Sight-seeing bus tours: This is a great way to get a wide view of the city in the shortest amount of time as well as a good option for anyone that may have mobility problems.  Bus tours can bring tourists around the mall, to the older parts of the city and to any other note-worthy places, such as Mt. Vernon.

My personal favorite bus tour type is the ‘Hop-on Hop-off‘ bus tours. A ticket to one of  these tours means you can literally ‘hop-on’ and ‘hop-off’ at any of their bus stops and on any of their tour lines. The tickets come in one or two-day passes.

The ‘hop-on, hop-off’ bus tour in D.C. has three different lines. The first takes tourists on the classic sights of the city, including around the mall, across the Potomac into Virginia and by the Lincoln memorial. The second line will take tourists farther into Virginia to view the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetery and the last time will take you through Embassy row and into Georgetown. This last line also has a stop by the Georgetown waterfront where guests can get onto a touring boat that goes up and down the Potomac. Each tour is narrated by a recording that plays throughout the bus.

When my family bought the tickets for the ‘hop-on hop-off’ busses, we got free passes on the boat tour as well. (I’m not sure if they were running an unpublicized special or if this was included in the price of our tickets.) The boat tour was nice, but not something I would pay for separately. It was a narrated ride up the potomac, but really just plastic chairs on a flat boat with some sights viewable from the water and really expensive beer/wine prices. The commentary wasn’t as interesting as on the busses, but I enjoyed being on the water.

I recommend looking into this bus tour for two reasons. One, you really can get on and off anywhere and switch tours whenever you want. Meaning you are able to set your own schedule and can see whatever you like for however much time you like. (It’s also about the same price as regular bus tours.) Secondly, this is the only set of bus tours that has a double-decker fleet and the top is open-air. The best benefit of the double-decker is that you can see over the other cars, so if on top you can actually see all of the monuments, but it is also nice on a summer day to sit atop the bus with a breeze.

On foot: The on-foot tour is a lot of fun, but you will not be able to see as much within a single day. If you are going into D.C. to have a tour of the mall, I suggest taking the metro in and stopping at the Smithsonian station (orange/blue lines), L’Enfant Plaza (yellow/green lines) or another close one. These will put you in the center of the Mall.

Most on-foot tours center around the mall. As it’s a pretty large area and packed with monuments, museums andmemorials, there is plenty to do on foot in the mall. At one end, there is the Lincoln memorial, then the Washington monument, which marks the western end of the Mall. The Smithsonian museums line the mall from the Washington monument until the U.S. Capitol building.

I recommend one of three ways to approach an on-foot tour of the Mall. One would be to see the monuments. This tactic would be to focus on the monuments and go into each, take a few photos and take in the monument. This type of tour would involve the most walking, but if you are looking to see the sights of Washington, D.C. on-foot, this is the way to go.

Second, you could focus on the Smithsonian museums. They are enormous museums that could easily consume your time for a day. Focus on just one favorite, such as the natural history (but beware of the wide-eyed children running around) or the art museums, space, American history, whatever, but you could easily see a bit of each museum or focus on a few. All of the Smithsonian museums are free, although they encourage donations. If you want to go to the Air and Space museum hanger, you can take a bus for a few dollars from the Mall and entrance to the museum is free.

Last, your tour could focus on one place. Let the one monument, museum, park, or whatever you really want to see/do determine the rest of your day. This would work well with a tour of the U.S. State Capital being the main focus of the day with side trips to the Library of Congress and the Botanical Garden, or any other close destination. This type would work best for someone who wants to focus on a specific monument.

Lines:

The D.C. metro was built between 1969 and 1976. It has had some upgrades since- many of them track maintenance. The metro consists of 5 interconnecting lines. These include the red, blue, yellow, green and orange. Some of the lines run on the same track during parts of their route (such as the orange and blue, blue and yellow, or yellow and green) while the red line mostly serves to connect the other 4 lines and runs within its own territory.

