Life is Small Town Australia and the Harry Potter Fiasco

Back in Gladstone for a day we spend it lounging around and resting up for our overnight in Rockhampton, a neighboring town with the airport the Eric and Jill were going to fly out of. At the point I was getting really excited because the final installment of the Harry Potter films was coming out a few days earlier than it was in the states and I made sure we had tickets to a showing on opening day. As we awoke on what I believe was a Thursday morning and getting ready to drive to Rockhampton for our day’s adventures, Jill noticed the tickets were for Wednesday... So turns out Harry Potter came out in Australia the day before, the day we laid around doing nothing, and we had missed it, not to mention we had wasted four pricey tickets.

We hopped online and got new tickets for later that day and I got over the fact that I didn’t get to see Harry Potter on the opening day. In the car, we drove the two hours to Rockhampton and first visited the Coobury Park animal conservation reserve. Walking around the park there were tons of kangaroos just hopping around. They were so friendly they would just come up to you and eat the feed we had out of hour hands! It was such a great experience and such a good way to meet a roo! We also got to see all types of birds, wombats, crocodiles, and dingoes. After we had walked around the park, the trainers brought out a little joey, a snake, and a koala! I got to hold all three, feeling like a bad ass holding the snake and falling in love as I held the joey and the koala.

After the animal park we drove to the Capricorn Caves for a tour. Eric looked like Indiana Jones in his new Aussie hat. The tour was pretty cool, and took us through a large cave they call the theater I think, where they hold wedding sometimes and it has perfect acoustics. Apparently the acoustics are even more perfect than that of the Sydney Opera House. While we were in there they shut off all the lights and had us sit in “cave dark” where you literally cannot see anything, and listen to music. I’m no expert on sound and acoustics but I do know it sounded pretty darn good. On the way out of the caves we elected to take a candle light walk through a very narrow passage, with only three lit candles between the six of us who were on this particular tour.

After the caves we headed back into town to finally see the Harry Potter movie. As I went to check the address of the theater, I noticed a small detail that we had overlooked. Somehow we had bought tickets for a theater in a town called Indaroopilly. Checking the location of said Indaroopilly, it was a good seven hour drive away. After a good laugh, and a quick chat with the manager of the theater, who I’m sure was looking at us like we were stupid Americans, the nice guy was able to give us some comped tickets to a showing later that day. So in the end, the entire Harry Potter fiasco costed us a few extra dollars than planned, but I was ecstatic to finally see it!

That night we checked into a motel, which was a major downgrade from our Whitsundays accommodations. We laughed at the fact that they were willing to leave our room key under the mat, and struggled to get the neighborhood cat from running into our sketchy little room. It was a fun night however, and we had a decent night sleep before our early morning trip to the airport to see off Eric and Jill on their flight to the states.

Back in Gladstone with just the parents and I, I had fun hanging out with my mom an dad, and meeting some of their friends. One day we walked to the “wine farm” and had lunch with a few couples and had some of the local wine. On our hike back we saw some more kangaroos (this time in the wild so its was exciting), and then stopped at one of my mom’s friends house to see and feed the kookaburras who come to their back yard every day around dusk. I even got to feed them raw meet straight out of my hands! One night we had an enjoyable night in with my parents and dad’s friend Paul. Good conversation and a bottle of bundaberg rum later, I experienced the first time being highly intoxicated with my parents. Those hangovers lasted for a few days but I was impressed with my mom’s hangover cure of toast with vegimite and a brekkie sandwich.

Another day we got all dressed up for the race track where there was a camel race going on. The race itself was a bit of a let down given there wasn’t even any betting on the camels, and all it really was was camels in sparkly cloth running towards food buckets. We tried to bet on some of the other races around the country but soon realized it wasn’t really any fun not being able to actually watch them race. It was fun seeing all the ladies dressed up as if they were going to the royal wedding, fascinator hats and all.

After a few days in Gladdy my mom and set to head out to Sydney for a weekend... But I am going to let you wait for part three for that one! The lovely Ashley Silver has also reminded me that my trip to Nashville needs a blog so there should be a lot of exciting things for y’all to read soon! And even though I am behind on the blogs, I’m still itching for some new travel so hopefully there will be a lot of new posts to follow shortly!

I Come from a Land Down Unda.

Summer in Australia and I have finally completed my trek to the last (permanently inhabited) continent on earth! In no way am I done traveling, but this is a momentous occasion for me. Being this is true you would think I would be able to hast out this blog no problem, but with a busy month of touring and traveling, followed my some rest and relaxation, I couldn’t bring myself to get any writing done while I was there. I have no excuse as to why it took me so long once I’ve been back in the states, but with a new apartment so close to the beach, any free afternoon was spent cruising around on my beach cruiser or laying on the sand, oh yeah and I guess I did some job hunting in between beach days.

