Jason's In South America

Jasons in South America has Moved

2009-11-14T17:37:00.000-05:00

Jasons in South America has officially moved to www.locationlessliving.com. You can subscribe to the new feed by clicking the orange logo above.

http://feeds.feedburner.com/LocationlessLiving

Mi Despedida - My Going Away Party

2009-10-27T21:06:00.002-04:00

A Despedida is a going away party. Yes, I was going away. My semester at the Universidad de Belgrano had ended (in June) and my travels were going to continue.
My last night, fortunetely a Saturday, meant we were going to the mega club Pacha. It's a franchise with clubs in Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, New York City, etc. that hires some of the most famous DJ's in the world. I had gone to Pacha my first saturday night in Buenos Aires back in February so it was only fitting I would go on my last night in June.

In February I paid 60 pesos entrance, but nothing this time thanks to my well connected owner of the hostel. A bunch of us from the hostel (10+) and some of my American friends came out and it was really a great time.

Now one thing I am thankful for about my time in Buenos Aires is that I did not hang out with American most of the time, or hardly any at all. I can attribute this to my great living situation. I enjoy hanging out with Americans but I came to South America to speak Spanish and meet new people from different places.

Me with some of my American buddies.

Check out the guy in the background wearing all white :)

My Brazilian buddy Alex enjoying himself as always. It's one thing I really admired about him. He would have a blast no matter where he went. Whether alone or with friends, it did not matter.

And my other buddy Pedro from Mexico. He was always smooth with the ladies but for this time I managed to steal that cute Argentine away from him!

Here is Alex whispering in my ear, challenging me to go dance up on the platform.

Followed by be dragging two beautiful Argentine girls up with me.

Can you say...ladies man?

I think so!

The Sold Out Ferry To Buenos Aires

2009-10-17T01:15:00.000-04:00

I really wanted to visit another city in Uruguay, Punta del Este. Alex and I split and I took a bus a few hours away. before leaving I lent Alex even more $$$. That became a common theme while traveling with him. His ATM card was either lost like in Cordoba or not working like in Uruguay. I gave him some more cash before leaving so he could make it back to Buenos Aires. He always paid me back without me having to ask.

On my way to Punta I left the bus like all other passengers. I walked around pretty lost for a good 30 minutes until I made my way back to the bus station to ask directions to the hostel. The lady helping me became pretty confused with the street names I was telling her and so when I asked where the center of Punta del Este is she answered, "In Punta Del Este, about 30 minutes further on the highway!"

Another bus from the same company I used stopped to drop off another bus load of passengers. He let me on after I showed him my ticket stub and laughed a little.

Punta del Este is known worldwide as a scenic resort area with miles of beautiful beaches, luxury hotels and restaurants, glittery nightlife and an upscale summer population. For decades Punta del Este was an exclusive resort for wealthy South Americans. But otherwise, it's also famous for the giant hand on the beach.

Within minutes of being in Punta I accomplished my goal of seeing the giant hand on the beach.

The beach, "La playa de los Dedos" (The finger beach"), which is near the main street in Punta del Este, close to a surf spot, and it has a giant hand emerging from the sand as you can see.

Punta became pretty disappointing. It was off-season for one and the town was deserted. The weather turned foggy with rain and I had nothing to do.

I walked around a little and saw nothing of interest. The choice was made. I left Punta Del Este an hour later for my last stop in Uruguay; Colonia. But to do that I had to take a bus back to Montevideo and from there a bus to Colonia.

Colonia was built in Portuguese style of houses and cobblestoned streets, the historic portion of Colonia is reminiscent of old Lisbon. The historic quarter, Barrío Historico, on a small peninsula jutting out into the river, was named a UNESCO heritage site.

But more or less, it's like any other nice colonial town in South America. Beautiful but rather ordinary.

On a side not, they have hot water ("Hay Agua Caliente")! I spent the night in Colonia, fortunately in a hostel with hot water. Not the one in the picture though.

So Colonia was alright. It's one of those places that I could really enjoy taking a date to. A bottle of wine by the water.

Speaking of water; after half a day of wandering in Colonia the following day I walked down to the pier to buy my ticket home to Buenos Aires.

Tough luck for me. All 2000+ tickets were sold out on the buquebus ferry I arrived on. I took a number on the waiting list and hoped for the best.I remember thinking it wouldn't be to bad if I had to miss a day of classes at university.

Just as I had thought, the ferry had no open spots after an hour of waiting. As I walked away from the pier I noticed another entrance to another ferry. I remembered reading about this other service but the folk at the hostel had mentioned it was necessary to buy tickets weeks in advance.

I chose to try my luck anyways...and boy was I fortunate. 20 minutes later I was on the ferry going back to Buenos Aires, just in time for a big steak dinner, later in the evening.

Dance Contest!

2009-10-16T20:13:00.000-04:00

If you remember the dance contest I wrote about a few weeks ago you should be looking forward to the video!

"At some point during the 2-3 hour boat ride to Colonia some on-board entertainers held a dance contest and Alex was the first to volunteer."

I'm In The Newspaper

2009-10-12T09:29:00.002-04:00

I was interviewed back in August about my work, travels, and plans for graduation back in August for an article to be written in my hometown paper.

Well, a few months ago they published the article on the front page of the weekly paper including to color photos of me with the Machu Picchu in the background and one in the mud volcano in Colombia (the photos only show in the print edition).

"Going into his final semester at college this fall, Jason Batansky isn’t worrying about landing that first big job, despite the struggling economy.

His goal at graduation: to be “location-independent and travel the world.”

