Granada

I stayed in the Albacanz...something like that, neighborhood. I talked to an american that worked at trader joes in california the whole trip. Could instantly tell he was american, by his teeth. Orthodontia is a dead give away, we have the highest dental standards. Got lost on the bus going to the hostel and ended up being a couple of hours late arriving. I stayed in a very very old area. It was small and a little scary. When I arrived to the hostel no one answered the door. So after all my anxiety of being lost and not finding it I get there and am disappointed again. Its a little place, I have no where else to go with all my shit. I am sweating and thirsty. I just sat down on the stoop and waited. there was people outside of little bar/restraunts and they saw me and got word the the hostel guy and he came running up about 15 minutes later. A lady I talked to on the bus came by and chatted with me. The hostel was gross and scary. I did not want to stay there at all! but he ended up giving me my own room with a key so i could lock it. It wasn't as gross as the first night in Ireland, but it was scary. And da daa da no air conditioning and no fan. I put up my stuff and walked out. I ran into the hostel man in the street and he told me to be careful of my purse, didnt speak a word of english. and he told me a good places to go for a nice view. And boy was it very nice, dirty hippies and thieves hanging around there though, you shouldnt go a lone at night like I did.
Oh I am remembering the stress. I stopped at the little corner store and got water and some food and it was a little gourmet shop is was so so cute and very cheap. i ate at the restraunt in the square. When you order dinner in spain they give you a free tapa. I order roasted pork loin. I waited for my fanta and noticed every table aorund me was eating snails...eww. Yet not to be out grossed bye the tapa they brought me. It just looked like some salad. peppers and cucumber and tomatoe and cabage. I picked at it and ate plain chiabata bread, that was homemade and fresh, and im eating the veggies, dipping my bread in the sauce, i go to pick up some cabbage and guess what....ITS OCTOPUS! I did the whole body shiver, it was a cross section of a suction cup thingy....ewwwwww!

Seville

Its a little town. You need only 2 days. Lots of cool shopping. Lots of ceramic. Trolley for transportation and buses. There is a big canal that is nice for pictures and its a little cooler over there. The line for the bus tickets is really really long, but your next ticket at the city before. The lines are really bad. Also it is the most poorly organized bus station in the world. the ticket will say where your bus is supposed to come, but it will go anywhere but there. They are often late, so show up when it is just time to go and so you will only have to wait 30-60min. Hold on to your stuff too. The first thing you notice about the city when you go out...is its a desert, its so dry you feel all your moisture get sucked out. Then you see all the oranges growing on the trees and it's really cool. Go before summer, it was really so hot when I was there. Lots of stuff to walk around and see in Seville. Very old city with tiny narrow streets, keep an ear out for cars, you won't believe it but they do fit. Going to see the wall is pretty boring...its ugly, but whatever. There is a cool little park area buy it and I had to lay down on the bench and relax it was 110 degree and I was sunburned and like a 30min walk through skinny roads surrounded by buildings with no wind...there are ants in the grass though, beware. I remember being so so so hot. stopping for water like every few blocks. When in spain and out in the heat, drink Aquarius sports drink. Its made by coke. We should have it. It's way more delicious than gatorade and it really works. Blue is good and so is orange. Try not to buy food at the chinese stores, if its not expired it's close. Anything refrigerated, was not done so properly and it will go bad the day you open it. Lots of idiots at my hostel there. Everyone was 18. They were hiring a house keeper in exchange for free rent. I enquired and they wanted someone with an EU passport. Stupid. I went to starbucks and got a frapaccino. It was good, but they had the best air conditioning in the entire world! saw lots of old building, but I don't remember what they are called but I have pictures posted of them. Oh the saddest thing in the city was the horses. They have horse drawn carrages for tourists, tons and tons of them. I saw lots of horses with no water and foaming at the mouth...it was really gross and made me sad and angry. There was also an overwhelming amount of scooters. Whole parking lots just for scooters. some streets are too small for cars in the old part of the city and I didn't see many taxi's. Super good icecream stores and bakeries. Too granada!

Portugal

I got to borrow an adapter for my camera from the hostel in Lisbon. I ended up keeping it until I was at my last hostel in Amsterdam and then I donated it to them. I had a really cool roommate from Poland. The views were amazing. Lisbon was much cheaper than anywhere else I had been. But most of the stuff they were selling was crap. And clothes are still much cheaping in America, cause everything goes on sale. I never made it to the beach because the day I planned on going it stormed all day. I did see a great castle in the city and I saw a flea market at a church that was really big and cool. I never walked more in one day in my life. I don't know how much I walked but somehow it was all up hill. I rode a little trolly and of course got lost and ended up spending more that I needed to. I found the german super markets that are so popular in south america and spain and i guess even portugal. There was a party at the hostel for a girl who worked there and the food was amazing, but not better than the sangria. Portuguese food and wine is so so so so good. Worth it. The city is so beautiful and old and there are lots of great things to do outside the city. Good trains, subways, buses, and trollies. The only real issue is that not many people speak english, but they can understand spanish well. I stayed in and old old part of town. The directions to walk there involved turning left at the stop light. I laughed my ass off when I saw the stop light. It was about waist high pole sticking out of the ground with a red bulb and a green one, and there was just one in the 3 way intersection. I walk to that hostel was barbaric. It was climbing up up up with my 40+ pound backpack. I was so sweaty. Ah and to get to my room in the hostel I had to climb through a window. Seriously. The bathroom was so tiny. A toilet and a tiny shower stall and one square foot of floor space, literally and no fan. I really liked Lisbon and I would love to go back and visit more town on the south shore. When I took the bus to seville I passed the most gorgeous vacation towns and pretty beaches and fields of sunflowers....have you ever seen fields of sunflowers in 100+ degree weather. Its gorgeous and on the other side of me was the ocean shining bright blue with sailboats. It was the best bus ride. I should bring up, riding the bus is scary as shit, when you consider there are pretty much no signs anywhere so every time you stop you need to be worried if it's your stop and if you should get off. I would recommend finding out how long the bus ride should be to reduce your worry. Oh and drink maracuja flavor of fanta! Oh and get the cookies from the store in a package that are like cookie with a layer of cream and then chocolate on top....So good. Its not even funny. So Seville..