Australia was a trip that has been much awaited. I originally started my college career wanting to study abroad somewhere in Australia but in the final hours decided to go to Europe instead. That has all worked out beautifully because less than a year later, my parents received the news that they would soon be moving there for my dad’s job. Sweet! Many people ask me if it is tough having my parents live so far away but thanks to skype and international calling plans it honestly hasn’t been much different than having my parents up in the Bay Area. (My mom just gets woken up much earlier in the morning when I need things J ). A long seven months after they packed up and left, I was on a plane to see them and see a new corner of the world. I took the train from San Diego late afternoon on July 5^th and made it to LAX airport. First highlight of the trip is they have the part one of the final Harry Potter movie on the plane so already I am happy! I made it though the movie, and then tried to sleep for the rest of the flight. I landed in Sydney and made it over to the domestic terminal, here is where the waiting started. I was hungry so I headed to the food court and tried a kabob. Given I lived off these in Europe I thought it would be a safe choice but it definitely didn’t hold a candle to what I was used to. My jet lag wasn’t helping me eat much anyway so it wasn’t much of a loss.

A three and a half hour layover soon turned into six as heavy winds left only one runway in use. Being a laid back person I’m usually willing to sit back and wait but my energy was running low and I was very anxious to get to see my family. An email informing myself I had over drafted my account didn’t help with my mood either, but I somehow managed to keep (most) of the tears back as I waited in the airport. Finally we were on the plane and I sat anxiously for two hours as we soared to the small city of Rockhampton, in an even smaller plane. Finally we were there and my mom, my brother Eric, his girlfriend and my god friend Jill greeted me. It was great to be there! My mom quickly rushed me to Mackys. Or what McDonalds is known as down under. No offense to everyone who raves about the fresh Mackys burgers, but I’m a fan of my good ole pre made American McDonalds. But that’s just me.

Finally Home! Because there are no direct flights from Sydney to Gladstone, where my parents actually live, we had a little over an hourdrive home. The house is cute and Jill and I had a cute green room to share. My mom has done a great job making a second home in the AU. Once there we had a few hours until an overnight train up to the Whitsunday Islands where we would spend some days under the sun and in the water with the whole family. I took a nap on the couch outside, and woke up to my dad coming home from work. I took a shower and we headed to the train station. If you know me well, you know that me on a lack of sleep in not pretty. When the station manager comes on the intercom announcing that the train is delayed at least a half hour, I am done for the 48(?) hour long day that I was living. Having my mommy and daddy around I quickly reverted to my 5 year old days and completely broke down, at that point I wanted nothing more than to get into my train seat, lean it back as far as possible and pass out. Finally on the train I was dead asleep and woke up eight hours north and actually full of energy.

My mom greeted me with some breakfast and a flat black coffee with milk (regular coffee and milk for the Americans reading), love that woman, even at the mature age of 22 she will always take care of me. We took a shuttle from the train to our hotel. Thank heavens for off season because we ended up at the most beautiful resort for a decent price! The Pinnacle Resort in Arlie Beach, QLD was absolutely amazing. We were in a three bedroom suite with our own hot tub, right next to a beautiful infinity pool, all overlooking the harbor. I spent most of that day laying out on the patio and playing games of cribbage with my dad and brother. If you are not familiar with cribbage, it is a counting game played with cards and a board of pegs. Playing this is a tradition with my family on vacations, or anytime we are all together (which is pretty rare). That night we made a family dinner and ate out on the patio.

Jill and my room had a window overlooking the harbor with a great view of sunrise. Because of the drastic time change I was still waking up bright and early and we got to view all of the beautiful colors from the comfort of our beds. That morning we headed to the marina and boarded a boat run by a company called Cruise

Whitsundays, that boat took us out to a station anchored over a section of reef and we spent the day snorkeling, eating and enjoying the sun. Eric, my dad, and I also got to do an intro scuba dive. We got to go much closer to the reef doing this and my dad even got to pet a fish. I would of loved to go deeper and for longer but as a first time scuba diver it was a great way to get introduced to the underwater world and the equipment. Overall the water station was a good day, but a little too touristy by my taste. The two groups of grade school kids didn’t help make the experience any more authentic either.

That night we headed into the Arlie Beach town. This consisted of a two or three block stretch of shops and restaurants. My mom’s friend in Gladstone had told her about a restaurant called the Hogs Breath so we headed there. There was a little bit of a wait but we made ourselves busy at the bar sampling some cocktails with entertaining names. Dinner was a true aussie meal of meat and more meat, and some wine. My dad and I split one of the towers they offer with three plates stacked up on a rack. We had the turf tower, and my mom and Eric split the surf tower. Bless her heart, Jill, the vegetarian, had a salad.

