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Published: August 10th 2010
Kilns
everyone in this picture but John..looking at kilns HELLO ALL You boys and GIRLS ID LIKE to takE YOU to the INSIDE WORLD ITS QUITE AN IRREGULAR PLACe TO BE BUT NEVER FEAR YOUR SAFE WITH ME,....WEll maybe..
-FRIZZLE FRY
PRIMUS
Over the past weekend Friday through Sunday night I was in a place called TORO TORO. Starting on Thursday the 5th was the prelude to the independence day of BOLIVIA. During this day I actually thought it was Bolivian independence day but I guess it was like the preparty. Even after class we were given like the bombest bolivian hotpocket chicken ball thing and observed a dance that was taking place in the hallway of our school. John was what appeared to be more tired than usual and tipped his hat down and was napping in a way. Well I observed the best I could at what was taking place and was about as enthusiased as the others. There was a speech about the freedom of bolivia 125yrs or 180yrs cant remember what they said and was followed by amyran dancing I believe or just normal bolivian dances. IT looked quite simple something I feel I can accomplish which is nice. Excuse the past 4-5 days crammed
The VAN
Shawn sitting in the van waiting... in one entry but when reading calls me more than writing I have to answer its call. John is an exceptional reader but does brag about how many books hes read in the past year which is around 60. I
tell him that there is a difference reading something that you can break down bit by bit and analyze only reading about ten pages in an hour than reading a James bond book which is like GEOFF put it BRAIN POPCORN. Well after the extensive dances I went home for lunch and returned to the institute with my computer to play some starcraft with JOhn. Later I had made arrangements with Brenedatte to go to some parade in EL PRADO (downtown) with KEEGAN. I invited KEVin because hes always a comical gesture around always wearing his boston Bal cap walking the streets of bolivia. We were to meet at the front gate at 630 and did. John didnt want to partake dont know why I kept trying to invite him to "ITS BOLIVIAN INDEPENDENCE MAN!!!" but he wanted to kill more zerglings I guess. I stuffed my laptop and backpack in a locker, locked it up and met more than
BUSH of thorns
KEEGAN playing with a bush of thorns (think there was a comical Jesus reference here) I expected at the front gate. There was Caroline, KEN, friar Stephan, Brenedatte, KEEGAN, KEVIN, the little phillipino lady frogot her name, and some others.
We were going to travel downtown but all the busses looked extremely full. Waiting a good 15 minutes one finally came and the majority of who were still up for the parade packed ourselves on and were on our way. Kevin is quite a character in my book of life and we have rarely a dull moment. We Past burger King and everywhere is just packed with people and little small bbqs and traffic. We headed straight to the nearest possible way we could get to view the parade and decided against eating before hand. I recall Brenedatte and keegan asking us continuously if we wanted to continue to la recuerda and eat saying they would catch up but no one was in a hurry and watching the girls in the skirts twirl and play instruments was quite intriguing. I guess there was school bands and military people partaking in the parade which was quite a scene. THats where all the beautiful women were I thought lol and the like guy minds discussed. I also
House of Fossils
what the title says recall a bunch of bolivian guys taunting and saying dirty things to some of the girls which was quite rude almost something due of a consequence in the states but with no security around nothing happened the women just ignored. Sarah was with us and it was the last time I was going to see her before she went back home. She is a white girl probably sticks out like a brush fire here and is finishing up her 5 weeks. I saw her in the comp lab today for the last time I presume. Im writing this on the 9th and Im sure when its over I will have ended up not even covering the most important parts of TORO TORO which is my goal right now but I have to lay down important aspects of the previous day before I froget and it is lost in time. Well after the sights of the parade we all as a group made our way to la recuerda which is where the whiskeria was at where we drank and danced that one night. As soon as we got there we were all extremely hungry (the world starving will rarely ever get
DINO FOOTPRINTS