Trains:

Each train is marked by line color and its ultimate destination. For example, an orange line train at Farragut West going west out of the city will say ‘ORANGE’ and ‘VIENNA’ on the digital signs displayed outside of the train. Vienna is the final station, not the next station (that would be Foggy Bottom/Georgetown). Trains also consist of 6 or 8 cars. The most common number of cars on a train is 6, however during high-traffic times metro will run more 8-car trains. If the train is an 8-car train, the additional cars are in the back of the train. Many people will not use the last two cars as many trains are 6-car ones, so even if most of the cars on trains are crowded, the last two cars are generally not.

Stations:

Metro stations are all put together differently. Usually, they are marked with a 4-sided, tall sign from the outside. If the station is underground, this sign and an escalator are the only indications of the metro stop, so sometimes they are hard to find. (Hint: The blue signs in D.C. that show which direction monuments are also show the closest metro station.) Each station sign says the name of the station vertically down the sign and the top of it has at least one colored band. The band(s) represents the line(s) that the station services. Also note that some stations have two exits and entrances, whereas others only have one. Whenever you leave a metro station, be mindful of which exit you left to make returning to it easier.

The stations themselves are nondescript, but get the job done. Once you enter the station, there is a large room with electronic payment stands. Some of these take credit cards and others do not. Some of these allow the rider to upload money or SmartBenefits onto their SmartCard, while other machines do not.

Fares:

Fares are hard to figure out. There are 3 different rates depending upon what time you are traveling (I think.) Each pay station has all rates to all other stations on them, but this is not always helpful as there are 3 different travel times that are not demarked with numbers. I think your best bet would be to put what you think is enough to get to your destination and back. But do not to worry too much as their is a cash machine on the inside of the row of turnstiles if you must add money to a paper punch card and SmartCards will go through with a negative balance up to -$20.

Cards:

There is also the option of a paper punch card or a $5 plastic SmartCard. For infrequent riders, the paper card should be sufficient. You can load money onto it and use it to enter and exit stations. The SmartCard works well if you are a regular commuter and keeping track of a number of little white cards would be difficult.

Station Platforms:

To enter the train platform, you must go through the turnstiles in which to put your paper punch card or to swipe your

SmartCard. Pay attention to the lit up circular sign on the right of the turnstiles. Go through the turnstiles marked with green and not the red, while swiping your SmartCard or inserting your punch card on the right side above the circular sign. If you have a SmartCard, you need only wave it over the sensor that is marked with a sample SmartCard. If you have a paper punch card, you must insert it into the front of the turnstile and pick it up on the top of the turnstile before going through the retractable gates.

Once on the platform, watch for the signs showing the ultimate destination of the train/line you need to go. This will direct you to the appropriate platform. Some stations have singular platforms where you wait on opposite sides depending on which direction you are traveling while others have the trains going down the center of the platform so that there are two platforms within that station.

Stations that serve multiple lines (such as Metro Center, for example which services the red, blue and orange lines) will generally have different levels for the different lines. Staircases and escalators are marked with arrows showing which platforms service which line and in which destination (by showing the ultimate destination). Last note on platforms, the illuminated lights flash slowly when a train is coming, so be sure to stand back behind the knobby floor part of the platform to stay away from the very edge.

Train Signs:

The signs in the stations and on the platforms show the upcoming trains. It shows first, the color of the line, second how many cars on the train, third the trains’ final destination and last how many more minutes until that train. Most signs can hold information for the next 3 trains. They look something like this:

B 6 Franc/Spring      2

O 6 Vienna               4

O 8 Vienna               5

The sign on this platform means that there is a 6-car Blue line train coming in 2 minutes with final destination of Franconia/Springfield station. Next is the 6-car orange line train with the final destination of Vienna in 4 minutes and after that is the 8-car orange line train with the same final destination.

