The In Between

Indonesia by the Senses

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Sat, 08 May 2021 21:34:00 +0000

Indonesia is intense. It's big, both in terms of size (17,000 islands) and population (267 million). It's a study in contrasts, with different religions, languages, customs; dense jungles and clear cuts for palm oil; remote islands and smog-filled cities. As our guide at Prambanan explained, the patron Hindu god of Indonesia is the god of destruction, Shiva, because the country has been so many times destroyed and reborn by earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, and colonization.

When I was thinking about how to explain my experience in Indonesia succinctly, how to sum up three neighboring islands (Bali, Java, and Sumatra) that are sometimes in such stark contrast, I kept returning to the five senses. Indonesia is at times a delight for - and occasionally an assault on - the senses. Bold flavors, distinct sounds, dramatic scenery. One way or another, it is likely to evoke strong feelings.

Bali
We started in Sanur, a beach town close to the airport, where we spent a few days getting over our jet lag, drinking Bintang beers by the water, and figuring out our next steps. Following friends' advice, we skipped Ubud and headed to Munduk, a small mountain town surrounded by rice paddies and beautiful waterfalls. Then we moved to the north coast to a sleepy beach town called Pemuteran that many people had recommended. We stayed in a $9 a night bungalow with an outdoor shower and a friendly resident cat, rented snorkels to see the fish at the biorock conservation project just offshore, and visited nearby temples.

See: waterfalls and rice paddies
Smell: incense from the morning and evening Hindu offerings
Hear: tinkling bells from the temples
Feel: sand between our toes
Taste: earthy and spicy - nasi campur (first picture below- rice and side dishes including vegetables and tempeh), coconut pork, coffee

Clockwise from top: Nasi campur in Sanur; breakfast view in Munduk; At a temple near Pemuteran; the black sand beach in Pemuteran

Java
From a hill by our guesthouse in Pemuteran we could see the massive volcanoes of Java and they called us west. We hopped on a ferry and then a train, intending to stop for one night in the tiny town of Kalibaru where we stayed in an old house with a beautiful garden. Due to train schedules (and the lovely pool and garden), we wound up staying three nights - all of which were interrupted around 4:30 am for the call to prayer, followed by about 12 hours of bass-heavy music from a wedding in the village. (Despite all that, it was a beautiful place). We then hopped on a 12-hour cross-island train ride (Java is huge) to get to Yogyakarta. We used Yogya as a base to visit 9th-century Buddhist and Hindu temples, ate the famous stewed jackfruit (gudeg), and got a lesson in how to make batik.

Our next stop was the Dieng Plateau - a beautiful area of countryside high up in the mountains. We quickly noticed that while it was popular with Indonesian tourists, there were very few foreign tourists. While I love getting off the beaten path, the lack of foreign tourism infrastructure did make for some challenges with transportation and communication (despite my attempts at learning Indonesian via DuoLingo, the Google Translate app was a must-have). Still, the warm days and chilly nights in Dieng were perfect for hiking up volcanoes and through terraced fields, fueling ourselves with lots of mee goreng and nasi goreng (fried noodles and fried rice).

See: volcanoes and temples
Smell: fried noodles
Hear: call to prayer at 4:30am, requests for photos from Indonesian tourists
Feel: cold enough in Dieng to need my puffy coat!
Taste: sweet and salty - fried chicken, sweet and fruity breakfast pastries, gudeg, shrimp crackers, my first taste of dragonfruit

Clockwise from top: Posing with school kids at Borobudur; volcano views on the Dieng plateau; breakfast of sweet and savory pastries in Yogyakarta; our tour guide-in-training at Prambanan

Sumatra
Our number one reason for going to Indonesia was to see the orangutans, so we flew from Yogya to Medan and made our way via train and a very dusty minibus ride to Bukit Lawang. Our guesthouse, Cheeky Monkeys, was probably my favorite place we stayed on our whole trip. The owners loaned us a motorbike to join them on an afternoon swim in the river, and took us out on the town with their friends. They also arranged our two-day trek through the national park. It was the sweatiest, muddiest, scrambly-est hiking I've ever done (there are easier paths, but our guide liked to get away from the crowds). We saw 12 adult orangutans, almost all with babies or adolescents. We camped along a creek where we saw monitor lizards and spear fished with our guides. We tubed down the river with our bags wrapped up in tarps to get home. It was amazing and will make you never want to eat anything with palm oil in it ever again (palm oil plantations have taken over the orangutans habit outside of the national park).

After a brief stop in Berastagi, during which we were both sick and ate a lot of soto ayam (chicken soup), we headed to Lake Toba. Lake Toba is the caldera of a super volcano that will basically kill us all if it ever explodes. Despite that, the island (Samosir) that rises up out of the lake is a beautiful and peaceful getaway. We ate a lot of lake fish, rented a motorbike to drive around the island, made friends with some cats, and enjoyed the sunset views from our balcony.

See: wildlife (orangutans, moneys, monitor lizards, water buffalo) and palm oil plantations, Batak architecture
Smell: the damp, verdant smell of the jungle
Hear: jungle sounds; singing Country Roads with our guest house owner and his friends
Feel: sweat coming out of every pore; the relief of a swim in a cool river; sore bum from long motorbike rides around Samosir Island
Taste: smoky and spicy - grilled fish with sambal, spicy pumpkin curry

Adolescent orangutan in Gunung Leuser National Park; fried lake fish; our favorite spot on the back porch at the guesthouse in Bukit Lawang; Batak architecture on Samosir Island in Lake Toba

Why am I not having the BEST TIME EVER?

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Wed, 20 Nov 2019 01:27:00 +0000

Richard and I spent 10 weeks traveling in Southeast Asia over the summer and I haven't written or shared much about it. It was a good trip, but... it wasn't necessarily the right trip for me to be on in that moment. It's hard to admit that, because people expect to always hear that travel is amazing and wonderful and joyful and that you're having the BEST TIME EVER. But sometimes that's not the case. Not because of anything wrong with the destination, or the trip, or the travel partner - but because of what's going on inside your head. You don't escape what's in your head by traveling - sometimes you feel it more acutely.

The year leading up to the trip was busy and frequently chaotic, starting with a move to Ghana for 5 months. I came home after layoffs at work and was given more responsibility, which was great but also meant more things to juggle and more travel. Then Richard got into a masters program at UCLA, hooray! So we started planning our cross-country move, while also trying to spend as much time with east coast friends and family as we could before we left.

On my fourth and final spring in DC, I finally made it to see the cherry blossoms.

On June 7, we quit our jobs.

June 8 we packed our home into two plywood cubes.

Half of everything we own, ready for storage

June 9 we drove to North Carolina.

And on June 12, we flew to Bali.

This is the point where it sounds like everything slows down and vacation begins and my mind can finally rest - Bali is paradise, right? But it didn't feel that way to me. There was always the next leg of the trip to be planned, lodging to be booked, finances to be sorted out, plus I was starting to apply for jobs in LA. Traveling can be a lot of work, and on this trip more than others, that work really felt burdensome. I was just too exhausted to enjoy the planning the way I normally do, too worn down to roll with the punches, too worried about what was coming next to fully relax into the time off.

That's not to say the trip was without joy. We chased waterfalls in Bali, hiked through fields surrounded by volcanoes in Java, and stood just few feet away from orangutans in the jungle of Sumatra.

Orangutans! Bukit Lawang, Sumatra, Indonesia

In Singapore we marveled at the Gardens by the Bay (and the potable water) and were spoiled by a stay with my old boss and her husband.

The Cloud Forest Dome at Gardens by the Bay

We hiked through tea plantations and sampled delicious food with Indian, Chinese, Malay, and Indonesian influences in Malaysia.

Hiking through tea plantations in Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

We motorbiked around tropical islands and got caught in downpours on the beach and ate our weight in Thai curries.

Khao soi in Chiang Mai

We made lots of kitten friends.

All of that was lovely and I'm so grateful for the experience, but the underlying current running through me was anxiety, not the joy and ease that I wanted to be feeling.

It's taken me a couple of months to accept and admit that it's okay that this trip filled my cup in some ways, but drained me in others. And since my cup was already so drained from the time leading up to it, I felt that very acutely. I don't regret the trip for a second, and I'm ridiculously grateful for the opportunity and aware of the privilege I have in being able to quit my job and travel with the person I love. All of that can be true, and it can still not have been the perfect trip for me right then.

And now that I've got that all out in the open, I am actually eager to start writing about the trip! Funny how that works.

An Unexpected Morning in Guatemala

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Mon, 15 Apr 2019 00:26:00 +0000

I'm wearing a stranger's clothes. I'm sitting on a terrace with a view of the lake, morning clouds still covering the mountain tops, listening to the sounds of birds and boats in leggings and a too-large button-down shirt borrowed from a girl I met less than 24 hours ago in a different city.

I obviously didn't expect to be here. I went to Antigua just for the day, to take a cooking class and wander the markets on my one weekend on this work trip to Guatemala. The other two students in my cooking class happened to be women around my age who work for an international NGO. They were traveling onward to Lake Atitlan and over the course of an hour of cooking (and drinking unlimited wine), they convinced me to join them. Everything seemed to fall into place - they had an open seat in their shuttle, space in their hotel room, and extra pajamas to lend me.

And that's how I came to be here. One of the things I love about travel is that Travel Mary is so much more flexible and spontaneous than At-Home Mary. Without the weight of routines and day-to-day life, I feel free to change my plans and take advantage of some new opportunity for adventure. I rationalize - it might be the only chance I get to see/do/experience something wonderful!

So I, Travel Mary, go to Lake Atitlan with no change of clothes or toiletries, all my stuff still back at the hotel in Guatemala City. I sing along to a playlist of West African music as I drive through the Guatemalan Highlands, because we learn on the road that we've all spent time in West Africa. I sleep in borrowed pajamas and buy a toothbrush from the front desk of the hotel.

I drink coffee and watch the volcanoes appear from behind the clouds and know this moment alone made the trip worth it, made me glad I'd taken the risk.

I eat desayuno tipico by the lake and ride a boat across the water to shop and drink coffee in a different village. I try not to think about going over the cliffs as the shuttle drives up out of the cauldron of the lake on crazy steep, winding roads. I get to the hotel at 10pm, more than 24 hours after I expected - exhausted and hungry - and elated.

Even though they live in DC, I know I'll likely never see these women again. These magical travel friendships almost always prove to be limited to the time and place where they formed. But I'll always be grateful to them for the pajamas and the chance to see the clouds clear and the peaks come out over Lake Atitlan on that unexpected morning.

A trip to Cape Coast: Contemplating slavery past and present

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Tue, 08 Jan 2019 02:21:00 +0000

Wreath left outside of the women's dungeon in honor of those who passed through here

The men's dungeon

Standing in the dungeon at Cape Coast Castle, the guide explained how the floors used to be brick. What we were standing on was hundreds of years of human excrement, periodically covered up with sand and eventually packed down until it was a solid surface. Men and women were brought on a forced march from the interior of West Africa to the forts along the coast. They languished, shackled to each other in these dark, damp dungeons for weeks or months, 1,000 men in space barely big enough for a few hundred, with a shared bucket for a bathroom. They could hear the sounds of the Europeans (Dutch, Portuguese, British, Swedish, depending on the time/place) going about their daily lives in the castle above them. The governor's bedroom at Cape Coast was two floors up from the dungeon, with nearly as much space for him as for all of them.

View from the Governor's quarters

Those that survived were eventually marched through a tunnel to the door of no return, which led them straight to the boats that would put them on the ships that would carry them across the Atlantic, mostly to Brazil and the Caribbean. More would die along the way, and those who survived were condemned to a life of slavery, producing the sugar and cotton that Europe demanded.

The door of no return

Ghana's relationship to slavery is complicated. Many Ghanaians (Gold Coast at the time) were among the 12-26 million Africans who were enslaved. But many Ghanaians were also active participants in or indirect beneficiaries of the slave trade - running raids into the interior to capture people and selling them to the traders, renting out tribal land for the forts, working in the castles and as slave masters down in the dungeons. It's easy to pass judgement; harder to remember that for a chief, aligning oneself with the colonizers was a way of protecting your people; for a father, working at the castle was a way to get your children educated at the European schools. And of course slavery and capture of enemies was not new, but the arrival of Europeans increased the scale of it dramatically.

Although it's fiction, the book Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi really gave me a deeper understanding of the nuances of slavery in West Africa and beyond - it's a brilliant book, read it!

For me, the visit to the castle was a reminder that we are all capable of dehumanizing others when it is to our benefit. It took FOUR HUNDRED YEARS for people to decide - hey, maybe this slavery thing is wrong and we should stop it even though we might lose some money because we'll have to actually pay people for their labor. For 400 years, people were able to morally and legally justify the enslavement of other human beings. Often, they were working to "save their souls" by converting them to Christianity at the same time that they were starving them in dungeons before loading them on ships to be taken thousands of miles from their homelands and sold to the highest bidder.

A fishing village just outside the castle

At least we learned our lesson, right? Maybe not. When I visited the Civil Rights Museum in Cincinnati a couple of years ago, I was surprised to see a display on modern day slavery, which included a section on Ghana. Trafficked children and women provide forced labour in hazardous conditions, particularly for illegal mining, fishing, domestic servitude, cocoa farming, and sex work. Ghana is not alone - it's estimated that there are more than 40 million slaves around the world today, and that the profits from the slave trade are more than $150 billion annually.

We can look back and see the horrors of the slave trade of the 1400-1800s, but we largely ignore the slavery and exploitation that exists today. We buy products without thinking about where they come from and who suffered to produce them. Everything from chocolate to electronics to clothing is touched by slavery.

