Argentina

Yeah, I know - its been a while... but my dog ate my homework.

So I think the last town I wrote about was Tucuman. After Tucuman me and Catherine (girl from Montreal) went to Cordoba which is the second biggest city in Argentina. We walked around, and saw some cool sites, but I just wasnt getting the vibe I wanted from the place. I tried to go out and find some nightlife so I went to the area where the bars are and hit up some cheap rock dive called "Donde es la rock" which translates to where is the rock (awesome), but the place was kind of dead. I tried looking for other bars that were hopping with no luck, so I went home.

But on the way I saw an awesome muscle car, and saw the guys who owned it. Of course we made friends, and we talked about cars and engines till 3 AM! Those guys were cool. They dont have much to work with in their country, but they hold the fort down. PS: Dont ever try and guess what kind of car it is and call it a FIAT next time...

Ohh wait, I cant forget. The oddest thing happened to me in Cordoba. I remember when I was in Panama I met this girl, and we were wasted at the time but she told me that there is a theory out there that everyone on the earth has a twin somewhere whether they know it or not. I kind of thought this was interesting, and I kind of saw her point. When I was in Cordoba I was in the hostel taking a nap talking to these two guys. I told them I was from NY state, and the one guy kept asking questions as to where exactly. Its usually at this point that I tell them something like "you wouldn't know the area, its really small, this, that, and the other." Well he kept asking. He kept asking because this guy is my twin!!! Brett Farrell, Binghamton (Harpur - psych) class of 2006, was in my hostel. This guy lived on Chapin & Oak street, knows all the chestnut guys, was at almost all of the good parties (oaktoberfest, the party where Bill threw the microwaved pickle at the cab driver, etc.), and was good friends with the seminary girls (including Lynnie and Steff), knew Jeff K (my roommate and best bud in college), etc. We were at all the same parties, and even had some of the same classes. When we became friends on facebook we had like 20 mutual friends.

Then it got really weird. He was also on an around the world trip with a ticket from the same company, he was going to almost the same countries as me (but in the opposite direction), had the same Kelty big backpack as mine (but in blue), the same style camelback (small backpack), the same boots as me, and we were reading the same book. I'm not sure that there can be any other similarities here people...

The same type of protests that were going on in Peru were going on in Argentina about food prices. When in Cordoba they shut some of the streets down, and they were marching throwing leaflets, and shooting off these firework things every minute or so. The fireworks sounded like bombs, and scared Catherine so we had to get out of there. When in Mendoza I watched the news and found out that it got really bad the day after we left. The cops were shooting the people with rock salt, and a bunch of people were beaten.

This is what it looked like when I was there, but it only got worse

The next day Catherine, Brett, this older French guy, and Myself went to Alta Gracia. The main attraction there was the house where Ernesto "Che" Guevara grew up. The man was Argentinian, and spent most of his youth in Alta Gracia because his asthma was so bad that he had to move to a more arid area of the country. Ironically by todays standards, this tough freedom fighter would be considered weak and feeble during his childhood. His asthma restricted him from participating in organized sports, he loved chess more than anything, and he was a real bookworm - he would read anything he could get his hands on. From Alta Gracia he went to medical school in Buenos Aires, then started his political movement in Guatemala. After the effort lost hold due to the assistance of the CIA he went to Mexico where he met with Fidel Castro. It was at this point when they strategized the takeover of Cuba. Che was the commander of the revolutionary forces, and was the one who took hold of Havana and seized control of the country. It wasn't until 6 days later that Castro came to Havana to take power. After that he went on to try and spread his theory and teachings to other nations. Under false identity he went to Congo to try and overthrow the government there. After some time, and being unsuccessful he returned to South America where he strategized the unification of all Latin American nations (he was probably reincarnated as Chavez). He thought that Bolivia would be the turning point, and winning there would cause all the other nations to join the resistance and unify. It was there that in 1967 he was killed, slayed by a puppet government instilled by the CIA. He was killed in captivity by a drunk officer of the Bolivian Army that was trained by US special forces. Today you recognize his face all over the world. Many people don't understand what he represents.

Any man who drinks coffe while engaged in armed combat is the man

See, I totally rode his motorcycle...

When he was just a teenager he took a 4,000 km road trip on a motorcycle throughout Argentina. That later inspired another road trip from Buenos Aires to the south of Patagonia, all the way up to Venezuela (this time 18,000 km). It was during this time that he really understood the suffering that the people of South America endure on a day to day basis. As a doctor he was able to see the poverty and oppression firsthand. He wanted to stand up to the injustice, and free these people from such terrible existences. He was a revolutionary mind that was looking to fight for the people of his land, and so am I (as you can see in the picture below... lol). Norm, you were right all along!

