Back in London

Just arrived in busy Heathrow airport... its my birthday and the Nth time I travel on such an occasion... had to get up at 6am on Saturday morning but I skipped the sleep and went straight to the airport after a night out with Jose and Concha back in Madrid.

I guess maybe coming home is the hardest part. Its cold and wet, but that kind of pales in comparison with the realisation that I went away and did lots of cool things, but my problems didnt go anywhere.. they stayed still and waited patiently for me to come back. At least Im feeling a bit better now, perhaps more able to deal with them. Or at least thats what I keep telling myself.

Off to Madrid

Back to reality now. Another 9 hours stuck in an airplane and I'm in Madrid where the weather is rather balmy compared to Boston.

My mums at the airport to see me, we have lunch and dinner with uncles and cousins. I have a bed, familiar surroundings and I know the city layout and transport network, heck I'm even recognised by people walking down the street. Its weird all this familiarity.

Boston

And so I made a little hole in the ground and kept digging until I popped out in a place called Boston Common, somewhere in the East Coast of USA.. Apparently, or so I've been told, the TV series Ally McBeal supposedly takes place in those buildings behind me on that pic on the right. If so they could have chosen a better place for a law firm, it was about -10 C, which was even colder than Canada, at least I had a warm jacket and my beanie to keep my head warm.

I met my friend Cristina there, or Quiqui - which she doesnt like being called, she was sliding in the snow and looking very funny so I took a picture. Quiqui is my crush from 1st year junior school in Madrid. Back then she was very mean to me (would tear my birthday invitations) but she's now turned into a very nice and clever girl, she gets paid to make things explode inside a lab in Harvard, where other clever people sit around and do things that are generally pretty boring unless you are also interested in the subject.






I got to have a read of her dissertation and even with my grade 12 chemistry all those NH4 and H2Os didnt seem to make any sense. I had to put it down when my head started to hurt. Designing interactive web services is way more fun.

After visiting Harvard we popped over to MIT where another altogether different set of people get paid to sit around in a lab and invent computer languages or come up with clever acronyms like W3C or X11. After walking around I got the impression that MIT students are way more freaky than the ones at Harvard, maybe there is something to the selection criteria scoring high points for wardrobe individuality.

And of course we got to go to have beers in John Harvards Brewhouse with her friends Sergio and Melanie who came over from the competition in MIT. All in all a brilliant 3 days.


PS. While brushing my teeth one morning I found out Cristina's secret, she's been keeping quiet all along, the guy she's sharing a place with uses Nivea For Men just like the last one we spotted her with. I think we are on to something - there is definately a pattern emerging here.

Getting the hang of it

By the last day on the snow I was on my way to making this silly plank of wood do the things it was meant for. Cruising down the terrain park and cutting some powder down the black runs at the top of Whistler. I had to go on my own because Emerson was down with a cold so no chance for anyone to take a picture of my prowess.. which was not quite as good as the pic I downloaded off the web (left) but almost. Hee hee.. =)

Pity it was my last day, I would have enjoyed another week here now that I finally stopped falling all the time.

Breakfast for the Slopes

These last few days snowboarding I've been
eating like a champion. Breakfast this morning was 3 pieces of frech toast with blueberries, maple syrup, lemon and bacon (i didnt take a pic but found a similar one on the internet).

Thing is you need all that energy when you're in the mountain carving the snow for hours and I love eating well so all the exercise and acrobatics are a perfect excuse for stacking up the calories. Here is a pic of me in action, this was the second day attempting some blue runs with Will. Third day I was sliding down proper powder with Emerson at the very top of Whistler mountain.

Boarder or Skier

Thinking of going on the snow and you havent done it before??? Everyone you see on the slopes already have a preference. You are either a boarder or a skier. Skiers don't like boarders very much, boarders don't care much about skiers. Both have way too much fun.

