so i just finished reading these two books. the first, Collapse, by Jared Diamond, the author Guns, Germs, and Steel deals with the collapse of societies as triggered by their seemingly shortsighted destruction of their environments. this book took me about a month to finish. while this is defiently pretty dense reading, i must admit that mr diamond has a way of making textbooks flow with an essense of a fictional narrative.
the second book i read took me less than two days to finish. this of course is Cofessions of an Economic Hitman, as told by John Perkins, the hitman which the title refers to. this was a quite engaging read especially with my affinity for the conspiricy theory type of story. thats not to say that it is a conspiricy theory, but rather that the truth it reveals makes many conspiricy theories seem like government thinktank jargon. in essnce this book recounts the less than altruistic ways by which the united states has spread its global economic empire since the end of world war II. it makes quite clear the intimate relationship between big business (although i dont think this title really illustrates the nature of the beast, it is more like political entities that dont have any land and the only citizens to whom they owe allegiance are the ever more remote stock holder, who care for nothing other than increased profits. the system itself seems flawed, doesnt it, that the most powerful enteties in the world have no built in mechanism for morality. in a private business the owner presumably cares for how his company conducts business as it is his reputation that stands behind it, but i have never heard of anyone ashamed of how the stocks they owned were making them even more money.) and politicians all throughout the world, corporatocracy as perkins comes to term this seeming conflict of interests.
while i did not read these two books in succession for any particular reason, it seems somewhat providencial that i did. while one book talks about how societies have collapsed shortly after their peaks because the population and level of civilization that they reached was only sustainable by mining the their invironment in such a way that made it impossible for it to renew it self. these collapses were difficult to anticipate because of the seeming success of the society. the other book tells us how the first world has achieved its level of opulence only by exploiting the third world for its labor, land and natural resources. better yet, this was done a precise perception of what it would mean for both parties. every world bank loan that cannot be paid back signs over the rights for transnationals to exploit someone elses environment. if all the environmental damage that the united states requires for us to maintain our lifestyle were commited on our territory, our national forests would be barren and suffering from irreversible soil erosion. our fertile farmlands would be polluted with toxic wastes, and our groundwater would be even more polluted by the runoff of poisenous mines.
we cannot hold on forever either. there are several factors that will give in the next couple decades. all past societies operated in relative isolation compared to our contemporary global community so when one collased in america or the south pacific, there were others that were jsut begining their flourishing. but now there is no where else to go, if the united states collpses it will be because the global community is collapsing, we are irreversibly linked past the critical point with the rest of the world for any collapse throughout the world to affect us all. there is the increasing demand, plus the decreasing supply for oil and other fossil fuels, that will surely be felt before we fill the void with other sources of fuel. we will no longer be able to ship corn from new york to mexico, only to import corn from kansas, and pinapples from hawaii, and avocadoes from chile, etc. and then theirs not only the increasing global population that has been sustained to this point by mining our environment in ways that cannot be sustained. in rwanda, the size of a large farm is 2.4 acres, in the united states the size of a farm thought to support one family is 40 acres. so in rwanda they milk the soil for all its worth, to supply the 1600 daily calories thought to be the threshold of starvation. the soil is not allowed to recuperate so that every year it yields less and less while the population continues to grow, and we are left with the genocides that permeate our modern society. as if the growing population were not enough of a problem, every day more people acheive the "first world quality of life" complete with cars, tvs, meat, and all the rest. so not only are there more people in the world every day, but each person is using more of the precious resources we have. it seems ironic that while all of the global financial institutions, world bank, imf, asian development bank, etc, claim to help countries improve the quality of life of their citizens, to raise them to the standards of the first world, it is really impossible. if china alone reaches first world status, it would DOUBLE the global impact on the earth, DOUBLE, and that without any population growth. the only way for their lifestyle to climb is for ours to decrease. so it seems that the only way for us to maintain our status is for them to maintain theirs, and we go to great lengths to keep it that way. we install dictators throughout the world that remain friendly to us, despite the fact that they terrorize their own people. and when anyone tries to take a stand, se send in the assasins, and if that fails again, then we send in the big guns, the US army, like panama after they took the canal back, or iraq today. and we take iraqs oil money and supposedly rebuild the country, even though the companies that are benefiting from the rebuilding are not only american, but the vice president is the ex CEO (with a healthy severence package im sure) of one of them. this is old news though, no revelations. at least iraq has oil, otherwise they would have to take out a huge load, at the peoples expense so that us companies build infrastructure that benefits 'big business's' interests, be that american, or jsut the local elites, its all the same mafia. and then the country is in eternal debt, and wolfowitz running the world bank had nothing to do with it. i dont fucking know sometimes, how much richer can you really get. but those pesky stock holders demand profits, it is actually illegal for the CEO to do anything that does not maximize the profits for the stock holders. and so we turn every resourse that this planet can give us into an increased share price. see this is what worries me, i think these people think that getting rich will prevent them from starving when shit hits the fan, but in the end they will have hustled themselves the honor of being the last to starve, or maybe theyll be the first crusified when people start getting pissed bacause all the rivers are polluted and the farms have dried up and the forests are polluted. we have to start thinking about the long long term. whats gonna happen to their children, their going to have to face the same world as my children. terrorism is the war of the poor, and war (and economic manipulation) is the terrorism of the rich. you get life in prison for killing one person, but if your company is directly responsible for the displacement and subsequent starvation of thousands of indiginous people for a new hydroelectric dam to power the new oil platform, your get a promotion and fat bonus.
