Information: if you hate your job or your life and you want to travel we find many people working at hostels without pay, but living for free and performing fairly simple duties for the hostel. In Pucon, Chile there were two german girls running the hostel for a Chilean woman. They hardly spoke spanish and knew very little about the town. Here in Foz de Igaucu and the Hostel Bambu there is an english dude who speaks NO portuguese and tries to joke with you while you just wanna get your damn heineken for 3 reais. Another Brasilian woman here speaks the language but knows absolutely nothing about where she is.
So the point is, anybody can just email a hostel, get a little gig there, hop on a plane and live in southern Chile, Northern Argentina, Brasil, or wherever the fuck else. Cool thingssss.
Ok, so after Lizzie left Ally and I found a cool record store in Palermo. This dude is about 24, owns the place, has massive posters of Hendrix, Lead Belly, and others plastered on the walls, and is coming to California with his girlfriend in january. hopefully he is going to meet up with ally and i for new years and perhaps again in San Francisco. His name is Paco and hes badass.
On Sunday we went to a street fair and despite the rain a younger dude and an older guy were set up in the middle of Defensa in San Telmo playing Djano Reinhardt-esque jazz. It was very sexy. We also found a young dude who was very similar to Paco who had an old school camera shop (passed down from his father and grandfather) and he was an expert in all the cameras and since my camera broke the day i got here we bought this sweet little "half-shot" camera (a roll of 36 pictures can take 72 pictures). I almost bought a super 8 but didnt have enough money and we liked the guy a lot and he was very into everything, all his cameras got him really excited and we took our first picture of his nice little store and continued on to find a side street where there was a piano chillin on the sidewalk. We walked up to it and then 3 dudes busted out accordions. They started warming up while another gentleman sat down at the piano and started playing some dark, dramatic tango. Two others joined in with violins and then the guy from the crowd who handed me a flyer for a show walked into the middle of the street and started singing, nearly with tears in his eyes. It was pretty emotional for a street performance but it was incredible to watch the way all the musicians performed together, the way the accordions move and match up with the direction of the music. Later that night we met up with our friend Andy again (he happened to be in Buenos Aires one last night) and went to La Catedral, where people take tango lessons earlier in the night and then dance and mess around into the wee hours a da mornin. We had some good wine and i was very into the building - this ENORMOUS space, like a mini basketball arena, with art thrown everywhere on the walls, random instruments and posters, a large bar, and a serious darkness that makes everything more powerful for some weird reason. Basically like Andy Warhols FACTORY....thats how i thought of it anyway.
Ok, so now were in Igaucu, staying on the Brasilian side cus i was duped by some scavenger at the bus station who had lies hanging out of his teeth like dental floss, but we were dripping in sweat and it was hot and humid and the smell of shit was still hanging in the air from our bus ride, so we went to our little room which had a bunk bed and NO SPACE to move AT ALL. you walk in the door and it nearly hits the bed post and then you just have to jump into bed. Then you can walk into the bathroom with a small sink and you can sit down on the toilet to take a shit. the BONUS of this lovely bathroom is that you can turn on the shower while you are shitting and the water conveniently drops directly on your head. So after you take a shower the entire bathroom is drenched in water. but if the toilet is clogged you can put the shower on and the water pressure can force the monster down the hole.
Luckily the beer is cheap and i had many Heinekens and fast forward to the next morning, we head back over to the Argentinian side of the falls (where there is a lot more territory to cover). There are a bunch of different busses that you need to get on, get off, get on get off bla bla bla...We got there, bought our tickets, walked in the park with the sun in our face, walked to get a coffee, turned around and heard a roar, and then saw the water from the fuckin gods pour viciously out of the sky and it DID NOT STOP the entire day. so we had to buy their damn ponchos that say Puerto Igaucu on the back, otherwise our passports, money, our new old school camera, etc would have been drenched. i was very pissed off but we went up to something called the Devils point...i cant remember the name. Anyway, completely soaked, we got there, but could not see ANYTHING but we could feel the power. just water smashing into our faces and dark grey clouds hovering over ominously. So we took the little train down to the next spot because i wanted to take the boat tour. this seemed like a better idea at the beginning of the day but i was determined and ally had to come with me. as we walked down we got better views of the falls and i kept screaming and we saw a monkey in the trees and it was all pretty cool. There was one little platform i walked down that took you face to face with one of the falls and you get right in the ring with the monster. it was great power and felt very cool.
Then we continued down to buy tickets for the boat tour. we watched a few of the boats and started to hesitate as the rain was becoming more and more powerful and people began leaving, the boats began to empty, and the water was moving violently, etc etc. we decided to do it anyways, bought the tickets and then started walking down to the water on the rocky steps, nearly slipping, getting knocked back from the wind.
then there was a godly moment. I was looking ahead at the great mountains and a waterfall in the distance and above the mountain i saw a bolt of lightning that must have come directly from the furious fist of ZEUS himself. it scratched across the sky and was followed by a bellow from Poseidon that caused Ally to scream outloud. The boat was shaking violently back and forth at the bottom of the rocks and it was empty besides two other insane couples like ourselves. Ally pointed out that the video camera they were filming us with was to identify us if we died and our bodies were too mangled and then we took off to the first set of falls. If you havent seen many pictures of Igaucu then look them up. It is insanity and if you look at a picture of all the falls we went to the right hand side first. we started riding straight towards the thing and then slowed down. Rain was smashing into our faces, and water from the falls was shooting at us like assault rifles. Ally and i thought that this was as close as we would get. But then the guy put his foot on the gas and took us straight towards the heart of the bastard. it seemed like suicide and at this point you couldnt see much but he stopped just short of the falls and ally was laughing hysterically and i was singing "baby baby looks like its gonna hail" to cope with the madness, and i saw two tucans chillin on a rock but ally didnt care, and the boat was swinging wildly back and forth and then we spun around and did the whole damn thing again. On any other day i feel that this whole trip would have been pretty intense but overall just a crazy experience. i think this day was something different and we started riding to the next set of waterfalls (if youre looking at the whole set these are the ones to the left, that you can see from the brasilian side). there was lightning flashing across the sky and thunder from the jaws of hell and this time the guy didnt even hesitate. he drove us straight into the fucking falls and it was kind of painful and in all the madness it really seemed like we might die, but i guess i knew it would be ok cus the camera guy stood in the center of the boat the entire time filming us with a smile on his face. he was a crazy man but i liked him.
