Next day, big surprise: no death by either snake bite or jaguar mauling. Tiredness calmed my overactive imagination and I dozed. And, if it wasn’t a jaguar poised to spring, it was a poisonous fer-de-lance viper, picking which of my buttocks to sink its fangs into.
LONELY PLANET INDIA FIRST TIMERS FULL
Now my mind turned every rustle into a prowling big cat full of murderous intent (probably to get back at the rude human who had interrupted a moment of feline passion). Last week, he had spotted some jaguar spoor, which was probably about as close to the animals as we would get, he said.īut his reassurance meant little that night as I cowered in my hammock under the Central American stars. The most recent time he had seen one was more than a year ago when he had surprised a pair in the act of jaguar love. Adonis, our local guide who was leading us deep into the Guatemalan jungle, assured us they were elusive, shy creatures. The jaguars didn’t bother me much during the day. Jolyon Attwooll, Lonely Planet author and previous Santiago Times reporter In Russia I taught summer school and had no classroom at all, instead teaching the kids in the open air.
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In China, my classroom was only a few degrees above freezing level and my teaching attire was more like snow gear. In Japan the well-built classrooms were warm enough for me to teach wearing shorts and a T-shirt, unusual in such a formal country. Who better to show you around town than one of your own students? And no classroom was the same. Teaching, I quickly discovered, was a great skill to combine with travel it allowed me to keep my expenses way down while getting a really rich experience of the culture. It turned out to be more like a passion and I spent a year there teaching kindergarten and primary school kids. Eighteen days later I landed in Nagoya International Airport, pondering the question, Do I even like kids? Then there was an interesting job ad for a small school in central Japan, so I shot off an application. While working at a crappy job in Adelaide, I occasionally surfed teacher websites, more out of curiosity than actual intent. He wasn’t a thief, just a man proud of his hometown produce. He told me it was from his hometown, where he and his wife had just flown back from, so they had plenty. “Mozzarella di bufala”, the man explained. It could be poison or, at the very least, a tranquilliser. They ate for a while and saw me staring so they offered me some. I braced myself in case they tried to throw it at me as a distraction. When they pulled out a package I knew it was a trick. Catching the train in from the airport, I eyed the couple opposite me, convinced they were hardened thieves working this train for chumps who hadn’t read the Dangers & Annoyances section. Off the plane I was anticipating robbery.
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It clearly told me that the second I got off the train I’d discover “thieves are very active in the area around Stazione Termini.” George Dunford, travel writer and bloggerĪs if I wasn’t worried enough by my first trip overseas, I had to read the section of my Roman guidebook called “Dangers & Annoyances”.