That isn’t as footloose and fancy-free as it may sound.

A 2006 Lower Merion High School graduate, Batansky, 21, of Narberth, established his first online business while he was still in school.

Going on to the University of Pittsburgh, he created a second Web-based business while maintaining a schedule that will allow him to graduate a semester early.

And he’s already earned enough through those ventures to finance three summers of travel, and then some."

You can click on this full blog post to read the rest of it.

Batansky, who grew up in Wynnewood, caught the travel bug early. When he was 10, his mom, Toby, took him and sister Ali on a trip to Tanzania. When he was 13, they visited Israel. “That got me really interested,” he said.

His venture into entrepreneurship started on a minor scale. During his junior year at Lower Merion, he had a friend who had sold some items on e-Bay. “I did some research and started small, selling things around the house that were no longer used,” he recalled.

Then, after some more research, he decided to set up an online store, selling “products that people had trouble finding.” By senior year he had the operation, at www.buysomethingawesome.com, up and running.

The “store” offered a “unique product line,” Batansky said, from T-shirts and backpacks and decorative neon signs to cologne, watches and sunglasses. Naturally enough most items were geared to a youth market.

“I would find people who liked to design funny images and sayings and offer to put them on T-shirts and give them a portion of the proceeds,” he said describing one approach.

One shirt, with the saying, “We do things my way or the Hemingway” and featuring an image of the writer, caught the attention of the Hemingway Museum in Oak Park, Ill., and resulted in one of his biggest orders. For a reason that’s a mystery even to Batansky, it remains one of his biggest sellers.

As business grew, Batansky made connections with wholesalers and manufacturers, who would ship orders directly to buyers so that he didn’t have to keep a big inventory on hand. He added a popular clothing line, Alternative Apparel, to the store.

To build the venture, Batansky knew he had to establish a strong business identity and “brand” through a creative Web site design, company logo and advertising. He analyzed Web-site statistics to write effective ads and optimize search-engine recognition and Internet links, and bought advertising space on other Web sites and blogs.

To date he figures the site has had more than 2,200 customers worldwide. In its top sales month it reached $7,050 in revenue.

With the business running well, he set about realizing the second part of his dream. Always intrigued by South America, he wanted to travel there for the summer after his freshman year at Pitt. His mom and dad, Norman, were skeptical, but when he landed a marketing internship with a company in Ecuador they relented.

“I would work four days a week, and other days I traveled on my own to different places, beaches and jungles and different cities,” Batansky said. He found ways to keep expenses low by staying in hostels. “I met people from all over the world,” he said.

Meanwhile, he kept Buy Something Awesome running, and it was so successful that he was able to fund trips to the Galapagos Islands and Colombia, a country he “fell in love with.” “I’ve been going back ever since,” he said.

At Pitt, Batansky is majoring in cultural anthropology and communications. While there, he has interned with a Small Business Administration center in Pittsburgh, where he has had the opportunity to “sit in on meetings and work on writing marketing plans and business plans.”

During his sophomore year, he needed to prepare a résumé. “I went to the advising department and got a basic critique, then started doing some research on my own until I got to the point I was comfortable with it.”

Before he knew it, Batansky said, he was helping friends with their résumés, and again, he thought, “Why not create a business?”

The result was his second online venture, www.resumetointerviews.com. Customers can get basic or more extensive help through the site. Batansky said he works with clients through an online questionnaire or phone consultations, crafting effective job descriptions, creating clear and eye-catching formats, making their writing spelling- and grammatical error-free — in short, finding ways to make their résumé stand out among a stack of applications.

While his clients at first were fellow college students, Batansky said he now works with people at different career levels “in all different industries” from film producers to engineers to information-technology and software-development professionals.

The beauty of both of his online businesses, he said, is that, thanks to the Internet, “there’s no reason why you can’t run them from anywhere in the world.”

And that is just what he has done each summer since freshman year, returning to Colombia and other parts of South America. He has traveled to Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Machu Picchu in Peru, and this past January took a break from Pitt to enroll in classes at a university in Argentina, staying on through the spring and summer. He was home recently just long enough to get ready for his last semester in Pittsburgh.

When he started visiting South America, Batansky admits his Spanish was about at “beginner-intermediate level.” He now has a pretty good conversational grasp of the language, though he knew no Portuguese when he traveled to Brazil.

It’s never been a problem, he said. “People are usually very patient.”

Likewise he’s never been concerned about traveling on his own. That is, since one experience on his first trip, when he was out walking “on a deserted street at 1 a.m. — something you should never do” — and luckily escaped what was probably a robbery attempt. “When you’re traveling, you’re never alone unless you want to be,” Batansky said. He has often met other travelers, from many different countries, with whom he has traveled for “a day or two or a week,” to visit common destinations.

“Traveling is so much easier than people imagine, and so much cheaper, too,” he said.

When he graduates this winter, Batansky said his goal is to return to Colombia for perhaps six months. Later he’s thinking about visiting Israel again, and then maybe other parts of the Middle East or Asia, where he’d like to visit a friend in Bangladesh he made on an earlier trip.

To support himself he plans to keep his online businesses running. He might expand them, from wherever in the world he may be, “but I’ve got lots of different ideas, too,” he said.

Uruguayan Chivito Sandwiches Are Overated but Uruguay Is Underated

2009-10-06T22:30:00.004-04:00

Upon arrival in Montevideo, Uruguay, we at lunch a restaurant Alex raved about.

