How To Live Like a Rockstar When You are Not One...
Sucre: Unilingual Moron Near Brain Implosion. April 29. It has been a long time since I used my brain. Today all that changed. I had my first Spanish lesson. It was three hours of driving a language into a muscle that has been on autopilot for about four years with no new heavy lifting in the meantime. It is amazing how much the action of shaking up the language section of my brain alters my whole mind. Weird sentences from...
Sucre: The Gringo Trail. April 28. I hung out all day with a French girl. She speaks good Spanish and helped me to sort out some things that need to be done in my life. I do not speak good Spanish. That makes sorting out my life a bit of a hassle. It is just a bit tricky to try to deal with a guy in a shop about making new Beaver sticker and trying to get a camera man...
Bolivia is Beautiful. April 27. It was a ‘by-myself’ kind of day, and that was totally awesome. It has been a long time since I fought the Spanish speaking war alone. And I am terrible at it, but sometimes it is great to just get through it and try to communicate with my 36 33 word vocabulary without someone interjecting with their more useful and fancy Spanish words. Roberta was heading to Sucre as well, but I waited her out and let...
Potosi Mine and Removing Desert Grime. April 26. We slept in a nice hostel last night and I got up at 8am to have my clothes washed in two hours, so that they will be ready when I start my day. Cleanliness! Those jeans. Science might like them as there is sure to be something useful in that grime. They should have probably been washed alone. They were last washed in Buenos Aires and I think I have worn them...
Salar de Uyuni Salt Falts: Day 3. April 25. I slept a lot better last night as we approach the Salar de Uyuni Salt Falts. I was not afraid I was going to die of altitude suffocation last night…. Actually, considering I was sharing a room with Roberta, I slept much better than I would have liked. She reminds me so much of Fabiana in her mannerisms. That mold of girl that comes out of the machine is just not...
Salar de Uyuni Atacama Desert: Day 2. April 24. I had just about the worst sleep of my night last night in the Salar de Uyuni Atacama Desert. I went through hell and anxiety. My lungs hurt so much, that I can only take short breaths and I feel like I am suffocating. Because my lungs hurt so much, I could only lay on my back, but I can not sleep on my back, so everything was just terrible. And...
Salar de Uyuni Pink Flamingos: Day 1. April 23. I slept terribly last night. Two nights in a row like that. Am I stressed? Weird… I joined 11 others and we rode a bus and drove through a little of Chile until a sign showed an arrow to the right and said ‘Bolivia.’ That was were we drove off the highway and onto a dirt road that was no better than a farm access road that we have on our...
San Pedro de Atacama Snowboarding a Dune. April 22 San Pedro de Atacama – The only place in the world where it is actually illegal to dance. Really. They want to preserve their culture. Dancing was not a part of it. Really! I had a kick ass day of getting things done. I think I got kicked out of my hostel this morning because I have not bought any trips though them. They were ‘full’ for tonight when I went...
San Pedro de Atacama Astronomy Observation Expedition. April 21. Last night at about 11pm, I signed up for a San Pedro de Atacama Astronomy Observation expedition. San Pedro de Atacama is a very high desert. The Atacama is the driest desert in the world, there is no light pollution, and the air is very clear, so NASA has been doing things here to observe the sky. On the San Pedro de Atacama Astronomy Observation expedition, we got to look...
Chañaral to San Pedro de Atacama: Goodbye Girmante Sangrialatte. April 20. I got up at 6am with Irmante and walked her to the bus station. It was not a sad goodbye at all. I think we were too tired and still too drunk. So, we made a quick ‘Take Care’ and I headed back to the hostel to sleep for another hour. At 8:30am I got on a bus for 10.5 hours from Chañaral to San Pedro de Atacama. I...
La Serena to Chañaral: Hitchhiking, the Desert, and Beautiful Women. April 19. I woke up at 8:30am to have my first real shower in four days and to wash my hair. Clean hair feels about as good as anything when you have been living with it filthy for three days. The first handful of shampoo is just for grease removal. It is the second handful of shampoo that actually cleans. Irmante was slow moving, and it was 11am by the...
Santiago to La Serena: A Gorgeous Drive. April 18. Irmante woke me up and I was hung over. It was a really fun night. I sure would have liked to have had sex, but it was really nice to make-out with a girl last night. That is fun! I would have liked to have spent a couple of days with Annette if her and my travel circumstances were different as I found her very interesting. An attractive woman who has...
Mendoza to Santiago: Crossing the Andes and Bar Make-Outs. April 17. I woke up hung over, which was fine because yesterday was a blast. Irmante and I head for our bus Mendoza to Santiago that would take us from Argentina to Chile. As we boarded the Mendoza to Santiago bus, someone had their things in my allocated seat. A woman standing there told me that the people who had put their possessions there had not realized the seating. Then...
Maipú Mendoza Wine Bicycle Vineyard Hop. April 16. Life is a funny thing. Here we are on a rock flying through space, rotating on its axis at 1670 km/h. Some humans are in an office crunching numbers. Some are preforming surgery. We chose today to rent bicycles for $5 and ride around Maipú, Argentina, drinking samples of wine in a vineyard, and then riding off to the next vineyard, then drinking samples of wine, then riding…. What a day....
Mendoza: Do the Do. April 15. I woke up in a seat on the bus when we were two hours outside of Mendoza. The land here looks a little like the outback of Australia except the earth is not red. This is sort of miles and miles in all directions of vast nothingness and only bushes and shrubs for vegetation. There is an odd shack here and there, but there is nothing for people to live on here, so there...
