| and so it goes... |
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| 12:01am 13/01/2005 |
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when life gives you lemons right? i think this update is more for me, but also for those that think (deservedly so) i'm a slacker for not keeping up to speed with the ol' lj. i should probably write this when i'm in a little better mood and my perspective has the benefit of time on it's hands, but as these things go, you have to portray the moment...
catherine, from around mid november has been planning to move to nashville. my elation is obviously not a necessary component to this story because it's a fricking given. as of wednesday jan. 5th catherine was still moving to nashville. i'd been warned a few days prior that there was a shift thrown into the mix but up until wednesday i had little doubt. thursday the 6th was the bomb. catherine isn't moving to nashville. i can't say a blame her entirely. after a couple months of support from her parents telling her it was a good move and that her ultimate happiness was the most important element to her life, they threw out a sweetheart deal offering her full tuition, expenses, and spending money to stay in new york and finish school. i found this to be utterly rediculous when she first told me and i was crushed/heartbroken, etc. only until i started bouncing the events off other people did i start getting the reaction, "do you blame her?" i don't... and that's good. it is the best thing for her. if she moved, her graduation status would be indefinitely in the air and if she stays she can be done by may '06. again, i don't blame her. there is however this human emotion you can't ignore that stings like a bastard when you know you've been picked over. i feel awful for her, because after all, she did have to make that decision and i know it wasn't an easy one. i hope she is finally able to enjoy such an amazing city like new york with the free time and money she'll have. so... good for her.
so i guess that's my preface. there probably isn't much that will follow in the way of a journal entry, but the rest would be a time consuming stream of conscious drable. know that i have a new job (well as of the beginning of november but when you haven't updated since march lots of things are new) and it's amazing. it didn't help that the week catherine told me about the recent developments was by far the worst week i've had at work since i started. i learned a shit load though so... there's some lemonade for you.
in conclusion, i'm fucking miserable. nothing is stable, i haven't talked to catherine since she told me this, she's having a blast with her sister visiting and hasn't had time to call, i can't stay focused and don't know what i want from all of this, and i fucking lost at bowling tonight... i still had the high score, but i got beat one game... unacceptable. this is me venting.
catherine sent me a blank check to no idea records. if there's one thing that girl knows, it's me. how the hell can i let that go? you don't just get blank checks in the mail written out to the one company that will, not hopefully, WILL make you happy from any ol' girl. i believe that to be love, call me materialistic or call me blind, but knowing somebody that well and then exploiting their weakness that's a good relationship for you. |
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| hello? |
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| 08:17pm 21/03/2004 |
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yeah.... it's kind of coincidental that the last time i wrote in this thing, was two days before i moved to nashville. i think it reflects well what state of my life i'm in. it's one in which i have very little time to write in a journal.... which is sad really. the past few months have been pretty excited and worthy of documenting. so here's the quick update: i moved to nashville, met oogles of people, having a great time, working temp jobs that aren't that fun but pay the bills, started a promotions company with five other people that has taken off and between working full time and that and hanging out i barely have time to sleep which has worn on me. i've seen catherine a mere one time really since i moved. there was a brief jaunt in atlanta for a day before christmas and i went up to new york last month for a well deserved five day trip. fortunately for my sanity she is coming here april 5th for the first time for an entire week and i'm ecstatic. basically my plate is really full... and it's strange being busy and having to worry about getting enough sleep. my entire life up until now has been one big game. and it still is really... all i care to do is play... but there just arne't enough hours in the day. music city six (the promotions thing) is a lot of fun and we're getting huge bands already. it's my first taste of working for myself and it's with great people and friends so it's rewarding from every side. this is all for now.... maybe soon i'll have a nice long real update. i hope everyone who might possibly read this is doing fantastic. |
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| and it begins |
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| 10:15am 21/11/2003 |
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i'm feeling unispired to write anything in this, but as boredom is a greater motivator than inspiration, i shall. lets see, i'm moving to nashville in four days. that's tuesday the 25th. catherine is coming for that one day which just so happens to be my birthday. so we're going to move up, hang out and then go our seperate ways.......... again. i'm excited regardless. on wednesday my parents are picking me up on their way to indianapolis where we'll do the turkey thing at my aunt and uncles. i haven't seen them in a few years... this could be interesting. after thanksgiving i'm coming back to huntsville to hang out with my friends in town and play our annual thanksgiving saturday tackle football game (the last time i played... two years ago because i missed last year due to chile... we played in a tornado. literally. the park we were at even had the sirens blaring. the cops came to tell us to stop being idiots and get out of the storm... that we were about to die.... doing this through a bullhorn as they didn't dare get out of their squad car. they realized we were ignoring them and drove off.... only after watching the game for a little while. it's times like those that make annual football games legendary... sorry that was a long side story). then sunday the 30th i'm out of htown for good.
