TravelStream™ news feed for member strawberryk on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/strawberryk en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:15:55 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1257877610/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1257877610/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1257877610/tpod.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:15:55 -0500 Peru!!

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Cusco, Peru

We got back to the hotel in Cusco, no time to rest though! We went out to a really nice restaurant called the Inka Wall (one wall of it is an original Inca Wall, go figure)  This was pretty fancy, with a show and nice buffet. I got my appetite back and went a little nuts trying all the good foods. They staff came over and sang happy Birthday with a cake and ate the end they drop these big metal sheets and it gives you a heart attack if you dont know its coming, but that was a nice surprise they sang for her.  After dinner we stopped in Paddy's (the highest Irish bar in the world apparently) for 1 drink, everyone was just too tired to be in the party mood, so to bed we went. The next day was a free day. I set out early to find a real grocery store. All I wanted was a cold drink and yogurt. It is incredible hard to find these things!! They sit on shelves, and if they are in a refridge, it's barely turned on! I never found the grocery store but ended up in a big market, when you walk in there are stalls and stalls of lady's making fresh juices..stalls selling hunks of meat..piles of vegitables.. some souvineers...fast food stands..and no tourists around..i've been in several places where I'm the only white face around and I feel like everyone is staring at me..it's an odd feeling!  I felt i should get some healthy stuff in me so i got some juice, the woman cut up pinapple, bannana, papaya, apple...who knows what else.. i dunno what was going on, i just drank it! Then met up with Katherine, Tina, D & Berry to do a city tour but no tour showed up when and where we were told it would, but one of the touts said he'd take us to the bus and we didn't know what the heck was going on and it all seemed kind of shady, we weren't going to pay him and said we'd pay on the bus, he took us to Quoricancha and we met up with the tour and had the tour around it but decided not to do the all day bus tour. This place was an Inca Temple and parts of it are well presevered but the Spanish built their Catholic church right on top of it. I found this tour boring. It was freezing and pouring rain so I suggested we visit the Inca museum, i heard that they had a collection of mummies! (ooooo! my favorite) We ended up getting a guided tour which dragged on and on and on and i was dying through 10 million pieces of pottery ( I DONT CARE, definitely skipped over the pottery and textile bits of Cultural Anthropology classes) Finally we got to the best part, a small display case of trepained skulls, and elongated skulls (boards or something put pressure on the skull when a child to elongate it, done by nobility) and the best best part the room of the mummies, it's a small room and you look through little windows to see them all arranged, it was awesome, i could have looked at them for an hour if i could. There was even a dwarf, apparently they were special helper people. And a little dog with one too.  They were also burried with tiny things like bowls and other charms and things they might need in the next life, it's interesting to note how similiar cultures/relgions evolved although they had no contact with each other. In this case the Egyptians. I couldn't handle anymore brain activity after these tours and i think we all needed some chill out time.  It was our last night together and it didn't start off and fantastic and I'd expected. Vladimir brought a friend, Katherine was back at the hotel sick..The dinner was really good but the conversation was just not right, this friend of his is really into spirituality, which i completely respect and would love to have a conversation about, but, it was not at all the proper subject to disscuss in a group situation and especially not when first meeting people. People's person religious and spiritual beliefs are no ones business and i believe should be discussed privately not infront of others, Tina was in some kind of mood and she challenged and questioned everything the guy said, it was so awkward and uncomfortable and i just hated it and wanted to get the hell out of there.  I couldn't shake the bad mood for a couple of hours.  The whole dynamics of our group were changed and it wasn't a fun last dinner. It took some cheering up and several more drinks for me to get over it!! We went to a club playing salsa and then another dance club after that. So the night turned around and I ended up having a good one. After an hour or two of sleep i had to get up and meet the group for breakfast and say our goodbyes. Our 2 weeks together went by so fast! I hope to keep in touch with everyone and definatly will be visiting Ireland again soon.. I told D & Barry all about my Irish obession and they have a friend lined up for me, ha! They also want me to come over next year for a Matchmaking Festival! Cooooool!  I didn't have time to reflect and be sad, i could hardly keep my eyes open. I went to the hotel next door and got my own room, checked in right away and crashed out. I think i went out just to get something to eat then was back to bed by 8. Got up the next day to search for a hostel to check into. One had been recommended to me so i went to look for it but after 10 minutes of walking up hill and stairs in the high altitude i said forget it and theres no way i could walk this far with my monster pack.  So I walked down a big main street to a huge crafts market and spent a couple of hours shopping, yes hours, ahhgg i hate shopping!! But, i bought a big so soft rug made from alpaca fur, i think i got a good deal.. $100 which is like a fortune there, but i looked at them at the airport and they were $1000, yes better quality im sure but still not worth 10 times more!  i love it, theres no room in my room for it..but im gonna find some.. somewhere! Then went to look for another hostel, i stopped in at least 4 places that had the word "hostel" in their name, but when i asked for a dorm, i got nothin but blank stares. Sigh.  I finally found one right in the plaza and im sure i paid a bit more for the location $11US a night!  I wanted to go to a hostel so i would meet some new people, but i ended up being the only person in my room the whole time. I was feeling better so time to go out again!  I headed over to the Irish bar again, sat at the bar and a guy started talking to me, named TK a half Maori guy who's a lawyer from New Zealand! He was dressed wierd like a surfer or something, but was still cool and hung out with him for a while.  Also ran into Daniella and her group again!  Also started talking to a group of Canadian girls who were all travel agents for Flight Centre!! (if you remember from my last trip writing about how my heart was so set on working for them..applied when i left NZ..but application not accepted..going to try again someday)  We all went back to the dance club i was at a couple nights before. It took a looong time to get out of bed the next day but it was my last day in Peru so i couldn't spend it entirely in bed!  Walked around in search of were to eat.. down to 50 soles left...found a Pollo a la brasa place which the only Peruvian guy i know at home told me i must eat. So i walked in and was the only tourist and it was just all chaos, i didnt know what to do, order at the counter or sit down..so i sat down and someone brought me the food i asked for but i think he just thought i would sit there like an idiot and not figure out how it works! ha! I had pollo a la plancha... so grilled chicken and french fries, pretty good for 3 bucks or so !  The best places i've eaten have been the little hole in the wall local places, the realest food with the best flavor.  A word about food and menus...when they are translated into English, some meaning is lost in the translation lol  some of the funniest items i remember were "airport" and "chicken to the plate".  Then went back for a little nap and out again at night for dinner at an Italian restaurant, i got some pasta and pizza and ate less then half but took it to go and gave some to some dogs and a lady on the street. They needed it way more than me! Nothing else interesting happend that night, got up at 6 am and got a taxi to the airport. My flight was canceled!! No flights till 3 pm and my connecting flight was at 2:30...after waiting for 3 hours to talk to someone they sent me on a different airline.  I spent so long in line a nice teacher from Venezuela befriended me and also some nice lady's from Mexico and one of which gave me $2 , she must have overheard me when i said i had no money left! LOL i felt like a bum. It was funny. How nice is that though, Im always amazed at how many good people i meet all over the place. Renews your faith in humanity, you know! So I made it to the Lima airport with enough time to get my flight, but i had to pay the airport tax of $31.. i had $26 including the nice lady's 2 bucks.  In my savings account i had $15 left or so, i was told the airport only takes cash, so i went to the ATM to see if i can take out 5 or 10 dollars, the screen was off, i thought i was pushing the "cancel" button, but immediatly out comes a fat stack of cash and i withdrew $200!!! EEEkkkk there's a nice overdraft fee. A 3 hour flight to Panama, read a book the hotel, halfway through now. Then changed planes for the 6 hour flight to LA, that trip was not so fun.  My stomach hurt so bad from the previous flights food, and the guy next to me had is finger up his nose the WHOLE time serious, seriously digging for gold, so the whole time i couldn't relax fearing boogers were going to get on me. My dad picked me up from the airport and got home just after midnight.  The traveler in me wanted to carry on and continue seeing the rest of South America, but the realist won and home it was, also i couldn't have gotten very far with my empty bank account! But as you know I always have to have another plan so here it is... Going to take another semester of Spanish ( ok or at least bring a phrase book next time) and come back...but where to next... Argentina..Brazil... Chile??  Hopefully you will hear from me again soooooon!! x x x  Kristin
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1257617115/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1257617115/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1257617115/tpod.html Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:26:32 -0500 Peru!!