My visit to Cape Coast and my subsequent research - along with the frequent use of dehumanization in our media and politics these days to justify racist and xenophobic policies - left me feeling pretty hopeless. So I researched some ways that we can help to end modern slavery:

Buy fair trade-certified products, especially those that frequently use slave labor like chocolate, tea, coffee, sugar, and clothing
Support anti-slavery/anti-trafficking organizations
Push back against (and vote out) those who tell us that we are different, and that some people are more deserving of respect and dignity than others. The current popular rhetoric of othering and dehumanization is not so different from what the old slave traders used to justify their treatment of human beings as chattel.

Elmina Castl

Okay, that was nice and depressing. Want to go be depressed yourself? (but really you should - it's an important part of world history) Here's the how-to for a trip from Accra to Cape Coast/Elmina.

Transport:

From Kaneshie Station I got a "fast car" (which was really a nice tro tro) to Cape Coast for 18 cedi in about 3 hours. It dropped off along the main road in Cape Coast and I got a taxi to the castle, but I could have walked. I took a private taxi from Cape Coast to Stumble Inn (past Elmina) for 50 cedi, which took around 30 minutes.

Coming back, a taxi from Stumble Inn to Elmina was 20 cedi and a shared taxi from Elmina to Cape Coast was 3.50. The shared taxi dropped me right at the Ford station, which is a 15-passenger van that only had 14 passengers! For 24 cedi I got air conditioning and a seat belt and was back at Kaneshie Station in just 2 hours - definitely worth the extra 6 cedi! Be sure to look for the vans and not the mini-buses at Kaneshie if you want the slightly more luxurious experience on the way there too.

Both ways I got lucky and arrived to nearly-full vans that left within 10-20 minutes.

The Forts/Slave Castles
Cape Coast Castle - in Cape Coast, naturally - has a 40 cedi entrance fee which includes access to the museum and a guided tour that lasts around an hour. Our tour guide was very knowledgable and really brought the experience to life. It was very moving. Cape Coast was run by the British.

St George/Elmina Castle in Elmina - I opted not to visit a second castle as I've heard the tours are rather similar, but some people like to get both experiences. Also 40 cedi with a tour included. I've heard the hawkers outside Elmina castle are much more aggressive, so be prepared. Elmina was a Portuguese fort.

Accommodation:
I originally planned to stay at Coconut Grove Bridge House, which is very close to Elmina Castle (rooms start around $60). At the last minute, I decided to instead stay at the Stumble Inn, about a 15-minute taxi ride west of Elmina. It's an eco-lodge and definitely is not fancy. I paid 90 cedi ($18) for a private hut with en suite bathroom (latrine and cold-water outdoor shower). t's right on the ocean, but there is no beach - I think if you walked down a few hundred meters you might find some sand, but in front of the Inn it's just rocks. Stumble Inn is rustic and imperfect, but it was super relaxing, the staff were great, the food was decent, and it's a really good budget option in an area with mostly fancy resorts.

Some tips to make your stay more comfortable: Bring your own soap, towel, and a sarong to use as a top sheet. The whole place is solar powered and there are lights but no outlets in the room - you can charge your phone at the bar but only when the sun is out, so be sure to charge up before nightfall! No wifi but there is good cell signal.

Mole National Park: A Safari Splurge

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Sat, 22 Sep 2018 15:14:00 +0000

I remember the first time I saw an elephant in the wild. We were on our second day of safari in Tanzania, and had left the magical Ngorongoro Crater for Tarangire National Park. We'd already seen hippos and lions and zebras and ostriches - so much amazing wildlife. But when I finally saw elephants, I was in total awe. The elephants seemed to have a level of intelligence and awareness and serenity that really moved me.

Ghana is not known for its wildlife. Unlike Tanzania, it's not the kind of place one comes for safari. There are no giraffes or zebras or big cats (well, allegedly a few lions that no one has seen in years) - but there are elephants. To see them you have to go north, to Mole National Park (pronounced Moh-lay, like the Oaxacan sauce, not like the rodent).

Mole is still developing as a tourist destination, and there are essentially two options right now: budget (Mole Motel) or luxury (Zaina Lodge). Those who know me may be shocked, but after some debate, Kendra (who came to visit) and I decided to take the luxury route! A week later my intern and her husband did the budget option - I'm going to have her write a guest post since there's not a lot of good info available for planning a trip!

From the moment we walked into the lodge, I was thrilled with our choice. We were handed a delicious welcome drink that tasted like a margarita without the booze and walked over to check out the view - and there was our first elephant, taking a swim in the watering hole below the infinity pool! Even though it was rainy season (which means the elephants have more watering holes to choose from throughout the park), we saw at least one or two in the holes by the lodge all three days we were there. In dry season, I've heard it can be 20 or more at once.

First view at Zaina - that dark spot on the far side of the watering hold is an elephant!

But we didn't come all the way to Mole to just watch them from above (though we did do a fair amount of that - the pool was a pretty amazing place to relax). Zaina offers safari drives in the morning and afternoon and walking safaris in the morning - and we tried them all!

While Ghana doesn't have the same quantity of wildlife as other countries, it does offer a very up-close and intimate experience with the animals. Multiple times we were on foot less than 50 feet away from these massive and majestic creatures. (Don't worry mom, we had an armed guard! But Zack knows how to read the elephants well, and said he's never had to shoot one in 30 years of guiding.)

On our walking safari (should really be called hiking safari), we spent probably a good thirty minutes hanging out with four big old guys. They were well aware that we were just across the dirt road from them, but they were much more concerned with grazing their way towards the watering hole. We were clearly not a threat.

This guy was a little less sure about our threat status inside the jeep - he waved his ears at us and followed along more quickly and closely than our driver would have liked!

We hopped out of the car on a driving safari to hang out with these two who were less perturbed by our presence - even posing for selfies with us. The jeep was hanging out very close by and at some point as we all took pictures, Zack must have picked up on a change in the elephant's behavior because he asked us to all start slowly making our way to the jeep. One girl didn't pay attention and kept taking pictures. Zack finally quietly admonished her to "Please get in the car RIGHT NOW" - which, if you have spent time in Ghana, you'll realize is actually quite serious, as Ghanaians are unwaveringly polite. I teased him about it later and he said he felt bad, but it was better to be impolite than dead. (To be clear: from my view he was not impolite at all! I would have had some much harsher words for the girl who would not follow instructions about wildlife safety.)

Elephants are the main attraction, but there is actually more to see! On safari drives we saw baboons, monkeys, warthogs, and several types of antelope.

In between safaris, we hung out by the infinity pool and ate delicious four-course meals. It was an incredibly relaxing and indulgent experience and was 100% worth the splurge. I'll always be a thrifty traveler at heart, but it's nice to be at a place in my life where I can enjoy something like this every once in awhile!

In total we spent 2 nights/3 days at Zaina which I thought was the perfect amount of time to see everything and not get bored (or go broke).

Getting There
Mole National Park is located about 2.5 hours from Tamale, which you can reach by air (40 minutes, multiple Africa World Airlines flights daily - $150 RT but purchasing tickets was a hassle - ask me for details) or by bus (~12 hours, STC bus, also a hassle to pay for so basically good luck getting there if you are not a resident of Ghana with a mobile money account!).

From Tamale to Mole, we had the lodge pick us up ($110 each way), but you can also negotiate a taxi at the airport for around 250 cedi (~$50) one way. Ellen will give the details in her post on the super budget option: tro tro!

Accommodations and Meals
Zaina offers several packages, and after crunching the numbers we decided to go with Mole Delights, which included 2 safaris per day and all meals (it's cheaper than paying separately for all of those things). Drinks were not included, but were very reasonably priced - 25 cedi for wine or cocktails. Water was free and was treated on site through reverse osmosis and provided to guests in glass bottles! (They were also happy to fill up my Nalgene.) I really appreciated this and other eco-friendly touches at Zaina - they are pretty rare here in Ghana.

The rooms are each in their own air-conditioned, luxury tent. They're really beautiful and comfortable, and each has its own balcony looking out on the watering holes.

The walkway to the tents. At night, an armed guard walks you back because sometimes the elephants like to visit!

Breakfast was a fairly standard buffet with pastries, eggs, and fresh fruit. They make delicious (but sweet) iced coffee, which we would take and sip by the pool after finishing breakfast. Lunch and dinner were outstanding multi-course meals. Each meal had two options, continental or Ghanaian, and came with a soup course, two salads, a main, and a dessert. We were lucky to speak with the chef on our last night - he's a Ghanaian who spent several years in South Africa before coming home to Ghana and being lured up to Mole temporarily. Two years later he's doing really interesting and delicious things with Ghanaian classics, like a deconstructed palava sauce with tilapia and pounded yam rounds. The kitchen was also great about accommodating our dietary needs and preferences.

Vegan chocolate cake

Zaina excels at customer service and attention to detail. The surroundings are beautiful and unobtrusive, luxurious but not pretentious. They make an effort to be eco-friendly, and they employ a lot of folks from nearby villages in a very rural and poor area of the country (and their staff are amazing!). Basically, I love Zaina. (And as a side note: the CEO got his start in Ghana as a Peace Corps volunteer! This is an interesting interview about how and why he opened Zaina Lodge.)

PAPER STRAWS in our sunset mojitos!!!!!

Tips
If you're coming during rainy season, be prepared for the tsetse flies! While there's no sleeping sickness in Ghana, their bites really hurt and itch for days! Wear long pants and long sleeves and close toed shoes. Thicker fabric is better (they can bite through thin fabrics).

Other things to pack: sunscreen, good hiking/walking shoes (even if you plan to only to a driving safari, you may find yourself getting out to track elephants!), a reusable water bottle.

Chale Wote

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Sun, 26 Aug 2018 17:35:00 +0000

I'm not really a festival person. I like the idea of festivals - food, music, good people watching - but I find it hard to relax and enjoy myself in large crowds of people. But when you're in Ghana for Chale Wote, it's not to be missed.

Chale Wote is a street art festival that started in 2011 and has grown hugely popular. It draws artists from all over West Africa and around the world, and more than 30,000 people attended last year. It's held in Jamestown, the oldest neighborhood in Accra, and still a working fishing village. It's a poor area, and the festival brings a lot of money to local vendors, in addition to being a platform for the artists.

17th-18th century forts and abandoned prisons create beautiful and haunting galleries for contemporary art. Music blares from speakers every 50 feet or so, blurring songs together so you aren't quite sure what you're hearing. Local chiefs paraded by with drums and fanfare, and the president even drove through, windows down and waving at the shocked crowds.

We arrived mid-afternoon, when the sun was hot and the streets still easily navigable. By the time we made it to the far end of the festival a couple of hours later, the crowds had swelled considerably, a river of people that you had to jump in and out of with confidence and move with the flow. A guy wandered through carrying a large snake, causing the crowd to push and shove to get as far away as possible (which wasn't all that far in such tight quarters). A man down a side street grilled a delicious spicy kebab for my friends, taking care to cook it extra well for the obronis. A live (for now) sea turtle was on display on a pedestal by local fishermen hoping to earn a few cedis from passersby taking pictures - I pleaded with them to put it back in the water, but they couldn't understand why I was upset. An incredibly cheerful man selling ginger liquor got us dancing in the street. Masaai warriors from Kenya posed for pictures, as did Ghanaian bodybuilders in speedos. Men in masks shot blanks from shotguns into the air. Kids with painted faces rode on their dads' shoulders.

It was an assault on - or, depending on your perspective, a feast for - the senses. A wild array of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and the inevitable touch of strange bodies in a crowd. It was wondrous and delightful and intriguing and at times also unnerving and upsetting (that sea turtle really got me). We came back to our starting point and broke free of the crowds into the cooling night air, a relief both from the heat and my anxiety. I'm glad I went, as it's given me another piece of understanding and appreciation for this temporary home of mine - but I'm not going back again today ;-)

Being Adventurous

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Sat, 28 Jul 2018 16:52:00 +0000

Although I've been coming to Ghana on and off for several years, I haven't traveled much alone in the country/region. Most of the time, I work so much that I rarely leave Accra. When I do venture farther afield, it's in an office vehicle (if it's for work) or with friends who have cars. That is to say - although people may think I'm off living an adventurous life in Africa, it's all been very easy and safe.

View from my balcony in the suburbs of Accra

So when I was preparing to meet up with a coworker from the US in Benin, I found myself surprisingly nervous about making the trip by myself. Compounding my nervousness was the general lack of information about the journey (transport options, cost, travel times) available on the internet, and the fact that I speak very little French.

I fretted over what transport to use and how to negotiate it if I don't speak the language. I worried over whether I'd have enough time to get to Benin in one day. I wasn't sure if my Ghanaian phone would work, and if i'd be able to get in touch with my friend if something went wrong. To be honest, if I hadn't been meeting Charice, I might have talked myself out of going.

What's that you say? Didn't I spend 3 months traveling alone in countries like Georgia and Armenia where I can't even read the language much less speak it? Am I the same person who climbed the highest mountain in Africa, went to Iran despite warnings from the State Department and just about everyone else, and spent two years living in a small town in Honduras? And I'm feeling intimidated by a little weekend trip to the beach?

About to dig in to a plate of iguana in Honduras in 2006

Despite all of my travels, I don't consider myself adventurous. My friend Rachel calls me the most responsible person she knows. I research, I plan, I prepare. I make a LOT of spreadsheets. My primary drive to travel is not for adrenaline-fueled adventure, it's to learn and grow and have a deeper understanding of and appreciation for the world around me. I can embrace the adventure once I'm in it, but that's not what pushes me out the door - and in fact sometimes the fear of it holds me back.

Feeling skeptical about hitching a ride on the back of this flatbed truck in the Dominican Republic in 2004

It only took a couple of hours into the Benin trip for me to find my travel groove again. With the radio playing and wind blowing through my hair as the shared taxi flew down the highway (at a reasonably safe speed), finally the nervousness and doubt took a backseat to the excitement of a new adventure. And it felt amazing, as it always does. Oh yeah, I CAN do this.

