Back in Buenos Aires

We sailed into Buenos Aires this morning after 18 fast hours up the rio plata. We're docked in a real swanky area called Puerto Madero which is the old shipping port for the city. We walked around a bit this afternoon basking in the warm weather and just cleaned up to head out for a drink and some traditional argentine BBQ. Check out the Alaska eagle facebook blog for all the rest that I can't type on my iPod.

In other news I've started selling exercise ropes at http://www.muscleropes.com

Here we go Again!

After a day and a half of flying south I'm currently sitting in the southernmost Irish pub in the world having one of Patagonia's finest brews. It seems that I wad the first crewmember to arrive in Ushuai so I've been trying to catch up on sleep before exploring for the next day and a half before we cast off. Pretty chilly down here but nothing compared to what's to come in the following weeks. Hopefully my last minute shopping at REI will withstand all that the southern ocean has to throw at us.
All for now, my glass is empty.
- Josh

Great article on the trip, you can stop reading after my name.

Noche Final

Last night in Puerto Montt, off to the airport tomorrow. Really not much to see around here, but have had a good time nonetheless. This is the area where "farm raised" salmon come from, and so far my experience with them has been less than ideal... that's read violently ill at 3AM this morning, might have been red tide. All is well now and I'm about to see if the beef stays put once it's eaten. Wish me luck.

Chao,
Josh

Get Off the Boat

As of 1200 hours today my first trip on the Alask Eagle has come to an end. We're currently in Puerto Montt, Chile after 2297 miles of sailing and I'm looking forward to a bed that lies flat. Had a great time, said goodbye to most of the crew, and will be spending the next few days between Puerto Montt and a place called Puerto Varas which is just up the road. Tried to come home a few days early to get some work in the store, but couldn't justify the $8,000 price tag.

See you all soon.

- Josh

Made it to Chile!

Short post because I wasted all my time on Skype. We made it across in about 12 days or so and anchored a night in some of the chanels off of Chiloe which is an island off of Chile. Pretty painless ride from Easter Island, read about 5 books, told and retold jokes, ate well, and got blisters from steering so much. Beautiful little anchorage in the middle of nowhere where we tied off between two islands for the night.


Ver mapa más grande

We're now 90 miles north in the town of Castro which is the capital of Chiloe. Funky little place, really cold, over 150 churches on the island, food's not bad... this is where they do most of the country's salmon farming. Quite an operation. We're leaving in the morning to motor up to Puerto Montt and then we're off the boat on the 13th. I've got a few days before my flight home so I'll work on getting some pictures up when I get there.

Chao,
Josh

This is It

EASTER ISSLAND

Final post before Leaving for Puerto Montt:

Spent about six hours aboard the boat yesterday preparing her for sea once again. Refueled with about 250 gallons of deisel fuel in giant bladders we had to haul to the local gas station then lower into the inflatable with a crane, and now sending a few last minute emails before we take off in a half hour.

Easter Island is an incredible place, and while most visitors come to see the statues, it's the people I've met here that will really make it memorable. I don't have time to write the poetic post I'd like so I'll save it for another time. All checked out of my hotel, spent more money in less time on the smallest island imaginable, took lots of pictures, met lots of great people and am now ready to sail.

Turns out some of the crew didn't make it so I think we're down to about 9 of us. Should be a good ride, we estimate landfall in about 18 days. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and has plenty of time to wrap my presents before I get home.

Remember you can follow the boat here, we're leg 2.

See you in Chile,
Josh

The Eagle Has Landed

The boat got here last night around 2AM. Thought I'd post a few pictures now and then recap more later.

Welcome to Easter Island or Isla de Pascua or Rapa Nui

I know that if I make this to long most of you will stop reading so hop on my train of thought and lets bang this out.

Sherry droped me off at the airport and I was at the wrong terminal so I had to walk a mile to the right one when I realiaed I forgot to leave my laptop at home... you dont bring a laptop on a boat but I now have no choice. Make it to American where the lady tells me I have an illegal connection in Miami and they wont have time to transfer my bag. Illegal sounds a little strong, she makes it work, that was easy, I start to wonder what other illegal activities I can get this woman to do for me. Make it on the flight, pass out, neck pillows are ugly but I love them, wake up in Miami. Still mad that security didn't try to get to second base with me... I'm good looking, what gives.

