I caught a wave! Actually it was 4 or 5 waves and even stood up on my second try! Surfing at Playa Tamarindo was awesome. The waves are perfect for beginnings and Reuben, my instructor from Iguana Surf School, was great. I did get worked once by a wave and the surfboard smacked me in the face but thankfully only have a few scrapes and bruises and a little sunburn from the day. The rest of the day was spent wandering the beach, hanging at the pool and enjoying the sunset. You gotta love Costa Rica!
Everyone here is super friendly and it is so much easier to communicate than other places we have traveled. Even working with the police and the insurance adjuster for the car accident was relatively painless because we could understand their Spanish and they could understand our English — it is much easier to understand someone else than speak it yourself! Today we are planning to head up north to check out a few other beaches that are supposedly even more beautiful than where we are at (if that’s possible). Adios!
Tags: Beyond The Trail, Frimerman, Iguana Surf School, Playa Tamarindo
Pura vida is the best way to describe Costa Rica. Technically it means “pure life” but everyone around here uses it to mean life is good, living life, hello, goodbye, thank you…..the list goes on. It sums up the chill atmosphere of Tamarindo, which is the beachy town we are in. We’ve spent the last few days enjoying the sun, sand and pool along with some good food and local beer. I introduced Rob to Imperial (the local brew) and he may just have to get himself another Imperial t-shirt to replace the one I got him last time I was here and that sadly didn’t make the cut to our storage unit in April. Today I am headed to the beach for a surf lesson and Bobby promises to take lots of pictures so hopefully he will catch me standing up for the first time! Pura vida amigos!
Tags: Beyond The Trail, Frimerman, Imperial, Pura Vida, Tamarindo
The birthday on 3 continents was a success! It started out a little shaky since we had a 2:30 am flight out of Mumbai and decided that instead of carrying our bags all over the city we would just hang out at the airport for the day. Big mistake! The Mumbai international terminal does not let people check in until 4 hours before your flight so we spent the day in a waiting room that had one coffee shop, uncomfortable chairs and Hindu only television programs. But we somehow survived 8 hours in purgatory and made it into the actual airport and thru security an hour before midnight. A couple of beers at the airport club (thank you American Express) and a cheesy Bollywood bar before we said goodbye to India. But not before I took a short nap and the woman behind me woke me up by pulling my hair and pushing my head back. Love you too India 
Quick stop in Heathrow and some strange looks when I drank a beer at 9 am at the gate…..but I had a mission to drink a beer on 3 continents and I wasn’t going to fail! And then we were in Dallas and back in the good ole USA where we can drink the tap water and eat raw veggies, need to remember to tip (sorry guy that drove us to the hotel), and shouldn’t try to negotiate for everything (again, sorry guy that drove us to the hotel). A little bit of jet lag since we arrived in Dallas at 1:30 pm and it was midnight in Mumbai — after a couple beers and some American TV (yea!) and we found ourselves in bed at 8 pm, up at midnight and finally back to sleep at 2:30. We’ll see how today goes….. Thanks everyone for all the birthday love!
Tags: Beyond The Trail, Frimerman, Mumbai airport
So after we booked our flight home (yup, you read that right – Nov 1 for those of you that haven’t read Rob’s last post), we decided to upgrade our accommodations a bit. Now we’re at The Oberoi in Mumbai enjoying the five-star treatment and pool with a view. Today we wandered over to Chowpatty Beach but saved the swimming for back at the hotel Enjoy the views and we can’t wait to see everyone in a few weeks!
Tags: Beyond The Trail, chowpatty beach, Frimerman, Mumbai, Rob and Debra, The Oberoi
Today was our first full day in Mumbai and it was the beginning of us finally getting comfortable in India! This country and this town are super intense so it took a little time to get used to it. But now, we are enjoying the chaos and the experience of being here. We checked out a few museums in Colaba and wandered the shops and bazaars to see what India shopping is all about. We’ve yet to buy anything but Bobby is eyeing a few button-down shirts and I am trying to say no to all the fun jewelry. So far – we’ve been successful:-) But we have 4 more days in Mumbai so we’ll see how well we can hold out!
Tags: Beyond The Trail, Colaba, Frimerman, Mumbai
We arrived in Delhi on Thursday night (Oct 6) and planned to stay for 3 nights. Once we arrived everyone said we were planning to stay too long, which at first we agreed with! The first day we wandered the streets and explored Connaught Place and Main Bazaar near our hotel. We took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in real Delhi away from all the tourists. And the only way to describe it is stimulation overload. There are so many smells, people, dogs (they are not as nice to their dogs here as Tibet or Nepal), colors, cars, bikers…..really just so much of everything! Welcome to India – you’re not in Kansas anymore kiddos.
On Saturday we hopped on the Delhi tour bus that stops at a bunch of the monuments and shopping areas. It is a great and cheap way to see lots of Delhi. We checked out the Red Fort, where Ghandi’s was cremated, the Lotus Temple and the Hard Rock Cafe at the western mall (yup, we really did). I inadvertently made a scene at the Lotus Temple when I took it to heart that all types of prayer are welcome and sat in the lotus position in the pew – all the local ladies were turning around in their seats staring at me with their mouths open…..oops! Tomorrow we are off to the Golden Triangle to check out the Taj Mahal in Agra and the Pink City of Jaipur.
Tags: Beyond The Trail, Connaught Place, Delhi, Frimerman
Thursday (Sept 29) we started trekking. Rob and I were up ahead and our guide was behind us. The driver and cook took the van up to our first rest stop, which was about 5 km away. We made good time, even though Bobby was giving me a hard time about how slow I was going The altitude made it harder to breathe but nothing too terrible – just slowed our pace a bit.
