The search for uncrowded waves

Hello,

I find myself writing this on the eve of yet another adventure. Tomorrow at 7 AM we will go to the next island over, Lombok, and we will hopefully find the promised land; perfect peeling waves with only a few hardy souls riding them. From the beginning:

Arriving in Bali was quite the adventure, 3 planes, 4 nights (one in LA (thanks Max), one in airplane (not sure where Saturday went as I never actually experienced it, and one in Tokyo (again thanks Max (Preston!). So when I arrived with 600,000 rupiahs in my pocket you can be sure I was not quite right when I guy selling me my tourist visa tried to steal 50,000 of the little buggers from me. I guess its only 5 dollars but still, that will buy 5 plates of Nasi Goreng, (the standard fried rice here) a real Reef or O'Neil shirt (undoubtedly made here in some sweatshop) or a ride on the back of one of the ubiquitous scooters to just about anywhere in Southern Bali. To say this place is cheap is an understatement, many ppl have remarked that this is hands down the cheapest country in the world, and that it also has coral reefs that have perfect swells breaking over them is just a huge bonus.

So the surf. So far it has been difficult to find the perfect wave, although today we came close today. (I say we as in the 4 Germans who are "studying" here, and Johhny my Argintinean friend who I will be traveling with) In the last week we have surfed Kuta beach (6-9 foot with strong offshore winds and plenty of barrels to be had) and Canngo (6-7 sideshore wind, but we were the only ppl out) on Bali, and two coral breaks on the closest island Nusa Lembongan known as Lacerations, (apparently very aptly named according to Johhny and quite dangerous when there are 50 australians in the water and 8 foot waves breaking over three feet of water). Its been very fun to say the least. The best day for me was today surfing Canngo with one german guy (my germans were lured to the next peak by 4 hot Australian girls) and riding it over a deep shelf for about 200 feet. SO sick.
Bali is amazing in other respects as well. For example, to pamper myself before setting out to Lombok I treated myself to an hour long Massage (50,000 rupiahs) a seafood basket including a whole red snapper, clams, crab and calamari (also 50,000) and a new reef shirt, you guessed it 50,000 rupiahs. SO for 15 bucks we were stuffed and relaxed beyond belief, we literally had to sit in the street for a few minutes before going home, and even then if you saw us you would think we were drunk based on the slow shuffle and swaying from side to side. We are currently staying at a place with a gorgeous garned for 80,000/night, and im paying 15 cents/ minute to use internet. I love this place.

And the nghtlife is incredible, we went to a 4 story bar/club/disco and drank 1,000 rupiah beers(about 10 cents) and 10,000 drinks till 12 and then danced upstairs to the same 12 songs on repeat (or so it felt, i mean why bother to have a DJ if you just play the same songs) or so until about 4 in the morning, headed to the other club till 6 and then stumbled home to wake up to perfect surf all of today, albeit with slightly less ability than other days. All in all an amazing place, and if there only werent so many ppl it would be perfect.

That leads me to my final point, Lombok is the next island over (of which there are between 12-17,000 in Indonesia) but is a completely different Island. Most ppl never go there, the surf is as good (at least in some places) and there is this 10,000 foot volcano I want to climb and then go to hot springs in the crater. I wont have internet, or may not, we will see. But I will have a cell phone, in an emergency call 08983147319, placing the country code for Indo in front (god only knows what that is)

Ok time for one last beer with the Germans, and then sleep. Hope the new week goes great for everyone!

Japan, land of stangeness

Hello all,

I just got back from the beach in Bali, overhead perfection with off-shore wind, so nice! Spent most of the day buying a surfboard with my new buddy Johhny from Argentina. We are long lost brothers and I will be traveling with him all over. This place is amazing, the smallest streets crowded with an amazing assortment of small cars and a deluge of little scooters trying to run you over, all with surfboards hanging off the sides. More from Bali later, first Japan...