Water Mill Taliban

So from there I went to Mendoza. Turns out this cool guy from Cordoba was on the bus, and his seat was next to mine. So we struck up a conversation and traveled for the next four days. Clement is the coolest guy I've met thats over 30. Hes a German teacher, and was traveling solo because his girlfriend is a student and she has no money (kind of funny). Mendoza is the wine capital of Argentina, where 97% of it is produced. When we got there, we linked up with this crazy guy JB who was an ex marine. He was full of crap, and was definitely mental. He told everyone he sleeps 3 minutes a day, and was poisoned by agent orange, and all this stuff. When I told him I went to OCS, and knew everything he was talking about he would only talk to the others in a low tone so I wouldn't hear his lies. He was really entertaining though. We also linked up with this girl from Rosario, Natalie. Its funny because hands down everybody in Argentina will tell you the most beautiful girls in all of Argentina come from Rosario. I cant explain this, but it must be something in the water.

After we got together we went to the wineries. You rent a bike for 20 pesos and get a bottle of wine with that which is awesome. Basically you ride down this one road with all the wineries and get trashed for free, or very little money. Some wineries charge a very small fee, but some are free. Natalie killed me when she kept iterating how she earns pesos, not dollars so she kept having to get more free shots at this liquor making place. At the liquor place, if you ever go they had a hot pepper liquor. Of course I'm going to drink it just because nobody else will, but it was by far the worst thing I have ever tasted. For lunch that day we had the best empanadas in all of Argentina, and hit a few more wineries.

Told you

If you ever go to Mendoza DO NOT have this drink whatever you do! Ten seconds after that cute smile was nonexistent

This winery was lucky I got this cool photo out of them because all we wanted to do was get bent, and they wouldnt even let us do that - jerks.

The next day me and Clement went horseback riding all day in the Andes with this gaucho Gabriel. He was a real cowboy. He has a home in the high mountains that takes three days on horse to get there. He lived there for two years to get experience before he moved to the city to take up a law degree. He loves wine, asado, and women - a modern day John Wayne. We started the morning off right with a couple of mates. A mate is a bitter herbal drink that is a tradition in Argentina. The whole country drinks it, and they really like it. To the unaccustomed its a bit distasteful, but if you give it a chance (and a little sugar), its an excellent choice to have when either relaxing, or to use as a pick me up. They drink it from a unique cup, and a more unique metal straw. We wrapped the day up with Asado (Argentinian BBQ), where the guy basically put a half a cow on the cooking rack above some logs (awesome). Clement is also a huge cowboy too, which is funny for being a German guy. I think hes more cowboy than me. Wait a minute... not possible - I take that back. He was having so much fun though it was hilarious. Just before we left Gabriel saw the bull they had at the stable. After telling him all my exploits in making my way to the top of the PBR circuit (SIKE, I really mean that one time in Harpursville with the guys from work) he asked if I wanted to ride it. HELLS YEAH! Turns out it was just a baby, and had no fight in it. I broke its spirit in 3 or so seconds, and it went on to live in shame for the rest of its life...

Starting off right with a mate

Marlboro country - come to where the flavor is

Couldnt turn this down

I told the gauchos how they train the bulls in the US for rodeo, and they thought it was nuts. I told them about that crazy guy who when we went bullriding was yelling "im going to turn you to hamburgers" to the cow that wasn't bucking enough. I agree with them. That guy sucked.

The next day Clement, Natalie, and I went on this tour of different areas. We went to this old Inca bridge which was stained yellow by the sulfur released by volcanic activity in the area. Then we went to Los Penitentes which is a ski resort close to Mendoza. The snow wasn't that thick so we bailed on the snowboarding. The winters in Argentina and Patagonia have been weird recently with global warming, and the skiing hasn't been as good as it could be is what I hear. On the way to all this we had to stop at this area with a parking lot, and nobody knew why. Apparently the weather gets so bad in the area that they have to shut the roads down every now and then. Its risky to go to Chile around this time of year, because you either will get stuck in Mendoza with a bus ticket worth nothing, or you cant come back. The airlines make good business of travelers who have set plans and don't take this into consideration. Catherine got stuck in Mendoza for four days trying to go to Santiago (Chile). I was thinking about heading over with her, but with the whole border situation and the fact that Chile is more expensive than Argentina I decided against it. Oh well...

Dont mess with the Andes

Inca bridge

All these people were waiting because they couldnt go on the road to Chile

From the same spot

And again

For some reason there was this shovel thing there

After that I met up with Catherine out of coincidence because she got separated by plans, but then were reunited. This whole time the Clement, Natalie, Bejuan crew were cooking up a storm in the hostel with all food that was stolen. Trying to stick to our budgets we were taking food from wherever we could find it, and managed to scrape together awesome meals. It was really a lot of fun.

When Clement left, me and Natalie went to the Mendoza Zoo which was cheap, but depressing. We really wanted to see a pig, but it was like they had every animal but pigs. On top of that the animals were in really bad conditions. They just went back and forth in their cages, like every single one. They all must get the same dope. But on the bright side they had cool rams, toucans, tigers, and the lion was in this cage where you could get like two feet from him. I have a special place in my heart for rams. Being an aries, they are my zodiac. Stubborn and bullheaded they perfectly define my character.

