Seattle Livin'

Originally, I started posting emails from prior trips abroad, attaching some pictures and reminiscing of the good old days with no restraints, no worries (other than where to sleep and what type of curry to have for dinner) and good times.

However, my father so eloquently told me it was "old news." Thanks, Pops. So what am I doing now exactly? After spending almost 5 months of the last year traveling the world, I decided I would expand my US horizons and move to Seattle, the coffee, garage music, rainfall capital of the world.

I've spent many-a-weekend up here in the past, trips from Eugene during college, visiting my old college roommate... and I guess I was (and still am) dating a guy that lives here... He's kind of important too. He looks like this:

(His face isn't stuck like that, I promise.)

I love the Pacific Northwest with my whole freaking heart. Why? Portland and Seattle go down on my list as two of the best cities in the US. Why would I say that? Well... the people, the greenery, the EPIC summers without extreme heat and humidity, the outdoorsy culture, the local music encouragement, and not to mention, the Thai food is about as close to Thailand as you can get (minus the whole, 18 hour flight situation). I strongly believe that if the weather was better, everyone would live here. This stormy overcast clouds that loom over the city roughly 9 months out of the year are actually what weed out the yucky people. Yes, the yucky people. Traffic is bad enough, let's not add the Yuckies.

Ok, Seattle Awesomeness Rant is over. Moving on: After five weeks of job searching I have to come to one very important conclusion: If I was sent to hell in the afterlife for wrongdoings during my time here on earth, my punishment would be The Perpetual Writing of Cover Letters (most likely with no response). My super nerdy friend, Sophie tells me she would be perpetually scraping popcorn ceilings... fair enough. So during these five weeks of non - response emails and applications, I walked door to door with a stack of resumes, landing a job at Louisa's Cafe and Bakery on Eastlake. Halle-fugging-luiah. This super cute place (full of croissants, scones, and other delectable, Bobbi-expanding items) has been my saving grace for the last month and a half, keeping me sane as I continue the search towards something I am seriously passionate about doing. In the meantime, I'll continue to get all hopped up on caffeine and eat cookies, its what I do best in life anyways. :)

Let's thank my mother for making me take the "Bobbi's Place of Work Picture" when they were here in February.

Thailand ~ December 2007

Hey Team!

So this is most likely the last email I'll be writing before I headhome to the freezing coldness of the USA. At least I will be returningwith a tan (which I will probably only retain for a solid 2 weeks...blast).

We spent about four days in Ko Toa (an island next to Ko Samui and KoPhan Nan) enjoying the sun and the beautiful scenery. It was by farthe most aesthetically pleasing island we have been to so far. It isknown for diving but we didn't end up getting to go. Maybe in Ko PhiPhi, you never know!

The last five days we have spent in Krabi and the beaches aroundthere. We randomly met up with some English friends that we traveledwith in Vietnam. We saw them drive by in a taxi so we had to chasethem down, yogurts in hand and all. A valiant effort. :) I have beenloving the last few days here in Thailand: massages, amazing food and waaaay too many coconut shakes. My time here has been amazing and itwill be so weird to leave T and Kaelin. It's weird to spend 24/7together and then leave them, quitting cold turkey. Withdrawals are tocome I'm sure... :)

So I'll be home soon and will be in touch and all! I'll be laying lowfor a couple days to recover from jetlag and traveling in general soif I don't pick up your phonecalls right away, don't be offended. I'll probably be enjoying a peppermint mocha and enjoying the Holiday spirit.

Love you all and I'm excited to see everyone soon! If you actually read all these emails then I am impressed, I rarely read group emails anyways. :)

Peace and Love!

Bobs

Sihuanoukville ~ November 2007

Hey guys!

We are now in Sihnuakville, Cambodia. On the beach! This is a great beach town and we are staying in little bungalows. I love our new place! It has a pool table, hammocks, a movie room, bar/restaurant... one of the places you only need to leave to get to the beach!

Therese' has already decided to extend her trip 3 months and stay here to work and volunteer at an NGO after volunteering in Phnom Penh. Will she ever come home? That's the real question. :) We are going to a restaurant tonight called the Snake House. There are live snakes in cages all over the restaurant and even in the tables that you eat at. Creepy? I think so.

I have to run so I'll write again soon! Love you and miss you guys lots!

Bobs

Nha Trang & Mui Ne ~ November 2007

Hey all!

