Thailand

Thailand is very, very hot

When they (and by "they" I mean other travelers, guide books, your handy kindle guide, etc) warn you "Thailand is hot", what they fail to mention is how hot. So, I will clear up this tiny little discrepancy right now. Ready?

Thailand is fricking hot.

We got in last night around 8:30 Thai time to a 27 C sauna. (For those of you unfamiliar with Celsius, just multiple 27 by 9 then divide that by 5 and add 32 to the number. I know, I know... it's math. But, then again, everyone else in the world seems to be able to figure this out so maybe we Americans should give it a go as well, yeah?)

The air conditioners in every building, car, hotel, room, restaurant, etc. is cranked to HIGH everywhere you go and still the soaking wet heat blankets everything. Right now, at the Hotel President Park where we are staying, the air conditioner has not dipped below its lowest setting of 19 C since we walked through the door.

A note about the President Park:
We decided to upgrade our room last night after we looked at the currency conversion rates and realized that a Deluxe Suite would cost less per night than the apartment we stayed at in Melbourne. It's like $0.03 USD to $1.00 THB (I know, more math). So Deluxe Suite here we come!

The room is nice and big: a sliding wooden door separates the bedroom from the living room. There is a built-in double sink, a washer/dryer combo machine, a microwave, a fridge, stove, a water boiler and more shelf space than anyone could possibly need unless they were living here. There is a nice comfy couch and a flat screen TV where we watched Roger Federer soundly best Andy Murray last night to win the Australian Open Finals. The bed is spacious and there is a remote control unit next to it that looks like that questioning machine in Blade Runner that Decker uses to determine if Rachel's a replicant or not. It controls the lights, the A/C, and every other function in the room. The room is gorgeously hardwood everything and very comfortable feeling. Downsides include a bed that feels like it is carved out of stone (I'm not exaggerating here) and a strange smell of mold and cigarette smoke. Of course, that could just be Thailand itself that smells this way.

Everywhere we go, people are smoking cigarettes. As a former smoker who recognizes the need for a nic-fit every now and again, the level of cigarette consumption in this country is hard to bear. The first two rooms we were shown were on the smoking floors (one on level 7, the other on level 8) and walking through the halls was like cutting through a fog. Luckily, we were moved to the 15th floor (a non-smoking room) but the smell still permeates everything. Underneath that smell is a mold smell that makes me thing that the A/C business here in Thailand must be a billion Baht industry, specializing in turning over units regularly.

Today we are foregoing all the tourist-y stuff we planned on doing and are instead heading to the mall. That's right, you heard me! The Mall. It has over 2000 stores and is one of the largest malls in the world. I am very excited to eat authentic Thai cuisine at one of its many cafes. Helz yeah.

We are off to swim through the humidity where the forecast calls for 30 C weather on top of that. More to come.

-d@n

Leaving Australia

Tomorrow I leave the land of Oz for the land of Thais. It will be a brutal flight; nine hours and change in the air. And, to tell the truth, I have been spoiled here in Australia. The people speak and understand the Queen's English well enough to solve whatever silly American neediness I had while I was here. Australia was very kind to me.

In truth, there wasn't much culture shock:

Cars drive on the opposite side of the road
McDonald's is called "Mackers"
Burger King is called "Hungry Jack"
Fries are "Chips"
Chips are "Crisps"
and when asked "how would you like your eggs", they really mean "fried, scrambled, or poached".

Notice a food theme? If there's one thing is apparent in difference, it's the fact that, in America, we are champs when it comes to eating. In Oz, everything closes at 5 pm or so. Bars, pubs, etc. close when it gets slow (less than three tables left in the night) rather than at a set time. If business is slow at the stores, the salespeople will just leave their stores and get coffee. No kidding. Getting food here can be a difficulty for any American used to the "Breakfast Served All-Day, Open All-Night, 24-hour" food culture and convenience we are used to. I have never missed late nite Montage spold mac with cornbread and a glass of POG than I have in the last two weeks. And to think I used to complain that there were only five open-all-night greasy spoons in Portland. Never again will I take that for granted. Here, if you don't eat by 8 or 9? You're f-ed.

On the plus side: the beer here is wicked strong. Two pints a piece at the pub last night and Lupe and I had a wild time walking the 40 meters back to our hotel. Holy Jesus. Good beer. None of that Foster's crap. "Beer" is Australian for beer. And it is good.

Overall, Australia has been a great experience with a few mishaps. A missing travel hat on the plane, a lost iPhone and the apparent inability to replace it while overseas (goddamn AT&T), a laptop Hard Drive that decided to be difficult, and the fact that everything here is ridiculously expensive made Australia seem more like home than anything else. Troubles and stresses are the same everywhere and anywhere you go: that is the God's honest Truth.

Lupe and I have had some tough time adjusting to this new life we are living, especially when we first got started and we realized that this was no mere vacation, this was our living condition for the next four months. Homesickness has been rough, especially getting MMS pics from Mom with our very missed dog in them (healthy and happy, thank God). Lupe and I are experiencing a shift in our relationship which has been hard but which results have made us stronger and more in-tune with each other. We spent the last 3-and-a-half years working things out, defining our roles for each other, making it work. This trip has made us redefine our relationship with each other, redefine our roles for each other and what our wants in each other are. A few fights and a lot more making up with smiles and laughs and talks has tied us to each other stronger than before. This is our new life together and, even after over 7 years being with each other, we're still taking on the world hand-in-hand. The Natasha to my Boris, if you will. Neither of us want it to ever end and that is a grand and wondrous thing.

In the immortal words of Bill Murray in Caddy Shack: "So, I got that going for me".

Justine Henin is about to face off against Serena Williams in the semi-finals of the Aussie Open, my bag is about 85% of the way packed, money's in the bank to pay for the hotel, and my Previews order is in for the month (thanks, Debbie!). My wife and I are safe, tired but good, well-fed as always. I can't really ask for more (except maybe for my iPhone issue to be resolved. le sigh but oh well). Time to head to Thailand where every ounce of comfort I've been spoiled by here in the land down under will be dashed to bits. Am I scared? Hell yeah, I am. Will it be worth it? You're god damn right it will.

Talk to you soon.

-d@n

When it rains...

Last night, I couldn't sleep. This happens from time to time, as many of you can attest. I have a notorious tendency towards insomnia which I usually quench with hours in front of the computer, walking in the interwebs. Last night was no exception; facebook be praised. So, imagine my surprise when, at about 5 am or so, Lupe's MacBook swirled its little rainbow-coloured disk of doom and the hard drive started clicking.

"Uh oh"

Restart yields no love. I suck it up and switch Lupe's iPhone to Data Roaming, feeling my wallet taking hits as every second ticks by. Support dictates that I need a startup disk, which would be swell except it's buried in a storage unit in Portland, Oregon while I sit in a dark room in Melbourne, Australia and freak the f out.

