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By Caitlin

Peru was the final stop on our trip. Standing on any street corner in Peru, you are likely to see either a church, evidence of the heavy-handed Spanish colonization or some element of Incan architecture and engineering (be it a drainage ditch, a monolithic, earthquake-proof wall or something else). As a local tour guide we met in Cusco recommended, “You can see churches everywhere, but in Peru you should visit Inca sites to really understand this place.” For the most part, we stuck to the Inca and pre-Inca sites. Even after being in Peru several weeks, there was still more to learn about how a culture that didn't really rule more than a couple centuries managed to build such amazing, enormous structures and create a single cohesive culture from many unique cultures in a terrain that is so extreme.

Because Peru was the last country of our trip, we really savored it and tried to make the most out of every day. We spent a lot of time in Cusco, but the longer I was there, the more I wanted to get out of the big city and back to the small towns of the Sacred Valley. Towns like Ollantaytambo, Urubamba, and Pisac, which are surrounded by the Andes, ancient ruins, and cobblestone streets that are a thousand years old. In Ollantaytambo, we had a near crisis when arriving after a long day at Machu Picchu. We arrived late at night and our guesthouse was down a bunch of dirt side-roads in what appeared to be a dodgy neighborhood. There was lots of trash and drunk men walking by our car when we arrived at our guesthouse, and it appeared to be closed! After many failed attempts ringing the doorbell and trying to call, our taxi driver ran around the neighborhood and happen to find the owners hanging out at a nearby party. To our surprise, the place was nearly brand new and very nice! The next day, we stumbled upon a pottery maker who made wonderfully unique pieces from all the similar touristy ones. Despite the hanging laundry and chickens clucking in his studio, the pottery was very nice and he explained each step of his process in Spanish. In Urubamba, the flirtatious older woman who ran our guesthouse was very taken with my dad. Her beautiful garden in the middle of town was a surprising twist but not as surprising as when she pinched my dad's butt. In Pisac, two of my favorite pasttimes: ruins and markets! Pisac has one of the best markets in the Sacred Valley and some of the best Inca ruins.

Inca ruins in Ollaytambo

The ruins in Pisac

We have seen so many amazing sites over the past year that its hard to describe Machu Picchu, the pinnacle of Incan civilization, as the incredible, distinct place that it is. However, my lack of creativity in words does not reflect a lack of appreciation. The setting, a mountaintop surrounded by jagged peaks, is really the source of the amazement. As a largely intact city built six centuries ago, the condition of it is very impressive. The truly remarkable thing is how the Inca managed to build such a beautiful city without modern technology. Most people would struggle to just walk the hundreds of steps from the river basin to the top of the city, never mind haul stones and tools up the mountain. Even though we were struggling to breath and protect ourselves from the sun, we decided to hike the extra two hours to the top of Machu Picchu Mountain, which was brutal on all of us. There were steep steps the whole way. Luckily, when we got to the top, the thick clouds had just cleared for a breathtaking, bird's eye view. Unfortunately, the top closed and we had just a few minutes to catch our breath before hiking back down.

Arequipa, Peru, but looks like it is the Middle East

The Colca Canyon, one of the deepest in the world

The gigantic Condor

Surprisingly, our final days saw our first major scheduling mishap. We arrived at the Cusco bus station at 10 pm for our overnight ride to Arequipa, only to find it had already left two hours before. We were incredulous at our mistake, which stemmed from not carefully reading the 20:00 departure time. So after yet another day in Cusco, we finally got on the next night bus and arrived in the “White City” of Arequipa, so called for its beautiful white stone architecture. Our final excursion launched from here, a hike into one of the deepest canyons in the world, Colca Canyon. It was grueling at times, but the views rivaled some of the best we had seen thus far.

Peru was perhaps the place I dreamed of the most before we embarked on our year. It ended up being our last place and it exceeded my expectations. The thrilling mountains, incredible food, riveting history and the bonus or rendezvousing with my family made it the best last spot on earth. Now, on to our next adventure...whatever that may be!

Farewell, South America. Back to the U.S...

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Strange Hotels Around the World

5/29/2015

By Caitlin

Dingy hostels, while comfortable enough, get old. Sometimes we were able to find some interesting accommodations beyond your normal hostel that were cultural experiences in and of themselves. These places were usually upgrades from the normal hostel or AirBnB. One such unusual place was the Propeller Island Hotel in Berlin, where each room was a work of conceptual contemporary art (click here to read our previous blog post all about Propeller Island). The others were vastly different from each other and a welcome change from the usual hostelworld.com slog.

Ryokan - Pax Yoshino - Hakone, Japan

One of our favorite experiences was staying at a traditional Japanese inn called a Ryokan. True Ryokans are very luxurious (read:expensive) but we were able to find an affordable one in the hills of the area near Mt. Fuji. It has the feel of a spa, and most people chose to wear traditional robes around the building (provided in the rooms) which is quite an interesting site to behold. One of the special elements of most ryokans is the onsen, or thermal bath. Similar to other traditional baths, this one was particularly nice because it was outdoors. The water was almost too hot to stand for our allotted hour but luckily the outside temp was refreshingly cool. Before bedtime, the staff came in to lay out our pallet-style beds, which were much more comfortable than expected. Breakfast was one of the best spreads I've ever seen, but unfortunately, we couldn't figure out what almost anything was. I eagerly poured myself a cup from a hot carafe only to bring it up to my mouth and inhale the distinct smell of soy sauce. Only later did I find the coffee pot. From start to finish of our one night in the ryokan, we felt immersed in the beauty of Japanese culture.

Cave Hotel - Canyon View Hotel—Goreme (Cappadocia),Turkey

The idea of sleeping in a cave, bathing in a cave and breathing in a cave sounded claustrophobic to me. However, staying in so-called “Cave Hotels” is one of the quintessential experiences when visiting Cappadocia in Turkey. The bizarre landscape and unique rock formations have been used as dwellings for local people, especially monks seeking solitude, for millennia. How could we miss this experience? Beautifully carved into the natural rock and enhanced with modern features, our cave hotel was charming and run by a lovely family. The room was actually quite spacious and to ease my claustrophobia, there was even a decent-sized window. Our room had at one time been used a pigeon room of a monastery (ironic since I despise pigeons) and retained the pigeon perches carved into the walls. Not my favorite detail about the place, but an interesting part of a room with a real history!

Treehouse - Ten103 - Koh Ta Kiev, Cambodia

From one natural setting to another, the treehouse we slept in was by far our most rustic accommodation of the trip. The bed was draped with mosquito netting that was for more than just decoration. It was less of a house and more of a platform in the treetops with a roof. It overlooked a small bay and a mangrove forest and the only word that fits to describe the view is paradise. The island was minimally populated and there was no electricity or running water, which is my idea of true luxury in some ways. Luckily, there was a bar with surprisingly great food and umbrella drinks. Who needs WiFi in such a situation? This was also the island where we could see the bioluminescent plankton and there was an organic Absinthe distillery in a make shift cabin footsteps away. The only real problems with a treehouse are climbing up the ladder in the dark (headlamp was handy!) and nighttime bathroom trips (bottles are handy!).

Salt Hotel - Salar De Uyuni, Bolivia

Located in the world’s largest salt flat, there are several hotels built entirely out of salt. The bricks, tables, bed frames, chairs and chandeliers are from the salt flat. The floor was even loose gravel sized salt. Surprisingly, of our three nights in southern Bolivia, the salt hotel we stayed in was by far the most comfortable. These hotels are mainly set up to accommodate tour groups with dormitory-style bedrooms and bathrooms and because of the cost of water, it cost $3 to use the shower. After a few smelly days of going without, it was well worth it. It was however, incredibly drying because of the high altitude and the natural salt. Maybe it had some therapeutic properties!

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Coming at Us Like a Freight Train (Peru)

5/24/2015

By Caitlin

After a bus and train ride into Machu Picchu town, we were excited to stretch our legs and explore the area as Jed, my brother Dan, who came to visit us, and I set off to go see a waterfall by walking along the train tracks. Now before anyone thinks we are reckless and crazy, it must be known that the guy at our hotel told us to follow the train tracks. Maybe he didn’t mean it so literally, but as we headed off, straddling the rail, we met another threesome that further confirmed what the hotel guy told us: this was the path to the waterfall.

While chit chatting with our new friends, we pondered whether these train tracks were still in use. We figured they must be abandoned tracks, but quickly realized we were mistaken when a large train came speeding past us and we had to jump up against the rock wall face to our side to avoid being hit. It was not long after that we came to a long, dark, narrow tunnel. since a train had just passed us two minutes before the tunnel, we rationalized that surely another one would not pass so soon after. We stopped just before entering the tunnel to discuss. We could barely see the opening on the other side. It was difficult to gauge how long it was and the track curved right after the tunnel so you couldn't see past the opening. If we were going to go through, we would have to do it as quickly as possible.

Walking along the tracks....

Dan and Jed looking happy before we enter the tunnel

Pretty quickly we began to question our decision. It was incredibly dark as we stepped inside. You couldn't even see your feet. Feeling like we had made a bad mistake, a few in our group started running through. Nervous to run into someone in the dark and knowing I would be slow, I hung back a minute with Jed to let the others get a head start. It’s not easy to run across train tracks in the dark. I felt like I could trip at any moment. As Dan and another person reached the end, they went out of sight. Then Dan reappeared. He was shouting something we couldn’t understand and motioning violently. We couldn't understand or really see what he was motioning, but we knew it couldn't be good. Cold there possibly be another train coming? Terror and adrenaline flooded my body. Jed and I were only halfway through the tunnel and had no idea how much time we had until the train came. Do we run forward and try to beat the train or run back where we came from? The few remaining people in the tunnel who were a bit ahead of us started running forward, but we decided it was best to turn around and run back towards the opening.

Any doubt about whether or not a train was coming was soon answered when I looked over my shoulder to make sure the others had all made it out and a train appeared in the tunnel blocking all light. Steam bellowing out and horn blaring, we literally ran for our lives out the other side of the tunnel. When we finally got past the opening, we scrambled to find a space where we would be out of the way. I was terrified about Dan and the others on the other end of the tunnel. I looked around for Jed and found him in a Jed-sized hole in the ground, from which he was climbing out! So much adrenaline ran through our bodies he barely even noticed he had fallen in a narrow 5 foot hole!

Jed looking confused at this well hidden, but surprisingly deep, hole he had just climbed out of

A train like the one that was barreling down on us

As the train cleared the tunnel, we hastily walked back into the tunnel to make sure the others were OK. Fortunately, all the others started running back through towards us. There was a very, very close call though. Like something straight out of a movie, apparently the girl of the group was just about to clear the exit when she tripped badly right as the train was about to enter the tunnel. A hero friend of hers ran over and picked her up and pulled her out of the entrance within seconds of the train arriving.

