conor_m's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member conor_m on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/conor_m en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:27:39 -0500 http://www.travelpod.com The Rest of Chile — Santiago, Chile http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1194736740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1194736740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1194736740/tpod.html Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:27:39 -0500 South America 2007, one of me, a handful of countries and a lot of days.
Santiago, Chile

So because updating a blog is a serious ownerous task I have decided to cut back.What I will do is a quick update of each place I visited. I will give one positive thing one negative thing and one random thing.

Calama - A town with one purpose, mining. It is the site of the countries largest copper mine and the biggest source of income for the country.
Positive: I was only there for one day, I didnt even have to stay a night. Mine related, the conditions for the miners has improved a lot over the last years.
Negative: Its a one industry town and the work still sucks for the people that do it.
Random: This mine is huge, cars driving down looked like ants. Sooo small. 3.5km x 4km x 1.5km deep. The old town where the miners used to live is now a ghost town and they are burying it with rock waste.


San Pedro De Atacama - This is the single most touristy town I have been to. It is very remote in Chile and every restaurant, and store caters to toursits in some way.
Positive: The geysers were very nice to see. I was up at 4am to see them though. I have now seen 2/4 geysers in the world; New Zealand and Chile. I just have to make it to Iceland and United States to see the others.
Negative: Valley of the Moon tour was not that exciting but it was not very expensive so that was not an issue. They had no good internet, it was so slow.
Random: I ran into a guy I made good friends with in Lima my first week in South America. It was the most random thing to happen yet.


La Serena - Some port town along the coast I stopped at for a night on my way back down to Valparaiso
Positive: Had a fantastic walk down to the beach to check out the non-functioning lighthouse which is very old and starting to fall apart.
Negative: I arrived on a sunday and there was NOTHING to do other than walk around.
Random: I saw a dead sea lion, 2 dead pelicans, and some dead fish walking down the beach.


Valparaiso - Chiles port city, it is quite old and very picturesque of Chile. It has the funiculars which are on every post card. The whole city has a very bohemian feel.
Positive: Fantastic city with a lot to see and do, I could have walked the streets for weeks and not lost interest.
Negative: I only got to spend one night there. I did get to see much though.
Random: I found a nice restaurant on the edge of a cliff, I was going to have a drink and write in my journal. I left after I waited 15mins for a beer.


Santiago - Chiles biggest city and capital, has been the most western like city I have been to yet. It has a great train and bus system which I used quite a bit.
Positive: Did a lot of sightseeing for the short time I spent there. I met up with Luke again and we checked out the city and even hosted a BBQ for 20 some odd people.
Negative: People kept stealing my milk from the fridge at the hostel!
Random: Planning, shopping for and cooking a meal for 20 people is not something I plan to make a habit of, too much work.

Pucon - A touristy town that reminded me a LOT of Banff. I was hoping to be able to go snow boarding while here but I missed the season by a couple weeks. I was really hoping to make it in time.
Positive: Found a good hostel for cheap. I went out on the town that night all alone and managed to meet quite a few people.
Negative: I was really hungover the next day and had to catch a bus..not fun at all in fact it was awful.
Random: Don't bother looking for a decent english book here. The bookstore had the biggest collection of crap english books I have ever seen.

Puerto Montt - My last stop before the great Navimag boat adventure. I didnt do much here, I spent some time in the internet cafe uploading photos one afternoon.
Positive: Nice places to eat and not too expensive, but not cheap either.
Negative: Once again EVERYTHING closes on the weekend, nothing was open sunday.
Random: I remember seeing a lot of tourists in the town I saw them all again on the Navimag.

Navimag - The four day boat trip from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales. It cruises through some nice scenery.
Positive: Made a lot of good friends and had a blast almost the whole time. There was a lot of time to yourself and I just relaxed everyday. The parties in the night were a lot of fun.
Negative: Sleeping the second night was next to impossible with all the swell in the ocean. I was sliding around the bed all night.
Random: 5 meter swell can be a lot of fun on a boat they lead to challenging games involving standing in one spot without moving and if you move you are out. Last man standing wins.