We are really enjoying Nha Trang! The sun came out yesterday so we went for an island cruise. It was so nice to jump in the water, snorkel a little and chow on some pinneapple. We were all exhausted last night though and I fell asleep around 11.

Although I'm not a huge Vietnamese food fan, I had the best meal of my life last night. It better have been though, it cost me almost $15! That's like my whole budget for a day... We went to a restaurant with the freshest seafood (caught that day, if not still swimming) and they bbq it out front of the restaurant. I got the grouper and it came with rice, steamed vegetables and this crazy sauce. The fish still had the face and tail and all... he looked like he was screaming at me... I didn't really appreciate that part. It was crazy though.

Tomorrow we are off for Mui Ne, about 6 hours south, and then Saigon for a couple days before we have to leave Vietnam (my visa ends on the 3rd). That's the game plan so far! Its going to be a nice day so you'll find me at the beach! :)

Love you guys! Good luck to Casey in fireland.

Love,

Bobs

Ps. GO DUCKS!

Luang Prabang ~ October 2007

Hey everyone!

We arrived in Luang Prabang, Laos yesterday evening. So far I'm really enjoying this town. It is a little touristy but it has some cool things to do around here.

We went to the Kuang Si Waterfall today and climbed up near the top. The view was insane and we ended up soaking wet, covered in mud and sunburned... pretty standard.

Tomorrow T and I are going on an all day trek that starts at 8:30am and then we get back around 5. We will be hiking through three different villages and then ending up in waterfalls. It should be pretty cool. Don't worry Mom, lunch is included. :)

I'm really enjoying my time here. The people are so nice and helpful and the children are so adorable, I might adopt one. That's pretty much all for now! We are trying to figure out how to get to Hanoi, Vietnam. That's the next stop on our map. Besides we better get there before our visas run out. It may involve a 30 hour bus ride... bah. Nothing a little Dramamine can't handle.

Peace Out Team,

Bobs

ps. I was sleeping on the bus yesterday and a cockroach jumped on my head. I picked him up and threw it onto the foot of an english bloke in front of me. He stomped it to death, and needless to say, I didn't feel back about its sudden death. Ick.

Laos ~ October 2007

Hey all!

We got into Vientiene, Laos yesterday morning and its so nice to be out of Bangkok. Vientiene is the capital of Laos but only 200,000 people. It was pouring rain yesterday (like terrestial Eugene downpours, only they last for hours) but you still run around in shorts and a tank top. The guesthouse we stayed at was really nice and actually provided towels, a luxury now. :)

We are leaving for Vang Vienne today, about 4 hours north of here by bus. Buses are fairly comfortable but are slow and tend to break down. Oh well, they are cheap afterall. Apparently Vang Vienne involves kayaks, tubing and beer drinking. Hopefully we won't be stuck there for too long. :)

Oh yeah, Therese' and I went to take money out of the ATM yesterday and in attempts to do the conversion in our heads, we took out $11 US instead of $80.... we graduated from college.

I'm having an awesome time so far and I love hearing from everyone! Later alligators!

Love,

Bobs

Annie- stop running, I'm not joking. Or you will end with 84751798156 stress fractures instead of two.

Everyone in Eugene- enjoy the Fall, I miss the colors! (and cold weather, dear god)

Everyone in Canada - it's 85 degrees here, suckers

Couples Retreat in Colombia... Update #1

Hey guys!

Yes, the feet are in that picture as a size reference to how freaking big that moth is.

Coyle and I managed to land in Bogota around 430am Saturday morning. Thank you to the Cranky Croc hostel for not cleaning our room until 10:30. So awesome, thanks. We slept all day and cruised around the city, trying some arepas (cheesy pancake situations) and drinking coke (the soda kind) in bottles. Bogota was a pretty cool city, but we were ready to hop on the night bus and get over to Medellin.

We are now here (Medellin), got in around 615 this morning. The bus ride? One of the worst I've had in SA. Meaning that Coyle's first impression was a bus ride with the driver flying around turns at 85kms/hour, freezing, sliding around, no sleeping. It was super shitty. Speaking of shitty, you will have to hear the story of his bathroom adventures on the bus after he's had a couple beers. So goddamn hilarious.

We got to the hostel this morning and slept until about 2pm. We've been cruising around the city since, trying to get our bearings and finding grocery stores to cook some delicioso pasta this evening. Eggs for the morning, should be good times. Tomorrow's main agenda is finding an ATM and finding a bar that plays the ducks game on Thursday. We are flying to Santa Marta on Friday (no more night buses for Mr. Coyle), to make sure we are in town to catch that game.