Crossing Borders: A weekend trip from Accra to Benin

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Sat, 07 Jul 2018 15:39:00 +0000

Ghana-Togo

We'd been in the shared taxi together for 4 hours, but we hadn't spoken other than to exchange "good afternoon" when we got in. As the car approached the border with Togo, there were only 2 of us left, and my driver turned to ask where I was going. "Lome," I told him. "So is she," he said of the other woman in the back seat. He then turned around and told her sternly to take care of me and make sure I got across the border okay.

They both helped me change some money, and then my new friend and I started the process of leaving one country and entering another. She stayed with me as we walked back and forth between buildings, making sure no one gave me a hard time. We left Ghana and passed through Togo's health inspection, where I paid a small fine for her because she didn't have a yellow fever card ("you shouldn't have paid them," she said. "I just stand there until they get tired of me and tell me to go.")

At Togo immigration, the agent gave me a hard time about not having gotten a visa ahead of time (which is totally not required), and she gently chided him in French. Meanwhile, she was being asked for payment by another agent - turns out, she doesn't have a passport. Once I had my visa, they let us leave - she tells me outside that she paid the guy 10 cedi, so as not to keep me waiting. Normally she would have sat there as long as it took for them to give up.

She lives in Ghana and her husband lives in Togo, and she travels back and forth regularly without any sort of documentation beyond her Ghanaian national service ID. "Yeah, I should probably get a passport," she says, but it doesn't sound like she will. Walking through with me cost her money, and she easily could have said "you go ahead" at any time, but she took her responsibility to look out for me seriously.

My friend even stayed with me once we were through. She offered to call her husband for a ride, but he was going to be a few hours. So she helped me find a real taxi (Lome exists mostly on motorcycle taxis known as zemidjans) and rode with me to the guesthouse so she could translate for the driver. Then she waved me off and went on her way home.

View of the neighborhood from my guesthouse in Lome

Benin-Togo
I sat down on the bench in front of the Benin border agent and handed him my passport and the printout of my e-visa. He painstakingly filled in my information on a paper form that was clearly not intended for this purpose (he had to make his own columns). As he went, he asked me questions about my trip, and suggested that I be his personal English tutor (I politely declined). He started flipping through the pages and stopped - where is my entry stamp for Benin?

The answer: I didn't have one. When I'd crossed into Benin the day before, I'd given my passport to no less than 3 border agents. They all looked at my visa, but no one stamped anything. I looked for another building to stop at on the way out, waiting for a guard to wave me down, but no one did. I asked my Beninois driver and he said no it's fine, you don't need a stamp. I was a little skeptical, but also tired and didn't feel like walking back. So we drove on.

Now it became clear that I did in fact need a stamp, and I did not have one. How was this man supposed to stamp me out if I had never entered? I was summoned to a small room nearby with three important-looking men in uniform. I sat next to the guy in charge and he asked me a question in French. "Je suis desolee, je ne parle pas francaise," I sweetly told him (this is mostly the extent of my French, and I used it a lot - it seemed to charm people.) "Parlez vous anglais?"

He did, thankfully as did the other officers, joking with me that I shouldn't say that I didn't speak French - "un petit peu - small small" I told them and they laughed. He asked me a few questions about my occupation, where I was going, and I explained how I had interacted with several border agents without getting a stamp the day before. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding, I said, since I don't speak French. He told the agent to stamp me out, and wished me a good journey.

As I left, one of the other officers asked in French why I was traveling alone. Then in English he said "do you have a husband?" I can scarcely get through a taxi ride without this question, so I should have known I wouldn't get through the border without it. Mentally, I'm trying to figure out quickly how to balance my answer. If I respond poorly to their flirtation, will I be allowed to leave the country? If I respond positively to their flirtation, I might get what I need easier, but they also might then feel entitled to my body. And of course they see no problem in asking me this question. Power and patriarchy, man. Sigh.

Walking into Benin from Togo

Traveling from Ghana to Benin: the Logistics

It was hard to find info about this trip online, so I was pretty nervous going into it, but it turned out to be super easy. Here's what I did:

Accra-Aflao (border with Togo)
STC runs minibuses multiple times a day (no set time - they leave when they get there). If you go for a ticket and they say there's a queue, that means the next bus coming in is already full and you'll have to wait for the following one, which could be an hour or 3 (lesson learned the hard way).

Shared taxis also leave from Tudu (just tell anyone you're going to Aflao). It took 4 hours leaving due to traffic, 3 hours coming back. 45 cedi. Try to get the front seat!

Trotros are your cheapest and slowest option. They leave from Tudu and will take about 5 hours.

Lome
Once you cross through the border, you're in Lome! And also right on the beach :-) The zemidjan (mototaxi) is the most common form of transport, but they typically don't have extra helmets. So I prefer a regular car - just keep walking til you find one. 3000 cfa to get to Ablogame neighborhood on the west side of the city (probably paid way too much).

I stopped in Lome for a night because I couldn't leave work until noon on Friday and wasn't sure how long it would take to get to Benin and I'd rather not negotiate borders/taxis alone after dark. I stayed at Aux Mille Cactus, a lovely, clean guesthouse run by the delightful Virginia who speaks French and English. There is a restaurant/bar next door with good food, and the breakfasts are simple but delicious (croissants, baguette, fresh fruit, juice, coffee/tea). $35/nt for 1 person. Will definitely stay here again if I return to Lome.

Note: there are a few ATMs in Lome, but not many and they can be hard to find! Bring some cash to exchange. Cedi or Euro would definitely work, not sure about dollars.

Lome to Grand Popo, Benin
I lucked out and got a free ride from the guesthouse because they were headed to Cotonou. But you can get a shared taxi from the Grand Marche for 1000 cfa to the border, about 1 hour.

Cross the border and find a zemidjan or a taxi to Grand Popo, about 20 minutes.

Grand Popo, Benin
We stayed at Auberge du Grand Popo which is a grand old colonial house. It has a dilapidated charm, but the facilities are basic and leave a bit to be desired. $45/nt for a room with 2 beds and A/C.

I got sick in Grand Popo and left a day early, so I don't have much other exciting info to share :-( Have a drink at Lion Bar, a local reggae joint. All the Peace Corps volunteers love it. You can also camp there for cheap accommodations. Coco Beach also came recommended for a place to stay. La Boca del Rio served a nice dinner in a charming courtyard.

The return trip: Grand Popo to Accra in one day
It only took 6 hours!
Private car to the border (10,000 cfa - a rip off, but we didn't want to take a zemi)
Private taxi (I got tired of waiting for others) border to border: 7000 cfa
Shared taxi from Aflao to Accra: 45 cedi

CDMX

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 20:00:00 +0000

Mexico City, often now referred to as CDMX (Ciudad de Mexico) is a feast for all the senses, but most especially the sense of taste. Once considered a dangerous and crowded place that no traveler spent more time in than was necessary, the city formerly known as the Distrito Federal has now become a darling of the travel blogging scene - and given how easy it is to get there from the US, it was about time I checked it out for myself.

La Casa Azul - Frida Kahlo's home/museum

Arriving from Oaxaca, I met my friends at our AirBnb in the popular neighborhood of La Condesa. The tree-lined streets and location right above a chocolate shop were idyllic, but just a block away the street was closed in front of a building that was missing the front half. Just a month or so before our trip, Mexico City was shaken by an earthquake and La Condesa and neighboring La Roma took the brunt of the damage and several dozen people lost their lives. Walking along you would suddenly see a pile of rubble, often in between two buildings that looked unscathed, and frequently a memorial along with a sign requesting that photos not be taken out of respect for those who lost their lives. Que descansen en paz.

The city was mostly back to normal speed, and we spent a lovely and surprisingly tranquil Thanksgiving week in the 10th largest city in the world. Much like Oaxaca, I continued my trend of being a terrible tourist - we went to two museum (Anthropology - which was great! and La Casa Azul), and spent a couple hours in the Centro exploring the area between the Palacio de Bellas Artes and the Zocalo. But, if you've met me, you know the main reason I was there was to eat!

La Comida de CDMX
Mexico City has a huge variety of cuisines, but with only 3.5 days in the city, we wanted to eat our fill of Mexican food. You can find a million lists on the internet of the best places to eat in CDMX, but honestly stop into anything that looks cute on your walk and you'll probably be fine. A few of my favorites:

El Turix: in the heart of the fancy neighborhood of Polanco sits this unassuming taco shop. They specialize in cochinita pibil and it comes in a few varieties - tacos, tortas, and some other words I didn't recognize. The mode of transport into your mouth doesn't really matter - the pork is messy and divine and better than anything we paid three times as much for.

Restaurante Nicos: we celebrated Thanksgiving at this old school formal restaurant in La Claveria. We knew our lunch would be great when they started by rolling over an entire cart of mezcal. Salud! It was the kind of meal you linger over for hours.

Guacamole with chicharones (fried pig skin) at Nicos

Lalo: a great breakfast spot in La Roma with delicious baked goods that are impossible to resist when the waiter brings the tray down the communal table, and excellent chilaquiles.

Chilaquiles at Lalo

Panaderia La Rosetta: there will probably be a line, but don't let that stop you. The bollos de romero (rosemary buns) alone are worth the wait.

Que Seria de Mi: this neighborhood breakfast spot did not show up in any of my research, but we stumbled across it on our last morning in town and were so glad! It's a tiny spot and we waited outside for maybe 10 minutes with a Canadian couple who were eating there for the third time on their trip.

Huevos Divorciados at Que Seria de Mi

Kid Friendly Mexico City!
Traveling with a young child can be tough - new foods, transportation, different routines. But Mexico City is surprisingly kid friendly and was a great place for my friends from Texas to meet me with their adorable 2 1/2 year old. In spite of some eating challenges (the kid who loves Tex-Mex would not touch real Mexican food), the trip in general was very smooth. There are lots of kid-friendly activities, kids are welcome in restaurants, and Uber drivers did not seem to mind that P left a trail of crackers in the back seat - they were too charmed by him calling out colors of passing cars in Spanish. All in all, a great place to test out international travel with your young one!

Oaxaca

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Tue, 26 Dec 2017 20:02:00 +0000

I started my trip to Mexico with three days on my own in Oaxaca, and while I went into the trip with big ideas about visiting ruins and botanical gardens and the like, honestly, I was tired. Since July, I've been to 6 countries on 3 continents. I've spent more nights in my AirBnb apartment in Accra than I have in my own bed in DC. And I was arriving in Mexico only a week after returning home from a super intense 5-week work trip to Ghana. I needed a break.

So I gave myself permission to take one. I ate everything from street corn to tasting menus, and in between I wandered the city, sat in parks and read or just watched the world go by, and talked to friendly strangers at the market food stalls. It was gloriously, luxuriously relaxed - and so very delicious. I don't know if it was the slowness of my pace, or the ubiquitous cups of hot chocolate, or the $5 yoga classes, but I could easily picture myself living there.

Chocolate con agua in the Mercado 20 de noviembre

Tlayuda

Sabina Sabe - Dulce Amargo

Sabina Sabe - mole coloradito with mashed plantain fritters

Itanoni

Pozole and memela at Itanoni

Street corn (elote)

Mole negro at El Escapulario

Tasting menu at Criollo

Risotto with huitaloche and a poached egg at Criollo

Black bean soup at Criollo (deceptively delicious)

Cauliflower in mole at Criollo

Where I stayed:

Casa Giron B&B - Carlos and Concepcion are the friendliest hosts you could imagine. The rooms are basic but spacious and tidy, and the location is fantastic.

Where I ate:

Mercado 20 de noviembre

Sabina Sabe

Itanoni

El Escapulario

Criollo

Back Where it All Began

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Sun, 19 Nov 2017 22:39:00 +0000

My first trip outside the US was a two-week church mission trip to Mexico after my junior year of high school. We arrived in Merida late, and as I peered out the bus window trying to make out shapes in the dark, I realized that the pretty sparkles were coming from broken glass bottles stuck on the top of concrete walls to deter intruders. I had a brief moment of "what did I get myself into?!", but after two weeks of sleeping in hammocks, passing buckets of cement, and using my minimal high school Spanish to bargain for trinkets in the market, the broken bottles didn't faze me anymore - I was hooked on the newness of travel.

18 years and 33 other countries later, I have some feelings about mission trips and how much good they really do, but I can't deny that the trip changed me and played a large role in the path my life has taken since. And now, here I am, back in the country where it all began. Where I first realized that I could deal with cold showers and no hair dryer (I was a bit of a princess), that I could find other ways to communicate when language failed, that I could not only survive but thrive outside of my comfort zone. I honestly wasn't really sure it was something I was capable of, and now it's something I actively pursue. As time goes on, I find myself gravitating towards places that feel more foreign, more of a challenge. I'm compelled to keep pushing beyond my comfort zone, and setting new limits for myself, just to see if I can. And so I've strayed from my first travel love, Latin America, because frankly it just got a little too easy.

I arrived late in Mexico City and stayed in a hostel near the airport since I had an early morning flight. It was basic and loud, but I was comforted by familiar sounds of telenovelas and reggaeton, by speaking the language that still comes back to me when I need it (even if I trip over my tongue more than I'd like), by the ease of getting around when you can ask questions and read signs. As my plane to Oaxaca took off this morning, tops of volcanoes peaked through the clouds, and the knowledge that if I could see far enough, I'd see the mountains I climbed in Honduras and Guatemala nearly a decade ago, made me feel immediately connected to this place.