so i dont know if ive covered everything but i look at it this way, we are going to have some serious problems in the near future, ie, before someone born today dies (if not much much sooner). these problems are insurmountable only if we are too stuborn and selfish to really look at our lives in a way that takes into account the lives of our great great grandchildren. i know one thing for sure, the world in 2100 will be NOTHING like it is today. now, what that will look like can range the entire spectrum, from the aftermath of a nuclear war triggered by increasing poverty and desperation, to the flowering of a new era in global civilization, arrising from a willingness to think of ourselves as one people, inexorably linked economically, physically, and most importantly, spiritually.
i think the hardest thing will be the shift in values that are necessary for us to decrease our consumption of the planet. every logging and oil company will have to think not only of their stock holders, but of their responsibility to humanity, the planet, and the universe. our goal in life can no longer be to improve our own lives and those of our at whatever expense, but to operate within a framework that maintains a personal spititual link to the farthest reaches of the planet. individuality must be supplanted by communality, priviledge by humility, material wealth by spiritual satisfaction, and our feeling of masters of the universe must succumb to the reality that we are like a single blood cell serving our the purposes of a larger more beautiful organism. the good news is that i think we will be alot happier this way. i think that subconsiously we know that the way we live in this day and age detracts from the greater life of the planet and the universe. we suffer the psychological distress from the negative energy that permeates us as the destroyers of ourselves and the planet. i was once told that the only thing that makes us truly happy is doing things for other people, so i can only extrapollate that the only things that makes us truly unhappy is doing things that harm other people, the most extreme case being the destruction of the planet and all of humanity. so despite the fact that our material "quality of life" will necessarily decrease, so too will our sense of spiritual hollowness and our lack of greater purpose become extinct in the face of a new global community.
peace and love
anyone read any of those books, what did u think?
Monday, September 25, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Cave Party
last night, being saturday night, was quite a good night. there was a party at richards cave, and it was a blast. his cave is a truly special place. being devoid of electricity, and lit only by fire and candle light, the ambiance is quite magical. i should include a description of this cave because it is really not just a hole in the earth, this shit is pimping. first of all, its bigger than most houses, it has two stories, several chilling areas, a large fireplace. when i went earlier in the day, it was sort of creepy, as most of you know im not especially fond of dark places, especially when there could be critters around. but at night, by firelight, it is completely different, all the dark creepyness is converted by the warm light of the fire and the candles to a cozy den sort of feeling. so anyway, there was like 50 people and we collectively had 2 guitars, 4 drums, a xylophone, and a cajon. so basically people just took turns playing the insturments all night everyone else took turns warming themselves by the fire. we got that whole earthy sort of tribal thing going on. its so very different to party to the sound of live insturments in a candlelit cave, than listenting to electronic music in a club. there is something fundamental that arises in all of us, perhaps programmed into genes by the ages of precivilized humanity, from whaling on the drums by the firelight. we become entranced by the flames as a they dance and shake to the rhythm, we are bathed in the mesmorizing heat, until it starts to posess us and we cant help but close our eyes and throb to the beat of the communal heart. it is the sort of spiritual experience that transcends our ability to describe in words. there is no way to capture the sense of mental silence that envelopes you when you really let yourself feel the drums. your mind stops keeping track of the seconds and minutes as you are transported out of prison of time and space. and so i passed the night, alternating between the drums, the crisp night air, and the lulling hear of the fire until people started leaving and we realized that the sun had risen on our party. well, theres nothing like a good breakfast to top off a great night, and i headed over to the bakery to get some churros before i headed off to bed.
fyi, i am so impressed with the originality and creativity of the hair styles that i have seen since ive been here that i have decided to try and photographe and comment on all the different hair cuts i see around, so you should expect in the near future the first installments of the "I Can't Believe You Cut Your Hair Like That" series.
be well and be easy folks
fyi, i am so impressed with the originality and creativity of the hair styles that i have seen since ive been here that i have decided to try and photographe and comment on all the different hair cuts i see around, so you should expect in the near future the first installments of the "I Can't Believe You Cut Your Hair Like That" series.
be well and be easy folks
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Granada Life
i find that my new life here in granada to be oh so different from the my life in the united states. duh. i dont quite know where im going with this one so ill just start and see where it ends up.
to start with i am living in a the biggest city i have ever lived in since i left joaquin's apartment when i was 1 year old. their are just so many more people that i walk by as a go along my way. the albayzin in particular has such a dense population, but not at the expense of still being beautiful and quaint. it is nice to see alot of people living in close proximity and not living in appartment buildings. its seems as though people just know how to get along, you can play loud music late at night and no one seems to complain. their arnt police breaking up parties and people smoke and drink on the street. when i like about living here is that people dont really have backyards. so that if you want to hang out with your friends you have to go out in the street. plus who would want to stay in their house when you can go to a plaza with a view like this.