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Aguas Calientes, Sacred Valley, Peru

The next day Vlady & Samantha (she couldn´t do the trail either due to knee surgery) picked me up from my hotel and we took a taxi to Ollayamtambo then caught the train to Agua Calientes. The train ride was about 3 hours but really beautiful views, some of the way you can see the hikers on the beginning of the trail. Agua Calientes is really just a stopover town for people heading to Machu Picchu in the morning. We had all afternoon and evening to kill so we ended up going to several of the restaurant-bars for their happy hours, mostly all the same 4 for 1, they are tiny but not bad for the price. I took it easy and had about 1 per their 4 lol. We met up with another Gap tour group having dinner, the guide of that group name is Daniella and she´s wild and crazy. We had to get up at 4:30 the next morning so didn´t plan to stay up partying but she somehow influenced us..one of those people you can´t say no to! The only person out of her group to stay was Leon, a really cute Swedish guy whom i said as soon as i walked him at saw him at the table.. í bet that guy is from Sweden.. he later told me he said the same thing that i was American, but i didn´t believe him lol. I had fun hanging out with him and joking around. We all went to a dance club after and Daniella tried her best to teach us white folks how to dance, i tried to explain there is just no hope for me..she wouldn´t take no for an answer lol. Got to bed around 2 and we were all hating life when we got the 4:30 wake up call. Ouch! We got to the bus stop and already at around 5_30 am there was a big long line. There was a dog i befriended who was just too skinny so i ran across the street and bought him a pack of bologna. There are lots of homeless dogs here but they are the most healthy looking dogs i´ve seen in any country. The Incans believed dogs were guides to the next life, they were often burried with a small one, so that belief somewhat carries on and stray dogs are given meals and cared for by people. So that makes me feel a ltitle better. So we got on a bus and its a 20 minute death defying ride up a twisting and turning road. That´s my opinion anyway, but i get bad anxiety riding along the edge of steep cliffs, maybe its just me but i really fear tumbling over and crashing and burning to death!! Luckily that didn´t happen. So finally we arrived at Machu Picchu....ahhh it is just incredible...hidden high up in mountains...a whole city...we got to see the sun come up and watch the light change..and just sat there in awe and silence. Its one of those things you can see a million times in pictures, but its a million times better in person. It was built by the Incans in the 1500´s but not rediscovered until 1911 by Hiram Bingham. A little boy led him to the site for 1 coin! Most of the artifacts are at Yale University, they should give them back to Peru now! We had about an hour with hardly any people around...it was a real treat. Then the tourists started rolling in and the hikers started arriving. As soon as we saw our group i ran up to give everyone a hug, i missed them! They said it was the most physically challenging thing they had ever done, very very difficult, but worth it of course. The first night in rained and they only got a couple hours of sleep. So they were tired for the 2nd day which is the hardest and uphill the whole time. Barry got what i had apparently and had no energy, its amazing made it! Nancy gave us a 2 hour tour around the whole site, it was really interesting, but everyone was so pooped out it was hard to concentrate sometimes! The two Gap groups met up for lunch on the second story of a restaurant with a round comfy couch to chill on. More buses and trains and back to Cusco, it was one of the Tina's birthday and she forgot she'd be carrying around a little bottle of champange so she popped it open on the train and we all had a little sip, but everyone desperately needed a rest before the celebrations began! 
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1257205122/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1257205122/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1257205122/tpod.html Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:34:52 -0500 Peru!!