Knowing my brother, I assumed this terrifying incident would not deter him from wanting to continue down the tracks. He told us that another tunnel, one that curved around the side of the mountain making it impossible to see the end, was not far ahead of the tunnel we had just escaped from. The whole incident had sufficiently spooked us all, so we all turned back and headed to town. Luckily, we found an alternate path that skipped this harrowing stretch of rail, and eventually found our way to the waterfall. Unfortunately, it was absolutely pouring rain on us the whole way there and back. With no umbrellas, our clothes and shoes were wet for days. Although highly memorable, the waterfall was probably not worth the terror or soak, and it left us exhausted before embarking on the real reason we were there in the first place, to see Machu Picchu.

Dan enjoying the well-earned spoils of our adventure

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Salar De Uyuni (Bolivia)

5/16/2015

By Jed

We didn't know much about the Salar De Uyuni and the sights in that region because descriptions were vague but enthusiastic. So despite the crazy adventure to even get to the start of it, we concluded it must be worth it. We mustered up the strength to take another long bus ride and overnight train to the small town of Tupizia to start a 4 day tour, the only real option for independent travelers to see it.

The trip got started early on day 1 and we were placed with a another couple, from the Netherlands, for the duration of the trip (a last minute switch occurred when our original pair came down with the standard “Bolivian Stomach Bug”). As we began, I started to feel uneasy as the mud roads and sheer drop offs had my pulse racing. The scenery was worth it though; desert landscape with red rock faces reminiscent of Arizona or Utah in the foreground and snow-capped mountains in the backdrop. This is the area made famous in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid! After visiting an ancient abandoned town, we got as high as 16,000 feet (4855 meters) before settling down for the night in very basic accommodations (one bathroom for 20+ people).

Day 2

The second day was definitely a highlight. It started with a couple of beautiful lakes, complete with mountain reflections and pink flamingos enjoying it all. We then arrived at a volcano with a seafoam green lake in front of it. Despite its beauty, it is not a good idea to touch the green lake as it is full of arsenic. There were some interesting sites at the lake too, including a very cuddly-looking wild fox and a band which randomly decided this was a good place to jam.

After a while outside in the cold air, it was time to check out a small hot springs. From there, the unique landscape continued to change as we visited some very cool looking geysers. The sulfer smell was pungent and the steam and boiling mud rising from the earth certainly made this look like a hellish landscape. There were points were mud was literally flying out of the ground and over our heads.

It seemed like we had already packed in a full day, but we still had one place left to visit; one of the strangest natural phenomenons I have seen. You could see the red color from a distance as we pulled up and it became jaw dropping when we stopped in front of the massive, red lake. And I don't mean just a little red tint, it was pure, blood-red. The color apparently comes from the billions of algae in the water. Although the lake is quite expansive, it is very shallow and so you can see the colored algae shining through. In the morning, the algae are not colored, but the sunlight powers them and by the end of the day they are bright red, giving the lake its truly unique color. There is also a mountain in the background and thousands of flamingos in the water to enhance the beauty of the landscape even more. Truly a rare and wonderful site .

Day 3

After an eventful second day, and the main event tomorrow, this was a bit more of a relaxing day through still some nice mountain scenery. We stopped at some more lakes, inlcuding a “black lake” (but the effect of the coloring here was quite lackluster compared to the red and green lakes we had seen previously) and saw some interesting petrified rocks that had some unique shapes due to erosion.

Day 4

We woke up before sunrise to get into the Salar De Uyuni on our last day. What exactly is the Salar de Uyuni? It is a massive salt flat that was created when an ancient ocean dried up and left behind the salty earth. It is 100 meters (330 feet) deep of pure salt and it stretches as far as the eye can see (it took hours to drive through it all). The pure white surface and mountains in the backdrop makes it seem like you are in some sort of glacier, but the warm temperatures snap you back to reality. In the winter season, the shallow water surface and white ground causes a spectacular reflection of the sky that is one of the craziest things I've seen...in pictures. Unfortunately, we were there in dry season but the scenery is still incredible. The dry salt forms a unique pattern on the ground and the expansive white landscape is still amazing

Our first stop in the salar was an island in the middle. Originally an island in the ocean, this ancient island still exists in the middle of the flat gives an excellent view of sunrise and the vast landscape. Then we traveled for hours across the salar, stopping a few times to take some photos.

One of the most fun things to do in the salar is to take some “loco” photos, as our guide called them. They are photos that make you or other objects look very small (see above). There is no photo editing tricks with these...they are all done with perspective. Since the salar is so flat and pretty featureless, you can really play with perspective, tricking your brain a bit.

After a quick stop at a random train “graveyard,” our four day trip was over. Besides the salar, we didn't know quite what to expect on these four days. It was nice being surprised along the way. It is quite the pain to make it to the south of Bolivia, but if you are in the country, you definitely have to make the journey; it was one of the highlights of our trip.

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Savoring Small Towns and Small Moments in Ecuador

5/4/2015

By Caitlin

Going to Ecuador was really just a stopover to get from Central America to South America but we allowed about two weeks there. Most people who visit head straight for the Galapagos but we stuck to the middle of the country with beautiful mountainous scenery and small, lively towns. Everything we did in Ecuador was low key. No volcano boarding or climbing mountains or wonders of the world. Nonetheless, we had some of our most authentic and satisfying travel there, while enjoying the natural beauty of the country.

Small Town Charm

Latacunga is not exactly a nice town. Most of it is dirty and polluted. There's not much for a traveler outside of a nice town square and a handful of picturesque parks. Like many other times in our year abroad, we read about and ventured to some dinky museum to find it inexplicably closed. What I really liked about this place were the lovely people at our hostel and a friendly cafe owner that went out of her way to make sure we knew the town was special. She also happened to sell the best chocolate bars we'd had in a long time. Our hostel/motel was run by a family that greeted us warmly at every turn. They insisted on giving us Ecuador bracelets to remember them by on our last morning as we sat at their kitchen table sharing breakfast. Nothing big, but it just made me like the place.

The Lake and the Dog

There are numerous beautiful lakes to hike around in central Ecuador. Our favorites were Quilotoa and Cuicocha Lake. As we started up the hill to hike Cuicocha Lake, the park ranger told us there were no dogs allowed. "He's not ours," we shrugged, as a local stray led us on the path. It was clear he knew the way, and we figured he would turn back at some point, but 1/4 of the way around (and a few biscuits for bribery) and we realized he wasn't going anywhere. Rick Perro became his name and he stuck with us the whole way. When we got tired, he would wait for us. When a menacing pack of 6 mangy dogs (blood stains on some of their snouts) showed up to protect their turf, Rick snarled and took them all on to protect us. We shared our PB/Nutella sandwiches with Rick under a gazebo on the trail so we would all have some energy for the last 2 hours. One of the saddest sights of the trip was Rick Perro galloping full speed to catch up to the back of the truck we hopped in, hoping for one last biscuit or for us to take him home.

Dancing in the Square

Costumes. Children. Dances. An irresistible combination for a traveler. In Quito we stumbled upon an elaborate solstice celebration complete with kids in traditional Quechua costumes doing dances. The lovely folk songs have stuck in our heads since then and we only wished they were Shazaam-able. The grand finale involved one little character, in a mask of el Diablo, encircling the other dancers. The poor kid could barely see out of his mask but he held his own as el Diablo and totally made my day.

Little El Diablo

Juice at the market
Every town in Ecuador has an indoor market, usually consisting of two floors. Municipally owned and operated, the bottom floor is typically fruit, veg, meat, fish and the top floor is little stalls of restaurants and juice sellers. Blessed with a climate that produces tons of fruit, the markets of Ecuador offer enough different juices to allow you to try a different one each day. While some don't sound quite palatable, like alfalfa, most are sweet and refreshing and we found ourselves at the market on many afternoons. Particularly mora (blackberry) juice became our favorite, and it was even better when mixed with coconut.

Caitlin looking scary

Artistic Highlights

Beyond the juice and dogs, Ecuador has beautiful colonial architecture and a strange but delightful tradition of lighting up their churches in colorful spotlights at night in even the smallest towns. Art museums were also abundant and while the English was slim, we gleefully discovered one of South America's most renowned artists, Guayasamin, as well as historical peculiarities, like the shrunken heads of the archaeological museum in Cuenca.

Shrunken head

Caitlin giving the shrunken head a staredown

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Tico Time! (Costa Rica)

4/30/2015

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By Caitlin and Jed

It felt like we were deep in the jungle and had stepped into a movie scene. At any moment a jaguar or tapir could cross our path. It was eerily quiet except for the occasional rustle or deep yell, which made us stop with urgency and look around to catch a glimpse of some exotic animal. We kept walking further from the road hoping to find the monkeys we had been hearing since our arrival in Costa Rica. Now we were closer than ever but we didn't know it. When we turned a corner, the onslaught began, as the Howler Monkeys started warning each other of our approach. We strained our eyes, searching the top of the canopy for a sighting. They scurried as they yelled at us and their sounds were surprisingly deep for their small size. There was no creeping up on these guys but we watched and listened as we felt a million miles from humanity or civilization. The barrage of sound faded out and we made our way back to the road so we wouldn't be lost in the jungle after dark.

We spent the majority of our time in Costa Rica exploring its beautifully preserved jungles and rainforests. Being one of the most popular tourist destinations in Central America, Costa Rica is on top of its game when recognizing the importance of conservation to the country's continued financial success. The extremely biodiverse rainforests are always exciting to walk through. You won't spot many large mammals, like you might see in Africa, but there are plenty of monkeys, sloths, snakes, colorful parrots and even super interesting leaf-cutter ants to keep you entertained.

At a completely deserted beach (since it is only not filled with water for a few hours a day)

But Costa Rica is more than just jungles. In one day in Costa Rica you could be at the beach, exploring a market, touring a coffee plantation or on top of a volcano, but perhaps our favorite experience in Costa Rica was traveling with the Hadas family (Jed's sister's family)! The kids were braver than us when we were zipping through the tree canopy on ziplines or spotting potentially deadly snakes at a night-time rainforest walk. With the Hadas family, we got to explore a cloud forest in the northern part of the country (which is a very high-up forest, in the clouds) and the southern and least-developed part of Costa Rica, the Osa Peninsula (which we would highly recommend). It required taking a flight on tiny, single engine propeller plane and a rough hour long drive through the jungle to get to our place in Osa, but the beautiful ecolodge in the middle of the rainforest and unbelievably tasty food made it all worth it. How do they get such fresh food out there?!

The developed infrastructure, yet preserved rainforests: there is a reason Costa Rica is so high on everyone's travel list. We surely weren't disappointed! Special shout out to the Hadas family for coming out to visit us!

