Out of my Element

Replying to my sister´s comment, yes Buenos Aires is the techno capitol of the world and as I was at club Pacha that saturday night I realized something. I can´t fake it, I mean I tried for like two "songs" if that´s what you call a thumping bass line and noises comparable to a Star Trek phaser(phaser on kill). I mean the club is packed and the guys I went with quickly jump on this stage and do moves that would look like chopping their arms and as I look around, the guys dance with guys and the girls dance with girls. There is no way to dance with someone, can dance in front of them and show them your sweet techno moves, but you can´t get close to someone at all. I´m shaking my shoulders and moving my arms but guys all around me are bopping their heads and some people are like do the chalreston it was all just very foreign to me. People constantly say you don´t know this song, I love this song and I can´t tell the difference from one to the next. So I have now told myself after being to the supposed best club in BA that I will no longer go to these techno clubs and will only head to hip hop ones, maybe samba, but definitely not techno. I have no fun, I end up just sitting down somewhere hoping to leave and have no idea how people like this stuff. I´m sure they feel the same way about my music so I don´t get mad or defensive just now know that I would rather be by myself enjoying the scene rather than trying to conform becuase I can´t fake it. A couple that I have grown fond of, a 29 year old man and his 25?6? year old fiance that have been together for 7 years, see in my face that I´m not enjoying myself but they´re great and gladly try to help me enjoy the music. It´s not working and then we get into a conversation with a couple other ladies and I explained to them what twerking is, the theory behind it, how you can get twerked and then the girl can just walk away. This is completely foreign to them, they first just called it dry humping, then said that if they did that a guy wouldn´t ever leave their side. I could understand that, that might happen back home but I let them know that they had free choice in what they wanted to do but it helped me realize that maybe twerking shouldn´t be as informal as it is. Maybe the culture of the twerk is a little bit of raging hormones and maybe it is something that shouldn´t be passed around. If these girls are so comfortable dancing with each other and no one really breaks that personal bubble space then that might be a good thing. Maybe it is something that could be compared to a bond that people shouldn´t experience unless you feel a certain way. I will put in fact the original twerker of them all and the lady who invented the twerk face, Em, now this girl from the first day I have met her broke me off in a proper twerk session which included people holding my back so I wouldn´t fall over and ironically we made that full circle on my going away party. Now I know that it is purely fun whenever she or others are dancing but it has just made me think differently about it or atleast challenge my original thoughts. No worries when I get home I definitely will be due for a twerk session and Lemon is one of the best. (Twerk to anyone who doesn´t know is slang for dancing so I wasn´t being vulgar, had to put that in there for mommy) So hopefully when I get to the next hip hop club I will feel more at home. Also about challenging ones thoughts, I have always done that with my friends. It might piss them off and I might not even be opposing them, just challenging their way of thinking. People get so stuck in a routine they don´t know that it may not necessarily be as common as they think or even if it is doens´t mean that they majority is correct. I don´t know if it was debate in class or when I was sober they would really help me think in other peoples shoes but I just like appreciating both sides of an arguement and I feel that you can justify a lot of what you do if you know all the angles. So I have learned that is something I am doing right now, I like clubs, I now have tried and still I don´t like techno and now I can fully make a decision that is unbiased because I have tried. This can be done in multiple situations not only with music but with food, speech(everyone across the world laughs at us for calling elavators elevators, they are a lift, cling film[saran wrap], and they say that we say aluminum while they say al·u·min·i·um. just weird) so as I continue I will find more ways to challenge myself and I challenge you do to the same, exits blog with snaps similar to a peotry reading

