karsenault's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries

karsenault's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member karsenault on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/karsenault en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:18:40 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com Don't Worry, Be Happy — Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1242746040/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1242746040/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1242746040/tpod.html Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:18:40 -0400 Fading The Margins

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Note: It has been pointed out that in my exhaustion near the end of my trip, my inability to appropriately articulate my strong opinions has left me sounding like a judgmental ass. I'm really not. I don't judge people for how they live or the choices they make. I have strong opinions that can most certainly be misunderstood when it's in a text forum. All I was saying was; Don't Worry, Be Happy! Whatever that looks like for you. xoxThe Countdown to my arrival in Calgary has started. I leave tomorrow morning with Stefania, a student from Montreal, and her van. I am shocked by the amount of stuff I have (or rather, don't have) - it really isn't a lot - and should fit nicely with her stuff.I don't have much to say because I don't really want to say it. Leaving Toronto is hard. I don't want to sit here and pull my heart out through my mouth in order to explain just how hard. So I won't. But that doesn't mean I'm all Doom and Gloom and Meloncholy. I'm excited to get my hands dirty in Calgary and see what it has to offer by way of a life. I'm looking forward to living in the same general vicinity as my family and being able to join in on family things, be in family pictures, have them over for dinner! All very New and Exciting. I am also really looking forward to unpacking my stuff and feeling like I have a home. Yay, non-homelessness!It's been hinted that some people have an interest in me continuing to blog while I'm in Calgary, they want to keep 'reading' me, so should I decide to start a Life in Calgary blog, leave a note here (or in my email) if you want to be added to the mailing list for it. I don't want to spam anyone who doesn't want to be spammed!Toronto: I -heart- you. Really. Really. I'll be back to visit, I promise. Keep in touch!Calgary: I'll be seeing you in forty driving hours in three to four days, can't wait! Much, much love.Kristin
]]> J' -coeur- Montreal! — Montreal, Quebec, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1244501946/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1244501946/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1244501946/tpod.html Tue, 09 Jun 2009 01:05:26 -0400 Fading The Margins

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Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Friday: Seven Hour Bus Rides Are Nothing!!The trip to Montreal was last minute(ish) and a Plan to see my friend Marie (who moved back there while I was away) and to see one of my favourite cities one last time before it I would have to buy plane tickets instead of bus tickets to see it. It was nice to feel like the seven hours in the bus (on straight, concrete, clear roads) was a short ride with no surprises and a clean (well - mostly) bathroom. I even got a Timmy's coffee at the one stop between Toronto and Montreal. What a treat! I honestly hope I will be able to maintain this high tolerance for travelling long hours on public transportation; as well as my ability to walk everywhere. All the time. For hours. Saturday: Montreal is so GayMarie lives in The Village. There are rainbows everywhere! It's all happy, sappy, unicorn land with cotton candied enthusiasm for all things gay. Boys in skirts, braless girls, the clickclack of shiny shoes and too high heels.The entire street (Ste. Catherine's) closes down all summer and I skipped happily along it, feeling all warm n' fuzzy inside watching the big burly man PDA and proud of Canada (equality and all that) for their shameless hand holding and bushy-kiss-hellos right next to all the gay-friendly-non-gays. Marie and I were walking around with her daughter Rose and making jokes about us looking like a Great Big Happy-Gay Family. When the girls went home, I wandered around and ended up in Vieux Montreal with all the tourists. I took a couple of pictures and promptly left - no tourism for me thank you! I ended up walking all the way up to the Centre Ville, weaving in and out of stores before wandering all the way back home.Saturday night saw us heading to the Village for some (deadly) long island iced teas and dancing. Which then lead to some late night poutine having and DAMN... poutine in Quebec = addictive food-crack that could end up being Very Bad for my health!Sunday: We are so Funny   Marie's Friend: "Can I borrow a towel and have a shower?"Me: "Your towel is right here."Friend: blank lookMe: "You showered last night when you came in and wore the towel before you dropped it and walked around the house naked."Friend: horrified look Me: "Oh yes. You did."Friend: "Oh.my.god. I have to stop drinking."Me: "Mmm... yeah... maybe."Friend: horrified look gradually getting worseMe: "It's okay. I closed my eyes."Marie: watching a girl bellydance at the Tam Tams "She's making me gay!"Me: watching 'The Rocker' and talking about the teenaged lead singer "I have a total cougar crush on him!"Marie: snarfhaha"Cougar crush? Shandals? Kristin! You're on a roll!"Me: " I know. I make up words. Go me."Monday: Heart Attack Snack(s)Me: "I ate too much poutine."Marie: "The cheese is going to my thighs. I can feel it."Me: "Walk it off..."Me:"I ate too much poutine and all I can think of is crepes for breakfast."Marie: ".............."Me: "I know. Sad, isn't it?.......I love food."Me: sees Indian restaurant and thinks to self "mmmmmm INDIAN" then feels shame. Shameful and bloated.This weekend has been full of funny, catching up and helping a dear friend rediscover her love for her (kick ass!) city. I'm very happy I made the trip out here and will very much enjoy my crepe for breakfast tomorrow before I get on the bus back to Toronto. Also, a small public service announcement: I will be in Calgary soon so if you lot over there could do something about the ridiculous weather you've been having, that would be greatly appreciated!Much love from Montreal,xox K
]]> The Tango — Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1241813280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1241813280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1241813280/tpod.html Tue, 12 May 2009 17:31:52 -0400 Fading The Margins

