August 26-27, 2009 – Day 244-245 – Beijing, China

A work day and a sick day, respectively. Lin has contracted what Dr. Saben believes is the dreaded yak flu (oh my!) and has remained unconscious for nearly 24 hours. Meanwhile Saben, shedding his doctoral duties, spent the same 24 hours deliriously wandering the streets of Beijing in search of a Bank of China into which he intended to deposit the funds for our upcoming Tibet tour. After nearly 4 hours, he returned to the hostel, psychologically tattered and suffering a mild case of PTSD as a result. For a light dinner to soothe the pain, he enjoyed a large piece of cow and a cold beer.

The cow (or part of it, which part? I'm not quite sure)

Day 109: Arequipa, Peru

Since Lin is feeling well enough to travel today we planned to hop on a night bus to Cusco tonight. Unfortunately, all bus travel in and out of Cusco has been suspended for 2 days due to large scale protests there. No one knows when buses will be allowed in because that depends on the protesters and whether things turn violent.

Mountains from on top of our hostel

Anyway, we are stuck in Arequipa yet another night. In order to deal with such a terrible position, the only way we could possibly cope was, of course, to go to the movies! ”Slumdog Millionaire” is one of the greatest movies of all time. Honest, sad, and funny, reflecting all too real conditions and trials for the people of India, it was heart rending and reminded us of all the things we normally take for granted.

Day 108: Arequipa, Peru

Lin woke up sweating, feeling like there was an angry house cat clawing it`s way out of her stomach. Ugh…Now she was struggling to stay warm. Could it have been the food from last night? Or was it the water in a grungy looking white bucket we saw being carried into the restaurant in Copacabana from whence her hot chocolate had sprung? Maybe it was just the reputedly horrid water in Peru. The flu even? Whatever it was, Lin was absolutely sure she was dying and couldn`t have welcomed it more. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 107: Arequipa, Peru

She had just finished a tiny plate of salad, had only been in the restaurant for ten minutes, tops. All of a sudden she snatches her jacket and purses and dramatically flounces up to the counter in a blur of varied shades of purple (you know, one of those people who likes to wear one color at a time so everything matches, even eyeshadow?). The poor waiter could do nothing against the unwarranted, spitting anger of this monochromatic woman. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 71: Paraty, Brazil

A rainy day with a twisted ACL can only mean one thing: stay indoors and do nothing. Read the rest of this entry »

Day 70: Trinidade, Brazil

It all started with a sweet lonely puppy.  She was clearly bored and her owner nowhere in sight when she spotted us walking down the beach. Like her, we were strays today too.  Her sweet eyes kept glancing at us, hoping we would see her and acknowledge that she was there too. And with such sweet brown eyes, how could we not? Read the rest of this entry »

We got up really early to go down to our new favorite bakery/restaurant to pick up breakfast for our wonderful hosts Bernardo and Marilia for hosting us an extra 2 days. Everything would´ve been fine, except we had forgotten to take our anti-malarials the night before (too much Carnival fun!) and had to take them this morning asap. Taking them on empty stomachs is a really bad idea, as we discovered! Read the rest of this entry »

Day 28: Ometepe, Nicaragua

Bad day…Lin scratched her eyeball while taking out her contacts last night and is out of commission today to try and heal as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, Saben went out and about to entertain himself and even got a haircut with no espanol! Read the rest of this entry »