Adventures on the Border

Holy smokes! So much has happened since Big Bend it's hard to know where to start (and how to prevent this from turning into ten pages of blahblahblah).

This was our route:

We've been following the southwestern border with Mexico because it's still a bit too cold to venture farther north.

And here are a few highlights from each place we've visited:

Guadalupe Mountains National Park, Texas: Our hiking plans were foiled once by winds gusting to 80 mph. Nearly foiled again by a backcountry fire! We hiked Guadalupe Peak, elevation 8749 feet, the highest point in Texas. Also, I earned my Junior Ranger badge and patch.

Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico: The caves are more vast and more highly decorated (stalagtites, stalagmites, the whole deal) than you could possibly imagine. We walked down the Natural Entrance and around the Big Room. Though there were facilities for throngs of tourists, we had the entire silent, eerie place to ourselves (yay February visit!).

White Sands National Monument, New Mexico: I thought this would be cheesy, but WHOA it's SO cool! It was so much fun to run up and down the dunes, throwing sand and ourselves into the air, enjoying the contrast between the pure white sand and the brilliantly blue sky.

Las Cruces, New Mexico: Shitty weather and a need to talk to someone other than each other led us to another fantastic Couchsurfing host. I helped her made "authentic" Southwestern enchiladas with mole, played with the three dogs, and chatted about outdoor adventures.

Franklin Mountains State Park, Texas: Our Couchsurfing hosts tipped us off to a little crag called Sneed's Cory outside El Paso. Dave got to christen his new rope, and I made my first sport lead outdoors (on Spirit, 5.6).

Gila National Forest, Wilderness, and Cliff Dwellings, New Mexico: A return to pine forests after three weeks in sandy scrub was refreshing... and COLD! Overnight temps fell to 15-25º F. Chuck, our volunteer tour guide, made the Cliff Dwellings mysterious and exciting. We did an overnight trip up the Little Bear Canyon—a narrow, undulating crack—to camp at its junction with the Middle Fork of the Gila River under soaring, red cliffs. I accomplished 32 stream crossings without whining or anxiety to get from camp to the Jordan Hot Springs and back.

Saguaro National Park, Arizona: The saguaro cacti remind me of human-like trees, or tree-like humans, and they are delightful. In our wanderings around the Sonoran desert, we missed a turn and ended up in a dead-end canyon. Dave continued bushwhacking, while I tucked myself into a rock overcrop with my journal and my thoughts.

At the moment I'm in Tucson, a city whose highways and boulevards sprawl in every direction, a city with abundant sunshine and air but no water (like most southwestern cities, I guess). Today is our rest day, which means RESTING, and also straightening up the car, getting an oil change, putting together some food, internet time at the County Library, and catching up with friends and family.

From here, we're thinking of backtracking east a bit to Cochise Stronghold for a day of climbing, then continuing (surprise, surprise!) west to Joshua Tree National Park in California. We will be in Los Angeles by the 13th for Dave to fly to a job on the East Coast.

Those are the updates for now; library is closing so I gotta run!  I'll write again the next time I have internet access!

P.S. My best photos are posted at picasaweb.google.com/nicotedesco. The albums from White Sands and Saguaro are my favorites.

Here, There, Everywhere

So what's new since I've been back?  The past six weeks have been a weird combination of being homeless yet staying in family homes, of staying put and moving around, and of thinking of the future without making any solid plans.

Started off in New York State with Dave's mother (and sister, sister's boyfriend, brother, brother's fiancee, brother's child-to-be, grammy, pitbull/ mushy spaghetti mix, and other assorted characters).

Took a side trip to Ithaca.  Went climbing.  It was exactly as painful as I thought it would be.  Awesome.

On the way back to downstate, we detoured through the Catskills and hiked Hunter Mountain.  Second time in my life that I've felt exposed skin start to freeze.  BRRR!!

Next up:  a week in Florida for Dave's father's wedding.  The primary reason I'm back in the U.S.A.  Somehow I didn't take any pictures all week, but I did read four books.

Back to New York.

Side trip to New Jersey to visit my family.  My cousins are far cooler than I will ever be.

Go south.

On the way, stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to see a few of my high school buddies, in Baltimore, Maryland to see one of Dave's friends, and in Williamsburg, Virginia to see J-T-W (who had joined us in Nepal for trekking).

