Tuesday, February 27, 2007
peru
Given that the idea of writing ten more days' worth of posts is too daunting for me to attempt at the moment, and given that I've been putting this thing off long enough, I think I'll tell the story of Peru in pictures and this brief summary: Cusco, Machu Picchu, sacred valley, sick, Puno, Cusco, Lima...verdict: I want to go back again and again.
the end of central america
Feb 7
Katy and April had to leave early in the morning in order to get back to San José in time for their flight to Peru on the 8th. So I stuck around in Bocas an extra day by myself, hopped on a boat to another island and walked through a town and then some jungle to a place called Wizzard Beach, plopped down in the sand and enjoyed the beauty of where I was. I really did a lot of that over the course of the trip, just marvelling at how beautiful some places are. Good times. Here's a pic of the path to Wizzard Beach, of the beach itself, and of the town on the other side of the island that you get off at to go there.
Hung out at the hostel that night with a couple of Israelis, an Irish guy and an American, drinking and talking and singing along to the Irish guy's (very good) guitar playing. Good times.
Feb 8
Early wake-up again and I checked out, walked down the road to the docks for the last time and got on a boat back to the mainland. While waiting to leave I struck up a conversation with perhaps the most beautiful couple I have ever seen in person: two tall, blond, tanned, spectacular, fit New Zealander newlyweds. They were super nice, to boot. Here's a pic I took of the boat ride back:
The way back to San José from there was uneventful, except that our bus broke down at one point and that I was seated across from a nun dressed all in white, down to her shoelaces. Spent the night again at Pangea, made friends with a couple of English kids, one from Manchester and the other from somewhere near London. We played cards and made fun of each other's accents and then I went to bed.
Feb 9
Getting out of Costa Rica sucked. The cab was late to the hostel and there was a traffic jam, so instead of getting to the airport two plus hours in advance, I got there 50 minutes before takeoff and had to beg and beg and wait impatiently while they got a volunteer to give up their seat on the plane (it was, of course, overbooked), while the American guy next to me flipped his shit about some other problem and kept saying that Costa Rica used to be great but now had let private companies take over (this was certainly true of the airport) and now was the "shittiest country in Latin America." Whatever, I liked it. Finally I got on the plane and we didn't even have to take off that late because the security line was nonexistent and I quite literally sprinted through. Of course, just to spice things up, there was a bomb threat to the plane when we were about 45 minutes out from Lima. I have never been more nervous in my life, and I think the only time I can remember being scareder was when Jack nearly broke his back sledding and I was standing 15 feet away from where he hit the bench. It actually surprised me, I didn't think I would have reacted the way I did, but hey, there you go. We landed and were escorted by two fire trucks with sirens blaring to the middle of the tarmac, where we got off and boarded some buses, which took us to some hall under the airport. We waited there for like an hour while our bags were searched and the people with connecting flights (there were a ton of people going on to Bs As, including an American kid I befriended because he didn't understand what was going on) got screened first. Finally, three hours late, I entered the Lima airport proper, found an internet cafe, called home, ate dinner and looked for a place to catch a few hours of sleep before my 6:25 a.m. flight to Cusco. Thus ended the Central American section of my trip and started the Peruvian section. And thus ends this post.
Katy and April had to leave early in the morning in order to get back to San José in time for their flight to Peru on the 8th. So I stuck around in Bocas an extra day by myself, hopped on a boat to another island and walked through a town and then some jungle to a place called Wizzard Beach, plopped down in the sand and enjoyed the beauty of where I was. I really did a lot of that over the course of the trip, just marvelling at how beautiful some places are. Good times. Here's a pic of the path to Wizzard Beach, of the beach itself, and of the town on the other side of the island that you get off at to go there.
Hung out at the hostel that night with a couple of Israelis, an Irish guy and an American, drinking and talking and singing along to the Irish guy's (very good) guitar playing. Good times.
Feb 8
Early wake-up again and I checked out, walked down the road to the docks for the last time and got on a boat back to the mainland. While waiting to leave I struck up a conversation with perhaps the most beautiful couple I have ever seen in person: two tall, blond, tanned, spectacular, fit New Zealander newlyweds. They were super nice, to boot. Here's a pic I took of the boat ride back:
The way back to San José from there was uneventful, except that our bus broke down at one point and that I was seated across from a nun dressed all in white, down to her shoelaces. Spent the night again at Pangea, made friends with a couple of English kids, one from Manchester and the other from somewhere near London. We played cards and made fun of each other's accents and then I went to bed.
Feb 9
Getting out of Costa Rica sucked. The cab was late to the hostel and there was a traffic jam, so instead of getting to the airport two plus hours in advance, I got there 50 minutes before takeoff and had to beg and beg and wait impatiently while they got a volunteer to give up their seat on the plane (it was, of course, overbooked), while the American guy next to me flipped his shit about some other problem and kept saying that Costa Rica used to be great but now had let private companies take over (this was certainly true of the airport) and now was the "shittiest country in Latin America." Whatever, I liked it. Finally I got on the plane and we didn't even have to take off that late because the security line was nonexistent and I quite literally sprinted through. Of course, just to spice things up, there was a bomb threat to the plane when we were about 45 minutes out from Lima. I have never been more nervous in my life, and I think the only time I can remember being scareder was when Jack nearly broke his back sledding and I was standing 15 feet away from where he hit the bench. It actually surprised me, I didn't think I would have reacted the way I did, but hey, there you go. We landed and were escorted by two fire trucks with sirens blaring to the middle of the tarmac, where we got off and boarded some buses, which took us to some hall under the airport. We waited there for like an hour while our bags were searched and the people with connecting flights (there were a ton of people going on to Bs As, including an American kid I befriended because he didn't understand what was going on) got screened first. Finally, three hours late, I entered the Lima airport proper, found an internet cafe, called home, ate dinner and looked for a place to catch a few hours of sleep before my 6:25 a.m. flight to Cusco. Thus ended the Central American section of my trip and started the Peruvian section. And thus ends this post.
feb 3-6
It really makes an even bigger difference than I thought it would not to have internet at home. I'm here in the COPA office now, and I'm going to try and finish up the trip in shortened fashion because otherwise it's never going to get done. Then I'll be back on a regular schedule, although posting less than I want to because I can't get online at home. I think my host sister has cable internet in her room, but I'm not sure; I did a little research and it turns out that wi-fi is less than 8 bucks a month after installation (with equipment, about 60 bucks). I think sometime in the near future, giving myself a little time to get more comfortable with them, I'm going to talk to the Pilars about getting wi-fi. Like it or not, I do everything online. I get my news, a lot of my entertainment, and practically all my communication with family and friends on Safari, Adium or Skype. Anyhow, on to the trip...
Feb 3
Got up earlyish and rented some bikes for the 13 km trip to Cahuita, a little town up the road with yet another beautiful national park. This one was supposed to have great snorkelling, which we all wanted to do, so we booked in over there. The ride was really nice and so was the park. So many monkeys! They skittered in the trees above us and dropped nuts from on high after shucking and eating what they wanted. Katy nearly got one on the arm and I found one exactly in the middle of my towel after coming back from a swim. They fell fast, too. Then, coincidence of coincidences, I saw Andrew Delphi and partner walking down the path behind the beach. I went over and said hi and we talked for a little while, until Delphi started yelling and pointing up. Turned out that she'd seen a three-toed sloth. These are now my favorite animal. The way they move is unbelievable, the muscle control and strength it must take to swing in slow motion from branch to branch blew me away. Their name is really, really undeserved. I didn't get a decent pic, which sucks. Anyhow we called it a day soon after that and biked back the way we came. The ride back was easier until the very end, when the paved road was replaced by dusty, dusty gravel and we all ended coated, literally to the teeth, in dust. Blech.