The brasilian side today was easy as pie and unbelievably incredibly beautiful with green all over the place and waterfalls everywhere you turn, exploding out of every space that seemed possible. we just got back into town a little while ago and had a beer and met a strange german/brasilian/spanish dude who i thought was homeless but turned out to have a tour company and his name is Nelson and he cracked open a can of Skol, gave me a sip and walked away. In 90 minutes we take a bus to Florianopolis. We are tired and delusional and ally is afraid because im going crazier everyday but everything is fanastic and were laughing a lot and home seems sweet but we got more damage to do and were still hungry.
cheerio!
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
buenos aires, 100 pipers, insane woman, checkpoint drug search, down 2 2
in our apartment in Buenos Aires, located in the quiet section of Palermo, we´ve enjoyed several home-cooked meals, bottles of wine, cigarettes, laughter, and crazy dance sessions, all of which culminated in the smokey chaos that was last night. lizzie and i killed the bottle of 100 pipers, our good friend, (cheap scotch)after drinking beer and rum throughout the day. then we danced madly to james brown and sang Kokomo at the top of our lungs. I made a fool of myself several times partly because i lost my mind to some of the good earth, given to me by a couple dudes on the street corner who had just finished filming a coca cola jingle for television. when i said i was from california the first thing they said was "oh! jim morrison" then they said they spend most of their time on the streets, that the devil lives in buenos aires (and LA, new york, etc). i agreed and then lizzie and i bought cuban cigars.
today i am very disoriented.
our bowel movements have been quite regular this week. here´s why: we make a big salad with avocado, palimtos, onions, garlic and tomatoes every night, using lots of olive oil. then we eat either brown rice and lentils or a big pasta. i am adamant about throwing curry into everything we eat, including eggs in the morning. i also have put us threw hell with several cloves of garlic in all the dishes. i believe in the power of garlic and i wont back down about it though sometimes i have to sneak it in because the two ladies say they cant handle it. but then they rave that the sauce tastes good. in addition we go through lots of Quilmes (cheapgoodbeer), 2 bottles of Malbec and occasionally 100 pipers. for dessert we cut up peaches and sometimes bananas and heat them up on the stove, and then pour dulce de leche on top. AND THEN we cut up white chocolate and sprinkle it on top so that it melts into gooey heaven.
so that is a bit of our home life.
at the beginning of the week we went to the zoo and the botanical gardens. they had a snow leopard which was fucking awesome, just runnin around its territory and occasionally jumping in the air or trying to escape through the metal door in the back. also some beautiful white lions, crazy monkeys, a HUGGGGE turtle, and a section with farm animals which ally was happy about because "they are animals too!" i listened to the Panda Bear album on my ipod and was constantly confused because the album has noises which sometimes sound like roars or sounds of elephants. i will let ally or lizzie go into more detail about the animals. oh, they also had these little rabbit looking things and beavers with rat tails running freely through the park so you were kind of immersed in the whole thing whether you wanted to be or not. the botanical gardens were very nice and peaceful and had cats EVERYWHERE. Andy (our friend from Bariloche) told us there would be wild cats but we didnt expect as many as we saw. the cats would even group together behind trees to conduct meetings, and they´d also taken over a large square where they segregated themselves according to fur color, minus one stubborn son of a bitch who was sprawled out with all the "tabby cats"... we took some pictures and then cooked our feast.
the next day we walked a shitload and hit up the Belles Artes museum which was pretty cool. Ally dug the Rothko painting and gave me a little knowledge about his style and i got pumped up about Picasso and lizzie was really into this crazy visual thing which fucked with your perspective.
then we began walking to the MALBA museum and it was pouring rain and we saw their current exhibit on andy warhol. i listened to the velvet underground and they had some cool modern art and then we cooked our feast and passed out eating ice cream.
The following day was spent in San Telmo. very cool section of the city with tons of little antique stores with all sorts of crazy stuff. we went through many of them and didnt buy anything and then drank at a nearby bar and ally and i stumped lizzie with games like black magic and other strange things. but she figured everything out and then had dinner at Desnivel, a place frequented by locals where lizzie and i had a kick ass steak and ally had a shitty pasta but a good piece of grilled cheese with tomatoes. we also had sangria at this cool little cafe in san telmo which was in a kind of courtyard and seemed to be somebody´s apartment. the sangria was made on the spot and gave a nice buzz. Plaza Dorrego was also a good time. lots of people selling art and jewlery where we returned the following day for lizzie to buy this spoon necklace kinda thing with jewels on it. then we were sadly convinced to go into a bar which had a cool upstairs section where we could smoke and drink and they said we would see tango for free. we didn´t know we would be THE ONLY people inside and that the tango would occur right in front of our table, that it would last 5 minutes, that we would be forced to take awkward pictures, me with the woman and lizzie and ally with the guy (while wearing their hats and scarves)....and then of course we had to leave a tip.
people here are very clear about tipping. the waiters always make sure to tell you that "the tip is not included" when they drop the check, and the guy who puts your backpack into the bus will wave a couple pesos in your face to make sure you tip. on the way to buenos aires this pissed me off so i gave him 2 pesos and told lizzie he didnt deserve anymore, but when we arrived in buenos aires our bags were soaking wet. he gave me a really dirty look after getting the 2 pesos and i knew he had power so this was a fuckup on my part.