Train etiquette:

1. Always let the passengers getting off to do so before beginning to board.

2. Never stick your foot or bag or something in the door to hold it open. They are not like elevator doors and will close on you. If this happens frequently enough, the train conductor may offload the entire train.

3. Take a seat if they are available or stand as out of the way as possible. If you like, offer your seat to an older person if there are few seats left.

4. Metro rules say no food or drink, loud music or pets on the metro. Most people conform to this although some bring a closed travel mug.

5. Many people read on the metro (especially during commuting time). Just be aware if you and your friends are the only people talking a train although it’s entirely packed.

Problems:

If you have issues with metro, you are not at all alone. One of the most popular, and funniest, websites about the DC metro is UnsuckDCMetro. It generally has funny albeit frustrating stories of crisis that the DC metro could not handle.

On the other hand, the station workers, I have found, are generally the best people to ask for help. They seem to be the most knowledgeable and have always been pleasant to me. Metro does have a host of hotlines for different issues. Sometimes calling is helpful, while sometimes it is a huge waste of time. Often times, I have been hung up on when there is a large volume of calls and I have been told frequently that they could not fix my problem, to call a different office and then the different office couldn’t fix it either.

Overall, I still think that the DC metro is a viable way to navigate the city. It does not have to deal with general rush hour traffic as it’s located underground, but does definitely back up.  Hopefully this basic explanation of the D.C. metro will help make a first use easier.

During the summer and early fall there are lots of hikers in this part of Shenandoah. At the foot of the hiking trail, there is a parking lot for up to 200 cars.  As we arrived late on Saturday afternoon, there were still some spots left however, when we hiked out on Sunday afternoon, there was a line of cars each waiting for a spot.

Beside the parking lot, there is a little white house that serves as the registration station. Depending on when you go, there may be an attendant. The station has self-registration forms to document how long you are staying and how many people in your party. This information determines the price of admission and can be paid by cash, check or credit card. There is an envelope for the cash or check and space to fill out credit card information. This is an honor system, however and without an attendant, there is no change available.  Although you may be able to make it if an attendant happens to be present. Rates are not bad: $8 for an individual and no more than $15 per vehicle.

The most popular hike in this part of Shenandoah is Old Rag. As described by the park’s maps Old Rag hike is a difficult 9-mile hike including steep slopes and a rock scramble at the top. This sounded good to a set of reasonably fit people, but we also saw many that weren’t in the best of shape but had apparently made it up Old Rag.

Old Rag is not the only hike accessible from this area, though. There are 3 single-day hikes near by: Old Rag, Mt. Robinson and Corbin Run Hollow, which runs along a stream. The longer hikes from the same 200-car lot include Corbin Mountain Trail, Indian Run Trail, Nicholson Hollow Trail, Hannah Run Trail and Hot-Shot Mountain Trail. These last set of trails, however are much longer than the Old Rag and Robertson Mountain ones-so most likely not single-day hikes.

Beside the parking lot, there is a little white house that serves as the registration station. Depending on when you go, there may be an attendant. The station has self-registration forms to document how long you are staying and how many people in your party. This information determines the price of admission and can be paid by cash, check or credit card. There is an envelope for the cash or check and space to fill out credit card information. This is an honor system, however and without an attendant, there is no change available.  Although you may be able to make it if an attendant happens to be present. Rates are not bad: $8 for an individual and no more than $15 per vehicle.

The most popular hike in this part of Shenandoah is Old Rag. As described by the park’s maps Old Rag hike is a difficult 9-mile hike including steep slopes and a rock scramble at the top. This sounded good to a set of reasonably fit people, but we also saw many that weren’t in the best of shape but had apparently made it up Old Rag.

Old Rag is not the only hike accessible from this area, though. There are 3 single-day hikes near by: Old Rag, Mt. Robinson and Corbin Run Hollow, which runs along a stream. The longer hikes from the same 200-car lot include Corbin Mountain Trail, Indian Run Trail, Nicholson Hollow Trail, Hannah Run Trail and Hot-Shot Mountain Trail. These last set of trails, however are much longer than the Old Rag and Robertson Mountain ones-so most likely not single-day hikes.

