Nowadays there are said to be approximately 400 million people speaking Spanish as a native language and a total of 500 million speakersworldwide. Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world, after Mandarin Chinese.   Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and there are more than 20 Spanish-speaking countries in the world.  Are you getting my point? Oye chicos y chicas! (Warning: Non PC/fun writing coming up) Spanish is the new black. Literally. For about a decade now, Latinos have been the largest minority group in the United States, surpassing African-Americans.

So learning Spanish is a no-brainer and literally can be with a download-able language-learning program I just tried out called Bueno, Entonces. If you’ve wanted to improve your Spanish or learn from scratch…now is really the time. Vamos!

To get a feel for the program, here is a clip for you (if you are reading this in email and the vid doesn’t come through, please go to my site to see full video clip):

Click here if video is not above:

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With the proliferation of the internet and WiFi, I have found myself sending a lot less postcards then on former trips. But when you’re on a ‘round the world’ tour like me, you will inevitably have to send some packages home from various countries. I’ve been fortunate to have a few friends visit me while I travel and not only of course is it great to see them, I also benefit by being able to shove some crap into their bag that I no longer need—like some memorabilia I’ve collected or the hiking boots I haven’t worn since the rainforests of South America or the magic walking stick from New Zealand or the conical Asian hat I got in Vietnam. This way they can cart it home for me and I save a ton on postage and mostly am saved from the stress I would suffer by worrying if my precious package would ever make it safely to the shores of ‘Amerika.’ When I could not pawn things off to friends, every few months I’d put a little care package together to send home. I’ve learned that the post offices around the world are as varied as the toilets. And some are just as stinky.

Monteverde, Costa Rica—This was a tiny post office up in the cloud forest with one window and one man. No muss no fuss. Signed, sealed, delivered.

Galapagos Islands—In the middle of an empty beach on an island only inhabited by animals three hours from mainland Ecuador is a ‘post office.’ Well, it’s actually just a wood barrel with a door cut out, but it may actually work better than some real postal systems that I have come across. Here’s the deal: You write a postcard to someone you know (or perhaps a stranger if you are feeling friendly) who lives anywhere in the world. You address it and sign it, but you DON’T put a stamp on it. You leave it there in the barrel. Then you look through the other postcards that have been left in there and take one that is supposed to be ‘sent’ to your country…or a country where you are headed. Once you get to that country you can either hand deliver it if you are near the address or just buy local postage and just send it off. It’s a postal system by the people, for the people. Sounds perfect, but, by the way, has anyone ever received my postcards from here??

Melbourne, Australia—Fairly similar to going to the post office in the US: fill out some forms, pay way too much money, stamp it with some official looking seals and away it goes—all the way around the world and up into another hemisphere. Too efficiently boring to give me anything interesting to write about.

Hong Kong—Here I remember playing ‘musical windows;’ the first window guy said to go to another window across the room. At the second window, they weighed my package and addressed it. Then I had to return to the first window with some kind of receipt which I gave window guy #1. Here I had to pay and he stamped it. Then I returned to finished package the second guy. Got it?

Hanoi, Vietnam—I think I could have sat in this tiny post office (similar to a small bar with some round stools at the windows) all day and never have been served. They certainly didn’t ask me if I needed help and when someone local came in she would literally just shove in front of me at the window and be helped before I was even acknowledged. Before I ‘went postal,’ I finally pushed my way in and was handed, I kid you not, about five different convoluted forms to fill out—each one just about the same as the last. My current address, the recipients address, the address of my second cousin once removed, several lists of what the contents of the box where, the value of each item in Vietnamese Dong, the total weight, etc. I was given two different total costs by two different people. I was not feeling confident about this one and thought I would never see my Vietnamese trinkets and souvenirs ever again…but alas it arrived weeks later intact and unharmed.