Temporary final destination:  North Carolina.  My parents moved here while I was abroad.  This was the first time I'd visited their new home.

angie invades my snow cave

summit of hunter mountain

my family & cool cat cousins

davo and jtw, sittin' in a tree...

playing with fire in north carolina

So, what's next???

Well, I can say that there's some big stuff about to go down in the next few days.  At this point, not going to get more specific than that, because (1) my plans have been changing by the day, and (2)...

...I'm trying to decide whether I want to (a) continue writing for the public, or (b) drop off the radar (again) for a little bit.

If anyone is reading this, (I) do you keep a public journal/ blog (and why/why not), and (II) what have been your favorite posts on One Great Dewdrop?

Revenio Melancholy

There's post-partum depression (baby blues), there's seasonal affective disorder (winter blues).  There's even endogenous depression (the no-good-reason blues).

I'd like to coin my own term.  Revenio Melancholy:  homecomer's blues.  Revenio means "return" in Latin, and melancholy...  well, you get it.

Today marks the end of the third week I've been back in the United States.  Unsurprisingly, I've had a rough adjustment to over-sized cars, well-maintained roads, and no health insurance.  But it's more than the superficial differences that have been driving me crazy.

First:  I am totally overwhelmed by STUFF.  I've always been a little squeamish about clutter; I probably had the neatest, most organized room of any kid in Eisenhower Middle School.  (An aside: I just looked up the name of my middle school, because I did not remember it.  Yikes.)  I picked up my clothing and outdoor equipment from storage in Ithaca and brought it to Dave's mother's house.  Six milk-crates, three boxes, one suitcase.  The pile of milk-crates and boxes that fit so neatly into the back of a Toyota Matrix was overwhelming; my little backpack, my turtle shell, held everything I needed for 10.5 months.

Have I mentioned that a Toyota Matrix, a "small car" in the U.S, is actually HUGE?  How can everyone agree that the Matrix is a small car?  Is this what insanity feels like, knowing that you see the truth while others conspire against your viewpoint?

And it's not just my stuff.  This country is just so full of STUFF that it blows my mind.  When I visited Ithaca, I made a pilgrimage to Wegman's, the best grocery store in the Northeast, and I felt my eyes turn into wobbly hypnotized spirals as I stared at rows upon aisles of cans, jars, and boxes.  I can't look at sales circulars without feeling lightheaded.  The only place I've ever gotten the feeling that "shopping" counts as a recreational activity--nay, a national pasttime--is here.

Second:  I miss movement.  Going places.  Or going nowhere, but having the freedom to go wherever I want.  I miss being able to say, "Nope, this place doesn't work for me, I'm moving on."  Or, conversely, "I love this place!  Let's stay here, until we leave!"  Or simply:  "This place was fine, but now I will explore a place I've never seen before, just for the sake of going somewhere new."

I love the feeling of walking in a strange place.  That's my favorite pasttime, whether I'm wandering through a city or a forest or a village.  Just walking.  In my mind's eye, I am looking down at my worn boots, swishing under a long gray skirt.  Over a curb, into a dirt road, crossing a snowy puddle, climbing a dusty hill, tiptoeing through an alley, stomping down a trail, carrying their owner:  and thus go my boots.  Moving.  Sigh.

So.  I'm in one place, surrounded by stuff.  How does it feel?

I'm depressed.  Definitely depressed.  As depression goes, though, it's not too bad.  I feel like I have all of the physical and mental symptoms of depression, without any of the emotional symptoms.  Like I said, not too bad!  This afternoon, I took the Mayo Clinic's depression self-assessment.

The Mayo Clinic asks:
Over the last two weeks, how often have you been bothered by the following problems:

• Little interest or pleasure in doing things:  nearly every day
• Feeling down, depressed, or hopeless:  nearly every day [well, the first two; the second, not at all]
• Trouble falling or staying asleep, or sleeping too much:  nearly every day
• Feeling tired or having little energy:  nearly every day
• Poor appetite or overeating:  nearly every day
• Feeling bad about yourself, or that you are a failure or have let yourself or your family down:  not at all
• Trouble concentrating on things, such as reading the newspaper or watching television:  nearly every day
• Moving or speaking so slowly that other people could have noticed.  Or the opposite--being so fidgety or restless that you have been moving around a lot more than usual:  not at all
• Thoughts that you would be better off dead, or of hurting yourself in some way:  not at all

To sum it up, I'm: enjoying nothing, feeling down, want to sleep all the time, always tired, eating not enough or too much, and having trouble concentrating.  But at least I don't feel hopeless, or feel badly about myself, or want to kill myself, or imitate a sloth!

