Nothing says I love you like “let’s run 10 miles”.  I started running 2 months ago because I was burnt out from cycling 3 hours a day.  Running seemed like the logical choice– less time, and no more eating 5000 calories a day (it gets old after a while, not to mention the food bill).

My first week as a runner was everything I hoped.  Run 4-5 miles.  Done by 7am.  Have the whole day to myself.  Now how did that turn into running twice a day and logging 50-60 miles a week?  Mind you, those are miles at an excrutiatingly slow pace.  7 minute miles are still considered a sprint, but still…

Somehow I thought that running with Yano would add quality time to our marriage.  Instead, it’s turned into a monologue in which she tells me all about her day, while I answer with grunts and nods– all for about 20 minutes, after which, she warms up and is gone– never to be seen again until the end of our run.

We’re in Chiriqui, Panama, staying with one of Yano’s 39 cousins (on her dad’s side alone).  Lush green forests, volcanoes, mountains, and rivers.  Quite spectacular!  We met a runner at the track yesterday, and somehow the chance meeting turned into “let’s meet tomorrow at 6am to run 12k in the jungle”.  Me, being the protective husband that I am, decided to tag along to protect my wife from snakes, bears, and sexual running predators.  Big mistake!  Our running partner was a guy whose best 10k time is 30 minutes.

At approximately 10 seconds into our run, I realized I was going to get dropped in about a minute.  Yano and him were chatting away, warming up at sub 8 minute miles (uphill)– and we still hadn’t even started.  Sensing my pain, Echevarria said “we’ll turn here, you keep going until you see a branch… turn right and you’ll complete a 6 mile loop”.  Somehow I misunderstood “keep going” into “turn right”– after all, my brain doesn’t work when my heart is beating past 170 beats a minute.

Within 5 minutes, Yano and Echevarria were gone, and I started soaking in the scenery– river crossings, cows, indians cooking in an open fire.  However, 45 minutes into my run I realized I hadn’t seen any tree branch left as a sign, and I was slowly digging myself into an anaerobic hole.  I started entertaining thoughts of kidnapping a horse and riding back, but tired as I was, I doubted I could catch a sick pregnant mare, let alone a healthy horse.  A few kilometers down the road I saw a donkey, but alas, it slowly outwalked me.  I looked around, panting in despair, but all that was left were cows– with horns.

There is no shame in walking– indians have been doing it for millenia.  So, I turned around and walked until my heart rate returned to something less than a hummingbird’s.  After a few minutes, the walk turned into an injured trot, and I managed to limp back to the open road and turn around.  By the time I got back, Yano had run, stretched, had a Coke, swapped stories, and asked Echevarria for his phone number so we can do the same thing again tomorrow.  

Isn’t life grand?  Good thing I’m on vacation…

I’m going to crush the injured walking category on Sunday.

A few months ago Yano got this strange idea that we should go on vacation (again).  I reminded her that our backpacks still had a few smelly items from the last adventure, but  my comments fell on deaf ears once again (as is usual in the best of marriages).

My lack of interest was part of a sophisticated con to make her think it was her idea.  It obviously worked because three weeks ago Yano found a multi-city ticket to Panama and Costa Rica for $298 a piece.  It didn’t take long to hit BUY NOW.

So here we are.  E-tickets in hand, and a beat up old copy of Lonely Planet’s Central America on a Shoestring (bought on ebay for $6.04 including shipping).  No idea what we’ll do there, but I hear there’s this big marina in Panama and a few volcanoes in Costa Rica.

As a bonus I’ve been suckered into running the half-marathon at the Panama City Marathon on the 9th.  This marathon is one of the top 26 marathons of the world and the world’s 162nd longest running marathon.  How’s that for made up categories!

Yano wants to get on the podium for the Panamanian women, but hopefully overall.  It all depends on how many Kenyans show up.  Me, on the other hand– there’s a wheelchair category which I’m hoping to crash.

So we’re back on the saddle so to speak.  Anxious to get on a plane, and curious to find out who we’ll sucker into driving us at 3am to the airport tomorrow morning.

Expect more updates throughout the next 3 weeks.

We’ve finally uploaded, labeled, and rotated (hi Doel) all our photos, and I’ve included links on the link section on the right of this page.

If you’re too lazy to move your mouse, here they are:

India, NYC, and Finland: the beginning of our trip
Nepal: the middle
Estonia: the end

Now is the time when I get quiet, and start getting back into the swing of things at work; so expect very few updates, unless I fall off the bike, Yano finishes school, or our dog finally learns how to roll over.

Call us; we’re back.  Better yet, come visit us!

We left Delhi the morning of the 15th.  After various layovers (some more fun than others) we arrived in the Independent Republic of Mayaguez on the 18th.

I must be a really shitty friend, because every time I was asked if I missed home or was anxious to return, the answer was always a resounding no.  Luckily, I seem to have passed the travel bug onto Yano who is scheming ways to live a nomadic live as soon as she’s done with grad school.  Fortunately, I can take my work with me, and there is no shortage of people wanting to get anesthesized around the world.

Perpetual traveling is not many people’s cup of Darjeeling tea, but many people have shown interest in traveling less traditionally.  Here are a few tid bits…

• The longer you travel for, the cheaper it becomes (especially when it comes to developing countries– the US and Puerto Rico are very expensive places to live).
• It was actually cheaper for us to continue traveling, than return home.
• We averaged $48 a day for the both of us, and that included guest houses, going out to eat 3 times a day, transportation (bus, train, airfare while in India/Nepal, taxis, ferries to Estonia), massages, shaves, museums fees, internet usage, phone calls, plus all the crap we (okay, Yano) bought on the street that I’m sure will be thrown out within a year. 
• $48/day included not only inexpensive Nepal and India, but New York, Estonia, and Finland, which significantly increased our spending averages.  Even factoring out Couch Surfing, traveling somewhere outside of boring Disney World is many times cheaper than staying home (and a lot more fun).
• The most comprehensive and useful guides for traveling for just about anywhere (and for any budget) are produced by Lonely Planet.  We own a Lonely Planet for Puerto Rico; they’re that good.  They’re great for finding places to eat, sleep, activities to do, and they come for virtually every country or region of the world.  There’s a Lonely Planet for diving and snorkeling in Puerto Rico, as well as a cycle touring ones for a myraid of places around the world.
• Anywhere you go people are people, and the great majority of them are kind, hospitable, and welcoming.  (Our most distrusting experience was the New York city subway, and probably because we were just starting).

It was only logical to finish this trip with another pair of Couch Surfers.

Our return trip from Delhi had a 2 day layover in Helsinki and we’ve already surmised that there is absolutely nothing to do in Helsinki if you’ve already spent more than 2 hours downtown.  Really, nothing to do– nothing to see.  So, when we got a request to surf our couch in Puerto Rico from a girl in Estonia, we quickly responded yes, provided we could also visit her :-). We took the 1.5 hour ferry ride from Helsinki to Tallin, and voila– another border, another country.

Liis and Ronald picked us up at the dock, took us out to eat, dropped us at Liis’ place downtown, left us the key, and agreed to meet us the next day when they returned from work. Yay Couch Surfing!  The next day we went out for a night out in Tallin, and met 9 Estonians, most of which were involved with either Couch Surfing or Hospitality Club. Our night out ended far too soon, but alas, Liis and Ronald are visiting us in 3 weeks.

Anyways, we’re almost home, and will upload, organize, and label all the photos. Two more days and a New York layover from hell…