I've got a week in Oaxaca and Mexico City, and I know they will be full of new and exciting tastes and sounds and experiences. But, in spite of never having been here before, it will also be full of the familiar. And for once, I am really savoring this feeling of being at home. Pushing out of my comfort zone is exciting and terrifying and I'm always glad I did it. But this trip comes at a time when I could really use some comfort and ease. It's good to remember that I don't always have to push so hard - being comfortable can be exciting too.

Finding Light in the Darkness of 2016

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Mon, 02 Jan 2017 16:26:00 +0000

2016 was a rough year.

For me, it was a year filled with personal life changes, some good and some not so good, alongside global changes and uncertainty and violence. This year has forced me to think more deeply about what I want my life to be like, and how best to use my skills and privilege to make the world better for others. At many times it has made me despair of ever being able to live in the type of world I dream of.

However, even in the depths of that despair, I know there is really is still so much good in the world. I may have to look a little harder to find it these days, but I don't want the bad parts of 2016 to eclipse all the wonderful things that happened. So - mostly for the sake of my own sanity - here's a little look back at some of my brightest memories from 2016.

Waking up to the sound of the ocean in Sao Tome.

Getting caught by intermittent rain showers on a beach walk in Roatan, and running for shelter under a palm tree along the beach, giggling beneath the fronds while the rain passed.
Running down the Craggy Gardens trail with Miles, zooming around like airplanes in an attempt to slow him down and keep him (or me) from face-planting. Happy kid giggles and rosy cheeks and fresh air.
Sitting with Rachel in front of the (tissue paper and paper bag) fireplace in our office, with all but the Christmas lights turned off, sipping mugs of Haitian rum, and listening to Christmas carols while watching YouTube videos of snow falling in the forest. (Seriously, if you're ever stressed - watch these videos.)

An autumn Thursday afternoon spent hiking and catching up with Joseph on the Virginia side of Great Falls, and a Sunday morning a few weeks later hiking the Maryland side with Samantha.

A perfect, and unexpected, Saturday morning in Queens with Isabel.
Getting to reconnect with my Peace Corps host family in Honduras, and feeling as if no time had passed.
Deep conversations, deep blue skies, and lots of cheese in Tillamook with Joseph and Judith.

Strolling the Tidal Basin loop with my mom and June.
An incredible and very fancy cocktail flight at Barmini with Iz followed by Shake Shack for dinner.
Re-learning to let go and feel the rhythm in Afro-Brazilian dance class with Allison.
Baby toes, breweries, City Park hikes, early morning snuggles with O, side-eye from Amelia, and lots of quality friend time on my June trip to New Orleans

Spontaneously volunteering at a wine tasting event in Cincinnati with Anna and Danae, complete with free tastings - which inevitably led to margaritas, dancing, and a drag show.
Silly post-happy hour Target trips with Laura.
Embracing the January blizzard with bourbon, baths, baking, and lots of books.

Finding a lovely group of DC ladies to drink champagne with in my living room.
Returning to Portland in July for lunchtime river walking, evening barbecuing, many happy hours, and a mountain wedding.
Enjoying the fall colors in DC.

Thank you to all of you for being the bright spots in a tough year, and for constantly reminding me of all the good and wonder that exists in the world.

Tudo Tranquilo in Sao Tome

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Sun, 09 Oct 2016 15:15:00 +0000

I am nearing the end of my third trip to Accra, and in spite of having spent nearly three months in Ghana in 2016, I've still barely seen any of the country. This trip, I haven't even left the city once. And yet I've managed to make it another country - and not even one of the neighboring ones!

I will admit that until the day I booked my plane ticket from Accra to Sao Tome, I could not have placed it on a map. And then a friend in Ghana wrote to say there was a direct flight from Accra to Sao Tome and did I want to go next weekend? Never one to turn down a chance to visit somewhere new, I bought the ticket and showed up at the airport, leaving the rest of the details to Samantha.

An easy hour-and-a-half flight on TAP Portugal (with the world's happiest flight crew - because they fly in Friday and fly out Sunday) landed us in the capital city of Sao Tome right at sunset. Two of our group had arrived on Wednesday and they pulled up to the airport in a our rental car, driven by someone else - a guy they'd met at a coffee farm who'd taken them to find a waterfall and then drove them to the airport to meet us and got his own ride home. In many ways, this set the tone for the trip - people were very laid back, very helpful, and very trusting. As the taxi driver we were chatting with outside the airport told us - Sao Tome is "tudo tranquilo" (literally "all calm", but essentially - super chill).

I only had two days to explore this paradise, but we crammed in as much as we could. Beaches, cloud forests, city wanderings and quiet hikes. And everywhere we turned, a beautiful view and a delicious meal.

From Sea to Summit

On Saturday we drove north in search of a beach to do some swimming and snorkeling. Our first attempt was a bust - the Blue Lagoon was lovely but not really the beach we were looking for.

After consulting google maps and some friendly locals, we headed towards nearby Praia dos Tamarindos. It took us nearly an hour of crawling along rutted dirt roads through tiny villages, but we made it and it was pretty spectacular! We were not alone on this gorgeous stretch of beach - it turns out there's a much easier road that we missed in favor of our off-road adventure. It only took us 15 minutes to get back to the main highway!

Praia dos Tamarindos

From there, we headed up the mountains into the cloud forest. It went from sunny and warm to cool and raining in a matter of 30 minutes - I love that such a small island has so much contrast. We explored the botanical gardens and went for a short and very muddy hike. We were too late in the day to do any real hiking, but there are supposed to be some beautiful (and strenuous) trails heading out from the botanical gardens.

Food and Drink

We used the Trip Advisor Top 10 as our guide, but half the places on it had moved/were closed. No matter, wherever we wound up, we had seriously delicious and incredibly cheap meals. In Sao Tome city we enjoyed the queijo de ilha (island cheese), burgers, salads, garlicky shrimp and cheap wine at Xico's Cafe; the random bar carts scattered throughout the city; and Papa Figo, a lively seafood restaurant where I had an amazing peixe grelhado (grilled fish) with garlic sauce. We were also a little bit obsessed with the Super CKado grocery store, which is a lovely place to stock up on local chocolate and Portuguese wine.

Walking around Sao Tome in the evening - very tranquilo.

That local cheese plate - with truffle honey. SO GOOD.

But the culinary star of the weekend was a trip to Roca Sao Joao dos Angolares, a restaurant in an old colonial hotel that's known for the tasting menu at lunch. We arrived early and enjoyed walking around the grounds, and then we settled in to the open-air dining area for an incredible experience. Chef Joao does an island-Portuguese fusion cuisine that really celebrates locally available products like seafood, tropical fruits, and chocolate. We enjoyed a leisurely parade of small plates, a family-style main of rice, chicken and a spicy green sauce, and two desserts. All for an unbelievable 17 Euro. It was a really special experience and a great way to end our weekend.

Fun Facts

It's safe to say that I was totally charmed by this stunning, friendly island nation. But with such a short visit and virtually no pre-trip research, I've only barely scratched the surface in understanding Sao Tome. A few things I found interesting :

The nation only gained independence from Portugal in 1975, and the influence is still very strongly felt in the language, the food, the architecture, and the preponderance of Portuguese tourists.
Their largest export is cocoa. Another major export crop is coffee. Which makes this one of the tastiest islands anywhere. (The chocolate-covered coffee beans will blow your mind. But get them at Super CKado, not at the airport where they cost 9 Euro!)
There are no foreign ATMs on the island (bring Euros or dollars!) The dobra currently is about 25,000 to 1 Euro.
The island is home to a huge Voice of America broadcasting site that reaches much of Africa
Not much English is spoken. My Spanish helped some, as did having a couple of French-speaking folks with us (they teach French in school since Gabon is their closest neighbor).
Incomes are low, but Sao Tome scores well on the UN's Human Development Index relative to other Central and West African nations, thanks to government investments in health and education. People there also told us that they may not have much money, but on a small island people look out for each other so people don't go hungry.
The airport has only one gate, so we weren't expecting much - but there's a nice (though overpriced) gift store inside with lots of spices, chocolates and crafts to take home. There's also a small bar if you want to spend your last dobras on a cerveja Nacional.

Lots of colorful wood houses.

Planning Your Trip

Getting there: So, as amazing as Sao Tome is, there's a reason it's a hidden gem - it's not easy to get to! The only flights into Sao Tome come from Lisbon (with a stop in Accra), Angola, Cape Verde, Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, and most of those only run a few days a week. But if you find yourself in one of those places, it's absolutely worth the trip!

Accommodation: We stayed at Casa Ondas Divinas in Santana. There are multiple cottages of varying size/price. Ours was simple but lovely, breakfasts were tasty, and the views were incredible. Owner Yves speaks fluent English, French, and Portuguese and can arrange for anything from a rental car to money exchange to surf lessons. Just be patient, as everything happens on island time!

The view from our front porch.

Getting around: Our Airbnb host arranged a rental car for us that was waiting at the airport, and he just had us park it and leave it there when we left (easiest rental car process ever?). We met folks who got around without a rental vehicle, but it gave us so much more freedom and allowed us to get to places we never could have gone on public transport. Be sure to get something with decent clearance and preferably 4x4 - even the main roads have potholes, and anything off the main road is likely to be dirt.

Budget Breakdown: 3 months in Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Turkey

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Mon, 12 Sep 2016 01:48:00 +0000

I debated over whether to write a post about my budget - I spent a lot of money on this trip and putting that out there for the world to see feels really weird. I recognize how incredibly privileged I am to have been able to afford to put money in savings each month, quit my job without a new one lined up, spend this much money on a trip just for fun!, and come back knowing I had plentiful guest rooms to stay in until I found a new job and a new home. I do not take these things for granted one bit - and I know that no matter how hard I worked for them, for many people they are simply out of reach.

I also don't want my budget to deter anyone - while this trip was quite expensive, there are a lot of ways it could have been done more affordably. I spent the first half of my trip on a backpacker budget, but during the second half I stayed in nicer hotels and splurged more on luxury activities and fine dining. Some people could travel the world for a year on what I spent in 3 months... and then there are others who could spend my 3-month budget on a one-week trip to Paris. Travel looks different for everyone and ultimately it's all about what kind of experience you want and how much you're willing/able to pay for it.

In the end, I decided to share because 1) during my planning phase, I found that there aren't a lot of budget breakdowns out there for less-visited countries like Georgia and Armenia, and 2) even though I spent a lot of money, I feel like some people might be surprised how little it was when you consider the fact that I traveled for 3 months and splurged on some pretty incredible bucket list activities. Given how easy it is to blow thousands on a weekend in Vegas (even without gambling), I consider this trip a great value, and worth every penny I spent.

I used the Trail Wallet app to track my spending by country - it made budgeting in multiple currencies super easy.

Georgia

I have been singing Georgia's praises from the rooftops since I returned home - it's my #1 choice for value on the trip. A beautiful country with a lot of history and culture, easy to get around, and yet it's still incredibly affordable. It may not stay that way for long, so go soon!

6 weeks in Georgia
	GEL	USD	Average/Day
Lodging	1255	561.62	$13.37
Food	760.11	343.87	$8.19
Transport	397.2	177.7	$4.23
Entertainment	210	93.91	$2.24
Miscellaneous	348.89	152.77	$3.64
Total	2971.2	$1329.87	$31.66

Lodging: I stayed in hostels and guesthouses (which skewed the food/lodging budgets a bit, as some or all meals were included at guesthouses). Splurged on one night at a winery.
Transport: I stuck to local transportation- marshutky, metro, my own two feet - and was lucky enough to make a few friends with cars who occasionally helped me get somewhere for free.
Food: Except when staying in guesthouses, I ate most of my meals at restaurants and cafes because it was often just as cheap to eat out as it was to buy groceries. Breakfast was free at most places I stayed.
Entertainment a few museum entry fees and a tour that took me from Tbilisi to Yerevan.
Miscellaneous covered toiletries, laundry, souvenirs, and mailing a package home.

Getting there: Plane tickets were not cheap (I flew to Istanbul then took a budget airline to Tbilisi), but maybe due to winter or maybe due to the current situation in Turkey, Turkish Airlines currently has flights to Tbilisi starting at $550 (half what I paid!)

Armenia

Even though it was cheaper than Georgia, it ranks lower on overall value for me mostly because it seemed like there was less to do, and a bit less tourist infrastructure (for instance - there's no English signage in the Yerevan metro). Also, to me Yerevan lacks some of the charm of Tbilisi... but the coffee is definitely better! Still a fantastic value for your money.

7 Days in Armenia
	AMD	USD	Average/Day
Lodging	39900	83.65	$11.95
Food	30660	64.25	$9.18
Transport	10300	21.59	$3.08
Entertainment	5500	11.54	$1.65
Miscellaneous	14250	29.87	$4.27
Total	100610	$210.9	$30.13

Lodging: I stayed at the same hostel in Yerevan for my whole trip. Cheap, clean and conveniently located.
Food was really cheap in Armenia, even in the heart of Yerevan. I only had one meal over $10, including drinks. The kebab shops offered especially good value.
Transportation costs were low as I only made a couple of day trips outside of Yerevan. Within the city, I walked, took the occasional taxi, or used the local minibuses (pretty easy even without knowing any Armenian).

Iran

Traveling to Iran was a huge splurge. Since as an American I had to travel with a group tour, there was really no way to do this on the cheap. From what I could tell, most tours in Iran still cater to older, more affluent travelers. This means staying in nicer hotels, which is where the primary cost comes in, and traveling on nicer transportation options like a private bus. I decided that the opportunity to have this experience was worth the cost of the tour - and looking back, I don't regret that decision one bit. I would love to see Iranian tour operators start gearing more tours towards younger travelers, though - outdoor activities, home stays/guesthouses, and public transportation would all cut down on costs while offering more contact with day-to-day life in Iran.

N.B. If you have a passport from a country other than the US or Britain and can do your trip without a tour group, I'm told you can travel very cheaply in Iran by Couchsurfing!