Madrid and Beyond

Well I was in Madrid, It was hot, hot, hot. But my hostel was ok. I stayed with mostly nice and keep to yourself kind of people. I walked around the city and spent a lot of time figuring out what I was going to do next. Apparently I didn't take any pictures in Madrid. I went to a wonderful wonderful museum called the Reina Sofia. They has tons and tons of Spanish artist and south American and from everywhere,loads of things. Dali and Picaso were the big big things. I saw lots of Spanish art from the 80's looked a lot like the 80s. I walked alot in Madrid..I know I took pictures...I don't know what the deal is. I must have gotten sick of taking pictures. I think maybe I was paranoid about someone stealing my camera cause I had so many pictures already and I didn't want anything to happen to them. Its a shame. Pamplona was gorgeous! It was a real mix of old and new. Hundreds of years old town with a new city built around it. And they have this Citadel that was built to protect the city for war and it is still in tact. It's HUGE. Then Madrid. I went to a park in the city and all the paths in it were white sand. There was an english garden with topiaries and I laid down on a bench and took a nap. There was lots of shopping and government stuff in Madrid. The outskirts of the city had an Ikea and lots of car dealerships. I don't think I met any locals in Madrid. It reminded me a lot of a big city that could be anywhere in the world. The guy that worked at the hostel was from Argentina, he drank Mate like a fish. I tried all over the city to find....Ah I just remembered why I have no pictures! My camera was dead and I could not find an adapter to buy anywhere! Stupid digital camera not taking real batteries. Such a shame to not have pictures for that reason. Well I couldn't find out until I got to Portugal which was my next stop after Madrid.

Last of my travels

lots of fotos

really disorganized i will clean it up as i have time, but this is all the photos i have taken since i bought the camera
its cornwall, london, basque country, madrid, lisbon

pictures

more pictures
most of these are from cornwall at lands end taken by laurence!
thank you

Spain

I left the beautiful and gorgeous basque country to come to dry desert madrid. It is 40 degrees here, with is hot as hell, that is an exact conversion, but its not so back cause there is no humidity, i actually kinda like it better. I am staying at a nice hostel. I am going to walk around now and check out whats going on. Friday I am going to Lisbon, Portugal. Then i want to go to Seville and granada. I was hoping to be in france buy july 8th, but i dont know if I am going to make it! The weather is all sunny here for the next 10 days, i might stay in the south for a bit, though this warmth makes me hungry for the beach and there isnt one here :(
Hope everyone is well and getting ready for 4th of july, i am sad to miss the fireworks. Can you tell i have been speaking spanish for a week, my english sucks! Def not worse than my spanish though. I wish everyone was here with me and I miss everybody! Besos!

LONDON CALLING

I answered! I touristed it up today in London. I had a great time walking around central london. I started at the london bridge where i got some cool pictures of the tower bridge. I got a picture of the monument, i still dont know what it is a monument of, but its was a big statue thing and other people were taking pictures so i snapped one off too. I then went to parliment and the little park behind it. I got some pictures of big ben and westminster abbey. I saw the horse guards at white hall and made my way to trafalgar square where i saw a beautiful collection of art at the national gallery. I started of course, with the impressionist and I got my first real live view of one of Monet's japanese bridge paintings and I also saw his only night scene painting. i saw more pissarro, degas, manet, cezanne, van gogh, renoir, gaugan, serat, it goes on and on, but i saw some really early works from the 1500s that i really liked, i just couldnt believe i was standing in front of a piece of fabric and oil that was so loved it has survived for 500 years and i am standing, feeling completely unworthy to be looking at it unapprovingly, cause i think it's ugly, but thankfully I know that its more important that it is than that it is attractive to me. It was a nice experience to be there. Oh how could i forget the Turner's! Such a range! realist to the point it could almost be a photo and then very very impressionistic and everywhere inbetween. I can't believe i skipped the exhibit in edinburgh. that is something I like about Pissarro too. So then i went on to covet garden, oh and i saw a huge giant bumble bee, from transformers 2. the premier is tonight here and the street was full of people waiting to see shia lebeouf or whatever his name is. then i went to garden green, buckingham palace and saw the guards. I had a lovely goat cheese and roasted veggie sandwich on ciabata, not at the palace more around the corner. I sat and read a little in my book and heading back to my friends house and now I must go and get ready for salsa dancing lessons! I hope everyone is well. Sending me some emails! I miss you guys!