But its always forward Im moving, never backwards stupid heres another classic

C Notes are falling from the sky, sorry that was some Nas that inspired me a little bit there. Wow just realized I havent wrote anything in awhile so to the public I am sorry. Well that 17 hour bus ride started and about 15 minutes after we start on our journey there is a check point. I see someone with a gun and a uniform enter the bus so take off my headphones and hear pasaporte. Alright pull out my passport and show it to him a little nervous of the open yet corked bottle of red wine I had snuck in the bus. Dont really know if I had to sneak it but neverless I was a little nervous. He moved on with little hesitation and made his way up to an Agrentinian man who didnt have a passport, then the man with the gun(respected by me, anyone who has a pistol on their hip, Im slowly realizing that the right to bear arms is truely a American thing due to a lot of converstaions with people. People have told me theyve never heard a gunshot in their life so that is teaching me a few things.)back to the man he starts to search this guys stuff. Dvd player, digital camera, all sorts of electronics. The man with the gun starts to interrogate this man and then he is pulled off the bus and his bag is searched. Then he comes on the bus and grabs his things, as I think wow he must of done something wrong for all this to happen and I hope they dont find my bottle of wine, hahaha. Long story short we wait, for 5 hours at this one checkpoint and have made no progress on our trip. Oh here comes a movie while we start waiting thats cool, oh my god, its 27 dresses. The movie line up on this bus was extremely confusing to me because they had no idea what they were playing and the order had no sense of order. After watching 27 dresses, ahh I guess it wasnt that bad the next movie comes on, yes we are still 15 minutes away from where we departed, and is one of the most depressing films ever. Ok this couple have been married for 45 years and have been together since they were both 18, the lady starts to develope alzheimers and she decides to put herself in a clinic and the husband disputes but she wont listen to him. The first month she must stay there and not see anyone so after the month hes all happy to see her and she doesnt realize who he is and has developed a connection with one of the other patients. He shows up everyday and she wont give him more than 3 sentences before she needs to tend to the other mans needs. He shows up everyday just to watch her and then after the man she developed an attachment to is pulled out by his wife she goes into a rut. Wont move, crying all the time, wont walk and everything reminds her of him. The husband shows up still to read her books and try to keep her active but she doesnt know who he is at all. Just a horrible position to be in and really that was a true love tragedy just basically made me feel like shit after. Wheres that dedication these days, i dont know if I could do it but I mean anywhoo off that subject, the following movies were Scoop(woodey allen flick, just sucked), Under the Tuscan Sun(reminded me a little of myself as in looking for change but total chick flick, it was alright) and then 10 items or less with Morgan Freeman and who I thought was Penelope Cruz turned out to be Paz Vez(I like Paz wayyyyyy more now) The bus ride was way better then my previous one other than the delay because of the movies, they feed us, glasses of wine, and my seat reclined to make sleeping somewhat comfortable. After I arrive in BA I tell the others who Im traveling with that I kind of needed some space eventhough it was just for a night which helped me. I fell back into the I know noone but this time I was more willing to meet people and talked to a couple guys, played some ping pong, had a few laughs and beers. So in BA I met back up with this guy that I met in Rio and he has a couple of friends that Ive been hanging out with going to eat and clubs. The meals are so good, I had a steak and split a bottle of wine and spent 50 pesos, the dollar is 3 to 1 here so thats around 17 bucks and Im talking filet mignon. Huge steak and it was seasoned in garlic and just amazing, Im straving right now just thinking about it and will go for more steak tonight. Apparently Argentina is supposed to have the best steaks in the world and they havent disappointed me yet. I went to a couple clubs which if I liked techno wouldve just been amazing but since I dont Im kind of just stuck bobbing my head and pretending. I mean these guys are out here in stunna shades moving there bodies too much for my taste and have some of the weirdest hairstyles ever. Spiked mohawks, shaved sides, shaved everywhere but the back(wish I got a pic), I mean just some things that would be made fun of back home. I walked up and down this street called Sante Fe in Buenos Aires and realized that Im one of the darkest people here, its a more white skin tone here then in Brazil so Im standing out a little bit more which I hope is in my favor. Im going to club Pacha tonight and hear its supposed to be amazing so Im pretty excited, like one of the best clubs in the world. Lets see what else do you want to know, the hostel Im staying in is notoriously known for being a party hostel and its a club inside around 10pm with DJ and everyone just meets up there before heading out to other clubs at like 2am. Im having a lot of fun right now and its short lived because I head to Peru on Tuesday to trip to Machu Piccu so those pics will just be amazing. Well love everyone and Ill update you later and every computer I use just wont let you put up pics, also they have a totally different keyboard everywhere I go so I gave up on trying to find question marks and apostraphes(sounded that one out)

Buenos Aires Baby

So Argentina is just great, Im having a fun time here and I head to BA in like an hour for a 17 hour bus ride and then will stay there fo 6 days. I wish I had more time there, its so cheap here. I hear the bottles of wine are 5 pesos and a pizza is 10 and with the exchange rate being 3 to 1 that is definitely in my favor. Iguassu falls cant even be described and the pics just wont do it justice but I havent been able to upload them yet and will at an internet cafe in BA. I took a video just so you could get an idea and took a lot of panoramas so hopefully I will do a good job of relaying it to everyone back home. Iguassu divides Argentina and Brazil so I went to both sides and both were amazing although Argentina was more breath taking due to Devils Throat which is the main water fall. I mean the mist off the waterfall is getting you wet and even after a 300 ft drop the water is so powerful that there is a mist that comes all the way back up. I mean you cant even see the bottem of the falls because the water is so powerful at the base that it is literally a ball of mist that doesnt disappear. Well just letting everyone know whats up so Ill holla when Im in BA

