Colombia

I´m in Bogota! I got in on Wednesday after some heart-pounding moments of travel from Los Angeles. Well, one heart-pounding moment, at least. I was in Mexico City for my four hour layover, but had arrived before 6 am from LA, so was tired, to say the least. Apparently I couldn´t resist the sweet escape of sleep while waiting at my gate, even though I had managed to stay alert for the first three hours... Well, I woke up to find myself completely alone. The hundred or so people who had been my waiting companions had all abandoned me, without even a friendly nudge to wake me up. Even the signs for my flight had been taken down. Needless to say, my heart rate went up significantly. I grabbed my bag and ran over to the door, where there were still a few airline employees... I knew there was a plane there, I just didn´t know if it was my plane (my lack of a working watch didn´t help the situation). Luckily, I was allowed to board (the last one on, but at least they hadn´t given away my seat yet!) and we left - but not before the "caution" light went on in the cockpit (the perfect way to calm one´s nerves) so we had to taxi back for some unscheduled maintenance. Apparently I succumbed to sleep once again, because I didn´t even realize that my flight arrived an hour late to Colombia...

But now, all is well. It´s the day of Mony and Peter´s wedding, so the rest of today will likely be a bit of a blur...

So far since I´ve been here, we´ve all gotten to see a bit of the city, both on a brief driving tour of the Northern areas, and a longer tour yesterday that took us to the historic center of La Candelaria. Besides the fact that our tour guide barely spoke English (most of the rest of our group doens´t speak Spanish) and didn´t provide any historical context for the sites we were seeing, it was a good day. Luckily, a friend of Mony´s family provided us with more substantial guide work. There were some beautiful sites though, and some amazing views of the city. Mom, I even saw the Supreme Court building and took some pics just for you! :) We saw the Presidential Palace (from the outside) and were lucky enough to be there for the changing of the guard, which apparently only happens every once in a while. The guards outside are very polite when they shoo you away from the gate with their AK-47s or M-16s whatever they are. Here´s a photo (thank you Google images) of one of the dirty sky rats in the Plaza Bolivar near the Palace... Yuck.

We also ate lunch at a traditional restaurant (their understanding of what constituted vegetarian food was expectedly different from ours) with two guitarists serenading our group of 25 throughout. It´s nice how appreciative people here are when they learn that I speak Spanish (and I´m amazed at how much I retained despite a year with very little practice). In other news, I think I now have my own personal Mariachi band because I talked to some of them while I was waiting on our bus at the end of the day... They liked a gringa talking to them, even if it was mostly miming through the window! They caught my gist, I think (I was asking them why they weren´t wearing their sombreros; even on break they´ve gotta keep up appearances!).

On Thursday night we all attended a cocktail party at Mony´s apartment which overlooks the city from the mountains to the east (perfect for sunsets, which we saw last night up there). There was schmoozing and music all night; afterwards a large group went to a dance club about a half hour outside the city and we all danced the night away.

It´s been interesting so far to see the city through a different lens, rather than my usual poor student method of doing everything as cheaply and on-the-fly as possible. Since I´m leaving a day after most of the rest of my Pgh group, hopefully I´ll get to see some more at the end of my week here. Until then, it´s wedding today, a BBQ outside the city Sunday, then a trip to Villa de Leyva on Monday, which is known for its crafts and its local villages. I can´t remember the rest of the plan at the moment, but I´ll try to get to a computer again in the next few days to update. Unfortunately, I neglected to bring my camera cord, so unless I find an internet cafe with one of those little card readers, no photos until I reach my home land again next month! But hey, at least I´ve avoided my tradition of having my camera stolen so far this year... Keep those fingers crossed for me.

West coast shenanigans

(more photos here)

Driving into California from Arizona was fun; you can really tell the difference between the two states' policies and priorities... California had an agriculture checkpoint for all cars, and I passed through an area of Route 10 that had thousands of windmills spinning away. The mountains were really breathtaking as well, all different, fading shades of grey-blue in the distance.

