Excited about Japan

Most of you know that my emotional response to various situations is usually delayed or muted, if I respond at all (in fact, several of you have been exceedingly frustrated at one time or another by this very trait).  Travel is no exception. Even when I'm in some admittedly enviable locations, I've often caught myself treating it as "just another day." There are pros and cons to this - I often get to experience places somewhat differently than your typical photo-happy, experience-craving tourist -  but that's a topic for a different post.

The reason I mention this is because today was a little different. I left my aunt's house in a bit of a rush this morning (for the record, I currently have even less stuff than I did when I left AK so packing in a hurry is even easier), and caught a bus to LAX. When I walked in the door of the international terminal I was suddenly very excited for the next leg of my adventure. Maybe it was brought on by seeing so many so many foreign travelers in one place. Or maybe it was just that all of the research and planning I've been doing for the past several weeks was finally being realized. And I'm sure part of it was knowing that I'll soon be immersed in cultures and languages so very different from anything in the Americas. And of course, I'm very eager to see my friends and relatives in distant places. ...  Regardless of the precise cause, some magic formula of these things combined to bring forth one of those oh-so-rare-for-Thomas outward emotional responses: a giant smile! As I walked around looking for my ticket counter carrying my two small backpacks I was grinning from ear to ear. It's a shame none of you were there to see it! :D

I'm still in the airport, waiting for my flight. I'm still excited, but unfortunately I'm also still trying to rush through a few last tasks before boarding the 12 hour flight to Tokyo, so I'm going to have to keep this short. I'll have to write about my last couple weeks in Guatemala, the quick trip through Mexico, and my short time visiting friends and family here in California at a later date. Also, as always, I have more photos to share than I know what to do with; it's just a matter of picking out the good ones and getting them uploaded. Maybe I'll have time to do some of that during the flight.

On that note, if there's any topic or place in particular that you would like to hear about or see, please let me know, and I'll make sure I include it in my next post. It helps me filter out the interesting parts from the mundane details that I often think are interesting.

Hope you all are doing well. Stay in touch! Keep writing me emails and saying hi online when you can.  Wish me luck in the Land of the Rising Sun!

(ps. also, the map linked at the top is current through San Diego.)

Leaving Guatemala

Today is a very busy day, because tomorrow morning I'm leaving Guatemala - the place I've spent the last three months of my life. I have errands to run, things to pack, souvenirs to buy (any special requests, speak now), photos to take, and good-byes to say. And only about 24 hours to get it all done.

Parque Central in Xela. 

I've definitely enjoyed my time here. I've made some great friends, and dedicating time and energy to learning another language has been more rewarding than I yet realize. It's not easy leaving Xela behind (difficult good-byes have been a consistent theme since before I left Alaska), but I'm also excited; this next part promises to be interesting and rewarding in many different ways.

Laguna Chicabal in the crater of an old volcano near Xela. A sacred site for many of the Mayans.

The biggest news is that I've decided to go forward with the trip to visit my brother in Indonesia and then other parts of Asia and Europe. I'm not entirely sure if this is the "right" decision, but I do think it will make me happy. I'm really looking forward to it, and that's a good sign.

The current plan is pretty similar to the one I posted at the bottom of my last post. Since most flights from the US seem to stop in Japan anyway, I will fly from LA to Tokyo on April 18th to visit my friend Ray whom I met in Germany in 2007 (link to his blog). After a week in Japan I fly to Jakarta spend a week or so learning what it's like to be a Marine in Indonesia, and then start making my way north through East Asia.

So far the flights to Tokyo and Jakarta are the only tickets I've purchased, and thus the only firm commitments I've made. This is good, because it allows me the flexibility to change schedules along the way or to do a complete 180 and return to America for more Spanish lessons or volunteering if I decide days upon days in trains and buses just aren't for me. There's a pretty low probability of that happening - I'm going forward with the Russian and Chinese visa applications (more on those headaches in a subsequent post) - but I do like to keep my options open.

Tomorrow morning I will take a bus north from Xela toward San Cristobal de las Casas. That should take about 8 hours, and if I'm lucky, I'll arrive in time to catch an overnight bus to Mexico City (additional 12 hours). From Mexico City I'll fly to Tijuana or San Diego. I decided to fly rather than bus/ferry through Mazatlan per my original plan, because my research suggests I'm going to need at least a week on US soil for the Russian consulate to process my passport and issue the visa. Flying will buy me an extra 3 or 4 days at about the same price as a bus ticket.

As always, I'll try to keep my map updated with my latest progress.

Also, I've added a new, mostly unrelated section to my blog for those of you with time or interest. 

Buses, trains, planes, boats, people, schedules, paperwork, languages, time zones, datelines .... As I've said before, the logistics for this trip are going to be one of the most interesting parts. Wish me luck!

Hold on tight and watch your step. 

Plans Change

Recap

Of course you'll remember that a little while back I left Xela to attend a sailing meetup in Rio Dulce. You might also remember that after the meetup I was a bit uncertain about what I was going to do next. Too many options and no strong inclinations. At the time I thought I might help out with a project to install some solar panels for a computer lab at a local orphanage. I was able to help them a bit by reviewing some proposals and solar quotes, but in the end the work really wasn't well suited for me.