anyway, yesterday we went to La Boca, which was a mistake because it was pouuuuring rain and though Caminito looked cool (a little neighboorhood with really colorful houses and people selling art and jewlery) we rushed to find a restaurant/bar. people will do anything to get you into the restaurant (see tango situation above) and when we asked if we could smoke inside the woman said yes, and when we sat down our waitress Virginia (who was cool and on top of her shit) apologized and told us that "it is IMPOSSIBLE to smoke inside"...so we drank Quilmes, ate bread with tapanade that was taken from a jar that hadnt been cleaned since 1974 and ate some decent empanadas. then we took a cab back to san telmo and relaxed until night.
a few other things we´d left out from before:
1. when we entered Argentina, from Chile, we stopped at customs and 2 argentine police officers came aboard the bus and went DIRECTLY to lizzie, ally and i and started searching our bags. they asked each of us if we smoked marijuana and went through everything we had, smelling our ipods and even the trash we were carrying. this took about 15 minutes, was fairly awkward and then they apologized and walked off the bus. nobody else was searched and afterwards lizzie said that the old dude from San Luis Obispo who was sitting behind her said "man, i was afraid they were gonna search me...i got some pot on me right now". Later i saw this same guy running frantically through the streets at one of our stops on the way to Bariloche. he was crazy and kept yelling at people in shitty spanish while looking for an atm. i needed an atm too so i was stuck with the dude. while we were walking he kept saying that somebody must have called ahead to tell the police officers to search us. he was very adamant about this but said that he was lucky to be old because he could put on his reading glasses and look innocent. i did not like this guy.
2. in Valpairiso there lives an insane woman. Lizzie and Ally saw her cause a scene with her boyfriend/lover (also insane) which i will let them describe. this occurred at some restaurant in town and was very awkward according to them. anyway, they told me about this woman and it seemed wild but i didn´t think much of it UNTIL we were sitting in an empty bar, just us three, drinking malbec before our bus left at night. the woman came in and sat down at the table closest to us. ally and i were facing her and lizzie had her back to her. lizzie insisted this was more scary but i must argue that because her face was on fire and had sprinkles of dark chaos everywhere. ally and lizzie told me not to respond to her when she spoke. this did not however deter her from speaking to us, NONSTOP for an hour. lizzie can verify what she spoke about, but i think it was everything from her family, to why she doesn´t have money, to what she does in town, etc etc. she would laugh, flirt with the young waiter, ask us questions (to which we did not respond) and then laugh and continue talking. ally and i had to work hard to avoid looking at her. maybe we seem like bastards for all this but anybody would have done the same thing. if not even the strongest would get sucked into a whirpool of insanity. before we left she walked right up to our table and asked for a cigarette. i told her we didn´t have anymore (true) and then she started singing a little bit before yelling "FUCK YOU" and going out into the streets to wreak havoc.
now lizzie is gone and ally and i are relaxing today. i need to recover from last night and we needed to leave our apartment and get a hostel for two nights before leaving for Igaucu falls on monday. we spend a couple days there before going to Florianopolis in Brasil to chill out for a few days at the beach. then we meet up with my family. we miss lizzie already and wish her a safe trip home. hope everyone is enjoying the thanksgiving break. peace and love
ciaooo
today i am very disoriented.
our bowel movements have been quite regular this week. here´s why: we make a big salad with avocado, palimtos, onions, garlic and tomatoes every night, using lots of olive oil. then we eat either brown rice and lentils or a big pasta. i am adamant about throwing curry into everything we eat, including eggs in the morning. i also have put us threw hell with several cloves of garlic in all the dishes. i believe in the power of garlic and i wont back down about it though sometimes i have to sneak it in because the two ladies say they cant handle it. but then they rave that the sauce tastes good. in addition we go through lots of Quilmes (cheapgoodbeer), 2 bottles of Malbec and occasionally 100 pipers. for dessert we cut up peaches and sometimes bananas and heat them up on the stove, and then pour dulce de leche on top. AND THEN we cut up white chocolate and sprinkle it on top so that it melts into gooey heaven.
so that is a bit of our home life.
at the beginning of the week we went to the zoo and the botanical gardens. they had a snow leopard which was fucking awesome, just runnin around its territory and occasionally jumping in the air or trying to escape through the metal door in the back. also some beautiful white lions, crazy monkeys, a HUGGGGE turtle, and a section with farm animals which ally was happy about because "they are animals too!" i listened to the Panda Bear album on my ipod and was constantly confused because the album has noises which sometimes sound like roars or sounds of elephants. i will let ally or lizzie go into more detail about the animals. oh, they also had these little rabbit looking things and beavers with rat tails running freely through the park so you were kind of immersed in the whole thing whether you wanted to be or not. the botanical gardens were very nice and peaceful and had cats EVERYWHERE. Andy (our friend from Bariloche) told us there would be wild cats but we didnt expect as many as we saw. the cats would even group together behind trees to conduct meetings, and they´d also taken over a large square where they segregated themselves according to fur color, minus one stubborn son of a bitch who was sprawled out with all the "tabby cats"... we took some pictures and then cooked our feast.
the next day we walked a shitload and hit up the Belles Artes museum which was pretty cool. Ally dug the Rothko painting and gave me a little knowledge about his style and i got pumped up about Picasso and lizzie was really into this crazy visual thing which fucked with your perspective.
then we began walking to the MALBA museum and it was pouring rain and we saw their current exhibit on andy warhol. i listened to the velvet underground and they had some cool modern art and then we cooked our feast and passed out eating ice cream.
