new years with the scots (it's friggin' cold!)

we finally made it to scotland. appparently, when traveling in europe you have to plan things. and even more, when it is new years eve, you have to be meticulous. annette and i are neither planners, nor meticulous. so when we were in ireland and started looking into getting to scotland, we hit a wall. all the hostels/hotels here were unbelievably expensive and you had to commit to staying for a minimum of 3 nights, which would have been exorbinant. our spirits faltered a bit, and honestly i was not sure that we would make it here.

we had taken the bus from dublin to belfast, thinking that either way we could cross over from here to to either scotland or england, depending on what happened. i did not see any of belfast because when we got to the hostel at 4 pm, i decided to take a nap. and that nap ended up being 17 hours. anyhow, when i woke up the next morning, annette had just discovered that someone on couchsurfing had a last minute cancellation so we would have a place to stay in edinburgh for new years. again, how lucky we are!!! so we made our way to edinburgh. first we had to take a ferry from belfast to straener in scotland. and then we were able to catch a bus from the ferry terminal straight to edinburgh. we had really great timing.

edinburgh is a stunning city!!! when we arrived, it was already evening, so we could not make out all the details, but there were still things that definitely caught my eye. first, there wss a carnival going on, so all the lights from the rides illuminated the streets. but the best part was seeing edinburgh castle, which sits on a hill and overlooks the entire city. it was almost like it was glowing, the way it was all lit up. it is this massive gothic style castle and seeing it was breathtaking.

we stayed with this guy martin (who was our couchsurfing savior) and his roommates. staying with couchsurfing people is always so fun because you automatically meet a cool group of people. when we arrived there were 2 other couchsurfers there. we all had a nice pow wow before heading over to martin' sister's house. there we sat around and talked over a bottle of wine, which was exactly up my alley after being on a bus all day.

the main thing that we wanted to do was go to the edinburgh street party, which is the big new year's eve event here. we somehow managed to get last minute release tickets, the only stipulation being that we had to wait in line the following day to get them. i wasn't really all that concerned, until i saw the line. it wound all around st. andrews square and we ended up having to wait for 3 hours to pick up our tickets. it was also a freezing ass cold day, which made it even more miserable. i had to leave the line to go buy a fleece and gloves. eventually, after many minutes of running in place and doing calf raises, we were able to pick up our tickets.

but standing in line for 3 hours was definitely worth it for the chance to go to this street fair. it was just such good vibes. even though there were thousands of people in the street, everyone was just so happy!! and when the countdown for the new year happened, there were fireworks over edinburgh castle. so beautiful!!! annette and i walked up and down the streets in pink boas and cowboy hats, rejoicing the new year with the scots. absolutely marvelous!!! i definitely feel as if i brought in 2009 with a bang!!

christmas with the irish

some time ago, we had the great luck of meeting amanda. amanda is an irish gal who is now living in holland. amanda saved us as we got off the bus in paraty, brazil. it being a rainy day and we, as usual, having no idea where we were going or staying for the night. she told us to follow her and the rest is history. we had even greater luck when she invited us to spend the holidays with her and her family in ireland. it is always nice to spend the holidays with a great group of people and we jumped at the opportunity. amanda and her adorable mom picked us up from the bus station. i was so excited to have the chance to ride in a car where the people drive on the opposite side of the road than we do in the states. this is something that seems pretty mundane, but it is one of my favorite things about ireland and the UK. granted, i will most likely get hit by a car, since i am not always sure which way the cars are coming from, but i just find it so fascinating!

we then headed over to her house, which is in west cork, about an hour away from the bigger city of cork. west cork is a small village, with really one main street , that houses all the local businesses. amanda's family has a huge house on quite a large plot of land, so it was like we were on a lovely holiday away from it all. we were met at the house by colin, one of amanda's younger brothers. he is a super outgoing and hilarious character. one of my favorite things about him was when he kept telling annette, "quiet you!!". this was a source of relief for me because it can get to be quite exhausting always being the one to tell her that.

on christmas eve night the family went to mass. this was my first one and although i was nervous about being struck down entering a church, i managed to pass through with no visible damage (the deterioration of my soul is apparently not on catholic god's watchlist). i wasn't really too sure what to expect, but it was in all honesty, quite nice. i do not plan on becoming a regular churchgoer or anything, but the message was nice, and i was intrigued by the ceremony of it all.

after mass we all went to a pub (i love the irish!!) and had a few beers. here is where i got to talking to amanda's other 2 brothers, evan and cormac. evan is studying theater at the uni in cork, and had just played jason in medea, one of my favorite greek tragedies. i loved talking with him because i got to speak about the topic i am most knowledgeable in, tv. yes, i know that it is pathetic, but man, how i do light up when tv talk abounds!!! he even knew of and loved arrested development, one of my all time favorite tv shows!!! so we were fast friends. cormc is the youngest and he is still in high school. he is super quiet, and he loved annette's cookies (a surefire way into her heart). also, amanda's mom came to the pub with us, which i thought was so neat. this is a pub where everyone really knows your name (except for mine and annette's) because it is such a small village and people have been there for generations. amanda's mom is probably one of the sweetest women i have ever met. i felt so papmpered at their home because she just kept feeding us the most amazing food. she and annette were kindred spirits due to their affinity for being in the kitchen. it was just so lovely being part of such a dynamic and close family...a family who took us in even though they had no idea who we were.