Although we originally drove out to backpack overnight and hike Old Rag the next morning, we decided to hike partway up Robertson Mt. to look for somewhere to sleep Saturday night. All hikes begin by climbing the fire toad, and once up it, there is an obviously marked entrance to the Old Rag hike equipped with a large map, port-a-potties and water fountains. We hiked past this to continue to Mt. Robertson, but I suggest that if you are hiking Old Rag, begin at that sign for Old Rag. While hiking toward Mt. Robinson, soon realized that we were hiking against the flow of traffic and quickly found out why: this way up the mountain is incredibly steep. The fire road itself had a good incline to it until we veered off into the Mt. Robertson trail whereas we encountered a steeper incline.

It’s pretty easy to determine the trails in this area. All trailheads are well-marked by stand-alone concrete markers that simply state ‘no fires.’

Despite the steepness, we hiked up Mt. Robertson anyway but found it difficult to make camp. There was not much flat land along the trail. This shouldn’t have been a big issue, though as we have a hammock and generally use less flat space in it-meaning there was really no flat land off the side of this trail.

The hike up Mt. Robertson from east to west, i.e. against the flow of traffic, is mostly steep and windy. However, once we reached the summit-of 5 feet taller than Old Rag at 3,296 feet, by the way-there is a beautiful, flat camp site. If we had wanted to make it to the summit before nightfall, we needed to get to the park with plenty of time to hike there before dark. There are regulations that prohibit camping more than 2,800 up Old Rag, however this is only applies to Old Rag so the camp site on top of Mt. Robertson is fair game.

As our legs were quite sore from discovering how steep Mt. Robertson was, we decided not hike Old Rag the next day, but instead go back along the Corbin Hollow trail. This was a nice, gradual descent down Mt. Robinson, so I suggest hiking Mt. Robertson from west to east. The Corbin Hollow trail along Brokenback Run stream also had good camp sites. There were many flat spaces available all along the trail, so camping would be pretty feasible at any point along that trail, although the trailhead marker still prohibited fires.

Although the hike up Mt. Robinson was more of a workout than either of our legs or feet-both clad in vibram five-fingers-were entirely prepared for, overall the trip was beautiful, enjoyable and could be a single-day or multiple-day excursion.

I really can’t say if I have been experiencing reverse culture shock or if my friend is, there is a website that describes the symptoms and how to best deal with them from The Center for Global Education: http://www.studentsabroad.com/reentrycultureshock.html

As a part of my own readjustment to everyday USA life, I have a list of things that were either new or odd to me about the U.S. after my return from Ecuador.

1. People could understand me. I know this isn’t the same for many countries as English is on a path to dominate the world, but in Ecuador at least, I could generally pick out who understands English and who does not. Many of the wealthy upper-class Ecuadorians understood it as well as most whites you saw. Also, any Ecuadorians that knew any English generally tried to speak it with you-so if you didn’t think they knew it beforehand, that point was made clear very quickly.

So when I came back, I was unprepared for people to be able to overhear what I was saying so easily. For instance, I went with my brothers to a baseball practice and saw some kid walking by that strode in such an arrogant way that I immediately commented” Wow, that kid thinks he’s the coolest ever” without even thinking of the possibility of him understanding me. Oops. He looked right my way and kept walking.

2. There aren’t as many exciting places to go. While I was in Ecuador, almost every weekend was a new adventure. I went off to the beach for planned trips for the weekend, went on unplanned trips to small towns to meet shamans, climbed mountains and even went to Peru. This became normal life for five months. So it was quite a shock when I arrived back in the boring part of NY where I live.

To remedy this, I have begun a list of places I would like to go and a list of people I want to go see. As soon as I got back to North Carolina, more of a home base now than NY, I went to visit friends I had not gotten to see for the past 5 months, went to visit my boyfriend in Baltimore and in general tried to make NC exciting. Although we do not always recognize the interesting possibilities in our hometowns, it helped me a lot to find new and exciting things to do around home.

