Latest / bit of a Rambler / 004 Ramble On
Transcript
- 1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,560 Hello, my name is Kai and I am a bit of a rambler. 2 00:00:05,560 --> 00:00:14,160 And today is the first episode of RamblOn, the companion podcast to Bit of a Rambler, because 3 00:00:14,160 --> 00:00:21,120 I have a lot of stuff to talk about clearly and I didn't realize how many main episodes 4 00:00:21,120 --> 00:00:25,600 I would have like right off the bat, but I still want to talk about everyday things going 5 00:00:25,600 --> 00:00:26,760 on. 6 00:00:26,760 --> 00:00:32,560 So this podcast, this companion podcast will be a little more meta talking about the podcast 7 00:00:32,560 --> 00:00:38,640 itself and just what's been going on in my life while I hang out, traveling around, living 8 00:00:38,640 --> 00:00:41,560 a pretty laid back life. 9 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:47,900 So I might talk about movies I watched or books or really just what's been going on this 10 00:00:47,900 --> 00:00:51,520 week because I always have stuff to talk about, but not everything is going to fit into 11 00:00:51,520 --> 00:00:59,880 the main curated topics that I have all set up and scheduled to go and I have a lot of 12 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:00,960 those. 13 00:01:00,960 --> 00:01:07,040 So yeah, I think I'm going to add this companion podcast on and release it on Saturdays. 14 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:13,120 It might not be as long or as focused as actually I can guarantee it's not going to be 15 00:01:13,120 --> 00:01:16,280 as focused as the main episodes. 16 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:21,400 But that way, if I have anything going on through the week, I can just talk about it here. 17 00:01:21,400 --> 00:01:24,320 You can hear more of the everyday life of traveling. 18 00:01:24,320 --> 00:01:29,480 And if there's anything going on with the podcast or if anybody writes in, I can address 19 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:35,760 that here also in one central place instead of the various social medias and email places 20 00:01:35,760 --> 00:01:43,240 I have to deal with, which brings me to my first order of business because bit of a rambler, 21 00:01:43,240 --> 00:01:51,800 this podcast is the number one travel podcast in Guatemala, according to podstatus.com, which 22 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:56,880 I guess is one of the sites that track podcast listening who took the time to reach out and 23 00:01:56,880 --> 00:02:02,480 tell me about my number one, Guatemala and travel podcast status. 24 00:02:02,480 --> 00:02:05,480 That means there's no other travel podcast in Guatemala. 25 00:02:05,480 --> 00:02:06,480 I'm assuming. 26 00:02:06,480 --> 00:02:10,120 I'm also number 15 in travel in society. 27 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:16,240 So there are probably about 14 other podcasts in Guatemala about traveling society. 28 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:24,000 But while I'm here, I have to think the Guatemalan who have rated this podcast because I do 29 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:29,680 have some ratings on a few platforms and I don't know if I'll ever get to say this again. 30 00:02:29,680 --> 00:02:35,960 So right now I'm the number one podcast in the country, perks of doing a travel podcast 31 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:42,640 in traveling to a bunch of countries that may not be as hip to podcasts as other countries. 32 00:02:42,640 --> 00:02:47,280 I'm number one in the country in travel podcasts. 33 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:51,400 That was really funny to receive that email and moving on. 34 00:02:51,400 --> 00:02:58,200 I'm pretty comfortable with speaking Mandarin Chinese and I'm learning Spanish back, but 35 00:02:58,200 --> 00:03:04,080 every time I can't think of the correct word in a Spanish phrase, I use the Mandarin phrase 36 00:03:04,080 --> 00:03:10,160 instead and to say yes and Mandarin you say, "Due, due," which is like, "Yeah, yeah." 37 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:15,360 And I do that a lot or ta is he or she ta. 38 00:03:15,360 --> 00:03:22,320 So instead of L or A, I'll say like ta, kiero, which is the Chinese he and then the Spanish 39 00:03:22,320 --> 00:03:25,160 wants or, you know, kiero. 