Thursday, September 29, 2011

Update from a Chevy Astro Alumni


Hey everyone

This will be my last post in the Chevy Astro Diary since I have retired from the trip. I returned to Canada a week ago for a job interview, however while on the road with Diego and the Aceituna I also had a lot of time to think and reflect. I had time to think about what is important to me. I made the decision to go back to Canada for the job interview and possibly return to the trip in Mexico if I didn’t get the job (which I didn’t L ), but as I revealed to Diego before I left, I also had the intention to ask my girlfriend Ildiko to marry me. After a few days in Canada Ildiko and I bought a ring together. Before coming back to Canada I was thinking to leave the proposal until later, but after getting the ring I couldn’t wait any more and went ahead and asked. So we are now engaged and I have to abandon the trip to continue looking for work to pay for a wedding etc.

So now there is an opening as the Chevy Astro co-pilot. Please submit resumes to Diego Cerrudo.

Peace.

Ryan


Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Day 24

This one goes in spanish, but is easy to translate using google.

Nacho reportando:

Bueno bueno pues aquí ya estoy con Dieguito, haciendo rutas por USA y durmiendo en todos los McDonald del país, que maravilla!!
Bueno ante todo decir que Diego no me deja decir palabras mal sonantes, es decir, gili...., cab..., co..., ........ Me ha censurado por lo que escribiré de la mejor forma posible, en un castellano que se pueda entender!!
Pues yo llegue un día 21 de septiembre a Los Angeles procedente de miami. Allí estuvimos visitando la señal de Hollywood, Beberly Hills, Sunset boulevard, Rodeo Dr., y Santa Mónica, donde hice mi primer parada para dormir en la preciosa van de Diego! No fue tan duro como yo pensaba!!
Esa noche nos despertamos muy temprano en la manana porque pensábamos que eran las 6:30 pero en realidad eran las 3:30 am, yo tenia la hora de Miami y no nos dimos cuenta. Manejamos hacia el desierto del mojave, fue duro porque hacia mucho calor, estuvimos todo el viaje a 41 grados y encima a mi me toco el p..... sol todo el camino, vimos lo que era el desierto y de allí nos fuimos al gran cañón del Colorado, Arizona, eso si haciendo las respectivas paradas para comer, descansar, etc, donde Diego me hizo un gran pollo en su mini fuego, que no funcionaba bien hasta que se dio cuenta que debia de recargar de queroseno cada vez que quiera hacer fuego........
Bueno en el gran cañón, que se puede decir de el, que es alucinante, súper bonito, grandioso, etc, sacamos muchas fotos pero es dificil retratar lo que uno ve estando ahi. Aquí nada mas llegar nos insatalamos en el camping, Diego hizo un gran fuego con leña que recolectamos en la ruta y cocinamos filetes de cerdo con patatas y huevos revueltos, una maravilla que requirio una siesta al aire libre para dijerir. Despues de la siesta, y una vez descansados, nos fuimos al gran cañón a hacer una caminata, estuvimos hasta el sunset, muy bonito. Hicimos noche en el camping, nos despertamos y nos fuimos a hacer una ruta de treking por e gran cañón, con mucha bajada y que decir de la dolorosa subida, pero con unas vistas alucinantes!! Después de terminar yo me pegue una ducha que me hacia mucha falta ya que olía a mal después de la caminata y me costo 2 put.......... $ (aquí en los USA te cobran hasta por respirar). Diego siempre encuentra algun otro metodo gratuito para limpiarce.
Del gran cañón nos vinimos al Antelope Canyon, que esta en una ciudad llamada Page, en el estado de Arizona. Aquí ayer estuvimos en el río Colorado y viendo el Antelope Canyon. En el río colorado nos estuvimos bañando y limpiandonos, incluida nuestra ropa. El loco de Diego se cruzo de lado a lado el río, no se como pudo hacerlo, yo me hubiese muerto la verdad, y después de eso y comer nos fuimos al Antelope Canyon, alucinante pero un problema, faltaba luz para que hubiese sido mas espectacular!!
Bueno hoy nos iremos al río colorado, haremos alguna ruta y de allí tomaremos rumbo para el Monument Valley, que estaremos un par de días y tomaremos marcha para Las Vegas, allí apostaremos, 20 dolares cada uno. El plan es retirarnos con 0 de los 20 dolares o mas de 400, no menos. Quien sabré lo que podrá pasar, per ya sabéis cual es el dicho no? Lo que pasa en Las Vegas se queda en las Vegas!!
Hasta el próximo bloc gente!!