christmas morning (or afternoon, seeing as how i did not wake up until 1:40), was a joyful time. there were presents to be opened around the tree. amanda's mom didn't have time to put the labels on the presents, so there was a guessing game of which present belonged to whom, which really livened things up a bit. then we had christams dinner, which of course was mind blowing!! in ireland, turkey and ham are served at the same time. the evil meat-eater in me was blissful...AND they have the best tradition ever, which are crackers. basically there is a long tube that has a prize in it. you pick someone and you each take an end of the tube and pull (similar to the wishbone i think, but not as barbaric). and when you pull, there is a big cracking sound and the person who gets the part with the prize gets to keep the prize. it was so much fun!!! the prizes are usually little toys and you get a paper hat cut like a crown. and even better, each tube holds a joke/riddle, which you then read around the table and people try to guess the answer. man, oh man, how i love the irish!!!!

the next morning amanda's dad took us coursing. i just adored amanda's dad. he is definitely the strong, silent type. he didn't talk much, but when he did, he was a hoot! coursing is basically these races where 2 dogs (who are muzzled) chase after a hare (not a rabbit). the dog who gets the hare to go underneath a gate first is declared the winner. some people bet on the dogs, but others are just there to watch. it was a fascinating event. annette, amanda, and i were betting amongst ourselves based on names only. like in horse racing, all the dogs had really cool names like "very bad tonight" or "big momma's house" (just kidding; i made that one up, but it would be a great name!). it was a fascinating experience, my only gripe was the freezing cold, which i really cannot handle in the least.

anyhow, we had a prodigious, grand ole time with this amazing family in a marvelous country. every once in a while i have to think about how lucky we are not just to be traveling, but also to meet such amazing people, who really take care of us. it makes coping with missing people back home a wee bit easier.

so close, yet so far

So we left paris yesterday morn at 6 a.m, expecting to be in dublin later that evening. We started using our eurrail passes, which are actually a total rip- off. We paid 800 for these passes, thinking that they would allow us to travel all over europe hassle-free, but these tix are actually quite bullpucky. Even though we paid all this money, we found out that when we book a train we have to pay reservation fees. Which to me seems completely insane since we already paid 800 dollars. So even though we paid all this money, to get from paris to dublin was going to cost us an additional 100 dollars. This was quite a frustrating realization and we felt a bit depressed to think that we were going to have to pay all these fees on a train fare that we had assumed we already paid for. So instead of taking this expensive fare, we decided that we would pay 3 euros to go to calais, a city in the north of france then we were going to take a ferry across to dover, england. We figured that we would just make our way up to dublin by bus or train.

This would have been a brilliant plan if we had an infinite amount of time and money. We got to london just fine and for under the 100 dollars we would have had to spend on the train from paris to london. But once we got to london there were no buses to dublin and the next one was the next day at 6 in the evening. Furthermore, it is a 12 hour bus ride so we wouldn't even get to dublin until early morn on the 24th, which means that we would have absolutely no time there considering that we had to be in west cork that same day to spend christmas with our friend amanda. So in the end we decided just to get a direct ticket to cork and alas are missing dublin. Although we will be hitting it a bit later, if we can.

So instead we spent a night and day in london, which is one of my most favorite cities in the world. We laid low last night, both of us in our hostel beds by 9 p.m. We were in a hostel room that we shared with barely legal kids, but we had beds. I had forgotten how much fun it is to share a room with people who tumble in drunk at all hours, their frantic loud whispers like warm blankets over my heart, the smell of stale beer an aromatic reminder of youth. But last night I was lucky enough to have my memory stirred.

Today we did a walking tour of london. I was a bit disappointed that our guide was canadian because I love the british accent so much, but the historical tidbits were quite informative. I love hearing about history and a lot of the information was stuff that I vaguely remembered from years past, so it was good having a refresher. We saw buckingham palace, house of parliament, westminster abbey, trafalgar square, and of course big ben; which we found out is actually not the name of the clock, but rather the bell inside the clock, so named for its resemblance to the first comissioner of works in london, benjamin hall's, rotund belly.

After the tour we went to the tate modern. I have been to london a few times and this was the first time I had been to the tate. This musuem has an extensive collection of works by picasso, miro, francis bacon, diego rivera, frida kahlo, and other such renowned artists. I spent the majority of my time looking at works from the surrealist period, which is one of my favorite genres. I really wanted to see the rothko exhibit, but it cost (in pounds) 12.50 and we were trying not to spend money today, besides what we had to spend on the ever important coffee and our underground fare.
But despite not seeing the rothkos, it was a splendid day at the tate. And in london.

montmarte (the neighborhood where amelie was filmed)

one of the neighborhoods that we visited in paris was montmarte. an important neighborhood because it was one where artists, like picasso and modigliani, once lived and had studios... the great cubists and so forth. so it is quite the bohemian neighborhood. one of the most glorious things about this neighborhood is sacre coeur church, high on a hill. when climbing the stairs, you have the view of the entire city below you. but let me tell the truth...the main reason that i have fallen in love with montmarte is because it is the neighborhood where one of my all time favorite movies was filled... AMELIE!!! the sacre coeur is the church where Amelie has Nino, the guy that she is in love with, follow a clues so they could eventually meet. i felt lighter than air being there.



an image of the actual church, sacre coure, which is at the top of a long flight of stairs. from here there is an incredible view of the all of paris.



annette, leslie, and me standing in front of the view from the sacre coeur



in front of the metro station where amelie sees the blind man standing on the sidewalk and decides to do a good deed by taking him on a tour of the street and markets, explaining the world around them.



