves how well we can make ourselves unterstood - not always, though   So we had to get to the main bus station. The guy from the bus company just  hailed a  cab from the street - a cab with no sign, no sticker. To take such a cab is not a good idea as there is the chance to get robbed by such ¨fake¨ taxis. So I told him to call an official taxi, but he didn`t understand why. So I told him that  tourists have been robbed and even killed by taking such unofficial taxis. Eventually, we got an official taxi, drove to the main terminal, ran inside as it was already 8:25 and check-in was already at 8 pm for buses leaving at 8:30pm. We managed to get a ticket with another bus company, and  just got on the bus literally a minute before it left. 9 1/2 hours later…

on Tuesday morning around 6 am we arrived in AREQUIPA   We met Kati and Daniel at the hostel, checked out a few more hostels, went for breakfast, met a couple from Vorarlberg (he was wearing a ¨Kletterhalle DORNBIRN¨ t-shirt), strolled around the city center, checked into our hostel, went for lunch, then went our separate ways. Verena and I  went on a 4-hour city tour which was nice and informative   In the evening Verena was about to buy a deck of cards when there was a blackout in the city – or at least the part of the city we were in. So we did some shopping using candles

On Wednesday Kati, Daniel, Verena and I took the bus at 6 am from Arequipa to CABANACONDE, where we arrived around noon. That`s where the Colca Canyon is located and we went our separate ways from there: Kati and Daniel trekked down (and back up the next day), and Verena and I rented mountain bikes  to check out various viewpoints in the afternoon

In the evening we were just about to leave our hostel as Stephen (Claire`s boyfriend) walked in – we had met them in Rurrenabaque on the pampas trip) and next ELI  walks in. This was such a nice surprise. We were hoping to meet up in Peru, possibly Arequipa, but we did not expect to see each other in the small village of Cabanaconde. Claire came a little later, and we all had dinner together: Verena, Eli, Claire, Stephen, Armin (from Austria), and a guy from Spain. It was soo nice and it felt as if being with old friends

On Thursday we took the 7 o`clock bus to the CRUZ DEL CONDOR, a viewpoint at the COLCA CANYON where you can see condors in the morning between 8 and 9:30. While Eli, Claire and Stephen stayed on the bus back to Arequipa, Armin, Verena and I got off to watch the condors. And we weren`t disappointed: we saw LOTS of CONDORS        Then we  got our mountain bikes on the next bus and rode back to Cabanaconde. The bike ride was beautiful!!! Then Colca Canyon looks like a mixture of Tuscan landscape and Swiss/Austrian Alps   And we had the road pretty much to ourselves – no traffic. At one point there was a  rather aggressive dog that Eli had warned us about – and we biked FAST   Back in Cabanconde we returned the bikes, took a shower (a real HOT shower -  yes!), had lunch, and at 2 pm took the bus back to Arequipa where we arrived aroudn 8 pm. Back at the hostel Kati and Daniel were already waiting, Eli stopped by, too and the 5 of us had a nice reunion dinner at an Italian restaurant. We played a few rounds of ¨shithead¨, a card game that Eli had taught us on the Uyuni trip. Good thing Verena had bought some cards, as Eli`s were stolen about a week ago (his backpack, actually). We had a fun evening – the last one probably with these guys. Eli, Kati and Daniel will climb Chachani mountain tomorrow, then travel through Peru – same direction but at slower pace. Verena and I have to travel faster as we have to make it to Colombia. So we-ll be taking the overnight bus  from Arequipa to Lima tomorrow night and then head to Ecuador.  I`ll miss Eli, Kati and Daniel!

Today, Friday, Verena and I are taking it easy, which means, not getting up in the wee hours of the morning to do some hike or catch a bus. We`re spending some time in the internet cafe near the Plaza de Armas, where we met Stephen and Claire, who`re heading to a campsite tomorrow…

Having  to say good-bye to Eli, Kati and Daniel made me a little sad and also reminded me of my friends back in New York and Austria. It`s been 7 months now that I have been traveling and I feel the same way I felt back in January (about 3 months into my trip) when all of a sudden I missed my friends. It`s funny how it comes in waves and also how it hits you all of a sudden! I don`t know why. Maybe at a point when you`ve seen a lot,  are tired, I don`t really know… So far it`s been really exciting to travel in South America, but since we arrived in Arequipa I feel I`ve seen so much already, and I just enjoyed the company of nice people whom I had met before. – Sometimes people ask me if I think I`ll be ready to return to a ¨normal¨ life again at the end of this year, and I believe I will be ready. I`m incredibly thankful for  having had the opportunity to travel this year,  to see all the places I have seen, to meet all the people I have met, to have had all the experiences (the good and the bad) I`ve had! But I also don`t want to ¨live¨ like this forever. I`m looking forward to getting an apartment in Vienna, working (teaching)again, spending time with my friends…

PS:  Taking the overnight bus to Lima tonight.

