Cain Manor

I saw this post in my RSS feed.   This was an immensely beautiful place - on the top floor in a Museum (?) they had a Cartier-bresson exhibit, which was one of the highlight of my trip.

Things I’ve done too much of -

Worn the same two changes of clothes over and over again

Sniffed my clothes to see if I can wear them again. More often than not, I ended up with a plaque clearing, head shaking “woah.”

Eaten dinner alone. ( I wonder if it’s related to wearing the same clothes over and over again. )

Watched bad, mindless TV in my hotel room. I knew it was time to go when I came across a Fran Drescher (The Beautician and the Beast) movie, and I WATCHED IT!!

Continue reading ‘Notes from my travels..’ »

Buenos Aires
22 February - 24 February, 2005

Once I get back into Buenos Aires, I decide to splurge a _little_ bit on my hotel, thinking I would get a much nicer place. The place I chose is close to the main pedestrian thoroughfare - Florida, and close to many other things, including the presidential palace (the other hotel was near congress.) I walked into the hotel before leaving for Ushuaia to see if it was a nice place, and to make a reservation and the guy behind the counter told me I had to use the telephone to make the reservation. I said I’m not doing it, and left. When I came back to check in, they tried to tell me to use the phone to see if there were rooms. My exact response was “No way.” I’ve never been in a hotel where they couldn’t book you in at the front desk, and I’ve been in a lot of hotels in the last eight months. So they did it for me, after talking to bosses, and finding numbers, etc.
Continue reading ‘Leaving Buenos Aires’ »

18 February - 22 February 2005

I Made It!!

My long - 3:40 hour - flight from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia started at 6 a.m., so I was up and out of bed at 4 a.m., taxi at 4:30 and checkin at 5. On my flight from Lima to Cusco, I had some of the most beautiful scenery I have ever seen, looking at the mountain which were oh so close. On this flight, mainly I got clouds. But landing in Ushuaia was beautiful, if a little bit turbulent. The sky was clear and you could see the mountains in the distance. Very nice. I get a taxi into the city, and the first hotel I picked is full. I notice they had wifi access, so I asked if I could check my e-mail and they obliged. I walked to another hotel, which ended up being rather nice. However they only have rooms for two nights, but it’s good for now.
Continue reading ‘Ushuaia, Argentina - I MADE IT!!’ »

Hello Again,

I am currently in lovely, lovely Buenos Aires. I leave Friday morning (tomorrow) at 6 a.m. for a flight to Ushuaia - AKA the end of the earth, and the end of my trip. It was my original goal for my trip, but that was on my motorcycle. Now, it’s just a good place to go for some hiking.
Continue reading ‘In Buenos Aires’ »

1 February - 14 February

I’ve put of writing about Brazil until today, the 19th of February. I’ve forgotten a lot of what I would otherwise write about, but it’s something that I have to try. We got back from the beach on a Monday afternoon. This was the week of Carnival, which is a different week most years, but celebrated all over the country in a big way. As such, everyone takes the week off, and one day - Tuesday I think, is an official holiday. This made for a much different week than most, since the place was pretty dead, traffic included.
Continue reading ‘Sao Paulo, Brazil’ »

My visit to a Sex Motel.

The first time I found out about these was when I tried to stay in one just as I crossed the border into Mexico. The younger, naive Greg didn’t know that such places existed, but it slowly dawned on him as the puzzled desk clerk in halting english explained it was supposed to be by the hour, and the room was just a little off. Leopard plaid sheets, lotions by the bedside, and porn on TV. Just in case you don’t know, as I didn’t, here is the big difference. Motels, as opposed to Hotels, are designed for one thing, and one thing only - sex. In Latin America, even in affluent families, most young people live with their families until they are married. Most people don’t own cars. Lastly, it’s somewhat acceptable for a successful man to have a (younger) mistress. Where do you go when you want to get busy? Motels.

Continue reading ‘Protected: Motel Visit’ »

Friday, January 28th - Monday, January 31, 2005

Simone has some time off, so we decide to head to her parents beach house for a couple of days in the sun. Our first stop is in the town of Ubatuba. It’s about three hours by car away from Sao Paulo. The road to Ubatuba is pretty nice (remember, civilization.) She’s got a Renault Clio, which is small and cute, like most cars in Sao Paulo. The one problem, at least on the highway, is the engine. It’s got a 1 liter engine. Next time you get 2 liter soda bottle, figure the piston is about half that size, and powering an car, two peopel and luggage. My motorcycle, my 600 pound motorcycle, has a 1150 CC engine (aka 1.15 liters.) I was trying to figure out what the smallest engine in a car is that you can buy in America. I can’t think of any, but I do know the old VW’s were 1600 CC. Going up hills is slow and difficult. On the freeway it sounded like a hamster on Coca Tea when I tried to go the official speed limit (120K/HR.) On the flip side, the car is cute and red.
Continue reading ‘Ubatuba and Paratai, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil’ »

25 - 27 Jan 5
Sao Paulo, Brazil

Tuesday morning I woke up feeling great. I was leaving La Paz, and with it my sickness. I get up somewhat early for a guy without a job, and head down to have my last bit of Coca Tea and write some more observations in my blog.

I order my Tea, and as I’m waiting, who do I see, but Mette and her brother Jesus. You may remember Mette from such post as “Greg and Lou get drunk on Christmas Day” and “Apparently the Inca trail is hard if you smoke.” It was Mette from Cusco. I give her a hug, not knowing she was as red as a lobster from the appropriately named Island of the Sun. We get a table together, and spend some time catching up on her travels and mine. It was very nice - I hadn’t talked to anyone at length (or felt like it) in a long time, and she and her brother are both very nice and easy to talk to. For her massive sunburn (she’s Danish, blonde, and wasn’t wearing suncreen on a lake at 13000+ ft), I recommend a combination of aspirin, Ibuprofen and a ton of Coca tea. But then again, I recommend coca tea for everything.
Continue reading ‘The Sexy Foreigner’ »

25 Jan 5
La Paz, Bolivia

The night before I was supposed to leave I’m having a hard time sleeping - something to do with my having slept for so many hours when I was getting over the very last of my sickness. On TV there wasn’t a lot, BUT, there was a fashion show. I’d seen a few other fashion shows during my time in La Paz, and in Latin America. It’s apparently something they take very seriously. This one wasn’t a lot different, other than the fact it was on public TV in La Paz., which is something like public access TV in Spokane or Yakima. It was very, very funny, and well, it was late, and there wasn’t anything else on, so I watched. And laughed.
Continue reading ‘Last of Bolivia’ »