The restaurant's specialty were their Chivito sandwiches. Chivito's are also arguably the country's most famous dish. The consistent elements are a bun or sandwich roll, steak, mozzarella cheese, egg (fried or hard-boiled), and mayonnaise. Uruguay, like its neighbor Argentina, is famous for its beef, so chivitos always contain sliced, grilled steak.

We ordered Uruguay's famous sandwich; the Chivito. Bread, thinly sliced and fried beef, lettuce, and tomato. Who would have thought?!?!?

The restaurant was located a block away from our hostel, El Viajero. I would say that hostel's are an important part of how much a traveler will enjoy a city. El Viajero was pretty good in that regard. The hostel is located in Montevideo’s historical and most famous square, Plaza Constitución, facing the Metropolitan Cathedral and the Cabildo, the colonial City Hall. Not bad for around US$10 a night.

Being in a great location we took that opportunity to go walk. We walked for a long time admiring the city's coastline and the obligatory old men fishing.

And like many South American cities near an ocean or river there are old cannons for protection. Nowadays they make for great photo ops.

Back near the histel's plaza is a great pedestrian only street. I am now convinced that every city should have one.

Just as every city needs street vendors. I always enjoy comparing the items sold by vendors in different cities or countries. Bolivia probably has the most bizarre selling llama fetuses for a buck.

These bears are following us. First in Buenos Aires and now in Montevideo. I later found out these Buddy Bears are doing a world tour. A waste of money if you ask me. But then I have to take into consideration that art is not really high on my list of interests.

We saw one interesting building in the skyline and wanted to see what it was all about. After sneaking inside and taking the elevator up to top we realized it was a private apartment building. Also the tallest building in Montevideo and maybe Uruguay. With a height of 26 stories, Palacio Salvo once used to be the highest building in South America. It was built between 1922 and 1928 by the Italian architect Mario Palanti in an Art Deco-style. It is no palace at all, just a building with various shops, bureaus and apartments.

The obligatory view from the top.

I do not smoke but Alex does. Like Brazil, the cigarette companies are forced to include disgusting photos on the packages.

Even better, Dorito bags give out dating advice. I learned to wait 2 days before calling a girl for a date. Thanks Doritos!

We did make it a point to relax the next day.

Back in the hostel people were learning tango from one of the front desk guys.

That traveler would soon find out that people don't dance tango in the clubs! As a side note, the girls of Montevideo are just as attractive as in Buenos Aires but fortunately do act like normal people. It was a nice change being able to approach an attractive stranger without a hand in my face before I can utter a word, which is often what happens in Buenos Aires.

Now it was Sunday. Sunday is flea market day in Montevideo. They call this one La Feria de Tristan Narvaja. This market goes on forever and you can find antiques, old records (from Gardel to Beatles), old books, pets, plants, sunglasses, clothes, or even false teeth! I bought a few old license plates saying Montevideo. They should make nice apartment decorations.

Those were the highlights of Montevideo, Uruguay.

From Buenos Aires to Uruguay

2009-10-03T14:48:00.001-04:00

Alex and I waited for the train that would take us to the Retiro, the main transportation center in Buenos Aires. From Retiro we drove in a taxi to Puerto Madero to purchase tickets that would take us on a ferry across the river to Uruguay.

Uruguay is a tiny country next to Buenos Aires and when you look at the two countries there really are only few differences. At least to a tourist like myself only visiting for a long weekend.

The view from the Buquebus ferry in Buenos Aires's port

Leaving Buenos Aires, Argentina by boat to Colonia, Uruguay.

I thought this older gentleman smoking his pipe was especially classy!

At some point during the 2-3 hour boat ride to Colonia some on-board entertainers held a dance contest and Alex was the first to volunteer. They entertainers paired him up with hyper middle-aged women that looked way to excited to be dancing with him.

And what you can partially see now are the many people watching from upstairs.

It got a bit wild.

While Alex did not win he still received a free beer for participating. The next photo is off the boat where the staff herded anyone going to Uruguay's capital, Montevideo into buses.

Finally in Montevideo we are dropped off ear our hostel in one of the city's many plazas.

Quirky Travel Habit of Mine

2009-09-28T02:51:00.003-04:00

Before I travel internationally using an airport, I will unpack all of my possessions only to repack them directly afterward? Why, you may ask?

I have seen enough Locked up Abroad episodes and heard enough horror stories to become paranoid. I do not do any illegal drugs, at all! I do this in order to check for any possible prohibited items that may have been placed in my bags. What if pissed off a fellow backpacker enough for him to place a small baggie of cocaine in my bag in retaliation? What if another traveler placed a bag of marijuana in my backpack because it was to dark in the room to realize he put it in the wrong bag?

I prefer to take a few extra minutes to unpack my bags rather than end up going to prison in a foreign country in the off chance that I am unlucky.

Public Holidays in Argentina: Dia de la Memoria

2009-09-25T20:00:00.001-04:00

Each year during March the Argentine people hold a Día de la Memoria in remembrance to commemorate the victims of the military dictatorship, Proceso de Reorganización Nacional. It is held on 24 March, the anniversary of the coup d'état of 1976 that brought the military junta to power.On that day, a military junta overthrew a democratically elected government. Over the next 8 years, up to 30,000 ‘dissidents’ were disappeared.

The dictatorship systematically terrorized its citizenry on ideological grounds. The government closed congress, banned political parties, abolished freedom of speech and freedom of press.In what was claimed to be a war against terrorist and communist groups, the military government persecuted, tortured, and killed citizens who opposed or questioned the dictatorship, expressed leftist views, or simply appeared in the address books of people considered subversive.