Walk to other side of airport again, except its 80 and humid so I'm miserable. Fly to Santiago, make a sad face so the lady gives me two dinners cause I couldn't decide between pasta and steak. I drink too much wine and pass out during the last 15 minutes of the movie Inception. Make it to Santiago, feel like I was just here. they make me pay the $140 entry fee again even though I paid it 13 months ago and its supposed to last forever, that's bullshit. Take my time on my way to the next flight until I realize I'm about to miss it and end up in one of those 3 hours lines you need to get through 10 minutes ago. Meet a guy who was on all of my flights whose meeting his girlfriend in Easter Island when she gets off of the Alaska Eagle from the first leg. (He's going to propose here... shhhhhh don't tell her).

we make the flight, see Air Force One on the ground, get to Easter Island where you can't help but walk off the plane and say "Where the Fuck am I?" Theres a guy with a sign with my name on it to take me to my hotel, thats awesome because that never happens. I pass out for 4 hours and never want to wake up.

Meet for dinner with Proposal buddy, an English woman, a Chilean, and a Polish woman who runs Extreme Ulta Marathons (she did the Iditerod in alaska except she pulled the sled 340 miles). We drink Pisco Sours, pay too much for dinner, go to a Polynesian dance show where I get us in for half price then after that everyone went home. I slept all day.. time to party.

I buy a box of wine then ask the 7 year old kid at the hotel where the biggest party is on Saturday night. He tells me, I go... I'm early, it's 11:30. I go up to a group of locals and make the "please talk to me face or I'll just linger all night" face. It works. Peter passes me a funy cagarette, it would have been rude to say no, (I subsequently eat the entire bag of chocolate I was going to ration for myself on the boat in about 5 minutes), usually in these situations my conversation partner has to speak English but this time it was all spanish. I had a couple drinks in me so my spanish was perfect and we talked for a few hours. He may come visit in California.

Wake up at noon grasping for agua, realize I fell asleep with my computer on cause I was watching 30 Rock... which is rediculous, I'm on an island in the middle of nowhere, why do I need TV. I remembered to unpack my charger in the states so no mas laptop. I think its time to see some statues, start walking around the island, see lots of statues, wind up in the middle of an endurance horse race (no idea what that is), something super gross happens, then decide I'll run the 3 miles back to town beacause when you're on Easter Island you have to do as many different things as you can so you can outdo all your friends at home. Watched a soccer game, talked with a German cab driver/violinist for 2 hours, Sherry calls me to ask about shipping a spinnaker, I curse cell phone reception, and now I am currently blogging next to 2 liters of Chiles finest brew. I've been here 24 hours, haha.

Left a lot out, I'll have pictures up soon, this place is nuts. Kind of like Tahiti with less fruit and topless women. Dinner time with the motleyest of crews. No sign of the boat yet.

Chao,
Josh

Off to Easter Island

In the morning I'm taking the world's longest flight to Easter Island where I'll meet up with the 65 foot sailboat Alaska Eagle and sail 2200 miles to Puerto Montt, Chile. I'll try to post a bit while I'm on Easter Island, but once we set sail on Wednesday I won't be able to post... not much wi-fi in the middle of the pacific.

We will however be posting daily log entries over on the OCC website which you can get to here. Click on leg 2 to see where we're at, and a little message from one of the crew members. If you're tech savvy you can enter our latitude/longitude coordinates into google maps and see where the boat is. It can be a little tricky though sometimes but enter out coordinates in this format: 27.05S 109.20W and it ought to work... if it looks like we're on land, you screwed up somewhere. See you in a month.

- Josh

Buenos Aires

So just as we were packing up for the bus station and heading for Buenos Aires, my new laptop fell out of my backpack and landed 4 feet later with a great thud... the screen has a huge crack through it and i was devastated. With glass chips all over the keyboard I tired to turn it on, and somehow it works fine. I have an Argentinean Angel it seems.

We boarded the bus, and our friends from Peru/Mexico boarded a bus 15 minutes after us. We headed 10 hours to Buenos Aires (from now on BA) and arrived at 7 am the next morning. We met back up with John and Sarai and headed to a hostel that was reccommended to us by a man in the station who called and booked us a room and walked us to the train station and gave us directions. We dropped off our packs, showered, and headed out on the town. We met up with our friend Naris who had left for BA a day before, but she had some Greek woman that had latched onto her earlier that morning at her hostel, and there was just no losing this woman... until we were at the modern art museum and we caught a break and ran like hell. We walked around all day, past all the sites, and to the graveyard of Eva Peron "Evita!" A grat time, tons of walking. This is an amazing city that bustles like Manhattan but the buildings don't reach as high.

