Why are there so many people that seem to suck at driving??? I’m not going to say I’m the best driver in the world but I’m a hell of a lot better than some of the other fucking degenerates I see driving around. It pisses me off and it always gets my blood boiling when someone drives like a fuckin imbecile. Take today for example, I was going along and some dipshit blows right through a stop sign. If I didn’t hit my brakes it would have been a collision. I don’t usually use my horn either, but this was such an egregious act of shitty driving I laid on the horn to the let the twit know Hey, I’m here asshole! Well, not only did they blow the stop sign, get this, when I hit my horn they swerve into the other lane as if they wanted me to pass them on the right. This was a two way road and they pull over to the left which could have had oncoming traffic at any moment and just stop, looking at me in the rear view as I am tossing my hands in the air and pointing screaming in my car “What the fuck are you doing!? Just go!”
What a fucking moron that person was. They should have their license taken immediately for such practice of idiocy on the road. To be honest, road rage and shit like what happened today caused me to write my short story The Deathla. If you haven’t read it already it is one of my earlier blogs and a story that you may like. Please take a moment to read it if you haven’t. Anyways, I think that’s all for now.
I just got off the phone with my friend in regards to some travel plans to meet up with my brother abroad. It seems like we have a good plan of where we are going. The destinations discussed were Sicily, Palermo, Marseilles, Paris, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, and Hamburg. A well rounded Euro trip. It’s different from our usual ritualistic travels around Ireland which we have done over the last 6 or 7 years. I will definitely find my way back to Ireland in the future but it will most likely take a back seat this year. I am excited to see these new places. I’m also excited to journal it. My journal from South America, which is among my other posts, appeared to garnish some decent attention. That being said, I will be posting blogs about this journey as well. It will be interesting to see which will be more entertaining. This will be a much shorter trip and under much different circumstances, but with my partners in crime there’s bound to be some sort of entertainment. There’s good things to come.
Tensions are rising between the U.S and Iran. It’s unnerving. I won’t lie, it’s quite frightening. I’m not one that bites on most of the stuff on the news but if even a small bit of it is true that has just recently been released it’s downright scary. The scariest thing is that I think this is happening to pull attention away from the impeachment. It’s dangerous to put your personal interests in getting re-elected towards military pressures on another country. Outright assassination to be frank. Another concern I have is knowing that Trump has already dropped a M.O.A.B. (Mother Of All Bombs) on Afghanistan. Remember that? Well, I’d say that there’s not much that would prevent him from doing it again or going even more extreme should Iran counterattack, which there are reports that indicate they have stated they will but that they are patient and that they will attack whatever target and time they choose. That’s either a bluff which it may be but I don’t think it is. All the U.S has ever done it seems is constantly fuck with the Middle East. They aren’t scared. If things do go even more south, I think it could be bad. Or maybe I got suckered. If that’s the case, it won’t happen again.
It had been another long night of drunken shenanigans and I found myself separated from my brother and our friend. It was of my own doing, I got caught up chasing tail. Once I found out that the prospect still lived with their parents, I decided it was time to head back to where I was staying. I walked across the bridge and wandered along. In my drunken stupor I hadn’t even noticed I had gotten way off track. I began to look around and realized I had somehow found myself walking through what appeared to be some sort of college campus. The buildings were medieval looking and the road was dark. There didn’t appear to be a soul in sight. Shit, I was way off the beaten path. I had zero idea where or how to get back to the hotel. At the time I didn’t have a smart phone so I couldn’t use a GPS. Finally, out of nowhere I came across another person. He was a small skinny Indian guy. I flagged him down and told him I was lost. I felt bad for I had alarmed him and he seemed frightened by me at first. I have wondered since then, if he had been threatened or attacked in the past. Anyways, he was as clueless to help me as I was to help myself. Then, a chariot of the Gods came in the shape of a random taxi driving down the street. The Indian guy helped me out by flagging him down. I jumped in and the driver asked where I was going. I told him I honestly didn’t know but that my hotel was by The Gold Rush. That was the only thing I clearly remembered as a landmark as it was a place that was across the street of the hotel.