Me stepping in prehistoric imprints.. used again) and found two chinese food restaurants. Agreeing that we were going to eat some chinese food we took a roll of the dice considering both restaurants were called LAUI LAI or something. We ordered a HUGE variety of platters and I ordered a FRENCH BEER. Others ordered HUARI's which is delicious but I wanted to try something new. Cant recall the french beer see how my memory goes...Well after KEEGan and
Brenedatte and I said our goodbyes and I knew that getting home early vital considering we were meeting at 830am at the institution to head to TORO TORO. I recall packing a more than necessary amount of socks which is weird because when I got to TORO TORO I found I only had 3 clean socks. I really had no idea what to expect of Toro TORO and by the time I left the previous night from the chinese restaurant I came to realize the school was closed and thats where my backpack and laptop were what a bust. SO that morning heading to the school I shoved all my belongings in a black plastic bag that was filled to the BRIM with 3days of supplies from
DINO PRINTS
AMazing prehistoric prints clothes, to belts, to food. I Had some carambolas which actually disappeared mysteriously along with the rest of the food I brought. Well that morning arriving at the institute I was the first and made my way to the lockers in the student center and Charged up my laptop a little and tried to get my ipod working. LIttle effort and failed work I just put my laptop in the locker with my charger/converter MISTAKE 2 socks were mistake 1 and put my ipod in the locker considering it was useless. I packed all my clothes and what not inside my backpack and were greeting
by some americans I did not know and John and Brenedatte waiting at the front gate. There was LARRY who was 59yr old grey hair who was a Priest like the other elderly gentleman who was 39yrold JEFF. JEFF is the man if you ask me and one could probably talk to him for a year and still have no idea that he was a priest. There was also GINA and her husband SHAWN who were actually from philadelphia and we had intense conversations about a philly cheese steak and where to go about getting
Walls of TORO TORO
Toro Toro lies between.. one. IF I make it to Philly I need to find 4th n south st. a place called JIMS something DAMIT FOrGOT. supposedly everyone knows about it and it has the best cheesesteak sandwhiches in philadelphia. I will go there some day. I have concluded Im not going back to CAL STATE FULLERTOn and am more of going about spending my money more wisely studying elsewhere. Perhaps somewhere with a spanish influence considering I should be fairly fluent considering I currently have a survivals grasp on the spanish
language. I even thought about studying in JAMAICA. Pointless if you ask me spending 1200 dollars for 1 class for 1 semester when I could be enrolling for somewhere classes for that price for a whole year. There is always 3 choices when faced with conflict. FIGHT back, CHANGE, OR RUN. IN this case I cant fight cal states prices and have failed to change and has costed me quite a fortune so I RAN and found life more fullfilling then decaying at home where Ive been for 20yrs SO I Shall continue running. Even Johns told me that people just look at you differently when you say such things as "I
Brenedatte underground
Pic of Brenedatte..THink John thought I was taking a picture of him...Larry and JEFF in background looking at their camera STUDIED and graduated from HAwaii PAcific university". Hes the one who told me to study in JAMAICA probably after listening to JEff talking about how he goes there like few times a year for several weeks for missionary projects. Considering its 71Jamaican dollars to 1 american dollar this might be an option. WEll we made our way as a group down to where Immigration was where we had gone to get our visas completed. We made our way to some place unfamiliar to everyone but KEEGAN our leader age 19 knew where we were going. IT was as if this office had an unusual welcoming about it. There was 2 young bolivian
women working along with our new guide who made an appearance named RICARDO. PAcking up our stuff there was a pretty looking women conversing with us who at first I thought was going to TORO TORO with us but later I think she took my fruit and CARAMBOLA. what a witch. Maybe she thought it was a gift when I showed it to her Im probably misunderstood more and more when I converse with a smile. On the road I knew we had time like I may have
Nature
at its finest.. never had without music or an ipod and just observed the world as it went by. Time no longer mattering I sent my texts I thought might have some value but have been looking at my phone lately in the most peculiar way. In a place like this people back home no longer have purpose in my life and the people that used to text me dont even bother anymore.