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

I fell in love with the Tango. It isn't just a dance, it's an emotion (emotions) being played out in front of an audience. It's captivating, intense, breathless. I wish I could dance it better. Enjoy the video, even though I am out of my mind annoyed (to put it mildly) that I had the sound turned off when I was recording.And that, dear readers, is it. Thank you for all your words of encouragement, support and love over the last couple of months. I really appreciate it. It's been a pleasure to have you all along with me.xox K 
]]> Uruguay Pics — Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947780/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947780/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947780/tpod.html Mon, 11 May 2009 15:54:06 -0400 Fading The Margins

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Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay

Basically, Uruguay was the only other beach time I had other than burning the first three layers of my skin way back in Peru. The beach in Colonia del Sacramento is actually a river - the widest one in the world. It has a tide! Bizzare. I couldn't really figure that one out. I was also very disappointed that the water was FAR too icy for me to put more than my toe in. But the beautiful white sand beach was greatly appreciated by my person as I lay on it for hours on end. I spent a week there (far too long for how small it was) before heading back to Buenos Aires, a quick two hour ferry ride away.Again, enjoy the pics!xox K
]]> La Boca According to Wikipedia — Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947720/tpod.html Mon, 11 May 2009 10:42:57 -0400 Fading The Margins

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

La Boca is a neighborhood, or barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It retains a strong European flavour, with many of its early settlers being from the Italian city of Genoa. In fact the name has a strong assonance with the Genoese neighborhood of Boccadasse (or Bocadaze in Genoese dialect), and some people believe[who?] that the Buenos Aires' barrio was indeed named after it. The conventional explanation is that the neighborhood sits at the mouth ("boca" in Spanish) of the Riachuelo.In 1882, after a lengthy general strike, La Boca seceded from Argentina, and the rebels raised the Genoese flag, which was immediately torn down personally by then President Julio Argentino Roca.It is known throughout the sporting world as the home of Boca Juniors, one of world's top football clubs. La Boca is a popular destination for tourists visiting Argentina, with its colourful houses and pedestrian street, the Caminito, where tango artists perform and tango-related memorabilia is sold. Other attractions include the La Ribera theatre, many tango clubs and Italian taverns, as well as La Bombonera, home of Boca Juniors.It has also been a centre for radical politics, having elected the first socialist member of Argentine Congress (Alfredo Palacios in 1935) and been home to many demonstrations during the crisis of 2001.As one of Buenos Aires's 48 barrios, La Boca is located in the city's south-east near its old port. The barrio of Barracas is to the west; San Telmo and Puerto Madero are to the north.----I found La Boca to be a bit of a tourist trap with too many people milling around begging you to sit down at their restaurant and watch their tango shows. It is to be expected but sometimes I still have moments where I think "wow, this is an entire area of tourism" - we don't really have that here. Well, excluding the entire city of Banff of course. Ha. Ha. Enjoy the pics!xox K 
]]> Synonym for Pause: Desist, Delay, Discontinue — Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1241817120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1241817120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1241817120/tpod.html Sat, 09 May 2009 20:42:40 -0400 Fading The Margins