Sophie ziplining

Nate feeding some cows

NIghttime Jungle Walk

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Wherever the Re-Takeover (Nicaragua)

4/23/2015

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By Dan, Jamie and Brad

Neon Night

Welcome back to the Branmie (Brad, Dan, and Jamie) Wherever the Wind takeover! The three of us were sufficiently brutalized by the Chicago winter that we decided to meet up with Jaitlin as they started to make their way through Central and South America. We were also joined by Kerry, Caitlin’s friend from the Peace Corps, and Evan, Jed’s friend from college. The five of us joined them in Nicaragua, reviews of which ranged from “It’s the new Costa Rica!” to “Why are you going THERE?!”

A welcome Kerry de Caña

Branmie, Kerry and Evan were greeted by Jaitlin with their first sips of what came to be known as Kerry de Caña, a delicious drink consisting of Flor de Caña (a Nicaraguan rum) and a squeeze of lime. After settling into our most “Wherever the Wind” -like accommodations of the trip (one room with four sets of bunk beds and a cold shower), we ventured out for dinner in Managua (and the first of about 300 servings of ceviche that we would collectively consume over the course of the trip). In search of some local nightlife, we headed to Chamán, a gigantic indoor/outdoor nightclub modeled like a huge pyramid. Translation issues initially led our cabs to a much more local “club” (more like an abandoned parking lot-turned-motorcycle rave) on the way there. We were frightened but intrigued as we directed the driver to the correct club… but later in the night, the alcohol having lowered our fear and increased our intrigue, we decided to tempt fate and check it out. Though we wouldn’t advise anyone to venture there, we did briefly dance to salsa music, enjoy some fried cheese, and manage to leave after getting many strange looks with our stomachs and lives intact. Continuing our adventures, we also experienced the late night food trucks outside of the clubs, with varying levels of success (or food poisoning).

The Pyramid Shaped Club

Lots of bikes at the biker party

Some post-club street food. yum.

The next morning, we boarded a bus and headed southwest to San Juan del Sur, a beach town on the country’s Pacific coast. We rented a beautiful, mind-bogglingly cheap condo up on a hill, about a 15-minute hike from the beach. Most of our three-and-half days there were spent in a joyous cycle of swimming in the ocean, lying on the beach, eating and drinking along the coast, and taking a billion sunset photos. We hopped into the back of someone’s van one day for a day trip to Playa Madera, a beach about a 30-minute drive away known for its surfing that featured some of the biggest, most incredible waves we’d ever seen. We also rented a private boat tour one night, on which we consumed much Toña (the local beer of choice) and witnessed the best sunsets of all.

San Juan del Sur was much more beach town than tourist city, but we did enjoy hiking up to Cristo de la Misericordia, a giant Jesus statue overlooking the city in Río-like fashion, ziplining and watching Brad and Evan try fly-boarding, the latest futuristic adventure craze.

After soaking up the sun, Toñas, and ceviche, we piled into another van and headed back toward Lake Nicaragua to the colonial city of Granada. We spent that evening touring the Mombacho Cigar Factory and learning all about the cigar-making process, which was fascinating to some of us and painful on the nostrils to others. Our tour guide, Danny, is a transplant from Gibraltar. If you would like to seriously question your life choices, take a look at his Instagram account: https://instagram.com/danny_mombacho/

Making cigars at Mombacho

In front of the active (and smoking) Masaya Volcano

The next day, our lovely host “Nothing is Impossible” Julio arranged a full day’s tour for us that started out at the Masaya Volcano. We hiked several routes to enjoy various indescribable views of this active volcano, stopping every few seconds to take a photo of each new view. We also hiked a cave created by the flow of lava from one of the eruptions. Correction: some of us hiked this cave, while others of us ran in fear the moment we spotted bats -- and there were LOTS of them.

Brad jumping for joy at the volcano

Getting spooky in the cave

After serious contemplation of sending our passports on a one-way trip to the bottom of Masaya, we ventured into town for some bargain shopping at Mercado de Masaya, a local market, before embarking on a boat tour of Lago de Nicaragua. If you have tens of thousands of dollars to spare, consider purchasing one of the available little islands on this giant lake. We boated past many that had already been bought and built on by some local millionaires (such as the owner of the aforementioned Toña) with ridiculous amenities.

We were also boarded at one point by Lola and her child, monkeys well-known by the locals who inhabit one of the islands. Some of us welcomed their visit, while others cowered in fear that they might find it more appealing to try to eat us instead of the bananas our captain was shoveling out to them.

All in all, Nicaragua was a fantastic experience. The country is clearly developing, and its larger cities may look very different in another decade. We enjoyed a great mix of experiences, from the relaxation of the beach to the incredible views of an active volcano, and everything in between. Though we miss Jed and Caitlin dearly and can’t wait until they return to the States, we’re thrilled to have gotten to crash their tour around the world for many unforgettable moments.

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Hurling Myself Down a Volcano: Volcano Boarding (Leon, Nicaragua)

4/8/2015

By Jed

The Volcano Boarding group

Some of the most popular tourist attractions in Central America are its plentiful volcanoes. Many of them are truly spectacular, from their beautiful crater lakes to their still-smoking craters. A hike up a volcano is a truly awesome experience. But sledding down a volcano at 40KPH is a wholly different kind of experience.

There are only a few volcanoes in the world that have ideal conditions for the so-called “sport” of Volcano Boarding. Cerro Negro outside of Leon, Nicaragua, is one such volcano. It is a Cinder Cone Volcano, which means it erupts from the bottom and the debris causes it to build up into a cone shape. Most Cinder Cone Volcanoes only erupt once and then are permanently dormant. Cerro Negro, however, is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, having erupted more than 20 times. It's frequent eruptions has caused it to be higher than most Cinder Cone Volcanoes and has resulted in layers of relatively fresh, fine ash covering its slopes. These conditions prompted several mountain bikers to try (and succeed) to break the downhill speed record a number of years ago (although one ended in a disintegrated bike and many broken bones). Some crazy Australians then decided to try and ride other things down the volcano. They eventually ended up with this sort of wooden sled as the best/most fun tool and people have been riding down Cerro Negro with this board ever since.

Me hiking up

Getting our suits on

Cerro Negro

The hour long hike up the volcano is extremely difficult, not so much due to the steepness of the terrain, but because you are carrying a long wooden board (which is quite far from aerodynamic) and the wind is out of control. Although someone lost a hat, amazingly everyone held onto their boards the whole way up, despite some close calls. Once at the top, you suit up in a giant orange jumpsuit and protection goggles. Then you get your first look of the slope down and it is terrifying. You can only see a few feet of the slope down and then it is a steep drop off with no ability to see the "path." So it is a bit of trial by fire. There is an option to try to board down the volcano like a snowboard, but it is impossible to carve and so you end up just falling the whole way down. So almost everyone rides it like a sled and lays back on the board as you fly down the volcano.

After a few braver people went first, it was my turn to go. With no option to back down, I leaned back and pushed off. I picked up speed pretty fast and was a bit nervous as I was drifting left and right. I soon got the hang of it though and was having a blast. I continued to pick up speed and rocks started blowing by my face. The goggles didn't seem to stop pieces of gravel from flying into my eyes, but I kept pressing through. It was amazing how smooth it was, like sledding down a giant snow covered hill. After about 30 seconds, I reached the bottom and hit a giant divot that flung me into the air. Somehow I managed to stay on the board and come to a relatively peaceful stop. I picked up my board from the top as it is too hot on the bottom from the friction to touch. It was then that I saw one of the guys who had gone before me, his head completely covered in fresh blood and dirt.

The way down

That's me! (that's a shirt on my face to try and protect it from flying rocks)

Me again

Turns out trying to break the speed record may not be the best idea. This guy had flipped off his board, and went tumbling down the hill, head first. And he wasn't the only one; about half the riders fell at least once, but none as bad or painful as him. Injuries while volcano boarding are not uncommon. Volcano Boarding at Cerro Negro was ranked by CNN as the #2 activity for a thrill-seeker (number one being flying a Russian Fighter Jet), so it attracts many daredevils who are trying to go as fast as possible. Many fail and get some gruesome injuries in the process. A trip to the ER post-volcano boarding is a pretty regular experience. But if you don't try to be a hero and just go at a “regular” pace, you should be fine.

I ended up clocking in at 40KPH (25 MPH), which was a respectable average pace for the guys of the day. The good news for the guy with the bloody head is he had the speed record of the day at a blazing 70KPH (44MPH)! His prize for the pain: a free shot (probably very much needed).

A pic from before he bloodied up that head

Someone zooming down

Someone about to wipe out hard

If volcano boarding doesn't sound like your thing, there are plenty of great volcano hikes in Central America. Our favorites were to the active, smoking ones, such as Masaya and Telica. At Telica, you can get ride up to the edge of the smoking crater, and if you look into it at night, you can even see some of the burning embers. The view of the sunset from up there is also spectacular. Definitely put a volcano visit on the top of your itinerary if you go to Nicaragua.

(Click any of the pictures below to see an enlarged gallery)

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No Me Gusta Isla De Ometepe (Nicaragua)

3/31/2015

By Caitlin

Sometimes you just don't click with a place. Your fellow travelers, the Internet, and the guide book seduce you into believing a certain place is worth the effort but when you get there it's disappointing. This is how we felt when we ventured to la Isla de Ometepe, a huge island in the vast Lago de Nicaragua (Nicaragua Lake). There were some missteps we took that could have changed our opinion and therefore this post is meant to give back what we taketh from the World Wide Web.

From the bus window, I was entranced. Isla de Ometepe is dominated by two volcanoes on either side of the island, the active La Concepcion, a perfect cone, and Maderas, which is extinct. Concepcion is nearly always ringed by clouds at the top, which looks super cool from a distance.

Problemo número uno: To get to the island requires a ferry ride on a pretty dinky ferry. It was a very windy day and as I stood on the mainland watching another boat bobbing right, left, up and down as if it were a booey, it was enough to make me queasy. Sure it's cheap, but the odds of capsizing and my ensuing nausea was reason enough to rethink the whole journey.

Problemo número Dos: The few small towns on the island are very spread out (an hour or two bus ride) and so it's important to stay in the one that's closest to the activities you want to do on the island. We weren't really sure what we wanted to do and ended up staying in Moyogalpa, the town where the ferry drops you off. There's not a lot to Moyogalpa. The only reason you should stay here is if you plan on hiking Concepcion, which is a grueling 8-10 hours, mostly in the exposed heat, and when you get to the top it's more likely than not that it's too cloudy to see beyond a few feet in front of yourself.

Problemo número tres: transportation on the island is very difficult. Only about one slow and bumpy chicken bus leaves each day to each of the other towns. The schedule isn't easy to find and isn't necessarily reliable, as we found out.