it seems to me that in the us, nyack and ithaca to be precise, people stay on their own property as a way of avoiding the police, or just staying out of people's way. here it is so different. you go out at night only to find yourself sharing the street with what seems like the entire population between the ages of 16 and 60. all the bars are filled, but its not like home with each bar catering to a certian subcultural group and playing a certain type of music, etc. while bars do differ in many ways, it is not uncommon to go into one to find gothic punks, older generation proper spanish folk enjoying some wine, foreigners speaking all different languages, 16 year old locals fresh off the mopeds, dreadlocked hippes, and myself, all sharing the neighborhood bar, and all listening to good old flamenco music. i dont think that i have met anyone here who doesnt at least like flamenco. you cannot go out into most plazas at night without hearing someone on the guitar stumming the familiar chords and singing in that oh so characteriztic moan/rasp/wail. when i contrast the local steet singers here to the folk bluegrass music i hear people playing in the ithaca commons, i cannot help but laugh. yesterday their was an ensemble consisting of a couple guitarists, a man playing the cajon (the flamenco equivalent of a drum, it is a hollow box u sit on with a hole in the back that you drum between your legs, look it up online if you care to), a man playing the digiridoo (this i found most unique because i had never heard the digiridoo played along with other instruments), someone was playing the harmonica, along with several people clapping, and everyone taking turns singing a verse or two. now, not only was this concert free of charge, but the players had all come individually and just started playing together for fun. being as musically gifted as i am, or lack there of, i was flabergasted to see how well an impromptu jam session could play out. you would think they had been playing together for years, which may not be altogether untrue, since i presume that they are regulars at this particular plaza.
their is a certain magic being in granada that simply cannot be put into words. i should add at this point that when i refer to granada, i mostly mean the area where i live, the albaycin. this area was the majority of the city when it was the muslim capital. hence, it has the most history and the most life. the newer areas of granada range from sort of typical overblown catholic architecture to a modern western style of buildings. their are regular strait paved streets and appartments buildings, but the albaycin is so very different. the beautiful carmenes with their subtle exteriors yet typically spectacular interior gardens, the winding cobblestone alleys, the mountian spring water fountains (aljibes), the small cafes and taverns, as well as all the other necesities for human life all merge seamlessly into a magical maze where you never know quite where you are, yet always seem to get there. i take great joy everytime i walk down a new alley and discover where it dumps me out, especially when its somwhere near where i predicted it would be. its as though everytime you walk out into the streets the path you take is completely new. its as though walking around were the activity itself as opposed to simply a means to an end. i find myself walking slowly like i was drunk, looking to and fro, awed by the sublime architecture, the vines and flowers overflowing from the secret gardens hidden inside every wall only to be surprised that what i though was a house is actually a school, or a museum, or an internet cafe like the one i sit in right now. this city is so old i feel like im walking within an archological site. this city was made around the time that the aztecs were developing tenochtitlan, yet this is still a fully functional city, not a preserve i have to pay to visit. its as though i live with that same magic that people travel far to experience.
i hope you liked where my mind took us just now, and your comments are greatly appreciated.
peace and love
to start with i am living in a the biggest city i have ever lived in since i left joaquin's apartment when i was 1 year old. their are just so many more people that i walk by as a go along my way. the albayzin in particular has such a dense population, but not at the expense of still being beautiful and quaint. it is nice to see alot of people living in close proximity and not living in appartment buildings. its seems as though people just know how to get along, you can play loud music late at night and no one seems to complain. their arnt police breaking up parties and people smoke and drink on the street. when i like about living here is that people dont really have backyards. so that if you want to hang out with your friends you have to go out in the street. plus who would want to stay in their house when you can go to a plaza with a view like this.
it seems to me that in the us, nyack and ithaca to be precise, people stay on their own property as a way of avoiding the police, or just staying out of people's way. here it is so different. you go out at night only to find yourself sharing the street with what seems like the entire population between the ages of 16 and 60. all the bars are filled, but its not like home with each bar catering to a certian subcultural group and playing a certain type of music, etc. while bars do differ in many ways, it is not uncommon to go into one to find gothic punks, older generation proper spanish folk enjoying some wine, foreigners speaking all different languages, 16 year old locals fresh off the mopeds, dreadlocked hippes, and myself, all sharing the neighborhood bar, and all listening to good old flamenco music. i dont think that i have met anyone here who doesnt at least like flamenco. you cannot go out into most plazas at night without hearing someone on the guitar stumming the familiar chords and singing in that oh so characteriztic moan/rasp/wail. when i contrast the local steet singers here to the folk bluegrass music i hear people playing in the ithaca commons, i cannot help but laugh. yesterday their was an ensemble consisting of a couple guitarists, a man playing the cajon (the flamenco equivalent of a drum, it is a hollow box u sit on with a hole in the back that you drum between your legs, look it up online if you care to), a man playing the digiridoo (this i found most unique because i had never heard the digiridoo played along with other instruments), someone was playing the harmonica, along with several people clapping, and everyone taking turns singing a verse or two. now, not only was this concert free of charge, but the players had all come individually and just started playing together for fun. being as musically gifted as i am, or lack there of, i was flabergasted to see how well an impromptu jam session could play out. you would think they had been playing together for years, which may not be altogether untrue, since i presume that they are regulars at this particular plaza.
