The first thing I do when I wake up after spending my first night in BsAs is go to the Brazilian Embassy. Kasia and I plan to get to Brazil by March 1st and it’s a 44 hour bus ride so we have to leave by the 25th of February to arrive on time and explore the city before Carnaval starts.
At the embassy I go on the computer to make an appointment and the first available appointment is 3/1. Well, this is a problem. Because, if we wait until 3/1, it will then take 2-3 days to get the Visa after the appointment and then the bus ride that it will no longer make sense to go to Carnaval.. it will almost be over by the time we get there!
So we go to the counter.. side step.. Kasia is a strong, loud and sometimes very obnoxious chica. She will fight and not hear what you have to say and just keep arguing her point. Sometimes she gets results sometimes it’s a disaster. She comes to the window with me, because he Spanish is ten times better then mine and the woman is speaking Spanish and starts to argue with her about the VISA and I need a new appointment, etc. The woman doesn’t have much fight left in her since it’s the end of the day and basically says we can come back BUT there is no guarantee that she will see me.
SO that afternoon I must get all the paperwork needed for the appointment.
1. A copy of the bank statement
2. An address where I will be staying
3. My passport, obviously
4. And.. OI.. tickets showing that I am going INTO and OUT OF brazil.
Well, this causes a real problem. Tickets are expensive and I have no idea where im going after brazil. Victor has been telling me he will join me there but most recently his mother got very ill and his assistant was sent to jail so he is up in arms between work and family. So I write the letter. The dreaded letter. Goes something like this:
Victor, I am about to make whatever we have go from fantasy to reality in 2 short seconds; hold on and breathe…
I go on to explain the situation and say im terribly sorry that this is such bad timing for you considering what is happening and blah blah blah but I need to know because I will make other plans if you are not ready for me to come to Colombia in the middle of next month. In case you don’t know, he has been writing to me telling me he wants to live with me and be with me and …… ya know.
I was petrified, because as most women know, the last thing a man wants is pressure. The last thing I want is to have to create a whole new plan. Its not easy traveling and not knowing where I will be next. Its fun to an extent but its really fucking hard too.
So.. panic, panic, nervous, upset, over it, panicked.
Go online half an hour later and he is online.. I write to him immediately and say, “now are you scared?” and he writes back one sentence (something like this):
“silly, shy girl. You make me laugh. You go round and round in circles to finally get to the conclusion that I want anyway.”
We write a little more and he says to me that he will never do something he doesn’t want to do and he will always be honest about what he wants and he wants that I come whenever I’m ready whether its from Argentina tomorrow or brazil in a month. Wow. He has no fear about my leaving, no fear about my meeting someone else or forgetting about him because he knows that if I do, then we are not meant to be together.
Anyway, I realize 2 minutes later that I do not have to book a flight out of the country right this minute but I can buy a bus ticket and then return it for only losing 10%. Why can I never do my research before I panic? But it was good that I know how he feels.
So that’s what I do. Thursday morning at 7 I leave the house where im staying and take the subway to the bus station, by my there and return ticket.. 88 hours on a bus.. AHHHH!!! And head to the embassy.
The trick:
When I get there, there are loads of other tourists who have come to try to change their appointment. They are also aggressive and pushy and try the “im going to cry” approach. What do I do? I make sure im at the office first. I let this woman see me (she looks like Josephine if anyone knows her!) and then I go sit down.
(Finally these ugly green glasses pay off because everyone in South America tags me as the girl with the green glasses.)
I wait 2 hours, crocheting, reading my book, and in this time the woman and the guard are going off the hook yelling at people and trying to get them to leave because they are trying to sneak in before their appointments and they are yelling back and its just a whirlwind. At one point I think I should go home because this woman is not happy. Finally at 11 people stop coming into the office and the line lessens and I stand up and walk quietly over there. I make sure not to speak to anyone or do anything. I just wait. 2 girls are before me and they go to the window. They are American, in college and have an appointment for 3/2 and their flight is 3/5. They start to plead with “Josephine” and beg and finally the woman has had enough. This woman who speak very poor English stands up from behind her “encasing” and shouts…
WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? YOU WANT ME TO DEFY MY BOSS.. MY BOSS who is the brazilian government?!?! You want me therefore to defy my government so tha you 2 Americanas can go to my country for a vacation. Don’t you dare ask me to turn my back on my government for you. you are so full of yourselves. It takes your country months to hand out a visa, it takes us ONE DAY and you still cannot wait. Why are you so important.. GET OUT”
So obviously, now I’m a little shaken. I have to decide (since im next and last on line) do I go or do I not go? I just saw this woman’s fangs and I’m freaking out a bit. I approach her and very quietly say (by the way.. do you see that most countries hate Americans.. its not Americans as much as it’s the government and its because our government treats their people like shit most of the time when they are applying and charge heavy fees and make them wait days, weeks or months and also because a lot of Americans feel privileged and that they are better then everyone else and they an work there way through anything, and it makes other people PISSED OFF! As you can see.)
Where was I? yes.. I walk up to Jo and I say in my retarded Spanish. Hola, vino ayer y me dijo que puede regressar hoy dia. Llegue a las 9 y esperi para todo de los gentes a salir antes do viniendo a su ventana. Tengo mis boletos, tengo todo” Well, this woman just started ranting and raving and shouting in Spanish.. but not at me, about the girls who she just yelled at and were waiting behind me to see what would happen. And then she says in English, why,, why these Americans? And then she takes me passport and says, “oh. You’re American too?” and I nod slowly and steadily and she takes my things and starts jammering away and saying things mostly of which I don’t understand but something along the lines of.. “im going to do this for you but its also to teach those girls a lesson that they cant just come here when they want and I get to decide who comes and who doesn’t and if I want to be nice to someone and they need to learn manners and im sick of this and then she smiles at me and says, OK.. you’re done.. make sure they see that you have your VISA.
Of course I didn’t have it exactly, I still had to go to the bank and pay about $150 to get it and return the next day (today) to pick it up.. but they knew right away that she took my passport and I was through. They were flabbergasted, I was happy and restful since I really didn’t stress over anything and well, Brazil, here I come!
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
2/17/11 White ass – Burnt Bum
So I went to the beaches in Rosario and never before in my life have I seen so many ass cheeks staring at me from near and far, young and old.. I felt dizzy with butt bums. Then Rosalia says to me, Jessica, how can you wear those diapers that people wear to the beaches in the states, I’m taking you to buy a new bikini. Oh boy.
Not only do I not show my legs on the beach for weeks usually (because im so white) but I hells of don’t show my ass.
So after a few hours shopping I finally go home with my new bathing suit. No, it is not a thong. That will never happen. Its just a slight improvement on what I have worn in the past.
I am so excited to wear this bathing suit and the very next morning we go to the beach while everyone is at work. It was a Friday and we lay out for only about an hour and a half with breaks for swimming in between.
We finally get back to the apartment around 4 PM to loads of emails, skype missed calls and facebook messages waiting for me from all of my family members. My grandpa passed away. Immediately my plans change and I must look for a ticket back to the states for the very next day since the funeral is on Sunday.
2 problems. Flights leave from Buenos Aires, I am in Rosario and over the 2 hours that im talking with my family and making arrangements, the burn slowly starts to set in. I’m sitting and chatting and looking up flights and making plans to get to Buenos Aires when all of a sudden I start to squirm in my seat and then immediately jump from the chair in pain. I run to the mirror in Rosalia’s apartment to find that my ass turned purple in the matter of minutes. I am completely reddish purple from the back of my knees to my butt and onward and upward to my shoulders. So reddish purple that even just looking at it I start to panick, not to mention the feel of it. Rosalia rushes me to the pharmacy where I get 3 tubes of “After sun” cream and then I lay on my stomach and groan for the next 12 hours until I have to leave the next morning for BsAs. The shit part, I have 4 hours to BsAs, 2 hours to the airport, 8.5 hours on a plane, rest for a day and do the whole trip return and I CANNOT SIT DOWN. (I will not talk about my gramps funeral here). So for 24 hours straight I cant stay in one position for too long without having to adjust, itch, pull, tear and every 2 hours I have to run to the bathroom to put more cream on me which then sticks to my clothes and makes me slide and.. ugh.. so uncomfortable.