Cornwall

Tis a fabulous and wonderful place, har har! The weather today is not so good, but it motivated me to spend the time on the computer that i needed to and I got my plane ticket to spain purchased, so i will be heading to spain on the 17th of june, I am very excited. I have come down with some kind of chest cold/cough that is rather irritating and I hope it goes away quick, but I don't really have any energy and feel like poo! I had a great time visiting kirkintilloch and i took some pictures. It was a tiny little town, but had a long history. I visited the small museum they had there and learned about the mining industry, the iron molding, the cloth making, the canals, the trains, lots of stuff going on. the town is trying to become a tourist attraction so maybe you too will find yourself there one day. I walk along the road my aunt nan lived on so too one of my great grandparents i never knew and their families before that. I left scotland rather sad, i couldnt stay more, but excited to meet my relatives.
I arrived in St Austell, Cornwall, England on June 1st to warm smiles and hugs from my cousin janet and her husband victor. The next day i met my auntie phyliss. I ventured out to Newquay and had a good time walking around the beach all day in excellent weather. I bought a digital camera, i found a good deal in a random electronics store i popped in for no particular purchase. So i have been taking pictures and when i can i will put them all line for all to see.
I spent my birthday in the old school house in st austell. Everyone came over for a BBQ and we had loads of food! couscous with roasted vegetables, steak, ribs, kebabs, burgers, sausages, salad, fruit salad, beets, roasted potatoes, trifle, cake, and cocktails (mojitos to be exact). I had lots of fun and after i blew out my candles I was surprised with cards signed by everyone and a present of a pewter neclace with a gemini sign on it made here in cornwall from materials from cornwall.
That night I got into the mini cooper and headed to Penzance with Leah and Lawrence. We got in late and headed to bed. The next day we got up about 11 and had proper english breakfast of fried egg, ham , bacon, stewed tomatoes, toast, and mushrooms. Then we went to lands end, via a scenic view, park a bit off, then took a walk the final way. Had alot of fun seeing lands end and the cliffs and a ship wreck. then we came home to a proper english dinner of roast, roasted potatoes, carrots, brocolli, yourkshire pudding, gravy and horseradish-it was to die for. We all went back for seconds. Leah and Lawrence are excellent cooks, they spoiled me. Should have pictures soon, I'm happy and excited. Hope all is well.

a couple pictures

I took these of my friend sarah's facebook, but hopefully steve or ben will send me more photos so you can see, but here is a couple to hold you over! I hope you are all well, tomorrow i go to kirkintilloch!

Ah Europe

I am having so much fun! I can't believe that I have been here for 3 weeks, it feels like 5 minutes! Last night about 12-15 of us from the hostel went out and had a fabulous time. We went to a few bars and had a few drinks. I was visiting with several americans, an austrailian, and some irish girls we soaked in some live jazz music at an after hours bar, it was great. There were none of those elusive scottish people about, I don't know where they are all hiding, I have only meet 2 the whole time I have been here. I have been told I will be emailed pictures from last night and if that holds true, you will soon be able to see me, finally. I have just a few more days here, I think friday I will be heading to kirkintilloch, the birth place of aunt nan. I am very much looking forward to that. The only thing about stay a while in a hostel is buy the time i get used to people and feel comfortable socializing is when their stay is up and its time to say goodbye, but its worth it to make so many friends all over the world. I splurged and bought a dress, i wasted 30% of my wages on one outfit, it's real cute though. These europeans dress sharp, I need to attempt keeping up. Its still cold and cloudy, damn UK. Hope all is well. I am thinking about everyone.

Another plan

Plans, they are just flowing these days. Well, I guess it is more of an idea than a plan. I wanna see the northern lights! I just missed the season, but it's best between january and march and I wanna do it! Maybe in Canada, maybe in iceland, maybe in sweden or finland! If I don't do it next year I wanna do it before I die. Definitely.

plans...no

I finally made a plan. I bought train tickets to St Austell, England. I am going to meet some family members for the first time. I am so excited I can hardly stand it.I come from a big family, but the problem is, I haven't met too many of them as we are spread all over the place. I really look forward to having a chance to talk with them and maybe we even look alike, that would be crazy! So, I will be heading out on June first, just 5 short days before my birthday, no plans for that. I am going to be 25. ugh. Just keep the razors away from me and I should be ok.

I am working at the hostel in Scotland and today is a day off and I am spending it in all of it's glory dicking around doing nothing. I plan on seeing the new x-men movie, which is all about hugh jackman on the big screen, i mean wolverine, i care about the story line, its not just about a giant hugh jackman stare-a-thon. That reminds me of brad pitt, too bad he doesn't have a movie out.

Anyway, there is lots of stuff going on at home that I wish i could be a part of, but alas, it is not so. I wish good luck to all who are endeavoring in new things and hope everything is as good as it could/should be. If its any consolation europe is really expensive and I will soon be in the poor house. I think in two weeks i have spent what took me 3 months in south america. The smaller my bank account gets the more and more getting a real job sounds like a smart plan. If anyone hears about a rad job anywhere let me know. I am not attached to any particular place. Somewhere warm would be nice. It's much colder here and I get burned from the wind. My nose always runs when I go outside and I miss summer! It gets light her at like 4 in the morning, I didn't realize I was going to be that far north. Well i really better get to this slack off day. Peace to all!