Sailing on the lake near Rio Ducle

Life on the river in a dug-out canoe

That sent me back to the drawing board so to speak. I was half-heartedly looking for a sailboat heading south on which I could crew, in hopes that I could take some more Spanish lessons once I arrived "somewhere south," when the aforementioned bacteria made itself at home in my intestines.  This allowed me a couple long days of sitting around the hostel with nothing more to do than think and read. In addition to finishing Oryx and Crake (pretty decent book, by the way), I also conceived and sketched out a plan for my next few months which I've outline below. But first I'll bring you all up to present day. 

Magic in a bottle.

After I had mostly dealt with the bacteria, I decided to head back to Xela for more Spanish lessons. I could have made the trip from Rio Dulce to Xela in one day, but that would have been about 11 hours in a bus. Instead, I stopped over for two nights in Antigua. Antigua is a very pretty city; clean and quite by Guatemalan standards. It was nice to spend the day there, and I met some other travelers who were really nice, but that's the problem - it's not real Guatemala. At any given time there are probably more Gringos in the city than there are Guatemalans. And it's far to easy to get by without speaking a lick of Spanish. I'm glad I spent a short time there, but I was very pleased to be heading back to Xela the next day. 

New friends in Antigua.

Impressively well manicured lawn and colonial style architecture (or so I was told) in Antigua. 

Now I'm in Xela. I reconnected with the friends I made during my first five weeks, and I've signed up for three more weeks of Spanish classes at a different school, PLQ. Not that I had any problems with my last school, ICA. I really learned a lot and had a great time there. I just figured why not try something new? And I've gotten great reviews about this school from other students. 

Also, I'm no longer staying with a host family. Same story - I really enjoyed my host family, but I wanted to try cooking and shopping for myself while I'm here. I have a nice room in a guest house with 5 other people; shared bathrooms and kitchens and very close to my new school.

I have also found some appropriate volunteer work to do while I'm here. The original volunteer group I had identified before leaving Alaska finally emailed me back with a project they could use my help on. I'm going to be reviewing equipment and requirements for connecting micro-hydro systems to the utility power grid. I don't want to count my chickens before they hatch, but this seems like something where I can be of real benefit and learn a bit at the same time. More info on their website: Alterna.

I updated the map to show my trip to Rio Dulce and back and my current location in Xela. I encourage you to zoom in and virtually browse around in Guatemala. The topography is incredible. Here's the link: http://e2thex.blogspot.com/p/track-my-progress.html

Going Forward

Now for the interesting part: what is Thomas going to do after language school? Good question. My original plan was to stay here or in another Spanish speaking country and volunteer, putting my new language skills into practice. I still want to do that, and I might if this volunteer work turns out to be as good as it sounds, but I would also like to visit my brother in Jakarta. He is stationed there with the Marines, but only for a couple more months.  I haven't seen him in a while, so it would be really nice to visit him. Also, sometime in the last couple years I casually promised him that I would come visit if he got the post in Indonesia. Now I feel casually obligated.

Facebook kindly generated a map showing the location of all of my friends.

So hypothetically, if I were to visit my brother, I wouldn't want to just jet across the Pacific and jet right back. It would be a waste of a very energy-intense airplane ride. I should do something more while I'm there; especially since I have a bit of free time. Then I started thinking about all of the places where I have friends whom I haven't seen in a long time. One thing led to another, and after a bit of feasibility research this is the very rough, pie in the sky, idea I came up with:

1. Ride buses from Guatemala through Mexico to California, taking the ferry from Mazatlan to La Paz across the Gulf of California. (1 week)
2. Briefly visit some folks in CA, then take a plane to Japan.
3. Visit my friend in Japan and get a small dose of the culture. (1 week)
4. Fly to Indonesia and visit my brother. (1 week-ish)
5. Take a boat or short flight to Thailand. Hopefully cross paths with a couple friends in Thailand, then bus and train my north toward Beijing. (a couple weeks) 
6. Hop aboard the Trans-Siberian railroad and head toward Moscow with a couple stops along the way to visit friends in Russia. (2 weeks with stops) 
7. From Moscow, head for Central Europe via train to see friends in Germany, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Belgium, the UK, and Ireland. (3 or 4 weeks; I hope I have time for all of the Europe stops I want to make)
8. Take a ferry from Norway to Iceland and then fly toward New York or Montreal.
9. Take the train across Canada from Montreal to Vancouver. (1 week)
10. And finally, take the ferry from Washington back to Alaska. (1 week)

Pros: I get to visit a lot of people I haven't seen in a long time, minimal air plane travel / maximum public transit, I get to learn a lot about many different cultures, and at the end I will have crossed every line of longitude. 

Cons: I will feel guilty about not spending more time volunteering and long distance travel is inherently wasteful.

Alright, there's my idea. The alternative option is to stay in Latin America and really dive into some volunteering, which would be rewarding, fun, and educational (and closer to my original intent). What do you think? What would you do? Suggestions, comments, advice? If I go the long way, will any of you be crossing paths with me somewhere? Would anyone want to join me for a leg or two of the journey? Would I be passing close to anyone or anything that I should really make a point of visiting?