Hard on the Heart

"Leave all your love and your longing behind;

You can't carry them with you if you want to survive."

(Florence & the Machine)

When we were traveling around Thailand, we met two German girls who had traveled for two months in India. One remarked that, whileamazing, it was also "hard on the heart." While I'm sure India might be much worse, Cambodia was very hard onmy heart--it is one of the poorest countries in the world.It's also a beautiful country: we spent several days in Siem Reap, while not my favorite city in the world, Angkor Wat was really amazing.

Despite the insane amounts of tourists (Chinese and Korean and Australian and Japanese and...) sunrise at Angkor Wat was a breath taking experience...I felt like Aladdin looking at the Taj Mahal from him humble abode.I also liked a temple called Na Phrom, that had been overtaken by trees. The guidebook said something about this temple showing the "awesome power and fecundity" of the jungle, and it's true. It reminded me how much I love ruins and archaeology: it just boggles my mind how much history is in these stones. I liked just sitting on some of them and soaking it in, imagining the lives that had gone by these very rocks and woods.

The ruins were awesome, the people, not so much. Not just the tourists (although they were difficult, but also amusing: one time a group of young Chinese guys surrounded me, each wanting an individual picture with me. One was particularly scandalized when I was taller than him, and made me stand a few steps down. I felt kind of beautiful, haha); the locals too. Constantly being swindled, begged for money, yelled at, called "hey lady" and seeing the many victims of the still-present landmines was hard. It was even harder to see all of this surrounded by such beauty.

After Angkor Wat and the downright stress of Siem Reap (which for me was made worse by a persistent cough, an unfortunate experience with couch surfing i.e. the floor and a nasty cockroach-ridded bathroom along with a puking roommate, being lectured by little kids on how much money I have, and the constant threat of being ripped off) we set off for a rural province called Ratanakri.

While very impoverished, it was so beautiful--we saw waterfalls, elephants, mountains and crater lakes, all marred by the Red Dust of Ratanakri (which still is present in my pack, somehow) and the little kids with distended stomachs on the side of the roads. Although it was also more exciting by the fact that we got lost while navigating our own little...wait for it...motorcycle! I made Courtney drive; she has experience from her 4-wheelers at home, and I can barely handle my mountain bike so I thought it would be safer.

Travel around Cambodia was always an adventure: one time, my pack got soaked in fish sauce, leaving me with wet spots in the exact place where pit stains would be; my cousin's packed got completely covered in the Red Dust; we were constantly being shuffled from bus to bus; on one bus every time we moved the other passengers (all Cambodians) laughed hysterically and got a huge kick out of watching us eat the weird food they offered; at a bus stop we watched a slave monkey; another bus stop we ate rice out of strange tubes and played with little girls whose teeth had rotted out (my heart still breaks). Don't even get me started on the bathrooms we had to endure.

After some time spent in Kratie, watching the most beautiful sunsets on the Mekong, and another day in Phnom Penh, we sailed down the Mekong towards Vietnam.

Cambodia was the most stressful time of the trip; it was heartbreaking, and I went through a small personal crisis brought on by (my new favorite book) Three Cups of Tea. As an English major, I know the best books will make you laugh, cry, and cause an existential crisis, or at least make you think--and this book sure did. So I think the poverty I saw was even worse in my eyes after that.

Unlike most of the other countries I've visited, I didn't feel much of an emotional wrench when I left Cambodia. The food was okay, the people, while friendly, were still scarred by the recent Khmer Rouge, as was the landscape. Even Angkor Wat was not immune to the Khmer Rouge, and as a result much of it was irreversibly damaged.

Seeing the scars of such a recent war also kind of woke me up, and visiting Vietnam would do the same thing. Living in the Western United States, all of that seems so far away--civil wars, wars fighting for freedom, lost boys...

I know poverty and all that exists in the United States, but it was startling there. People all over the world are still fighting for our freedom while we stress about what college to go to. It's very illuminating, and let's just say I was VERY grateful this Thanksgiving! (Which incidentally took place while we were in Cambodia--and I managed to get both my siblings, both my parents, and our pets on the web cam via skype!)