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Cusco, Peru

The next day we had a looong 7 hour bus ride to Cusco. Too much fun the night before so i was a little tired and head hurting.  There was beautiful scenery the whole way (when i had my eyes open) . We had one stop at a side of the road market and this was the first i saw of people with alpaca´s or lama´s and lambs who are there for tourists pictures and tips. I felt bad that the animals are used for tourist exploitation but i had to at least get one picture and that´s it! We arrived in Cusco, a beautiful city, founded by the Inca´s who called it the ¨navel of the universe´. There is a lot of history here, lots of Inca ruins including a couple of temples to which the Spanish built their Catholic churches right on top of. Some of the orginal structures still remain though, there is so much here to do and see, i have a lot to learn and accomplish but plenty of days to do it in. We went for a short group walk and Vladamir showed us the ancient inca walls, very well preserved, huge stones, with nothing in between them, they just fit together perfectly without cement, mortor, etc.  We had a snack at a popular little bakery, then chilled out for an a bit until we went to dinner at another touristy restaurant, this time some of the group decided to order the Cuy so everyone could try it . It´s guinea pig, an traditional pig eaten at special occasions, its expensive. It came out on the plate with head and all.  I didn´t try it, i can´t bring myself to eat meats other than chicken, pork and beef. Just cant do it. Everyone said it was very salty, and didnt have much meat on it. We got a briefing on the Inca trail and met our guide Nancy. We were given our duffel bags to pack our stuff in, 6 kilo including sleeping back and matress pad! That doesnt leave much room.. but i managed..all the girls were freaking out that it wasnt enough space for all their stuff. We were told it was going to be 1 degree or so at night!! That made me really worried... being cold is the worst! The next day we were picked up by mini bus and Nancy for our day tour of The Sacred Valley. Our first stop was a village that GAP supports by bringing us there to buy their crafts. They showed us how the fir is spun into yarn, and then dyed by boiling with leaves, flowers, insects..etc... to get the amazing colors. I bought a scarf, which i dont need except for here because it doesnt even get cold enough at home to wear a scarf..now i have 2 just from this trip. Then went to Pisac to see some more awesome inca ruins. Got some practice hiking. Didn´t know this would be a hiking day and i only had sandels on, i slipped and have a nice big bruise. I bought a piece of corn at the end, not normal corn, this is like corn on steroydes, the kernals are like 5 times as big! You get a slice of cheese and put some kind of chili sauce on it.. i think it expands in your stomach and i couldnt eat it all. Then we stopped at a local bar where this lady made chicha beer, which is made from corn. We all got a taste , it wasn´t too bad. I went to the bathroom and dropped my camera in the toilet. There was lots of drama over whether it was going to work or not. That thing made it around the world with me for 5 months.. i couldn´t lose it now!  We arrived in the city we´d be spending the night in, Ollantaytambo, and visited the ruins there. ( have no pictures) The stones on one structure align perfectly during certain days of the year. The ancients certaintly had very advanced knowledge.We went to dinner at a fancy restaruant and 3 of us had the ´best burger inthe world´´ i beg to differ... it was halloween night and i was surprised to see so many kids dressed up and goign to shop to shop, they sang a song in spanish that said something like ´we want candy..´i was stressed out over my camera so i spent some time in an internet cafe getting all my pictures put on disk for safe keeping. Then back to our hotel room to blow dry my camera. I went to bed really really nervous and stressed over the next day.. the begining of the Inca Trail, 25 miles over 3 days..thousands and thousands of steps..the 2nd day almost all uphill...i was feeling very..terrified.. i woke up at 6 am with vomiting and diarhea!!!!!  Of all the days of my life... i got some medicine but didnt feel better.. i carried on and went with everyone, we arrived at the begining and i could tell this was goign to be one incredible journey... everyone is surrounded by enormous mountains..a big rushing river below us.. and we cross over a swaying bridge and the walk begins, the first day is the éasy´day.. 4 hours of walking basically flat.  I had to go very slow, and rest every few minutes, my group carried my pack and my sticks.. the weight of my waterbottle felt like a million pounds.  Everyone was very kind and patient. I had to stop and go to the bathroom on the side of the trail! Not good. I made it for about 2 hours before i realized i couldnt keep going. Jacob, the assistant guide ran ahead to tell Nancy, i layed on a bench for an hour or so for his return. Then we took the long and slow journey back. I could hardly walk, and had zero energy, taking tiny baby steps and resting every couple of minutes. I had to sleep on the grass for a while. I think it took us about 3 hours or more to get back to the begining. All i wanted was my nice big comfy waterbed, my doggies, watch i love lucy, and sleep.  And hiking a mountain was about the last thing in the world i could do.  We had to wait a long time for the porter to come back with our bags, these are local guys who carry everyones backs and the supplies, they are amazing, they carrying these huuuuge packs, and run! poor guys work so hard. I gave him 50 soles, about 15 dollars, i dont know if that is a good tip or not because i dont know how much they get per day or trip or whatever, but i hope that was ok. So me and jacob had to take a 45 minute bumpy bus ride back to ollantaytambo, and then a 2 hour taxi ride back to Cusco. Jacob called Vladamir and our orginal hotel in Cusco was booked so i had to stay in their sister hotel. They brought me my big pack and i went to sleep at 7 and slept for more than 12 hours. Vladamir met me in the morning explaining what we would do now. I would have to pay for the extra expenses, but travel insurance should cover them. i really hope so. That brings me up to today, where´ive spent a total of 5 or so hours at internet places working on these things!! Did a bit a shopping and got a peru jacket and inca cola tshirt. The lady didnt like my prices i offered so i walked out and she ran half a block after me to say ok. i ate only mcdonalds today thinking it would be a ´safe food´.  i dont feel 100 percent yet and my stomach is still going grrrrrrr.  i´m dissapointed but there´s nothing i can do about it. For 3 months i worked my butt off to lose 25 lbs, i ate healthy and worked out at the gym harder than i ever have in my life all so i would be fit to do the Inca Trail.  I will still get to see Machu Pichu, but it won´t be the same.  I´ve missed out on an experience of a lifetime. But i think things happen for a reason, so perhaps if i would have gone something worse would have happend to me. As for the rest of the day i just walked around a little and then it started pouring rain. There´s lots of people in your face here offering you stuff, and one of them was for a massage and i said ok and a minute later im in my underwear getting burning hot rocks rubbed all over me.  An hour for about 10 bucks. I figured i deserved it.It´s still early evening now, but im not feeling well still so im going back to my room to rest.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256957123/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256957123/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256957123/tpod.html Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:42:26 -0400 Peru!!