I love life

Sorry about the lack of pics everyone, everytime I do a blog its so amazing because I don´t knowwhat Im going to say and usually dont have my camera cord with me. Please forgive me. Well letsupdate you on everything, I finally feel some sort of clarity in what I am doing and a little bit more confidence in myself. I know when I meet up with my mom and sister in a couple weeks I will be a little bit out of wack and maybe want to come home more but those feelings have grown less andless everyday. Well not that I dont want to end early but the part of me that wants to do it to come back to a simple life is getting farther away. I know that I need to challenge myself and this is what I should be doing and believe you me it is a challenge indeed. Im leaving all my friends, family, and those Ive grown close with to somehow better myself and thats been one of the most difficult tasks yet to believe in the cliche what doesnt kill you makes you better is something Im striving for. Well one of those things is a 23 hour bus ride, didnt kill me and made me feel that I could do it again. The only problem with it is it takes away a full day of excitement that I could be having somewhere else. For example I wanted to go to a city called Florianpolis but thanks to a friend named Annalee she convinced me that Buenos Aires is a place I would want to spend my time so I decided in that conversation I would make my way towards Argentina rather than stay in brazil for much longer. So off to Foz do Iguacu in Brazil I head to see the Iguassu falls that are trying to become one of the 7 wonders of the new world. Extremely beautiful, pictures could do it no justice I took a video that hopefully would help people understand how serious this place is. I mean yea its a lot of water and yes I did get bored after a while but I think if you lived close not only is it cheaper for you than an outsider but its a phenomenal place to just think. I was with 3 other people I had met the night before and had invited me to join them in traveling for the next week but I still took the time for personal reflection. I am doing the right thing for myself. At home I had a desk job, one that culturally isnt liked by the public, fuck them I was getting paid but yet I still wasnt doing what I love. To this day traveling is something I love to do and just to get an understanding of others lives is very humbling. Working with inner city youth has made me have that appreciation and and yet didnt want to be different from those Im telling the fact that they dont have the best clothes or the best shoes on the market is ok. Im seeing kids who seriously may have 3 shirts in their entire collection if that, yet their entire family is at the bus stop. If I had more of a heart I would cry at those things because we all yes all take so much for granted. I love my grandma for always making sure the middle child wasnt forgotten by the new born I still remember those things. I love my mother for deifinitelty being one of the only in my corner because Ive lived atleat four or five differnet lives where no one knew including myself where i would end up. Its not that seeing poor kids makes me feel that way its the fact that people even when they have less than nothing can be more happy than the way I felt when I felt I didnt have anything. Maybe I just see them at a good time and theyre happy, maybe I feel that they deserve to fell happier than they do and that they should be able to experience the things I have. I mean seriously who am I and I couldve been born into any situation and I just feel lucky. On my 23 hour journey I saw some of the most dingy dirty towns but um who am I to say that, thats someones life and they may never leave that. Im becoming more greatful and yet dont feel that I fully understand yet. Brazil is the worlds 8th strongest economy and I will be heading to the worlds lowest 25%, I have a lot of recognizing to do. The falls though, they were amazing and I will be putting up pics within a day or so to the original link if that link doesnt have the new pics let me know if you didnt get them tell me your email I will link you. When I arrived in agrentina I dont know if it was the fact of a new sense of clarity or the fact I knew it was way cheaper but i really love it. Also theres some sort of slip I was supposed to hold on to from customs, duh, I didnt and its a fine of 75$ but luckily James being James slipped out of that one. Sorry mom. Well I head to the other side of the falls tomorrow and then to Buenos Aires for a week or so and then Machu Piccu, if you dont know any of these places, neither did I, hit up google or Wikapedia and educate yourself. Then you will be like damn I want to go there. After october thats when the real journey and test begins because then I really know Im gone so wish me luck. I miss everyone real bad, not to leave anyone out but Jones miss the laughs, Joel I miss the friendship, Mark miss the competiveness, Kyle youve been gone but still miss you, Little Man miss the love, Jiana miss the attitude, Naya miss the fact that right now youre becoming your own person, Dad Ive always missed you, Nicole missed the dependecy on eachother for guidence a lot has happened that we havent spoke about for me and you Im sure, Rome miss the younger brother, same for Loon, everyone that Ive ever had a relationship with you know how strong that is and was to me and how much I had your back. If your guessing about it Im sorry you shouldnt have to. Im getting there, not there yet, but Im getting there. So just know Im doing ok and hopefully( its a crazy world as Im beginning to find out) that will continue. Again not to leave anyone out but I have had the most vivid dreams where I wake up on a bus or in a hostel room by myself to a harsh reality. Those I can remember were in a couple, Mom, Nicole, debbie, Joel, CMac(yea weird dog), Jones, Bugger, and Im sure many more to come. Seriously really hard to wake up to. Well peace up M town down