14 Days in Iran
	Rial	USD	Average/Day
Tour + tips		2314.15	$165.30
Food	7089000	241.03	$17.22
Entertainment	650000	22.1	$1.58
Transport	295000	10.03	$0.72
Miscellaneous	1265000	43.01	$3.07
Total		2630.32	$187.88

All accommodation, all breakfasts, transportation and entry fees were included in the tour. I paid for lunches and dinners, souvenirs, internet, and transportation to/from the airport out of pocket.
I think food prices were a bit inflated as, with a group of 14, we often had to eat at more touristy restaurants/buffets.

Turkey

Next to Iran, Turkey was my biggest splurge. With my friend visiting, we stayed in slightly nicer accommodations and did more extravagant activities than I would have done on my own. I also spent a lot of time in Istanbul, which is a major city and comes with major city prices on food and entertainment. It was a little rough having this come at the end of my trip!

25 days in Turkey
	USD	Avg/day
Lodging	700.88	$28.04
Food	462.78	$18.51
Transport	165.51	$6.62
Entertainment	350.9	$14.04
Total	1680.07	$67.20

*nb many expenses were paid in dollars or Euro, so I didn't calculate costs in lira

I spent more than twice as much on lodging compared to Georgia/Armenia - but mostly because I stayed in actual hotels instead of hostels. I still think there's some very good value to be had in accommodations, especially if you have a traveling partner. Vineyard Cave Hotel in Goreme was an excellent choice for the money (we found it on shoulder-season sale), and the long-term stay discount at Finch Apartments made it nearly as cheap as the hostel across the street, but much more comfortable! Lodging also included our 3-night boat trip.

Entertainment was also much higher, thanks to the hot air balloon ride, tips for our boat ride, and some pricey museum entrance fees.

Food was a crazy mix of high and low end - from a splurge meal at Nicole to $3 kebabs. Overall, prices in Istanbul were pretty high. I tried to keep food spending in check by cooking breakfast and dinner at my apartment for most of the last two weeks.

Istanbul is not a cheap city, at least not when you're coming from Tbilisi - but how much would I have spent on 18 days in Paris or London? In terms of history, culture and food, I would put Istanbul on par with any major European city --- and suddenly it's a pretty great value.

Other Expenses

There were a few overarching expenses that didn't fit into any one country budget, but are certainly important for planning. Many of these (gear, plane tickets, insurance) were paid for in advance - while I still had a job - so they didn't cut into my travel savings. I definitely recommend paying for some things ahead of time if you are able!

Plane Tickets	$1,429	6 flights (1 international RT, 3 international 1-way, 2 internal 1-way) + megabus
Travel Insurance	$295	World Nomads. Just get it - peace of mind.
VPN	$18	for checking bank balances/making credit card payments securely on public wifi
Gear	$562	Chromebook, hiking shoes, sandals, tunics for Iran, etc
In-Transit costs	$124.72	taxis, etc in the US
Visas	$215	$185 for Iran (including photos), $30 for Turkey

Grand Total: $8495.16*

Georgia	$1,329.87
Armenia	$210.90
Turkey**	$1,680
Iran	$2,630.32
Other	$2,644
Total	$8,495.16

*I'm sure I forgot something
**I excluded the insane amount of money that I spent on presents and souvenirs in Turkey. I couldn't stop buying towels!

So, all three of my dear readers who made it all the way through, I'm curious what you think: is this more or less than you expected? What's your favorite travel destination in terms of overall value?

30 minutes in a Georgian Bathhouse

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Wed, 10 Aug 2016 16:29:00 +0000

I'm taking some time to go back and expand upon stories from my trip that I wish I'd given more time to, or that people have asked about. The number one most requested story was my trip to the Georgian bathhouse, though I have a feeling it loses something in being written down. Also, sorry for the lack of photos, but they tend to frown on that in public baths, what with all the naked folks.

Turkish bathhouses (hammams) are famous world over for their relaxing atmosphere. Significantly less famous, and exponentially less relaxing, is the Georgian bathhouse (abano). To be fair, there are many bathhouse options in Tbilisi, and I'm sure that some of them are lovely and spa-like. But Abano No.5 was not that place.

I had never been to any kind of bathhouse before. To be honest, I'm not really big on stripping naked in front of a bunch of strangers, much less sharing a communal body of water with said naked strangers. But I decided that my 33rd birthday was as good a time as any to pop my public nudity cherry. And so I found myself at Abano No. 5, the public bathhouse in Tbilisi, at 10:00 on a Tuesday morning.

I like to go into things prepared, so I'd read some blogs about the experience before I went. Everyone loved it, raved about it, said you had to go. I walked in and paid the lady my money, splurging for the "pilling and massage" like the bloggers recommended - a grand total of $13.

The attendant pointed me downstairs, where I immediately got anxious because there were no signs on the doors. Eventually I saw a man come out of one of the rooms, and so I entered the other door. Four women sat at a table drinking tea, and as I came in one of them, a short but sturdy-looking woman perhaps in her early 50's, rose and took my receipt. She wordlessly pointed me to some lockers and made motions that I was to leave my clothes and go into the showers.

I stood under the shower head, letting the smell of sulfur (did I mention these are sulfur baths?) soak into my hair and skin, and trying to gauge my fellow bathers out of the corner of my eye. Just a couple of older ladies, one who had her granddaughter with her. Okay, I can do this, I can stand naked in a room with old ladies and children. Maybe I can even feel pretty confident in my 33-year-old body while I do it (or maybe that's pushing things...)

Now, based on what I'd read, I thought I was supposed to shower and then there would be some kind of a tub or pool for soaking. So after a minute or two in the shower I went back out to look for my lady and figure out where the pool was. I had not been given a towel, so I stepped through the door naked and dripping everywhere. The lady ran at me, with many instructions in Georgian that I did not understand, but the gist was - stay in the shower until I come for you. Okaaaaay.

Five awkward shower minutes later, while the older women gave me some serious side-eye as they shampooed their hair and took actual baths, and I just moved aimlessly under the spray, she came for me - dressed for work now, in just her bra and underwear. Where was my relaxing pool? Instead I was pushed towards a cold marble ledge on the edge of the same room, where she lay me down. She put on a loofah mitt, squeezed something on it, and started scrubbing.

This was not your typical exfoliation, but a full-on removal of an entire lifetime of dead skin (and maybe some that was still living). The debris piled up on the white marble as she laid me down one way, flipped me over, moved me around. A couple of times as she tried to get to elbows or around shoulders, she used her cleavage to hold my arm in place, wedging my hand right in there so I couldn't escape. She scrubbed very nearly every inch of me until it was raw, save a precious few inches that I am rather grateful she left intact.

Then the "massage" began. She put a sponge in a bag with some soap that smelled like laundry detergent, and then held the bag above me and squeezed out the soap suds as she rubbed me down roughly. She made me sit up so she could wash my hair, with my face bouncing around her ample bosom as she scrubbed my scalp clean. She dumped some buckets of water on me to rinse me off, and then pushed me back under the shower.

Less than 30 minutes later, I was dressed again and back outside, blinking in the sunlight and smelling of rotten eggs (it took multiple washes to get that smell out of my hair). In spite of the rough handling, I left feeling oddly relaxed (or maybe just bewildered), and my skin was as soft as it ever has been or likely ever will be.

A month later I was in Turkey and I knew I should try out the famous hammams... but I couldn't quite bring myself to do it. It was an adventure and I'm glad I tried it, but I think I need a few more years to recover from the abano.

A Different Kind of Travel

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Sat, 11 Jun 2016 02:03:00 +0000

Sometime in high school - possibly before I even applied for my first passport - I decided that I wanted to travel for my job. At the time I planned on becoming a doctor, so I had visions of moving from country to country, providing medical care where there was none. Partway through college I decided the doctor life was not for me, but then I discovered global public health! It seemed like the perfect mix of my academic interests, my desire to help alleviate suffering, and an opportunity to explore the world. I followed that path through grad school and into the Peace Corps. Before I left for Honduras, I gave away EVERYTHING. I thought I might not ever be back to live in the US full time again, or at least not for many years.

Honduras was hard, though. Not for the obvious reasons of having to take bucket baths and getting dysentery - those are par for the course, part of the adventure. It was hard because I realized how much you give up when you live far away from your family and friends. I missed a few big events like weddings and milestone birthdays, but I also missed out on hundreds of small events like Tuesday nights spent giggling with girlfriends or Saturday morning walks with my mom. By the end of two years, I was tired of missing out on those things. And so I moved back to the US and took a job working in domestic health, where I stayed for the next 6 years.

I loved what I did, and I loved exploring new parts of the US as I eventually settled down and made a home in Portland. But every time I traveled abroad, I felt a tug back to the international health world. And so now, here I am, finally arriving where I always thought I would be: I have a public health job that pays me to travel!

Red Red (black eyed peas with tomatoes and onions) and fried plantains

I am so, so grateful for this opportunity. And I really love the project that I'm working on in Ghana, and the fact that the field team values me enough to want to have me out there for weeks at a time! But it's a very different kind of travel than I've ever experienced.

I made my first trip to Accra in March, and when I came home everyone asked "How was Ghana?" and I had no idea how to answer - because I spent most of it in an office, and most of the rest of it in a hotel. Yes, I went to Ghana without SEEING Ghana. I am the worst kind of traveler. But I quickly realized that when you travel for work, your time is not your own, and there is always more work to be done than there is time in country to do it.

I more or less knew this going in - I have enough friends with jobs like mine that I was under no illusions this would be anything remotely like a vacation, or even like Peace Corps. But it was still shocking to come home from a three-week trip realizing how little I'd seen or done.

I'll be traveling back to Ghana plenty over the next months and years, and of course I hope to remedy this. I've promised myself that during my next trip I'll get out of the expat haunts in Accra, get out of the city, maybe even to travel to neighboring Togo or Cote d'Ivoire and learn more about the region. But I know that the if I don't make a concerted effort to do that, it would be all too easy to spend my next trip inside the same hotel and office confines.

The one time I saw the beach. We stopped for lunch near Cape Coast between meetings.

It's an admittedly privileged "problem" to have - I'm so busy at my job that's paying me to be in Ghana that I can't leave my nice hotel and go lay on the beach for a couple of days and drink coconuts - OH NO. And I'm really not complaining - it's a pretty sweet gig! But I would like to figure out how to get to know Ghana better on these trips - both to satisfy my own curiosity, and so that I can have the context I need to do a better job supporting the Ghanaian health system.

site visit to a primary care facility in Central Region

Do any of you business travelers have good tips for making sure you actually experience the countries that you're working in? Any Ghana recommendations?

Reflections on 3 months of travel - and what's next

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Mon, 28 Mar 2016 21:56:00 +0000

When I decided to travel alone for 3 months, I honestly wasn't sure I could do it. I was equal parts excited and anxious - but I knew I would regret it if I didn't try. And I can't describe how happy I am that I gave it a shot! I'm so glad I didn't give into the fear, the anxiety, or the pressure (from myself) to do the adult thing and just get another job and keep working my way up the corporate ladder. It's not going to be the right decision (or even a possibility) for everyone, and there were occasional moments both during my trip and after (when I was 33 years old, unemployed and living with my mom...) when I questioned whether I should have done it. But with four months of reflection - and 2 of gainful employment - there is now no question in my mind that it was one of the best things I've ever done in my life.

Lessons Learned

Perhaps the most important lesson I learned is simply that I CAN DO THIS. I can travel alone, I can make new friends, I can explore the world on my own - and I fully plan to continue to do so. How freeing to know I trust myself now with my own adventures! Friends, that doesn't mean I don't want you to join me! ;-) But I'm so happy knowing that I don't have to wait to find a travel buddy before I go somewhere that's calling to me.

While not a new lesson, still an important one: we live in a world full of media-driven fear-mongering, so I need constant reminders that the world is GOOD. People are good. Not all of them, but the vast majority. As a woman traveling alone, I often felt at the mercy of other people's goodness (or lack thereof) - and wow did they come through for me. I experienced so much kindness and generosity on my travels that it makes me feel bad for ever doubting that it existed.

Birthday celebration with friends in Georgia.

New friends in Iran

It's a small world after all: The more I travel, the smaller the world feels. There is so much beautiful diversity, but we are also alike in so many ways. I traveled in 4 countries where they speak 4 different languages and practice 4 different religions - and yet, I found more similarities than differences. I love the fact that I can be somewhere totally new and foreign and still find things that make me feel right at home, whether it's a familiar ingredient in a meal, a word that sounds the same, or a connection with a new friend over a shared pop culture reference. And now who has the It's a small world song stuck in their head? Just me??

Tea is my universal comfort drink.

Would I do it again?

If you've been reading the blog, there's no surprise here - in a heartbeat. The more I look back on it, the more I realize how incredibly lucky I was to have this opportunity. I will probably do a few things differently the next time around, though (and there WILL be a next time!).

Shorter trip: It was such a gift to have as much time as I did, but I think that personally my ideal trip would be somewhere around a month to 6 weeks.
Smaller scope: Focus on one or two countries at a time. I really enjoyed the 6 weeks that I had in Georgia to get to know the country in greater depth, learn some of the language, and make friends.

Research shows that one of the biggest happiness boosts of vacations comes from the anticipation of the vacation. I did a lot of research before my first stop, Georgia, and spent time studying the language, but each country after that got progressively less attention. I chose to be present in the place that I was in, instead of on the internet doing research for the next place, but at the cost of that joy that comes with the planning and anticipation.

On the flip side, the flight home is normally when I do a lot of processing and reflection of the journey I've just taken. When my flights instead took me straight to a new place to explore, I lost a lot of that opportunity for reflection. I was only a few days into my Iran trip and Georgia already felt a world away. It wasn't until I wrote the blog post saying goodbye to Georgia that I really got to process some of the emotions I felt upon leaving. I tried to do a little better leaving Iran by making space on the flight to reflect, but that was only a couple of hours and then I dove head-first into Turkey.

