Welcome to Mark's Travelcommentary:

Welcome to Mark's Page where you can follow the links in the left frame to see photos and read about my travels with Chris Baber, Isabel Carreno Garcia and Ralph Sebastian through Mexico and Central America, as well as trips to and through Canada and the United States during 2004, 2005, and 2006.

Update: 26 August 2007 - Yeah, it's a long time, I know...

I just took a look at this page and realized that wow, it's been a long time since I've put anything up here at all.  Well, that will change, just a little bit, tonight, as I'm going to post some more good Austin photos here.  And I will also devote some time in the near future to putting more of my thoughts down on, probably on the Mark's Random Ramblings page.

I also will get my photos from my trip to the Southeastern US last summer posted (some anyway), and also the photos I took at the Pilot Pen tennis tournament last August (2006), which was a really nice trip also.

So stay tuned...and thanks for visiting!!

Update:  27 December 2006 - Austin, Texas area photos

Since I now have made my home here in Austin, I've gotten out some and taken photos of the surrounding area.

The first page, Austin Photos 1, is a page of shots of my apartment in Austin and also the Lake Austin / Highway 360 Bridge area, which is very close to where I live.  Great area, really beautiful views of Austin and the little ridges we've got around here.

The second page, Austin Photos 2, contains photos of my trip out to my buddy's ranch south of Lockhart, TX.  We went out to feed his cows and to do a bit of target practice.  It was fun as I hadn't been shooting in nearly 20 years, if you can believe that.  Amazing.

The third page, Austin Photos 3, has some photos of a ride I took out toward Marble Falls, TX, which is just a little west of Austin.  Great motorcycle ride, if you get the chance.  There are also some nice sunset shots from a park near where I used to live in Cedar Park, TX. 

Austin Photos 4 has shots I took around the University of Texas campus, which is very nice and a great place to just get out and take a walk, especially during the Christmas break when it's like a ghost town!!

I'll be putting up more shots as I take the time.  Until then, ENJOY!!

Mark

Update: 22/23 March 2006 through April 17, 2006 - The first pictures from India (and trip to India), and ongoing....

Page 1 -Enjoy!!!   Page - 2  Page - 3  Page - 4  Page - 5  Page -6  Page - 7  Page - 8  Page - 9

Goa Trip - Page 1, Goa - Page 2, Goa - Page 3, Goa - Page 4, Goa - Page 5, Goa - Page 6, Goa - Page 7

Office Pictures

Update: 14 March 2006 - What a long, strange trip it's been!

As of the last update we (Chris & I) were in Mexico, he in Villa Guerrero, Estado de Mexico, living with Isabel in her mother's house, and me in Cuernavaca, Morelos where putting in some volunteer time at the Banco de Alimentos (the food bank), hanging out with the family (my Mexican family) and other friends, studying Spanish and just generally enjoying my free time.

My Cuernavaca "Banco De Alimentos" Buddies

All good stuff, of course.  Now imagine......chaos!!  A complete change from this, and, I think, for the better!!!

In doing this "hanging out doing nothing" thing that I love so much, I had an IM (instant messenger) conversation with my good buddy David Engler, who I've known for going on 18 years, went to college with at Creighton University, and had not kept in touch with quite as well as I'd wished to.

He started out the conversation with something like this:  "I think I may have something good enough for you to come back to the US for!"  I said, "Oh yeah, what's that?"  He replies, "A consulting gig, with a woman I've known for a long time, with a big US company.  Short term, but decent pay, your kind of thing."

Well, one thing has led to another and I now am employed as a contractor, working on a short term (hopefully more will come about) project that has me going to India next Monday the 20th of March until the end of April.  Yes, INDIA!!!  Biggest democracy in the world, 1.3+ Billion people, "they're stealing all our jobs through outsourcing" India, according to all the Chicken Littles out there.

As it stands, Dave was absolutely right, the project couldn't be more interesting, the people involved better to work with, and the progress of things couldn't be a whole lot better either.