the 2 windmills, the cafe where amelie works. annette and i stopped in and had a coffee and creme brulee. they named a creme brulee after amelie.



one of the most delightful things about paris is the world of sweets that constantly await. here i am chomping into a nutella and banana crepe. the people in paris are known for eating slowly and digesting their food. i am known for devouring food (this crepe was eaten in less than 1 minute) and wanting more and more. i will never be a good parisian woman (and not just because i don't speak french).

the eiffel tour sparkles at night ( although i sadly do not)

annette and me watching the eiffel tower... it sparkles on the hour every night



standing in front of the champs-elysees, one of the most famous streets in paris. since it is so close to the holidays all the streets in paris are all lit up...it is completely beautiful... the champs-elysees is like the 5th avenue of new york. very hoity toity and elitist, but magical to walk along.



annette, her friend leslie, and me in front of the quintessential parisian arch. we stayed with leslie and her husband in paris. they are some of the most generous people i have ever met. they opened their home to us and leslie showed us all around the city. getting to know a city through the eyes of those who actually live there is so much more interesting than wandering around aimlessly. we had such a marvelous time in paris!!!

the louvre

today we spent 4 hours at the louvre, which is way more time than i imagined staying. museums can be quite overwhelming for me, and the grandiosity of this one was no exception. it turns out that the louvre was once the royal palace and in the 1700s on of the louis decided to have an art showcase in one of the wings. over time the entire palace became the louvre. before going inside, i thought that the louvre was just within the glass pyramid (which was one of the few images i had seen), but it is in fact within an entire palace that goes around a massive courtyard in a rectangular formation.

the main attraction, of course, is the mona lisa. i had heard that looking at it was usually 20 people deep so we decided to head straight for it to get it out of the way. when we got there, there were in fact throngs of people, but we did get to see it. sadly, it is the only piece in the museum where you have to stand pretty far back, so we did not get to really look at it closely. also, it is small because we are so far back. but it was neat getting to look at it.

after looking at the mona lisa, we decided to do one of the audio guided tours. i thought this endeavor would be a lot easier than it was. oh, how i miss the days when they just gave you headphones and told you about the works (aka...you just had to follow the numbers). this gadget was interactive so you were allegedly supposed to be able to follow the arrows on the screen and follow the tour. as simple as this sounds, i could not figure out how to follow the map/arrows. surprise, surprise. so at one point i lost annette in this monstrosity of a cavernous pit and i could not follow the tour because i had no idea where i was. i felt like a little kid being encircled by the jaws of the grown up world. it was pathetic. so as annette was off, skipping about and doing her tour, i was trudging about, like a lost lamb, fearing the slaughter. i eventually found her, but i did miss a chunk of the tour. luckily, once i found her i just stuck to her like peanut butter to jelly because she actually knew how to work this high tech, futuristic machine. i honestly believe you need a PHd in mechanical engineering to be able to navigate it. surprisingly, there seemed to be hundreds of people who were able to navigate it and did not have that look of pathetic concentration on their faces as i did. children under the age of 12 included.



a sculpture... cupid and psyche.. .this is supposed to be one of the most romantic stories of roman history... but i have a bit of a hard time with it... see if you can see why... basically, cupid shuns and ejects psyche (his lover) from his life because she disobeys him (blah, blah, blah, blah) and so she becomes the servant of his mother, venus. one day venus sends psyche off on an errand to pick up a goblet of some liquid, but not to open it. of course, in common tragic form, psyche opens it and is cursed by death for her obvious disobedience... and then death strikes her (or at least is about to), but then cupid, the one who banished her in the first place, comes out of nowhere to give her a kiss and save her from her potential death. a beautiful sculpture and a tragic story...but i have a hard time finding the romance in it...





the slaves by michelangelo... there is the rebellious slave (who is obviously trying to escape the entrapments of his destiny) and the submissive slave (who is aware of his destiny and has given in)... que tragique, no? this was one of the works that michelangelo was working on, before being called away to work in the sistine chapel... alas, they were never completed...



me trying to look intelligent (but really nothing going on inside that big head of mine), trying to figure out the stupid louvre navigation machine. i look a lot more confident than i actually was...



and, of course, the mona lisa... la joconde...

holiday in fez and the saharan desert

here is me in one of my most chic outfits. we spent a moroccan holiday (the name escapes me) with a very kind and generous moroccan family. for this holiday, the patriarch slaughters a sheep and the family celebrates by eating it, as well as sharing the sheep with others who are less fortunate in the community. luckily, we missed the slaughter, but we were able to reap the benefits of it...the meat. anyhow, after an amazing meal we went for a walk to look at caves (or troglodyte houses, according to the lonely planet) that are in this city (called bhalil), and of course we got caught in a torrential downpour. long story short, these were the only warm, somewhat dry clothes that i had left. i have already received offers from michael kors and diane von fustenberg to model in their spring shows.





here is the gang that we hung out with on the holiday...rachid is the tallest guy. we met him in the desert and he invited us to hang out with his family on this day. also in the picture: annette, alyson, his brother hassan, and a friend of his, whose name i don't recall. we had a lovely day (minus the freezing cold rain storm that befell us)...




here is an example of how things are all laid out in the souks (shopping areas)...there is an abundance of goods...rows and rows all the way down mazes of streets...quite overwhelming, but powerful...