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Lake Titicaca, Puno, Peru

We boarded a boat the next day and had a 3 hour ride on Lake Titicaca. It´s the largest and deepest lake at this hight.  It was calm and beautiful. We spent most of the time sitting up on the roof enjoying the view, fresh air and sun. (Which we hadnt seen at all in Lima) It was bright blue skies. We arrived on the island of Taquile and had some practice hiking at high altitude, we were all huffing and puffing in no time!!  We took tons of pictures. There were lots of people selling their handycrafts. The men actually do the knitting here, not the women. The quality of the work is amazing. I bought a couple of bracelets and a pair of llama´s or alpacas i´m not sure what they are, but they are the new mascots of this trip! Lunch was at a little family run restuarant, no menu, just a choice of fish or omlett. First we had some soup with quinoa, which i never had but wasn´t bad. And i got the omlet and it was an interesting creation, had olives in it...thats a new thing for me! From there we got back on the boat and went to the island of Amantani, and we were paired off and given to a local family who we would be staying with for the night. Our family consisted of mother, father, sister 15 and brother 8. The mother came to get us and brought us to her home. We were each given a beanie to wear and suposidly the different designs tell what family you are from. Our room was on the second level, just a simple room with twin beds and a table reminded me of the seven dwarfs house because the door was so small and the roof low! We dropped off our stuff then met up with the rest of the group to have a walk around. We went to the plaza and took some pictures of some children, Tina gave one girl an M&M, she brought it back to the other girls, they each took a small bite, one made a face, spit it out, then must have thought it wasn´t that bad and she licked it off the ground LOL. So funny. There were some women cooking on small stoves, they were selling sticks of alpaca meat and potatoe, I ate the potato but not the meat, and bought my first Inca Cola. A Peruvian softThen some of the group played soccer with some kids, i don´t care for sports so i wasnt paying attention but i think our team lost. Then we went back to our homes and met the rest of the family. We sat in the kitchen while the mom prepared dinner and we talked quite a bit considering i only know a little Spanish and the daughter only knew a little English, most of the communicating was done with a lot of smiles, laughing, gesturing, and patience! I had purchased a bunch of toys and things for the kids before i left home and was excited to give them to the kids, it was well worth the money and carrying around all that stuff just to see the looks on their faces and how happy they were with everything. I got a coloring book of animals and crayons and we flipped through the book and the crayons going over the names in English and Spanish.  Our dinner was a simple soup but with lots of flavor, bread, and an omlett, this one better than the one at lunch.  After dinner they dressed us up in traditional outfits, which was really fun! Then we went to a hall and a band played and we all danced, the dancing is simple but with a lot of arm movement and the songs seem to last for ages!! It was pretty exhausting and hot with all our clothes on!  After the band finished a couple of the tourists borrowed their guitar and provided us with their own entertainment. One girl sang a Spanish song while a couple danced a Samba, this girl had such a pretty voice i had to find her afterword to compliment her. She didn´t speak English but i was able to figure out she was from Argentina.  Our tour guide, Vladimir, also played the guitar and sang a song, he used to be in a band. Back to our homes and to get ready for bed which was a challenge.  The bathroom is an outhouse and it´s really cold outside and the donkey is tied up right next to it. So we had to brush our teeth with one eye on him lol. We got up really early for breakfast and said our goodbyes. I have to say this was one of the most incredible experiences i´ve ever had on any of my travels. To be completely submerged in a completely foriegn culture and way of life..its just hard to put into words...but it gives you new perspective, and shows that people everywhere are basically the same, and good, kindness and smiles cross all cultural and language barriers. I´m so lucky to have done this and will never forget the family i stayed with and the friendly hospitality i was shone. Then we were back on the boat for another 3 hour trip to the floating reed islands. I had seen these on the travel channel before but it´s another thing to see in real life ( as with everything i supose!)There are about 20 islands that tourists visit now, they are completely made of reeds, as our their houses and everything else. 10 to 15 families live on each island. When we arrived a local person demonstrated how the islands are built and Henry explained what their lives were like and answered all our questions. A woman took me over to her home, it was one room with a bed and colorful decorations , very nice, and she explained she had 4 children and everyone sleeps in there. They also had a pond full of fish, a cooking area, and even flamingos, i´d never seen them before except in a zoo. But i don´t think they have them for pets, i think they are food. I bought a handmade tapestry here which was a little expensive but its very unique. I have quite a collection of decorations i´ve picked up around the world and they are going to look very cool when i get my own house someday! We were taken on a ride in one of the reed boats and it was windy so we were floating away pretty fast, Vladamir had a turn at rowing and broke the oar! We were kind of stranded and our boat had to come pick us up! We had a picknick lunch of sandwiches on the boat and went back to Puno.Back to Hotel Italia and had a much needed shower. Dropped off our laundry because i was down to wearing my bathing suit and jacket.  A parade was going on when we arrived, there is always some kind of parade or festival going on here!! We watched for about an hour and then visited the coca museum. Just a tiny museum of 2 rooms and the first one we sat down and watched a short video about the history of the parade costumes, most of them are mocking the Spanish invaders. We were able to try on the masks and some outfits and cracked up at ourselves. I didn´t want to do dinner with the group again, too expensive and too touristy.  Me and Tina went out to find a local place and ended up at a chinese restaurant, we got soup, wontons,drinks, and a main dish for 21 soles total! About 8 bucks. Bargain! Then we met up with the group for drinks and Vladamir took us to a reggae bar, we had a few drinks there then went upstairs to a karkeoke bar and no one was around so we slaughtered a few songs but didn´t care! I sang Atlantic Star´s ¨Always¨¨ to Barry and Deirdre and told them it will have to be there wedding song lol and they danced there to it. Only a few of us left at this point and we went across the street to the discoteque . I met a girl from Texas who was a tour guide here and out with her group, she was telling me how cool of a job she has and that I should do it! I think I need to become fluent in Spanish!! Thinking of going back to school for another class...Anyway, so it was a great night and not such a great morning today, you know!
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Puno, Peru