40 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:26,160 Kiero. 41 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:27,160 Geez. 42 00:03:27,160 --> 00:03:28,960 I don't know the conjugation still. 43 00:03:28,960 --> 00:03:35,320 Anyway, it's funny because I'm still doing that over two months into speaking Spanish. 44 00:03:35,320 --> 00:03:41,800 Often because I'll be walking along listening to a podcast or something on my headphones in 45 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:46,960 English and then someone will talk to me and I'll have to talk to them in Spanish, but my 46 00:03:46,960 --> 00:03:51,200 brain is so comfortable with Mandarin and it's like, "Well, that's the foreign language 47 00:03:51,200 --> 00:03:52,200 you speak." 48 00:03:52,200 --> 00:03:57,680 So it'll try to substitute in Mandarin words for the Spanish words I don't know even though 49 00:03:57,680 --> 00:04:01,800 it's still thinking about the English words from the podcast I'm listening to. 50 00:04:01,800 --> 00:04:04,800 It's not a huge issue when people always understand me. 51 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:10,960 It's just funny because I noticed I substitute in small Chinese words here and there, but it's 52 00:04:10,960 --> 00:04:14,360 also interesting because people generally know what I'm saying anyway. 53 00:04:14,360 --> 00:04:18,600 So context is pretty big when you're speaking abroad. 54 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:21,120 I've been watching Letter Kenny too. 55 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:25,320 This is TV show about Redneck Canadians. 56 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:30,640 And I think I'm picking up the Redneck Hick accent that they make fun of in the show and 57 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:32,600 everybody talks in. 58 00:04:32,600 --> 00:04:37,560 And I don't even know if that's a real accent, I'm sure it is, but I don't know if the accent 59 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:39,200 they're doing on the show is real. 60 00:04:39,200 --> 00:04:45,640 But I feel like that's taking over my native English speaking voice and I have to consciously 61 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:52,240 remember not to sound like Wayne all the time, but I do find their jokes and puns and 62 00:04:52,240 --> 00:04:55,440 rapid fire talk so much fun. 63 00:04:55,440 --> 00:04:58,800 There's a group of kids that play soccer in my neighborhood all the time. 64 00:04:58,800 --> 00:05:02,200 If you wonder if I'm just going to keep switching topics, the answer is yes. 65 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:05,680 I'm just going to keep talking about whatever happened this week. 66 00:05:05,680 --> 00:05:12,680 And I bought a pizza and on the way back, one of those kids who sees me every day ran up 67 00:05:12,680 --> 00:05:16,200 to me to get me up a hill and asked for a slice of pizza. 68 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:19,880 And I was like, ooh, I want to give you a slice of pizza, then I have to give everybody 69 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:20,880 a slice of pizza. 70 00:05:20,880 --> 00:05:23,440 And it was just him, nobody was around. 71 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:30,000 And I guess he was like 14 or 15, not really a kid, but I just said no, this is my dinner. 72 00:05:30,000 --> 00:05:32,200 And so I'm going to take it home. 73 00:05:32,200 --> 00:05:34,120 He was like, okay. 74 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:38,000 And I felt kind of bad that I didn't give him a slice, but then on the way home carrying 75 00:05:38,000 --> 00:05:43,160 a pizza box in my neighborhood, six other kids asked for a slice of pizza. 76 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:48,000 And I was like, okay, it was a good idea because if I gave one to him, he definitely would 77 00:05:48,000 --> 00:05:52,720 have told all the kids, all the other kids that asked were the regular soccer kids, like 78 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,480 that hangout in that spot I see everybody every day. 79 00:05:56,480 --> 00:06:00,600 So if I had given you on a piece, I would have had to give pizza to all the kids. 80 00:06:00,600 --> 00:06:04,720 And then I'd just become this pizza giver. 