My Sherpas

This blog entry is copied from my journal... I'm writing this journal entry form the top of a mountain in the Swiss Alps. As the gondola neared the top of the mountain, I felt an overwhelming surge of emotion. The first thought that came to mind was "this is where God is". The Bible says you need only to look at God´s creation to know that he exists. Never has that been made clearer to me then today. If a writer were to say he could accurately express the beauty of this landscape and the accompanying emotions he would be lying. I´ve thought a lot of about how I would describe the mountains and village of Grindelwald, and I´ve come up with a lot of flowery cliche expressions. I finally concluded that there are no words that can describe it, so I´m simply going to post a few links to photos here and hope they can describe it better than words. When I first arrived in Grindelwald I was left speechless by the beauty of the mountains, and then I was sick to my stomach at the realization that I wouldn´t be able to explore and hike. These mountains literally scream "Hike me!" I took the gondola up with Jess and two friends from the hostel. They got off at the first stop to go hiking for the day across mountain bridges and melted glaciers. I won´t lie, I was completely jealous! I continued on the gondola to the top, and found my way out to the viewing point. I was speechless as the snow covered alps came into view. It was as if God were saying to me, "And you thought I was going to let you miss out on the fun. Have more faith!" After this I will.

To backtrack a little, I last wrote when we were in Vienna and still unsure of our next destination. I took the suggestion of a fellow cripple, a kid who´d fallen off a statue of St. Someone or Other in Prague, and went to Graz Austria where there was suppose to be a big weekend music festival. When Jess and I arrived we lugged our packs, me without crutches at this point, a mile or so to the hostel. Our first clue that perhaps our crippled source was not as reliable as we´d first thought was the absence of almost anyone else at the hostel. This at a time when there was supposedly a "huge" music festival. We checked in and went down to the room and saw that it was really dirty with dried food everywhere and sticky soda all over the floor. One look at the bed revealed bugs. Small dead black bugs. With that our packs went back on and we went upstairs to get our money back. The women at the reception didn´t seem as shocked as one would hope when we told them there were dead "keifers" in the beds. We held our ground and got our money back and trudged the mile back to the train station. We had made up our minds about Graz, from what we´d seen it was run down, dirty, and we could not find another hostel, even using the internet. So Jess and I looked at the map of Europe, and decided Zurich Switzerland sounded nice and bought a night train ticket for 8:30 that evening. We decided to follow the guidebooks suggestion and see the old part of the city. We took a cab down and were dropped off on a small cobblestone street right out of Heidi. We took our first restaurant suggestion from the guidebook and followed a small path between two buildings and found a cute restaurant tucked away at the back. My meal, despite being the cheapest thing on the menu, was amazing and well worth the extra Euro! We explored the old town and ended up spending the last hour and a half eating bratwurst and gelato in the town square and people watching. It turned out Graz was beautiful, you just had to know where to look.

That night when we got on the train and found our sleeper compartment we discovered a room the size of a walk in closet with bunk beds 3 high on each side. Our roomies were a cute German couple, the wife six months pregnant, returning from vacation. The four of us stayed up talking and entertaining each other, and when we returned to our compartment we found we had a fifth roommate. He was a brusque, long blond haired, mutton chopped Austrian man complete with a patterned silk scarf tucked neatly in his button up shirt. If I were a cartoonist I would have a good time drawing him. Our roommate turned out to be more than just cartoonish though, and was also a very loud snorer. Needles to say, I didn´t get much sleep that night.

The next morning we arrived in Zurich at 8:30am and called from the pay phone to secure two rooms in a hostel. After getting checked in and showered, we hobbled out to explore. Our first stop was the pharmacy where I finally got crutches. From there we attempted to locate the Zurich free bike station, and an hour and a half later when we finally found it we were told they had all been checked out. So we took a boat ride down the river and around Lake Zurich. That evening, after making dinner in the hostel kitchen, we hung out no the roof deck with other backpackers.

The next morning we got up early and secured two bikes for the day. We tried to decide where to go next and decided to take the advice of another traveller and take a train the next morning to the village of Grindelwald in the Swiss alps. We met another backpacker, Adam from Canada, who was was also going there. Adam graciously took Jessica´s place as my sherpa, and carried my backpack through all the train stations and to our next hostel. Picture to follow of my two favorite Sherpas dragging around all my stuff! So the three of us took the trains to Grindelwald and checked in at the Downtown Lodge. And now here I am writing all this from the top of a mountain. Perfect!

