| Travel Tales... |
| October 16th, 2005 Finally I have found a computer that can handle the program! Currently, I am in Antigua, Guatemala and about to board an overnight bus for Flores (10 hours) and then commence on a five day jungle trek. Celene, myself, and two Aussies are all going to hike to El Mirador, an ancient Mayan site that boasts the tallest Mayan pyramid (60meters). This could be the best and or worst thing I've ever done. We will see... There are a few things I'd like to catch up on such as the situation I faced in San Pedro during Hurricane Stan but I unfortunately do not have the time right now! Check back in and I'll let you know how the hike went! Hello Bosco! Alan, give him tons of love for me and Celene okay? |
| November 25th, 2005 HELL YEAH- I´ve finally found a computer that can handle the program for building my website! Tomorrow I will be on here for like 5 hours...updating. Going on TWO months out as of tomorrow. |
| November 26th, 2005 There has been much trouble technologically, but I think I´m back on track. Celene and I are currently in Huaraz, Peru a mountain town that boasts serious trekking. We have met up once again with the hilarious Mike (an Aussie we met in Guate!), his brother Brad and now a new Swedish guy named Jim. They arrived at our hostel at 5am and it was a great surprise. We have now spent the rest of the day eating, walking and eating. I heart food, especially street food such as churros. |
| December 1st, 2005 If I didn´t just mail xmas presents to my family, I´d have no idea that it was going to be Christmas soon. There are a few stores that sell decorations here in Buenos Aires but it doesn´t have the same over-load that the states has in terms of hawking the ´holiday season´. This city has so much appeal to me, it is definitely a cosmopolitan environment and I am very much looking forward to living the big city life for a quick change. I can definitely see myself staying here for much longer than planned. Argentina has a lot to offer though and I´ll surely need to get a move on after too long. Last night we met up with Celene´s friend Ezra and we all went out to this very very posh club-restaurant called Rumi. The decor was almost all white and black and the chaisse lounges were white leather with the tables dark wood. Finally ate at about 1am. New times indeed. |
| December 4th, 2005 I love Tango! I love Buenos Aires! I love that there are cheap Pilates classes here! This place is amazing and I am ready to settle down and stay for awhile. The accent is harder to understand but the city life is really amazing. It is truly a very cosmopolitan city and it is a surprisingly refreshing change from all the outdoor activity I have been doing lately. Again, I am soooo excited about getting back into the Pilates thing! |
| December 9th We took salsa and Tango classes last night. I am decidedly a beginner in both areas but I do have a greater affinity towards Tango. Perhaps it is the seriousness of it, the implied direct passion, I don´t know but it captivates me. I also am going to join a gimnasio, where there are pilates classes, yoga and tons of other cool things, all for 75pesos = 25 $. Tonight we are off to watch a movie and on sunday there is a national tango performance at the Teatro Colon. Still not clear on what I am going to do about spanish language lessons. I am enjoying the city too much to be regulated by a daily commitment! |
| December 11th Tomorrow is my Mom´ birthday. I hope she enjoys her day and doesn´t let things bring her down. Apparantly ´Keeki´ means cake in Japanese, Jacy informed me via email today about that little fact. I love being able to cook in my own kitchen, but I do not like the continual access to food! Too good to resist. The return of the snacking. Tomorrow I´m headed to the gimnasio to try and take yoga and pilates, if I don´t go to the Horseraces instead. Ah, to get up the motivation, what a beautiful dream. Where has everyone gone? At this moment I feel the effects of sundown, even though it´s midnight. I want to see Bosco again, I wonder how my kitty is doing. |
| December 14th Went out last night, left the house at 2am. Didn´t return or go to sleep until after 6:30am. Then it was Chinese food and we leave for pilates mat class in about a half hour. I LOVED the races, I lost every race and walked away losing only 5$ dollars! It was really an interesting experience to be able to figure out how to bet, then figure out what the bets and odds meant- all in spanish. It´s looking like it´ll be a Christmas different from others I´ve had, tons of people are all going to be in Buenos Aires at the same time. On top of that, everyone is Jewish and Hanukkah starts on the 26th! So this should be one to remember. Plus Celene has promised to make her deliscious matzo ball soup... |
| December..? 17? Today we succeeded in making it to the Recoleta cemetary. I was constantly reminded of my last art history class that dealt with medieval iconography of death, religion, etc. It was nice to remember some things I learned in college. Tonight is another evening out, to Opera Bay, a club designed to look like the Sydney Opera House but flattened a little. It should be good dancing, we have managed to find every hip-hop venue in this city! It´ll also give me a chance to break in my new heels....not very practical for trekking in Patagonia, but hey, Brazil is first so I´ve got a valid excuse. sort of. |