As a result of all this I returned to the US very late January, 2006, just before heading to New Jersey to receive some training for this project on which I've been working.  Stayed with Dave in his house while I tried to figure out what I was going to do in terms of an apartment, bed, sheets, lamps, work clothing, etc., etc., etc.  All that crap that I'd sold once before, but now suddenly needed again.  I've reacquired some, but I must admit I've done a LOT better job of not buying mountains of useless crap that was so difficult to get rid of the last time.  And that, that makes me happy!!

Anyway, about a week after I got back to the US, the woman running the project was in need of another person with varied talents and as a result Dave and I both suggested that Chris would be a good fit.  As a result Chris got roped into this deal as well, good for him and us, and he will be going to Tampa, Florida.  Not quite as cool, perhaps, as India, but I went to my freshman year of college at the University of South Florida, so I know that Tampa's not all that bad!  Dave will be going to Tucson, AZ.  Also good, as Chris and I found out on our recent voyage out there for this project.  Great town, nice people, pretty scenery, but DRY as the proverbial bone.  Better bring 2 bottles of lotion with you or your skin will crack and fall right off your skeleton!

Chris and Isabel, who had since obtained her visitor/tourist visa for the United States from our lovely embassy staff in Mexico City, arrived in Austin sometime around mid-February, and we all agreed it'd be a good idea to take a trip to Omaha to retrieve what little stuff we'd left there, since I knew that I, for certain, was never returning to that festering sore of a city to live ever again.  Oooopppsss, did I type that out loud?  Sorry you Omahans, just keep right on believing that it's the world's greatest city, that it's got a booming economy, is scenic, has great things to do, etc., etc., etc.  All while I laugh to myself and thank the stars above that I'm finally free of that place!

A short rental van trip to Nebraska (yeah, right!!), if you can call 13-15 hours driving ONE WAY, was thereupon completed, including the retrieval of my limited clothing, weight bench and weights, and box of important papers.  Chris brought back his collection of stuff, plus a free TV from his dad, which has since been diagnosed as un-fixable and this is probably good, all of which got jammed into the van and trucked here to Texas.  We got ourselves a nice 2 bedroom apartment at Alexan Silverado, on the corner of Parmer Lane and Cypress Creek Road, here in lovely Cedar Park, Williamson County, Texas.

Frenzied purchasing ensued, which gave me hives and nearly hospitalized me, but I've survived.  Purchased a bunch of crap, but at least I can say it's 100% necessities.  I realized quickly that I had exactly ZERO towels (amazing), glasses, dishes, forks, spoons, and knives, nor a mattress or box spring, or a bedroom lamp, or trash cans, or etc., etc., etc.  At least that's all out of the way and I can now focus on finishing this project, returning to the Austin area and relaxing!!!  Nice!

Soon after our arrival in these United States we figured we'd need cars and such to get ourselves re-integrated into an American society that has developed pretty much in line with the automobile.  Sad, but true, we just don't utilize the greatness that is public transport quite like the Europeans, or even Mexicans for that matter (the Mexico City metro is one of the nicest I've ever been on).  Chris & I researched some possibilities and he ended up getting himself an Audi A6 Avant 2.8 Station Wagon.  Yes, a station wagon!!!  That's alright, it's pretty cool, just in terms of cars, but really cool as far as wagons go.  Turns out the seller, on Ebay of course, was in Philadelphia, PA.  The woman who is running this project, and who hired us, just happens to live about an hour from Philly.  So she agreed to go and pick up Chris's car for him, drive down to Virginia where our latest round of training was, and then we drove back from Virginia to Cedar Park, TX where we now live, as well as where Dave Engler lives.

Here's the map of that nice drive that we just completed this past Sunday at about 1AM:

From Friday at about 8pm EST to Sunday/Monday 1AM CST we covered a LOT of miles.  Plus the District of Columbia and 2 more states through which I'd never been, West Virginia, just a sliver, and Louisiana.

It was decided that since we'd be coming back to Texas and could take a route that would allow us to go through New Orleans we ought to do that.  I'll be posting some more photos of that little trip through NO here shortly.  Suffice to say that it's destroyed, still.  Not the entire city; there are parts that I would even say are almost back to normal, but crossing Lake Ponchartrain and entering the city from the North you see some of those northern neighborhoods and realize that the city was indeed wrecked, pretty substantially, by Hurricane Katrina and I'm not sure it'll ever be the same.