The following day was spent in San Telmo. very cool section of the city with tons of little antique stores with all sorts of crazy stuff. we went through many of them and didnt buy anything and then drank at a nearby bar and ally and i stumped lizzie with games like black magic and other strange things. but she figured everything out and then had dinner at Desnivel, a place frequented by locals where lizzie and i had a kick ass steak and ally had a shitty pasta but a good piece of grilled cheese with tomatoes. we also had sangria at this cool little cafe in san telmo which was in a kind of courtyard and seemed to be somebody´s apartment. the sangria was made on the spot and gave a nice buzz. Plaza Dorrego was also a good time. lots of people selling art and jewlery where we returned the following day for lizzie to buy this spoon necklace kinda thing with jewels on it. then we were sadly convinced to go into a bar which had a cool upstairs section where we could smoke and drink and they said we would see tango for free. we didn´t know we would be THE ONLY people inside and that the tango would occur right in front of our table, that it would last 5 minutes, that we would be forced to take awkward pictures, me with the woman and lizzie and ally with the guy (while wearing their hats and scarves)....and then of course we had to leave a tip.
people here are very clear about tipping. the waiters always make sure to tell you that "the tip is not included" when they drop the check, and the guy who puts your backpack into the bus will wave a couple pesos in your face to make sure you tip. on the way to buenos aires this pissed me off so i gave him 2 pesos and told lizzie he didnt deserve anymore, but when we arrived in buenos aires our bags were soaking wet. he gave me a really dirty look after getting the 2 pesos and i knew he had power so this was a fuckup on my part.
anyway, yesterday we went to La Boca, which was a mistake because it was pouuuuring rain and though Caminito looked cool (a little neighboorhood with really colorful houses and people selling art and jewlery) we rushed to find a restaurant/bar. people will do anything to get you into the restaurant (see tango situation above) and when we asked if we could smoke inside the woman said yes, and when we sat down our waitress Virginia (who was cool and on top of her shit) apologized and told us that "it is IMPOSSIBLE to smoke inside"...so we drank Quilmes, ate bread with tapanade that was taken from a jar that hadnt been cleaned since 1974 and ate some decent empanadas. then we took a cab back to san telmo and relaxed until night.
a few other things we´d left out from before:
1. when we entered Argentina, from Chile, we stopped at customs and 2 argentine police officers came aboard the bus and went DIRECTLY to lizzie, ally and i and started searching our bags. they asked each of us if we smoked marijuana and went through everything we had, smelling our ipods and even the trash we were carrying. this took about 15 minutes, was fairly awkward and then they apologized and walked off the bus. nobody else was searched and afterwards lizzie said that the old dude from San Luis Obispo who was sitting behind her said "man, i was afraid they were gonna search me...i got some pot on me right now". Later i saw this same guy running frantically through the streets at one of our stops on the way to Bariloche. he was crazy and kept yelling at people in shitty spanish while looking for an atm. i needed an atm too so i was stuck with the dude. while we were walking he kept saying that somebody must have called ahead to tell the police officers to search us. he was very adamant about this but said that he was lucky to be old because he could put on his reading glasses and look innocent. i did not like this guy.
2. in Valpairiso there lives an insane woman. Lizzie and Ally saw her cause a scene with her boyfriend/lover (also insane) which i will let them describe. this occurred at some restaurant in town and was very awkward according to them. anyway, they told me about this woman and it seemed wild but i didn´t think much of it UNTIL we were sitting in an empty bar, just us three, drinking malbec before our bus left at night. the woman came in and sat down at the table closest to us. ally and i were facing her and lizzie had her back to her. lizzie insisted this was more scary but i must argue that because her face was on fire and had sprinkles of dark chaos everywhere. ally and lizzie told me not to respond to her when she spoke. this did not however deter her from speaking to us, NONSTOP for an hour. lizzie can verify what she spoke about, but i think it was everything from her family, to why she doesn´t have money, to what she does in town, etc etc. she would laugh, flirt with the young waiter, ask us questions (to which we did not respond) and then laugh and continue talking. ally and i had to work hard to avoid looking at her. maybe we seem like bastards for all this but anybody would have done the same thing. if not even the strongest would get sucked into a whirpool of insanity. before we left she walked right up to our table and asked for a cigarette. i told her we didn´t have anymore (true) and then she started singing a little bit before yelling "FUCK YOU" and going out into the streets to wreak havoc.
now lizzie is gone and ally and i are relaxing today. i need to recover from last night and we needed to leave our apartment and get a hostel for two nights before leaving for Igaucu falls on monday. we spend a couple days there before going to Florianopolis in Brasil to chill out for a few days at the beach. then we meet up with my family. we miss lizzie already and wish her a safe trip home. hope everyone is enjoying the thanksgiving break. peace and love
ciaooo
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
ok so Bariloche was very similar to Pucon, just as beautiful and just as cold, Bariloche wins though because the lakes were bigger and we met cooler people. day one we rode chair lifts up a moutain while Japanese tourists took our picture and waved hello asking ¨are you ok???¨ it was kinda strange but whatever cause the view was worth it, blue slate lakes trapped in green and white mountains, xandre seems to enjoy being cold so he took a lot of pictures for everyone, ally and I waited inside the cafe......but in our defense the cafe held a priceless cultural experience; Chococognac (hot chocolate with cognac, fucking amazing!!!)
our outdoor adventure was followed by a bottle of whiskey we bought in Mendoza and family dinner at the hostel with our really cool roommate Andy, really solid guy from London who actually liked talking about other things besides traveling (honestly it gets really old after a while, yes we are all traveling and on the road blah blah blah but we also have some other things gonna on man)
I got a little chatty and stated that you could never have too much leather and then started talking about therapists..........but Andy didnt seem too disturbed by it, so we pretty much knew he could hang.
Day two we hung around town a while, then Xandre went Kayaking with an Argentine Elvis fanatic and Ally and I bought chocolates and I had my portrait taken with two St Bernards!