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Toronto, Ontario, Canada

The first time I saw the Toronto skyline I had to leave greasy handprints all over the glass windows and content myself with the idea that I would be back. This time, I nearly ran across the entire length of the airport (to be the first one to wait) to the baggage claim. If it were possible to hug an entire city, I would have wrapped my arms around all the pokey buildings and suffered the stab wound from the CN Tower when I squeezed too hard.I love Toronto. I've spent my entire adult life here. Everything I know about being a Big Girl, I've learned from living in this city. I've done a lot of living here; it's been amazing, incredible, messy, intense. Being away and then coming back here after seventeen months is overwhelming and exciting. It's taken me a couple days to actually feel like I'm really here - though that may attribute to me being in the hamlet of Egbert with Benita, not quite Toronto yet. After seeing so many cities, walking so many sidewalks, watching so many sunsets alone, I've been enjoying tangling myself up in friends who love me and watching too much Grey's Anatomy. I have clean clothes, real food, and a sense of belonging. I don't have to wear flipflops in the shower, search for half an hour for a fork to use in the kitchen, worry about bed bugs, repack my bags every 48 hours. I don't have to sit with my purse on my lap, I can leave my passport on the table, I can let my guard down. I will always be a traveller. I will always be intensely curious about the parts of the world I haven't seen. I will always want to see, hear, touch, taste, explore that which I have yet to encounter. I want to leave my footprints everywhere. But right now I am pausing. Right now, my feet are firmly planted and it's good to be home.----Enjoy the pictures of Buenos Aires - mostly the San Telmo neighbourhood. I will be uploading a few more pics in the next couple of days, so keep your eyes open!xox K
]]> The Last Leg — Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1241622720/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1241622720/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1241622720/tpod.html Wed, 06 May 2009 10:38:34 -0400 Fading The Margins

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

If I listened to anything anyone ever said about some of the places I've been, I wouldn't go anywhere. I would sit in my house with the door locked and the blinds closed. Last night I was reflecting on the image I had of Buenos Aires,  before I came here, as a city full of knife-wielding thieves bent on leaving gashes in your flesh and nothing in your pockets. I was told it was Very Dangerous and if it could be avoided, it should. If I had listened to that advice, I never would have discovered a culture that prides itself on being passionately in love with life, being inclusive and dancing like nobody's watching! To leave out Buenos Aires when traveling in Argentina, in my opinion, is to leave the red out of a painting of a sunset. Just tragic.I don't think I'm particularily brave. I'm just aware - life is risky! Living is dangerous! I didn't find that being in Buenos Aires made those facts any more real. Walking around the city, I'm struck by the vibrance and exuberance Buenos Aires breathes. I don't feel threatened or afraid. Maybe it's because I think when I walk and when I think I tend to frown, so maybe I'm just intimidating to look at out on the street. Haha! In any case, like anywhere, you just need to be more aware of your surroundings when you're alone and especially at night but I didn't find Buenos Aires to be a Big Bad City. Maybe it's just misunderstood."You're going home today!" The girls in my dorm room seem more excited than I am. (And I'm pretty excited.) "Are you excited or sad?"I'm both. My feet may be sore, my bones may ache, I may worry that my skin will never be the same (don't even ask me what it's doing - I couldn't even tell you what's going on there) and I may have to burn all the clothes I've been wearing for the last two months but it's been....well... when I try to describe the last two months coupled with the previous thirteen, I come up empty. I'm overwhelmed. It's been too much - in a good way. Seeing as I'm not settling in Toronto (like originally planned), it looks like I'm not quite done being a nomadic gypsy. (Note - if you have a couch, I will probably be on it at some point!) And I'm looking forward to rediscovering the city that claimed my heart all those years ago and loving up everyone I've so sorely missed while I've been on this crazy adventure.I called this entry "The Last Leg" because it is both the last leg of the journey on my way to building myself a (another) home - finally - and I literally am, physically, on my last legs! I feel like I've walked circles around the world and it's definitely time to put my feet up. I feel, too, that I have more brewing under my skin. More words shifting around in there but the letters are running off by themselves instead of forming coherent sentences to say what I mean. I'm inundated with emotions about the last seventeen months of my life and I can't seem to mold them into anything eloquent enough to put on paper. So, I'll let them brew longer and see what I possibly come up with down the line. Until then, adios Buenos Aires, it really has been too much.See you soon, Toronto!!xox K
]]> Bendita Milonga - Todos Los Lunes — Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947600/tpod.html Tue, 05 May 2009 02:08:07 -0400 Fading The Margins