Lets go back a minute. I take an 8:30 bus to BsAs. Beto is waiting for me when I arrive (yes, we re-united in Rosario.. coming to this). We take my bags to a friend of Rosalia’s so I do not have to bring anything with me to Florida for 2 days except a backpack. This friend, Ongie, then joins us for the whole afternoon while we walk around and eat. Beto and I then grab some ice cream and get on a 2 hour bus to the airport. On this bus ride we talk. We talk a lot. He basically shares with me that he loves me and wants to be with me and have a family but he is so afraid that I will pick up and leave one day. I try to explain to him that I understand his position BUT even if he married the girl next door who never left her village, she too can pick up and leave one day. My traveling has nothing to do with looking for men (unless im single, jeje, then it doesn’t hurt!) but it gives me strength, it gives me an eye into another persons world and therefore help me to open my mind and see things from different perspectives which.. blah blah blah, you get the picture. He then asks me what im doing after carnaval and I tell him im not sure (this was before the next part…) and he asks me if I will come back to Lima. I tell him I do not know. He knows I met someone else and this person may be coming to see me and if things go well, I may want to pursue it. But I also tell him that I cannot come until he is settled with a job and a home. He has neither now and im not going to struggle while he gets to sit in his grandmothers home doing nothing being all taken care of. If he can show me that he is working towards getting a job and making a living and can afford a place to stay, then and only then I may come back. But this again is only if I still feel connected with him. And then I told him that he hurt me (yes I know.. I left him first, but then I called him and asked him to come meet me or if I can go back and he said no) and that now.. I don’t know if I ever can come back, I do not trust him. Mostly because he does not trust me and he will always question my decisions. He understood that he may have fucked up and lost me. And I tell him its most likely so but things always change. And he hugged me and told me that he knew he was in love with me when he was watching me speak to Ongie. And for me, this is love. When someone is watching you from a distance and you do not know they are watching you and you are being completely yourself and they are just breathing you in… but for me, I do not know if I can ever love him again. Its sad. Especially since my emotions were SO strong at the beginning of the year. But maybe that’s why I pulled away so quickly and so fast. I also believe things happen for a reason. And they happened this way so I can recognize that we are not meant for one another, no matter how amazing and wonderful he is.
Ok, so.. BsAs-Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami-BsAs. Im back….
Not only do I not show my legs on the beach for weeks usually (because im so white) but I hells of don’t show my ass.
So after a few hours shopping I finally go home with my new bathing suit. No, it is not a thong. That will never happen. Its just a slight improvement on what I have worn in the past.
I am so excited to wear this bathing suit and the very next morning we go to the beach while everyone is at work. It was a Friday and we lay out for only about an hour and a half with breaks for swimming in between.
We finally get back to the apartment around 4 PM to loads of emails, skype missed calls and facebook messages waiting for me from all of my family members. My grandpa passed away. Immediately my plans change and I must look for a ticket back to the states for the very next day since the funeral is on Sunday.
2 problems. Flights leave from Buenos Aires, I am in Rosario and over the 2 hours that im talking with my family and making arrangements, the burn slowly starts to set in. I’m sitting and chatting and looking up flights and making plans to get to Buenos Aires when all of a sudden I start to squirm in my seat and then immediately jump from the chair in pain. I run to the mirror in Rosalia’s apartment to find that my ass turned purple in the matter of minutes. I am completely reddish purple from the back of my knees to my butt and onward and upward to my shoulders. So reddish purple that even just looking at it I start to panick, not to mention the feel of it. Rosalia rushes me to the pharmacy where I get 3 tubes of “After sun” cream and then I lay on my stomach and groan for the next 12 hours until I have to leave the next morning for BsAs. The shit part, I have 4 hours to BsAs, 2 hours to the airport, 8.5 hours on a plane, rest for a day and do the whole trip return and I CANNOT SIT DOWN. (I will not talk about my gramps funeral here). So for 24 hours straight I cant stay in one position for too long without having to adjust, itch, pull, tear and every 2 hours I have to run to the bathroom to put more cream on me which then sticks to my clothes and makes me slide and.. ugh.. so uncomfortable.
Lets go back a minute. I take an 8:30 bus to BsAs. Beto is waiting for me when I arrive (yes, we re-united in Rosario.. coming to this). We take my bags to a friend of Rosalia’s so I do not have to bring anything with me to Florida for 2 days except a backpack. This friend, Ongie, then joins us for the whole afternoon while we walk around and eat. Beto and I then grab some ice cream and get on a 2 hour bus to the airport. On this bus ride we talk. We talk a lot. He basically shares with me that he loves me and wants to be with me and have a family but he is so afraid that I will pick up and leave one day. I try to explain to him that I understand his position BUT even if he married the girl next door who never left her village, she too can pick up and leave one day. My traveling has nothing to do with looking for men (unless im single, jeje, then it doesn’t hurt!) but it gives me strength, it gives me an eye into another persons world and therefore help me to open my mind and see things from different perspectives which.. blah blah blah, you get the picture. He then asks me what im doing after carnaval and I tell him im not sure (this was before the next part…) and he asks me if I will come back to Lima. I tell him I do not know. He knows I met someone else and this person may be coming to see me and if things go well, I may want to pursue it. But I also tell him that I cannot come until he is settled with a job and a home. He has neither now and im not going to struggle while he gets to sit in his grandmothers home doing nothing being all taken care of. If he can show me that he is working towards getting a job and making a living and can afford a place to stay, then and only then I may come back. But this again is only if I still feel connected with him. And then I told him that he hurt me (yes I know.. I left him first, but then I called him and asked him to come meet me or if I can go back and he said no) and that now.. I don’t know if I ever can come back, I do not trust him. Mostly because he does not trust me and he will always question my decisions. He understood that he may have fucked up and lost me. And I tell him its most likely so but things always change. And he hugged me and told me that he knew he was in love with me when he was watching me speak to Ongie. And for me, this is love. When someone is watching you from a distance and you do not know they are watching you and you are being completely yourself and they are just breathing you in… but for me, I do not know if I can ever love him again. Its sad. Especially since my emotions were SO strong at the beginning of the year. But maybe that’s why I pulled away so quickly and so fast. I also believe things happen for a reason. And they happened this way so I can recognize that we are not meant for one another, no matter how amazing and wonderful he is.
Ok, so.. BsAs-Miami-Fort Lauderdale-Miami-BsAs. Im back….
Sweet Claudio 2/12
From Claudio. I revised since his English isn’t so good.. didn’t change words or ideas, just grammatical ouches.
You called me shit head, im proud of you.
Listen, sorry that im not good saying compliments and stuff... as i told you sunday morning; you were like an answer to a question.. even if that sounds not good, i started to think: before i met you that saturday i was asking my self another question, like, “how long since I have had a crush?” it happened to me many times that i have those feelings but i dont have them returned usually., anyway, my point is not telling you, “jess i have a crush on you” or something like that, but i have something similar on my chest... like, “i want a jess in my life”. I was talking to you hours ago about the things that repeat and hurt, and how it happens to me. I had the desire that you where the special person for me, like being in couple kind of special. I know my self, I like to fly in my mind to those stages...
Anyway,..beyond that I have magic moments near you, like i don’t want you to go, i could be hearing you talk for hours, i would love to know who you are what you want, or that sensation of, that girl came out of a movie and I fell for the star. And, with your sense of humor, and the list continues, but, then i got a reality check, that you are just passing through my life, maybe only to move something in me. Perhaps an opportunity to express beautiful things that happen inside of me, perhaps its just karma, like things that return, perhaps an opportunity to be patient and to trust who i am; a guy who is going to be so happy when I find that one for myself. I like to think like this as a conclusion. That if i knew such an incredible person like you, the moment might be closer for me to meet the one.
Before i wrote this, that was what I was thinking. What is the point of telling her this? Then... I thought there doesnt have to be a point
I want to thank you for treating me like you did, for the magic morning on sunday, for calling me shit head, i felt so close to you, like a sister talking to her brother remembering how they fight when they were little ones.
Might be more perhaps to tell of this little things, beauty things...
How exciting ah.. je its not like im waiting for an answer , but a shit head will be just fine.
You called me shit head, im proud of you.
Listen, sorry that im not good saying compliments and stuff... as i told you sunday morning; you were like an answer to a question.. even if that sounds not good, i started to think: before i met you that saturday i was asking my self another question, like, “how long since I have had a crush?” it happened to me many times that i have those feelings but i dont have them returned usually., anyway, my point is not telling you, “jess i have a crush on you” or something like that, but i have something similar on my chest... like, “i want a jess in my life”. I was talking to you hours ago about the things that repeat and hurt, and how it happens to me. I had the desire that you where the special person for me, like being in couple kind of special. I know my self, I like to fly in my mind to those stages...
