For those of you who know me, I have been trying for almost 10 years to establish myself at a restaurant with a “usual” order. No, seriously. 

High school: No dice. I lived with my parents and spent all my money on horses. It was clear to me this would never work. 

College:  I thought I might have a chance - but as it turns out, all college kids in a college town look identical, so despite eating at Noodles on 57th almost every day for a year with a kid who wore the same camouflage pants every time … no dice. In retrospect, perhaps it was because no one could see us with all the camouflage.  

Chicago: I lived in the same apartment in Chicago for 4 years in a relatively innocuous neighborhood with several decent, mostly-empty restaurants where this could have happened. I thought I almost had it at Pick Me Up, but consulting messed it up every time - just as soon as someone started smiling on my way in, I got shipped off to another city. No dice. 

Guatemala: Lidia and I got close at El Cuartito, where our standard order was “soló un brownie, gracías.” Unfortunately, they only actually had brownies about 10% of the time and I don’t feel right counting it when they continually said “no, no lo tenemos hoy” and then we had to leave or order something entirely different. Doesn’t count.

Nairobi: We work all the time, so we eat at the foodcourt nearest our house at least 3 times a week. Thankfully, almost all food there sucks, so I order the only thing that is passable. The guy does not get that many mzungu customers so I stick out like a sore thumb. Perfect storm. I was literally guaranteed success. 

Who knew I’d have to move continents to do it, but let’s call that one accomplished. 

It’s awesome.

For dinner. ‘Nuff said. 

Wow, life moves fast out here in the jungle … 

I’ve just landed in Tokyo, and after actually being in the jungle am a little overwhelmed by the fact that a) there’s a lot of lights here and b) I can’t understand even a word of what people are saying. Everything else so far has been English or Spanish … I have at best passable skills in both. 

That said, Tokyo feels alive in a way nothing else has. And everyone is really nice despite my Japanese blunders. Plus, there’s POCKY!!! 

As for other highlights, more pictures are finally up on flickr! The internet in Australia was both the most persnickety and the most expensive that I’ve found. So far, Tokyo is the most reliable and the cheapest. 

• Machu Picchu has definitely been my favorite place so far; I’ve heard that Angkor Wat could give it a run for the money
• Australia, despite the good friends, felt just like home except it’s more expensive and everyone talks funny
• Easter Island is otherworldly, but doesn’t need more than 2-3 days to explore in entirety … spend a day in a car seeing all the oddly giant moai statues, spend a morning on a horse going places you can’t in a car, and get out because it’s expensive in comparison to what you can find elsewhere
• The Great Barrier Reef does offer impressive fish, but there is better in the Caribbean (Cozumel comes immediately to mind) … in addition to some great parrotfish & Picassos, two puffers, some really nice clowns, a school of angels / zebras / at least four types of tang plus numerous fish I can’t name, I also saw two manta rays and a ~5ft shark for 1.2 seconds before I swam back to the group
• The Australian Outback is a vast, vast wilderness where you can sit down on a rock and know that you’re the only person within 300kms in any direction .. it’s a beautiful thing - I climbed a lot of rocks. You can also swim in rock pools, just watch out for crocs. I saw some :)

Hi out there in TV land. Now, I understand that I’ve been living in a bit of a bubble for the last four months. I may have missed a near collapse in the Euro, some major court cases … I’m sure a lot has happened out there in the real world. 

But something I did finally notice when I got off the plane in Australia today - girls have stopped wearing pants all over the world. What’s up with that? In Peru, I thought it was overzealous hikers who were in hardcore tights. In Chile, it was cold enough that everyone had sweater dresses on over tights - an outfit I have come to terms with. In Argentina, I noticed three girls dressed this way but thought perhaps they had just forgotten. 

Down under, there is no mistaking it - girls are not wearing pants. I do have a pair of running tights with me … but I think this is something I will abstain from. 

Otherwise, things are good. Flickr pictures up, many more to follow.

Because the fancy dancy tour bus that I took today out to the middle of nowhere … well, that part was fine. It cost $7 to get out to the middle of nowhere to see some amazing sites. I liked that part. But then they dropped me off in the wrong place. I told the guy I thought it was the wrong place, but he insisted that I get off there. 

I was right. It was the wrong place. Unfortunately, it wasn’t just the wrong street …

I was in the wrong city. 

Yeah. Awesome. As I stand at the end of the street in this very unfamiliar town, I look over the cliff and see the city I’m supposed to be in about 20km down. Great. It’s cool; I’m pretty used to chicken buses so I hopped on the first micro out and managed to get myself home for $0.20. Maybe a little less. Yeah. 

