Travel for Love

I read about the “7 Links Challenge” on ThePlanetD, a great travel blog by a super adventurous Canadian couple. Definitely go check out their blog if you haven’t already – they are an inspiration!

They got the idea from Problogger to do the 7 Links Challenge and inspire other travel bloggers to do the same. I thought it would be fun too participate too!

Here are the posts you are supposed to link:

Your first post
A post you enjoyed writing the most
A post which had a great discussion
A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written
Your most helpful post
A post with a title that you are proud of
A post that you wish more people had read

My first post
Why Travel
This was an introspective piece where I tried to pinpoint why exactly I love to travel so much. Looking back I’m happy to note that my points are still valid and I still feel the same way.

A post I enjoyed writing the most
Traveling with a Brazilian
Oh boy was this one tough to pick! I love writing all my posts and especially enjoy all the fond memories they conjure. But my Traveling with a Brazilian post was just too fun to write. I love traveling with Roberto and I got the warm fuzzies thinking about all the reasons that make him a great travel companion!

A Post which had Great Discussion
On my List – The Balkans
Honestly I haven’t written any posts that roused a ton of controversy or passionate comments. This post got a few comments, but I am including it here because it continues to be one of my most popular posts and has brought lots of traffic to my site.

I post I wish I’d written
What is Microfinance: A Traveler’s View from the Field
Oh boy was this a tough one! There are TONS of amazing blogs out there with hundreds of posts I wish I’d written. I chose this post about microfinance on Uncornered Market because of how eye opening and educational (as always with UMarket!) the post was. I truly admire the way Daniel and Audrey travel and learn and grow, and how they can present such an educated and fresh perspective on nearly everything they encounter. This post made me realize how little I know about developing economies and isolated societies, and how we could possibly make a difference. I wish I had written such an educational post.

My most helpful post
On my List: Chernobyl
And I was just wishing I had written more educational posts. I also just started working on a (timely) post about staying healthy while traveling, but I don’t usually go around dishing out the travel advice on my blog. I went with this post about touring Chernobyl because I’ve gotten a lot of feedback that people never knew such a tour existed. And, let’s face it, it would be a pretty friggin cool tour!

A title I’m proud of
How I Became a Soccer Fan
Bah! I am not creative at ALL when it comes to titling my posts. I thought my “How I became a Soccer Fan” title was kind of fun, maybe a little interesting? I really need to get more creative with my titles…

A post I wish more people would read
Road Trip
All of them? Haha! Here’s an early one about a road trip through the Brazilian interior that I think people would find fun to read. It was an interesting trip!

So those are my 7 links! I hope you enjoyed!

Travelers often lament the negative impact of tourism on pristine natural environments such as the Galapagos or Antarctica. Similarly, residents of big cities and other heavily traveled sites often have a hard time during tourist season. But for me, living in the suburbs of Pittsburgh, it was only a recent incident that made the impact of irresponsible tourism hit home for me.

Growing up, I spent many weekends in the Laurel Mountains southeast Pittsburgh where my parents have a weekend home. Our place is only about a mile or two outside the beautiful Ohiopyle State Park, which features whitewater rafting, hiking, and biking. Some of my favorite memories as a kid were of hiking through the mountain trails and riding bikes through the state park.

I especially enjoyed a hike we often chose: the Meadow Run trail. This trail begins on top of a hill and winds through deciduous forest where chipmunks scurry about on the rocky forest floor and the sun shines through the canopy of poplar leaves in narrow beams. As the trail begins to descend into the valley, the poplars give way to rhododendrons and hemlocks and the path winds along walls of rock covered in moss.

Hikers reach Meadow Run soon after. This pristine mountain stream undergoes a dramatic change in elevation through the deep gorge traversed by the hiking trail. Points where the trail bring the hiker to the water are very diverse: from dramatic cascading waterfalls to deep swimming holes. As a kid, often in the company of friends or cousins, this was my favorite part. We could spend all afternoon swimming around in the creek, sliding down rocks, jumping in to swimming holes, and trying to avoid seeing giant fishing spiders.

Probably the best part of the hike was reaching the grand finale. The trail ends at a point in the stream where the rushing water has carved out a deep trench in the rock, creating a natural waterslide. Sliding down the rocks on your butt through the rushing water is a blast, and a really unique adventure! The “slides” are a lot of fun, but it’s important to be careful and respect the fast-moving water and keep your wits about you. There are no safety installations or lifeguards at this natural attraction.

A few weeks ago, I did the hike again with my mom and a friend. Over the years there has been quite a bit of investment in Ohiopyle State Park, including rebuilding an old railroad bridge on the bicycle trail, converting the train station into a visitor’s center, and adding a large parking lot and stairs leading to the slides. Basically what this has done is allow visitors to the park to avoid to 2 hour hike it usually takes to get to this area, and just spend the day at the slides. We figured it would be more crowded at the end of the trail due to this but we decided to do the hike anyway.

We had a great time on the hike and actually did a lot of swimming and sliding upstream of the slides area. There were hardly any people and we mostly had the trail to ourselves as we hiked. We spent a couple hours swimming and decided to head down to the slides, cautious because the water was pretty high and swift that day.