Nacho super-star



Encajados en el Mojave Desert


Ruta 66, en Arizona


Motoqueros en el desierto

Cena en la van, Mac Donalds, Camino a Grand Canyon

Goffs Rd, desierto del Mojave, Arizona

Parada en la ruta (Interestatal 40) para almorzar. Menu: pollo con mate

Nacho en el Grand Canyon, Arizona




Campamento en Parque Nacional Grand Canyon. Menu: filetes de cerdo con sarten de huevos rotos 
Nacho enganando a una pobre ardilla con una piedra

Camino a Antelope Canyon. esta vez no fue la Aceituna quien nos llevo, sino una 4X4.
Antelope Canyon, Arizona

                                                                                 
Rio colorado, Page, Arizona


















Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Day 24

Santa Monica, California.

7600 km, 85 hours of driving, 800 l of gas.

Ryan left back to Guelph on Sunday from LA airport to do his job interview. We did not talk much on the way to the airport or at the moment of the good bye. The last look at each other eyes, however, was a deep conversation we had not with words. When I went back to the van, it looked huge. Part of me is happy about this opportunity for him. A selfish portion of me, however, wants him to be back to complete the trip.

From the airport I went to a starbucks to use i-net. Likely Amanda was online and could talk to her, what made the moment much easier. I stayed there for a couple of hours until it was time to visit friends that lives in LA, Ignacio and Cassandra.

I get to their home and nobody was there, but they left the door open for me. The first thing I did was to have a shower. It was 3 weeks since the last, jeje. I felt a different person after it, lighter, back to normality.

Ignacio was neighbour of mine at my hometown when kids. He came here 10 years ago where he met Cassandra, his wife. They received me as family, even when we could hardly recognise each other at the first glance. We had long talks about how each of us got here and remembered things from back home.

I have been with them 3 days. During those days I had breakfast with them in the morning, biked and ride the skateboard around the city, catch up with the TV, relaxed in the coach and did laundry during the rest of the day. I felt like at home, I went back to 0 from the kind of isolation from everyday life we had so far.

Today, Nacho, my good friend and roommate for one semester in Guelph is coming from Spain. He will join me into the trip for 10 days. I am really looking forward to see him again. He is the one supposed to make the plans for the 10 days so I can not tell you were are we heading next. Knowing him, however, Las Vegas is on the list for sure.

Next blog will be written in Spanish.



Un abrazo grande,

Diego







Thursday, September 15, 2011

Day 18

Hey everyone

Its been awhile since we have updated the blog, but its been a lot of traveling since Seattle and Diego and I have both been too lazy to sit down and write. From Seattle, Washington we connected to the legendary Interstate-101 (on the advice of Eric Page), which goes around the Olympic Peninsula, and then down the east coast of Oregon and California until Los Angeles. The 101 is well deserving of its reputation because driving along the coast was spectacular. Because of the cost of entry into national parks we could not enter the Olympic National Park so we stayed to the seaside. The water in Port Angeles was crystal clear and we even had a distant view of Vancouver. From the Olympics we went south to Oregon, which was much more breathtaking than the Olympic Peninsula. The coast has a lot of rock formations that have been eroded away by the waves and wind to form small islands, points, and arches out of the giant rocks by the shore. Diego was happy to be back by the ocean while I could help but imagine how scary it must have been for explorers traveling out in the seemingly endless and vicious ocean. After Oregon we carried on into California where we spent a half day in the Redwood forest. The Sequoia trees were huge! “Big Tree” was labelled as being approximately 1500 years old. The huge trees reminded me of the slow moving, deep voiced, and wise walking trees from the Lord of the Rings. And apparently the Redwoods rainforest is how all of North America used to be during the Jurassic Age, so it’s a bit like going back in time when you enter the forest. Diego and I walked some trails but as we roamed around we of course got lost and ended up on a part of the road that wasn’t where we parked the van. Since we had two sets of keys we decided to split up and walk in opposite directions along the road until one of us found the van. We eventually found the van and continued along the 101 into the wine country of California and have now stopped in San Francisco for a couple days. I haven’t been to Europe but of the cities I’ve seen I think San Francisco is the most beautiful I’ve even seen. All the homes use vibrant colours, very detailed iron work around the doors and windows, and stucco for the exterior walls. And the architecture seems very Spanish or French in some areas, while other areas it is more Victorian. Very nice place to live! The infamous Alcatraz is also easily within view from the harbour. Diego and I spent about an hour by the harbour just looking at the prison, as birds dove down into water to grab fish, and sea lions casually swam around. I highly recommend visiting San Francisco if anyone gets the chance, well worth it.