Photos of Grindelwald
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The Hobbler

Sorry its taken me so long to write! Right now I'm back in Vienna hanging out in an internet cafe and catching up on emails and blogging. So we started off in Budapest and then went to Vienna and spent a few days wandering the city. It was such a stark contrast to Budapest, which doesn't seem to have the money to keep up the same perfect facade as Vienna does. We wandered around in and out of museums and shops and just when we felt like we were getting to know our way around, as it always seems to go, it was time to leave. So we flew to Athens last Saturday, I think it was Saturday it`s easy to lose track of time, and visited the acropolis. After we had seen that we immediately left Athens, because while it has its more pretty historical neighborhoods, on the whole its a bit dirty and has a lot of pollution. So we took the ferry to Santorini on Sunday afternoon. Once aboard, Jessica realized that her wallet was missing, someone had stolen it in the crowd outside of the ferry. As it turns out, ferries don't seem to be our thing on this trip! Once we arrived at our hotel we cancelled both of her cards and now we are just sharing funds, so it worked out ok!

The hotel, Villa Reina, was absolutely gorgeous, and our first splurge of the trip. It was our first time not in a hostel and we relished our private bathroom and comfortable bed with sheets that didn't leave you feeling like you'd slept on sandpaper. The best part of all was the pool, which it turned out later I spent quite a lot of time by it. Santorini is so gorgeous, but not in the way that the landscape is beautiful at home. As one young Greek guy asked me, "Why do you think the island is so beautiful, it is not even green?" Its true, the land is mostly dry and brown, but the dusty ground in contrast to the clean white homes is striking. The huge dropping cliffs with their shades of orange, red, and green make driving difficult as it`s hard to watch the road. The people though are what truly set both Santorini and Greece apart. My nationality and fair skin don't immediately render frustration towards my country, as it does in many of the places I visit. The owners of Villa Reina are an adorable gorgeous Greek couple who inherited the hotel from their mother. They immediately made us feel special, as if they really were happy to have us there. Little did they know that we would turn out to be a lot more work than any of their guests in quite sometime.

The trip had been going a little too easy, so the travel gods decided to shake things up a little our first morning in Santorini. Jessica and I were running to breakfast because we had woken up late, and we never pass up the chance for free food. With my far from perfect eyes I didn't see the step by the pool and I came down wrong on my right ankle and sprained it. I also succeeded in scrapping off the skin on the tops of my feet and put two gruesome gashes on both knees. Needless to say, it hurt, a lot! The owner, who Jessica and I affectionately refer to as our Greek Crush, or GC for short, drove us to the Emergency Room/local clinic. The doctors were a bit heavy handed with the iodine and left me near tears. While I sat a crumbled mess on the gurney the ER doctor asked me out for a drink. Well, at least I can get one funny story out of this I thought, so I accepted on the condition that Jessica would come as well, my chaperon. So after that I spent the afternoon by the pool at the hotel, and our splurge hotel became well worth the extra euros. Later, Jess and I went back to the room and tried to wash away the scrounginess of the backpacker lifestyle in our coveted private bathroom. We ate dinner in a traditional Greek restaurant, filled with happy loud Greek families, always a good sign that you've picked a nice local restaurant. I ordered sausages, which at first sound boring, but they were amazing!! Afterwards Jess and I went up to the town center where we met Antonio, the doctor. We walked with him through the labyrinth of streets in Fira to a cute bar that overlooks the water. Jess reluctantly became the new best friend of an American who has a house in Santorini.

I talked with Antonio and learned that he grew up in northern Greece, then moved to Athens for college and med school. After med school he did his required one year in the military, as all Greek men do. He then moved to Santorini to work in the clinic for a year. I asked him about some of his recent cases and he said there were two teenagers who were driving a 130km and crashed. The driver, who had his seat belt on, survived while the passenger didn't have one on and suffered severe internal injuries and later died at the hospital. The clinic on the island is not equipped to perform more than minor surgery, but Antonio said had the boy been at the hospital in Athens he might have survived. He said the locals are always really nervous about their not being able to perform surgery on the island should anything serious occur. It doesn't take much searching to find that even an idyllic place like Santorini has its troubles. That point was driven home when we walked back to Antonio's car, parked at the hospital, and there was a large crowd of people quietly sitting outside. Antonio went inside to see if they needed help and returned two minutes later. He said a a 26 year old woman had killed herself. Tourist pass through gorgeous vacation spots like this one and enjoy seeing everyone as quaint happy locals riding donkeys and having big fat Greek weddings. There's really not anything wrong with this ignorance, but the reality of the difficulty of life always lies just below the surface.

The next day Jessica and I rented a smart car, the two person car that looks like a roller skate. We cruised around blasting Greek music from the radio and began to think we were pretty cool. Then we would remember that peoples heads weren't turning to look at us because we were cool, but because we were driving a roller skate. Smart Car did us well though and we went to two different breathtaking beaches, both with a huge mountain on one side and dark black sand. In the evening we took the back road and drove to the other side of the island to Oia. We walked into the village, perched a top a rock wall that drops in to the sea. For a 5 euro cappuccino we were able to sit at a cafe and watch the sun set over the ocean. Afterwards we went back to fira and decided to try and use my hobble, as we affectionately refer to it, to get us some free drinks. It worked at the second bar and we met two nice guys that work on a private yacht that sails around the Mediterranean. What a life. They said its hard work and they often put in 14 hour days. I still would prefer their job to any 9 to 5.