Ok so Japan is very different from the United States, or any other country I have ever been in. People are polite, nonviolent, clean (the homeless carboard boxes had small windows cut in them with pieces of plastic covering them), the opposite of pretty much any country in South or North America. All the trains run on time to perfect stations that are not the resting places of vagrants or muggers , but rather places to meet up and catch up with friends. The "red" zone is clean orderly and the only distractions are these Japanese men who invite girls to bars and the girls pay to be complemented. I guess there were some strip clubs, but they were so far from the perception as to almost not be (we didnt go in one though)

This was just one night there, the next morning was eye opening, I have never seen so many ppl packed into the subway at 8 AM, with not a single sound. And then the stations, I went through one of the busiest in Tokyo, and there must have been 1,000 ppl walking on distinct paths, but all you hear is shoes. Granted I dont take the subway much, but usually it is not that quiet. I then walked throughout downtown tokyo. Past the imperial garden (they wouldnt let me in, weird) through the Ginza district home to upscale shopping, and then to the jewel, the fish market. That was not so quiet.

I walked for literally two hours past giant tunas being carved and readied for sale. Bought a plate of fresh Sashini fr 5 bucks (incredible) and then got lost in the rows upon rows of everything that could possibly live in the sea. (sea urchins, clams, red snapper, cod, Eels, crabs, octupus, snakes, shrimp, tuna, mackeral, flounders, other crazyness that I dont have a name for, and everything in between. Lets just say came out on the complete other side, and didnt get run over by thse awesome little scooters with three wheels that were buzzing around everywhere.

Next I walked back through the center, only taking side streets, and only one block from the market there were these little residential streets with gardens and old japanese women watering them. Through to the electronic district, so cool, you could buy anything electronic there, met some christian missionaries trying to spread the gospel. (I told them surfing was my gospel, and they left me alone) Then I had lunch at the coolest "Maid" bar, where all the girls are dressed as maids and hit on you as you eat. My maid was this brazillian girl who spoke spanish (it was nice to converse in a language I had the slightest idea of after lots of gesticulating and broken english from everybody else). She was very nice and told me about moving to Japan and learning japanese and how she loved it, and so did her kid and husband. It was just a nice part of japanese culture, so I rushed out when I realized I had a train to catch, was forced off at some pt, didnt have enough money, but then made a mad dash through an awesome garden shrine, made it to the airport and here I am.

So. Japan conclusions: I think the fact that everybody works for these huge corporations, the only ambition being to move up in these corporations, keeps them level headed. I mean, 150,000 new companies are started every MONTH in America, which also turns over 15% of jobs every year, and we are all insane. That could explain the calmness and sort of happiness with the status quo that keeps ppl from doing crazy things. However the evidence of homeless ppl, and the fact that they have been losing jobs there could mean some big changes are coming up. All in all, an amazingly different place, so competely unlike anywhere I have been; I want to go back!

Indonesia!

Hello Friends and Family I will be heading to Bali, Indonesia this Saturday for three weeks and thought it might be kinda fun to start up my blog again.

I will have (hopefully) passed my Qualifying exam, on my way to candidacy for a Ph.D! I will be in Bali from the 15th of June to the 3rd of July, surfing, partying, exploring... you know.

Panama and the beginning of the end!

Well, I dont know exactly where I left off as I am a few glasses of wine deep after my cousins birthday party here in Guatemala city, but Ill start in Panama city. After arriving in the city I was picked up by the hostel, thinking it was a nice gratis ride from the airport. The guy picked me up, made me wait while he got a half a chicken, then ate it, and then began to drive like a bat out of hell, while telling me he "knew" all the cops and they wouldn't arrest him. He then explained that the real hostel was full, but I could stay in the old space, which apparently they had almost completely moved out of, and then told me to pay him 17 dollars! I thought I was getting robbed, but the city turned out to be just very expensive.

My goals for the city were threefold; see the canal, buy a surfboard, and see the Casco Viejo. I accomplished on other goal, which was going out for a night on the town, with a very nice young lad named Jack. He had been working for the English consul in Costa Rica and was on his way to Colombia, and decided to join me (or did I join him) to some club in la Ciudad. The next day, right at the crack of 12 we walked the Casco Viejo, avoiding ladrones left and right. It really was an amazing part of town. We were able to see Noriegas old bombed out palace, along with all the embassies and a great view of the whole city. After a large plate of lentils I fell asleep with visions of the great canal in my head.