Buenos Aires to Mendoza: Sketchy Exchange Hustlers and Bus Fuss. April 14. I packed my bag when I got moving and then Irmante and I headed into the center to change the rest of our money. There was a lousy exchange rate today, so it was a battle to get a good deal and Irmante was impatient, which was driving me nuts. Eventually, I settled on far less than I would have liked to have taken at 10.15pesos/USD just to...
Buenos Aires Cold as Heck. April 13. I was ready to get out of the Buenos Aires cold today and start making our way to places that will lead us to more warmth, but Irmante had wet clothes that needed to dry. So, we decided remained in Buenos Aires cold for another day. We went to a market and I found a journal made with a record as the cover. It is one of the smartest things that I have seen...
Buenos Aires Money Exchange Cheats: Curiously Mysterious $1 Note. April 12. It is so cold here. It is colder than I could have ever imagined Buenos Aires would be. We need to get out of here! Last night when Zora and I were in the club, back at the house some guy got so drunk that he would not stop vomiting. He was even vomiting when he was passed out. The vomiting would not stop, so eventually an ambulance came...
Buenos Aires – Zora’s Birthday Rock Out. 11 April. Irmante and I headed into the center of Buenos Aires to change money. We battled hard for a good rate with all of the ‘cambio’ yelling crooks. The rate of the day was 10.25 pesos for one USD. We had $400 USD to change, so we negotiated very hard and found a guy who was going to change our $400 for 10.6 pesos/USD. He made a phone call and then lead...
Buenos Aires Meat Meet Party. April 10. It was a casual one, and I was not out of the house until it was dark, which always makes me feel shitty. We went to the butcher shop at about 8pm and bought a lot lot of meat, some vegetables, some bread and came back to have a ‘parilla’ (barbecue) for about 12 people. We were planning a Buenos Aires meat meet party. I was informed that as a man I would...
Buenos Aires Tango in Buenos. April 9. I needed freedom for the day as I have not been alone for more than ten minutes in about 6 weeks. So, I headed downtown by myself to gain my independence again and to get a feel for Buenos Aires without just following someone around to see the city having no idea where I am. I headed to Florida Street to where the money changers are as I needed to get rid of...
Buenos Aires La Recoleta Cemetery. April 8. Today was one of those days. My man period. I woke up grumpy. I have been battling mosquitoes all night, not getting enough sleep and then waking up itchy. It is taking its toll on my mood. I wanted to just go about the city alone, but Irmante wanted to hang out, so we tried that. But, being in a edgy mood and never having a break from a partner in crime for...
Buenos Aires Free Walking Tour. April 7. Someone needs to unify the electrical outlets of South America. Someone needs to organize a meeting of all the countries and make a decision of what electrical outlets will be used as one on this entire continent. We have now been to four different countries and they have had three different outlets. Ridiculous, and inconvenient…! The sleeping bag I have borrowed at the palace seems to be an Antarctic sleeping bag, but we...
Buenos Aires Black Market. April 6. Life started at 2pm, but it was really 4pm before any real action began. The economy is crazy here in Argentina, and if you take money out of a bank machine, you will get about 8 pesos for one U.S. dollar. But, if you take your U.S. dollars to the Buenos Aires black market, you can get 10 or more pesos for one U.S. dollar. Before Irmante and I left Uruguay, we pulled U.S....
Montevideo to Buenos Aires: No Sleep City. April 5. I woke up when Irmante was kicking the bottom of my bunk bed. I looked down at her. She told me it was noon. Time to get moving from Montevideo to Buenos Aires. We had to hurry to pull ourselves together to get to the ferry. She was really hung over and sick and grumpy and miserable about everything. But, she came through the other side. It cost us $37 U.S....
Punta del Diablo to Montevideo: Caballo Loco Hostel. April 4. I woke up in our hostel in Punta del Diablo and had my first shower in four days. That was pretty awesome. I did not feel dirty, but I probably was. There was only brown water at Cobo Polinio so it was not much of an option there. When we arrived here yesterday, I was already dirty, so I just dealt with it. I stole a towel from the hostel....
Cabo Polonio to Punta del Diablo: Unwanted Hitchhikers . April 3. Irmante and I got up early enough to catch an early truck to the highway so that we could try to hitch-hike from Cabo Polonio to Punta del Diablo. About 8 or 10 cars came along but no one would pick up an Eastern European blonde, and a guy in a cowboy hat. Some other hitchhiker came along and was standing in front of us. That was not going to...
Cabo Polonio: Weed Brownies aka Cabo Polonio: Brownie Moron Medication… April 2. We had quite a day. Irmante and I went for a walk past a very smelly dead sea lion on the way to the lighthouse on the end of the peninsula. It cost us $20 Uruguayan ($1 US) to climb it and have a look around. It is the only tourist attraction here. This is a really cool and quaint little town. Any town that has 38 residents...
Montevideo to Cabo Polonio: Freedom. April 1. We checked out of the Caballo Loco hostel, where I had made good friends with owner Felipe who told me he was sad to see me leave. There are good people at that hostel. Irmante and I caught a bus to the main bus transport station to catch a life from Montevideo to Cabo Polonio. My ridiculous hair is making people guess that we are Brazilians, even though Irmante is so obviously Eastern...
Montevideo: Alive Uruguay Rugby Team. March 31. I slept late and missed breakfast, finally showered, and Irmante told me she was going on a free walking tour of the Montevideo. I decided to join. This city has a great vibe. I am not sure why I like it here so much, but it seems to be really cool. The Rio de la Plata that runs along the banks of this city is the widest river in the world; 220 kilometers...
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