Wanderlust

South of the equator

May 15, 2013 by Tessa 2 Comments

It’s been two weeks in Peru and life’s going at warp speed. There’s so much to say and tell and show but I don’t know how. So I will post photos and tell you about a few crazy experiences.

After we arrived in Chiclayo and settled into our apartments, we started work right away. There are several different campuses so we are all split up in different places. I split my time between an elementary school where I help teach English and a high school where I work with IT and internet marketing.

The first week we were here they had a giant welcoming ceremony for all of us. We are the first American interns to come to Chiclayo so they like to parade us around. They’ve welcomed us with open arms and I think we are getting spoiled with all of the attention we are getting. Plus, not many tourists come to Chiclayo so the fact that we are white makes us quite a spectacle. I’ve never felt like a celebrity before, but I think this has to be what it’s like. I literally get mobbed everyday at the elementary school after I’ve been gifted apples, stickers, origami, pens, and Barbie pictures. The teacher will have to hold all of the kids back after they’ve attacked for 5 minutes and I have no hope of finding my way out alone.

I think Michael likes all of the attention he is getting from the ladies

We’ve also been publicly embarrassed on several occasions when they make us dance in front of massive amounts of people. My favorite was when we drove up to a nightclub, walked in to a standing ovation by students and parents, and then sat down. Flashing lights of different colors were everywhere and tribal music began to play. We thought we would get to watch a cool tribal dance…no…turns out we were the ones doing the tribal dancing. So there we are, in a flashing nightclub, dancing terribly to tribal music, and all of the sudden clowns on stilts appeared. After 10 minutes of this, we were given some potatoes (because who doesn’t want a potato after working out?) and then escorted out. We didn’t know if this experience was real or a dream. I’m still confused.

To top the week off, we had a mother’s day feast of cow heart, utter, and tongue (which was a very nice gesture and we had to do our best to eat as much as we could). Never will I ever say “I’m so hungry I could eat a cow!”

So we’ve done service projects on the outskirts of town, taught, danced, eaten (I mean we have really eaten…so much food), went to the beach, learned to enjoy potatoes for every meal, eaten crazy weird things, spoken broken Spanish, and kissed too many cheeks to count. All this and we’ve still got the whole summer ahead of us.

Filed Under: Life, Wanderlust Tagged With: Chiclayo, International, Peru, Wanderlust

The language barrier

May 10, 2013 by Tessa 2 Comments

After arriving in Chiclayo, I soon realized that I was done for. My Spanish skills seemed non-existent and I couldn’t manage to put together a fully coherent sentence when trying to communicate. But Tessa, I thought you spoke Spainsh, you are asking yourself. Yeah…well I did…a long time ago. And I thought I maybe still did. But turns out if you don’t practice, you really do loose abilities and talents. So, we are starting from square one.

After my first day of feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, and exhausted from trying to work with the IT guys in Spanish, I’m trying to get creative with this. Google translate is single handedly saving my life.

My favorite language barrier/translation experience happened when we were still in Lima after getting picked up by a few representatives of the school we are working at. I looked up and found this sign:

Of course, I had to share this gem with others and soon we were all giggling to ourselves. We asked one of our Peruvian friends how they would pronounce that sign in Spanish…and it’s exactly how we would in English. At this point we were laughing even harder, which made all of the Peruvians confused. We then had to explain what this word means in English, which was also entertaining.

Moral of the story: Even though language barriers can be frustrating, they can also be hilarious and bonding.

Filed Under: Life, Wanderlust Tagged With: language barrier, Lima, Peru, Spanish

Getting lost in Lima

May 7, 2013 by Tessa Leave a Comment

Peru is a trip. Seriously though, I feel like I was dunked under water, held there for a while, and now I’m flailing my limbs around and trying to breathe in as much air as possible. But more on that later.

We flew into Lima on Tuesday night and taxied over to our hostel in Miraflores. Sidenote, we found the hostel on Airbnb.com, which is the best. Go use it. Our host, Emma, was the kindest lady and stayed up so late just chatting with us and showing us around the apartment. The next morning we were greeted by the loud voices of the other travelers in the hostel as we tried to sleep in. After pulling ourselves out of bed we chatted with the solo-traveler Mike who gave us a map and told us how to get to downtown Lima by bus. We took his advice and explored the city center, wandered down streets, and grabbed some ice cream. On our way home we got lost but then found by a pack of Peruvian grandmas. They told us they would tell us where to go, but then insisted we get in their car so they could just take us there. They seemed harmless, so we obliged and made it back safely and even found a churro truck on the way.

