AHHHHHHHHH!!! How wonderful life can be! I´ve been hanging out in Mancora for the last two days, we´re planning on heading back to Trujillo tomorrow night. It´s been great! For my birthday, today, I went for a horseback ride along the beach (suprisingly it was only $5 for a half-hour). Who would have thunk it!?! It was delightful. Tomorrow we´re planning on soaking in some mud baths that are about 30 minutes away. So far it´s not quite what I expected of the trip, but that´s okay with me. Everything is very new and exciting. Last night we watched the sunset over the Pacific (pictures to come when I get back to Trujillo to upload them). When we got back to the hotel we had a couple drinks with the owner, Claudia. She´s a sweet woman with two adorable kids. I spent a good amount of time while drawing with them trying to teach her son, Ruben, the names of colors in English. He´s definitely got it that ´amarillo´is ´yellow´. Claudia stayed up until after midnight to wish me a happy birthday. Then it was off to the club for one celebratory drink... then another :P Let´s just say, I wasn´t feeling 100% this morning.
This town is very ¨hippie-esque¨ with tons of little vendors selling their wares along the sidewalk and every 4th person with dreads. It´s easy to forget about life´s worries... do I have any? Hmmm... nope, not that I can recall :D Oh... I can think of one, mosquitoes. Better get going to put some repelent on. Damn buggers!
Thanks for the warm birthday wishes! Wish you could all be down here too!

Off to the beach

We're just getting ready to go up to Mancora, a beach town on the northern coast. The bus ride there is 9 hours... should be exciting.
Up until now we've been hanging out in Trujillo at Brad's place enjoying the local cuisine and getting used to the culture. Something about the place reminds me a lot of Japan. When I have more time I'll try to write more about it... until then check out the pics through the link in the last post.
Hope summer up north is treating you well!
-Yosh

Pictures

So I've started uploading pictures! It's going to be a while, but here's the link :D

Peru 2008 - 7/8/08

We've made it!! I am in Trujillo and am chilling at Brad's place. Think we're going to take a nap, go grab some breakfast and check out the town. This place is crazy. We flew into Lima on Sunday and took the night bus from there to here and arrived about an hour ago. The plane ride was great, although we did have one missing passport scare from Nyles while in Panama. Our bus ride was non-climactic other than a pissed-off suicidal taxi driver who stopped his little cab in front of the moving bus. When the bus attempted to move around the taxi driver would swerve in front of it. We could see all that was going on because we were sitting in the top front rows of a double decker luxery bus (pics to come). It's weird that an 8 hour luxery bus ride only costs 70 Soles, that's the equivilant to about $19.60. From our vantage point you could see the sprawling abodes made out of plaster and brick. The poverty in the country is sad to see. There is a perpensity for people to take advantage of the "gringos". I feel super safe having the four of us together though. Don't think I'd ever think of traveling down here alone, unless my Spanish were better. Everyone automatically starts speaking to me in Spanish, so it's slowly coming back to me.
The past couple days really have been a blur. There have been many other travelers around until we arrived here in Trujillo. Since I'm more of a visual person I've been taking a lot of pictures to document the trip. I'll be posting those when I am able. They will probably remind me of other stories to tell.
Hope all is well with you and that you can make sense of my writings. The hours of traveling have definitely cut into my normal sleep... for those of you that know me well, normal and restful is at least 8 hours... think I'm going off of 5 hours of sleep while on the bus. That nap is sounding really good right now.

What a day!

I'm sitting here waiting for the last of my work to be done. For the last two years I've been working on the production of a 4 disc set. Today I finished the fourth disc!! (well there's a little tiny bit to do when I get back) I'm SSOOOOO excited! For those of you who have been concerned about my stress level, thank you. I should be fine now :D But getting to this point has been crazy. Just today has had it's insane moments. This morning I went to take Trent to work, I was planning on running a few work related errands afterwards. Well on the way there my pants croaked on me! Yes, they decided it would be the perfect time to wither away while I was still in them. A large rip on my backside was no laughing matter... at the time. I was stuck in my car until my dairy air was covered again... taking about and hour our of my most craziest of days. Starting off the day like that wasn't the best but it looks like my day will end on the highest of notes, on an airplane headed to Peru! (Well the flight leaves at 5 in the morning.. but there's still plenty of packing and cleaning to do) When I return I'll investigate and remedy the cause of the disintegrating pants.

