passing time in the toilet…

this girl was literally in the bathroom for so long that I forgot she was here.  I almost had a second hello!!!

phew.  Good thing my nose is screwed up.  I can only image whats floating throughout my apartment at the moment.

Back in the Game….

Drunk for 17. High for 9. Blazed for 10. Living in Buenos Aires for 55. Wandered in Urugay 20 Days.

Mas o menos

I’ve scored some flowers.  And not having any papers, or pipes.  I’ve resorted to walking around with an apple.  An apple that I smoke out of.  Today I bought 3 green apples.  Two to eat, and 1 to try out for quality.  I was thinking about it, and in general green apples are more durable.  In comparison to the Pink Lady apple that I usually use; a Granny Smith is even harder to the break the skin, bite, and chew.  It must be be different and  superior to smoke out of.

It was just a thought.

But I will see how it goes.

About an hour ago I’ve resorted back to random dance moves around the house.  It’s kind of like a cool way to have turrets syndrome.  There’s never a wrong time for an uncontrollable dance move.

I told my spanish teacher today, after i texted her half hour before class to ask to change it to 6, instead of 12.  That I was a little sick today.  A little pain in the throat.  Lethargy.  I didn’t tell her that for the past 4 days I had only  managed to squeeze in 19 hours of sleep.

Home by 4 am by a Volkswagon Beetle

Yesterday was a challenge of trust for me.  I had familiar dark feeling inside about some circumstances in my life.  I literally had to stop myself in the middle of the sidewalk, rewind in my mind, and remind myself that these same feelings I’ve felt before have always lead to positive outcomes if I allow them to pass. And right then, when I wanted a friend, one called. That’s just life for ya, it’s on our side.

I recently had an accident and fried my Canon Rebel.  A great loss, as she was my main travel companion.  Luckily, she passed after an amazing trek around Ilha Grande! I had a bit of hope left, and after visiting a mac dealer for some ipod issues and meeting a pretty trustworthy guy who spoke English; I decided to ask if he knew a camera repair shop.  He sent me down to a shop in Centro,  a huge shopping district in Rio.  It reminded me of a cross between Canal street, NY and Avenida Florida in Buenos Aires.  I wandered around for a bit without a map overwhelmed with pastry shops, and bakeries with breads of all varieties, all the time wishing I was actually hungry to eat some of them.  I made some discoveries as well.  Rua Carioca is the main street for music stores.  Oh!  How I wanted to pop in a strum a guitar, but I was embarrassed with my lack of skills.  I also found that on the corner of the square at Praca Tiradentes there are a ton of used book stores, really good ones!  Highly organized, even have stacks of comic books!

Stamp those Letters – Correios

I can’t say I had a very eventful day today.  It’s been raining, continually raining, for the past 5 days now.  Rain! Rain! Rain!  Whatever.

I passed out last night close to midnight in a very uncomfortable position on the couch.  Luckily I woke up today at 1:30 in a more comfortable position.  I had the house to myself.  nice!  I still felt really high from last night, I wanted to eat ice cream.  Ice cream for breakfast is okay when your on you period, so I went for it.  Yum.

The most I did today was shower and go to the post office.  I had to mail a friend’s pair of shoes to him asap, and check out my ipod at the computer store.  The only interesting thing was the postoffice.  Where we played musical chairs. The great chair line.  I like this country.  They know how to wait in lines here.  I met the most enthusiastic letter stamper in my life.  He was a skinny, white balding man, who wore square lenses low on his nose.  You could hear him stamping letters down the block.  He stamped and the pigeons flew from the park.  He stamped.. and he stamped well.

see ya tomorrow.

Sleepless night Sleepless day

I returned to Rio just after 2 am this morning.  After a 3 or 4 hour nap on the bus I was awake, and my mind was following the train of possibilities for travel.  A phone call from Julisa, was enough to keep me going all night.  With the rain, and traveling, my hair was a nice poof.  We joked about me getting some dreads, maybe a bongo, then once again it was brought up how much I resemble Mariah Carey.  Of course, I had to lip sync ” Dream Lover” over skype with Julisa on backup.  Wouldn’t you do the same?

Off the phone around 3 am., half a joint smoked, and I’m feeling like going through my pictures on my computer.  6 am comes around, and our two other couchsurfers are up and eating pasta for breakfast.  I offer to make them pancakes, but time is of the essence.. hehe.. these two Swedes are on their way to Iguazu Falls.  Half hour later I’m saying goodbye to the ladies only an hour after I’ve said Hello.  Cauan’s alarm is going off, but he doesn’t seem to stir.  It’s loud and sounds like an alarm from a navy ship, like a warhead has been launched.  I wait a few minutes to wake him.  I’ve got some compassion for having to get up in the morning.  Soon after Cauan’s Dad is up; Simone has arrived, and the house is bustling.  I remain editing photos and wondering what the heck I’m going to do in a couple weeks regarding my travels.  I’m occupied with this for some time.

3 pm following a session of travel research I decide the best thing to do is just show up in Uruguay without plans.  It’s the safest country in South America, seems sleepy, and quiet.  A great place to pick up fluency in my Spanish while traveling solo.  Time to go for a walk to the bank. I’m cashless, but had figured out a budget to keep me traveling for well over a year.  The weekly fruit market is just around the corner, and is the best part of the week, cheap delicious fruits, vegs, meats and spices!  A whole block of vendors tempting you to buy from them with samples of their fruits.  Delicious mangos, fresh guavas, pineapples, Arugala YES!!! I found Arugala!!! YUM!