The next morning we headed back to marina and boarded a catamaran called the Camira. This was a beautiful purple catamaran that, if I remember correctly, is one of the fastest catamarans of its size. For the first few hours on the boat I hung out on the trampoline like part of the catamaran and spent my time milling over weather I wanted to spend the rest of my life drinking wine on a boat or beer on a boat. Alas, I am now back in California doing neither but it was a nice thought. Before lunch we pulled up to Whitehaven beach, a beach famous for its white powdery sand. Here we played some soccer with our new friend Chris from Amsterdam, sipped some ginger beer (a non-alcoholic ginger drink that is very popular in au), and even polished our jewelry with the super fine sand. When lunch was ready we headed back to the boat for a barbeque and more drinks. At the end of the day we headed back to Pinnacle with our new friend Chris. Chris was supposed to head north that evening but since we had an extra spot on our jet ski tour the next day we invited him to stick around and he ended up crashing with us that night.

Our last full day in the Whitsundays started with a 4WD drive to hideaway beach where we headed out on a Jet Ski Eco Safari. This was advertised as an eco tour rather than a thrill seeking ride, but when you put me on a jet ski there really isn’t much hope for me not hitting the gas. After exploring one of the rivers off the ocean, and falling in (rumored croc infested waters, no big) we headed to the open water and soon hit a sand bar. Whoops! The jet ski my mom and the guide were on was completely beached and it took half the tour group to get the heavy machine off the bar. Once that little hiccup was taken care of, we headed to where some of the bigger waves were and I was no stranger to the whizzing sound the propeller made as the jet ski hit the air. Chris and Jill who were on the back of my jet ski at this point held on tight but they told me they had a great time. I definitely rode into the beach at the end of the tour with a smile on my face.

Our last day in Arlie Beach was spent checked out of the hotel wandering the small town. Jill and I did some shopping, we had lunch playing a rousing game of guess who animal edition and a game of scrabble. More killing time as I wrote some post cards and we bummed off the Mackys wi-fi as we waited for the shuttle that would take our luggage and us to the train station. Here I also indulged in a Mackys mate’s meal, a boxed meal for two that I was excited about for the name and nothing more. But because of my excitement at the time it is worth mentioning and remembering.

Sleepy Jill!

That night we rode the night train (also delayed, no tears this time, only delirious laughs) back to Gladstone. Thankfully we had a sleeper car this time and were able to sprawl out on beds. This being my new favorite way to travel in that you get somewhere new and get to sleep comfortably.

This will conclude the part 1 of my Australia story. I hope you enjoyed it and there will be at least two more to come! I promise I won’t make you wait another two months though!

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For those of you in my HTM 491 class, this is my personal blog not my leadership blog, but feel free to read about my travels! To find my leadership blog you can go to http://paulasandiego.tumblr.com


For those of you looking to see if I have updated this blog with the post about my trip to Australia, hold tight its in the works. And by in the works I mean I have not started it at all. But here is something pretty to hold you over.

Living the HI Life

The much-anticipated Hawaii trip was finally here! I’ve been promising my friends since the day I left that I would return, and two years later it was finally time to do it. I’m not exactly sure what made it the right time, but regardless it was time to go! From there I turned to my go to travel buddy Erin, after an interesting adventure in Arizona for the NCAA Basketball tournaments, we had basically established ourselves at the spontaneous travelers that could do Hawaii right.

Planning the trip was a trip in itself, we knew Oahu was on the books but tried to add something new and split the time with a few days in Maui. We found a random website PandaOnline.com which seemed to have the best deals, and because it had panda in the title I was sold. The only mistake was trying to book the trip during my thirty minute break at work when the operator at the company was clearly running on Hawaii time and there was no way anything was getting done in that amount of time.

Eventually it was finally time for us to go!! We flew into Maui first, got our rental car (doubling the price we paid for it with the damn underage fees) and made it to our hotel. After checking in, dropping off our stuff, and back to reception so they could help us find a place to eat we were quickly informed about the best and “cheapest” luau on the island, no alcohol though, but it is BYO, and a place with great plate lunch. He also made sure he mentioned the liquor store right behind with the cheapest alcohol in town… something tells me we were giving off a certain vibe. But we decided to check it out anyway. Only one scoff by the cashier commenting that we “just got here??”, but we were quickly beyond that, and headed back to the hotel to check out the beach. Unfortunately gail force winds made the beach more like the Sahara desert in a sand storm, but we were kept entertained by the curious man in swim trunks with a g-string protruding over top. We had many theories why this was happening but to this day we will never know why!

Erin and I didn’t make a big splash the first night and just fell asleep watching movies, but early the next morning we headed out to Lahaina for our stand up paddle board lesson. Embarrassingly enough we knew of the surf shop through the “hit” series Living Lahaina on MTV, “fully aired on MTV in Canada” according to Erin. After reminiscing on almost every sport requiring balance that I have tried and failed, I actually ended up being not too bad at the thing. After a few wipeouts it was really easy, and we even ended up surfing on the boards for a while. Our instructor was really friendly and even ended up hanging out with us for a bit afterward, but had to run to meet the baby mama, ohhh island life. Erin and I spent the next few hours wandering around Lahaina, and then eventually met up with our friend Adam who just started a management job at the Hayatt on Maui. With Adam we experienced taco Tuesday Hawaii style, doesn’t quite hold a candle to San Diego, but it was all we had that Tuesday night, and we wanted our taco fix.

