on the gringo trail

buenos noches amigos! so here i am in Nazca, Peru. finally got my
facebook working after not being able to change the computer over to
English (and therefore having to do some special code to get the
¨at¨sign. huh... and apparently there´s no end bracket either. silly
spanish keyboards. i´ll just make do

lima was pretty good. big busy city mostly, a lot of which stank of
urine and garbage water. blech. but there were some nice, odorless
sights too. the coolest thing was the mist. in the mornings and the
evenings there was a thick blanket of fog that rolled in off the ocean.
so cool.

moving on. we booked our bus to lima which was to depart at 930am. we
hopped in the taxi and said which bus station we needed. with about 10
minutes to spare we pulled up. to the WRONG STATION. sure, it was the
right bus company, but not the station we needed. no one told us there
were two! so we raced rapido rapido to the correct location where we
ran in at 929. no bus to be seen. crap, did we miss it¿ we went to the
ticket booth where the woman just shook her head and said ¨no boose,
cancelado¨. next boose at 130pm. ugh! so we decided to wander away from
the pee air at the bus station and go find a coffee. no problem, right¿
ha! we walked for an hour and a half before finding a coffee. and there
was no milk. 20 minutes later we finally found milky coffee.
unfortunately it tasted like battery acid and was undrinkable.

okee dokee, so 4.5 hours later than planned, we hit the highway. and
here we are in nazca, where i took a nauseating plane ride in a
3-seater cesna to view the nazca lines. we´ve opted to take a day bus
tomorrow instead of an overnighter, seeing as it says the night buses
are sometimes suject to hijackings, violent robberies, or just plain
old fatal accidents. it´s an extra $20 but that seems worth it not to
end up smooshed at the bottom of a cliff.

so that´s it for now. oh yeah, shitty thing happened today. my camera
broke. piece o junk. i was and am upset about that. but what can ya do¿
okay. more later. fingers crossed our bus doesn´t crash. adios
muchachos.

the next adventure

 

it's been a while since i hauled out the ol' backpack. i know i took a month long trip to israel less than a year ago, but that was using a rolly suitcase, so it's totally different.

i'm off to peru tomorrow! in less than 8 hours i'll be on a plane. all packed and ready to go. so organized; usually i'd be scrambling last minute shoving any clean clothes into my pack. but after 10 odd years of traveling, i think i may finally be getting the hang of it. although i'm sure i still overpacked.

ooh, i'm getting excited! not even for the big stuff, like marveling at machu pichu or flying over the nazca lines, or taking a boat through some jungle scenery. nope, i'm excited about all those little things that come before the arrival in lima. like getting tim horton's at the airport and hanging out with those that are there to see us off. and thinking about what i'll do on the plane first. will i do a crossword, read my book, or just listen to my ipod and look out the window? i'm wondering what movies they'll be playing on the flight and deciding whether i'll have chicken or beef.

yep, lots and lots to look forward to. that and a bunch of cool peruvian stuff.

so... i shall update when i can. adios for now!

have i mentioned?

 

i'm going to peru in three weeks. that's right, hitting the ol' dusty trail. grabbing the backpack and being a traveller once more. only for 2 and a half weeks, but still. yippee!! no time to chit chat though, i gotta read my guidebook, surf some recommended websites, and do laps around the living room deciding which of the two pairs of hiking shoes i want to keep.

small steps

 

there are a lot of very overweight people these days, and i admit i have no idea what it would be like to be in their shoes. perhaps i just don't understand how very difficult the simplest of exercises might be for them. but when i see a 300 lb individual taking the elevator down one level, i feel no sympathy for them. i actually feel a bit of disdain. take the stairs for god's sake, it's only one floor! that little bit of exercise would certainly help. put in some effort. one flight! yeesh. you could even try walking UP one flight of stairs on occasion. maybe you'd lose a pound or two and eventually those 30 steps wouldn't be so daunting. is it that strenuous, or are you just lazy?

 

am i insensitive and rude? possibly. do i have a valid point? i think most definitely.

processing the unexpected

 

we go about our daily routines, grumbling about work or the weather or money or people. we forget how precious and tenuous life is.