I stocked up on enough fruits to last a couple days.  After all fruits need to be eaten right away here.  Today was  perfect day to kickstart my raw food menu.  All part of the mind, body, soul.  But first, I needed to have some chocolate ice cream.  And maybe some Vanilla!  Oh Boy!  Here we go already with the sugar cravings, luckily, the early arrival of my period put all the cravings and anxiousness into perspective, and I didn’t’ feel so nuts about the sugar cravings.  Tomorrow I’m going to give it a shot at making my own peanut butter.  Should be yummy!  Peanut Butter is something I’ve been missing here.  Not the Jiffy kind either, they sell that here.  I miss the natural kind.  I think now I’ll go back to sketching my comic, after all i fell asleep in place drawing it before maybe I’ll doze off again and end this 24 hour session of sleepless hours.

Invasão Pirata ao Pão de Açúcar

Accidentally, I finally made it to Sugar Loaf, made famous by James Bond, and American Tight rope walkers (good thing I watched that history of Sugar loaf video). A true beauty found here in Rio, and a must see by all tourists.  I have to admit $44Real was  bit much for me to check out a view, and last week I had declined the trip,  but today as-you-have-it I was taken up for the ride and accompanied by a Pirate none-the-less!

New York sleeps, it’s the New Yorkers that Don’t

I’m beat.  I was battling a bat of home sickness for the last couple days, and sure enough life brought me Jack, another New Yorker who’s couchsurfing just a few blocks from my place.  What ended up a meeting to dance Forro, and say farewell to another traveler off to Santiago, turned into a 12 hour adventure on a sleepy Monday night in Flamengo.  It began with me being asked to dance by an tall, old Italian man.  Jack offered to hang onto my beer, and I a typical party girl move and chugged it before the dance.  Realizing how funny this looks, I almost gagged while chugging.  hehe.. awesome…

Jack and I instantly hit if off.  Our personalities complimented our sense of humor.  Around 2 am, and leaving the forro party we found ourselves sitting on the various benches in front of his host’s apartment drinking homemade cachaca with guava.  We kept moving spots when we would decide our butts hurt from sitting.  As the sun approached I dragged Jack across the main highway rua Praia do Flamengo to the beach.  Where the 4o and older crowd were already busy running and walking, being healthy, along the coast of the ocean.  I opted to remain unhealthy and sit and watch what looked like a sea monster sail along down the water’s edge.  The famous sea monster of Rio blesses the morning’s sunrise.  Sugar loaf to my right and Niteroi to my left.  The sun rising in the middle, spectacular way to end any evening, especially with a laid back amigo like Jack.  We then took a nap in the sand after I did a nice Zombi impression following healthy  joggers jogging in the sand.

After the nap, and sand exfoliation we wandered back into our hood.  I was walking at turtles pace.  My energy was low so when I passed York’s coffee on the corner I had to have one.   It was enough caffeine to help get me back to my street, where the weekly fruit market was just popping up.  Amazing.  We tasted some fruits, I bought some coconut, freshly grated, and I managed to snag some bananas for super cheap.  There were about 4 fish stands, places to buy spices, and all kinds of meats.  Figs, tomatoes, lettuce, melons, all types of bananas, and mangos the size of a child’s head.  I was really happy, but none-the-less my body gave in on me and I needed to head home stat. After a sweet kiss good night, I headed back up to my 10th floor apartment, sandy and hazy.   I entered to find Cauan, his 6 foot plus body sprawled across the love seat, his father chatting with the cleaning lady, and me smiling while grabbing my towel and hitting the shower before nap time.

Looking for a New Place in Rio or elsewhere

Two days ago was my one month anniversary for my entry to Rio.  One month and lets review my accomplishments.  Loads of new friends.  A pretty kick ass tan, or as Nacho puts it:  I’m very “toasted.”  I now have an understanding of the city’s geography.  That’s about it, besides the few Portuguese words that I managed to pick up.  I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m done with hostels.  I’m tired of hanging out with English speakers, and continuing on the path of being a lazy American when it comes to learning languages.  Therefore, I’ve quit my work here and I’m looking for a new place to stay.  I’m excited and fearful, relieved and stressed all at once.

My Nicknames

Rae Rae

Mer Guitar

MerGyver

MerriDeath

Meri

Death Rae

MeR Rae

Merf

MD

MD Stylez

Merasaurus Rex

What other ones did I have???

New Fantasy of Becoming a Pirate

I had come to the conclusion that becoming a pirate was not possible, but after discussion with Tanya my thoughts have changed.  First I need to get some sailing skills, and as I am eventually heading to Central America I’m sure I can scout out a captain to take me aboard in Caribbean.  I checked to see if anybody actually sails from the Caribbean to Asia, and low-and-behold there are a few ships that make it across, although sailing skills required.  So I figure I can do some novice work in the Caribbean, get me some skills with the good team, make my way to Indonesia, and just look out for the pirate flag and beg them to take me, or challenge them, OR just show them my battle skills!!!

OR the fantasy we came up with was as I’m sailing across to Indonesia on my ship.  The sun is blistering hot, my hair is wrapped, I’m washing the deck, when pirates over take our ship.  Take me as hostage, and I join the crew.  simple as that.  I could go into more details, but I’m partying now and need to go back to my friends… so just an idea there