In Buenos Aires I went to the city center with thousands of others to watch concerts, speeches, and other events commemorating it. While I learned a lot about the dirty war in my classes at the University of Belgrano what I witnessed that night was a people proud of their country, having defeated that military dictatorship.

Poor Niagra

2009-09-19T12:21:00.000-04:00

Upon seeing Iguazu, the United States' First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly exclaimed "Poor Niagara!" As for me, upon seeing Iguazu, I said "Well this is pretty cool". But Eleanor was right in that Niagra Falls or even Angel Falls in Venezuela pale in comparison to this shortlisted world wonder.

"Legend has it that a god planned to marry a beautiful aborigine named Naipí, who fled with her mortal lover Tarobá in a canoe. In rage, the god sliced the river creating the waterfalls, condemning the lovers to an eternal fall."

So now we have this!

One friday evening I left with friends from my residence. All together we were a strange bunch representing the United States, Mexico, Honduras, Austria, Germany, and Holland. We took the most luxurious 18 hour bus ride complete with a server pouring us wine on demand and being served meals and snacks. The movies weren't that bad either.

We arrived in Iguazu, a small town close to the waterfalls 18 hours later and found our hostel pretty easily.

Despite eating well on the bus we opted for an all you can eat buffet after checking into our hostel.

And then gellato afterwards

Followed by beer and card games. We are on vacation after all.

But just as planned we visited the famous waterfalls the next morning; along with thousands of other tourists!

See over there? That is Brazil.

The waterfalls are a huge tourist attraction and that means the park offers boat rides up to the actuall falls.

It's not just the gigantic drops of water that make this place special. It's also happens to be located in a tropical paradise.

This was the closest I had come to an actual beach despite having been in South America for over 3 months at that point.

Mind tricks

Here I am finally able to live out a childhood tarzan fantasy.

I mentioned earlier that Brazil was close by. Close enough that we crossed the border the next day to visit Brazil.

Over there in the distance is Argentina

The Brazilian side definitely offered better views than the Argentine side.

A few hours later we crossed from Brazil back to Argentina

for another 18 hour bus ride back to Buenos Aires.

The End Of My Motorcyle Diaries: Part 4

2009-09-17T23:06:00.002-04:00

If you missed part 1, part 2, and part 3 you can read them at those links. Continuing with part 3 "...When it was almost half a basketball court away it stopped and a man appeared in the darkness."

Instead of feeling frightened I felt nothing. I did not expect anything. He continued walking closer and that is when I could see that he was a taxi driver.

As he spoke I only understood the basics. He asked if we needed help and we certainly did. He walked back to his taxi and turned on the light so we could actually see what we were doing. In the meantime, Alex continued working on the bike and at one point we reattached the chain to the moto.
We rode off only to stop a few seconds later after busting the chain another time. That's when the taxi driver casually mentioned we were better off walking it a few blocks to a gas station.

Just our luck. We break down in what seems like the middle of nowhere, yet only a few blocks from a gast station. Perfect!

It was quite a scene at the gas station. At nearly 3AM more than 10 cabbies were hanging out next to their cars joking around. I still will never understand why they were out with their cars at 3AM; off-duty.

Each driver offered to help us and looked at us like the morons we were for driving over 12 hours in one day on a moto. For the next 2 hours they fiddled with their tools inspecting and trying to fix each part. While they were doing this Alex managed to convince the cute gas station attendant to let us store the bike there overnight.

As expected, the cab drivers declared the moto busted and one offered to take us to find our hostel that we had no address for. Like our original plan, we drove around towards the center looking for a hostel and easily found the exact one we had wanted originally.

At 4:30AM we checked in and I went straight to bed in the most exhausted state...only to wake myself up 4 hours later for a telephone job interview. After the interview I was already up so I wandered the city a bit.

Welcome to Cordoba. The view from my bedroom window in the hostel.

Walking around

Still walking

And now finally doing what we came here for...partying!

But a few days later we were back at it again. On a mission to fix the moto. While I slept on the floor of the shop the mechanics got to work.

These are the nice but incompetent mechanics.

See, after fixing the moto it constantly made a noise like something was dying. But they assured us it was normal. Here we are setting off again for a quick hour journey.

And we made it! Just in time for a saturday night out with 2 Argentine guys we met at our new hostel.

And on Sunday afternoon I opted to go back to Buenos Aires on a bus. Alone.

A Dead Bat In Paraguay: One Man's Peculiar Journey Through South America

2009-09-17T17:38:00.004-04:00

I have been a big fan of Roosh, a popular blogger, for quite a long time now. I was fortunately able to meet Roosh while in Colombia back in August and was excited about a new book he was writing during the past year or so. I was able to read Roosh's newly completed travelouge, A Dead Bat in Paraguay, a few weeks ago.

Roosh's new travelogue, A Dead Bat in Paraguay, is a fun and insightful read for anyone interested in backpacking travel. I say insightful because Roosh is at his best when he offers his travel perspectives including thoughts of his unique meaning of travel and what it offers him. But this book strays from other in the travel genre because a main theme of this book is traveling to meet women. Not shady sex tourism but the literal pursuit of women which is fascinating as Roosh details the differences between women around the world. He doesn't hold back with countless anecdotes of his death inducing bowel issues and epic failures.

A Dead Bat In Paraguay is a true adventure story about a 28-year-old man who decided that the best way he could deal with his existential crisis was to sell his possessions, quit his professional career as a scientist, and hop on a one-way flight to Quito, Ecuador in order to visit every country in South America. He sincerely believed the trip would put him on a track towards a more fulfilling life of excitement, intrigue, and exotic women, away from his soulless corporate job in a Washington D.C. suburb. Instead, he humorously falls from one country to the next, striking out repeatedly with the local women, getting robbed, having dreams that became reality, self-diagnosing himself with a host of diseases, and suffering repeated bouts of stomach illness that made marathon bus rides superhuman feats of bodily strength. Along the journey he chronicles the friendships, the women, and the struggles, including one fateful night in Paraguay that he thought would lead to his end."