 

we had an emergency meeting today to tell us that one of our co-workers had passed away suddenly on the weekend. i just spoke to him on friday, our normal banter that i always enjoyed. he was a very nice man, always calm, always friendly. and now, without warning, he's gone. i'm thinking about all that i have to be grateful for. most of all, all the wonderful people in my life. i have a wonderful family, terrific friends, an amazing boyfriend. so much love.

 

my mind is bouncing around, not really settling on one thought. just fragments. i'm thinking of the day michael died. i'm thinking of my mom. i'm thinking of stupid arguments with my dad. i'm thinking of the future with blair. i'm thinking about the life forming in my sister's womb.

 

people touch our lives in so many ways. sadly, it often takes the lack of their presence to appreciate it.

festive green vomit

 

so tomorrow is st paddy's day. i really don't care. oh yay, let's dress in green an drink green beer and get trashed!! wooooooo! why does everyone make such a big deal about this holiday? even if you're not remotely irish! but no no, everyone is suddenly all about the emerald isle and celebrating the splendors of alcohol. stupid. hey, i like booze just as much as the next person (probably more) but i feel irritated by this stupid holiday of dancing leprechauns and novelty hats and inebriated morons shouting to some "i'm 1/64th irish, this is MY DAY!!" bullshit.

 

actually, i think i just feel irritated in general. i don't want to talk to anyone. and given my foul mood, i doubt anyone would enjoy talking to me.

work frustrations

 

ARRRRGGHHHH!!!!!!

travel buggy

 

blair and i were talking about traveling last night and i got all itchy to hit the road again. i know it wasn't all that long ago since i had a month in israel, but i'm ready for another adventure! of course, seeing as i've been so many places, i want to go somewhere obscure. but blair hasn't done much traveling so he thinks picking a destination like uzbekistan or macedonia would be weird. but i love going to the weird places. the places that would make people say "you're going WHERE??" but i'd be content with going somewhere more common. i'd even go back to one of the places i've already been. i just want to go somewhere! i don't know when we'll get a chance though. and i suppose i'll have to be satisfied with the typical 1-2 week holiday. i wonder if i'll ever get the chance to go on extended travels again. are my roaming days at and end??

birthday musings

i don't really have much to muse about, but i've got 25 minutes to kill
before the online jeopardy test begins. yup, i'm an uber-nerd, working
my birthday plans around taking a test for a quiz show. but it'll
totally be worth it when i beat ken jennings' record as all time
jeopardy champ and undeniable trivia guru.

so my birthday has been pretty good so far. both my mom and dad called
and sang me happy birthday this morning, as per long standing
tradition. i had a nice walk to work. i had a good day for calls. i was
taken out for a couple of beers after work. and now i'm waiting
anxiously for the jeopardy test. alex trebek is looking right at me as
the clock counts down. 18:00 minutes to go, eek!

and of course i forgot my glasses at work. i NEVER forget my glasses,
but it's inevitable i would on a day i want them. but now when i fail
miserably i'll just blame it on poor eyesight.

alright, the waiting is driving me bonkers. i'm going to pace around for a bit. wish me luck...

happy new year

so here we are: 2009. time sure is zipping by these days. have i really already had this blog for 4 years?? yikes.

new years was nice and quiet this year. i went for dinner with a whole bunch of good friends, went back and played some board games around the fire, and then my boyfriend and i went back to his place around 11pm, where we played cards and watched the ball drop in NY. it was very enjoyable.

this has been a full year. i think back a year, and it seems so long ago. the newness of my job, the people i was hanging around with, it's quite different now. and what highs and lows this year! the wedding and traveling around israel, michael's death... but i don't feel like reflecting too much at this moment. right now i'm very content with where i am, and i'm looking forward to the potential of this new year. things are going well for me. work is satisfying, i've got a great family and terrific friends, and now to put that extra twinkle in my eye, i've met someone who makes me ridiculously happy and who loves me. yep, life is grand. i think 2009 will be a good year.