Home Again!

Well, almost. I leave tomorrow morning. It has only been two weeks, when it was supposed to be four, but I am ready to finally to get back to Michigan. I will spend a couple of weeks there, and then I don't know what will happen. I am scheduled to fly back to Iraq on the 22nd, which means there is a lot of time in between.

I am in the process of attempting to get people who would like to be tutored online. If I could get enough clients, I would be able to do it full time and not have to worry too much about what I need to do and where I will be. I guess it is just another thing that will come in time.

It feels good to be getting back to someplace that I will semi-understand and be understood. It isn't bad here; it is actually quite beautiful. I would definitely come back. Perhaps next time it will not be alone!

Tlaquepaque is a suburb of Guadalajara. I rented an apartment here and have settled in as if it were my new home. It is not really as quiet as I was hoping, but it does have a lot of the traditional Mexican way of life. The corner stores (on just about every block) have the basics one needs, and the restaurants are mostly fairly inexpensive as well.

I haven't done a lot of what I wanted while here, but that is fine. I have managed to relax a little, but not enough. I have had two interviews, and the third I have written off. I have been offered a job in China that I am uncertain if I will take. I guess we shall have to wait and see what happens.

Other than that, there is very little happening. Hopefully things will begin to perk up soon. I will be sure to let you know.

Puerto Vallarta

My time in Puerto Vallarta was definitely not what I had anticipated. I made it to the hotel I had booked prior to arriving. Overlooking the city with a view of the bay, it gave one the feeling of being in a kingdom. The lack of hot water was hardly noticeable at all. This was all overshadowed, however, by the promise I made upon my arrival at the airport.

When I was exiting the airport, I was shown to the visitors desk to the right, where a nice lady who spoke very good English informed me of many of the things one can do in the city. She also set me up with a visit to a "local hotel" in an attempt to entice me to return. She provided me with transportation and such in exchange for my going and sitting in on a sales pitch.

I went to the sales pitch. The salesman was from Saskatchewan and was very nice. He didn't think too much of me to begin with, but as we talked, he became more interested. He even comped me two free nights at the "hotel" which turned out to be an all-inclusive resort. The grounds and room were very nice. The room was more like an apartment and with the free room service, I was completely spoiled! The internet was an extra $10/24 hours, but I was happy to pay for 24 hours as I didn't have to buy food or anything. The only thing that was missing was a place to do laundry.

The pool would have been wonderful if I were one who liked pools. There were two peacocks (actually one peacock and one peahen) that were roaming around the grounds. They also had the required cats for such a place as well. I was a little surprised by an iguana falling out of a palm tree, but other than that, it was quite peaceful.

LA/Santa Monica/San Diego, OH MY!

How does one prepare for a trip that is going to be multipurpose and multi-locational? Perhaps I should have done a little more research or even just made some sort of plan before hopping the plane from Peru to LA. Of course when the trip actually started, I am slightly unclear, but I suppose it was back in Erbil, Kurdistan, Iraq as that is where I presently call home.

I arrived in LA on August 1st after a LONG trip from Peru. The flights themselves were relatively short, but I spent a grand total of 26 hours waiting in airports, plus the searching they always seem to decide is necessary for me. Perhaps I will look into getting the Global Entry Card to limit the amount I need to stand in line at immigration so I have more time for them to "randomly" search me further.

The first night was at a hotel near LAX. We got up early, rented a car, and drove to San Diego. The purpose of this trip was to go to the Animal Park, but this did not happen. When we arrived, our plans changed, and we ended up going to Tijuana instead. Of course for the other two days or so neither me nor my travel companion felt very well after.

Coming back to LA after 3 days was not a joy. Not only was the traffic heavy, but there were issues with the gas station as well! We stopped at the gas station two buildings down from where we needed to drop off the rental car. Apparently here in California, one must prepay for gas. You can do this either by going in and paying the attendant (either in cash or giving them your credit/debit card) or by using the machine outside to do the same. I ignored the 45 cent convenience fee they charged and chose to use my friend's debit card. Unfortunately I was either a little more tired than I thought, or merely not observant enough, and I put the card into the slot for the cash. Normally this is not a problem, but the slot accepted the card and wouldn't give it back. My friend had to go in to get the manager to come out to retrieve her card while I pulled around to a different pump to try again.

The second attempt fared much better. This time I went in, gave my credit card, returned to the car and pumped the gas. My friend got her card back, and we used it when we actually charged the card itself. All seemed to be going well until we reached the car. Somehow the doors had locked, and the keys were in the ignition!

I didn't panic too much as the rental place was just a couple of doors down. We walked past the McDonald's and tried to enter our destination. For some reason, contrary to the "Open! Please Come In..." sign, there was no one about. We went to the hotel to use a pay phone (our cells were in the car) to see if we could get someone there to help. They said they would be 20 minutes. We figured we could handle that and went to get something to eat and help pass the time.

We ended up waiting for over 2 hours for someone to come! They did give us the key we needed (they weren't sure if they even had an extra one at first), and all turned out alright. Fortunately, this was the only real adventure this trip brought for the two of us. My friend returned home, and I stayed in LA visiting friends and such after the Travel Writer's workshop I attended in Santa Monica....So much happening, so little time to write~

A day at the airport

One has to wonder why they would willingly stay at the airport all day to catch a flight at night, but this is just what I did. I started in Cusco, Peru around 10:30am. I made my flight landing in Lima around 1:30ish in the afternoon. I waited in the airport for a flight that would leave around 10:55pm. This was the best option as I only had 12 soles left and it would take around 45 soles to go downtown (and Lima is not exactly a place I really wanted to hang out anyway).

I spent most of the day alone at the airport, but met an interesting woman from New York about 4 hours before the flight. She had been in a small town on an archeological dig for the past month. She studies bones! I told her I thought it sounded sort of dry, but I don't think she really believed me. A little while after meeting, we met two girls from Tennessee. They had been on a mission trip tod the jungle. More fascinating stories were exchanged! I couldn't believe how fortunate we were.

We hung out for the remainder of our time in Lima, and said our goodbyes while we waited in line to go through immigration in Fort Lauderdale, Florida at 5:45am. While they went on their way, I made my way to one of the restaurants and ate breakfast. I had a long day ahead of me, and I wasn't sure how I wanted to approach it.

I decided that I would spend all 14 hours of my layover at the airport. I was thinking I may go crazy, but it gave me a chance to relax and make use of the free wi-fi that the airport here offers. I think all airports should offer free wi-fi; it can be a life saver for travelers who have forgotten information, need to contact with someone, or just to have something to do. It certainly made my day a lot less boring and a whole lot more productive!

So now you pretty much know what my day has consisted of: I ate breakfast, got online, chatted, looked up information, watched people, ate lunch/dinner, went online some more, and then I am going to go through security to wait some more. It may sound really boring, but it was just the relaxation I needed after having traveled so far. I am not sure what 11:00pm in LA will bring, but I will deal with that when I arrive.