Saturday, November 29, 2014

Goodbye, Chile!

After our Patagonia trek, the next stop was Easter Island, so this post would have been all about the mystery of the Rapa Nui culture and people, but that will have to wait because this story can't wait!


Let's rewind 36 hours. 

It's our last day in Chile. We're ready for our long flight home: 

from Santiago to Lima, 
from Lima to El Salvador, 
and then 
from El Salvador to San Francisco. 

We had already checked in when we flew in from Easter Island last night and we're staying at the Holiday Inn literally 100 meters across the street from the airport terminal, so we are all set to wrap up our 2 weeks in Chile!

Sunset at SCL. See how close the Holiday Inn (green sign on the bottom left) is to the airport (the artsy structure).

Best Holiday Inn ever! There's even a choice between soft and firm pillows.

The alarm went off at 7:45am. Only problem is that our flight left at 7:30am!!! 15 minutes before we woke up!!! 

We had 3 alarms set and all 3 alarms failed to perform for various reasons. What are the odds?!?

When we arrived at the departure lounge, there was no sign of any Avianca check-in counters. We asked for direction to the Avianca airline office, but no one at the airport had any idea. After running around every floor and looking around every corner, we eventually found a plain door with a little sign that says "Avianca". A man peered out of the door, handed us a phone number to call, and then promptly shut the door.

While Cory was on the phone with Avianca to discuss our options, I searched online for options with other airlines. To add to the complication, I have another flight to catch about 12 hours after we were due to arrive at SFO, so if I don't get home on the same day, it would snow ball into 3 further missed flight connections. Though Cory and Aimee had less of a time restriction, the news was still not good when Avianca said that the next available flight is on Dec 1, three days later. I should mention that we were huddled in an office corner inside the American Airlines office. The lady there is an absolute angel to let us squat there and use the phone. She had also looked up the next available flight on AA for us but it would cost us an arm and a leg and still not get me home in time for my next flight, so that wasn't an ideal option at all. That is when it dawned on me how far across the world we were from home and our options are limited. Gasp!


Amidst the chaotic moments, I automatically dove into work/"do" mode. On one screen (and when I say screen, I mean the little iPhone Safari page, with slow and sometimes non-existent Internet data capability), I had the list of every flight that departs from SCL that day, so I can narrow down to a few airports that may have potential connections to the US. On two other screens, I pulled up the two airlines, LAN and Copa, based on the fact that they had the most counter space at check-in so they likely will have the most flight out that could get us closer to SF if not all the way. On the last screen, I had one of the flight search engines that conglomerate flights from all the airlines, but sometimes the search engines are just not as creative as human in finding unique solutions. After triangulating all the data, I found an answer! 

Here's my new master plan: Fly to Los Angeles via Panama City, rent a car because there are no flights out of LAX past midnight, and drive an all-nighter back to SF. Estimated time of arrival at SF is 5am or 6am, which gives me 2 or 3 hours before I need to be back at SFO. Que genial!

Given the day we were having, of course there was a catch: there were only 2 seats left. Fortunately, Cory found a similar option to LAX that leaves half a day after, and then she would fly instead of drive back to SF from there.

36 hours later.

My master plan worked as planned! Albeit lacking sleep, I got home at 6am, unpacked and repacked plus several critical tasks including laundry, and made my next flight! :-)

As for Cory, her backpack was stolen when she went into town to kill some time. She can tell a better story, but long story short, there was a commotion "Su mochilla! Su mochilla!", screaming "Ayudame! Ayudame!", and chasing after a thief who disappears into the crowd just like in a Bourne movie. Luckily, someone caught the bad guy, and her backpack along with her passport was returned to the rightful owner. She spent hours at the police station filing a report so the bad guy doesn't get off free. And now she's on her way home.

The adventure never ends! Stay tuned and I'll be right back after 36 more hours of flying....

Sunday, November 23, 2014

Patagonia by the Number, Part 2

Number of:

Times Cory asks for the credit for Chile by the Number: 11

Kilometers hiked: 71
(We hiked the Classic W Trek, but in non-classic reverse direction, starting from Grey to Cuernos to Torres. I would highly recommend this way otherwise it seems anti-climatic the other way.)

Times we said "Hola" to other trekkers: 1,000
(There were travelers from all over the world. It's definitely not an off-the-beaten path destination.)

Cuernos: 3 and Torres: 3
(After 4 hours of hiking, the fog cleared up for just long enough for us to see the Torres del Paine.)

Charlie's Angels that survived the W Trek: 3
(No angels were eaten by puma.)