On Wednesday we woke up nice and early for a jeep tour of the road to Hana we had booked. We were picked up at our hotel by a bright yellow jeep and a feisty tour guide. Our guide Arnold was one of those awkwardly inappropriate old men who would make way too many creepy comments but it somehow was never threatening. We started off the day driving through the valley where they were burning off the sugar cane so they could harvest, this created the wonderful smell of baby poo which made for an interesting beginning of the trip. The road to Hana is a windy rainforest road that makes something like 500 turns and crosses dozens of small one lane bridges, many of which were made long outside of this century. We stopped to admire a few beaches and to buy some delicious banana bread within the first hours, and Arnold gave us some of these coconut chips which he had bought along the road, Erin and I fell in love with these and she even ended up buying copious amounts once we found the stand.

The road to Hana has many opportunities along the way to pull over and take mini hikes and see waterfalls. At the first waterfall we stopped at, Erin and I didn’t waste much time swimming around in the pool before we decided to jump off the top of it. The hike up to the top was a little muddy and we were both our of breath once we reached the top, more because of the fact that we were so anxious about the jump rather than it being a hard trek. After a little hesitation at the top and trying to determine the right spot to jump, a small crowd had formed and the cameras were out. We both screamed on the way down but were happy we did it, now we were ready for the rest of the falls and excited to see what else we could jump off of! Unfortunately we didn’t get the opportunity because the pit stop at the falls nicknamed seven sacred pools was closed for swimming because the current was so strong, but we did have fun at the waterfall with the Hawaiian name for swirling winds, appropriately named because the inlet it was in was definitely windy. Erin and tried our hardest to fight the wind at the current and make it under the water but we failed horribly. We did however get some of the ahwapui (sp?) plants, the stuff that Paul Mitchell makes his conditioner out of and washed our hair with the goo that comes out of the flowers. That day we actually told more about flowers and plants than I would ever care to remember, but it was cool at the time to learn a lot of little facts.

By this time in the day we had basically thrown caution out the window, and Arnold let Erin and I sit up on the back of the seat and hold on as we cruised around the turns. Highly illegal we were only pulled over once and that officer was nice and let us go with a warning, which we quickly ignored and were back up on the seat for the rest of the trip. We stopped and had lunch in one of the only restaurants in Hana, more waterfalls and views, a black sand beach, and then hit the backside of the island. This was mostly an unpaved road that traveled through the side of the island with the most recent volcanic activity so it was much more dry, completely the opposite of the rainforest we had just come from. Eventually we made it back to the hotel after a long day but since it was our last night on Maui we knew we had to do it big.

Well we tried to do it big, at least the bottle we bought the first day was finally put into use. We were staying in a town that was mostly residential but we had driven through and knew there would be something to do if we just walked. The only thing we knew about was mapquested at an hours walk away but we headed out anyway just to see what we might find. After about a 30 minute walk of darkness and random cat calls we found what looked like a promising bar. The rest of the night consisted of making odd local friends who were shocked to see anyone who didn’t live on the island at all in the bar and a raging game of shuffle board. The rest of the night was slightly eventful in that we made some new friends/admirers/stalkers but it was quite fun despite the lameness of the bar.

The next morning we had an early flight with a connection… why anyone would book a connection through the Hawaiian Islands is still beyond me but we did. However when the first flight was completely cancelled we had a fun early morning finding a new way to Oahu. The nice lady on the phone suggested the ferry. Now anyone who lives in Hawaii or traveled around it can tell you that such a thing in no way exists, but the lady at the front desk of the hotel got a good laugh when we asked her about it. In the end we got a couple extra hours of sleep and didn’t loose too much money on the flight switch, but most importantly we made it to Oahu.

Right off the plane Erin and I had a mission, well we had many missions that week but this was the first we decided to tackle. Spanish rolls at the Pilipino bakery were a must and we had it in the GPS as soon as we exited the airport. Just as delicious as we remembered! From there we made it to the hotel just in time to see Kahwai get drafted and then napped, still nursing our bodies from the long night before. Not to fail we made it out that night to meet up with Katey our good friend who is working an internship working with dolphins on Oahu and living in Waikiki. We found the most amazing Sushi place on Yelp! which was reservation only, but it was cheap and it was BYOB! Erin and I picked up two bottles of a delicious pineapple wine at the ABC store, which was dangerously delicious.

That night Katey told us she had some extra dolphin encounter passes she had and gratefully offered them to Erin and me. We literally couldn’t believe our ears and the fact that we were going to be swimming with dolphins that week! The next day Erin and I woke to spend a few hours on the beach before driving to where Katey works for our swim. The place was absolutely gorgeous with lagoons of dolphins! After receiving our life vests and some sweet goggles we got in the water and got to pet, “train”, and learn about a few different dolphins. After our main session was up they let Katey take us and she did her first session with guests, a.k.a. us. Erin and I were impressed and jealous that Katey gets the opportunity to do this every day and develop relationships with these animals.