Revenio Melancholy.  Homecomer's blues.  Alternate definition:  the gradual fading of uncomfortable, painful, boring, disturbing travel memories as the homecomer savors memories of the stunning, hilarious, ecstatic, and inspiring...  and longs for her boots to pound pavement once more.

The Nomad's Resume

Realization:  I'm fully unemployed--completely without action-oriented verbs to go on a resume--for the first time since I was 14.  At that age, I worked at Alstede Farms in Morris County, New Jersey.  Now they're organic and run a CSA.  Funny how things come full circle, eh?

At some point, I heard that "breaks" in the resume are viewed unfavorably by employers.  But!  I would argue that travel, especially extended, non-vacation travel, is a better preparation for life and work than university.  Personally, I gained perspective and context from my travels that I could not have, indeed, did not gain at a university.  Plus, 10.5 months abroad was far less than 10% of the price of my Ivy League degree.  Which I don't plan to use any longer.  But that's another story.

To demonstrate that travelers can learn very real, very useful skills and abilities, I've prepared...

---

The Nomad's Resume

Passport Number:  memorized

Permanent Address:  unavailable

Employment History

• Barber:  Styled men's and women's haircuts with only a Swiss Army knife, hot water, and bravado.
• Language tutor:  Practiced English conversational skills with beginner through intermediate learners via impromptu interactions.  Focused on phoneme pronunciation via a self-developed lesson plan in a monastic setting.
• Driver:  Drove on both the left and right sides of the road (not under the influence of anything).
• Ambassador:  Represented the culture of New York and the United States to individuals who were unfamiliar with Americans who are not in movies or on television.
• Cook:  Prepared snacks and meals with minimal supplies (a carrot, a package of instant noodles, a Swiss Army knife, and 1/2 teaspoon of imagination).
• Accountant:  Managed trip finances and delivered an exceptional experience under budget.
• Nurse:  Treated blisters, toenail afflictions, profuse vomiting, violent diarrhea, and so much more.  Attended Himalayan Rescue Association's altitude sickness seminars; correctly diagnosed AMS in idiot trekkers ascending too fast.
• Guide:  Knows hiking trails from New Zealand to Malaysia to Nepal, proper method adjust a backpack, and correct trek pole technique.

Technical Skills

• Diplomacy:  Can tactfully listen to the entire world complain about Dubya and praise Obama without becoming involved in political discussions.
• Foreign languages:  Familiar with Indonesian, Malaysian, Thai, Cambodian, Nepali, Turkish, and Hebrew.  Speaks Spanish well enough and English fluently.  Proficient in Globeish (simplified international English) and, when all else fails, pantomime.
• Negotiation and bargaining:  Adept at getting as close to the "locals' price" as humanly possible without facial plastic surgery, CIA-operative training, or conversion to Islam.  Remember, if you don't want to kill each other by the end, you left money on the table.
• Mental currency exchange:  Able to convert between multiple currencies on-the-fly while bargaining hard (see above).  
• Kung fu trip planning:  Expedia is for amateurs.  Who else would travel on Azerbaijan Airlines?
• Metric system:  the only non-European, non-scientist, non-graduate student person in the U.S.A. to understand that salt should be purchased in grams, while salty snacks should be purchased in kilos.
• Can sleep anywhere:  I'm sure this is relevant somehow.

Character Skills

• Active listener:  believes that everyone has a story; even if you don't understand their language, you can still drink tea together.
• Immune to culture shock: traditional squat toilets, water buffalo milk, riding on the roof of a bus?  Ok! 
• Master of open-mindedness:  knows the difference between hijab, chador, and burqa, and no longer notices when a woman is wearing one.
• Practices self-restraint:  spent 313 days within 10 meters (see "Metric system" above) of one person and did not murder him in his sleep.
• From planner to do-er:  how many people talk about wanting to "travel more" and to "see the world," and how many actually do it?