REal friends I had I presume. As time is progressing and 1/5th of my trip being complete I feel more and more distance between the ones I thought I cared about and the ones I thought who cared about me. The beauty of life that some never experience almost makes me frown. I sent a Text to a girl I like reminding her about how she should be celebrating the bolivian independence days but turned my phone off not caring for a response back. KNOW YOUR ROOTS is one of the first lessons I ever learned in life and if you dont care about them.. Im not going to bother to explain. Time didnt matter for the next 3 days of my life, old friends and Family didnt exist and
KEEGAN
He looks like a dinosaur with the ferns coming out of his head... I even wondered if she would even bother texting/write me back which was even now a rareity. Lately feels like were trying to build different puzzles, with me looking at the completed picture on the box and not knowing which piece to grab first. The only people that mattered to me now where those on the bus who were sharing the experience as we were all percieving everything through our senses in the same way with different ideas each one of us brought
to the table. KEEGAN told me once to when discussing a band sublime with Brenedatte and I had to intervene considering it was one of my favorite bands. Santeria is not their greatest song!!! I kept trying to tell KEEGAN to look at all the other sublime songs recorded and he related our argument to BOlivia in general. Quote the youngest whitest fool at the institute "People have Heard of the Band BOLIVIA, But havent listened to the SONGS" Dude blew my mind. WHATTttt....I AGREE. Everything around us turned into some place far and wide I had longed to go but never really reached and I had figured that I still needed more of this. City disappeared
Cliff
Me sitting on a Rock on a CLIFF.. and was just long mountains and a cobblestone road with a van full of 8 americans and RICARDO. I probably dont get service out here and wanted to turn to grab my phone but just shoved it from my pocket to deeper into my backpack. LIke I stated before Time didnt matter here, didnt matter what time we got to Toro TORO, and didnt matter how much time had passed. I hear the drive by autobus that stops on occasion can take up to 10hrs but we actually made it in around 5hrs. We made a stop at some Natives adobe village and found a Large collection of pots and a small farm. What an interesting undescribable place I have come to realize this place is. I almost want to leave everything and live on a mountain like these people who truly embrace life as a stranger would grab a wild bull by the horns. Just watching the people make a pot in front of me blew my mind some more. Almost shedding a tear made my way back to the bus/van as others followed. Continuing onwards maybe one more stop we decided was a must and we started all
John IN a CAVE
Nice picture of a cave...maybe of John too taking pictures. I remember being really high up in the mountains not a sould could possibly save us if something went wrong and
We hydrated and ate some fruit. I ate a bananna and walked to what appeared to be a cliff to get a good snap shot of everything below and tossed my peelings on the floor. Brenedatte made some comment and picked it up...You serious. I thought and had to take it from her. Thats just rediculous its biodegradible I told her but she still would rather carry my bananna peel than have me leave it on the floor so I was forced to pick up my trash. She said it wasnt there when we got there and it would be a sin to the earth or something If I left it. makes sense in a way now that I think of it. Actually after this rough pebbled terrain and some good pictures we continued Driving. John has little interest like the pottery village and remains to himself but little does he know that we will never ever possibly be where we are again in time he will realize to appreciate the moments before they are frogoten and
gone. Brenedatte came up with the bright Idea with her little ipod speakers for all of us to pick 3 songs
from her ipod and we all did John excluding the idea at first but later participated. All the songs hit the spot but the most memorable one was Ive seen fire, Ive seen rain. Something about a dried out speaker with no bass and barely audible vocals that makes insides tremble with unspeakable emotion. Getting into town I observed a T-REX model which looked fierce and when we parked by our hostal there were many looking at us like we were crazy. They sensed we were foreigners and if we had not had ricardo with us I would have been a little nervious. John and I ended up splitting a room just the two of us, Bren,KEEGAN, LARRY, and jeff were in another, and GINA and Sean in another. Because of all the traveling at dinner we all wanted BEER! Alcohol was a necessity in a place like this and after little hope and conversing with the owners of the hostals we found that the liquid gold courage was in sight. John and I split 3 620cl HUARIs and