Feb 4
Super Bowl! We watched in a bar in town, with a funny mix of Americans who cared, Americans who didn't care, and Costa Ricans who yelled and screamed every time they saw someone else react to something. That place had great burgers, too. Also, I love Prince.
Feb 5
Katy and April had to deal with some stuff in the only bank in town in the morning, so they went and waited in the long, long line and I chilled outside, which was fine by me. We had checked out of our hotel in the morning and today was the day we were heading to Panama. It seems like at least a dozen people had told us to go to Bocas del Toro, so we were on our way. The bus was really late, though. We met some Chilean guys and an Argentinean who were spending the summer going by bus from Mexico back to Santiago. The bus ride was hot sweaty and packed and beautiful. We finally made it to the border and were immediately accosted by cab drivers telling us what to do and offering their services to the dock to Bocas. I tried to ignore them, as I usually do when accosted by cab drivers somewhere new, but, as it turned out, their role is essential. Getting out of CR wasn't hard, they just stamped our passports and over we went. The crossing into Panama was on foot, over a rickety, hole-ridden wooden bridge that had a narrow shoulder for pedestrians and one lane for trucks and buses. Very exciting, here's a picture:
Once across, the adventure started. We waited in line with everyone else from our bus to get our passports stamped and so on. But the Chilean guys got to the window first and came away muttering and angry and confused. My turn came, and the lady behind the counter told me that we needed to have tickets that showed we were leaving the country, which could be bought down the hill next to the supermarket, and to follow, that's right, the taxistas. So down we went, to a little plywood booth that looked like nothing more than a treehouse painted pink and sitting on the side of the road, where we paid ten bucks a pop for bus tickets out of Panama. Then it was back up the hill, with the Chilean guys shaking their heads and looking at everyone and saying "absurdo" over and over. It was worse for them because they didn't have any American currency (Panama uses dollars), and there, of course, was no ATM at the border. So they had to wrangle and haggle and finally ended up paying with CR colones. Then it was back up to the impatient lady behind the counter to get our passports stamped. But we weren't done! We had to go to the tourism office to get our visas filled out and stamped, then back to impatient lady for a final stamp. All in all it was the stupidest, most irritating entry to a country I have ever experienced. Then, of course, we had to get to the dock to get on a boat to Bocas itself. The only way to get there? Who else? The taxistas. So we piled into a van with a couple of Italian ladies and bounced through Chiquita banana and pineapple plantations for half an hour. We made it to the dock just in time for the last boat. Let me say it now: Thank god I walk fast. I was the first to the ticket booth and started talking to the guy there, who at first said there was no space left on the boat. This was ridiculous because there were probably six other people there, not counting the little Panamanian kids who ran around asking everyone for colones. After some arguing and pleading, the guy grudgingly conceded that there were two, no, wait, three seats left. Perfect for me, April and Katy but leaving the Italians in the dust. So I repeat, thank god I walk fast. If we'd gotten there after the Italians, we'd have to do what they and the Chileans and Argentinean (who arrived after us in another taxi) had to do: Race down the coast a little ways to try and catch the last boat from another town. Tickets bought, finally, and we settled in to wait. The boat came, we climbed on and from then on I could not stop smiling. We were going to get where we were going, our surroundings were absolutely, stunningly beautiful, the weather was perfect...Here are a couple of pics from the boat ride:
We got to the main island and disembarked and started walking down the street looking for a place to stay. We checked one place out, decided it was too much and kept walking until we found a place that I'd seen a flyer for somewhere, maybe in San José. It turned out to be really cool. We got the "penthouse," a.k.a. what basically amounted to a treehouse of rough boards with huge open windows and its own toilet and sink. The place had a cool, very international vibe and a great happy hour: beers for 50 cents and mixed drinks for a dollar. This is how excited we were to be there:
Anyhow we went out for some really tasty Indian food that night and then Katy and April went off to a different island to party with a couple of ridiculous, dumb dumb dumb guys they met and flirted with at dinner (just a liiiittle tips, they were) and I went back to the hostel to fall asleep, which I did instantly.
Feb 6
April and Katy got back around 8:30 a.m., hung over and chagrined, having taken what they deemed the "boat ride of shame." Nothing bad happened, but they just ended up being a bit uncomfortable. I couldn't stop laughing at them, and they couldn't stop laughing at themselved, so it was all fine. We went down to the docks again and bought a tickets for an all-day snorkelling, beach and dolphin-sighting boat tour of the islands. It was amazing, and is going to get short shrift because I've got other stuff to write about, but here's the site where we dropped anchor and me in my snorkelling gear:
I cut my foot on some coral, fulfilling my obligation to somehow get hurt everywhere I go. One thing I've come to terms with down here is my injury-prone-ness. But all in all the day was terrific. I'm going to stop this post with that, because it's long and photo-laden enough.
Feb 3
Got up earlyish and rented some bikes for the 13 km trip to Cahuita, a little town up the road with yet another beautiful national park. This one was supposed to have great snorkelling, which we all wanted to do, so we booked in over there. The ride was really nice and so was the park. So many monkeys! They skittered in the trees above us and dropped nuts from on high after shucking and eating what they wanted. Katy nearly got one on the arm and I found one exactly in the middle of my towel after coming back from a swim. They fell fast, too. Then, coincidence of coincidences, I saw Andrew Delphi and partner walking down the path behind the beach. I went over and said hi and we talked for a little while, until Delphi started yelling and pointing up. Turned out that she'd seen a three-toed sloth. These are now my favorite animal. The way they move is unbelievable, the muscle control and strength it must take to swing in slow motion from branch to branch blew me away. Their name is really, really undeserved. I didn't get a decent pic, which sucks. Anyhow we called it a day soon after that and biked back the way we came. The ride back was easier until the very end, when the paved road was replaced by dusty, dusty gravel and we all ended coated, literally to the teeth, in dust. Blech.
Feb 4
Super Bowl! We watched in a bar in town, with a funny mix of Americans who cared, Americans who didn't care, and Costa Ricans who yelled and screamed every time they saw someone else react to something. That place had great burgers, too. Also, I love Prince.
