Mancora is well located on the coast of northern Peru. The beach is actually quite nice, has great surf and predictable afternoon breezes that

photo: Theodore Scott on flickr

So, why do I think Mancora is so horrible, and what about this hideous hostel experience? First, the beach in Mancora isn’t open and accessible without going through either a hotel or a restaurant, it’s like trying to get out of a casino.

And the hostel…so, here’s the deal: I had made the mistake of booking a Loki hostel ahead of my arrival in Mancora. Booking ahead meant that the money was already spent…always a risk, I know, but the pictures looked nice, so I went for it. Loki hostels are a chain operating in Bolivia and Peru. They’re foreign owned, operate in a handful of already over-touristed destinations and add to the ugliness of tourism.

Upon checking in, I was immediately adorned with a wrist band that I would need to get in and out of the gate. Now, I can understand that maybe management thinks that this practice is in my best interest – you know, keeping the “bad” people out, but in reality, the wrist bands are about branding for Loki. This presents two problems. 1) I can be immediately identified by thieves and other ne’er do wells as a patron of Loki and marked as someone who must be an absolute sucker. 2) I’m forced now to be a walking advertisement for what amounts to be a corporate franchise. A bit ironic, methinks.

So, having been marked with the Loki brand, I was now free to roam the dusty streets of Mancora. I like beer. I like to drink beer poolside. Loki has a pool but their beer selection is limited and the prices are hyper-inflated. I did what any logical person would do and purchased some beer at the bodega outside the gate. I wasn’t allowed to take the beer back inside the hallowed Loki grounds.

The folks at Loki claim:

We are a group of backpackers
who met in Lima, Peru and over a
number of nights out decided to build
a hostel

I wonder if they, as a “group of backpackers” would like to be treated the way they treat their customers?

photo: feline_dacat

Long term travel and saving money aren’t necessarily mutually exclusive, but depending on your situation, you may need to accept or adapt to being less comfortable than you would at home.

Something that’s definitely worth considering is sleeping at the airport from time to time.  Let’s face it, there are a few good reasons for doing this only one of which is saving money.

Early flights are the worst!  Any departure before 10AM is going to require waking up at some ungodly hour of the day just to get to the airport, get checked in, get through security and deal with any of the other hassles that crop up when traveling.  Buses and other public transport don’t tend to operate in the early hours of the morning, meaning if you have an early flight, you’ll probably be forced to hand over your beer money to a surly cab driver for the privilege of being scared half to death by his crazy antics while being assaulted by his odor.  That’s not something I’m prepared to deal with before my first gallon of coffee.

I know what you’re thinking: “Will I get any sleep at the airport?”.  I’d say: probably not, but will you get any sleep in the dorm room you’re sharing with the snorer, the partier and the overly amorous couple?  Especially considering you’re going to have to wake up at 4AM?  I’m thinking it’s an equal trade, and in fact, depending on the airport, you may actually do pretty well.

My Favorite Airports to Sleep in

I’ve slept in my fair share of airports.  In fact, once upon a time I set up housekeeping at London, Gatwick.  I felt a little bit like Tom Hanks in “Terminal”.  I wasn’t alone, I saw at least a half-dozen other people who spent multiple days at the airport…have you priced rooms in and around London?

1. Geneva Switzerland GVA

This Geneva airport is a great place to spend the night.  Way in the back, right next to the security office is a green sofa that I was able to stretch out on.  The airport closes at around 11PM, they turn out the lights and the annoying P.A. system announcements cease for the night.  Security still roams the airport, and didn’t bother me at all.  At the time, there were computers with free internet access, and in the morning espresso was available.  Sweet!

2. Santiago, Chile SCL

On the second level, back near all of the offices, a dark and silent corner exists.  I slept on the carpeted floor there.  Security did wake me up, but they didn’t run me off.  They just wanted to make sure that I knew to keep my bags secured.  Housekeeping also woke me up, but just so they could vacuum where I was.