But with all the sight seeing I also got some bad/good news. I’ve been offered an interview for an R&D Engineer position in Ontario. I didn’t expect any call backs for work until at least the end of Mexico, if ever, since I haven’t had much luck since graduate school, but now that I am finally on this trip one decided to call and it’s actually a good job. I had to make a decision whether or not to go back for the interview since it could mean the end of the trip for me. I wrestled with the idea for a few hours, but couldn’t decide. I knew I was going to regret my decision no matter what I decided to do. Diego gave some wise advice and suggested that I go for the interview and make the decision to continue the trip or not after I have the job offer. At least then I will be making the decision based on a sure thing and not just the opportunity. This idea calmed me down since I will essentially just be prolonging the decision. So at this point in time I will go back to Canada on Sunday for the interview next week and fly back to meet up with Diego in Las Vegas or Mexico City a few weeks later depending on where Diego is. However if I am offered the position then I can’t prolong the decision any further and will have to decide whether to rejoin the trip or stay in Canada to take the job. We’ll see.

Before Sunday though Diego and I will be travelling to Santa Cruz, Malibu, Santa Barbara, then Los Angeles where I will fly out to Canada and Nacho will fly in from Spain to go with Diego to the Nevada Desert and Las Vegas. Stay tuned. 

Port Angeles in Olympic Peninsula

Oregon

Reflections

The Redwoods

Sleeping in a parking lot playing guitar and having a smoke (of tobacco, don't get any ideas people)


The Rock (Alcatraz)

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Looking for a Shower - we smell

Hey people

So its been almost two weeks since Diego and I left Canada and we haven't had a shower since Iowa. Diego is making due with swimming in rivers and I am making due with being smelly. Eventhough our smell is probably a good deterrent for thieves, we could use a nice warm shower. So if anyone knows anyone along Interstate 101 or in San Francisco or Los Angeles please let us know so we can impose ourselves on your friends. Friends in Mexico along the #15 Highway going through Hermosillo and Los Mochis toward Puerto Vallarta would also be appreciated.

The A-Team.

Day 11

After Yellowstone, we had a very long journey to Seattle. It took us a whole day of travel. When we were only 80 km away from destiny, we decided to stop in a MacDonald’s to spend the night as it was dark and we were too tired to keep on driving.

Ryan drove most of the day so he went to sleep right away. As I slept a little while he drove, I went into the MacDonald’s to use internet. While chequing my mails I could listen two toddlers speaking Spanish and I thought they may be Mexicans (as we saw some before). When I look, they were blond which what was surprising, since its rare to find blonde Mexicans, but I did not pay much attention. It was about 11pm when I decided to go to sleep. I open the door of the van and I think wait a minute, look back and the truck that was right beside us said Las lenas, the same name as a very touristic place in Argentina. I thought it can not be possible, I went to check the plate and yes!!! It was from Argentina. I run to the van I scream Ryan, Ryan the truck besides us is from Argentina, but it was not surprising enough for him to wake up. I went to the Mac Donald’s and I saw a couple that I instantly recognised as Argentineans (I do not know why) and asked: is the truck with the trailer in the parking yours??. The guy responded yes with a face of surprise and I guess fear too. So it is a family from Las Lenas (a place very well known there for skiing), Argentina. Laura, Daniel, facundo and Mora left on January, they went first to Ushuaia (southest city of Arg and I guess from America) and are heading to Alaska. We stayed a couple of hours talking about their trip, things back home, little about our trip that still is very short and they gave us lots of advices and information. That night I could not sleep at all thinking about such a coincidence.

Next day we drove one hour and we were in Seattle, the capital of the Grunge, home of music bands as Pearl Jam and Nirvana, and the place to have good coffee and fresh sea food.

We walked all morning along the coast, the freshness and smell of the air in the coast brought me memories from Mar del Plata (my home town), also the big hills, that when going up makes you forget about all the good things they have. We went to this Pike Market (as recommended by Liz) where they sell fresh sea food. It was a very nice to walk, the guys in the stands make a show out of the fish selling. They sing all together each time they make a sale and through the bags with the fish trough the air. Also there was a street band playing Hillbilly music that made people around very happy and even sing and dance. The fish was inexpensive but offcourse still far from our budgets.

After spending all day in Seattle we left the city to go around the Olympic Peninsula. We are going to drive the 101 highway from beginning (in Olympia, WA) to the end (Los Angeles, CA).

Hugs,

Aceituna crew.


Diego or Ryan taking a swim in the river (We cant tell who it is, guess) 

Lunch by the river after Yellowstone

The truck and trailer of the Argentinian family

The Argentinian family + Diego

By the water in Seattle

Pikes Market

The Hillbilly Band (The Tallboys)

City skyline

Steep roads of Seattle






Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Updated blog settings - anyone can comment now

Hey people, we just realized how difficult it is for people to comment on the blog, so we have changed the settings so that anyone can comment (without having to sign into anything). Let us know if there are any issues.

The A (Aceituna)-Team.