After a flight and bus ride we arrived in the city of Puno. This city is much less touristy. It was our first day of being in high altitude, something around 13,000 feet. Some people get sick from altitude sickness, and while i didn´t feel sick, i didn´t feel normal thats for sure! Its hard to describe but its kind of like a little buzzed, I felt wierd, head hurt a little, and couldn´t think straight. And you get winded with the smallest of movement, just walking up a few stairs and you have to stop to catch your breath. For thousands of years the coca leaf has been a remedy for altitude ailments and by chewing the leaves it suposidly helps regulate your heartbeat, good for digestion, gives you energy, etc etc.  You are supose to take it easy the first day or two to allow your body to adjust. When we arrived we had a cup of coca tea, i don´t usually drink tea but i do when traveling and any tea can taste ok with enough sugar. Tina and i went out for a walk and stopped for a snack and rest at a bakery. Then went back out to head back to the hotel and suddenly all the lights in the city go out!! We just kinda froze and stood there...like now what do we do! We could barely find the hotel in the day light! There were tons of people out and lots of cars and their headlights were the only light. Tina had a flashlight in her bag luckily. We decided to get a tuk tuk ride back to the hotel.We ended up going round and round for a good 20 minutes and theres some hills so the poor guy had to get off and push us a few times!  We finally found it and gave the guy double for the effort. We went on a group dinner to a touristy restuarant and just went back to the hotel and i stayed up till 1 am working on the last blog!! That´s it for that day in Puno, but we´ll come back in a day .
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256700989/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256700989/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256700989/tpod.html Wed, 28 Oct 2009 00:57:12 -0400 Peru!!

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Lima, Peru

I'll start back where i think i left off!&nbsp; The wasted day shopping..so after we went back to the hostel and got ready to go back to the same club and didnt end up getting out until midnight. So we got a very late start, and this night wasn't nearly as much fun..i knew when i met the Canadians and the American girl that they werent the kind of people i'd become good friends with, i could tell right away they were the kind of people/travelers that have an air of "im better than you" and thats how they made me feel, but i thought it was better to go out with some people than none,well the Shauna girl turned out to be an absolute crazy bitch.&nbsp; After we left the club we went to a sandwhich shop and some of them were drinking scotch or something passing a bottle around so aybe she was drunk..but anyway&nbsp;i was having a conversation with someone saying out i thought the Spanish accent in Peru and Spain&nbsp;sounded prettier than the Mexican Spanish accent <i>where i live&nbsp;.&nbsp; She butted in and seriously ripped me apart telling me i shoud shut the f up and i offended her and on and on and on.. i was like..huh? This is a white girl, irish last night, from Michigan!!! But she lived in Mexico for a year and can speak fluent Spanish and that somehow makes her Mexican? I hate drama and confrontation and said i was sorry about 3 times. It was just all so stupid and made me really upset. The group split up and Nelson kept me company and we walked around and sat and chit chatted til almost 5 in the morning. He actually understands and speaks much more English than i thought. He's a university student in Haiti studying Diplomacy and his father and uncle work for the United Nations! 10 brothers and sisters and his mother passed away 10 years ago. He's out here for 6 months just to live and learn spanish and his dad pays for his school, accomodation, trips, etc.&nbsp; Sometimes it was frustrating not to be able to communicate so he'd write it down in French for me and i'd write what i want to say in English because we could both read the languages better than we can speak them. The next day i really needed to get my new pants hemmed, i ordered them online and the arrived the day before i left but they looked so rediculous about 3 inches of fabric i was stepping on. It wa sunday so i worried about finding a place that would be open. I walked down to the main street and didnt see any steemstress places. I stopped to pet a dog ( i have to stop for almost all of them!) and the owner happend to speak English, we got to talking and this man ending up being one of the most interesting people i've ever met in my life.&nbsp; His name was Alberto Hererra, I would guess he's in his 60's, i told him about my pants and he said he'd walk with me to a place, in the 40 or so minutes i spent with him i learned more than i could on any tour. We talked about so much, well i mostly listened.&nbsp; He is a proffesor at the university and teaches cinematography, and will be working on film next year about slavery in Peru. He also hosts a radio show that's broadcast nationally.&nbsp; He lived in the States for 10 years, he received political assylum when the country was run by a dictatoriship that didn't like people that think.&nbsp; He explained to me about the history of the suburb, about the food, the culture...so much.&nbsp; We went to this tiny local market and i dropped my pants off and he bought fresh vegitables and meat to prepare his lunch . We went our seperate ways and i forgot to take his picture but&nbsp;i am so grateful to this man for his kindness , a truely incredible experience that ill remember forever and reminds me why i travel. There were a lot of people out because a parade was going on celebrating the anniversary of Barranco. There were lots of school kids dressed up in traditional clothing and doing traditional dancing, i found it interesting but confusing because i wasnt sure how the parade was organized or if it was at all lol.&nbsp; Then went to Miraflores and booked a 3 hour bus tour around Lima. I had a couple hours to kill so i wanted to the archeological site. It's a pyramid among other structures and the area is thought to have been used for religious ceremonies and sacrifces to the god, the ocean, have been found here. Young girls , from elite familes, and it was considered an honor. The pyramid is filled in, unlike the Egyptian pyramids. It's built with adobe bricks made from mud and sea shells something else, and the stack them virtically for more flexability for earthquakes. The site is quite big but it's not even completey excavated and much of it lays burried underneath houses and buildings. As for the bus tour i sat up on top and it was so freezing i&nbsp; really didnt get much out of the tour although it was in English and Spanish i couldn't understand either.&nbsp; But i got a better understanding of the layout of the city. It was a long day and ended back at the hostel about 11, a girl named Kara was sitting on the couch and we had briefly met the night before. Shes from Atlanta on a trip here with her boyfriend for his 30th birthday. We ended up sitting there talking for 3 hours, it was like we'd been friends for years it was just that easy. I wish i met more people like that more often!&nbsp; She's crazy about her dogs, so much so that she has a tatoo of them lol. In the morning after i went to pick up my pants an get some fresh juice i met up with them at the hostel and we shared a taxi to Miraflores. I had to check into my hotel that the tour had booked so i ropped my stuff off there and showed them the way to the archeological site and we went our own ways, i hope to meet up with them again but if not her sister lives in LA so it would be possible to meet up there someday. I got a cab to Lima Centre as there were a couple of things i wanted to check out and spent a pretty good chunk of my time walkin around lost!!! Went to San Francisco church for a tour of the catacombs. It was great, a labrynth under the church its dark and piles of and piles of bones. On structure had them arranged decoratively like the ones in the Capuchin crypt i visited in Rome. The church had a collection of 400 year old paintings just hanging on the walls not behind protective climated controlled case...odd..the library was amazing...same thing..it looked like a scene from Harry Potter... hundreds of books 300 years old or so..just sitting there out on the shelves.. some deterorating before your very eyes..and 2 spiral staircases to the 2nd level. After that i set out to find the Museum of the Spanish Inquistion which was probably about half mile away but took me about an hour to find. No more English tours, so had to walk around mysef but coulnt read anything cuz it was all in Spanish, but i&nbsp; went down into the old dungeon and torture chambers. They had life size models in the old torture devises which made them extra creepy. Im dissapointed i didnt get any informtion about the inquisition in peru since there was no tour, so i will have to research that later. Some of the &nbsp;basics of it, the Spanish "christians" slaughter all the natives and steal their resources and send it all back to Spain , Spain gets rich, the natives get poor, forced to give up their beliefs&nbsp;and have&nbsp;the option to&nbsp;convert to&nbsp;the invaders&nbsp;religion or they get&nbsp;murdered and maybe tortured sometimes first then killed&nbsp;Just a tiny bit of horrendous acts done in name of relgion.&nbsp; Quite sickening.&nbsp; I could write pages and pages here but its already gotten too long. After the museum i went back to the hotel and met my roommate, Tina an Englishgirl doing an around the world, and we're the same age 5 days apart, shes really cool! We met the rest of the group all women and one couple. We went outfor&nbsp; group dinner and after the night in that hotel and area i was so so grateful that i stayed in Barranco, i had a guenuine experience.. i was one of very few tourists in that area..just locals and it was great, i didnt mind people staring at me.. no one spoke english at all but thats ok i got by with the little i know. The restuarant we went to was filled with white people and the prices were 4 times as much as i have been paying.&nbsp; It about killed me to pay 10 bucks for just&nbsp;a main meal when i got that plus appetizer and drink for the same price ! id been spending 2 bucks on a lunch..40 cents on bottled water....The people with me... one lady&nbsp; s a doctor from england...another one an editor for People magazine in New York. .. an Irish couple..anyway after dinner me, Tina and the Irish couple Dierdre and Barry went for a drink but we ended up in another tourist trap and my one pisco sour cost as much as a nice dinner..eeeek!&nbsp; Thats it for now..i'm dead tired!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256436590/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256436590/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256436590/tpod.html Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:53:54 -0400 Peru!!