That night, after cleaning up in the one bathroom that the travelers all share with the family, we grabbed dinner at a food court overlooking the ocean in Miraflores. We spent the next day hanging out with Emma and her husband who drove us to the Lima Temple and ate some good Chifa (a hilarious combination of chinese and peruvian food) with us. We then explored some pre-Inca ruins and met an Indian travel agent friend.

We met up with the rest of the BYU clan the next day and ate breakfast and explored more of the city with them. Little did we know what we had gotten ourselves into for the rest of this summer. We hopped on an overnight bus that evening and spent the night driving up the coast to Chiclayo where we live now. Lima was definitely a vacation to what Chiclayo has brought upon us, but I’ll save that for the next post.

Filed Under: Life, Wanderlust Tagged With: Lima, Peru, Travel, Wanderlust

Here’s lookin’ at you, Peru

April 23, 2013 by Tessa Leave a Comment

Summertime is made for adventure, and what’s more adventurous than moving south of the equator? That’s what Michael and I told ourselves as we purchased tickets that would land us in Chiclayo, Peru for the summer. This all came about in a really nonchalant way with Michael toying with the idea of doing an internship there, meeting with some people, getting a grant, and then…what we are really going? Yep, we are going. In one week. (Cue panic attack for everything we have to get done before then)

Basically, we are still fuzzy on some of the details, but we are moving there for the summer to work at a local University in the city. We will be helping with marketing, SEO, eco-tourism, and English courses. Unfortunately for me, my Spanish skills are really rusting seeing as the last time I used Spanish was in Spain…3 years ago. But, the cool thing about this internship is that we are really going to be pushing this University and it’s resources to the next level. They are excited and we are really excited and I guess that’s the most you can ask for.

So, here’s to adventure and unknowns. And to prove how adventurous we really are, we bought Chacos, because what says adventure more than a pair of Chacos? Watch out Peru, our strappy sandle feet are about to trapse all over you.

Filed Under: Life, Wanderlust Tagged With: adventure, Peru, Travel, Wanderlust

Surviving the worst winter of your life

March 6, 2013 by Tessa 1 Comment

Folks, it’s March and that means there is a light at the end of this freezing tunnel. Winter 2013 was the worst winter I have ever experienced (cold-wise). After returning from the tropical paradise of Thailand where we spent Christmas, we were greeted with 0 degrees back in Salt Lake City. Literally zero. And it didn’t let up from there. The next few months were a lethal combination of inversion, below freezing temperatures, and gray skies. I was funneling down into a pit of cloudy, cold, depression. Once I had to scrape ice off from the INSIDE of my windshield. That was rock bottom.

So, without further ado, here are the only things that saved me from turning into a cold-hearted, cold-handed, mute this winter.

Weekend getaways

What do you do when you can’t stand your 450 sq foot apartment anymore and you can’t go outside without getting hypothermia? You leave.

This has hands-down been the thing that has saved me from losing my mind this winter. It has given me something to look forward to, and it has bonded friendships with some of the best and most hilarious people I know. Thank you to everyone who has been generous enough to open up their homes, cabins, bunk beds, and hot tubs to me.

Wool socks

I have never before owned a pair of wool socks. However, after I was positive I was starting to get frostbite, I decided to invest in a pair. LIFE CHANGING. Really though, I wear them every day. That might be gross, but my feet are so warm and cozy and I don’t care who knows it.

Head South

I am a creature of the sun, and when the sun didn’t show it’s face here for weeks on end, I had to go find it. Luckily, I have friends and family in Arizona and California, leaving me no choice but to head south to the warmer weather that they offer. I had two glorious weekends soaking up enough sun to get me through the rest of this winter.

Gloves and an ice scraper

In my four previous years in Provo I rarely have ever worn my gloves or used the ice scraper in the back of my car. But, with no more underground parking, and sub-zero temperatures, my gloves and scraper have gotten a work-out. Without these trusty items I would no longer have hands and would probably no longer have a car due to an inevitable car accident.

Good people

Without the great people here in this place, I couldn’t have made it. You make living in this tundra worth it.