Other Great Airports to Sleep in:

• Singapore: I’ve never been to Singapore, but I’ve heard that it’s the absolute world’s best airport, not only for sleeping in, but just the best airport in general.  Apparently there are reclining seats, free internet,  an entertainment deck with movie theater and xbox/Playstation consoles.
• Seoul/Inchon Korea: clean, quiet and comfortable with free wi-fi.
• Hong-Kong: New, clean, big & safe with free wi-fi.
• Amsterdam: Recliners!

What experiences do you have with sleeping at the airport?  Tell me about it in the comments!

1. The People:

My previous experiences traveling in Asia, especially India, had my guard up. You know the deal, thousands of touts & hustlers all descending upon you at once.

People in Taiwan are extremely helpful and friendly with no underlying agenda.

2. The Public Transportation:

Taipei to Kaohsiung in an hour and a half! Love it! Cruising around the city in a CLEAN subway. Love it! Train ride along the scenic east coast. Love it!

3. Taxis:

Am I really saying I love taxis? Absolutely! They’re inexpensive, metered, and almost everywhere. It was often more economical to take a taxi than to pay to park, and without the burden of a car while out on the town you’re free to drink!

4. The Haircuts:

Heavenly. Seems an odd thing to love, but seriously, if you haven’t had a haircut in Taiwan, get your ass on a plane NOW!

5. Technology:

I love my gadgets and they were readily available in Taiwan. I also love to roll my own gadgets and there’s an entire district in Kaohsiung devoted to selling electronic components. It’s as if radio shack has a farm (but you don’t have to give your phone number to buy a resistor).

6. The Liquor Laws:

Eager to get out the door but don’t want to leave your beer? No worries, just take it with you. It’s like Las Vegas in that regard. Want a beer at 7AM on Sunday? No need to drive to the next county or state where the churchies haven’t ruined it for you yet – just go to the store, damn near any store and grab a cold one ANYTIME. Going home from a hard day’s work but don’t



A typical scene at the betlenut girl stand Photo Credit - Tobie Openshaw

want to go through the ordeal of finding parking so you can buy a beer? Just pull over to the betle nut girl stand and a negligee adorned beauty will RUN with a beer to your window. You can do this while stopped for a red light. Awesome!

7. Taroko Gorge:

This is Taiwan’s National Natural treasure. I’ll be writing about it at some point in the future with photos and the whole bit. For now, take my word for it. It’s GORGE-ous!

8. Love Hotels:

This was one of those things I figured I had to experience before I left Taiwan (by ‘I’, I do mean ‘we’ – I didn’t go to the love hotel by myself). Drive-thru check in, parking garage right by your door and ‘Batman’ themed room? How romantic is all of that! Really! I expected it to feel sleazy in that run down hotel on the interstate frontage road kind of way. The place was quite surprisingly classy.

9. 7-11:

Pay your parking (there are no meters in Taiwan – they use a different system), pay your utility bills, buy concert tickets, airline tickets, cassette tapes, scotch, wine, Bailey’s & beer, even get a tea egg or some salty squid bits. Taiwan 7-11 redefines convenience. And they’re everywhere.

10. The Low Crime Rate:

Ever left something in a taxi? When it happens, you usually figure you didn’t need it that bad anyhow, or you figure that you’re never going to get it back so why bother. Lost cause right? I left an iPhone in a taxi in Taiwan. I got it back – took a couple of days of tracking it down, but I got it back. We had another phone – one of those $10 throw-away phones pretty much. It also got left in a cab. Got that one back too – from the bar where we had caught the taxi from.

Violent crime is almost unheard of in Taiwan.

The parking garage in the 'Batman' themed room

A room in a Taiwan Love Hotel

So that’s the short list. There’s so much more to say about my life in Taiwan – Use one of the follow along buttons below to keep up with what’s new.

It’s a common travel question and I certainly understand why people ask it, but at the same time, it’s doesn’t seem very well thought out to me. Seriously, I was traveling in New Zealand and was asked this question by a local: “Aren’t you scared?” In New Zealand of all places? I was stymied.

Where Does This Mentality Come From?