81 00:06:04,720 --> 00:06:09,880 And that's a rough reputation when you're living in a country with less income and they already 82 00:06:09,880 --> 00:06:14,520 think you're rich just because of you don't look like them or they know you're from a 83 00:06:14,520 --> 00:06:16,320 wealthier country. 84 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:21,000 If I started giving out food, that trend would not end. 85 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:28,640 Oh, I've been rewatching Kino No Tobi, Kino's journey, this fantastic anime about traveling 86 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:34,920 and listening to Kino talk about traveling is really funny because it reflects so many 87 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:41,240 of the platitudes and general ideas I have about traveling. 88 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:47,040 And when Kino says something, I often remember saying a similar thing to people who ask about 89 00:06:47,040 --> 00:06:51,560 travel or people who ask me what I think about travel. 90 00:06:51,560 --> 00:06:53,720 So it's really great watching the TV show. 91 00:06:53,720 --> 00:07:01,680 It's a fantastic show anyway, but the philosophy within regarding traveling and general life philosophy 92 00:07:01,680 --> 00:07:05,560 is also very comforting to listen to and it's a very slow paste show. 93 00:07:05,560 --> 00:07:09,080 So it's really easy to sink back into. 94 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:10,840 I'm really liking watching it again. 95 00:07:10,840 --> 00:07:16,960 And then someone else who likes the show just told me that it started as a light novel which 96 00:07:16,960 --> 00:07:19,920 I've never read before and I never knew what it was before. 97 00:07:19,920 --> 00:07:27,600 But apparently light novels are just like YA novels, like slightly less difficult than 98 00:07:27,600 --> 00:07:31,840 adult novels that are popular in Japan. 99 00:07:31,840 --> 00:07:39,480 So I got the series of Kino No Tobi light novels and I've started reading those but they 100 00:07:39,480 --> 00:07:43,160 have some of the same stories as the show so I want to finish the show first and then read 101 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:44,160 all of them. 102 00:07:44,160 --> 00:07:48,920 But those light novels, there's 18 of them now, they're still ongoing and the original 103 00:07:48,920 --> 00:07:54,520 writer is still writing those novels 25 years later, a quarter century on the same series 104 00:07:54,520 --> 00:07:59,960 with the same author is ongoing, which is great because I read a couple of from the first 105 00:07:59,960 --> 00:08:08,480 volume and that travel philosophy vibe is still winding its way through the whole written 106 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:10,120 prose. 107 00:08:10,120 --> 00:08:13,160 So I'm pretty excited to get into those. 108 00:08:13,160 --> 00:08:18,440 I just want to reiterate here, although I think I did mention it in the Guatemala podcast, 109 00:08:18,440 --> 00:08:21,000 who knows when that's going to come out. 110 00:08:21,000 --> 00:08:29,960 How much I like saying Buenos not just Buenos holidays and Buenos dias, every time I walk 111 00:08:29,960 --> 00:08:36,760 by someone in the neighborhood here, everybody is so polite here and it's funny because they 112 00:08:36,760 --> 00:08:40,720 recently cleaned up the crime in this neighborhood. 113 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:44,440 All the people I meet here tell me like, yeah, this place is dangerous. 114 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:50,680 I got mugged here many times more than one person has told me that about the neighborhood 115 00:08:50,680 --> 00:08:58,000 I'm living in now, but there are police stations and kiosks every couple hundred yards 116 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:00,160 or maybe half a kilometer here. 117 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:01,720 They're pretty close by though. 118 00:09:01,720 --> 00:09:05,680 There are several right in the neighborhood I'm at and everybody is very relaxed here. 119 00:09:05,680 --> 00:09:10,960 Like I said, the kids play soccer in the street, people walk with their parents or just their 120 00:09:10,960 --> 00:09:18,000 siblings around the streets without hurrying from one door to the next or anything like that. 121 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:20,720 So it feels like a very safe little community. 