Approaching the slides was a complete 180 from our peaceful hike on the trail. We could hear people yelling and every creekside rock was covered with people life a crowded beach. It seemed like the easy access had invited swarms of people to descend on to this pristine area.

But for me, the worst part was a group of obnoxious college aged kids that had taken over a large area at the entry point to the slides. They were totally drunk and actually had coolers of beer and flaunted their open cans – completely illegal in the state park. They were running around like idiots, falling all over the place and sliding around completely recklessly. We actually saw a guy pick up one of the girls (kicking and screaming) run across the slippery rocks, and toss her into the rushing water, beer and all.

As annoying as this kind of ridiculous behavior is anywhere, it was especially disgusting to see their utter lack of regard for the natural environment and even more so the lack of respect for the dangerous conditions. The water in the slides was very high and fast – I have done it hundreds of times but would not have attempted it that day. You could tell they were getting very banged up by the rocks, but I believe someone could have easily gotten hurt or even drowned in those conditions.

That’s another reason I find this kind of behavior disgusting. People often do drown in Ohiopyle, usually while whitewater rafting despite taking the necessary precautions. A drowning in Meadow Run due to blatant irresponsibility would surely result in more limitations to visit this area and perhaps safety installations interfering with the natural beauty.

This uncalled for behavior left a really bad taste in my mouth. We left the area shortly thereafter and even attempted to call the game commission on the group, if only for their own safety. It’s sad that these efforts to make this naturally beautiful area more accessible to the public has resulted in such abuse of the privilege.

I’m not sure exactly what the moral of the story is here, but I know I will continue to be more conscious of how my travel behavior may impact the locals who’ve made it possible for me to visit a place.

It’s a little unnerving to read about what Arizona is trying to do next. Their new law SB 1070 has been all over the media for requiring local police officers to check immigration status of people “during a lawful encounter” whom they suspect are illegal. If this wasn’t controversial enough, apparently now they are pushing to deny US born children of illegal immigrants their birth certificates to prevent citizenship, by next year. See articles here and here.

I think this idea is even further down the scale into ridiculous than SB 1070 for a number of reasons, and I am not seeing how it will be effective at solving immigration problems.

Arizona continues to focus on the wrong thing.

Proponents of these types of laws go on and on about the drugs and gangs making border states dangerous and crime-ridden. Ok then, go after the drug dealers and gang members! I would be (am?) pretty annoyed to have my tax dollars going to arresting, detaining and deporting children and folks with the wrong shoes on who are otherwise not committing any crimes. If the organized crime is so bad, wouldn’t systematically cracking down on drug cartels and such keep local police plenty busy? What is deporting a child going to do to stop these problems?

It won’t be much of a deterrent to illegal immigration

I don’t see denying offspring citizenship taking away much incentive for illegal immigration anyway. If a parent enters the US with no documentation (i.e. crosses the border), the law never allows the parent to adjust status through their child. They cannot become legal residents by having a US citizen baby. Even if the parent enters the US on a visa or visa waiver, their child can’t petition for them until he reaches age 18.

What about welfare fraud? This is another common argument, that aliens will use their citizen kids to “leach off the system” and take advantage of public benefits. First of all, I think welfare fraud and taking advantage of the system is an issue for everyone, legal or not. Fix it or ignore it, but don’t blame immigration for an already broken system. Also, I am not up on my welfare knowledge but I am not sure how a child can manage to acquire enough public assistance to support an entire family. Is this really THAT big of an issue? Finally, we forget to account for the fact that these US citizen children will presumably someday grow up to be US citizen adults. Working, taxpaying members of society who will likely pay in way more than than they took out of they “system.”

Anyway, entire families continue to risk crossing the border together. Having an undocumented child didn’t deter these acts of desperation before, it probably wouldn’t if the undocumented child was born on the other side.

Whatever happened to the Constitution?

I am disappointed in the Right here. Aren’t they the ones who are supposed to stand up for our Constitutional rights? Does Arizona really think they can pass a state law that goes completely against the 14th Amendment? What are they going to say next, that the Constitution is a living document that needs to be updated with the times? That the founding fathers didn’t have this in mind when they wrote it? What would have happened if the descendants of slaves weren’t allowed to be citizens here? We would have a generation of people born and raised here that never set foot in Africa, basically country-less. The 14th Amendment was written for a reason – we need to leave it alone!

So what would happen to these children here now? If they weren’t citizens they would be children with no homes. They would have been raised here with no ties to their parents’ country, and probably unable to speak the language. This policy would create a new underclass of society in America with no chance for the people to pull themselves up. At least a new generation of US citizens ends a cycle of poverty and gives these kids a chance here in the US.

And where would we send these kids? Newsflash: not all illegal immigrants are from Mexico. What happens if a Mexican and a Honduran have a child here? Will ICE flip a coin to determine where to send him?