Feb 5
Katy and April had to deal with some stuff in the only bank in town in the morning, so they went and waited in the long, long line and I chilled outside, which was fine by me. We had checked out of our hotel in the morning and today was the day we were heading to Panama. It seems like at least a dozen people had told us to go to Bocas del Toro, so we were on our way. The bus was really late, though. We met some Chilean guys and an Argentinean who were spending the summer going by bus from Mexico back to Santiago. The bus ride was hot sweaty and packed and beautiful. We finally made it to the border and were immediately accosted by cab drivers telling us what to do and offering their services to the dock to Bocas. I tried to ignore them, as I usually do when accosted by cab drivers somewhere new, but, as it turned out, their role is essential. Getting out of CR wasn't hard, they just stamped our passports and over we went. The crossing into Panama was on foot, over a rickety, hole-ridden wooden bridge that had a narrow shoulder for pedestrians and one lane for trucks and buses. Very exciting, here's a picture:
Once across, the adventure started. We waited in line with everyone else from our bus to get our passports stamped and so on. But the Chilean guys got to the window first and came away muttering and angry and confused. My turn came, and the lady behind the counter told me that we needed to have tickets that showed we were leaving the country, which could be bought down the hill next to the supermarket, and to follow, that's right, the taxistas. So down we went, to a little plywood booth that looked like nothing more than a treehouse painted pink and sitting on the side of the road, where we paid ten bucks a pop for bus tickets out of Panama. Then it was back up the hill, with the Chilean guys shaking their heads and looking at everyone and saying "absurdo" over and over. It was worse for them because they didn't have any American currency (Panama uses dollars), and there, of course, was no ATM at the border. So they had to wrangle and haggle and finally ended up paying with CR colones. Then it was back up to the impatient lady behind the counter to get our passports stamped. But we weren't done! We had to go to the tourism office to get our visas filled out and stamped, then back to impatient lady for a final stamp. All in all it was the stupidest, most irritating entry to a country I have ever experienced. Then, of course, we had to get to the dock to get on a boat to Bocas itself. The only way to get there? Who else? The taxistas. So we piled into a van with a couple of Italian ladies and bounced through Chiquita banana and pineapple plantations for half an hour. We made it to the dock just in time for the last boat. Let me say it now: Thank god I walk fast. I was the first to the ticket booth and started talking to the guy there, who at first said there was no space left on the boat. This was ridiculous because there were probably six other people there, not counting the little Panamanian kids who ran around asking everyone for colones. After some arguing and pleading, the guy grudgingly conceded that there were two, no, wait, three seats left. Perfect for me, April and Katy but leaving the Italians in the dust. So I repeat, thank god I walk fast. If we'd gotten there after the Italians, we'd have to do what they and the Chileans and Argentinean (who arrived after us in another taxi) had to do: Race down the coast a little ways to try and catch the last boat from another town. Tickets bought, finally, and we settled in to wait. The boat came, we climbed on and from then on I could not stop smiling. We were going to get where we were going, our surroundings were absolutely, stunningly beautiful, the weather was perfect...Here are a couple of pics from the boat ride:
We got to the main island and disembarked and started walking down the street looking for a place to stay. We checked one place out, decided it was too much and kept walking until we found a place that I'd seen a flyer for somewhere, maybe in San José. It turned out to be really cool. We got the "penthouse," a.k.a. what basically amounted to a treehouse of rough boards with huge open windows and its own toilet and sink. The place had a cool, very international vibe and a great happy hour: beers for 50 cents and mixed drinks for a dollar. This is how excited we were to be there:
Anyhow we went out for some really tasty Indian food that night and then Katy and April went off to a different island to party with a couple of ridiculous, dumb dumb dumb guys they met and flirted with at dinner (just a liiiittle tips, they were) and I went back to the hostel to fall asleep, which I did instantly.
Feb 6
April and Katy got back around 8:30 a.m., hung over and chagrined, having taken what they deemed the "boat ride of shame." Nothing bad happened, but they just ended up being a bit uncomfortable. I couldn't stop laughing at them, and they couldn't stop laughing at themselved, so it was all fine. We went down to the docks again and bought a tickets for an all-day snorkelling, beach and dolphin-sighting boat tour of the islands. It was amazing, and is going to get short shrift because I've got other stuff to write about, but here's the site where we dropped anchor and me in my snorkelling gear:
I cut my foot on some coral, fulfilling my obligation to somehow get hurt everywhere I go. One thing I've come to terms with down here is my injury-prone-ness. But all in all the day was terrific. I'm going to stop this post with that, because it's long and photo-laden enough.
Thursday, February 22, 2007
trip continued
This is going to take me a few days to do because things are kind of hectic right now: I'm in the middle of packing and moving out of Luz María's and into the Pilars'. Sorry to be so slow with the posts. Things will hopefully get a little easier tomorrow, but then again all the new kids get here tomorrow, then Cori gets here on Saturday, and blah blah blah shit is crazy. Okay, the next five days will come soon, and then the next five and the final five. But not this instant.
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
wow okay
I'm back in Santiago now, having arrived home yesterday at 4:30 a.m. Yesterday was great, I got to spend all afternoon with Anita and then went over to Gaby and Katty's and had some birthday cake for Gaby's 19th and watched some soccer and "Magnolia," which I liked. But now I have to start writing about my trip and that's a pretty daunting task. I'm not exactly sure even how to go about it, because there's just so much to put down. I think I'll try to do a day-by-day thing, maybe breaking it up by country. Let's start with that. Here goes:
Jan 29
Left for the airport from Rodrigo and Cecelia's at 4:30 a.m. No trouble really getting on the plane or anything, flew to Lima, waited in the airport, flew to San Jose. In San Jose, a guy from the hostel (Hostel Pangea) was there to pick me up, but I ended up waiting around for a while because someone else on his list was a no-show. But that was all right, I talked to some guys who worked for a tour company with about 40 Statseans on it and saw me chase a guy down who'd left his ATM card in the machine. Eventually the person didn't show up, but a family of three did: Andrew, his partner whose name I forget and Delphina, their two-year-old. I think I wrote about them before, but to recap, they were planning on spending six months living in CR, camping out on the beach or finding a cheap apartment somewhere, just to get away. Nice people, and Delphi was really cute. Spent the night at Pangea.
Jan 30
Woke up, showered, got dressed and left for the Pacific-side bus station (the terminals are broken up in San Jose by destination, because there's really no convenient place to put one big enough for the whole country), where I bought a ticket for 2 p.m. and settled in to eat lunch and wait. That day I had a typical Tico (Costa Rican) lunch: a chicken casado, which consists of chicken, rice, salad, black beans and fried plantains, all served crowded together on one dish. Very tasty. Got on the bus, rode to Manuel Antonio to meet April and Katy. The ride was very pretty a lot of the time, but we arrived after dark and towards the end I just wanted it to be over, even though it hadn't been THAT long (about 6.5 hours). Finally ended up in the hostel, said hi hi hi and ate the dinner that Katy had made (pasta with tomato-and-mango sauce). Quick side note: I didn't really know Katy before this whole trip started, we'd met a few times and had some mutual friends but basically decided to travel together during a random conversation in the Diag in March. We got to know each other pretty much entirely through the emails planning this thing starting last May, and then of course on the traveling. I'm still kind of in shock that it all worked out so well.
Jan 31
Up with the sun to make it down to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio (the main attraction near town) before the crowds and sun hit, and boy was that the right decision. The place is so beautiful. We set up shop on a deserted, perfect white-sand beach by ourselves, lazed around, went swimming, took pictures and when the place started to get super-crowded (i.e. there were more than ten other people in sight) we packed up and went a-walking into the jungle on some beautiful forest paths. Apart from the views, which are reputedly the best coastal ones in CR, we saw at least two different kinds of monkeys! In great quantities! Like ten feet away from us! It was really cool. We were out of the park by lunch time (it's small) and after eating we hung out in the shade for the heat of the day then went and I swam for a while at the beach that's right in the town itself. I forget what we did for dinner that night. Here are some pics of Manuel Antonio:
Feb 1
Spent all day traveling from the Pacific to the Caribbean by bus. Long, long day but could have been a lot worse. The buses in CR aren't as nice as Chile, but they're fine. In Puerto Viejo de Talamanca we stayed at Rockin J's, which is a Lonely Planet pick, but which we were all kind of meh about. It was weird, there's a tent city with about 60 tents lined up in neat rows that you can rent if you don't want to pay for a room. Anyhow our room was cool: a three-tiered loft bed with a really high ceiling. We all got very, very drunk that night on the beach with a bunch of locals.