Puerto Natales - It seemed as though this town only got busy the days the Navimag boat would come in to town.
Positive: Had a great dinner with some of the people from the boat.
Negative: I tried to make some reservations for the park and find some rain pants but didnt accomplish either.
Random: Hostels rent you all sorts of shoddy and old gear for you hike through the Torres Del Paine park. I had some sexy rain pants and rain jacket.


Torres Del Paine National Park - Chiles best, most amazing tourist destination. So few people come here but it is fantastic. You can spend anywhere from 3 to 9 days touring the park depending on how well equipped you are.
Positive: The weather was really good for us. We didnt get rained on once, we kept making it to the refugios rights before the rain.
Negative: The first day we hiked to the Torres and my feet got really wet, my boots sure arent waterproof. The hike down was no fun.
Random: I learned to play some new card games, 500 is a lot of fun I hope I can play it again before I forget the rules.


That sums up Chile. After the torres I went back to Puerto Natales with the group I was traveing with and we took off for Argentina the next day.
]]> Argentina — Ushuaia, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1194732120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1194732120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1194732120/tpod.html Sat, 10 Nov 2007 17:25:46 -0500 South America 2007, one of me, a handful of countries and a lot of days.
Ushuaia, Argentina

Here is Argentina, the same format as before.

El Calafate - This is the biggest tourist town I have now been to, it was pretty ridiculous. The whole main drag was high end trekking shops, expensive restaurants and hotels.
Positive: The El Moreno glacier was stunning, so nice! It was one of the highlights of my trip for sure. We had fun times partying in the hostel. How can you not like all you can eat BBQ?!
Negative: Very touristy and very expensive.
Random: I am still running in to people from the Navimag and its been almost a week!

Ushuaia - This is the southernmost city in the world so they say. It is set on the Beagle Straight and there are gorgeous views everywhere.
Positive: I went on a sailboat for the first time and it was fantastic. I climbed a mountain, like the real thing all the way to the top.
Negative: Cold, and the hike was very wet. Other than that the place was very nice. Also I wasted the better part of a day after a night of drinking.
Random: Still meeting boat people. The best part about the climb of the mountain was sliding down on my ass in the ice and snow and saving myself about 1 hour of walking.

Buenos Aires Airport - This was where I spent a night waiting for a connection to Bolivia
Positive: Plenty of metal benches to sit/sleep on.
Negative: The benches were metal and very very comfortable*
Random: I got to check my email at a 24 hour internet place!
]]> Chile!! — Arica, Chile http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1191250020/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1191250020/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1191250020/tpod.html Thu, 04 Oct 2007 11:45:43 -0400 South America 2007, one of me, a handful of countries and a lot of days.
Arica, Chile

Crossing the border, what an exciting day. Kind of...

Woke up nice and late, out of the hotel room by 10am plenty of time left in the day to make it across the border and into my next country. Made my way to the international bus station to get my ride. Now there are three ways to get across; 1-Bus, 2-Combi, 3-Train.
To the more astute reader you may realize 3 wasnt in the picture at this point. I decided against it because it is slower and costs more. It came to a toss up between 1 and 2. WEll lucky for me the decision was pretty much made for me when I walked in to the terminal and some guy approached me with rough english "You go chile? Come with me, only 12 soles"

I waited around while they prepared my papers and waited for enough people to fill up the car. Within about 20 mins we were off. It wasnt far to the border from the station but to my surprise that 12km was full of excitement. We were cruising along until, SCREEECH....BANG. Our excellent driver managed to rear end the car in front of us. Even though he saw the car coming he still manage to hit it. Lucky for us inside it wasnt very hard, unlucky for him the front of the car was wrecked. He stormed out of the car and started making a big fuss blaming the guy in front when it was without a doubt his fault. The rest of us waited around for a new car and after a few mins we got picked up.

Crossing the border went without incident but not without a painstaking wait in line and an unexpected $10 dollar charge to leave Peru of which I barely had enough money to pay for. I should mention at this point I am glad I didnt take the bus. I saw a bus getting processed while I was waiting in line. The whole thing took about 3 times as long and involved drug and fruit sniffing dogs, a bigger line and more hassle in general.

