adios, y nos perdimos en Los Angeles

Goodbye Austin, Texas, friends, family, acquaintances, amigos, etc. etc., goodbye for a while. Whats that? Yes, I will be careful. Kind of. Ok, careful enough to not get in any trouble. Trouble that would cause harm. To me. Or others. In a very bad way. Fine, ill be careful. Yes, I packed my camera. No, I don't want/need my mobile phone. Thanks for asking, Love you too, see you in December and such. Ok.... let me go... ok.. yes, Ill miss you... bye! (but seriously, I LOVE ALL OF YOU!)

Now that thats all done, I can breathe in Los Angeles, or at least try. The hazy smog and culture are abrasive enough to make anyone have a hard time inhaling and exhaling. But all in all, we are having a good time, and some people are nice, like the people at the beach that gave us change for a dollar for the parking machine. The 14th person we asked. And they didn't honk or flick us off! How friendly these people are, just like home!

Not that I can blame them. If I spent half of my day in traffic, surrounded by hazy skies, paid $4 for a Pabst Blue Ribbon beer on the regular and thought a bicycle as a transportation vehicle was a joke, Id be a pretty grumpy person too. Although, it is a festival for the eyes here. They have seemed to make many organic living things out of plastic . And I have never seen more advertisements in my life. Today at the beach, Ricky and I tossed the frisbee with our crispy red bodies, 5 jet planes spelled out an ad for the new 90210 premiering this Tuesday with the smoke from their jet engines. Classic L.A. - use smog to advertise. I can't wait for Tuesday, maybe they will get the show in Samoa. We can watch it in our beach fale, between dips in the waterfall in our backyard and surfing sets in the Pacific. 

All systems are go for Tuesday, when we fly out to Samoa with Haylen, our buddy meeting us in Los Angeles tomorrow. I even bought one of those nifty SteriPen devices for purifying water with UV light. I was planning to use it in Cambodia where drinking water is more than just sketchy, but I think the REI salesman uses his to purify the L.A. tap water (True: Los Angeles' water supply has high amounts of pharmaceuticals such as anti-depressants).  Until then, I'll make the best out of our little L.A. 'trip'. Did I mention the weather is nice? 

Why travel?

This is a little snippet of a book I just read, The Bone Man of Benares, by Terry Tarnoff. “What is travel? Why am I doing this, month after month, year after year, why am I taking broken-down lorries through the plains of Africa, decommissioned DC-3s over uncharted waters, wayward ships across the Indian Ocean, ancient trains into the baking desert, suicidal buses over the Himalayas? Why am I living in vans, caves, collapsing shambas, spider-infested cabanas, and freezing guest houses? Because travel is putting yourself in impossible situations to find out who you are. And everybody you meet along the way, whether you know it or not, is doing exactly the same thing. That’s why people meet so easily on the road. Deep down we’re all after some answer and we figure maybe, just maybe someone might be able to find it. Getting to an exotic destination is only part of it – the struggle of getting there is just as important. All over the world, people are making pilgrimages by foot and bus and train to places that are holy to them, places that might shed some light. It might be a palace in Versailles or an acropolis in Athens or a mosque in Lamu or a ganja field in Manali, but that’s what we’re all doing, we’re all trying to connect to something sacred. When I first arrived in Europe, I always knew exactly how many days I’d been away, how many countries I’d been to, and how many entries I had in my passport. Now I was beginning to realize that I’d been completely missing the point. Travel has nothing to do with time and, in fact, not much to do with place. Travel is about discovering something within.” This paragraph or two jumped out at me when I first read it and smacked me in the face, literally. This awesome account of Mr. Tarnoffs global travel during the 1970s became one of my favorite books and an inspiration for my travels. Check it out at your local library, literally.

Kalalau Trail and the weeks after... ...and the weeks before

Its been a few weeks now, but life always flows a little faster than we imagine. I would like to type a few words about a mini-travel-adventure I took in Kaua'i, Hawai'i thanks to the generosity of my father and other awesome family members. Aside from lovely snorkeling sessions, resort beach relaxation and incredible seafood meals in Kauai, I took a little walk in the jungle in one of the nations toughest trails - Kalalau Trail. Nestled in the hills of the Na'Pali Coast (Hawaiian for "the cliffs"), this 11 mile brutal attack on your legs I found about from a traveling guest at the hotel I work at. Using the power of Google I fell in love with vistas like this: and decided to tackle this hike during my stay in Kauai. In very basic terms, the Kalalau is truly awesome. In continuously travels in and out between rain forests and cliffs, taking your breath away in terms of beauty ... and fear of 800 plunges to your death. ouch. I trudged these mini green mountains for 9 hours, stopping at numerous crystal clear streams to swim, eating wild fruit (some which I had no clue of their ripeness or even type) to eventually reach my destination of Ke'e beach. With sore legs, a happy mindset and itty bitty feeling of accomplishment, I set up camp, boiled water to drink, ate food then walked a little further. This is where I found a place like no other. Following large black lava cliffs filled with caves I kept going, feeling pulled along by a mysterious force. After passing through a majestic dark arch of rock, I found what I like to call the end of the earth. The vast, deep blue Pacific Ocean sat me down and taught me a lesson on beauty, let me know how small I really am, and told me that this place, barely touched by humans or much life at all for that matter, was a view that you must work for; that these beautiful black jagged rocks had been for a long time and will always be here for me to reflect upon, and the sea even told me some things I may never share. Cue exploding orange beautiful sunset, falling asleep in cave, waking up a few times to little crabs reminding me to look at the stars, smiling, gazing, smiling... sleeping... I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed and ready to start my day back to the trail head , took few steps and felt I may not make it back. In an amazing and frightening 7 hours, I slept out of the trail, back into cars/electricity/non-required-boiled-drinking-water world. But I felt different. A little more calm, a little more resistant to the unimportant worries of our modern society and a little more aware of the vistas that we often ignore in the outdoor world. Thanks for reading. Be happy. Teepee p.s. - I am, and have been, back in downtown Austin. Breathing in the Barton Springs, testing out my new waterproof camera, checking out ideas and adventures in Southeast Asia, dreaming and dreaming and dreaming while waiting, patiently... Come see me before I go!