Anyway,..beyond that I have magic moments near you, like i don’t want you to go, i could be hearing you talk for hours, i would love to know who you are what you want, or that sensation of, that girl came out of a movie and I fell for the star. And, with your sense of humor, and the list continues, but, then i got a reality check, that you are just passing through my life, maybe only to move something in me. Perhaps an opportunity to express beautiful things that happen inside of me, perhaps its just karma, like things that return, perhaps an opportunity to be patient and to trust who i am; a guy who is going to be so happy when I find that one for myself. I like to think like this as a conclusion. That if i knew such an incredible person like you, the moment might be closer for me to meet the one.
Before i wrote this, that was what I was thinking. What is the point of telling her this? Then... I thought there doesnt have to be a point
I want to thank you for treating me like you did, for the magic morning on sunday, for calling me shit head, i felt so close to you, like a sister talking to her brother remembering how they fight when they were little ones.
Might be more perhaps to tell of this little things, beauty things...
How exciting ah.. je its not like im waiting for an answer , but a shit head will be just fine.
the re-emergence... 2/10
Beto has arrived on the scene... i went to the house where he was staying (his friend from peru's wife) and when i got there I was soaked from head-to-toe. it was crazy raining. so he gave me a pair of his shorts and i changed and he took a towel and dried my legs with such care and love. i forgot that about him. he is such a caretaker. and then we just hugged and cuddled for hours. we went out and made lunch for the wife, Rosalia, because everyone has a siesta in the middle of the day and then we lreaxed some more and waited for her to get home at 5 and then went for ice cream. when we were out i teased beto (even though it was about me) and told her how he didnt want me and destroyed me. he got really upset and wrote me an email when he got back to the apartment about how he never meant to hurt me and he is trying to think about his future and having a serious relationship and he doesnt know what i want or where i want to be and that scares him and therefore he cannot commit to me.
well.. that was it. i had it at that point. part of the reason i was sooo upset when i left and then called him and said i want to be with him and he told me now is not good was because HE didnt know what HE wanted to do and HE was confused about his life. not because of ME.. and yet, he told me that (not because he was malicious.. but because he didnt get it) and i blamed myself.. like "if only i told him i would stay.." etc. and i sent him the first nasty email i ever sent him and told him to grow the fuck up and start accepting responsibility for his own feelings and that HE is the one confused and its for this reason he cannot be with me because no matter what i was doing.. he knew i would have stopped for him.. and blah bah blah.
anywya.. he was supposd to leave rosario the next morning but his clothes "were still wet". so he is here today until the afternoon and he wants to meet with me to talk because after i sent him that letter he told me he was too tired mentally to think and wanted to meet in person again to talk. of course i will.. i always will.. i do love him.. but after the other day.. its just not right. i mean, after all that he tells me he loves me yet.. he does NOTHING to show me he wants to be with me.. thats not enough. i think, and he told me, the other day, that he is afraid right now.. afraid to be alone (traveling alone is sooo hard), afraid about what he will do for work when he returns and afraid he made the wrong decision about me.. and he really is suffering. but so did i. and i dont want to stop him from suffering, he needs to do it to move on. but i will be here for him always. Even when my heart belongs to someone else, which it may very soon! Who knows.
the other guy. Gabi, came back to Rosario and met us at 4PM. he had some stuff planned for me and Kasia but first we decided we want to go to our crochet class (which we were going to take the next morning) and talk to the teacher about materials we need so we are prepared. i want to take crochet because of the looong bus rides and the looong days at the beach (not a beach person but kasia is). anyway, we get there and she said.. "why dont you buy the stuff and come back for an hour" so poor gabi took us to buy stuff and that sat with us and 2 older women as we all crocheted. then he took us to our salsa class. and watched us and then walked us to tango... poor guy.. but he didnt complain once. he only said.. well, now i think i need to go and have some man time. he told me how much he liked me and wanted just a little kiss.. and i told him he makes me laugh and that he will get nothing from me.. i am leaving and there is no reason to kiss. he understood but didnt stop him from trying. He even came to the bus station the day I was leaving, at 8 in the morning to say good bye. Unfortunately I was running so late that I got to the bus while it was pulling out and didn’t even have a chance to say good bye to him let alone hello. He helped me with my bag, gave a quick peck and I ran off!!! Poor, poor Gabriel.
well.. that was it. i had it at that point. part of the reason i was sooo upset when i left and then called him and said i want to be with him and he told me now is not good was because HE didnt know what HE wanted to do and HE was confused about his life. not because of ME.. and yet, he told me that (not because he was malicious.. but because he didnt get it) and i blamed myself.. like "if only i told him i would stay.." etc. and i sent him the first nasty email i ever sent him and told him to grow the fuck up and start accepting responsibility for his own feelings and that HE is the one confused and its for this reason he cannot be with me because no matter what i was doing.. he knew i would have stopped for him.. and blah bah blah.
anywya.. he was supposd to leave rosario the next morning but his clothes "were still wet". so he is here today until the afternoon and he wants to meet with me to talk because after i sent him that letter he told me he was too tired mentally to think and wanted to meet in person again to talk. of course i will.. i always will.. i do love him.. but after the other day.. its just not right. i mean, after all that he tells me he loves me yet.. he does NOTHING to show me he wants to be with me.. thats not enough. i think, and he told me, the other day, that he is afraid right now.. afraid to be alone (traveling alone is sooo hard), afraid about what he will do for work when he returns and afraid he made the wrong decision about me.. and he really is suffering. but so did i. and i dont want to stop him from suffering, he needs to do it to move on. but i will be here for him always. Even when my heart belongs to someone else, which it may very soon! Who knows.
the other guy. Gabi, came back to Rosario and met us at 4PM. he had some stuff planned for me and Kasia but first we decided we want to go to our crochet class (which we were going to take the next morning) and talk to the teacher about materials we need so we are prepared. i want to take crochet because of the looong bus rides and the looong days at the beach (not a beach person but kasia is). anyway, we get there and she said.. "why dont you buy the stuff and come back for an hour" so poor gabi took us to buy stuff and that sat with us and 2 older women as we all crocheted. then he took us to our salsa class. and watched us and then walked us to tango... poor guy.. but he didnt complain once. he only said.. well, now i think i need to go and have some man time. he told me how much he liked me and wanted just a little kiss.. and i told him he makes me laugh and that he will get nothing from me.. i am leaving and there is no reason to kiss. he understood but didnt stop him from trying. He even came to the bus station the day I was leaving, at 8 in the morning to say good bye. Unfortunately I was running so late that I got to the bus while it was pulling out and didn’t even have a chance to say good bye to him let alone hello. He helped me with my bag, gave a quick peck and I ran off!!! Poor, poor Gabriel.
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Chile - Argentina: Take 4
There are many scenarios which I could never see myself in. This was one of them. We finally left Arica, a place I could have stayed for only one day but stayed an extra day for Kasia. Our plan: go to Salta. However, trying to save money, we decided to take 2 separate buses with a transfer in between. We spoke to a few people who all said this was a good idea and that it would be easy to manage. So, we hopped on our first bus from Arica to Calama at 10:30PM and arrived at 7:30AM. Well, you can’t always believe what people say. We arrived to find that there was not one bus terminal that allowed you to see the different buses, their schedules and prices. Instead, every bys had its own terminal spread throughout the town. Not to mention, the town was quite sleepy and bus stations didn’t open until 9AM. So, the wait began. What we soon found out after walking a hefty distance to one bus terminal (because we also had no Chilean pesos left and there were no ATMs around or money exchange places) is that because its summer and because every South American is traveling now, the buses from Calama to Salta are jam packed and the first one doesn’t leave for another few days with the second one leaving on February 18th. That day was February 1st. That was NOT ok with me.
Calama was shit, so at 9AM we bought a ticket to San Pedro. I wasn’t sure what this place was but this was the only place where there were tickets to, and tickets were for every hour and a half. Our ticket was for 10:30AM and we had nothing to do but sit and wait. However, after 15 minutes, the driver of the bus approached me and asked me if I want to ride on his bus, at 9:30 instead, since he had extra seats. His bus was much nicer and more expensive but he took our tickets and changed them for free. We jumped on the opportunity and were also invited to sit in front. Passengers NEVER sit in front with the drivers because these are serious drivers. They drive for hours and days at a time (there are always 2 of them) and they have a cama and everything else. It was awesome. Front seats, more comfortable and only had to deal with a little creepy looks every once in a while!
As we are driving in that hour, we pass through nothing but desert for miles around us. It was actually quite beautiful. Then, out of nowhere there is this massive patch of grass, an oasis in the middle of nothingness. It was full of amazing trees and flowers and was only about 10 blocks b y 30 blocks. And then, once again, nothingness for hours and hours. We decided to walk around this little place for a few hours looking for buses and found again, there was NOTHING. And then, with no choice left, realized we had to hitch hike. Everyone told us it was safe to hitch hike only in Chile and Argentina and being in the middle of the desert in what really looked like an Old Western town, only dust and sun and people in big hats, I thought this was the best option.
