2013-04-06

【Aiden in English】

        Santa Cruz Island was the second-largest island in the Galapagos and home to Puerto Ayora, the largest town in the islands. In 1959, the Republic of Ecuador declared all the islands, except areas already colonized, as the Galapagos National Park. In the same year, the Charles Darwin Foundation was founded to promote scientific research and ensure the conservation of the Galapagos. Not until 1978, the Galapagos Isl

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. As a matter of fact, it was a remnant of a vertical tuff formation, abruptly rising almost 500 ft/152 meters from the Pacific Ocean.

        Kicker Rock looked sharp, huge, and nearly bare pieces of rocks protruded out of the ocean. Only the birds seemed to be able to scale the sides. Eve

2013-04-05 

【Aiden in English】

        San Cristobal Island was not only the easternmost island in the archipelago but also one of the oldest eroded volcanoes ascending to moist highlands nearly 2,400 feet/730 meters above sea level geologically. It was the very first island that Charles Darwin visited in the Galapagos in 1835. Several endemic species and subspecies of flora had evolved on San Cristobal, but the human impact had ruptured much of the i

2013-04-04

【Aiden in English】

        North Seymour Island was formed through a series of uplifts of lava that was originally erupted underwater because of the discovery of marine fossils on its plateau surrounded by low cliffs. These sporadic uplifts took more than a million years to bring the island to its present level. The island was now home to abundant and diverse wildlife.

        After lunch, we lined up for deep-sea snorkeling a

2013-04-04

【Aiden in English】

        Santa Cruz Island was the center of the Galapagos archipelago, where the volcanic activity had long ceased. It had the largest human population among any of the few islands that people inhabited.

        By 9:00 am, the sun was already steaming hot. We just began to walk along the northeast coast of Santa Cruz Island. There was a hideout where two US military barges for WWII broke their moorings and ran aground on the b

2013-04-03

【Aiden in English】

        Bartolome Island consisted of an extinct volcano that mixed its colorful with red, orange, green, and black volcanic rock formations like Mars. It was considered the most spectacular setting in the Galapagos. As one of the relatively younger islands, its volcanic origins were easy to be seen with an excellent example of volcanism.

        This afternoon, we took a short but steep hike on the slopes o

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, the northeast of Santiago Island. At every step, we would see the hardened twists and turns of lava that flowed during a volcanic eruption in the 1900s.

        If you were talking about an "evil island", would it be jagged rocks, skeletons, scattered b

2013-04-02

【Aiden in English】

        My first statement after I went outside was: "It's foggy." And that was absolutely true. The fog wasn't the kind 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 would call the Galapagos Enchanted Islands because the islands would fade away into the mist and disappear for no reason.

2013-04-01

【Aiden in English】

        Mom and I had a quick lunch and then began to get ready for our afternoon activity. This time we visited another island called Rabida, an uninhabited island of red sand, rocks, and dirt made of lavas rich in iron.

        Rabida Island looked as if the top of an old volcanic cone bathed in crimson. The ground was hued brilliant red and sat amid coves and lagoons with clear blue wa

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 was our first shore excursion to take place on the west bank of Santiago Island in the center of the Galapagos archipelago.

        Puerto Egas was one of the most popular sites in James Bay of Santiago Island, where salt mining operated until the 1960s. After a wet la

Easter，2013-03-31

【Aiden in English】

        I yawned loudly as Mom and I entered our cabin of Celebrity Xpedition. For the whole morning, we were sitting on a seat of LAN Ecuador from Quito, the capital city to Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean after stopped over Guayaquil, the largest Ecuadorian city.

        Galapagos Islands were a volcanic archipelago about 500 miles/926 km west of mainland Ecuador and became a living museum o

2013-03-30

【Aiden in English】

        Pew! Pew! Pew! It went my 3DSXL as Mario got zapped by Bowser Junior's Wadoo magic for the fifth time. Mom and I were waiting for our tour guide for about 10 minutes now and we're getting awfully bored. We were going to cross the equator and heading the northern Sierra for Otavalo in a two-hour drive north of the bustling Quito to see the famous market, particularly on Saturday.

Good Friday，2013-03-29

【Aiden in English】

        Today was Holy Friday and we stayed in Quito, the capital city of Ecuador.

        At an elevation of 9,350 feet/2,800 meters above sea level with the latitude of 0^o15"S, Quito was the highest and only capital situated on the Equator in the world.

        After I put on a new set of clothes, Mom and I went down for breakfast

2013-03-27

        每年三月底或四月初，适逢耶稣受难日─复活节宗教活动，我家童少所在的北宾州学区都要特别选定这个时段，停课休学放羊三天，从星期四至星期一囊括周末，春假满打满算少说足有大半个礼拜。

        坦率地讲，我做梦都没有想到，但凡适龄青少年儿童，都可以向春天讨价问假。在国内，我从未经历这般欢度春假的学生时代；来美后，虽然早有听说，南边墨西哥坎昆城可谓女生笑傲加勒比海的胜地，而东面佛罗里达州代托纳海滩(Daytona Beach)则是男生狂飙大西洋的

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 once the capital of Brazil up to 1960. The city remained the nation's cultural and spiritual center with an amalgam of Latin and African heritage.  

