Live An Adventure Podcast

August 25, 2007 Only when the airplane flew over the pyramids I could believe I was actually here. The land of Cleopatra and Tutankamen: Egypt. My first task was to find an apartment. I found a great place in 3 days! I was worried the first couple of day because the apartments were way too expensive for my stipend. But thank God I found a 3 bedroom one in the coolest area of town, El Maadi. I got quaint white bedroom with two big windows and a balcony with a view of my tree-lined street. School is great. Nice campus and a fun group of teachers. Very diverse crew: single and married, younger and older. There are Egyptians, Americans, Europeans and and one Latino, me. :o)  Our common trait is that we all love to travel. Together we have taught in 52 countries. A week ago we had a dinner and dance at a posh Cairo hotel and yesterday we went to the pyramids. Students start on Sept 2, so I have a week to get ready for my 22 students. I will teach Math and Science to 2 groups of 5t...

March 19, 2008 Two friends and I took the night train from Cairo to Aswan. 14 hours of travel. Yeah, that’s how I roll. I did not have a ticket because I was told I could buy one once on board. I boarded the train and it was practically empty, but I got worried in Giza when a bunch of people got on the train and I had to move out of the comfy seat I had. In the end I got the very last seat in the "foreigners" car (first class with AC). This sort of thing happens often to me. I guess my optimism hasn’t failed me yet and I hope it never does! After 14 hours on the train we arrived in Aswan. Aswan is a quaint little town by the Nile in southern Egypt, only 3 hours north of Sudan. That afternoon we went to Philae Island to visit a temple built with Roman and Greek influence. The classical Egyptian hieroglyphics don’t cease to amaze me. We also visited the dam that forms Lake Nasser, one of the biggest man-made lakes in the world. When we returned to town we had a...

Egypt November 2007 i left my apartment at 6 am on thursday and returned saturday at 7 pm... 3 days and 2 nights exploring the sinai peninsula with steve, michelle, daryl and denise... the 9 hour bus ride from cairo to dahab was bearable only because i am reading a great book "Party of One: The Loner's Manifesto"... we arrived right after sunset, had dinner and chilled… next morning  i got up early to see the sun rising behind Saudi Arabia mountains and cover the red sea with its light and warmth... later steve and i went 4-wheeling to an oasis with views of the turquoise ocean and quaint dahab in the background... around 2 pm my friend steve and i took a taxi to st. catherine's monastery... it is tucked in the middle of the sinai peninsula, rocky mountains, desert, and solitude surrounds this place of prayer... we climbed mount sinai at 3 am and so did a few hundred other tourists, travelers, pilgrims, bedouins, and camels... here is a bit of history abou...

This is my last blog from Cairo!! Crazy how time flies huh!! It feels as if it was yesterday when I was walking the streets of Maadi with a map!! :o) These past two years have been an amazing adventure. Besides exploring Egypt I had the opportunity to travel in Spain, Jordan, Greece, Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Austria, Slovakia, Germany, Czeck Republic, Poland, and Israel. Here in Cairo and in my travels I was so blessed meeting wonderful people. I am thankful for their friendship. Socrates said that "an unexamined life is not worth living." This last semester I did a lot of soul-searching and I as the prodigal son I decided to go back home. I began attending Maadi Community church. I missed only one Sunday because I was in Luxor! This has been the biggest blessing of all while I've been in Egypt. Being back in my Father's House! On June 24 I go back to Guatemala. My life is being renewed by the love and tenderness of my Abba Father. The Cai...

JORDAN April 24 - May 2, 2008 Cairo  to Amman...  crossing the Red Sea.. eaten by mosquitoes on a sleepless night at a truckers hotel...  will the jordanian officials admit my Guatemalan passport...? scuba diving around a submerged tank in the Red Sea...  hiking in the solitude of a red desert in Wadi Rum...  exploring the ancient and amazing city called Petra...  pink mountains transformed into a magical city...  listening to bedouin music by candle light...  floating while reading a book in the dead sea...  getting lost driving around the streets Amman...  how we were getting back to Cairo..?  crossing the red sea on a sunny day in a luxury yatch...  loving the adventure of it all... thrilled by uncertainty...  in one phrase from Ricardo Arjona: living without a script... ALEXANDRIA May 17, 2008 a spontanteous day trip to enjoy the compay of friends.. the nostalgia o...

In January 2007, I explored Bilbao, my last stop in Spain. The Guggenheim modern art museum was the perfect ending to an amazing three weeks in Spain. The structure, reminiscent of a boat, covered with titanium sheets as if a giant metallic fish with scales, was simply stunning. Frank Gehrig, the architect, is a definitely a genius. The only two straight lines in the building are the elevator and the floor. I tried to find another one and i didn't. Walking into the atrium one feels as if stepping into a galactic church. Before I went in, I walked around the building for a couple of hours just enjoying the sun, the park, the river boardwalk and taking pictures from different angles. Once inside, an incredible exhibit of modern art was awaiting. Installations, paintings, video, sculptures and such. Very conceptual post-modern stuff that in some cases did not make much sense to me, but I was most definitely impressed in the simplicity/creativity of most pieces. For instance: an ...

never would i have imagined that i would celebrate my 40th birthday in egypt... one of my friends asked me where was the most exotic place i had celebrated my birthday, and i said here!! ...on friday nov 9 i rented a bus for 22 friends to come and celebrate my 4 0 with me...!!! we started the night watching the light and sound show at the pyramids... it was so much fun.. the pyramids looked great with the laser and stuf, and the sound was hilariously funny, way over the top, but interesting as they tell the story of egypt... the best line of the night was, imagine a deep voice in a dramatic tone: "the world fears time, but time fears the pyramids..." hahahaha... then we went to dinner by the nile, very nice place and great food... we ended the night at the four seasons pool on the terrace... one of the fanciest hotels in cairo.. there were friends from france, canada, the US, wales, egypt, denmark, china, germany, cyprus... it is surreal for me to think i come from a ba...

Why We Travel? The sound of the call to prayer fills the night in Cairo as I write these words.  It is a melancholic voice. I can only guess what the Muslin man is saying. Praises to Allah. Everywhere in Cairo, you hear the melancholic chant 5 times a day. It can be heard in the middle of the night, when the sun rises, and when the sunset arrives.  There is beauty in not knowing what the man is chanting from the mosque. I have no idea what my life will be like in this city in the next two years. But there is a certain beauty in uncertainty. This attraction to the "unknown" is one of the reasons why explorers, travelers, nomads, and adventurers have been lured to venture to new places throughout history. I believe every human being has deep within a profound desire to learn, to explore. Life in Cairo is exotic, to say the least. Not knowing Arabic has been a challenge and an adventure. Just getting a cab driver to take me where I want to go is ...