their is a certain magic being in granada that simply cannot be put into words. i should add at this point that when i refer to granada, i mostly mean the area where i live, the albaycin. this area was the majority of the city when it was the muslim capital. hence, it has the most history and the most life. the newer areas of granada range from sort of typical overblown catholic architecture to a modern western style of buildings. their are regular strait paved streets and appartments buildings, but the albaycin is so very different. the beautiful carmenes with their subtle exteriors yet typically spectacular interior gardens, the winding cobblestone alleys, the mountian spring water fountains (aljibes), the small cafes and taverns, as well as all the other necesities for human life all merge seamlessly into a magical maze where you never know quite where you are, yet always seem to get there. i take great joy everytime i walk down a new alley and discover where it dumps me out, especially when its somwhere near where i predicted it would be. its as though everytime you walk out into the streets the path you take is completely new. its as though walking around were the activity itself as opposed to simply a means to an end. i find myself walking slowly like i was drunk, looking to and fro, awed by the sublime architecture, the vines and flowers overflowing from the secret gardens hidden inside every wall only to be surprised that what i though was a house is actually a school, or a museum, or an internet cafe like the one i sit in right now. this city is so old i feel like im walking within an archological site. this city was made around the time that the aztecs were developing tenochtitlan, yet this is still a fully functional city, not a preserve i have to pay to visit. its as though i live with that same magic that people travel far to experience.
i hope you liked where my mind took us just now, and your comments are greatly appreciated.
peace and love
Monday, September 18, 2006
Week Two
Hello everybody. here i am again, safe and sound, finally starting to get my bearings in granda. ive been here for like 5 days since the beach and i have fully recovered from the jetlag, nights out, days at the beach, etc. i am now at the point where i am getting my shit together for the year. i have started looking into my arabic classes. there is one about a block from my house, at the center for islamic studies that starts in october, which is quite conveniant, although its only 4 hours a week, and i was hoping to find something perhaps a little more intensive. but we shall see, i may have to add the intensity on my own time, which i am also prepared to do. the good news i suppose is that since the classes would only be either monday and wednesday or tuesday and thursday, i would always have four day weekends to embark on whatever adventures come my way. we´ll see how it turns out.
in order to fill the rest of my time i have several things planned. first of all im trying to find a team to play on, but i find that almost all the teams around here are profesional to some degree, which poses me some problems. to start with, they ahve all been in preseason for two months and the regular season started two weeks ago, so they are all in considerably better shape than im in, CONSIDERABLY. second of all, these teams (assuming i make the squad) would require me to sign a contract which is difficult because, A- im not and EU citizen, and B- i dotn know how much i want to commit to practicing or playing 6 days a week as well as all the sacrifices entailed in being a serious athlete (ie, alot less chilling time, and all that that entails). the truth of the matter is that i have just started really making friends and the past week has beel ALOT of fun. on the other hand, i love playing soccer, i think that im good enough to play on some of these teams, if i get in shape, and shit, being a professional soccer player isnt all that bad, at least i wont have to get a job. so since i have to choices if i dont try, im gonna tryout for some teams and take it from there. i might have to elaborate some of my credentials, chilling in ithaca for the last two years isnt the most compelling background for most soccer coaches. ill keep you posted.
well as far as filling my days go, i also plan on doing a substantial amount of reading on my own. i brought several books, and my dad is bringing more. ive also borrowed a few books already and tehres a library down the street. i love how everything is so close, especially now that i have gotten used to walking up and down the albaycin, and i think my legs have adjusted as well. in october all the universities start, and all other schools for that matter, so most of my friends will be thus occupied, granting me alot more free time in which to read. whatever
i also plan on getting a job of some sort. i have started to analyse my plans and my funds, with that mathimatical mind of mine, and im gonna need some suplemental income in order to ball out as i had planned. im not quite sure what im going to do, but im think that something having to do with speaking english would be my most advantageus opportunity. like i said, we shall see.
i am pleased to inform you that i am getting used to the schedules around here and this weekend i went out past 3 am three out of four days, once till 7. now if that isnt an accomplishment i dont know what is. dont worry folks, i havnt been drinking much, or smoking at all, i find that those factors are what keep me from staying up late, they dont call me the incredible napman for nothing.