I'll keep you guys updated! GO DUCKS! :)

Love you!

Bobbi

ps. I need a Dco's sando, pronto.

Old Emails from SE Asia... October 2007

Hey all!

So I'm thoroughly aware that group emails are lame. But you guys would never hear from me if I didn't do them. So here's what's going on so far:

We arrived in Bangkok after 22 hours of traveling. I managed to sleep for about 11 hours of the first 13 hour flight so we haven't been as jetlagged as I would have thought. We're not quite used the time change yet, seeing that we were up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 5am yesterday and 6:30am today. Bangkok is definitely an intense city. It's really busy, touristy and polluted. I'm excited to take off and get to a smaller city. Yesterday a Thai gentleman helped us out a ton. He drew us a map of the temples we should see, the boat tour we should take, and even flagged down a tuk tuk driver and convinced him to take us on this 3 hour tour for 60 baht (less than $2US). He would drive us to the temples and wait for us and everything. We have met some really nice people here that have helped us out. Others... not so much. That's what you tend to find in huge cities though. We were also blessed by a Buddhist monk yesterday and he gave us bracelets for good luck. I hope that will ease my mother's mind. :)

We have already aquired a traveling buddy. His name is Jim, a 50 year-oldfather from Saskatoon, Sasquatuan. We met him at the Sf airport, played crazy rummy (yes, crazy rummy is going global) for four hours in the Taipei airport and found the hostel in Bangkok. We have toured around Bangkok and played lots of crazy rummy and drinking a fair amount of Chang (you can get 40s for 45 baht/$1.50). We are parting ways tonight so our trio will be over. He's moving through SE Asia and then to South Africa. He's on a 7 month paid leave from work... Canada, how we need to go back.

We have met some interesting people so far. We met two Vietnam vets at breakfast this morning who live in Oregon. One, called Wolf has been traveling for 7 years and has only returned 3 times, for: the Country Fair. He also knows Frog really well. Ironically, Therese' had Frog's recycled joke book with her. Makes you realize how small the world really is. So we are off tonight on a 15 hour bus ride to Vientienne, the capital of Laos. We are looking forward to a smaller city and different scene. After that is most likely Luang Prabang. I'm sure the bugs and the humidity will follow us there. I think that mosquitos are fond of blonde girls. :( I however, are not so fond of them.

Alright, I'm not sure the next time I'll write so I hope all is well with everyone. Miss you all and take care. I'll be safe (the only thing I hear from everyone, other than eat lots of food). Besides, I have a monk's blessing...

Peace and Love kids,

Bobbi

ps. I know my mom is dying to hear this: I have eaten pad thai three times, green curry and some kind of thai soup. The curry here, even in the hostel cafe , is far superior to any I've had in the US... I may not be recognizable when I get back. And the pinneapple is amazing. :)

Mass Update #2: Bolivia, Argentina & Chile

Hi all,

I just realized its been over a month since I've updated... and my route has definitely strayed from my original plan. So here's a snapshot of what I've been doing for the last month:

Bolivia

Potosi: Caiti and I checked out the mines in Potosi, one of the highest cities in Bvia, about 4300m (basically walking makes you feel like you ran 10 sprints in a row, yikes). So we booked a tour through the mines, all decked out with the headlamps, rubber boots and bandanas. We crawled to the 4th level (underground) of the mine and managed to have only a couple "I'm going to suffocate" panic attacks. Its crazy to think the miners work 10 hours a day, 6 days a week in those conditions. We also got to blow up some dynamite after, just for kicks. Hey, its Bolivia, we do what we want.

Salar de Uyuni: So technically, I already did the one day tour with Kel, Craig and Conor when they were here... but Caiti managed to convince me that I should do the 3 day tour, end up in Chile, and then we could go to Argentina and Chile together... so I am now volunteering for 2 weeks instead of 4. Traveling is too much fun, there's nothing I can do about it!

The 3 day tour was incredible but SO FREAKING COLD! I'm talking cold to the point that you need to sleep in everything you own and have 5 beers for good measure. The days were so warm but the pictures of us at night are hilarious.

Argentina

Salta: After spending so much time in Peru and Bolivia it was such a nice treat to arrive in Argentina. Number One: good food. Empanadas, espresso, and the best red meat in the world?? Yes, please. So nice after living off of chicken, rice and yucky fries in Bolivia. We also fit in a rafting trip and a little bungee jumping. Bungee jumping = terrifying. I can now personally say that standing there and CHOOSING to fall head first and spring back up again is far scarier that skydiving. The video I have is seriously hilarious, especially because you can actually see me change my mind at the last second and I end up flailing my arms and legs all the way down. Overall, so happy I did it... however, a little questionnable as to whether I will do it again.