Working

I got a job in a hostel. Guess you gotta be at the right place at the right time. I am making 300 dollars and free accomodations for working a week. Today is the 3rd day and it's going good except I am not sleeping well, but hopefully tonight I can catch up. Lots of people here are sick so i need to be well rested to fight off their diseases. I still haven't figured out if/when I am going to go to my aunt nans little town. It's gonna be kind of a bitch, but i probably should. I have to find out today when i am going to be done working and buy my ticket to go to england which i think will be about a week away. It's wierd to be working when I have't done it for 8 months, but this is even less work than my last job. Its been fun hanging out with all the people. I didn't get to go outside yesterday, the weather here is cold and cloudy, as a general rule. I wanna get to the beach soon! I don't know what my plans are, haven't figured anything out yet. Hope everyone is good. Oh and my friend Julie and Al welcomed a baby girl into the world on monday, congrats to them!

Leaving Belfast

I am so sad to be leaving ireland, i really hope that i can come back again some time, there are lots of things i would like to do yet. At the same time I can't wait to get into edinburgh. I am leaving to catch a ferry soon and then i will be taking a train. This will be one of the few times i have ever been on a train and i am scared, I have an assigned seat and i don't like that too much. Trains scare me, but I am going, it'll be ok, right? I started reading a cheesy romance novel, but its not dirty or anything, i think i have read like 400 or more pages in the last 2 days, in little tiny print. I am still working on my head band, its almost done. I did find one that was left in my room at the last hostel and i washed it and will be wearing it, score for free stuff! I have been abandoning stuff everywhere i have gone, of course I packed way too much. I still don't know what my plan is, but if my spending continues I might be home sooner rather than later, this UK is a pricey beast, especially considering that I just came from 6 months in south america. I hope everyone is good! I'll talk to you in Scotland!

last day in Cork

I went to the blarney castle, where they have the blarney stone that you are supposed to kiss to gain eloquence...i didnt kiss it, its a rock you have to hang over a 5 story drop to kiss and it looked scary, i was already terrified from all the stairs and the heights, lots of other people didn't kiss it either. It was scary, and its not even the original blarney stone. But i was in a real castle and i walked all around the grounds and threw it pretending i was some fancy oldn time lady in a gown and it was really fun. I took a walk around a lake and i was the only one out there and i saw a fox, i walked right past it. I found some cool postcards. I meet some new girls in the hostel from texas and we went out for a couple of drinks they were really nice, just on a short holiday before they go back to school. Today was the first rainy day in a while, I went to a place called an english market and it was like an indoor saturday market and i found a yarn store. So i bought some local yarn and i am knitting a head band to hold my hair back with all the wind and cold weather. so i am about 1/4 of the way done with that and i sat around for a few hours and watched some movies, tomorrow i head to Dublin and then Belfast about 7 hours on the bus, I hope to mostly finish my headband on the bus. I do have to say the people in ireland have been amazing, kind and happy to talk to you. I wish i could have seen more things, but i will just have to come back another time and check them out. I want to see connemara, the aran islands, and cliffs of moher, but barring some huge natural disaster they will be there in the future. I'm a little nervous being alone and going to a new country but i am sure i will be fine! Hope everyone is well.

Cork Ireland

This place is awesome! I am now travelling alone and so I hopped a bus I headed to cork and I am so glad that I did. I went to the Jameson Distillary today in Medleton. Then I walked around the little town and it was so cute and nice I strolled through a park and sat on a bridge over a little creek. Its so picturesque. I stopped and bought a couple of those throw away cameras so i can get some pictures of the view out my window of the hostel, its on the 3rd floor on a hill and its really nice. A big city all surrounded by green farmed hill divided with low stone walls. I feel like i am in every story i ever read or watched based in Europe. Its truly beautiful. Tomorrow I am going to go to the Blarney stone. Oh, i almost forgot, you look off to the side while on the bus and you see a castle, happens all the time. Crazy! It's a great place for a family vacation, highly recommended. I'm off to knit a head band, the wind is stong and my hair is a sufferin'. sorry i can't put up pictures.

Travelling Dayssss......

I am leaving my hostel at 5pm today (friday)and I will arrive home in Boise at 6.05pm, saturday. With time changes it will be about a 28 hour trip including layovers and a 2 hour bus ride to the airport. The thought of the hours and hours of travelling are keeping my mind occupied so I haven´t gotten sad yet, which I am glad about. I feel like its the end of an era, silly maybe, but so it is. I haven´t done anything I didn´t want to do for the last 6 months. It´s been great. I learned a little spanish, which i hope to improve upon in the future. I made some great friends who will be dearly missed, but I must see again! I had a great experience here. Thank you Buenos Aires! I´m out.

A Present from David

Mosquitos DIE!