122 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,680 And whenever I see someone in this neighborhood, they all know who I am now because I've been 123 00:09:23,680 --> 00:09:26,360 living in the same place for a couple months. 124 00:09:26,360 --> 00:09:34,840 And they always wave and say, Buenos dias or Buenos not just and it's nice to have that 125 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:42,000 small community feel where everyone is comfortable and polite enough with their neighbors that 126 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:44,640 we greet each other whenever we see each other. 127 00:09:44,640 --> 00:09:45,640 It's fun. 128 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:47,080 I like doing that. 129 00:09:47,080 --> 00:09:51,160 I still have not gotten to Ketsal Tanongo. 130 00:09:51,160 --> 00:09:53,800 I have it in my head that I'm supposed to go there. 131 00:09:53,800 --> 00:09:56,560 Maybe it's just the name that's really cool Ketsal Tanongo. 132 00:09:56,560 --> 00:09:58,160 They call it Shala here. 133 00:09:58,160 --> 00:10:01,240 And I can take a bus over there pretty much any time of the day. 134 00:10:01,240 --> 00:10:07,520 There's a bus running eight times a day from each company that goes straight to Shala. 135 00:10:07,520 --> 00:10:08,840 So I think I am going to go. 136 00:10:08,840 --> 00:10:13,360 I have two weeks left in this apartment and then I have to figure out if I'm going to leave 137 00:10:13,360 --> 00:10:15,440 the country or do something else. 138 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:18,840 And for some reason I keep thinking about Ketsal Tanongo. 139 00:10:18,840 --> 00:10:23,520 So I think when my time in this apartment is up, I'm going to just jump on a bus, go 140 00:10:23,520 --> 00:10:26,520 over to Ketsal Tanongo, see how I feel about it. 141 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:32,960 Stay if I like it and then if not, get a bus back here and fly out to somewhere else. 142 00:10:32,960 --> 00:10:37,360 But I mean, I love this little neighborhood and this is like the biggest city and Ketsal 143 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:39,600 Tanongo will be a little smaller. 144 00:10:39,600 --> 00:10:42,240 And it's at 3,000 higher feet of elevation. 145 00:10:42,240 --> 00:10:45,000 Guatemala City is already at 5,000 feet of elevation. 146 00:10:45,000 --> 00:10:46,560 So you can think about that. 147 00:10:46,560 --> 00:10:49,520 Guatemala City is as high as Denver. 148 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:53,520 And then Ketsal Tanongo or Shala is actually at 8,000 feet. 149 00:10:53,520 --> 00:10:57,440 So it's 3,000 feet higher than Denver. 150 00:10:57,440 --> 00:10:59,280 So that's a real mountain town. 151 00:10:59,280 --> 00:11:02,960 That's higher than a lot of the mountain towns outside of Denver too. 152 00:11:02,960 --> 00:11:04,680 It might be higher than all of them. 153 00:11:04,680 --> 00:11:08,520 The Rockies have to be higher than 8,000 in total, right? 154 00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:09,880 Oh no, the Leadville. 155 00:11:09,880 --> 00:11:11,600 That's where the Leadville Marathon is, right? 156 00:11:11,600 --> 00:11:12,640 That's like 10,000 feet. 157 00:11:12,640 --> 00:11:17,840 Yeah, that Leadville Marathon, that's 100 miles, ultra marathoner, whatever that is, takes 158 00:11:17,840 --> 00:11:21,720 place in Leadville, Colorado and that's 10,000 feet of elevation. 159 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:23,720 But 8,000 is nothing as sneeze at. 160 00:11:23,720 --> 00:11:25,840 Plus, they have volcanoes here. 161 00:11:25,840 --> 00:11:28,360 So I think that's the next plan here. 162 00:11:28,360 --> 00:11:30,480 Go check out Ketsal Tanongo. 163 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:32,520 See what the volcanoes look like. 164 00:11:32,520 --> 00:11:35,960 See if the town is any different than Guatemala City. 165 00:11:35,960 --> 00:11:40,560 Also the best beer here, Cabro, is apparently from Shala. 166 00:11:40,560 --> 00:11:44,120 So I have to go check that out and see what it's like. 167 00:11:44,120 --> 00:11:48,320 Oh, so I don't do a lot of ride sharing usually. 