alyson, rachid (our kind host), and me as we were leaving the desert. after leaving the desert town, called merzuga, we rode on a bus to fes, which is an overwhelming city...but a place to visit at least once...when we were in the medina at one point, the crush of people was so unbelievably stifling...almost like the energy of all the surroundings was constantly threatening to overtake any sense of singleness that you might have...as much as i liked the newness of the experience (you definitely felt very alive...the vibrations were severe), i don't think i could do it on a daily basis...




a picture of the footprints of the camels and our guides in the desert...the soft, untouched beauty of the sand dunes is quite miraculous...



the shadow of one of the guys on our tour as he walked to the tent where we would be staying. the rest of us rode camels, which i will not post a picture of. i really hate riding camels...it hurts and there is the constant threat of spit being hurled your way.



one of the untouched parts of the sahara desert...what a glorious experience to be privy to!!!








here we all are on the night of our desert trek...after arriving (we rode the camels for about an hour and a half), we settled into our tents, sat around and talked, walked up the sand dunes to see the sunset and the stars (which is really not very easy), and overall had an amazing time. one of our guides, mohammed, shared his turban with me...i actually think it s a good look for me...and it really kept me warm in the cold, desert air. for dinner, our guides cooked amazing tajine and we sat around a fire, singing songs and listening to drums that our guides played. we all had turns on the drums, as well, which was quite an experience. eventually, it was time for bed, where we were visited by the giggles, until peaceful slumber took over...it was a magical night in many ways...

thank you very marrakesh

I was going to wait to blog until I could add pictures, but my camera is broken so I have to wait until I can upload pix from annette's camera. So I will just add them later.

Marrakesh is the first city we got to in morocco. We stayed right in the medina in the heart of it all. Such an overwhelming area of the city. As soon as you enter the medina there is a barrage of sounds, smells, and sights that assault you. First there are all the people. People that want you to go into their restaurants. People that want to show you around. People that want you to buy their goods. They are constantly calling out to you and you have to work very hard to sort through it all.

Right in the middle of the medina are the souks, which is basically rows and rows and rows of anything you might ever want to buy. I could only walk through them for a little bit because I hate shopping, but even for that little bit of time, I got exhausted.

My favorite part of the medina was all the food smells in the air. The spices were to die for. People would sell spices at booths so you could see all the colors and textures. Reds, oranges, yellows. Rough, grainy, smooth. Here a picture would help. I discovered my new favorite food, tajine. It is basically a stew cooked over fire in clay pots. I love it!!

We spent a few days here then headed to the moroccan desert. We had to take a bus from the city center and that was quite an experience! First off, we were the only women on the bus. At least when we first got on. Even though we were an hour early, the bus was already pretty full. We had to meander our way to the back to try to find seats. Luckily, there were a few left. Once we sat down, we became the object of everyone's stares. It was a bit awkward because it was clear that we were being talked about, but we obviously could not understand a single word. It was an 11 hour bus ride, but the seats did not recline at all, which was quite uncomfortable. Also the bus got freezing cold after sunset. But as bad as we had it, there were people that had to stand on this bus. Seriously people stood for the whole 11 hours! We had some pit stop breaks, but they stood for all the time the bus was moving. So really I have no right to complain. Anyhow, that is all for now. Signing out.

Why, Royal Air Morocco? For the love of god, WHY?!?!

Arriving in morocco...what a joy. We got off the plane and we were quite joyful to finally have made it to north africa. Especially after all the crap we had to deal with in the madrid airport. So I was looking forward to seeing alyson (finally), taking a shower, and eating couscous. Oh, how I love thee, couscous!!!

Before we could do any of the aforementioned things, we had to first get our luggage. We happened to be on the same flight as 2 of the other people who got screwed on the flight the day before. So we waited with them, and 2 other people coming in from madrid, at the luggage carousel. We waited and waited and waited. Finally, the realization that a nonmoving carousel probably meant that there was no luggage coming, hit. We went to the lost luggage office and we were informed that our luggage had not arrived, but would probably come in on a later flight. Were we surprised? No. Even more defeated? Yes.

We were told to call back after 7 and if it had arrived, we could come back and get it. We left the airport in complete disillusionment; Dreams of a shower and not smelling like an old trashcan quickly fading into an abyss. We then took a bus to go meet alyson in the city center. Despite the feeling of utmost futility, I was able to take in some of the beauty that is morocco. Marrakesh is surrounded by gorgeous mountains and many of the buildings are reddish colors that seem to blend into one another. There was also a gorgeous mosque on the horizon as we entered the terra-cotta colored wall surrounding the medina, or city center, of marrakesh.

Seeing this beauty was quite inspiring and reminded me of how great it was just to be there, with or without luggage. And the greatest part was that as soon as we got off the bus, alyson was there! And how happy were we to finally see eachother!

We got situated in our riad, which is a hostel that is outdoors facing a fountain in the middle. It was quite beautiful, but freezing cold. I was soon to learn that indoor heat does not exist in morocco. We walked around the medina and just took it all in. I will expand more about this later when I actually upload pictures. I am not sure words alone can capture the zany magnificence that is marrakesh.

P.S. We finally did get our luggage later on in the evening. The guy who helped us did not answer the phone when we called at 7. Surprise, surprise. So we went down there and took matters into our own hands. Yet again, we received absolutely no help from the fine folks that make up iberia/royal air morocco. Am I bitter? Just a little. Am I over it, yet? Almost.

DAMN YOU, IBERIA!!!!!!