I arrived in to Arica and it turned out to be a pretty nice city. Nothing spectacular but it had a nice pedestrian mall and a lookout over the city and harbour you could walk up to. With plans to take off early morning I didn´t stay out too late and didnt see much else of the city.
]]> Arequipa and beyond (until Chile) — Arequipa, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1191199560/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1191199560/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1191199560/tpod.html Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:43:16 -0400 South America 2007, one of me, a handful of countries and a lot of days.
Arequipa, Peru

Arequipa was unlike the other cities in I visited in Peru, it is much more modern. Not only that the buildings that aren't modern are all this faded white colour from the volcanic rocks used in their construction. My first night here was relaxed, I did some internet and went to my hotel room (yes that's right I went to a hotel and paid $18 a night which is a lot but I had a TV!) and watched some TV. I think I saw some CSI.

The next day I did some shopping, bought some art, sent home a package and took it easy again in the night. The my second day in Arequipa I went on a city tour in this giant yellow bus. They gave us these ugly ass foam visors, of course I wore mine most of the trip. Later that night I went to catch a movie at their multiplex movie place.

The next day I was STILL out of luck to book any kind of mountain bike your around the city. As it turns out there were no groups or people that were also interested in going out the same time as me. If I wanted to book it for myself I was going to have to pay the price for 2 people, so roughly $100. A little rich for my blood.

I mailed 2 packages home as well! How exciting.

I am now off to Tacna which is right near the border to Chile!

Tacna is probably the least interesting place I have visited so far. I would like very much to say that everywhere I go is great and fantastic but that just isn't the case. Tacna was genuinely boring. There was nothing going on in this place. The whole city is surrounded by desert, on all sides nothing but sand and more sand. Now it might be fun if you had some sort of 4x4 to go cruising along the dunes but I didn't.
That could have been the problem, Sundays in Peru are pretty slow with everyone heading off to church and all. At least there were some places I could get some food. That was about all I did the whole day was go for some food and write in my journal. I didn't see another tourist the whole day.
]]> After MP — Puno, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1190997660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1190997660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1190997660/tpod.html Sun, 30 Sep 2007 20:49:53 -0400 South America 2007, one of me, a handful of countries and a lot of days.
Puno, Peru

This entry should probably have a couple pins with it since I stopped at a number of places. Hey! I finally got out of Cusco isn't that amazing. I was there for such a long time, I am glad I got away. I took off early one Sunday morning and headed for the city of Puno. The main attraction for this place was the fact it sits on the shores of Lake Titicaca.

Puno was pretty interesting because I chose to stay somewhere very cheap..like really cheap. I payed $3 for my accomidation the first night. It was really basic, a lightbulb hanging by the cord in the middle, a small bed, tiny desk and chair. I should also mention this place didnt have hot water. What can you expect got $3.

Early the next morning I got up had some breakfast and headed to the docks, to pick up some sailors of course. I ended up boarding a boat and headed towards the floating islands of Uros. These islands are made of stacked piles of reeds. It was pretty neat, the whole islands would rock when a boat passed.
After the floating islands we headed to Amantani where I was to spend the night. It was a 3 hour boat trip away! Pretty damn far if you ask me. The island itself was really pretty, after lunch I went to watch part of a school festival, all the kids were dressed up in different costumes and each class would do their own dance. After a while of that I ended up going for a hike to the top of the island. I wandered around and took some pics etc. The next morning we were off to the island of Taquile for some craft shopping and food. After the 2.5 hour ride back I raced to the bus stop and got out of Puno and headed to Arequipa.
]]> Inka Trail — Machu Picchu, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1190053800/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1190053800/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1190053800/tpod.html Fri, 28 Sep 2007 12:38:25 -0400 South America 2007, one of me, a handful of countries and a lot of days.
Machu Picchu, Peru

Waking up at 4:45am you know it is going to be a long day. I woke up and headed to the street to catch a taxi and get to the office of Peru Treks for 5:40 like they told me to. I arrived just before and nobody was around...I waited and waited and nobody showed up. It came to 6am and I had still not seen anyone from Peru Treks, I was getting a little worried that maybe they forgot about me. Finally someone came out and lead me up a street to a waiting bus.