“Which one?” he asked.
Come to find out it was a chain of slot machine casinos and there were a few of them in Cork. I told him I wasn’t sure and we drove around for about a half hour until finally we found where I was staying. I discovered the next day that unbeknownst to me there are two rivers in Cork. I had gone over the wrong bridge that night. Combine that with my bad sense of direction, you have a damn lost fool.
We finally found ourselves at our destination in Ballyshannon, Ireland. We walked into Dorrian’s Imperial Hotel, a family run 18th century hotel. After check-in we headed towards the elevator to head up to our room. The three of us stepped in each with a backpack and luggage case. Now, I’m not sure if you’ve done any travel Ireland but let’s put it this way. They like things small it seems, from the narrow roads, to the parking spaces in the garages, an elevator was no exception.
So, here we are preparing for a routine lift on an elevator. As soon as we all got in the elevator it dropped about 6 inches. We looked at each other slightly alarmed and let out some laughter. We pushed the button to go up to our designated floor. Slowly, the elevator started to ascend and stopped dead in its tracks roughly between floors. My brother and I laughed as we usually do when it’s at the expense of our friend as he was much more nervous about it then we were. The hotel knew it was stuck immediately and heard us asking for help.
“Sorry, lads your first pints are on us.” We heard from the other side. We took them up on that offer. We also opted for the stairs in that hotel for the remainder of our stay.
Before jumping into the final entry of this South American journey, I want to reflect on a couple things prior to when I flew back home. I was leaving from Arequipa, Peru by bus up to Lima and it is about a 16 hour bus ride. It was a bus I took at night so I arrived at Lima in the morning. One thing I failed to take into consideration is a tax you have to pay to leave the country… I don’t know why they do it but they do. I was virtually broke at this time and thankfully yet again had to get some money wired from my good friend Todd so I could pay the tax to get home. I was limping home with barely a penny to my name. I arrived off the bus in Lima in the morning and my flight back was a night flight. I spent 12 hours at that airport killing time. Thankfully, I had a book to read. It was a book I had received from a woman I had met at the hostel. Her name was Dani and we had discussed books. I had brought a book titled “Ishmael” with me. It was a book I enjoyed but it was time to part ways with it as it was something I had received from my ex. I can’t explain my reasoning for bringing it with me. Anyways, Dani and I exchanged books. I gave her “Ishamael” and she gave me a book that she really enjoyed titled “An Equal Music”. Thankfully, I enjoyed it as well and it helped to kill a good chunk of the 12 hours I had to wait before I boarded my flight back home.
I feel so relieved as I am now back on American grounds. I’m at JFK and finish my trip with an hour flight to Boston. I’m currently waiting in terminal 4 to see if my friend Stephanie shows up. She wanted me to call her when I arrived but frankly I don’t have even a mere dollar to make the call. I had forewarned her though by internet message on Myspace. I hope she does show up. It would be good to see a familiar face again. When I arrive in Boston my other friend Stephanie is picking me up. It will be good once I get that far. The closer to home I get the more relaxed I begin to feel. It’s funny, I left because I wanted to be away, I was practically cursing home. Now, I couldn’t be happier to be back. It takes a bit of culture shock and harsh reality to recognize how good home can be sometimes. I believe that reflecting on my thoughts… I have actually found what I was seeking.
As I think about this entry I’m not so sure that I was really seeking anything as much as I was trying to run away from something. It makes me think about a song I had written with my friend Todd. The first lyrics are “You can run from your problems, but they’ll only stay.” I think that’s the truth I didn’t know back then. Sadly, this concludes our trip together. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope I was a competent guide to lead you along the way. I have bigger plans on this journey as whole. I would ideally like to publish it with actual scans of my real journal to give it the real feel I have tried to portray. Please comment or message me if this is something you may be interested in. So long for now.