One of the many not-so-exciting petroglyphs (don't have pictures of the worse ones)

What we ended up doing: I was intrigued by the descriptions of some petroglyphs, old rock carvings, roughly in the middle of the island. It was easy enough to get there via chicken bus but it took about 2 hours. A short hike to a farm and the petroglyphs were easy to find. However, they were pretty disappointing, to say the least. Only one was remotely impressive, while the 3 others were tiny, significantly eroded and not intricate or interesting.

The one pretty good petroglyph

We stopped by the Santo Domingo beach on the northern part of the island for some snacks. After visiting the other beaches of Nicaragua, this paled in comparison. Lake beaches are usually kind of gross in my opinion anyways.

When we wanted to head back to Moyogalpa we really encountered some difficulties. The posted time for the next bus was 4. So we set off for a long walk to the bus stop. When we finally arrived, some friendly locals communicated that the 4 pm bus wouldn't be coming today and that was supposedly the last bus! In broken Spanglish a tiny old lady told us a detour, not on the map, to another major road with a 5 pm bus to Moyogalpa. So off we went, as did my imagination. What if no other buses or cars passed us?? What if we were stranded at night walking down this sparsely populated road many miles from Moyogalpa? After another long walk, we fortunately reached the main road. A pair of canoodling teens confirmed they were also waiting for a 5 pm bus. Hooray! We were saved! Just had to wait 30 min for the bus. When the teens then randomly jumped in a passing car instead of waiting for the bus, I got nervous. The sun was setting. Soon it would be dark. What if the bus never comes? Jed didn't seem too concerned, but I was very anxious. When that old American school bus finally rounded the corner, I was quite relieved. The route drove around the eastern side of the island right as the sun was going down and giving us our best view of Concepcion from the island yet. We decided to leave the next day, a day early, and go back to San Juan del Sur.

Staying somewhere different and having a vehicle would have made things easier on Ometepe. We considered renting a motorbike, but in our short time in Nicaragua had already encountered multiple people with serious wounds resulting from Ometepe motorbike crashes. Unless you are really hyped up to scale a volcano, which can be done much more easily in the northern part of Nicaragua, leave your Ometepe experience to the shores of the mainland. This was definitely the most stunning view and would save you the seasickness inducing ferry ride, among other travel pains and disappointments.

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The BEST of Southeast Asia: Beaches, Massages, Markets, Temples and Food

3/21/2015

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By Caitlin and Jed

In our last post we discussed the sad realities and the things that annoyed us about the countries we visited in Southeast Asia (Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia). Maybe it was a bit depressing, but we really did love SE Asia, and here is a list of our favorite things about the region:

Beaches

One of the most well known tourist attractions in SE Asia is its beaches, and for good reason. In Thailand, the choice of which beach or island to visit is surprisingly frustrating, because of the hundreds of possibilities. After endless research, we eventually settled on Koh Lanta, a decent sized island with about a half dozen beaches, including secluded bays in the south and long open beaches in the north. One of the most famous beaches in Thailand (if not the world) is on Koh Phi Phi island, and reachable only by long boat. Maya Bay, where the movie “the Beach” was filmed, may be hard to reach but that does not deter hundreds of people (us included!) from making the journey every day. The view of the green water and surrounding rock formations is quite breathtaking and if you squint and concentrate hard enough you can pretend you are the only one there.

We also had a great stay at the beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia. In retrospect this is almost solely due to the place we stayed on the quietest part of the beach. The main part of the beach is pretty run down and not super pretty, but we were able to find a nice little hotel, with very few tourists around...and for wicked cheap. If you are ever in the area, definitely stay at Sunset Lounge and enjoy the relaxing days doing nothing but laying on their hammocks and drinking killer margaritas.

Massages

One of the best parts about SE Asia is the abundance of extremely cheap massages. There are literally more massage places around than any other type of business. Despite their reputation, the vast majority of these places are completely legitimate businesses. In Chicago, when I was stressed at work, I would get a very cheap massage for about $60. In SE Asia, some of our massages were as cheap as $6, Yes, you can pay a person to rub your muscles for an hour for $6. Needless to say, we got a ton of massages. We were pretty relaxed throughout our six weeks in SE Asia.

Markets

Many times during our travels I have wished we were going straight home just so I could load up an extra suitcase with the beautiful arts, crafts, clothing and occasional kitsch that fill some of the most glorious markets in the world; more so than ever in Southeast Asia. Whether it was flower markets, food markets or just another tourist trinket market, we couldn't get enough of them. Luckily, there were many and they were enormous. The Saturday market in Chiang Mai probably encompassed 7 square blocks selling everything from various ready-to-eat insects to hand-carved wooden iPhone cases. All these markets have some percentage of crafts that are probably made in a factory in China, but you see those same fabrics and products so often that you develop an eye for what is unique and likely handmade. And of course, any market experience wouldn't be complete without a friendly haggling over price, which is always expected and a fun way to practice our language skills.

As a side note, because we get this question frequently, we do buy things every once in awhile and ship things home. For example, we bought a carpet in Turkey and a Buddha statue in Thailand. I often buy jewelry because its small and portable. In total, I think we've mailed 4 or 5 packages home. In fact, still waiting on one we mailed from Cambodia in December that hasn't yet arrived and may truly be at the bottom of the Pacific.

Turn down for Wat??!

The temples of Southeast Asia are really beyond description. From the ancient to the most opulent, they are nearly indescribable. Anyone who plans on spending time in SE Asia needs to have an appreciation for temples and shrines. These make the churches of Europe seem both few in number and modest in decor. Buddha statues are as plentiful as spires. Despite knowing very little about Asian architecture, the variety and beauty of the temples in Cambodia, Laos and Thailand continually awed us even as we grew weary of removing our shoes to enter every single shrine. Whether Hindu or Buddhist, literally every home, business, or property has a small shrine where daily offerings of fruit, rice or money are made. A simple, comforting reminder of the spirituality that permeates the varied cultures of Southeast Asia.

Although most temples we visited were relatively modern creations, the oldest ones we saw in Siem Reap were far and away the most magnificent. Of course we are talking about the temples of Angkor Wat. We spent 3 full days visiting the temples of Angkor Wat and didn't get sick of them. The highlights were the many carved faces of Bayon, the gigantic trees invading Ta Prohm Temple (where "Tomb Raider" was filmed) and of course the massive and most famous temple in the region: Angkor Wat. Oh and we were there the same day as Beyonce and Jay-Z!

Night Food Market

Amazing Pad Thai

Yummy bugs for sale

Whole fish at Koh Lanta, Thailand

Pornographic Cappuccino. Only in Thailand

A feast of all rice products after a "hard" day in the Luang Prabang, Laos rice fields

Cooking some delish street Pad Thai

Food! Yum, Yum, Yum.

Soups, curries, stir fries, bbq, smoothies! Just a few of the things we couldn't get enough of in the cuisine of Southeast Asia, which has to be among the most nuanced in the world. That's about as descriptive as I can get because we are not foodies, but we do seek out local and delicious food. We were not disappointed here. In an effort to learn (as we stuffed our faces), we took a street food tour in Chiang Mai, Thailand with a local food lover who walked us around the local food markets to introduce us to some things that would be hard for most tourists to spot.

The local food stalls really get fired up at night, when people come out to enjoy the cooler temps and mingle or just grab some chow on the way home from work. Whether it's an area where many food carts gather, or just a solo cook on a corner, each one specializes in one or two dishes. All the ingredients are there ready to go, with the searing hot wok frying them up. After you place your order, there are typically plastic tables and chairs set up. This experience can be intimidating and tricky for a vegetarian. You can't read the signs, so you can only point to ingredients and hope for the best. It almost always ends up delicious. While there is a lot of continuity in these cuisines, there were also many distinctive dishes and ingredients, such as padek, fermented fish paste, that was especially stinky in Laos and rendered an otherwise enjoyable raw papaya salad, inedible. Even in this instance, the colors, smells, and flavors of food in SE Asia kept us excited to try new things. For lots more pictures of some of the local food we tried in SE Asia and during our other travels, be sure to check out or food photos section of the blog!

Home made Absinthe from a dude on the tiny island of Koh Ta Kiev, Cambodia

From our Street Food Tour in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Enjoying our street food tour with an American Chef

Honey-glazed street bacon in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia is the best thing in the world

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The WORST of Southeast Asia

3/13/2015

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By Jed and Caitlin

The pro of long bus rides is people often come on the bus to sell you food. The negative is sitting on the bus for 10 hours after eating said food

Although we really enjoyed our two months in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand), there were some things that definitely annoyed us as well. For our next posts, we will focus on the good, but for now here is some of the bad:

Long Bus Rides

There is a pretty well-developed airlines system in SE Asia (You may have heard of Malaysia Airlines and AirAsia), but the budget traveler can't afford frequent flights all over. Therefore, we were often forced to take very long bus and/or mini-van rides, which were often worse because you get packed into those vans. In a week stretch, we had four 10+ hour bus rides. The buses are old, grungy, crowded, hot, and take forever. Sometimes the pee breaks are just pullovers on the side of the road (which doesn't make you feel very comfortable in countries like Laos that have millions of unexploded bombs). But hey, for a ride that's only $10, sometimes you have to risk peeing in a landmine infested field.

Shirtless, Shoeless Backpacker making a scene

Backpackers and Other Tourists

We find backpackers everywhere on our travels, but they are especially abundant in SE Asia because its known to be extremely cheap. We have nothing against backpackers per se, as they are just younger and more budget-conscious versions of ourselves. But they are often disrespectful in large droves. When you are trying to unobtrusively observe a new culture or interact with locals and large groups of young, drunken, loud tourists are around asking where they can get drunk and go tubing, it interferes with your experience. One of the unfortunate consequences of travelers discovering a wonderful place is that often the place begins to change and cater to the travelers. Many times in SE Asia, this was especially apparent and instead of being able to experience Thai or Cambodian culture, it felt more like Spring Break in Cancun. It took us some time to figure out that the well-trodden path was not always the most beautiful or culturally-rich plac,e but the place with the most relaxed-drug laws.

I realize I am in this Tuk Tuk, but I didn't have any pictures of being hassled by a Tuk Tuk driver!

Being Hassled

This barely bothers Caitlin because she is so used to it that she doesn't even really notice it, but I am definitely sensitive to the constant yelling directed at our attention. The worst offenders are Tuk Tuk drivers, who pull up along side of you and shout at you or honk their horns whenever and wherever you are walking. If I needed a ride somewhere, I would be raising my arms and flagging you over. My favorite shirt I bought on this trip was the “No Tuk Tuk today” shirt I bought...it came in very handy.