This sucks

23 hour bus ride to Iguassu falls today, look up pics. Just not going to be fun

Boom boom boom, let me hear you say wayo. WAYO

Well this post isn't going to be about much just wanted to shout at everyone and say I feel so happy whenever I read any of your comments. Since its been so long since I've seen anyone(only a week) or heard some peoples voice when I read you're comments I swear I can pretend as if it's face to face. I'm still at the same place feeling comfortable as ever, in Brazil its been raining and chilly so really I've been sleeping in until 1pm due to the 6am sleeps and just lounging playing pool with my boys and listing to my iPod on speakers(just phenomenal). The pool table hear will definitely make you a pool shark back home because the pockets are smaller then any table you've definitely ever seen. You have to play the sides because if you go for the corners it needs to be from the middle of the table. If the ball is hugging the rail and you go for a corner you have to just tap it to set you up for the next shot because no matter what you try you will definitely not make it. Still I'm hustling cats except I did lose to my boy in best of 5 for a drink, its alright only cost me $2. Its not cheap in Rio as I hear it is everywhere else in South America but still it's cheaper than back home. I've been eating twice a day and seriously I'm so skinny now compared to when my sister started calling me titties which in turned rubbed off on my neices and nephew. I was getting a little wild and doing nothing with my life physically at that time, only work out was beer up, beer down, 1, beer up beer down,2. Obviously not the workout and breakfast of champions. Anyway just wanted everyone to know that I'm doing fine, reluctantly wanting to say goodbye to the friends I've made because then it all starts over again. The stories I've been hearing about the places I'm headed as Thailand and Cambodia are just unreal so I think I'm going to have to spend more time in that part of the country then expected. I love you guys and thanks for the support, side note I'm in a 9 person dorm and there's only one other person in it and he leaves tomorrow. Don't come a knockin if you smell me, but actually in Brazil, brazilians think I'm brazilian and a perv or broke(not the come up that the white person looks like) and foreigners think I'm a brazilian man which is basically overbearing and will lick you neck at the opportunity basically you know I'm neither so I gets no love. Its alright though I'm having a great time, shout out to Kyle, you're my boy and also to those who read and surprised me by your interest. This is for you

Well hello there

Alright you guys after my last rounchy post and a few words from my mother I have decided to keep the blog at a more appropiate level rather then just sharing my drunken stories. If you found the last one a little too much well then I am sorry and promise to bring it back to a level of interest. Well its been bad weather for the past couple days and I've decided to stay where I'm at until it clears up because I'm right off the beach and didn't get much of an opportunity to swim yet. Also there is an island that I hear is a must see so I believe that I will hang out until my friends friend arrives and we'll head out to there. Just to tell you that yesterday I pack all my clothes in my little backpack in order to do laundry walk a couple blocks down and then remember its Sunday which means everything here is shut down, except for the bars of course. I was able to eat a meal at a place called shenanigans and yes of course its an Irish bar but the only reason why we were there was for the american football. I saw the Jets and the NE game and then the all but end of what I read later was amazing of the San Diego Denver game. I play fantasy football and it is really tough to try to stay on top of your team when you can't see any of the games. I'm down 5 points with Tony Romo going against philly and my opponent has Terrell Owens and Donovan McNabb so its not looking good right now but I have faith. Well after a little football I head to the commonplace upstairs at my hostel where they are showing us Capoeria which is a combination of martial arts and dance. There was about 10 or so people doing it infront of all of us so close that I nearly got kicked in the face by spin kicks and one of them got pushed into my chair while trying a handstand in the fight. You seen it before where they kind of step close then step back compiled with acrobatic flips and kicks. After their performance they pull people out of the crowd and of course for the second night in a row I'm pulled to center stage. The night before they were teaching us how to dance 'funk' which was basically hips moving. So when they have the volunteers they have us mock fight with the Capoeria and after watching a few failed attempts before me it is my turn and I'm nervouse doing this in front of the other hostel mates. It begins with our hands in eachothers as to say begin and then we both do a kartwheel into the middle of the ring. My opponent shows me the initial steps, left foot forward right foot back then right foot forward left foot back, ok got it. Now bring your forearm up to protect your face with each step and we're off. He signals me to duck as he kicks over me and then I follow and kick over him, a few spinning heal kicks and a few jumps to advoid contact and now I'm feeling like a natural. Definitely recieved the largest applause from the audience and when I return to my seat everyone doesn't believe that I've never done that before. One guy said hey are you athletic, I didn't know how to properly answer the question. Then the evening we go to the favela funk party and its basically a warehouse with like 2500 people inside all moving to samba. I really enjoyed myself there and it was basically the whole hostel there and we partied until 5am. Well thats about it, today its raining so I'm just going to do some laundry and watch a movie. Miss everyone back home. Hey if you give me you email addresses I can send you my brazil photos with a link from snapfish.