Photo of myself a day after I got back. My brother in the background.
Went out on Saturday night with the people of the Point Hostel. We went to a place called Deja Vu. It was a small club that had an upstairs roof terrace. I wasn’t overly impressed with the place but it was with some good people. Damian, one of the guys who works at the hostel has been really cool. He is from England, just outside of London. Yesterday, I watched a couple movies. I watched “300” for the second time and still enjoyed it. I afterwards, watched “Apocolypto” for the first time and liked that as well. I think they got my mind going as I had a couple interesting dreams. I remember the first one quite vividly and the second one not at all now. In the first dream I was at some sort of park or something. An amusement park. There was a river that went around the park. I was in it swimming and my friend Ryan was floating beside me on an inner tube. Then, some guy came from the side of me trying to kick me in the head. I moved away from him and we started to fight. I was about to get the better of him until he reached down and squeezed hold of my balls. I broke away, he tried again and again I avoided it. Then he pulled a knife out of his wallet. I turned away and then back toward him holding my hands up tell him it’s over. I was standing next to my friend and then he grabbed Ryan by the neck. I then went after the guy, he turned me around and apparently stabbed me in the back, a little above the kidneys. At first it felt like it was only his fingers poking into my back then he started to dig and cut down. I felt a twinge and I immediately woke startled from the dream. It was quite interesting. It’s been awhile since I have had such a vivid dream. This morning I watched “Stranger Than Fiction” and found it to be a very well done movie. It has gotten my imaginary gears turning and makes me want to write a fictional story like I used to when I was younger. Perhaps when I go home I should take some writing courses to get me back into my passion of storytelling.
Arequipa, Peru was the most beautiful city I experienced during my trip. It was a good final destination before heading home from Lima. It was a combination of the architecture and the colors of the buildings that gave it a sort of warm feeling. Like many of the places I experienced there were some mountains that made a nice backdrop to the city as well. I went to a museum while I was there. In 1995 there had been an expedition up on one of the mountains and they discovered a 12 year old Inca girl preserved in the ice. They believe she was sacrificed and in that museum they had her in a climate controlled case to keep her preserved so that tourists could see. Juanita the Ice Princess was what they referred to her as. There was also a monastery/convent in Arequipa. It was like it was another city walled off from the rest of Arequipa. I would guess the Vatican is the same way. This is the entry I wrote while I was in South America. My next entry is when I touch back down on American soil.
Well, I have slacked in my writing lately but not on purpose. I have once again come down with some type of illness. I think it is an ear infection. I have been medicating with Amoxicillin hoping it helps. It has stopped the pain but my ear is still plugged up. I think all the altitude changes has screwed it up as well. Thanks to my father I was able to get some money from Western Union to pay back the French couple who actually ended up helping me out a lot. If it wasn’t for their assistance it could be quite possible that I would be stuck here. I feel that they were guardian angels to help me when I really needed it most. The night before leaving Rurrenabaque I had no choice but to set up my tent and camp. It was actually a brilliant place to camp as it was right on a river bank. I didn’t get much sleep and that was also when my ear really started to bother me as it was causing me pain. I am now currently in Arequipa, Peru. I have 4 more days until I fly back home. I will be happy to be back home. This trip has helped to open my eyes to many things. Most importantly, it has proved to me what I have always needed. The fact that people actually notice I’m not around, the fact that people other than my family truly care about me and love me. There are no words to describe how wonderful it makes me feel to finally truly have that knowledge and not doubt it. Traveling alone on this trip has been great at times and obviously lonely at times. Despite how great the pampas tour was I couldn’t help but imagine how much better it would have felt enjoying it with someone I loved and who was also in love with me. It would have been an even more sacred moment in life. Someday I will enjoy a trip with a lover. I don’t doubt it a bit.