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Lima, Lima, Peru

I got dropped off at the airport around 10 or so by my grandparents (they`re the best!) as I go to walk inside a man says to me (in a thick accent) "Excuse me..can you do me a favor..the flag of Germany...(on my backpack)..its upside down" ahhhgg!! I felt like such a moron!!! I bought all the patches a couple years ago and i cant remember the flag for every country! oops!!&nbsp; So anyway, going through the security checkpoint the big blackman security guard called me ¨"precious" then later a man that worked for the airlines stopped to tell me i had beautiful feet. Weirddddd.&nbsp; I had lots of time to kill so went to the bar for a beer and talked a little bit to a group of guys who were going to Kentucky, my reply was WHY lol but it was for a bachelor party.&nbsp; I had a super itchy eye before i left home and i think i asked about 10 people at the airport for visine, no one had any. I always get itchy allergy eyes the night before something important, like my high school graduation. ha! The first plane ride was 6 hours and i didnt get very good sleep, the only baby was sitting in front of me, screaming. the whole time. I was worried that an hour wasnt enough time to change planes in Panama but the airport is really small and it was plenty of time, and that flight was actually 3 hours. As soon as i got out of the baggage claim thankfully my ride was there with a sign with my name on it. My first impression of the city, not so good , it was ugly and dirty and scary looking.&nbsp; The area Im in now is Barranco, its on the ocean on big cliffs. The neighborhood has lots of old buildings that are interesting but in a deteriorating state.&nbsp; I havent done anything in the way of learning about a thing yet, but as soon as i do ill let you know. As soon as i got to the hostel i set out to find some eye drops so i got those and then walked around a little bit, but it was dark and i dont feel comfortable walking in an unfamilar area at night. Theres lots of tiny little restaruants and i picked one and had a really good dinner of traditional food, i got grilled chicken with rice and fries, and a stuffed avocado which i never heard of but it was so good, kind of filled with a chicken salad type of thing. Went back to the hostel and talked to an Argentenian guy for a long time about what to do and see cuz i though he worked here but he doesnt lol&nbsp; i was thinking maybe ill just go to bed but then i though nooo its my first night here and its friday ..i must go out!!&nbsp;A girl in the room nearby heard me and she invited me out with her and her friends, awesome.. i was up for whatever!&nbsp; So it was her, Stephanie and her friend Ivan, they are both from Canada and in the military.&nbsp;Shauna, from Michigan and also has a degree in Anthropology but shes actually using hers and is going to try to work in healthcare in poor areas in south america.&nbsp; Alfredo, whos Peruvian but was raised in Miami and actually lived in Anaheim for 2 years but now lives here in Lima. And Nelson, from Haiti, who doesnt speak English or Spanish, only French, so hes pretty quiet since we cant all communicate lol but the Canadians speak fluent French so that helps. Alfredo is a tatoo artist and both Ivan and Stephanie got tatoos by him, they look really good, and cost about 20 bucks! Stephanie got a globe, and once again now im contemplating getting on... a world map on my back...how freakin awesome would that be!! With some cool quote about traveling underneath it... going to think hard about it..So we all went to a club and we got right in when we said we were friends of the tatoo guy....VIP up in the club!&nbsp; It was 10 soles to get in.. which is about 3 bucks, and free drinks all night!!!! Bomb!! And it was a nice club too..not my kinda music but whatever ill suffer through anything almost for free drinks.. We got home around 3 i think and i didnt even open an eye until noon!! i neeeever sleep that late and hate wasting the day.&nbsp;&nbsp; Then we went to see Stephanie get her tatoo and then took a taxi to Miraflores, another area of Lima with more shopping and stuff and we waited around for like more than an hour for the girls to pick out dresses and shoes....thats the one thing about traveling in groups.. i dont like it.. i love to meet people and hang out and party but during the day i want to be by myself, i hate not being able to do what i want when i want. I feel like i didnt accomplish anything today, i didnt learn anything about the city or history..but i guess i was absorbing the local everyday life in Lima so thats something right... we had dinner then walked around some outdoor markets..i bought a purse cuz i forgot to bring one.. now it{s time to get ready and do it allll over again!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256269303/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256269303/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/6/1256269303/tpod.html Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:55:35 -0400 Peru!!