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

A birthday shout out to my Bobba! Feliz Navidad, Viejo! (Which translates to Happy Birthday, Old Man! teehee) Love you! --------------------Bendito Milonga - every Monday. I don't go to the bar alone. Aside from going to the neighbourhood pub in my desperate attempt to meet people and form some sort of community in Hamilton, New Zealand, I have never been to a bar by myself. When I was handed a flyer yesterday at the antiques market after watching El Afronte play in front of the church, I decided I would go by myself if no one else would join me. I tried - I invited the Canadians from the Kootenays whom I'd met in Uruguay and the British girls I'm sharing a room with. The Canadians went to see the tango show I saw last week (and told them to see) and the British girls, as anticipated, were too indecisive so I left without them. It didn't matter, I had an incredible time on my own.Pull your spine up through your chest. Keep your body completely straight. When the lead pushes forward, you fall back. Close your eyes and feel the beat of the music, the connection between you, the movement and flow. Don't worry about the steps. Just. Follow. (Think Dirty Dancing. This is my personal space, this is your personal space. Don't move into mine and I won't move into yours.....easier said than done.) Tango is pure improv, you learn to trust your instincts and those of your partner. Once you know the basic steps all it is....is dancing.A milonga is defined as an Argentine, Uruguayan, and Southern Brazilian form of music which preceeded the tango and the dance form which accompanies. The one I went to tonight was in the nasty district (so I opted to wear jeans instead of my dress - just incase), up a grungy, sticky staircase and into a dimly lit warehouse space they converted into a dancefloor. We got a two hour lesson by some incredibly passionate dancers then were allowed to practice to some vintage milonga music before the band (El Afronte) dominated the stage with their ridiculously sensual and intense tango music. After the band left the stage, it filled with after hours tango dancers (professionals who came to dance for fun) and I enjoyed some wine with a couple of Slovenian travellers.Looking around the dance floor I saw an interesting melange of people - an older gentleman in a suit and shiny shoes spinning his gown-clad partner around as if he'd been dancing since birth, a younger couple with the man in ADIDAS track pants and a wife beater while his partner wore poofy yoga pants and a tube top along with the typical sky-high Tango stilettos. Anyone and everyone fit in. Anyone and everyone was welcome. Yet another example of Argentinian inclusion.Damn, I'm going to miss this country.Buenos noches!xox K
]]> El Momento - Ahora — Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947660/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947660/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240947660/tpod.html Sun, 03 May 2009 20:58:36 -0400 Fading The Margins