well finally in closing i want to recount the akward moment that i experienced last night, and i will to my best to convey the nuance i the situation. so i met up with some friends around 8 in order to watch the sunset, after which we got a call from some dutch girls we jsut met to have a drink down town. so down we went, only to find that they were going home early because tehy had school in the morning. so there were 4 of us guys left with not a drop of estrogen amongst us. since it was only like 1115 and no one was too anxious to go home we got a litro and sat down in a plaza to bullshit for a while. after finishing the beer we decided to go and check out some bars, but since we were all pretty broke we were canniving up ways to get free beers. anything from robbing a drunk guy who was talking to himself, which we decied against since he was probably broke too; to selling ourselves out to fat girls for prostitution (not my idea, i swear, and i think they were joking) being 4 guys we (and i use we very loosly, i didnt do very much) started talking to the next fat girl that came by (we of course said nothing of our plan, being the pussies that we are), who told us that they wer giving out discounted drink tickets down the block, for the hip hop bar. i, missing my usual dossage of hip hop thought this was a good idea, especially since it was the most populated bar on a sunday night, probably due to the free drink tickets, because the music sucked ass, lots of 50 cent and reggeton. so we were in the bar, 4 guys jsut dancing around amongst ourselves partly in shyness, but mostly, at least in my own case, because i was scared of venturing out onto the dance floot because of this blond behemouth that was preying on any guy that came within a few feet of her. i was desperately trying to sort of go out and dance (dancing with 3 other guys in a circle jsut doesnt do it for me anymore), but at the same time avoid making eye contact with her which would surely result in agony. there were multiple ocasions werhe i made passing eye contact so i had to casually stroll out of the bar in order to avoid confrontation. i dont know why i was so opposed to dancing with her probably because i saw that she kept coming back again and again to the two moorish guys that did dance with her. this was not the akward moment i am trying to convey mind you. so finally, we ran out of discounted drink tickets, despite the fact that the guy giving them out had been so generous, so we decided to leave. this is where it gets good. throughout the night we had noticed a group of three girls eyeing us from the other side of the bar, basically unreachable due to the predator filling the gully in between. but on our way out richard was like "bye" at which point he got corrageus and turned back and was like hey, you want to come with us to this other bar (seems a little sketchy, no?), at which point manito chimed in and started telling then this and that. but for some reason the minute manito started talking richards face went completely blank in a way that reminds me of the times i have gotten a drop and in blood sugar and lost my vision temporarily, he did not have such a compelling excuse. he had no explenation for why after initiating conversation he was giving a "it doesnt matter, do whatever you want." needless to say that despite the fact taht the girls practically picked us up they got so bugged out that they decided to stay after practically grabbing all their stuff to come with us. so we left the bar in disgust with richard and had quite a riot outside laughing about it, and what makes matters worse or better for my loyal readers is that in a matter of minutes they actually came out, and so instead of talking to them and patching things up, we start walking away, about 15 yards ahead of them, down the same road. in the process we ran into manitos ex grilfriend who was handing out free beer tickets for a bar nearby, so we decided to head over there. oddly enough, we arrive there only to find that they had been lured there by another employee of the bar also handing out free beers. still we ddint say anything and jsut started drinking our beers and dancing a little bit, by ourselves again, about 10 feet away from them. thankfully they finally left, although i still feel the tension to this day. but to be quite honest, it had to be one of the funniest things thats happened to be since ive been here.
well, until next time, adieu
in order to fill the rest of my time i have several things planned. first of all im trying to find a team to play on, but i find that almost all the teams around here are profesional to some degree, which poses me some problems. to start with, they ahve all been in preseason for two months and the regular season started two weeks ago, so they are all in considerably better shape than im in, CONSIDERABLY. second of all, these teams (assuming i make the squad) would require me to sign a contract which is difficult because, A- im not and EU citizen, and B- i dotn know how much i want to commit to practicing or playing 6 days a week as well as all the sacrifices entailed in being a serious athlete (ie, alot less chilling time, and all that that entails). the truth of the matter is that i have just started really making friends and the past week has beel ALOT of fun. on the other hand, i love playing soccer, i think that im good enough to play on some of these teams, if i get in shape, and shit, being a professional soccer player isnt all that bad, at least i wont have to get a job. so since i have to choices if i dont try, im gonna tryout for some teams and take it from there. i might have to elaborate some of my credentials, chilling in ithaca for the last two years isnt the most compelling background for most soccer coaches. ill keep you posted.
well as far as filling my days go, i also plan on doing a substantial amount of reading on my own. i brought several books, and my dad is bringing more. ive also borrowed a few books already and tehres a library down the street. i love how everything is so close, especially now that i have gotten used to walking up and down the albaycin, and i think my legs have adjusted as well. in october all the universities start, and all other schools for that matter, so most of my friends will be thus occupied, granting me alot more free time in which to read. whatever
i also plan on getting a job of some sort. i have started to analyse my plans and my funds, with that mathimatical mind of mine, and im gonna need some suplemental income in order to ball out as i had planned. im not quite sure what im going to do, but im think that something having to do with speaking english would be my most advantageus opportunity. like i said, we shall see.
i am pleased to inform you that i am getting used to the schedules around here and this weekend i went out past 3 am three out of four days, once till 7. now if that isnt an accomplishment i dont know what is. dont worry folks, i havnt been drinking much, or smoking at all, i find that those factors are what keep me from staying up late, they dont call me the incredible napman for nothing.