Feb 2
Moved to a hostel a little ways down the road, which turned out to be a really good choice. This day we wandered around town, read on the beach, Katy worked on a big scholarship application and April and I just chilled. We ended up in bed pretty early after our big blow-out the first night.
Jan 29
Left for the airport from Rodrigo and Cecelia's at 4:30 a.m. No trouble really getting on the plane or anything, flew to Lima, waited in the airport, flew to San Jose. In San Jose, a guy from the hostel (Hostel Pangea) was there to pick me up, but I ended up waiting around for a while because someone else on his list was a no-show. But that was all right, I talked to some guys who worked for a tour company with about 40 Statseans on it and saw me chase a guy down who'd left his ATM card in the machine. Eventually the person didn't show up, but a family of three did: Andrew, his partner whose name I forget and Delphina, their two-year-old. I think I wrote about them before, but to recap, they were planning on spending six months living in CR, camping out on the beach or finding a cheap apartment somewhere, just to get away. Nice people, and Delphi was really cute. Spent the night at Pangea.
Jan 30
Woke up, showered, got dressed and left for the Pacific-side bus station (the terminals are broken up in San Jose by destination, because there's really no convenient place to put one big enough for the whole country), where I bought a ticket for 2 p.m. and settled in to eat lunch and wait. That day I had a typical Tico (Costa Rican) lunch: a chicken casado, which consists of chicken, rice, salad, black beans and fried plantains, all served crowded together on one dish. Very tasty. Got on the bus, rode to Manuel Antonio to meet April and Katy. The ride was very pretty a lot of the time, but we arrived after dark and towards the end I just wanted it to be over, even though it hadn't been THAT long (about 6.5 hours). Finally ended up in the hostel, said hi hi hi and ate the dinner that Katy had made (pasta with tomato-and-mango sauce). Quick side note: I didn't really know Katy before this whole trip started, we'd met a few times and had some mutual friends but basically decided to travel together during a random conversation in the Diag in March. We got to know each other pretty much entirely through the emails planning this thing starting last May, and then of course on the traveling. I'm still kind of in shock that it all worked out so well.
Jan 31
Up with the sun to make it down to Parque Nacional Manuel Antonio (the main attraction near town) before the crowds and sun hit, and boy was that the right decision. The place is so beautiful. We set up shop on a deserted, perfect white-sand beach by ourselves, lazed around, went swimming, took pictures and when the place started to get super-crowded (i.e. there were more than ten other people in sight) we packed up and went a-walking into the jungle on some beautiful forest paths. Apart from the views, which are reputedly the best coastal ones in CR, we saw at least two different kinds of monkeys! In great quantities! Like ten feet away from us! It was really cool. We were out of the park by lunch time (it's small) and after eating we hung out in the shade for the heat of the day then went and I swam for a while at the beach that's right in the town itself. I forget what we did for dinner that night. Here are some pics of Manuel Antonio:
Feb 1
Spent all day traveling from the Pacific to the Caribbean by bus. Long, long day but could have been a lot worse. The buses in CR aren't as nice as Chile, but they're fine. In Puerto Viejo de Talamanca we stayed at Rockin J's, which is a Lonely Planet pick, but which we were all kind of meh about. It was weird, there's a tent city with about 60 tents lined up in neat rows that you can rent if you don't want to pay for a room. Anyhow our room was cool: a three-tiered loft bed with a really high ceiling. We all got very, very drunk that night on the beach with a bunch of locals.
Feb 2
Moved to a hostel a little ways down the road, which turned out to be a really good choice. This day we wandered around town, read on the beach, Katy worked on a big scholarship application and April and I just chilled. We ended up in bed pretty early after our big blow-out the first night.
Friday, February 16, 2007
fiesta de la virgen de la candelaria, puno
I'm not going to write a whole lot, but I just needed to put down something right now while I'm still gushing to myself about the titular festival, which is among the coolest things I've ever seen. And I'm only catching the tail end! I can't even describe it right now because this keyboard sucks and my hands are freezing and I'm too excited to slow my mind down to match my fingers. But fuck it, I'll have pictures up as soon as I get back to Stgo and will probably be a little calmer. I literally cannot stop smiling. Also, I had the most amazing drink tonight: red wine, pisco, orange juice, cinnamon and sugar, served steaming hot. Mmmm. Anyhow for now here's a link to some videos of the festival. Good lord, what a great day. I also took a boat ride out to some floating islands made entirely out of reeds and made friends with a hilarious group of women from Lima and Puno. Awesome, awesome, awesome.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
panama!
Is where I am! I'm leaving tomorrow, having been here a couple of nights already in Bocas del Toro. Anyone making a trip to Costa Rica, plan this place into your trip. It's absolutely great.
Before this we were in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca for four days and before that in Manuel Antonio for two. So far, so great. Katy and April left early this morning for San José because their flight to Lima is early tomorrow morning. I, however, don´t fly out until the ninth, and so I'm sticking around here an extra day and will head on back to San José tomorrow. I've seen some beautiful places (lots, actually) some unbelieveable plants and wildlife and met some really interesting and cool people. Also being with Katy and April has been great, we're all pretty compatible travelers and people. Time to cut this off, because this internet café charges an exorbitant amount for its computers, but I promise some good long posts about the highlights when I get back to Santiago.
Before this we were in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca for four days and before that in Manuel Antonio for two. So far, so great. Katy and April left early this morning for San José because their flight to Lima is early tomorrow morning. I, however, don´t fly out until the ninth, and so I'm sticking around here an extra day and will head on back to San José tomorrow. I've seen some beautiful places (lots, actually) some unbelieveable plants and wildlife and met some really interesting and cool people. Also being with Katy and April has been great, we're all pretty compatible travelers and people. Time to cut this off, because this internet café charges an exorbitant amount for its computers, but I promise some good long posts about the highlights when I get back to Santiago.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
san jose
This will be short, as I have to get to the bus station in order to meet April and Katy in Manuel Antonio. Yesterday was long. I didn´t sleep a wink Sunday night, then all told was traveling for something like 12 hours (door in Stgo to door of hostel in San José. I really like San José, I´ve taken two long walks now and met some cool people in the hostel and basically enjoy the vibe here. It's kind of shabby and run down and cloudy (rainy season, I guess), but the people seem happy and open and everyone I've asked for help (trying to find a place to change my Chilean currency or how to get home when I got lost yesterday) has been really nice. The currency thing is a bit annoying, though. Nowhere in the whole country will give me a fair rate on pesos. None of the banks will take it, and the only currency exchange wanted to give me the equivalent of $34 on the $100 I have in pesos. I guess demand here to buy pesos is reeeally low. Oh well, I´ll just put it in an envelope and at the bottom of my bag and save it for when I get home. Anyhow I´m going to check out now and then maybe have another cup of (good, free) coffee in the hostel. On the hostel: it is called Hostel Pangea and I would recommend it to anyone coming down here. The staff is friendly and today I met my first-ever "Latin American person whose English is better than my Spanish" since I got here. He works at the front desk. The restaurant attached is good and pretty cheap (dinner last night was 5 bucks, breakfast this morning 3) and the dorms are 10 a night. Here´s their website. Bye for now!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
contrariness
I'm going to start keeping a list of things I avoid or hate when they come out because everyone falls all over themselves to laud them, then come back to on my own, by accident, years later, and actually enjoy. Case in point: "Last Night" by the Strokes, which is currently playing on the radio, is not a bad song. It didn't deserve the lovefest it got from everyone five years ago, but it also didn't deserve my militant opposition to it. Go figure.