Not to waste any more time, after our experience we swooped over to the Pearl Harbor neighborhood, which excitingly I was able to navigate (kind of), and hit up the Korean BBQ place with the meat juhn Erin and I had been craving for the past two years. Just as delicious as we had remembered and we scarfed down every bite. Back in Waikiki after a food coma nap we headed out on the town. Given we were both only twenty the last time we were there, it was nice to have a fake ID free evening. Ironically the first bar we ended up at was a country bar called Nashville, which actually turned out to be really fun (making it to the bar after avoiding our favorite Play Bar at all costs). Erin spent some time on the black jack table (super random) then we started scoping out the dance floor. At Nashvilles we met up with an old friend John who was transferred to Hawaii the same time I moved there for the internship two years ago and we’ve been friends ever since. Some more bar hopping and late night drinks on the beach night one out in Waikiki was very successful.

The next morning John and his friends got us onto base and I had a nostalgic morning eating breakfast at my favorite McDonalds on the planet and swooping by the Hale Ali’i my old home! Katey, Erin, and I then headed over to the Aloha Stadium for the swap meet. Here we spent some money like we do best and had some of the best pineapple I’ve ever had, next to Ugandan pineapple of course (refer to my Africa blog if you want to hear me discuss pineapple further). After the swap meet we headed to Manoa falls for a short hike. That soon turned into a four-hour hike through the mud when we decided to explore what we thought was a small extension path. We hiked through bamboo forests and countless switchbacks occasionally running onto other hikers most of who didn’t make it to the end so the whole time we were left wondering how long this trail really was! Unfortunately none of us brought a phone or camera so there isn’t any documentation of this adventure, but it was actually very freeing at the time. The feeling of disconnect we had from the rest of the world was surreal. The view from the top was amazing and we were thankful we had pushed through and completed the challenge. By the time we were down the mountain and sufficiently covered in mud we rinsed off with a hose the best we could drove back to Waikiki and marched into Cheeseburger In Paradise looking a little messy but we had definitely worked up an appetite and didn’t care one bit. After many attempts to make it out that night we eventually gave into the fatigue and stayed in.

Start of our last full day we embarked on an island tour. Crepes in Kailua, and a visit to Erin’s favorite spot where she left her tooth many years ago started the day, and then we headed to the beach. After a successful paddle boarding session earlier in the week we were eager to try it again. At the beach we failed to find a rental shop so we started to walk. After being stopped by a crazy man in a truck (super legit I promise) we rented the one paddle board he had from him. This time the boarding wasn’t so easy thanks to some lovely winds and huge waves. It was actually just comical. At one point Erin and I tried to both get on the board at the same time, which made for some laughs. After giving up on the waves we headed over to the still water near by and had a very successful two man stand up paddle boarding session. After boarding we headed over to Haleiwa for some shopping and lunch at the shrimp trucks.

Finishing off that night and our last day we finally met up with Chasen for some drinks at Dixie Grill. We had a few laughs when our server who was probably under the influence of something claimed they didn’t have chicken strips they only had chicken fries. When we asked what chicken fries were he calmly stated that it was a platter of chicken strips and French fries…. After a giant mug of beer we successfully convinced Chasen to go out with us in Waikiki. It was a Sunday night at this point but Waikiki was still surprisingly dead. We had fun though finding some new local type spots, using the sketchiest bathroom in history located in the alley behind the bar, and learning about the hooker tree. Apparently if you sit by this tree you can guarantee being approached by a hooker. Ending the night it was sad having to say goodbye to Chasen but I always have the intention to go back to Hawaii so I know I will see him again soon.

Our flight out the next day was in the afternoon so we couldn’t resist a stop by Nandings one last time before we left the islands. Just as delicious as always and it was a good way to say goodbye. Can’t wait to go back!

Bahama Mammas

Bahamasssssss!

About a week ago I went on a cruise for the first time in my adult life, and it was a week of beautiful madness! I was somewhat skeptical of cruise tourism because I usually like to do things more independently, and really explore a place longer than the 5 or so hours that the ship ports, but I was pleasently surprised with how much I enjoyed my Carnival cruise to the Bahamas. Over 5 months ago three friends and I booked this cruise and the wait proved to be worth it!

All in all the week was filled with laughs, drinks, food, sun, and very little sleep. I became closer with a few friends, and met some now ones. Most of the week can't even be put into words, so unfortunately this blog may seem dry, as some stories are meant to stay with the ship!

After months of anticipation Ashley, Erin, Elise, and I showed up at the San Diego airport for our red eye flight to Miami in order to catch the ship. This is where disaster struck and we soon find out that our flight is cancelled, surprisingly we all stayed calm on the outside, however we were all on the verge of screaming and/or crying. After over an hour of deliberation with the airline and cruise line, in which time we almost resorted to booking a flight to the Bahamas to meet the ship mid cruise, the angels at Delta decided to bend the rules and find us an American Airlines flight out of LAX early the next morning, arriving into Miami just in time to make the ship!