well finally in closing i want to recount the akward moment that i experienced last night, and i will to my best to convey the nuance i the situation. so i met up with some friends around 8 in order to watch the sunset, after which we got a call from some dutch girls we jsut met to have a drink down town. so down we went, only to find that they were going home early because tehy had school in the morning. so there were 4 of us guys left with not a drop of estrogen amongst us. since it was only like 1115 and no one was too anxious to go home we got a litro and sat down in a plaza to bullshit for a while. after finishing the beer we decided to go and check out some bars, but since we were all pretty broke we were canniving up ways to get free beers. anything from robbing a drunk guy who was talking to himself, which we decied against since he was probably broke too; to selling ourselves out to fat girls for prostitution (not my idea, i swear, and i think they were joking) being 4 guys we (and i use we very loosly, i didnt do very much) started talking to the next fat girl that came by (we of course said nothing of our plan, being the pussies that we are), who told us that they wer giving out discounted drink tickets down the block, for the hip hop bar. i, missing my usual dossage of hip hop thought this was a good idea, especially since it was the most populated bar on a sunday night, probably due to the free drink tickets, because the music sucked ass, lots of 50 cent and reggeton. so we were in the bar, 4 guys jsut dancing around amongst ourselves partly in shyness, but mostly, at least in my own case, because i was scared of venturing out onto the dance floot because of this blond behemouth that was preying on any guy that came within a few feet of her. i was desperately trying to sort of go out and dance (dancing with 3 other guys in a circle jsut doesnt do it for me anymore), but at the same time avoid making eye contact with her which would surely result in agony. there were multiple ocasions werhe i made passing eye contact so i had to casually stroll out of the bar in order to avoid confrontation. i dont know why i was so opposed to dancing with her probably because i saw that she kept coming back again and again to the two moorish guys that did dance with her. this was not the akward moment i am trying to convey mind you. so finally, we ran out of discounted drink tickets, despite the fact that the guy giving them out had been so generous, so we decided to leave. this is where it gets good. throughout the night we had noticed a group of three girls eyeing us from the other side of the bar, basically unreachable due to the predator filling the gully in between. but on our way out richard was like "bye" at which point he got corrageus and turned back and was like hey, you want to come with us to this other bar (seems a little sketchy, no?), at which point manito chimed in and started telling then this and that. but for some reason the minute manito started talking richards face went completely blank in a way that reminds me of the times i have gotten a drop and in blood sugar and lost my vision temporarily, he did not have such a compelling excuse. he had no explenation for why after initiating conversation he was giving a "it doesnt matter, do whatever you want." needless to say that despite the fact taht the girls practically picked us up they got so bugged out that they decided to stay after practically grabbing all their stuff to come with us. so we left the bar in disgust with richard and had quite a riot outside laughing about it, and what makes matters worse or better for my loyal readers is that in a matter of minutes they actually came out, and so instead of talking to them and patching things up, we start walking away, about 15 yards ahead of them, down the same road. in the process we ran into manitos ex grilfriend who was handing out free beer tickets for a bar nearby, so we decided to head over there. oddly enough, we arrive there only to find that they had been lured there by another employee of the bar also handing out free beers. still we ddint say anything and jsut started drinking our beers and dancing a little bit, by ourselves again, about 10 feet away from them. thankfully they finally left, although i still feel the tension to this day. but to be quite honest, it had to be one of the funniest things thats happened to be since ive been here.
well, until next time, adieu
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Blast Off
so here i am attempting to start up a blog of my own. after reading nates i figure theres no better way to stay in touch with y´all. god knows i cant be writing emails to all of you, i have enough trouble answering my cell phone on a regular basis.
i will try to make it as entertaining as possible and not bore you with mundane occurances, but i dont know, the thought of nate, naked, getting massaged by two men is a tough act to follow, it makes everything seem mundane. i will certainly do my best. i will try to make everything as truthful as possible, with a little dramatic interpretation, just to enhance my own memory of it all.
so me and silvio arrived in sunny southern spain last thursday after a rather long 13 hour voyage. my first order of duty upon arrival was upgrading our cable package so that i now get every single soccer game on the planet basically. its rather absurd, on any given moment on the weekend there is a game on like 5 different channels. Arsenal on one, Chelsea on the other, Barca, Real Madrid, everything. i ffear it might spend alot of time watching tv. oh well.
after watching games all day saturday, i went out for my first night on the town. let me tell you, for those of us from the united states where an all nighter is a rare occurence, if you want to come party out here, you need to train beforehand. i left the house around 11 only to go to a friends house where we played playstation for an hour or two, as if it were a lazy sunday morning. only then did they deem it late enough to get in gear. we, being me and 7 other people, went to a concert that started at midnight. we got there around 1, but we didnt go in, no not yet, instead we lounged outsidefor another few hours drinking litros (a liter of beer, roughtly 1€), since it was so expensive inside. after sufficient inherbriating and chit chat, we actually went to the concernt around 4 am, which is appartently when the headline band was supposed to come out. negative, they did not come out until 445, and didnt finish playing until 6 am, a remarkable occurence for me coming from ithaca, where the wildest bars close at 1 am. needless to say, i was not propared for that kind of partying, it may take me a while to build up that kind of stamina. at that point i insisted on going home, much to the dismay of my collegues, who insisted on getting a few more litros and going to some park or plaza to chillout. i am sad to admit that i had to punk out and get some sleep, in preparation for the three day trip to the beach planned for the next day.
the following day i needless to say awoke rather late. around 5 pm i was scooped up by my friend richard, and his visiting collegue from germany christophe. we spent the first night at richards house (he also has a house in granada) in la alpujarra, which is a region in the sierra nevada a bit south of granada. the mountian air of la alpujarra was quite refereshing and i was glad to be in the country and get a good nights sleep. i awoke before everyone with my usual outpour of mucus from my facial orifices and stiff back, nothing a little stretching and some mountain pose wouldnt cure. it was quite a treat to enjoy that early morning in such a beautiful landscape. the alpujarra is divided into three sections: baja, media and alta, meaning lower middle and high. the higher you go, the more water their is and the more green it is. and coming from the lush northeastern united states, a little green is a welcome sight in a region characterized for being arid.