huntsville has been pretty boring and i've been tired a lot from cramming hang out/bar time into a work schedule. i'm looking forward to this weekend very much though. catherine is coming monday night. oh, and she got a job, so if you see her online congratulate her and tell her you are releived she doesn't have to sell a kidney. |
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| sigh |
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| 08:02pm 26/10/2003 |
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music: pretty girls make graves - the new romance
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rollercoster. i went to new york a couple weeks ago to visit catherine. it was incredible. everything was great. i had a blast, got to see the city finally... my first time ever... catherine is gorgeous and as amazing as ever. spent some time with my friend ryan and his brother and sister. got to see pete and elizabeth in from philadelphia for a weekend as well which ruled. really an amazing time all together. but it ended bad. it ended awful in fact. i'm not going to delve, but i can't imagine a worse time for something bad to happen. i think we're getting through it.... but she's been really busy the past few days and we haven't been able to talk much since i left. i hope this is one of those things that once we talk it out we realize it was either nothing or a miss communication or something like that. i'm still a bit confused on the whole ordeal. it's really just too bad something happened on the last night i was there... it makes me not want to do anything but go right back up there and hug her. long distance relationships are easy until somebody's feelings get hurt. and nothing feels right again until you see them again. thankfully i at least know that i'll be seeing catherine over thanksgiving and my birthday in late november. if i didn't know when i'd see her again i'd probably implode. but yeah..... new york was amazing. catherine's apartment rocks, it was so nice just to talk to her and hang out with her and hold her hand. i'm secretly hoping for a freak occurance that puts one of us in the other's respective city for good. we shall see shant we?
nashville's looking more and more like a soon coming reality. i'm shooting for before the week of thanksgiving. work a few more weeks in huntsville, then just go. really, i should be there already but i had to pick between seeing catherine and moving as both are extremely expensive. i think i made the right choice. |
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| what's next? |
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| 07:03pm 07/10/2003 |
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music: forever is not a wish demo
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i'm leaving tomorrow for nashville. i just realized i haven't planned this out at all. i don't have a place to stay for sure yet.... and i just found out that the person i was planning on staying with the whole time is going out of town this weekend, but i can't get in touch with him to see what i'm supposed to do. i'll call erin. and i'll call jessica. all is well. ummmmm. i'm getting a hair cut tomorrow. it's going to be wicked sexy.
did anybody watch monday night football last night? that was unbelievable. i always enjoy watching tampa bay lose.... especially in the greatest comeback in nfl history. in other football news. WAR EAGLE!!!
oh yeah, and i kind of got kicked out of my house and am probably moving to nashville without a job the first week of november. good times. |
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| a boring update for a boring life |
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| 12:49pm 01/10/2003 |
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music: Small Brown Bike - The River Bed
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still in huntsville hanging out. i've been able to get away on repeated weekends which is really nice... but i haven't been home to relax and more importantly save money on a weekend in like a month. but i am staying here this weekend as much as i'm dying to go to auburn and hang out with everyone. i bought a plane ticket to new york to see catherine a couple days ago. that is something to be excited about. i'm leaving on oct 13th... so hot. i'm flying out of nashville, so i'm going up to nashville on wednesday to hang out, do some job crap, and then fly out. i'm trying to figure how i can do this for the least amount of money.
this week i have ended my resistance to things that i have deemed worthy of resisting. i joined friendster, and today i'm getting a cell phone. funny... the apocolypse didn't come this morning either.
i got a new pair of jeans in nashville a couple weeks ago and they are hot. that is all. |
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| keepin on the keep up |
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| 05:44pm 07/09/2003 |
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damn stagnation. not much has been going on in my life. this weekend was pretty cool though. my last friend in huntsville that i grew up with just moved. that leaves me to either make new friends or get to know the ones i'm not that close with a whole lot better. this weekend was a little of column A and a little of column B. last night was creeping me out. i went to some crusty punk rock party. i knew a copule handfuls of the poeple there, but a lot of them i had never seen in my life. then some girl threw a beer bottle at this car because she said they tried to hit her, and these guys turned around and came after everyone with baseball bats... that got resolved one way or another. then this other kid got really messed up and tried mutilating himself and his girlfriend just punched him in the face. and these otehr girls then went after her. then some old crusty's car got stolen from the street. it was bizarre. i haven't felt that uncomfortable in a while. i'm quite ready to get out of this town. somebody had better call be back about a job in nashville. i'm sick of hiring people saying how excited they are to meet me and how i sound like a great fit, and then never hear from them again. that gets a little old really fast. i've been thinking about auburn a lot lately. i've been thinking about how i love it and want to be a part of it again. at least just fricking visit. anyway, i just wanted to update because i'm not sure if this thing goes inactive if you don't update in a while. right. three cheers to my life. |
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| you've been away from me far too long |
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| 02:37am 18/07/2003 |
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music: thrice - the artist in the ambulance
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i have nothing to write about at all. i haven't updated in quite some time. i wish i'd be compelled either by boredom or inspiration to write when something noteworthy happens. but alas, i'm left to play chess with my whitts and lose on both ends. and so it goes. dude... the new thrice... holy hell fire... it's going to rip the music world a new asshole. politically fueled professional hardcore on a major label. they've got it, and every man woman and child will want it. and so it will be.
this is what i need: a job, a car, lots of money, catherine for once in the same country as myself, and all my friends all the time. is that too much to ask?
speaking of friends. i went to my friend kevin's bachelor party this past weekend. talk about your all time best beach trips. there were like 18 guys... and... no girls... all weekend, paid for or otherwise, we pretty much didn't talk to any or fraternize with any females the entire weekend. it was just good ol' beer pounding, sports playing, sun burning, condo trashing good fun. it really was one of the best trips i've ever been on. all those guys are so amazing. i can't believe after all these years since we all started hanging out eons ago, that we're still as close as we are and can put our own individual lives on hold for a few days and act as if there's nothing outside of our sphere of debauchery. it rocked like rock tends to do.