After lugging the thing almost my whole trip without use, I finally used the tent I brought with me. I for some reason had thought I would tent a lot more than that but I had much grander plans in the beginning of my trip. I thought I was going to do a loop around the whole continent. We all know that clearly didn’t happen. As it is, the damn thing served its purpose finally. I remember prior to putting it up there was another person that had a tent not too far from where I put mine up. I had no idea if it was ok to do it but I asked the guy after looking in my Spanish English dictionary for the word tent. “Tienda?” While pointing to where I wanted to put it up. He replied emphatically and with a smile “Si.” I wasn’t going to implore further and set up my tent. It was an interesting experience that night. I’ve camped on many occasions but this was my first in a foreign land like this. While in my tent a bunch of stray dogs had come out and all I could hear was them growling and fighting each other most of the night. They weren’t too far off either as I could see their silhouettes through the wall of my tent. It was a bit nerve racking and I was just hoping none of them would fuck with my tent. The noise from the dogs and along with the eventual pain I started to experience in my ear led for a long night with very little sleep. The next morning I packed up my tent. Thankfully, there was a Western Union I could access in Rurrenabaque and my father thankfully loves me and helped me out enough so I could pay back the French couple as well as what I had told him I thought would be enough to finish off the rest of this trip to get me home. The French couple also assisted me in going to the store so I could get amoxicillin. The great thing about down there is you don’t need a prescription for it down there you just need to ask for it. The French couple broke the language divide and were able to help me to get amoxicillin. Now, to be honest in hindsight I don’t think it was an ear infection because despite taking amoxicillin it didn’t stop me from drinking alcohol which I believe counteracts it. Either way, whether it was placebo or not it seemed to help at that time. I think it was more of the altitudes that really screwed it up. My ear remained plugged up for at least a couple of months even after I had gotten back home. Speaking of home, I make myself sound like a beat dog that no one loved when I stated that I finally realized other people truly cared about me. I certainly feel confident people do now, back then I think it was a combination of naivete and the fact I did recently have my heart shattered. I’m happy knowing I’m in the place that I’m in now and that I don’t feel like I need some grand adventure to try to find or realize something. That being said, I still wouldn’t take back this trip as it will forever be a staple in my life.
I’m so happy I never decided to try to publish my journal the way it was. It sucks. I say that because of how many things that I remember that I never mention in it. So this is the second entry on the same day. It was also, as odd as it is, exactly 12 hours of time between them. I would have expected myself to mention something about it on the previous entry but I did not. After we arrived to where we were staying, we docked the canoe, put our bags away, and had some dinner. As dusk approached we jumped back onto our boat. We would be out there in the dark to observe the alligators. When you shine a light on an alligator’s eyes they glint red. There were a couple memorable experiences I had on that night experience. While it was dusk out the bats made their presence. We were out on the river and they were flying all around. It was dinner time. These were the biggest damn bats I’d ever seen. They were zipping by a bit too close for my comfort and I admit that I cowered low into the bottom of the canoe to avoid them. Much to the tour guides amusement I presume. Now that I think of it, I think he knew he could fuck with me once I showed how uncomfortable I was with bats. Once it was dark we went on the search for the gators. They weren’t hard to find. There was one in the water near a steep banking and the tour guide navigated the boat just right so that if the gator didn’t go underneath us it would be pinned against the banking. Needless to say at that moment my heart skipped several beats because that gator splashed around, hit the boat and went under. In the commotion I thought the thing was going to be in the boat. The whole time the tour guide laughed his ass off. This was a man who was aware of his surroundings and the inhabitants within it…
Night Gator adventure
Currently relaxing in a hammock right now. It is pitch black and the moon looks like Cheshire Cat’s smile. Today on the pampas tour we walked through them in search of the elusive anaconda. A guide found a baby one but we couldn’t find a full grown. The guide on our trip is a fearless one. He actually found a cobra and caught it to show us. His name is Wilfredo. Later in the day we went back on the boat to find pink dolphins. On the way he pulled up to the shore by a lounging gator. He got out and walked to it. Talked to it.It slowly went away but he had a small fish he used to lure it back to him. He even petted it on the snout. I think he did it to make everyone at ease about swimming in the water and not to worry about the gators attacking us. I still didn’t go in. I don’t have a valid reason why. It wasn’t fear. I think it was more self consciousness of my body. Oh well. Also saw a beautiful sunset as we went to an ideal spot to view it. This tour has been a good way to wind down and come close to closing out this trip. Most definitely the highlight so far.