I almost got arrested taking this picture. Apparently you arent supposed to discrace national monuments (in this case of general San Martin in pursuit of the ultimate picture). Who knew.

In deep conversation with a Guanaco

Two feet

My favorite

They also had this cage of monkeys where you could feed them, and if you did they'd fight over the cookies. It was really funny. They were the type of monkeys that had red butts that were made of a hard material. It was like they had a red watermelon for an ass - that kind of monkey. Those monkeys just let their D's hang all day long. It was hilarious. What was even more funny was that some of them were even aroused just chilling out waiting for cookies. Also good was while we were waiting for a hippopotamus at the hippo tank, a huge seal jumped out and almost ate our faces off. Natalie was so scared so we told some other girls to get close and that they had to lean over to really see it, and then like clockwork the seal almost ate their heads off. Unsuspecting bystanders... hilarious.

Yeah big guy, let that D hang

I then took the 12 hour bus to Buenos Aires and hopped on the 6,500 mile flight to Madrid. When I got there I had a layover so I ditched my big bag in the corner of the airport and headed for the center of town. Puerta del sol is the center of Spain, and is also mile 0 on their radial road system (pretty cool). I checked out the outside of the opera house, the downtown, had the chocolate drink famous in Madrid, and went to the presidential palace. The chocolate drink is basically liquid chocolate. Its very thick like syrup and is served with churros. Its cheap and fills you up, but is a bit overwhelming if your not a huge chocolate lover. The presidential palace is awesome. I couldnt really take any photos of the inside, which is the best part but you can take my word for it. Its amazing simply in the fact that the King of Spain (his power is incomprehensible compared to a modern day president of any nation) resided here. The other reason why it is so amazing is because of how intricate, beautiful, and amazingly well decorated the place is. Every inch of the place is a piece of art work. There was a room made entirely of porcelain, one for smoking and smoking only, one for getting dressed, etc. None were bland (ok, well maybe the one that held the pots and pans and cutlery, but im sure Wanda and many others would get a kick out of it).

Madrid airport is cool

Tio Pepe was my second favorite thing in Madrid

Told you I was in Madrid...

Presidential palace from outside

Presidential palace from inside

Plaza del sol

I have to say the one thing that was weird for me is how clean Madrid was. I would literally brush my teeth with the subway handholds if that was possible. I don't like it when a city is so spick and span, it almost makes me uncomfortable but maybe it will just take getting used to. I still cant get the prices from Peru out of my head, and they make Europe look shameful. It really sucks to be on the other end of the exchange rate, and I really give more credit to the people of South America for traveling despite how expensive it is for them.

A couple of hours later I got into Athens. Traveling from Mendoza, Argentina to Athens took about 37 hours and I was whooped when I got here. Its really beautiful, and I really like it. Its got a very romantic feel to it, and is ultra clean. Its also not as expensive as other European spots like Rome for example. I dont have a lot of time here, but I really want to come back and hit all the islands (Corfu, Crete, Santorini, Mykonos, etc...). Wanda (my mom) lived in Greece when she was in her 20s, and she is really getting nostalgic about it in her emails.

The candy bar of choice after 40 hours of travel nonstop

The Plaka in Athens

If I could adjust this with picassa I would be golden, but I think this is one of my favorite pics of all time

The one thing that I dont like so much being here is the other travelers. They are a different breed than the travellers in South America from what I have seen so far. The most obvious reason why is that there are a lot of them. I think this city has made a real effort though because things aren't overly touristy. They have a good balance. The other reason why is that there are no budget travelers, or at least I haven't found them so far. The backpackers here eat out, go out drinking, and have really nice clothes and really nice sunglasses. About 60 to 70% of them are Americans. Now, not to offend anyone but Americans are the worst travelers in my opinion. They are gaudy, loud, and not as friendly as others. I know because I am the same way, but I take on a self imposed responsibility to set a good example. A good majority of the people of the world have a negative image of the US, and I try and set that straight.
Of these American travelers I have seen I get the sense that a majority are spoiled by wealthy families. I literally overheard 6 different people talking about how they spent too much so they needed their dad to send more money. Thats fine by me, and maybe I have a chip on my shoulder because I'm self made but Id much rather travel with people who make it on their own and have to be ridiculous and budget to survive.

When I meet people who have traveled to the US, almost all have nothing but good things to say and understand that it isn't the people of America that are bad, that its the government. Its the other 80% who haven't touched American soil that need to understand that we aren't all that bad. You know its fairly common for some backpackers from the states who feel similar to me to put a Canadian flag on their backpack and tell everyone they are Canadian. This gives you less grief with officials (partly because Canada is a part of the commonwealth), but also relieves them of dealing with explaining what the US is doing, why, and when. I don't agree with it, but I can see their point.