I have been laying in bed tossing and turning trying to sleep and right when i am just there...I start itching, everywhere. I hate the mosquitos that live in my bed! Sometimes i lay down in the middle of the day for a little siesta and i see them sleeping, but i can´t bring myself to kill them, cause they are asleep and i feel bad killing them then. So being itchy really is my fault. Its now 430am and i am awake, which i take as a good sign as i´ve spent the last couple of days asleep trying to get over whatever this sickness is that i have. It´s gotten warm here again, it´s back up to like 80 90something degrees. I look forward to feeling better and enjoying the city before I come home. Enjoy the beginnings of spring!

knitted hat and new leather bag

From buenos aires with Aoife

From buenos aires with Aoife

From buenos aires with Aoife

i made that hat! I finally did some shopping! I found a great leather bag. It met the designer in her shop and saw all the wonderful things she has created. She showed us that the leather was real by taking a lighter to it, it was so cool. I had seen the bag the first time i went to La Boca and i new it should be mine! I am super excited to have it.

new pictures

Pictures, pictures, pictures! Read all about it! Been walking around a lot shopping and checking stuff out. Mostly going to places i didn´t like the first time and finding that I really like them now. Prehaps it is because of the change of company, but who can be sure!? i´m really having a good time in Argentina and I am really going to miss it when i leave. I am super excited to go to Europe, but in a bit of a limbo and I can´t really do anything to prepare for it right now. I am tired of living in the hostel, its loud and I am not getting enough sleep, i feel zombified for hours every day trying to wake up after sleeping only 4-6 hours when i can usually sleep for 8-10, no problem. It´s been raining alot, but its not too dreary, cause its not 100 degrees anymore.

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeu

From Buenos Aires

look at my tattoo

From Buenos Aires

aoife and me

It sucks i got my camera stolen, cause there are lots of pictures i would like to take with my departure coming up. I think i will see if i can borrow one from a friend for a day or i might just stop running away when people pull their cameras out. It looks like a great majority of my friends will be leaving next week, so I am sad about that. I went to Avellaneda and it was nice, i got to sleep all night, it is so quiet there. Macarena was nice enough to walk me around and we went to a little street market so she could buy incense and the guy working the booth handed me a stick and tried to give it back to him and he said ¨no no, un regalo para voz¨ it was a present! I also got to go to the bank to get change for the bus and get a bunch of shit from the guy working. There is a shortage of coins, still, but you still can only pay for the bus with coins. I understand the little shops giving me shit, but the bank, I wanted to say come on dude its not your money. Ah and then yesterday was a most beautiful and perfect day outside, it was so nice! I went for a walk to my favorite park, the park that i always see something wierd or disgusting but i keep going cause it is so pretty. I saw a grown man piss on a tree, I saw all the junk and everything! Can you imagine!? so gross. The greenery was nice though, it rained for a couple days and then they turned the sprinklers on, all the grass is green again, it looks gorgeous.
I went to Recoleta with Maky and we ate burger king. I got a Texas whopper in buenos aires, and it was sooooooooo damn good. Fast food in other countries rocks! Don´t worry tammy, I am going to china town today and i am gonna eat from a street vender. I hope everyone is well and i wish you could luck!

Holy Crap

It´s March 3rd! Why is it the beginning of my trip when i didn´t like it and i just wanted to come home the time went so slow and it seemed like i was going to be here forever and now that i am having fun and really like it everytime i turn around a week has passed? It´s finally starting to cool down a bit and I get around outside with out getting burned to a crisp in the first 10 minutes, but with the cool down we are getting rain once or twice a week and you can´t even go out in it. A couple of days ago it was like 80-90 degrees and like an hour after it started raining, we got ice cube hail, it wasnt little white balls, they were little chunks of ice. Some of the locals had never seen hail before in their lives! I pretty much do the same thing everyday, so I can´t really think of anything rad or story worthy. I´m going to my friends house in a scary neighborhood on thursday. They still have mafia there and its really dangerous at night. We are going to watch eternal sunshine for a spotless mind/on a spotless mind whatever and we are going to the tattoo shop to get some new earrings, then this weekend I am going to china town! I hope you guys are having fun and i´ll see you in April.

I dont wanna come home

Well there is more to the story now. I went to the police and with the help of my wonderful friend, Maky, I iled a report for the things that were stolen. When we got back to the hostel we found out that another hostel in town had called and the guy was there. One of the hostel owners gave us 100 pesos and we hoped in a cab and headed over there. The people told us he wasnt at the hostel but he left a backpack so they thought he would come back. We were so excited we were bouncing around the back seat of the cab!
We got to the hostel and the girl working was very nice, but she was argentine and i couldnt understand a damn thing she said, but she gave me a free beer. Then told us that we had to wait for the guy to come back, then call the cops and if he left then we could open his bag, which was locked. Then, i went to the bathroom, when i came back apparently they changed their minds and they decided to open up the bag. They didnt have to go far too look for tools, the front pocket of the backpack was full of tool kits to break in to locks and bolt cutters of different sizes, I think he forgot these things on accident, because inside the bag, was that days newspaper. This was his decoy property so people wouldnt know he was gone yet.
I found out that he paid for his room in american dollars, MY money, damn. So that was my little adventure, it was fun. Never got anything back and never saw that guy. I thought i felt better knowing that he was a criminal and that this was his job, but after it being a couple of days, i like my other story better. I wanted to think that maybe he was a good guy and an opportunity presented itself(to still my shit) and after thinking and thinking on it, no one was around and nabbed it and after selling it and spending that money, he hoped that the guilt would go away, but for the rest of his life he would feel bag when he was reminded of it. Does that make me selfish? or materialistic? I think it means i cared way too much about the things he took, and i´m better off.