Photos to come: 101

Friday, November 21, 2014

Patagonia by the Number, Part 1

Number of:

Countries visited: 41
(Guatemala was #40 and Chile is #41)

Even my coffee art foreshadowed my travel to South America

Friends traveling with: 2
(Aimee and Cory wants to be famous so obviously I have to mention them in my blog)

Hours for Aimee and Cory to fly from SF to Punta Arena, our first stop: 27
(SFO to El Salvador to Bogota to Santiago to Punta Arena)

Hours of bus rides before arriving Torres del Paine: 11
(Including a side trip to see penguins)



Minutes for our guide, Rodrigo, to point out the high maintenance one in our group: 30
(Hint: it's not me and her name doesn't start with an A ;P )

Days without Internet/Wifi: 4

Good meals: 2.5
(Hotel Ilaia's homemade jam, granola, and ciabatta for breakfast were delicioso! Mesita Grande is a great restaurant in Puerto Natales. Otherwise, why hasn't any travel guide warned us about don't come here for the food!)



Hot showers: 3 and Lukewarm showers: 2

Pisco Sour consumed: 0.5

Complaints about the bad coffee (aka brown water): 21
(Only Nescafé in a pouch)

Times blown away by the scenery: 100+



Times actually blown away by the wind: 2

Nicknames collectively: 11
(Big Bird, Mama Sherpa, RBF, Nerd Slut, Jock Slut, Baller, Glacier Lady, One Pace Wonder, OPW, Fifi, Gigi)

Nightmares by screaming roomie: 2 and Times she was "shushed": 1

Times the phrase "That's what he/she says" was used: 25

Times I said "TMI": 6
(Enough said)

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Guatemala: A Photo Blog


I'm super sad to leave Costa Rica but at the same time I'm super excited for Guatemala because I'll be meeting up with Steph for an unique volunteer week. When I was researching about potential volunteer opportunities, I knew that the most important feature I was looking for in any organization follows the principle of: "Teach a man to fish, he'll learn to live. Give a man a fish, he'll starve." 

On top of that, education has always been important to me and my family. So when Steph told me about the opportunity to build a secondary school in the town of El Paredon as part of the Surf for Life Foundation, it was an easy decision to join her.

---------

A week has flown by. I wrote the stuff above while I was flying into Guatemala, and before I even have a chance to finish it, I'm now flying out. So instead of a big long blog, here is Guatemala in photos:

Happy to be on the "big" plane (12 pax) instead of the even smaller plane here

On my way to Guatemala

View from our bungalow

1st sunset at El Paredon

Building la escuela

Front of la escuela, all leveled

Back of la escuela, rebar is my favourite

Even Elmo is tired building la escuela

Reading time with the kids

Book of the day: Lorax

Loveliest kids

Activity time

Sleepy boy

Waiting for dinner at Paredon Surf House

Challenge accepted

Tuesday football night

Go Ben!

Mangrove

Muchos pesces, muchos canguros

Volcano land

Antigua

Hotel Palacio Chico

UNESCO site

Center plaza

Cobble stone roads

No Golden Arches here

Christmas all year round here



Friday, November 7, 2014

Top 5 Highlights at Costa Rica

It's Friday and my time here in Costa Rica is coming to an end. Got to pack up tonight and head to the next destination tomorrow. There are so many adventures and travel stories during the week that I wanted to share but my creative genes (or lack thereof) can't quite keep up with the blog writing, so I'll just keep it succinct to a top 5 list.

5: Being one with nature. There are endless outdoor activities here. Even the houses here are designed with an outdoor element. Nothing is really fully enclosed. 


Plus we can tell that all the food are locally grown and so fresh that we can taste the freshness.







4: Surprised by the tremendous progress in my Spanish in two short weeks. One of the staff here told me when I arrived on the first day that I'll be speaking Spanish by the end of my stay. I'm glad that I didn't bet against her.



3. Getting on the surfboard on the first day of surf lesson, and catching a couple of my own baby waves. Still very much a work in progress but I've learned to be patient with the waves and patient with myself in surfing as well as in life.

2: I played with real fire! After two weeks of poi class, our poi teacher actually thought that we were ready to light up. It was so amazing and frightful at the same time. I'll post the video of our poi teacher demonstrating how it's done on FB (another technical difficulty: don't see the option for posting video from the blogger app on the iPhone). The simple act of believing in ourselves can be the difference in everything we do from poi to any other endeavours.



1: The amazing people, both travelers and locals, I've met on this trip. Tonight we went to dinner at Los Artistas, one of the highly recommended restaurants that just re-opened up after being closed for the "green" season, which as a side note, has the coolest restroom.



When the evening ended and it's time to say goodbye, there was this incredible urge right in the gut wanting to hang onto the last two weeks and keep the experience forever! Amazing place, amazing people! Pura vida!