Im here in Greece for a few more days, and then I head out to Egypt to meet Ashley. I think she's nervous because its a middle eastern country (in her eyes), but theres nothing to be worried about. Its hot here, around 35-40 C, and Egypt is only going to be worse (awesome)!!! Hopefully when Im there I can put my scuba diving PADI certificate to use because I hear there are some good spots that are cheap.

This is the first time I have used the spellcheck so I hope you like it suckas....

Ok, so I will try and be serious. In this post we have Iguazu falls, Salta, and Tucuman in Argentina.

So I think I left off saying I went from Buenos Aires (BA for short) to Iguazu Falls. I stayed at this huge hostel with like 175 beds or something like this. Place was nuts, I havent seen a clean or as organized place ever. I later learned that this may not be as good as you think. When you stay in a super large place like this, you get a real international crowd, but its honestly cooler when you stay in some place where they dont speak english and you can converse with them and learn all about their country.

When I first got to Puerto Iguazu (name of the town), I went around town with this jewish girl from NYC who was super sheltered, and was OCD about getting yellow fever. It was funny. Any mosquitoes that were around, shed go nuts with the bug spray. The other girl was this Canadian ginger girl Catherine. So we went around town and then went to this cool point where its the junction of Paraguay, Brazil, and Argentina. It was really beautiful there. When I left BA I was really hungover, and you can never really get a good sleep on the busses, so I took a nap there at sunset. They had a ferry to Paraguay we were going to take for a dollar, but we got there late and it was the last and we would have gotten stuck. Oh well, Paraguay will have to wait till next time.

From this vantage point, standing in Argentina I threw rocks at Paraguay and Brazil, hence trashing three countries at the same time. Quite an achievement. I can cross that off the "to do" list... lol.

The computers here have terrible monitors, so this looks bad but im sure it will look better on your comps. Brazil is on the right, and Paraguay on the left.

From there proceeded to eat about 6 pounds of grassfed steak at the all you can eat and drink dinner at the hostel. Made a lot of cool friends there, and had a good night. There were the guys from spain, the girls from UCLA, the irish guy and dude from Montana. I was supposed to do this tour thing, the "grand adventure" the next day in the morning, but it was pouring buckets so I went in the afternoon, but in the process got kicked out of the hostel because I didnt have a reservation. I found some no name hostel, which was interesting (will bring this up later).

Iguazu Falls is awesome. Its really beautiful, and the grand adventure is something you for sure have to do if you go. You start off going in some army style (similar to a deuce for all you military types) truck and went through the jungle. Then you get in this boat, and you go to both halves of the falls (there are two sections) for photographs, then you put your stuff in these waterproof bags and then you actually go under the waterfall. The boats arent that impressive, but they have twin 250 hp outboard motors which they need because the currents are absolutely nuts. When your under the waterfall your literally a foot and a half from the rocks behind the waterfall. I dont know how they dont kill people, but they dont. We had a rowdy crowd, and after egging the pilot on by chanting "duchas, duchas, duchas!!!" (duchas = shower), he really had a go at it. Then you walk around the park, and they have various lookout points, with the upper lookouts literally above the point where the water goes over the edge (SWEET!).

The falls are famous as well. They were in the new Indiana Jones, Moonraker (james bond), the new Miami Vice, amongst others.

The falls are shared between Brazil and Argentina. The Argentinian side is the best, but the Brazillian side (directly across) has a good overall perspective. When I went to catch the bus to the falls from town, I was late and hopped into a bus that was leaving the station. Turns out I went to Brazil by accident, but then got back on track. To go to Brazil is $130 for a visa, dollars I cant afford. I was going to go to Rio from Argentina with these Dutch people I met on the bus, but for one week in Brazil its not worth it. If you go on the Brazillian embassys website they say its because thats the price Brazillians have to pay to go to the US. Thats a load of crap. The real reason is because the president of Brazil and Bolivia are best buds. Evo Morales (president of Bolivia) instated a $100 visa for Americans, and in turn Luiz Lula de Silva (president of Brazil) made it $130. There was always a visa for Americans in Brazil, but never so high.

I ran into the girls from UCLA when I went in, and they gave me their rain ponchos (score). I took a picture modeling in it, and however dashing I looked in it I just think this one does the job.

Truck

This is as close as I could get to the Brazillian side without selling my shirt

This is one of the boats heading into the waterfall

Maybe this shows it better

This pic was taken from the other side (san miguel side)

This guy was having a good time

View from the top

One more from the top

Ok, so when I spent the night in the no name hostel I met this Irish guy who was hitting on the girl who worked there, but he spoke no spanish, and she spoke no english. He told me he was there for 9 days (nobody spends more than two or three days in Iguazu) which I thought it was odd. I saw them getting along although they couldnt communicate. It was weird, but I found out the truth from these Irish girls who knew him. It turns out one night he hooked up with the girl from that shabby hotel, and he fell in love with her, and bought her a ring. That guy was crazy.