References:

Rheden in South Jakarta, Indonesia
Ng at Five Brothers Restaurant, Siem Reap, Cambodia

Uğur in Diyarbakir, Turkey

---

So, uh, anyone wanna give me a job?  (Just kidding!)

One More Time!

Laundry is washed,

gear is sorted,

medicines are purchased,

bus tickets are arranged,

bodies are rested,

camera batters are recharged,
bank accounts are depleted,

boots are re-glued,

families and friends are contacted,

Jay has joined us, and

I'm ready to do it all again!

This time, we're headed to the famous Annapurna Circuit in central-western Nepal.  We are leaving tomorrow morning (10/28) and expect to be back in Kathmandu by mid-November (11/15).

This little Google Map shows our approximate route on the last trek from Jiri to Everest Base Camp/ Kala Patthar back to Lukla.  Not the most accurate, but I think it will give my Mummers a general idea of where I went.  :-)

Until November...  signing off!

View Everest Base Camp Trek in a larger map

Travel & Blog Updates

Blog Updates

Hi folks!  If you've subscribed to this blog via email or RSS, you've probably noticed the flurry of posts today.

A few months ago, I struggled with what to write, how to write, whether I wanted to write at all...  and not just that, but also where to travel, how I wanted to travel, and heck, whether I wanted to be traveling at all!  But lately, things have been groovy.  I've realized that I would like to have a souvenir from this experience.  Since I hate shopping, my best idea is a photo album and a blog to go with it.

Here are a few new posts about old topics:

Paradise!  (Koh Tao, Thailand)
Malaysia?  What's in Malaysia?  (Malaysia, in general)
Bali Highlights  (Bali, Indonesia)

And here are a few new posts about a new topic:

Khmer Kitchen
Finding Mind Happiness in Siem Reap
8 Things I Love About Cambodia

Enjoy!  Or not, that's ok too.  :-)  Over the next few months, I imagine the posts will come on a quasi-regular basis, so I hope not to jam up your inbox/ feedreader again.  Look forward to a Southeast Asia wrap-up post in the next few days.

Also, this is my 100th post on this blog.  Holy guacamole, I talk a lot!

Edited to add:  Wowza, this blog is about to have its 1st birthday!  One year ago, I was setting up One Great Dewdrop.  A few days later, on October 1, 2009, I published the first post.  Time flies.

Travel Updates

Today is our last day in Cambodia.  Tomorrow, we'll spend the day traveling back to Bangkok.  We've got one day in Bangkok to see a few people and to run a few errands.  Then, on September 27th, Davo and I fly to...

NEPAL

 

 photo credit

"I'm looking forward to this" is a gentle understatement.  Pardon me for a moment, while I freak the f*** out.

Southeast Asia was intended as a convenient way to waste some time between the tramping season in New Zealand and the trekking season in Nepal.  If I am so honored as to see Everest with my own eyes, I might need to be carried out of the mountains, because I might go blind immediately.

To add icing to this sweet, sweet cake made of 100% pure awesome, Davo and I might have a few buddies joining us.  J, M, and C:  I'm looking at you.  Get your asses over here.

We'll be in Nepal for about ten weeks, from the last week of September through the first week of December.  From there, we're looking to spend some time in the Middle East.  The current plan is to spend 10-14 days in Turkey (Istanbul, Capadoccia, and somewhere in the southeast toward Iran and Syria (gasp! Axis of EVIL! Don't worry, Pops/ Bernie/ Jill, I will not drag Davo to either of these countries)) and 10-14 days in Israel (visiting Dave's family, Jerusalem, Dead Sea, Massada, and yes, a day trip to Palestine/ Occupied Territories/ whatever you want to call it--anyone have recommendations for a group with whom we could do this?).

The next adventure begins in late December/ early January:  we're coming back to The States (!).  The agenda:

• a wedding (congratulations to Bernie (Dave's father) and Karen!);
• a road trip to North Carolina (hi Mummers!  hi Pops!  hi Sisser!);
• some quality time in Dave's hometown (hi Jill!  hi Grammy!  hi Rachel!  hi Eric!  Whoa, is that Maise?);
• a long weekend in Ithaca (COE staff:  score us free wall pass, pretty please!  Ithaca friends:  where are we drinking/ crashing?!)