We went out for a traditional meat dinner complete with steak, ribs, blood sausage, kidney, intestine, and stomach perhaps... then out for a drink before bed. I was exhausted having slept very little on the bus the night before so I slept until 11 this morning, did some laundry, then did about a 4 mile walk to meet up with the rest of the gang downtown.

Sun has gone down, time to hit the town and meet some new friends.

Chao,
Josh

En Argentina

Short post, made it to Argentina after 2 days and 17 hours on a bus. We're in the town of Cordoba and will be here a day or so before moving on. Destination unknown; suggestions welcome.

- Josh

Vacation on Vacation

After spending two weeks in Santiago, it was time to see some more of this long and narrow country. After consulting many guidebooks and locals alike we had settled on the town of La Serena for our weekend trip, it’s a seaside town about 500 kilometers North of the capital, and the basis for all trips into the Elqui Valley. Danny and I spearheaded the operation, and started making plans a week in advance however birthday after birthday and going out every night we found ourselves on Skype at the last minute trying to book rooms for 14 people in a town we knew next to nothing about. Luckily we found a hotel and were able to make reservations… the only thing we needed now were bus tickets. Friday morning two people had decided not to go which left us with 11 students and our professor’s son Poncho. 12 was a good number to travel with.

On our way to class that morning we stopped by the bus station and picked up 12 one-way tickets to La Serena leaving at 2 PM. We went to class and had to slip out a little early as we had a bus to catch. We grabbed some snacks and hopped on the bus where we would remain for the next seven or eight hours. The seats reclined nicely, and it was like sitting in a lazy-boy chair without all the padding; we travel in style. After about six stops we were in La Serena and we made it to our hotel. Time for some serious vacationing;

Showered, changed our clothes, headed out on the town, found a small restaurant and squeezed 12 people into a corner and had a meal and some drinks, walked around in the cold looking for our next stop, walked into a cold dark club with overpriced drinks and too much smoke so we left, found a local bar filled with college kids where we polished off a bottle of cheap tequila and some more beer (the buying power of 12 students will get you pretty far), played some music on the jukebox, walked to a rock & roll bar, befriended a local, bought him a shot, half the group had gone home, the rest of us stayed out another hour.

Next day woke up around 11, went to the mall to get some mediocre Chinese food, walked to the beach which turned out to be a 2 mile walk, bought 5 kilos or oranges out of the back of a pickup truck, went to a light house, spun some fire on the beach, played in the sand, had an afternoon cocktail, back to our place for some pregaming before heading to some world famous observatories, drove up a mountain, bought artesian olive bread off of a chef in the park, headed to observatory, made friends with a Ukrainian woman named Roxalana (who I would only address in the voice of Sting; Rooooooooooooooooooxalana), watched the stars, the Milky Way was close enough to touch, the moon could be held in your palm, and we saw the fabled Llama in the night sky. As I tried to bend over backwards to get a better look I stumbled into a rock wall and did beautiful tuck and roll that would make a stuntman proud, except for all of my change falling out of my pocket in addition to my room key. Went into the observatory, looked at the stripes on Jupiter which made me feel so insignificant I can’t put it into words, I put my headphones on, listened to Pink Floyd, and had a very existential experience looking out into our galaxy. Got back in the van, headed down the hill and went to bed.

Next morning woke up early to head into the Elqui Valley, which is where much of Chile’s agriculture comes from. Headed up the valley to a papaya farm and winery. Papaya in Chile is very different than anywhere else. We had some jelly and a papaya juice, and bought a bottle of white wine made from pisco grapes for us to drink on the bus, and the group bought a really nice bottle for our professor as a gift. Kept heading up the valley where we went to a large hydroelectric dam that produces 5 megawatts of electricity for the city. There’s a metal structure or harp that’s supposed to make a pretty noise when the wind blows up there but it was pretty calm. We continued up to Gabriela Maestral’s house and saw where the Nobel Prize winning poet lived. They grow tons of citrus, avocados, and grapes up on theses hills, it’s really beautiful, and very warm, but all the mountaintops are still covered in snow. We walked around there, grabbed a pisco sour, and then headed down the hill to the solar restaurant. They cook all their food in solar ovens outdoors that are covered in mirrors. Ate some goat that was cooked to absolute perfection. We were all stuffed and tired when we got back on the bus and headed to the pisco distillery, but excited to see where our new favorite spirits originated. We walked around the grounds and tried some 134 Proof pisco that burned all the way down but had a great fruity taste to it. We then bought a few bottles for cheap and felt pretty good on the ride home. Got back to our hotel around 7PM, went out to dinner, got back and watched some TV and then went to bed.