I arrived in Los Angeles on Thursday to stay with my cousin, Annemarie, and her sister Alex came in on Friday. I got the super fun task of driving to pick her up and drop her off at the airport, my first experience driving on LA's freeways in the middle of the day when all of humanity is out en masse. It was well worth it though, since all us ladies had lots of fun this past weekend cavorting with the LA crowd... let the imagination run wild with that one. :)

LA is definitely one of those places that I'm really glad to have people to visit, but I know I could never put up with the city for any extended period of time. But I've finally gotten to see some of the places us East Coasters have always heard about but (at least I) have had some crazy TV-begotten notions about: Hollywood Boulevard, Bel Air, the Pacific Coast Highway, Santa Monica, Malibu, etc... It's a really pretty place to be, minus the smog that can be seen whenever you're looking down on one of the valleys.

Up next is Colombia! I leave super early Wednesday (more like Tuesday night) from LA to Bogota via Mexico City. I haven't even begun to pack, but I have all day tomorrow to get that done. I keep reassuring myself that being totally unprepared is no predicament, these things usually work themselves out.

Sorry this is a rather bland entry, my mind seems to be elsewhere at the moment. Also apologies to all those people that I meant to call before leaving the country, but because of the time difference between the coasts I never found an appropriate time to get in touch!
The next entry will likely be from Colombia, where I'll be for a week to celebrate Peter and Mony's nuptials within a week of exploring Bogota and the surrounding areas. Until then...

Raising Arizona

113°. That is why I haven't yet set foot outside today. I'm calling it a "rejuvenation day" rather than a "I'm scared of heat stroke" day. I'm in Phoenix, AZ, couchsurfing yet again for a few days before I go to Joshua Tree in California, then on to Los Angeles on Saturday to see some fam (yay!).

My possessions are not all coping with the heat very well in the car, unfortunately. My Birk clogs have fallen apart, the glue surrendering to the sun gods; even the darkest of chocolate is mere pudding; water bottles frozen solid in the morning are lukewarm in a few hours; and I'm drinking ridiculous quantities of water (and thus making a ridiculous number of associated pit stops). I'm a little worn out, and am looking forward to some cooler temps at some point, although I might have to wait for Bogota to get those...

So here are some notes from the road from the past few days:
There's a town in Texas called Iraan, something that amused me to no end. Even more amusing was Iraan's interesting mix of energy sources: both oil derricks and windmills, hundreds of them all along the ridges. Of course, it was Texas, so Jesus was not to be outdone by some paltry windmills: there was a massive cross perched on an opposing ridge, as if to defend the area from the heathens who dare to impose alternative energy upon the people of this land. Another Jesus-related declaration seen in the great state of Texas: "Jesus Christ is Lord, Not a Swear Word" (on the side of an 18-wheeler).

As I passed through El Paso, I caught a few glimpses of Juarez across the border... it wasn't pretty. Even had I planned on stopping, I was so sick of being in the car that day and so close to my destination in New Mexico, I just bypassed all of it. I was, however, stopped at a border patrol station that funneled everyone off the highway for a few questions from a local sheriff. The guy in front of me with Florida plates was waved right through, but me, with my load of stuff, got a curious look and a few pointed questions such as "Where are you headed?", but with an intonation that I heard as more like "Where do you think you're going, missy?" Maybe I read too much into that one though.

In New Mexico there were lots and lots and lots of dust devils; at any given time I could look on the horizon and see five to ten of them. There were associated warnings about wind and dust at intervals along the highway:


As I drove, the road followed the railroad tracks and gently wound through the stark landscape. There's some poetry in that, I think, although I'm not the person to actually work it out.

NM actually was a low point in the trip, though, since my couchsurfing host flaked out on me, and the campground I found was apparently RV-only (just a gravel lot off the side of the road, not very inviting) and I had little choice but to check into a hotel. It was comfy, but I'm cheap and it made me mad.

Once in Arizona, the sun was so intense that I didn't even want to stick my arm outside the car. It actually felt cooler to just have the breeze within the car rather than the wind rushing by outside. Even at 5:30 pm, the temperature was 108°, down from a high of 112° that day. At the truck stop I stopped at to refill my water bottles and cool off, the guy at the counter told I should go sit in the bathroom, since it was the coolest room in the place. I resisted the temptation to crack some inappropriate jokes there.

Finally, the sheriff in Tucson had a badass Batman symbol as his front license plate, which I would totally have on my car if I were an officer of the law.

To wrap up this post, I leave you with some surrealist art a la moi... (I have no idea if this would actually qualify as surreal.)

(more photos here)

Things forgotten

(more photos here)

There are lots of little things that I forget to mention as I write these entries, but to me, at least, they seem poignant (or just goofy). So here are a few from the annals of my mind, regarding places and people I saw previously...