After January, am I headed abroad again?  Scheming and dreaming...  you'll just have to stay tuned to find out.  :-)

Clarifying

I got more response from my last post than I expected.  In retrospect, that post is the type of crazy, exploratory, off-the-cuff, stream of consciousness writing that I usually reserve for my personal journal.  If I had realized how many people read One Great Dewdrop, I would have put more effort toward clarity in my writing.

That's what follow-up posts are for.  :-)

Perhaps most importantly, I'm not depressed, nor am I discouraged.  Everything is exactly as it should be.  Which means I'm doing great!

I left the United States with a vague intention to chase the freedom that I felt while I was in Peru, "to have cultural experiences," and "to see the world."  Once I was out in this crazy, contradictory world, I learned that those reasons just aren't enough for me.  I am hoping to have experiences that are more meaningful and purposeful than 1.5 years worth of vacation snapshots.

As a result of our lack of planning and purpose, Dave and I found ourselves in Jakarta without a clue why we were there or what we wanted to experience in Indonesia.  So...  we bought a Lonely Planet guidebook to give us an idea of what was out there and how to access it.  *Gasp!*  We ended up spending most of our time on Java firmly entrenched in the tourist trail:  running from one photo opportunity to the next, visiting sites only because they were there and not because we had any real interest in exploring them, doing too much with not enough depth.  Let me tell you:  for me, this method of travel is misery!

Dave and I discussed points 2 and 3 around the time that I posted my last entry.  We reiterated that we wanted to focus on activities that we were really excited to do and to seek out experiences that we can only have outside the United States.  We reiterated that we are happier when we stay in one place for a while.  We reiterated that we are comfortable with the fact that we're going to "miss" sites and activities.  I don't want to do it all.  I want to do well whatever I do.

And now we have a general idea of where we will be and what we will be doing for the next few months!
...August:  peninsular Malaysia for hiking and trekking in highlands and jungles
...Early September:  southern Thailand for a 10-day meditation retreat and a week rock climbing
...Late September:  Cambodia to exploring Angkor Wat (it's crawling with tourists, but it's on my bucket list!)
...October and November and maybe part of December:  Nepal for more hiking and trekking

Regarding the fate of this blog, yes, most likely I will write again at some point (hey, I'm writing right now!).  Instead of reporting the useless, boring details of my days, I hope I will have something interesting, meaningful, or insightful to say.

In the meantime, I've got pictures to keep you entertained!  You should become a "fan" of my picasaweb site or subscribe to its RSS feed, so you'll know when I add new photographs.  I only post ~20% of the photos I take, but if that's still too many, I've started a "Greatest Hits" album of my favorites.  Here's the RSS feed.

Whoever and wherever you are, may you be well and happy.

Sweating in Singapore

Our flight left Darwin nearly three hours late, so we arrived at Singapore's Changi International Airport long after the trains to the city stopped running. Since the cost of a taxi was about one day's budget for Indonesia, we wisely decided to take advantage of the free wi-fi, air-conditioning, and spotless floors by sleeping in the airport.

zzzzzzzz...

We wanted to chill out in Singapore, so we didn't attempt to arrange a couchsurf host. We walked around Little India the first day and Orchard Street the second day. We skipped the tourist attractions, like Sentosa Island, and I don't feel like I missed out on anything. Otherwise, we slept, caught up on email, tried new foods, and Dave played pick-up ultimate frisbee one evening.

little india streetscape

Impressions of Singapore: it's clean, orderly, logical, hot, well-planned, hot, a melting pot of ethnicities, surprisingly easy for English-speakers, hot, wealthy, and hot. I've read that it has the highest quality of life in Asia, and 11th highest in the world.  Singapore is right at the equator, which means it's 80-90 degrees year 'round. Fortunately, air conditioned spots are easy to find.  Read the Wikipedia article for more basic information about Singapore.

super orderly public transport even tells you how to board and alight from the MRT

My favorite memory of Singapore is the awesome availability of fresh, cold juices and drinks, especially sugar cane juice.

sugar cane juice on the left; glass jelly juice on the right

I also tried mee goreng and laksa. I thought both were typically Singaporean, but I've seen "mie goreng" everywhere in Indonesia, so maybe not. Mee goreng is rice vermicelli noodles in a spicy sauce. Laksa is a spicy soup of noodles, tofu, and rice cake.

laksa:  this is delicious

Photo Journal:

Some recommendations if you plan to visit Singapore:

Ten Backpacking Recommendations for New Zealand

I'm leaving New Zealand in 30 hours after being here 4.5 months.  Here's a collection of recommendations I wish I knew before I arrived.  May this assist you, anonymous fellow traveler!