The four of us stumbled into LAX airport at around 1a.m. and found a nice spot to camp until security opened up, and spent the next few hours playing cards, napping, running up the down escalator, and playing a rousing game of freeze tag... only warranting a few stares. After we were past security we all waited longingly until the restaurants opened, still crossing our fingers that nothing would go wrong and we would get to Miami on time. (side note Jimmy Johnson, football coach and Survivor contestant, was behind me in line for Burger King... so cool).

Finally we had made it to Miami and the the cruise terminal! Our first victory for the week and despite our lack of energy we were ecstatic! And to top it off, our stowaways (bottles of alchy) made it onto the ship, the party had began! After taking a self tour around the ship, we took a hot tub, in the coldest tub ever, and had the pleasure of meeting the only other group of boys our age. A group of marines from New Jersey, fitting all of the stereotypes associated, and to this day we have never seen them without a drink in their hand. But don't get me wrong they were great guys and contributed to many laughs that week. Later we dined on the first of the multiple course meals we had every night, all of eating enough to feed multiple families in a third world country (mental note, don't forget to donate to make up for your selfishness!).

The rest of the night we explored the ship, went to the comedy show, then called an early night (compared to the rest). The next morning we awoke in Nassau, Bahamas and after some time exploring the city centre, we rented scooters and explored the island. This is something I have always wanted to do, and the moment was finally here! Driving lessons were a little rough, but once we got going on the road it was really easy to drive. They drive on the left side of the road there so that was a fun little challenge we got to deal with. During the ride we took a nice stop at a beach and found a dock that we hung out on and took some pictures, then we ventured onto "the caves". These were shallow caves off the ocean where natives used to live, then later pirates used to hide out in. We hiked around for a while, avoiding the bat guano, then emerged from the caves greeted by "the best drink on the island", provided by the bartender at the random shack bar outside the caves. There the locals hanging out told us to have lunch from the truck around the corner, and we had some of the best rice, beans, fried chicken, and mac and cheese. Still dreaming about it.

After lunch we ventured back to town and over to paradise island, the location of the Atlantis resort, a place I have dreamed about going ever since seeing the Olsen twins movie "Holiday in the Sun", who hasn't? Unfortunately we ran out of time and didn't get to venture inside, but it was fun to see the outside. After getting lost in a maze of one way streets, we eventually made it back to the rental shop then found a bar to have a nice cole Kalik, a Bahemian brewed beer.

Back on the ship, we took a nice nap, something that became very necessary after we began out nights of two to three hours of sleep. Another enormously huge dinner, followed by an evening at the After Point dance club, then a late night (well early morning really) stop at the 24 hour pizza bar, and an encounter with a Hungarian Prince, where I spent time trying to get asked to accompany him to the Prince William wedding (failed) we rolled into bed at around 4 or 5 a.m.

The next day began with a boat ride over to Half Moon Kay, the private island owned by Carnival. Here we perched up on some lounge chairs, and enjoyed an afternoon of cabana boys and pinya coladas. Back on the ship, another nap, and another huge dinner, we found an array of photo stations and decided to be models for the evening, taking hilarious and absurd pictures, making friends with the foreign photographers, and even convincing them to be in some of our pictures. Another night at the point after, running up our room bill with tequila shots for ourselves and our new friends, and room service at 5 a.m. that went uneaten we awoke the next day with some laughs.

This was the day we went to Grand Turk, on Turks and Caicos islands. We decided to venture off to the "downtown" which turned out to be a collection of 4 huts selling food and beer. The island itself was kind of a let down. Most of the island was still in ruin from a hurricane that hit a few years before, and a large fire that devastated the island not long before we were there. We found a beach to hang out for a bit, then headed back to the port and checked out the Margaritaville where had been hyped up. It was pretty cool but swarmed with tourists.

Back on the ship, yet another large meal and night at the Point After. Late night visits to the pizza bar to make new friends, and even later phone calls the night became infamous. Not many people can say they played duck, duck, goose in the lobby of a cruise ship at 5 a.m. but I proudly can. The next day was the day at sea, and unfortunately it was windy and rainy, however Elise and I spent the day on the Lido deck reading and hanging out with some of our new friends. After a good talk about life in the sauna, sweating out everything we had drank from the previous four nights, we were back in action, with another lovely dinner and night at the Point After. By this point the DJ knew exactly what songs were were going to request, and our bartender basically had drinks ready. After a quick trip to the lounge for some karaoke, then back to buy our new friend Dawn some shots for her 40th birthday, at last call we stumbled into bed at our usual 5 or 6 a.m. bedtime it was sad to see the last night slip away.

8a.m. up and ready to pay the bill and leave the ship, we were picked up by a friend who is not living in Miami. She showed us around, introduced us to Cuban coffee and let us nap in her apartment before our evening flight home. Midnight San Diego time we arrived home and could barely believe it was over... it's hard to go back to reality after a week like that. But we were happy to get some sleep, and I'm pretty sure I had as much sleep as I had the entire week in that one night!