Saturday, January 27, 2007
gross injustice...
...is what I will do to the past few days, given my state of tiredness and the fact that I won't have time to write anything more before I leave at the crack of dawn on Monday. I had a wonderful time with Grandpa and Marinell. We saw some great things, had a good time in Valparaiso in Viña, and ate good food. It was also great just to spend some concentrated time with them; I so rarely get to do that. They left on Friday afternoon, dropping me off at la Católica metro stop on the way out of town from our final lunch after Concha y Toro (whose website ought to be taken out and shot, or at least corrected). I finished my end of the FAFSA Consortium Agreement crap (finally) and left them for Katty to finish and fax on to Jennifer Myers on Monday. Ugh. This would not be a problem if anyone, anyone at all, had told me I needed to fill out such a form BEFORE I left the damn country. You'd think being in a program like the RC would take care of a bureaucratic oversight like that, but not this time. Oh well. Then I spent the past couple of days pretty much with Vale, walking around and watching movies and following the Pequeña Gigante (YouTube of her in London). It was really cool but less cool because there were more than 50,000 other people there, too, and so it was kind of hard to see sometimes. Tomorrow I'm going to get up, pack, go see her again (and hopefully take some pics) as she looks for her hidden rhinoceros, which wreaked havoc on a couple of buses the day before she showed up to look for it (Grandpa and Marinell, what we saw was caused by the rhinoceros escaping). She dances, showers, sticks her tongue out, swings kids on her arms, dances to music, blinks, moves her eyes, eats ice cream, pees, changes her clothes and sleeps--and her chest moves as if she was breathing. Amazing. Thank you, Royal Deluxe. Anyhow bedtime now. 'Night!
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
grandpa and marinell
Well, today was really nice despite a slew of minor annoyances. Grandpa and Marinell ran into trouble at customs, getting into the right line but in the wrong order, and didn't come out until more than an hour after their flight landed. The rental car thing went relatively smoothly; they got upgraded to an SUV. Then getting to the hotel was a bit dicey, even though we took the right way into Stgo (sorry MDLJ, it should have taken us two minutes to get onto Alameda) because of all the one way streets. Then we had to fill up the tank because it was almost out, which took forever because we couldn't find a gas station. Then we finally parked the car and got them checked in and went to lunch at Los Corrales, the Argentinian steak place. Then they went to take a nap and I went to the office to talk with Katty and see if I could take my own nap at Vale's. She actually suggested it before I could, I talked to Katty about the FAFSA mess (yes, Dad, progress is being made on that front, it's just confusing. I'll have it resolved before I leave) and then I went to Vale's apartment. After some trouble with the key, I got in and fell almost instantly asleep. She woke me up at 7:15 by ringing the doorbell and we sat and talked for a while and she made us both sandwiches. At around 8 I called the hotel as planned and they patched me through to Grandpa and Marinell's room, and we agreed to meet up in the lobby at 8:30. We went to Liguria, which ended up being a great choice. They both really liked the environment and their food and even though Grandpa wasn't too fond of the pisco sour he ordered we had a good time. And now I'm home and tired again, but want to watch a little of the state of the union if I can catch it on CNN. 'Night!
Sunday, January 21, 2007
great weekend
Saturday I finally got lunch with Dan Schwartz. We met up and went to Patagonia and then Emporio la Rosa for ice cream and caught up. It's amazing how much he's changed, or maybe just how different he is from my memory of him. He talks a lot more coherently, he makes eye contact and gestures. All in all we were only together for about an hour and a half, but it was great to talk to him about Chile, his program here, how things are going in College Park, etc. After that I went up to Escuela Militar to meet Vale and take the micro all the way to her aunt and uncle's house (where I slept on New Year's). Spent the afternoon alternately relaxing and kicking her and her aunt and uncle's butts at Pensante, which is Spanish Scrabble. It was intensely gratifying. Vale had been talking trash and after the first game, she got so mad that she vacuumed the entire downstairs of the house. I couldn't stop laughing and had to avoid her for the next fifteen minutes because she said "Fuck you" every time she saw me. In the second game, I scored 222 (in a three-way game) thanks to a bingo (CANCELA). Third game, her uncle started to get frustrated, too, but that was actually kind of cool because he started making fun of me and such and it felt like a "Hey, welcome to the fold" kind of thing to do. We ate dinner, and then a few friends of her aunt and uncle's (their names are Cecelia and Rodrigo) showed and we commenced playing poker and drinking, which carried on for me until 2:30, at which point I'd lost four bucks and decided to call it a night. I played seriously for a while but literally could not have had worse luck (not to say that I'm any great shakes at poker, but really, I got shitty hand after shitty hand and the few hands I got that were good and bet on either someone else had a fantastic hand--four 10s or a flush or something--or no one else wanted to bet). Everyone else played until 3:30, apparently, but I fell asleep very soon after climbing into bed. Spent all day today at their house, relaxing, reading the New Yorker winter fiction issue, which MD brought from home (THANK YOU). Vale and I left around 8 and took the bus to MallSport, which is way up at the top of Las Condes (but not even close to as high up as Ceci and Rodrigo--they are WAY up there) in search of a frisbee. We were unsuccessful, and decided to walk to Alto Las Condes mall. We saw a beautiful sunset, had a great conversation (I spoke almost exclusively Spanish this weekend!), and walked and walked and walked. We ended up walking for about 2.5 hours, down to Tobalaba, stopping for a coffee in Parque Arauco. Dad, I'm very sorry I didn't call but I got caught up in walking and talking with Vale and just lost track of things like time and plans. I will call tomorrow. Anyhow I'd better get to bed, tomorrow is another paperwork day (let it be the last, please...) and then Tuesday, Grandpa and Marinell come and I have to get up early to go meet them at the airport. So good night for now!
Saturday, January 20, 2007
HAHAHAHAHAHA if only lynn swann didn't suck so much...
Stephen Colbert on the NFL Playoffs
Just click on it. Stephen Colbert, you are the greatest thing since sliced bread (thanks to GorillaMask for the link). BRADY RULES! GO BLUE!
Just click on it. Stephen Colbert, you are the greatest thing since sliced bread (thanks to GorillaMask for the link). BRADY RULES! GO BLUE!
john scofield.
Oh my, what a show. I think it goes on my top-10 "Best 10 dollars I have ever spent" list. The opening act, a Finnish group called the Tube Factory, were good but kind of boring. But then Scofield and John Patitucci on bass and Kendrick Brown on drums came out and blew all 8,000 of us away. Whew.