At our first break our guide said since we were making such good time, we may just be able to do the trek in 3 days instead of 4. He asked if we wanted to go further planned today and we said we wanted to do the 15 km and reassess. Well, he completely ignored us. We were walking thru the desert that looks like Davey Jones’ locker with the sun beating on us — it was brutal! The guide blamed the driver and cook for us not making camp where we were supposed to (yeah right – if you met these guys, you would instantly know which one is the con man and it’s not the friendly driver or happy cook). But then we met a local on the road that laughed at Rob’s fish tattoo and told me he loved me a couple times (at least that is what I think he said), which was perfect to lighten the mood and forget about our guide!
We finally made it to the campsite, which was hidden from the road and we actually passed it and had to turn back to get there. The place is pretty nice — grassy area right by a stream. There were a few times today I didn’t think I could make it across the desert or up another hill. But I’m glad I did. So far, we’re still on target to trek all the way to EBC. But I do wonder how much further than 15 km we went today! I am guessing at least 20 km. Craziness to go that far in this altitude on Day 1!!!!
Tags: Beyond The Trail, EBC trek, Frimerman, Tibet
On Monday (Sept 26) we tried out a Lhasa breakfast and it was pretty bad. But you had to try it to know! Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to pack-up before leaving Lhasa. Our guide, driver and now cook picked us up and we headed out of town. It was a long day of driving but the views were amazing. The Yamdrok Lake was an amazing sight. It is the most vibrant turquoise blue that I have every seen in nature. Behind it were snowcapped mountaintops. WOW! I was feeling the altitude until we got to the lake and then it was forgotten.
Once we got to Gyantse we checked out the largest stupa in Tibet with over 70 rooms. For 10 RMB you can take pictures, which we weren’t planning on paying but if you don’t pay, they make you leave your camera at the front. No way we were doing that so we paid the $1.50 and enjoyed taking pictures of all the Buddhas and protectors. One man that was there praying gave me a nudge and indicating that I should be praying to the statutes. There were not very many tourists around so we were alone in many of the rooms and able to pray without being self-conscious. I prayed to the protectors to protect us on this journey and chanted a few rounds of Om Shanti. It was wonderful. I even started talking to the deities and explaining that I know I do not practice Tibetan Buddhism but that we are all praying to the same things and are all one. I hope they understood and were not too offended by the picture taking!
Tsien (our guide) taught us a few things today — he said we all have a choice on how we live (you can go east, west, north or south) and it is up to us how we spend our time here in this life. And we also learned a few Tibetan words — Tashi Delak is hello and Tu She is thank you. Hopefully there will be more to come!
Tags: Beyond The Trail, Frimerman, Gyantse, Tibet
Sunday (Sept 25) we went to the summer palace, which is where the Dalai Lamas lived before the Potala Palace and also where they spent their summers before leaving Tibet. The grounds were beautiful with flowers and lots of green open spaces. We walked around and also saw the quarters of various Dalai Lamas. My favorite was the 17th Dalai Lama’s rooms, which included a western bathroom complete with a bathtub and western toilet! After the summer palace it was back to our neighborhood for lunch and then out for the afternoon to the Jokhang Temple. The temple itself was full of tourists, which was a bit overwhelming. You can always tell the Chinese tourists because they push and shove, even in a temple to make an offering! The Jokhang Temple is the first temple in Lhasa and was built on a lake (after it was filled in). Crazy that they were doing that kind of construction back in the 700s! The view from the roof of the temple was awesome. You can see all the way to the Potala Palace and out over the Bangkor Market. It was breathtaking — and not just because it was up several flights of stairs in high altitude!
From there we headed down to the market and began making our clockwise loop around the temple. Our guide took us to a shop that was super overpriced and said we should just look around because they have cool stuff. I’m guessing he gets a kickback for bringing people there but since it was no pressure to buy and they did actually have some cool stuff, it was fine to take a quick look around. After that, we worked on our bargaining skills. Rob won with his sunglasses for 25 RMB when the original asking price was 65 RMB. I bought a bracelet and only got it reduced from 15 RMB to 10 RMB. Disappointing percentage wise but considering it is only $0.40, not too upsetting!
Tags: Bangkor Street, Beyond The Trail.org, Jokhang Temple, Norbulingka Palace, Potala, Potala Palace
We made it to Tibet! Yesterday was our first day in Lhasa and we spent it wandering Barkhor Street and the area outside Jokhang Temple and just getting ourselves acclimated to the high altitude. So far, just a few headaches and a little trouble sleeping (which apparently is a mild symptom of altitude sickness). I’m not sure if it is the lack of oxygen or just this place but I instantly felt peaceful once we arrived. Rob, of course, thinks this is all in my head — he also said what he thought was altitude sickness may just be his spiritual awakening so you never know with Bobby. But I think there is something magical about this place. The people, the sights, the smells…everything is different and beautiful here.
Tags: Bangkor Street, Beyond The Trail, Frimerman, Lhasa, Tibet
I caught a wave! Actually it was 4 or 5 waves and even stood up on my second try! Surfing at Playa Tamarindo was awesome. The waves are perfect for beginnings and Reuben, my instructor from Iguana Surf School, was great. I did get worked once by a wave and the surfboard smacked me in the face but thankfully only have a few scrapes and bruises and a little sunburn from the day. The rest of the day was spent wandering the beach, hanging at the pool and enjoying the sunset. You gotta love Costa Rica!
Debra
Rob