Also! More pictures up on flickr - here’s one of my friend Aaron who’s decided to carry a stuffed guitar around the world. Worth everyone seeing, that’s for sure. 

I think I can count on one hand the number of blue-sky-awesome-light days that I’ve seen thus far. 

I’m currently in Cuzco, Peru and about to head up to Machu Picchu tomorrow morning despite the flooding, washed out train, etc. Should be a good time. Pictures to follow soon. 

Cuzco is a beautiful city but we honestly had about 3 minutes where the sun broke through the clouds to make some beautiful blue … otherwise, everything I see everywhere is covered by a gray cloud (of either weather or volcanic ash … I’ve gotten both). A very good day anyway!

La Parrilla del Ñato serves up one darn fine steak. I’m just saying, if you’re in the neighborhood, namely el centro de Guayaquil, say while you’re on your way to the Galapagos, which is where everyone here is going, then you should definitely get the baby lomito.

You pansies should split it, but I finished it myself just fine after the guy brought me my own grill to keep it warm because he was concerned about my ability to finish. I almost took a picture of it, but I was too hungry. Afterwards, you can go to Sweet & Coffee literally down the block and have some amazing chocolate cake and a really good chocolate milkshake. Welcome to my afternoon. So beautiful. 

Also, can someone please critique my use of commas in the above? Evidently I am using them too often. 

That is all … off to Chile. Flickr is getting a lot more attention these days and I have about 100 more shots to upload. Get psyched.

Many of you have asked - so Annie, how’s your Spanish? Good question. It could go either way … so you decide!

+  I did enroll in school for 7 weeks, most of which I attended and most of which I understood

-  All of my best Guatemalteco friends speak English to me. Some as their second language.

+  The ugly guy who hit on me today responded to my evidently eloquent dismissal with, and quote: You’re lying about not being Latina. Come up with a better excuse next time

-  The hot guy who hit on me today responded to my completely inelegant stuttering with, and quote: If you teach me English, maybe I can teach you Spanish. Maybe?? Really?? No thanks, even from you - dedicated readers know this offer often leads to a marriage proposal.

+/-  At an Ecuadorian punk show, the band asked me to translate their shitty jokes

-  When running by the river this morning, the only other two tourists I’ve seen in Guayaquil pointed at me and said, loudly, See, there are other tourists here!!

+  After getting a coffee milkshake today instead of a chocolate one, I was able explain and rectify the problem without ruffling too many feathers (or I didn’t know they were ruffled, more likely)

-  In order to hold more than a 3 minute conversation, I have to use “again?” almost every other sentence in order to get the person to slow down … it’s not that people think I’m slow, it’s that I am slow

+  I am having conversations that last more than 3 minutes!!!! 

It would have been much funnier had she not said that in broken English, had she not been trying to take my main pack away from me, and had I not needed to explain the situation to her in Spanish. 

Evidently travelers from Central American countries who are continuing on to South American countries but who happen to be connecting in Miami because there are no freaking direct flights don’t get to keep two items of carry-on luggage. Let me just correct that right here and now, because I definitely do. 

Now, I’m certainly not saying that everything I’m carrying should be allowed. Let me leave it at that, TSA. 

Anyway, this lady was super determined that I not get through security with my stuff. Thankfully, I remember Jeremy’s standby - There might be a carry-on limit, but there’s no carry-off limit! - and proceeded to dress myself in every long sleeve layer that I own, wrap my pack to be tinier than my camera bag and then threaten my status on her, all of which I had to do in Spanish because she didn’t speak enough English to understand me, despite her oft-repeated threat of this being the US, and me needing to remember that. Three minutes later, another lady came over and cleared my pack for carry-on luggage. It’s been around the world twice now by miles … ‘nuff said.

Frankly, I don’t know what this says about my Spanish abilities or my accent. 

I’m safely in Ecuador now, and wow - it’s SO developed here in comparison with Xela. I miss everyone incredibly, and will likely be updating both this and flickr far more often as I’m comparatively very bored. I need to find me some outdoors, pronto! 

I’ve only got two weeks left in Guatemala and while I am psyched to move on and see different things, I’m really sad we’re winding down. I have so many awesome friends at school and I’ve been able to do so many things here with my ever-(slowly)-increasing Spanish abilities. 

Included a couple of shots below - I went paragliding at Lago Atitlan with four amazing friends, some of whom you might recognize! Here I’m sitting on top of the world, ready to jump off the side of the mountain, and riding in the back of a pick-up truck. Good times!!!