In other news, I talked to Nicole today and am going to have lunch at her office next Wednesday. Also, went over to Dur's old family's house (I guess I should call them the Diazes now, it's shorter than "Dur's old family") to return a bunch of their CDs that I'd borrowed and also give them the Bill Evans Trio and John McLaughlin albums I bought at the beginning of the month. Just the mom and younger sister, Rocío, were there, and the mom had to leave about ten minutes after I got there to go to her son's practice baptism or something (he's marrying into the Greek Orthodox church...they're doing the full Big Fat Greek Wedding deal, it sounds like). So Rocío and I ate humitas and watched Chile's sub-20 national team absolutely destroy Columbia until I left around 7:10 to meet Vale and head over to the show. Good day.
In other news, I talked to Nicole today and am going to have lunch at her office next Wednesday. Also, went over to Dur's old family's house (I guess I should call them the Diazes now, it's shorter than "Dur's old family") to return a bunch of their CDs that I'd borrowed and also give them the Bill Evans Trio and John McLaughlin albums I bought at the beginning of the month. Just the mom and younger sister, Rocío, were there, and the mom had to leave about ten minutes after I got there to go to her son's practice baptism or something (he's marrying into the Greek Orthodox church...they're doing the full Big Fat Greek Wedding deal, it sounds like). So Rocío and I ate humitas and watched Chile's sub-20 national team absolutely destroy Columbia until I left around 7:10 to meet Vale and head over to the show. Good day.
Friday, January 19, 2007
yesterday blogger was being stupid
Also, yesterday we had an earthquake and I felt sick all day. I tried to go to the concert (day two in the Festival Internacional Providencia Jazz: Escalandrum and Contracuarteto) last night but left early. My chest hurt and I had a headache and it was getting cold. Of course, the instant I was out the gates I started kicking myself because I really should have just sucked it up. I'm sure the concert was awesome and I'm really pissed at myself still for leaving. But at the time it seemed like a good idea; I really did feel like crap. I'm a lot better today, and I'm getting pumped for the Tube Factory/John Scofield show tonight. Also, yesterday I called Nicole--she was in a meeting but I gave the guy who answered the phone my number and hopefully I'll hear back from her today about having lunch sometime in the near future. AND, more importantly, I finally worked up the balls to call my new host family. The daughter, Pili hija (mother and daughter are both named Pilar) picked up and said that she'd talk to her mom about me coming over this weekend! Pili will be at the beach but it'll be nice to see the apartment and meet my new host mom! So here's hoping both those things come to fruition.
In other news, I'm pretty pissed off at Stephen Colbert right now. His appearance on O'Reilly Factor SUCKED. This is the man who absolutely demolished Bushco and the entire mainstream media right in their faces, and yet got too wrapped up in his character to really do anything but a few subtle jabs. O'Reilly on Colbert Report was a lot better (including a much better stab at O'Reilly's phone sex scandal), but still! This could have been Stewart-on-Crossfire-eating-Carlson-and-Begala-alive good. And it wasn't. I guess I'm not pissed, really just disappointed. Oh well, it's okay, Stephen. I still love you. Anyhow lunch is served and I don't want to keep Luz María waiting, so bye-bye for now.
In other news, I'm pretty pissed off at Stephen Colbert right now. His appearance on O'Reilly Factor SUCKED. This is the man who absolutely demolished Bushco and the entire mainstream media right in their faces, and yet got too wrapped up in his character to really do anything but a few subtle jabs. O'Reilly on Colbert Report was a lot better (including a much better stab at O'Reilly's phone sex scandal), but still! This could have been Stewart-on-Crossfire-eating-Carlson-and-Begala-alive good. And it wasn't. I guess I'm not pissed, really just disappointed. Oh well, it's okay, Stephen. I still love you. Anyhow lunch is served and I don't want to keep Luz María waiting, so bye-bye for now.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
al di meola band
Today was largely uneventful until about 9:15. I woke up earlyish, went to COPA, filled out my portion of the Consortium Agreement, emailed my adviser about what to do about his portion (or if it even IS his portion, and if not, whose is it, blah blah blah), waited around for him to respond, did some Peru and Costa Rica research (hostel reservation for first night in San José, CHECK), and chilled with Vale until about 6:15, when we closed up the office and went over to her apartment, where she cooked up some Spanish rice and beef and a salad and we ate and then left for the lynchpin of the evening: See title of post and time mentioned in first sentence.
We got to the western entrance to the sculpture garden and the line to get in was around the block. Vale and I went up to the ticket counter, where they told her they'd just sold out, and that I was on the wrong side (I had lawn seats, which are split into two groups there by the expensive seats in the middle). So she walked me around to the other side, where we said see you tomorrow and I waltzed on into the jammed lawn. There weren't very many chairs left, but one of the luxuries of being alone is that finding one chair in a sea of people is about eight million times easier than finding two next to each other. So I got pretty close and the magic started just about on time. They opened with a few more recent electronic songs and then he introduced the band and himself and he and his percussionist, whose name I'm forgetting at the moment, did four duets while the rest of the band joined the audience in noisy appreciation. They were unreal together, and so obviously having a blast that the energy infected the whole crowd. It was great. They played a bunch of other stuff afterwards (2 hours in total, including three curtain calls), but the show peaked for me with those acoustic duets. Wow. After the concert ended I walked back to Providencia and found myself with a craving for sushi, which was easily remedied by a trip to Miyoshi. American sushi restaurants should learn from the Santiaguino "everything 50% off after 6 p.m." discount. Anyhow I didn't sleep much last night due to the Coke I drank with dinner (which David brought from Burger King! What!?!?! But lord it was good...), so I'm going to try and fix that right now. Tomorrow I'll likely be back down in the COPA office to finish off this blasted FAFSA crap. Ugh, I hate it. Oh well, life could certainly be worse. 'Night!
We got to the western entrance to the sculpture garden and the line to get in was around the block. Vale and I went up to the ticket counter, where they told her they'd just sold out, and that I was on the wrong side (I had lawn seats, which are split into two groups there by the expensive seats in the middle). So she walked me around to the other side, where we said see you tomorrow and I waltzed on into the jammed lawn. There weren't very many chairs left, but one of the luxuries of being alone is that finding one chair in a sea of people is about eight million times easier than finding two next to each other. So I got pretty close and the magic started just about on time. They opened with a few more recent electronic songs and then he introduced the band and himself and he and his percussionist, whose name I'm forgetting at the moment, did four duets while the rest of the band joined the audience in noisy appreciation. They were unreal together, and so obviously having a blast that the energy infected the whole crowd. It was great. They played a bunch of other stuff afterwards (2 hours in total, including three curtain calls), but the show peaked for me with those acoustic duets. Wow. After the concert ended I walked back to Providencia and found myself with a craving for sushi, which was easily remedied by a trip to Miyoshi. American sushi restaurants should learn from the Santiaguino "everything 50% off after 6 p.m." discount. Anyhow I didn't sleep much last night due to the Coke I drank with dinner (which David brought from Burger King! What!?!?! But lord it was good...), so I'm going to try and fix that right now. Tomorrow I'll likely be back down in the COPA office to finish off this blasted FAFSA crap. Ugh, I hate it. Oh well, life could certainly be worse. 'Night!