I work on this for about an hour or so before I give up and wake up Lupe to tell her her computer's f-ed. She takes it well enough for 5 am but doesn't sleep much the rest of the night.

So, bright and early this morning, we decide to hunt down an Apple Store in Melbourne. According to Google, there is only one: in a mall in Chadstone about 20 minutes by car. We opt for a bus because we have no car and it takes us about 45 minutes or so. We get to this massive mall where we find the Apple store and they are, by far, the most accommodating, customer service-oriented Apple employees I have ever encountered. It is no secret that I have held my own personal disgruntlement against Apple, its employees, and its functionality. (For example, when I tried calling Customer Support via phone I was confronted by an automated system that asked what I was calling about, transferred me to another automated system which then asked me if I was calling regarding an Apple product. Uhhhh, I'm pretty sure if I wasn't calling about an Apple product, I would probably realize I was in the wrong place after 5 minutes waiting on hold while Apple tried to sell me crap I don't need). BUT! The kind people at the Apple Store in Chadstone were so helpful, I took back some of the venom I have spewed in their company's direction over the years. Unfortunately, they didn't have the HD I needed for a replace/repair. Suuuuuck! But wait! There's a store about 20 minute drive away at the other, ever more massive mall in Doncaster! Another 45 minute bus ride later and another (less friendly) Apple Store encounter later and we're told it might take 2-3 days to repair. Mind you, we leave in a day and a half. PANIC (part deux)!!!!

We commiserate at a Groove Train over a pint (yes, they serve beer in the mall) and talk about trying to replace my iPhone with an Aussie iPhone since their 3G[S] has functionality that the US versions lack and come pre-jail broken. They also cost $900 AU so.... yeah, no. But they call while we're eating and we rush back over there only to find all is well.

Fixed computer.

Whew.

I had an external HD backup with us that was fairly up-to-date so all of our applications are back on, no photos lost, not music lost, very few documents lost.

Oh. My. God.

What a day.... First my phone then the 'puter. I thought I was cursed, I swear. But Lupe kept the faith; she promised me everything would work out fine and, hey! Lo and behold, they did.

I don't often talk about my wife in these blogs. I told her that this was because I wanted this blog to be a little more from a personal perspective. But, to tell the truth, my personal perspective is usually along the lines of "The sky is falling! The sky is falling! Head for the hills for all is LOST! Auuugh!" My wife is the voice of reason I don't have for myself when my crazy starts to show through. She is so much more bad ass than I am, it's dumb. I cannot, for the life of me sometimes, figure out why the hell she puts up with my juvenile, neurotic, panic-driven dumb-ass self. Right now, she's bugging me to get off this newly fixed computer and go get our laundry in a calm, overly patient voice while forcing me to comply so I must be going but damn! I love that girl.

sigh

-d@n

HOTELS

Have I told you about my travel agent? His name is Charles Brossman from Turtle Creek Travel and he's awesome. He's reading this right now so feel free to say hi to him. Go ahead, he's friendly and has had all his shots. First off, let me just explain something to you.

When Lupe and I first started the conceptual work on putting this around-the-world trip together I spent two weeks just looking into the logistics of getting to and around and into a hotel in Sydney. Two weeks. I sat in front of a computer screen and basically freaked out for a few hours every day until, in a fit of frustration, I posted a snip-it of my personal hell on facebook detailing my truly overwhelming situation. Luckily I have friends. A woman named Christine mentioned a friend of hers who happened to be a travel agent who was awesome. I hemmed and hawed about contacting him because I'm shy but eventually I gave in and sent him an email. A phone call later and I was sold. He talked to us not like a auction barker trying to make a buck but as a guy who happened to be doing what he truly loved doing. He asked us where we wanted to go, asked us how much we wanted to spend, and went to work. He's been working for us ever since and is, in fact, working for us right now as I write this, still tying loose ends from thousands of miles away.

Anyway.... enough blowing smoke up his ass. He's really great and if you ever want to vacation in style? Call him. Turtle Creek Travel. Write it down. I'll wait while you get a pen.

Well, Charles has asked me to say a few things about the hotels we've been booked into for this trip. Y'know... how they look? Are they worth it? Too expensive/cheap? Crap hole or Palace? So, because he kicks ass so hard for me on a regular basis, I will do him this solid. I'll use this particular blog entry to talk about where we've been and, when we get somewhere new, I will do my very bestest to try and reign in my inner spastic 12 year old who geeks out inarticulately at every cool thing I see to make a comment or two on what the hotel is like.

So, without any further adieu:

The Westin Sydney:
There is a reason why this is a 5 star hotel. Located in the very heart of the CBD, the Westin is as swanky as they get. Unbelievable architecture inside and out. A clocktower rings the hour as light filters through the open mezzanine onto golden glass kiosks where perfectly manicured receptionists have an answer and solution for everything. The concierge is friendly, knowledgeable, and helpful. When we said we wanted to do some sight seeing, they not only knew what we wanted, they also made the bookings right then and there. The room itself, nestled on the 13th floor (the Aussies don't share our superstitions), was spacious, modern, clean, automated, fully stocked mini bar, with soft robes in the closet (which lights up as you open it). Huge TV with DVD player. Nice office desk with a personal side table, glass desktop, well-lit, with mechanical shades in the bathroom that could shade the bathroom from the rest of the room if ya like. The view wasn't the greatest from our room but I was not disappointed about this: the shades and the full wall windows made up for it. The bed was soft. The glass enclosed bathroom came complete with private room for the toilet and one for the shower, framed in frosted glass and beautifully spacious. The jacuzzi bath wasn't anything to scoff at either. Internet was a little ridiculous at a set $30.00 a day considering you could go down the street to the internet cafe for about $3 an hour. No self-laundry service but they do have dry cleaning for about $7 an item. The menu for room service was well-varied and the bar downstairs was really nice. I didn't get to try the sushi bar in the lower floor but I did get a massage at the in-house spa. Yes, in-house spa. The lower mezzanine, outside, is filled with stores, fashion shopping, even a post office. This is a small city in one building. For the price (about $185 AUD a night), it was, by far, the nicest place I have EVER stayed at. Oh my God, ya GOTTA go there. So good.

The Hilton, Brisbane:
Lupe and I didn't leave this apartment for three day because we were wiped after Sydney. Luckily, the Hilton lives up to its reputation. Glass elevators led us to out room on the 18th floor, the inside balcony overlooking the open center of the hotel that overlooks the cafe/restaurant. Food was very good but avoid the barramundi fish n chips unless you like your fish extra fishy smelling/tasting. I sent mine back. The room was smaller and the bathroom was meh but the view overlooking the CBD and the clock tower was fantastic. Great in-house movie deals allows for lots of TV viewing and the TV was a neat LG flat screen. No DVD player though. The Hilton, like the Westin, was located right in the center of downtown and near all sorts of shops and food. Price was about $130.00 AUD a night and worth it for what we wanted. The Hilton itself was a little old and run down but I liked it. In a few years, it might not be so great for that price but they are doing some renovation on the back side that I wasn't even aware of until the day we were leaving. Room was a little outdated but good enough to stay inside and watch tennis for three days straight.