(I attempted to post the video, it was being uncooperative. Grrr.)

Mendoza: Wine country! We rented bikes for the day from this cool dude named Mr. Hugo and rode from winery to winery tasting some incredible malbec wines. Bobbi on a bike?? Dangerous. Bobbi drinking lots of wine on a bike?? Apparently less dangerous. Who would have thought? Limbs are all in tact.

Chile

Santiago: Overall, Santiago as a city did not rock my socks. We did however, meet some really fun kids and had a great time BBQing (Chilean style = meat, bread, beer; veggies are not invited to this party) and enjoying other close cities like Vina del Mar and Valparaiso. The hostel we stayed in also had a RIDICULOUS kitchen so we were able to cook every night. Seeing that Chile is so much more expensive than everywhere else, it helped the budget a bit too.

Iquique: So after 5 weeks of traveling together, Caiti and I parted ways, truly the end of an era. Everyone, at first, would think we were sisters. Upon finding out we weren't, they assumed we were long time friends... "Naw, I met her in La Paz and apparently I can't get rid of her."
So I headed north on a 26 hour bus ride with two German friends. We spent the day on the beach in Iquique, befriended a stray dog and threw a stick for him for roughly 4 hours. This dog wasn´t mangy though, a first in SA. The other 3 dogs that joined our party were pretty mangy.


On the second day we went paragliding and were able to see the whole city. It was hilarious to see us take off, because you are basically supposed to walk/run off the cliff, but when he told me to walk my feet were already off the ground (short kid) and so i basically just rocked the bicycle motion midair. It´s what all the cool kids are doing these days.

I´m now back in Peru, cruising pretty quickly up the coast to get to Ecuador. Volunteering officially starts June 9th, I´ll get my mosquito net ready.

Love you all, keep me updated on the goods and look forward to seeing everyone when I get home!

Peace and Love,

Bobs

Mass Update #1: Peru & Macchu Picchu

Hey Team!

I thought that as I reach the week 2 mark I should write and update a little. I met up with Kelly, Craig and Conor on April 3rd in Cusco . Cusco was definitely a way cooler city than I had anticipated. The elevation is pretty high so doing things like walking up stairs is practically exhausting. We hung around in Cusco for a day before taking the train to Aguas Calientes, the city closest to Macchu Picchu.

Of all the things that went wrong... I'm thinking that we should have had a terrible time... INSTEAD, it ended up making the whole experience even better. To start:

1) The ATM in Aguas Calientes apparently runs out of money

sometimes... Leaving Conor and I the only ones to have money, mostly in US dollars.

2) There was a raging domestic violence dispute next door to us at 2:30 am the night before our trek to Macchu Picchu. It involved loud screaming in espagnol and people/objects being thrown at walls.

3) Waiting in line for the bus at 5 am, we realize that we need tickets for the entrance, which we don't have. So we try to buy them, and apparently even though they list the prices in US dollars they only take soles... so Conor and I went to 4 different places at 5am and finally a jewelery store dude changed money for us.

4) Grabbed the bills and ran to the place so we wouldn't miss the bus, almost sprained my ankle in a gutter in the MIDDLE of the road and bought the tickets .

SO, we made it. We got to the entrance... did I mention it was rainy, foggy and our pics weren't turning out? HOWEVER, the sky cleared up, we hiked Wailu Picchu (death hike to the top of a mountain to see all of Macchu Picchu) and managed to do all this eating one power bar and drinking one bottle of water... Troopers, that's what we are. All in all, one of the craziest/coolest things I´ve seen.

We are in La Paz, Bolivia right now... The busiest freaking town ever, lots of traffic, honking horns and fotocopie stores ??? How many of those do you need? We're leaving tonight for the Salt Flats in southern Bolivia! More updates to come!

Love you all,

Bobs

Mad Bloggage Like Whoa

Since returning from some out of the country flee-age, I've discovered the random need to post some old traveling emails from time's past... and perhaps create some mindless banter about my new life in Seattle.

Am I trying to create new adventures out of my old ones? Perhaps... Do I expect people to read this? Probably Chris, Kelly, Annie, my moms and pops.... All others are welcome to join this party.