So the first time we tried we found an amazingly nice man who was willing to take us. He was almost like a father and told us to meet him that evening. This was perfect, a few hours walking around and I would be set to go. That night, around 8PM we hopped in his massive truck and started on our way. An hour into the drive there was a cop on the side of the road that told us and everyone else that we had to turn around. Supposedly there was snow up ahead and conditions were extremely dangerous. (this is summertime, I cannot even imagine conditions in winter) We went back and he told us he was going to leave around 10 in the morning. I wasn’t sure of this and told Kasia I wanted to get there at 5 or 6 in the morning because I wanted out. She decided it would be better to sleep in and because the driver said he would no leave so early she was confident in this. I was not. We got there and of course, he had left. So we walked around this trucking area (all trucks going from Chile to Argentina and vice versa have to stop at this oasis because this is where they collect their stamps to enter and leave the country. So, as it turns out, we are SUPER lucky we didn’t make it the other day because we never thought about that and never got our stamp which meant.. if we would have driven 4 hours to the Argentinian border, we would have had to turn around and go back to get our stamp out of the Chilean border. Well, we found another driver who said that conditions were still pretty bad and he was going to wait until 12 to leave. We told him we would come back around 11 (it was now 8) to make sure he was still planning to leave at this time. Once again I told Kasia I wanted to go back in an hour to check on our ride because he wasn’t going to wait for us if he had passage. She told me she didn’t think it was a good idea to just go and sit and that we told him 10 and therefore, should wait until 10. And yet again, there was no one there when we arrived. By the way, we weren’t the only ones hitching.. there were many of us who wanted out of this place. It was cute for a day, not more then that. So at 10, once again, nothing. And this time I put my foot down and said, we are getting the bags, we are coming here and we are waiting until we find someone and until he is ready to leave. She told me she doesn’t think it’s a good idea since it was already 10 AM and we probably wouldn’t leave until 12 and then we would be stuck in the middle of nowhere in the evening. This time I wasn’t budging. She obviously got it wrong the first few times and I wasn’t ready to spend an extra night there because she didn’t feel like waiting. We already missed 2 opportunities. She tried to argue her point and usually I don’t really care what we are doing but I was done and ready to get out of Chile. We missed 3 opportunities (the first being if we spent the extra 10 dollars and went straight to Salta) and I wasn’t ready to accept this anymore. We got our passports stamped and she (she speaks much better Spanish then me, its really amazing!) found a guy who was traveling with 2 companion trucks. Each truck had 2 to 4 people in it and we all left together.
Our driver, Oscar, was so chill. He was from a small town in Argentina and he is 32 years old, had a 15 year old daughter and is no longer with his wife. He was very sad about this and constantly pondering what he should do with his life. Both Kasia and I liked him instantly and we took shifts talking with him and sleeping. After about 4.5 hours we arrived at the Argentinean border where we had to wait a few hours for cargo to be checked in the truck. So me, Kasia and 2 of the other hitch hikers, also Argentinean, went to the only little shop around for miles. We had some grub and began talking to them (my Spanish is improving!!) and became pretty friendly with them. 3 hours later, around 7:30PM Oscar pulled around with his massive truck followed bus the other 2 guys and we all stocked up and prepared for a 7 hour ride, again taking shifts talking to Oscar to keep him awake. We arrived at 2:30 as planned and Oscar had mentioned that he was going all the way to Rosario the next morning, 11 hours, which was where we wanted to go. He told us he would give us a ride and we agreed if we couldn’t find a bus there. We told him we would call him in the morning and said our good-byes. The boys, Gabi and Nancho, were waiting for us and we all took a taxi to the bus station to check out options. They were buying tickets to a place called Tucuma and when they saw that we had no options and didn’t exactly want to sit in the truck again for a full day, they offered to take us to where they were going and give us accommodation in Gabi’s aunt’s house. We agreed and spent the next 4 hours waiting in the bus terminal for our bus.
Now we are here, we showered, washed our clothes and relaxed and did LOTS of yoga since my back was killing me. And, the best part, when I arrived, I went to an internet café and had 3 messages and lots of pictures from Victor. Yay. I also told Beto about my travels (he is a few days ahead of me) and he “yelled” at me via internet. I will see him soon either in Rosario, where we go now, or in Buenos Aires where we will most likely be on Monday!
Calama was shit, so at 9AM we bought a ticket to San Pedro. I wasn’t sure what this place was but this was the only place where there were tickets to, and tickets were for every hour and a half. Our ticket was for 10:30AM and we had nothing to do but sit and wait. However, after 15 minutes, the driver of the bus approached me and asked me if I want to ride on his bus, at 9:30 instead, since he had extra seats. His bus was much nicer and more expensive but he took our tickets and changed them for free. We jumped on the opportunity and were also invited to sit in front. Passengers NEVER sit in front with the drivers because these are serious drivers. They drive for hours and days at a time (there are always 2 of them) and they have a cama and everything else. It was awesome. Front seats, more comfortable and only had to deal with a little creepy looks every once in a while!
As we are driving in that hour, we pass through nothing but desert for miles around us. It was actually quite beautiful. Then, out of nowhere there is this massive patch of grass, an oasis in the middle of nothingness. It was full of amazing trees and flowers and was only about 10 blocks b y 30 blocks. And then, once again, nothingness for hours and hours. We decided to walk around this little place for a few hours looking for buses and found again, there was NOTHING. And then, with no choice left, realized we had to hitch hike. Everyone told us it was safe to hitch hike only in Chile and Argentina and being in the middle of the desert in what really looked like an Old Western town, only dust and sun and people in big hats, I thought this was the best option.
So the first time we tried we found an amazingly nice man who was willing to take us. He was almost like a father and told us to meet him that evening. This was perfect, a few hours walking around and I would be set to go. That night, around 8PM we hopped in his massive truck and started on our way. An hour into the drive there was a cop on the side of the road that told us and everyone else that we had to turn around. Supposedly there was snow up ahead and conditions were extremely dangerous. (this is summertime, I cannot even imagine conditions in winter) We went back and he told us he was going to leave around 10 in the morning. I wasn’t sure of this and told Kasia I wanted to get there at 5 or 6 in the morning because I wanted out. She decided it would be better to sleep in and because the driver said he would no leave so early she was confident in this. I was not. We got there and of course, he had left. So we walked around this trucking area (all trucks going from Chile to Argentina and vice versa have to stop at this oasis because this is where they collect their stamps to enter and leave the country. So, as it turns out, we are SUPER lucky we didn’t make it the other day because we never thought about that and never got our stamp which meant.. if we would have driven 4 hours to the Argentinian border, we would have had to turn around and go back to get our stamp out of the Chilean border. Well, we found another driver who said that conditions were still pretty bad and he was going to wait until 12 to leave. We told him we would come back around 11 (it was now 8) to make sure he was still planning to leave at this time. Once again I told Kasia I wanted to go back in an hour to check on our ride because he wasn’t going to wait for us if he had passage. She told me she didn’t think it was a good idea to just go and sit and that we told him 10 and therefore, should wait until 10. And yet again, there was no one there when we arrived. By the way, we weren’t the only ones hitching.. there were many of us who wanted out of this place. It was cute for a day, not more then that. So at 10, once again, nothing. And this time I put my foot down and said, we are getting the bags, we are coming here and we are waiting until we find someone and until he is ready to leave. She told me she doesn’t think it’s a good idea since it was already 10 AM and we probably wouldn’t leave until 12 and then we would be stuck in the middle of nowhere in the evening. This time I wasn’t budging. She obviously got it wrong the first few times and I wasn’t ready to spend an extra night there because she didn’t feel like waiting. We already missed 2 opportunities. She tried to argue her point and usually I don’t really care what we are doing but I was done and ready to get out of Chile. We missed 3 opportunities (the first being if we spent the extra 10 dollars and went straight to Salta) and I wasn’t ready to accept this anymore. We got our passports stamped and she (she speaks much better Spanish then me, its really amazing!) found a guy who was traveling with 2 companion trucks. Each truck had 2 to 4 people in it and we all left together.