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
back from algarrobo
Spent the past five days at Algarrobo, staying with Katty's mom, Blanche, who lives here half the year and in northwestern PA half the year. It was wonderful, I did nothing productive except call Grandpa and Marinell to talk a little about plans for when they come down (in less than a week!) and email Katy and April my final itinerary. I talked to Rosie on her birthday, which was nice. It sounds like she's having fun back at school, and that's good to hear; she was worried about the transition and coming back together with all her friends. I lay on the beach, went kayaking, took a long walk with Vale along the beach all the way to Mirasol, the next town to the north, watched stupid TV, finished The Woman at the Washington Zoo, by Marjorie Williams, which I generally really liked. She was a very insightful and observant writer, and I enjoyed reading her pieces, especially the ones about feminism and her cancer, because those are two subjects I am interested in but don't know enough about. But the footnotes by her husband, who edited the book, drove me insane. I'm sorry, I know she just died and that this is his labor of love for her, but I wanted to tear out every cutesy little comment about his own involvement in her stories, or what had happened since then (which were so scattered and informal as to seem random--sometimes there, sometimes not, as if he hadn't been paying attention to a lot of the news and only put a comment in when he had to look up what had happened himself and then assumed no one else had been paying attention, either), or snide remark about some politician or other. I also made it up to the start of WWII in A Treatise on Poetry, Dad's Christmas gift to me, which is Czeslaw Milosz's long poem about Poland and particularly Polish poetry in the first half of the 20th century. It's beautiful and makes me wish I spoke Polish and also that I knew a lot more about Polish history.
In other news, Boston Legal is on at 10 p.m. on Friday nights. HOLLAAAAA!!!!!
Anyhow I'm going to start looking at Costa Rica and Peru activities and lodging now, so time to stop this post. Hope everyone who's reading this is well. Bye for now!
In other news, Boston Legal is on at 10 p.m. on Friday nights. HOLLAAAAA!!!!!
Anyhow I'm going to start looking at Costa Rica and Peru activities and lodging now, so time to stop this post. Hope everyone who's reading this is well. Bye for now!
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
ofoto sucks
Trying to use Ofoto Express to upload pictures made me want to kill someone, so I'm just going to use blogger's horribly inefficient uploading thing to put these up, as per Mom's request. I'll get that other piece of crap figured out sometime but for the moment I'm taking deep breaths and trying not to yell. It's almost 2 a.m. after all. So here are some pics from the vacation, sorry for not posting them earlier. Enjoy!
no ross or dan
Dan called me around 10 to say they hadn't ordered yet at the restaurant and could we hang out tomorrow or something. I'm leaving for the beach tomorrow about noon, after taking care of some more paperwork at COPA, and they leave for Valpo on Sunday, so that's kind of disappointing. But they get back from Valpo a week from Sunday, and will be in Stgo for a couple of days, so we'll just have to hang out then. So tonight I'm going to watch V for Vendetta (which I've always wanted to see despite iffy reviews).
In better news, I can go to Peru and Costa Rica after all! THANK YOU DAD AND MOM!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I'm not usually one to overdo the punctuation like that (except ?!?!?!?!?, which I really like). However, here I think it was merited. Also, tomorrow I leave for Algarrobo! That ought to be really nice, I'm actually going to finish packing as soon as I finish this post. Which will be soon, right after I gleefully point out that Stephen Colbert and Bill O'Reilly will be appearing on each other's shows in the near future. Bill O'Reilly is a disgusting moron and Stephen Colbert is a bona fide genius. This ought to be fun like when Jon Stewart went on Crossfire and basically destroyed Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala. I look forward to the inevitable YouTubing of the shows, because I obviously won't be able to watch down here. That's all for now, sorry to be so boring this post. 'Night!
In better news, I can go to Peru and Costa Rica after all! THANK YOU DAD AND MOM!!!!!!!!!! Sorry, I'm not usually one to overdo the punctuation like that (except ?!?!?!?!?, which I really like). However, here I think it was merited. Also, tomorrow I leave for Algarrobo! That ought to be really nice, I'm actually going to finish packing as soon as I finish this post. Which will be soon, right after I gleefully point out that Stephen Colbert and Bill O'Reilly will be appearing on each other's shows in the near future. Bill O'Reilly is a disgusting moron and Stephen Colbert is a bona fide genius. This ought to be fun like when Jon Stewart went on Crossfire and basically destroyed Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala. I look forward to the inevitable YouTubing of the shows, because I obviously won't be able to watch down here. That's all for now, sorry to be so boring this post. 'Night!
Monday, January 08, 2007
tim left
Last night was Tim Wilkins' last night, so we (me, Vale, Gaby, Tim and his friend from Emory named Sarah) went to Thelonious and saw an okay act and then went to CRAZY BAR, which has reopened months after it closed. I guess it must just have gone under for a while, because they sure hadn't spent the time doing renovations or coming up with a new business model. Same old kind of crappy place, reeeeally slow service and a guy playing covers on the guitar. It was just as close to empty as always, but still, it has the best name of any bar I've ever seen (wouldn't be funny in the States, though) and we came here so much at the beginning that it had a nice feeling of closure for Tim. We had a lot of fun and there was even a couple who came in at one point who had just gotten engaged! That was fun and kind of weird: A) They chose to celebrate their engagement at a nearly-empty; and B) The guy was really excited and drunk and kept coming over and talking to us, going up to sing with the guitarist, and so on, and the woman was just sitting there, smiling occasionally. I got home at around 5 and fell asleep as fast as I ever have.
Today I went to the office for a while and chatted with Vale and got the ball rolling on this Noyes descendants-of-WWI soldiers scholarship and wrote some emails and researched things to do in Stgo over the next month. January is really cool, all this open-air theater and music and cinema, all for really cheap (I'm hopefully going to get to see Al Di Meola and John Scofield for about 5 bucks each! That's an errand for tomorrow, to the ticket office). Also read my daily dose of blogs and came across a post on Hullabaloo (link at the right, check out the post called "Moral Hazard"), which has a section about this new stupid book about how every American is a swing voter and you can tell someone's tendencies by certain lifestyle choices. The book has a website which features a questionnaire that allegedly tells you where you fall on the political spectrum. To give you an idea of its accuracy, it put me in the red camp. Smart fellas, those authors. Here's the poll, if you're interested. Anyhow I've barely eaten anything all day and I'm not hungry, but it's bad not to eat and so I'm going to fix myself some dinner and force it down.
Today I went to the office for a while and chatted with Vale and got the ball rolling on this Noyes descendants-of-WWI soldiers scholarship and wrote some emails and researched things to do in Stgo over the next month. January is really cool, all this open-air theater and music and cinema, all for really cheap (I'm hopefully going to get to see Al Di Meola and John Scofield for about 5 bucks each! That's an errand for tomorrow, to the ticket office). Also read my daily dose of blogs and came across a post on Hullabaloo (link at the right, check out the post called "Moral Hazard"), which has a section about this new stupid book about how every American is a swing voter and you can tell someone's tendencies by certain lifestyle choices. The book has a website which features a questionnaire that allegedly tells you where you fall on the political spectrum. To give you an idea of its accuracy, it put me in the red camp. Smart fellas, those authors. Here's the poll, if you're interested. Anyhow I've barely eaten anything all day and I'm not hungry, but it's bad not to eat and so I'm going to fix myself some dinner and force it down.