The next day slightly earlier I made my way to the canal, the Miraflores locks to be exact. It was rather incredible to see this huge ship with 5000 containers on it navigating this canal with around 6 inches to spare on either side. Apparently it costs 267,000 dollars to pass the canal, and it is the only time when the captain of a ship has to give up control of his ship. I watched a few ships pass, hiked around a botanical gardens and made my way (via chicken bus) to the city. The only goal left was to find a surfboard and then the beach. I went to a surf shop, and after realizing that all the boards would break the bank, met two Panamanians who were going to the same beach as me, Playa Venao (or Vanado depending on who you were). We then picked up my bags, some "other" things which they insisted upon, and an old board I had seen the day before for 160 bucks. The only thing left was the girlfriend of Yungfa (the driver who happened to be Chinese). I really didnt know what to expect, but all of the sudden we were in America. I mean we drove into the old Canal Zone where all the military personnel lived. It was really incredible, every street had a large sidewalk and tract homes which all looked so similar to the houses in some neighborhoods in Los Angeles, and out walked Jenny, the girlfriend. Somehow I knew she was trouble.

Finally beginning our 6 hour drive at 11 at night, we arrived in Aguadulce at around 3 in the morning, to stay in Chuch's relatives house. While hanging out and talking in Spanish on the back patio, far from Yungfa, Jenny all of the sudden leans over and whispers "your so hot" to me, as I struggle to understand what I just heard. I knew she was trouble. The next day on the way to the beach my bank account was again called on to purchase supplies for our trip. Apparently because Im an American I owe everybody something, and had to bankroll the whole trip, I didnt mind bc I was getting a ride to the beach, but I spent about 8 times what the bus would have taken and ended up arriving at the same time as I would've anyway.

We immediately surfed the nonexistent swell and then got a small cabana on the beach where I was to spend the next three weeks. After a dinner in which I began a long string of fried fish meals it was off to bed, as there was really no more light. Thats apparently when the sand flies as well as Jenny began their attack. I put repellent on for the sand flies and had to just avoid being anywhere near Jenny to fend the two off. I finally made it to sleep only to awake to screams and the smell of burning. Struggling out of my sleeping sack, I looked over to see Yungfa and Jenny's mattress on fire while Jenny bravely tried to put it out. I helped, but in the end the fire started by the mosquito coils they had dangling dangerously over their bed had made a rather large mark, on my psyche and the bed; I had to escape from these dangerous lunatics. The next morning things were made easier by the fact that Jenny got in a fight with the restaurant owners and had to leave anyway.

After surfing I sadly reported that I would no longer be joining them on their trip, and instead would head to the Eco Venao, a reforestation project/ hostel above the beach. After arriving I met Charlie and Daniel, an American and Italian whom I proceeded to search waves out with, and basically have a good time. We mostly surfed in the mornings and at night, and in between I read and slept in Hammocks. As it was the rainy season, it managed to rain most days, but the surfing was really quite fun, and we managed to make lots of friends in the little town named Pedasi to surf with.

In the end I had a great time, made lots of new friends, surfed a bunch, and basically prepared myself for grad school at UCSF, kind of.

Cartagena, returning to the ocean and the good life

Well hello. I guess its been a while since Ive written. I guess its a lot harder when you are on beaches and in the jungle to find Internet access. I have been enjoying myself immensely, the weather is a heck of a lot better in this part of the world. After arriving in Cartagena with my dad, we spent a few days just exploring the old city and basically I just tried to acustubrarme with the really hot weather. We headed to a great beach, of which there is a picture, and slept in some of the more rustic beds that my day and I have ever slept in. But the beach was great, and it was really nice to see my dad. We then headed up ther coast to see Santa Marta, a town where while we were there beer reigned supreme. I mean me were just in the streets drinkin ALL the time, later we learned it was the middle of vacation, and Columbian independence day. I just liked eating good food and paying more than 3 dollars for a place to sleep in, one that didnt involve bedbugs and other friends.