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam—One of the prettiest post offices, it was in a grand old building and kind of looked like an old fashioned train terminal. I had been told ahead of time by fellow travelers that I did not need to scavenge for a box prior to my arrival here. The young man that helped me here was great—he found me a box behind the counter, we put everything in it exactly how I wanted it and he spent the next ten minutes taping it up so good—that the whole box was covered in blue tape and you could not see one speck of brown from the original box color. I filled out one form and paid in cash (only). I noticed that the ‘form process’ was much simpler than in Hanoi—kind of strange considering it is the same country, no? In the end, I made a possibly detrimental decision and chose to save money by sending it ‘sea mail’ as opposed to the modern method of ‘air mail.’ I pictured my sad little package all wet and moldy with crabs and seaweed clinging to it on the decks of some old pirate ship. Four months later it arrived in the US and apparently had no sea creatures in it. Amazing.

Istanbul, Turkey—This was a doozey. There were only five windows at this post office and yet none of them wanted my package. They actually ushered me through the ‘employees only’ door and behind the glass partition that usually must separate postal worker and postal user. I had brought my package unsealed to show its contents. Not only did they not care one iota of what was inside, they did not have me fill out one form at all. No, actually there was one form—it was practically the size of a postage stamp and had three lines on it—one for the sender’s name, one for the recipient’s name, and on the final line they scribbled the word ‘Amerika.’ Doesn’t seem like enough info for an important international parcel, does it? I already did not have a very confident feeling. After finding out my package was going to ‘Amerika’ the postman told me, like nearly every other foreigner I’ve met, ‘America? George Bush bad man.’ I agree, but it gets tiring after a while being a spokesperson for our entire nation and carrying the weight of the American government’s often bad decisions on my shoulders. Plus, at this point, I just wanted to mail my package, not be a diplomat. I actually forced the two Turkish postal workers that were helping me to just take a gander of what was inside my box, just out of habit. Then they haphazardly taped the box shut, took it away, and told me the price as if we were finished.

“What about the address??” I exclaimed.

“Oh yeah, address, address.” The two men said in unison. Then they proceeded to slap on some plain white stickers onto the top of the box where I was to write in the address.

No official stickers. No official cards. The postage meter machine apparently had a maximum of nine lire per sticker so now he had to slap about five different meter stickers all over the top of my box wherever they would fit. Lastly he licked an ‘airmail’ stamp and a “Turkey” sticker and slapped them on as well. By the end of this unofficial process I just about decided I would certainly never see this package or any of its contents again. When the nervous security-crazed U.S. Customs Department sees this crazy looking, hand scrawled box coming from 99% Muslim Turkey…they will probably just blow it up on site.

In actuality, all of my packages traveled half way around the world and have arrived safely. BUT ironically, the postcards I sent out from the most efficient, anal city in the world, Singapore, never made it. Makes you wonder. Maybe Turkey is on to something.

Here are some general tips for you if you decide to send packages from abroad:

1. Bring your passport.
2. Bring cash and lots of it. Many post offices in other parts of the world do not accept credit cards.
3. Bring your package unsealed. Oftentimes for Customs purposes, they will need to look inside (excluding Istanbul) to see what kind of contraband you are actually sending, so be prepared to explain your ‘apocalypse now’ shot glass from Vietnam or the ‘opium pipe’ you picked up for decorative purposes in Phnom Penh. Also be aware that many post offices can provide you with a box and tape it up for you.
4. Bring your patience, sense of humor, and comfortable shoes.
5. Before you go, make a list of what you are sending. This will make it easier to fill out all the forms and keep them all consistent rather than you repeatedly shuffling around the contents of your package (like most guys I know tend to do).
6. Of course, wrap everything breakable very carefully. And then you will inevitably unwrap it and wrap it again after you show it to the postal worker.
7. Don’t mail anything from Singapore.

Ecuador has the highest population density of any other South American country and an estimated 70% live below the poverty line. This tiny country also has some of the most diverse geography around—there are jungley rainforests, the majestic Andes mountains, and the coastal lowlands and the flora and fauna rich Galapagos Islands. Ecologists call it a ‘megadiversity hot spot’ for it’s more than 20, 000 plant species. In comparison all of North America only has 17,000 plant species. There are also 1500 species of birds and 300 different mammals.

The sad news is Ecuador has one of the highest deforestation rates in Latin America. High up in the Andes, poor villagers have burnt large tracts of forest for farming and ranching. Over 90% of the tropical forests between the Andes and the coast have been cleared for banana plantations and other farms.