I sound like I've never travelled before; I'm not even sure Cambodia is the poorest country I've been to. The other countries certainly had their issues; Thailand is still being inunduated by protesters, as was Peru and Ecuador while I was there. And Vietnam, while generally peaceful, is communist, which seems to enhance corruption in the state (you'll read more about that later, aren't you excited?).

Looking back, I was kind of glad to see the end of Cambodia--Vietnam, despite the troubles with our visa (we were only given a two-week visa rather than the standard 30-day; thanks to being too trustworthy and getting ripped off), felt like a fresh start.

Stay tuned for our Vietnamese adventures!

xx

Easter in Quito, a Cloudforest, and Farewell to my brother!

We arrived in Quito early on Easter Sunday, tired and freezing but ready for the day´s festivities! We thankfully had a room booked at a decent hostal, so we hurried there in the cold rain for some rest and a shower!! Our hostal was in the new part of town, which, as usual, was absolutely dead--it´s weird feeling like you´re the only person there in a city full of millions of others.
After breakfast and a nap, we headed out into what seemed like a dead city--we stopped by a church, went to the empty bullring, and ended up at another movie, something about mountains and witches.
We were still in search of a crowd, and ended up in the middle of beautiful, and people-less, Old Town. It was gorgeous, all lit up at night, and we snuck into a beautiful cathedral for the end of a service. At that point, it was pouring rain, so we ran to a little restaurant near another church. We had a delicious dinner, including interesting Colombian booze and goat stew! A much quieter Easter than we had expected--I think we left all the crowds on the coast--but a good one nonetheless.
The next morning we got up very very early to catch a bus to the cloudforest of Mindo. After an argument with the cab driver (apparently the bus station for Mindo had moved in the last year) we hopped on and headed over. It was a thankfully short bus ride, and Mindo was beautiful! We found a great hostal, made completely out of wood, with a pretty view of the river and the surrounding mountains.
After resting, we explored the town a little, found some decent pizza, and went hunting for a butterfly farm. We were unsuccessful, although we did find a pretty pond full of jewel bright hummingbirds.
The next was quite exciting--we went canopying over the jungle and hiking to some sweet little waterfalls. Canopying was amazingly fun, and our guides were quite entertaining. The group we were with, a few British folks, were cool too, although the younger one got a bad injury from the canopyline, due to the fact that he was videotaping as he was going!! It was rather gory, and despite the millions of mosquito bites I recieved, I will never forget the feeling of soaring over the jungle like a bird :)
Afterwards, we hiked a few kilometers to a little lift that took us over a gorgeous canyon, where we walked a bit longer in the humidity--thankfully with little sun, as it was a cloudforest!--to a few waterfalls. It was a long hike back down, as we were both thirsty and starving, but still an unforgettable experience!
The next morning we woke up even earlier, somewhere in the vicinity of 5 a.m., to catch a bus back to Quito, as my dear brother was heading home that night!! We spent that day souvenir shopping (he buys much less than I do!) and doing a few last minute Quito things. It was a bit emotional to say goodbye to him, but at that point, I only had a week left to explore more of Ecuador!!
More on my final week in South America...later :) xxxx

My Brother, Some Monkeys, and Baños!