I can’t say for sure, but I think a few different factors feed in to the thinking that travel is somehow inherently dangerous.

• Media Sensationalism

Imagine if the mainstream media reported on every traveler who didn’t get mugged or robbed. That wouldn’t make for very good headlines, but the fact is, plenty of people travel the world without incident and the incidents we hear are few and far between when compared to the shear number of people who travel.

• State Department Warnings

Nobody reports their experiences with not getting robbed, mugged or scammed to their embassy. If nothing awful happens to a traveler, the embassy probably doesn’t even know they exist. State Department advisories and warnings have their place, and I’ll get to that later.

• Unfamiliarity

There’s a good chance that you could be robbed, mugged or scammed while in your home country or hometown. But it probably doesn’t happen because you know how things work there. You know which areas to avoid. You understand what situations to avoid. You hang out with familiar people who you know and trust.

Are You Saying Travel is Completely Safe Then?

No, of course not. There are many factors that make a place more or less dangerous than another. Local laws and law enforcement (or the lack of) will shape what kinds of crime exist and what sort of risks criminals will take. For instance, in Romania, violent crime is dealt with very harshly, while pick-pocketing is not, so of course, pickpocketing is very common but in the case of Romania, you’re not going to be targeted simply because you are a traveler. Criminals there are equal opportunists.

Local economics also play a huge role in the types of crimes and scams that might be common in the area. If people are poor, hungry, desperate and have no hope of earning an honest living they may very well resort to scams or crime. It isn’t personal but as a traveler, you could be targeted specifically because you are seen to have more.

All of that said, let’s not lose sight of the one common denominator here: People. People, no matter where you go in the world, want to live a peaceful existence. They want to raise their families. They want the same basic things that you or I want. People aren’t evil by nature, no matter where they live.

How to Minimize Your Risk

I’ve been to some dodgy places. Kashmir comes to mind. Everybody there had a gun but me. I’ve been in parts of Mexico at the beginning of an uprising. I’ve been in some extremely safe places that are relatively crime-free. In Taiwan, for example, I once left my iPhone in a taxi cab. I actually got it back. I’m not sure that would have happened anywhere else in the world. I’ve only ever had something stolen once, and while that was a bummer, I think that considering the amount of time I’ve put in traveling, it’s pretty good odds.

Here are some handy tips for minimizing your risk:
• Common Sense

I know what “they” say. Common sense ain’t so common and that is evidenced by the fact that many people become victims by taking risks that they shouldn’t have.

1. Moderation in Drinking

The temptation to get caught up in having a good time with fellow travelers is strong. Go ahead, have a good time but don’t overdo it. You should know your own limits and you should stick to them. If you’re incapacitated by drinking your judgement will become diminished, your reaction time will be slowed. You will become more likely to make mistakes.

2. Avoid areas that aren’t well lit.

Especially if you’re in an unfamiliar area.

3. Try not to be alone

I’m not suggesting that you shouldn’t travel solo, but if you are alone, try to stick to areas where there are other people.

4. Be aware

I call this “paying attention to my spidey-senses”. Be vigilant, pay attention to your surroundings. Listen to your own intuition, and if something doesn’t feel right, get out.

5. Know the risks

Having knowledge of what kinds of crimes are common in the area where you are traveling will help you spot a scam or a dangerous situation. That’s where State Department travel information comes in handy. Some scams or diversion tactics have the same elements worldwide, some are more regional or local. Know what you’re likely to encounter so that you can recognize it for what it is early.

So my answer to “Isn’t it dangerous?” is no, not really, at least not so much that I’m going to let that notion keep me from exploring the world around me.

Even though, technically, I had lived in foreign countries during my time in the military I hadn’t really experienced life in a foreign country the way that the people from there do. Living on a military base shares many similarities with living in the U.S. The food is familiar, the products in the store are familiar and things work just like they do back home.