From Iguazu I took the 23 hour bus to Salta. Salta is a medium sized city in the north, giving it an Andean feel that you dont get in the rest of Argentina (and I miss from Peru). The town is nice, and when I got there I ran into the French Canadian girl from Iguazu and we walked around the next day a bit. Shes a bit eccentric, and a lil crazy but whatever. She was real good with a map, so it was cool to take a break from figuring out where to go all the time. I have to say it is a lil weird to travel with a girl because everyone, and I mean everyone thinks your dating or hooking up no matter how much you explain that your not. We snuck into this museam which I was told is the most importand in South America, which has these four mummies of sacrificed children. The mummies were preserved because they were buried in the Andes at locations close to 6,000 meters (19,500 feet) in ice. Turns out two werent on display because they were in the laboratory for experiments (oh well). All four had the elongated skulls, the sign of the elite. If you have seen the new Indiana Jones, the shape of the crystal skull is no joke what some look like. The elite deformed the skulls to look like an aliens. Really weird stuff.

I made out with this chick... SIKE!

Me and Catherine in Salta

The full picture of Iglesia de San Fancisco, in my opinion the nicest in Salta

Looking through a waterfall at the top of the Teleferiqo in Salta

Id be lying if I said Id never been there, done that!!!

Im a candy fiend

The next day we went on a tour with what seemed like the whole hostel to Cafayate (cool town to the south). There we went into this canyon area, which was really cool. It was layered and multicolored. Every ten feet or so the layers would shift direction, and sometimes it would make your mind go loose because you couldnt figure out how it looked. This area is famous for different formations in the rocks. You had rocks/mountains that looked like windows, priests, the titanic, turtles, castles, etc.

This was an area called the devils throat

I like how the light was layered through the mountains

For lunch we headed to an authentic Asado (BBQ) joint, and had a unique blend of meats I hadnt had before. You get the whole deal where we went. Intestines, kidneys, liver. I had it all, and it was a lil weird, but hey - when in Rome.

MMMMMMM!!!!

Salta party crew

After lunch we headed to a couple of wineries in the area. Cafayate only produces 3% of Argentinian wine (the other 97% from Mendoza), but Cafayate is special because the grapes are grown at altitude which gives it a unique taste. The most popular is a white called Torrontes.

That night, as a group we got smashed and went to a night club in town and danced the night away. We had to head out though, because the british girls had to make it to a 7:30 tour that morning. We quite literally made it back to the hostel at 7:25 lol. I had to leave a couple hours later, and still out of it I saw Aurelie, this really awesome French girl who I partyed with the night before. When in the taxi I stuck my head out to yell au revoir to her, and my hat flew off my head! The Argentines in Tucuman told me its a tax to pachamama (Andean spirit of mother earth)!

This girl made me lose my hat!

Next day I blew that popsicle stand with Catherine, and we headed to Tucuman. Tucuman is a good city, but there isnt a whole lot to do there. Everywhere you went you could tell the government was trying to bring more tourists which was funny. We really stopped there to break up the bus ride to Cordoba so it wasnt so long. When I was walking around Tucuman I ran into the spanish guys from Iguazu, and they were renting a car. I would have really have liked to party again with those guys, but I decided to stick to the plan and head south. That night we had Asado with a whole group of Argentines on holiday. After we talked anbd then danced to 3 in the morning. I schooled them of what little I knew about McCains military history, the electoral college, and the distribution of political states in the US. They schooled me on the issue the farmers have with the Argentine government over the beef taxes (this post is too long - you should look it up though), cumbia, dulce de leche, and cortetito. Then I had dancing lessons. Its funny because the way to pick up girls in Argentina (at least what they told me) was that you stand in the corner and dance with yourself in small circles. Back home the guy who does this just seems like a creep, or a pervert. I tought them how to let the D slang, fistpump, start the mower, pop bottles, a half assed attempt at the salamander, the finger gun dance, etc. Good times.

Theres apparently a strong G&R following in Tucuman???

I thought the coolest part of Tucuman was San Javier hill where they had this giant Christo.

I never made it to Rio, so I suppose this will have to do!

Im in Cordoba now, which is awesome. I bought a new hat too! Alright, I dont know about you, but im wore out. I need a beer!

B

I missed a few items that I forgot to previously mention.

First of all, and foremost lets talk a little bit about this - Operation Be a Man its 2008 Already, AKA Operation Mustache Rides for $5, AKA Operation Handlebars Like Dennis Hopper in Eazyrider, AKA NCAA Mustache Madness, AKA....

Well, every good speech starts off with a joke - so here goes...

Tom Selleck could have saved Thailand from the tsunami by soaking up the waves with his mustache. Too bad Tom Selleck hates Thailand.

Ok, now lets get serious. First I will tell you a story...

Tom Selleck was originally cast to play the role of Michael Knight in the Knight Rider series. When he found out that his costar would be a Firebird instead of a Ferrarri, he promptly declined the role and then boned the producer's wife.

No, in all reality when I was in Peru I was trying to grow a mustache. I tried for one month, with very little to show. My fair mothers polish blood blessed me with blonde hairs only on my upper lip. Every night in Peru I dreamt that one day I would finally achieve my dream. I WOULD STAND ON MACCU PICCU WITH A MUSTACHE DAG NABIT!!!

