Skip to main content

Motoventure Day 1: Arrival!

(note - this was written last night on arrival)


What a weird day, though of course mostly anticlimactic. The nutshell is that I made it to Lima without any problems and am happily chilling in my hotel room at the Gran Bolivar trying to unwind and get some sleep (it's always hard to sleep after long travel days for me).

Other random bits, since I don't feel like writing cohesively:

- Travel is boring, no interesting pictures or video really. Bummer.

- Even though I have a full CDMA 1xrtt signal on my 8830 and can apparently receive SMS messages, I get rejected trying to send them. Bummer.

- No internet at my hotel, I am writing this on live writer and will have to upload it later

- Not sure if my SPOT was able to get a location message out via satellite during the trip from the airport, and my hotel room is very blocked. I will definitely head outside in the AM to get it set.

- Lima reminds me a lot of Bogota. Weird combination of modern and old, "civilization" as we Americans think of it and pure insanity. One thing is for sure, you can turn any direction from any lane at any time heh.

- My Spanish works! I've already used it more tonight than I have in the last fourteen years combined I think. Everyone has complemented me. The problem is that I can get what I want to say across fairly well but my brain is still very slow interpreting it when someone talks to me. Sometimes I'll final realize what someone said a minute after moving on in the conversation. Rusty. Hopefully this will get better fast.

- My laptop acted funny when I plugged it in. The adapter is supposed to take 110-240v but it blinked really fast then turned off. Hrm. This could suck. At least the hotel has a 110v plug in the bathroom so I can charge it up here. P.S. the battery in this thing rocks, I watched video for at least 6+ hours today and it still has 2 hours of charge.

Okay, so, tomorrow I explore Centro Historico and chillax, then Friday it's on to Huancayo. Victory!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Patagonia Beckons

Today I begin what may become one of the most difficult tests of long term mental and physical endurance and strength I have ever undertaken: for most of its remaining 2500km through Patagonia, Ruta 40 is considered one of the most desolate highways in the world. Over half of the remaining road is gravel, sand, and dirt. The number of towns listed on a map once I pass Perito Moreno can be counted on one hand, and there are many stretches of hundreds of miles without provisions, fuel, or places to stay.

5 Things that Suck about Traveling Solo

I find it telling that it seems a majority of the interesting travel blogs I run across are written by solo travelers, most often women. I think there’s a reason why we write more than people who travel with friends or in groups and that it’s pretty self evident: it’s an outlet for our loneliness. In the last year and a half, the vast majority of my time has been spent away from home, alone. As I write this, it’s been over a month since I’ve conversed with anyone in my native language, and I can remember every single conversation in English for the month before that. The truth is, I don’t think I could have done this without the internet – without a blog to share my thoughts, without Facebook to see what my friends are up to, without the occasional e-mail to provide a façade of normalcy… without these things I’d likely have driven myself insane with my internal dialogue. Now, I grant, there’s a reason I travel alone and I do love it, but lately it seems all I run across in the blogosp

Gear Review: Sea to Summit Big River Dry Sacks

In the past couple months on the road I think I’ve spent more time riding my scooter through rain than I have in the dry – this is clearly reflected in the fact that as time has gone by I’ve invested more and more money in things to keep my stuff dry, since wet gear sucks. One of my favorite purchases for this trip is the pair of Sea to Summit Big River Dry Sacks I picked up just before leaving, in 13L and 20L sizes. They cost me around $20 each and are one of the best pieces of gear I’ve purchased in years – extremely durable, effective, and simple to use.