Whats up pussycat whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa

OK rewriting disclaimer: In this blog post it may be a couple things that may go over your head if you are not closely associated with me or my friends or the lingo. It may be graphic yet take it with a grain of salt and I´m just relaying my experiences so far.

Alright let´s see here, what to say what to say. Since we last spoke I´ve done a couple of crazy things, later that evening I met some guys at dinner. I was eating lasagna and was the first good meal that I´ve had in like 4 days. All my other meals I would look at a menu, not understand it, point and be disgusted at what I was eating so this meal was very important to me. I started off headphones on writing in my gournal(wet hot american summer anyone) and then decided to not shut myself off from everyone and took them off. I stood up to get a beer and when I came back my spot was taken and I was pissed off a little because I left my notebook there as a sign of spots reserved. Well the guy moved over when I came and that quickly became the start off all the fun I´ve been having. To jump back real quick I went to copacabana and it was nothing but thongs, wowzers. Anywhoo Tom(the seat stealer) quickly started a conversation with me and then what do you know 2 other guys come and sit across from us and boom and conversation erupted. This is my first time chatting it up with people in awhile and they let me know that they´re all also traveling by themselves and have developed these friends since they´ve been here. Great news and a few beers later leads to hey lets go to the hostel next door and start the night off. Hurray beer, I have friends now. We march off to a hostel called Stone of a Beach and act as if we own the joint heading to the biggest table and being the loudest people there drawing stares from other backpackers. There´s 7 of us now and we play a game that I´m familiar with called 21 the drinking came. Involves nothing but a voice and a quick mind, a couple rules that if you break you must drink were; no swearing, can´t drink with your right hand, and no pointing. Me being the expert at drinking games move my cup to the left a couple inches and claspe my hands and put my hand behind my neck as to point with my elbows. Now everytime someone messes up a new rule is made until about a 1/2 hour goes by and we´re all a complete shit show. Some new rules were you have to make an animal noise before you drink, baaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh(sheep), have to refer to yourself in the 3rd person(James is really having a fun time), when one person(designated) stands up and bawks like a chicken and spins in a circle the last person to follow and sits down has to drink. This means drinks were spilled, people missed there chairs and a whole lot of laughter and since my laughter has been built up for so long I´m just exploding whenever I get the chance. So after awhile of drinking the bar closes down and as we walk out the front door literally the next door over is a club. We enter, see a lot of stars of David and they assume that its a jewish club. I look at the bartenders and see rabbi type beards but I know a Rasta when I see one, this is a rasta bar. I go to the dance floor wishing that I could just get twerked(grinded on to those who don´t know the lingo) but I quickly find out that´s an american thing. You mean a whole year of no twerk sessions accompanied by the infamous twerk face, sadness. Well in this club there is a girl who I start talking to named guadalupe who speaks no english but is very good looking, her friend who seems a little more eagar to meet me comes over and starts to speak broken english to me. The guys I were with described as a whale but I thought she was a very friendly person. She tells me her sister is a DJ there and its going to be a lot of reggetone played so the Sean Paul in me comes out and I start moving the hips yet bring the american fist pump out. I realize I do that fist pump a lot. Well to sum it up quick I ended up getting that dance with Guadalupe, she was amazed at my skills, everyone left except for 3 of us. Drunken stop at the neighborhood gas station to grab the essentials, eggs, loaf of bread, cheetos, and 1 copy of playboy(they have great articles) Me and Daniel spend about the next half our in the public kitchen dropping eggs in the sink, on the stove, no toaster so put bread on the pan. Basically just a shit show and security comes up and he was mad at the mess I was making and I quickly told him, I got this, I got this. Start mopping up spilled yoke with pieces of bread which turned into a great story the next morning when I woke up still a little loopy. So at breakfast at like 12 we all recap what happened, Tom rememers nothing, Mel broke her camera, and Daniel has a wicked burn on his hand from the Iron Chef experience the night before(todays ingredients EGGS!!!!) I had a tour booked to see christo de redeemer basically a 100 ft statue of Jesus that looks over all of Rio. Now when we arrived I had heard from someone thats its not that big which I found to be the contrary and just an amazing view of the city. I mean I just sat there and took it in and got closer to realizing what it is that I´m doing here/on this trip. Also I see one of the sweetest mullets I´ve ever seen, curls and all. We go to the helipad that is a little lower then where Christ is and watch the sunset over the mountains. To describe it a little bit better Rio has taken these mountains that are right in the middle of the city and put them to great use building favelas(shanty towns), winding roads, and viewpoints of the city. After I take a lot of camera shots we head back to the hostel where I have a dinner date with a couple of mates from the night before. We head to a restuarant similar to Fogo de Chao in MN, a brazilian style restuarant where now I´m