After the Kayaking we opened the second bottle of Mendozian Whiskey, after that we took advantage of the cheap wine of the hostel, and then shit hit the fan.
Basically I felt like being really really nasty and mean, so I stated that a coca cola jingle is more legit than promoting awareness for Aids in Africa (mind you I was wearing my african liberation tribal print leggings at the time) Xandre and I had a screaming match, he left disgusted, Andy and Ally tried to reason with me, I was stubborn so I stood my ground for a good two hours, but once closing time came around I pretty much took it all back and we walked home drunk and happy, one big happy family.
Day three, because of the whiskey the night before we bought three tickets for the black glacier excursion, not wise at all. Cold Cold rain the whole day. We thought that entrance to the national park and lunch was included, it was not, had to bum money off a fellow traveler staying at our hostel named Alan (a really really sincerely nice guy from Toronto). Then we did a ¨hike¨ which was more of a single file line up a mountain with no breaks to look around or BREATHE. We saw the waterfalls, Xandre loved it, I thought it was nice, Ally was pissed. Then we rode through the forest and came to the infamous Black Glacier, the only problem was that it looked like a rock or as Ally stated ¨a bowl of cookie soup¨. It was actually kinda cool though, the broken chunks had really nice lines dividing different shades of grey. Xandre had another Lord of the Rings moment and Ally and I ran around doing our charming ¨rosie o´donnel run¨.
We ended Bariloche with a nice dinner with Andy and then made our way over to the hostel bar for one last round, the place was empty but the bartender was cool and let us have a drink. We had a really good time talking to him, his work basically revolves around using the internet to empower and unite communities so that they don´t need to rely on the government in order to take care of their needs, POWER TO THE PEOPLE. Then we went back to our hostel and Andy looked up pictures of Tipper Gore on his Iphone, then we played a round of Marry Fuck or Kill, and Xandre didnt think twice about killing Chelsea Clinton (leaving him with the two Bush twins to either Fuck or Marry).
The next day we said our goodbyes to Andy and Alan which was sad because the two of them really made Bariloche for us. Andy brought more control and ability to our table, Alan made us realize that our table isnt resting on mound of shit.
Now we are in Buenos Aires, times are good but frankly we´re getting a little homesick......we have really good nights but they make the bright mornings a little rough.
We´re thinking about Omead a lot, and things are down.
We saw a cool Warhol exhibit and thought of sending him a postcard of it, but the only one they had was a Self Portrait in drag. (we thought his parents might get a little weirded out by it)
Today is Turkey day so we listened to Aretha during breakfast and ate Dulce de Leche, tonight we kill the bottle of 100 PIPERS Scotch that we bought.
A few more days of prowling around and then the journey splits,
Dog Wonder is flying home and the two golden outlaws travel north to get their bossa nova on.
MUCH LOVE TO ALL.
our outdoor adventure was followed by a bottle of whiskey we bought in Mendoza and family dinner at the hostel with our really cool roommate Andy, really solid guy from London who actually liked talking about other things besides traveling (honestly it gets really old after a while, yes we are all traveling and on the road blah blah blah but we also have some other things gonna on man)
I got a little chatty and stated that you could never have too much leather and then started talking about therapists..........but Andy didnt seem too disturbed by it, so we pretty much knew he could hang.
Day two we hung around town a while, then Xandre went Kayaking with an Argentine Elvis fanatic and Ally and I bought chocolates and I had my portrait taken with two St Bernards!
After the Kayaking we opened the second bottle of Mendozian Whiskey, after that we took advantage of the cheap wine of the hostel, and then shit hit the fan.
Basically I felt like being really really nasty and mean, so I stated that a coca cola jingle is more legit than promoting awareness for Aids in Africa (mind you I was wearing my african liberation tribal print leggings at the time) Xandre and I had a screaming match, he left disgusted, Andy and Ally tried to reason with me, I was stubborn so I stood my ground for a good two hours, but once closing time came around I pretty much took it all back and we walked home drunk and happy, one big happy family.
Day three, because of the whiskey the night before we bought three tickets for the black glacier excursion, not wise at all. Cold Cold rain the whole day. We thought that entrance to the national park and lunch was included, it was not, had to bum money off a fellow traveler staying at our hostel named Alan (a really really sincerely nice guy from Toronto). Then we did a ¨hike¨ which was more of a single file line up a mountain with no breaks to look around or BREATHE. We saw the waterfalls, Xandre loved it, I thought it was nice, Ally was pissed. Then we rode through the forest and came to the infamous Black Glacier, the only problem was that it looked like a rock or as Ally stated ¨a bowl of cookie soup¨. It was actually kinda cool though, the broken chunks had really nice lines dividing different shades of grey. Xandre had another Lord of the Rings moment and Ally and I ran around doing our charming ¨rosie o´donnel run¨.
We ended Bariloche with a nice dinner with Andy and then made our way over to the hostel bar for one last round, the place was empty but the bartender was cool and let us have a drink. We had a really good time talking to him, his work basically revolves around using the internet to empower and unite communities so that they don´t need to rely on the government in order to take care of their needs, POWER TO THE PEOPLE. Then we went back to our hostel and Andy looked up pictures of Tipper Gore on his Iphone, then we played a round of Marry Fuck or Kill, and Xandre didnt think twice about killing Chelsea Clinton (leaving him with the two Bush twins to either Fuck or Marry).
The next day we said our goodbyes to Andy and Alan which was sad because the two of them really made Bariloche for us. Andy brought more control and ability to our table, Alan made us realize that our table isnt resting on mound of shit.
Now we are in Buenos Aires, times are good but frankly we´re getting a little homesick......we have really good nights but they make the bright mornings a little rough.
We´re thinking about Omead a lot, and things are down.
