Monday, April 20, 2009

End of Blog

This is the end of this blog. I'm not in South America anymore. You all know what I'll be doing now that I'm back in the USA. I hope you all enjoyed sharing this adventure with me.

I had an itch to travel for a long time. I think this trip to south america did just the trick.


ttfn.

What Now

So, now that I'm back in New York...


I'm looking forward to starting graduate school in the fall. Until then, I'll try to find some work in Rochester.

I'm working at Rohrbachs (my favorite microbrewery) two days a week for a month, but it's a volunteer gig. They might hire me on after the internship is over, if they need me. I'm trying to get a job at the High Falls Brewery also, but I haven't heard back from them yet.

Aside from working at breweries, I guess I'll take a temporary job doing whatever for the summer. I bet some sort of work will surface in the next month or so.

For Graduate School -- I accepted a teaching assistantship at the University of Maryland Baltimore County starting this fall. I'm entering the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering program there, but I'll be doing a lot of work with chemical sensors, particularly sensors that could be used for brewing.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Yikes!

I escaped a kidnapping attempt last night. That was 4 seconds I'll never forget. Anyway, I'm safe in the Quito airport now waiting for my flight. They've got WiFi, so I thought I'd share last night's exciting activities. My only regret is that I couldn't find a brick to throw through the kidnappers' car window. They deserve to get smashed up.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Winding Down

Things are coming to a close now. Today is my last day in South America. I have a 6:30am flight back to NYC tomorrow morning. I'll let you all know how things end up for me back at home. It looks like I'll be working at a brewery (hopefully two breweries) this summer. Then, I'll be going to graduate school in the fall. I'll fill you all in on the details next week. Then, this blog will be finished.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

After Lima

I travelled north and stayed in a beach town for a day. I could have spent another day there, but I thought it would be prudent to get to Quito a couple days beofre my flight back home. I'm in Quito, Ecuador now sitting in a coffee shop.

Lima


Went to Lima. I was there for a day, then I left. I went to a museum while I was there. They had some Inca pottery among other things.

Classic Picture



Here's the classic postacrd picture of Machu Picchu, but with me in it. Waynu Picchu is in the background. There's also a picture of me trying to do a "move" and falling.

Waynu Picchu











Waynu Picchu means "Big Mountain" and it overlooks Machu Picchu, "Little Mountain"

Machu Picchu
















Inca Jungle Trail, Day 3


Day three started with a cable car ride across the canyon river. The rest of the day was a more hiking.

How's That Bread?

Inca Jungle Trail, Day 2









The second day was all hiking. It included a small stretch of ancient Inca Trail. At the end of the day, we relaxed at a hot springs resort in the middle of the Andes maountains. It was perfect.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Inca Jungle Trail, Day One





The first day of the Inca Jungle Trail tour was on mountain bikes. It started out very cold and rainy, but as we descended it warmed up. It was rainy for much of the time though. We were touring at the end of the rainy season.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Back from Macchu Pichu

I'm back, but I've got to move on to the next place. So you'll have to wait for pictures at least until tomorrow.