The next afternoon Jessica and I took a ferry to Paros, on my cousin Joe's suggestion, and we loved it. We stayed in the main town of Parikia and again rented a car to cruise around the island. We visited several small sea side towns and ended up spending most of the day at a quiet secluded beach we stumbled upon overlooking mountains and aqua blue ocean. We reluctantly bought our tickets back to Athens last night and I hobbled with our bags to the ferry. When we reached the ticket collector it seemed that we were short one ticket, which we still have no idea whether is fell out or was not given to us in the first place, I suspect the latter. Jessica did a mad sprint back to town and purchased a ticket. I saw they were close to closing up the platform, and with that we would not make our flight back to Vienna. So I grabbed our backpacks and purses and hobbled to the platform and deposited our stuff. I was told to move in a mixture of Greek, English, and I think some German. I held off long enough and tried to work the hobble, and Jessica made it back and we hurried aboard. Like I said earlier, ferries don't seem to be our thing.

When we arrived in Athens it was 1:00am so we figured it was not worth paying for a taxi and a hostel when our flight left at 10:00am. So instead we took the bus to the airport. We hobbled around for a while finding that all the good sleeping spots were taken, until we spotted the nice handicap alcove. Figuring I qualified us for this spot, we quickly made camp. I pulled out my sleep sheet, pillow, and earplugs and was asleep within five minutes. Unfortunately, making camp on the airport floor isn't allowed so around 4:00am we were forced back into the hard chairs with dividers between each seat. We got very little sleep as we tried to contort our bodies around the chairs in search of a comfortable position. In the morning though we had a good laugh as I got my own personal wheel chair ride right to our gate. When we got off of the plane I got another ride to baggage claim! We took the bus back to the hostel in Vienna that we stayed in one week ago, and now we are spending the afternoon figuring out what we are going to do next. A lot of our plans for Jessica's last 2 weeks involved hiking and walks, so our plan is going to have to be altered. But, since we only had a rough itinerary in the first place, it shouldn't be too hard! Ill blog again when we figure out where we'll be going next! yassou

"It is the first of many beginnings"

I haven't blogged since my trip to Ireland two years ago, and I haven't blogged regularly since it was fashionable sophomore year. However, with my travels starting back up again I'm going to make a concerted effort to bring the blog back to life.

So to start off my new blogging resolution, here is a really beautiful quote that my friend Rachel, stationed in Micronesia with the Peace Corps, recently sent me.

Pack nothing. Bring only your determination to serve and your willingness to be free. Don't wait for the breath to rise. Take nourishment for the journey, but eat standing, be ready to move at a moments notice.

Do not hesitate to leave your old ways behind -- fear, silence, submission. Only surrender to the need of the time -- to love justice and walk humbly with your God.

Begin quickly, before you have time to sink back into old slavery. Set out in the dark. I will send fire to warm and encourage you. I will be with you in the fire and I will be with you in the cloud.

I will give you dreams in the desert to guide you safely home to that place you have not yet seen...I am sending you into the wilderness to make a new way and to learn my ways more deeply.

Some of you will be changed by weathers and wanderings that even your closest friends will have to learn your features as though for the first time. Some you will not change at all.

Some will be abandoned by your dearest loses and misunderstood by those who have known you since birth and feel abandoned by you. Some will find friendship in unlikely faces, and old friends as faithful and true as the pillar of God's flame.

Sing songs as you go, and hold close together. You may at times grow confused and lose your way...touch each other and keep telling stories...Make maps as you go, remembering the way back from before you were born...

So you will be only the first of many waves of deliverance on the desert seas.

It is the first of many beginnings -- you Paschaltide.

Remain true to the mystery.

Pass on the whole story...Do not go back. I am with you and I am waiting for you.

--Alla Renne Bozarth

I leave for Europe this Tuesday, May 13th. A lot of people have asked me over the last month if I am excited, but really the trip felt too surreal to get excited. Jessica and I first talked about backpacking last August and bought our tickets in December. The trip has been in the making for nine months and it had yet to sink in that I was actually going anywhere. It was only today when I got to work and realized that I would not be coming back for over 5 weeks that it finally hit me. The butterfly's in my stomach continued to build all day as I realized I'm embarking on my trip in four days with a rough itinerary and guidebook in hand. I know that because the trip lacks a rigid structure it will end up taking us to a lot of unexpected places. The quote that Rachel sent me above suites this trip well.