As an aside, kind of a weird thing, the ONLY radio stations that are even close to consistently broadcast across that ENTIRE route were the good old standbys, classic rock.  From West Virginia to Tennessee, to Mississippi and Alabama, through Louisiana and into Texas, the ONLY consistent format we could encounter was classic rock.  Sad, but true.  As Chris mentioned, it probably just reinforces that there's not a lot of quality new music being produced the last few years.  Either that or all of us who were raised in the 70's and 80's now have the purchasing power and are all trying to re-live our glory years and so constantly demand reminders of those years in the form of music from those decades.  Either way, it's interesting.

Update: January 14, 2006 (2nd update): Links to My Best Photo Pages - unless noted, all pictures taken with a Canon SD500 Powershot Camera

Update: January 14, 2006:  Against my better judgment I have created a blog at blogspot, only because it allows me to create and throw up my opinions on a wide variety of topics a little more freely and easily.  Most of the stuff from my Why? page and Random Observations page have been re-posted at the blog site, plus I've added a few more posts on a couple of other random, but to me very important, topics.

Anyway, if you'd like to read my anti-Capitalism, anti-American Dream, anti-greed writings, feel free to head on over.

Mark

Whole Trip - Starting from Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico:

Trip Down to Panama (Costa Rica, actually):

Trip Back from Panama to Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico:

Update: December 12, 2005 - Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

I'm working on a "Hotels" page, which will list every single hotel we stayed in, what country they were in, how much the rooms cost us for either a double, triple, or single rate, depending on what the arrangement and/or availability was when we stayed there.  Hopefully it will be of use to those of you who might be wanting to follow in our footsteps through the great, scenic region of Central America.

Also, I'll be working on somewhat of a "Quick Link" page that'll take you to the pages I think are the most interesting, and/or to certain pages with pictures of all one type, such as the Aztec and Mayan ruins and pyramids that we visited on our voyage.

Anyway, that's all for now, Happy Holidays to everyone and best wishes for a great 2006!!!

Mark

Update: December 9, 2005 - Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico

Well, where were we anyway?  The answer is Panama City, Panama.  Now I'm in Mexico again.  Why, you ask?  Here's the answer...

We were sitting in the Hotel Montreal in Panama City, Panama, interacting with the other guests, mostly retired or soon to be retired folks who were looking into the country and its recent rating as one of the best places in the world to retire.  It is all of that, and more, I may add.

Anyway, throughout this process of waiting for the sailboat to come and take us from Portobelo on the north coast of Panama to Cartagena, Colombia, I realized a few things.  One, I was tired.  Tired of traveling, at least by motorcycle, tired of hunting for hotels, tired of food prepared in restaurants of dubious quality, tired of listening to crappy Panamanian Spanish, tired of a lot of things.  Secondly, I realized that no amount of continued traveling by motorcycle through South America was going to result in any kind of "enlightenment" as to what the hell I was going to do with the rest of my life after the voyage.  I'd kind of always assumed that by constantly exposing myself to new and interesting locales something would jump up and scream at me, "Mark, this is it, it's the place you've always looked for as 'your place' to settle down and start your life over again!!!"

Never happened and I realized that it probably wouldn't happen.  Plus I realized that while I'd probably see a whole lot more really interesting, beautiful, unbelievably scenic places, if those things weren't going to help me in my long run development or give me any further insight as to a future direction to take with my life, then by continuing with the voyage all I was really accomplishing was spending the last of my life's savings on a really long, but definitely interesting, vacation.

A few hours of number crunching later and I came to the conclusion that a) I could afford to continue to South America and travel as we'd been doing for about 10 more months total, including the costs to return to the US via motorcycle with all the border crossings, nights in hotels, etc.  That would leave me with EXACTLY my predetermined comfort level of hard US currency to settle back into some sort of a life in the states once I returned.

Now, 10 more months traveling and experiencing is good, but without any hint that I would be any wiser for the wear, but certainly more worn for the wear, I decided to take me (and my newly discovered internal revolutionary twin brother) back to Mexico to spend a few more quality months with my good friends there, research some places to live in the States, some job opportunities, upgrade my Spanish language skills and generally take a rest from the grueling grind that traveling by motorcycle can be. 