sigh. |
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| why i love huntsville |
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| 03:55pm 14/06/2003 |
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music: after the fall - damage and repair
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because the local public branch library has punk rock shows.
the craziest coincidence of my life happened last night.
coincidents number 1
courtney (my sister): hey billy, i just found out about a show at the library tonight. it's my friend's new band from chicago.
me: yeah, i'm down.
at the show....
me: why do these guys look so familiar? hey... why do these guys look so familiar?
coincidence number 2
friend: i don't know. they used to be logan's loss.
me: no fricking way. those guys stayed at my house last summer in auburn. i didn't even know they had a new band.
after the show...
me: hey... (at this point still uncertain if i'm going insane) did you guys play auburn last summer? who'd you stay with?
tj (of divide by zero): yeah. we stayed with eric's friend billy white.
me: that's me.
everyone: no fucking way.
coincidence number 3 is the fact that coincidence number one and two were intertwined between a brother and sister and two old bands becoming one new band and the brother and sister having those people in common and not knowing it.
the rest of the evening was spent getting sloshed at their hotel. i felt bad because they didn't get paid other than donations... and there was three touring bands... and they had to pay for a hotel. ahh, if only i had a house to lend. my sister and i both ended up sleeping in their van... as 24 people (those on the tour) crammed into two rooms... because... we sure as hell couldn't drive. i got sick when i woke up. enough of that type of drinking.
i took some pictures at the show. my first "band shots." it's weird... i'm so stupid looking walking around with my camera now. i can't help it though. i like its comfort. i messed around with the settings just to play around and see what comes out. hopefully something. |
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| therapy at 33 revolutions per minute |
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| 04:12am 12/06/2003 |
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i think if i'm ever in a position to write a disertation for a doctorate, i hope i've chosen a path in my education that allows me to compose a thesis of the history of music and dance. i will call it "dance party with" subtitled (why my feet move). i find it facinating that (other than sending oxygen to their brain) the only universal attribute human bodies have in common is that at some point in their upright existance, their legs jolt and their hips swerve and head swings by its neck to the beats of music. i mean... is it really that big of a coincidence that the accompanying textbook to christian faith, believe in it or not it's impossible to deny it's importance, has a section of psalms... and a whole nother book for hymns. i mean... jesus broke it down. i'm just saying i think it's a crime that music and it's affects don't have a higher standing in our soceity, in our formal education, and our daily lives. the least they could do is jazz up the pledge of alegiance. put a beat behind it. maybe switch it up so people don't get sick of it. or maybe we should just have a national bass line. maybe i should shut up as well. anyway........
in similar news, i've missed a solid 9 months of new music and up coming bands and local dive shows and road trips to venues in other towns... so i need help. everybody suggest five releases new or old... preferably new, that i absolutely must have.
the only things i've bought so far:
blood brothers - burn, piano island, burn
cursive - ugly organ |
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| who's ready? |
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| 01:31am 29/05/2003 |
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i'm coming home tomorrow. well... i'm leaving for home tomorrow. i don't actually get home-home until like the 8th, but regardless, i'm fricking excited. so lets talk about peru and bolivia, shall we? peru as a country is a bit on the depressing side. it's my first expedition into a true third world country... and how, even though i didn't see anything there that i haven't seen in santiago, the scale of proportion of those in poverty is far greater than i've witnessed. as disheartening as that was... i tried not to let it invade my being, and focused on the fricking unbelievable incan empire. holy shit cakes! machu pichu... the pictures are true folks... it's unfrickingbelievable. we spent 8 hours just sitting and staring from the stepped hills at the spectable below us. no kidding... a full school day staring. we played spades for a bit, but other than that just stared. i'm not really going to go through details of the rest of the trip. i definitely much more enjoyed the previous trip to the south because we weren't worried about being in the next place or where we were going to stay or what we were going to see... just kind of winged it. this trip we had a very concrete itenerary and we most certainly had to be in certain places at certain times. we went through a travel agent which was admittedly nice because we stayed in all these posh places (granted posh for peru and bolivia isn't exactly even up to motel 6 standards... hot water is a luxury, cleanliness is optional, and television is non-existant). ironically the first place we stayed in fit the opposite description. it ruled. not only did it have a tv... but cable at that which kept me wide awake watching mtv latin america's version of 120 minutes. and holy god was it amazing. here's a list of some of the videos i saw.
glass jaw - ape dos mil
johnny cash - hurt
hot rod circuit - ...
taking back sunday
hot hot heat
hot water music - remedy
placebo
and tons more rocking videos... why isn't my brain working?