I travel to experience the world but also to learn things about myself - and in order to do that optimally, I need time and space for both preparation and processing.

What's Next

In January I moved to Washington DC for a new job with an international development agency. I'm starting to explore the city, and will also be traveling to Ghana a fair amount for work (I'm there right now!) - so I will continue to update the blog occasionally with stories from those and other trips and general musings on life. Also, if there's something you feel like I missed or you'd like to hear more about from this trip - leave me a note in the comments! Sign up for the RSS feed (on the sidebar or link on the About page) if you want to be notified when I make a post (I'll continue to cross-post on Facebook and twitter too)!

My main view in Ghana has been that of my laptop screen.

Thanks everyone for joining me on this journey - I've really enjoyed trying to capture some of my experiences to share with you all!

xoxo Mary

Slowing Down: Exploring Istanbul's Karakoy Neighborhood

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Thu, 10 Mar 2016 23:31:00 +0000

By the time mid-October rolled around, I'd been moving more or less non-stop for 4 weeks. Initially, I'd thought to spend my last two and a half weeks exploring more of Turkey - Ephesus, Pamukkale, Bodrum, there's so much to see! But every time I started to do research and plan for that part of the trip, I just couldn't muster up any enthusiasm. I was tired.

And so, within hours of arriving in our cute little efficiency apartment for our second stay in Istanbul I found myself emailing the owner to see if he could give me a long-term discount. He made me a great offer, and I felt a huge wave of relief wash over me once I made the decision to just stay put in Istanbul until the end of my trip. It wasn't that I was tired of traveling, or ready to go home - but I was tired of being on the move. I needed to settle in for awhile, sleep in the same bed for more than a night or two, and find a little bit of a comfort zone again.

Luckily, I picked a great place to need a break. Istanbul is a city of 14 million, and every neighborhood has its own character and charms. Even with two and a half weeks I knew I wouldn't be able to see it all, and instead of trying to see everything I decided to mostly just stick to my neighborhood - Karaköy - and live like a local for a little while. And so I bring you my neighborhood guide to Karaköy!

Dolphin pay phones.

Karaköy

Karaköy (also known as Galata), is located on the European side of Istanbul in the Beyoglu district. It's right on the water, across the bridge from Sultanahmet. It's what you might call a transitional neighborhood - mid-gentrification - and boasts an eclectic mix of tradesmen's shops and hip cafes and fancy restaurants. Although the neighborhood itself is interesting, it certainly is not the most exciting that Istanbul has to offer. However, accommodations tend to be cheaper and it's a great base for exploring other parts of Beyoglu - it's easy walking distance to the popular Istiklal street, Taksim Square, and the hip Cihangir neighborhood.

Laundry day, somewhere between Karakoy and Istiklal

What to Do

Istanbul Modern: I'm not usually a modern art fan, but this museum was colorful, interactive and entertaining. It was a great way to spend a rainy afternoon.

People watching: On nice days I would take a book and pick up some baklava and wander the few blocks from my apartment down to the Karakoy pier and grab a bench. Between the fishermen and the ferry passengers, there's some great people watching to be done. The streets near the Galata Tower also offer some good people watching, though sometimes it was overly crowded for me.

The Spice Bazaar: This one requires a walk across the Galata bridge, which is an activity in and of itself - watching all the fishermen reel in their catch. The spice bazaar had a totally different feel from the Grand Bazaar - much less chaotic and intense. There are many spice vendors, of course, but if you wind your way through the back alleys you'll also find kitchenware (super cheap copper mugs for ayran!), peshtamels, school supplies, and all sorts of other things.

A walk across Galata bridge towards Karakoy - cloudy in Europe, sunny in Asia.

Street Art: At first glance, Karakoy is still a pretty industrial neighborhood - hardware shops and cement buildings. But if you take a turn into the maze of alleyways that wind parallel to the main thoroughfares, you'll find yourself in a totally different world. Overgrown vines and bright graffiti line the walls next to hidden cafes and bars.

One block off of touristy Istiklal street

Cafe Sitting: Speaking of those hidden cafes - once I found them, what was I to do but sit and have a cup of cay? So much cay.

Hammam: I did not actually do this (I'd have enough of a bath house experience in Tbilisi to last for some time), but the Kilic Ali Pasa Hammam (near the Istanbul Modern) came highly recommended by several locals and travelers.

Shopping: The streets above Kemeralti cadessi leading up to Istiklal and the Galata Tower are linked with small shops selling all the typical Turkish souvenirs - towels, ceramics, lamps. Those along Yuksek Kaldirim cadesesi tend to be a little more touristy and expensive, but you can find some reasonable prices. My preferred street, though, was Bogazkesen/Yeni Carsi, which had expensive but more unique art and craft stores, along with cafes and used bookstores. And lots of cats.

Cats love books.

What to Eat

There is some very good eating to be done in and around Karakoy - everything from high-end to local cafeterias. I've listed a few of my favorites below. The Istanbul Eats: Exploring the Culinary Backstreets guide was a great resource (free with our tour) that steered a lot of my food adventures. I then used my maps.me app to pin all of the places I wanted to try while I had wifi so that I could pull up the map when I got hungry during my explorations and see what was nearby!

NATO Lokantasi: This unassuming cafeteria was just a block away from my apartment. Only open for weekday lunches, I walked by it twice before finally going in - the lunchtime crowd can be pretty intimidating! Finally I walked by one day at 11:45 it was nearly empty, so I dove in. Not much English was spoken, but I went to the back where the dishes were on display and pointed out what I wanted with some help from the chef. My favorite from multiple visits was a simple dish of white beans in a slightly spicy tomato sauce - so much more complex than it appeared.

The white beans, though my favorite, did not make for good pictures. This is some also-yummy beef soup.

Karaköy Gumruk: Recommended to me by the chef at Nicole, Karaköy Gumruk is a more upscale option. I treated myself on my second to last night - a hearty, earthy mushroom risotto for dinner and crispy phyllo dough filled with pastry cream and a raspberry sauce for dessert.

Namli Gurme: This market cum deli is a great way for a solo traveler to try out lots of Turkish dishes at once. A nice young guy at the deli counter greeted me in Turkish but quickly realized that I didn't understand and gave me a tentative "hello". Before I knew it, he had picked out small portions of a number of his favorite things for me to try and pointed me in the direction of the cashier. I also came here at least once a week to pick up cheeses and olives and other goodies for eating at the apartment.

Karaköy Güllüoğlu: Eat all the baklava. (The walnut is my favorite.)

Turkish breakfast: Being Turkey, there are many places to find Turkish breakfast. A couple of my favorites were Van Kahvalti Evi, a popular Cihangir spot known for its kaymak (clotted cream) with honey (try to go on a weekday morning, or be prepared for a wait);

and even more delicious was Datli Maya, where the "Breakfast for One" could easily feed two - eggs, olives, vegetables, cheeses, and super good homemade simit and olive bread (I considered stuffing the leftovers in my purse).

Ficcin: In the streets up above the Galata tower, this Turko-Caucasian restaurant has a unique take on the Turkish version of ravioli (manti). Theirs are larger and more pierogi-like, but still delightfully slathered in garlic yogurt and chili oil with an added punch from sumac and oregano sprinkled on top at the table.

Where to Stay

The Finch Apartments made a lovely home base for my 2.5 week stay. My small room had two single beds, a private bath and a mini-fridge, along with a kitchenette shared with the room next to me. There was also a larger communal kitchen upstairs where I cooked quite a bit. The owner, Onder, was really nice and very helpful (ask him to help arrange taxis to avoid getting ripped off). The one downside to the apartment is that it can be hard to meet people if you're traveling alone - though I also didn't try very hard. Rates seem to vary by booking site - if you'd like to contact Onder directly (finch@finchapart.com), he can probably give you the best price (also, he may give a cash discount).

The Galata Tower.

From Hamsi to Henny: An Epic Day of Eating in Istanbul

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 23:13:00 +0000

Any time I'm with Isabel, I know food is going to be the center of our activities. And indeed, we ate some really delicious meals throughout the 12 days she was in Turkey. But one day topped them all - and maybe topped any other day of eating ever. 14 hours, 2 continents, starting with a $0.50 simit on the street and ending with a glass of cognac at one of the best restaurants in the city.

Culinary Backstreets of Istanbul

On her last before heading home to NYC Isabel had booked us on a half-day Culinary Backstreets tour of two neighborhoods on two continents, Karakoy (Europe) and Kadikoy (Asia).We met our group of 8, plus guide Gonca, at 9am in Karakoy and didn't waste any time starting to eat. Gonca picked up simit, a sesame-covered bread ring, from her favorite guy on this side of the bridge and then we were off down alley ways filled with paint and hardware stores until we arrived at our first destination, a small tea shop in a hidden industrial courtyard. As the tea usta (master) served us, Gonca explained why Turkish cay, pronounced chai - is served in such small glasses (so it's always hot), how to tell if tea is good (clarity and color), and how to order. She also served us our first breakfast, simit and some funky and delicious local cheese she'd brought from a market near her home. This, she told us, was weekday breakfast - what Turks grab on the way to work.

The tea usta (technically still an apprentice at at 57)

Twenty minutes later and a few blocks away, we sat down for second breakfast - weekend breakfast this time - a feast of cheeses and yogurts and sausage and clotted cream with honey, all made from water buffalo by the owners of the restaurant. As we tasted and shared, Gonca gave us her take on life in Turkey, taught us about Turkish customs, and taught us practical things like how to use the public transportation system (I found myself thinking that this tour would have been even more useful at the beginning of our trip!)

More tea

Our last two stops in Karakoy were for chocolates and baklava. Then we all hopped on the ferry across the Bosporus to the Kadikoy neighborhood, on the Asian side of the city. Kadikoy is both more traditionally Turkish (less tourists), but also incredibly hip (so many coffee shops, including one that's Breaking Bad-themed).

Baklava drama: after a spat, the family split and now runs baklava shops with very similar names. This place wants you to know they are definitely NOT associated with the other one.

We made our way through the market, stopping to learn about what makes Turkish coffee Turkish (the coffee itself doesn't matter, it's about the brewing and drinking process), and popping into shops full of olives and pickles and other delicious bites to savor.

We pulled some tables together at a corner market and sat down for some meze, freshly-fried and perfectly crisp hamsi (anchovies) and these insanely delicious mussels stuffed with savory rice.

By this point, we were all getting really full. The food was too good to leave behind, which meant that we were eating more than was prudent on a 4-hour food tour. Also, it was clear this tour was going more than four hours. So by the time we got to the pide (Turkish pizza) stop, I honestly thought I might puke if I hate that cheese-laden dough. I know, it's a crime to leave pizza behind. But there was more food to be tasted!

Tatuni is a little meat-filled roll stuffed with hot chili peppers - a Turkish mini-burrito. I might have over done it on the chiles, so I was particularly grateful for the copper mugs full of ayran, a salty watered-down yogurt drink. Ayran is acquired taste, I'm told, but it was really easy to acquire it when my mouth was on fire and the cooling yogurt was close at hand.

Still two more stops to go! A lamb-intestine kebab was chopped up and grilled with herbs and fat and served on a soft roll - it was not terrible tasting, though I am not usually a fan of intestine, but I only took a few bites and fed the rest to some street cats - when stomach space is at a premium, you have to prioritize.

Our final stop began with lentil soup (for the wimps like me) or tripe soup (for the brave like Isabel). Then we had tea (kind of cloudy, not the best quality - thanks Gonca for making me a tea snob!) and kunefe, a crispy baked cheese thing that we had tried first in Cappadocia and continued to be delighted by.

We wobbled home to rest around 4 pm, and honestly I could have not eaten for the next 18-24 hours and been perfectly fine, but we had dinner reservations...

Nicole

In honer of Isabel's last night, we had planned dinner at one of the top-rated restaurants in Istanbul, Nicole. You can choose between the 6 or 8-course tasting menu, and I have never, EVER known Isabel to have less courses than were possibly available to her... so when I cautiously approached the topic of which meal we would choose while we were prepping for dinner, I was mentally preparing myself for an 8-course meal. When she agreed to the smaller menu, I breathed a huge sigh of relief!

Isabel took almost all of the pictures at Nicole because she's better at food photography than I am. Suffice it to say that, even after eating more than I usually eat in a week on the food tour, this meal was a delight. Pretty plates, inventive ingredient combinations, an attentive waiter, delicious local wines, and a visit from the chef - a lovely woman who suggested several other great restaurants with lady chefs for me to try during my stay - made for such a special final evening on our vacation that not even the soaking rain on the walk home could dampen our spirits.

I did not actually order Hennessy at the end of the meal - Isabel did, cause she's more baller than me. But she let me give it a swirl. Also, note the guy in the background who looks like he's having the worst time ever. That table declined their amuse bouche (free amusing food!), so you know they are not any fun.

How to make it happen:

Culinary Backstreets offers a number of walking food tours in Istanbul. We had a small group of about 8, plus a local guide who was super knowledgeable and very passionate about food and sharing her culture. The tours aren't cheap, but it was absolutely worth it - and I say that as a very frugal person ;-) They also make a great introduction to the city, history and culture, so consider booking one early on in your trip!

Nicole is located in the Cihangir neighborhood, near the popular Istiklal street. Reservations are recommended, but we were there during shoulder season and know some folks who were able to get in on a day's notice on a weeknight. If you like wine, be sure to do the wine pairing - all the wines are produced in Turkey, including some unique varietals, and they were unexpectedly delicious!

Thanks to Iz for some of the pictures!