| December 23rd, I love email. I really do. It makes you feel good. I´m now officially a nocturnal being, the evenings out begin in the early morning and conclude mid-morning. Our Aussie friend Mike has finally arrived- yeah! and now we await Andrew, who flies in tomorrow morning. Or as we like to think of it, later tonight when we get back from the clubs! We are already planning a serious feast for Christmas-Hanakkah because it seems like the perfect opportunity to indulge in good food and fun conversations. Our former visitors, Mike, Jimmy and now Ezra have flown back to the states and our nights out are now involving a smaller group. We miss you guys, it was a damned good time. We´ll party for ya on New Years.... |
| Also, I find reading amazing. I heart Tom Robbins. |
| Dec. 24th, Ah....what could be more amusing than drunk-dialing from more than 5,000 miles away? Apparantly a lot of other things. Thus, the last time I utilize my calling card for less-than-fun purposes. Now planning Christmas dinner and it should be outstanding, we´ve got some Aussie chefs in the house and it should be interesting with the make-shift BBQ. Do the holidays really count when it´s summer time and everyone wants to go to the beach instead of stuffing it inside with family? ´Cause apparantly Christmas Eve is THE NIGHT to go out and every young person in Buenos Aires will be on the streets tonight, post familial obligations. Well...I´ve got no family here and the only obligations I have involve eating gourmet quesos and hard-to-find hummus. Bring on the good times. |
| Dec. 26th Happy Birthday stick bug! The pool is full of the barest booties, bitty bikinis and conversation. Buenos Aires is energy, it is movement and castellano with a touch of vino. Got an apple? |
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| January 1st, 2006 It´s now the new year! I had my first surfing lesson today...love it. I also enjoyed how my itsy-bitsy bikini kept falling off my ass everytime I jumped on the board. Good times to be had by all at Playa Grande today. Tonight is an early night, headed to bed by 3am in the hopes of waking up early to try my hand at surfing yet again. I´ve also started drinking cafe con leche like it´s going out of fashion, I need caffination. Also, I only like the artificial sweeteners. They make it chemically deliscious. |
| New Years question- do you enjoy yourself more than 80 % of your waking hours? Hmm...I wonder. |
| Jan. 04 As I type the sweat is drying...I´m officially starting what I like to call, ¨the Brazil Resolution¨ which I thought of as I ran on that treadmill. Why is it that Portenos do not sweat? Celene and I feel like sweaty monsters when we work out and all others simply ´glisten´. bullshit. Surfing is my new great obsession...I´m travelling to accommodate the urge and think of the ocean constantly. Maybe it´s a comfort....i dunno. |
| Jan. 05 The time has come to move on, in four days, we are off to Punta Del Este for a few days, then off to Florinopolis, Brazil for surfing. Still every day...·sigh·..... |
| Jan. 12th It was definitely the Hamptons of South America, Punta Del Este was very money. I enjoyed the beach homes that were simply stunning in their locations and styles. About architecture, I want a smallish house, there really is no need for something big and monstrous, if you have style and a gorgeous location, who the hell needs a behemouth house? Not I. Dios mio, me gusta cafe con leche mucho, con tres media lunas...mmmm. The beach is next on the agenda, my unconscious desires to be a surfer have been brought to the surface and I hope to at least be able to stand up soon. It feels deliscious to be moving again and I realized that movement, inertia, is a fabulous thing that allows my mind to settle on the up-and-coming, the unknowns that I can make into positives. My travelling itinerary is now clearer for the next few months....Brazilian coastline, Carnivale, Iguazu, Patagonia, Torres Del Pines, Tierra Del Fuego, Chile, Buenos Aires, California.... |
| Jan. 22nd Now in Florinopolis, Barra de Lagoa to be exact. The weather is enticingly tropical and the beaches have an undeniable allure of white sands and blue waters. Not too cold, not so warm to be irritating, but perfectly refreshing. There are TONS of people so we are considering doing early morning surfing then heading up the coastline for smaller locales all on the advice of Amy Brannon. The small country of Uruguay has earned my distinction of 'nicest population'. We took a bumpy busride from Punta Del Este to La Paloma and managed to find ourselves in a damp little hostel sharing a room with a group of older Argentinian women, I mean like late sixties, early seventies early to rise, early to bed type of older ladies. They were cool though. Then we had the LUCKY DAY. It all started when we arose unusually early at 8a.m. to "have some exercise" with a few new friends, Ben from Canada and Kristof from Germany and learned that there wasn't any space left in the hostel for us to stay....soooo.... we packed up and stored our bags and headed off to the bus station to buy tickets to try and get to another little beachside haven called Punta Del Diablo. Sounds omninous no? After we purchased our tickets, I noticed there was some currency on the floor- 200 pesos to be exact! Well, that bought the four of us breakfasts of giant hamburgers (mine was veggie) known as Bauru's after we had a thoroughly great time doing yoga, pilates, push-ups and butterfly at the beach. Then we learned how to change the music on our i-pods! Yeah! Reorganization! Glorious, glorious reorganization! We were running out of time so we had to haul ass to the hostel; pick up bags; haul ass to the bus station. We met Ben and Kristof there so they could return my music cd that Amir had burned for me prior to leaving and guess what? They bought us a veggie quiche for the busride! Sooo nice! The bus ride was choppy but dropped us in a dark and very distinctly beachy town, almost a hamlet if you will, and we immediately started