yeah... i'm getting satellite tv so i can get this fricking channel. it's amazing how good a music video channel is when they play music videos. anyway... i shouldn't really be talking about mtv in my recapping of peru and bolivia... but man alive... it ruled. the rest of the places we stayed and things we saw paled in comparison to both the first hotel and machu pichu respectively. but they were still cool. bolivia was pretty rockin'. i like that place a lot even though it's probably poorer than peru. but in bolivia, i think from my brief perspective, people are more indian in their roots and don't much have a taste for western culture that has made haste of other countries throughout latin america. people are wonderful and at ease and content with living on floating read islands on lake titicaca without ever traveling to the main land. in fact... this one traveler on our boat out to the islands (take the single old woman love affair with her cat stereotype and apply it to a man with a small dog), when bringing his dog onto this floating island... ok, i have to explain this. i'm sure your'e like... floating island? alright billy lay off the crack. but these indians have been living on reed islands ever since the incas. yes... they weave and mold individual woven matts out of the lake reeds and piece them together to form giant islands. they build their houses and their boats all of the same reeds in stylish fashion i must say. but yeah... this guy brought his dog with him to the islands and all the little kids were freaking out because they'd never seen a dog before. craziness. all the backers (that's matt's last name... his dad and twin sister where with us for the trip) got stricken by some awfully evil peruvian bug in the food. i don't understand it because we all ate the same things. dr backer got hit worst. and to get better he didn't eat (literally) for three days. matt i think was pretty bad off too, but that kid is tough as nails and didn't show much other than hearing him puke or lying down and groaning in bed. jenn and i were unscathed, but two days before we left, she got hit and got hit hard. i however remained standing. i'm not sure why... but i'm pretty pleased that i am. good ol' iron gullet. keep on keepin' on my friend. my beard got totally out of control. it was awesome. but i was definitely ready to shave it off this morning. i took some good pictures with my peruvian scarf and bolivian tobagon sporting the beard... hopefully they come out as i looked in the mirror. like a strange scandinavian burley beast that doesn't exactly know how to dress in society. pulling into la paz, bolivia we saw the remnants of a man that got hit by a bus. it was only the second dead body i've ever seen. the first in a good ten years. it has haunted me every moment since i've witnessed it and are hence having a very difficult time with mortality and death and life in general, etc. i think i need to be more comfortable with death. maybe i should give those concepts in religion another go. off the subjet... i'm ready to come home. in 36 hours i will be so. with catherine... thank god for her. and then to hilton head then to lexington, VA then to atlanta then to cheaha state park then to huntsville... real home, all in one week. life is way to kind to me to allow me to be so foolish and have so much fun. but reality will strike soon enough when i begin the all mighty job search. somebody find me a job in nashville... stat. i really want to live there. i think that's all. i'm going to call my parents now as i haven't converced with them in some two weeks... check out the home front, you know?
books read on the trip:
catcher in the rye (for the third time since i left for chile)
slaughter-house five or the children's crusade - the second time i've read it... but for some reason i got a different perspective from it... which was beautiful because now i love it and kurt vonnegut even more. anti-war books get thumbs up.
the good earth - ahhh the classics are classic aren't they? a good story never goes out of style.
that is all for now. i can't wait to see all of you. and this time knowing i'm not going to be across the world any time soon is quite comforting. until we meet again... |
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| i'm searching for a heart of gold |
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| 05:08pm 08/05/2003 |
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mood:  good music: hot water music - live at the hardback
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that's for you walt. about a week ago we arrived back to santiago. it took about five hours to realize that this city had nothing else to offer me. i'm ready for a change. but... only three weeks from that point and we'd be off to peru and bolivia, only to return from that and head home... but three weeks... in santiago. it would kill me. a couple days after sheer and utter bordom i found my self wide awake laying in bed challenging matt to give me one good reason to wake up that morning. yes... i'm a big fat giant lazy baby, i know this, but that doesn't solve my dilemma. "write a book." although he meant it in the most sarcastic terms possible, it struck a chord. so i started writing. i've written for fun before... and it is that... fun. but i've never committed myself to a story. it's been my daily filler and therapy all in one. i don't even dislike santiago all that much anymore. it's incredible. i suggest writing to everyone. i suppose this is one form of it... this whole online journal thinga mer gig. which is nice... because that gives me something to do for a few minutes each day. anyway, i don't know what the whole point of this was... i guess solely to document my excitement in discovering the complexities and enjoyment of writing out a story.
kate, i can't read dostoevsky with you now because... well, i'm in south america and it's not so easy to find english translations of russian novels in spanish speaking countries... but i'm reading tropic of cancer right now by henry miller... you could check that out and then we'd be on teh same page. literally. |
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| this is me venting |
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| 03:19pm 06/05/2003 |
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mood:  frustrated music: saetia - a retrospective
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auburnrock is killing me. the year i had commited myself to it is almost over, all i have to do is give the domain name to somebody else and my ties are cut from it. i was really hoping to do so with the comfort of a thriving scene behind it... but alas, i've been getting handfuls of emails lately from out of town bands looking to book shows in auburn... auburn for godsake... how they heard about this place i'll never know, but they did... and to my horror, i can't find a soul to book shows. nobody will have a house show, nobody will look for a space, and nobody will even book. ahh well. here's to giving up. |
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| travel log |
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| 03:59pm 03/05/2003 |
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ok, this is the last of it.
day 23 - april 27
today could be looked at in two ways. one, a gorgeous full day in comodore rivadavia, or two a 14 hour layover in some oil town in argentina. really it felt like both... probably because it was. as it was sunday (recall what i had said about things being open in patagonian argentina and multiply by ten for a sunday), there wasn't much for us to do. we pretty much just wandered aimlessly for a few hours until we discovered a 24 hour internet cafe charging a mere 70 cents an hour. glorious... there goes two hours passed. we went to the grocery store and bought some hot lunches and went to eat them near the port. as it was starting to get pretty hot in the sun, we switched gears and wondered over to a shaddy park to cool off and read and waste some more time. the rest of the afternoon was wasted walking around and visiting the internet cafe... again. we found a chinese buffet for dinner to our complete delight... the first of the sort we've seen in south america. unfortunately it was down right not good. but at least we got really really full. then back to the bus station for another overnight bus to bariloche. something is wrong when 12+ hour bus trips are becoming routine. lets raise our glasses and give three cheers to traveling.
