OK — quick blog about how I got to where I am in the last couple days. Partly to show how incredibly lucky I am (hope I don´t curse that) and more to show how cool people are out in the world. My boat to Africa was set to leave […]
Montevideo is also a town on a peninsula, sticking out into the ocean. There are about a million people that live here, but you´d never be able to tell on a weekend. The town basically shuts down for Saturday and Sunday. You can find some places to eat and drink, but that is about all that is open downtown. Its like a ghost town on the weekend – nothing open and no one, I mean no one, on the streets.
There was a news story a few months ago talking about the possibility of soon getting wireless internet access on airline flights. Apparently the technology to do that is already out there. The stories concentrated on the airlines concern that people might sit on the plane and download or watch […]
OK, earlier I referenced how much I hate Andrew Lloyd Webber and some people emailed me and wanted the story. Here is my brief explanation. I have seen a number of his musicals over the years. Some live shows (on Broadway, at the Kennedy Center and in touring productions), some […]
Both nights he did exactly the same thing — bought in for $500 (pretty high for this particular game, most people bought in for $200-300). He then quickly made a series of higher and higher bluff bets shortly after sitting down and usually lost the hands. Both nights he lost his $500 inside of one hour. That’s the kind of guy you want at your table. I usually refer to that type of player as “an ATM.” Mmmmmmmmm. Tasty.
In the course of my adult life, I’ve driven around most of the United States. In fact, I’ve driven through 45 of the lower 48 states – missing Vermont, North Dakota, and Arizona. How the hell I’ve missed Arizona is beyond me. The U.S. is incredibly beautiful. I love almost […]
Generally, I’ve been pretty depressed by the state of coffee in South America. It is strange to me that there are excellent coffee growing regions all around – Brazil and Columbia in particular – but they still serve crap, instant coffee in so many places. When I took a coffee plantation tour in Panama, the tour guide referred to the low quality coffee beans drying on the ground (with stems, leaves and so on mixed in with them) as “Nescafe beans.”
to continue with my random facts about the trip, I’ve tried to compile some of the transportation facts on the trip. I’m keeping a lot better log of this now, but some of the Central America numbers may be slightly off — I didn’t think about keeping track back there. I tried to reconstruct them with my guidebook last night. Here goes, so fa
This wasn’t the first time that I had to get a receipt in one location and pay in another. Its happened a half-dozen times or so. And the need to give you a receipt is amazing down here. Today I paid for my hostel room. Two nights. I think it was $30 dollars U.S. or so. She quoted me the price. I paid exact change in cash. She motioned and made me wait — and went and got the receipt.
Counties visited that the U.S. had not invaded, assassinated a leader or tried to overthrow the government: 3, I think. Someone can correct me here. I have Costa Rica, Peru and Argentina. But my history may be off.
