hello, it's me, from under a peruvian rock

i am the WORST!

but, look, even at my most slacker, i update you after a month and that's not the most embarrassing thing i've done. far from it.

so, hi. i'm in cusco, peru now. but i've been to many places since my last typo-laden update from santa cruz, bolivia. i conquered that country, i'll say. almost a month there and hit up so many spots: sucre ("the white city"), uyuni & the salt flats, potosi ("highest city in the world") & the mines, la paz (which is completely mental), rurrenabaque jungle boogie, copacabana & lake titicaca... and now you'll find me here, moments away from biking, trekking, and riding my way to the legendary machu picchu.

i love stringing words together (in an attempt) to make magic, yet i don't make enough time for it. will i remember all i do here without laying it down with the pad and pen (or, more realistically, the internet)? the photographic evidence does wonders to cache the stories and jump start the memory, but will i ever bother to sit down and tell the tale of my journeys, despite how cliché and overdone this sort of thing is? i can't even bring myself to crack the spine of "eat, pray, love" though i'm sure its scribe had an adventure worth documenting that i know has been well-received by many a bus-rider in SF and beyond.

so where does that leave us? talking about nothing yet something? you're in luck; this is my specialty. and maybe i will get my shit together soon enough to write more. but for now, here is my deal: chillin in cusco with my cali lady ellen g, then heading to machu picchu on thurs, then up to the coast of peru for much-craved beach time, then up to ecuador, colombia, and the sky's the limit from there.

sorry for the silence. or, if you are tired of me, then you're quite welcome. facebook is plastered with updates and photos so run over there and get your fixxx.

see you when i pop up next.

A D I O $

back in the spanish saddle

hola, all.

sorry for my absence. yeah, yeah, i say that all the time. it ain't easy keeping up with this on the road. internet and free time are both unreliable, and i get swept up in the daily life on the journey is anything but predictable.

three fantastic (though not without some obstacles) weeks in brazil have passed and i am now in santa cruz, bolivia. i didn't intend to spend more than a few hours here but, as luck (or lack of planning) would have it, there is no decent bus (if i don't opt for the ¨first class¨option, i will be sitting next to chickens and defecating humans, or so i've been warned) to sucre until at least tomorrow, if not monday, so i am chillin in the cruz with some israelis who have kind of adopted me. (i arrived at the airport in santa cruz last night at 1 am and intend to await sunrise there but quickly decided this was a shitty option and, as soon as i recognized two israelis froma previous encounter somewhere in argentina, i started talking to them, asked where they were shacking up, and hopped in a cab with them.)

but backing up a moment, let me say that brazil is quite a place, and the people are beautiful, passionate, exuberant, though largely unable to communicate in any language other than their own. that was a minimal challenge, but i got by alright. the beaches, for the most part, were stunning in beauty and devoid of too many turistas. i loved being in a bathing suit all the time, not wearing shoes or makeup, drinking tropical juice cocktails and eating salgados (empanadas, sort of) while walking down the street. i could have had better weather (the rio flood was one for the books), but i will keep that in mind when planning my return trip, which i certainly will be taking as i now have a 5 yr visa to call my own.

so here i am in santa cruz, bolivia. i had a cab driver today take me to the bus station while we chatted the whole way (en español) and then upon getting there i realized i didn't have proper change to pay him. so i asked if he'd wait for me and could drive me back. he waited about 15 minutes, took me back to my hostel, and didn't charge me anything extra for the wait. i didn't even want to say goodbye! i love marco. other than that, not much to do here, but it's not so bad. i intend to get some things done if i can. launder some clothes, get some sleep, spend less money than brazil, maybe learn some more hebrew. from here i plan to hit up sucre which i know little about but i enjoy having minimal expectations. someone tells me to go, and i go. simple as that. also will probably go to potosi and then to uyuni for the storied salt flats tour. after that, north to la paz and then maybe lake titicaca and/or the jungle before crossing over to peru.

i still have no idea what to do with my life. surprise? i don't know where i want to live when i come back, i don't know how i'll manage any kind of job and/or routine, i don't know what i'll do when i have all of my clothes and shoes again and don't see a need for them. life on the road is a strange beast. nothing makes sense anymore, nothing outside the frame of this experience at least. nothing is standard, redundant, recognizable. it's all new, even if it's happened before.

where will all of this land me? who the f knows. but for now, i am still going. there are definite dips in mood and luck--sometimes i wonder what the hell i'm doing. but then the highs validate those other moments that are less sweet. for anyone who has never done this though, i want you to know that it is not a VACATION. it is stressful and uncomfortable at times. you have to think fast and sacrifice and be miserable here and there to get to where you want to be (both literally and figuratively). i mean, look at me. i'm kinda crazy for doing this, but i'm here. and i dig that.

not my proudest entry--i haven´t even made a good joke or pun or even proofread--but i wanted to drop some updates on you so there they is.

here's some boliviano lovc for ya.