Buying Boots, Making Decisions

One week ago, right before Dave and I watched a few Good Keen Kiwi Bachelors in an alpaca-herding contest at the agricultural field days, we reaffirmed our decision to stay in New Zealand through the end of the year.  We would work on various organic farms for the winter before returning to Tuateawa for a third program in September.  For a lot of reasons, neither of us was very excited about the plan, but we both felt confident that we could "live with it."

Before we left field days, I decided to buy a pair of good Skellerup steel-toed men's size 6 work boots.  My hiking boots are on their last legs (heh), and stepping in cow pies and dropping hammers on my feet is far more pleasant when I'm not working in sneakers.

There's a proverb that says the best way to make a difficult decision is to flip a coin.  In the second the coin is in the air, you know, in your heart, how you want it to land.

Buying those work boots was like flipping the coin.  As we were driving back to Tuateawa, the van bumping and screeching on the dirt roads snaked around the hillsides, I imagined myself wearing those Skellerup steel-toed men's size 6 work boots for six months.

I whispered to Dave, "It's time to go."

And so, we're going.

...To Auckland on Saturday, July 3...

...To Sydney, Australia on Monday, July 5...

...To Darwin, Australia on Tuesday, July 6...

...To Singapore on Sunday, July 11...

...and to Jakarta, Indonesia on Wednesday, July 14.

It might seem like not enough time in Australia--only a week! it's an entire continent!--but I think of this as less  an exercise in "doing" a place and more an exercise in slow travel.  In other words, we'll be on the move for about 10 days, making our way from New Zealand to Indonesia, where I imagine we'll stay for the duration of our 30-day visa (unless we don't).  Why Indonesia?  Because I know only two people who have been there (one stayed on Java for a month; the other visited when he was 5).  And why not!

This Is How I Earn My Trail Legs

We just finished nine consecutive days on the trail. It would have been ten, had we not combined the last two days of the Kepler Track. I don't have my track register handy, but I think that's about 70-odd miles of trail.

Last night we got takeaway dinner instead of cooking for the second time since we've been on the road. We stayed in a holiday park, complete with showers, laundry facilities, and internet access. I took a shower last night, and I'm going to take another one today before we leave.

 From here, we're heading out to the Milford Sound for a day of relaxation. From there, we'll make our way over to Mt. Cook National Park, then start working our way up the east coast of the South Island. We've been on the road nearly a month, and we'll be back in Tuateawa in two short weeks. Time goes so quickly.

So, yes, we got our multi-day backpacking trips. Two of them, actually, and we did them consecutively. It hurt, it was beautiful, and I'll never forget it. From here, I want to go see some cute, chubby penguins and climb a few more mountains. Don't worry about me, Mummers. That's the update!

Hiking Around Wanaka & Updates

The torrential rains here on the west coast of the South Island have been messing with our hiking plans.  Parts of Fiordland have received a meter of rain in only a few days.  This is one of the rainiest parts of the world, but even a meter of rain has people saying that it's been a wet few weeks.  Many tracks are closed due to infrastructure damage (to bridges, huts, and trails).  The Milford track, which we hope to tramp in the next few weeks, has sections drowned in waist-high flood waters.

We got lucky, with three dry days.  We did a short half-day hike around Diamond Lake to Rocky Peak, and then we did an overnight trip to Fern Burn Hut on the Motatapu Track.  Here are some pictures and comments:



Now, a few updates...

(1) I just posted a bunch of stuff I had written previously, while I was still staying up in the Coromandel.  Posts from here forward will be about the road trip...  so no more auto-posts while I'm away from the internet.  If nothing appears here for a week or two, it doesn't mean I'm dead.  Just means I'm playing outside!

(2)  With any luck at all, we'll take off for a multi-day tramp soon.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the rains stay on the other side of the Southern Alps and the trails dry out.  Until next time...  onward and upwards, and happy trails!

Moving South...