So I tried, and I tried, and I pressed, and I studied, did yoga, aromatherapy, shiatsu massage, went to the deluxe car wash, prayed to king tutankamun, did a rain dance, sacrificed chickens, etc. You get the point. Well it came down to the final countdown. T-minus 24 hours to the big day. I knew around maccu piccu they wouldnt have hot water, so I prepped the day before by taking down the sides and leaving a gotea. On the morning when the sun rose in the south I would take the rest down and revel in the glory that every man wishes to achieve once in his lifetime!

Well that time came and went. Absolutely hopeless. What a dissapointment. I contemplated splashin on a little just for men, however when I remembered that running water was considered a luxury in the town I knew the chances of them knowing about the little 5 minute miracle most middle aged western men know about was slim to none.

Topic number two - Travel writers, Afghanistan, & Batman

I saw the new Batman, met a travel writer, and read The Kite Runner (a book about Afghanistan). Any further questions? Just kidding, but no - seriously.

More importantly topic number three -

So last weekend was the Red Bull US Grand Prix (motoGP race) in Laguna Seca California. Casey Stoner swept all the practice sessions, and landed on pole position just as he did the previous year. When the five time world champion Valentino Rossi was asked how he was going to battle with Casey Stoner on race day, he replied with a simple ¨The only way to stop that man is with a gun.¨Turns out the old dog still had a trick or two up his sleeve. On lap 24 of 32 Rossi got a whif up the inside and made a dashing pass on the infamous corkscrew (turn 13) before going on to take the win. Bridgestone without a doubt dominated the weekend, and upset with his performance and lack of improvement from his Michelin tires, 2006 world champion Nickey Haden verbally communicated his frustration with the French based tire manufacturer. American AMA rider Ben Spies (knickname Elbowz) made the proverbial hop from being an American rider and stepped onto the world stage by placing 8th overall in the motogp race. Overall an excellent weekend for Rizzla Suzuki with Spies making the top ten in his opening debut, and Chris Vermulen stepping on the podium for the second time in two races with a third place. Dani Pedrosa sat out, upsetting injuries from earlier in the season during a ravaging lowside during free practice two.

Spies, of which I have incredible admiration for ended up second overall in the AMA superbike race, but considering the 36 point lead he has over his teamate Matt Mladin he can sit back and enjoy his sucess. Spies has considered moving up to the international level and has had discussions with several bike manufacturers, but has yet to sign. He has said time and again that the number one reason why he hasnt made the move yet is solely because he hates to fly!!!! Hes picking up another wildcard position when the motoGP circuit heads back to the US for the Indianapolis GP (first time in the US), and I am sure that his sucess there will dictate the direction of any further contract negotiations.

Two weeks time is the Cardion AB Grand Prix at Brno, Czech Republic. Wounds will heal, tire companies will rework their formulas, and the riders will get a rest from the daunting summer circuit. Five time motoGP (500cc to be exact) champion Mick Doohan will be comentating with Kevin Schwantz on CBS sports as part of Dorna´s plan to bring a larger community of fans in the US into the sport.

Also, im not sure how many people check this website, but you can subscribe if you create a username. This means you get an email every time I put up a new post. It says this website has had 2,500 hits, but im not so sure thats right because that seems like a lot. If it is, your awesome!!!! If not your awesome anyways!!!

Topic C - Irony

I wrote all this yesterday when I was sober, but now it is the opposite. I will try and write good, but this is hard. Argentina is the most western country in south america. They have toilet paper, soap, paper towels, hot water, electricity, etc... However they also have skeleton keys, and toilets that have the tank on the wall, like the godfather. The most modern place also has some of the oldest remnances of the 19th century. Ironic, eh?

LEAVE THE GUN TAKE THE CANOLIS!!!!

Dont worry, be happy!

Alright, so back to Cuzco. Its a lovely city, but a bit touristy. All the stores are restaurants, photoshops, gear shops (for the inca trail), or massage parlors (also for people who do the inca trail). These girls stand in the street and the only word in english they know is massage, and they say it about ten to twenty thousand million times a day. Its legit massages though, not like the ones I will discuss later in this post. The inca trail kicks your ass from what I hear, and so hikers hit it up to recover before their flights home (the inca trail is a 5 day hike to Maccu Piccu).

I was staying at Loki which is one of the worlds best hostels, and for sure where the party is at. There is no such thing as a sober or early night there. Not possible. As a gringo if you go out to the night clubs the local girls slip you roofies when your not looking and rob you so its kind of dodgy. Not knowing this, but wanting to party we went to a bar with all peruvians called Caos, and had a really good time. I cought a girl pouring something into my glass, and made her drink it all... lol.