What the book is not is some around the world trip about the stereotypical tourist sites like the Machu Picchu or Amazon jungle. Instead, Roosh focuses on the relationships he forms while traveling ranging from interactions with foreign women to interactions with other backpackers. The book does, however, have its limits. While Roosh does explore interesting topics like meeting women in different cultures or the expectations of traveling, he doesn't seem to integrate the topics together that well.

His theme of wanting to meet women is not evident from the beginning of the book and when it's first introduced it can come across as somewhat awkward for people unfamiliar with the new community dedicated to meeting women. For instance, he often goes into specific detail about his interaction with women including the more awkward subjects like kino. This may turn off people who do not look favorably on the pick-up-artist community. I would have liked Roosh to explain why his techniques are important in meeting women and why he got into using them in the first place.

While the book has some issues, it is well worth reading at the very least for a different take on backpacking travel from a person with an interesting background and perspective. His story is an inspiration for anyone wanting to change their life significantly and will no doubt offer encouragement for those wanting to do likewise; to quit a well paid job for a different lifestyle. Roosh's story demonstrates that even if the change you make does not meet your expectations, it is still worth mixing things up so you never go through life asking the what if question. It important to note that Roosh is currently living in South America even after all of his misadventures which is an amazing thing to see after reading A Dead Bat in Paraguay.

A TV Show for Armchair Travelers

2009-09-13T02:30:00.004-04:00

I was an armchair traveler before I finally left for my first real trip to Ecuador in 07' and one of the most inspiring things was the television show Globe Trekker. It's an absolute must watch show for anyone interested in seeing the world from their couch.

I have not watched an episode for a long time but recently stumbled upon a documentary featuring one of the globe trekker hosts. I highly recommend it.

My Motorcycle Diaries: Part 3

2009-09-06T18:06:00.006-04:00

There is no worse feeling than pure excitement, as I explained in part 1 and part 2 of our moto trip from Buenos Aires to Cordoba, to then feeling the extreme. Suffering. Sure I wasn't locked up in some maniac's dungeon but i'm going to put it out there that riding on the back of a moto has got to be up there in awful experiences.

The wind blowing in my face that used to feel relaxing now felt like it was trying to push me off the bike for a fast death. My playlist of music that used to feel invigorating now felt irritating, especially as the headphones now caused physical pain as it was plastered into my ear from my helmet's tight fit. Not only was my back aching but it was dark and the once interesting scenery became nothing but a straight highway marked with dotted white lines.

The only moments I looked forward to were our hourly stops at gas stations for either more gas or to ask for more directions.

I was quietly hoping that we would get lost so that we could ask for directions more often; that means more rest.

Normally I might complain a little but where would I go? We would either make it to Cordoba and have a pleasant party filled weekend or we would spend the weekend on a motorcycle to who knows where.

It was many hours into our trip and even closer to Cordoba that the gas station we stopped at actually happened to have a motel next door.

I wanted to call it a day. It was obvious. It made sense. We were both exhausted. Even Alex was driving 50+ mph on crap roads with only one hand. Of course what seemed like the right thing to do meant that we would not make it to Cordoba as planned.

We discussed it some more but we had both already been through enough that day that there is no way we could not finish the trip that day.

I was miserable.

We rode on. We could see the signs to Cordoba and it was only a matter of time before we would arrive. It was on the outskirts of Cordoba that Alex asked me to pull out the address for the hostel we were going to stay at.

I stared at him blankly. He stared back.

"I thought you printed out the address"

"No, that was your job"

At 2am we were entering an unfamiliar city trying to navigate the roads inside the city with no objective. Our plan was to hopefully find the city center where a hotel must be.

We nearly drove into the highway barriers trying to choose which exit to take. It was all guesses. We chose left and no less than 5 minutes later we found ourselves on the outskirts of the city driving along an unpaved road with very few lights, unfinished houses built up scrap materials, and multiple dogs barking.

We kept riding.

That's when we heard a pop as the motorcycle's spun out of control swerving left, then right, and so on for a good 20 feet until we came to a grinding stop with the two of us gently falling off the bike, unhurt.

"Jeez, what the hell"

We picked up the bike and I shone my cell phone light on the motorcycle where we saw the busted chain. On cue, we removed our helmets, pushed the moto to the side of the thin rode, and got to work.

Alex instructed me to hold the bike steady as he would try and reattach the chain to the moto. We took o We began to argue as I was not holding it properly and he was having trouble getting the chain reattached. This went on with some back and forth bickering until a yellow car appeared driving down the road.

When it was almost half a basketball court away it stopped and a man appeared in the darkness...

Note: This will be continued in part 4, the final part of the story.

Hammocks on the Beach

2009-08-28T02:00:00.001-04:00

In June of 2008 my Dad traveled to Cartagena, Colombia to spend a week with me. We took a boat to a tropical beach with clear blue water, crystal white sand, and swaying palm trees. But the sun's rays felt like a torturous death and the nagging vendors even worse.

One clam salesman even offered to trade his worn out khaki shorts with a big hole in the crotch for my bathing soon. This scene changed drastically as the sun set.

It was beautiful, especially when the vendors packed up their worthless goods for the day and hiked through dense jungle vegetation to return home and the tourists boarded boats to return to the city.