My dad left after only a week, and I went to the Ciudad Perdida (literally lost city). It was an incredible 3 day hike in through jungle and crossing multiple rivers. I hiked mainly with an English chap named Rupert. Every day we would get to cool off after hiking in these pristine river pools which really increased the enjoyment of the trip. My bag on the other hand has not smelled the same since, and actually need to be cleaned quite desperately. The ciudad perdida was the capital of the Tayrona Indians who lived in the Sierra Nevada. This mountain range just rises from the coast of Columbia, and in where the legend of El Dorado was started, as early Spanish settlers had easy access to it, and the Indians had an incredible amount of gold. The trail used to be impassible, but is now quite safe due to the militares who kicked the guerrillas out of the mountains, and now keep about 50 men at the city at all times, armed with the latest weaponry (see photo). Everything about the hike was just amazing, and on returning I stayed with Rupert in Tagunga for the final days of the festival. We then went to the national parque Tayrona, which is just a beach with a few hammocks on it. We slept on the beach, in the hammocks, and basically enjoyed ourselves thoroughly for a few nights.

I then left Rupert, along with a nice Swissso on the beach and continued back to Cartagena to catch a flight to Panama, land of surf and fun. I had booked everything, including a private bus back to Cartagena, thinking it would be safer, well I was wrong. The bus arrived on time, and we left Santa Marta at 3:30 as advertised, but when we arrived in Barranquilla we met lots of traffic. Apparently the president was there, and as is customary with presidents they cause lots of problems in the city they are visiting (thanks Bush for making my 20 minute commute 2 hours in LA). So we left the city late, and it was getting dark. Now I know what you´re thinking, ¨¨the guerillas come at night¨. You would be right, but the President Uribe has really taken control of the security situation there, and I therefore did not expect any problems. Yet, when we were aburptly stopped by a burning tire thrown into the middle of the road I knew I was done for. I was going to be kidnapped and that was it. I was the only gringo within 150 km and the guerillas had stopped traffic in a small carribean town on the coast of Columbia. Incidentally, the door of the van had broken earlier on this epic trip, so my only defense was the Patagonia windbreaker which Martha, Max´s mom had supplied before the trip. After throwing the hood over my head, we waited. However, the more time that passed the more it looked like it was going to be alright. Apparently the locals had become fed up with their lack of elctricity and decided to do something about it, and that something was a roadblock. We made one manuever so that we werent the first car, and as I sweated my head off in the jacket our driver tried to figure a way out, as we were only 25 km from Cartagena. The whole time I just thought that if anyone knew there was a gringo, I was done for: everyone in the car agreed it would be better if they didnt find out. So when we walked over the roadblock to a waiting van I kept a low profile. Entonces, everything turned out alright, except for the next day when the hotel I was staying in was hit by lighting, and then I left the country.

I arrived in Panama, bought a surfboard: A 6 foot six shortboard, some wax and sunscreen, and have been on the playa Venao staying at an eco lodge for backpackers and other very interesting characters for a week now. I have really valued this time to just relax, and as there is a 7 foot swell set to arrive wednesday, it looks like Ill be here a while

I need to relate the charaters I met on the way here, maybe tomorrow...I need to sleep to surf!

Lima, Ica and desert oases

Continuing in Lima...

After going out we were all feeling a little sick, especially Stephan who threw up a few times. That didnt stop us though, and we went to the centro Historical de Lima to look a cathedrals and the museum of the Inquisition. Soon after arriving frenchie (one of the girls) was hungry so we stopped and got some civiche. What a bad restuarant. First we ordered, I got some drink called chicha along with Stephan, and she got some civiche. It took only moments for us to get our chicha, me to drink it, and then realize that this was the drink made from purple corn which began the drink making process with indians chewing the corn, and then spitting it into the drink. I didnt feel so well. After 30 minutes the civiche arrived. It was tough, fishy, and didnt really look that good, but we all ate it and by the end all were about to throw up.

