I might not write back, but I’ll get it!

Cheers!

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Minty-Fresh™.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,100 times in 2010. That’s about 5 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 4 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 60 posts. There were 9 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 17mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was October 11th with 39 views. The most popular post that day was A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were facebook.com, mail.yahoo.com, 74.125.67.100, en.search.wordpress.com, and moroccotraveldiaries.wordpress.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for naples italy, naples, italy, naples beach italy, italian beach, and amalfi beach.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood February 2009

Santiago de Compostela and Couchsurfing June 2009

About February 2009

Morocco March 2009

Cinque Terre, Italy July 2009

I arrived here on New Year’s Day, so I missed the celebrations that happened the night before that wore everyone out so splendidly. The one benefit of this is that I get to relax, along with everyone else, on the beach. From the back door of Dani’s house, it’s about 30 or 40 steps until your feet are in sand. We went out last night, drinks in hand, and just sat – listening to the waves. It was so warm and so relaxing it made your eyelids fight to stay open.

It’s really comforting and the water is warm. I’m not sure how I’d handle a cold ocean as a neighbor, but I think this would do nicely. After jumping into the warm water for a swim, we shook off the sand and went to bed. I love my mountains, but that ocean gave them a run for the money.

I am writing this almost 9 months after I actually went to Panama, but I kept a journal while I was there, so I’ve copied pieces of my entries into the blog so you know what exactly is going on. Fair warning:

This place is beautiful! I’ve seriously never experienced anything like this. Paradise is really what you’d call it. The grass is soft and green, the plants are INSANE, and the whole place seems to be built around service. It’s definitely an awesome vacation spot.

The shuttle to get here was a little weird to get used to. Our driver drove fast and the highway isn’t lit. This was especially noticeable when we almost hit a drunk guy who decided to walk on the highway. It also passes through the middle of small towns without slowing down or having any fencing, so seeing people on the side of the highway was pretty different for me.

Decameron is pretty, I’m glad I’m staying with friends though. Dani picked us up that night and took us to the house where we’d be staying. First off, I was thinking we’d be staying in a Panamanian house (I’m thinking cinderblocks, 2-3 rooms, sleeping on the floor, etc.) so I was blown away when Dani took us around the house. Dani’s mom works for Oracle, bought the house when it was a pipe dream at $500k, and now the house is worth over $1 mil. It’s beautiful, the whole neighborhood is. It shows how much the place has grown and been developed over the past 5-10 years. We’re a five minute walk from another hotel/resort called Bristol Buenaventura which has restaurants and all the services that hotels do. So far, they’ve treated us just like guests, letting us use the pool, call cabs, etc.

So now what? I’m really excited to explore, but we still have some time to sit around and be lazy for a few days. We’re heading to Panama City in a few days to see the canal. Here are some of the pictures I’ve gotten so far:

So pretty!

Leaving Denver, the morning of New Year's Day! What a beautiful way to kick off the new year!

January 1, 2010:

I stepped off the plane and humidity rolled across my skin like butter, leaving a glaze that would stick with me for most of the first week. It’s my first time in a tropical climate and the humid air was almost suffocating despite it being 9pm…

“Nearly 12 hours ago I left Denver international airport with a long layover in Atlanta, where the high for the day was 35 degrees F. Now I’m a short distance from the equator and the temperature at night is approaching 80 degrees. However, the weather isn’t unbearable. Since it’s so humid, I rarely have to drink water unlike Colorado. The locals wear long pants, but I’m sticking with my shorts and cheap flip-flops for now.

The country is beautiful, everything is green and reminds me somewhat of Florida. The airport is surrounded by palm trees and other tropical plants, but desert yuccas and such are also a staple here (you can even eat them, they taste like potatoes).

Panama’s most famous feature is, of course, the canal, which was constructed by the U.S. and given back to the Panamanian government in the 1990′s. The currency here is the Balboa, which is fixed to the U.S. dollar, so I don’t have to change over any currency before leaving. For $26 dollars I will get a private shuttle from the airport to Decameron Hotel and Resort, one of the largest and newest in the country,  in Farallon where I’ll meet my friend Daniella and begin our adventure.

I should probably tell you how I got here. While I was studying in Spain, I met Daniella and the four other girls I’m traveling with; Tia, Marissa, Christina, and Katie. Dani tentatively invited us all to come to Panama with her back then, and this past fall came through on her word, saying that if we bought a plane ticket we could stay at her Mom’s house in Buenaventura, Farallon. The plane ticket was $700, but the opportunity to stay for nothing and practice my Spanish was too good to pass up.

As I write this I’m seated in the airport in Panama, waiting for Christina. When she gets here we’re taking the shuttle together to Farallon.

Happy New Year!”

Waiting for Christina

The trip was so cool I can hardly describe it, but like every other travel adventure, I’ll try. Starting this weekend. I’m going to tell you about where we went, what we did, and who we met which will be accompanied by some rather spectacular pictures, if I do say so myself. Stay tuned…

The Royal Palace, Madrid

The Plaza de Espana, Madrid. With Miss Mary White, who studied nearby.

I boarded a flight back to Madrid on June 16th to spend some time with my “cousin” Antonio and my Mom’s Godmother. I put cousin in quotes because we’re not actually blood related, but we call each other that anyway. I haven’t seen Antonio since 2005 when I visited Spain with my family.

Antonio works in Madrid, but lives about an hour away in Segovia. Madrid is the capital so it’s huge and not very historical or charming in any small sense. Segovia is smaller and quite the opposite. I can see why Antonio chooses to live there and commute.

