The Peterson Pack on the Move

***Disclaimer: Shout out to my fellow middle schoolers (and almost 9th graders) back home! This is meant to be read only by those of you who can appreciate some sarcasm. I mean no offense by poking fun at you and our entire town.*** To our dearest friends back home in Alaska, I hope this letter finds you in the best of health. We send you greetings from far and wide, where the sun sets upon Adriatic shores and the people are far more stylish than you. We have had many unimaginable experiences, from being blessed by a buddhist monk to the smell of durian on public transport to the painful sensation of an acid burn from an Ayervadic oil massage. But, as the Croatians frown at us for mispronouncing their language, I am reminded of home, where Mr. Hickox's glare can make even the bravest seventh grader stop leaning back in their chair and pretend to pay attention. Truly, we do miss the comforts of home: the freezing rain, the scent of dead salmon on the riverbanks, and   the ever-...

In many of my previous blog posts I have attempted to create a comprehensive history or scientific outline through hours of research and writing. But, as one can imagine, that is extremely tiring, and I feel that we have strayed from our initial idea of a "travel blog." So I have decided to follow the wise words of the one Rachel Barber, and just write about some of our funny stories. Ignore the fact that my parents have told me to do this same thing countless times—it didn't sound as smart coming from them. So I'm going to go all  the way back to Vietnam. There, surrounded by people the same height as Quill, she and I were both "baby." And they sure loved their babies!  Everywhere we went, people would cross the street to ask if they could get their picture taken with Quill. All the little old ladies just wanted to cuddle her and pinch her cheeks. They absolutely loved her—the cutest possible girl in the eyes of the Vietnamese, with her pale skin, blond hai...

We arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia after about 36 hours of travel from Mrissa, Sri Lanka. Our journey started just before dawn in a Sri Lankan train station and ended just after sunset the following day in the walled city of Dubrovnik. What a magic trick to be able to move between such dramatically different places on Earth in such a short time! The flight into Dubrovnik at sunset while looking down on the ancient city, the mountains, and the ocean was one of the most beautiful sights I have seen. The Uber driver in his leather jacket, driving his black Mercedes with leather interior felt worlds away from the tuk-tuks and makeshift taxis of Sri Lanka (where the mini-van seats are sometimes not even attached to the floor of the vehicle).The driver dropped us off at the gate through the wall because cars cannot drive into the walled city. We loaded our backpacks onto our backs and strolled into another world, feeling like we were in a storybook adventure series.  Carrying our luggage o...

                                                                                                                                                chapter 5                                                                                           Early the next morning I woke everybody up. I told  the girls to all wear headdresses and sprinkle fern seeds in their feathers. I told the boys to...

We drove in an old broken down van from Ella to Udawalawe. On the end of the drive we saw four elephants from the road. We walked up to the first one we saw and noticed other tourists feeding it bananas through the electric fence. Feeding wild animals is very bad. We thought one of the tourists was going to get zapped by the fence but unfortunately, it didn't happen. The next morning we woke up very early, at 5:00 am. We got into an elevated pickup truck bed to go on a safari. We drove into Udawalawe National Park. At first we saw storks, jungle fowl, hawk eagles, serpent eagles, kingfishers, peacocks, hornbills, fly catchers, and bee-eaters, which are all birds. The jungle fowl looks like a small rooster with a big beautiful crest. It is the national bird of Sri Lanka. The flycatcher, kingfisher, and bee-eater are brightly colored tropical birds. The flycatcher is blue. The kingfisher is also blue. The bee-eater is green. We also saw several crocodiles basking in the sun at a mudd...

   Towering over  the Sri Lankan jungle, a massive plateau juts out of the otherwise flat landscape. Originally a lava plug from a long gone volcano, this imposing rock has become an integral part of Sri Lankan history.      Sigiriya, which is Sinhalese for Lion Rock, has been through many stages throughout history. It has gone from a monastery older than Jesus to the impenetrable fortress of a usurper king, back again to a monastery before being mysteriously abandoned and consumed by the jungle.  It was an absolutely amazing place to visit, even if it did mean dragging ourselves up steep staircases in one- hundred degree heat.      This ancient monolith seems to draw one toward s it, and  it has been gathering people for thousands of years.  There is evidence that the caves and outcroppings around Sigiriya  have been used as shelters by Buddhist monks and ascetics since the 3rd century BCE, and archeological studies have...

The cramped space of a tuk tuk  Tuk tuks are small three passenger vehicles with one front wheel and two back wheels. They are used as taxis in Sri Lanka. You can fit four passengers if someone sits on someone else’s lap. Even with only three, it is still very packed. They are open to air where doors would be on a car or truck. They are very wobbly. You don’t get car sick because of the breeze. The drivers communicate with each other about turns to move and where they are going with hand signals and horns. The colors of the tuk tuk in Sri Lanka are tan, blue, red, green, and black. But it is not just the color that makes a tuk tuk a tuk tuk. You also need funny bumper stickers, buddhas on the dashboard, lights on the bottom, and slinkies hanging from a mirror. Some tuk tuks take you a very long way. It’s impressive that they can go up and down very steep hills. Once we had to get up a short but steep driveway. The driver said, “one people out,” and Papa got out. The rest of us thou...

