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Central & South America Travels

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PERU

ECUADOR

GUATEMALA

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His and Her Way to Explore the Bay

There are many ways to explore Ha Long Bay and we chose two……. Jim’s way and Alisa’s way. Jim’s….. We saw everything from old Chinese junk boats to sea planes leaving from the dock of Tuan Chau. We wanted to see the bay and visit Cat Ba to hike to the top of the National Park, Ngu Lam. For $2.40 a person, the public ferry chugs slowly along the bay, the same route taken by luxury cruises. The ride lasts about 50 minutes and is notoriously late. Our 0900 departure was 45 minutes late, pushing into our hiking time and the last return ferry at 1500. Soon we were sailing by those famous limestone formations dodging boats and barges. That’s when I noticed the ramp in the front was still in the water, no wonder we were going so slow. There were so many times in Vietnam I just shook my head. This was just one of many. However the views were impressive and the ferry was mostly clean. The public bus was packed when we finally made it off the ferry. The bus follows the ferry's schedul...

Creeping Erection ..Wait, you've got what?

First day of antibiotics. Sitting on Lazy Beach after one of our last swims, Jim felt a stinging sensation on his left upper inner thigh. He lifted his swim trunks to reveal a large welt. He immediately thought he got stung by a jellyfish. He looked up at me and said, well you know what you have to do? What? Pee on it! Needless to say I did not pee on Jim's leg but he did and said it relieved some of the sting. First day! We left the next day to spend 10 days on the north side of island in the small village of M'Pai Bay. Three days of trying hydrocortisone cream, an antifungal cream, antihistamines and after bite; nothing was working to relieve the itchiness. Also the welt took on a snake like appearance and started to creep across his thigh, growing in size and color. Third day! One night Jim wakes me from a deep sleep to share with me that he thinks he has a creeping erection. What did you say? I think the mark is creeping eruption. Oh okay, that makes sense..... wai...

Finding Family In Castelsilano, Italy

Like many families in Weed, my great-great grandparents emigrated from a small town in Italy called Casino. In 1950 Casino was renamed to Castelsilano. There are no buses or taxis to Castelsilano and without renting a car it can be challenging, but thankfully we are always up for a good adventure. The closest we could get by train and bus was to San Giovanni in Fiore, which is where my great grandmother was born. There are no Airbnb's but other accommodations and this is where we decided to spend the night. Getting to San Giovanni in Fiore was surprisingly easy. We took a train from Briatico to Lamezia and another train from Lamezia to Cosenza. Then we caught a bus in Cosenza into the mountains of San Giovanni in Fiore. From my experience Italian taxi drivers are crazy, but Italian bus drivers on mountain roads are even crazier. We could hear and smell the brakes while at times taking corners on two wheels. Soon after we started I made Jim switch seats with me, I couldn't stom...