PAZ.

BRAZen in the sun

oi!

and also, oy. i'm such a slacker. somehow i made it through two full weeks in buenos aires and then up to iguazu falls followed by a border crossing to brazil and i haven't written anything so that my 1.5 followers can keep up on my whereabouts. shameful. now i find myself in florianopolis, brazil and have loved loafing in the sun, tanning my feet, drinking passion fruit vodka smoothies. i find it hard to sit inside on a computer when there is life to live outside (those of you reading this from your desk chair are probably thinking, "tell me about it", so let this motivate you to do something about that!) so i will need to find a good opportunity in the (near?) future to tell some anecdotes from the recent past and some of the goings-on of my mind. but for now, i must go back outside to sit in the early evening drizzle, stick my feet in the pool, and contemplate showering (only to put on dirty clothes right after).

please don't chuck me in the bin just yet. i'll be back around faster than you can say desculpa.

beijos.

how do you say "cliffs notes" in spanish?

yola.

many adventures since my last update so i will skim through it all and get ya up to speed. bear with, por favor.

mendoza turned out to be crazy cool and lots of fun (despite my turbulent digestive region). what this reinforced was that a huge factor in the enjoyment of any given location--especially when journeying solo--is the strangers you meet along the way. through my hostel i came to link up with a few young argentine girls, and a mixed clan of boys from just about every english-speaking nation. we picnicked in the park, went to the movies ("sherlock holmes" with subtitulos en español), attended an intra-hostel asado (heaps of meat on a grill and sketchy tequila), and so on. one of the days, two american guys and i rented bikes and went on a wine-tasting tour, evading death-by-truck on the open road and singing "my humps" and other classy pop songs aloud while coasting through tunnels of tall trees. the night i left for chile, we all cooked a family farewell dinner (asian stir fry followed by brownies & ice cream!) and i left loving mendoza.

after mendo i ventured back to chile (border crossing is not the pinnacle of excitement, i will say) since i had cut it short the first time and missed out on valparaiso. when i arrived, the weather was gloomy (reminiscent of the thing i miss least about SF) and the town, at first glance, looked like the slums out of some documentary about prostitutes who, say, learn how to knit and quit the biz. i had been forewarned multiple times about the incidence of crime in this town so i was sketched from the moment i got off the bus. i had planned to stay with a girl from couchsurfing (named clementine, likely a transplant from france, also incidentally a part-time clown who juggles at the traffic lights in nearby resort town viña del mar--enough red flags for you?), but she had become a bit flaky via email and i could not confirm a time to meet so, in my early morning fog, i sought out a hostel that luckily had room and hunkered down. i was in a bit of a funk and everyone at the hostel seemed to be checking out so i was wondering how i would spend my day and turn my salty mood around.

luckily, thanks to my wonderful friend amanda who loves to connect people, i had been in touch with a girl named sabrina, also from cali, who is in the midst of a year-long voyage with her boyfriend (both on hiatus from advertising as well). i met up with sabrina and reece and, just like some heavy-handed cinematic metaphor, the sun came out. literally. we ate lunch and took one of the town's famous funiculars up to the top of a hill to walk the streets and scope the views and walls painted with epic artistry. this is my kind of museum. word. sabrina and reece were so much fun--within an hour or so we were warmed up as if having known each other for far longer, making countless inappropriate jokes, curving around the alley streets, and finally ending up at a "disco" for dinner. (their hostel had organized this: tons of meat, potatoes, and veggies are thrown in a huge paella-like metal dish over fire and cooked in wine.) the next couple says were spent with them and also some fresh imports at my hostel (all guys, american, british, and german) venturing through the hills to see old condemned prisons, quaint arty streets, a nightclub, and a quick trip to viña del mar for a stroll at the beach before sunset. oh, and i escaped with all my belongings and didn't get assaulted so my record is looking good so far.