On the drive to Tennessee from Kentucky, there was a peacock feather of all things, floating in the middle of the road. On the drive to Houston from New Orleans, there was a huge dead alligator (belly up) on the side of the road. Must have been 8 feet long! Only in Louisiana...

The people in Houston were some of the nicest I've met. Rather than the style of southern hospitality that exists in Louisiana, where people talk your ear off when you ask what time it is (but don't actually answer the question), the people in Houston were genuinely helpful (and then they talked your ear off). One woman on the bus invited me to a children's outdoor fair hosted by one of the oil companies the next day (I said maybe); but then she helped me find my stop and get on the MetroRail, even though it was out of her way. And all I had to do in return was listen when she told me she wanted to be cremated right there in Houston, then have her ashes spread in the bayou, so that hopefully some of them would make it out to the sea. Just a simple request, right?

Another woman, Rosalinda from the Philippines, was the guard in the ceramics room of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. I'm not sure exactly why I struck up a conversation with her in the first place, perhaps I was just ready for some more human interaction after being on my own most of the day. I can't even remember exactly what we talked about, but we probably chatted for a good 15 minutes or so, since there wasn't another soul to be seen in that exhibit. I do remember that she confessed that she didn't like the exhibit that much; she was partial to the medieval paintings.

On the drive from Houston to Austin (oh yeah, I'm in Austin now), up route 71, I felt like I was in classic Texas: ranches all around, longhorn cattle, huge skies, and swarms of bikers (both on hogs and crotch rockets). Oh, and I finally met up with 100°+ temperatures... at 6pm!! Here in Austin last night, I went out to see the Rogue River String Band at Thunderbird Coffee shop (but there was beer there too, go figure). Stephen's (the couchsurfer I stayed with in Houston) brother is one of the members, so in addition to hooking me up with his friends here in Austin to stay with, Stephen provided me with entertainment too! (Thanks Stephen.) They were great, his brother D.W. has an amazing voice. And everyone wore plaid of some sort, but not in a planned sort of way (I hope).

OK, that's enough of my rambling for now... I need to get packed up and on the road! I'm off to Las Cruces, NM, if I can stand the drive in the heat (9 hours, 103° expected). Wish me luck.

(Oh, another thing... I tried alligator meat in New Orleans! I had a bite... well, a tiny morsel of it. According to the bar man, it tastes like chicken.)

map

Since I haven't really been using the other site with the map feature, I'm just gonna have some fun here with maps. Bear with me as I navigate the world of HTML.


View Larger Map

Map for June 4 - June 15. Gotta love Google. The only thing I can't figure out how to do is link each stop to a date... Oh, well.

Don't mess with you-know-who

Howdy partner, let's raise and rope broncos! That's right, I'm in Texas.

(more photos here)

I got the itch to move on the other day while in New Orleans, so I packed up and headed west to Houston. I can't say that I'd ever had a burning desire to visit this large state, but so far so good. I'm couchsurfing in the city and went out with my host and some of his friends last night to a place where you get unlimited free appetizers with drink orders, but get this - it's all local/organic food and gourmet. I was in heaven.

Today I'll probably try to navigate the city's public transportation and check out some museums and the business district...

Earlier this week while still in the Big Easy, I got to hang out with some couchsurfers, Erin and Patrick - a good time was had by all. We did a walking tour of the garden district, drove through the lower 9th ward to see the (very minimal) reconstruction efforts there by volunteers, ate lots of food, went to a drag king show on Bourbon St... the list goes on. It actually rained quite a bit this past week, and one day had an absolute downpour for about an hour... As a result, the roads were flooded, the streets were deserted, and the trolleys lost power. Erin and I had a trolley car all to ourselves in the middle of a busy intersection outside Harrah's casino (which we also took shelter in; I lost $1.30) for a little while. It's experiences like these that may seem like inconveniences at first, but really you end up slowing down a bit and taking everything in, not a bad thing.

Miriam and I attempted to go see Rebirth Brass Band play on Wednesday night, but when we showed up to the seedy bar where they were scheduled, it wasn't even open and there were unsavory types loitering nearby, so we hightailed it out of there. Too bad, I really wanted to hear some live local music!