From Taranaki, we headed south to Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand.  I'm not much for big cities, and neither is Dave, so we spent only one day in Wellington.  Most of our time was spent at Te Papa Tongarewa, the National Museum.  It's one of the best museums I've ever visited.  I really enjoyed the exhibits on the geology and natural history of New Zealand.

Here are some pictures from our time in Wellington and Te Papa:



After Wellington, we took the Bluebridge ferry across the Cook Straight.  The voyage was very "meh," but the two ferry companies try to make it sound more exciting than it actually is.  It was pretty expensive to bring the van across, but since it's our transportation and our home, it was worth it.  Here are some pictures from the Cook Straight:

Our Pimped Ride

This week, Dave and I were dog-sitting as we prepared for our six week road trip across the North and South Islands of New Zealand.  The dogs, Evee and Ninya, are New Zealand Huntaways.  They're two of the most awesome dogs I've ever encountered!

"you can't say no to me!"

Starting tomorrow morning, we will be living out of a van, so this week we took a few days to build an awesome platform bed into the back of the vehicle.

Under the bed, there is space for our clothes and personal items; hiking and camping gear; and a nearly-fully outfitted kitchen (cooler, propane range, and pantry box).

All pimped out and ready to ride!  But Evee and Ninya are wondering where we are going, and whether they will come along...

So, until June 1, my updates will be irregular.  I've written a few blog posts that will automatically post themselves over the course of the next few weeks, so I don't feel any obligation to find internet.  Although I will probably pop into a library or internet cafe to check email and post a few pictures a few times, I'm looking forward to an unplugged existence.

Until June...  onwards and upwards!

The Next Chapter

Today the other summer 2010 residents are catching a ferry out of Coromandel to Auckland.

summer 2010 residents at the gate of the valley

from left to right:  laura (nyc), hannah (yorkshire england), dave (upstate ny), nicole (upstate ny), john (georgia), bexie (minnesota via ecuador), daniela (mexico)

Two days before everyone left, we played a silly little series of games.  Two of the very creative residents came up with an obstacle course (incorporating activities we do frequently: hand sawing wood, mulching, eating watermelon, etc.), a scavenger hunt, egg toss, frisbee target shoot, and a blindfolded dizzy walk.  Hilarious and a lot of fun.

I can't believe that I've been in New Zealand for seven weeks--the time has gone by so quickly!  Overall, it's been a positive experience.  I've definitely learned some stuff...  stream of consciousness begins, Nico-style (with bullet points, haha!)...

• kitchen stuff:


• making non-loaf breads by hand (pita bread perfection, tortillas)
• first time making a quiche
• working with beets (they're so great; how did I not know about them?!)
• working with eggplant (likewise!)
• baking and cooking without a recipe (definitely not new) but with a general idea of what I want the end product to be (definitely new!)
• construction:


• design (especially the composting toilet project)
• intermediate carpentry
• first time doing any sort of masonry
• earth/ mud construction (earth oven)
• backpacking:


• new backcountry recipes (i.e. vermicelli with dried tofu, seaweed, shitake, peas, and soup mix)
• very lightweight entertainment (yahtzee and iPod--never used either in the backcountry before!)
• more experience hiking on very unstable scree
• philosophy:


• general thoughts and specific details on how I want to live my life back home in Upstate New York
• remembering why I left in the first place--to find out what's really important--making small steps in that direction
• more observations about people, animals and the earth, and the general nature of things

may all of your storms end with rainbows :-)

Believe it or not, it took me a few weeks to get accustomed to not going to an office every day, not being constantly stressed out, not eating processed foods, not staying up late, not sleeping inside, and all of the other maybe-not-so-positive-but-not-bad-enough-to-kill-you things I used to do to myself.  I don't feel like I was totally awake over the past seven weeks.  Even though I haven't left yet, I'm really eager to come back to Tuateawa to realize my full potential here during June and beyond.

Dave and I are sticking around for another week while the program admin is out of town to watch the dogs. I never used to like dogs, but I really like Evie and Ninya, and I can't wait to play with them all week!

We'll be setting up the van to be our temporary home for the next five weeks.  Who knows where we'll end up during April and May!

NZ 2010: We Love Bureaucracy (Major Update)

Dave has the worst luck with bureaucracy out of everyone I know.  To provide an incredibly condensed summary:  in order to get the visa he wanted, he needed to prove that he is leaving the country.  The visa would be issued according to the date on his onward travel ticket.  (Fortunately for me, I already have both a working holiday visa and a work permit valid until February 2011.)  So, we needed to decide when we would leave New Zealand.

