You can't build your future if you're living in the past. Fool. – Andrea Vlad
Tuesday, March 5, 2013 (DAY 366)
It’s hard to imagine that I’ve been traveling for exactly one year. I never could have imagined the experiences I’ve had, the incredible friends I’ve met, and the limitations I have pushed myself to in almost every aspect a person can. Even as I sit at this small roadside bus terminal in Chiclayo, Peru for the next 4-hours waiting to board yet another 14-hour bus before reaching Lima, I am thankful for all of the people I have in my life that have helped make this journey a reality. Words cannot express the heartfelt gratitude I have on so many levels, but I just hope that in some way people are encouraged to challenge themselves daily and realize that there is a great big wonderful world out there to explore. And even if this lifestyle or adventure is not for you, look deep within yourself and find what you are passionate about and begin to pursue that even if it may seem risky. Look ahead to a brighter future instead of continuing to live a life of mediocrity and routine. Stop comparing your life to others, but find what is missing in your own life and search out what you can do for a more promising future.
It’s hard to imagine that I’ve been traveling for exactly one year. I never could have imagined the experiences I’ve had, the incredible friends I’ve met, and the limitations I have pushed myself to in almost every aspect a person can. Even as I sit at this small roadside bus terminal in Chiclayo, Peru for the next 4-hours waiting to board yet another 14-hour bus before reaching Lima, I am thankful for all of the people I have in my life that have helped make this journey a reality. Words cannot express the heartfelt gratitude I have on so many levels, but I just hope that in some way people are encouraged to challenge themselves daily and realize that there is a great big wonderful world out there to explore. And even if this lifestyle or adventure is not for you, look deep within yourself and find what you are passionate about and begin to pursue that even if it may seem risky. Look ahead to a brighter future instead of continuing to live a life of mediocrity and routine. Stop comparing your life to others, but find what is missing in your own life and search out what you can do for a more promising future.
Our route from Guayaquil, Ecuador to Lima, Peru is the most arduous and continuous bus ride I’ve yet to experience, 19 plus hours and covers 1,505 km (935 miles). Ask any experienced backpacker and they will tell you that one of the lifesaving items they always carry is sleeping pills. Whether it’s due to the horrendous snoring freight train in the dorm bed next to you or long overnight bus rides. I couldn’t help but notice as we paid just a dollar extra for first class in the air-condition section of the double decker bus that there was a bathroom just outside the enclosed room with an enormous sign that discouraged being from dropping a deuce in the toilet. I knew that this would not last long, but was hopeful that our dollar upgrade would be enclosed enough to ward off the smell, even if for a quarter of the journey. At the beginning Char and I were sitting next to one another until a mother and her 8-year-old son boarded and showed us that there were indeed assigned seats.
Char was left in her seat and her new travel companion was this little boy. Thankfully I was reassigned to two rows behind where we were currently sitting and had an empty seat next to me at the back of the bus. Just as we began moving I popped my sleeping pill and slid on my sleeping mask. Not even twenty-minutes into this 19 plus hour bus ride and I could smell that someone had already dropped a massive deuce. C’mon man was all I could think, and refusing to slide my mask down from my eyes I attempted to ignore it and quickly dozed off. Thank God for sleeping pills because this 19-hour cramped bus ride felt like a 30-minute leisure Sunday drive. This, however, was not the same situation that Char experienced. Apparently as I slept soundly after the brief discomfort of a nasty odor before falling soundly asleep, Char informed me that the kid next to her ended up throwing up on the floor, which in turn covered her feet, which unfortunately were in flip flops. She then told me that she was convinced that he also crapped his pants. I felt bad, but I could not stop laughing and was extremely grateful that I decided not to lift my sleeping mask, otherwise I would have seen a river of vomit sloshing around on the floor. Just another reason why, when I travel I always wear my waterproof GORE-TEX® shoes instead of flip-flops because you never know when you have to avoid a river of puke and poo.
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