day 24 - april 28
we pulled into bariloche around noon. it's a pretty nice resort town in the argentine andes with a pretty lake and all. we waked aimlessly for a bit before we settled on a hotel (yes a hotel... we declared bariloche a vacation from our vacation so we're splurging). found a place to eat and headed back to the hotel for a nap. we woke up to go catch a movi... two weeks notice with hugh grant. nothing like a chic flick for two guys who haven't changed or shaved in three weeks. it wasn't so bad either... and with the ticket only being about 2 bucks, why not? we mosied down to the hotel again afterwards to embibe in the spirits we had purchased previously in the day. something about cheap beer and wine just kind of makes you tired. we didn't even make it out of our room for dinner, choosing rather to get deep down in our covers and watch some mtv latin america... which puts it's u.s. birth parent to complete shame in quality. growing very, very... sleepy.
day 25 - april 29
woohoo... travel day! back to santiago none the less. we got on our bus that arrived an hour late going to osorno back in chile. they showed 'meet the parents' on the bus... easily the best flick we've seen while traveling by bus. once in osorno we walked the town while we waited for our overnight bus to santiago, ironically grabbing a bite to eat next door to the terminal, as we walked 45 minutes in the other direction looking for an eatery. then back on a bus... an overcrowded, two babies screaming, one fat guy snoring, an old man caughing up a lung, 12+ hour bus ride. but it's our last one, so i'll look at it with pleasan sentiments.
day 26 - april 30
the only traveling we did today was the ten minute subway ride from the santiago bus station to our apartment. it's overcast, wet, and chilly. i've never seen santiago anything but clear and bone dry... it's kind of sureal... like... am i really back in santiago, or is this just another town i'll be passing through? but our apartment confirmed being in the correct city. everything just as we left it... a complete mess... plus crap loads of dust because we left our patio door open. oops. ah well, home sweet home. |
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| ok sorry guys |
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| 06:24pm 27/04/2003 |
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ok... i'm not expecting anybody to read all of that, but it's just my travels from the last three weeks or so. i'm killing time today so i just went ahead and transcribed my travel log onto my online journal. so... sorry for the flood, but if you're that bored and want to read it, be my guest. cheers.
love b |
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| travel log |
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| 06:00pm 27/04/2003 |
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day 19 - april 23
how these days get longer and longer, i'll never know. we shucked out of our vagabond suits around 8am and realizing that the electricity we had enjoyed the night before was no longer with us, walked back down to the raod to wait for that ever elusive bus. of course the 9 o'clock bus didn't come, so we sat in the administration building quite alone until around 2 when a bus (not our bus mind you) came by and were kinde enough to pick us up to transport us somewhere else... anywhere but that damn administration building. it ended up taking us to another bus which then took us back to puerto natales and out of the fricking park! once in puerto natales again we checked into our hostal, returned our rental equipment, used the internet, got some pizza and beer, bought some wine and cookies, and called my parents and catherine (guess who didn't answer their phone again?, all in one swift swoop and called it a day... oh and we bought a bus ticket to el calefate, argentina leaving tomorrow morning at 6:30 to see the mareno glacier. sounds fairly preductive if you ask me.
day 20 - april 24
ok, things are getting a right bit rediculous. literally... the days just keep getting longer. for some reason after hopping on our 6:30 bus, i wasn't that tired, and took the six hour trip from puerto natales to el calefate as one giant thinking session. of the things i figured out was a mental blue print of my dream house... yes, strange, i know. a bit before we arrived this nice french girl named jo struck up a conversation with me and we swopped war stories the remainder of the trip. she has an inside tip on a place to stay, so we teamed up and made our way to the hostal. and of all the damned hostals, in all the damned cities, and even all of the damned rooms of said hostels, we walk into one hosting none other than thomas (our australian friend)! unbelievable. i was beginning to wonder when our first small world traveling experience would occur. inquiry solved. after catching up for a bit, jo, matt, and i bought some ingredients for lunch and had one big happy meal of down right delicious pasta. we had decided to try and rent a car to head over to the mareno glacier tomorrow. for three people the price is about the same as the bus would take... and not ten minutes after lunch an irish bloke going by ron hopped on the idea with us which took the price way down per person. score. we then all went out car shopping and then grocery shopping for dinner, deciding on argentinian steaks all around. the night was passed around a small but intimate kitchen gabbing the hours away over a hearty meal and a couple of bottles of wine. so here's to new friends... and to waking up at 5:15 tomorrow. damn.