Now we're talking hours

With only 3 days until our flight leaves, hopefully with us on board, I'm switching units of measurement. 58 hours til departure. Within those 58 hours we have to:

• pack a months worth of travel gear
• clean a house
• finish all work related projects
  
• figure out who will take us to the airport
• find a place to stay in Miami for Friday and Saturday night
  
• get miscellaneous items to friends (presents, plants, borrowed things)
• buy items needed travel items (quick dry pants, power adapter, etc.)
• calm Hailey's nerves and move her to Trent's parents
• reroute mail
• oh and did I mention pack....

Hmmm... well I'd better get on it! I promise there will be more entertaining posts to come. Oh, and if you notice there's something I'm missing, please call and let me know... seriously!

Almost a Month?!

Time sure does fly when you're having fun... and are really stressed. With our trip around the corner we've been working hard and playing hard.

An old friend from Florida drove threw town with her husband and four legged friends on their move up to Whitefish, MT. Gabrielle and Steven had taken us out sailing in the Keys when we were living in Destin, back in '04. One of the fonder memories of my time in Florida. We haven't seen these guys since that summer but I hope with them on this side of Mississippi it won't be that long until the next visit. Since they were in town only as a stop over we reminisced over a few beers and went on a short walk the next morning.

With the end of the school year there are students who are ready for scholarships. The JACL gives out scholarships to outstanding members who are in their senior year of high school. This year we only had one applicant, but what a great one he is. PJ serves on the SL JACL board with me and reminds me quite a bit of myself when I was his age. He is an artist who is thinking of going into architecture. Although quite and soft spoken he gets things done... which is a trait I need to work on :) We had a scholarship banquet with the Mt. Olympus chapter at the Pagoda restaurant, where he works, to honor him and six other outstanding students. As a side note, if you know anyone who is a junior or senior in high school interested in civil rights and the Japanese American culture, send them my way. We are always looking for eager young minds to help... and it doesn't hurt when applying for scholarships.

Now that it's officially summer I have to reflect on the wonderful spring we've had here. The flowers never seemed to stop blooming... actually many still are. With the cool temps and snow falling on the mountain tops the valley and hills reached a shade of green that I've never seen here before. It's been beautiful. Here are a couple of the beautiful and intricate flowers that I've found outside our front door.

One of the biggest events that's happened recently is the marriage of two members of the river family, Spencer and Barbara. Last year Barbara, Reese and I went down to the Gold Bar camp site to check things out. Little did I know what a magically marvelous delight Barbara would make of the place.

The wedding encompassed the entire weekend, because river rafting and yoga had to be incorporated, of course! On Friday we loaded about 40 people into our boats for a Moab Daily run. The water was big and fun. We only had one person go overboard, the tears that were shed were tears of joy (mostly), and no one emptied their stomachs... that day.
The next morning, since we were so close to Corona arch, a hike was in order.

The ladies (+Jim) did a bit of yoga while there. I would have liked to join in, but I was just so taken with the scenery that I couldn't put Jess' camera down.

On the way back I had to get a picture of the largest karen (trail marker) I've ever seen.

When we returned to camp the magic happened, the group camp pavilion turned into a wedding reception hall. A dance floor with all the bells and whistles (that can be added that far away from home) was erected and painted. Mother Nature provided a beautiful wedding chapel. Ahhhh... sooo perfect. I was stuck behind the camera for much of the evening because I was so fascinated with how everything looked. All in all I believe I took about 800 pics that weekend.... most can be seen here.

Now that we're back the main thought on our minds is preparations for Peru. We leave with a bang, on the 4th of July and will be gone until the 7th of August. Since it's been over 10 years since I've flown internationally or stayed abroad for any significant amount of time, I'm stressed. How much money will we need? Am I going to have enough mosquito repellent to keep those insects from hell away from me? Are the flights going to all work out? Will I remember any of the Spanish I learned in Jr. High? Should I take my computer? How am I going to upload my photos? What art supplies should I take? Where will I be for my birthday? Haha.. well if that didn't give you a glimpse of the craziness going on in this head of mine I don't know what will.

I hope your summer is full of adventure and fun... minus all the stress. My goal is to use this blog while I'm down in Peru to keep family and friends abreast of my travels. Until the next entry... adios, ciao, ja ne, au revior!