so we set off for the beaches of almeria, the only mediterranean coast in spain that is relatively undeveloped, and it is only 2 hours from granada on the high way. the region of almeria is basically a desert so the plan was that we would go to a beach that richard knew of and sleep in hammocks among the eucalptus trees that grew on the beach. being that it only rains about 4 days a year in almeria we figured we´d be in good shape. needless to say the beach and the region itself is spectacular. the sand is dark and soft, yet it doesnt get as hot as other dark beaches ive been to. in other words, you dont have to sprint from one shady spot to the next as ive had to do at most dark beaches. we arrived monday afternoon, just in time to buy some food, and head over to a beach near the one we were going to sleep at. the water was truly delicious with a light blue color and a warm temperature, it reminded me of my year in playa del carmen. it was my first real visit to the mediteranean and i must say, it lived up to the hype. the water is clean and refreshing and the flora and fauna flourishes among the rocky coves that lined the shore. as sunset approached we went to out home for the next couple days and hung the hammocks, layed out a blanket and sat down for dinner, which consisted of bread, cheese, ham, tomatoes, rum, and coke. darkness hit us before we could start eating, and we realized how ill prepared we were, not a single flashlight, typical guys, what can i say. we were only saved by the utility knife shanes parents wisely gave me which i forgot to take out of my backpack and the small, yet bright flash light that it carried. oh divine providence, with out that little flashlight we would have been in serious trouble. so we finished eating and turned to the liter of rum we had brought, we sat down by the water and richard broke out the guitar. he is quite good at the flamenco guitar and it is quite and experience to hear him. we all sat around and took turns singing (yes, even i sang. must be the rum) while me and christophe took turns whaling on our thighs to the beat. i must interject here to say a bit more about the water. we went into the sea at night only to discover that it was alive with photoplankton and every movement you made in the water made them light up all around you. it was truly one of the most special things i have ever seen. we were in the water for at least half an hour, despite the sharp drop in night time temperatures.
it turns out that even a remote beach does not escape spains vibrant night life. after dark several parties came out to camp on the beach and by the timed we had finished off our bottle of rum we were being passed another bottle around a raging bonfire that someone had started up. by 230 in the morning i was quite drunk and i deemed it was better to go to my hammock then to pass out on the beach. i slept quite soundly until what seemed like silvio in my bedroom trying to create a strobe light effect with my ceiling light, and for those of you who missed my metaphor, it was thundering like a muda, coupled with a few droplets of rain. before long we saw all the people we were chilling with, making their way to the parking lot, but we decided, upon my insistence of course, that it might not rain too hard and we should rough it out. we stayed this course for about 45 sleepless minutes until the wind started howling by us, and we realized that we better run for it. the minute we got out of the hamocks the gods started pissing all over us, we didnt have time to set up camp in anyway and by the time we got to the car, we and all our belongings were soaked to the bone. and so we sat in the car, freezing for about 3 hours while we enjoyed 25% of almerias rainey days. and it was quite a rain indeed, it can onyl be described as torrential. the rain finally stoped and i ran back to the campsite to get our wet belongings, food included, so we could have some breakfast to try to battle the combined hangover/lack of sleep. sure enought the sun didnt come out all morning and it rained two more times, so all the dry clothes we changed into were positively soaked. things were not looking good, we were cold as hell and all of our shit was soaked. the good news is a learned a few life lessons. first: im no meteorologist; second (not the first time ive learned this): better safe than sorry. thankfully the sun came up in the afternoon and we were able to dry our stuff and take a pleasant nap in the hammocks, although i think i caught a bit of a cold. the second night elapsed much like the first, minus the rum, and we built a shelter in case it rained again. this is true until we tried to go to sleep because it was FREEZING. i had all my clothes on, under my blanket, but i still woke up at least 7 times throughout the night only to find that the sun had not risen yet, when in finally did we slept a little more soundly, still with all of our clothes on. and then it was hot as hell, and i was so glad to be swaying in my hammock among the shady eucaliptus, i felt like a koala bear. that afternoon(wednesday) we headed back to granada and to the many conforts of civilization.
sorry if the first entry is a bit long, im sure they get more succinct with time, i hope you all enjoy my adventures as much as i do.
i will try to make it as entertaining as possible and not bore you with mundane occurances, but i dont know, the thought of nate, naked, getting massaged by two men is a tough act to follow, it makes everything seem mundane. i will certainly do my best. i will try to make everything as truthful as possible, with a little dramatic interpretation, just to enhance my own memory of it all.
so me and silvio arrived in sunny southern spain last thursday after a rather long 13 hour voyage. my first order of duty upon arrival was upgrading our cable package so that i now get every single soccer game on the planet basically. its rather absurd, on any given moment on the weekend there is a game on like 5 different channels. Arsenal on one, Chelsea on the other, Barca, Real Madrid, everything. i ffear it might spend alot of time watching tv. oh well.
after watching games all day saturday, i went out for my first night on the town. let me tell you, for those of us from the united states where an all nighter is a rare occurence, if you want to come party out here, you need to train beforehand. i left the house around 11 only to go to a friends house where we played playstation for an hour or two, as if it were a lazy sunday morning. only then did they deem it late enough to get in gear. we, being me and 7 other people, went to a concert that started at midnight. we got there around 1, but we didnt go in, no not yet, instead we lounged outsidefor another few hours drinking litros (a liter of beer, roughtly 1€), since it was so expensive inside. after sufficient inherbriating and chit chat, we actually went to the concernt around 4 am, which is appartently when the headline band was supposed to come out. negative, they did not come out until 445, and didnt finish playing until 6 am, a remarkable occurence for me coming from ithaca, where the wildest bars close at 1 am. needless to say, i was not propared for that kind of partying, it may take me a while to build up that kind of stamina. at that point i insisted on going home, much to the dismay of my collegues, who insisted on getting a few more litros and going to some park or plaza to chillout. i am sad to admit that i had to punk out and get some sleep, in preparation for the three day trip to the beach planned for the next day.