Geysers el Tatio: altitude sickness or heat stroke? AND NYC PICS

On Friday we did a trip to the Valle de la Luna – great

On Saturday we got up at 3:30 am to be picked up at 4 am. After picking up a few more people and a 2 hour drive we arrived at the Geysers el Tatio around 6:30 in the morning – before sunrise. The geysers are at an altitude of 4,320 m above sea level. I felt fine. The geysers were AMAZING!!! I’ve never seen geysers before and I totally love it there! The Geysers el Tatio are supposedly the highest geysers in the world! On the way back we stopped at a village, had some tea, cheese empanadas and llama meat for those who wanted to try it. We also saw llamas in the wild, volcanoes, donkeys, and an animal that is something between a rabbit and a kangaroo – really funny

Back in San Pedro around 1:30 pm I started to get a really bad headache and my forehead felt as if on fire. I had never felt anything like this before and went straight to bed where I stayed all afternoon. Around 3 or 4 pm it got really bad and then slowly better. I think I got a heat stroke. Verena spoke to a few locals from the hostel and a paramedic and they all said they think it’s altitude sickness. I went to the paramedic in the evening myself – but no one was there. Only a sign saying to talk to the “carabineros”, which we did – in Spanish. I’m quite amazed how well the conversations often go considering my Spanish is so limited. Understanding isn’t too bad, though. I really believe it helps a lot that I learnt not only English, but also Latin (6 years) and French (4 years) in school. Nevertheless, the carabineros couldn’t really help us as the paramedic and his translator had gone to the hospital in Calama with someone who had had an accident. They didn’t know when they would return – but Calama is more than one hour from San Pedro. Still sick (headache and hot forehead) I bought some coca tea – recommended by the locals to help with the altitude – and went back to bed.

Today Verena did the Tara trip and I stayed home in bed. At noon I tried to see the paramedic again, but today there was only a woman how spoke no English and wasn’t helpful at all. She kept telling me to come back tomorrow and I kept telling here that I’m going to Bolivia tomorrow. So I went back to bed and drank more coca tea – in case it’s altitude sickness. I already feel a lot better and truly believe that I had a heat stroke (not altitude sickness) – and therefore bought a hat today

I uploaded more PICTURES - the week in NYC   I very much enjoyed uploading the pictures of my friends whom I met that week     

Tomorrow Verena and I are heading to Bolivia – it’s a 3 day/2 night trip to Uyuni and the scenery is said to be stunning! I’m feeling fine now and if it really wasn’t altitude sickness, I should be fine – we’ll be higher than 4ooo m, though, for our first night. We’ll see. I’ll let you know how things went when we get to Uyuni (in the South of Bolivia) – if the internet works there – or the next time we have internet access. My friend Sonja who is currently traveling with her boyfriend in Central America just had no internet access for 3 weeks!

1 week in NYC – very happy & very busy :)

I had a wonderful time in New York City last week   NYC can be great and so much fun when you don´t have to work, but just meet with friends and hang out with people you like

Of course I was busy with other stuff, too, like doing my taxes, visiting my rheumatologist, checking my mail, etc. However, most of the time I spent with friends: on Monday I met up with Veronika and her two children (it was so nice and Maximillian still recognized me), and then with Verena and Dominika at ¨Zum Schneider¨. On Tuesday I had dinner with Peter and Mike, who unfortunately is still in the rubber room (and still does not know why), on Wednesday I met with Natalie, on Thursday with Veronika and her two children again, and later with Jan, and on Friday…

On FRIDAY I visited MCSM H.S., my old school in East Harlem, where I used to teach for 5 years before I resigned last August to travel around the world this year. And I must say on the one hand it was WONDERFUL to see and talk to some of my former students and colleagues, but on the other hand it was quite sad to see so many of the good teachers so unhappy. Seeing some of them almost broke my heart; it makes me sad to see how the school has changed. 6 years ago Manhattan Center was such an excellent and wonderful school; when I started working there in Sept. 2003 there were so many good, knowledgable, and enthusiastic teachers and staff – I loved teaching there!!! Unfortunately things changed – not for the better – and got worse each year after the old principal and a few good APs retired or left - and at this point, well, it´s simply sad. A lot of people seem to have given up – and I don´t blame them. But it´s still sad for me to see this. – Seeing some of my former students, though, was really nice and made me happy :)  I´m excited that I´ll be back in time for their graduation on 6/26

After school I went out with Alla, Peter, Mike T., Mike St., and Ed and we had a lot of fun - as always. It felt as if I never left the city. It felt like this with everyone I met last week - as if I was still living here and had never left (in a good way)…

On Saturday I went up to Michelle´s apartment in Washington Heights, we went for a walk in Central Park and then cooked dinner at her place and watched a DVD (Mad Money – funny).

