Travelling Life

cute little hostel room in Otavalo, 13 bucks includes breakfast

Well, I hit the one month mark of traveling today. It´s about one month when I feel as if things are somewhat normal. I have my routines and a certain way to pack. However, not one single thing is normal. Everything from the sugar on the table to the that dinner plate of guinea pig is different from back home. Each day I wake up and sort of forget what town or city I am in. Can I even pronounce the word of this town, I know I can´t spell  it....¨Ollantaytambo¨!  I go from one hostel room to where it was so hot and humid that I couldn´t even put a light sheet over me to sleep. Then one day later, I am sleeping at over 11,000 ft elevation in the high Andean mountains with four wool blankets on top of me.

baby bananas

Today I counted how many buses I have taken so far on my journey. Twenty. Twenty buses. On the bus this morning, an older woman sat next to me and was squishing me against the window. I always take the window seat.  She would point out and speak the name of each ancient ruin in Spanish to me as we zoomed by in the rickety, rackety bus that hugged each curve of the mountain road. Don´t look down. Personal space doesn´t really exist much here. It now feels strange to me to have a conversation in good English. My Spanish has greatly improved and for this I am very excitied about.  

I do not miss much from back home. Besides family, friends, and peanut butter for some reason. Oh, and a hot shower. And the joy of making endless cups of coffee at home. I think Americans are the only ones who unecessarily drink the bottemless cup of coffee. Other South Americans have asked my why we do this. I can not explain it and the more I think about it, the more it does not make sense.

It is a slow pace of life here and for this I am also thankful for and must remember when I get back home.  I mean how many times in an average week, do you wake up and say, ¨Huh....I have nothing that I HAVE to do today.¨ This is my world of a being on constant vacation. I have the best job ever as a Park Ranger where I get payed to hike, and camp. I am fortunate to travel the United States and experience life in these magical places. I get to live in the environement and get to know it.  I refer to my job as a ¨working vacation¨. Folks have asked what I do for work and to explain it simply is not easy! In Spanish, the word for Forest Ranger is {guardabosque} which translates to (to keep, to save, to conserve, to guard ...the forest.) Cool. 

EXPAND YOUR MIND

I saw this post today about 100 Things I´ve Learned While Backpacking. I could not help but laugh and think of what all of us travelers and vagabonds in the world share together and can laugh about.  

The following below are things that made me smile of this traveling life: 

1. Where ever you go, Coca Cola has already been.
11. Homesickness can strike at any point. So can diarrhoea.
15. It will either be a good time, or a good story.
41. Avocados can be eaten with, on and in anything. And be delicious.
61. You’ll meet people on the road who will be incredible…and leave you wondering if a) you’ll ever see them again b) if you’ll ever meet anyone like them again?
67. Fruit shakes are amazing. Who cares how much sugar is ladled into them.
84. Rustling plastic bags at 6am will definitely wake you up when sharing dorms.
93. Be prepared to fall in love; whether with a sun set, a beach, a beautiful person… it’ll happen!