That was fun. On valentines day i went out with most of my friends to a bar that mimics a pub. We had some chicken curry, potato wedges, and lots of beer. It was super fun, best valentines day ever. Yesterday I was so hung over i slept until 6 pm at 10 me and justin went out for dinner and met up with some other people from the hostel on the street. I had a delicious burger and you guessed it fries. There is like a little mini carnival in the street on the weekends this month. People buy these cans of fake snow and just randomly attack people with it. I had been sprayed with this shit before and i was ready to take revenge. The street is blocked off from cars and it is full of little kids running around and everyone is happy not caring if they are hosed down with this wierd soapy shit. Percussion ensembles are playing and people in costumes are dancing, its chaotic and crazy fun! We got in a spray war and attacked lots of people and recieved the same, it was great!

hey hey

Well its been a little over a week since my last posting. Not been too terribly busy here. Went out to see el curioso caso de benjamin button and I LOVED it. So good and i found it very powerful, I cried or like an hour and me and my friend had to sit and calm down or a bit before we could even get up to leave the theater. I hope it wins some oscars. A couple of days after the movie I went shopping with another friend and we cooked a great dinner. While we and everyone else was otherwise occupied I got my ipod, ipod charger, universal plugin adapter, digital camera, and 200 dollars stolen out of my room. Yeah it sucks, no more pictures and i cant sleep without my ipod, and i sure would like my money...i still have my passport and my debit card so I dont feel like i can complain. I also didnt have my things locked up. You might remember I had to have my lock sawed off the locker because the genius I am locked the key inside. I guess I can be damned if i do and damned if i dont. I have a lock on my locker now, but i hate it. I have to get in there numerous times a day and I just dont like it. I shouldn´t have to keep people out. The guy who stole from me was argentinian. Today I have to go to the police and report him, eh. Maky is kind enough to come with me and I really don´t want to go. I´m hung over and tired. One of the hostel owners bought me a beer cause my shit got stolen and without eating dinner 1 1/2 liters was enough. Aww now the little boy, 5 years old, that is the son of one of the wonderful people who work at the hostel brought me a little childrens picture book in english and spanish and he is pointing out every picture and he is practicing english while i learn more spanish, how could anything be cuter!? I´m gonna go play with him now. See you guys in a couple months, I´ll be back soon!