On Sunday I met some of my closest friends in the city, Flora, Tatjana, and Christine (Veronika was sick and Sonja is still traveling), at the Pink Pony for a very long brunch – we talked about everything and laughed A LOT – as usual    :)  And again, it felt as if I had never left the city…  In the evening I took Peter out for dinner as it was so nice of him to let me stay at his place

Today I did my laundry and bought a few things that I will need on my trip in South America for the next 3 months. Then Peter and I went to ¨Zum Schneider¨ for dinner. I love the food there!

Overall, I had a really wonderful week here in NYC - happy and busy   It was great to see my friends (unfortunately there was not enough time to see all of them) and it was so wonderful to feel so at home here and I really appreciate the wonderful friends I have!

PS: VISITING NYC is sooooooooooooo much more fun than working in the city

Leaving Fiji, flying to NYC via LA

I’m a little sad to be leaving Fiji – I had such a wonderful time here     

But on the other hand I’m really excited that I’ll be in NYC next week - catching up with old friends, visiting my old school (Thu or Fri), and getting ready for the next part of my trip: South America – from Buenos Aires to Bogota   And I’ll also have to do my taxes!

PS: I uploaded more pictures to my flickr account, so now my 3 1/2 months in Southeast Asia (Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Thailand again) are complete; and I started New Zealand, but only did my first few days in Auckland so far. Enjoy the photos

Planning time – will be in NYC 3/30-4/7

Changing the date of my flight to New Zealand proves to be more difficult than expected as it turns out to be the end of the summer holidays in NZ. Right now I’m on the waitlist for Feb. 7 and 9. The flights earlier in the week were rather hopelessly overbooked. So for now I’ll be staying in Khao Lak for a few more days, probably until Tuesday, and then return to Bangkok from where I’ll fly to New Zealand eventually.

The news is that I booked the South American part of my round-the-world-trip yesterday with Verena. Verena is a friend of mine and also former roommate when I lived on E 97th Street with her and Reingard a few years ago. She then moved back to Austria, then back to NYC last April and as her visa/job ends on 3/31 we’ll be traveling in South America together   So here’s THE PLAN:

In February I’ll travel in New Zealand (probably the South Island first, then the North Island), in March in Fiji, where I hope to get to do more scuba diving…

I’ll be in NEW YORK CITY the week of Mon, 3/30 – Tue, 4/7   I’m really looking forward to this week in the city  – hope to see and catch up with many of you   Let me know if you’re around and have time to meet!

Verena and I will then travel in SOUTH AMERICA from 4/7 to 6/24. I’ll fly from NYC to Buenos Aires on Tue, April 7 (Verena will do the same a week earlier on 3/31) and then we’ll travel through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. We’ll fly back to NYC from Bogota on Wed, June 24. I’m very much looking forward to doing this part of my trip with a friend   If you have traveled in any of the above mentioned countries and have suggestions/recommendations I’m more than happy to hear from you!

After South America I’ll spend more time in NYC (I plan on attending graduation of the East Harlem High School where I taught the last 5 years), hopefully visit Jenny and her family in Florida, spend more time in NYC and then eventually head back to Austria at the end of July, which will mark the end of my trip-around-the-world.

After my round-the-world-trip ends (  ) I’ll be a little sad, but also happy as then the plan continues like this: in August move to Vienna, find an apartment, start working again, catch up with all my friends (  :)  ) and settle down; then maybe come across a nice man, maybe have children, etc. - basically do what most of you have been doing for the last few years   I know this all sounds a little far fetched at the moment and some (maybe a lot) of you think I’ll never really settle down – who knows?! Maybe I stay single, work and travel happily ever after   I honestly don’t really know where else my life will take me. But wherever it takes me I hope it’s some place good…  Well, I’ll see how it all goes – I’ll start with the apartment and the job first – in  August   But actually right now all these things are still far, far away and I simply enjoy the freedom and wonderful places and experiences this year :)

It’s been a dream of mine for a long time to travel for a whole year and see the world and the people who live in it; it took longer to realize this trip than I thought - I don’t know about you, but in my life things rarely seem to happen right away; it always takes a little while for my dreams and ideas to work out, but luckily in the end they do :)  (And the few things that haven’t worked out weren’t meant to be, I guess.)  So I appreciate and truly cherish this year of  traveling

So, this is enough. I’ll have a shower and then head out for dinner…

Take care!