One year ago, I took a job overseas, working and living in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The challenges of living in a foreign city turned out to be pretty grand. Things that I would take for granted in the U.S., e.g. trash removal, mail service, grocery shopping were done differently, and in a language I didn’t understand. The food smelled bad, and was unfamiliar. The products in the grocery store were strange and I damn sure couldn’t read the labels. I became overly self-conscious about my consumerism at trash time. It was the strangest thing. You see, there are no dumpsters in Taiwan, instead, the trash trucks circle the city playing ice-cream truck music and everyone rushes out to the street with their bag of garbage to throw in the truck. Every day when trash time would roll around, I would grab my massive bag of trash and share an elevator for 24 floors with my neighbors who barely appeared to consume anything. For every 40-gallon hefty I filled up, my neighbors filled up something that was equivalent in size to a sandwich bag.

When my job in Taiwan ended, my wife and I moved to Hunachaco, Peru. Huanchaco is a place that I had traveled to once before. The differences that I am noticing between traveling in Peru and living in Peru are pretty immense. Eating in Peru isn’t expensive, and if you’re o.k. with goat stew it can be downright cheap to eat in Peru. Hostels and hotels in Peru don’t tend to have kitchens because it is so easy and convenient to eat out. But, now that we live here, and saving money is a greater concern, I’ve had to explore shopping

photo credit: codybanger

for food at the local mercado. If the food had packaging, I could probably safely say that the packaging and labeling were different, but alas, it’s not packaged at all. Fruits, veggies and grains are all easy enough, but meat is something else, entirely. I don’t know how to ask for “rack of goat ribs” and I wouldn’t know what to do with a whole chicken, on full display with half-formed eggs still attached. What is the best cut of manta ray?

From a previous post about moving overseas:

I don’t know how to butcher a chicken. It’s not pre-packaged for me in Styrofoam and plastic wrap. I could very well starve to death, not for a lack of food, but for a lack of knowledge.

I will admit this, however, the lack of packaging on my food sure has cut down on my daily waste. Also, consider this interesting fact about Peru: You can’t flush toilet paper. The plumbing simply can’t deal with it. Now, if you’re traveling and staying in hostels or hotels and forget, or simply blow it off, no big deal, right? If somebody else’s plumbing gets clogged up, it’s not really your problem is it? But when you live here…I don’t even want to try to negotiate with a plumber.

I’m referring, of course, to my nomadic lifestyle and how it is perceived by people who have chosen to toe the line and work their 9 to 5 in the pursuit of the 2.5 children, white picket fence, keeping up with the Jones’ life. As often happens when I’m back in the States, or even abroad and meet people who lead what is perceived as a ‘normal’ life. I’m pretty happy to talk about how I live and the ‘oohhhs and ahhhs’ that I get encourage me to open up and probably glorify and romanticize my life’s path.

As an example, during my most recent stopover in the U.S. while traveling from Asia to South America, I met a young lady who was genuinely full of admiration and envy when I explained how I live. During the course of the conversation, she remarked that she would like to live like this, to do what I do. To me, it seems easy. To most people, it seems impossible. “How do you afford it?” “Won’t scary brown people eat your children if you leave the safety and security of the United States?” “I don’t speak the language”. All of these questions and concerns (and more) come up when, for a fleeting moment, people are caught up in the romance of world travel and living abroad and working overseas.

You Probably Can’t Have it Both Ways

I’m an American, and as such, I’m probably culturally predisposed to the never-ending pursuit of material things. I’m very detached from my food source and I take a great many things for granted such as safe drinking water and trash removal. During my youth, I grew accustomed to the American lifestyle and that lifestyle is my comfort zone. I’m reluctant to step outside of it. There’s a certain feeling of security that comes with a full-time job and being amongst people who dress the same way that I do and speak the same language that I do. This is where the divide happens. This is the basis for why more Americans don’t chose to live the way I do. I’ll certainly admit that for every bit of envy that people have for my life, I envy theirs equally. Sometimes I yearn for the stability that comes with living in a 3-bedroom ranch style house in the suburbs. A washer and dryer. 64 channels of shit on my T.V. Going from point A to point B in my vehicle on my schedule. Resolving conflicts and making deals in my native language. Being able to flush toilet paper in the toilet. So, while the young lady certainly seemed excited and was ready to buy an airplane ticket to some far-flung, exotic destination, she probably won’t, and I can certainly understand why not.

