Its that time again. I'm hitting the road. This time it will not be to another exotic destination. In fact this trip is going to be like none other that I have taken. I am taking my company Born and Bred out on the road. I will be traveling on the Vans Warped Tour for the next 6 weeks, vending at each stop. I will hit 22 stops in both Candada and the US, starting in the Pacific North west and ending in the North East of the country.

Taken by a Tuk Tuk

Bangkok, Thailand

On our very first day in this busy city Steven and I set out to see some of the temples. While we were walking to one near by we started talking to a guy who described what the temple was built for. He then asked us if we had read the news paper or saw on the news that today is the last day of a promotion that the Thai government is doing to encourage tourism. He said that all Tuk Tuk taxis with yellow license plates are only 30 Baht for the day (1$ usd). He then recommended all of the temples and sights that we should see during the day. He even made a list for us. He then flags down a tuk tuk for us. He tells him to take us to this temple then that temple. And while we are at it we should go and visit a Thai factory where they make textiles and custom build you suits. We get some great street food and are having an all around nice day. We go to the tailor who measures us up and gives us this great speech about how he has studied in Germany and how his shop makes suites for major brands and how his suites are superior to a lot of suites on the market. He then gets us to purchase tailor made suite and tells us that we can come in two days to make sure that it fits. We then get taken to what the guy described to us at the T.A.T. Or the Thai Authority of Tourism. Looking back, it was just a tourist agency posing to be a government office. We bought our train tickets and, a one day tour and some flights from the shop. Turns out that we got scammed all the way around. We got back to our hostel where the super sweet girl at the front desk tells us that all of what we were told was a scam. We paid double for the suits we ordered, double for the tours and tickets. She said that we will probably get to the tours and hostels that they booked for us and be very disappointed. The suites we paid for with credit cards. I'm going to try and dispute the charge but we'll see if that does anything.

We are jumping on a train to Chaing Mai in the North of Thailand tonight. I'll keep you posted. I think from there I will be able to post some pictures of our trip this far.

The Peace Lodge

I spent the weekend at La Paz Waterfall gardens and The Peace Lodge. Its a lodge out in the middle of the cloud forest. They take in injured and abandoned wildlife and house them. The property is phenomenal. I have never seen wildlife and the rain forest like this. They have Monkeys, snakes, hummingbirds, frogs, jungle cats, orchid gardens, a huge bird aviary and a butterfly garden. They also have 5 waterfalls on the property. The Peace Lodge is usually around $300 per night to stay there. I got hooked up through my work and stayed two nights for free!














Cambria and I came back into San Jose just in time for the Costa Rica Vacations Christmas party.

Part 2: Central America

Sorry for the lack of updates. Since I last checked in I have traveled North through Peru, I spent about a week in Lima, the capital, and flew out to San Jose, Costa Rica. When I got here I had to re-establish myself. I came to Costa Rica again with no friends, no housing, and a prospect of a job. Thank God because everything worked out. I found an apartment in one of the nicest parts of town, I have made some awesome friends and I found a great job that I love.



I just got internet at my apartment and now I am able to update everyone with what is going on with me. I work at Costa Rica Vacations (Check out our website). The cool thing is I get to travel all over Costa Rica for work. I have already had the chance to play with monkeys, watch flocks of wild scarlet macaws and stay in some of the nicest hotels in Costa Rica. Of course I will be putting pictures of all of this up for everyone to see.



Last week Cambria flew in to spend Thanksgiving with me. I thought it would be cool to take her to Panama since I had to renew my visa. Just my luck we went during a tropical storm. The second day of our travel we had to walk about 2 hours into town because the bus refused to drop us off.







I have never seen rain this hard. We were wading up to our knees in water. On the way to town we found out that one of the bridges had collapsed. We had no choice but to cross it. We later found out that someone had fallen and was swept out to sea about an hour after we had passed! Unfortuantely, we did not take any pictures this day. We were more concerned with getting into town safely. All of these pictures were taken the next day on our way out.




We ended up drenched from head to toe and were very happy when we finally arived at our hostel.









Many more updates to come.

Titikaka and Machu Picchu

Week 1:

I made my way from Arequipa, Peru north to the small town of Puno which is on the shores ofLake Titikaka, the highest navigatable lake in the world. It is also home to the Uros tribe who live in the middle of the lake on man made, floating islands! There are around 900 families living on these islands, isolated from the rest of Peru. Only around 20 of the islands are open to tourism. The following pictures are of the people on the islands and their little huts made from reeds.



Besides going out on Lake Titikaka there isnt much to do in Puno. So I caught the next bus out of town and made my way to Cusco. Cusco, Peru is the tourism capital of South America. It once was the ancient capital of the Incan people. It is also the town that you have to pass through to get to Machu Picchu. I only stayed for two days before I booked a four day three night trek through the jungle to Machu Picchu. Man I didnt know what I was in for.





The first day was biking all day downhill through the jungle. By far the most fun of the trip. The bikes the tour opperator gave us were a joke. I'm supprised we all made it down with only one person getting mildly hurt. By the end of the first day we all had seriously sore back sides and were were all covered from head to toe in dust.



This is what my arms looked like by the second day. We were eaten alive by jungle flies. You dont even feel them biting you but I'm still scratching the bites.



In the middle of the first night I woke and felt the urge to run for the bathroom as quick as possible. Needless to say I got food posioning from something and was sick the entire second day of the trek. Try to imagine hiking through the jungle mountains in the humid heat while throwing up, sweating and no sleep. Yeah...doesnt sound fun does it. It wasn't. I still dont know how I made it through the day. We hiked all day but somehow I made it. Luckily it was only a 24 hour kind of sickness and the third day I was just fine.

We hiked into a little town of Augas Caliente for lunch and afterwards we climbed up a mountian to get our first peek at the ruins of Machu Picchu. It was an intense hike almost straight up this mountian but it was well worth it. This is a picture of some of the people in our group. We had people from Ireland, Austria, France, Israel.



See Machu Picchu behind me? This was our first look at the ruins. The following is taken also from the mountain top. After we decended we ate a quick dinner and got to bed.




We woke up at 4 in the morning to make our way up to the mountain. After a two hour hike we finally arrived.

Every day 5,000 tourists go into Machu Picchu. Getting there early is key to getting some good pictures and enjoying the place without crowds.

When you get up to the ruins you are in awe at what you see. These pictures do no justice to what you experience.






I'm writing from my hostel in Lima. I fly out next Monday to San Jose, Costa Rica. I havent taken many pictures here in Lima and I doubt that I will becasue its so dangerous.

I'll write again from San Jose. Thanks for all the email and prayers.