day 21 - april 25
ok, this is the last time i'll say it, i promise, but holy crap what a long day! but in all fairness it really has been the longest day so far... by hours anyway.so we all actually really did wake up at 5:15 and after a surprisingly high spirited morning cup of tea, we were out the door by 6. before we even made it five feet, our iddy biddy car got stuck in the mud. no worries. ron and i got out and the thing was so light it took nearly no effort to get it out of danger clear away. we drove the hour and a half to the glacier, and when we arrived it was still dark, so we sat in the car and ate crackers with dulce de leche (the most amazing... condiment i guess? ever!). we watched the sun rise... a gorgous one at that, over the glacier affording us our first view of the golieth of natural wonders. in the dark we could hear the shotgun blasts of ice chunks breaking off the glacier sending chills through our bodies... but once seeing it in action, it starts to make sense... it's just so damn big. again, i'll refer to photos for explenations... but i know they wont do it any justice. having a car was great though. jo, ron, and ourselves jsut went wherever we wanted... on any whim. freedom at it's finest. we kept the car, as it wasn't due back until 9 at night. so we headed straight to our bunks and all crashed for a few hours, getting ready for the evening. once mobile again (ron didn't quite make it to mobile status), the three of us went bus and sunset hunting. jo found a bus to puerto madrid on the coast as we opted for the two night trip to bariloche to go ahead and get ourselves north. we then took our car... it's so rad to say "our car"... beautiful... anyway, we then took our car in search of a nice pearch for the sunset, finding just the right place, coincidentally in the dining room of another hostel. we had a round of coffee to watch of the sunset, and sure enough, it went down. next we had to say goodbye to "our car" and return it, but first we dropped jo by the grocier to fix something for dinner as we took care of the auto-goodbye's. matt and i checked our internet , bought five liters of beer (after all it is friday night...) and when we got back to the hostel, jo had already started on dinner, as ron had already started on beer. a delicious meal and a good five hours later (and five liters as well) we were drunk and a lot closer to our new friends. days like these that make you feel right proud to be alive.
day 22 - april 26
a simple day all and all. jo was up first as her bus left at noon. so she offered to go to the store and get stuff for breakfast. there was another girl in our punk last night as well who we had briefly met last night from idaho who was studying in buenos aires. we talked with her for awhile until jo came back... late, so she was in a major rush, resulting in very rushed goodbye's... which is probably the best way to say bye anyway. for lunch, matt and i decided to eat steaks... again, the third day in a row. i mean, we are in argentina. we got a little ambitious on our piece selection as our combined steak weigh was over a kilo (that's about 2.3 lbs). we were actually running behind ourselves so we were forced to rush our chewwing... which, with 18 ounces of meat in front of you is no easy feat. we made it to our overnight bus going to comodore rivadavia easily enough and that was about the extent of the day. except i started putting the blue prints for my dream house from my head to paper, well, napkins really. |
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| 05:42pm 27/04/2003 |
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day 16 - april 20 (easter)
our alarm went off at 6:55 this morning. we planned on waking early to climb to the torres del paine lookout about an hour straight up from camp in time for sunrise. the alarm wasn't really needed as we were weide awake and freezing our asses off. when we turned into our tent last night it was already freezing (31 degrees)... and that was only at like 9pm. today we heard reports that it got as low as 20. either way it was pure misery. but anyway, the hike to the top was brutal, like i said, straight up. we left our sacks and everything in the tent so we weren't even carrying anything. the top was unbelievable though. i guess they don't make insanely difficult paths to places with crappy vistas. i wont even meddle with my inabilities of expression to convey the pure aw i felt looking over what was in front of me, but that's why we took lots of pictures. we were of the first in our camp to reach the summit, so we were subsequently the first to head back down the three hours of backtreking we needed to do to meet the path that would take us to our next campsite. after breakfast and packing up we had 7 hours of hiking in front of us and that's after the two we already did at sun up. with quite a bit of manpower and grunt work we made it in exactly 5... though the cold rain that fell throughout the last three hours and continues to do so now was a bit trying. there's this really nice refugio at this campsite that people without tents, or those just not brave enough to bare the elements can stay the night with hot meals and the sort. matt and i just mosied on in and made ourselves comfortable around the wood stove to warm and dry up. we then retired to our campsite and with few events following set up and had a nice bowl of soup. a rediculously long day all and all, but very rewarding none the less.
day 17 - april 21
what a tough day. were up and at em at the butt crack of dawn again this morning. we made the two hour trek from one camp to the next. it was by far my least favorite trail so far. only really because it was cold and wet and my jeans got soaked, but also because it was rocky and similar view oriented. after taht short morning jaunt, we set up camp so we'd have a place for our junk as we prepared to tackle the 3000 foot incline of today's hike. it was definitely trying all together. we did impravise quite a bit however. after a couple of grueling hours of incline we accidentally got off the path and then climbed another grueling hour or so more up more slopes. we didn't find out until later on our decent that the real trail was perfectly flat. oh well.... really it sucks for the people that confined themselves to the trail because matt and i's detour rocked. our views were spectacular and the hiking more enjoyable, not to mention we were so high up that we got to hike in loads of snow, and that's always good. the weather broke just enough in just the right places so we could capture everything dead on. the hike back was basically a speed trek, just rying to make it back to camp as fast as possible. at one point though, we came to a tricky bog and i slipped and went knee deep... no kidding, all the way to the cap... into mud. talk about a morale buster. we made it back and i washed my jeans half naked in the glacial river, but afterwards warmed up in my sleeping bag and made a nice dinner with manuel, our italian friend who so far is the only one to keep up with us from the original group. after dinner some other campers had started a fire so we joined them for a few hours to fend off the cold... and then to bed.