Endangered species in the Galápagos Islands include the dark-rumped petrel, black petrel, African ass, two species of turtle (green sea and hawksbill), and the Galápagos giant tortoise and 11 of its subspecies. A subspecies of Galápagos giant tortoise is extinct, and another may be.

Also sad is the fact that man brought many non-native plants and animals to the Galapagos and these now all have had adverse effects on the indigenous flora and fauna. And now thousands of pigs, goats, and other animals are being eradicated to save the ones that were there in the first place. Kind of sad how humans messed it originally and now they have to pick the one animal species that is more important than another. Countless pig carcasses are just left to rot (instead of feeding the hungry) as there are no roads to be able to cart them off and the construction of roads would in turn harm the fragile landscape…

Ecuador’s natural attractions could lead to increased tourism, benefiting the economy. However, environmental problems, including further endangerment of native plants and animals, could be exacerbated without careful management of the areas attractive to tourists. Just something to think about…

Today I hiked higher than I ever have in my life. I went on a day trip (I was gone for 14 hours so I think they should actually call it a day and a half trip) to Cotopaxi, which is often considered the world’s highest active volcano—at 19,400 feet. To get there we boarded a small rickety tourist train in which the best seats were actually on the roof. We climbed atop this one-car machine, sat on wood planks attached to the roof, and literally drove down the tracks—it was an old converted bus! The air was crisp and the sky was clear as we headed into the green valley with towering snow-peaked Cotopaxi in the distance.

We arrived near the base of the volcano, drove up a rocky, steep road and then did a one hour hike up switchback paths of steep lava-rock terrain that turned to mist and snow. It was freezing and the altitude (we hiked to about 16,000 feet) was pretty tough for me considering I had just arrived a day earlier from sea level in the Galapagos Islands–probably not the smartest move on my part. So, I was huffing and puffing like an old wheezy smoker up the side of this crazy volcano and it dawned on me: why does anyone think climbing mountains is fun? I certainly discovered that I’d much rather view the beautiful mountain from its base. I would just about say I was miserable with frozen toes and fingers and the only thing that kept me going was knowing we were climbing to a refuge where we would eat lunch. The fact that I hadn’t eaten anything all day wasn’t helping my fragile state either.

We reached the refuge where other climbers crash awaiting their 1AM (yes AM!) departure for the summit. Here we scarfed down a lunch of guacamole, turkey, chips, cheese, tuna, and Oreos. Real healthy sustenance.

Afterwards our guide led us over to a glacier. It was a huge hunk of craggy ice clinging to the side of the mountain. It was impressive, but I was ready to descend into a more breathable air range. We made our decent down a much steeper path of crushed soft lava rock on which we practically jogged down. From the bottom of the trail we thawed a bit and then jumped on some over-used mountain bikes and careened down the bumpy, pot-holey mountain dirt road to the bottom. This was my favorite part except for the crap bikes they had—my brakes were so hard to press and my hands were so frozen that I thought my right hand would forever be stuck in a ‘claw’ grip. Luckily at the base, my hands and toes thawed and the clouds cleared so we could catch a two-minute glimpse of the Cotopaxi peak at sunset. It was stunning—pink and orange clouds slowly cleared away to reveal her snowy peak. Who needs to be at the top where all you see is clouds and fog—seems like the bottom is the place to be! Not a bad ending to a somewhat miserable yet adventurous day–if you don’t count the bumpy two hour bus ride back to Quito.

Hey all! First I want to thank everyone for their great feedback, comments, well-wishes, and love! My trip has been great so far and complimenting it nicely is the connection I have with all of you back “home.”

I have started to contact travel mags, local newpapers, local websites, and the like, in hopes of getting some of my articles/essays/blogs published. I would eventually LOVE to put a book together of my blog and get it published. If anyone out there has any contacts, friends, confidants, neighbors, paperboys that are somehow in the publishing industry (magazines or books) I would be forever grateful to be connected to them. I would love to publicize this site and get a buzz going. All suggestions/contacts welcome! Muchas gracias mi amigos!

LL