Monday morning we woke up late, extended our checkout time, walked around town and grabbed some lunch. Had some amazing soup called cozuela and drank an awful shot of some apple liquor. Got back to our hotel, sat in the sun for a bit then headed down to the station. Got on our 3:15 PM double-decker bus headed for Santiago. This one was gorgeous, must have been brand new. Had a very interesting conversation over a box of wine, made it back around 9:30 PM and took the metro back to our apartment. Found out that two students had gotten Swine Flu while we were gone, switched rooms with the girls (from our bunk beds to two double beds) and got some sleep for class in the morning.

Great trip, great people, great time.

Update

Not too much going on lately, been going to class every day, and going out at night celebrating birthdays and any day really. had a good time in Valparaiso, just put some pictures up on facebook. It was nice to get out of Santiago; all the Chileans say "Santiago is not Chile," and they're definitely right. We took a harbor cruise, walked through some of the poor neighborhoods, and took one of the funiculars (elevators on a hillside). Heading North to La Serena which is a seaside town that's near some world famous observatories because the deserts nearby make it one of the darkest places in the world and the stars look incredible. In Chile the skies are s bright at night that their constellations are composed of the negative space in the night skies where the stats aren't... I can't wait.

One Week In

So I'm just over a week into it, and have slacked on the blog per usual. Santiago is pretty great, the weather's been perfect, and according to everyone we've talked to this has been a mild winter, and as a result the smog is not as bad so we can see the mountains fairly clearly each day.

We've had class all week, and been checking out the sites after that each day. Had some great meals, and have sung an obscene amount of karaoke. Visited Pablo Neruda's second house in Isla Negra, and today we're taking a bicycle tour of Santiago. Everything feels safe and clean although one girl had her wallet stolen out of her backpack... it happens. Bought a canvas and some paint and am going to try and paint a picture of the place... we'll see how that turns out. Tomorrow we're headed to a place called Valparaiso which is supposed to be beautiful so I'll take plenty of pictures.

- Josh

Bienvenidos a Chile

Made it to Chile around 9am yesterday morning after about 17 hours of traveling. Flying over the Andes and watching the sky turn red as the sun came over the horizon was absolutely beautiful. Changed out of my plane clothes and donned my new winter apparel that was purchased at a deep discount in summertime Boston. Got to our apartment and am rooming with my friend Dan from the YMCA three years ago, and two girls, one of which is best friends with Kristen’s roommate in China.

Hung out in our apartment for a while then left to go to the supermarket for some snack foods for our pad. Chile is the only other country I’ve been to that gives out free samples of the foods in the store… pretty awesome. Picked up some Chilean wine (3 bottles for $6 US) then came home and made an amazing breakfast sandwich with ham, egg, cheese, avocado, and salsa on a baguette and a pitcher of sangria. Went out to dinner with the group to and then wowed some Chileans with a lovely duet of Summer Nights with a Columbian girl… they then made us sing about half a dozen Michael Jackson songs, before I floored them with my rendition of Sweet Child of Mine. Epic. Kept the party going for a while with some tequila in non-regulation shot glasses (read; huge glasses) before moving onto a bar called PubLicity, an Irish pub, then back to our place for some sleep.

This morning fell back asleep after breakfast in bed (complimentary room service breakfasts daily) and strolled to our meeting place about 25 minutes late… which is acceptable in Latin countries… except this time. Almost missed the tour of Pablo Neruda’s (Nobel Prize winning poet from Chile) house that was actually really awesome and quirky. Kind of what I’d like my house to look like some day. Ate Filet Mignon for lunch with some great wine, then siesta at the apartment before we go out tonight. This place is beautiful, weather is like early fall in Boston, leaves are almost all gone and those that remain are bright orange and red. We’re surrounded by the Andes Mountains, and this city feels like it could be Denver if Denver were a fraction of the size, and closer to the Rockies.

Cerveza tiempo

Birthday Layover

An explanation of the previous post, for those that haven't figured it out yet.