Saturday, January 06, 2007
mozart's librettos
I just read the first half of a New Yorker piece from this past week about new books on Mozart's librettist and the ongoing debate about how much of a role Mozart played in the writing of Marriage of Figaro, Cosí fan Tutte and Don Giovanni. And I thought, this could not matter less. It's like arguing whether Mom or Dad had the greater hand in deciding what color to paint the kitchen. Who cares? And yet, for all that inconsequentiality (if that's not a word, it should be), it's so interesting to so many people. Why?
new jazz club
Tonight I met up with Gaby and Vale in Patio Bellavista and we went to this new-ish jazz club (first time any of us had been there) called Perseguidor, across the street from Off the Record. Cover and prices were about the same as the Club de Jazz but the place was nicer and the band ROCKED. It was a quartet: drums, piano, stand-up bass and trumpet, and the trumpeter was very good. He'd studied at Berklee and the Manhattan School of Music or whatever it's called and really know how to play. The drummer we'd seen before, at the other Bellavista jazz club, Thelonious, which we didn't like as much. Good to know about the new place, it's a hell of a lot easier to get to than Club de Jazz, which is still worth going to when it has really cool shows like Valentín and Pedro Amat Trujillo. Anyhow now I'm tired as hell and going to bed. Also, Bill Evans Trio kicks ass.
Friday, January 05, 2007
good-bye, peru
I'm about thiiiiiis close to giving up on the Peru section of my trip with Katy and April because I just don't think I can afford the flight. Oh well, Costa Rica will still be tight and maybe when I get home I can go up to Bahía Inglesa or one of those other northern beaches. Fingers still crossed that this travel agent lady can hook me up with a sweet deal, but I kind of doubt it. And now, to run.
Thursday, January 04, 2007
flight 93
So I sat down to eat lunch today and turned on the TV, watched a little of the Chilean coverage of the inauguration of the new Congress and then channel surfed my way to "United 93," which had just started. I had never seen it when it was in theaters in the States; I think I was scared of it. Turns out that I was scared with reason. I had never, ever in my entire memory cried during a movie before but I cried just now right here in my living room. It is without a doubt the most powerful movie I've ever seen. I'm not sure what else to say about it at the moment, I'm still a little dazed. So that's all for now.
Tuesday, January 02, 2007
bill simmons can go to hell
One of my favorite weekly readings in Bill Simmons' column The Sports Guy. But this week he got lazy and republished a column from 2001 about how we shouldn't all worship Cal Ripken so much because, after all, he wasn't THAT great of a player and his streak was counterproductive for the Orioles and there was really not much but dumb luck and stubbornness involved and all this other crap. Well, Bill Simmons, I get goosebumps every time I think about exactly two (2) sports events. One is Duke's 22-point comeback over Maryland in the 2001 Final Four. The other is Cal Ripken's lap around Oriole Park in the middle of his 2131st game. So screw you, Bill Simmons, I'll bounce my grandkids on my knee and tell them about getting to see Cal Ripken play because of that memory alone. And just because you're soulless doesn't mean you should try to spoil it for the rest of us.
Lyric of the year to date:
I been thinkin' bout Alicia Keys, couldn't help from cryin'
When she was born in Hell's Kitchen I was livin' down the line
I wonder where in the world Alicia Keys could be
I been lookin' for her even clear through Tennessee
-Bob Dylan, "Thunder on the Mountain"
Lyric of the year to date:
I been thinkin' bout Alicia Keys, couldn't help from cryin'
When she was born in Hell's Kitchen I was livin' down the line
I wonder where in the world Alicia Keys could be
I been lookin' for her even clear through Tennessee
-Bob Dylan, "Thunder on the Mountain"
finally posting again
Well it's been too long, there's so much to tell and I'm going to end up giving a wayyy too short summary because to try and reconstruct the last two weeks in their entirety would be a mighty and probably impossible attempt indeed. The day after my last post, I went to pick Lincoln up at the airport in the early morning and then spent the day with him and also with all the leaving people. Saying goodbye to Rosie was very hard. Lincoln and I had a great and very relaxing two days and then MDJ came and we spent a couple of days in Stgo, a couple in Valpo (as the first real guests at the very nice new B&B Yellow House Hostel: their site is here) and Zapallar (where we had Christmas day) and then finally a few days in Pucón in the south. We had great weather overall and even in Pucón, which was lucky because they get a lot of rain down there. It was really wonderful to have the family down here, they got to meet Vale and Gaby and my host family and we had a great time. Traveling with family is very different from traveling with friends, I realized, because we can fight all the time and in the end it doesn't really matter; we still have a good trip. I got to talk to Mom and Dad about things I never really had before and that was also cool, it felt like a big growing-up step. I was very sad to see them go on the 31, because I realized then for real that I won't see them again for longer than I hadn't seen them before. That sentence was pretty tortured, I'm sorry.
But I didn't have too much time to be sad because I had to hustle over to Alcántara, where Vale and her aunt picked me up to get ready for a New Year's party at some friends of her aunt's. It was a costume party and I went as a sultan thanks to Vale, who rigged me up some fancy pants and bought me a very nice sultan hat complete with brooch and feather. It was a fun party, if a little weird. Everyone there would be in the ex-frat/sorority mold were they from the States, they were all really rich and knew it and for one of the songs we danced to the chant started, "Whoever doesn't jump is Bachelet!" That is, if you're not dancing, you're a dirty socialist. HAHAHA...oh, wait. Well anyhow they were nice to me and we all got really drunk and everyone hugged everyone at midnight and then we watched the fireworks downtown, which we could see because we were high up enough on the hills (you basically don't live high up unless you're loaded). They were great. I spent the night and all the next day in Vale's aunt's house, recovering with the adults from the night before and playing Playstation with their kids. I didn't leave the house or even really a prone position (with breaks to change location) until about 9, when we went to Bravissimo and her uncle treated us all to heaping amounts of ice cream. I got home around 11:30, exhausted, and found Francisco using my computer for a work report; his has finally pooped out, it seems. So I went to bed and woke up this morning and took my blood pressure for the first time also in too long, which reminds me that I need to put the readings from this morning onto my spreadsheet. So I'm going to do that, and cut this off. Sorry again for not posting at all the past couple of weeks and I promise to get more regular again starting now. Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
But I didn't have too much time to be sad because I had to hustle over to Alcántara, where Vale and her aunt picked me up to get ready for a New Year's party at some friends of her aunt's. It was a costume party and I went as a sultan thanks to Vale, who rigged me up some fancy pants and bought me a very nice sultan hat complete with brooch and feather. It was a fun party, if a little weird. Everyone there would be in the ex-frat/sorority mold were they from the States, they were all really rich and knew it and for one of the songs we danced to the chant started, "Whoever doesn't jump is Bachelet!" That is, if you're not dancing, you're a dirty socialist. HAHAHA...oh, wait. Well anyhow they were nice to me and we all got really drunk and everyone hugged everyone at midnight and then we watched the fireworks downtown, which we could see because we were high up enough on the hills (you basically don't live high up unless you're loaded). They were great. I spent the night and all the next day in Vale's aunt's house, recovering with the adults from the night before and playing Playstation with their kids. I didn't leave the house or even really a prone position (with breaks to change location) until about 9, when we went to Bravissimo and her uncle treated us all to heaping amounts of ice cream. I got home around 11:30, exhausted, and found Francisco using my computer for a work report; his has finally pooped out, it seems. So I went to bed and woke up this morning and took my blood pressure for the first time also in too long, which reminds me that I need to put the readings from this morning onto my spreadsheet. So I'm going to do that, and cut this off. Sorry again for not posting at all the past couple of weeks and I promise to get more regular again starting now. Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!
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