Pictures!

Luckily, Mattis was able to recover some pictures and post them, along with a great video. Those videos are really awesome and I wish I had been doing that myself as there are a million incidents that I can think of just off of the top of my head where a video would have done so much more to capture a moment than a still, like when the Mayans woke me up in the middle of the night, or being stuck in the creepy old house in rural Mexico during the thunder storm, or when the Alligator swam under my hammock! Oh well, in my future travels I will certainly be taking videos.

I am home, after a 30 hour ordeal consisting of 4 flights, taxis, a bus and a train. My cold came back as a result of being awake for so long and the stress of travel, so I have a nice hacking cough and runny nose. It feels great to be home and to be able to talk to my family and friends. Mattis will be home as well on Tuesday before he heads out for what will likely be the final leg of his journey, which is a 5 week trip to Japan, so we are all going to get together and say hi to some people we have not seen in over a year, which will be fantastic.

Carnival was one hell of an experience, but I just do not want to travel to do things like that anymore. I am itching to go camping or hiking or rafting or something like that on my next trip. I think I will hang tight for the next few months though, get a job to refill the coffers a bit and then I am thinking that I will head out to Utah and Arizona to do some cycling and trekking out in some of the national parks there. But, I have to admit, Asia, Africa and India are still calling my name. I am traveled out for the time being, but those places are still out there begging me to come and explore. If I have learned anything on this trip, it is that the world is a huge and amazing place. It is something that deserves taking in over a lifetime, not all in one go. I will never lose the desire to travel and experience new things, but I have grown at least a little wiser in that I have come to realize that it is better to take your time and to do things at a slower pace so that the experiences can be enjoyed. In my grand ambition to do it all at once, I missed out on the fact that some things are better done slowly.

So, for the time being I will happily settle into a mundane life and focus on other things that I love and in time I will head back out to see what other kinds of trouble I can get myself into. I still want to raft the Amazon, more so now after spending time in Brazil, but I think I will wait until I can find a partner to go with me after the experience of the guy I met who had attempted it and had been beaten and robbed less than a week into the trip. Horseback through Mongolia and Camel through the Sahara are still way up on my list of things that I have to do before I die (which is a really long list, I am starting to realize!) as well as a host of other less grand, yet equally appealing adventures life has to offer. So, the blog will be mostly silent for the next few months at the least. I want to thank everyone who has written me with encouragement, the friendships I have made now with people all around the world who have enjoyed reading about my wacky trip and to those who have been inspired to go out and take a bite out of life as I was inspired by the logs of others. That really makes me happy to think I had a positive impact on people’s lives. For the time being, goodbye to everyone, and I look forward to hearing from everyone again on the next adventure!

Mattis and I at a Camarote, a party overlooking the Carnival route. We are both super tired in this pic and barely hanging on!

The dance floor at the Camarote.

Just one of many, many Carnival floats making their way all around the city.

Another Carnival float.

Tons of guys wore these sons of Ghandi outfits, although most of them behaved in a way nothing like what Ghandi would have been to happy about!

These are the shirts you had to buy to go to a Camarote or to be in the Parade. Also, this is our teeny tiny room!

The uncrowded part of the Campo Grande parade route.

Our totally sweet room, you could only stand up straight near the wall!

Yet another group of revelers.

About 1/3 of the men the first few days were dressed in drag, which was really weird, and I had the misfortune of attracting a group of them!

The crowded part of the Campo Grande route, there were more people here than I have ever seen in one place before!

A plaza near our hotel.

Hey look, another carnival float!

The street when it was not busy outside of our hotel.

These little girls chased us around spraying us with shaving cream, which was pretty funny.