i left valpo on a bus with the american boys (from montana) and returned to santiago (where i started my trip) for one last day. i had wanted to connect some family friends of my mom who i had missed the first time through, and, as luck would have it, they were all convening for a birthday celebration my one night in town. but first, a guy from couchsurfing, boris, who i had met a couple weeks back and taken a walk with, offered to put me up at his family's house for the night and i gladly accepted. they lived a bit out of the city center but boris was happy to drive me anywhere i needed. such a score. i met his whole family and they were so kind and hospitable, offering tea, bread (god, please, no more bread), and wanted to see pictures of my family. i love these people. i then set out for the other family gathering where i would have otherwise felt rather out of place (mostly chilean women in their 60s) but they were so welcoming and happy to meet me. i admittedly missed the humor of some of their jokes as their spanish is rapid fire and laden with local vernacular, but all in all i had a wonderful evening and it was interesting to see how the chilean life is in the realest sense. when hostelling and hanging with fellow travellers, it is easy to miss out on that huge other aspect of the native culture so i was happy to have a peek.

earlier in the day i had opted to buy a bus from santiago back to mendoza for friday morning and would just wing it and hope to get right on another bus from mendoza to buenos aires. the buses in argentina seem to be much more plush and posh than in chile and i wanted to ensure i had "cama" (seats that are wide and recline pretty far) and food service for my overnight journey to BA (instead of just booking a direct bus from santiago to BA which was likely pretty shitty and nearly as expensive, and didn't leave until saturday). well, my plan went off without a hitch. i got to mendoza, went to book a ride to BA and found they only had "semi-cama" (a glamorous term for a seat which reclines slightly and doesn't remotely resemble a bed and is squished very closely to the stranger next to you who very well may smell or be unaware of how far their elbows extend) or first class, but no cama. it turned out that first class cost only about $12 US more than cama so i figured, "f*ck it, let's do this" (the only foreseeable downside being that i may never be able to ride anything lesser again).

wow, this bus was so legit. the seats fully recline and have a foot-rest that comes straight out to align with the seat. i mean, this guy can actually can pretend it's a bed! big fleece blanket, no one even remotely close to me, personal space curtains, wine, champagne, hot beef meal, adorable french canadian neighbor-boys (which are not part of the standard service, i'd imagine, but a lovely amenity nonetheless), decent movies, WIFI!!! so yeah, i'm kind of in love. but one of the things the wifi provided me was the onslaught of concerned emails from people who had just heard of the massive 8.8 earthquake near santiago (and tsunami warning) and were concerned i was still there, perhaps buried under rubble (though i imagine my gregory™ backpack would be just fine, as this thing can endure anything, or so claim the guys at REI). first of all, i was feeling extra grateful that i just happened to take that first santiago bus instead of waiting for the next day service to BA. a little too "sliding doors", really, but great luck nonetheless. i will say that, man, it feels nice to have so many people wanting to know i am safe and sound and that are even aware enough of where i am or may be. in a seemingly self-centered world, it's a beautiful sign that people are real and caring. so, big ups to all of you for that.

i am now sitting in a hostel lobby in BA, waiting for sarah (my friend from the states and bariloche cohort) to wake up so we can situate ourselves somewhere and i can begin my tenure here. i know a few friends who have recently moved here, as well as a few travellers who are passing through, so i should be able to keep busy for a while. it's such a big city with so many barrios and so much to see, and i need a break from switching proverbial area codes every 3 days, so i plan to nest in BA for a couple weeks and see what comes.

big love--AMOR--from the land of empanadas. keep rockin.

on the mend in mendo

so, onda azul (the storied israeli farm), amidst all of its charm and chill, managed to poison me with some kind of vicious stomach virus upon my departure yesterday which surely made for a lovely 16 hour bus journey north.

i arrived early this morning in mendoza and now seem to be able to consume bits of bread so i take that as a genius sign that i may be eating meats and cheeses in the foreseeable future. my hostel is small and pretty quiet but its charm is growing on me. that said, i have opted to move tomorrow to a more lively spot nearby which seems better suited for the solo traveller and has a nice outdoor patio, etc.

at first walk/glance, mendoza seems quite nice. reminds me a bit of spain, but maybe that is an ignorant (or obvious?) assessment. nevertheless, i strolled through a few nice plazas and snapped some photos. its sticky and hot here, but knowing that it's winter in the northern hemisphere makes me appreciate the warmth (tho via facebook i have come to learn that today feels like summer in cali anyway).

one thing i will say about this place is that the drivers WILL run you over if youre in their way. so, best of luck to me on that front. perhaps tomorrow my stomach will be ready for some wine-touring and adventuring. also considering some cabalgatas (horseback riding) but we'll see what opportunities present themselves. knowing me i might just end up walking in circles for hours and eating in between.