Our driver, Oscar, was so chill. He was from a small town in Argentina and he is 32 years old, had a 15 year old daughter and is no longer with his wife. He was very sad about this and constantly pondering what he should do with his life. Both Kasia and I liked him instantly and we took shifts talking with him and sleeping. After about 4.5 hours we arrived at the Argentinean border where we had to wait a few hours for cargo to be checked in the truck. So me, Kasia and 2 of the other hitch hikers, also Argentinean, went to the only little shop around for miles. We had some grub and began talking to them (my Spanish is improving!!) and became pretty friendly with them. 3 hours later, around 7:30PM Oscar pulled around with his massive truck followed bus the other 2 guys and we all stocked up and prepared for a 7 hour ride, again taking shifts talking to Oscar to keep him awake. We arrived at 2:30 as planned and Oscar had mentioned that he was going all the way to Rosario the next morning, 11 hours, which was where we wanted to go. He told us he would give us a ride and we agreed if we couldn’t find a bus there. We told him we would call him in the morning and said our good-byes. The boys, Gabi and Nancho, were waiting for us and we all took a taxi to the bus station to check out options. They were buying tickets to a place called Tucuma and when they saw that we had no options and didn’t exactly want to sit in the truck again for a full day, they offered to take us to where they were going and give us accommodation in Gabi’s aunt’s house. We agreed and spent the next 4 hours waiting in the bus terminal for our bus.
Now we are here, we showered, washed our clothes and relaxed and did LOTS of yoga since my back was killing me. And, the best part, when I arrived, I went to an internet café and had 3 messages and lots of pictures from Victor. Yay. I also told Beto about my travels (he is a few days ahead of me) and he “yelled” at me via internet. I will see him soon either in Rosario, where we go now, or in Buenos Aires where we will most likely be on Monday!
The King.. Part 3 (or is it only 2)
how the non-existent relationship between me and Vic grew to an even bigger non-existing relationship..
“Tuesday, January 25, 2011
14.29pm...
A client called me to make some pics in Guayaquil, Ecuador on Feb 12th and 13th . And the place I want to go is Montañita (2 hours form guayaquil, surf, beach, sun) and I'm planning to stay there for 4 days. So .... Let´s go! ONLY IF You wanna go with me. I know you have an strict schedule to go Argentina, Falls, everything bu I'll really love to go with you. let me know.
Abrazo,
Viti”
WHAT?!?! did he seriously just ask me to meet him? I had to immediately write to Kasia to OK it with her first.. because I would have to leave her for about a week.. this was her amazing response:
Kasia:
“of course chica!!! no problem at all! I am doing really fine on my own, adn as much as I am looking forward to travel together, i know that I ll be fine without you for few days:))
mind you it will cost you arm and leg to fly from argentina or brasil do guyaquil I am afraid. and we would need to think carefully exactly where from and where to you'd need to get your flight. I actually would be happiest to be on the beach in this time, but I;m not sure if we could make it till this date to the beach. whatever, we'll see. no worries - you're given holidays from our holidays:)))))”
but after 2 hours of searching for flights.. it seemed helpess.. everything was too expensive and too difficult, like Kasia had warned, so I wrote him to tell him that after all that, I may not be able to join him afterall.. and he wrote this:
Vic:
“I wanna see you, in a maddly way , lets see some options and if we cant do it, i will meet you in another place
1. what is the next stop after lima?
2. How long each stop?
3. does she want to go to Ecuador?
4. How much extra do you need to make ir (from bs-guayaquil)?
5. How long you will be in BsAs?
6. Where are you going after BsAs”
and when we knew for sure it wasn’t going to work.. this was our dialogue:
Jess:
“in all seriousness.. it breaks my heart to know i cannot go meet you in Ecuador but i know you will not leave me heart broken for very long... thats what i like about you “
Vic:
“No, I wont.
I'm gonna plan a good thing
i'm checking some stuff now.
i'm patient, but I'm not lazy.”
Then only a few days later.. he wrote me a whacky email and which I responded in a cryptic way telling him to say whats on his mind and tell the truth, this is the time to do it.. and his response was…
Vic:
Friday 1/28/11
Hey little princess!
What a crazy week, a lot of things happened and some changes are coming.
Yesterday when I wrote the email to you, it was a kind of writing that I do: I start writing without thinking, just writing whatever is passing through my spagethi-hair head and then I pressed “send message” without reviewing. It´s a good exercise because you are not trying to correct the text or trying to sound good. When you write in this way you can realize things…
So, when I re-read the email, I realized that:
- I don’t want to hide my feelings, it doesn’t make any sense, even if you get scary.
- I’ve been dating a bunch of girls the last years, but I don’t feel a connection, maybe i´m picky, maybe I’m not ready, maybe they weren’t what I was looking for.
- When I knew you, I start wanting to do special things, like the box, write messages, etc. I really love when somebody makes me feel like that. :) And the last time it happened was some years ago. Don’t think i do all these things with every single girl, I have work to do!
- So, I’m fucking crazy about you
- I don’t know everything about you, but I want to.
- As you know, I’m not in a rush and I want you to go through your path: The travel, brasil, “making babies”, jajaja, and all that. You know that I’m a little crazy, the day you were leaving from Medellín I was about to ask you to stay with me, (actually I did with signs at the metro, lol), for how long? I don’t know, maybe years if we feel the flow. But I don’t like to force things and change people’s plan, because I love when the people has a life: friends, hobbies, plans, dreams and follow them. I can wait while I follow my plans, then people start making common plans but no leaving theirs.
- I don’t know if I’m ready to start what I think we can start, but definitely I want to try.
- I want (actually I'wll love) to go with you to a travel, go to the beach, walk, take photos, cook, dance, fight, share the bubble. I’m thinking in 10 days off with you, and have some places in my mind, when you finished your travel and if for that time you and I want to.
- I have the veredict, princess.
Lollipop ah? Cheesy Little messy jessy.
Viti
As I told Susan about the message.. just reading his messages are like reading my own. He is chaotic, excitable and with absolutely no direction in his thoughts and how he expresses himself. He lets his emotions run wild and isn’t afraid of the consequences.. and he shouldnt be, because they are good. ☺
In only a few days I have had more experiences with Victor then I have had with people I spend months if not years with. As he said, 2 days felt like 20 days.. and this is a good thing.
so.. just another whirlwind romance? or maybe something more? friends have written to tell me not to fall into the same trap as in the past.. but hell, if traps have this kind of reward.. it cant be THAT bad.. and also i truly feel that i can never stop trying... or i may just happen to miss it. more to come.. i hope!
“Tuesday, January 25, 2011
14.29pm...
A client called me to make some pics in Guayaquil, Ecuador on Feb 12th and 13th . And the place I want to go is Montañita (2 hours form guayaquil, surf, beach, sun) and I'm planning to stay there for 4 days. So .... Let´s go! ONLY IF You wanna go with me. I know you have an strict schedule to go Argentina, Falls, everything bu I'll really love to go with you. let me know.
Abrazo,
Viti”
WHAT?!?! did he seriously just ask me to meet him? I had to immediately write to Kasia to OK it with her first.. because I would have to leave her for about a week.. this was her amazing response:
Kasia:
“of course chica!!! no problem at all! I am doing really fine on my own, adn as much as I am looking forward to travel together, i know that I ll be fine without you for few days:))
mind you it will cost you arm and leg to fly from argentina or brasil do guyaquil I am afraid. and we would need to think carefully exactly where from and where to you'd need to get your flight. I actually would be happiest to be on the beach in this time, but I;m not sure if we could make it till this date to the beach. whatever, we'll see. no worries - you're given holidays from our holidays:)))))”
but after 2 hours of searching for flights.. it seemed helpess.. everything was too expensive and too difficult, like Kasia had warned, so I wrote him to tell him that after all that, I may not be able to join him afterall.. and he wrote this:
Vic:
“I wanna see you, in a maddly way , lets see some options and if we cant do it, i will meet you in another place
1. what is the next stop after lima?
2. How long each stop?
3. does she want to go to Ecuador?
4. How much extra do you need to make ir (from bs-guayaquil)?
5. How long you will be in BsAs?
6. Where are you going after BsAs”
and when we knew for sure it wasn’t going to work.. this was our dialogue:
Jess:
“in all seriousness.. it breaks my heart to know i cannot go meet you in Ecuador but i know you will not leave me heart broken for very long... thats what i like about you “
Vic:
“No, I wont.
I'm gonna plan a good thing
i'm checking some stuff now.
i'm patient, but I'm not lazy.”
Then only a few days later.. he wrote me a whacky email and which I responded in a cryptic way telling him to say whats on his mind and tell the truth, this is the time to do it.. and his response was…
Vic:
Friday 1/28/11
Hey little princess!
What a crazy week, a lot of things happened and some changes are coming.
Yesterday when I wrote the email to you, it was a kind of writing that I do: I start writing without thinking, just writing whatever is passing through my spagethi-hair head and then I pressed “send message” without reviewing. It´s a good exercise because you are not trying to correct the text or trying to sound good. When you write in this way you can realize things…
So, when I re-read the email, I realized that:
- I don’t want to hide my feelings, it doesn’t make any sense, even if you get scary.