My dad and I stayed behind. We rented 2 comfortable looking hammocks for $10 and bought tuna fish and crackers for dinner. With our hammocks set up and not a soul left on the beach we finished watching the sun set until all we could see were the glowing moon and stars. It was perfect.

The flies rushed out and attacked. All. Night. Long. There was nowhere to go. It was the type of attack where you try to hide any exposed area of skin. That meant tucking my flaking, sunburnt arms into my t-shirt and praying for mercy.

I fell asleep. Not for long. I awoke to the sound of cows mooing. I thought we were alone. But out of nowhere, a herd of cows moved slowly along the beach. We both agreed it was a strange sight. The cows were just as surprised to see us. They thought they had the beach to themselves too.

I brushed this incidence as just another of the many that happen while traveling and feel back asleep.

Only the next time I woke up it was different. A man carrying a large machine gun was standing above me speaking at a pace to fast to understand. What did he want? I tried to figure that out as we communicated in gibberish. He was speaking in a strange Spanish accent and I was speaking in a strange gringo accent. Both undecipherable.

He pointed to the patch on his stomach. I noticed that he was wearing camouflage and then it all made sense. He is a military officer. When he repeated his question again I understood. He wanted to tell me that he would be setting up his hammock next to ours for the night.

We smiled and returned to our hammocks. I waited for a third incidence stranger than the first two but all I got was more bug bites and then fortunately, some uninterrupted sleep.

The Ideal Travel Business

2009-08-24T03:56:00.008-04:00

When I have finally seen what I consider the must see places in the world and have met my future wife I will be ready to settle down (though not likely in the US). But what will I do?

I will open a combined hostel, language school, and bar that compliment each other in every way. Let's say I open up the language school in Colombia, for example.

The hostel will obviously attract people especially the ordinary western backpacker on their typical gap year(s). Most young backpackers are interested in meeting people including locals and other travelers, partying, finding temporary work to help fund their travels, and learning a new hobby like salsa dancing or learning Spanish.

The hostel will be great because it will provide the travelers with everything they are looking for in one location.

The language school will employ those travelers looking to earn a little extra money for a few weeks or months by teaching English. With a ready supply of poor backpackers desperate for short term work it will be an ease to hire and offer free room and board rather than a salary. Likewise, I will hire local students to teach Spanish to the foreigners. While I have no direct experience in the language business it won't cost much to hire a manager with lots of experience and certifications to oversee this part of the operation. I am so sure of this part because I have met so many of those desperate, certified teachers on my travels already.

So with the hostel attracting loads of foreigners and the language school attracting loads of local university students studying English there needs to be a place to allow the locals to practice their English and the foreigners to meet the locals. If they are studying English they will no doubt have a huge interest in meeting foreigners. Likewise, it's a great way for backpackers to meet interesting locals. I can't even remember the amount of times I have heard fellow backpackers say "hey, this hostel is great but i'm going nuts hanging out with foreigners all the time". That's why the hostel/language school will also have a decent bar on the premises open all day. That's also tons of potential earnings from drinks and food.

There you have it. That's the basic concept which assumes the hostel is great in of itself (clean, all amenities, good staff, marketed well, etc.), the language school is well run, and the bar is fun with great staff and events. If I have had one original business idea in my life this is it!

My Motorcycle Diaries: Part 2

2009-08-21T18:25:00.009-04:00

We were finally on our way to Cordoba after loading the moto with our bags and gear for the long weekend trip. Without a map or directions we drove out of Buenos Aires asking directions along the way.

Riding on a moto has it's advantages. We were able to weave through traffic with no problem and asking for directions is a cinch when you can pull up directly next to any car. After a quick stop for gas and some more directions we moved on until we hit the highway.

Highways in Argentina are better than most other countries in South America. While it's only a one lane highway going in each direction (2 lanes in certain parts), it is completely paved and follows a straight path for the most part. Far better than Bolivia's dirt roads that cure around mountains if you ask me.

The first few hours were exciting. I was really riding on the back of a moto on a road trip through Argentina complete with my favorite music blasting through my headphones and the wind blowing my face.

This long rush of excitement continued while the sun began setting, ending quickly afterward.

That's it for now. Check back in the next few days for part three!

My Motorcycle Diaries: Part 1

2009-08-18T21:44:00.004-04:00

It must have been midnight when I casually whined to my Brazilian friend Alexandre that I haven't really been anywhere in Argentina.

"Well, where are you thinking about going" -Alexandre

"I hear Cordoba is a pretty nice city. I think that's where i'd like to go first next time I leave Buenos Aires" -me

Some background information on Cordoba. It's a 10 hour bus ride from Buenos Aires which means it's even less time on a moto in theory. "It's second largest city in Argentina, with about 2 million inhabitants surrounded by valleys, formed up by three main mountain groups. It is known for the colonial buildings in the center as well as for the beautiful hills in the surroundings.

The city is called La Docta because of the many universities and scientific institutes. Around 200.000 people study here, which makes the city one of those with the youngest and liveliest appearance in South America. There is much cultural and night life, above all in the Güemes and Alta Córdoba areas and in the red light district, the Ex Abasto, called so because until 1990 there used to be a huge market area (Mercado de Abasto, now in the city outskirts)."

"Let's ride my moto there tomorrow afternoon" -Alexandre

"Yeah, let's do that" -me

I went to bed after that short conversation pretty excited for my first long distance motorcycle trip. I have done all of the big adventure activities including skydiving, bungee jumping, paragliding, etc. But it's riding on the back of a motorcycle that makes me most nervous. I think it's the lack of control. One wrong move and i'll fly off the back of the moto probably to never walk again.