day 18 - april 22
what a fricking long day. we allowed ourselves to sleep in until 8 this morning because we assumed that the suggested time for hiking ahead of us (7 hours) would only take us 5 or 6 tops based on our previous hikes. man were we wrong. despite our olympic pace we still didn't make the first leg in the suggested two hours. the rest of the day was similar except for the terrain that was almost all flat... which was a great thing because my feet were ripped up to hell and back. after a very long and very exhausting (although i must say i couldn't have dreamed of a more beautiful) day, we reached the administration to wait for our bus that would take us back to puerto natales. guess what... our bus never came. at sundown we were left shelterless without any information at all. matt went out to look for a place to either stay or camp while i stood roadside waiting for a bus i knew would never come. luckily matt returned with amazing news. he had stumbled across an unlocked abandoned refugio not far away with electricity and water and everything... there were even mattresses on teh floor upstairs. jackpot. we went in and made ourselves at home and are currently warming our sleeping bags up for undoubtedly the best nights sleep in a while. |
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| 04:54pm 27/04/2003 |
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day 13 - april 17
things are a little hazzy again about today's events. i slept in until 11. we ended up sharing our room with two british girls... my first coed bunking situation i can think of. all went well. we walked down to the duty free zone to buy some more stuff for our near future camping expedition, but our half our treck proved for not, as every store was closed for lunch or something. we took a colectivo back to the hostal where i plopped myself down in front of the television for the rest of the afternoon while matt went up to the room for a nap. we went with thomas to the same restaurant we ate at last night, had a couple rounds, and a meail and went back to the hostal stopping off at a bottle store for some pisco. we capped off the night in the same manor as we did last nby hanging around the common room and making friends with a bottle inbetween us.
day 14 - april 18
argh! talk about your all time worst days. some how or another, without drinking all that terribly much, i think i got alcohol poisoning. damn pisco! my body woke me up right when the alaram went off at 7:30 to go praise the porcelon gods to start the day off right. we were waking up so early because we had to catch this 8:30 bus to puerto natales. i ended up throwing up the entire bus ride, more or less dry heaving for the last few times. probably about the worst three hours of my life (or close to anyway). we found our hostal in puerto natales and proceeded to lay in bed without moving until the sun went down. finally i found some strength to run our errands and get a bite to eat. i tried calling catherine once we returned to the hostal, but to no avail. it's weird going so long without talking to her... and it's going to be at least another week.
day 15 - april 19
if yesterday was hypothetically in my top three worst days ever, then today more than made up for it. we were on the bus to torres del paine national park at 7am sharp, the whole gang of us got on rather laxidasically, but i'd imagine the gang, but only speaking for myself woke up rather quickly while pulling into the landscape that hosts this indescribable park. from teh administration building we teamed up with thomas (our aussie friend) and two italians, sylvia and pablo. the hiking was good and challenging and on a few accounts we remarked "oh c'mon, now mother nature is just showing off." if that gives any indication of what it was like. probably not, but that's why we took so many pictures. we got to camp pretty early and set up for the night. the campsite is shaded and cool, well, cold really. it does just fine though. as the sun went down, the five of us and our new friend manuel, also coincidentally from italy, all collected firewood fo rthe evening. by night's fall there was a nice fire and comfortable seats. the remainder of the evening was spent passing around food and drink and talking in three languages. now it's time for bed. i hope this sleeping bag is comfortable because it's already below zero. |
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| 11:34am 27/04/2003 |
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day 10 - april 14
tiger kept waking me up last night by licking my face or just jamming her whiskers into my neck. lucky for her she's as cute as a button so i let it slide. the night was also semi eventful because it rained throughout the duration of darkness. more our less our first encounter of the sort. after we had our cup of coffee to face the day, we waited outside of our hostal for teh bus that would take us to perito mereno across the border into argentina (while doing so skipping more rocks down an overflooded drainage ditch). we went through customs into argentina rather routinely and once in perito mereno walked down the lonely main drag looking for the airline office that would get us to el calefate. bad news, apparently they don't make the flight "every" wednesday, just "some" wednesdays. booooooo. dejected we found a place to stay, went through our potions, and went back to walk the town. none of the restaurants were open and the internet cafe here (allegedly), we couldn't find evidence that it even existed. again dissappointed, we turned to the bottle, buying two liters of beer and some crackers to hold us over until dinner. the tenador libre (all you can eat meat buffet) that was saw earlier but was closed, wasn't even a tenador libre when it opened. but not finding another place to eat, settled on their chicken plate. after dinner we solemly walked back to our hotel and called it an evening. once nice hting about argentina is that it's cheap as hell... but in perito mererno, that's all we can find going for it so far.
day 11 - april 15
an interesting day at the least. perito mereno proved to be just as horrible in the morning and early afternoon as it was yesterday. after an uncomfortable night's sleep, we were both a bit uneasy, and would have really enjoyed an ounces worth of entertainment in any form before we had to get onto our bus to comodore rivadavia at 3:40. instead, we couldn't even find a place that served food for lunch, and despite seeing extensive signs for that internet café, we hunted up and down the nameless streets to no avail. we found ourselves at the bus terminal eating prepackaged lunches a good three hours before our bus. one things consistant about patagonia so far, is that people really aren't that friendly. you can throw everything you've learned about small town hospitality out the windwo down here. oh, and also nothing is ever open. ever! our bus stopped switch buses in this town coleta olivia (i think). we had a 45 minutes lay over so we went inside the terminal and noticed some buses this evening still leaving for rio gallegas (a town way down douth that we need to get to, to continue our travels). as our connecting bus that we were waiting for was taking us to a town north of coleat olivia, we decided to forfeit the ticket we had going to comodore rivadavia and opted for an overnight bus to rio gallegas. basically southern argentina is just a bunch of oil towns that you don't want to be in. this way we don't have to be in them any more than we have to... and we save the expense of a nights stay somewhere on the atlantic coast... yes, did i mention? we're on the atlantic coast now. i guess i haven't really written about whate we're being forced to do, but since our flight from perito mereno to el calefate (a gateway to torres del paine) was non-existant, we were forced to travel the only roads in patagonian argentina all the way to the east and now to the south... along the atlantic coast. impressive, eh? i just hope i can fall asleep on this damn bus.