So which one should you try? Personally I'd recommend snowboarding, why? because its a lot easier. Yep, you'll spend the first two days falling all the time either way, but at least with the snowbard you'll pick it quicker and wont kill your knees in the process.

Basically skiing is a bit more technical, a lot more can go wrong. Boarding is less refined but still just as much fun when you're powering down the hill carving left and right. YEEEE!

How do you do this shit again?

Just got back from a pretty grueling 8 hours of stacking it again and again, and sliding downhill on my front or my back... all my back and arm muscles are groaning with pain from having to get up every time I fall, sometimes I just lay there because its so hard to get up again..

But slowly I'm getting the hang of it.. Will has come with us today so its been the three of us for a couple of easy runs in the morning, and then Emerson and Will have gone off to do some harder runs and left me with the easy stuff.. which is just as well because its taking me a bit of time to get used to switching sides on the snow and generally to remember what its like to control the constant falling. Talking about control.. there is little of that yet, but I'm starting to get a grip with the basics again, once I do this should be a lot more fun.

In the evening we all headed down to Merlins Bar and Grill, at the bottom of Blackcomb base. For a couple drinks with Will's mates, he's been teaching kids how to ski with a whole bunch of other instructors so he knows a few people in Whistler now. We went to check out the staff acomodation there and it looks like fun, basically like going back to university college all over again. :)

Whistler

This is a pretty amazing place to come if youre after some quality snowboarding, definately even better than Mirabel and the 3 valleys I went to in the French alps last season.

Whistler village is perched in the valley between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, both are great places to go skiing and snowboarding. There is anything from green easy runs, to crazy double diamond black runs down a glacier, or if you're after practicing your jumps there is a terrain park full of them on each of the 2 mountains.

Here is a pic of me at Whistler getting ready for a day of action down those beautiful runs.

Arriving in Canada

Hello!!!

I just arrived in Whistler ski resort near Vancouver in the Canadian West Coast after a 10 hour flight into Dallas from Sao Paulo, 4 hours on the plane to Vancouver and 2 hours on the bus.

Met my friend Emerson at the airport and we are both off to do some snow-boarding over the next few days, kind of a combined birthday celebration, his is on the 20th and mine on the 24th. Our other friend Will should be joining us tomorrow, he's been here most of the season working on the slopes.

Alright not much time I'll fill in some more details later!!

Sao Paulo

I spent another day in Sao Paulo before leaving Brazil, staying near Praca Republica and then going to see my friend Juliana in the morning..

Its funny I was talking to an Aussie girl at the hostal in Florianopolis and she said that having had a day in Sampa she decided to give town a miss and stay near the airport instead.

While I dont think that the security situation is so bad as to miss it entirely, its not a place where I would recommend a lot of walking around at night looking lost and jet-lagged. Best thing if you arrive here (Sampa is a stop-over for most flights in and out of Brazil) is to get some rest and then go for a walk early in the morning. Maybe spend a day at most to see Brazils most populous city and then move on to other bits along the coast which are far more beautiful.

Downing Caipirinhas

If there is one thing you should do when you're in Brazil, its having a few caipirinhas while you're chilling out by the beach watching the sunset.

Caipirinhas are made with Cachaça, a sugar-cane spirit. A typical caipirinha is made by crushing limes with sugar, then adding the cachaça and ice and shaking it. Yuummmm. Here is a pic of me and the guys at the hostal in Barra da Lagoa having a few caipirinhas.

Beach time in Florianopolis

And I finally arrived! Took an extra day to get my luggage in Sao Paulo (´Sampa´), but then loosing my bag meant I got to see my cute friend Juliana, a local ´Paulistana´who proved to me that even though Sampa is a big metropolis with 17 million souls in it, there are some really nice areas to go and visit. They´re just not that easily accessible unless you have a car.