Hope to have a new post for you soon! If nothing else we have an Australia post coming this summer!

Chillin' with the Pumbas

Time for the blog about the safari!!!

But first some thoughts about life here,
For those of you who don't know we are really living IN Africa... I look out my window in the morning and see a cow and chickens running around, as well as people cooking outside and picking plantains to eat. Eric and I have to boil water to drink it and are the only white people in this whole town.

Also, pineapple here is amazing for lack of a better word! We figure its because they don't farm it here, it just grows wild, so there aren't any pesticides and the soil isn't over farmed like it is on plantations. I wish I could take some home but I don't think they would let me.

Another thing is people here love Obama. Once anyone finds out we are American we get so many questions about him. We even get them from other tourists from around Europe.




So back to safari talk,
Thursday we had school but I wasn't feeling well, I'm pretty sure it was because I got dehydrated, so I stayed home and got better. Everyone in the neighborhood wanted to diagnose what I had and almost had me convinced I had malaria. Even though I knew I didn't, people were insistent and it made me nervous. That night after I was feeling better Eric and I left for the Backpackers Hostel because we were leaving for our trip early the next morning. After taking advantage of the free internet there and having some Nile Special Lager we had an early night.

Friday morning we were up early for the long drive to Mercheson Falls Park. At this point, the circle of life from the Lion Kind began to get stuck in my head. The safari ended up only being Eric and I, along with another guy named Carl from Norway. He was really interesting to talk to because he was on his last week of a 6 month trip around the world. Many hours later after entering the park we stopped to view the top of the falls. The fall was quite amazing, we could hear them from about a mile away and when we got there we were getting wet from all the spray. (pictures to come, but even those don't quite show the magnitude of the falls). After viewing the falls we drove to the Red Chili Rest camp where we were to be staying (seeing many groups of Baboon's along the side of the road along the way), and had dinner overlooking the Nile River. At the camp sight there was a group of Wart Hogs or Pumbas as the call them here, as do I thanks to my love for the Lion King, and that being the theme of my weekend.
We got to meet some other tourists on the same safari from different companies here, one of the most memorable was Dave, a man volunteering in Kampala who was HIV positive himself, and came here to use that to help get through to some kids. He was a truck driver from Mississippi, and fit the stereotypical southern mold. He had gone through a lot of hard times and had so many interesting stories. One of the most interesting being his experience with Hurricane Katrina, because when it hit he was in jail for dealing meth and had an amazing story of how the prisoners were treated during a crisis when all the legitimate law enforcement had abandoned the city, at points they were left to die as the jails flooded, a remarkable story that I could never do justice retelling but it really opened my eyes to some things that go on, even in our own country.

Saturday was the big day. We woke up super early for the game drive around the savanna. We crossed the Nile by ferry in out small van and proceeded onto the plains. Here I saw so many more animals than I could of imagined! Right off the ferry we saw a group of hippos lounging in the river, then along the drive we saw elephants, giraffes, buffalo, antelopes, monkeys, wart hogs, and birds. Not to be disappointed, our driver did a little off trekkinng (driving off the road, highly illegal in the park), and we got super close to some giraffes, and dangerously close to some LIONS! There were a few other cars that had discovered the lions as well, but we saw a mother lion and her two cubs lounging in a bush, dining on a baby antelope she had recently killed. The pictures are amazing, and we have some video as well, where you can literally hear the bones of their dinner cracking as she eats it. Eric and I are still in shock we got to see this and get that close!
After stopping for a snack of pineapple, my fave! We drove back to the river crossing and back to The Red Chili for lunch. After lunch we went to take a cruise on the Nile up to the base of the falls. On the way we saw a ridiculous amount of hippos, and even some crocodiles! The cruise was great until it started storming and we were all soaking wet! Quite a cool experience but extremely uncomfortable. Eventually we made it to the base of the falls and tied the boat up to an island in the middle of the river and some of us got to climb out onto the rock, fun but if we had fallen we would of been swept away by the ridiculously rough current. We eventually cruised back to camp and spent the rest of the evening having dinner and sharing stories with other travelers.

Sunday was another early morning as we headed out of the Chimp Trek in the rain forest. This was cool getting to search for chimpanzees in the African Jungle, and I mean search. We definitely trekked as our guide created our own paths by chopping through brush with his machete and we were deep in the jungle. We even got to see a whole lot of chimps, which was a luxury being that many groups don't even see any. I ended the trek covered in mud and scratches but I couldn't help but be grateful making it back. Never being too scared or feeling like I was in actual danger, I did think of the rebel groups like the LRA, who have made appearances in this jungle, given the park is so close to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The night before I had heard about a group of American tourists being taken a few years before. But with that said don't worry everyone we are still alive and safely back in Kampala!