The Coral Reef View Hotel at the Hamilton Resort.
Paradise for the low low cost of $12oo AUD for three nights. Cost also includes a full day cruise to the Great Barrier reef where you get to snorkel over the world's largest living organism. Worth. Every. Penny. Room was HUGE! TV was large but had an image burned into it of the hotel's logo. Kinda silly. The bathroom was a bit dirty but what do you expect when you live next door to the jungle? The view overlooked the entire bay with nothing in the way. Food was so-so in the adjacent restaurant but you can rent a golf cart and go cruise the whole 2 minutes down to the marina for awesome pizza, Italian food, the yacht club, ice cream, etc. The staff was friendly. Internet is about $0.55 AUD a minute so pace yourself. Hotel comes with a business center to print things and surf the internet, a guest laundry for about $10 change for soap, wash, and dryer. The glass elevators are free floating and a thrill to ride up and down for no good reason. There are a lot of people on holiday at any given time but I never once felt claustrophobic. God, this room was giant. It was bigger than my old apartment. I am totally not kidding. Wild macaws buzz the outside balcony but don't feed them: they're like pigeons. Mini golf course, tennis courts, three pools within walking distance (one of which you can eat buffet style right next to the pool side), a day care, a partridge in a pear tree. This place is where people go to holiday like a pro. Go, for god's sake, go.

And last but not least so far....

The Quest Beaumont Kew, Melbourne
These are actually studio apartments for daily rent. The location is in one of the suburbs of Melbourne so buy a tram pass and get to town that way. The suburb we are in is a little bit like Hawthorne blvd in Portland: a little suburb-y, a little dirty, a little bohemian for the casual traveler. If you are looking to vacation, suck up the costly stay somewhere in the city. But, be warned: Melbourne is a city where you want to get some on you. So do yourself a favor and get a little dirty. There are hidden gems all over Church Street and the city center is literally a fifteen minute ride via tram (think an older, wobblier version of the MAX). Cost is $155 AUD a night but, in comparison to the city, that's a deal. Also keep in mind we're in town during the Australian Open AND Australia Day so prices are inflated everywhere right now. The room is considerably smaller, a single desk against the wall, a small table in the room, and an okay bed (kinda hard, to be honest). The tv is tiny but the room does have a microwave, a hotplate, a sink, and a nice couch. It's a studio apartment so keep your expectations where they belong: right below the middle. The bathroom is meh. The view is nonexistent. But we are at the end of the hall so there is no one to bother us which is nice. And reception has been great since we got here so kudos to service. All-in-all, I think it's a fine room but it really depends on your disposition. Whatever. I like it. But, then again, I'm easy to please. I've stayed in muuuuuch worse places that this. This room reminds me of a studio a buddy of mine rented for a few months when he was single: a nice place to rest your head with some creature comfort appliances. It is around the corner from the tram, so transit access is great. It's also across the street from a Safeway and a Supermarket so you can easily buy homemade food makings and stay here on the DL if you like, making sight seeing trips into the city at your leisure with a nice home base to come back to at the end of the day. Be sure to check out the surrounding residential area: great food all over.

Every place we've stayed has had wonderful air conditioning and food nearby. Price per place has been absolutely spot on for the places we've been. I've posted some pics in previous blogs so feel free to go back and take a peek where you can find them. So far, no massive or minor flaws for any place we've stayed. In places like the Westin, Lupe and I both felt like they should've been asking us to leave at any time. Not because they were rude or anything but more because we're kinda low-rent people and that place was so damn classy. But hey, they didn't! If fact, they we're really friendly to us so yay!

All of these places have been great. When I get to new cities, I'll be sure to make mention of the place I'm in as well as what I'm doing.

That was a whole lotta typing I just did, so I'm off to bed. Whew. I hope that was helpful to any of you folk out there looking for places to stay when in Australia's three great eastern cities. Got questions about this or any other blog I write, feel free to add your comments at the bottom of any of the blog pages I've made or will make in the future. Tell your friends. Follow along. I got a lot more to see and do in the next three months.

Gotta run. Talk more later.

-d@n

Aussie Ausssie Aussie! Oi Oi Oi!

So guess what I did today :) That's right! I cheered on the USA at the Australian Open. Oh hell yeah!

Andy Roddick lost to Marin Cilic due to a shoulder injury that plagued him through all five sets. Yes, you heard me right. All. Five. Sets.

This one match took about 4 hours to complete and was the third and last match we watched. Justine Henin moved on to the Semi Finals over Nadia Petrova and Zheng Jie was by far the hottest Asian chick in a blue skirt of the day. Oh yeah, she won too.

Right now, we are watching the night matches on the telley while we wait for delivery to show up at our door. 8 hours of tennis. Boy, that was kinda awesome. Lupe is definitely hooked. She's even talking about taking beginners classes when we get home.

Speaking of home, Melbourne is a very close facsimile to Portland. Both are a fascinating blend of contemporary culture and old world European architecture. Both have a thriving music scene where bands are playing in the dozens all over the city at any given venue on every night around town. The cafe and bohemian scene here is like walking down Hawthorne on a busy weekend. The city centre is hip and bustling just like downtown. Even the people are so nice, just like home. The weather is completely unpredictable; completely unlike the northern aussie lands we've been in. It's nice and cool here in the summer and the weather can change from one minute to another. Today we had rain and clouds in the morning, a nice cool summer sun in the midday, sweltering heat in the afternoon, then a cool (almost cold) night. I could definitely see myself transplanting here. It's like the Portland I remember visiting when I was a younger man and falling in love with. Sadly, Portland has become much ruder in the last few years. It's my personal opinion that has something to do with all the Californians who have moved north to the Pacific Northwest because it's so much cheaper to live there. Sorry to all my Californian friends who may take offense at this belief but, then again, you weren't there when it was nicer and less rude. Just sayin'

Well, food has arrived. We are famished after a hard day of yelling, shushing, clapping, and cheering. Time to eat gourmet pastas and pizza and watch the fireworks for Australia Day on TV.

Goodnight, America. Sleep well.

-d@n

The Melbourne Identity

I've been catching myself speaking Australian in the last couple days. Not full-blown Aussie talk but a bit of the cadence here, some of the slur there. It's a very strange feeling to catch yourself talking in what you feel is a normal cadence and tone only to realize that it's a product of your exposure and immersion into a different language. When we were in Manzanillo, it was fascinating to find just how much of two-and-a-half years of high school Spanish came bubbling to the surface simply because I had to talk to people. It's the same being here in Australia; it's unintentional but it does slip it accidentally. Some of the slang from Portland is the same here as there. "No worries" comes as naturally as breathing, really. I said that long before I came here but now it feels like it's at home when talking to the locals. It's just kinda neat how much seeps in when you're not expecting it to.