- I’ve been dating a bunch of girls the last years, but I don’t feel a connection, maybe i´m picky, maybe I’m not ready, maybe they weren’t what I was looking for.
- When I knew you, I start wanting to do special things, like the box, write messages, etc. I really love when somebody makes me feel like that. :) And the last time it happened was some years ago. Don’t think i do all these things with every single girl, I have work to do!
- So, I’m fucking crazy about you
- I don’t know everything about you, but I want to.
- As you know, I’m not in a rush and I want you to go through your path: The travel, brasil, “making babies”, jajaja, and all that. You know that I’m a little crazy, the day you were leaving from Medellín I was about to ask you to stay with me, (actually I did with signs at the metro, lol), for how long? I don’t know, maybe years if we feel the flow. But I don’t like to force things and change people’s plan, because I love when the people has a life: friends, hobbies, plans, dreams and follow them. I can wait while I follow my plans, then people start making common plans but no leaving theirs.
- I don’t know if I’m ready to start what I think we can start, but definitely I want to try.
- I want (actually I'wll love) to go with you to a travel, go to the beach, walk, take photos, cook, dance, fight, share the bubble. I’m thinking in 10 days off with you, and have some places in my mind, when you finished your travel and if for that time you and I want to.
- I have the veredict, princess.
Lollipop ah? Cheesy Little messy jessy.
Viti
As I told Susan about the message.. just reading his messages are like reading my own. He is chaotic, excitable and with absolutely no direction in his thoughts and how he expresses himself. He lets his emotions run wild and isn’t afraid of the consequences.. and he shouldnt be, because they are good. ☺
In only a few days I have had more experiences with Victor then I have had with people I spend months if not years with. As he said, 2 days felt like 20 days.. and this is a good thing.
so.. just another whirlwind romance? or maybe something more? friends have written to tell me not to fall into the same trap as in the past.. but hell, if traps have this kind of reward.. it cant be THAT bad.. and also i truly feel that i can never stop trying... or i may just happen to miss it. more to come.. i hope!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Part 1 of "the King"
ok, there was this boy, lets call him “Miguel”? (decided on the second post to just call him Victor but don’t feel like changing it here) before I went to Medellin I had contact with him but I didn’t really get a good sense of who he was.. so I stayed clear of him for awhile. Then I decided, what the fuck , we live once.
Well, I ended up staying with him for 5 days. Both me and this other guy Eric who was traveling from the states. And, while I was there, there were only 2 places to sleep.. on the blow up mattress with Eric, which I did once and only once and then on the real nice bed with “Miguel” which I did three times.
Between evenings, “Miguel”, Eric and I played around the city and acted like complete morons, it was fun. And I started seeing “Miguel” differently and he me. By the second evening I slept in bed with him which was my third evening staying with him, he got up in the middle of the night, got a glass of water, came back and put his left hand on my back. He began to just gently rub my back and my head while I slept. When I woke up he told me to go back to sleep and that he was just happy being there with me. We ended up cuddling the entire night but not kissing or anything, just cuddling and him rubbing my back. Since he doesn’t sleep very well, this was good therapy for him and we fell asleep in each others arms.
The next night was the same. I slept in his bed and the same thing happened. He knew I wouldn’t sleep with him from earlier conversations so it was never an issure or concern for me because I knew he respected me and my desires. He also knew I was leaving and did not want to start something that he could not finish.. or maybe he did but just had respect for me. Anyway, in the morning when we woke up, which was my last day, he had to get ready for work and he just grabbed me and we embraced for what felt like hours. Then he gave me a kiss and left.
About 4 hours later, i left Medellin for Bogota. That night he sent me a text message that said i forgot something and he needed my address in Bogota to send me what i forgot...
well.. he sent it over night and this is what came in the package....
(first background)..
1. when i was with him he told me he wanted to keep my butt and my sleepy voice.. and i told him i wanted to keep his left hand because he was rubbing and tickling my back for hours while i was sleeping
2. he loves making massive collages of photographs and from the minute i got there i fell in love with one of the photographs of a little boy scrunching up his arms next to his chest and giving a delicious smile that could not have been faked
3. the first night i went there he melted down chocolate then added salt and pepper to it. but, he told me that he was missing one ingredient and promised to make me another bar before i left (the ingredient being cashews) he never did because both our schedules were hectic with him working and me running all around the city
wellll... i opened up the package and inside was...
1. a picture of the photo from the collaged table that i LOVE and on the back he pasted a photo of himself and a cut out of his left hand.. on the other side he wrote about how he loves the way i live life and that my happiness cannot be faked...
2. then he made me a cd of the music he was supposed to make me but never did
3. AND he made the chocolate bar with salt and pepper that we were supposed to make together! and this time he added cashews
4. lastly, he bought me one of those head scratchers to replace his left hand..
is he not the most adorable thing in the world?! he is soooo sweet!!!! im still in shock.. this is romantic .. this is what every girl wants.. well, at least this girl.
ahhh.. rocking the romance.. me gusta!
Cool things about Colombia
1. People are given clear, plastic gloves at restaurants when they order chicken wings, onion rings, French fries or anything that may leave a greasy feeling or smell
2. Awesome president that uses inventive techniques to change the cities:
a. hired “traffic mimes” to mock violators
b. instituted a “night for women” when men are asked to stay home and female cops policed 700,000 women out for open-air shows and events
c. helped get people to reduce their water use by doing an ad campaign where he steps out of the shower full of suds and turns off the water. Usage went down 40%
3. The metro system is cleaner, faster, wider and prettier then any other I have seen in the world
4. Peoples licensed plates have certain last digit numbers. These numbers are equal to a day. On this day, you are not allowed to drive your car in the cities. It must be parked. This has cut down on pollution and traffic. How cool!
5. A particular place, Andres:
a. They had guardian angels at their restaurants to drive people home so they do not drive drunk
b. They have hammocks outside of their club for people who need to sleep off a bit of drunkenness
c. They have 2 stickers they give to people: a heart and wings.. if you wear the heart, you are taken; if you wear the wings, you are free!
6. When leaving the bus station, you go to a taxi stand with a booth. You tell the clerk where you are going and she gives you a print out with the address and the price so that the drivers cannot cheat you (not that they would)
7. Salsa dancing in Cali – its like a mixture of swing and salsa!! Its AMAZING
8. People walk around in armies. You see families with 16 people taking a stroll down the side walk, everyone is holding hands or hugging and laughing. They go everywhere together and do everything together.
9. People party by dancing. They do not sit down and talk. Everywhere you go you will see restaurants where 1 or 2 couples are up in the middle of the restaurant doing a slow, romantic salsa together or you will find a small mariachi band on the street with a random group of people hanging out with them dancing.
10. Arepas: awesome thick corn tortillas that you eat shmeared with butter and cheese
11. Hot chocolate: best I ever tasted!
12. Motorcycles are like bicycles in NY.. run right through red lights.. so you have to be SUPER careful where you step and when!
13. Obeas? (maybe the wrong name) they are like flat round cardboard wafers and you have 4 stacked together and in between each layer is cheese, arequipe (like dulce de leche) and jam.. interesting and amazing combination
14. Only country in South America where its safe to drink water from the tap
15. The people
16. On the buses in Bogota, people would hop on and play music, or try to sell things. Kind of luck the subways. But here, everyone gave their respect and attention to these people and in many instances even clapped for them when they were finished!
17. Mullets in Medellin.. lots of them, girls and guys
18. Medellin- many of the early settlers were Spanish Jews fleeing the Inquisition. They divided their lands into small haciendas, which they farmed themselves, which was very different from the slave-based plantation culture that dominated Colombia. With their focus on self-reliance, they had little interest in commercial contact with neighboring regions. For this, they became known as hard workers with a fierce independent streak
19. Cocaine:
a. between 50,00 and 300,000 hecatres are cleared every year to grow coca plants
b. processing coca plants into cocaine is a hazardous job requiring chemicals including kerosene, sulfuric acid, acetone and carbide. These toxins are then dumped on the ground or in delicate streams and rivers
c. 1 in 20 Colombians have become displaces since the 1980’s (second only to Sudan) because they are caught in the crossfire between paramilitaries and guerilla forces. About 860 additional people become displaced because of their location on the drug transportation route
d. Colombians, as a rule, do not do Cocaine. Cocaine production has funded the ongoing civil war for decades and consuming Cocaine is perceived as supporting the conflict. The reason the business is so big is because of Westerners who have money who think its “fun” to do with friends, family, business partners, girlfriends, etc. For this reason, so many Colombians must suffer.
e. “Many mid-level drug traffickers because obsessed with mariachi gear. Most of it is kept out of public but if you see a mariachi, you might not want to ask him to show you what’s in his guitar case” – Lonely Planet
What I don’t like about Colombia
1. CHEESE BREAD
2. Getting stuck in the airport because of my own stupidity
My Birthday.. and King for the day
Mike and I arrived to Cali after some last minute mayhem in Bogota.
