ENTRIES FROM THE GLOBAL TRIP BLOG CHRONICLES
Logos
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip: The Central American Eviction Tour"
Posted December 06, 2007
DAY 14: The minivan driver had just dropped Camilla off at the Guatemala City airport and rushed back into the city to drop off the rest of the passengers going to buses of varied destinations. My bus was to be a “luxury” bus run by Tica, a private bus company with their own stations, servicing the major cities of Central America, from Mexico to Panama. I would take it to the next major city on their route, from Guatemala City to San Salvador (translation: “Saint Salvador”), capital of the almost eponymous El Salvador (“The Salvador.”)
I had paid for my ticket at the gRuta Maya tour agency in Antigua who gave me a not-so-official-looking bus ticket on their standard form with their logo on top. “[Is this the ticket?]” I asked.
“Si.”
Surf’s Up
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip: The Central American Eviction Tour"
Posted December 07, 2007
DAY 15: Amongst the top things that El Salvador is known for is the surfing scene. With fine black sand beaches caressing the white foam of crashing Pacific waves, it has been an international draw for surfing and world-class surf competitions. The base of surfing in El Salvador is in La Libertad (translation: “The Libertad”) about forty minutes away from San Salvador by bus.
Out Of Seclusion
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip: The Central American Eviction Tour"
Posted December 07, 2007
DAY 16: As chilled out a place Surf Camp Horizonte was, I will admit that it had gotten me feeling a bit lonely; away from the more-frequented Playa Sunzal, it was on the secluded beach of Playa Zonte where locals hung out like beach bums — sometimes playing with new puppies named Mambo — when they weren’t off attending to some chores. There were only a handful of people around, with many other surf camps closed down for the low season, while others used the time to construct more buildings to their establishments, or decal their boards.
Surf And Turf
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip: The Central American Eviction Tour"
Posted December 08, 2007
DAY 17: Three years ago in Xi’an, China, I met a Mandarin-speaking Texan girl named Elisa, who was traveling for a short while to see the Terracotta Warriors away from her study-abroad base of Beijing, where she majored in philosophy. Our encounter was brief — only a few hours — but it was in that time that we easily hit it off, strolling around the Muslim Quarter, sampling local foods, and exchanging palm readings. Regrettably we parted ways sooner than we wanted, but we’ve casually kept in touch since then. I remember telling her that fateful day that “our meeting was not coincidental.”
Three years later, I’d discover that our brief encounter would lead me to another person in another part of the world. Behind the scenes, Elisa emailed me contact information so that I could look up her El Salvadorean cousin Juan Pablo (JP) in the capital of San Salvador, which I had done the day before. We had plans to meet up later in the evening back in the city.
Brotherhood Of The Cock
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip: The Central American Eviction Tour"
Posted December 12, 2007
DAY 18: Maybe it’s because I am a descendant of a Filipino farming family that I have this insomnia problem where I can’t sleep if it’s light out. Even with shades or curtains, there is always some hinting slit of daylight somewhere, and my body knows what’s really up. (It also knows when you are trying to cheat it if it feels a sleeping mask against its face.) This explains why I woke up at sunrise around seven in the morning after only sleeping about three hours after a late night out. “You’re a rooster!” Steph said to me on Gchat as I leeched off the area wi-fi in my hotel room that groggy morning. I told her, “my Chinese zodiac should be the cock” — and I hate being a cock. (I’m a tiger, really.)
Made In El Salvador
From the trip blog: "The Global Trip: The Central American Eviction Tour"
Posted December 12, 2007
DAY 19: Being in a familiar scene of a modern city was actually a nice change of pace from being on the go from site to site on the gringo trail to fill the day-to-day entries of this stupid blog. A brief reversion to “normalcy” has helped me recharge in the past, like it had staying with Shelle and the ex-pats in Lusaka, Zambia, hanging out, going out to restaurants, and sitting around watching TV and DVDs.
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ABOUT ERIK R. TRINIDAD
When he’s not making a living as an interactive/motion designer or playing with fast food, Erik R. Trinidad is a travel writer, blogger, video host and producer focusing on adventure and culinary content. His work has been featured on National Geographic Intelligent Travel, Adventure.com, Discovery.com, Saveur, Condé Nast Traveler, and 
Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why, which also includes the work of Tim Cahill, Doug Lansky, Jennifer Leo and Rolf Potts. He has also referenced his travel experiences in his solo book, Fancy Fast Food: Ironic Recipes with No Bun Intended.
For over ten years, Erik has traveled to the seven continents of the world — from Timbuktu to Kalamazoo — with a curiosity for exotic foods and a thirst for adventure (and writing material). In his travels, he has been mugged at knifepoint in Cape Town, extorted by corrupt Russian police on the Trans-Siberian Railway, stranded in tornadic storms in the American midwest, and air-lifted off the Everest Trail by a helicopter that was thankfully paid for by his travel insurance. But it hasn’t been all fun; he has also donned a tuxedo amidst the penguins of Antarctica, paraded with Carnival-winning samba school Beija Flor in Rio, run for his life at Pamplona’s “Running of the Bulls,” cage-dived with great white sharks, gotten shot point-blank in the stomach in Colombia (while wearing a bulletproof jacket), and above all, encountered many people around the world, including some Peruvian musicians in Cuzco who learned and played “Y.M.C.A.” at his request. He loves the irony that, after everywhere he’s been, he has never been to Mexico.
Erik writes stories and news articles when he’s at his base camp in New York City, and continues his blog when he is on the road — provided he’s not occupied tracking down lost luggage.
Additional news/article clippings at ErikTrinidad.com.
See Erik talk about travel in an American Express ad:
Read about Erik in this feature article from Filipinas magazine by National Geographic Traveler Associate Editor Amy Alipio.