2013-04-06—2013-04-07

【Aiden in English】

        Santa Cruz Island was the second-largest island in the Galapagos and home to Puerto Ayora, the largest town. In 1959, the Republic of Ecuador declared all the islands, except areas already colonised, as the Galapagos National Park. In the same year, the Ch

2013-04-05

【Aiden in English】

        In the northeast of San Cristobal Island, we lined up on the deck for a chance to see Kicker Rock in an odd form. It was a remnant of a vertical tuff formation, abruptly rising almost 500 ft/152 meters from the Pacific Ocean.

        Kicker Rock looked

2013-04-05 

【Aiden in English】

        San Cristobal Island was the easternmost island in the archipelago and one of the oldest eroded volcanoes, ascending to moist highlands nearly 2,400 feet/730 meters above sea level geologically. It was the first island Charles Darwin visited in the Galapagos in 1835

2013-04-04

【Aiden in English】

        North Seymour Island in the Galapagos was formed through a series of lava uplifts that originally erupted underwater, as evidenced by the discovery of marine fossils on its plateau, surrounded by low cliffs. These sporadic uplifts took more than a million years to elevate

2013-04-04

【Aiden in English】

        Santa Cruz Island was the center of the Galapagos archipelago, where volcanic activity had long ceased. Among the few islands that people inhabited, it had the most significant human population.

        By 9:00 a.m., the sun was already steaming hot. We had just begun to w

2013-04-03

【Aiden in English】

        In the Galapagos Islands, Bartolomé Island is an extinct volcano that features a unique mix of colors, including red, orange, green, and black volcanic rock formations, reminiscent of those found on Mars. It was considered the most spectacular setting in the Galapagos. As one of the relativ

2013-04-03

【Aiden in English】

        Here, we had the opportunity for a morning hike over a blackened landscape that was nothing less than a geologic wonderland in Sullivan Bay, northeast of Santiago Island. At every step, we would see the hardened twists and turns of Lava that flowed during a volcanic erupt

2013-04-02

【Aiden in English】

        After I went outside, my first statement was: "It's foggy." And that was true. The fog wasn't what you saw every month in your front yard. It looked like a white pillow on top of everything in sight. Even in the old days, superstitious pirates called th

2013-04-01

【Aiden in English】

        Mom and I had a quick lunch and began preparing for our afternoon activity. This time, we visited Rabida, an uninhabited island of red sand, rocks, and dirt made of iron-rich lava.

        Rabida Island looked like the top of an old

2013-04-01

【Aiden in English】

        The rocks crunched beneath our feet as we walked through tropical forests with singing mockingbirds and buzzing insects. This morning, we took our first shore excursion to the west bank of Santiago Island, in the center of the Galapagos archipelago.

      &n

2013-03-31 Easter

【Aiden in English】

        I yawned loudly as Mom and I entered our Celebrity Xpedition cabin. For the whole morning, we were seated on a LAN Ecuador flight, traveling from Quito, the capital city, to the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean, after stopping over in Guayaquil, the larg

2013-03-30

【Aiden in English】

        Pew! Pew! Pew! It went to my 3DS XL as Mario got zapped by Bowser Junior's Waldo magic for the fifth time. Mom and I have been waiting for our tour guide for about 10 minutes, and we're getting awfully bored. We were going to cross the equator and head to the

2013-03-29 Good Friday

【Aiden in English】

        Today was Holy Friday, and we stayed in Quito, Ecuador's capital city.

        At 9,350 feet/2,800 meters above sea level with a latitude of 0 ° 15  'S, Quito was the highest and only capital on the Equ

2013-03-28

【Aiden in English】

        Nothing was better to start my trip than waking up at the crack of dawn and driving to the Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) at 4:000 am. On the road, I was exhausted, sleepy, and stressed. When we arrived at PHL, my eyes felt like they weighed over 100 pounds/45 kilograms.

  &nbs

2013-03-27

        每年三月底或四月初，耶稣受难日与复活节相连，北宾夕法尼亚“山林”州学区便放三天春假——从星期四到星期一，满打满算大半个礼拜。坦率讲，我做梦也没想到，适龄青少年可以这般向春天讨价。在国内，我从未经历春假；来美后虽早有耳闻——墨西哥坎昆“蛇巢”是女生的圣地，佛罗里达“花”州代托纳“白日镇”海滩是男生的天堂—

2013-01-11 International Parity at Work Day

【Aiden in English】

〖Prelude〗

        There was no place on Earth like Rio de Janeiro, as the natives proudly said.