getting the real deal. Its a buffet with a salad bar and they come around with skewers with all different sorts of meats that are just pouring juices out. This whole experience plus drinks cost 27 reais which is about 15 american dollars. Daniel ate more than I´ve ever seen anyone eat in my life. Everytime they came by he took some meat and filled up on the salad bar twice. I´m talking ateast 20 times he got meat off the skewer. We head back to the hostel and we all have kind of said that we want to take it easy tonight because of last nights activites. Well that didn´t last long because there is a street party in Lapa that just rocks and we all reluctantly decide to head there. Since we all took our time in making our plans we are all split up between 3 different vans which makes me nervous but then I meet some other guys on the van which made up for all of that. Everyone is pretty good at sticking together and making sure everyone from the hostel is ok. Oh the breakup of people is pretty much Irish and Englend with me being the only American. So at Lapa which happens every friday its pretty much where you want to be with street vendors, blaring music, dance clubs, and live music outside but we´re told that you need to be very careful while you´re out here. So this means that in the midst of all the brazilians there is a gringo grounds where all the white people are standing together and me being me its hard to loosen up because I have to watch my back. My hands over my pockets, every brazilian that stares at me I stare back, looking around just to make sure there´s no crowds of brazilians. I then get tapped by an intimidating man with his shirt off and big muscles who asks in I speak portuguese in portuguese, I say no and he points at this guy whos standing behind this girl from the hostel. I couldn´t quite see the problem until I see that he is grinding on her with a MASSIVE boner, I´m talking this thing was pointing to the sky, way worse then Ron Burgendy(its the pletes in the pants, they´re creating an illusion) but then it just wasnt the boner. He had two guys standing as close to him behind him and while everyone in Lapa is moving to the street music they´re standig stiff(no pun intented) with straight faces. I told 3 people from the hostel to move immediatly and come down to where I was, a quickly after a fight breaks out right by us. Time to move in my book. We all start moving down the road and that´s when I see two 5 year old boys sitting to enjoy just as up as anyone else at 2 in the morning. I forgot to point out that the people I heard you are supposed to watch out for is the children, and me working with youth was definitely one of the most aggravating things to see. no joke I seen a 3 year old selling gum following his 7 year old sister and they are just demanding money. Putting chiclets in your hand even after you say no, and the brazilians wont be fooled quickly throwing them back in the box that she is carrying. Back to the two boys, shirts off, having just a great time so I stop to observe them with these two english girls I knew from the hostel. The boys start asking her for some liquer and are just as cheerful as any kids that age but are just in the(cultured) wrong enviorment. The pull out there little weiners and start peeing on the wall as one tries to fill up a plastic glass and the other keeps kicking it away so then he stops grabs another glass and the other kicks it away again. I finish my drink and set it down and tap him to let him know he can pee in it and the other grabs the cup and they run off. I sat back and thought about how different that was to me and how normal it was to them and realize us 3 have lost the group. No problem though these 2 english girls were black so now we are a traveling group of brazilians no longer confused with all the white people we were with. We decide to go to one of the clubs thats playing hip hop and rock out for about an hour or two to songs that I´m all too familiar with. A milli amilli a milli amilli, theres that damn fist pump again. The cuter of the the two english girls was using me as the fake man as guys were grabbing her from left and right as the other sets herself up quite well with a local man. I think its my time to strike, I start to dance with her as she stops after about 1 minute into the song, stupid. I still rock out with my cock in to the Kanye music and am just having a great time doing so. We talk for a little bit more and that´s when she reveals she is in a 8 year relationship. Um, TAXI. I quickly leave them two and hop in a cab by myself and as we´re exciting Lapa there is a car with its trunk open pounding music and who do I see shaking there hands like tamboreens and freaking out, those 2 little boys and now it is about 4 in the morning. The cab driver found out about 3 minutes after she starts driving that I´m american and told me she was scared because she thought I was brazilian and we chatted it up a little on the way back to my hostel. I crawl up to the third bunk, try to set my alarm for the 6 hour tour I had planned to go to at 10 in the morning(its 530 now) and after a few attempts I failed and go to sleep. I wake up thinking if those guys went on the tour that is amazing as I´m hurting right now from the previous night and after about an hour of being up I turn the corner and see them, just as hungover as me and we share some laughs about the 10 am tour was not the best idea. I know that was a lot but so much to cram in about the past couple days. Today we plan on just taking it easy renting the dvd player and watching super troopers. We´ll see if we can stick to our guns, but my plans right now are to stay at this hostel for the next couple days with the Dubliners and then start making my way to Buenos Aires on monday or so. Well I´ll holla at you, oh the best part is these guys know Chappelle and we´ve been saying quotes all night.