My ticket home from Hong Kong wasn't until June 30th. I was thinking about going to Taiwan and staying with a friend, but our emails missed eachother, and that was becoming less and less of a possbility, and my funds were getting smaller each day. I'd spent the last 3 nights sleeping on the floor of my friend's hotel in HK, and I was kind of getting bored in the city. Plenty to do if you've got money, although not too much for the backpacker. This is when I hatched the plan to leave 9 days early, come home and work, and enjoy Boston for a while... Of course I didn't tell anyone this.

So on the 21st I walked into the front door of my house and said hello to all of my roommates as if I'd just come home from class rather than a 16 hour flight and a 5 hour bus ride from New York City. Needless to say they were shocked... My brother couldn't believe his eyes; but this was just the beginning. The next morning I woke up early and headed down to the lovely town of Hebron, Connecticut to try and track down Kristen, whose address I vagueley remembered from exchanging addresses and credit card numbers to book flights for the past 2 months.

I found her house on the second attempt and her brother let me in the house and showed me where her room was. I walked in while she was still asleep and woke her up. I'd say it was the best surprise of all time (especially since she had been talking to me in Hong Kong (my couch in Boston) just 8 hours earlier.

Spent a few days in CT, headed to Boston, went to work, Kristen came up and stayed the last week with me. 4th of July, Tyler's birthday, my birthday yesterday, shopping for warm clothes for Chile (next Saturday's low is 28 degrees) and on Thursday I begin the second half of Travel Summer when I fly to Santiago, Chile where I'll stay for a month and spend the following month bummin' around South America. 3 Continents in 3 weeks isn't too bad.

Adios,
Josh

What do i love more than surprises?

Nothing!

Hong Kong

Havent posted in a while, been pretty busy.

Landed in Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City around 9pm, went to our hostel that was run by a sweet old lady who was an English teacher for 40 years. Went out and got some great food and a facial haha, next day we went to the Cu Chi Tunnels which is an underground tunnel network that helped the Viet Cong bring supplies to Saigon to fight the southern government and the US troops... very interesting day listening to the guides tell us about all the hidden traps they had set up to kill American soldiers. Kristen and I shot some M-60 machine guns, and an AK-47. Next day we rented a motorbike and joined the swarms of prople on the roads around the city, got totally lost and had a few close calls but made it back safely. Next day we went on a one day excursion to the Mekong Delta which was a trip, hung out with some Viet/Canadiens who stumped us on the capital of Canada (Ottawa) then told us that we had to go to Macau because it's sooo fun.

That night we got home and went on the internet to find that flights to Hong Kong were going to cost us between $250-300... after searching the wide web for a bit I found an airline called VIVA-macau that was going to cost $150. Naturaly we booked it, headed out at 7am the next morning, hopped on a free bus to the Venetian hotel (Macau is Las Vegas of Asia, so there is a Venetian, Hard Rock, Wynn, MGM Grand) we booked an amazing room at the Hard Rock Hotel Macau with the money we saved on the plane tickets, and went and saw a Cirque du Soleil show at the Venetian. Went gambling, threw five 7's in a row and won a hundred dollars, then played blackjack and lost it all, then won it all back the next day so Macau was a good investment. Got sick yesterday form my dinner the night before, hopped on a ferry to Hong Kong where we checked into our hostel/prison cell on the 13th floor of a suspicios building and slept from 8pm until 9am this morning. Currently sitting on top of the highest mountain in Hong Kong looking down onto the densest group of sky scrapers I've ever seen.

47 days in, 14 left... still rocking.

- Josh

Good Moring Vietnam (again)

Kristen and I are killing time at the Bangkok airport until our flight to Ho Chi Minh city. Just spent 4 days in a 5 star resort in Phuket with Joe and Tom where we enjoyed jet skis, bars, stripers, ladyboys, pedicures, waxings, amazing food and piercings. The relaxing was necessary after china and before vietnam. Got to go... hate typing on metalkeyboards.

- Josh

2 Nights in Bangkok!

Arrived in Bangkok last night around 1:30 in the morning. Today is the 2 year anniversary of when I left for the "ebay Trip," and it feels good to be back in a city I know so well. Headed back to the hostel I was at two years ago, and am staying in the owner's old "honeymoon suite." Just getting up, had some pad thai, and now I'm calling the bank so that my debit card doesn't get eaten. I told the bank that I would be in 5 potential countries this trip, but I hadn't even considered Thailand. Just booked a flight to Phuket for tomorrow evening so Kristen and I will be heading down south to meet up with Joe and Tom (friends from China) should be a hell of a time.