A lot has happened in the last week!! I guess that´s what it´s like when you´re constantly on the road!!
My brother arrived successfully last Friday night, only about an hour and a half delayed, but unfortunately without luggage, so our plans to head to the jungle the next day were thwarted. It was so good to see him though, and we had a nice day hanging out in Quito. I had my first real meals in awhile, one at a little café called the Magic Bean, and we had some delicious seafood at a tiny, grungy hole-in-the-wall.
Quito was a much cleaner city than both of us were expecting--an interesting introduction to South America for my bro!! We wandered from New City to Old City to check out the old colonial architecture and the Basilica. It´s a gorgeous cathedral with stained glass just as lovely as stuff I´ve seen in Europe! We also found a few insanely clean parks and markets--Quito must be a rather rich city!! Even the restrooms in the park were nice, with toilet paper--practically unheard of down here!
We were given the run-around for Adam´s luggage, we called several times and were given several different instructions. Finally, we decided to go to the airports ourselves on Saturday, and after fighting a bit with the people there, we finally got his backpack!!
We checked out of our (slightly fancy) hostal quickly and headed to the near-Oriente jungle, Mishuallí via Tena. It was a gorgeous bus ride on typically crazy mountain roads, except these mountains were jungly!
The closer we got to Mishuallí, the hotter it got, and we were rewarded with about a million percent humidity when we finally arrived. It was a tiny, quiet town right on two rivers, surrounded by jungle, and filled with monkeys! The monkeys in the town are a descendant of a local tame monkey, but they of course multiplied to a bunch! They were really entertaining--I actually broke my camera because I took so many pictures of them! Still broken...stay tuned on that front.
Although we wandered and got a taste of the jungle, Mishaullí was mainly scavenging food (we´re travelling during the down season, and very few restuarants were open due to lack of business) escaping the heat, reading in the heat, and watching the monkeys! Our hostal was nice, with a balcony and a weak fan, so we spent many an hour overlooking the square and drinking the local beer, Pilsener (not nearly as good as Cusqueña I´m afraid!!).
From Mishuallí, we took a long, but pretty, bus ride to Baños, a popular visiting places for gringos and Ecuadorians alike. It was a really nice town, pretty touristy, but our hostal was great! Plantas y Blancos, it was called, with a delicious restuarant, free internet, and plants everywhere. We also had some great food in Baños--I´m really enjoying eating out!!--such as pizza, Mexican, local dishes (mostly chicken) and ice cream, of course. Adam doesn´t have much of a sweet tooth, but even he enjoyed the ice cream we tried.
The first day we were in Baños it was freezing, so we mostly wandered around the square. The next day dawned gorgeous, so we set out to find a few local waterfalls. We found an ancient bridge and some rundown trails, caught a glimpse of one waterfall, and managed to find another gigantic one along the way. It was fun wandering around the gorge and watching the river. We stumbled upon our zoo on the way back, and stopped in. It was not nearly as depressing as the zoo in Cusco, although it was no San Diego Zoo for sure!!
We saw tons of local, bright birds, turtles, local cats, and lots of monkeys. We saw capybaras, my brother´s favorite, and we even happened to come across a couple of tapirs, sleeping in a random field...no fence or anything! Those things were not tiny...it was a freaky moment turning around and seeing a giant pig/anteater thing sleeping a few feet away!! They also let the monkeys run loose a bit at feeding time--weird.
Our last day in Baños we hiked up to a statue of the Virgin Mary--preceded by the same number of steps Christ took with the cross. It was a tough, hot hike--I thought the stairs would never end!--but the views of the town and valley, as well as the local volcano, were worth it. The volcano is active, which was a first sight for both of us, and it basically looked like a mountain shooting steam! Cool sight.
Baños weirdly gets cool in the evenings, so after running a few errands (including sending a million more postcards, although they never actually seem to go anywhere--maybe Ecuador will be more reliable--) and eating yet another delicious dinner, we headed to one of the many hot springs, from which Baños gets its name! They were definitely hot--but so amazing!! Heaven to a bath-addict like me who has been deprived of said joy for the last few months. Although at least I usually have a hot shower on the road...
We left Baños this morning, and actually had to wait in the bus station for a change. We´ve been really lucky since Adam got here--we haven´t waited more than five minutes in a station! We enter, tell someone our destination, and get thrown on a bus. Adam had to stand for a bit once, and he weirdly seems to attract schoolkids on many of the buses, but otherwise, they´ve been pretty smooth.
Today we waited twenty minutes--still pretty nice--and hopped on for a two hour trip to our current town, Riobamba! Riobamba is a bit of a shock after freakishly clean Quito and cute little Baños--it´s much more like the South America I´m acquainted with. Still nice! Currently pouring rain, but we visited a few churches and parks before the torrents hit. I´m still missing my camera, but my disposable will do for now--I even made a friend in one of the cathedrals, a little old nun praying, who invited me to take a picture of her! Odd.
Well, enough random stories for now! After Riobamba, we hit Guayaquil and the coast, I can´t wait!! We leave tomorrow after seeing the famous markets...and I will keep you all posted! I can´t believe I will be back in the states in about three weeks--it´s been a long, crazy, yet quick trip! And my adventure is not over yet :) MISS and LOVE!! xxx