New City New Man

Pic doesn´t work and don´t know how to delete it. Alright well after my second probably most depressing day, which included a trip to the sugar mountain and Brazilian futbol game, I have gone off to seek new adventures. I left the hostel that I was residing in hopes to find a better life. Night life was what I was seeking and stumbled upon the mellow yellow on hostelworld.com. Now this place sounded ok when I got here but so did the last hostel I was staying at but due to time commitments i.e. needed to check out in 20 mins or stay another night, I booked 3 nights. So I decide to take a taxi into the lovely copacabanna or something like that because my knowledge of the bus system is pretty much the same as the U.S. I have no clue. The taxi drivers knowledge of my destinantion was the same as mine about the buses so this means that I saw the same street corner about 4 times and he asked about 7 people where ^barbosa lima^ was. Finally I get to my new hostel seeking thoughts of clarity and also a better living standard and it looks like I have found my saving james(grace, but I´m no female) Now this place I´m staying at has a theme meal everynight(finally food, tonights lasagna), a free drink at the bar(jack and coke anyone), PS2, tv and dvd room, jacuzzi, free internet(yes jesus), and a 10 person dorm room. I walked into the 10person dorm expecting to see a couple of stares and no friendly faces but like an episode of wife swap I got to look around as no one was there and get in touch with my surroundings. Well what do I see you might ask, a locker that can fit my whole pack which means I don´t have to worry at all, 3 bunkbeds stack 3 high(9people), and then it strikes. is that a bikini top, oh theres another, and another. I´m getting the feeling that I may be 1 or part of 2 of the only guys in the room. After I figue out what I´m going to keep outside my locker I came down to the free internet and made a chat. Also this place hosts a lot of tours, the sugar mountain that I went to cost 44 reals cost 45 here with transport which means I´m going to go see christo tomorrow. Now this sugar mountain you might be asking what is that. Picture a 70 person gondola that has two stations that probably are over 3000 ft high. As you take the first one up everyone is snapping pictures for you can see all of rio, I mean all of it, all the way to christo who´s on a pretty big mountian himself. This self guided tour lasted about 6 minutes to get to the top and once you´re there its a picnic area that homes a lot of different reptiles and one I couldn´t but snap as he was the legnth of my foot. On the way down there was an elderly american tour and I get to chattin it up with some old bats from Washinton and Maine, I´m talkin canes and wrinkles(that´s what make you old right). There putting me at ease just letting me know that they all wish they were doing something like this and how event though I´m doing it now in 10 years everything will be different so don´t stop here. Great advice I´m thinking and we get to the bottem when one old lady on the sugar car faints/seizures and now we have 6 elderly people carrying this lady out of the car as brazilians look and walk away. I quickly shout I´m first aid certified is there anything I can do, the replies were I´m a nurse, and Í´m a doctor. Oh, whoops, I guess I´m a little under qualified for this then. She was alright just a little hot in the car and probably not enough fluids. I walk back to my hostel about 1 mi. and decide to take a different route to see more of the city, dumb james, dumb james, dumb james. Its daytime but still no matter to brazil robbers so I start to get nervous as I cruise up this hill that doesnt have a straight road up but seems to just curve up this hill making the walk even longer. My sense of direction tells me that my hotel is on the other side of the mountain but once I get up to the peak its a rest area for taxis and there´s no way down on the other side. Then I decide it might be better to take a cab and they´re all sleeping and no one wants to drive me so back down the hill I go. If you can imagine I worked up quite the sweat in the brazilian heat which reached 85 that day. Probably walked a total of 6 mi. that day so when I got back to the hostel I rest up before I head to the soccer match. Brazil vs Bolivia, now the crowd was great, chanting songs outside and everyone trying to sell you things while you wait in line, and booing there home team whenever they made a mistake. This guy who sat infront of me was constanly getting looks/laughs from everyone in the crowd whenever he made remarks, only word I knew was Puta. Other than that though soccer sucks, 7 people got carried off on a strecther only to be back after 1 min on the sideline and even Ronaldhino played in the act making him no longer my favorite soccer player. He didn´t do much obviously if the score at the end of the whole game was 0-0 and brazilians cheered bolivian players after, even bolivia thought they had won the game. Well I guess that´s all I´ll write today but thanks to those who´ve read and enjoyed what I´ve had to say seriously your comments mean so much to me and really help me out. Lets get a couple pics in if I can