Well, it has been a while since I have posted and I should have a good reason. But really, I have just been a tad lazy. Sometimes the idea of sitting at an internet cafe, especially when I am tired, is just not that appealing. I am now typing from the blackberry, so this might not be the most interesting post since the keys are so tiny a mouse would be better suited to use it.

I have spent The last week in Morocco and it has been an adventure. The plan was to fly to Madrid from Brazil and meet up with my friend Alyson and then take a connecting flight together to Marrakesh. This sounds simple enough, but the reality of it was quite complicated.

As Annette and I got off the plane we saw Alyson and I was quite excited. So we went to get our bags and go thru customs. Luckily the lines were not long and we were able to get into line for check-in with almost 2 hours to spare. Enough time, right? Wrong! Of course. The line was unbelievably slow so we asked a representative if we should go ahead so as not to miss our flight. She said that we were fine and not to worry. So we continued to wait, albeit grudgingly. Eventually, annette went to ask, and a customer service rep told annette that they had closed the flight. What the....?!?! In all, there were about 8 of us that did not get in the flight because of Iberia's lugubrious line. Of course we were upset and panicked, especially because Alyson was boarding the flight we were all supposed to be on. So we argued with the representatives for a long while and they would accept no responsibility for the fact that their lines were so damn slow and that we were given wrong information. They were also so unhelpful and would not even try to put us on another flight. We originally bought the ticket thru royal air morocco, but they were partnering with iberia so iberia kept saying we had to contact them; but when we called royal air they said that iberia had to deal with it.

So long story short we spent about 8 hours and over 20 dollars on phone calls and got absolutely nowhere. Annette even cried and the reps did not bat an eyelash. The best offer we got was that we could buy a ticket to casablanca (which was not even where we were going in morroco) for about 750 dollars. Our original ticket cost 92! Eventually we had to buy a ticket thru another airline for the following morning because iberia reps, who are souless and mindless assholes, would do absolutely nothing for us. This new ticket cost us about 200 dollars, but it was worth it to know that we would eventually get to alyson.

At this point it was 7 at night and we had been at the airport since 10 in the morning. We also had little money to spend on any lodging since we had already spent an obscene amount of money. So we decided to just stay at the airport for the night, which is as fun as it sounds. We froze our way thru the night and slept at wooden tables.

We woke up the next morning and had to take a bus to another terminal. I was in flip flops since I just came in from brazil, but it is winter in spain, which is not a good combo. We got to the terminal, quite groggy, only to discover that we had no flight because we were overbooked on this other airline. Never had I felt so defeated. We had to go back to iberia and in the end we had to give the souless, mindless monsters over 200 dollars to get on a plane to marrakesh. But at least now we REALLY had a ticket and for that we were grateful.

Stay tuned for the next part of the saga, wherein we arrive in Marrakesh, only to discover our luggage did not follow. Thanks Iberia.

Thanksgiving Abroad and Finding Jesus

As a traveler, one must always be wary of the advice of other travelers. Especially when it comes to cities, because you are often given conflicting advice. Such was the case with Rio de Janiero. Some people told us to stay away because it was so expensive and just a big city. Others told us that Rio was great and we could stay there for weeks and love it to death. Alas, we decided to listen to the former group and spend less time in Rio and more time in the colonial town of Paraty. And really Paraty was great, but now we are in Rio and we love it as well. Sadly, we are really only here for 4 days and we have met a cool group of people and I want to stay longer, god dammit!!! We heard about a group called couchsurfing where you can stay with people in the respective city you are in and hang out with them and get to know them. So our first couch surfing venture was yesterday. We are staying with a Brazilian guy named Daniel and he has been such a great host.

Of course yesterday was Thanksgiving and Annette and I were a bit sad at not having a proper Thanksgiving, but our gracious host gave us full use of his kitchen and Annette put together a fantastic meal. We had roasted chicken, which apparently you can cook in a microwave (which is right up my alley), green beans, sweet potatoes, and the greatest stuffing! It was definitely a feast. So we ate with Daniel and his friend Ana, who are both such cool people. We all fell into a comfortable rhythm and ate and drank and laughed. It was quite lovely. As much as I missed Thanksgiving back home, this was the next best thing.


Annette, our couch surfing host Daniel, his (and our new) friend Ana, and me (note how my shirt is wet...I am pretty much always a mess) after Thanksgiving dinner.
The amazing food Annette cooked...stuffing, deviled eggs, green beans, and of course there is my empty wine glass.


So this morning was our 1st full day in Rio. I did not have such a great start, seeing as how my face is peeling like a banana, although not as smoothly. I look like a multi-toned monster. I am sure kids were staring at my face and crying. Nightmares are to be had. Secondly, being the scatter brain that I am, I left my Nalgene bottle in a sewing shop. Back in the states I probably lose a Nalgene bottle a month, but here there is no REI to replace it with, so I was upset. Luckily, we went back and it was there. Anyhow, after the rough start, we decided we were going to go see Christ the Redeemer, which is one of the new 7 wonders of the world, and then we were going to walk up Sugarloaf, a huge mountain with a captivating view of the city.

So we took the bus to where we were suposed to catch the train to go up to see the Christ. But we got detoured by a man who offered to take us in his taxi for only 2 dollars more and we agreed, figuring we would see more on the way up. And we would have, if not for the dense fog that decided to come along. In the Lonely Planet book we were advised to go to the statue on a clear day, and as we curved our way up the hill, I could see why. First we got to a lookout point, but all we could see was the heavy misty fog, with some buildings peeking through. Needless to say, we did not get the grandiose view of the city that was promised in our guidebook.