Bad Days

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Tue, 23 Feb 2016 01:32:00 +0000

Sometimes when you're traveling, everything seems to fall into place - the sun shines, or at least you get a rainbow. The bus shows up on time, you meet lovely people, you eat delicious food, you happen upon fun things to do, you find joy in every moment. And then, sometimes, every little thing seems harder than it should be and it makes you want to scream, or cry, or some ugly combination thereof.

After a pretty easy first week and a half in Turkey, we had a 36-hour streak of bad travel luck that left me wondering if I was going to be able to last another 2 weeks in country on my own. Nothing major happened, no one got injured or assaulted or lost a bunch of money - but by the end of it we just felt beaten down. I thought about skipping over this bad day on the blog, because it's way more fun to reminisce about the good days, and honestly I had all but forgotten this day already. But I also don't want people to think that every day is rosy on the road. Annoying stuff happens, patience wears thin, and some days I was just barely holding it together. However, the good days far exceeded the bad, and ultimately the bad days made the good ones feel like that much more of an accomplishment. I didn't get ripped off by a taxi driver today? Today was the BEST! (Seriously, why do all my bad travel days involve taxis??)

So here, to keep things honest, is one 36-hour period that was (in retrospect) almost comically full of annoyances and hiccups.

The Terrible, Horrible, Very Little-Good, Mostly Bad 36 Hours

After a lovely stay in Kas, we hopped a mini-bus to the seaside city of Antalya where we would spend a night before catching an early flight back to Istanbul. We only had to wait 10 minutes at the station before a dolmus hit the road - hurrah! But we clearly left our travel luck behind in Kas, starting with some motion sickness as we wound up and down the hilly coastline.

Arriving in Antalya we got let off on a corner by a taxi stand. We were only 15 minutes from our hotel, but all the taxis were quoting us absurdly high prices. We could have walked, but loaded down with luggage, exhausted and still felling kind of queasy, we had little choice but to pay what they asked. After barely a 10 minute trip, our driver pulled over and started pulling our bags out of the trunk. What's going on? We were clearly not at our hotel - just at some random spot on the boardwalk. He tried to tell us that he couldn't get to our hotel because the road was blocked, but it would just be a 100m walk down the pedestrian path. We had a phone with GPS telling us clearly it was more like 450m, but he was already back in the car and on his way. As we walked, we realized we had to pass some kind of political demonstration - given the previous day's bombing at a pro-Kurdish rally in Ankara, this made me really nervous and we tried to skirt by as quickly as possible.

View from our hotel in Antalya (photo by Isabel)

Walking up to the hotel what did we see but a taxi dropping someone off - clearly the roads were not blocked, our driver just didn't want to go out of his way. We'd booked a highly-rated mid-range hotel online that promised many amenities including satellite TV - which turned out to be an 8" screen fit for a college dorm, and which we couldn't figure out how to plug in or connect to the satellite. Giving up on our plan of relaxing in the room and catching up on world news, we headed out to explore the neighborhood and find something to eat. We were clearly in a very touristy part of the city, and while the streets were lovely for wandering and buying expensive handicrafts, they were sorely lacking in reasonably priced restaurants.

Eventually we settled down to share a huge plate of meat, lavash and salad at a restaurant that looked like all the others. Our server was kind and we were surrounded by adorable street cats - seriously, they were all over - which gave us a nice reprieve, although at this point Isabel and I were both sort of cranky (and maybe also hangry?) and not much for conversation. We mostly looked at our phones until we dove wordlessly into the meat pile. We took our leftovers with us in a greasy napkin, confusing our waiter who kept trying to throw it away, and shared them with as many street cats as we could find - this was undoubtedly the highlight of our time in Antalya!

Our waiter talked us into the mixed grill, which we did not regret. (photo by Isabel)

After a rough night's sleep due to a total lack of insulation in the hotel, we woke up absurdly early and got a taxi to the airport. The taxi was of course insanely expensive, and at this point I was starting to freak out a bit - I still had 2 1/2 weeks left in Turkey and it felt like I was hemorrhaging money (note to self: better to go to the expensive countries at the beginning of your trip, not the end).

Comfort coffee.

Starbucks at the airport gave us a little (pricey) comfort, and our flight went smoothly, We took a shuttle from the airport to Taksim Square, and from there the hotel had told is it would be a 15 lira taxi ride - it was barely a mile away. We stopped several taxis who all wanted to charge us more than double that, so we decided to walk a bit down the road. Even at a taxi stand, however, we couldn't find a taxi driver! The empty cabs didn't know where we were going, or wanted 35 lira to take us there. Eventually we gave in and agreed to pay a driver 20, and got on our way. Our driver proceeded to stop not once but twice in less than a mile to ask for directions - in spite of the fact that he had Isabel's phone with the routing in his hand. Finally, he pulled over on the side of a busy road and told us to walk from there because he didn't want to go all the way down to where he could make a left turn across the tram tracks. We refused to pay him the full amount because he didn't take us to our door - we gave him 15 and walked away as fast as we could, while he was arguing with us and trying to pull in passersby. It was a decision made out of pure stubbornness and was probably not the smartest one - he could have been more dogged in his pursuit of the last 5 lira - but we were pretty fed up at this point.

After getting settled into our apartment, we headed to the Grand Bazaar in an attempt to salvage the day. We hadn't had any doner kebab since arriving in Turkey, so when we saw all the shops lining the bazaar we knew that would be our lunch. As we were waiting for our food, I watched two girls with limited English trying to argue with the waiter about their bill, while he responded condescendingly - this should have been a sign, but I was too tired to think much of it. We ate our kebab - which was fine, but nothing spectacular - drank our Cokes and asked for our bill. Suddenly it became clear what the girls had been arguing over - there was a 35% "table fee" on the bill, which was written in small print at the bottom of the menu in Turkish. So our 20-minute kebab stop cost us $30! We'd expected hiked up tourist prices near the bazaar, but this was ridiculous. (For reference: the following week I found a perfectly tasty doner kebab shop in Galata where I paid around 10 lira - $3.50 - for my meal)

Isabel enjoying her $15 doner kebab before we got the bill.

The Grand Bazaar was actually not as intense as I had feared - certainly nothing compared to the Tehran bazaar! - but I hate being ripped off and was still steaming from lunch, so I was in no mood for overpriced goods and assertive touts. Anyone who attempted to talk to me got a pretty serious glare, so we just made a cursory loop before heading back to our happy place - Hasan's carpet shop.

Just when we thought our attitudes were shifting - another "table fee" tacked on to our dinner bill, which we were told covered bread, water and salt. I was feeling argumentative enough at this point that I wanted to ask for the salt portion of that back, since we hadn't used any - but I managed to refrain. The glass of wine I'd had with dinner must have mellowed me out a bit.

According to my journal we "walked home in pouring rain, but that wasn't so bad" - ha! I guess the good thing about a bad day is that it makes some of the other stuff, like walking home in the rain, seem better? That slight shift in attitude was a sign of good things to come - the very next day would turn out to be pretty wonderfully epic.

How do you cope with bad days on the road?

For me, I crave comfort food - on a different day when I was getting sick and feeling lonely, I turned to a 'shroom burger and crinkle fries at Shake Shack to lift my spirits.

Packing for 3 Months Abroad

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 01:15:00 +0000

I sort of love packing. I know that makes me a weirdo, but I can't help it. I start packing WEEKS before a trip, much to the amusement of my friends who throw some things in a bag three hours before the plane leaves for Peru. I have actual nightmares about that type of scenario, where I've waited to pack at the last minute - what if I forget something important?!?! So, I plan ahead. I make spreadsheets, I lay everything out on the floor, I pack and I repack until everything in my bag is just so. Do I still wind up wishing I had some things, and realizing I should have left others behind? Of course.

Everyone's packing list is going to look different depending on who you are, where you're going and what you're doing, but I know it was helpful for me to look at other lists as a starting point - so here's what I took for 3 months in Georgia, Armenia, Iran and Turkey.

Luggage

This is kind of a controversial topic among travelers, but I am a firm carry-on-only kind of girl, whether I'm traveling for a weekend or a year. My main reason: mobility. I want to be able to carry everything I have, all at once. I'm a small person, so carrying an 85L backpack + a front pack + a purse just isn't reasonable (or good for my back). A smaller backpack means I'm able to walk 15 minutes from the metro to my hotel (saving money on a taxi), or wander in a new town finding a guesthouse that I love instead of settling for the one closest to the bus station just so I can set my bag down sooner. It's also nice to not ever have to worry about lost luggage.

My current pack is a 9-year-old Eagle Creek bag (similar to the one in the link). I love it because it opens fully (not top-loading), it has a good waist belt, and it meets airlines' carry-on requirements. As my "personal item", I brought a tote bag that fits my smaller purse, laptop, travel pillow, snacks, etc.

Clothing

Packing for this trip was particularly challenging because I was facing a change of seasons (Georgia in summer, Turkey in fall), different cultural expectations (dressing for Tbilisi vs Iran), and varied activities (hiking, wine tasting, sailing and urban adventures).

One of my strategies for packing light on clothes is to make sure that everything goes with almost everything else - so on this trip, all my skirts and pants were black or denim, and every top and every shoe could work with both black and denim bottoms. This meant that even though I was working with only 3 t-shirts, I didn't feel like I was wearing the same outfit every single day. (Though, let's face it, by the end of the trip I was still really tired of my 3 t-shirts.)

Packing light means doing laundry pretty often - I bought a small bag of Tide at the grocery store in Tbilisi and washed things like shirts and underwear in the hostel sink every few days (if you take a sink stopper, which I forgot, it's pretty easy). Most hostels/guesthouses offered laundry for a fee, which I would do every 2-3 weeks when bigger things like jeans and hiking gear needed a good wash.

I like to use packing cubes because they keep everything tidy and I know where to look for things.

Big Cube: Everyday clothes

4 tank tops (+ 1 sparkly going-out top: the only item I never wore)

3 t-shirts

2 3/4-length sleeve tunics ( I also bought 2 long-sleeve tunics before I went to Iran)

1 dress

1 cotton knee-length skirt

1 maxi skirt (I left this in Iran)

1 cardigan

1 sweater

1 light hooded jacket (+ Isabel brought me a warmer jacket for Turkey)

Medium Cube: Workout wear

2 pajama tops

1 pair workout capris

2 quick-dry athletic shirts

2 sports bras

2 pairs running shorts/pajama bottoms

2 bathing suits (interchangeable pieces)

Tiny Cube: The other stuff

7 pairs underwear

2 bras (1 strapless)

4 pairs of socks (3 running, 1 smartwool for cold mountain nights)

Not in the cubes:

1 scarf/wrap (3 by the time I left Iran)

1 sarong (beach towel, regular towel, wrap skirt at mosques)

1 travel towel

1 hair towel

1 small mesh bag for dirty laundry

Eye mask and ear plugs (really important for hostel sleeping!)

Shoes:

Merrell sandals - super comfortable for walking all day

Toms Classics

Merrell Trail Runners (lighter than hiking shoes, but more sturdy sole than a sneaker)

Teva flip flops (for communal showers/beach/etc)
- I packed shoes in my Tom's canvas bag and/or plastic bags to keep them from dirtying up my clothes

Toiletries

The downside to carry-on only is that you have to fit all your liquids into 3oz bottles and one of those tiny plastic baggies. Luckily, I was traveling in places where it was fairly easy to replace anything I needed, at least in the major cities. Unless I'm going to be in the middle of nowhere, I don't try to pack everything I'll need for the whole trip - often it's really cheap to replace items overseas (though finding smaller sizes can be tough).

Eagle Creek Toiletry Bag - I loved this because it can hang on a hook in the shower or next to the sink with everything I need close at hand

Hair Care: Comb, solid shampoo and conditioner - to save liquid space, I brought Lush solid shampoo and conditioner. I love the shampoo, but was not a big fan of the conditioner.

Make up: just some basics - powder, mascara, concealer, black eyeliner. It made me feel a little fancier when I was going out with people dressed in real (non-traveling) clothes.

Jewelry: a few pairs of earrings and one necklace. I sort of wish I'd brought more of a statement piece for special occasions.

Nail Care: nail clippers, nail file, nail polish and nail polish remover pads - this was a bit of a space splurge, but I love having pretty toenails!

Odds and Ends: tweezers, bobby pins, bar soap, sunscreen, facial lotion

Glasses, contact solution (this was what I was most worried about finding abroad, but I had no trouble at the pharmacies in Tbilisi so I restocked before I left Georgia), and spare contacts

First Aid kit: bandaids, moleskin, Neosporin, Imodium, cold medicine, Benadryl, allergy meds, ibuprofen, etc

For the ladies - it can be pretty tough to find your favorite feminine care products while traveling, so bring along plenty if you're particular - or consider a menstrual cup!

Odds and Ends

headlamp
padlock for dorm lockers and bag locks for backpacks
outlet adapters
bandana
packable backpack (used for hiking or for short weekend trips away while I stored my big luggage at a hostel)

In my tote bag:

Electronics

Samsung Chromebook + sleeve

Nook

External Battery Pack

iPod

iPhone
Camera + dry bag

Other Stuff

Journal

Scarf

Nalgene water bottle

Cross-body purse

Inflatable travel pillow

Passport, cash, credit/debit cards + money belt that I never used except to keep things organized in my bag

It looks like way more stuff than should have fit in those two little bags, but somehow it all did - and with a little bit of space for souvenirs! I also saved space by mailing some things back at the end of my time in Georgia (which turned out to be a huge pain), and by sending a whole lot of things back with Isabel from Turkey (I might have gone a little overboard buying Turkish towels...)

Are you carry on or checked bag? How would you pack for a three-month trip?