        Founded in the early 16^th Century, Rio was the capital of the Federal Republic until 1960. Th

2013-01-10

【Aiden in English】

        This summer, torrential rain was highly unusual in Rio de Janeiro. We spent the whole morning watching the rain pour on and on. By noon, nothing was improving unless somebody called raindrops the size of bird pellets growing to the size of golf balls "improving."

2013-01-09

【Aiden in English】

        We missed the tour bus in the morning, so Mom and I decided to set out on our own and explore the Brazilian capital, which was created ex nihilo in the country's center in 1960. The glaring sun burned my neck as my mom and I walked around the Monumental Axis of Brasil

2013-01-08

【Aiden in English】

        To start the day, Mom and I were treated to a breakfast banquet in a Brazilian style, featuring everything from ham to an ice cream cake, at Hotel das Cataratas. Like its neighbors, Chilean and Argentine cuisine, Brazilian cuisine also looked delightful in South America.

2013-01-07

【Aiden in English】

        The calm wind blew in my face as a ferryboat zipped along the water, docking at the beach of San Martin Island. San Martín was a small, lush island in Argentina's Iguazu National Park, offering the closest views of the falls. The island was rough and strenuous to cli

2013-01-06

【Aiden in English】

        One good thing about plane flights was that I could sleep all the time, as much as I wanted, between takeoff and landing. However, I bonked my head against the seat in front, which disrupted my wonderful dream of dancing with bunnies.

      &n

2013-01-05

【Aiden in English】

        The wheels on the bus went round and round as the air filled with the sound of the sunny morning chirps of birds. Buenos Aires blew out "Good Airs" or "Fair Winds." They eclectically blended their contemporary vitality and old-world languor on the west

2013-01-05

【To A Cat】

Jorge Luis Borges (1899—1986)

         Mirrors are not more silent

         nor the creeping dawn more secretive;

         in the moonlight, you are that panther

         we catch sight of from afar.

2013-01-04

【Aiden in English】

        Two weeks flew by on the cruise, and before I noticed, Mom and I were leaving the ship in the "Paris of the South"—Buenos Aires for good. We booked a day tour to La Recoleta Cemetery in the metropolitan center and the Argentine Estancia in the countryside.

2013-01-03

【Aiden in English】

        As I came to my senses from waking out of deep sleep, the smell of muffins wafted toward me. With an unappetizing breakfast, I hurried down to meet our group. I headed for Uruguay, the second-smallest country in South America, and its oldest town, the Historic Quarter of

2013-01-02

【Aiden in English】

        Hooray! I was cruising at sea today.

        My whole morning was spent in tangles of dreams, wrapped in a small, cozy bed with a new punching bag and a teddy bear. I put the bear to sub-mission before falling into a deep sleep, and I'm pretty sure

2013-01-01 New Year's Day

【Aiden in English】

        Puerto Madryn, a Welsh town in the Atlantic Ocean, was dominated by a vast smelter that produced aluminum from bauxite ore shipped from Australia, Suriname, and other countries. The production of ceramic tiles made it the biggest supplier in the na

2012-12-31 New Year's Eve

【Aiden in English】

        It's New Year's Eve today, and we were cruising at sea again.

        I yawned widely as I got up in the morning. As I checked the clock, I toppled out of bed. It was 10:30 am. I was still in pajamas a

2012-12-30

【Aiden in English】

        The islands we bound for had two different names in the Atlantic Ocean. It depended upon whom we spoke with and what we talked about. Concerning the Argentine, the Islas Malvinas became a matter of national sovereignty. To the English, the Falkland Islands are a British O

2012-12-29

【Aiden in English】

        Cape Horn in Chile is located at a latitude of 55 degrees 58 minutes 47 seconds south and a longitude of 67 degrees 16 minutes 18 seconds west. It is the southernmost point on Earth, other than Antarctica. It covers the two most significant bodies of water, the Pacific an

2012-12-28

【Aiden in English】

        By December, a hot summer had come to the south. However, the cold still numbed my teeth as we waited on the sun deck for the glaciers and sheer mountains to appear over the horizon in the Strait of Magellan, which separates the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. 