trucking around trying to find accommodations. THE PEOPLE ARE SOOOO FRIENDLY IT IS RIDICULOUS!!! Even the local police department was in on the action calling people they knew to see if there were any vacancies. Let me explain, it is high season here and EVERYONE and of course their mamas are at the beach, so there is limited availability. The only things we found were for 50$ US per night! YEAH RIGHT. Then Antonio, the local lifeguard, who was waiting for his family to get off a bus from Montevideo helped us find a place for over an hour! Ultimately, we ended up staying for FREE in the teensy-tiny back room of this converted boat bar where the owner was sooo nice and generous! We then decided to have a beer at the boat bar (called Chiquititos) to say thank-you. Well, we got that liter for free because it was semi-frozen and then we started 'Spanishing' with a group of local Uruguayans. I was 'Spanishing' non-stop; I was quite amazed at my language skills. We then headed to the local club, where there was dancing and the introduction of caiprina's (a Brazilian alcoholic beverage that Amir would probably drink liters of...) until almost 7 a.m. The next day, the owner of the boat bar found us the cheapest place, next door! and was only fifty feet from the beach! Talk about luck. That's the kind of travelling that makes it great. |
| Feb. 8th Okay, this is what happened to my ass this evening..... Dropped my wallet, contents- amex card, atm card, my i.d., celene´s i.d., 40 reais (22us$), keys to my locker at the hostel with allllll my stuff in it, lip gloss in the McDonald´s bathroom and obviously did not know it. Got on a bus. Looked for the wallet after paying and sitting down. Jumped up. Made to focus by Rosemary (new amazing British friend) and Celene. Got off the bus. RAN the four blocks back. Tried to negotiate Portugese with staff. No avail. Assisted by Rosemary and Celene. Man walks in the back and returns with my wallet, all contents there sans the 50reais! Apparantly I have some good karma working for me at the moment! I miss my kitty! |
| Feb. 26th? Carnaval is absolutely ridiculous I was in a bloco last night with Celene, Rosemary, Mike, Andrew and Raven and it was the most sweaty I have ever been in the shortest amount of time. Soooo many people, so much jumping and dancing for 5 hours straight! Tonight will be our ´off-night´ which means a different neighborhood and a different type of craziness. I am starting to get excited to leave Brazil already...I would like to see everyone back in CA and especially have some Intermezzo!! |
| Feb. 28th Well....email me if you want the robbery and facepunch stories...too ridiculous to tell now! At the moment, we are trying to obtain tickets to Fat Boy Slim tonight for as cheap as possible. Our beloved Aussie friend Mike left this morning and it was sad! I am going to miss my Bobsey Head Number 1! We are united in our love of all things sugary and sweetly deliscious. Rosemary also left yesterday and it just is not the same without the presence of The General! I wonder how tonight will go. Keep ya posted. |
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| March 13th, Getting OUT of Brazil is turning into a problem. An expensive problem. After spending five hours in the travel agent´s office today, we finally decided to just book the cheapest option possible- going to Sao Paulo tomorrow night at 2 a.m. and then figure out a bus to either Bolivia or Foz de Iguazu once we arrive. Then we get back to the hotel, order food from the kitchen, eat, then get a knock on our door with the desk guy telling us that we should have checked out because they have someone coming in and the room has been reserved! So we moved pousadas. To one that has a cool chill out balcony and ocean view but is decidedly less clean. I am feeling so stagnant and need to move on! I can´t wait to get Spanish back into my life and bring on the vegetables! |
| March 28th, Soo...it was a crazy three days to get here, but I am now in Sucre, Bolivia. Whup Whup. I´ve done a complete week of Spanish school and I LOVE IT. It feels pretty good to be able to understand almost all of what people say to you. It is cold here, not freezing cold, but damned cold enough to need pants and a fleece. Still wearing my flip flops though. Shoes just do not feel as free- a sentiment of Celene´s I finally understand. I have realized that I ENJOY the cold. It feels good and I feel more alive and energized than I have in a long time. Maybe I will ultimately live in a more temperate climate and save the amazing beaches for holidays. That way I will never take them for granted! It could also be that I just got out of two months of sweltering in Brazil...hmm. Went out to a local discoteca called Mitos the other night and got sooo super trashed. Too many vodka shots and too high of an altitude. It takes dedication and focus to just `pass out´ which is what Celene told me to do when we got back to the hostel. Good times. Went out the next night too- I know, I know, it´s been awhile since we went out!- but it was more chill and crazy conversation with some Danes and a Swede. I am super excited to get back to the states for awhile and see all, our official arrival time is 8a.m. on the 13th of April. Whoo Hoo. |
| April 8th, Look out California, here we come. Our plane touches down at 12:30 a.m. on the morning of April 13th. Just finished another ridiculous travel day. My previous entry didn´t save so I am way behind. Essentially, went from Bolivia to Chile to Argentina all in a few days. Mendoza was wonderful, I had such a great great great time and I am hoping I will hear from Claudio soon enough, although I know how he is with email! Like I said, give me a little sometimes. |