Speaking of which, guess what I'm doing tomorrow? Remember how I said we've been really getting into the tennis here on the television, watching hours upon copious hours of the Australian Open? Well we went ahead and splurged on tickets to the quarter finals at 11:00 am tomorrow. Yes, that's right... I'm going to go see the Australian Open up close and personal like. It's Australia Day tomorrow as well. Australia Day is like our 4th of July. So I expect chaos in the streets tomorrow. Apparently, there is a parade or some such. I won't know; I'll be in the stadium hollering at the players as they try and out-shoot each other. Man, I'm excited about that. Check out some info on Australia Day at the most reliable source known to man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia_Day

There has been one downside to all of this upswing: I lost my phone. Sadface. I could have sworn I had it in the hotel with me when we checked in here at the Quest Beaumont Kew Hotel in the suburbs of Melbourne. But, after upturning the room in a fit of serious OCD behavior, I concluded it must be in the back seat of the cab we took in from the airport. I'm about 99% sure I had it with me out of the airplane, so the process of elimination dictates - I WANT MY GODDAMN PHONE BACK AND THIS SUCKS SO FRICKING BAD I WANT TO CRY AND I HAD TO CALL AT&T AND CANCEL MY SERVICE SO NO ONE COULD USE IT IF THEY STOLE IT AND WHY WOULD YOU STEAL MY PHONE YOU AUSSIE BASTARDS?!? WHY CAN'T YOU GET YOUR OWN DAMN iPHONE AND LEAVE ME WITH MY TECHNOLOGICAL EQUIVALENT TO AN UMBILICAL CORD AND A BINKIE AND MY FAVORITE TOY IN THE WHOLE WIDEST WORLD IN SAFE WOMB OF SAFE HAPPY SAFEDOM WHERE I CAN PLAY WURDLE AND POST FACEBOOK STATUS UPDATES FROM ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD AND WHY GOD WHY WOULD YOU TAKE IT AWAY FROM ME YOU RAT BASTARD RAT??????!!!!!!!!!

huff huff huff

sigh

This Sucks. With a capital Suck.

Hopefully I can get it back, otherwise... so long phone and all the photos and notes I was dumb enough to think I didn't need to back up in any way. Man, this addiction to technology really sucks ass sometimes. Especially times like when you lose your phone.

Le sigh, part deux.

Wish me luck and give me good karma wishes. 3 months is a looooooong time to go without a cell, even out here in the world where I can't use it that much anyway.

I posted the entirety of my pictures from the Sydney Aquarium and the Wildlife World on facebook, so go check them out and make me feel a little better by leaving friendly and fun comments on them. www.facebook.com

Blarg.


-d@n

We are Blog. Resistence is futile. You will follow.

I'm going to go a little backwards here before I go forward. There were some things I got to see and do that I didn't get a chance to show you before I moved on physically. There's a lot of photos (as you can imagine) and, rather than try and cram all of them onto this tiny little blog area, I will post big ol' albums on my facebook account. The profile is set to private right now, so feel free to send me a friend invite if you're not already a friend. I have been checking my facebook account pretty regularly so if you send a request, it will be responded to. Promise.

Also, did you know that if you click on any picture I have posted on this blog that it will show an enlarged picture for more detailed viewing? It's true! Try it. I'll wait.

See? Pretty neat, huh?

Right now I am sitting up late writing in the relative dark while Lupe catches up on some sleep before our big flight to Melbourne tomorrow morning. We are on Hamilton Island in the beautiful Coral Reef View Hotel. Today we went snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef. I cannot believe I get to say stuff like that now. "What did you do today, Dan?" "Well, Random Stranger, today I boated out to a pontoon chained to the Great Barrier Reef and snorkeled out over the largest living organism in the world for three hours. Did I mention this was my very first time snorkeling?" Yeah, so... yeah.

Hamilton Island is part of the Whitsunday Islands off the eastern coast of Australia. It's about a two hour flight from Brisbane out to the Islands where the airport consists of a schedule of ten or so planes that fly in and out of here on a strict schedule. This is much more of a holiday resort than "travel". This is where people come to play golf, eat amazing food, sit on a deck surrounded by Macaws while staring out over blue-green waters, and soak in the sun.

Except there wasn't much sun. The northern part of Australia is facing some pretty bad storms right now and although they have officially downgraded the cyclone to a measly little tropical storm, it still means some pretty scary weather. Luckily, Cairns is waaaaaaaayyyyy far north of here. But still, the weather has been mostly overcast, occasional rain that feels like you're taking a warm shower in your clothes, and wind. Lots of wind. The water was scary choppy on the way out to the reef on our Fantasea Cruise for an hour. Lupe got sick and it was sad. There were about eight cases of seasickness from various travelers on the boat while the waves crashed 3 meters high and winds buffeted the speed boat around like a roller coaster ride. Of course, since I don't get seasickness on the water I am now swimming on dry land with serious dizziness due to land-sickness. This has been a trial the entire time we've been traveling and while I do so enjoy being dizzy for no reason (wheeee!!!!), I would like to stop the world from spinning and get off this ride for a little bit. I lost my travel sickness pills somewhere in Brisbane so I'll have to pick some up at the airport tomorrow.

Whatever. It was all totally worth it. The Great Barrier Reef. Man, that's gonna be a tough one to top.

Lupe got some really great underwater photos with her underwater camera that we will get developed in Melbourne when we get there so I will have those up soon

Melbourne tomorrow. We will be there during Australia Day which is our equivalent to 4th of July. AND, the Australian Open is going on; so if you hear about riots in the streets of Melbourne on January 26th, that's where we are going to be. Should be a blast :)

Speaking of the Australian Open: I have never in my life ever watched so much goddamn tennis. I am so hooked on this crap right now. Some matches last well into the early morning, running 4 or more hours til it's 4 am or so. Insane. This country is fricking crazy for it. And now I am hooked, too. Right now, at midnight Aussie-time, Roddick is trying to tie up this match against Gonzoles to 2-2 and we are at the 4th Deuce of this set with the score at 5 to 5. Totally awesome, edge-of-your-seat, nail-biting craziness.

Must sleep. Still hafta pack. Porters pick up our bags in 8 hours. Sigh.

-d@n

So long Brisbane

We leave Brisbane tomorrow. Honestly, I'm kind of glad things worked out the way they did while we were here. Sydney was jam packed with stuff to do and by the time we arrived in Brisbane, we were wiped out. We tried to do the tourist stuff but the heat/humidity here is worse than Sydney. Also, it's a physically smaller city with a huge boom in population, so the streets and sidewalks are perilous. We decided to stay in, watch crappy movies on the tube, do our laundry, and basically relax. We saw some of the city but didn't really get any on us. I'm strangely okay with that considering where we are off to next.