We saw a cool Warhol exhibit and thought of sending him a postcard of it, but the only one they had was a Self Portrait in drag. (we thought his parents might get a little weirded out by it)
Today is Turkey day so we listened to Aretha during breakfast and ate Dulce de Leche, tonight we kill the bottle of 100 PIPERS Scotch that we bought.
A few more days of prowling around and then the journey splits,
Dog Wonder is flying home and the two golden outlaws travel north to get their bossa nova on.
MUCH LOVE TO ALL.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Maggie, Turner and running against the headwind.
We got to Pucon. A new rustic type of wooden town(think aspen, whistler, etc. lesscorporatebutneedssnow). We stayed in a log cabin run by German women who liked to chat, smoke and party late and wake up early. There is a volcano here. It is majestic and white and we took pictures in the morning. It´s always cold here, and windy and we wore layers and lizzie wore Keds with holes in them and a flannel with the pockets cut out because she lost her purple raincoat. The first night we ate at a crap italian restaurant and they played Michael Jackson music videos on a big screen while blasting club music in spanish and sometimes the dancing matched up. We taught Xandre all he needed to know about MJ and his life, and then we ate crap food while the restaurant billowed with smoke from some mishap in the kitchen and no one cared and no one apologized and they turned on a small fan and put Shakira on. The smoking section came back to bite us in the ass.
We woke up, went to the closest coffee shop, ate bland food. it was lovely. We walked to the lake and I met Maggie, the german shepperd, who ended up following us for the next 3 days. She was well behaved and lovely and I wish I could take her with me. We walked around the lake which was glassy and cryptic and then walked through the streets and I bought Maggie some cheap ham and she ate the whole pack in 2 bites. Xandre was certain she had an owner, and was all bah humbug after hamtime. We all bopped around (Maggie included)and finally decided to go on a bus tour of the area(No Maggie). We saw beautiful rivers, and rapids and blue water, and waterfalls and the forest. wonderous splendor. We got to talking with Anka, a nerdy but sweet German journalist who liked to talk. The trip ended in a visit at the Thermal Hot Springs. This was like a miz between the local YMCA pool and a eurpean bathhouse. Set in a beautiful woodsy outdoors, but all enclosed so you might as well be in Kansas. They weren´t that warm and there was skin floating around. We wore neon green and blue swim caps and looked like we worked at hot-dog-on-a-stick. Frothy Lemonade? Anka talked and said interesting things. We left finally. It was still very cold outside. Maggie was there when we got back. We ate good food that night and Maggie ate salame that was leftover. We went to a bar to wait for Anka (We had stopped by her hostel earlier and left her a note inviting her to drinks later since she talked about being a lonely traveler and eating picnic food alone). She never showed. Lizzie and Xandre drank as they do on most days and I sat and we talked. Music was loud and they played reggae and we talked about Robbie Dietz and we all saw him singing along in our heads.
Next day, lizzie and I spent the day walking around Pucon with Maggie and Turner (a fellow friend, german shepperd and chow chow mix who looked like a tiny bear). Xandre did the canopy tour, had the time of his life. He came back with Brian, a schoolteacher from Texas with an accent and an awkward way about him. We dined together. He was quaint.
I am tired of typing.
We are in Bariloche now.
Look up images.
It is INCREDIBLE.
We love you all.
We woke up, went to the closest coffee shop, ate bland food. it was lovely. We walked to the lake and I met Maggie, the german shepperd, who ended up following us for the next 3 days. She was well behaved and lovely and I wish I could take her with me. We walked around the lake which was glassy and cryptic and then walked through the streets and I bought Maggie some cheap ham and she ate the whole pack in 2 bites. Xandre was certain she had an owner, and was all bah humbug after hamtime. We all bopped around (Maggie included)and finally decided to go on a bus tour of the area(No Maggie). We saw beautiful rivers, and rapids and blue water, and waterfalls and the forest. wonderous splendor. We got to talking with Anka, a nerdy but sweet German journalist who liked to talk. The trip ended in a visit at the Thermal Hot Springs. This was like a miz between the local YMCA pool and a eurpean bathhouse. Set in a beautiful woodsy outdoors, but all enclosed so you might as well be in Kansas. They weren´t that warm and there was skin floating around. We wore neon green and blue swim caps and looked like we worked at hot-dog-on-a-stick. Frothy Lemonade? Anka talked and said interesting things. We left finally. It was still very cold outside. Maggie was there when we got back. We ate good food that night and Maggie ate salame that was leftover. We went to a bar to wait for Anka (We had stopped by her hostel earlier and left her a note inviting her to drinks later since she talked about being a lonely traveler and eating picnic food alone). She never showed. Lizzie and Xandre drank as they do on most days and I sat and we talked. Music was loud and they played reggae and we talked about Robbie Dietz and we all saw him singing along in our heads.
Next day, lizzie and I spent the day walking around Pucon with Maggie and Turner (a fellow friend, german shepperd and chow chow mix who looked like a tiny bear). Xandre did the canopy tour, had the time of his life. He came back with Brian, a schoolteacher from Texas with an accent and an awkward way about him. We dined together. He was quaint.
I am tired of typing.
We are in Bariloche now.
Look up images.
It is INCREDIBLE.
We love you all.
Friday, November 13, 2009
shit on the bus and on to the mountains
They don´t let you take shits on the busses and it was nice to get (and hold) a powerful diarrhea 2 hours into our 11 hour bus ride from Santiago to Valdivia. Luckily since everybody was passed out I managed to get to the back and sneak a little squirt, otherwise I would´ve burst by hour 6. The sleepless ride left me bed hungry by the time we got to the little wood hostel, which was very near but felt like home and had a duck and a rabbit in the backyard. The duck was an asshole and the rabbit cuddled with Ally and Lizzie in the morning over coffee, exposing the fact that Duck bit the top of Rabbit´s head (he had a small bald spot).