My family and I are in Sri Lanka. The towns we have been to so far are Colombo, Kandy, and Sigiriya. In Colombo, we landed and stayed the night at a hotel a few minutes away from the train station so we could have enough time to get our tickets the next morning. When we got onto the train we were very hot and we did not know if we were allowed to open our windows. Eventually a deaf person came to the window and started pushing it up so we knew we could open it.  Then the person came into the train and asked us to donate money for a school for the deaf. It was very strange. The train had to stop at some stations along the way so the hawkers took their chance and got on board. Hawkers are people that sell stuff. The were selling food wrapped in banana leaves, water, and soda. Our ticket only went to the town right before Kandy so we took our first tuk tuk ride to go to Kandy. We hung out at the hotel/home stay for a while and swam in the pool. In the evening we walked around the Kand...

 Despite being only a few days into our stay in Sri Lanka, we've already had tons of crazy experiences and we're excited for more. If you don't know much about Sri Lanka, don't feel bad—if you can point it out as "that little island by India," you're already ahead of a lot of people. I thought it might be prudent to provide a quick overview of Sri Lanka for those who zoned out in 7th grade geography. Geography: Sri Lanka is a small, teardrop shaped island country located only 54.8 km off of India's South East coast, and it encompasses about 25,300 square miles. It is shaped with low plains near the coastline rising up to hills in the center of the island. A mountainous region is found in the south central area. Located not far north of the equator, Sri Lanka's climate is tropical and hot, with its only seasons being the winter and summer monsoons. The monsoons bring constant, heavy winds and  rain, sometimes even up to a hundred inches of rain per ...

 Chapter 4 I woke up and quietly crawled out of the hut that I share with my dad. Next, I grabbed some cooked fish and ran to the creek. On the way there I spotted some fern shoots. I walked over to them, checked for bugs, and grabbed them for later. Then I kept running.  Finally, I got there and spotted Moona. Panting heavily, I said, “I think….. I know…..how ……to make them…. stop fighting.”  “How?” Moona asked.       I said, “We are going to trick my tribe into thinking your tribe is magical and can defeat my tribe easily. Or we talk to your chief and have her and my dad have a meeting.”      “Wait, hold up. Your dad is your chief? That makes you basically a princess!”      “Yes, I know, but it makes it really irritating to sneak off,” I said.      “Okay. If we talk to my chief and arrange a meeting, then won’t my chief tell your dad that we are friends?” Moona said.      “Yes, she would, ex...

     Our time in Vietnam ended last week. We loved our time there. We felt proud to have stepped way out of our comfort zones in both rural and urban Vietnam. By the end we were eating mostly vegetarian food (the meat and fish being sold in hot markets did become appetizing) and becoming nocturnal to avoid the heat. We were ready to move away from the heat, humidity, and horn honking. However, we decided to make one more stop in the tropics of Asia before heading north: Sri Lanka. Upon landing in Colombo after midnight, with a tired family, in a crowded foreign city of more than a million, I admit to having some doubts about our decisions. But when we woke up the next morning to the Indian Ocean, brightly colored tuk tuks and people leaning out train doors as they passed by, the doubts were gone and I was excited to explore Sri Lanka. It has been a whirlwind 4 days here. This afternoon, we are taking a break to catch up on home school and communications. Here are a f...

Location: Temple of the Second Emperor in Nihn Bihn. The creature next to the human is a unicorn   You’ve heard of a unicorn, right? A horse with a horn on top of its head? Yes, course you have. But have you heard of a Vietnamese unicorn? It is more of a lion with horns. It has a luxurious coat with a great big mane, a big tongue, and two scary eyeballs. It also has two short spiked horns that look a little like an antelope or goat.  It’s pretty funny. We have seen these "lion goats" on various occasions, but the funniest time was the first time. It was at a water puppet show in Hanoi. The show started with humans, dragons, frogs, fish, and phoenix, which all looked normal by American standards. It was quite a surprise when we saw their "unicorns" for the first time. For a while I thought they were some weird looking dragon, until Tre looked at the booklet and it said “Unicorn Dance.” Everybody thought the unicorns looked so weird. On other occasions, like at the se...

Last night we went on a night train from Nihn Bihn to Hue, Vietnam. We left at 10pm and arrived at 9am. It was super fun. The room was as big as a medium sized closet with two bunk beds on either side of it. My mom and dad took bottom bunks. Tre and I got the better top bunks. I don't know why they took the bottom bunks, but I am sure glad they did. When we finally got on after waiting for the train to come, I had to put my bag below me and climb onto the top bunk so that everyone could get in and stop blocking the hallway. We had already eaten dinner, so we didn't have to get food from the people yelling in the hallway selling stuff. It was pretty late so we went to bed. We woke up around 7am and ate some of the food they gave us in cardboard boxes. It was fine, but buffets are much better. We read for a while and when we got off, we took a taxi to a super amazing hotel my mom picked out and it had a buffet.  A selfie on the night train Throughout this trip we have been on man...