Tomorrow we catch another Jetstar flight to the Hamilton Islands. I don't know anything about what that place is like but we stay at a place called the "Hamilton Island Reef View Hotel" where we spend our one full day there on a "Fantasea Adventure Cruise".

Sounds exhausting, doesn't it? I imagine there will be snorkeling which, I must admit, I'm not exactly thrilled to participate it. Open water near a reef that's notorious for sharks? No, thank you. But Lupe is very excited and this is what I signed up for, right? A chance to test the limits of my comfortableness? Yeah, so... Here goes something.

Talk to you all soon.

-d@n

What did the daddy tomato say to the baby tomato?

This is my "catch up" blog. The average cost for "free" internet in these hotels I'm staying in is about $0.55/minute so you'll pardon me if I'm a little hasty.

Right now I am in the Hilton in beautiful downtown Brisbane, Australia in Queensland. The Australian Open is on the telley, the wife is sleeping until 11:00 pm when she can finally order late-nite room service, and I am fighting a losing battle to upload photos from my camera onto my laptop. So no photos just yet, dear readers. Sorry.

As for the rest of our time in Sydney, let me rattle off our events since last we spoke:
We spent the last couple of days really relaxing. We spent a day at Bondi beach where I got my first sunburn since I was 16 or so swimming in crystal clear water with nice breaking waves and a bazillion other people all clamoring to soak in the sun. But surprisingly, there seemed to be plenty of room for everyone. We ate dinner on top of Ribisi's, a swaaaaaannnnk bar that overlooks the beach. We got the recommendation from an Aussie girl named Penny we met on the plane ride down here. Thanks, Penny. Great recommendation. The day after that, we spent cruising around the Sydney Aquarium and the Sydney Wildlife World. The Aquarium was pretty cool for the underwater tube walk through shark infested waters.

The Wildlife World was where it was at though: home of the largest living crocodile in captivity. 700 kg. 5 meters long. Only 30 years old so it's still growing. This thing makes you realize how primitive man could consider such a creature a god. It was... massive. I took a photo with my iPhone but it doesn't do it justice.

Oh hey! I forgot to mention; I witnessed my very first religious persecution rally held right here in the center of the CBD. The coptic christians were wanting freedom. And when did they want it? Now, of course. I don't know what a coptic christian is so feel free to google them. I'll do the same and we can compare notes. Needless to say, that was pretty interesting to wake up to.

What else, what else..... hmmm.... oh yeah! We went and saw the Sydney Opera House.

You've all seen the Opera House on postcards and in magazines and the like. It's absolutely nothing like that in person. When you walk down the street and see it in the distance, it doesn't seem real. In fact, it seems like it's still posing for that postcard photo. But when you actually stand in its shadow and soak in the fact that you are in the shadow of a living heritage list site, it can truly blow you away. The inside is like every drama kids' wet dream come true. The main hall is breathtaking. I wish I could show you pictures but they are very strict about copyright laws so no photography is allowed. Again, google the interior if you feel so inclined. Now imagine a stage that is so interchangeable and malleable that they were actually able to fill the bottom floor with living trees, fill the hall with smoke machines, and turn the hall into a real life forest for peole to walk around and get lost in. As a former drama kid myself, the possibilities of what you can do with a stage like that begs for a script to be written, a monologue to be recited. It was phenomenal.

I'm literally running out of adjectives to describe my experience in Sydney. I wish I could take each and every person I know there to experience it for themselves. It's been a truly fascinating and awe-inspiring trip to a city that defies description. And I didn't even get to see all of it! I've lost count of how many times I've started a sentence with the words, "The next time we come back here..." because it's true: I WILL be back here. How could I ever stay away?

-d@n

Bridge Climb

So, I meant to talk a little more about the Bridge Climb.

First, some facts (as brought to you by www.bridgeclimb.com but used without permission, so please don't sue me, O you nice Bridge Climb people, you):

Bridge Facts

The Sydney Harbour Bridge may not be the longest steel-arch Bridge in the world, but it is the largest and widest. At 48.8 metres (151.3 feet) wide, the Guinness Book of Records lists it as the widest long span Bridge in the world and until 1967, it was Sydney’s tallest structure.

Here are some more Sydney Harbour Bridge Facts:

The highest point of the arch is 134 metres (440 feet). The pylons are 89 metres (292 feet) high. The Bridge was the highest point in Sydney Australia until 1967.

The longest span of the Bridge is 503 metres (1650 feet). The total length is 1.15km (3770 feet).

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is the fourth longest single-span steel arch bridge in the world, behind Bayonne Bridge in New York, The New River Gorge Bridge in West Virginia and the longest which is The Lupu Bridge in Shanghai.

The Bridge is 49 metres (161 feet) wide, making it the widest single-span Bridge in the world.

The weight of the steel arch is 39,000 tons

It took over eight years to build the Bridge, between July 1923 and March 1932. Planning for the Bridge began as early as 1912.

The Bridge was opened in Sydney Australia on 19 March 1932.

Dr JJC Bradfield, who lends his name to the Bradfield Highway in Sydney, prepared the general design, and is considered the ‘Father of the Bridge’. The detailed design and the crucial plans for the erection process were carried out by the contractor’s consulting engineer Ralph Freeman, who later received a knighthood.

The girders are made from steel (79% imported from England and 21% from Australian sources). The pylons are made of concrete faced in granite, which was quarried near Moruya, 300km from Sydney. Around 6 million rivets and 52,800 tonnes of steelwork and 17,000 cubic metres of granite have gone into the construction of the Bridge.

The approach spans were erected first, then work began on the main arch. Two half-arches were built out from each side of the Harbour. Steel members were transported on barges into the Harbour and hauled into position with creeper cranes mounted on the arches, which built the Bridge out before them as they inched forward.

The two halves of the arch were joined on 19 August 1930, bringing a well needed smile to the face of depression-era Sydney. The road deck was then hung from the arch from the centre outwards and was in place within nine months.

If you want to find the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Google Earth the coordinates are 33°51′08″S, 151°12′38″E.

Ahem....

Some little known facts about the bridge:

It's fricking tall.

To climb up it takes about three hours. A little over 1000 steps all said.

There are only two drinking fountains located along the trek, so hydrate before you go.

Yes, it's a fully functioning bridge so when climbing down the east side stairs at their incredibly steep 20 degree slope while the train rattles your teeth by passing only a foot and a half away from you, you may want to hold onto the guard rail.

Don't bother holding onto the guardrail, you're already hooked in to a harness and a body suit that makes you look like a spaceman so if you're going to die, you're going to die looking like an idiot anyway so you might as well be as badass as you can by proving you don't need to hold onto no pansy-ass guardrail.