I hold a firm belief that we, as humans, are nothing if not a sum of our experiences, so all of these experiences enrich who I am, but they are EXHAUSTING! These experiences are also very humbling. For all that I think I know how to do, if, for example, I buy a chicken at the local mercado, I don’t know how to butcher a chicken. It’s not pre-packaged for me in Styrofoam and plastic wrap. I could very well starve to death, not for a lack of food, but for a lack of knowledge.

Consider this: For me, a cup of espresso means carrying a 20-Liter (5 gallon) bottle of water on my back for a half-mile. 40-minutes round-trip on an overcrowded death-trap of a bus to buy coffee. A negotiation in a language I don’t understand very well to arrive at a quantity of coffee, a price for the quantity and an acceptable grind of the beans for my purposes. Hoping that the electricity is on when I try to make the coffee, another negotiation for the removal of any waste that is generated by the making and consumption of coffee – I drink a lot of coffee, but when I consider how much time and effort is invested, perhaps I should just learn to deal with the caffeine withdrawals instead. And that’s just a cup of coffee. That doesn’t begin to address the myriad other tasks that will come up.

Whether to live a vagabonding lifestyle or to stick more to a traditional one is a choice. I feel fortunate that I know what both are like, and for now, I plan on continuing to buck tradition and collect more experiences.

Probably a couple of years prior to going to Peru, I had done a bit of research, trying to find what I considered to be the place on earth with the most perfect weather. The place I found was Trujillo, Peru. For about 358 days of the year, the high temp of the day never gets above 78 degrees(F), nor below 58. Record highs are in the mid-90′s and are very short-lived. While I was researching my trip to South America, I read an article on some of the great places on earth that are very underrated. One of these places is Chan-Chan, which happens to be very close to Trujillo. Chan Chan and Trujillo were on my radar.

Back to what I found unappealing about Peru – there’s a bit of a backstory here, but I’ll try to keep it short. I had spent several weeks in Ecuador visiting The Galapagos and chilling out in the beach town of Montanita while learning some Spanish. I was starting to get the hang of speaking Spanish and was beginning to feel very empowered. My new found confidence coincided with my need to move on. My introduction to Peru was met with people who refused to speak Spanish to me. Even when I would open the conversation in Spanish, cab drivers and restauranteurs would reply in English and present me with English menus. I didn’t like it. Furthermore, especially in Cusco, I felt that the Peruvians had sold out their culture in a Disneyesque fashion.

My loathing for Peru aside, I found the beach town of Huanchaco (near Trujillo and Chan Chan) to be an absolute delight and the weather there was everything I had hoped for…absolutely perfect!

So….fast forward to December of 2010. I had been working an overseas contract job in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The gig was awesome, but the day-to-day work was the worst work experience I’d had to date. Taiwan is absolutely wonderful, and Kaohsiung is a magnificent city…the rest of the world has no idea. Anyhow, in December my employer made the announcement that the work that we were doing in Taiwan would be moved back to the U.S. in June of 2011, that’s right, my job in Asia was to be outsourced to the United States where labor is less expensive. The planning began. My wife and I are both very fond of Asia and our first thoughts were that we would move to Cambodia where we could easily stay legally for an indefinite length of time. In March, we took a trip to have a look and get a feel for it. That trip pretty much cemented the idea and plans began to solidify. The one thing that bothered me about Cambodia is the oppressive heat. It’s always hot. For much of the year, the weather in Kaohsiung is pretty nice, but by May the temps start to increase, as does the humidity. This got us to thinking more about how uncomfortable we might be in Cambodia and so, when she asked me if there was some place with great weather and cheap cost of living, I immediately responded with Huanchaco, Peru and the rest is history waiting to happen!

As it turns out, no explanation was needed. I had no idea that Lion Dancing was this spectacular. See for yourself (if your internet connection speed allows it, select the “HD” version):