So we ventured to the top of the hill to get a view of the Christ statue. Now, I know finding Jesus is not supposed to be easy, but man oh man, was it hard!!! This statue is gargantuan...over 120 feet tall. But the fog was so dense (and it started raining) that it was almost impossible to make it out. Every once in a while, we would get a brief outline, but we never saw his face. Thus, my attempt at finding Jesus was once again thwarted and I am still the sinful heathen that I have always been. I thought maybe that the rain was holy and was God´s way of cleansing my sins away, but I think if it was, I would have gotten my skin seared. Instead I just got wet and got a brief glimpse of one of the 7 wonders of the world.

So after all that, we decided to save Sugarloaf for another day. We met a girl who introduced us to a fruit that grows in the Amazon, called acay, and we had it as a smoothie. It is my new favorite drink. It has all these nutritional benefits, antioxidants and all that, but I especially loved the taste. The thing is this: I looked it up online because I was curious about it and 3 ounces has over 500 calories, 32 grams of fats, and like 80 grams of carbs. Now I had a huge 16 ounce cup, which equals about 2500 calories, 160 grams of fat, and 400 grams of varbs. Then to top it off, I had another 16 ounce cup later in the evening. So just drinking acay, I had 5000 calories, 320 grams of fat, and 800 grams of carbs. AND I also ate 3 meals. So I basically had the same caloric intake that Michael Phelps has while training, but I exerted pretty much no energy throughout the day. But it is sooooo good! And I will have one (or 2) everyday until I leave Brazil. Yum!!!



This is what we saw of the statue. This is my clearest shot, but you can see all the surrounding fog. It is a bit ethereal though, ins´t it?


This is a picture I took of a postcard that is what you are actually supposed to see. Quite a contrast.

Sao Paolo and Paraty, Brazil

Well, it has been 5 days since we have been in the largest country in South America, and we will see so little of this garagantuan country. Brazil is the Hulk Hogan of South America and we are just 2 tiny beads of sweat on his body, moving along, but not getting to all the good places. But just a bit on what we have seen.

So our jaunt in Sao Paolo was short, but we had a taste, actually a nibble, of city life. We walked to Japantown, which was quite neat. There were a bunch of little Asian restaurants and shops. Although it is technically called Japantown, a lot of different Asian cultures have shops in the neighborhood. We got to buy red bean mochi and pot stickers for dinner. Yum! I was quite excited to have the pot stickers because it reminded me of dim sum, which is uber ymuuy.

Right before Japantown, we stopped at some massively important church in Sao Paolo. I don't really care much about churches, but when you are a tourist things you don't normally care or even think about in your real life somehow hold greater weight. So we went in because it was in our lonely planet book. And it was fine. At least as far as churches go. I don't really know how to evaluate churches. Mostly I am agahast at the gaudiness and frivolity, which i just don't get. It seems as if churches (and any other place of worship) should spend a lot less on interior decorating and more on giving that money to feed, clothe, and house the people begging right outside. But then again, I have never understood the politics or the grandeur of religion.

Moving on...the next day in Sao Paolo was a bit more mellow. We started off having plans to explore, but then we had to return to the hostel for something or other and then it started raining buckets so we ended up staying there for a couple of hours. Once the rain let up, we really only had a couple of hours left to sightsee until our evening plans. So really that only left us with enough time to buy our bus tickets for the next day to go to our next town. But we had a lovey night out with a couple of people we met in Sao Paolo. First there was this guy Luis who we met at the hostel. Annette and I went with him to a pub and gorged ourselves on french fries and beer. Somewhere along the way Annette got me to switch to smirnoff ice, which i still can't understand, and then the night becomes more of a blur. After a while Luis left (he turned out to be kind of a jerk) and then this girl Barbara, who we met at an internet cafe, and her girlfriend showed up and we had some drinks with them. After which, they took us to a gay dance club and i was so excited!!!! I love dancing at gay clubs!!! All the cheesy music was so great, as is being surrounded by lots of shirtless sweaty men. So much fun!!! I love that it is universal that gay men all over the world take off their shirts and rub their sweaty chests all over one another. Oh to be a gay man!!! We danced to Shania Twain, Britney Spears, and the Back Street Boys, just to name a few.



Going out with people we meet is a crap shoot. We went out with Luis, thinking he was cool, and he turned out to be a bit of a creep. But right after, we hung out with Barabara (who we met at an internet cafe) and her girlfriend. And we had a blast, even though they spoke no English, and we speak no Portuguese. But what an adventure!!!

As with any great fun night out, we paid for it the next day. For some reason it seems that every night that Annette and i have a big night out, we have to travel the next day. T his time was no exception. We had to check out of our hostel by 10 am the next day, which was no easy feat, considering that we went to sleep at 5 am. Then we were on a 6 hour bus ride to Paraty, which was a Portugues colonial town, where the Portuguese came on holiday way back when. The magical thing about Paraty is that it has over 300 beaches and 70 islands around it, so of course we were looking forward to having some relaxing beach time and bronzing our skin. And we are still looking forward to this time because as soon as the bus pulled in, it was raining. That was yesterday. We heard that the mornings were clearer and the rain comes mostly in the afternoon, so this morning we took a bus about 40 minutes away to the town of Trindade which is supposed to have one of the most incredible beaches in the area. We got there and it was beautiful, but alas, the sun did not want to visit the town today. We sat on the beach for about an hour before we had to give up on getting any sun. So we walked around the small town of Trindade for a bit and decided to come back to Paraty. Walking around Paraty is so beautiful, with its cobblestone streets and colorful buildings. You can definitely see the colonial influences in town. And we had a lovely 15 minute stroll before the rain decided to grace us with its presence again. So we hung out in a cafe with a lovely Irish girl we met on our journey. It is destined to rain for the rest of our time here, but maybe we will get at least 15 minues of sun. But there is something about being trapped in the rain in another country. It is way more excitng than being trapped in the rain at home. Funny how that works.