Just kidding, use the guardrail. Did I mention it's really tall? As the guide said, at the apex, you are 134 meters or 440 feet or about 4.4 seconds away from the surface of the water. Think about that for a little bit. I'll wait.

When they were constructing the bridge, 16 people died. 6 from falling, the rest from work-related injuries.

There was a 7th person who fell but lived. He was an Irish guy who survived and became a bit of a local hero: some British royals heard the story and actually came down under to say "wow, that's pretty amazing that you're still alive, mate. Have a medal, my son. We're off to tea. Ta!" He broke a leg or two, some ribs, messed his face all sorts of up and went back to work in less than a month because it was the Depression and he didn't want to lose his spot in line for work. He also lived long enough to tell the story to anyone who bought him a pint at the local pub. Mind you, he was Irish so he loved telling that story. He's also where the myth came from about throwing your tool-belt into the water to break the surface tension before you hit the water, thus saving his life. This myth was later busted by Adam Savage and Jaime Hyneman (those bastards!)

There is a raven's nest about 2/3 of the way up the east side that gets buffeted by strong winds all hours of all days for a few years now but raven engineering keeps it completely sturdy. No joke.

Many celebrities have made the climb; from Glenn Close to Teri Hatcher to Prince Harry to Ryan Reynolds to Nicole Kidman to a whole heckuva lot of people. They said that on a slow day the Bridge Climb can have up to as many as two-to-three hundred people climbing up and down that damn bridge.

And the most memorable little factoid that stuck with me:

There are over six million rivets holding the bridge in place. The way the bridge was constructed, there was a job called the "Rivet catcher". When a rivet cools it expands, fitting into the drilled hole and sealing the steel tight enough to maintain its structure for hundreds of years. So the operation went something like this:

On the side strut, a guy would heat a rivet to near melting heat; several hundred degrees of pure heated steel. In the center area, someone would be drilling holes for the rivets to fit into. Once the rivets were heated in a small metal smelting bucket, the guy doing the heating would reach in with a pair of long tongs and fling the wicked hot rivet across the span to a guy who stood there with a catcher's mitt or a thick piece of cloth or tanning hide who would then catch the bullet of scalding-hot death spit-fire quick and place it in the hole for the hammerer to hammer the hell's donut hole into place. At this point, I'd like you to take a very close look at the picture above and pay particularly close attention to the place where the bridge struts meet in the middle of that x-like pattern that criss-crosses the entirety of the bridge. Also remember the bridge is 161 feet wide or so. That's where the rivet catcher would work, on a platform the size of a small rug, in rip-your-face-off fast winds, rain, sun, nighttime, daytime, 16 hours a day or more, for weeks on end. Imagine if you will a pitch black night, standing 400 feet above a relatively shallow bay (the average depth of the harbor is about 13 meters or so), the clanging of metal and the shouts of men and the hammering of steel on steel all around you, standing on an incline over the edge of oblivion as a streak of blistering hot metal is flung at you at whiplash speed where you are expected to actually snatch this little piece of hellfire out of the ether with nothing but a catcher's mitt and the will of God. Now multiply this by Six. Million. Times.

No f-ing thank you. I'd rather starve please.

Yeah, so...

Here's some pictures! Woot!

Hey everybody... I'm in Australia!

Sydney, Australia is a lot farther away than you think it is.

From Seattle to LAX to Fiji to Sydney, all-in-all, takes about a day to get there by plane (layovers included). For those of you who don't think that a day of travel is all that bad, consider this:

The entirety of your trip is crammed in economy class with the rest of the unwashed masses on a flight whose seats are too small to stretch your legs in any direction. You sleep sitting straight up, legs bent 45-90 degrees at all times, head locked in slumped over position for anywhere from 3 to 14 hours at a time, the only salvation of which is sitting in an air conditioner-less sweltering room with a hundred other passengers in Fiji (where it was 77 degrees at 5:00 am and our flight didn't leave for four hours). You eat suspicious looking prepackaged meals and there are never any stewards around when you wake up with dry mouth after sucking down gallons of recycled air somewhere over the Pacific.

This is the part that makes you go "what the fuck are we DOING?!?!?"

The part that makes it all worth it? The skyline of Sydney at mid-day, the Harbour Bridge and the Opera House shining in the midday... clouds? Yes, it was overcast when we arrived. No matter; it was like coming home :)


This is a metropolis the likes of which New York City cannot even begin to compare with. Busy streets filled with absolutely beautiful people. I mean, EVERYONE is someone out of a goddamn catalog. I'm not kidding. The guys are all cut like professional swimmers or rugby players. The women are unlike anything I've ever seen: tan, tall, mostly blond, and gorgeous. Everyone here is very stylish, as if everyone has fashion sense. The variety of shoes alone is enough to make any girl blush with delight.

We're staying in the Central Business District of Sydney, right smack in the middle of downtown in this place called "The Westin". To say this place is "pimp" is to underscore the importance of pimpness. This place is so pimp mack daddy, Snoop Dogg wishes he could room here. It is located at No. 1 Martin Place. The photos I'm going to post on this place don't even scratch the surface, so check out the link to experience it fully. Don't kid yourself into thinking the photos on the website are vanity shots showcasing only the good parts: the whole thing is an incredible sight. Yes, it really looks like this:

http://www.westin.com.au/sydney/





The day we arrived, there isn't much to tell about: we got in, ordered room service, watched an in-room movie, and passed out for 8 hours or so. The next day was much more eventful

We woke to another cool, beautiful, overcast day in the high 60s-low 70s, the humidity at manageable levels (anything was more manageable than Mexico humidity). We had breakfast, (or brekkie as the aussies call it) at an outdoor cafe called Vivo on George St: a latte, some amazing eggs benedict, and an OJ. Then we walked down to Circular Quay (pronounced 'key') where we caught the long version of the Harbour Cruise all the way to the northernmost part of the bay and back with some amazing views of the Opera House and the bridge, Manly Bay, Shark Island, and the rest.





























On the cruise, I learned many things about Australia, but the most interesting bit that stuck with me had nothing to do with the Aussies at all. The Australians set their markers to indicate depths of the bay to avoid reefs and sandbars the same way the Brits do: from the outside in. This is the standard nautical way to mark the waterways in almost all countries save a few, most notably: America. During the War of Independence, the rebels switched the markers causing the Brits (who had conquered the rest of the world with their superior naval force) to run aground forcing the British forces to fight a ground war against an entrenched guerrilla force. The tour guide made a joke about how some people will go so far out of their way to defy their oppressors they will actually drive on the wrong side of the road just to prove a point. I laughed, because it's true.

After the cruise, we stopped by the Argyle Street Market where we got some food and some gelato. The humidity was still a lot to get used to and it was neat to be a part of one of the many street markets that go on in the Rocks, one of the hip neighborhoods of Sydney.