Before I set out I made up my mind to pack light, to make sure I wasnt bringing anything I didnt need. I had a bag about half full and the damn thing still weighed about 9kg. Not to mention the sleeping bag I ended up getting to carry around, this thing was huge and barely fit inside by bag, it took up nearly half the space. I then had a sleeping mat attatched to the outside for another bonus kilo. All told m bagged probably weighed about 13kg, a whopping 30lbs. It kind of sucked having a heavy-ish bag.

First day was pretty easy we had an obligatory stop at the Inka Trail sign and got a group picture, then we were off. The trail started flat and easy, well traveled and it didnt really look like I expected, just a dirt path. We followed it for some time and finally hit our first uphill. At the time I thought it was hard and by the time I got to the top of it I was a little winded. THe whole group was in fact, so we had a break. After the break is when it started to become more like I expected, we hit our first rock walkway complete with rock stairs. We hit another tough uphill and when we reached the top we arrived at the first Inka ruins, Llaqtapata. With a lengthy explanation we stood around admiring from a distance. We moved on an got to he first campsite at about 4pm. I played some soccer with the guide and chasquis (porters) and it might not have been the best thing, I was pretty tired in the legs after.

Second day was a little extreme, we ascended 1200m in about 3 hours. The whole day was a climb. We kept going up and up and up. The hill looked like it would never end. Very, very tiring is all I have to say. Once at the top of Dead Womans Pass we had one downhill bit left to go. A descent of about 600m to the campsite. It was pretty easy going even though a lot of the group complained about sore knees. Your truly managed with no problems.

Third day was the longest. Started with a steep ascent to the second pass of the hike. We had a stop at a tombo (small ruins) on the way up. At the top we take a look around Sayaqmarka and get a chance to explore these fairly big ruins. We keep going, heading through tunnels and walking some pretty precarious paths along the ridge of a mountain. Drops of about 50ft or more were on the left side the whole way.

The third day contained a highlight for me. After lunch and a visit to some more ruins we were told to take things at our own pace and make it to the last campsite. I took off at a fast pace, very fast. I passed other groups on the trail, I passed the fast porters and made it down in 30mins what takes groups about an 1h20m to walk. I made my way along an alternate route to another set of ruins. This may have been the highlight of the walk for me. I spent a whole 40mins by myself wandering around the ruins, taking pictures and exploring, before any other people showed up. I left pretty quick when others did and I made my way to the campsite.

The next morning was very different from the rest of the days. We woke up really early because we wanted to be able to make it to the control point beofore most of the other groups. Unfortunatley all the other groups had the same idea, and us having a slow group made it down halfway through the pack. This was the first time I saw everyone on the trail at once. There were so many tourists!! It was ridiculous. I didnt like it at all, everyone was milling around waiting for the control to open. When it did and we got through it was a bit of a joke. It was almost like a race to Machu Picchu. People would block you from passing them even if they were walking slow, some people were getting hit with walking sticks while making their way to the sun gate. Duron was in front of me while walking so he got the brunt of the rude comments as we passed.
All this was very ironic in the end because about 20min in to the 30 min walk it started to rain, and not just lightly, it started to pour. So most everyone in front of us pulled off to the side and put on ponchos etc. We arrived at the sun gate to see a coulded over Machu Picchu. We kept walking to MP and arrived while it was still raining, so instead of doing the tour we left the park and sat under some umbrellas for about 30 mins until the rain stopped. The tour was pretty good, there were a lot of pictures taken and quite a bit of information thrown at us.

All in all I had a great time except for that bit of rain at the end!
]]> Cusco Revisited — Cusco, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1189895160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1189895160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1189895160/tpod.html Sun, 23 Sep 2007 19:09:48 -0400 South America 2007, one of me, a handful of countries and a lot of days.
Cusco, Peru

First impression can be a bit misleading, maybe Cusco isn't all that bad. I mean it isn't the tourist capitol of Peru for no reason. Then again...