And today, after a 10 hour bus ride to Florianopolis sleeping on a couch that could have beloged in first class section of an airplane, and then 1 hour trying to find this beach. I finally arrived in Barra da Lagoa to find that: yes, there is a gorgeous beach... A PRAIA E BEM LEGALE! it keeps going for tens of kilometers as far as the eye can see, and yes there is a really nice hostal on a hill called XXXXX (you really think Im going to tell!) overlooking the rain-forested bay with a little town and sea beyond. Damn its a nice spot. That 1.50 GBP of beer getting my friend drunk really did go a long way!

I just spent the last hour or so getting to know a couple of beautiful Israeli girls, Gen and Ruth (thats what it sounded like, not so sure how to spell) while sitting around soaking some sun on the beach.. They´ve both just finished their 2 years of military service and its a tradition to go travelling for a year before they start university.. In fact there are heaps of Israeli guys travelling all over south america.. They usually hang together in groups and rarely mix but when they do they are pretty fascinating to talk to.. they seem like people who´ve gone through some heavy shit and look at the world a different way. I probably would too if I´d just seen war first hand and then moved to paradise.

Ola Brasil!

Just arrived in Sao Paulo airport in Brazil after making the connecting flight from Buenos Aires via Santiago.. I´m literally at the airport now. The airline (Lan Chile) LOST MY LUGGAGE! - ARRRGH CARALHO PUTA MERDA! - so I´ve gone online while waiting at the airport. I´m going to see if my bag arrives on the next flight, its 10.15 pm and the bags supposedly arrive at midnight..

I´m not sure where I´ll be sleeping tonight as I was supposed to be on a bus, but I reckon it´ll be ok. Been here before and things kinda work in Brazil - You just have to avoid walking into a favela (poor neighbourhood) with your camera and tourist looks because they are dangerous and you dont walk out again, otherwise its a cool place to come to. If things go well I´ll be catching a bus tomorrow and on my way to Florianopolis for a couple days of bumming around on the beach. Oh, managed to have some pao de queijo (cheesy bread) in the airport - YUUMMM!, so its not all bad.

Adios Argentina!

Last day in Buenos Aires and I´m not so sure that I want to leave... I mean is it worth it to see Florianopolis?? Can´t I just do it some other time?? But then, I better grab the oportunity while I have it.. even if its just to check out that cool hostal in Barra da Lagoa my buddy Daniel from the Tango Backpackers told me about. One of those amazing places a stone´s trow away from a stunning beach that you only know about through word of mouth when you get a fellow backpacker drunk enough to tell you their secret spot. =) Hehe.

So anyway, yes I´m off. Its cruel but it has to be done. I met my friend Carolina from Tango class for dinner on the last day in Buenos Aires. She took us to one of those classic argentinian restaurants that the locals know and talk about fondly. I cant actually remember the name of the place but it was really good, and the bife de chorizo steak we had there was suberb. Soft and juicy and cooked to perfection...

Yuuuuummmmm.... I feel so sorry for all the vegetarians out there in the world.

San Telmo

Went for a visit to barrio San Telmo both this weekend and the last one.. This is the historic center of the city of Buenos Aires. Its full of people, markets, bars, restaurants that have been around for decades and places to see some real Tango.



Plaza Dorrego is sort of the cultural centre of this part of Buenos Aires, its usually full of street vendors and performances and people chilling out in the bars around it, having coffee or Quilmes beer.

I think I´m melting

Gee, its getting pretty hot round here... Buenos Aires today at lunchime was just like being inside an oven, combination of the heat (37º C) and high humidity which makes it sticky.

Was planning to go dancing tonight but its still boiling and I´m not so sure I want to die roasted like a pig on a spit. Maybe tomorrow...

Oh, while we are at it... I had the biggest albondigas I ever ate in my whole life today for lunch.. I think each one was the size of my fist. I mean, have you ever seen meat balls that size?? Well. I can hardly move now.. ate too much and I feel like I should have a rest today.. It´ll take a couple days to digest that much meat anyway. I think I´m going to turn into an albondiga myself if I keep going like this..