        As Brazil's

2013-01-10

【Aiden in English】

        This summer, torrential rain was extremely 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 as "improving". When a streak of sunlight came through the clouds, mom took the chance and set up the tone that we should explore. At the back of my head, I t

2013-01-09

【Aiden in English】

        We missed the tour bus in the morning. So mom and I decided to set foot on our own and look around the Brazilian capital created ex nihilo in the center of the country in 1956. The glaring sunburned my neck as my mom and I walked around the Monumental Axis of Brasilia.

        Like the newly built Anzac Parade of Canberra in Australia we visited three years ago, the Monumental Axi

2013-01-08

【Aiden in English】

        To start the day off, mom and I were overwhelmed with a breakfast banquet in Brazilian style from ham to ice cream cake. It looked like quite a delightful cuisine as its neighbors like Chilean and Argentine in South America. I did not eat much but felt full already once I was floating in the food sea. Mom indulged herself with Brazilian fresh roasted coffee and couldn't even walk to our room.

2013-01-07

【Aiden in English】

        The cool wind blew in my face as a ferryboat zipped along with the docking of the water on the beach of San Martin Island. San Martin was a small lush island right in the center of Iguazu National Park in Argentina, which offered the closest views of the falls. The island was rough and strenuous to climb. The stairs never seemed to end! By the time mom and I arrived at the top, I felt as if my legs were made of jelly,

2013-01-06

【Aiden in English】

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

        When the full blast of heat like a sauna from the outside started to melt me at Iguazu International Airport of Argentina  (IGR), mom quickly

2013-01-05

【Aiden in English】

        The wheels on the bus went round and round as the air filled with the sound of sunny morning chirps of the birds. Buenos Aires blew out "Good Airs" or "Fair Winds" and eclectically blended its contemporary vitality and old-world languor on the western bank of the estuary of the Rio de la Plata. When the bus stopped at the political and cultural heart- Plaza de Mayo (May Plaza), it was already bliste

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.

         By the inexplicable workings of divine law,

         we look for you in vain;

         More remote, e

2013-01-04

【Aiden in English】

        Two weeks flew by on the cruise that 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.

        As driving through Palermo, the largest neighborhood with a lovely district of parks, gardens, mansions, an

2013-01-03

【Aiden in English】

        As I came to my senses from waking up out of deep sleep, the smell of muffins wafted toward me. With an unappetizing breakfast, I hurried down to meet our group and headed for Uruguay- the second smallest country in South America and its oldest town- the Historic Quarter of Colonia del Sacramento, which was declared a world heritage by UNESCO in 1995.

       We left the harbor, an oil

2013-01-02

【Aiden in English】

        Hooray! I was cruising at sea today.

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

        After lunch, I hurried to the Youth Center. As I entered th

New Year's Day，2013-01-01

【Aiden in English】

        Puerto Madryn, a Welsh town in the Atlantic Ocean was dominated by a huge smelter that produced aluminum from bauxite ore shipped in from Australia, Suriname, and other countries. The production of ceramic tiles made itself the biggest supplier in the nation. The fishing fleet moored in the harbor. Ironically, beef was the national dish of Argentina, and Argentines preferred beef to fish. A majority

New Year's Eve，2012-12-31

【Aiden in English】

        Today it's New Year's Eve 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 still was in pajamas and cuddling a teddy bear. For some reason, I actually grew fond of the bear because he was a nice replacement for my old punching bag. I was thinking of ha

2012-12-30

【Aiden in English】

        The islands we were bounding for had two different names in the Atlantic Ocean. It depended upon whom we spoke with and what we talked about. With respect to the Argentine, Islas Malvinas became national sovereignty. To the English, Falkland Islands are a British Overseas Territory. In history, there were French, British, Spanish, and Argentine settlements over time. Although the Falkland Islands were currently under B

2012-12-29

【Aiden in English】

        Cape Horn in Chile is located at the latitude 55 degrees 58 minutes 47 seconds south and the longitude 67 degrees 16 minutes 18 seconds west as the southernmost part of the world other than Antarctica. It covers the two largest bodies of water, i.e. the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean, and is known as a notorious graveyard for sailors.

        This morning, I awoke to the sound of

2012-12-28

【Aiden in English】

        By December, a hot summer came to the south atmosphere. 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 between the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean. 