I know i'm being over dramatic but that's just what makes me nervous.

After coming back from my weekly internship at midday I found Alexandre in the bedroom quickly packing his stuff. I did the same and within 30. min. we were out the door loading our stuff on the moto.

These are the only two pictures of me on the front of the moto that you will ever find of me. Alexandre drove the entire time. And after completing this trip I don't think i'll ever have the desire to drive one again.

This is just the beginning. Check the blog later this week for rest!

Sunday (International) Feasts

2009-08-18T02:50:00.003-04:00

I mentioned in an earlier post that on Sundays we usually cook up a dinner for everyone to eat together. Our most popular meal we liked to cook up was a traditional Argentine asado. The word asado basically means barbecue and we would bbq the following types of meat.

Asado, which in addition to meaning “grill” or “barbeque,” indicates the rib meat cut across the bones to make a long string of 2-inch cut ribs hooked together.
Vacio, which is flank steak, but you’ve never tasted anything like it.
Bife de chorizo, the same as a porterhouse cut, but it’s Argentine beef.
Bife de lomo, filet mignon.
Colita de cuadril, literally “calf-tail, ” another cut from the rear of a young cow.
And many others that would take me pages to list.

Below are a few guys getting ready to start the grill

But in this post I am going to share another great meal, the only Mexican in our house would cook up for us.

Mexican food!

Always so delicious

And for desert...

Gellato! It's pretty big here in Buenos Aires and pretty convenient with one gellato shop a few blocks from the house.

Asia de Cuba

2009-08-16T14:36:00.007-04:00

Welcome to Asia de Cuba, a restaurant at day and disco at night. Thanks to free passes each week we choose to go at night. I am sure the food is pretty good though!

Your first thought is that it must be a strip club based on the picture below. I assure you it's not in the slightest. It's just that the club's in Buenos Aires tend to hire a few dancers to help set the mood. In my opinion, it really kills the mood because many people stop their conversations and dancing to watch these girls dance instead.

But when we're not staring madly at the nearly nude dancing women we have a bit of fun ourselves.

I have no explanation why my two friends look retarded in this picture. I wish I knew.

Again, no explanation.

But I can explain this one. The girls took my camera and when I found it the next morning they had taken pictures of themselves in the bathroom.

We may have had a good time inside but from these photos it looks like the best time was outside.

Studying In Buenos Aires Q&A

2009-08-01T18:43:00.006-04:00

I received an email asking about my experience in Argentina and how it compares to Colombia. The person asked, "I guess first of all I'm just wondering if you are happy with your choice of Argentina for the exchange? I remember you said the only reason you didn't go for Colombia is because you didn't think your Spanish was good enough. Would you still have taken Colombia first if you could have? I'm also wondering how you feel regarding your safety in just day to day activities in Argentina when compared to Colombia?

I received an email asking about my experience in Argentina and how it compares to Colombia. The person asked, "I guess first of all I'm just wondering if you are happy with your choice of Argentina for the exchange? I remember you said the only reason you didn't go for Colombia is because you didn't think your Spanish was good enough. Would you still have taken Colombia first if you could have? I'm also wondering how you feel regarding your safety in just day to day activities in Argentina when compared to Colombia?

Regarding Universidad de Belgrano, what do you think of the campus life there? From the pictures I've seen of it, it looks like it's just a high rise building. I imagine it would be more difficult to meet native students without nice common areas. ¿Verdad? And most importantly for me, how much did it cost? I'm going to email and ask about cost and all that soon but a heads up would be good."

I am really happy with how my experience in Argentina turned out. I ended up living in that student residence and it made my entire time really worth it (check out my latest post to see what i mean). If i were living in an apartment by myself or with a few others i may not have been so happy here in Argentina. If i had to do it all over again I am really not sure if i would choose Argentina or Colombia. Colombia is still the superior country in my opinion but I can't imagine having the chance to live in a similar situation and be able to go out to amazing clubs 4 nights a week. Either way you cant go wrong with either country.

I always have a difficult time addressing safety. Anything can happen at anytime in any country in the world. Colombia and Argentina are hardly any different in everyday safety than say Australia or the US.

I am not familiar with campus life in Australia so i'll compare it to the U.S. I only took classes with foreigners so it was a rather small group of us mostly in all the same classes. I had an easier time making friends with people in my classes in Argentina than I do in the U.S. The only thing is if you go independently like I did you will show up to the schools orientation and be one of the few people that does not know anyone (most go through a 3rd party program that have a week long orientation of their own before the schools actual orientation begins). People tended to mostly hang out with people from just their programs and I barely hung out with anyone from school outside of classes.

You said something about chile which means you would be considering the direct exchange though your university just paying its tuition. It may seem easier it was not that difficult for me to do it independently. In my situation, i scheduled a meeting with my university's office dealing with transfer credits. I printed out the syllabi's for the classes i planned on taking and information about the university and got them all pre-approved. Then I just took a semester off from my university and when i go back in a month i will give them the transcript from belgrano and thats it.

Its not really like a college campus so much as its basically just a few buildings in the city. Sure, you can see people hanging outside the building before classes, in the cafeteria, or in the cafe below the building but thats pretty much it. I think their were a few clubs to join but i barely heard of any opportunities. If you enroll in some classes with the natives then your experience might be completely different than mine.