Price Gouging

SE Asia is generally pretty damn cheap. In Savannahket, Laos, we paid $4 a person for our private room with private bathroom and wifi. However, as certain areas develop (e.g. the beach towns), so does the pricing. It's frustrating to pay 5X the cost of Pad Thai just because you are near the beach and there are large numbers of tourists around to take advantage of. That said, it was never “expensive” anywhere in SE Asia, just not always as cheap as we would have hoped.

Tragic Histories

Coupled with our visit to Hiroshima, traveling in SE Asia was often incredibly sad because of 20th century history and induced guilt and horror because of the US involvement (or lack thereof) in regional conflicts. We visited the Killing Fields outside of Phnom Penh, one of many places throughout Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge decimated the population. It was a somber experience, reminiscent of Auschwitz, where the trails walked by visitors to the site are still littered with bone and hair fragments, as erosion of the soil takes place.

In Laos, we were shocked by the number of unexploded bombs that remain in the fields of Southern Laos. 75 million (yes, MILLION) remained following the US campaign to cut off the Ho Chi Minh Trail, used by the North Vietnamese. Children often try to collect the scrap metal for money leading to tragic results. Farmers plowing fields accidentally explode them as well. We had trouble wrapping our brains around this devastating reality that lingers so long after the Vietnam War. Along with the fact that efforts to remove the un-detonated bombs remain grossly underfunded.

Despite this list of unfortunate realities and minor annoyances, we learned from each of them and became smarter travelers. We really did love SE Asia, and the negatives were far outweighed by all the positives, which barely fit into our next post. Check back soon!

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Japanese Entertainment

2/21/2015

By Jed

As mentioned in our previous blog posts, Japan has a lot of interesting and different cultural experiences from the U.S. One such difference that is near and dear to my heart is entertainment. Here is a little bit about the highlights of Japanese entertainment:

Golden Gai (Tokyo)
Like in America, drinking is one of the favorite pastimes of young (and old) Japanese. One of the most interesting places to get a drink is the “Golden Gai” district in Tokyo. It is an area about 8 square blocks filled with old 1-2 story buildings, each containing a TINY bar...and I mean tiny. The occupancy of these bars varies from about 4 seats to as “big” as about 15 seats. The bars are so small that you need to squeeze in tight and cozy with everyone inside.

We didn't know which of the over 200 bar to go to, so we randomly picked one that looked interesting up a set of steep, tiny stairs. Upon entering, we were greeted by the bartender (who is literally 1 foot away from the entrance). As there were only 4 other seats, and we didn't have any elbow room between us, we got some nice cultural interactions at the bars here. We highly recommend hopping around the bars in this district, but note that many charge a cover charge since space is so limited.

Climbing the stairs to the bar

Inside the bar

With our new friend

Head almost touching the ceiling

Karaoke and Arcades

Probably the most well-known Japanese entertainment export, it is still a whole different ballgame here. There are mega-complexes (12+ stories tall) everywhere you turn that are devoted exclusively to Karaoke; and many are open all night. We of course had to check it out and went to a karaoke complex late night after a few drinks; post-bar is the most popular time to go. It feels very professional to go to a karaoke complex...more like going to the movies than like going to the bar (as it usually is in the U.S.). You enter into a sparkling lobby with many employees behind the desk, you book a personal room from one of many different options and you get an awesome menu full of food and drink options which will be delivered to your room. Ala “Lost In Translation” style, all the karaoke here is done in private rooms. We weren't sure if it would be as much fun singing without the public humiliation aspect, but once the music came on, we were enjoying being in our own little karaoke world. The hour flew by and we were wishing we had more time. It took half our time just flipping through the song choice book.... it is literally bigger than the bible. Opening up one of these karaoke complexes in the U.S. may be our post-travel profession.

Figuring out how to work this thing

Caitlin's Turn

About just as common as karaoke are arcades. Nearly everywhere you turn, there are massive arcades full of thousands of loud, flashy games. Caitlin and I ventured in one, but most of the games were pretty hard to figure out for English-only speakers. We did manage to play a game where we both got to beat on giant drums in rhythm to the music. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure out how to change the song, so we were pretty tired of the game after the third time banging out “Let it Go.”

Robot Restaurant (Tokyo)

What is the “Robot Restaurant”? Well, that is kind of hard to explain. I'm still not quite sure what it is, but lets just say that it is the kind of thing that only makes sense in Tokyo. It is a dinner show that supposedly cost $100 million to make (which is obviously a gigantic lie), but it is almost believable after seeing the crazy elaborate dinner show. The show consists of an over-the-top light show, pyrotechnics, giant video walls, costumed characters, segways, yelling Japanese girls and, of course, robots. The whole show is an odd collection of scenes that don't make much sense. Some of the show's sequences included 10 foot robots dancing in unison, a women riding a giant, robotic snake which ate an “evil” woman and a mock robot boxing match. It was random, nonsensical, crazy...and amazing. I don't know why I enjoyed it so much, but something so weird, elaborate and “techy” is not something I have ever witnessed and felt so right at home in Tokyo. Obviously, this is hard to explain with words (and even photos), so you must watch this short two minute video I took of the night. Seriously, if you like seeing weird things and being confused, press play!

Spa World (Osaka)

On the opposite side of the spectrum from the hyper spectacle of the Robot Restaurant is “Spa World.” Forced into it by Caitlin, I didn't regret it in the end. Spa world consists of two levels, separated by gender, one which is themed “Asia” and one which is themed “Western.” I was certainly a bit intimated to partake as it is completely nude. Being naked in public is usually reserved for my recurring dreams. Additionally, it is a very “local” place: there was maybe one other tourist there. Once you get into the locker room, it is a bit confusing as I saw a bunch of people dressed in robes, which I did not have, so I had no idea what I was supposed to do. I didn't want to be the one weird naked white guy walking around. After some confusing conversations with the staff, I figured out that the robes are for post-spa relaxing and so off I went naked into a brave new world.

On each floor, there are about a dozen different hot spring baths and other spa activities designed based on the theme. For example, on my floor (western themed), there was an outdoor spanish-inspired hot tub with waterfall, an italian inspired grotto jacuzzi, a Finnish style salt sauna, etc. Despite the initial uncomfortableness, it was pretty relaxing. My favorite part of the place was definitely the massive post-spa nap room, complete with a dozen big screen tvs, about 100 fully reclining leather chairs (each with individual speakers) and full bar. It was an amazingly peaceful place, aside from the hundreds of people snoring.

Grotto (these pics taken from website)

Greece Medicine Bath

Finnish Sauna Room

Kabuki Theater

One of the oldest forms of Japanese entertainment, we felt like we had to check it out. Fortunately for us, they give you the option of paying for just one of the three acts instead of watching the whole show. Since the show is in Japanese (with some monotone translation in a speaker), and we have a pretty short attention span, this was the way to go. Nevertheless, we still both managed to fall asleep. If you ever need a good nap, Kabuki seems to be the trick. =) It was interesting to see the performance and partake in some more traditional Japanese culture, even if it was for only a few minutes of awake time.

Food

Eating in Japan is also a form of entertainment (at least for a tourist). From the cooking done in front of you at Hibachi (called Teppenyaki in Japan) to conveyor belt sushi, eating can be quite an experience. Conveyor belt sushi has come to some suburbs around America, but it is a much bigger deal in Japan. If you are not familiar with conveyor sushi, the way it works is the sushi goes round and round the entire restaurant on plates color coded by price. If something looks appetizing, you just grab it and enjoy. By the end, you have a shame pile of plates stacked up in front of you, but it typically ends up being quite reasonably priced. Another experience in Japan is ordering Ramen (one of our faves). Ordering is done on a surprisingly low-tech vending machines that look like a cigarette dispenser. Because it is all in Japanese, I am never quite sure what I am getting, but pushing a few various buttons usually produced a yummy gigantic bowl of Ramen in front of me, so it was all good. Japanese BBQ, Yakitori and Sushi chefs also provided some great fun and definitely good eating.

Conveyor Sushi

DOUBLE Conveyor Sushi

My Fave, Habachi!

Japan is definitely a stimulating place. I don't know how the people there are used to the bright lights and people with mega phones shouting in your ear from the store fronts. It is an extremely interesting and unique place and we felt like we were just barely dipping into all that Japan has to offer. Can't wait to go back and belt out a few more tunes and take another nap at the spa.

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Hiroshima: Why Don't Humanity and Science Progress at the Same Rate?

2/12/2015

By Caitlin

A building at the center of the where the bomb hit; one of the only remaining buildings.

As we made our way through Japan, and Japanese people asked us about where we were visiting next, they seemed to expect us to say Hiroshima. As if we were morally responsible, as Americans, to witness it (although that may have just been our misunderstood perception). While not usually on the typical tourist itinerary, we were curious to witness the post-war city, that was reputedly thriving and beautiful.

And it was both of those things. Next to a bay with dozens of small islands a short boat ride away and rolling hills forming the inland boundary of the city, You might never know that just 70 years ago, the city was devastated by the 1st nuclear weapon to ever be deployed in a war. It is now a modern Japanese city that was rebuilt from ashes and rubble. A beautiful monument to the catastrophe sits in the middle of the city, just near where the bomb went off.

However, I'm primarily writing this to convey that visiting the Hiroshima Peace Museum was the most devastating musuem and one of the most profound experiences I've ever had. Consisting of victims stories and belongings and survivors' accounts of the day and months that followed were truly horrific. As something we've all learned about as a grave and important decision undertaken by the Allies to hasten the end of WWII, it was still utterly different to see the human side of it. While the justifications for dropping the atomic bomb are not argued in this post or even within the museum, which focuses on nuclear disarmament and securing world peace, it is impossible to not question the event for what it was: one of the darkest events in the history of humanity.

It was particularly heavy-hitting to us, after having spent 2 weeks in Japan and being steeped in the kindness and generosity of the Japanese people we met. I did not get the sense that the Japanese are vengeful about the events in Hiroshima or Nagasaki at all and found their resilience and dedication to peace remarkable. And without making this too political, I think we could do more as a society to remember the deaths and experience of those 135,000 people who lost their lives to end the largest war of the 20th century.

Images of burnt children

Children's clothing from the day the bomb was dropped

Really horrific mannequins showing the melted skin of victims

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Enjoying Being Lost in Translation (Japan)

2/7/2015

By Caitlin

I was not expecting to love Japan. I initially argued against its inclusion on our itinerary because I thought it would break the budget. Now, I'm so glad we ventured here, even though it was frustrating at times. Plus, outside of Tokyo, it turned out to be much more budget-friendly than I was expecting.

Over and over again, Japan felt like the exact opposite of America. Despite being a similarly "modern" country, it felt as opposite as east and west. Some examples: you board buses at the back and pay before you get off (as opposed to boarding at the front and paying as your board); there are no trash cans anywhere (yet no litter!); traditional beds are just mats on the floor (and way more comfortable than that sounds); and I could write a whole blog on bizarre toilets and bathrooms alone! In short, Japan is weird. It feels like the most foreign place I've ever been and I found it really fascinating.