I did see a “pink” dolphin on that day. I put it in quotations only because the dolphin really isn’t pink. They appear pink because of the brownish hue of the water. They are really more of a white color. Mind you, this is also fresh water. It was a memorable experience and a shame I never wrote about it in the first place. It didn’t jump out of the water or anything spectacular like you may tend to see. It did more of an upwards blurb, just showing the curvature of its back and it’s fin. I also fail to mention that we went piranha fishing. We had a wooden spool with fishing line and a hook. On the hook we put a small chunk of steak. Now, I came back missing bait every time with no piranha on the line. They are tricky bastards to hook. Thankfully, the guide knew the trick and caught some. One fell off the line and flopped around on the bottom of the boat for a few moments. The guide laughed as myself and the French couple panicked lifting our feet to prevent from getting bit by the fish. He picked it up with out any issue. We went back for dinner and ate piranha. I had to try it and have to say it was surprisingly good. Just not a whole lot of meat but what was there was tasty. Honest to goodness it was the cliche’ and tasted a bit like chicken. This was definitely one of the best, if not, the best highlights of my whole trip but with the way this thing has gone you know there’s more low lights to follow right?
From L to R (Cobra snake, baby anaconda, alligator remains, sunset)
Day one of the pampas tour was unreal. Couldn’t believe how many alligators there were. One downfall is I owe a French woman some money as the tour operator failed to tell me about a 60 Boliviano entrance fee into the park. Without my ATM card I’m not sure how I can get the money to her when we get back into Rurre. It is tugging at my mind on what I can do. I may need to get a hold of someone for Western Union or something. This trip has simply just not been smooth. It’s been like a bumpy ride through the Andes.
(Just a few of the several different kinds of birds seen on the first day of the tour)
(The world’s largest rodent, the Capybara)
(Monkeys)
(Gators were a dime a dozen out on this tour)
Again, I have a very distinct memory that I didn’t mention in my journal. I remember on the bus ride to Rurrenabaque at one point we were in an area that was very lush and overgrown. It was dark and there was lightning. I recall feeling like a T-Rex was going to come crashing through at any moment. It felt like I was in Jurassic Park and I hadn’t even seen any wildlife yet. This was another long bus ride and we rolled into Rurre early in the morning of July 15th. Once in town, there was a little time to kill before boarding the truck that would take us on a 4 hour ride to the park where the pampas tour would be. It was about half way through that ride when it came to my attention I needed to pay money to get into the park. I was beside myself thinking fucking hell, can’t I just see one fucking thing!? As mentioned I did have a nice French woman loan me the money so I could get into the park. She was taking the tour with her boyfriend and they were going to be on the same tour as I. At the end of the truck ride we met up with our designated tour guides. Now, I should have been more pissed about this detail I’m about to mention but I was thankful to be going at this point. I paid for an English speaking guide through the travel agency and well, he happened to be “sick” so I got a Spanish speaking guide instead. Thankfully, the French couple were able to interpret for me as they understood Spanish. We boarded a supersized canoe with a motor and were on our way. Right from the get go wildlife was everywhere. Birds, Capybaras, Monkeys, Alligators, and Caimans. It was insane how many alligators/caimans there were. There would be a bunch of them laying on the land and a bunch swimming on the top of the water. The French couple interpreted to me the tour guide stating for each one we see the same amount are underwater. I was mesmerized seeing all this wildlife. It was what I truly had been wanting this whole trip. The chance to be out in some nature. It was a strong start to the tour and the momentum continued.
Basket of Thoughts 