This is our beach day. Although we did not imagine this would be how we would get wet, we did get a cooling bath from the rain.
There are cute little boats all around Paraty to take tourists to the surrounding islands and beaches.

Leaving Argentina: Last Stop Iguazu Falls

a butterfly landed on me at the falls!!! it was so cool because it stayed on me for at least 5 minutes!

a brief glimpse of our resorty hostel in puerto iguazu

We are no longer in Argentina, we have now ventured into Brazil. Our final stop was Iguazu Falls in the northwest of Argentina, about 30 minutes away from the Brazilian border. Puerto Iguazu is the small town where we stayed; its most important attraction being the falls. We stayed at the nicest hostel that I have ever stayed in . It had a huge pool and felt more like a nice resort. Only downside was that the average age was 19 (although we may have raised it to 21) and it felt very fratty.

The 1st night we were there Annette and I both fell asleep at 6 pm (we´re old), thinking we would wake up in an hour, but ended up sleeping until 9 pm, eating almonds and crackers (instead of making the salad we had planned) and then going back to sleep (we´re old). Although I did have a hard time falling back asleep, I made no effort to get up and join the world of the living, to which I presumed included lots of beer bongs and chug fests (I actually did hear a group of british boys shouting chug!chug!) (i´m old). So instead I laid in bed, listened to This American Life (the best show ever!) and read until 3 a.m. I was finally able to fall asleep, only to be awakened by 2 girls coming into the hostel and another girl who was already asleep yelling at them to turn out the light. Hostel drama! Finally I was able to fall back alseep, only to be awakened, covered in drool, by Annette at 7:45 to go to the falls.

So, the falls. From other South America travelers, I heard so much about these falls and how gloriously amazing they were, so i was definitely looking forward to seeing them. Our Lonely Planet book said something about how the negative ions from the falls led to giddiness and laughter. Who wouldn´t want that? So I lumbered along waiting for the the grand beauty that was to be bestowed upon me. Now I know that I am setting this up as to seem as if the falls weren´t beautiful, but they were. Although, I was a bit disappointed upon arrival for the following reasons:

1. We had to wait in a long line to get in, which wouldn´t be so bad, if not for the fact that there was a group of German tourists all up in our personal space.

2. I had the idea that we would be hiking along through the jungle to get to these falls and was expecting a nice day in nature. Instead, I was distraught to discover that we were at an equivalent of a theme park with huge paved roads and little gift shops and food places all about. We also had to stand in line that wrapped around like roller coaster rides do. Annette brought up the point that this existed so all people could have access to such a marvelous part of nature. And I am not so cold-hearted that I would not want people of all ages and abilities to see these falls, but the grandeur to which the park was designed left me bereft. There are ways that paths and handicapped accessible ramps could have been placed in the park without going so overboard. It was just a little bit too much.

Regardless, after my initial wallowing in the way that man is destroying almost everything that nature has to offer, i opened my heart and mind to the negative ions, which I hoped would cancel out the negativity that I was feeling...and they did, kind of. I definitely did not join the land of the giddy, but i was mesmerized by the awesome beauty of the falls. There were just so many and they were so massive. The biggest one was called la garganta del diablo (the devil`s throat) and the rushing speed took my breath away, literally. I got splashed so forcefully that it was hard for me to breathe. So we had a lovely day walking around, seeing and snapping pictures of the falls, and overall that was nice. We were going to visit the falls the next day from the brazilian side, but we decided just to go straight through to Sao Paolo. People say it is cool to see the falls from both sides of the border, but the fact is that you can see more from the Argentine side and I really had no desire to go and stare at them again from another side, with the same tourists, on the same paved roads. It would have been a completely different thing if it was a nice hike, but I preferred choosing to avoid the circus of tourists.

The devil´s throat waterfall

More waterfalls...they really were pretty incredible

So we ended up taking a 16 hour bus ride from Puerto Iguazu to Sao Paolo. We got here this morning at 6 am and took a cab to our hostel. Of course we were tired and out of sorts, so of course the cab driver got lost and we had to pay an exorbinant amount of money to be lost with him. Finally, we found the hostel, only to discover that they had one space left. The way I was feeling, I almost took that one space, and sent Annette off packing. But then reality got the better of me and I realized if I did this, not only would I be a hroorible friend, but also I would have no one to prepare my meals. So we ended up taking the subway with our massive packs (even more massive due to the fact that the day before we had to spend our Argentinian pesos so we decided to buy all our groceries for the week, which added another 10 pounds to each of our packs) and then took another taxi to the next hostel, which did in fact have room. Annette and I are in a tiny room and we are cuddle buddies in a large bed. As soon as we got there, it was night-night for us both. We had planned to wake up at 1030 am to start the day, but after the morning´s blunders, we slept until 230 in the afternoon. We had a bit of a walk around the neighborhood, had some follies with the language at the internet cafe, and will return to our hostel to have a nice meal of pasta and then head off to bed. There is not too much to do here today because it is a national holiday, black consciousness, which Iassume is similar to black history celebration in the US. We will be here for a couple of days then we will book it on out to Paraty and spend some time on the beach (yay!!!).