Filed Under: Life, Wanderlust Tagged With: Arizona, San Diego, Travel, winter

Traveling Thailand-Phuket, Khao Lak

January 15, 2013 by Tessa 2 Comments

The last leg of our trip was spent in the southern part of Thailand bouncing around to different islands and eating enough boiled bananas that I thought we would start oozing coconut milk. We stayed in Khao Lak, which is about an hour outside of Phuket. It’s quieter and less crowded, leaving us with most of the beach to ourselves.

The first thing we did after arriving was hit the pool. The pool wrapped around the entire resort, had jet pools, a swim up bar, and in the main pool, a beach front view. We swam the entire thing and at one point during our time there, I was wandering around trying to find my family, only to stop by the swim up bar to find them singing and cheering because it was happy hour and they ordered pina coladas (virgin people, we aren’t that crazy) for everyone in the fam.

We decided to take a day trip out to the Similan Islands, which have been listed in National Geographics top 10 islands in the world (Andaman Sea). The trip out there is rough, but so worth it. I took a seasick pill because my stomach hasn’t held up too well lately. Little brother thought he could brave it, but ended up with his head in the trash can barfing in front of everyone on the boat. My mom had to resist her urge to capture this moment on film out of fear that everyone would think she was a bad mom. She sat back and giggled with me instead. (We aren’t mean and we felt bad, but it really was kiiiiind of funny).

The islands are beautiful and the water is an impossible blue.

Michael and I spent one of the days riding long boats and kayaks through Phang Nga Bay which left me speechless. You go early in the morning and kayak in and out of caves and grottoes. You have to lay flat in order to get in and out of these areas and you come so close to having your nose chopped off by limestone that your adrenaline is pumping it’s hardest. We also stopped by James Bond Island which is super crowded, but the formation is amazing. But really, what would it take for me to get a shack on one of these islands? Because I would move there in a heartbeat.

These islands are also beautiful and the water here is an impossible green.

The other parts of our trip down south included getting massages (which later resulted in a shot in the butt for me, long story), pedicures, ringing in the New Year with fireworks on the beach, and lighting lanterns off at night over the ocean.

Also, shout out to this little restaurant on the beach where we ate every meal (I’m not kidding). They have some great thai food for even better prices. Plus, they are the nicest, most fun people and let us dance to Gangham style with them in the sand.

Filed Under: Wanderlust Tagged With: beach, Phuket, Thailand

Traveling Thailand-Bangkok

January 8, 2013 by Tessa Leave a Comment

Bangkok is our home-base. We flew into Bangkok, out of Bangkok, back in, back out, back in, and sadly one last trip out. In between all of this airport time we managed to visit the gems of Bangkok. Props to my mom for being an amazing tour guide and taking us to the best places.

Our first stop in Bangkok was Chatuchak market. It’s only open on the weekends and we only had one open Friday where we would be in the city. We drove over with Kun Su Shard (sweetest man in all of Thailand who brought us Coke Zeros when we were thirsty) and explored the markets. They have everything there. Needless today it took a lot of self control to not go on a buying spree. Once we were done wandering we hit up some street vendors for chicken sate and some weird bread/butter/evaporated milk thing.

The next venture into the city was to visit the Grand Palace, which is AMAZING. Often compared to the Forbidden City in China, I think this one takes the cake for me. With giant gold bells and hand mosaics covering many of the buildings and statues, it’s stunning. Also, if you are a boy don’t forget to wear pants. Girls are ok in dresses and sleeves but the guys have to be in pants because Thai people don’t want to see the tourist’s pale calves. Michael got to rent some nice baggy sweatpants to wear over his shorts. Lookin goooood. Coryne was immodest too and was given a long skirt to wear over her shorts.

Next we hit up the Mandarin Oriental hotel downtown for a late lunch (super late because Bangkok traffic is insane and it took us forever to get there). The hotel is beautiful and set on the waterfront and the food was super yummy. After this we talked them into letting us grab a long boat from there (usually only hotel guests can, but mama Farnsworth got her way). The long boat took us down the river through the city and you can see 5 star hotels sharing property with run down shacks which back up to ancient temples. So cool. We also got pummeled with a wave from another boat and the camera was oh so close to being lost to the waters of Thailand.