I spent one day in Madrid to meet Mary, one of my close friends from home, who was studying in Alcala about 30 minutesfrom Madrid via train. We explored Madrid a little, saw the Royal Palace and the Puerta del Sol, which is equidistant from the borders of Spain. Other than that, Madrid is modern, and HUGE, so it lacks anything out of the ordinary. I did take this cool picture of a peacock outside of the Royal Palace, though.

Segovia, on the other hand, was surprisingly pleasing. The city’s claim to fame is a gigantic Roman aqueduct that stretches 1 kilometer in length and was built between the 1st and 2nd century AD. It was an awesome site to see. Nestled below it are small tourist shops and restaurants where they serve a plate called “Cuchinillo” (sp?). It’s actually a whole baby pig that they roast and bring to you. It was delicious, even though looking at it was a little weird.

Over the next few days, I spent my days at work with Antonio at the University in Madrid. But that weekend we took off to La Pena de Francia to do some hiking and see Las Batuecas, a mountain range around that peak. We got to hike around a monestary. We weren’t allowed inside because we weren’t monks, but we did hike all around the outside near a pristine river. The weather was up in the 90′s (Fahrenheit) so at the end of the hike, we stripped to our underwear and jumped in one of the river’s pools. You could probably do this in Colorado, but you’d wind up with Giardia.

From the top of La Pena de Francia.

A small touristy town at the foot of the mountain.

Beautiful. Near the monestary.

Post-hike swim.

After leaving Las Batuecas we began to head over to Muga de Sayago, a small pueblo near the border of Portugal. It is there that my Mom’s Godmother lives and most of the people we met 4 years ago. Antonio’s mom cooked us Paella, which was AWESOME, because I’d been in Spain for 5 months and not had a plate of Paella. I was lucky to spend the night there and head into a neighboring town, Argenin, where my grandparents are from. I caught up with some old friends there.

Pilar and Jose.

Argentinians!

Friends from Argenin

Diana's parents.

My grandparents' old house. They fixed the roof and added a 2nd floor.

Back in Muga, Pilar told me that I had distant family in Argentina. I did not know this. Coincidentally, they were in the same country visiting, and I’d get to meet them! They were so friendly, and they’re Spanish was so different! It was fun to hear them talk and go through pictures from a loooong time ago. We exchanged contact information and Antonio and I left that afternoon for Valladoloid and Salamanca to see Pili and Diana, Antonio’s younger sister and one of our friends from 2005.

Diana and Me

Pili, me, and Antonio in the Plaza Mayor in Valladoloid

Incredible Sunset on the way out of town.

My last day in Spain was approaching really quickly, but Antonio had one more surprise for me. He took me outside of Segovia to a natural water fountain that is piped through some fantastic statues.The water shoot hundreds of feet into the air and was well worth it. After that, we tried Cuchinillo and got ready to go out that night.

The fountains

Since it was pretty much my first experience with all Spanish people, I didn’t expect we’d be out until almost 8 am. By the time we walked out of the club, this is what we saw. I’m going to miss Spain.

Hot air balloons! The club was still dark inside, and people were still dancing!

U2 Cover band

The Coliseum

Since I just started school again, I’ve been feeling a little nostalgic for Europe. I’ve recently decided I want to continue the blog, because it has been fun for me to write and a good resource when I can’t remember details.

I thought I’d first finish up Europe before delving into what my home life is like. School is school, but I’ve found you can take great pictures and have great experiences just about anywhere – even if it’s in your own backyard…

ROME

Trevi Fountain at night. Wonderful and relaxing.

I leave Rome tomorrow morning to go to Madrid for the beginning of the trip home. I think it would be appropriate to reflect a little bit on what I’ve experienced here in Italy. Rome is amazing – a huge melting pot of cultures. My hostel had a worker from Nepal. I’ve never been to Nepal, and if I had I’d never connect it with Rome. The history here is astounding. There are pictures from the 30′s and paintings from wars where these prominent landmarks serve as the backdrop for a battlefield. It’s a shame some of these things were destroyed by bombings and bullets. Another shame is the amount of people who literally do “pollute” the streets here. While looking at Roman ruins I came across small bits of glittering paper EVERYWHERE, from a celebration a few nights prior. I’m sure it was fun, but in the days after the bits of paper, ice creams wrappers, and vendors selling throw-away products had taken it’s toll. But the energy of the city is palpable, and you can’t help to be moved when seeing the paintings that depict soldiers fighting and dying on the steps of these magnificent buildings.

Personally, I’ve had my own week of slip-ups. While in Florence I stopped into a McDonald’s to get food for the first time in Europe. I’ve been avoiding it, thinking it would spoil my European experience. Well, it worked out how things like this always do: Long story short, my order was messed up, so the manager gave me a stack of 2-for-1 coupons that made eating in Rome somewhat of a disaster. I think I ate McDonald’s every day for 3 days straight. It was cheap, and it made me full. Whatever I lost biking Germany was surely gained back.

I saw all the normal touristy sites, sometimes coming back early in the morning to beat the throngs of people who are sweaty and gross. The coloseum wasn’t as big as I’d expected, you could probably fit it inside the Broncos’ stadium here in Denver, and money prevented me from going inside of just about anything. I’d like to go back to Rome again someday, this time with actual knowledge of what it is I’m seeing.

As my time here winds down I find myself sitting at the top of the Spanish steps, next to two 30-something Australians who have a passion for laughing and drinking beer with strangers. Traveling alone is fun, you’re much more open and able to experience spontenaity. That said, I think there are also merits to traveling with a friend and I’ll forever be grateful to the people who invited me into their plans, or changed plans to partake in mine. I’ve also learned that friends can be met in the strangest places and that without a 100 euro trip to Italy I might not have known they even exist.  It’s a huge planet (6 billion people are wandering around on it), so it amazes me that you can meet somebody who’s from you hometown when you are halfway around the world.