The next day we wanted to go to Maccu Piccu the cheap way so we rode a chicken bus with the worst seats (might have been intentional), but saved a bunch of cash vs. the gringo route which is pretty lame. We got stuck in this town called Otallatantambo (I think), which was pretty cool. The woman at the hostel really (and I mean really) liked to talk, so by the time I left we had a 7 hour conversation, and it was around 2 in the morning. Boy, if you ever need a crash course in south american politics, Karen is perfect. I learned about che guevera, pablo escobar (who apparently isnt really dead, or so all of colombia believes so), every corrupt president, chavez, evo moralez, bush, the FARC, the shining path, etc...

Alright, so let me explain a little about peru because this is more interesting than anything else. Fifteen years ago the elitists from Lima (the capital), were real assholes to everybody else in the country, especially if they had dark skin (including non-indigenous). The light skinned Limeñas had control of the police, and had them playing like puppets to whatever they needed. The police (trained in Lima with the this mentality)were super rude to the poor, and raped and beat the indigenous, and people from the countryside. There was a japanese president Fujimori who redistributed the land to the poor to try and save the country, and in turn the rich bribed the police to kill the indigenous living on that land so that the rich could claim it was inhabited and reclaim back what the president redistributed. Police would kill whole villages, and have mass burials which to this day are still being found. Needless to say during the 70s and 80s the government policy was nearly 100% in favor of the light skinned creollas (a ethnic group defined as pure spanish blood that never mixed, as opposed to mestizos)

With that being said the people started to fight back. The main group responsible is the Sendero Luminoso (translated to shining path). They learned terrorist and guerrilla tactics and started wreaking havoc in Lima. Their message was clear that they wanted justice for what was being done, and that the people of the country need the respect that they deserve.

Karens parents owned a small shop in Lima at the time. With their dark skin they were always considered outcasts. One day a cop asked for a pack of cigarettes, but Karens dad who only sold them one by one told the cop he couldnt sell a whole pack. The cop told him ¨do you know who I am, you &%$"! (she went off naming like a hundred spanish curses that I dont understand¨, beat him with a police baton, spit on his face, and arrested him for one day. Just because he sold cigarettes one by one as oppposed to a pack. This is just one example she gave.

Ok, so the shining path with the help of the people of the countryside were wreaking havoc in Lima, and slowly the people of Lima started to fear the people from the countryside. Before there was no sign of curtesy between the groups, but today if there is an exchange of words a person from Lima will have limited words of curtesy, but they will be there nonetheless. This is in fact because they are scared more than anything else of people from the countryside. This is crazy!

Alright, so during this time the president was Alan Garcia (1985 - 1990). Around 1990 the four main prisons collaborated and underwent a massive cleansing campaign of terrorists. Around 400 to 500 prisoners were killed per jail (around 2k total), and buried without a word to the public. Once this leaked the country was outraged, and Garcia had to step down. How could the president allow this?

Well in 2006 Garcia came back out of exile, and won the popular election. The reason for this was because his opponent in the election (I dont know the name) was a military general who let it be clearly known his intentions. He told the country that he was going to investigate every MNC and look into every contract with other countries. This being known all those companies who were getting away with murder under a careless and corrupt regime flowed the word down to the individual employees that if they voted for the military candidate that they would lose their jobs. Basically the country was duped into blackmail. Garcia won the election in 3 of the 24 provinces of Peru (the most populous, with Lima counting for two of those three), and was put into power. The only reason they allowed him to comeback is because in that mass murder of the ¨terrorists¨, all those jail wardens in the four jails were murdered shortly thereafter. Garcia claimed that they all conspired together to perform the murders, and he was not aware of this. With all the wardens murdered, there is no way to prove if he is lying or not. Everybody in Peru thinks he is lying.

Ok, now to the wardens. Karens sister was married to a guy who went to the university of san carlos in Lima. There was a conspiracy that was never found to be true that anyone who goes to san carlos is part of a collaboration with the shining path, and there was a cloud of suspicion over anyone that attended that university. One day the shining path detonated a bomb very close to where Karens sisters husband and brother were. The two of them ran to get away from the explosion, and when this happened the police blamed the two of them. They were sent to jail innocently. Quite obviously they didnt do it. The shining path are experts and were nowhere near the location of the detonation. They would not make mistakes like that and get caught. So these two guys (Karens sisters husband and brother) were in the jail that got the worst of the mass murders. They were killed among the other 500. Because of this Karens sister went mad and told everyone she was going to kill that warden. She went into the jungle in search of the shining path, and wasnt heard for two weeks. When they next heard from her it was when she was all over the news. She was trained by the shining path, and one day followed the warden, pulled in front of his car at a stop light, shot him in the head and drove away. Nuts!

So I also learned about the protests that I witnessed in Aeroquepa. The one communist party that you can see in the picture with the doll of bush is patria roja. They are very dangerous, and when I showed Karen the picture her face went white. She thought I was crazy for being around them and taking their picture. They are a terrorist organization, and they wanted the government to know they are not happy. The second presidency of Alan Garcia has seen a deal made with Chile and the US to export Peruvian food. Previously all exports of agriculture have been of vegetables that are not used in Peruvian cuisine. With sucess here the president signed contracts to sell everything that the Peruvians use in their dishes. This has a whole lot of side effects, most noteably food shortages in Peru because they cant meet the demand, as well as a steep increase in cost of those vegetables.

