I was once a long time ago…Japanese

September 17, 2011: Boredom always has a way to set in. As you can see by this photo…a camera is a great way for me to combat boredom, keeping myself occupied.

This week I left Montevideo and headed to Piriapolis, setting up a new base camp, at a beach town that I am told poor families go to for the weekends. I hope that this town of 8089 people keeps specializing in entertaining poor people and frugal backpackers because to me, it is much nicer here than some of the higher class beach towns. The sand seems to look the same and even tastes the same…the water is the same…the houses that sit in back of you are not as expensive nor do they frequently reach 20+ stories…but the restaurants are more “real” and the people seem to be a lot more pleasant.

My favorite camera of the three in which I am traveling with, was sent back to Canon in the United States almost one month ago for repairs. I will be getting it back in 3 to 5 business days according to the United States Post Office, giving me more options on the photos I am able to take and where I will go next to take these photos. You would never think that traveling with 3 cameras would not be enough. But, the past 2.5 or so years, I had 4 critical repairs made for all 3 cameras…all failing me at least once.

If I just had one more SLR camera to add to my collection of cameras…it would be perfect but a lot more worrisome as the net value of my backpacks would significantly increase. This increase would fuel a little more stress when I leaving my valuables in a room with anywhere between 1 to 11 other backpackers. There could also be additional unnecessary thoughts when moving from place to place, especially now, since next to my hostel there is group of six 15 year olds that seem to enjoy robbing backpackers every couple of days.

Traveling would be much more convenient if I was back to one camera…but then, taking photos is one of my favorite things to do with my time. Perhaps one day I will do something with the over 65,000 photos (more or less) I have taken on this trip.

Yes, I believe that I was a long time ago, in my past life…Japanese.