January 22
Philly Blunts and I at the Che Lagarto Hostel lounge, listenin' to reggae, restin' our feet, and sippin brew'n naranja after a day of walkin' thru Buenos Aires. Half way, mas o menos, thru the B.A. experience, and I am in love with the place, with Argentina in general, really. Back to today's story, I'd like to rewind to last night, a nice soiree of crawlin' pubs, debaucherizin', b.s.'n, dancin', and fraternizin'. Everything came to a temporary respite when Blunts and I stumbled into our dorm room at 6 in the mornin', but sleep is for the grave and by 11 a.m. we were up and at 'em, swallowing a breakfast of creal and bread 'n butter, re-uppin' for another day o walkin' thru the city, destination: Cemeterio de la Recoleta, eternal resting place of the big-time personajes de la historia Argentina--Evita Duarte, Victoria Ocampo, El Toro Salvaje de la Pampa, among others. Alessandra from Brasil joined the gringo train (what a nice, charming gal she is), as well as Carlos, who has just arrived from Santiago. We walked down Chacabuco, zigzagged here 'n there, and arrived around midafternoon. Mausoleums up the ying yang, it was easy to get lost in the maze of concrete.
January 25
At the money exchange embracing the sweltering madness--it's hot 'n humid!!! We're in Rosario, Argentina now, a midway point (well, 1/4 point) on our way to Iguazu Falls (Cataratas). We're at the chronological half-way point of our summer travels. We bid farewell to Jon, Lee's bro, a few days ago, and Carlos Ramirez has officially been initiated into our crew. Him 'n I will most likely be returning to Santiago together (he's a Rancaguin~o currently living in Santiago). There are many beautiful women; wherever I go it's guaranteed I'll fall in love. Lee 'n Andrew give me a lot of flack or going crazy for any woman I see, but Carlos just says, "Hey man, you're a romantic." It's true. Today we're going to a beach off of El Rio Parana, which eventually flows to B.A. and empties into the Atlantic Ocean. There are supposed to be many a beautiful lady to observe, so I should get my fill. I don't know what it is--perhaps I'm at a hormonal crest, perhaps it's the per capita hotness of women in this country, or something in the water, but I've been a straight up manimal as of late! Easy does it, Benja!
January 25, evening
CHINESE
ren=man Ren 'n Stimpy
ben=tronco Yo soy un tronco
fei=to fly You gotta have faith to fly
zhong=difficult a zhong song
gao=tall Yao is gao
xia=abajo Xiabajo-ya abajo
yue=moon yooe: mun
mu=tree a cow xia tree
ri=sun "ri" of sunlight
January 26
It's Tuesday morning in Rosario, and the fearsome foursome of Carlos, Dealy, Lee 'n me are sacando la vuelta in the hostel (La Casona de Jaime 2). Last night was spent cooking dinner (a delicious chicken salad with rice and vegetables) and hanging out in the commons area outside in the kitchen, where Carlos 'n I talked about life, relationships, and then had a language exchange with Lois from Sao Paolo (we learned pescozo-neck; joelho-knee; pe-foot; among others, such as knife, which sounds like the f-word, and spoon, which sounds like the chilean f-word with sexual connotation. Who knew silverware could be so racy? Later on Iris, Lois' friend, awoke from her slumber to watch the Australian Open semi-finals, and I decided to join her--well, I was more convinced by Carlos who was trying to be my wingman. I was in fact attracted to Iris, who even dropped some suggestive language during our conversation, but I couldn't muster up the effort to pull the trigger. Today, we leave for Iguazu Falls.
The Girl from Guadalajara
She talks so softly, never forced;
Her verse spiced with an accent
Complementing her brown, Spanish eyes
A smile reveals her friendly nature,
Welcoming my presence
And easy conversation
I play it cool, but it's difficult
To keep myself from declaring my adoration
For this girl I barely know
I'm addicted to romance
(Even if it's invented--painted
On the canvas of my mind, projecting my soul's desire)
Oh, that my fantasies manifest by happenstance!
Play my cards as they come,
with the girl from Guadalajara
(...and I never saw her again, haha!)
January 27
CHINESE
"The triple 4"
(4) sound formations
(4) tones
(4) types of characters
SOUND FORMS
1. Vowels and vowel blends--> ou* ai ei
2. Consonant+vowel-->"zhou"
3. Consonant+vowel blend-->"xia"
4. Consonant+vowel (blend)+n/ng--> "ren," "shang," or +er in rare cases
*ou isn't a blend, technically
TONES
ex: "ma" can be...
1st tone: mother
2nd tone: cannabis
3rd tone: horse
4th tone: to insult
Sorry mom.