The girls then went home while stephan and I went to the catacombs. The catacombs were interesting as there were more than 70,000 peoples skeletons there. Apparently everybody in early Lima wanted to be buried there, and would only be buried somewhere else after they exhumed the body of some priest and put it in the alternate cemetary. Anyway, I gues the crypt was closed for some years then opened in 1937 when some anthropologists decided to take all the bones out and cont them, also ordering them by bone type, and making interesting designs. It was a little creepy to see all these femurs of long dead Limenos arranged in concentric circles around rows of skulls. This one stupid american (we mistakenly went on the english tour) asked over and over why they had taken the bones out and arranged them, while the tour guide dutifully answered the each time.

That night we took it easy, and the next day went on a nice tour of Miraflores which included the beach and the rest of the town. The next day Stephan left, we made dinner, a chicken salad made with a 3 dollar whole rotisserie chicken (the cheapest Ive seen) and a bunch of Pisco sours (made with lime juice, sugar, Pisco, and egg whites). After that I had had enough of Lima, I headed to Ica, a small town to the south. I got there on Friday, always the most traffic and craziness in South America, and had some Chifa (chinese food) which made me feel terrible (the first time Ive gotten sick). The bed was the worst I think I have ever slept on, it was pretty funny bc it once was a normal mattress but at this point it is just a top and bottom of a mattress and no springs in between so you end up sleeping on a board. I then went to the, Poor mans Galapagos, a short boat tour which takes you to these islands that have a lot of birds, and bird guano, on them. Apparently these islands are so endowed with the good white stuff that a war precipitated over them in the 1800s over their large nitrogen based crop of crap.

After puking off the boat, (never eating chinese food again) I went to a small oases town of Huachina. The hostal was really cool as it included a pool and lots of fun folk to hang out with. I spent the day working on my tan, (my first day swimming except for hot springs on my whole trip) and took a dune buggy ride where we got to go Sandboarding. Sort of like snowboarding but on steep ass dunes. That night while everyone else went to Ica to party I went to another hostal that was even more laid back than mine. As soon as I walked in the bartender offered me a joint and explained that I could light up at the bar no problem. I wont say anything self incriminating so lets just say I had a fun night which included running up the dunes and getting sand into every (I mean every) orifice on my body.

The next day was spent around the pool, and then I made it back to Lima for my flight to Cartagena the next day, where the tropical phase of my journey has commenced.

The Jungle, Machu Picchu and more peruvian lies

Hello from Peru. I am currently in Lima on my way to Cartagena, Columbia where I am meeting with my dad, I am so excited! Finally a bed with springs, or at least no bedbugs, hot showers, and decent food (I finally got sick).

After Grock arrived, (Mr. Andrew Grock the first to all those who dont know), we had a coca leaf mate and went walking. Despite the fact that Andy had spent the night on an airplane and in an airport, that tea kick-started his system and boy did we walk. We walked to three separate ruins outside of Cuzco, about 15 kilometers in total, mostly uphill. Amazingly enough Grock had no problems with the altitude, and was in good enough humor to meet some cute girls along the way. It felt a little weird for me to be talking all the time, as most of my trip I guess I hadnt been, but it was great fun. The name of the first ruins sound like sexywoman, but look like piles of rocks, how dissapointing. They also happened to be the site of the Inti Raymi the day before, but looked a great deal different from closer up. The next site we had to walk pretty far to get to, but by the time we did we had picked up two new girls to hang out with and basically annoy. I believe I managed to pull my shoe off at one point to smell my sock (it really stank) as one of the girls was reading about ancient Inka history, Grock laughed. Finally we made it to the best ruins I saw in Peru, Pisaq. They are on a hillside which is pretty much impregnable, or at least appears to be. The ruins consist of many terraced hillsides and some cool ruins with sundials and a small spring. I say they were the best ruins bc their dramatic location rivals Machu Picchu however there were no tourists so we had it to ourselves.