Santiago was awesome and we saw a museum showing artifacts from the Myans and Incas and all those cultures. COol to see the way that art penetrated every aspect of their lives. Before this museum we had coffee at Cafe Haiti. Ally said it was a coffee shop for men and Lizzie disagreed. The facts: relatively unattractive women wear schoolgirl outfits with lots of cleavage and stand behind the counter. You give your ticket for your coffee and they bring you a small glass of sparkling water with your drink and you stand and smoke and if youre an older man they probably flirt with you.
Saw late night jazz in a VERY sketchy part of town at a place called Thelonius, right next to a giant strip club. It was a monday so we think it was not the night for the best players - 4 nerdy dudes jammin, but they did ok even though Lizzie and I fell asleep. (We´d been drinking for hours in celebration of Ally´s birthday).
Drinking earthquakes at Piojera, a very old looking bar where you might go after your wife leaves you or if you´re 50 and you wanna get drunk at 1pm or if you´re young and you wanna smoke and get drunk and eat cheaply. The earthquake is basically sweet wine with ice cream inside. A little dash of something else on the top, and you just let the ice cream soak in. Ally took one sip and then refused to touch it again, though we forced a little down her throat. Lizzie was really into it, i hated it and i cite it as a source of the diarrhea. The best way i can describe this bar is this: i asked a guy on the street where Piojera is and he said, very concerned, "You´re going alone? You´re going alone?" and then he made a motion with his finger across his neck...like i might die in there alone. Also, everybody in Chile consistently gives you the wrong directions. it was disastorous but allowed us to get to know the city better.
santiago, being my first stop, got me hungry for those strange adventures when you travel and the days open like 1 liter bottles of beer, poP! and cities with smog, valparaiso with trash tornadoes whirling at your feet and ocean air smacking you in the face from Pablo Nerudas house high in the poetry of the hills, street art splashed everywhere, people with real lives and you pass them disappearing, cramming it all down your throat, shitting it out in public bathrooms where you cant flush the toilet paper, bottles of wine for 10 bucks and 1am meals, cloudy smoke, lucky strikes, mad men, wired, talks of future, silence and new strange things bubbling, trees in the streets, hills on the hills and castles in the middle, Andes jagged in the east, weird british dude in your hostel jumping from the top bunk at 8am in nothing but briefs watching extreme sports, a late night smoke with lover on the rooftop with jazz dripping from the speakers in the streets into the city which soaks it all up and squeezes you out the next morning drenched in desire for more more more, and you see on the Road in a hostel on the bed and your friend just bought an rv and writes of the road and everybody talks furiously over wine and beer, curiouser and curiouser cus they played alice and wonderland on the tv with hoochie coochie man blasting on the speakers
Santiago was awesome and we saw a museum showing artifacts from the Myans and Incas and all those cultures. COol to see the way that art penetrated every aspect of their lives. Before this museum we had coffee at Cafe Haiti. Ally said it was a coffee shop for men and Lizzie disagreed. The facts: relatively unattractive women wear schoolgirl outfits with lots of cleavage and stand behind the counter. You give your ticket for your coffee and they bring you a small glass of sparkling water with your drink and you stand and smoke and if youre an older man they probably flirt with you.
Saw late night jazz in a VERY sketchy part of town at a place called Thelonius, right next to a giant strip club. It was a monday so we think it was not the night for the best players - 4 nerdy dudes jammin, but they did ok even though Lizzie and I fell asleep. (We´d been drinking for hours in celebration of Ally´s birthday).
Drinking earthquakes at Piojera, a very old looking bar where you might go after your wife leaves you or if you´re 50 and you wanna get drunk at 1pm or if you´re young and you wanna smoke and get drunk and eat cheaply. The earthquake is basically sweet wine with ice cream inside. A little dash of something else on the top, and you just let the ice cream soak in. Ally took one sip and then refused to touch it again, though we forced a little down her throat. Lizzie was really into it, i hated it and i cite it as a source of the diarrhea. The best way i can describe this bar is this: i asked a guy on the street where Piojera is and he said, very concerned, "You´re going alone? You´re going alone?" and then he made a motion with his finger across his neck...like i might die in there alone. Also, everybody in Chile consistently gives you the wrong directions. it was disastorous but allowed us to get to know the city better.
santiago, being my first stop, got me hungry for those strange adventures when you travel and the days open like 1 liter bottles of beer, poP! and cities with smog, valparaiso with trash tornadoes whirling at your feet and ocean air smacking you in the face from Pablo Nerudas house high in the poetry of the hills, street art splashed everywhere, people with real lives and you pass them disappearing, cramming it all down your throat, shitting it out in public bathrooms where you cant flush the toilet paper, bottles of wine for 10 bucks and 1am meals, cloudy smoke, lucky strikes, mad men, wired, talks of future, silence and new strange things bubbling, trees in the streets, hills on the hills and castles in the middle, Andes jagged in the east, weird british dude in your hostel jumping from the top bunk at 8am in nothing but briefs watching extreme sports, a late night smoke with lover on the rooftop with jazz dripping from the speakers in the streets into the city which soaks it all up and squeezes you out the next morning drenched in desire for more more more, and you see on the Road in a hostel on the bed and your friend just bought an rv and writes of the road and everybody talks furiously over wine and beer, curiouser and curiouser cus they played alice and wonderland on the tv with hoochie coochie man blasting on the speakers
Monday, November 9, 2009
Estas son las mañanitas, que cantaba el Rey David
Mendoza was chill.
We took the wine route and met a couple of other interesting travelers, including Maryanne (a forty five year old cougar from Chicago who had a Prozac problem) as well as British version of Jack Black and the four original members of Abba. The vineyards were beautiful and the wine was for the most part lovely, except that every tasting included a "young white wine" which basically meant it tasted somewhere along the lines of fruit punch with a splash of malibu.......