[snap shot]
went to the salt caves with Mike and Camilo. Awesome. From there he took us to this crazy cool club outside of the city called Andres. Wrote about it before. Anyway, Mike was on 4 hours of sleep and I was exhausted and we were in the middle of nowhere and couldn’t go back to Adriana’s house because it was too late (that’s where we were couch surfing). Plus we had all our bags with us because we had to go to the airport super early in the morning. Camilo was supposed to have a table for us, never happened. So he found us a table with an old friend of his and he found another table with some high schools friends where he stayed. When we first sat down, the guys at the table asked if wanted a drink and I politely declined. So he asked me to be his “guardian angel”. The night club has guardian angels who you pay $30 and they drive you with your car home. I agreed in exchange to crash on his couch til 5AM when we had to leave for the airport. Long story short, Mike got too tired. The kind of tired that begins to hurt. They weren’t done partying. The place closed at 3 and there was no way we were going to make it that long. So I told Felipe that he will have to pay a real GA to drive him home because we have to leave. He said.. no no no, we are leaving real soon. Problem 1: never believe someone who is drunk, especially when they say “soon” and make no move to leave or change positions. Problem 2: don’t get caught in the middle of nowhere with no way out. SO we stayed. About 2 hours later we had enough. We told him, at around 1AM that it was time to go. After 30 minutes of doing who knows what he was finally ready.
ok.. basically.. January 17th I dragged Mike with me to one of the best salsa schools. And, he was excited to go. We ended up taking 3 classes in one day with the best professors. ago i Cali is the salsa capital of the WORLD! i was taking classes in the morning at this school and when i asked where i can go out dancing.. the woman who runs the school snapped her fingers and 4 of her professors came running in.. and she said.. you will go with them! They will take care of you.
and we did.. and they did. they were the best dancers at this club.. the only club open on mondays and where all the best dancers gather every week.. and they made us dance to EVERY song.. at around midnight too.. this place, filled with 4-500 people started giving shout-outs to people.. and then they mentioned the foreighners… MIKE AND JESSICA.. and everyone looked at us immediately because we were the only GRINGOS there and started cheering! It was awesome! we were there until 2AM, closing time in Cali.. so that was the first 2 hours of my birthday..
then i tool a 10 hour bus ride across Colombia and was in such bliss and peace looking at this scenery.. it was like i was in a discovery channel movie. By the way, my seat was #18
anyway.. I called victor when i got there and he said.. WAIT THERe, IM COMING.. 10 minutes later he pulls up (remember, im also with my friend Mike) and i open the car door and he is wearing a silly, cardboard birthday cap and has balloons and streamers in his ENTIRE car and he shouts HAPP Y BIRTHDAY and gives both me and Mike a hat!! it was AWESOME!
then... he takes us back to the house and first we pass by the big sports center.. so we run in and watch underwater hockey.. it was amazing.. men and women competing in a massive pool. everyone is wearing goggles and scuba gear and everytime they need to breathe they come up for air and then dive right back down to try to get the puck in their corner!
then we get back to the apartment, we shower and head to hear live salsa music at one of the only bumping clubs on a tuesday night.. we parked the car in spot #18 it was packed and victor wouldnt let me sit down for a minute. it was so much fun.. after about an hour we drop mike back at the house and me and victor go for a 2 hour car ride chasing the moon. we drive all around the city to find a nice, sweet little spot and finally end up giving up because whenevre we find something, it seems as though the moon has moved.. no jokE! And well.. the last time the cops chased us away.
then he takes me to the Love Motel.. mind you, i asked him to go because i have heard SO MUCH ABOUT IT!! and i preferenced it with.. but we wont have sex... basically, here in Colombia, kids live at home til they get married.. and parents and society do not want them making out in a dirty discotech or on the street so they built Love Motels all over the city (and country). But this isn’t like a sick and gross place. They are AMAZING and BEAUTIFUL.. and I begged him and he laughed and said.. of course! So he paid for us to get in and we get room 103. Well, he opened the door and my mouth dropped.. it was super big, black and white tiles, a HUGE bed on the right hand side, a “love” couch and “Sex” chair on the left and in the back right hand corner this amazingly big and round Jacuzzi with shower. It was equipped with towels, soap, music, and of course.. strobe lighting. And people go there for hours at a time or just for one quickie. It was super clean and very exotic. We spent like an hour in the Jacuzzi just hanging out and laughing and he asked me if I will come back to Colombia.. I said it seems very likely but I will go to cali.. and he told me since I came to visit him here.. he will come to cali to visit me! No no, im not his girlfriend nor am I going to fall head over heels for him.. don’t know him long enough and well.. don’t have the energy right now.. J (ok.. I lied a bit.. I did totally fall head over heels for him.. what to do?!) you all know the drill.
We had an amazing time and laughed pratically the whole night til we fell asleep. He woke me up at 5:15, drove me home, took the piece of cake he bought for me out of his bag which we never got to, hopped in the shower and left for work!
I felt so incredibly special and loved the ENTIRE day!
Thursday, January 13, 2011
The Chiva
The most extraordinary invention I have ever seen. Beyond all expectations. Above imagination. Truly magnificent.
The Colombian tour bus for locals.
Luckily, on my first day in Medellin I met this amazing girl who has been living in the states but is from Colombia. She heard me speaking Spanish with my friends and immediately came over to welcome us to her country. We exchanged phone numbers and next thing I know, I am face-to-face with The Chiva.
Let me explain. A HUGE bus that has the engine in front so it looks like a truck. The insides of the bus are ripped out and the windows are no longer there. The bus is painted in fantastically ornate colors and decorations in honor of the one and only; Mr. Hey Zues (jesus).
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| climbing on board |
But it gets better. While on the bus being transported from place to place, there is a live Mariachi band inside playing amazing Colombian music while everyone is drinking, eating and dancing the entire time. And, while on the bus, vendors of popcorn, meat, cheese, fried stuff, whatever hop on the sides of the bus and try to sell you their goods through the bars where the windows used to be.. so there are just people hanging over and on top of and through the bus at all times and everyone is happy and smiling and drinking and of course, here in Colombia, dancing.
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| popcorn vendor hanging on the side of the bunch while driving around Medellin |
I think this ignited the creation of the word, brilliant.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Coming Together at last...
Most recent updates…. Mike G., a friend of my brothers who I met in India sent me a message. He is leaving the wife at her job and coming to chill with me in Colombia! Tuesday evening!!! January 12th! AWESOME! Ill have someone to celebrate my birfday with and we had so much fun in India together, especially eating!
My friend Kasia wrote to me from Cusco. She is this ridiculously crazy and fun girl who has been traveling for the past 5 years or so. She was dating a boy but decided they needed a break and we are meeting in Arequipa, Peru on February 1st and doing this… (this is 1/45th of what Kasia wrote to me for plans as to options we can do to get to Rio for Carnaval… it really did give me a head ache reading everything so I took out the hight lights)
chile and then turn to argentina (Mendoza, cordoba, Buenos) and up north through iguazu falls to brasil.
go through brasilia do Salvador de bahia, I’ve been there twice and I absolutely love it and from there we could go south towards rio. Mind you those distances are huge, and buses pretty pricey and there would be a lot buses involved, maybe form Puerto velho it would actually be cheaper to take the flight, they aren’t cheap either but still it’s domestic and you can get something decent I suppose).
So let’s go through chile for salta (I know a guy who is a guide in san pedro de Atacama, so I asked him for advice if there is something really worth the stop on the way to salta, hope he’ll get back to me). And once we are there we’ll figure out if we wanna go south of argentina (I am not so crazy for baires but would love to try tango and I know very good salsero ther who would probably take us for good salsa) or if we stay in the north.
go through brasilia do Salvador de bahia, I’ve been there twice and I absolutely love it and from there we could go south towards rio. Mind you those distances are huge, and buses pretty pricey and there would be a lot buses involved, maybe form Puerto velho it would actually be cheaper to take the flight, they aren’t cheap either but still it’s domestic and you can get something decent I suppose).