If that wasn't enough, we then went for a Bridge Climb. That's pretty much what it sounds like: a climb up to the top of the arch of Harbour Bridge. Which is.... well, tall is a word that comes to mind. (http://www.bridgeclimb.com/). We got some photos while we were 400 feet in the air at the top of the arch but I will have to post them separately. Sorry.


After the Bridge Climb, Lupe and I ate at a place in the Rocks called the Glenmore Rooftop Hotel on the Rocks, an amazing rooftop pub where the food was insanely good. Go there and try the fish and chips with a pint of Blonde. Fantastic.



















That was Day 2 in Sydney.

Day 3 was a bit slower. We took the bus to Paddington Market, the largest weekend market in Sydney. To be truthful though, I am spoiled by Portland's Saturday Market. Paddington's was a smaller, less eclectic version of P-town's patchouli-drenched, hippie-strewn, colorful, loud, raucous Market. It was fascinating, however, to note the sheer amount of fashion being sold at the market; far more than what Portland's market provides. Every stall was filled with clamoring girls shopping for the latest flow-y dress or sparkly shirt.

After Paddington's we got back and had a spa day: full body massage for each of us. Trust me, after the last two days, we needed it. I signed up for a massage thinking, "Ahh, a nice relaxing hour with some beautiful aussie girl rubbing my sore muscles back into working order while didgeridoo music plays softly in the background. Instead I got Phillipa; a hardened older broad with weathered features and bony elbows which she proceeded to kneed into my underarms like she was digging for clams on the beach. Ow. But soooooo worth it. She worked on my aching body til it hurt, even giving me a hard time when I cried out or moaned too loudly in utter pain and anguish. She was awesome. I guess you have to be a sucker for punishment like me to really appreciate someone like that.

After that, I went to the local comic book store: King's Comics on Pitt Street, a few blocks south. I will also post my pics from that place later on as they are on my phone right now and can't get to them just now. I'll try and blog about them later.

I realize I've crammed a lot into this blog this time around. It's time to take a break from trying to catch up with myself and the desperate attempt at encapsulating all that I'm experiencing right now. For now, I'll just say this about Sydney:

Ya gotta go. This place is un-fricking-real. It's bigger than you imagine. The people are the friendliest, most laid-back people in the world and they take no bullshit. The food is really fresh, really good. The weather is hot but not horribly so. And there is so much stuff to do. Luna Park, the Zoo, the Aquarium, Manly Beach, Shark Island, the Opera House, the Botanical Gardens, the Central Business District, Bondi Beach, downtown, uptown, North Head, South Head, Middle Head, pubs, cafes EVERYWHERE (I kid you not, there's dozens in all directions and the coffee is great), people to see, places to be. Sydney, Australia is by far the coolest place I've been to so far. Luckily, it's only the first place I've been to so far.

More to come.

-d@n

Manzanillo part deux

I meant to write more on Manzanillo while I was there, but the last remaining days have been a blur of activity. I'll start with my first official Mexican fiesta.

So, I mentioned Hector in my last missive. The point of this trip was to accompany his girlfriend Jenn south to meet him in Mexico (where he is from and where he travels to during the holidays to be with family). It's basically because of him that we're here, that we got this kick-ass condo, that we have a reason to leave the country for sandy beaches and warm sun. Thanks Hector! if I didn't already say that enough.

Well, Hector's aunt Rebecca and her husband Fernando invited us over for family dinner on Thursday. We're told that Claudio (their son) will pick us up at 2:00 pm. We're thinking: okay... nice family dinner, home-cooked meal, a language barrier to conquer: alright! We'll go, eat, chat, and be home in time for a dip in the pool before the sun goes down. Oh no. Not here.

What followed was 9 hours of eating and drinking. Oh, and I don't mean we ate, we had a beer or two, then shot the shit for a while. No, there was food coming at us from all angles the entire time. Any time one of us would try and stop the plates and plates of food, they just assumed we were being polite and gave us another plate. Before I could get to the bottom of a bottle of beer someone would whisk in, snag the remains, and replace it with another. And while normally this kind of drinking could easily get out of hand here in the states, in Manzanillo the drinking was paced with every dish, considered part of the meal; an addition to the festivities, not the cause of them. When I vocally refused any more food, Fernando took it to mean that it was time to digest for a few minutes. The solution for this? Tequila. "To help the digestion", he said. He cooked up this concoction I will never forget.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. First, lets talk about the food. From the start: home-made guacamole. And brothers and sisters, you have no idea what guacamole tastes like until you've had home-made Mexican guacamole. Un. Real. Served on tortilla rounds and washed down with beer. Then came fresh salad with honey-mustard dressing, cherry tomatoes, and carrots. Then the grill got fired up as the rest of Hector's family arrived: cousins and second cousins and the like. Then it was paper thin pork chops that literally burst with flavor. After that, it was chorizo sausages, split down the middle and grilled until they were just under-charred. While I have had spicy chorizo before, this was particularly amazing. The sausages weren't scald-your-face-off hot; more like a deep chili-like richness whose flavor didn't decrease with consumption but actually took a few seconds before coming alive in your mouth. After that came quarter-inch thick strips of filet minot, tossed on the grill with no seasoning required. More beer. Then, when we couldn't eat any more, Fernando indicated to me the truck below us and its cache of coconuts in the flatbed. He said (in his broken english), "We'll break those open for our tequila". When I showed that I was a little wary of the tequila, he looked at me very sternly then smiled and explained with hand gestures and Spanish and a few English words that, "We don't drink to get drunk. We're here with family. You are family now. It's okay. Okay? Okay." (A lot of 'okays' that night)

About those drinks:

One cup with ice
Pour in one large shot of tequila (Azul)
Pour in coconut juice til mostly full
Add a dash of fresh salt
Squeeze a bit of lime
Add coca-cola and mix.

Mmm mmm.

It was very hard to say "no more" to such amazing food. I was even more impressed that Lupe tried some of the meat. A bite and no more, but still. They were very persistent and she didn't want to be rude. When they found out Lupe was a vegetarian, they were very cool about it but Fernando went out of his way to explain that the meat was good. "Free range" cows and pigs, slaughtered yesterday on a farm down the street where they fed well and were treated right. By free range, I mean there was a man who owned a cow and a pig that was bought and slaughtered for the sole purpose of our meal. Kinda amazing. Kinda like real food should be. We finished it off with flaming bananas, freshly picked from Fernando's plantation. When we ran out of beer, Fernando called down to some vendor passing by on the street who entered the house, came upstairs, and delivered the beer to our cooler. Beer delivered. When we found out you could get KFC delivered to your door here, we thought that was the coolest thing. Having some guy unload a bucket of beers into your cooler from out of nowhere? This should be an option everywhere in the world. Oh god. So much food.














