Guayaquil, buses, and the Andes

May 9, 2011

The hostel I stayed in last night was probably the swankiest I have been in.  Nice shower, good beds, ambient lighting...all for the price of $11.50.  A little more than what I usually spend, but it was right downtown and close to all the sites I wanted to see.  I surprisingly liked Guayaquil.  Even though there is not a ton to see, there is a sweet riverwalk (Malecon) and cultural center that you might see in Europe somewhere.  There is also a cool lighthouse on top of a hill that used to be a big slum.  Some areas have gone through gentrification and some haven't.  There are actually gates and bars that separate the areas that are still slums from the fixed-up places.  Kind of interesting - I would have liked to be in on the conversation when it was decided where the dividing lines would be.  

Malecon 2000

Cerro Santa Ana

Instead of cabbing it today from the bus stations I needed to go to, I decided to try out some city Ecuabuses. They were great.  I was not quite sure how things were going to go with a huge travelers backpack on my back and a small daypack on the front, but it was all smooth.  No little man blew in my armpit like happened before.  And just a quarter per ride.  Not too shabby!  I'm liking Ecuador's city public transport a lot more than anywhere else in Latin America I have been.  The bus stations are also a lot more ordered, especially compared to Central America.  I have been traveling there for the last couple years, and usually buses leave and come to different areas of the city depending the destination/where you are coming from.  In most Ecuadorian cities, there is one main bus terminal that has platforms where buses leave. 

Guayaquil bus station

I traveled from Guayaquil (Ecuador's largest city) to its 3rd largest city (Cuenca).  We started off on the coast where it was about 87 degrees and HOT.  As soon as we started to climb into the mountains, things started to cool down right away.  By the time we hit our highest point (about 12,000 feet), it was around 55.  Big difference!  The Andes mountains are just plain awesome to ride through.  Sometimes shrouded in mist, sometimes glowing in sunshine, the views when you aren't in a cloud are amazing.  The pics that I snapped of them don't do them justice.

Andes Mtns.

I made it to Cuenca where I just ate a huge huge plate of some Colombian food...some of it I am not sure what it was...and two sweet sweet nectar-of-the-gods coca cola in glass bottles made from real sugar cane.

Colombian platter - $3.50, complete with mystery meat at the very top.

 
There was rice, beans, plantain (a thicker tropical banana), egg, chorizo (sausage-type stuff), shredded beef, arepa (a type of corn tortilla), avocado, and the mystery meat with 8 little tine-like squares sticking out of it.  I took two bites, and decided that I think that I was eating some sort of pig fat and probably the skin too.  I only ate 2 bites of it and couldn't do it.  The last time I ate pork in Ecuador resulted in explosive fireworks in a jungle bathroom.  Keeping my fingers crossed that doesn't happen tonight.  Tomorrow I am checking out the historical center of Cuenca, which is supposed to be the best in the country.  From what I saw today, it should live up to it. 

Traveling alone gives you time to think, meet new people, and grow as a person, but it sucks when you see something that one of your friends who isn't with you would love or laugh at.  Here are a few of those moments from today:
1. A park full of iguanas that Melissa would love.

One of about 100 iguanas living in Parque Seminario

2. If Lindsay, Jon, and Andrew thought they were giants in Panama, they would be super-giants here.  I have seen exactly 2 Ecuas taller than me. 
3. Riding the Ecovia bus like Amanda and I did the day we skipped class in Quito. 

"Pork - the other white meat." - The National Pork Board

Does that count if you are eating its fat and skin too?

Concrete Jungle where dreams are made

May 8th, 2011

I am currently 33,000 feet above the Caribbean Ocean, on my way to Guayaquil, Ecuador.  After a long last week and a rousing weekend with the Suz, I am ready for a little vacation time and to catch up on some sleep a little.  At 10pm (11pm Eastern time) tonight, I’ll land and start my 35 day South American adventure.

This past weekend was a good one, as weekends always seem to be for me.  It started off with a sloppy backpack after my fruit salad leaked everywhere on the bus ride to Suzie‘s in NYC, and then a wetter sloppy backpack when the bottle of tequila I brought up exploded when we got to the apartment.  After the surprisingly easy cleanup and a fun night out for Cinco de Mayo where we made friends with and got free drinks from a Polish bartender, we spent the majority of the weekend checking out apartments for Suz in Queens. We saw some “interesting” studios in some good and not so good areas.  It is crazy to see the differences in what you can get depending on the location.  2 blocks away from the train in a relatively good area gets you a 70s pink-tiled grimy bathroom and a 5X5 kitchen, but further out away from the train gets you a pretty decent space.  That’s just in NYC…the same amount in Clarion or somewhere similar will get you a pretty decent 3 bedroom place. 

I am not sure if I could do the NYC life.  Maybe just a little too many people and too little green space.  There is a ton to do though, as we found out just by walking around with a little roadie and winding up at our favorite restaurant in Chinatown.  We both ate curry (that combined with tequila = NOT a good combo for the next morning).  Lets just say the bathroom was a warzone due to - as Jean Zamzow once referred to it as - “gunners ass.”  The food scene is great in NYC.  I ate a ton of empanadas, a delicious torta, and a huge spread of middle eastern food (see pics). 