4 TYPES OF CHINESE CHARACTERS
- Pictographic-visual representation (only a small amount)
- Symbolic-conveys both concrete and abstract concepts (more frequent)
- Symbolic combinations-two separate symbols combine to create new meaning.
- Phonetic+context compounds (80% of characters). (A) Phonetic element-represents a word that might not be the exact idea, which is made apparent by the... (B) CONTEXT, which all depends on who, what, where, when, why, and how. (C) "Radicals" are characters that reveal context.
January 26, evening
It's 11 something and here we are at Che Lagarto Puerto Iguazu, and Deals just rested his manhood on my shoulders. We started today by arriving 3 hours late to P.I., after which we ambled to this crappy hostel (more on that later). We went to the tri-country place, ate lunch, and then Carlos and I checked out Arepuco, an eco-agro-tourist trap that was actually pretty cool. The highlight of my experience there was talking to a Guarani guy (the Guarani are the first-nation people native to this region), who told C. and I about the decimation of his people (nothing new there), and also taught us a few phrases--"au-che-vete" (hello/greetings) and "hai-e-bete" (thank you). Then we grabbed some groceries, went back to Che Lagarto, where I cooked dinner in the crappiest conditions ever, and got flack from an Israeli girl who said I made "shit rice." Whatever. Anyways, we played cribbage after dinner (Carlos' first game ever), and I got a little tipsy drunk, which brings me to the end of this entry.
February 2
I'm having breakfast--yerba mate and a pastry--at Hostel Ilque in Salta, Argentina. A few happenings since my last entry... First, we stopped in Corrientes for a day, a half-way point between P.I. and Salta. It reached 40 centigrade that day, and we were absolutely miserable. We finally boarded our bus at 6 p.m., and our dinner was 3 cheese sandwiches, much to our chagrin (esp. Lee). I didn't even bother with 'em (I had just had 4 empanadas at the terminal anyways). We arrived in Salta the next morning, and I was a little worried about the availability of lodging here due to rainstorms and flooding in Bolivia, but sure enough the first place we tried--Hotel Italia, out first hotel on our trip--had a room for us. That day, the 31st of January, we ambled around downtown--Plaza 9 de Julio, Peatonales Alberdi y Florida--and had lunch at a decent establishment whose name I forgot. The following day, we switched to a hostel (so we could cook our own food), decided to axe Bolivia because of inclement weather, and went to San Lorenzo, where we took a pleasant nature hike through Las Yungas, a pretty rad ecosystem place. Next stop: San Pedro de Atacama!
Untitled Travelling Poem
by Ben Westlund
Travelling four deep
Making our continental rounds
Arriving, digging, departing,
Repeat (and everything in between)
Nothing is for sure, certainly
Flexibility is paramount
Patience optimizes experience
"The greats let the game
Come to them."
And the game is great
Never a moment that is dull
Nor unbelieveable
Just there--happening
Realities unfolding
February 3
Currently waiting at customs in San Pedro, and it's slower than molasses--the opposite of my defecating on the bus ride (know how bottles' air pressure changes with altitude? Now apply that phenomenon to my colon about to explode). I would say the experience ranks in the top 5 of Ben Westlund's stickiest situations (luckily for me, no pun intended!). I'm not going to disclose too many details, but I shat in a plastic bag (nearly filled the thing up) and the t.p. was questionable. It was not fun. Anyhow, it's my second time in San Pedro de Atacama and I'm excited for it, having reminisced a bit upon entering the town limits. I'm hoping to see the ALMA telescope (multinationally-funded radiotelescope--cool) and hang out more with Danielle and Lucy, two interesting people we met earlier in our travels who we've crossed paths with on a few occasions.
February 5
Laying low at our new hostel (we've stayed in two so far), trying to recuperate from yesterday's bikeride bonanza. It began at around 12:30, when we rented mountain bikes and raced off to see La Pukara, which used to be an atacamen~o castle where merchants stayed during their travels along the Inca trade route. After that, we zipped a few more hundred meters to see a memorial honoring Hector Pumarino Soto (1901-2001), who was an academic who wrote extensively about atacamen~o culture. After buying provisions for another delicious pasta primavera alfredo dinner (and dropping it off at Hostal Nuevo Amanecer), we bought some water and set off for La Valle de la Luna. Before reaching our final destination for the day, we biked to Death Valley and took a shortcut around a giant gravel plateau to reconnect with the road to Valle d l Luna. By the time we reached the entrance, Dealy had bailed (citing the ridiculousness of paying 2000 pesos to watch the sunset), we had biked uphill, and Lee hurtin' from cramps and sore hips. We left our bikes at a checkpoint and hiked the final 2k to La Estacion de la Duna, which was where we got a nice view of the valley and the sunset, which didn't quite boast the colors I loved so much when I was here in September, but was lovely all the same. We made it back to our bikes at 8:45 p.m., which gave us 45 minutes to return them to the rental shop on time. I booked ahead of Carlos and Lee immediately, cruising downhill without a headlamp or light, which made the entire ride pretty nerve-racking. All 3 of us, thankfully, made it back by 9:25, thus avoiding a late-return fine that we wouldn't have been able to pay in the first place. We got some more dinner food, grabbed the cream we left at our previous hostel for the alfredo sauce, went "home," made a bomb din and called it a night.
