Describe Bali? This is a start.... Stone carvings decorating houses, temples, street corners...everywhere. Gods, goddesses, indescribable creatures...well taken care of ...all wearing cloth sarongs and waist sashes and most with a parasol over their heads. Offerings, every morning and every evening...around temples, in front of homes, stores, stairways, bicycles...anywhere that might be accessible to an evil spirit. Offerings carefully arranged in palm leaves or banana leaves...of rice, flower petals, food, eggs, snacks for the spirits. The smell of incense, accompanying the offerings....always in the air. Soft spoken people...who take an enormous amount of time every day creating these offerings and placing them in the appropriate spots.

First day on the Galapagos. I get this huge rush as I see the islands from the plane...and then after multiple transfers to get to the boat, I meet my boat mates for the week...I like them all...esp my roommate...this is a varied group, in age and in home country. I'm the only American which is nice for me. We visit the Charles Darwin Research Station... see lots of tortoises sleeping in the sun. The little hatchlings are the busiest...there are tons of them and they're bustling around and eating...this place breeds them and then sends then back to their home island. I walk around Puerto Ayora...I'm going to spend another five days there after my boat experience and I'm glad I chose to. This is a very cool town, perfect for me...right on the ocean, totally laid back place, tasty looking places to eat, fish brought in on boats, pelicans circling for remains, lots of people hanging out...I'm really looking forward to my time here. I talk to this guy about doing some diving. I can get certified in four days...I've only snorkeled, never dived, this seems like a great opportunity...more

Puno Peru It’s been a good three days here in Puno, Peru. It’s the festival of Candlemas, or here it’s called the Virgin de la Candelaria Festival. Big religious festival…lots of walking the Virgin around on a platform and pouring flower petals all over her. Lots of dancing too…and colorful costumes, and parades that go on for hours, and celebration, and of course, plenty of serious drinking… people come from all over….it’s a great street scene, the celebrating never stops…I wear out before the dancers…I don’t know how they do it….it’s a LONG festive weekend. When the giant statue of the Virgin is carried thru town during her procession, along with a collection of religious men and women, people on the side of the road are praying and singing and mobbing after her en masse in an effort to get closer...to walk in the wake of the Virgin. It’s all very elegant and dramatic. (MORE)

Excited…tomorrow we go to the Amazon rainforest. I knew the Amazon basin was large but it’s not until you find yourself looking at a map trying to decide where to go that you get a true sense of its dimensions. It covers most of the eastern side of the Andes and runs thru Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and probably more countries. We’re going to fly into Puerto Maldonado – the roads are not good – apparently an overland trip could take days, depending upon how much it’s rained. But we’ll be going from around 11,000 ft altitude and cool weather, to near sea level and about 98 degrees, hot and humid weather. Quite a shift… but I’m looking forward to warming up, getting a little sun, a few mosquito bites… It’s hard to leave Cusco…at this point we have our favorite places to eat…like Tronquitos, where you can eat a solid meal for 5 soles (about $1.60), and the hot chocolate place which makes perhaps the best hot chocolate I’ve ever had, and then there’s Jacks….fine grilled sandwiches (my favorite is chicken, avocado, mushrooms, cheese and sauce) for about $4. But it’s time to leave comfortable Cuzco and our cozy hostel on Nueva Alta St. for a week in the jungle.(more)

1/14 There’s been a “rumba” and the railroad tracks are blocked by rocks….we’re forced to leave a day later than we intended, but at 5 AM, way earlier in the day than I ever intend to go anywhere. But that’s OK because we plan to make a few stops on the way back to Cuzco and this gives us plenty of time. Again I find myself traveling alongside of the raging Urubamba…the tracks are right along the rivers edge and between watching the river and becoming one with my Ipod, I’m feeling just thrilled to be part of this whole experience. And we arrive at Olaytaytambo at about 730 AM, lingering near the station long enough to partake in some fried egg sandwiches and rich Peruvian coffee. It’s a whole scene down there…people running back and forth, loading onto buses and collectivos…dogs, kids, people selling stuff…lots of visuals as we order up another round of eggs…I’m wondering if my stomach is going to pay for having indulged in street food….but it’s so tasty…it’d be worth it… (more)

From where I’m sitting I can hear the sound of some snappy Latin music in the street…maybe a car radio…maybe from someone else’s house…it’s a beautiful 70 something degree evening, all the windows are open letting in fresh ocean air…even though it’s about 10 PM people are bustling in and out of this hostel in Miraflores, Lima, Peru. What a dramatic change from the single digit temperatures of the last few days in Syracuse…it’s not that I don’t like winter…I actually loved the frigidity of the past week…the coziness under blankets and the welcome rush of warm air from the car heater. But this is not so bad…in the 80s during the day…the mist of the morning is burned off by a brilliant sun, and when that sun is plummeting down towards the horizon, the moisture returns to the air…resulting in some soft yet dramatic sunsets over the Pacific. (more)

And a different world it is. We arrive in Turkey to smiles and welcomes, and offerings of a seat and a ride and tea, to different clothing, to women with heads covered….and although all we did was cross the boundary of water for 2 hours, Turkey feels altogether different than Greece (and it certainly is in the category of religion… Greek Orthodox vs. Muslim)… but this actually feels different than anywhere else I’ve been. Today is market day so we get to the town of Ayvalik at peak excitement. This town is right on the water in Western Turkey. It’s got maybe about 30,000 people and on market day, it seems like they’re all out. We quickly settle in to an old hotel right on the water- our room is full of windows, floor to ceiling….we can see the sunrise and the sunset ….we have a balcony right over the water…this is not an upscale hotel but I feel gifted to wake up to an ocean view and the putter of boat engines. I guess this hotel used to be a salt processing plant…salt is important to everybody, everywhere… so this is just what we need at this point…a little vacation from our vacation, a little slowing down and staying in one place for a few days. And this seems the perfect place to do that. (more)

Athens A few things are already clear in Athens….the food is great, and people know how to eat well, the temperatures are way warmer than in Czech Republic, and everybody’s got a beautiful balcony to sit out and enjoy the weather on in this earth-toned city on the Mediterranean Took a late night flight out of Prague getting to Athens about 3 AM…definitely did not get my fill of Prague….I’d really like to return there sometime…it’s a very cool city in many ways…anyway, after the standard bit of maneuvering at the airport (that is, getting currency and figuring out transportation), we get picked up by Panos, the friend we made in Iceland, who deserves all sorts of praise for finding us at 3 AM… Panyiottis Popadopolous is his complete name…no doubt we’re in Greece and Panos, our host, is welcoming us into his home for a few days. Just got back from a veritable feast with friends of Panos. A table full of belly dancing women (and a few others), sharing a late night meal (we get there at 1030 and leave around 130 AM….at least it seemed to me to be late-night) at a Greek restaurant. This group of women has just won a dancing competition and I believe that’s what we’re celebrating….but food comes in never ending waves…one tasty item after another…it’s been ordered for the group so we get a chance to try what seems like everything on the menu…it’s all delectable, but of course, my favorite is dessert…flaky pastries, various forms of fresh baklava, cakes and a caramel-like ice cream….(more)