..I think I can how give a fair assessment of life in Cusco after living here for 3 weeks. I suppose I can start with lets say the city itself. It is so very different from anywhere I have ever been. The main reason for this would be the adobe buildings everywhere. Every building except the biggest ones (and the ones in center of the city) are adobe. This gives the city such a different feel all around.

Second to that the city gets its 'feel' from the swarms of tourists around the area. This is what I disliked the most about the city. However being a tourist myself it is a bit hard to be so judgmental about it all. What got to me were the tourists who didn't even try to fit in, would not even attempt to speak Spanish and would get upset at the locals when they couldn't clue in. I saw this a LOT.

I made as many attempts as possible to get out of the city and get to the Sacred Valley. This was just as touristy but I managed to make it around using only the local transport and not relying on a tourist agency or bus tour company. I really enjoyed riding with the locals as opposed to a big bus full of more tourists.

I try and compare it to back in Canada but it is so hard. Tourists here stick out like sore thumbs. I don't think it is the case back in Canada, nobody really stands out. Here it is so apparent you have money and come from elsewhere. It makes it hard to blend in at all.

My last week in Cusco was spent under the weather. Normally this would bother me a lot but not so much this time around. I was very serious about my Spanish lessons and made sure to go to all my classes. I spent the down time studying my verbs and vocabulary which really helped me get ahead. I suppose I should mention that this whole last week was spent staying with a family in a home stay. The family consisted of the mother, the son and the grandfather. They were really excellent to me. I got fed three meals a day, always Peruvian dishes.

Speaking of Peruvian food...It is good, but they use a LOT of potatoes and eggs. Pretty much every dish has one or the other or both. Things are also a bit backwards here. Lunch is the big meal and the first day I couldn't even finish it.

My week finished with one more night out on the Saturday. It was a late one yet again and probably not the smartest move because I wasn't fully over my little bit of sore throat and runny nose.
]]> Cusco — Cusco, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1188937980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1188937980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1188937980/tpod.html Fri, 14 Sep 2007 17:13:45 -0400 South America 2007, one of me, a handful of countries and a lot of days.
Cusco, Peru

With sleep in my eyes and a keen desire to foul up a bathroom is how I first entered Cusco. To my dismay the bathrooms at the bus depot were less than desireable. Sure you might be thinking suck it up and do what you have to do. Much easier said than done when you have a shit splattered toilet seat staring you in the face. My needs werent that urgent. Nope, that doesnt happen for at least 2 more days.

I was ejected from the taxi supposedly in front of my hostel but didnt get a chance to really confirm where I was before the driver sped away, eager for his next 5 soles. I rock up to this unmarked building/door press the doorbell and wait...and wait..and wait.

Initial reaction was shit, I got screwed, this isnt the hostel. I´ll have to try another cab through the bumpy coblestone streets. All while having to let loose on the nearest porcelin throne. Thankfully this wasn't the case.

Supersucksass; the only word to describe adjusting to a very high altitude. Hell, getting from your chair to go up the 20 stairs to the bathroom leaves you winded. Still panting you almost can't find it in you to step up to the toilet. The walk back downstairs isn't any better, joint pains and sore muscles are a constant threat. You'd think I am a 90yo blogging about his trials and tribulations at the nursing home.

TD, what's that you ask. For those of you not in the know it isn't some rare sexually transmitted disease but something up to 50% of travelers get. Of course its travelers diarrhea. What a super topic, I wont say much. Instead here is a list of why it is so much fun* . -No sleeping - don't want to eat - cramps - nausea - and last but not lease the embarassment of having to go to the crapper every 20-60mins.
(* not fun in the least)

Throw in some spanish practice, minimal sight seeing and you have my first days in Cusco!

]]> First Week in Lima — Lima, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1188079260/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1188079260/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1188079260/tpod.html Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:33:22 -0400 South America 2007, one of me, a handful of countries and a lot of days.
Lima, Peru

This second entry is about the week I spent in Lima, well almost a week. I have some mixed reviews regarding Lima. Some things stand out others not so much.