day 12 - april 16
things that happened today are a little foggy. it's been kind of a long one. our bus to rio gallegas pulled in around 8 this morning. once in the terminal we saw that buses run to punta arenas at noon, so we had a morning to burn in the last argentine patagonian city we'd grace (thankfully). lucky for us, there was a cafe of both the eating and internet variety worth visiting, and so we did... and so we were satisfied. by late afternoon we were in punta arenas. it's really a pretty great town. it doesn't feel like chile at all... and i guess it shouldn't as it's cut off in every way from the mainland. we ended up going to the hostal that we were solicited by once off the bus, but made it through the city sites first. apparently plenty of of other folks gave into the solicitations as well, because the place was packed. they have all the amenities you can dream of, so i'm not that surprised really. we bought some beer and lounged in the common rooms making all sorts of friends. one of which, thomas, and australian traveling alone, may be joining up with us to go into torres del paine. that's the way we spent the rest of the night conversingintermitantly with germans, swiss, french, british, and australian friends. |
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| 11:16am 27/04/2003 |
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day 7 - april 11
one week out. we made it this far without major incidents... for the most part anyway. the ferry we had been sleeping on pulled into chaiten at around 7:30. people were standing around waiting for transportation into town, but matt and i just decided to start walking. this tiny town's backdrop is about the most impressive i've seen so far. especially at sunrise. we didn't see any signs of life, so i found a phone and woke catherine up and got to talk to her for awhile. which was really nice. the bus terminmal was opened at 9'ish by this really sweet lady that loved talking with us. unfortunately she gave us some less than stellar news. the last bus for four days to coyhique was leaving in an hour. we didn't have much of a choice in the matter so we had to get on it. it wasn't so much a bus as it was a minivan. the trip apparently took 12 hours and we sure as hell didn't want to make it in that thing. the trip is only like 300 miles max, so we were curious how it would take 12 hours. enter the camino austral. and unpaved gravel road that we took from the bloody top to the bloody bottom. it was undesirable to say the least. it was literally an endurance trial putting up with the constant chakes and jolts for the entire trip. we were popping motrin like candy to keep the headaches subsided. luckily however, i think i can safely say that it was the most unbelievable, awe inspiring, scenery i have ever witnessed. there wasn't a dull moment when you looked out the window. unfortunately we couldn't take pictures because the camera couldn't focus with all the jumping around. but we go to coyhaique... and found a place to stay (even though it took us a good long while to do so), found a place still serving food, got a beer, and a meal, and we were set.
day 8 - april 12
we got to sleep in this morning since we had predecided to stay in coyhaique another night. we went to a german restaurant for lunch and indulged in a sizeable meal for quite a bargain. afer lunch we found some info about how to get to chile chico so we can eventually get to perito mareno, argentina to catch a flight to el calefate. when we accumulated as much of that info as possible, we walked the 2 miles out of town to the coyhaique national park. it was a surprisingly touch hike, and we didn't even have our bags. unfortunately with the tough hike, i have reagitated my knee which is proving to be more than just a small incovenience. the views coming down from the park overlooking coyhaique and everything beyond it were startling. it was another beautiful day with a gorgeous cool breeze running through the mountainside that we couldn't get enough of, as well as cool mountain streams a plenty. we made our way back into town in the late afternoon and found a place to use the internet and call home as well. although it's saturday night, we were both too tired to go out. just have pizza and a beer and call it an evening.
day 9 - april 13
we woke up as the sun did at 7:30 this morning in lovely coyhaique. we needed to be at this particular corener at 8:30 to meet the colectivo to puerto ibanez. we were tehre 15 minutes early, and by 8:45 he still hadn't shown. i designated myself to find another way to puerto ibanez while matt stuck around to wait for the colectivo to show up. i returned at 9'ish to matt with my new found inf0, and while we were sitting figuring out how we were going to get further south, the colectivo (another minibus) showed up stocked full of passengers. the drive to puerto ibanez took a couple of hours as did the ferry from puerto ibanez to chile chico. chilce chico is as desolate a town as we've encountered, adn weren't it for the hostal we found outside of town, it would have taken us down with it. walking onto the property, we encountered a multitude of "beware of tiger" signs, only to be greated by a pint size orange kitten that seemed to take a liking to us. after a bit of rest we walked back into town, exhausting the "things to do" by skipping rocks for twenty minutes on the lake shore. soon after we stopped in at a local grocier and bought stuff to make pasta (and 1.5 liters of wine). as of now my gut is full and the wine is gone (and tiger is asleep on my chest). goodnight! |
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