Tuol Sleng Genocide Musem (S 21) & The Killing Fields

A depressing day.

I rented a tuk-tuk driver for the day, first went to the Vietnamese Embassy to apply for my Vietnamese visa ($35 for 31 days) and then went to the TUOL SLENG MUSEUM, a former high school turned into the Security Prison 21 (S-21) under Pol Pot’s regime from 1975-1979. The museum is really good, but the most horrible museum I have ever been to! Of the around 17 000 prisoners imprisoned there only 7 survived. So everybody’s picture you see there was killed, some tortured and eventually killed at the Killing Fields. It is simply the most horrible place I had ever been to and standing in the torture rooms where there are no descriptions, but only one big picture in each room showing the way it looked when found… Simply horrible.  Standing there I was trying to understand HOW something like this is possible.  And all of a sudden it reminded me of this one year in my life that was very different from all other years: my first year in NYC, teaching at this High School in Hell’s Kitchen, with metal detectors and everything. (The school was closed after that year.) I sometimes had a hard time understanding what was happening there. For example that 8 teachers got hurt within one year, the gang fights which errupted every day starting about 2 weeks before Christmas, the first fight in my own classroom, when I was given a classroom in the basement in the second semester, the colleague who died of AIDS, who lost/got his wallet stolen once and was wondering around the school so lost and could not believe that I gave him money for the ride home, the colleague who spit at another colleague, etc.  I remember that I often felt that my life there was unreal, but it was real, … REAL, UNREAL, … It was very real in a SURREAL way!

Of course as difficult as this year was, it cannot be compared to the horrors that took place at S-21. But teaching at that High School changed my outlook on the world profoundly! I would not want to have to go through this year again, but on the other hand I am glad I was able to experience it in the sense that it made me see and understand things I had never seen before. (After that year I got a job offered at one of the best public High Schools in NYC – in East Harlem - and had a great time there!)

A few times while walking through the museum I felt as if I couldn’t go on, but I did. As I left 4 hours later I was exhausted.

I then went to the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek, where the prisoners were killed: blindfolded they had to kneel down to be killed – the lucky ones were shot, but because the Khmer Rouge wanted to save bullets the prisoners were often hit on the head and then fell into the mass grave. There was a tree where they would hang a loudspeaker to play music so that the people wouldn’t hear what was happening. There was also a tree where they killed children by smashing them against it.

As I left my feeling of exhaustion had turned into a feeling of numbness.

I went back to the city to meet up with Stacey for dinner and talk about our day.

On the road again

Today I took the bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. In the evening I met up with Stacey, whom I met yesterday evening at the restaurant “Le Tigre de Papier” in Siem Reap, where I had the BEST gnocchi 4 formaggi EVER! We walked around the city and then had dinner - having a lot of fun Most travelers I met so far didn’t like Phnom Penh and I understand that, but the craziness of this city reminded me of New York and made me feel at home. Stacey, who is from New York, and I got along really well and I started to think that maybe I’m have become more of a New Yorker than I thought I am? Talking to Stacey was so easy and I so understood what she was saying and it, well, it just was a lot of fun and I somehow felt like being in the Cambodian version of NYC and it actually made me miss NY… and also think about my friends who still live there. Hope you are fine!!!

Phnom Penh makes me feel at home in a NYC kind of way. Isn’t that funny?

Happy Thanksgiving!

There is no Thanksgiving in Laos, so I almost forgot it’s Thanksgiving today…

I met up with Hilde (Jess and Emily couldn’t come as Emily is sick) – guess where; yes, at the Scandinavian bakery – and we spent the day relaxing and reading at the Tad Sae waterfall near Luang Prabang, meeting two guys from Germany, watching a Lao singer videotape a song, and watching 4 elephants bathe

To get there we took a tuk-tuk and then a boat, but we had some problems/miscommunication with the tuk-tuk driver, and I must say as much as I like the Lao people outside the tourism industry I dislike the people working in the tourism industry trying to rip off foreigners. Hilde and I stayed calm during the argument, but got our point across. - These are the moments when I feel it definitely has it’s advantages having lived and worked in crazy NYC for the last 6 years, because NOTHING gets even close to my experiences there, especially my first (and worst) year there

The evening I spent at the lovely Hmong night market, again

And at night I finish reading the book I’ve been reading so far:“A Night at the Call Center” by Chetan Bhagat. It’s about 6 Indians working at a call center in India. It only covers one night at this call center – the night of THANKSGIVING in America. The book is easy to read and funny, especially the Indian perspective on the US. I can definitely recommend this book!