keep it real stateside, friends.

chao.

hola with a side of shalom

hey people,

just a quick hello to help you triangulate my position. i was just in bariloche (lake district of argentina) with my friend sarah from the states. beautiful natural surroundings, quaint alpine ski town. we enjoyed the sun, recruited a new yorker and did a short hike to a stellar viewpoint, then the next day rented a car and took a 360 km drive around the ¨7 lagos¨. yesterday the three of us arrived on an israeli farm outside el bolson (couple hours south of bariloche) and will need to write more later to effectively describe this place but for now i will just say that i forgot i was in SA within 10 minutes of being here. aside from a few austrians and one other american, everyone else is israeli. there is a lake nearby and we may bike over to check it out. otherwise, we are chillin, doin nothin, eating hummus. will be in touch but just wanted to pop my head up so my status of being alive is still intact.

shalom shalom.

chile relleno

yesterday, i left my hostel and continued on with my couchsurfing host, aldemar, and his lovely lady, lorena. they are both colombian but met here in chile. the took me on a walk around town in the blazing sun and then to a big enclosed fish market which has a sort of restaurant inside. i had requested some standard chilean food so we sat down and ordered three things: pastel de choclo (typical chilean dish--a bit like a sheppards pie i suppose but with a cornmeal pudding on top instead of potatoes), pastel de something (a stewy pudding type thing filled with crab and topped with parmesan and lemon juice; sounds heinous but tastes good), and chupe de loco (a thick stew as well but with chunks of funky-flavored loco fish which resembles snail or octopus and is no friend of mine). i have listed them in the order of preference so please take note.

after eating we were too full to do any more consumption, so we took a walk to see some funky hoods. if i used words like "charming" and "delightful", that's how i'd describe the area of lastarria. people selling their art and wares on the sidewalk, tables lining the street and filled with people enjoying the sun and tastes of the barrio, just f'ing precious. we decided to break for something refreshing, and their friends visiting from valparaiso met up with us. chile seems to have heaps of fresh juices going on. i like this. we all ordered a glass of maracuja juice (which i have just now concluded in passion fruit) and sat at tables along the sidewalk talking about how spanish words in different countries mean completely different things (e.g., coger which means "to take, grasp, catch" in one place, and to "f*ck" in another. dangerous territory, i say. i don't plan on trying to remember which is which and will omit this word from my vocab. (this happened in italy once when i was traveling around with my friend jess. i was trying to soak up some extremely random words to aid in conversation and came to absorb both pazzo and cazzo; one means "crazy" where the other means "d*ck", or something to that effect. needless to say, i definitely used the wrong one when attempting to casually address a silly man on the street, and we ended up running away before i got us into even more trouble.) after a heavily english-free day, my mind was beginning to turn on itself and get confused by even the simplest phrases. immersion is surely the way to go, though mentally exhausting. i give myself two weeks to start convincing people i am not a gringa, so stay tuned for findings on this.

after our juice date, we returned to the house to chill and do some internetting (i checked the score of the super bowl but it was just after kick-off and showed a lead for the colts which, i now know, was not indicative of the outcome--woot woot, lil weezy!) the sun is out til about 9:00 here which is a bit disorienting as i am used to the little bit of gloomy winter cali light disappearing somewhere around 4:30 pm. we ventured back out for a walk around 11:00--i wanted to check out the boho/sceney bellavista neighborhood so we head that way, discovering some stellar graffiti/wall art en route. (i have some pictures, but those will be going up on facebook instead since google's photo-blog-inclusion-system is truly lacking. yeah, you heard me.) many places in bellavista were closed because it was sunday, but we ended up in "the patio" which was a beautifully laid out courtyard of open-air bars and eateries. seemed to have a fair share of tourists which i typically am soured by (am i even allowed to say that? who do i think i am?) but in this instance it worked for me. we ended up at a table at a colombian bar, ordered some pisco sours and a plate of colombian snacks, and enjoyed the live music from the guitarra man inside. after that, we walked back and called it a night.

all in all, chile is off to a nice start. since i paid a mandatory entry fee of $130, i am factoring that into my daily costs and making an increased effort to budget, so there's no telling how long my funds will last me. but right now i'm just going with it and trying to balance the frugality with the festivities. today i am meeting another guy from couchsurfing who wants to show me some more santiago, and then later on convening with aldemar and lorena again for some evening camaraderie with the colombian imports.

oh and one last thing: this daily blogging is not gonna last. so don't you start expecting things and then give me mierda when i fall off. i'm telling it straight right now.

hasta luego.