Making Y'all Chumps Jealous.

Things I've done over the past two weeks:
-Swam in pictured waterfall in the middle of the rainforest.
-Drank rum while soaking in a natural hot tub in a mountain river.
-Aggrivated a howler monkey.
-Watched a swarm of army ants
-Moved into my new apartment
-Watched Anchorman at least 10 times
-Quoted Anchorman all the way through at least 20 times
-Held a puffed up blow fish in my hands like a spiny basketball
-Jumped off the top of a catamaran into the open sea
-Swam to Isla Capitan (2k round trip) and back twice.
-Slept in a Nicaraguan Colonial garden under a waning full moon and a swooping bat.
-Held a funeral for said swooping bat.
-Attended local Virgin Festival in Granada...no seriously.
-Bought creepy looking bunny rabbit masks and raw cocoa in the Masaya market in Nicaragua.
-Talked about feelings.
-Bought a new surf board
-Saw a 600lb. tapir hanging out in the jungle.
-Drank my bloodweight in Flor de Cana.
-Ate tortillas and black beans at "the Ladies" in Santa Cruz.
-Fell in love with Costa Rica all over again.

My Day Off: The List

-Drove to Barra Honda National park at 6.30a
-Hiked to the top of the mountain.
-Threw basketball sized rocks into a hole 60 ft. deep.
-Climbed a tree and listened to the bees.
-Sat in a shed 1,000 feet up and looked out over the Gulf of Nicoya.
-Talked with a troupe of howler monkeys.
-Swam in my skivies at the base of a waterfall.
-Picked lemons off what may be the only lemon tree in Costa Rica.
-Drove to Avellanas.
-Surfed while I waited for my food to come at Lola's.
-Ate a pizza on the beach.
-Drank guava pureed with ice and rum.
-Surfed as the sun dipped into the sea.
-Passed out on the couch reading a western with a smile on my face and still in my clothes at 8.45p

Music You'll Vote Against

I would never presume to call myself a music critic despite my ability to be quite critical. All that said and done I've recently had a musical experience prompting me to write a word or two. Do Make Say Think's "You, You're a History in Rust" may be the greatest soundtrack to your life that you'll never bother to listen to. I drove home from a night with friends listening to every song as if they were written as a letter to me, each chord and note were strummed out on my spine, each note plucked out between the frets of my being. Instead of titling songs in English a simple title of "distraction #9" or "personal redemption #58" would have sufficed as each beat and melody managed to pertain to each moment near and dear to my tomorrow. Boo hoo hoo I love music and I only wish that you would listen to this trying to figure which triumph and tragedy each tune pertained to in your very own life. You and I could have a very interesting conversation indeed. xoxoxoxo.


PS- entirely too much has happened since I've been back from Argentina. I only wish I could mange to keep up in between Louis L'Amour and trips to the New Yorker to write them all out. Living and loving my life has taken a front seat to trying to embellish the minutiae here in the confines of the Internet. Hugs and kisses to all of you who deserve them. There are a lot of you out there.

ON ICE no less!!!

There is a strong chance (although at this point I'm not at liberty to divulge anything) that I saw High School Musical on Ice dubbed in Spanish. I may or may not have had front row seat in front of some of Argentina's finest celebrities. There remains a possibility that I ate a hot dog with mayonnaise on it.

I don't care what anyone says, by the way. Troy was a total jerk for thinking about his basketball team over Gabriella. Doesn't he know how much he hurt her?! She should have never taken him back so quickly! Psssssh! Whatever.

Right, so...

Last night, over take out empanadas and salad I talked about politics with Sol's parents in their super fast Argentinian Spanish which, I would imagine, is about as easy as talking about auto mechanics in Mandarin. I suffered no side effects aside from a little dizzyness which may or may not have come from the really really good bottle of wine.

I was also attacked by a mob of hungry pigeons in the Plaza del Mayo.

Blurp...

Today I ate meat. A ton of it. So much, in fact that I may be elegible for the death penalty or at the very least severe public humiliation in several nations. I swooned, I think. Vegetarians please do yourselves a favor and forget about this country. Texans are preferred. Well all except one, I'd venture to say.

The High Life in Buenos Aires

We woke up early this morning and went to the B.A. Central Market where you can buy truck loads of cheap and beautiful veggies, meats and housewares of all types. We bought a kilo of beautiful strawberries, some black skinned potatoes, pork loin and pea shoots for our lunch, which I was in charge of. After a few more errands, I spent the afternoon cooking. We sat down and had a family meal before Sol and I left for an afternoon with some of her friends.

We drove out to Las Tortugitas, essentially the Beverly Hills of B.A. where we took part in a garage sale of sorts, had tea at the country club, and sat around chatting at sunset. I, at points, completely lost in this wave of completely new spanish, would sit back and watch everyone interacting, amazed at how it was almost identical to any afternoon in the States (aside from the whole country club polo part). We finished the eveing by going to "El Viente", a movie with Nicolas Cage and Jessica Beil which was just as bad, I imagine, in another country as it would have been in the states. It was still fun to lay back in the theater and listen to everyone watch the movie. Everyone loves Nicolas Cage afterall.

Sorry I cán't really post any photos. I can't connect my camera to this compu with out the software. I guess you'll just have to wait.