3. The people that you got to know intimately while abroad are no longer a part of your everyday life. I believe that because everyone was throw into completely new situations, the friends I made while abroad could be more true than some friends I have at home. This is not a bad thing, but actually something fantastic! It means I now have some of the best and most honest friends I could ever have. The key now is to deal with being separated from them.

I made an effort to keep in contact with the people I got to know best while in Ecuador. An unexpected phone call, a skype date and occasional emails are essential-as well as actually seeing the people that live closest to you. It has helped me tremendously to be able to keep in contact with those people who were my lifelines while abroad-being in contact with them gives me a sense of security and reminds me to strive for the same level of honesty with my friends from home.

Being back in the land of where things make sense is a good thing. It’s been good to readjust and realign my life to be more like what I Want it to be and less like what I think society wants it to be. I feel that many travelers that take the time to be with themselves discover themselves while abroad. They know their truest emotions and desires and while this is great for being abroad, it is even more important to bring back to everyday life at home.

Mitad del Mundo is the name of the monument and area that the monument for the equator is located. It is a 40-45 minute bus ride-about $.45 (or you can take a taxi-at least $10) from the Ofelia station in northern Quito. (All taxi drivers also know both where the monument is and the bus station-so it shouldn’t be too difficult to find.)

Once at the middle of the world, you must pay an entrance fee for foreigners, nationals, or students-so if you have a just a passport or a student I.D. make sure to bring it. After you enter, there is a maze of shops and restaurants to walk through. These are generally fairly expensive and touristy, but tasty. The food is typical ecuadorian, including empanadas, cuy (guinea pig), ice creams, churrasco (thin steak with fried eggs on top), and fish prepared in all different ways.

The monument itself is a gigantic concrete tribute to the team of scientists who found the middle of the world using astronomical methods in the 1700s. The team was comprised of scientists from all over the world-including Spain, France, Germany and Ecuador. The monument has a letter on each of its’ 4 sides describing the direction in which that side is pointing as well as an entrance. Here, you can climb to the top of the monument and look down upon the little town around the middle of the world.

Actually, the monument to the middle of the world is not on the equator. Oops, but it was the 1700s. The real monument is in the planetarium about 100 meters or so away-so really they got very close. To the left of the monument (as you are facing it while you walk in) there is a host of buildings. These are different small museums depicting the methods used to find the equator, the different countries involved and the planetarium.

The cost to get into the planetarium is minimal (around $5) if there are 14 people all together who want to see the show. If there are less than 14 people, it is much more expensive (around $30-$40 for the group smaller than 14). This way each time they run the show they are doing it for more than just a few people. The show that they put on is also all in Spanish without an English version. The planetarium does show some neat things though, such as how an egg can balance on its’ end-so it is definitely worth the extra money if you have a large enough group.

The shops at Mitad del Mundo offer similar, but sometimes different goods. There are a bunch of shops when you first enter the monument area and then also behind the monument. They offer lots of t-shirts in both Spanish and English, sweaters, jewelry, hammocks, soccer jerseys, backpacks, monument trinkets and lots of other goods. Most shops have fairly similar goods with some variation as to say, the colors in the sweater, but the pricing varies greatly. Also make sure to bargain with the seller!

The best day to go visit Mitad del Mundo is on Sunday. Sundays there is generally some performer such as a singer or folk dancers and most people that go to visit go on Sundays. There are more crowds, but also better options as the performance is good and free, the shops and restaurants are all open and many Ecuadorian families go to spend the day there together.

Mitad del Mundo is one of the tourist places that all tourists to Ecuador must go. It has the feel of indigenous Ecuador between the fold dancers on Sundays and the little shops where bartering is essential. Mitad del Mundo is a fantastic and enjoyable day trip to the center of the world!