Monday we were back in school! After a late start Eric and I made it to class and I decided today I would teach about Marketing. I had some good reactions, and some bad, but overall I felt the kids learned something, and a few came up to me later in the day asking if I had any marketing books and wanting to know more, so the made me really happy. After classes a few of the girls and I were talking and many had some interesting questions about things like relationships and sex, it was cool they felt comfortable enough to talk to me about those things and I felt I got through to them. Another thing a few of the girls expressed is that they wanted a pen pal from the US. So as of now I am looking at maybe getting the school here connected with a school in the states to set up a pen pal exchange. I'm not exactly sure if it would work given they don't all have access to computers here, or the ability to pay for postage on snail mail, but its something I'm going to look into.

That's all for now, I hope you enjoyed the tales of Safari, and I can't wait to show you all the pictures and video!

Love and miss you all!!! Still having an amazing time, but can't wait to be home!

On to the next one! Africa 2010

All ready for a quiet summer in san diego, i'm now in Uganda for a month with my brother Eric! After about a month at home having some relaxing time in Walnut Creek and two wild weeks in San Diego with a 21st birthday to be rivaled I took a plane ride that was way too long and we are here.

Not until I boarded the plane did I really even find out what and how we were getting here. Two years ago, Eric and Jill came through the global volunteer network and were placed at the Springs of Hope High School outside of Kampala, Uganda. Now Eric has created a close relationship with the director Angelo and this time we came directly through him and the school. While here we will be teaching English (i know ironic being that I am horrible at the subject) and other topics we see fit, such as Marketing and Customer Service for me, and Music for Eric.

Off to a good start I had forgotten my malaria medications so a rush delivery of those was a nice cost. That all being ok thanks to Jill who willingly did the foot work for me and got them sent off! When we arrived the night of June 1st into the Entebee Airport we were greeted by Angelo who was very excited to see Eric and meet me. The car ride to his house consisted mostly of me trying to stay awake and drifting off now and then but we had some interesting talks and I learned a little bit about the country. Angelo was talking about the bill they have in congress right now making homosexuality illegal and those breaking the law could be killed on the spot. Yikes! Quite a different world.

After we got to their house they showed us the attached house we would be staying in, it is pretty simple but comfortable. We set up the mosquito nets and went to bed.

The next few days we hung around a bit. Wednesday we went into the city. Quite an experience getting into the taxis from their town, large 14 passenger vans that people piled into, and then from the busy taxi park in the middle of the city with many people yelling mzungu (white person) we walked the streets a bit through the crazyness and Angelo showed us his favorite movie store, where you could get pretty much any film you wanted for under 2 dollars. After, we hopped on motor bikes to the mall called Garden City. Here is little europe, there are white people everywhere. We had lunch and watched a movie and did a few other things, then back to Bulenga (where we are staying) for the evening.

Susan (angelo's wife) makes us dinner every night, usually some form of rice and beans and plantains. Its pretty good but is getting old.

The next day was a public holiday so more hanging around. Moses, the headmaster of the school and Angelo talked to us about what we wanted to teach and when we should come to the school.

On Friday we went to our first day of classes. It was awkward at first and all the kids just stare at us because they can't understand us very well. We got a lot of stares and giggles. We taught a few classes of english and had the kids write about themselves. They write surprisingly well but you can tell they have a lot to still work on.

Saturday was a slow day, Eric was sick for a while so we had gotten him medicine the day before and chose today to rest. We played a lot of cribbage and Rage (like crazy 8's). I won't play rage anymore because I am so bad and got too far behind... I'm rarely a sore looser but it just wasn't fun anymore.

Sunday morning Angelo's cousin John took us to church. It was a catholic church, but in english so wasn't much different from a service in the US. On the way back we walked through some markets which was pretty interesting. That night Angelo took us out for dinner at a Karaoke type place, which was basically blasting ugandan rap music and some people would kind of sing along. The food wasn't very good but we sampled some Ugandan Beer.

Monday we were told we were not needed in class so Eric and I headed into town to plan a Safari! We booked one for this weekend so I'm sure my next update will be talking about that. After that we went to the Cafe Pap, a famous coffee shop in Kampala, which is also where I am now using the internet.

Tuesday we had another day at school, after a misadventure getting to the campus we taught some more english and Eric taught a little music. The kids really enjoyed that. Towards the end of the day we were supposed to be teaching another class but we ended up just hanging out the the kids, playing a little guitar and playing on the photo booth on the computer. The kids seemed to enjoy that much more than our pitiful excuse for an english lesson.

Wednesday (today) we have another public holiday so Eric and I decided to come to town and use the internet then head to school to hang out with the kids that live on campus.

Overall my experience so far has been really nice. Cold showers are one thing but we have running water (most of the time) and plenty of food. The people are amazingly nice compared to what i have encountered in many other places. People are excited to see Americans rather than think we are all fat and uneducated. Especially the kids, the ones at the school are all very interested in our lives and the young kids on the street are so excited to wee white people and are very friendly.

Sorry I don't have any pictures to add now but they will all be put up at some time after we get back to the states. Sorry it has taken me so long to update, but I hope this gives you an idea of what we have been up to.