Fernando took an exceptional liking to me apparently. I think this is just the way men are in this country. They exude machismo and want to show you all they can about their successes while completely accepting you into their life and home as a host. When we joked about how Lupe and I were now homeless because of our travels, he and his wife both scoffed, smiled, and told us that we had a home with them. Kinda warms the cockles, doesn't it? Maybe it was just the 12 year old scotch Fernando insisted I partake of: his personal favorite and an expensive bottle made even more so by the fact that it is imported. They were floored when I drank it straight. They mix with soda water and ice. They couldn't believe I capable of taking shots of it: they just thought it was too strong. Who's machismo now, eh? Hehe.

We finally left around 11:00 or so: full to the brim, exhausted, and ready to sleep. The wanted us to stay the night but we all just wanted to crawl up the stairs of our condo and pass out. If we had known it was going to be like that, we probably could have prepared for it in our dress and luggage, but as it was we we're not expecting anything like that so we finally left. Amazing.



The next day, we made a plan to go and see the sea turtle sanctuary. Savino, our taxi driver extraordinaire, picked us up and proceeded to knock our socks off. The tortugaria was far away past the farmlands further down the coast, so he decided to take us on a tour of Mexico farming along the way. He stopped by a banana orchard, giving us a mini tour of the bananas and explaining how the bananas grow and the industry that supports a good majority of the area. We drove past mango trees and jalepeno farms stopping briefly at a salt flat where Jenn met a new friend: a puppy dog that was lounging around the farm. We tasted pure, freshly harvested salt that had been pulled from their beds only a few hours ago. Unbelievable.

























Then it was on to the turtles. The beach where the tortugaria is located has a fascinating history of its own. In 1932, a tsunami measuring over 20 km high hit the beach and wiped everything on it off the face of the earth. There is still a list of missing persons whose bodies were never recovered. The buildings at the time were made of thatch and wood and no trace of them remain whatsoever. Decades past, very rich people have rebuilt houses made of stone and concrete and amazing architecture there. The beach is one of 7 beaches where the sea turtles return to to lay their eggs. These 7 beaches are 7 of 8 in the world where the turtles return to. There are heavy fines for sea turtle egg poaching, carrying a minimum one year per egg sentence. This is one of Mexico's greatest conservation efforts: protecting and maintaining the ever-decreasing population of sea turtles in the world. They are beautiful creatures, colorful and huge and ancient. We got to hold babies that had recently hatched the day before who were going to be set into the ocean that night. Did you know that the temperature of the day can determine the sex of a sea turtle when it hatches? True story. When the weather is colder, more females are born. When the weather is warmer, it's more males. When the weather is juuuust right, you get lady-boy turtles. Just kidding about that last part.

The tortugaria not only houses sea turtles but some iguanas and even a few crocodiles. Oh, did I mention that our tour guide and information broker for the entire time at the tortugaria was Savino, taxi cab driver extraordinaire? Yeah, the guy knows everything. He spent the whole day with us. On the way back into town, he took us the long way around to a place where a man had been collecting iguanas in his own private open air zoo for 30 years. Huge orange lizards lounged in the branches of trees overhanging a watershed, basking in the hot sun. It looked like something out of prehistoric times. Words cannot describe it.

After all that day, the girls (being girls) still had it in them to go shopping at the mall. I caught a different cab home, swam in the pool, and called it a day. Our whole tourista trip that day? 9000 pesos. That's about $90 American. Between 4 people, that's less than $25 a person. Keep in mind: a cab ride from Vancouver, WA to downtown Portland is over $30.00 for what amounts to a 15-20 minute ride. Plus, I dare you to find a cabbie who will give you the grand tour of anything anywhere, ever!

Our last night together, we went clubbing at some place whose name I cannot, for the life of me, remember. Strong drinks, amazing service, beautiful women, and I danced my ass off. Left the club at 3:30 am or so with some serious hearing loss and quite the hangover waiting in the wings. Awesome.



We left Manzanillo last night and I am currently in a Holiday Inn just outside of SeaTac. Tomorrow, we head to Australia. I still can't believe this is my life now. Crazy.

More soon,
-d@n

MANZANILLO!

Hello from Manzanillo, Colima on the west coast of Mexico. It's a short 6 hour flight from Sitka, Alaska to here where the climate couldn't be more different. I left a frosty 20-something degrees where it was starting to snow and arrived to over 80 degree weather; sweaty and hot, humid and beautiful. With the exception of the crazy lady in front of us at Customs who cursed at us for being tourist trash, the whole arrival at the airport went very smooth.



From the moment we arrived here, I realized I wasn't anywhere I could recognize. Being in a foreign country makes you realize very quickly that the only way you're going to enjoy yourself is to let go of any preconceived notions you have about "comfort" and just adapt. I keep telling myself that if I wanted to be comfortable, I could have just stayed at home. Even so, the condo we are staying at is amazing. La Puesta del Sol is about a five minute walk to the beach, where waves break late and come crashing constantly onto the shore. We are in what is considered "the nice part of town": a relatively private, fenced-in area, with a posted guard. The condo is on the fourth floor, overlooking the pool (which is freezing cold and a total relief at the end of a day walking around in the heat).




The language barrier, the dress, the way people look at you, the way they interact with you... all these things are new and different. And yet there is something universal about seeing people at the grocery store buying dinner with their families or driving through town, listening to music and singing along. Of course, in America, we frown on drinking and driving but here, people pour tequila into cups at the stop lights and pass it to the four people riding in the back of their pickup truck and no one bats an eye. These are subtle differences but, overall, Manzanillo is very much like anywhere else: people getting by, poor folks and rich folks, a Starbucks on the corner.

Speaking of traffic, the streets here are purely all peril, no weakness, full-throttle crazy cakes. Lane changes with no fear, pushing 70 on the residential streets, passing to the middle with no care for solid lines or other cars int he oncoming lane whatsoever. Our driver for the trip so far has been a cab driver named Savino. He is friendly and helpful beyond all measure. When we first arrived, he recommended a very nice restaurant and even offered to wait until dinner was over to take us back to our rooms. He refused t be paid, which was the weirdest thing of all. He pointed out shops and places for us to visit while we were speeding along the main strip through downtown Colima.

The few days we've been here, we have mostly just eaten and lounged. It's not so much travel per se as it is a vacation from our vacation. Sitka for the holidays was fun and New Year's Eve was a blur of laughter, drinking, and dancing around the living room of our good friend Jenn. But there was still loose ends to tie up while we were there as we continue to plan and perfect our ongoing journey across the world and so, here in Mexico, I finally feel like all those things I are out of my control and I can do nothing else but wait to see what happens. Meanwhile, I'll be drinking Margaritas (sooper strong!) by the pool (nice and cold) and soaking in the sun (hot hot hot).