today

Buenos Aires

all the pictures are up! don´t feel obligated to read all this.I woke up and found that i had pulled a blanket over me in the night, this is a very good sign. The weather was again, gorgeous! Right now there is a thunder storm and really pretty lighting, but it is hot and muggy. They got the air conditioner fixed and I am already addicted to the proccessed air. Last night I watched a local soccer came instead of the superbowl, i really only like the party that surrounds the super bowl and the commercials, not so much the game. I did see a couple minutes of the last quarter but thats as long as it took me to get bored. One of my friends was passed out drunk on the couch when i woke up and upon seeing that i was instantly grateful for not attending the party the previous evening. I eat breakfast and went back to bed for a short nap, then dressed and headed to the park for a walk. The weather was great with a nice breeze. I took my usual route through the park, enjoyed the trees, pretend not to hear women make fun of me being american and ignored the men being gross and inappropriate. While i was walking down a flight of stairs I saw a homeless guy emptying a colostomy bag into the trash, by see i mean, i saw the bag and poo/vomit slosh/drip out and fall like 18in into the trash can, in the middle of the park for everyone to see and smell. Ok moving on i thought, i go back up the steps and see some of the wild cats that live in the park. One was blind in one eye and the other one was crossed, it hobbled really low to the ground and was much dirtier than the other gross animals and it had a lot of bugs in its fur, it was so sad. I finished my walk and headed to find a bench in the shade to relax and read a bit in the book i had picked up off the shelf on my way out the door. I got comfy and a homeless man came up to beg off of me. I didn´t give him anything and i couldnt understand half what he said and he obviously didnt speak spanish but i smiled and laughed and he offered his hand and i took it, he kissed my hand and went off to work someone else. I decided to start reading my book before anyone else came up to bother me. The book was a collection of reviews of other books, but randomly there was one poem in the american book titled Buenos Aires, how odd right? It was published in the 60s and described an american mans visit to the city. The description of the city was bleak and sad. Leaving a reader who had no other knowledge of the city to think it a horrible place to visit. I was glad that times are better here now, the government is more stable and the economy has improved. I do feel bad that the city was portrayed so badly. It was obvious that the author didn´t want to be in the city, he didn´t want to like it. Then i flipped through the rest of the book. It was awful. All these people giving their impression of places, people´s lives, people´s works. Hardly a word of it was nice or even thoughful on an emotional level, nor was it ever objective. What a shit job. I lump the critic into the same category as insurance people and people who work in marketing-bastards. Whatever happened to "if you can´t say anything nice don´t say anything at all"? Sometimes, i think we just need to shut the hell up. So, that is how i have interpreted this happening of this book coming into my life. Anyhow, so this got me pondering the inherant positivity and negativaty in the world and our lives. Then I saw a homeless man, with huntingtons choreah. He was very thin and had the physical ticks, i forgot what they are called. He was trying unsuccessfully to put his shoes on. the heels and toes of his socks were completely open and he had condiment packets in his shoes for cushioning. After a min he gave up on putting on the shoes and decided to use them for a pillow and try for a nap. I watched, wishing there was something I could do to ease his pain, some way I could help. I wondered why he was on the streets what was his childhood and adult life was like. It reminded me of a line in the poem I had read not long before. It said the poor of buenos aires were "invisible". As i remembered this and spun in around in my mind, I noticed the pairs of teenagers making out in the park, the old men playing chess and laughing, the young parents eating on blankets while their babies napped in the shade of a tree, I saw all the dogs off their leashes playing with the other dogs like they were old friends catching up. Speckled in the middle of all this joy and life is a homeless guy emptying his colostomy bag, another with huntingtons choreah, more still airing their blistered feet and fondling their bag that holds all their possessions. Then I saw a pigeon missing two little pigeon toes. Poor little pigoen i thought, but he was walking around, hanging out, didnt seem to miss the little toes. These homeless people weren´t complaining they got to be in the park hanging out in the beautiful weather. You can wallow or find the positive, learn the lesson and move on, or dwell and be miserable. That damn park always does this to me. Buenos Aires puts everything in your face. Luxury and high end living and turn around and its really medically or mentally ill homeless people suffering, or shitty ass parents forcing their kids to beg so they can take the profits and buy drugs and abuse their children, or freaking 9 year olds selling crack, or a 6 year old girl squating and taking a piss in the dirt right in front of everyone! All of this i have seen in this park. It has beautiful trees and lots of stairs good for making exercise. It also has a little playground for kids and on the weekends it has a market full of cool stuff. I am always happy, excited, scared and sad to be there. It is everywhere here. In the states, big cities force out homeless and poor, pay their bus fares to just go somewhere else, take them to a not so nice part of town so they are out of the way. We like that, out of sight out of mind. I guess you can´t make someone want to live in your society the way you want them to, the way that is "acceptable". They say, some people just don´t want help and its true, I have seen this. This method of shipping them out hardly seemed any worse than the learned indiference that is taking place on the streets of the south american towns/cities I have visited. Invisible, was a correct observation. I don´t know where I am going with this anymore. I have a thousand thoughts and they are getting all mixed together as i just freeforall this. I think maybe i just wish I could make everything all better. I don´t want people to suffer. I don´t want anyone to hurt, not even the pigeon or the blind cat. For a long time i didn´t watch the news because it was always bad, murder, death, hate. If i don´t watch it I dont think about it, problem solved. This is not right. Not seeing it doesn´t make it go away. It doesn´t make my world, our world, a better place. It merely creates an alternate plane of existence where you are no longer living and breathing in reality. I think we do this too much. Out of sight out of mind right? We can summarize life as bits of ugly mixed with bits of beauty strung out over the years. You can´t have one with out the other and trying to do so creates something unnatural and unwanted. I think it is important we take every opportunity to learn and grow, it´s not always going to be pretty. I hope that didn´t get ranty or preachy, it was just what i thought about today. I read a book when i got home from the park, the timepiece. Its fiction, which i normally dont´like to read, but i have read all the nonfiction books i have available to me. It was very good and touched on some of these points, i had some really beautiful, straighforward, enlightened quotes. i can´t remember them now, but it got me thinking. I rounded out the evening with a game of skipbo! I played me, a peruvian, a brazilian, a columbian, and dude from the bay area. Everyone really liked it. I taught them, "there are no friends in skipbo". Travelling is awesome, you should all stop what you are doing and go!

02-01-2009

Holy crap! Its february! I can´t even believe it. I checked the little date corner of the computer a few times. Not a lot has been happening. I´m just hanging out, kinda waiting to go home, I have made the mistake of getting really excited for my next adventure before my current one has ended and now I just day dream all the time. I am still planning on arriving home April 11th, thought I currently only have transportation as far as Seattle. I am hoping to head to europe May 1st or close there to and spend 4-6 weeks hanging out in England, scotland, france, spain, germany, poland, switerland, italy, and morrocco. We´ll see what happens with that, nothing is offical yet. Hmm what has take place since I arrived back here from uruguay? I smoked my first cuban cigar, it was delicious. We´ve had bbqs and birthday parties. I made a scarf and a pair of wrist warmers and I ve started knitting a purple hat, thats unfortunately not for me. I am going to a bar to watch the super bowl tonight, maybe. I went to the movies last night and saw the spirit. It was an ok movie, but we went to a theater in Recoleta and it was so new and clean and nice. We walked in and it had that new theater smell and I was so happy and my friend looked at me all weird and I said, this smells like america. I was happy to be in a familiar setting. This movie theater was on 5 floors! Next saturday we are going to belgrano to go to a china town, i´m excited. The heat has stayed away for a week and it has been wonderful. I´ve slept through the night and not woken up covered in sweat. We have been able to sleep with the windows closed so my mosquito bites are healing and I havent gotten any new ones. The last time i did get new ones however, it was about 15 bites and they were all on my face including one on my lower lip and one on my eye lid. The mosquito bites here swell up, i woke up from the discomfort and looked in a mirror and burst into tears. but they mostly went away in one day which is the bonus of argentinian mosquito bites, if you leave them alone, they don´t last long. Thats about all for now. I am continuing to add photos to the buenos aires set from a couple posts previous to this one, so you can look at it for updates, still like 100 more to add. I miss you guys and I can´t wait to see you.

