thebeatsurrender's VirtualTourist Home Page

Dear VirtualTourist,

We've had some really good times, you and I, armchair traveling during work, finding real information about places I'd like to go, earning that little silver star... But I just can't keep two sites up to date, and TravBuddy really has my heart now. Let's keep in touch; I'll be back to update some things and check on my email and messages. No hard feelings.

Love,
Mimi

PS. My Central America blog is up on my Travbuddy site! www.travbuddy.com/thenewextrememimi

I've realized I have this weird habit of eating animals that I find incredibly adorable immediately after cooing over baby versions of that animal when I travel. In Peru, I got to cuddle with a baby alpaca and feel its adorable little heartbeat against mine. Sooooo cute. 2 hours later, I'm eating Alpaca Cordon Bleu. In the everglades, I saw these adooorrable baby alligators just relaxing in the grass (see by Everglades page) looking up at me with their big heads and angry little alligator eyes. Soooooo cute. 1 hour later, I'm chomping down on gator nuggets. It's like an epic battle between my love of cute little animals and my love of eating bizzare foods that I haven't tasted before. Stomach seems to be winning out.

Anyway, we're going to Central America this summer! Can't wait. We're flying into Panama and going north through Costa Rica before flying to Guatemala, busing north through Tikal and into Belize before flying out of Belize. If we somehow miraculously have the time, we're going to bus all the way up to Guatemala instead of flying, racking up all 7 countries on the way. The tentative itinerary is Panama city (1.5 days), Bocas Del Toro (2 days), San Jose possibly via Limon (1 day), Monteverde (2 days), Arenal Volcano (2 days), Guatemala City (half day), Antigua (1 day), Tikal (1 day), San Ignacio (2-3 days). Please email me with any tips! Also, we are now taking bets on how many mosquito bites I will end up with, and which of the following will happen first:

1. Mimi and Atousa will get stuck in Central America because the bus breaks down and we can't make it to Belize in time
2. Mimi and Atousa will get robbed on one of the several night buses they are taking, and Mimi will get shot while trying to fight the robbers over her precious camera
3. Atousa will fall in love with a handsome German backpacker get suckered into becoming a drug mule a la Briget Jones 2
4. Mimi will fall off a pyramid in Tikal
5. Atousa will get malaria because she refuses to take her damn pills

I've deen taking some nice weekend roadtrips lately.

Went hiking in Yosemite and saw some awesome views. My Yosemite travelogue: http://mimi.hedgesys.com/yosemite

Also went down to the Channel Islands via curvy Highway One and Big Sur for the weekend. Lots of wildlife including elephant seals, sea lions and baby seagulls!

New Deluxe Edition photologue with Bonus Game from our sorta-Eastern-sorta-Central European Adventure 2007:
http://mimi.hedgesys.com/europe07

For all my trip details see my Peru page and access my photologue: mimi.hedgesys.com/peru

Snuck out from my business trip for a day to hike up Mont Royal, walk around Old Montreal, eat carribou.. you know, the works.

When my company held the annual offsite in Miami, I decided to take a side trip to the Everglades. Visit my travel page for details.

Home sweet home. And by that I mean San Francisco. Not this gazeebo thing in this picture. That's at Stowe Lake in Golden Gate Park.