Next day went to Macch Piccu, the lost city of the incas. Pretty sweet. Story here is that it was a city of the elite, and its heyday was during the reign of the 9th inca king around 1400. Basically the spanish came, and the incas were all murdered or killed by smallpox. On the way out they cut off any signs of civilizations, and nobody knew about macchu piccu till 1920s when a local farmer gave an ancient incan coin to an english explorer.

Killin it, double dragon style. We also have Lion King, and Thursday night in Cuzco.

Yeah, your seeing that right. Thats a llama taking a leak

My new buddy

They needed to sacrifice a virgin, so I was chosen because of how pure my actions are.

Got wasted in Cuzco that night. Had a really crazy night. Like really crazy. . Next day sobered up, and headed out to Lima the next day to fly to Argentina. For some reason that day I found my way to a female police barracks, and drove one of their police motorcycles. Pretty cool. In Lima I hit the old haunts (casino, my favorite bar in mira flores). At my bar I met up with the people I partied with two weeks earlier when I first got to Lima. Really fun. I showed these Irish guys the ropes when it comes to Lima, and hit the clubs in Barranco with these girls. Barranco is a barrio of Lima which is as beautiful as the touristy areas but is more for locals. The clubs there are electric.

Next day flew to Buenos Aires. Its hard to tell a tourist from a local, which is a lil weird. I cant get my bearings. I cant tell if I should speak spanish or english. I went around BA for a while, and went to the presidential palace where Eva Peron used to give her speeches to the masses. Also went to her grave. They really dig her here... (your supposed to laugh). The hostel I was at was all brazilians, who have near perfect english, and no spanish. Its hillarious, they struggle so much with spanish that I have to speak for them. They really took me to school on brazillian women, bush, and soccer. I told them about what Diogo did to that poor girl on the beach (maybe Mike T is pos the only one who knows this story), but they told me that Brazilians are nothing like this. They arent sex craved crazies. They are actually humble with an aire of cockyness because of their looks, but other than that are pretty normal people.

So my first night here we went to Palermo (barrio with good parties), and went to this place crobar. You may know the name because theres a sister club in NYC. That had to be the craziest party ive been to. Well to start, they dont go out here till 3 in the morning. Secondly the place I went to had to be packed with 4,000 people. Third the music was amazing. Robby Rivera (big time house DJ) was killing it. Fourth, the party goes till 11 in the morning. Fourth - no shit on the way out there were straight up fully naked hookers waiting to get picked up. Im not talking ragged junkies either, these were porn star status. The Brazillian girls were even shocked. I was raging, but the brazillian girls were beat so we blew that taco stand at 8 in the morning. Now I have done my fare share of partying, but I think Ive made it to see the sunrise under a dozen times in my life. That shit is a daily occurence here. Yesterday went to some bar slash dance club with the brazillians again, and learned to salsa (an ounce), and then talked politics and dirty socks with those girls till ten.

Not crying for Argentina. Casa Roja is where Eva gave all her famous speeches.

This is what happens when you think BA is going to be priced like Peru

Their capital building is modeled after ours

All this walking around made me tired, and I needed to take a nap...

This man was painting with his feet. You cant deny him props for that

Id imagine Id find more time to read the news if our newspapers were like this...

At 11 I was woken up, and told I had to get out of the hostel beacuse I didnt have a reservation. I packed up and being really hungover and in need of sleep, posted up and got some sleep on the street. Theres a lesson to be learned here. Next time you see someone face down in the street dead asleep treat them with respect because you never know if they are a bum or a professional engineer.

Another funny note. I tell cabbies im an engineer, and like almost 20% of the time they tell me they are too, and they ask for my card so I can get them a job. Ridic.

Oh yeah, what they say about Argentina having steak everywhere for cheap, this is 100% true. Whole cows sit on barbeques ready to dish it out. In the food courts of malls almost every restaurant has a full steak menu (as opposed to sbarros, you get a huge ribeye). BA is more western than anywhere I have been. The drinks are cold, theres heat in the buildings, hot water (wait, just having water all the time is a big step), and a public transport system that makes sense. The people here are a bit cocky, their spanish is totally different to the rest of south america, and they look more european than south american. There also is a total lack of indigenous people. Its interesting, and I like it. Prices have gone way up recently (last 1.5 years), so its definately no match for the bargains you can find in Peru. Gotta watch the wallet and not carried away.

Tonight I take a bus to Iguazu Falls. The seat folds flat like a bed which is nice considering its a 22 hour ride. To compare it to others, its much bigger than Niagra with 275 falls, and wider (although not as tall) as Victoria Falls in Africa. Victoria is 100 meters tall, and Iguazu is 82 (good enough for me).