1-19-2009

uruguay

1/10/09 post armenian food

We have pictures, but this computer doesn´t have picassa so i have to add them all individually and there are like 200-300 pictures its gonna take some time, but here is a link and i will let you know when they are all up

01/09/2009-Un Asado experience

Asado is BBQ. It´s more plain and simple than we do it. No herbs, spices, sauces, marinades, or propane. Just straight meat and coal. It is very delicious. You get a huge grill and smother it with cuts of meat i´ve never seen before right along side different kinds of chorizo and blood sausage. There were 2 vegetarians at the table. The cook for the evening upon hearing that these people don´t eat carne(beef) went to the grill, returned, and filled there plates with sausage while saying "it´s good, not carne, only chorizo". Me, being me, was picking apart my food, making sure it was cooked well and ripping out big chunks of fat. On my second helping of chorizo i´m in sausage heaven. It´s so good and salty and what! it´s got cheese in it. It´s oozing some creamy delicious white cheese. I ask what kind of cheese is this? and i hear "no, como se dice en ingles", i give a good swallow and say "fat?" after a few more exchanges of phrases, it is decided, yes I am indulging, it straight up creamy melted FAT! You know when you get a coffee from starbucks and it leaves that film on the inside of your mouth because they use real cream... i feel like i had a Venti breve. So sick! I don´t know why people can´t just lie to me. Another weird food related item, my friend anthony from peru, eats the chicken bones and cartiledge. Its really shocking the first time you see someone do that. Ok bye bye now

01-07-09 post spanish lesson

Holy shit i can´t believe that it is 2009! I haven´t written in a while, sorry. I´m very lazy. I wanna say, straight away, happy late birthday Grandpa, I hope you enjoyed it! and happy early birthday Ryan! To auntie Teresa-yes i still call you that behind your back-i decided to spend a long time in Argentina because I really liked it. When i came to south america all i had planned was a plane ticket arriving on october 18th and departing april 10th and i knew that i wanted to go to brasil to see my dad. I have ended up staying in Argentina, in buenos aires, because its totally rad. I want to spend as little money as possible here in south america because i hope to travel to europe and i have plans to road trip with my friend david for the summer/fall. buenos aires is cheap compared to us, a lot of people speak english and there is loads of stuff to see and do. I also happened upon a fabulous hostel full of wonderful people, most of whom i feel priveledged to know. I am learning some spanish, a little everyday, in hopes of being more prepared when i travel to places were the people only speak spanish. It looks as though i will be going to uraguay soon, maybe in the next week to visit a friend from Germany. I´m so excited, they have beaches there, lots of nice beaches and as it is in the 90s and humid almost everyday here, i could use a break in the way of the ocean. In feb/march i hope to travel to chile and peru and maybe bolivia, equador, and columbia. I would also like to get around argentina some more, its a awesome country with lots to see. I´m having a great time and loving every minute of being here! I have taken lots of pictures and hopefully i will be able to put them up for all of you. Ok I think that answers your guestion and catches everybody up. I had a great new years and I hope you all did also. I have been spending the last week shopping and walking to different places in the city. I ventured to Tigre by train and that was fun. Public transportation costs like 25 cents a ride, its crazy awesome! I eat delicious food everyday, but for the last 2 days i have had smoothies and french fries, what could be better....mmm my love for fried potatoes continues, though i have given up chocolate(heather, tell betty never to come here, there is no dark chocolate) and chips. I´ve only had one hamburger and it wasnt near as good as ours. The hot dogs are awesome though, they are called super ponchos and i dont know what kind of mixture of processed meat they are made out of, they are delicous. I´m getting browner, but i have a total farmer tan cause everytime i go out i cover up as much as i can, cause i hate sunscreen. im brown from the elbow down, half a calf and top of my foot and around my neck, its just makes me look like i dont bathe, its hot. I found an american/european fancy mall that has a tiffany and a MAC. At first i was really excited to be in the mall, but then everything was American and just the same as at home and i hadnt seen it in so long it made me sick. I had to get out of there, it was so much to look at and it was all lame. It was horrible, but then I saw the MAC(you know the makeup store) on the way out and my inner american came out and i decided it was all crap but the MAC was ok...silly i know. An american guy showed up and the hostel a few days ago and he is the same age as i am. It was very odd to be around him. He was from berkley and said "hella" and fuck every other word and was so sarcastic like typical young american guy. I started swearing again and being sarcastic, it surprised me how fast i just fell right back into that way of speaking. Hes gone now and my mouth is a bit more appropriate now. The longer i stay here the less i want to go home. My trip is very close to half over and I feel like i´ve barely started my journey. love and kisses to all my family and friends. To those of you that use this blog as an opportunity to check up on me and see how i am doing: I miss you and please feel free to email me and tell me what you are up and what is going on in your life. I could really stand to hear some stories. Besos. Gracias para todo haces. Te extrano mucho. No espero a ver sos.