Now, most of the following post is total conjecture that we cooked up just a few days ago, and I expect the plans will change a million times, so I've put in bold the parts that are certain.

Here goes...

...we'll be in New Zealand until December 31, 2010 (!), when we fly to Sydney to watch the New Year's Eve fireworks and stay up all night partying.  We're thinking of immediately hopping on another plane (like, New Year's morning) to go straight to Brisbane to tend to our injured livers and go snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef.  Then probably to Singapore, because it looks like tickets are cheap, and immediately to Bangkok.  Maybe.  Or Manila.  Maybe not.

But yeah, shoot, that's basically a whole year in New Zealand.  Three times longer than I thought I'd stay.  Huh.  That's hilarious!  How did that happen?

What will we do for the rest of the year?


For the months of April and May, Dave and I will drive all over the North and South Islands, living in a van when we're not hiking and camping (Milford Track, here I come!).  In exchange for using a program van, we've committed to coming back to Tuateawa for the month of June to work our asses off planting lots and lots and lots of trees.

For the months of July and August, the New Zealand winter months, we may go back to the South Island to look for work in a ski resort.  Dave is an avid and a strong skier and a novice outdoor educator to boot, and I could easily work in the hospitality industry.  We have the option to come back to Tuateawa for the spring program from September through December, if all goes well in June.  Alternatively, we may WWOOF (willingly work on an organic farm(s)) for our room and board and to gain more experience with organic/ biodynamic food production and/or permaculture.  The goal is to more-or-less break even financially when we leave NZ.

This post has a lot of text, so I'll end with a happy image of Dave and I in the spa bath.  We built this, from the hearth to support the vat as the water heats to the deck around the pool.

Why I Travel

Most Frequent Responses to
"I'm Quitting My Job and Traveling Around the World"
(In Order of Frequency)

1. Wow.
2. That's cool.
3. Where are you going?
4. What are you doing?
5. What do your parents/ family think?
6. Are you going back to your job when you get back?
7. Did you save up a lot?
8. I wish I could this, that, or the other thing.
9. I went to this place when I was this many years old...
   
10. When are you coming home? or How long will you be away?
    

Notably absent from the list?  "Why are you going?"

Rarely am I asked what could possibly possess me to sell all my stuff, quit my job, and leave my loved ones without so much as a forwarding address.  Either people think I'm crazy, in which case no explanation is needed, or they think I'm taking off for a two year vacation, in which case no explanation is needed.

I'm not (that) crazy, and I don't believe in vacations.

The best, and perhaps only, explanation I have is that I'm curious.  And the only way I know to satisfy curiosity is to see, hear, smell, taste, touch, and do.  I am particularly curious about the following topics and hope to explore them during my wanderings.

• Religion & faith:  I will be passing by some of the holiest places of the five major world religions, including my own and Dave's.  I am interested in how religion is expressed in architecture, design, and urban form, and how faith (the personal version of religion) is expressed by individuals.
• The natural environment:  I'm a sucker for trees and flightless birds (squeeee!!!).  I hope to encounter new (to me) species, and, by reading and researching, talking to people, and experiencing it for myself, learn about how those species interact in their ecosystems.  I'm also interested in how humans influence or change the natural environment.
• The secret, and not-so-secret, lives of women:  I can tell you about being a 27-year old woman with 0 children and 1 college degree in New York State in 2009.  Can you tell me about being a 27-year old woman with 2 children and 1 job in Manila in 2009?
  
• Health & folk medicine:  The way my country and my culture thinks about, promotes, and sells "health" is not the only way.  I'm particularly interested in plant-based and/or traditional, "folk" medicine.
• Children & the elderly:  We begin as children, and we end as elderly.  What do the place, role, and value of the young and old say about a culture?
  
• Food & food systems:  Food comes from somewhere.  In New York State, I rarely know from where my food comes.  I'm interested in how the food system works in other places, particularly in urban areas (this is an old academic interest of mine).

Maybe I'll learn about that stuff.  Maybe I won't--maybe I'll learn about other stuff.  That's where the "growth" part happens:  being open to whatever comes my way, even if it's not what I think I want.