During my time there I did a lot of walking to see the sites. The first day I went to Miraflores which is the classy part of Lima. A lot of high end shops that cater a lot to tourists. I wandered around a while there, checking it all out. I bought myself a spanish english dictionary which has been extremely helpful.

Another day I went downtown by myself and wandered around there, I saw the changing of the guard. Afterwards I went all over the downtown area, just checking out all the streets and people.

I think it was saturday I went with a girl name Kristin to the Polvos Azules. Also known as Perus biggest black market. I ended up bying a sweater and a hat, it was getting damn cold in Lima. Later that night we ended up at a pub called Bierhouse and it was unlike any place I have been before. It was like stepping in to the twighlight zone. This was the only place I have ever been where the girls pick up the guys and not the other way around.

Sunday was my big day out, a number of us went to a bit of a festival outside town, it was about 30mins by cab. Upon arriving it cost us a whole $10 to get in. There were free drinks, and lots of activities. A lot of them were mostly for kids but we took part in some of them anyways. I did some rock climbing and got to handle the birds of prey they had there. The guy who brought the birds brought this huge eagle and would send it up in the air where it would circle around.

The big part of the day was when we got approached by an organizer and he asked us to participate in the toro match. We were told three of us would be responsible for chasing a small young bull through some goal posts of the other team. Well it turns out it is no small bull but is in fact pretty large and the goal wasnt to chase it through the goal, the point of the game was to get chased by the bull to make it go through the posts. In the end my team ended up winning! We won by a score of 4-1. The following monday I went out on the town again with some people that hadent been out that way.

It was a long day and I was glad to be back at the hostel for a relaxed night before getting on the bus the next day.
]]> San Clemente, San Marcos, Los Angeles — Los Angeles, California, United States http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1187733600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1187733600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/conor_m/southamerica_07/1187733600/tpod.html Fri, 31 Aug 2007 14:32:33 -0400 South America 2007, one of me, a handful of countries and a lot of days.
Los Angeles, California, United States

My first blog update! I actually never thought I would say those words. I never thought I would have a blog. Yet here I am giving an update of my travels. I plan to keep it short and sweet, I dont plan to write a novel.

Los Angeles..I didnt actually fly in to LA I flew in to a smaller airport in Santa Ana. Vik was there waiting for me and we hopped in to his snazzy hybid and were off. We took the scenic route back to his place passing such places as Laguna Beach. There was action all over the place and I had a good time taking it all in. First order of Business was beer and food, we made a quick trip to the grocery store and bought some steaks, veggies and some cases of beer. We came back made a delicious dinner and before long we were playing 2man. What a great game it is, complete with nerf guns and fun new rule games.

The next day was a drive to downtown LA, this was one experience I wont soon forget, the amount of traffic was mind boggling. 6 lanes both ways and none stop traffic the whole time, so ridiculous. I remember approaching the city and seeing this brown/gray foggy haze over everyting. It took us some time to find our destination and finally made it. After a gruelling afternoon downtown we headed up to hollywood and walked along the boulevard. I have to admit I didnt recognize most of the stars of the walk of fame. I knew almost none. The drive back to San Clemente was slow and arduos, Vik did a good job driving. T

Saturday was the big day, the Ji meeting. It was a pretty lounging day, we didnt get up to much at all. We went for a drive down to Newport beach and walked along the beach there, checked out the pier and did a short tour by car. The evening was when all the action went down, Jeff and Jon came over and we had a fun evening of drinks, dinner frisbee and some wacked out kung-fu movie. That sunday was nice. Jon took me to his place in San Marcos and I met his father (who thought we were a couple). When I got back to San Clemente Vik an I went for a short drive an went for some good sushi in Dana Point.

Monday I went biking along the beach in San Clemente while Vik was at work and that evening rolled our last bit of 2man. We said our farewells in the morning and I took off for Venice Beach and wandered around the shops and stands for the day before getting my plane.
]]>