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Anaheim, California, United States

Hello Everyone! It's been awhile since you've heard from me, too long!! I've been wanting to go away again for quite sometime and while I tend to have these big big dreams of traveling entire continents, this time it's just going to be one country ,on one continent but that sure beats staying home and going nowhere, so I can't complain! So here's the plan--I'm flying on Copa Airlines (which I had never heard of..but had the best price), my flight leaves at 2am (eeeek!), fly for 6 hours, change planes in Panama, then another hour or so on to Lima. I'll have 3 days in Lima on my own, then join up with a tour for 12 days which ends in Cusco, and I'll have 3 days there on my own. The company I'm doing the tour with is Gap Adventures, you can look up their website and search for the "Classic Peru" trip, if you want to see the itinerary, or you can just wait for me to tell you all about it... I'm a little nervous about doing a tour, I would rather do it all on my own, but I just didn't have the time to do the research and organizing.&nbsp; With tours it can be a real hit 'n miss...you could have the time of your life and meet awesome people who you still keep in touch with years later (i.e. Kiwi Experience group&nbsp;in New Zealand) or you could get stuck with people ya can't stand such as a mean stinky German lady who yells at you all the time to close the window therefore leaving you to suffer and smell her b.o. all day&nbsp;(Safari trip in South Africa)&nbsp;sooo I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best...Got to run..Next time you'll hear from me I'll be down in South America! wooo hooo! Let the adventure begin!!!!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/rtw_2007/1233328680/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/rtw_2007/1233328680/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/rtw_2007/1233328680/tpod.html Fri, 30 Jan 2009 15:00:22 -0500 Around the World in 5 or so months!

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Anaheim, California, United States

Hello All! I bet your surprised to hear from me! Today marks the 1 year anniversary of my return home from the incredible around the world adventure and I thought you might be interested in hearing what I've been doing over the past year. I'll start waaay back at the begining! When my plane landed in LAX it was freezing, I had just come from summer time for 5 months and wasn't ready for my lovely tan to start fading immediatly. Bummer! &nbsp;Air Force One was there out on the runway, surrounded by police escorts, didn't get to see the Pres though, aw what a shame...My sister and Priscilla&nbsp; greeted me with a welcome home sign and outside my mom was there with my dog Gracie. She was freaking out and making a crying sound we'd never heard before but could only be interpreted as sheer happiness at seeing her mother again.&nbsp; The novelty of being home quickly wore off after a couple of hours and it was as if I had never left. Because I had kept these blogs of frequent updates, no one really had any questions to ask me, although I felt like I had heaps of things to talk about.&nbsp; I felt like maybe I made the wrong discision in coming home, and I would have continued traveling, but I was nearly out of cash, and I missed my Gracie and missed my family a little too. I didn't have time to sulk about being home because the next day was the worst day of my life. Grace was running around the front yard as she always does, Priss was out there putting stuff in her car, and I went inside to get something and in a matter of seconds she was gone.She was hit and killed by a truck right in front of us.&nbsp;I ran outside, fell to my knees and screamed and screamed and&nbsp;cried.&nbsp;&nbsp;A f***ing horrifying site and experience. The terror of that day plays over in my mind frequently. I think my Gracie all the time and still cry for her, as I can't help but do now as I write this. She was my baby and my best friend, but I have to be grateful that I at least got to spend one last day with her. With the loss of Grace, our hearts and our house felt sad and empty.&nbsp; A few days later we contacted the breeder I got her from to inquire about puppies. He had a litter ready right away and we picked out two little guys. They are related to Grace, and we see her personality traits in both of them. While I was away, my sister Angela was Gracie's temporary mom so she obviously grew very attached to her.&nbsp; We had to get two dogs this time around one for me and one for her, but mostly for eachother.&nbsp; There names are Dino and Desi. ( Aka Jack and Beano. My mom refuses to call my dog Desi cuz she says it's gay. And Dino is a little stinky, hence the Beano.) They are our babies, they bring so much happiness to our lives. They've also brought a lot of destruction, they like to chew and have eaten holes in our couches, pillows, blankets, clothes, underwear, socks... just about everything... but we love them!Ive had some visitors since I've been home, which has been great! Tom &amp; Guy, the English guys I met on the Kiwi Experience in New Zealand came to stay with me for a week.&nbsp; My dad cleared out the trailor in the driveway so they had their own little home.&nbsp; My family absolutely loved them and called them their adopted sons.&nbsp; We did all the touristy stuff, going to L.A., Hollywood, the beach, Disneyland, etc etc.&nbsp; I had another vistor, Karina, also from England, who I met in Australia. We also did the same tourist stuff and managed to include a weekend in Vegas! Besides my visitors, these months were very non-eventful.&nbsp; I was applying to so many positions and meeting with temp agencys, but nothing.&nbsp;I thought&nbsp;I had it all planned out. I would return home and work for Flight Centre at the Block. How could they not want to hire me??!! Well surprise, they didn't. I&nbsp;don't think my application even got read because&nbsp;I don't have hard sales experience, which most agencies require. Well wouldn't they rather have been working for them&nbsp;who have actually <i>been to the destinations they are selling??My life consisted of getting up and having breakfast, watching I Love Lucy, going to the gym, having lunch, watching I Love Lucy again, going to Walmart or the grocery store, cook dinner, go to bed....boring! A few days a week I worked for my mom's co-worker, and I also went back to school. I took 4 classes. A Career planning&nbsp;class, Spanish, Travel Sales and Apollo (Airline reservation system). Hopefully these will spice up my resume a bit.The summer was a usual summer at the Kading house, pool party bbq's every weekend! Sometimes the backyard looked like a public pool we had so many people over. I went to the river with my family only once this summer.The best thing that happend was I&nbsp;reconnected with some friends from high school and over the last few months we've&nbsp;grown to be good friends again and we go out every week. It's awesome to have a social life again, I'm super excited about that!!&nbsp; We had our 10 year high school reunion in November and we went together, hard to believe we are 28/29 years old now..we were just in junior high i swear..&nbsp;The reunion was lame. Hardly anyone showed. Nothing like the movies, but my friend Tonya had fun telling everyone I invented the post-it. After being home for&nbsp;9 months I finally got a real job. I&nbsp;had one interview out of all the jobs I applied for and by some miricle, I got this&nbsp;one.&nbsp; I'm working for a&nbsp;U.S. Government office, just doing office work but the hours are great and the pay is the best yet, and I've made some friends here. I'm basically just so so thankful to even have a job right now with the state of our economy.&nbsp;But, I'm not able to save a dime because I'm paying off the credit cards I survived on the whole time I wasn't working! It's going to take a looong time to get rid of that debt.As for future traveling plans...I actually don't have another big trip in the works. About a month ago I had this major revelation, it was like a light bulb went off and I feel like I am ready to meet someone now, to settle down and stay home for a while, and start a real relationship. I don't think I've ever felt that way, I've revolved my entire life around traveling the last 5 years that I wasn't interested meeting someone, but I think I am now.&nbsp;So wish me luck in my search for someone special .. it's going to be a long tough road I bet!&nbsp; I do hope to take a few weeks off to get over to England this next year to visit all my traveling friends.&nbsp;Katie (Liverpool girl who I met in London in entry 1) wants me to&nbsp;go to&nbsp;South America with her next year. If i can save the $ and get the time off I'm there. Becki (Also my Liverpool friend I met when I met Katie see entry 1)&nbsp; wants to start a tradition of me coming there or her coming here every year. Sounds good to me!&nbsp; In a few weeks I'll have another visitor, another Katie (From Isle of Man, who I met in NZ on Kiwi Experience) and can't wait to take her all over So. Cal and Vegas and who knows what other adventures we'll get ourselves into! So I'm really looking forward to that. I just started school again, but only taking one class, Travel Office Management. Who knows if I'll ever get that dream job of being a travel agent, I certainly can't leave my job now for something that is so unstable.&nbsp; Hopefully someday I can acheive that goal, but in the meantime I'll enjoy taking classes and increasing my knowledge of the travel and tourism industry. I got a new car in December! For about 6 months I was driving an old contraption named "Juanita", she finally gave up and died and I gave in and got a new car, which i was putting off because I want to use all my extra money to pay off my debt.. but i am in love with the new car.. it's pre-owned, 06 Honda Accord, the luxury model with leather/heated seats..sun roof, black tinted windows.. and 3 dvd players!! Yes , 3!&nbsp; It's pimp. I feel sooo cool driving it! haha.So in summary.. currently my life is going pretty well.&nbsp; I have a good job, a cool car.. friends that i go out with every week.. i'm dating again.. i have my puppies... and over all, I'm happy :)&nbsp; I hope you enjoyed my update and hopefully next time you hear from me it will be from some place better than Anaheim!!&nbsp; x Kristin
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/rtw_2007/1189512300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/rtw_2007/1189512300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/strawberryk/rtw_2007/1189512300/tpod.html Fri, 30 Jan 2009 10:17:52 -0500 Around the World in 5 or so months!