Japan is tech-y, tall, and over-stimulating.

Flashing lights, tv screens and hoards of people: Tokyo is just as imagined. There are shops and neon signs for 10 and 12 stories up in every building. Not being able to read Japanese, you might not even realize there are different restaurants and bars on each floor unless you investigate the building. We stayed in an area called Shibuya, near the busiest intersection in the city, which has become iconic for the crush of people that cross the massive intersection at once. Giant malls are all over the place and you could spend a week exploring the labyrinth of shops in one mall alone. Half the neon signs in Tokyo, Osaka and other hyper-urban areas are dedicated to one of Japan's favorite pastimes: karaoke. These are massive complexes. There is at least one multi-story karaoke complex in every block. I have to admit that after experiencing the indulgence of karaoke, I'm a little jealous America doesn't have the same karaoke appreciation. Japan is also super high-tech. I mentioned the toilets. Even basic public toilets have a keypad of buttons to enhance your toilet experience. I never figured out what half of the buttons did, but those that i did, seriously altered your typical trip to the toilet (I'll leave the details to your imagination). Jed loved exploring the electronics stores that were often 4 or 5 stories tall, full of random gadgets never-before-seen.

A mega complex all for Karaoke

Japan is traditional, artful, religious.

Gardens, tea ceremonies, kimonos, origami and stunning Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines: just some of the more well-known aspects of Japanese art and religion. I could and did spend hours wandering in and out of shops of beautiful ceramics and textiles shops in Kyoto. I even stalked a few ladies in beautiful kimonos to get a good picture, since they were dressed for traditional ceremonies or visiting temples. Every meal is beautifully presented and proportioned, even the simplest and cheapest ones. Even in the chaos of Tokyo, we found beautiful gardens and tidy, residential neighborhoods that exuded Zen. The gardens surrounding some of the temples in Kyoto were still peaceful and colorful despite the beginning of winter.

Japanese people are the nicest, most gracious we have encountered.

I'm not sure why I was surprised but we met so many lovely people all over Japan. Cultural values of honor and hospitality coupled with a deep love of their traditions equaled amazing people and great cultural exchanges. People were very helpful and eager to meet and talk with us about all kinds of things...especially Japanese cars.

Like I said in the beginning, at times traveling in Japan was really frustrating. Not a lot of people spoke English and outside of touristy areas, things were not written in English either. We traveled by train which was generally easy, but the chaos of the stations and the public transit, particularly in Tokyo and Osaka, was difficult to navigate. Wandering around was fun and interesting but looking for something specific often led to “Lost in Translation” moments (or hours). Despite the frustrations, Japan was amazing because of the people and the culture. For anyone not wearing their Adventure Pants I would recommend an organized tour, but it ended up being the number one place we can't wait to return to.

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What Were We Thinking?! (Everest Base Camp Trek Part 3/3)

1/25/2015

The tallest mountain in the world (i.e. Everest)

By Jed

Spoiler alert, we made it

You know your are nearing the top when some of your fellow trekkers are throwing up due to altitude sickness. You feel quite bad when you see groups arriving to the lodge at night in the pitch black, rushing down the mountain because someone is quite sick and needs to descend immediately to try and overcome their sickness. Altitude sickness can kick in at around only 6,500 feet, but once above 15,000 feet, the risk is high and effects could be severe. Thus, it is best to go quite slowly at these altitudes. In addition to AMS risk, it is just damn hard to breathe this high up, so climbing is much more tiring. The final climb to the summit is a long, rough day.

The general accepted strategy for trekking is to climb higher than you are going to sleep for the day to help get used to the altitude. That means we would need to climb up to the summit and then back down to the town we are sleeping in all in one day. The summit day starts in the village of Lobuche (elevation 16,200 feet) and takes about 3 hours to get to Gorak Shep, which is the last sleeping spot on the trek. Amazingly, this is the only spot on the whole trek where I had 3G internet on my phone! But I digress. After the winding, up and down slopes to Gorak Shep, it is a quick stop for lunch and then on to the summit. At this point, the daytime temperature has dropped dramatically compared to rest of the trek and we are trekking on top of a glacier. It is time to fully bundle up with the down coats, knit hats, wind-proof gloves etc. The air is super thin and it is really dry...it is quite hard to breathe. And the terrain has also changed; it is now just giant piles of loose rocks that you need to climb over. Twisting an ankle is a real concern, as is a series of rock slides from one of the thousands of loose boulders up hill from where we are walking.

Trekking on a glacier

The terrain has become quite rocky

The time to the summit and back from Gorak Shep is another 4.5 hours (at our slower pace), and they were not fun ones. Although definitely the worst conditions of the trek, you are motivated knowing you are just a few hours away from completing your goal after trekking for the last 10 days. It was at this point that I really started to feel lightheaded for the first time. There were a few points where I felt like I was having an out of body experience...like my body was weightless and I was watching from above. Very, very weird feeling and not something I have really ever experienced.

Battling against the conditions, we could finally see our endpoint, but it seemed like it was getting further and further as we walked. The slow hike seemed to last forever as the sun started to go down, but after a long day, we finally climbed onto the official markers of base camp. A lot of people who do this trek say that the actual Everest Base Camp kind of sucks as it is just a pile of rocks. While they are right that the views along the way of all the other largest mountains in the world are better (see photos from our Part 2 blog post), it is still very cool to be at the base camp for the tallest mountain in the world. The spot feels special as it is marked with a lot of prayer flags and signs from previous trekkers. The view is pretty spectacular, and although the view of Everest is mostly obstructed (as it is everywhere in Nepal) since it is in the middle of a mountain range, you can still see a good part of the peak which is spectacular. What really blows me away is that we are looking at a mountain that is 3X the elevation of some of the massive mountains I had seen just a few weeks ago in the Alps.

Caitlin is getting tired

At Base Camp!

With our guide at the top

After about a billion photos, we realized we had to get back as the light was starting to fade. We slept like babies that night. After hustling down the mountain in only 3 days (since no AMS fears going down), our trek was complete. We almost didn't do this trek at all (see list of concerns in our Part 1 blog post), but we were so glad we ignored our rational selves and did it anyway. Now we can go back to the rest of our trip of drinking beers and laying on the beach and not feeling so bad about it =)

"Team Jaitlin": our guide Bhanu and our two porters

Celebrating our climb at a happening bar in Lukla

P.S. If the two of us, who have no training, asthma, fear of heights, bad knees, etc., can do it, then you can too! If you are interested, shoot us a line and we would be happy to discuss any questions or provide motivation!

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What Were We Thinking?! (Everest Base Camp Trek Part 2/3)

1/19/2015

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By Caitlin

The start of the trek

Well, we were on our way. My expectations were low. I had no idea if we would be able to conquer this trail that people's opinions varied from "rather easy" to "incredibly difficult." In retrospect, it was both at times and everything in between. Here's some of the highlights (and lowlights) of what its like to trek to the base camp of the tallest mountain in the world:

Looking mIserable in the cold

On a typical day we would get up pretty early and have breakfast. One of our most dreaded early tasks became stuffing our sleeping bags into the compression sacks in the freezing cold. I would usually do as much in my sleeping bag as I could (washing face, brushing teeth, changing clothes) to preserve my body heat. Then we were off for 5-6 hours of hiking. As we got higher, our hiking time was shorter, about 3 hours) and on the way down from Everest Base Camp, they were much longer (7-9 hours), as we compressed a few days walking into one. Once we reached our destination each day, the battle against the cold began. We would find the warmest spot in our teahouse, usually the dining hall, and try to stay in the sunny patches as long as they were around. Once the sun went down, we either huddled around the stove in the teahouse, or retreated to our sleeping bags until dinner to read or watch Freaks and Geeks on the iPad.

Mmm, Dhal Bhat

Meals on the trek were pleasantly surprising. However, every teahouse seemingly had the same menu which offered various bland potato, rice or noodle dishes. No hesitations on the constant carbo-loading. That was the only option. Every menu offered pizza but it wasn’t great (think frozen pizza bagel). I came to really enjoy the local staple food Dhal Bhat, nicknamed the “24-hour power food!” It's just lentil soup with rice and usually served with curried vegetables. The Nepali locals were eating it at least two meals a day and it was pretty darn delish! Snacks like Pringles and Snickers were also readily available and we occasionally indulged for either an energy boost, emotional boost or both.

The teahouses we stayed in ranged quite a bit but were usually above my expectations. That being said, my expectations were incredibly low. Every building was little more than thin plywood walls and a piece of foam on top of a plywood “bed”. Crucially, everywhere provided a blanket which made the difference in us surviving the sub-zero nights, despite having pretty warm sleeping bags. Our rooms at night were roughly the same temp or a few degrees warmer than the outside temperature, which was near freezing for several of the nights. During the last week, water left on the floor over night would be frozen by morning.

A typical room

Despite cold and discomfort, the teahouse nights were some of my favorite moments on the trek, characterized by awkwardness and camaraderie. All the porters, guides, trekkers and teahouse families huddled around the fire in an effort to keep warm. One night we shared a fire with some Buddhist monks. We taught some Nepalis how to to play the card game Asshole and another game Pass the Pigs, while they taught us Nepali games. Another night we watched some of a very Bollywood-esque Nepali movie on someone's phone (featuring only Akon songs!).

Cute little village girl giving bunny ears to a dog

Up, up we go

A glacial stream

Yak traffic jams is a thing

Besides the cold, the toughest parts of the trek were the conditions on the trail and hiking at high altitude. The trail was incredibly rocky, uneven and steep. Watching every step was crucial because you were one turned ankle from falling off the cliff. Especially on the way down, the stairs became very hard on our bodies and knees. The longer days resulted in pain and fatigue. Often very narrow, the trails were shared by herds of Yaks and donkeys, hired to carry everything from tourists supplies to beer, as far up as people go. Human porters also did a vast amount of the hauling. Doors and timber were just some of the unbelievable things we saw people carrying up the trail, while we griped about our 15 lb packs. Fascinating to me was the complete lack of the wheel. No bikes, no carts, and definitely no cars. Its may be the only place I've been where there is no mobility outside of human or animal power, unaided by wheels.

That is an old lady carrying that stuff

That is 9 cases of beer he is carrying up!

Hiking at high altitude was something neither Jed nor I had done before. I don't think I'd been any higher than 10,000 ft before Nepal. Even just a little effort makes you breathe like you're running up stairs, so actually climbing stairs is very difficult. Luckily, we were going pretty slowly in an effort to acclimatize properly. Because of this, we had almost no altitude sickness, which is usually brought on by moving too quickly up the mountain. We also forced ourselves to drink 3-4 liters of water a day in order to stave off altitude effects, which is much harder when its cold outside.