Our last day trekking around Bangkok was spent out at Ayutthaya, the old ruins. We visited a floated market, got our feet nommed on by fish, and hit up as many of the ruins as we could. We had to cut the day short thanks to a pack of pit bulls that attacked us. We were trying to find the entrance, passed a sign written in Thai that apparently said “No trespassing”, and walked onto someone’s property. Before we knew it, 4 pit bulls were headed at full velocity towards us and my mom got the worst of it when one of them chomped her calf. We quickly got out of there and then hit up the doctor later that day where she got to start her 5 series of rabies shots.

Filed Under: Wanderlust Tagged With: Bangkok, Thailand, Wanderlust

Traveling Thailand-Chiang Mai

January 3, 2013 by Tessa 1 Comment

In the past two weeks I have travelled by airplane, car, taxi, elephant, ox-car, bamboo raft, speed boat, kayak, and long boat. My family moved to Bangkok this summer and we were able to fly out and visit them for Christmas and New Years. They decided to take the opportunity and show us all sides of Thailand, and I am so grateful they did. I’ll be splitting the trip into three posts which consist of the three legs of our trip; Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and Phuket. Without further ado…Chiang Mai.

Flying into Bangkok took three flights: SLC-LA-Tokyo-Bangkok. It was a long and exhausting treck, but everything was worth it. Also, special shout out to the kind stranger who snuck me into the business lounge. My sister is able to go and use the lounge on International flights due to her Gold status, but I am still Silver and she can only bring one guest. Thus, Michael and I were heading out to leave when I saw a lady give me the look and head nod. So I pushed Michael back with Coryne and I snuck in line with stranger lady. She got me in, told me to the enjoy my trip and disappeared. Thank you stranger lady, for letting me enjoy the perks of the business lounge on our long layover.

After landing in Chiang Mai with the fam, we drove about an hour to our hotel, Sukantara cascade restort and spa. It’s a small piece of paradise that is located on a set of waterfalls. We spent every morning and evening eating homemade Thai food by the waterfalls.

All around Chiang Mai there are signs for crazy animal shows. “Feed a cobra!” “Tame a tiger!” “Stick your head in a crocodile’s mouth!” The crocodile one intrigued my parents and so we found ourselves there. Next thing I know they are pushing me into the pit of crocs and telling me to sit on one to get a picture. What??? I’m pretty sure the one we sat on was drugged but the rest were definitely alive and kickin. My parents thought this was hilarious.

Notice that I am actually too scared to actually make contact between my butt and the crocodile tail.

This guy is the craziest. I wonder if doing this daily pays well…

The next few days were spent visiting the Long Neck People who are from Burma and have moved to Thailand to seek better employment (they are beautiful), shopping in the markets, and hanging out with elephants. I am kind of tempted to go work on an elephant reserve somewhere. Putting that down on my ultimate dream list right now.

This place is a dream, so if you’re headed to Thailand, don’t miss it.

P.S.-most pictures taken by the one and only Michael P. Curry

Filed Under: Wanderlust Tagged With: Chang Mai, Thailand, Travel

Tessa’s Travel Trials Vol. 1

December 4, 2012 by Tessa 1 Comment

Getting food poisoning on an airplane, meeting a dreadlocked lover, sharing twin beds with strangers, losing my luggage, hauling 300lbs of luggage all by myself while running through an airport, and missing one of my best friends wedding. These are just a few of the stories you will get to hear from this new series of Tessa’s Travel Trials. After traveling across the world many times to visit my family and heading out on different adventures, I’ve had, well, a lot of terrible traveling experiences. Not that it’s stopping me, but they are worth noting. So here it is, the first installment:

The time I got food poisoning and then missed a flight in one of the most dangerous cities in the world

A few years ago I was hopping on a plane in December to meet my family in Namibia for two weeks of road-tripping through safaris. The itinerary went like this: SLC-ATL-Johannesburg-Namibia. The first leg of the trip went fine. I had checked my two giant bags (my mom makes me bring a bag of mostly heavy things she can’t buy abroad) and I had my backpack with me. Next up was the longest part of the trip, a 17 hour flight from Atlanta to Johannesburg. To my dismay, I realized I was sitting in a middle seat in economy between two *bigger* guys. Not an ideal situation, but whatever.