Rio smchio

Well I arrived today and it has been nothing but sadness in my heart, like I was on the plane and had just a hole in my stomach. Maybe due to the massive drinks that I had at my going away party, its time for the percolator, but I know the difference between feeling empty and hangover. First before I describe a little bit I first want to shot out a couple of people who need to recognized for their part in my travels; first off Kerry I want to thank you for sending me my Visa from Chicago because we all know I´m last minute and I´m very lucky that you were able to help me out. Secondly Debbie, just for the time spent, the advice on traveling abroad, of course the ride to and from Chicago, and taking care of me my final night. Sorry I peep all over the floor, my mom is reading this and is very upset at me. I want to thank my grandparents for maybe it was all the exciting places they´ve been to and told me about when I was younger maybe had a little bit of influence on me and just after talking to my grandfather I´m glad that I am walking a little bit in his shoes and being places that he´s been. Darwin just for keeping my mom calm I´m sure about the situation and for cooking for the BBQ and just doing a lot for me the past couple months. Yes it does take distance and a keyboard to relay that information to you but don´t hold it against me. Everyone for making it to my going away parties, the BBQ and the library. Looking at the pictures from the library I got exactly what I wanted which is smiles on all my friends faces and being with them and at the BBQ I´m just glad I got to say goodbye before I left. Dad thanks for showing up on my last day and just saying goodbye and finally my mother. You already I couldn´t do any of this without you and I´m extremely greatful. And now I´m crying in a fuckin internet cafe. I really have not liked they way that I´ve been feeling so far just being distant from everyone and how this differs from me taking vacations by myself or going on hour long car rides is that I can´t stop thinking that I´ll be gone for what seems like right now forever and putting my faith in people who can´t speak the same language to me. Well Iknow I´ll be fine but its just hard thinking about everyone and just kind of wondering why I did this to myself. I´m sure it will all become clear but today isn´t the day that happens and I don´t know when I´ll feel at peace with my situation.

Ok I hopped on 3 planes before I landed to Rio and about a 1/2 hour cab ride later I´m dropped off in front of a bank and told this was the address I had given him. Then I panicked because I couldn´t find the hostel, made an international call and bam I´m standing right outside of my hostel. First impression was why does the hallway smell like pee, thats because the bathroom smells like pee, oh this is my room right here, the one next to the bathroom. Hurray, I unpack everything just so I know where things are(yes Kathy packed) and then decided I´d go for a walk. Luckily I packed my rain jacket with me when I left because it started to pour. Let me describe a little of what I have seen so far, filth, rivers that would make the mississippi drinkable animals that seem to have as much right to walk around as I do. We´re talking stray dogs, cows, and horses. The city is beautiful but there are places where trash is piled up and is a tomping grounds for birds of all sorts. While I´m walking in the rain, which just is not helping my attitude about things, I´m watching people and my back because we´ve all heard stories. I´m not trying to become a story, I walk to a random spot that looks clean and somewhat wealthier then the next place to eat my first meal. I had the filet mingon which cost about 11 american dollars and a stella artois which cost about 2 and have the first meal since Sunday. On my first plane I slept to Chicago, still drunk, with the puke bag in hand. It made the older lady next to me very nervous and scooted away, I did the same when I looked at her mustache. Yuck. Well not to end abrubtly and I know that this has jumped around I´m sure my writing skills will get better. I miss everyone and you´ll hear from me soon, I had a pic of my first meal but forgot the camera cord so you´ll see it later.