        Due to tidal constraints, we had to delay our arrival time by two hours in Ushuaia of Argentina this afternoo

2012-12-27

【Aiden in English】

        Antarctica is the Earth's southernmost continent, encapsulating the South Pole as described in the geographic textbook. It's the fifth-largest continent after Asia, Africa, North America, and South America. About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice that averages at least 1 mile/1,600 meters in thickness. Its mountains cover such a significant area that it makes Antarctica on average the highest of the seven con

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 Chilean Southern Patagonian Ice Fields. The glacier descended from the Andes Mountains and sat like a frozen river above the sea. It had immense weight and the oxygen had been pressed out of the ice, presenting it a strikingly beautiful crystalline appearance and a strange blue glow

Christmas Day，2012-12-25

【Aiden in English】

        "Merry Christmas!" shouted the 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 did set the mood for the day. As I got dressed, he kept us in touch with the weather and talked for hours. The basic point was that there would be a chilly, breezy day ahead.  

  &nb

2012-12-24

【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 latitude that encompasses parched deserts, fertile coastal plains, dense rainforests and, finally, continental ice-caps, fiords, and glaciers.

    &nbs

2012-12-23

【Aiden in English】

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

        This morning at breakfast, I just could barely sit still and wait till 9 O'clock because I was going to take Youth Program. The omelet I ordered wasn't too good, but even that couldn't hold down my excitement! As we entered a room marked SHOCKWAVE, I noticed other children ins

2012-12-22

【Aiden in English】

        I woke up this morning to the sound of people coming from the streets. I stepped out onto our private balcony outside the hotel room in Valparaiso, the largest port city in Chile. At sight, the spectacular hillsides were dotted with a variety of colorful houses. In a distance, the beautiful bay was sparked with a series of peculiar boats. I checked the date and cheered myself up immediately. Yay! It's Saturday. I r

2012-12-21

【Aiden in English】

        In Chinese proverb, an hour in the morning is worth two in the evening. To me, 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. The juice tasted fresh and very berry. As we loaded up our luggage and checked out, I made a French silent farewell to the hotel and the great city of Santiago.

&

2012-12-20

【Aiden in English】

        I awoke @ 9:00 am this morning by the sharp sound of a phone RING! 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 ran to get my shoes on and took a quick sloppy wash. Then both of us dashed to the hotel restaurant and gulped down some croissants with a cup of fruit juice before running to our tour pickup bus. We had to switch buses for o

2012-12-19

【Aiden in English】

        When I woke up early this morning, I still felt sleepy. But I had to catch the plane @ 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 Island. I couldn't believe my eyes. The airport was so delicate that the plane seemed to have the same size as its building! Why didn't I realize the

2012-12-18

【Aiden in English】

        As I walked toward our new tour guide this morning, I felt a sense of dread crawling up my stomach. This tour was going to be a long hike on the side of the crater which was at least 10 miles. When our tour group arrived at the archaeological site of Ahu Vinapu, the heat started to act up. Before I could change my mind, I trekked up the hill. But not long, I was exhausted by climbing and my feet were sore from walking

2012-12-17

【Aiden in English】

        Today was my first day to explore 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 Antarctica).  

        When I woke to the sound of the rooster doing its morning chorus of "COCK-A-DOOD

2012-12-16

        从美东宾州小镇动身出游南美，无论飞往南太平洋的智利，还是空降南大西洋的阿根廷或者巴西，跨越南北半球需要很长的飞行时间。倘若赶上直飞尚好，如同回趟北京或者上海，蒙头酣睡整宿，醒来几近终点；一旦需要中途转机，日子可不像直飞容易打发，时间立刻变得最不值钱，当然在反复经历海关X光周身透视扫描之后，个人隐私更加一文不值。因此除非万不得已，我们情愿不惜代价选择直飞，尽量避免中途转机。

        这回复活节岛之行，偏偏把我们逼上梁山，无论事先怎样设计路线，

2012-12-15

       仰望星空，沉迷于无限地幻想之中，其实纯属我个人爱好。当然我必须承认，这种爱好或多或少深受英国理论物理学家斯蒂芬•霍金(Stephen Hawking)《时间简史》的思想影响，到广袤的时空遨游，去感知自己赖以生存的世界， 早已成为我生活中必不可少的重要部分。纠结的是，平日紧张忙乱的节奏常常无法叫我细心捕捉闪光的瞬间，只有下定决心彻底放下手中一切事务，抽身带走4周28天的光阴浪迹天涯，真正回归大自然，体验山高水远路更长；或者置身异国他乡，领略春光和合万物苏，才能踏踏实实享受朦胧

2012-11-20

        出门在外，其实最令人担惊受怕的莫不过“生病”两个字。小打小闹式的头痛脑热呕吐拉肚子容易咬牙苦撑勉强应对，一旦碰巧赶上甲／乙型肝炎、日本脑炎(流行性乙型脑炎)、白喉、狂犬病、流行性感冒／脑膜炎、破伤风、黄热病、鼠疫、疟疾、伤寒、霍乱等瘟疫，岂不如临大敌，横遭灭顶之灾？

        如是说来，无论国家贫富状况如何，无论访问时间长短，我们出游南美洲热带雨林亚马逊河流域之前，除要提前了解智利、阿根廷、乌拉圭、巴西所到之处史地人文背景、