Bussin' It

So, I just arrived in Bogota, Columbia after a rather interesting 30 hour bus ride from Quito. After some long goodbyes to my friends in Ecuador who I will surely miss, I headed to the depot to await my bus. But, after arriving there, I found out that the bus was going to be almost two hours late because of a small accident. Wonderful, this was the bus that I would be trapped on for more than a day. Finally, the bus arrived. But, because I was stuck arguing with the clerk about the weight of my backpack, I was the last one on board, and the only seat left was the one five feet from the bathroom with the broken door that kept flying open the entire trip, revealing the overpowering mix of that nasty blue stuff and urine. This, by the way, wouldn't have been an issue if the clerk would have just gotten off the scale while my backpack was being weighed. I kept telling him I was quite certain my backpack didn't weigh 210 pounds, and I wasn't going to pay a $34 surcharge! Eventually, the bus left the depot and we were on our way to Bogota. I'm not exaggerating when I tell you that every person on the bus made it a point to pee at least once an hour just to be spiteful to the poor Gringo. At least you weren't allowed to crap in the toilet. They pulled over the bus for that. Well, moving on, our first stop along the way was a small little village where we had a chance to eat lunch, and relieve our bowels. The funny thing was my friend Julian mistook a small family hut for the bathroom. He just walked into their house and into the family bathroom and took a nasty dump! then proceeded to ask the father where the wash area was. The entire family just looked at him as if an alien had just invaded thier home. After that, it was back on the bus, where I had the wonderful privelage of listening to Columbian folk music for the next 28 hours, and discovering that our bus driver was smoking pot the whole trip, where the smell competed with the bathroom for the rest of the way. I think it was the closest I've ever been to becoming legally insane. Then, halfway to our destination, we were boarded by the Columbian control police who wanted to check everyone's bags for drugs and weapons. (They never checked the driver's..hmmmm, possible bribe maybe)This is when my very bright friend Julian(remember him?) kept on asking the officer closest to us if he could check out his very large machine gun. After the third request, the officer findly just looked at us and asked if we were together. I hated to be rude, but I happily said that I had never met him before. After all the excitement, we finally arrived in Bogota in one piece. What a country!

Lake Titicaca

Well, as I am writing this, I am actially back in Quito, Ecuador but I wanted to blog some of the interesting things we saw at Lake Titicaca in Puno, Peru. After arriving in Puno, we stayed the night at a nice hostel called La Manzana. From there, we booked a two day trek to the Lake and visited 3 islands, plus 2 handmade floating islands. These are made by the local people by using floating reeds and adding more and more until the island is several feet thick and able to support dozens of people. We had a good time talking with the local folks and exploring the islands. That night we stayed with a local family who fed us food that was basically unidentifiable. I think my bowl had a pair of eyes in it, but I tried not to focus to much on that. The next day we took a boat ride to two more islands, and hiked to the top of the island of Uros, and got to see a nice sunset over the lake. There were even more Inca ruins here as well. After our two days in Puno, I headed back to Cusco for a little rest, then it was off to Lima again for two days, then finally a 40 hour bus back to Guayaquil and eventually Quito. Time for a siesta!

Tattoo Me

So, I am really trying to keep up with this blog thing, but geez, it´s so hard with hardly any time to spare...ok, that´s just my excuse. Anyway, as you can probably tell from the title, I just got a new tattoo here in Quito. I´m telling you, there is something in the air here. I came here such a good boy(yeah, right), and now I have fallin´into the world of tattoos and piercings. I am leaving for Lima, Peru in 5 days and in just enough time for my tats to heal, so I can properly show them off..lol. There is a tremendous artist here, the one who did my new one, who has agreed to do some add-on work to enhance one of my other tattoos from earlier on. So, maybe when I return from Bolivia, I will take him up on it. I sure will miss Quito, when I have to come back to the U.S., but if everything goes well with my visa, I will be returning to Ecuador for work in September 2009. So, that´s about it. See ya again soon :)

Music Nights

There isn´t a whole to update since the last blog entry, just finishing up three more weeks here in Quito, then it´s off to Peru and Bolivia for a month before returning back to Ecuador to tour the country for a month. As of now, the current plan is to head back to the U.S. around the first of April, where I have to wait until my permanent work visa is approved around September, then it´s back to Ecuador where I will be working here for a year to two years on the coast in a city called Canoa. In some ways I hate to even have to leave here to head back to the U.S. because the restaurant is doing well, and it´s a lot of fun here. We just started having music nights up on the terrace here at the hotel, and every night is a different theme. Sundays are 80´s night, and everyone hadf a great time eating , drinking, and listening to music from the past. But, after I leave in April, they have to close the restaurant, until I return in September, because they don´t have anyone to take it over. Anyway, it will still be nice to visit family and friends back home for a bit, but Ecuador and the people and culture here sure grow on you. Caio´for now!

What the Smell Is Goin´On?

No doubt, this is one of those rather random blogs that may just leave you shaking your head after you read it...for such as life are those moments that don´t necessarily leave us affected in any other way, only in the occasional moment that hindsight comes again to remind us of why we took the time to write about it in the first place, or in this case for the reader, well, maybe I´ll let you choose the appropiate word. Yesterday, as we were preparing to ready the kitchen for another night of dishing out burgers, booze, and music to the plethra of tourists that would soon make their way through the doors, Jacob, Joel, Xavi, and I noticed a rather odd, and somewhat disconcerting smell making it´s way through the entire hostel. Now, moments earlier, our resident Spanish teacher, Maribel, had commented that she noticed what she thought was the smell of marajuana lurking about, but when we investigated, we all decided there was something else definately a´foot´making itself known. Then we realized that her Belgian student was conviently around every time we noticed the odor. After some more investigating, we finally all figured out that it was him....more specifically, his socks! Apparently, he´d been wearing the same pair underneath a pair of sandals(another no-no), for more than a week, and no intention of changing them any time soon. Eventually, we may have to start fining him daily if things don´t change. Now, because I am writing this in my blog, I had to give him an alias, just in case he tries to add me on facebook, in which case he will certainly find this entry. So, if a Belgian guy with sunburn, and a bad case of style and sock odor asks...My name is Paco Van Sustran, and I come from Iceland on a scientific mission to study the problem of Volcano water evaporation. I´m hoping this is enough to through him off my cybertrail. Thankfully, he hasnt asked what my name is yet!