the following day i needless to say awoke rather late. around 5 pm i was scooped up by my friend richard, and his visiting collegue from germany christophe. we spent the first night at richards house (he also has a house in granada) in la alpujarra, which is a region in the sierra nevada a bit south of granada. the mountian air of la alpujarra was quite refereshing and i was glad to be in the country and get a good nights sleep. i awoke before everyone with my usual outpour of mucus from my facial orifices and stiff back, nothing a little stretching and some mountain pose wouldnt cure. it was quite a treat to enjoy that early morning in such a beautiful landscape. the alpujarra is divided into three sections: baja, media and alta, meaning lower middle and high. the higher you go, the more water their is and the more green it is. and coming from the lush northeastern united states, a little green is a welcome sight in a region characterized for being arid.
so we set off for the beaches of almeria, the only mediterranean coast in spain that is relatively undeveloped, and it is only 2 hours from granada on the high way. the region of almeria is basically a desert so the plan was that we would go to a beach that richard knew of and sleep in hammocks among the eucalptus trees that grew on the beach. being that it only rains about 4 days a year in almeria we figured we´d be in good shape. needless to say the beach and the region itself is spectacular. the sand is dark and soft, yet it doesnt get as hot as other dark beaches ive been to. in other words, you dont have to sprint from one shady spot to the next as ive had to do at most dark beaches. we arrived monday afternoon, just in time to buy some food, and head over to a beach near the one we were going to sleep at. the water was truly delicious with a light blue color and a warm temperature, it reminded me of my year in playa del carmen. it was my first real visit to the mediteranean and i must say, it lived up to the hype. the water is clean and refreshing and the flora and fauna flourishes among the rocky coves that lined the shore. as sunset approached we went to out home for the next couple days and hung the hammocks, layed out a blanket and sat down for dinner, which consisted of bread, cheese, ham, tomatoes, rum, and coke. darkness hit us before we could start eating, and we realized how ill prepared we were, not a single flashlight, typical guys, what can i say. we were only saved by the utility knife shanes parents wisely gave me which i forgot to take out of my backpack and the small, yet bright flash light that it carried. oh divine providence, with out that little flashlight we would have been in serious trouble. so we finished eating and turned to the liter of rum we had brought, we sat down by the water and richard broke out the guitar. he is quite good at the flamenco guitar and it is quite and experience to hear him. we all sat around and took turns singing (yes, even i sang. must be the rum) while me and christophe took turns whaling on our thighs to the beat. i must interject here to say a bit more about the water. we went into the sea at night only to discover that it was alive with photoplankton and every movement you made in the water made them light up all around you. it was truly one of the most special things i have ever seen. we were in the water for at least half an hour, despite the sharp drop in night time temperatures.
it turns out that even a remote beach does not escape spains vibrant night life. after dark several parties came out to camp on the beach and by the timed we had finished off our bottle of rum we were being passed another bottle around a raging bonfire that someone had started up. by 230 in the morning i was quite drunk and i deemed it was better to go to my hammock then to pass out on the beach. i slept quite soundly until what seemed like silvio in my bedroom trying to create a strobe light effect with my ceiling light, and for those of you who missed my metaphor, it was thundering like a muda, coupled with a few droplets of rain. before long we saw all the people we were chilling with, making their way to the parking lot, but we decided, upon my insistence of course, that it might not rain too hard and we should rough it out. we stayed this course for about 45 sleepless minutes until the wind started howling by us, and we realized that we better run for it. the minute we got out of the hamocks the gods started pissing all over us, we didnt have time to set up camp in anyway and by the time we got to the car, we and all our belongings were soaked to the bone. and so we sat in the car, freezing for about 3 hours while we enjoyed 25% of almerias rainey days. and it was quite a rain indeed, it can onyl be described as torrential. the rain finally stoped and i ran back to the campsite to get our wet belongings, food included, so we could have some breakfast to try to battle the combined hangover/lack of sleep. sure enought the sun didnt come out all morning and it rained two more times, so all the dry clothes we changed into were positively soaked. things were not looking good, we were cold as hell and all of our shit was soaked. the good news is a learned a few life lessons. first: im no meteorologist; second (not the first time ive learned this): better safe than sorry. thankfully the sun came up in the afternoon and we were able to dry our stuff and take a pleasant nap in the hammocks, although i think i caught a bit of a cold. the second night elapsed much like the first, minus the rum, and we built a shelter in case it rained again. this is true until we tried to go to sleep because it was FREEZING. i had all my clothes on, under my blanket, but i still woke up at least 7 times throughout the night only to find that the sun had not risen yet, when in finally did we slept a little more soundly, still with all of our clothes on. and then it was hot as hell, and i was so glad to be swaying in my hammock among the shady eucaliptus, i felt like a koala bear. that afternoon(wednesday) we headed back to granada and to the many conforts of civilization.
sorry if the first entry is a bit long, im sure they get more succinct with time, i hope you all enjoy my adventures as much as i do.
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