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

"The Precious Present wasn´t a present after all in the material sense of the word. It was in fact the here and now, the present, el momento - ahora. His grandfather lived in the moment, savouring ever second. He wasn´t existing in the tomorrow, for why waste your energy on something that might never happen? And he didn´t dwell in yesterday because yesterday is gone and doesn´t exist any more. The present is the only reality and in order to attain lasting happiness one has to learn to live in the here and now and not worry or waste time thinking about anything else." - Santa Montefiore "Meet Me Under the Ombu Tree" As I have more and more conversations about what I´m doing here and what I´ll do when I go back home, I´m beginning to find like minded people who also realize that the phrase "living for retirement" really isn´t that endearing. And, frankly, it´s quite backwards. Why waste all of your "good years", when you´re young and healthy, toiling away at some soul-sucking job where you aren´t respected because you have little to no experience. Only to finally gain some respect, years down the road, when you continue to toil mercilessly and unforgivingly to keep that respect and in hopes to attaining another step on the magical Ladder of Success. How do you measure Success? Do you feel successful? Why...or why not? Do you feel accomplished? What does accomplishment look like to you? Are You Happy??? By the time you get to whatever level you were hoping to achieve (surprisingly to me, most people measure success in relation to their profession/career) , you´re so tired - possibly bitter and resentful - that the last thing you want to do is abandon the comforts of home to see the world. Or do whatever it is you´ve always dreamed of doing. You´re probably looking for the closest Mexican resort full of cabana boys to park your 65 year old arse and suck back those mojitos (mmmm mojitos). Obviously, if you´ve been reading this far in my blogs you will realize I have a penchance for hyperbole - I like to exaggerate. I´m aware that it isn´t everyone´s dream to See the World. And some of you aren´t the Mexican resort type. But some of you are unhappy, I can tell, and I´m cheeky enough to point it out. I get in your face, don´t I? No, it isn´t any of my business. But when you love someone, it´s only honest that you tell them what you think (tactfully, of course) and if they love you, they can handle listening to it. Being a unique individual means that you take what I have to say and do with it what you will. Some people don´t like what I have to say and some people have even stopped talking to me because of it. It´s sad but they´ll make their own way. As you can see, it doesn´t stop me from saying what I mean. I´d like to ask forgiveness for being so bold, sometimes, but really - I´m not sorry. If what I have to say makes even one person hesitate at the fork in the road and take the path less travelled, then YAY!   "It's a wonder and a privilege to watch you throw yourself off of life's cliffs and fly. Maybe it'll inspire me in some way, maybe not, but there's joy in just knowing that you're there, being there, being. Leaving a mark, on you, on me, maybe on the land, though probably not on the land. It marks us. Maybe some other people, if they're lucky. Some people would say that you're being irresponsible, a dreamer, you yourself write about it in one journal entry, but of course we both know it's exactly the opposite, it's the ones who don't look around who might as well have their eyes shut, who forever slumber their lives away in a dead pool of routine." - A Friend The life you're living is a choice you're making. Open your eyes. ______________________________________________________________________ I meant to organize these pictures better and I had a lot more to add but it may have to wait until I'm in Toronto as I can't seem to upload pictures on these computers and my camera is threatening to run out of batteries. In any case, these pictures are some of my first weekend in Buenos Aires and mostly in the San Telmo area. This last week saw me taking a river beach break in Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay. Now, I'm back in Buenos Aires determined to actually see the city this time around. It's a great weekend to be back, there is so much going on and I'm already exhausted from walking around for seven hours today! Only two and a half days left in South America - it went really quickly and, sometimes, very slowly. Hope all is well back home and that it's stopped snowing!!!! Seriously! Much love, xox K
]]> Enntsss Enntsss Enntssss (Techno Beats) — Buenos Aires, Argentina http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240884960/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240884960/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/karsenault/3/1240884960/tpod.html Tue, 28 Apr 2009 10:52:36 -0400 Fading The Margins