January 6
Today we left the hostel and will finish our stay in San Pedro with Gabrielle "Beta" Betancourt, Carlos' buddy. Gabrielle lives in Ayllu (which means "poblacion" in local speak*), where he has a parcel of land, complete with a corn plot, chicken coop, and herd of sheep! Beta took Andrew and I with him to show us how he moves the flock from the corral to the grazing area. It was awesome.
The History of _____________ in 43 Words
by Ben Westlund
Amidst the chaos,
Forces collaborate;
Matter gathers;
Ancient and mysterious marvels
Propagate new mysteries to behold;
Cycles embed reality;
Reality defines and refines law;
Law governs existence;
Existence antagonizes existence;
Thus perpetual mystery and chaos
In a neverending unfolding
Of this process we call _________.
That's My Jam
Wakin' up to a fresh new day
Thinkin' 'bout the things comin' my way
No expectations, but infinite standards
Like water, my energy meanders
People, places, and events
Light, sounds, textures & scents
All unfolding--too fast to process
What it all means I could never guess
But I love every moment good 'n bad
Everything in between it's al rad
That's my jam 'cause it is what it is...
February 11
As the road unfolds
The stories untold
Approach my mind's landscape
Which, like the barren desert plain
And vegetation seeking rain,
Patiently waits.
February 14
Happy Valentine's Day! This weekend was nice--I love the beach here in Iquique, where I tossed mad disc with some local kids, eager to learn the ins n outs of the sport, and with Barbara :) (she's cool). Also made some good friends in Tanja, Antonio the Swiss paraglider, and others (like Melanie, Tanja's kiddo--sooo cute). Today, we head to Arequipa, Peru, where we'll be able to camp at La Reserva Nacional de Las Salinas for $1 a day, which we are excited for after spending so much gosh darn money in Chile! We say farewell to Carlos today, who has to cut his travels short to return back to work. Now we're 3 for the first time on this trip, we have 2 1/2 weeks left, and it's going down.
February 21
Just about to begin an 18 hour jam from Arequipa to Lima. Arequipa turned out to be pretty uneventful for all three of us because we caught giardia. That being so, the last 3 days have been spent lying in bed, watching the winter olympics and comedy classics (i.e. Fletch and Spies Like Us) on the tube, and also venturing out every once in awhile to hit the grocery store and grab a bite to eat. This is the final 10 days of my trip, during which I will enjoy Lima as much as my body permits.
February 28
That's Love--a meditation dedicated to Axel Dale and Chloe Westlund
by Ben Westlund
Didn't think you'd arrive so soon
But we've been waitin' many moons
So glad you're here
Even though I'm far away
I know I'll see you someday
That much is clear
And when we meet for the first time
Emotions swellin' within
An energy that was always there
Shall once again begin
That's love
When your cousin comes along
You'll both be singin' life's song
What a lovely tune
Your parents'll be so proud
As they listen to your soul's sound
Resonating in their heart's room
And just in case you sing off-key
They'll make sure you rehearse
'Cause you know they'll be there for you
For better or for worse
And that's love
So many things I wanna say to you
But words don't always suffice
All of life's complexities
Won't always be nice
Storms will be weathered
No matter the swell
And in the end I know my friend
That you'll be able to tell
That's love
Some day we'll all be old
Many stories'll have been told
Laughs shared 'n tears shed
We'll sit 'n wonder how time went past
Why do years gotta fly so fast?
Infinite moments'll have fled
Our kids'll be all grown up
Startin' families of their own
The cycle shall begin afresh
And yet we've always known
That's love
March 5
I've been gone for two months, and here I am on a bus, after 30 long and uncomfortable hours, returning to Santiago! I can't help but smile as I approach the metropolis. I am happy to have a place to call home again, to see my roomies Mel 'n Trish again, to ride the Metro again, to start work again, and so much more! My travels were life-changing, I saw a lot and roamed a lot, but now, at long last, I am home!
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