Monday, September 5, 2011

Day 8

Diego Reporting: Few kilometres after leaving Deadwood we stopped to fill the gas tank. To our surprise, as small as the gas station looked, we were able to get wireless i-net from the van. After chatting, what to me seemed few minutes but was actually more like 1,5 hours, with Amanda it was already too late, so we decided to spend the night there. We failed to our classic accommodation (The highway rest areas) and gave it a chance to the truck parking of the gas station. Even there was some trucks movement that waked me up a few times at night, it was good.
Next day, early in the morning we started a new highway journey. The road to Yellowstone was very nice. The prairies, made me remember of some areas of Argentina, and later the Rocky Mountains, spectacular to see but made all our attempts to keep low the gas consumption (about 90% of our trip costs so far) fail. In one of the several stops we did in the mountains to admire the sight and take pictures, we saw a group of people getting ready to jump from a pick about 800- 1000 meters high with their hang-gliders. It made me shake just to see what they where about to do, one wrong step and that was it. We watch two of them take of and keep on adding kms to the Aceituna.
After 2485km, 250lt of gas and 27 hours of driving since we left Guelph, we arrived to Yellowstone National Park, the first national park of the world where one of the main attractions is the geysers. Volcanic eruptions thousands of years ago shaped the lands of the park and the same magmatic heat powering those eruptions powers hot springs, fumes and the geysers today.
But not everything is that nice. The Grizzly bears that can be very cute when watching in Discovery Channel made me kite scared (nothing happened don’t be alarmed). I have been listening to stories about attacks since Canada and here we are just on one of the places were you might have an encounter with them. I know that one should not be afraid, but careful. However, I can not avoid it (the same with sharks). May be it is because I am not familiar with them; we do not have bears in Argentina. So we decided to buy a bear deterrent and I did not go even to the washrooms (that were 20 m from the van) without it. I have been even practicing to became faster (if not the faster in the west) in taking it from my pocket, removing the safety clip and aiming (Ryan play as the grizzly bear). Just like Buffalo Bill did with his gun but with pepper spry. I would like to tell you that I had an encounter with a bear and thanks to my skills with the pepper spry I was able to save some children, but the real thing is that we did not see a bear even from the car.
Now we are heading to Seattle. Write mails, love you,
The Aceituna and its crew

Hang-gliders jumping from the Rockies

Ryan checking out a WW2 Mosquito flow by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Camping at Yellowstone 

Diego by the water at Yellowstone

Old Faithful

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Day 6

We arrived in the Badlands of South Dakota early Friday morning after spending the night at a highway rest stop. Agustin recommended seeing the Badlands and said it was is worth the $15 entry. For us $15 is a lot to spend in one shot, and we were hoping the Badlands weren’t going to be bad. Entering the park we saw the labyrinth like landscape which looked a thousand mini grand canyons. Although impressive we still weren’t sure it was worth the $15. Although after seeing some goat-like animals, and prairie dogs the Badlands won us over.  From the Badlands we headed over to Mount Rushmore. I’ve never really cared about seeing American monuments but for some reason I was excited to see this one, I guess because I appreciate the skill involved. It was an $11 parking fee, but free to enter the park. This seemed like an easy way to save money, so Diego, whom didn’t really care to see the monument, waited in the car on the side of the road nearby while I went up on bike. I took my photos and took it all in, and I have to say it was very impressive! After Rushmore we headed over to the Crazy Horse monument or as Diego mistakenly calls it, Crazy Whore. I heard about this being built as a kid, but I thought by now it was finished. I think they are short on money because only the head is done and the horse, which is the majority of the work is still just drawn out in a chalk (or whatever they use) template. Apparently Mt. Rushmore took 14 years but only 6 years were of actual work while the rest of the time was spent getting money. Seems like Crazy Horse is having similar issues. Might explain the $10 fee to enter the area, but with only a head I couldn’t justify the price, so enjoy some distant photos everyone. The last stop of the day in the town of Deadwood. It was conveniently on the way back to the number 90 interstate to take us to Yellowstone. I was excited to see this town since HBO had a show called Deadwood which was about the lives of the frontiersmen in the late 19th century that founded the town once gold was discovered there. Its one of my favourite shows so I was curious to see what had happened to this town over 100 years later. Well the gold mines closed a decade or so back and to keep the town alive the town has permitted gambling in all the bars. They did a good job, the gambling brings in a lot of people, and historical aspect of the town keeps it from being trashy.  The town even has gun fights 3x a day. After Deadwood we continued along I90 looking for a grocery store. Sadly we haven’t seen one since Iowa, not even in the town of Deadwood. I don’t know where people get their food around here, maybe they grow it, who knows. We haven’t seen any franchises either, which has made getting WiFi hard, but we stumbled upon an open connection at a gas station when we stopped for the night.