2012-12-27

【Aiden in English】

        Antarctica is the Earth's southernmost continent, encompassing the South Pole, as described in geographic textbooks. It's the fifth-largest continent after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. Approximately 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that avera

2012-12-26

【Aiden in English】

        So, there I was with my mom, standing on the balcony of Star Princess at the crack of dawn to see the Amalia Glacier in the central part of the Chilean Southern Patagonian Ice Fields. The glacier descended from the Andes Mountains and sat like a frozen river above the sea

2012-12-25 Christmas Day

【Aiden in English】

        "Merry Christmas!" shouted the Star Princess Captain loud enough to be heard miles away in the morning. "Merry Christmas to All." I didn't think my mom set a wake-up call, but our captain set the mood for the day. As I dressed, h

2012-12-24 Christmas Eve

【Aiden in English】

        As I learned along the way, Chile is nicknamed "the Shoestring Country" for good reason; 24 times longer than its average width and in no place wider than 150 miles/241 kilometers, it stretches nearly 2,700 miles/4,345 kilometers, a span of latitud

2012-12-23

【Aiden in English】

        Today, our ship was cruising at sea, and it was my first day on board in the Youth Center for ages 8-12.

        This morning at breakfast, I could barely sit still and wait till 9 O'clock because I was going to take the Youth Program. The omelet I

2012-12-22

【Aiden in English】

        I woke this morning to the sound of people coming from the streets. I stepped onto our private balcony outside the hotel room in Valparaiso, the largest port city in Chile. At a glance, the spectacular hillsides were dotted with a variety of colorful houses. A series of p

2012-12-21

【Aiden in English】

        In a Chinese proverb, an hour in the morning is worth two in the evening. It's always pleasant to start a new day with a scrumptious breakfast. I had fried eggs and toasted bread with strawberry juice. The eggs with white bread looked plain but yummy, and the juice ta

2012-12-20

【Aiden in English】

        I awoke at 9:00 am this morning to the sharp sound of a phone ringing. I started to get dressed while my mom answered the call. When she hung up, she looked alarmed. The tour guide was already here! I rushed to put on my shoes and took a quick, hasty wash. Then, we dashed

2012-12-19

【Aiden in English】

        When I woke up early this morning, I still felt sleepy. However, I had to catch a plane at 7:58 am to the Chilean capital city of Santiago. My mom and I had a quick breakfast at the bar. We took a hotel shuttle van and rushed to Rapa Nui Intl—airport (IPC) on Easter Isla

2012-12-18

【Aiden in English】

        Walking toward our new tour guide this morning, I felt a sense of dread crawling up my stomach. This tour would involve a long hike on the side of the crater, covering at least 10 miles. When our tour group arrived at the archaeological site of Ahu Vinapu, the heat began

2012-12-17

【Aiden in English】

        Today was my first day exploring South America after connecting a series of flights for more than 23 hours. As soon as I stepped off the plane on Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean—the Navel of the World—I knew this would be an extremely hot trip (not including Antarcti

2012-12-16

        从宾夕法尼亚“山林”州小镇出发去南美，无论飞往智利还是阿根廷，航程都漫长。直飞尚好，蒙头一觉便近终点；转机则日子难熬——时间变得不值钱，个人隐私也在X光扫描中愈发廉价。此番去复活节岛，偏把我们逼上梁山——无论怎样设计路线，都躲不过两次转机。费城“兄弟之爱”机场徒有虚名，没有直飞智利的航线；纽约“新紫

2012-12-15

        仰望星空，沉迷遐想，是我个人的癖好。这痴迷多少受了霍金“鹰之子”《时间简史》的熏染——遨游时空，感知所居的世界，早已成为生活里不可或缺的部分。只是平日节奏匆忙，难得捕捉闪光的瞬间；惟有放下手头事务，抽身带走28天的光阴浪迹天涯，真正回归自然，体验山高水远，才能踏实地享受月色、星光，甚至白日里的梦

2012-11-20

        出门在外，最怕“生病”二字。头痛脑热尚可咬牙硬撑，若遇上黄热病、霍乱、疟疾，便如临大敌。因而去南美之前，除了研习史地人文、办理签证，还须评估疫病风险——传播媒介、流行情报、疫苗接种，环环相扣。古人说“宜未雨而绸缪”，行前功课做足，方能少些后顾之忧。美国公民赴智利、阿根廷、巴西，须各缴160美元