As usual, later in the night Saturday we got into some shenanigans.  We did an Astoria dive bar tour.  The first one we went to (Kelly’s) there were two other people, a 75 year old drunk lady, and a short-haired lady friend of the bartender.  It was pretty uneventful and the smell of the place reminded Suz of an unpleasant time she had before, so we headed to Cosmos.  There weren’t too many more people, but the clientele was a little more shady - a few hookers and a drunk/crazy/coked out Irish guy who started up a conversation with us.  Needless to say, after 15 minutes of his rambling incoherence, things were too sketchy for even us and we headed to another bar where we posted up for the night.  As luck would have it, karaoke was going on and I did the customary Chicken Fried.  Karaoke is VERY different in NYC.  People sing weird jazzy (the actual music…not the other type of jazz) songs that I have never heard before.  Where is the 80s rock, 90s classics, and backstreet boys?!?  C’mon people!  New Yorkers must to either too cool or hipster for that.  The night finished up with the bartender magician and his weasel puppet successfully finding Suzie’s chosen card out of the deck during a karaoke break. 

Tomorrows plans are to check out some areas of Guayaquil and then bolt for cooler and greener pastures in Cuenca. 

“I’m leavin’ on a jet plane; don’t know if I’ll be back again.”  I will be, God willing.

Cinco de Mayo - First Blog!

May 5th, 2011

CINCO DE MAYO!  The one day a year that people all throughout the U.S. celebrate a holiday that usually has nothing to do with them.  But, hey, it is a reason to eat Mexican food and drink margaritas and tequila shots…and lets be honest, do I even ever really need an excuse for that?  It is fitting for me that this would be my first blog EVER. 

Now that I am officially done with grad school (as of 11am this morning!) I will have a little bit more free time to do some of the things that I actually enjoy doing.  I have been wanting to start up a blog for a while now, and the time has finally come.  Hopefully, this will be a place for friends and family to come on and see what is going on in my life.  With life hectic as it usually is for everyone, it is easy to lose touch with one another and miss important big life events.  Hell, I didn’t even know my cousin Sam in Florida was married, let alone that she had a set of twin kids, until she found me on Facebook and I saw her pictures and new name.  This blog is also going to be a place for me to just write…to talk about things I think are interesting, things in my life I am happy/sad/frustrated about, life in general.

For those of you who don’t know, I just finished grad school at Penn State.  Yes, the time has finally come for you to call me master Luke or master Schaeffer, either one will work for me..just include the master in there.  I now have a dual Master’s of Science in Agricultural, Environmental, and Regional Economics (a mouthful) and Demography.  My two years at Penn State were filled with some big ups and big downs.  From getting to know some awesome friends to getting hit by a car on my bike, it was a heck of a roller coaster ride.  I learned a lot about myself and what I want in life, along with some interesting economics, so the trials were definitely worth it even if at times (a lot of times) I questioned whether it was actually worth being there.  But, in the end, I made it through and am a better person for it. 

Now, I am taking my talents with me and headed off on some big adventures and a new city.  Starting Sunday I am heading back to where the travel bug bit me and didn’t let go – Ecuador.  Vince Spina, the man and legend, first took me there with a group of about 20 other students back in summer of 2006.  I am not sure how much better my Spanish actually got when I was there because of being with a lot of gringos and going out to Mongos for 99 cent drinks probably too much, but it was still one of the best travel experiences I have been.  Now I am heading back to see some parts of the country that I didn’t the last time. (I’ll be writing more gritty details about the trip in upcoming blogs.) 

After Ecuador, I’m meeting up with my friend Glenn from my department at Penn State in Colombia.  When I tell people they, some people look at me like I’m crazy.  “Colombia!?” they say. “You’re nuts.”  I disagree.  As those of you who have been with me on trips before know, I do a lot of reading and researching before I decided to go to a place.  I understand the dangers, risks and challenges of traveling before I go.  In the past decade, Colombia has become one of the safest places in Latin America to travel.  Yes, there are still occasional kidnappings and bombings directed at political targets, but don’t we have those here in America too?  You take risks walking out of your door each day, right?  I am not going to let a negative history keep me from experiencing, from what I have read and heard, one of the most beautiful and welcoming countries in South America.  So, I’ll be galavanting all over for three weeks.  You’ll hear more about this in upcoming blogs as well.  This trip is really my last hoorah.  It is a time for a last bit of footloose freedom before settling down a bit with a job, maybe a dog (not a small white pu**y dog either, its gotta be manly according to my friend Becky) , and hopefully a good girl. 

After returning from this 35 day South American excursion, I’ll be heading back to the States to start up a new job with IBM in Washington, D.C. doing government consulting, whatever that means.  All I know is that I am going to have a chance to make government systems more efficient and hopefully save us some tax dollars.  God all knows we could use a little more efficiency in government systems!  I am excited for the move back.  I already have some great friends in the DC and Baltimore areas, both from home and those who I have met throughout school and various internship experiences.  I’ll be living with Chelsea Crooks for a month or so when I initially start training, which is going to give me some time to find a great permanent place to be.  Buying a new house may be on the distant horizon for me, but it will probably be down the road a little bit.

Anyway, that is the basic gist of my life right now.  I am on a Megabus heading to New York City to see my long-time friend Suzan for the weekend.  As per the usual, there will be shenanigans and lots of jazzing around.  Unfortunately it is too warm for a particular furry hat that almost got me in trouble on the subway last trip. 

I think I’m gonna end each blog with some sort of quote that either sums up the entry or is just plain good.  Today’s comes from Darius Rucker (otherwise known as Hootie):

"Thank god for all I've been, 'cause it led me there to this."