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Buenos Aires, Argentina

The throbbing beat of the music vibrates through your skin, right down into the bone as if it were coming from within you instead of out of the speakers. Your movement is slight, dictated by the amount of bodies pressed against you on the packed dance floor, even if you didn´t want to be sliding against the person to your right, the push of the person to your left forced you there. It was useless to fight the pushpull of the crowd - just go with it. I closed my eyes, gave in, and allowed myself to be rocked by the other dancers. At 5am, it could put you to sleep, but then a misplaced (or rather, very firmly placed) hand on your person alerts you that you aren´t quite within the safety of your own bed and you slither your way out of the crowd for a breather. I checked into the Lime House Hostel for a "party weekend" and by Monday morning with maybe 8 hours of sleep in three days, I moved passed the drunk travelers still sipping tequila at the bar (having not been to bed yet at 11am) and checked out. I don´t think I´ve ever possessed the sort of stamina some of these people seem to have - though I think Alcoholics Anonymous is probably populated by more than half of them.A word of caution: when Hostelworld or any other online hostel booking place has comments about a party hostel (their words, not mine) being The Best Hostel Ever! That is likely because they use it to sleep (pass out), drink (alcohol) and throw up (copiously). They don´t care that the kitchen is filthy and missing most of what you would need to actually cook food, they don´t notice that the bathrooms are severely lacking, and they can sleep through anything after that seventeenth shot of mystery booze. To be fair, I was aware of this when I booked in. I was fully aware I wouldn´t be getting much (if any) sleep - I wanted to go out and go out I did. I just could never "get stuck" (other people´s words) there for a week, two weeks, a month. Maybe that means I´m getting old.Crobar was Friday night´s choice, with all of us piling into taxis at the magic hour of 2am. The club was massive inside, with a few roped off areas where the only chairs were situated. As expected, drinks were insanely expensive, a water cost me nearly as much as dinner. I can´t drink a lot if I´m going to be dancing for six hours and expected to stay awake until the sun comes up - this I have found out about myself - so, as you can imagine, by hour four (around 6am) I was tired and the techno music was really starting to irritate me. I can´t really explain how akin to Chinese Water Torture five hours of techno music is to me. It´s like it gets in my brain, bouncing around in there, and pushes all the wrong buttons. Think padded walls, straight jackets, biting down on leather before the shock therapy. It just makes me absolutely crazy and after a certain amount of time, it becomes painful and I just can´t handle it anymore. It was at about this stage of the night (6am) where I was introduced to Mr. Edmonton who, because we live three hours from each other, decided I was his new best friend. He spent the next hour (of me leaning against the bar, drinking water and watching the dancing) trying to convince me that I was no fun, needed to drink more and obviously should do drugs to lighten up. (I successfully managed to not claw out his eyes but I was close!) Generally, I find techno music hard to dance to and the repetition is enough to drive me mad - I blame my intolerance of noise and lights on working with autism. I´ve picked up some weird habits from those kids! There were a couple different DJs, some of which played really good beats that were easily danceable but around the time where I was getting tired and impatient and needed some good music to keep myself going, that´s when they decided to play the sort of techno that sounds like an incredible amount of noise at pitches that only dogs can appreciate. I thought my brain was going to explode. Apparently, techno/house is the favoured music genre for the clubs in Buenos Aires. It´s ironic that in Latin America, I can´t find a club that plays latin music! Saturday night saw the majority of the hostel talking about going to Pacha, which is an enormous club underneath the airport (or so I understood it). Since the idea of being out until 8 or 9am (Pacha is really late) with the same sort of techno madness made me feel violently ill, I opted out and a Peruvian girl and I decided to see what the gay club had in store instead.We weren´t disappointed.There were three different areas of music (yay! choice!), an open bar, a colourful array of people, some very entertaining dancers on stage (professionals and not) and a more relaxed atmosphere in regards to dress and attitude. (None of the clothes I packed in my bag would have made me feel like I fit in seamlessly to Pacha - it´s a very fancy, fashion forward bar; Crobar was on the edge of that as well and feeling uncomfortable when you´re out sucks.)When Mister Edmonton cornered me Saturday night and asked me if I was going to Pacha, I explained I was headed to the gay bar instead for free drinks and better music. He said, loudly, "I would pay to NOT dance with fags!" Considering I had heard about the gay bar from a gay Scottish guy sitting about five feet away from us, I slapped Edmonton and told him to shut up. "Could you be less of an Alberta stereotype please?!" He took a swig of his beer and shrugged, "What do you expect? I work on the rigs. I´m from Alberta! I´m a hick!" Is that supposed to be an excuse? Or was it supposed to be funny? To sound preachy, nothing excuses ignorance and intolerance. I am getting really tired of meeting people who think it´s okay to say things like that, outloud, and then excuse their behaviour by stating where they are from. It makes me feel ashamed to be born in the same province as him. It makes me want to wear a sign that says, "We´re not all like that! I promise!" Instead, I told him it seriously offended me that he would use "I´m from Alberta" as a free pass for being a jerk. After that, he didn´t want to be BFFs anymore. Darn.By Sunday my lack of sleep was starting to get to me and I decided even though it was "salsa night" at another bar and I would have loved to have gone to that, I would never have been able to dance all night. So I booked a tango lesson and show. The lesson was easy, as expected, and the show was absolutely incredible. More about this later, when I can upload the pics.This week I decided to take a side trip to Uruguay! It´s only a short ferry ride from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento which boasts a 5km beach - where I am headed as soon as this is sent! I´ll be here until Saturday then back to Buenos Aires in hopes of some more tango lessons and to see more of the city.Hope the snow has stopped!Miss everyone,xox K
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