It goes without saying that the views were breathtaking. Literally. After staring at our feet for an hour, water breaks were also moments to enjoy the view. The vastness of each peak and the way the same mountain changed in different light and from every angle made no two pictures the same. One critique of the EBC trek, in contrast to other trekking routes in Nepal like the Annapurna Circuit, is that you go and up and back down along the same route. This did not matter to us as we found the back-down view different and equally as beautiful as the way up. In fact, without the anticipation of reaching the “goal” of EBC, we probably appreciated it and relished it more.

Reaching the top was not the emotional high you might expect (more on that in the next post). The trek really became about the whole experience to us and we loved all the good and the bad. To that one random guy we met in Tanzania who told us “You can't do that! There's no way you are prepared for that!”: I wish he could see us on top of Everest Base Camp.

Here are a bunch of pictures from the trek (click on any picture to bring up a larger gallery you can scroll through):

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What Were We Thinking?! (Everest Base Camp Trek Part 1/3)

1/4/2015

By Jed

During our travels, we sometimes get some big ideas. But often, once we really analyze the scary realities of the ideas, we often decide not to take on such momentous challenges. Climbing to Everest Base Camp was one of our big ideas. The potential issues were numerous:

Conditioning

Caitlin and I have never hiked more than a half a day before. The hike to Everest Base Camp (EBC) and back would be 13 days of hiking.

Altitude Sickness

Even though Base Camp is at the base of Mountain Everest, it is still very high: an altitude of 17, 598 feet (5,364 meters). Neither Caitlin nor I had been anywhere near that high. EBC is higher than the peaks of the highest mountains in the continental U.S. (which are around 14,000 feet) and in the alps. Altitude sickness, or AMS, is a real and serious risk at this height. AMS affects everyone differently and actually has nothing to do with physical fitness. It is just a chance thing that no one is quite sure why it effects who it does, but it can be deadly.

Lack of Oxygen/Fatigue

The Oxygen level at EBC is approximately half of that at sea level. In addition to presenting AMS risks, it makes it much more physically exhausting to hike since your muscles are not getting enough oxygen.

Extreme Weather Conditions

Just a few weeks before making our decision, there was a horrible disaster at the Annapurna Circuit, the other most popular trek in Nepal. An extreme blizzard and resulting avalanches killed over 40 people in what was otherwise thought of as a very safe trek.

Dangerous Airport

Lukla, the airport you fly into to start the trek, has been dubbed “the most dangerous airport in the world” because of the one and only very tiny runway on the side of a mountain cliff. If you don't time it perfectly, the plane will crash into the mountain. It has happened on a number of occasions.

Extreme Cold

Although the daytime hiking wouldn't be too bad with the sun out, the nights get below freezing and the accommodations (teahouses) have no heat and are made of super, super thin plywood (no insulation whatsoever).

Injury Risk

There is no paved path on the trek; it is a rough path of dirt and rocks. It is quite easy to trip and sprain something or break a limb. There are also risks of rock slides or a run in with a yak on the trail, which has actually resulted in numerous serious injuries when yaks have pushed hikers off cliffs on the trail.

Fears/Personal Ailments

I have a fear of heights and Caitlin has asthma and some pain in her knees. We weren't sure 13 days of high-altitude trekking in the mountains would go well with these conditions.

Forced Vegetarianism

Not really an issue for Caitlin, who already is a vegetarian, but 13 days without meat was a bit of a scary thought for me, especially when I would be craving protein after the long hiking days. There is meat on the trail, but the conventional wisdom is not to eat it since the meat is not fresh up that high and you do not want to be battling an upset stomach during the long hikes.

General Sickness

Which brings me to the last fear, which is getting sick and having to do this hike. Pretty much every report of someone who has hiked to EBC includes some sort of sickness, ranging from nasty colds to serious stomach bugs. It didn't sound fun

Even the Starbucks in Nepal is a knock-off. Seriously, this is a fake Starbucks

Despite this numerous list, we went against our usual better judgment and decided to do the trek. We weren't sure if we would make it all the way, but decided to give it a try. This decision was literally made in Nepal, 3 days before the trek was to begin. We spent the next 3 days scrambling around the extremely busy area of Thamel in Kathmandu, trying to find which of the hundreds of trekking companies to use and buying gear from the endless knock-off shops that line the streets. They are amazingly good at making knock-offs in Nepal; the fake North Face, Marmot and Patagonia items were near perfect looking, right down to the tags.

After three very stressful days, we had secured two porters, a guide and all the gear we needed for our trek. Most hiking duos use just one porter instead of two, but after seeing our ridiculously full and heavy duffle bags, we felt there was no way human could carry both those bags (over 40 lbs) up a mountain, in the high altitude. After a few days on the trek, we came to realize how wrong we were as the Sherpas are incredibly strong people and were carrying loads 3X or 4X that. Oh well, we gave someone else employment for 2 weeks. The night before the trek began, we barely slept more than 3 hours due to our anxiety of the upcoming journey. Not a great way to start out 2 weeks of hiking.

Due to my fear of flying, particularly on an old, Nepali plane into the most dangerous airport in the world, we booked a helicopter into Lukla for just a little bit more money. Turned out to be an amazing ride with the spectacular Himalayan scenery in the backdrop. Seeing the mountains as we flew by, I knew these next two weeks were going to be epic...

Tea break at one of the many gear shops

Stressed about all our stuff

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A Few Days in Dubai

12/28/2014

By Caitlin

It was hard to get a handle on Dubai in 3 days. It's a very traditional, conservative, Muslim place and yet, it's also cosmopolitan, multicultural and thriving on Western-style consumerism. Geographically-speaking, it was hard to get around because of how massive and spread out the city is. We would look on the map and think it feasible to walk somewhere, but it was usually twice as far as expected. Even though we were in a huge city, we felt like characters slogging through a desert searching for an oasis. Part of that slog was the heat, which felt pretty good after a chilly week in Turkey. Despite temps in the 90's, it was Dubai's coolest season.

The deserted, restored traditional Dubai

Walking around Dubai, there were 3 distinct parts that to me represented the past, present and future of the city. Old Dubai felt like many other Arab countries I've traveled to with spice markets and Dhow boats shuttling people across the Dubai Creek. There is one neighborhood of restored Emirati architecture that was beautiful but also eerily deserted. It was like what the UAE area of EPCOT might look like. Outside of this reconstructed area, buildings were either standard cinder block or extremely modern with not a lot in between.

A traditional dhow boat takes people across the water

A mosque in Dubai

The area we stayed in, which is probably representative of most of Dubai, was one of the most diverse places I've ever been. There was every different kind of language and ethnicity present. Most of Dubai's residents are South Asian, Southeast Asian, or from other Arab countries. A very, very small percentage of Dubai is native Emirati. Despite hosting generations of immigrants, the Emratis protect their citizenship very closely making it very hard to become a citizen, even for children born in Dubai. Much of the reason for the diversity has to do with labor needs to build up such an impressive city in such a short time and it cannot go unsaid that Dubai is known to have a terrible human rights and environmental record as a result. To me, this is Dubai's present: A huge international city, with an infamous reputation that doesn't represent the multicultural feel of it at all.

Then there is the "future-looking" Dubai of the Burg Dubai, the tallest building in the world, the numerous man-made islands, the brand new shiny malls and subway system. In one small area of Dubai, called the marina, we were dwarfed by seemingly as many skyscrapers as in all of Chicago. (It even reminded us a bit of Chitown with a canal running through it.) There were still a ton of high rises being built and it was hard to figure out if all the finished ones were even all sold. Then there were the malls. Yes, the crazy ones with a ski slopes, ice skating rinks, roller coasters and aquariums. We visited several and were shocked by how American they felt and by the sheer amount of shopping taking place. Every fast food restaurant ever, even ones you thought closed, still exist in a Dubai mall. Jed was reunited with a fast food that he hadn't had since it closed in Madison 12 years ago. Clearly, the malls are the places to "see and be seen" both to escape the heat and conform to the strict societal rules. As if almost to remind you that you still in Dubai, the malls have strict codes of conduct (see below), lots of locals are in Emirati attire and the Muslim call to prayer is announced over the intercom system. It certainly is about as interesting of an "east" meets "west" as we have encountered on our trip so far.

Rules of the extremely modern, "western" mall

Indoor ski slopes...in the mall

Dubai or Chicago?

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Talking Turkey Part 4/4: Up, Up and Away (Cappadocia)

12/23/2014

By Caitlin

In central Turkey, at least a 10 hour bus ride from anything else in the country is one of the weirdest landscapes you will ever see. It looks like melting frosting and the home of Marvin the Martian at the same time. Even the name, Cappadoccia, evokes mystery and intrigue. More crazy then the landscape itself, is that over the centuries, people carved homes and churches into the soft rock. The miles of jutting rock lent itself to concealing early monasteries of Christians hiding out from persecution. A result of eroded volcanic rock, the valleys and fairy chimneys (as the odd formations are called) often reminded us of mini-Grand Canyons because of the layers of orange and red. If that doesn't grab your interest, consider that the locals call one particular valley, Love Valley, for what will be obvious in the pictures.

One of the biggest reasons Cappadoccia is such a tourist Mecca, however, is because of its famed hot air balloons. Cappadocia is such a well-known hot air balloon location partly because getting high up is a great way to see the unique landscape, but also because the sheer number of balloons in the air at sunrise provides an awe-inspiring spectacle in itself. A bucket list item for me, it was quite the dramatic endeavor, requiring you waking up at 4 am and head out to go to the launch site and wait to find out if the conditions are good enough for a launch. Our first day, they were not, so we had to start the 4 am ritual over again the next day. The hot air balloon was definitely a highlight of our trip. Cappadoccia is unmissable in my book, as it makes Turkey unique. Words don't do it justice and neither do photos but here is our meager attempt (click the photos to get an enlarged gallery)

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Talking Turkey part 3: Turkish Delights

12/16/2014

By Caitlin

One of my favorite parts of traveling in Turkey was the food. More than any country we have been to so far, I never got tired of it and we were there for over two weeks. It is always fresh, mostly healthy, incredibly vegetarian friendly and cheap! There is plenty of variety but we also came back to the same things over and over. Here are a few of our faves:

Kebab: Jed had kebab at least once a day for two weeks. Seriously. That may sound monotonous but when you can get chicken, lamb, or a meat combo and eat it shish style, doner, in a sandwich, as part of a platter, on a stick, etc...there are oh so many combos. It was consistently good all over Turkey. No matter what form.