168 00:11:48,320 --> 00:11:52,760 I have a bike or I have a car or I walk everywhere too. 169 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:59,400 So I'm not used to using rideshare programs, but Uber is extremely convenient here in Guatemala, 170 00:11:59,400 --> 00:12:01,600 so I've been using it. 171 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:09,200 But just yesterday I had a driver who accepted and then I was waiting three hours for him to 172 00:12:09,200 --> 00:12:13,560 pick me up and he didn't answer and I don't use them, so I didn't know what the consequences 173 00:12:13,560 --> 00:12:15,360 were for canceling a driver. 174 00:12:15,360 --> 00:12:18,440 I figured it would be okay after an hour. 175 00:12:18,440 --> 00:12:22,960 I was like, well, I can't control for canceling a driver who is an hour late. 176 00:12:22,960 --> 00:12:28,280 But he was, I don't know, 14 minutes away and just decided to never come pick me up or 177 00:12:28,280 --> 00:12:37,240 cancel the drive, drove around a bit and then drove southwest to Antigua for more than an 178 00:12:37,240 --> 00:12:38,400 hour. 179 00:12:38,400 --> 00:12:43,960 So I guess he was from there and didn't want to work today but also didn't want to cancel 180 00:12:43,960 --> 00:12:45,760 the ride. 181 00:12:45,760 --> 00:12:49,320 Just thought that was funny because I was for three hours just walking around, checking 182 00:12:49,320 --> 00:12:53,280 my phone to see where the guy was at one point or another and I just watched him drive 183 00:12:53,280 --> 00:13:00,480 around the city and then drive super far southwest to a totally different little town. 184 00:13:00,480 --> 00:13:04,920 But that has been my only negative experience with the ride share here in Guatemala other 185 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:05,920 than that. 186 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:09,680 Uber has been really fast, extremely affordable. 187 00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:16,520 Like probably four dollars every 30 minutes, eight dollars an hour, something like that, 188 00:13:16,520 --> 00:13:18,600 pretty cheap ride. 189 00:13:18,600 --> 00:13:23,720 And the drivers have all been really nice, very excited to speak in Spanish even with 190 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:24,960 my broken Spanish. 191 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:31,800 So I've had a lot of good practice like on routes to a destination for 30 minutes talking 192 00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:37,360 with a driver, which is good because I don't get into long conversations. 193 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:43,040 I'm usually too excited about buying the next food or watching the next episode of Letter 194 00:13:43,040 --> 00:13:46,200 County or whatever I'm doing or making these shows. 195 00:13:46,200 --> 00:13:53,920 So I have to be in some longer form conversations, which I like because I do like to reestablish 196 00:13:53,920 --> 00:13:59,200 what little skill I have in Spanish so that it will be available when I do want to use 197 00:13:59,200 --> 00:14:00,400 it. 198 00:14:00,400 --> 00:14:08,320 So, gracias, me gusta Guatemala, is the piece, is the most, or our country's mail, I'm 199 00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:13,760 not going to get the genders or conjugations right at any point while I'm living here. 200 00:14:13,760 --> 00:14:15,360 But everyone understands what I'm saying. 201 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:20,840 So if you're worried about moving to a place like France or whatever that has conjugations, 202 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:24,640 everybody knows what you're saying anyway and they don't expect you to be good at their 203 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:27,120 language if you're speaking it. 204 00:14:27,120 --> 00:14:31,240 So do the best you can, people will appreciate it a lot. 205 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:38,040 That is my Ramble on first episode, just stuff I was thinking about. 206 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:43,600 So if you want to talk to me, I'm bit of a rambler on all the socials or at gmail.com. 207 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:48,040 If you talk to me, I'll probably talk to you back here and I will see you on Wednesday 208 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:52,440 to talk about some hygienic practices on the road. 209 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:53,440 Have a good one. 210 00:14:53,440 --> 00:15:15,860 Please join us for the final performance of the first round.