I enrolled directly in the school which is the cheapest way to go to school there. I paid about $2,200 $US for tuition that would allow me to enroll in as many classes as I wanted (I took 7 classes for 21 credits). Books are extra and I think i paid like $150 in total for them. I think there may have been another $100 fee or something for something else. You will want to get student medical insurance before you go which cost me about $150. My rent was $250/month for that student residence. Going out for a meal at a decent restaurant and getting something like steak, a side, and drink is about $6-$10 on average. Cooking your own food is obviously much cheaper. Nightlife was expensive if you had to pay entrance to clubs and stuff. But its pretty easy to get on lists for free entrance at most big ones. So nightlife is cheap. The subway is like 30 cents a ride making it a great deal while taxis are maybe like $10 from one end of the city to the other (not completely sure about that). Just know that if you enroll in a 3rd party program like AIFS you will be paying about $8,000 or more for the semester.

I know that Universidad de los Andes is more expensive but its also supposed to be a really good uni. The universidad de belgrano was a really disorganized uni. The only thing it was good for was a ridiculously easy semester that actually made it far easier to take 7 classes there compared to even 3 classes in the US. If you want a stress free semester than the foreigner program at belgrano is the way to go.

Welcome To My Home

2009-07-22T19:36:00.002-04:00

I lived in a student residence in Buenos Aires for 4 or so months.

Maybe some of the most fun months of my life.

This amazing opportunity to share a house with about 20 other people, and a bedroom with 5 others cost me $900 pesos a month (about $250 US). You can decide if thats a good deal. I think its a great deal. But then again, I have no problems sharing a bedroom.

Welcome inside!

The hostel came complete with a pool,

hammocks, a kitchen,

strict gay Brazilian owner, wireless internet, TV room, free washing machine, big meals for 10 pesos each day, and more.

Who lived there? Well it changed pretty often with some people staying just a month while others stay a year or more. But the demographics seemed to be 1 American (me!), 4 Brazilians, 3 Hondurans, 1 from El Salvador, 1 from the Dominican Republic, 5 from Argentina, 1 Colombian, 1 Mexican, many from Holland, 2 Germans, 1 Austrian, etc.

This diversity made for interesting conversations and tasty feasts from Argentina, Mexico, Holland, Germany, etc.

The best part about living here? The people. Now come into my bedroom and i'll show you what I mean.

This photo could be taken any wednesday, thursday, friday, or saturday night around 11 or 12. See thats when we start drinking before going out.

On the odd occasion we might start a party in a more normal place like the kitchen. The best part about living with 20 some people studying different things is that someone is bound to attend culinary school. And thats why we always had a wide variety of interesting mixed drinks.

People are awake at all hours. When coming home at 6am its often possible to find someone strangely lying on the floor...

If its one of the less exciting nights such as a monday you may come home to nothing exciting but there are always people to share dinner with and talk about the day.

If its not one of those nights and its a sunday, somebody is probably cooking up some ethnic food for everyone making it Mexican night, Argentine Asado, Dutch something, etc.

Even when its discovered that this paradise could is illegal and could close down any minute we are always in high spirits (if you look closely that red sign means "closed", but is usually covered by a painting)!

What do we do when one of the bathroom is occupied? Of course we use one of the many bathrooms located on the premises.

I was very upset one night when I found people occupying my office. While it may look like a regular room it actually became known as Jason's workspace. Consequently, I was made to answer the house phone since I was always the closest one to it, being that it was located in my office. It was always a pleasure to confuse anyone calling because they of course expected an Argentine person to answer the phone most of the time. I also took on the role of the doorman too.

Thats just an introduction to my favorite place I have had the chance to live. I was really upset to go, just like these two were on their last night.

How do we get out of here?

Here it is.

Here is the beginning of my post.

And here is the rest of it.

Sugar: Why Do We Keep Going?

2009-07-21T11:38:00.003-04:00

There is this bar that my housemates and I always go to, called Sugar. But nobody actually really likes it. Why do we keep coming back?

5 peso drinks during happy hour. ($1.50)

There is this bar that my housemates and I always go to, called Sugar. But nobody actually really likes it. Why do we keep coming back?

5 peso ($1.50) drinks during happy hour.

And we make the most of it!

Its a fun place for what it is but thank God we stopped going there!

A Preview Of What Is To Come

2009-07-09T22:01:00.003-04:00

My posts have been infrequent because I am traveling right now. In my downtime I prefer to do to other things rather than write. I do enough of that already writing resumes all day, anyways. But by early August I expect to catch up on all of my blog posts with new posts every other day. What to expect in those posts?

My posts have been infrequent because I am traveling right now. In my downtime I prefer to do to other things rather than write. I do enough of that already writing resumes all day, anyways. But by early August I expect to catch up on all of my blog posts with new posts every other day. What to expect in those posts?

-A horrible 12 hour motorcyle trip to Cordoba, Argentina that includes breaking down at 3am in the middle of nowhere

-A pleasant weekend trip to Uruguay including Montevideo, Punta del Este, and Colonia

-More posts about my life studying in Argentina, the nightlife, my student residence, friends, etc.
-Traveling in Bolivia (Crossing the border, Salar de Uyuni, touring a mine, visiting prison, the jungle, women wrestling, mountain biking down the worlds most dangerous road, La Paz, Sucre, etc.

-My short return to Argentina after a while of traveling in Bolivia

-My return to Colombia after 5 months away

"That Spanish Sounds Really Weird"

2009-06-22T00:16:00.003-04:00

Five Americans were at a bar.

Five Americans were at a bar.

They were watching a live band.

One of them comments to the other, "that Spanish sounds really weird".

All but one agreed.

The band was singing in Portuguese, not Spanish!