Hitting home

This leads me to the most disturbing point of all. The new policy also states that a birth certificate will be denied if “one or more parent” is undocumented. So basically, they are saying they can deny birthright citizenship to children of US CITIZENS! As if it was bad enough that many spouses of US citizens have no way to live in this country, now someone actually wants to keep their children out as well?? And oh boy is this ever a slippery slope. How does a US citizen woman prove that her baby’s father is a legal US resident? How will “they” know? Does it matter if they’re married? Or more importantly, what if Roberto and I had a baby right now? He’s not a legal US resident; he lives in Brazil for f#ck’s sake! Would my baby only be allowed in MY country if I applied for a visa?

Obviously the last bit here is very hypothetical, considering this is just being proposed in Arizona currently. But, there has been a movement for quite some time to deny birthright citizenship in the US and basing it on nationality like many European countries. If states begin adopting similar policies and putting pressure on the federal government to change the 14th amendment, we could see a change in policy here that will make things very difficult for immigrant families (both legal and illegal).

I grew up in Pittsburgh. Here, the important sports are (American) football and, to a lesser extent, hockey. We do have a sorry excuse for a baseball team and some people pay attention to Pitt (University of Pittsburgh) basketball. My exposure to sports other than those, including soccer, was very limited. I never knew anyone who was a soccer fan growing up, and probably didn’t realize how popular it was in other countries until I was in college.

In 2006 the World Cup came and went, and I was rather indifferent. I do remember seeing the end of the final game between Italy and France after happening upon a crowd of people around the TVs in a mall food court. I stopped to watch the historic last few minutes of the game, surprised I barely even knew the World Cup was going on. I saw the end of the game, remember something about a head-butt, and continued with my shopping.

But my indifference towards soccer has changed. Perhaps being in a relationship with a Brazilian who has the expected level of fanatic-ness has something to do with it. I must say, Roberto’s passion for soccer has rubbed off on me quite a bit. Whenever Brazil plays it becomes a group social event with BBQ, drinks, cheering frenzies and friendly wagers. I have a blast attending these kinds of functions and, with my patient teacher, have learned quite a bit about the sport, players and history.

As a traveler, I’ve also learned to appreciate soccer in a different way. Even if the US is slow to catch on, soccer is truly the world’s sport. As I learn while traveling with Roberto, soccer is somewhat of a common ground between its fans from all walks of life. So many people from around the world share this common passion that it’s hard not to be intrigued. Soccer tends to creep in to the travel experience when we don’t plan for it, such as watching Real Madrid vs. Barcelona while in Madrid last April, watching little boys kick the ball around barefoot in Cairo, and seeing the remnants of celebrations (and cars painted) in the streets of Istanbul after their Fenerbahçe got really far in the Champion’s League.

So I am enjoying this year’s World Cup, especially now since I know about many of the players (and certain infamous coaches who shall remain nameless) and have a good understanding of how the tournament works. I am SUPER excited to see Brazil play this week!

So, Americans, give the sport a chance this World Cup. Enjoy the games!

(footballfancast.com)

During the final few days of our Spain trip, Roberto and I managed to pry ourselves out of Cadiz to spend the last two nights in Sevilla before we had to catch our flights out of Madrid. Oh boy are we glad we did, this city is not to be missed!

We showed up at the train station and left our bags in the left luggage and walked in to the old town to find a place to stay for the night. As we walked, the streets got progressively narrower, the buildings older, and the scenery more and more unique. With every turn we came across a scene more beautiful than the last.

We wandered down the windy streets and found ourselves in the old Jewish quarter of Santa Cruz. Here, the streets are the most narrow and the buildings the oldest. Traditional white buildings with mustard yellow trim have geraniums and bouganvilla hanging from metal window boxes. This is where we needed to stay!

There are plenty of places to stay in this area, and to our delight most of them are little pensions, hostels, and little boutique hotels. We wandered in to a few places and got some quotes, and found a great little pension with a private room and WiFi for 35 Euros per night! The hostels and pensions in Andalusia often have very cute architecture: you walk in to a main common area (often open air like a little courtyard) with several floors and balconies overlooking the entrance. There are often beautiful tile work, potted plants and knick knacks, and even little water features.

Santa Cruz is the perfect base for seeing the sights of Sevilla. The barrio is full of cafes, one-of-a-kind restaurants, and little neighborhood bars full of old local men watching soccer games. The streets are alive with locals on scooters buzzing around and tourists getting lost in the maze of streets.

The neighborhood becomes truly magical at night. The streets are dimly lit and a warm breeze carries the fragrance of orange blossoms through the narrow corridors. At night the lively groups of tourists are replaced with couples from around the world slowly wandering the cobblestone streets together, discovering new magical spots around every turn.

The cathedral in Sevilla is magnificent, and reportedly the third largest in the world. Adjacent to the cathedral is Sevilla’s Real Alcazar, the city’s token Moorish palace, which is also beautiful. Popular things to do in the old town of Sevilla also include seeing a Flamenco show and attending a bull fight at the historic bullring. I also took a lovely Arab bath at the hammam right down the street from our Pension.

Sevilla is an incredible city with some very amazing influences. We had a very limited experience there and we didn’t venture out of the old town, but there are tons of other things to see and do throughout the city. Sevilla is a popular tourist destination, and was the first place on our trip through Andalusia where we saw significant numbers of Americans. I HIGHLY recommend a visit here and would definitely go back!