After the ruins we returned to reality in Cuzco and began planning our next few days. We decided to take an alternate 4 day journey to reach Machu Picchu which ran through the Jungle. The first day we were suppposed to bike ride from 4,500 meters (14,850 feet) to 1,100 meters (3,630 feet). The distance that we descended alone was higher than I have ever been in my life. The tour group, which by the way had alredy lied/overcharged me numerous times proceeded to lie to me again. They told us that there was a small landslide and that we may have to get off of our bikes and walk them over it. We initially agreed, but when the horribly cheap owner refused to lower his price we set out looking for alternatives. We discovered that another agency was taking a 10 hour busride to get around the slide, but as they were more expensive and were not going to bike we went back. The agency promised us repeatedly that there was no chance of us ending up on a 10 hour busride, I guess they werent lieing bc it turned out to be 12 hours! The next day we got up to the top of the mountain, and proceeded to bike down. About 1 hour in a police vehicle comes from behind us and stops us saying it is impossible to pass, at which point this horrible lady who came from one agency tries to intervene. The police then show us photos of the slide. It apparently was a slide below the road, and even if it hadnt slid more it looked like about 2000 foot vertical fall and really no way to get past it, especially with bikes. We were all very upset, and at one point all wanted our money back. The lady who came (I dont think she always comes, only when they anticipate trouble) then asked for receipts, and then ripped the name off of one receipt! We were all really pissed, but the group seemed good, and it didnt seem worth the trouble to lose a day in Cuzco so we all agreed to take the bus.

Seeing as this was Andys first overnight bus we proceeded to get good and drunk. After a few bottles of rum our guides were probably the drunkest and boarding the bus was an adventure, especially when one of the girls in our group had her wallet stolen! I ended up sleeping ok, as Im used to the torture of night bus rides, however Andy had the worst seat in the bus and ended up sleeping next to dried hamster piss on the floor.

When we finally arrived in the jungle we had breakfast and proceeded hiking. This turned out to be amazing as we passes coca leaf, avocado, and coffee bean plantations all on the terracced hillsides. After 6 hours of fast hiking we arrived at some delicious outdoor hot-springs and relaxed the trip away. We then had a few after dinner games of Asshole of which I won the majority, but lost the last one of the day which forced me to carry the pack of one beautiful Irish girl named Fiona for one hour the next day. The next hike was relatively easy and we arrived in aguas callientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. Instead of relaxing, we all decided to climb a hill which overlooked Machu Picchu. We were suppossed to begin climbing it at 3 because it takes a while to ascend (1.5 hours) and when it gets dark the ladders are extremely dangerous. We didnt start untill 4:30 and were forced to climb it as fast as possible (30 mins) after which I could ring the sweat out of my shirt. We then took the first of our ¨naked in Peru¨ pics which had Machu Picchu as a monument framed by our butts.

The next day we got to MP for sunrise, however there was no sun to speak of. We climbed the Wayna Picchu and took another naked in Peru shot, then went down the long way which pretty much ate up our time there in MP. By this time we were all pretty tight in our group and made plans to go out in Cuzco, which we did. After a night which ended with me locked out of our hostel for a brief period, I wont go into specifics but lets just say we had fun, we flew to Arequipa, city of light.

Andy and I booked a trip to see the deepest canyon in the world and then had a delicious but overpriced dinner. This trip was the polar opposite of the other. Instead of trekking for hours each day, this trip shoved you in a van and didnt allow you to even walk if you wanted. Instead of cool young folk out for a good time, this trip was full of cranky old french people with a distinct hatred of youthful Americans. During the first day we managed to get to almost 5,000 meters which is pretty freaking high, and then Andy and I ditched the tour to climb around a creek and ended up in some more hotsprings. After this we had dinned for 5 soles (1.5 dollars) and tried to meet with our group but they lied to us (damn french) and told us to go to the wrong restaurant. Another thing, the tour was suppossed to be in English and Spanish but our guide kept forgetting, while also speaking in a very low lispy spanish accent, with the frenchies in full translating mode. Needless to say Andy didnt understand a dang thing, and I only understood enough to know I wasnt interested.

The canyon was cool, we saw condors flying about 20 feet from us and got attacked by some interesting bugs which really freaked Andy out. We then flew to Lima and stayed with two girls from the good tour in the nice neighborhood of Miraflores. After Andy left Stephan from the tour came top stay with us in Lima. We cooked an amazing rendition of my classic Hostal Pasta, and went out to the cool neighborhood of Barranca for a night out.