Up next for me is Austin, then who knows? I have to pull out an atlas and work out where to go between here and L.A. Suggestions are welcome for obscure places to go in the southwest!

adventures in new lands

(more photos here)

My back hurts. I guess that's what paddling 12 miles and being in the sun for over 8 hours straight will do to a girl. It was well worth the pain, though, seeing the Wolf River in Mississippi and doing a bit (a lot, actually) of cleanup along the way.

I met up with two couchsurfers, Darryl and Erin (a Kiwi), and a New Orleans outdoor group guy, Adam, for a wee paddle down a small river near the Mississippi shore. It was thankfully less humid and only partly sunny, which made the day bearable (although my upper legs are a bit pink despite liberal sunblock applications). We took our sweet time paddling/drifting downriver, and the water was shallow enough that we could hop out to run around whenever we liked (or drag the canoes over fallen logs and shallow sandbars). There were a couple good swimming holes and a rope swing beneath an overpass that broke up the trip; all in all a good day.

The rest of the week is wide open, although I'm set to explore the city some more with Erin and some R&R with Miriam... I'll likely get on the road again by Friday, but plans have yet to gel for that.

'nawlins

(more photos here)

I'm in the Big Easy! I'm crashing with Miriam this week just off Bourbon St in the French Quarter - pretty amazing.

Let me back up - I think I left off in Louisville... since then I've gone to Memphis, where I couchsurfed again, then was up at the crack of 8:30 to a phone call from my Becky in Africa! I was a little out of it, but we managed to chat for a few minutes (albeit not at that hour, a little later - thanks Becky for letting me sleep a little longer). I chose to experience Memphis via the wonder that is Elvis: none other than Graceland. Unfortunately I didn't have either Elvis or Paul Simon on my ipod at the moment, but even I admit that that would have been supremely cheesy.

I do wish I had had some company at Graceland, besides all the whackadoos with southern twangs and an unhealthy love for everything related to The King. It was amusing, however the best part was probably the cookies and cream ice cream for breakfast there. (I'm on vacation, I can do what I want.)

So I arrived in 'nawlins on Friday evening, settled in a bit, then hit the streets with Miriam to grab food and catch some music. (Friends of friends who know people who play music. Obviously.) We woke up early this morning to drop my car in a non-permit/safer area of the city with a fellow couchsurfer, then joined a group of probably 75 people for an urban 'hike' on a Rails to Trails conservancy project that is still very much in the early stages of completion. There were some pretty sweet photo ops along the way that made the heat and humidity worth the trek. (I must say, though, it was one of the longest 3 miles of my life, probably made worse by our lollygagging ways in the heat).

The French Quarter is incredible, but I've already caught a few glimpses of the less fortunate parts of town: a tent city under one of the city highways; a homeless man prostrate on the ground, moaning, without any shade or the willpower to move; the abandoned projects that are slated to be demolished to make way for either high-end homes or mixed-income housing, it wasn't clear which. I'd like to see more of the city in the coming weeks, but also don't want to step on toes or rudely gawk in places where the devastation hasn't been dealt with completely, so we'll see.

Monday I'll be canoeing in Mississippi on either the Wolf or Okatoma River with some couchsurfers - should be fun!

A couple of other notes - I'm working on a pretty wicked trucker's tan/burn from all that driving with my "AC" on (my window open, arm hanging out). Also, I'm mad at Mississippi for messing up my "Welcome To" photo series. Where was their sign??? If it was even there, I maintain that it was minuscule, wholly inappropriate for such a large state. Perhaps I'll try again on Monday when we go canoeing.

Photos

Since I've run out of room on flickr, and I'm not willing to pay for a bigger account, I'm gonna try out photoshop's new online photo site. Click here for pics!

On my way

I've now officially left Pgh behind... :(

NYC was tons of fun, as it always is with my old cadre. Got to finally visit the MoMA and wander around Manhattan, read in Central Park, all of the quintessential (i.e. cliche) NYC things.

My last night in Pgh was also a good time, thanks to all those who came out to help celebrate (and the grilled cheese). But this morning (well, afternoon) I was off to begin my big road trip. First destination: Louisville, Kentucky, 400 miles away. The drive was decent, I was kept company by NPR most of the way, until I hit tornado-style rain and winds along the Ohio/Kentucky border. That was buckets of fun.

So now I'm all cozy in Louisville at my first ever couchsurfing house, watching the Pens game and already thinking of sleep. Pics to follow.