Move by Yourself

World Traveler in Exile - Life Update

When I started this blog I was embarking on the adventure of a lifetime, moving to Paraguay and joining the Peace Corps. I had so many new and exciting experiences to write about.

Now, that I have moved back home, I'm not traveling as often, if at all. I'm studying for the GRE because I've decided to apply to grad school and in the meantime I'm looking for jobs because, lets face it, I'm broke.

Due to all of these changes I found myself writing less and less about travel because I'm not doing as much of it. So I've decided to let my blog continue to move into this next phase. Don't worry i'll still be writing about travel, I will always write about travel, its in my blood. But, it will probably be more local travel like my last few posts on the Aquarium in Baltimore and my afternoon in Annapolis.

Also I hope continue to include more things that I love, more things that are relevant to my life, things like recipes I love, DIY projects that I can attempt now that I have access to the supplies and just more every day life things.

So I hope you guys stick with me through this transition and continue to follow along on my adventure!

Labels: Adventure, Change, Life Update

#FIRSTSTOTALSOCIAL - My First Trip Abroad

Today I am participating in my first link-up as a blogger. Yay! And it just so happens that the theme of this months #totalsocial hosted by Helene and Sarah link-up is firsts. What a coincidence! So I am going to tell you all about the first time I traveled abroad.

When I was 14 years old I was lucky to have an opportunity to travel to the beautiful country of Australia, with People to People Student Ambassadors. People to People is a travel service that offers international travel opportunities to students in middle school and high school. The student ambassador program specifically offers trips that are educational and aimed at increasing global awareness.

I traveled in a group of middle school students from Maryland and California. We spent three weeks traveling the east coast of Australia from Cairns all the way down to Sydney. I had been fascinated with Australia most of my youth and the fact that I had the opportunity to travel there at such a young age was incredible (and mostly due to my parents. Thanks Mom and Dad). I swam in the Great Barrier Reef, visited the Whitsunday Islands, see and hold koalas at an animal reserve, stayed a few nights on a cattle ranch in the Outback, had a home stay visit in Brisbane and toured the Opera House in Sydney.

*sorry for these sunglasses, they are truly awful. What was I thinking.

This trip is truly what gave me the travel bug. Ever since then I couldn't sit still, taking every opportunity possible to get out and see new places, mission trips, study abroad, Peace Corps, you name it. There are so many places to see in the world and so little time, so you have to take advantage of it.

Where was your first trip abroad?

Labels: Adventure, Australia, Travel

Tourism in Paraguay

When I got my Invitation to Paraguay from the Peace Corps I did as much research as I could about the country I was going to live in for two years. A few times in my research I saw Paraguay referred to as the "Forgotten Country." As we are surrounded my two powerhouses Brazil and Argentina this can be true sometimes especially when it comes to tourism. Paraguay is a small country compared to Brazil and Argentina and doesn't have some of the big tourist spots that they do, but, there are definitely some great things in Paraguay that are worth visiting and as I travel around in these next 19 months (yep 8 months down!) I'm going to write about them for you all to read.

I had the chance recently to visit Mbatovi (prounounced "bahtovee") Eco-Tourism. One of my volunteer friends boyfriend was visiting from the States so we decided to make a day trip out there. It is about an hour and half course of hiking through the woods, a small rope course, ziplining and repelling. This being my first time doing anything like this I had a great time. I think for someone who has gone ziplining before it might be a little underwhelming because there was only one ziplining part. I definitely would have liked it more if there was more of that. But overall I definitely recommend it to others. The views were spectacular, some of the best in Paraguay I've been told. Also the staff were great, very nice and helpful and made me feel safe and secure, and they actually took most of the pictures I have from the day. They knew just what us Americans wanted ;)

The whole gang (Matt -visiting from the states, Bree, ME, Frances, Ian)

What a view!

Trekking through the woods

Almost there!

Ropes course.

Ziplining!

This is the scariest part when they tell you to lean back!

But then it was fun!

We had to take a taxi to and from Mbatovi because there are no buses that "consistently" run past it, which was a little annoying. But we stayed the night at a very nice and quaint hotel in the town of Piribebuy about 20k from Mbatovi and we had yummy pizza for dinner.

I also got to meet one of Bree's friends in town Natalia and her family. She actually just finished writing a guide book for Paraguay. She is the daughter of a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) father and a Paraguayan mother. I ended up buying her book because I'm a sucker for guide books. So I highly recommend her it if you are in the market for a guide book about Paraguay. You can buy it on Amazon in book form or kindle form. Here is the link: Other Places Guide - Paraguay

Labels: Adventure, Guide Book, Paraguay, Piribebuy, Tourism

"To Lead People Walk Behind Them"

I am in the process of moving into my own house! It will be my first time in Paraguay not living with host families (and don't worry next week I'll post pictures and a whole blog just about my house), but, this post isn't about that. My new house is next to one of my favorite families in town and while I've been getting my house ready I've been spending a lot of time with them, especially the kids since they are on winter break.

So yesterday they came over while I was cleaning my house and asked if I wanted to go on a walk to the stream and I jumped at the chance to take a break. I thought this was going to be a little trek though to woods. Boy was I wrong. It was extremely muddy and at some points I was ankle deep in mud attempting to keep my shoes on. At one point I even fell, I took a kind of jumping step and basically ended up doing the splits in the mud. (Luckily, minutes before that I had let one of the girls use my camera and didn't have it with me when I fell, so it didn't get covered in mud AND there are pictures)

Even though I ended up covered in mud with a bruised butt (and wounded dignity) it was a great time and a incredible bonding experience with my new neighbors.