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Rethymnon, Greece

I arrived at Rethymnon Youth Hostel and lucky there was plenty of room. I was greeted by Ivan, one of the guys who run the place, a Yugoslavian guy, so friendly and sweet and treats everyone as special and a new friend! It was so refreshing to encounter a really nice person again.&nbsp;&nbsp; I can't say this was my favorite hostel though. The bathrooms are downstairs, and outside!&nbsp; I spent the day wandering around the harbor and along the beach. I grabbed some lunch and ate on the beach , went for a couple of quick swims, and read. I brought the book "Chicken Soup for the Travelers Soul", which I absolutely hate, someone dies in every story and I'm laying their crying my eyes out on the beach. Not exactly how you want to spend your day eh!!&nbsp; I went to bed early since I had practically no sleep before.&nbsp; When I woke up , there was a giant cockroach next to my bag on the floor. There was one guy in the 8 bed room, but I didn't want to wake him up over a bug! So I stayed quiet, went back to sleep for a while, and then got Ivan to come in and get it!&nbsp; He explained that they do all they can to prevent bug there, spray and everything, but with the windows open they crawl in that way.&nbsp; I explored the Venetian Fortress, but didn't get much out of it because like at most ruins, there is nothing posted to tell you about what you are looking at , the only info given usually is regarding the restoration process. Boring.&nbsp; It did provide great views of the sea and the city below.&nbsp;This &nbsp;fortress was built and rebuilt more than once, but I believe it was mostly used in the 16th century as defense against pirates, including Barbosa. So the only stuff I know about pirates is from Pirates of the Caribbean, and Disney movies aren't exactly&nbsp;perfect portrayals of history. &nbsp;Over the centuries Crete has had many invaders and conquerers, making a very complicated history which I can't even attempt to summarize for you because I hardly understand it myself! I met 2 Aussie girls that were in my room, Alana and Mel and they were traveling for a few days with their friend Carla and her boyfriend Jay. Alana and Mel had met in the UK while they were working there and have come to Crete to work for a few months.&nbsp; Carla is returning to Oz soon and has invited me to join her family for Christmas as I will be in Sydney and don't have set plans yet. So far that is my 4th invite from Aussie's to stay with them for Christmas!&nbsp; We all went to dinner at a tiny restaurant next door and my plate only cost 4 Euro where as I've been paying 10-12 for the same thing to sit at a sea side restaurant, so I'm obviously paying for the view, but it's been worth it!&nbsp; The girls and I sat up and had some wine at the hostel bar. I love hostels that have bars because everything is sooo much cheaper. I payed 1.70 for a little jug of wine that would normally cost about 5-6!&nbsp; It was still early when they went back to the room and I felt like going out and was determined to find a little Irish pub I had seen earlier in the day.&nbsp; I walked around for about 10 minutes, couldn't find it and there wasn't enough people out so I didn't feel safe enough so I went back to the room.&nbsp; The girls were still up and they relayed the excitement I had just missed.&nbsp; Apparently another cockroach came racing out from Mels bed over to Alana's and up the side along the mattress!! She flicked it off and smashed it and had to clean up the guts! So glad I missed all the action.&nbsp; Alana and I stayed up for another hour and I got her up to date about the entire last season of Grey's Anatomy! They are a season behind in England. They are going to be in Thailand around the same time I am, so I might try to meet up with them for a day or so.
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