As an aside, it's amazing how you don't really SLEEP well in a different hotel bed every night, not to mention even the same hotel bed for several nights, although some are certainly better than others.  The bed at the Hotel Tolteka Plaza in Santa Ana, El Salvador, for instance, was absolutely fantastic and I slept like a child for nearly 10 hours.

The rest of the story is that I told Juan Carlos Garcia, manager of the Hotel Montreal, that we were going to head back and he asked me, somewhat incredulously, "Why?  Was it that you had an empty place inside you that you were looking to fill by traveling and now that you've done that you're ready to go home?"  No, not exactly, more like I had an empty place inside of me that I was hoping to fill, or at least find direction, by traveling and since I've realized that that's not going to happen I'm ready to turn around and go home (or at least my 2nd home, Mexico).  He thought about it and told me he thought it was an excellent, well reasoned decision, wished we wouldn't go (he was our new motorcycle riding buddy with whom we'd logged close to 300 miles or more riding in and around the city), but if we were leaving he hoped things went well for us the rest of the way.

We took our sweet time on the journey back through Central America, stopping in El Salvador, which we missed the first time, but not before spending some real quality time in Costa Rica that we missed out on our trip down.  After 2 days in San Isidro de General in the south of CR, we spent nearly a week in La Fortuna, near the active volcano Arenal.  While the volcano didn't oblige us with any spectacular lava flows, as it had the NIGHT BEFORE we arrived, it did throw off some good plumes of ash, we heard the rumbling of the volcano loud and clear, and we spent some quality time in the hot springs nearby and took a "canopy tour" near the volcano also.

Speaking of that, the Sky Trek canopy tour was probably the best $48 I've spent in I can't remember how long.  The first really long zip line is a little over 200 meters over the jungle/canyon floor (that's a good piece over 600 feet for you Imperial system users), and we traveled at better than 35 miles per hour down the wire.  Spectacular is pretty much the only way to describe it.  Especially since that little trip was followed up by 5 more lines, all successively lower in altitude, but generally a little faster in speed, and all really, really long, with the last line taking nearly 45 seconds to complete.  It was great and I can't recommend something like it highly enough should you have the opportunity.

We also spent some quality time along the Mexican coast including 2 nights in Las Bahias de Huatulco, 2 nights in Puerto Escondido, and one night in Acapulco.

Finally we arrived in Cuernavaca where I said goodbye, for now, to Chris & Isabel who ended up in Villa Guerrero, Estado de Mexico, Mexico.  I'm still here in Cuernavaca, studying Spanish with one of my former instructors off and on when she has the time, and volunteering a few hours each day at the Cuernavaca Food Bank helping prepare bags of food that are handed out to several hundred poor families each day.  It's tiring work, but satisfying, and the people who work there are absolutely fantastic individuals and really good fun as well.

Anyway, while that's about all I've got for now, I'm sure over the next few weeks and months I'll add more and more photos to the site to bring it to completion, as well as add more explanations of various places and the things I did or saw there that really stuck out in my mind.

Thanks again for visiting and, as always, if you have any questions, comments, whatever, drop me a line at mark@travelcommentary.com

Mark Brandl
Cuernavaca, Morelos, Mexico
December 9, 2005 

Follow this link for a page describing the motorcycle and most of my gear.

For the answer as to "Why?" I'm doing a trip like this, please visit the "Why" page where I try to make some sense of it for those who just don't "get it".  It's probably hopeless anyway, because as Mariola Cichon states on her site, a friend told her "For those who understand no explanation is necessary, for those who do not no explanation is possible".   That's probably the best encapsulation of the situation I can think of, but if you're a glutton for punishment, read the "Why" page.

If you have a question or suggestion, please email me at mark@travelcommentary.com as I'd love to hear from you about virtually any travel topic.  I'll try my best to answer questions quickly and factually, based on information that I've gleaned from my travels and not on "traveler's hearsay", which does seem to run rampant on the web.

Thanks for visiting and I hope you enjoy this page!

Mark