Pottery Kebab: really nothing like the kebab above. This seemed to be a regional dish of Cappadoccia and on our cold nights there, it was perfect. It's similar to a Moroccan tagine, in that it is cooked in a clay pot. In my case, it was assorted vegetables with a tomato sauce stewed to perfection. When the dish is served, they bring it out sealed and have to crack the pottery open by knocking the side with a knife. It's always fragrant and piping hot.

Pide: much like pizza, it's a thin dough in the shape of a sailboat and topped with cheese and a chosen topping, usually mushroom but whatever you choose (me, spinach or eggplant). Perfect lunch and super cheap.

Fresh Pomegranate Juice: pomegranates were in season and every single store and cart were selling pomegranate juice. It's incredibly tart, like pure cranberry juice, but very refreshing on a warm afternoon or after dinner. Also available, freshly squeezed orange juice, or the best: a mix of the two!

Not a great picture of a breakfast spread, but we realized it was the only picture we had

Breakfast: Breakfast food is my favorite whether it's English, continental, diner, southern or brunch. When I was in India, I was obsessed with Indian breakfast foods, many of which I had never had and were quite different than the normal assortment of curry and tandoori. Similarly, Turkey has a simple, delicious, savory standard breakfast that really exemplifies Turkish food overall. Bonus: breakfast is almost always included in even the most basic establishment or hostel. Basics of a Turkish breakfast include fresh tomato wedges, cucumber slices, assorted fresh cheeses, olives off the tree that taste like the best EVOO, some bread, jam, eggs and yogurt.

In addition to these favorites of ours, Turkey has great pickles, bread, nuts, tea, and of course Turkish Delights. The sticky nougat candy was not my favorite, but I did discover a pastry filled with pistachios and syrup that was a meal. Besides all these, Turkish coffee, always served elegantly in decorated brassware, and sweetened to your choosing, was a perfect afternoon break.

Summary, get yourself to the nearest Turkish food restaurant. For those of you in Chicago, I know there are a few!

Selling some really weird drink on the street with lots of unknown stuff in it. Jed loved it.

We felt bad that no one was buying this kids candy, so Jed bought some. He had two bites, nearly vomited, and threw it away (not within eyesight of the kid)

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Talking Turkey part 2: My Boyfriend was Bathed by a Strange Man

12/10/2014

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I don't think Jed ever thought he would be able to say that another man scrubbed him vigorously and then soaped him in sheets of bubbles, but now he can! This is one of the ultimate cultural experiences while in Turkey: the Turkish Hammam (bath) and I will take the blame.

In the name of cultural discovery, amusement, and relaxation, I convinced Jed we should go to a hammam. Hamam has been around since the Greeks and Romans, however the Turkish bath style is still popular and many of the old baths, set in beautiful buildings, are still in use around Istanbul. Different from the public baths we visited in Budapest, the Istanbul-style hammam involves time in a hot chamber, a scrub, a wash, and a cool down. Many hammams have become more spa-like, offering various deluxe treatments. This was not one of those hammams.

Traditionally the men and women are completely separate in the hammam, however one of the most well known and beautiful hammams in Istanbul is for couples and families. This hammam was the private bath of one of the most well known Ottoman sultans, Suleimanye the Magnificent. It was built around 1560. At the risk of sacrificing some of the integrity of the tradition, we opted for the couples hammam. Surprisingly, we had the place to ourselves.

Arriving at the Suleimanye Hammam, just outside one of the largest and most spectacular mosques in Istanbul, we were greeted warmly and given towels to change into. They also gave me a swimsuit top and shorts. We were instructed to also wear these strange wooden shoes that were really difficult to walk in, especially on the marble floors.

Not Caitlin and me, but use your imagination

We first entered the heating room. The interior felt like a step back in time (it was the private bath of the sultan after all), with a huge marble slab in the middle heated to a very high temp. As with any sauna, it's at first a little difficult to breathe and the slab was almost too hot to sit on. As time passes you get accustomed to the heat and the sweat. Man, did we sweat. Jed swore he had never been that sweaty to in his life. We were the only ones for nearly all of our sweating time.

Stock photo from our Hammam, but gives a good idea of what happened

Eventually, two men entered and brought us to the next stage. We each had our own attendant. Sitting next to a large marble sink, first we we were doused several times with not hot, not cold water then the attendant took each body part in hand, and in a highly rhythmic and ritualized way, scrubbed us with a rough sponge to remove all the dead skin that had also been loosened during the sauna portion. We were each led to a marble table, instructed to lay face down. As we heard the sink filling up with suds, I was nervous. As I was face down I'm not entirely sure how it happened, but soon I was covered head to toe in the thickest blanket of suds possible. (see stock photo)

The descriptions of the massage part I read were described as "perfunctory" so I thought it might be a quick shoulder rub and that's it. Oh, no. Starting with the back, working down to the legs and feet, this was the fastest, deepest of tissues massage I've probably ever had. I don't mind a hard massage but this was fast and furious. Is this how the Sultan's liked it? I have no idea. I would be lying if I said I wasn't in some pain at certain points. As he went for my feet, I immediately tried to look for Jed, who does not like his feet touched in any way. Just as I did I heard his masseuse make a strange sound, something like, "eeeeeeeooooowwweeewww!" Basically he had registered Jeds discomfort. He would make this noise many more times before the end. I was caught between stifling laughter, sympathy for Jed, my own pain like when he twisted my arm round my back to dig into my scapula, and trying to relax and enjoy the experience. I think the whole massage/wash part lasted 15 min but it felt much longer.

Next was the rinse off, one final splash of shockingly cold water and we off to the cooling room. But not before another man dried us off and wrapped us in fresh towels like a baby out of the bath.

At this point, we were glad it was over, a little light headed from the heat of the sauna and dying to discuss it with each other. I was praying that Jed wasn't furious at me for making him go through with it.. The cooling room is another architecturally beautiful room with couches to lounge. We sipped fresh pomegranate juice, a Turkish tradition, as our bodies returned to normal temperature, and I decided I liked the whole experience and would do it again. At least it was a good activity to do before catching an overnight bus to central Turkey. I think I slept pretty well that night.

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Talking Turkey part 1: The Cities

12/2/2014

By Jed

After 3 months in central and eastern Europe, Turkey was going to be a change of pace. So we decided to spend a few weeks exploring this country that is split both culturally and geographically between Europe and Asia. We stayed in six different cities/town during our visit.

Istanbul

Not the capital of Turkey (that's Ankara) but certainly the cultural hub and most well-known city in Turkey. Istanbul was the perfect transition between Europe and Asia as it really is a mix of east and west culture and development (and is literally split between the two continents). It has the western and modern feel to it with its major pedestrian shopping streets lined with chain stores, fancy hotels and numerous bars promoting alcohol. In other respects, it feels very much like a massive, crowded developing nation with muslim and eastern influence. A good example in my mind is the Blue Mosque, a beautiful, large mosque from the 17th century (middle eastern influence) that has a multicolored, dancing fountain in the courtyard in front of it that looks straight out of Vegas (western).

Istanbul is MASSIVE. There are 14 million people in Istanbul (NYC has 8.5 million). A view from above in one of the many rooftop cafes is a must so you can really see how large the city is and how beautiful it is set on the water. The city is packed with mosques, thousands of them. But interestingly, in its modern/secular Turkish way, the city goes on functioning like normal as if nothing is happening during calls to prayer. There are a ton of interesting historical sites in Istanbul, and along with those came some of the longest lines we have seen. To name a few, there is the previously mentioned, there is the Blue Mosque (my favorite), the Hagia Sophia (originally a church from the 6th century, then converted into a mosque, and now a museum), the Basillica Cistern (a massive marble columned underground water storage room from roman times) and the Topkapi Palace (home to Turkey's past Sultans which was equipped with massively decorated rooms, was protected by African eunuch guards and hundreds of concubines serving at the pleasure of the Sultan, i.e. a place straight out of a Game of Thrones plot). You may have recently heard about these sites as the Pope was just visiting them during his trip to Turkey. On the negative side of Istanbul, it did have some of the most homeless mother's with children, beggar kids and stray cats we have seen on our travels so far. It certainly is a big city struggling to keep up with its general economic growth.

Hagia Sofia

Whirling Dervish

In front of Blue Mosque

Basilica Cistern

Topkapi Palace

Blue Mosque

Ephesus

Ephesus is one of the best preserved Roman cities on remaining in the modern worlds. It ranks right up there behind Pompeii and Rome as the best Roman sight I have been to. It was surprising to me to find such an established Roman city in Turkey, but I forgot how far the Roman empire spread (Istanbul was the capital of the eastern part of the late Roman empire, then known as Constantinople). Ephesus take about a day to walk through and you see the remains of old houses, shops and meeting places. The best preserved, and most impressive, sites are the very large amphitheater and the facade of the old library, which are extremely well preserved. While it is definitely a city of ruins today, you still get a feel for how expansive and impressive Roman culture and technology was. It is also said that the virgin Mary actually fled to Ephesus and you can view her old home here.

Pamukkale

Pamukkale is a unique natural phenomenon unlike anywhere I have seen in the world. Water from a number of hot springs flows down the mountains. It is rich in calcium carbonate and is deposited onto the rocks, eventually hardening into travertine. What results are white-coded mountains that look like snow covered glaciers, but are no such thing. Your brain is tricked when you step barefoot onto the white rocks (as required) and it is not freezing cold. There are also little pools filled with the mineral rich white water. You can also swim in one of the hot springs, as people have been doing for thousands of years...the main one used to be the favorite hang out of Cleopatra.

Fethiye and Kas

Fethiye and Kas were the beautiful beach portions of our trip. Fethiye, though beautiful, was a little bit of a cheesy beach town, reminiscent of Panama City or the like. We were randomly there during the Turkish air show though and got to see some cool acrobatics of the Turkish military fighter planes.

Kas was even prettier and reminiscent of some of our favorite places in Croatia. The coastline was spectacular with views of the islands and mountains in the distance. Because of a mutual Facebook friend we were able to hook up with new traveler friends, also traveling for a year! They were dog sitting (for 7 dogs!) at a beautiful house with a large balcony and pool overlooking the ocean. They invited us to stay at the house and we had an amazing time enjoying the view and swapping travel tales. Definitely check out their blog for their great travel stories http://www.detourswelcome.com. Thanks so much Ana and Nic!

Lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the buses in Turkey. The train system in the country sucks, so everyone takes buses to travel, which can sometimes be long journeys of 12+ hours. But the buses are nice....damn nice. I mean, super comfy seats that fully recline, personal on-demand video screens and beverage and food service nice. It was a very pleasant surprise in a country that sometimes still seems like it is quite developing, but definitely not on the transportation front.

Check back soon for a write up of the city in Turkey with the most unique landscape, Cappadocia (plus some posts about Turkish Food and a weird Turkish cultural experience!

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Czech It Out (Prague, Cesky Krumlov and Kutna Hora, Czech Republic)

11/29/2014