Cruising the Turquoise Coast

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Mon, 15 Feb 2016 15:57:00 +0000

Arriving in Antalya after an overnight bus from Goreme we were exhausted and suddenly very hot. It had been near freezing in Cappadocia, but here on the coast we found ourselves quickly stripping layers to beat the Mediterranean heat. Our bus was over an hour late arriving, so our driver was waiting impatiently to whisk us away to Kas - but we managed to grab some simit (sesame pastry) and coffee for the road. Much better!

We stopped once on the four-hour drive for cay (tea), which Isabel slept through - so I shared my tea time with a friendly black and white kitty while watching a lady make gozleme, the quesadilla of Turkey.

We were let off at the marina and quickly found the boat, the Safi Sultan, which would be our home for the next four days. Originally, we had been booked to share the boat with several other people, but they cancelled and we decided to go anyway - thus, Isabel and I found ourselves on a private cruise along the Turquoise Coast. We had our own captain (Erhan, age 28) and cabin boy (Jon, age 21), and an entire schooner all to ourselves.

Leaving the Kas marina

The cruise got off to a slightly inauspicious start when I cut my foot on a rusty ladder rung getting out of the water after my first snorkel, but my tetanus shot is up to date and after that it was smooth sailing (figuratively, and most often literally).

Each day we woke up with the sunrise, had coffee, ate breakfast, cruised to a cove, stopped to hike on the Lycian Way or go for a snorkel or explore some ruins, ate a delicious lunch prepared by Jon (he says his mother taught him to cook), sunbathed as we cruised to a new cove, repeated the snorkeling or hiking, had afternoon tea and cookies, watched the sunset with a beer in hand, ate fish or kabobs grilled on the side of the boat by our Captain, listened to music, and fell asleep on the deck to the (usually) gentle rocking of the waves, the cool ocean breeze and the stars above my head. It was heaven.

One evening, Jon discovered Isabel's cats' Instagram page, thanks to her geotags. He got a huge kick out of it, and after that they were keen to take pictures with the flat cats that Isabel had brought along on the trip. Captain Erhan even made a daring rescue in the dinghy when they flew off the boat during afternoon tea on a windy day!

On our third evening our routine was broken when a man from the small restaurant on shore in the cove motored out to our ship in his tiny boat and asked if we wanted to go fishing with him. Captain Erhan, Isabel and I sank the top of his boat dangerously close to the sea water, but Oscar just smiled and drove us across the cove to a rocky coastline. While Erhan steered, the man laid out his mackerel nets for the evening. We arrived back at the boat soaked to the bone and grinning from the adrenaline of the random encounter. Oscar promised/threatened to come pick us up at 5:30 the next morning to pull the nets in... luckily, he slept in too, as I heard his boat heading out around 6:30 when I was waking up on deck.

Our last morning on the boat I woke up an hour before everyone else, and took advantage of the quiet to meditate and contemplate the sunrise on our sleepy cove and appreciate the experience we'd just had. Then we got dropped off on land and hiked/scrambled over rocks back towards civilization - the boat picked us up at the dock for a popular resort for day trippers and the mood shifted completely, back in the land of internet and cell phones and lots of people.

It was hard to leave our tranquil paradise, but Isabel's time was running short and we had a lot of eating to do back in Istanbul before her departure.

How to make it happen

There are lots of "Blue Cruises" along the Turkish coast. We went with the Kas Gulet on the recommendation of a blogger I'd read, Ottsworld. They have a number of cruises that depend on the season, but we did 4 days and 3 nights beginning and ending at Kas. If you want to hike along the Lycian Way, they can drop you off on shore each morning and pick you up at a designated spot each afternoon - we did a couple of sections this way, but also had the choice not to hike when we were feeling lazy. The accommodations on the boats are pretty simple (I really recommend sleeping on deck, as I found the cabins to be stuffy and hot - but Isabel preferred hers and slept below deck 2/3 nights). The food is really really good and abundant. The crew was helpful and nice. Overall, a wonderful and relaxing experience.

If you have time, add on a night or two in Kas - it's a sweet little town with lots of artisan shops and good prices on souvenirs. We also had one of my favorite meals, a manti (Turkish ravioli) at Kasik Manti made by the restaurant owner's mother and smothered in the most divine garlic yogurt sauce with chili oil.

Cappadocia by Land

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:55:00 +0000

While the most famous way to see Cappadocia is via hot air balloon, there's a lot to be said for taking the land route as well. There are cave cities to be explored, hikes through phallic valleys, and some surprisingly good food.

After Isabel's post-balloon nap, we walked the mile or so outside of town to the Goreme Open-Air Museum. This UNESCO World Heritage site features a series of cave churches and dwellings, including some beautiful 12th-century frescoes and made for an excellent couple of hours of exploration. (Unfortunately, I was too exhausted and delirious from our pre-dawn balloon ride to remember to take pictures.)

Goreme is a small town and we weren't expecting much from the food scene, but Isabel had done her research (as always) and recommended a humble-looking place near our hotel for dinner. The main attraction was a dish called testi kebap, a Cappadocian specialty. Chicken (or lamb) and onions and peppers and tomatoes are cooked inside a small, sealed clay pot which then gets cracked at your tableside when you're ready to eat! For 40 TL ($13) a piece, we each got lentil soup, yogurt dip, an unexpectedly delicious salad with dill dressing, testi kepab and a glass of Cappadocian wine! It came along with an inexplicable - but not unwelcome - Tracy Chapman soundtrack.

The next day we signed up for a private tour through our hotel. Hassan, the hotel owner's dad, shuffled Isabel and I into a minivan with Frank and Amy from San Francisco and took us to some of his favorite spots around the region.

Fairy chimneys right in the heart of Goreme:

The underground city of Ozkonak, which was used to escape during times of invasion. Residents could live here for months, with a few secret exits to the surface:

A hike in the "Love Valley":

And a local ceramics workshop where I even got to take a turn at the potter's wheel! It seems I do not have much of a future in the ceramic arts, but it was a lot of fun.

My favorite part - no surprise here - was an unplanned lunch stop. The tour was only supposed to last a half day, but it was clear that we'd be continuing well past lunch time and so when Hassan asked if we were hungry I did not hesitate to say YES. He took us to a restaurant he frequents in Nevashir and we filled our table with pide and lamb chops and salad and an unusual dessert called kunefe made out of cheese and vermicelli noodles soaked in syrup which sounds bizarre but is quite delicious.

Pide - there's ground lamb and cheese in that 4-foot long bread boat. Top it with a squeeze of lemon, a pickled chili pepper and some fresh parsley.

A big hunk of slow-roasted lamb, on fluffy bread, with half a raw onion (to aid digestion).

Our first kunefe of the trip - but not our last.

We confounded the staff by asking for Turkish coffee before the meal. Apparently, Turks only drink their coffee after eating - but we were tired! They humored us, while shaking their heads, and we assuaged them by having a second coffee after lunch. It was one of those unexpectedly perfect meals that you never want to end.

Turkish coffee in the most gorgeous copper mugs.

All in all it was a great way to experience a lot of Cappadocia in a short time - and a good thing, because we were off on a night bus to Antalya that evening!

What to know if you go

Getting there: We flew to Kayseri from Istanbul's Sahiba Goeken airport on Turkish Air for about $25. Seriously. The pre-arranged shuttle to the hotel was another $10-ish - there are several companies who do this, but be sure they match up with your arrival time.

Where to Stay: We stayed at the Vineyard Cave Hotel, a really lovely family-run hotel- son Osman runs the business, and the dad Hassan was our tour guide and also cooked our eggs in the morning!

Where to eat: Cappadocian Cuisine has a great selection of local specialties, including wine from the region. There are other places in town to get fancier food, but for a simple and delicious meal, this is a really solid value.

P.S. Photo credit for food pics, and the one of me trying to throw a pot, goes to Isabel!

Jumping In

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Tue, 26 Jan 2016 02:02:00 +0000

Recently, a favorite travel blog of mine wrote a post on how to travel in 2016 - not how to buy a plane ticket or find a good deal on a hotel, but the mindset with which to get the most out of your travel experiences.
One of the points that resonated most with me was that of participation. I am, by nature, an observer. I'm a bit of an introvert, a good deal risk-averse, and far too much of a perfectionist to willingly do something I think I might be bad at. All of that makes it much easier to sit on the sidelines and watch life go by me - and sometimes there's nothing wrong with that!

I sit in sidewalk cafes and watch people pass, noting how they're dressed and who they're hanging out with, trying to discern who's local and who's tourist. I see people doing dances that I've never seen before and I try to figure out the rhythm and the steps and it makes me smile even though my feet are still. I listen to the language and pick up bits and pieces, hoping that I'll overcome my self-consciousness for long enough to use them with native speakers. Observation is how I gather lots of information about where I am, and sometimes it's the most respectful way to experience a new culture. But the really memorable moments in my travels? They come from jumping in and participating.

Participation usually requires me to be vulnerable and to do something I'm not good at - but I cannot remember a time when I've regretted it. Being a foreigner usually gives me some leeway - no one expects me to know how to dance the punta, or to speak Georgian, or to have ever cooked gozleme before - so it's okay if I mess up! In fact, I find that most often people just love the fact that I am trying, that I'm making an effort. Yes, they often laugh at me, but they laugh with kindness and respect for my willingness to step out of my comfort zone and risk looking silly (something I'm often not so willing to do at home).

Literally jumping in on the jump rope action in La Paz, Honduras.

Being in a new city and starting a new job, this lesson about being willing to jump in seems especially pertinent right now! So, to remind myself why it's awesome and worth the effort - a few of my favorite memories that resulted from leaving the sidelines and getting in the midst of the action:

Taking a turn at the potting wheel in Cappadocia. The feel and smell of the clay on my hands, the huge mess that I made, and the laugh of the potter as he tried to help me fix my ugly bowl - those are things I'll remember for a long time.

Dancing in a punta circle in Trujillo at my Peace Corps despedida (going away party). I'd been practicing in my living room for 2 years and finally worked up the nerve less than a month before I left!

Learning to grind cornmeal and make tortillas in a tiny mountain village. The smell of the wood stove, the indulgent smile of the tiny old lady teaching us, the laughter of my Honduran counterpart as she admitted that her tortillas were even uglier than mine. Meanwhile, our teacher had made 20 to our 2.

Tasting wine and chacha in the back alleys of the Tbilisi bazaar. Attempting to communicate in Georgian with the little old proprietress, she kept offering us more. We really had no idea what we were drinking or whether we were supposed to pay for it, but she just kept smiling and chattering away and so we stayed.

Jumping into the lake for a polar plunge on New Year's Day 2016. I'm oddly proud of this one because it was in the US and because I hate the cold.

They say that you only regret the things you have not done - so one of my resolutions/intentions not just for 2016 but for life in general, is to be a full participant. I'll still stop and observe when it's appropriate, but when offered the chance to participate - I'm jumping in.

(And as this is a work in progress, feel free to remind me of this as needed ;-) )

How do YOU jump in?

Flying High in Cappadocia

noreply@blogger.com (Mary B) — Wed, 13 Jan 2016 00:08:00 +0000

After a pretty wonderful day and a half in Istanbul, Isabel and I hopped a cheap evening flight to Kayseri where we boarded a shuttle to the village of Goreme, arriving close to 10pm. The next morning, we woke up well before dawn for our 4:50am pickup time, and made our way to the balloon launch site once again in total darkness. So our first real view of Cappadocia was from the basket of a hot air balloon as the sun slowly peeked over the hills to our east. And I am not exaggerating when I tell you it was absolute magic.

I had been kind of nervous about the hot air balloon - I'm afraid of heights - but it is THE thing to do in Cappadocia, so I was determined to overcome my fear and soar above the fairy chimneys in a basket hanging by a few threads from a giant balloon just waiting to be popped. As we hopped in the basket with 18 other early morning enthusiasts, my stomach was in knots and I was beginning to question why I was doing this. The balloon pilot taught us our safe landing pose and then we slowly... slowly... slowly lifted off the ground (seriously, it felt like it took forever).

In every direction we could see balloons flickering to life like dozens of fireflies in the twilight. I had doubts about being in such a crowded balloon space, but ultimately I thought the other balloons only made it more beautiful.

We drifted low to the ground at the beginning, only 6 or 7 feet high off the ground at times. And then, with a burst of flame, we rose up up and away. The sky was brightening and the mysterious landscape began to reveal itself; desert canyons and rock formations were painted in the pastels of the morning light. The balloons would dip down so low into the canyons that you thought there was no way they wouldn't hit one of the "fairy chimney" rocks, but they always made it out unscathed.

The balloon floated so smoothly and effortlessly that I nearly forgot we were moving - and I definitely forgot to be scared. An hour (and a thousand pictures) went by in the blink of an eye, and we were all disappointed when it was time to land the balloon on a flat stretch of land. I could have floated forever.

After the landing there's cheap champagne and they try to sell you official pictures from the flight, which broke the magic just a wee bit. But it wasn't enough to take away the high of what we'd just experienced. We returned to our hotel before 9am - breakfast was still being served! - and then Isabel went to the room for a nap, but I was still floating on air. Some so-called bucket list experiences are over-rated... but nothing I'd read or heard had prepared me for just how awesome the hot air balloon ride would be. If you're in Cappadocia, it's not to be missed.

How to Make it Happen

Book ahead! I dropped the ball on this, and when we went to book 2 weeks before our visit (thinking that was plenty during shoulder season), the company we wanted was full for both days we'd be there. They recommended a partner agency who was able to get us in on a cancellation (SO LUCKY!!), but we couldn't do the 1 1/2 hour deluxe ride that we'd hoped for, as they were all sold out.

Company: Istanbul Balloons (also highly recommended: Butterfly Balloons)

Cost: ~$168 (includes buffet breakfast, shuttle to and from balloon launch, and one-hour ride in a basket with 15-20 people)