It is crazy to think that we have only 10 more days in south america, then we are off to our next continents...Northern Africa, then Europe. I am excited because my friend Alyson will be meeting us in Morocco and then we will meet up with Jenny in Egypt. Yay friends!!! Speaking of which, I hope this blog finds all of you doing well and enjoying the precariousness of life. xoxo

buenos aires...the city of massive steaks and summer in november!

            about to rip into one of the largest steaks that has ever crossed my path...
some of the most delicious sides that accompanied the yummy steak at the restaurant La Cabrera
the anti-bush sentiment has been pretty rampant all over south america, but this is one of my favorite graffiti pieces...
bartolomeo mitre, who was one of argentina's presidents, is buried in this tomb...isn't it massive?
this is the tomb where evita and juan peron are buried...most people come to see evita...she was only 33 years old when she died!
this is a "street" with tombs/graves all down it...the recoleta cemetery was massive...

it is hot here...super duper hot...and our godforsaken hostel does not have any windows so all night i toss and turn and marinate in my own sweat...yum...but that is my only complaint. when outside, i love the weather...when i am inside i want to scream...

buenos aires is a beautiful big city...we have been able to see a lot, but also relax a lot...yesterday we spènt the entire day in 2 cafes in the neighborhood of palermo soho (seriously that is what it is called and it is the chic, boutiquey neighborhood of BA) and worked on Annette´s ipod...it was nice to just sit and be reminded of the comforts of home...then afterwards we had a super nice dinner (despite our grungy attire) where we were served some amazing food, including the most ginormous steak ever in the history of the world...it reminded me of the scene from the movie Great Outdoors where John Candy has to eat a 96 ounce steak...i felt like it was really that massive...but it was unbelievably delicious. maybe the best steak i have ever had in my life. it also came with all these sauces that were to die for and sides...warm apple sauce, mashed potatoes, tomatoes stewed, roasted garlic, marinated onions...i am drooling just thinking about it. sadly, i cannot button my shorts today, but it was definitely worth it...

the day before we went to the recoleta cemetery where all the rich and important people of BA are buried and we saw Eva Peron´s grave. i was a bit astounded by the massive nature of the graves. in fact, they weren´t graves, they were tombs...entire families of 60 to 200 people could potentially be buried there. some of these tombs were bigger than my apartment in NY. it was pretty creepy being around all these tombs and being able to look in and see the coffins, knowing that there were dead bodies right inside them...my morbid curiosity wanted to open some of the coffins (of the tombs that were broken into) and open them... but better sense and annette's threats stopped me... the crazy thing was that some of the tombs had been broken into and some of the older tombs that had been around since the late 1800s were now being used as storage spaces. seriously, i saw that one of the tombs contained cleaning supplies, a cat litter box, and paint in it. that was a bit disrespectful, i thought, even though i am sure the dead for over a hundred year bodies didn´t mind so much.

whales, penguins, and hostel friends

we went whale watching in a small town called puerto piramides, on the peninsula valdez... this peninsula is a UNESCO protected sight and is a great place to see all kinds of animals, including penguins, elephant seals, right whales, sea lions, ostriches, llamas, jack rabbits, and even orca whales.  december through april orca whales beach themselves at punt norte in an attempt to feed on elephant seals.  sadly, we did not see any orcas, but they do come...apparently punta norte is one of 2 places in the world (the other being madagascar) where orca whales come to beach themselves)
on the boat with a whale coming quite close... there were even points when the whales went underneath our boat to come through the other sides...the sounds they made were quite haunting (in a good way)...

next to a penguin at punta tombo, which is a place on the peninsula valdez, where penguins are protected.  you can get right next to the penguins, which is so cool...the penguins are waiting for eggs to hatch so we saw a lot of them laying on their eggs...any day now the eggs will hatch...we missed seeing the baby penguins by days...

here are 2 super cute (and a bit chunky) penguins laying down, protecting their eggs...watching them waddle was so cute...it is crazy how trusting they are... but i guess that is what happens when animals are so protected... they become quite socialized...

a penguin strutting his stuff...

one of the great things about traveling and staying at dumpy hostels is all the cool people you get to meet... we met these 2 guys, kareem and ryan, from canada in el calafate.  they are the male versions of annette and me.  ryan is a riot... he has an obscene amount of energy and absolutely no inhibitions...he can talk to anyone about anything, even though he does not speak a word of spanish... he was the energy (annette) part of the duo.  then there was kareem, who was a bit more subdued, but funny as well... he loved to laugh at all of ryan's antics... his mellow, yet fun-loving, nature reminded me more of myself... they were quite fun to hang out with...

here is canadian ryan again... probably the funniest guy that i have ever met and definitely my favorite person that i have met on this trip... we got to spend more time with him, because his pal kareem went to antarctica  (wow!), but ryan took the 20 hour bus ride with us to puerto madryn where he explored the peninsula with us (we rented a car for 2 days, so we had a bit more freedom than being on a structured tour)...i laughed almost the entire time...when we weren't laughing we were playing name that tune, of which he is the champion... this was definitely the height of my hostel friends experience... sometimes you meet people that you can hang out with for a night, but you never think about again... but other times you meet someone who is just so great, that you know you will see them again... and he is definitely one of those guys...yay!!!