So let’s go through chile for salta (I know a guy who is a guide in san pedro de Atacama, so I asked him for advice if there is something really worth the stop on the way to salta, hope he’ll get back to me). And once we are there we’ll figure out if we wanna go south of argentina (I am not so crazy for baires but would love to try tango and I know very good salsero ther who would probably take us for good salsa) or if we stay in the north.
She will plan where we go and what direction since I am not the best planner in the world. And my job will be to find us accommodations on couch surfing before we arrive! We are going to dance our asses off together.
Background: Kasia and I met dancing in Cusco together. She is a passionate, energetic and crazy blonde from Poland who speaks perfect Spanish and gives not a fuck about what others think of her situation and choice of lifestyle. True inspiration.
Victor, on the other hand, is my new couch host. He is soo fucking cool.
First stop, his studio to pick up the key. I walk into this amazing little kitchen where people are preparing and creating all sorts of food and other people are taking film of it. Walk through to the back to find about 8 people on computers editing, writing, marketing, etc.
It was such a sweet set up. Then he takes me home and we go to Exito. Think of Bloomingdales for food. This place is massive, overwhelming and fantabulous. It has everything I can ask for except Crest Scope toothpaste. Oh how I miss you! We bought a mattress for me and the other random couch surfers who will be joining us in the next few days. Like Santiago, Victor’s place is huge but its not cookie cutter. He says he has nothing worth stealing and doesn’t care who comes and goes and the night before I arrived he had 5 guys from Venezuela partying with him!
The next day Eric arrives as his next couch surfer. Eric is this strange guy from New Hampshire who had been living in Santa Fe before he took off to Brazil for 3 months and decided to live between Rio and the Vipassana Center there. Immediately I was hooked on him. He had a girlfriend from Angola who he broke up with to move back to Santa Fe to study transpersonal Social Work. Tell me this wasn’t meant to be! He also is setting me up with (or going to try to) the girl who rented him an apartment in Rio so I can save some bucks during Carnaval since it will be WAY out of price range! Everything he said, his speech, his actions, his openness and retarded humor, I knew I loved this guy. And, the 3 of us together, Victor, Eric and myself just became a pack of blubbering idiots. Eric also fascinated me because he dated someone in the OneTaste community when he lives in Hawaii. Oi! Look it up if you need to. (sex cult!)
Finally I began traveling according to my own desires. We woke up early, hung around a bit. Exchanged stories before taking a bus 40 minutes away to a smaller town where Victor’s friend picked us up in her car and we went to a small plaza where we all drank, ate chocolate covered strawberries and other weird combinations of food: favorite combo cheese and caramel. Who would have guessed! We then went to a marga (field) and played Frisbee amongst the mountains, cows and horses. It was magnificent. If I ever DO come back to live in Colombia this will be it. Its high in the mountains outside of the city and lush and delicious with lakes, birds, flowers and amazing people. And its so close to Medellin which is like living in a city in the states.
People from everywhere were stopping us to talk to us. They would hear us speak English and want to know everything about us, including how we were traveling alone and if we loved their city. They went out of their way to give us directions and when we would buy stuff, like in all Colombia they would always throw something else in for free. Supposedly its tradition. You buy 5 bananas and they guy at the market will “throw in” 2 mangos. Its amazing and beautiful and the people just continue to shock me every moment.
Staying with Victor 2 more days until I head off to Bogota to gather up Mike. But I could live here, I could be here. Just not now.
Friday, January 7, 2011
The Mile High Club
In the past few days I….
Met Dawn... adorable 25 year old traveling from Northern England who is in love with malls, Medellin and water parks. I helped her buy a bus ticket from Cartagena to Medellin and since she lived in Medellin for a month she helped tour me around the first few days.
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| Adrian, Dawn, Chris, Jason, Stephan |
Adrian, Mexican guy who dropped out of school to open his own business and is not going back to school while running an internet café. He became the guide of the guide; translating everything from Spanish to English for us.
i was almost attacked by a German Shepard. They have these massive nativity scenes along the river in Medellin and I was the only one out of 6 of us that was LOVING it.. you can imagine.. i was running in and out of these little platforms filled with christmas stuff ten times the size of normal humans (look at the photos and you will see) and the last one, as i rounded the corner a dog jumped out of nowhere and seriously almost gave me a heart attack! i was panicking.. thankfully it was leashed and the police officer jumped up immediately to hold him back. my friends were all pointing at me and saying they didnt know who i was because the dog looked like a coke sniffer.. i was panicked!!!
2 old adorable men: didn’t actually meet but they were rocking it. Totally decked out in pin-striped suits, nice buckled shoes and hats. They were sitting on a bench, chilling and sucking up some ice cream cones. They were so friggin adorable. It made all the other guys I was with ponder about what life is really all about. They didn’t get far into the pondering before they switched subjects to beer. But hey, still fun. When the old timers left, they took a loop around the tiny square and headed out. I caught a wave to one of them who smiled and stuck his tongue out at me. I think it was because he was lacking teeth to talk. This brought the guys to pondering one more time. They practiced their slick tongue moves and trying to learn from the wisdom of 80+ years but it just wasn’t the same!
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| 2 adorable old men |
Kyle. Oh, Kyle. Kyle I met with the other guys and Dawn while waiting for the thunder and lightening to ease up. He overheard us speaking English and joined in on the fun. Turns out he was heading my way and gave me a lift to his hotel. My darling Kyle is a pilot and tried every move in the book to get with me. In the end, when he realized I wasn’t biting he offered to fly to New York for the day to be my date for Dana’s wedding if I don’t have another one. Pilots, mmm.
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| me with the pilot's jacket! |
Santiagao.. my first couch host. Super cute and Super sweet. We got along so well and he was really charming. Finally, on Thursday night we went out and we danced Salsa and tried to get Kyle a date with a woman who had fake boobs and a butt. Didn’t work. Spent the past 4 nights with him watching movies and chatting and last night stayed up until 4AM talking about life and fear and love. So adorable and I am really thrilled to be his friend.
Victor. Victor, the man of mystery. Victor is to be my second couch host. However, I refused to stay with him since his profile on the website gave no information whatsoever. I told him to please meet for coffee first so I can get a better idea about who he is. Well, the day that we were supposed to orginially meet he sent me an email.. “sorry, ive just come from a shooting, lets make it tomorrow” instincts: Colombia, shooting, drugs, death. I met him anyway and he is AMAZING. I mean completely. He is so chill and cool and easy and fun. He has his own company that creates food and then he photographs it. Im going to go today, he said I can create something! He also has a car and will take us to a Carnaval that happens every year at this time right outside Medellin. On Sunday, he has some bikes that we will tour the city in. Im moving in today and so is another Israeli guy so it should be fun.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Searching, through solitude, for passion and love
I continue to wake up feeling a bit ill in my stomach. The gnawing sensation hasn’t quite left from the split. And traveling has never been easy for me. Im having a great time, but I don’t enjoy it as much as everyone seems to think. Im more of a “go somewhere and stay” type of chick. Im not a fan of bussing places and meeting tourists who have to jam pack it all in. I like taking my time and getting to know people and learning about the hidden treasures of a place that cant be found in Lonely Planet. Which, as my friends pointed out and is so true, monopolizes the world of tourists. We are like a pack of lambs ready to listen and obey whatever that guide book tells us. And, its not always right. And, its not even that good.
Where was i.. Yes, I wake up feeling itchy inside and I want to have a better understanding of what the hell im doing but I haven’t given myself the time to sit and reflect. Ive looked for 4 yoga studios already all which are closed and 3 dance studios.. same; closed. It seems to be that time of year where everyone is still playing and nobody wants to work. Which is great for them, bad for me. Im in a complete state of confusion. Not bad. Just confused. And I need the help of a community of people who are practicing and stable to help me get into my own zone to take time to heal myself and figure out what I want from this life. I know at this point I can have anything that I desire. I also know that I will be successful at what I do. Time and experience has shown me that. It is still always a struggle and I always am contemplating and complaining about how to get it and what to do once I have it. But, I know it can be mine. Which, for me, makes it even more difficult and delicate to begin this process. I have to really be ready for choosing what i want and be aware that it will come. I do not just want to put something out there and follow an idea to realize the past 8 months was for something that is completely unimportant and irrelevant for me. That’s what this life is about. Broadening my horizons to get the fullness and richness out of what life has to offer. Well, that’s what it is for me. I am fully aware that this is NOTHING what some people want. But, for me, by being out here and seeing the way other worlds run and work and play, I am opening up new possibilities that I never explored for myself and my future.
But now I have to take that time and explore those desires. Carmon made me do it. And helped me through the process. But, Carmon died and now I have to do it alone. Im not quite there but I feel like im getting closer to searching. Its always the hardest part. Searching through solitude for passion and love.
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