We left that night, well into our Malbec hangovers and rode the night bus to Santiago. Night rides are no good when you have to cross the border, imagine getting pushed off a bus at three am into the freezing cold only to wait in line for a good half an hour while a german shepard sniffs your shit and a two teenagers laugh at you. Thankfully we remembered not to take any Xanax this time.
News Flash !!!!!!!!!! We lalalove Santiago.
We've come to the conclusion that other travelers dont know shit, everyone kept telling us how lame Santiago was, but we find that the city suits us quite well. Good musuems, good music shops (including one which we think might be owned by Murakami) great vintage book stores and gellato which according to Ally tastes like butter. (on a side note i dont know when people decided that south america must be done the outdoor wilderness explorer way, fuck that shit, i could a jazzercise class at home if i wanted to sweat)
We also found a really cool park to chill at (ally thought it was a bum park because everyone was laying down, but it turned out that Chileans just love the pda park sessions, i'm almost positive that 75 percent of babies are concieved outdoors here).
Round one of Santiago was also great cause we finally got Xandre to join us!
Ally is happy to have someone besides my heart of steel and I'm glad because I now have someone to share the wine bottles with.
We took our new partner in crime to Valparaiso, everything was going great till Houdini came and stole Ally's bag. Serioulsy the asshole that stole her shit most have been good at vanishing acts because no one saw a thing.........
So basically we came back to Santiago a little defeated but Ramming On none the less.
Please have a strong stiff drink in honor of Alison's birthday today,
Cheers to the deux deuxs treating her right.
We took the wine route and met a couple of other interesting travelers, including Maryanne (a forty five year old cougar from Chicago who had a Prozac problem) as well as British version of Jack Black and the four original members of Abba. The vineyards were beautiful and the wine was for the most part lovely, except that every tasting included a "young white wine" which basically meant it tasted somewhere along the lines of fruit punch with a splash of malibu.......
We left that night, well into our Malbec hangovers and rode the night bus to Santiago. Night rides are no good when you have to cross the border, imagine getting pushed off a bus at three am into the freezing cold only to wait in line for a good half an hour while a german shepard sniffs your shit and a two teenagers laugh at you. Thankfully we remembered not to take any Xanax this time.
News Flash !!!!!!!!!! We lalalove Santiago.
We've come to the conclusion that other travelers dont know shit, everyone kept telling us how lame Santiago was, but we find that the city suits us quite well. Good musuems, good music shops (including one which we think might be owned by Murakami) great vintage book stores and gellato which according to Ally tastes like butter. (on a side note i dont know when people decided that south america must be done the outdoor wilderness explorer way, fuck that shit, i could a jazzercise class at home if i wanted to sweat)
We also found a really cool park to chill at (ally thought it was a bum park because everyone was laying down, but it turned out that Chileans just love the pda park sessions, i'm almost positive that 75 percent of babies are concieved outdoors here).
Round one of Santiago was also great cause we finally got Xandre to join us!
Ally is happy to have someone besides my heart of steel and I'm glad because I now have someone to share the wine bottles with.
We took our new partner in crime to Valparaiso, everything was going great till Houdini came and stole Ally's bag. Serioulsy the asshole that stole her shit most have been good at vanishing acts because no one saw a thing.........
So basically we came back to Santiago a little defeated but Ramming On none the less.
Please have a strong stiff drink in honor of Alison's birthday today,
Cheers to the deux deuxs treating her right.
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
wild days, lazy nights and the wolf shadow
Some quick updates for the slow minded:
-valparaiso is beautiful, lots of wine, and good food and art on the walls.
-we both dyed our hair, I am a very bright orange-red and lizzie is a black purple.
-we went out for a cigarette one morning and 2 gentlemen from the adjacent hostel window popped out and handed us a giant joint. they then proceeded to tell us it was leaves. we smoked the whole thing between the two of us. they left. we did not get high at all. now i can say that i´ve smoked oregano before.
-we went to a quaint vegetarian restaurant and 2 druggies had to be arrested for contesting their bill (this was after the husky woman made several attempts at slapping the waiter)
-xandre the great is feeling below par these days and has to postpone his flight.
-following the news above, we hopped on a bus to Mendoza, Argentina (wine country) where we will tour wineries tomorrow (along with cheese and chocolate factories) and get drunk.
-there is an amazing video that was set to be posted tomorrow for Morgan & Omead´s birthdays, but alas the camera cord will not get here until Xandre does, so it will be belated or perhaps posted on my birthday.
-if you would like to skype with the dynamic duo, this week would be ideal before we truly hit the road again. send us an email. or don´t and just feed the fish and forget to comment.
-until we meet again...
-valparaiso is beautiful, lots of wine, and good food and art on the walls.
-we both dyed our hair, I am a very bright orange-red and lizzie is a black purple.
-we went out for a cigarette one morning and 2 gentlemen from the adjacent hostel window popped out and handed us a giant joint. they then proceeded to tell us it was leaves. we smoked the whole thing between the two of us. they left. we did not get high at all. now i can say that i´ve smoked oregano before.
-we went to a quaint vegetarian restaurant and 2 druggies had to be arrested for contesting their bill (this was after the husky woman made several attempts at slapping the waiter)
-xandre the great is feeling below par these days and has to postpone his flight.
-following the news above, we hopped on a bus to Mendoza, Argentina (wine country) where we will tour wineries tomorrow (along with cheese and chocolate factories) and get drunk.
-there is an amazing video that was set to be posted tomorrow for Morgan & Omead´s birthdays, but alas the camera cord will not get here until Xandre does, so it will be belated or perhaps posted on my birthday.
-if you would like to skype with the dynamic duo, this week would be ideal before we truly hit the road again. send us an email. or don´t and just feed the fish and forget to comment.
-until we meet again...
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