Then, a few hours into the flight we had been fed sandwiches with some kind of processed meat. This did not settle well with my stomach and I found myself taking deep breaths with my eyes closed telling myself that this “holy crap I’m about to upchuck” feeling would pass. But then it didn’t. In a panic, I surveyed my exit options and jumped over the smaller of the sleeping men. I then ran to the nearest bathroom and pushed the door open just in time to throw up all over the bathroom. And when I say all over I mean the toilet, sink, and walls were covered. Yum. I then cleaned it up and didn’t tell anyone out of fear of being quarantined in a scary city. How I made it through the rest of the flight I still don’t know. I don’t remember the rest of the flight. But I do remember realizing that we were late and I had only 30 minutes to claim my baggage, re-check my baggage, and check in with the new airlines.

We de-boarded and I went as fast as I could through the airport only to be told that I was too late. More good news, there were no more flights going to Namibia tonight. Awesooooome. So there I was, sick, stuck in Johannesburg, no cash, no phone, and only an itouch ipod to buy Internet with to tell my family. Then I realized I needed to find a place to stay that night.

As I was standing in line to re-book my flight I noticed a girl and her aunt who had been on my flight. I stroke up a conversation about missing flights and casually asked what they were doing that night. Luckily, they invited me to share a hotel room with them. The unfortunate part was that the only rooms left were twin beds. So, we pushed two twin beds together and spent the night getting well acquainted. In the meantime my parents are freaking out because the email I sent looked something like this:

“Hey Dad,

Missed my flight. Coming in at 11am tomorrow. Got food poisoning, not fun. Found some people to share a hotel room with.”

And then I didn’t have Internet again. Luckily everything went smoothly the next day and I made it to Namibia. I don’t think I’ve ever been more relieved or more happy to see my family. It’s always a sweet reunion, but that one takes the cake.

Filed Under: Life, Wanderlust Tagged With: Africa, Travel

A wannabe Mexican local

November 28, 2012 by Tessa 2 Comments

A mere 15 years ago I moved to Mexico City where I spent 2.5 years of my adolescent life. Mostly what I remember of it is crazy traffic, crazy pollution, stray cats, and street performers. Apparently those are the things that stick with an 8 year old. Also one time I almost got lost on a field trip to the city center. That was traumatizing but irrelevant.

I hadn’t been back to Mexico in 12 years, but I broke that streak last week when Michael and I found ourselves flying down to Puerto Vallarta for a late honeymoon (which didn’t feel like a honeymoon, but more of an adventurous free trip, which was awesome). And that’s when I remembered why I love Mexico and speaking spanish and eating tacos. So here are the reasons why I am a wannabe resident of Puerto Vallarta:

1. Street tacos. Nowhere in the United States, or any other country for that matter, will you find tacos this good. Plus, they are like 30 cents so it’s a budget friendly meal. I could go on and on about these but it just makes me want them so I’m going to stop.

2. Music. Thankgiving night we walked along the Malecon, the area down by the beach with restaurants and shops. We ran into a giant procession of mariachis and their mariachi children. It was magical. Also, tons of restaurants have mariachis that sing to you and you find yourself singing along with everyone else in the restaurant and clapping your hands and then you are up dancing around before you realize what is happening. There is no way you cannot love life when a mariachi band is around.

3. Adventure. We spent an entire day zip-lining. It was exhilarating and exhausting. I think they should turn zip-lining in a sport, just so I can compete. At one point that day I was laying on my stomach, flying over a canopy of trees. This lasted an entire 4 minutes, which might not sound long, but when you are flying over a forest at 60mph while only being held up by a wire, it’s the longest and best 4 minutes ever. I was a bird for 4 minutes! If I believed in re-incarnation I would definitely shoot for the level that lets me come back as an animal.

4. Fiestas. Mexicans love fiestas, which is awesome. Fiestas are a mix of some of my favorite things: food, music, dancing, and pinatas. (I can’t find the squiggly line that goes above the ‘n’, but you know what I’m talking about). So yeah, obviously I want to be at a fiesta all the time.

5. Great Coke. Talk to any Coke junkie and they know, Mexican Coke is delicious. Probably because they still make it with cocain or put loads of sugar in it, either way it tastes great. Plus, they give it to you in a cool bottle that is kind of sticky and has sand on it, reminding you that you are in paradise.

Filed Under: Life, Wanderlust Tagged With: Mexico, Travel

South of the equator

The language barrier

Getting lost in Lima

Here’s lookin’ at you, Peru

Surviving the worst winter of your life

Traveling Thailand-Phuket, Khao Lak

Traveling Thailand-Bangkok

Traveling Thailand-Chiang Mai

Tessa’s Travel Trials Vol. 1

A wannabe Mexican local

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