we all decided to play some card game called "ASSHOLE" I recall playing this one time in San Luis Obispo but totally had no idea how to play. The owner also gave us some
DVDV about bolivia and with a scattered deck of cards and beer we were fairly happy campers. AFter consuming alcohol and having indescribable fun and laughs with strangers we all retired somewhat early wondering what kind of day was ahead. I also recall before having dinner I believe, Ricardo took us outside to some river to look at some dinosaur footprints. Also note day 1 after the drive considering we arrived and ate some lunch we were all very tired and tried to rest before heading out to look at footprints of prehistoric animals. TRying to sleep some I decided to read some of ZEN and art of moto maintainence, and John couldnt sleep considering some god aweful accordian/whislte from hell was playing and screetching outside our window in a tune I have never heard before that ceased to have a melody but was rather a repetative onslaught for anyone listening. Even the others heard it from their room and JEff was humming and whistling the
melody which almost made me knock him out. AT first I was like hey...jeff I know that song...then I was upset. haha. We didnt sleep any but that night slept great but I did notice some weird blood like fluid on my pillow or something and wrapped my sweatshirt around it and didnt move the whole night. We woke at 720amish and made our way down for some juice and bread with butter and appricote spread. NOt enough knowing now what I was about to endure. I cant remember what day it was but it was before all the hiking took place when we went to some guys house who had completely filled his walls and had massive amounts of displays of fossils and rocks he had collected over the years. Seriously never seen something like that and I even touched 3 meteorites which was a first. Along with a first of seeing a human skill that day, and stepping in dinosaur footprints. Never done that before. Well we drove and drove and stopped and took pictures and taking a break from writing all this and looking at some pictures I wish Ihadnt written anything about this entry and
cant
Johs silly hat
Pic of John with his hawaii pacific t-shirt possibly capture what I saw or felt but for the sake of the memory I will continue. WE had arrived at some great hight and came across a Mom and her daughter. Her daughter was just standing there in a pile of dirt with a hat on. ALL around her was fairly alive but where she stood was in a small patch of dirt as she observed us. LArry approached her gave her some cracker and snapped a shot and I did the same but more of from a distance. Even from looking at the picture now has some powerful meaning only those there understand. WE were approached by another group and were lead into the mountains by Ricardo and another guide. Even though we had no idea who the other group was they were there with us. Entering the mountains and seeing my first hyrogliphics and witnessing my first wild bull My mind was settled to a point of almost an awakening moment. Its like everything I was learning was wrong. I no longer felt any desire to continue with my old life at that point and only wanted to sit and watch
the sun go round and round
My hat/flashlight
what a horrible hat that saved lives in a cave. Money means nothing to me now. I dont think I have any friends anymore but the ones that Ive met here. I really hope my friend steven carter comes down to pick up the ruins of these memories and maybe we can relate. Other than that I have come to conclude that you cant change people so Im going to stop trying. Not going to bother to try and make someone see things from my point of view anymore unless they ask but that doesnt mean Im done helping. My values now are too precious to be underappreciated. You cant change people, people only change by themselves is what Ive concluded. You can help people though and it is rewarding and fulfilling and sometimes
doesnt cost a boliviano. So take me as you want Im not changing anymore for anyone I am truely my own person now and am no longer disgraced at my appearance for you never do know just how you look through other peoples eyes. Cant describe what happened there but I recall heading into a cave that was so dark no idea where I was walking into or where it ended. I reached
Cave entrance
perspective of people in contrast to size of cave..right when battery to camera was low the wall and took a severe spill over a huge Knee high rock and literally thought I broke my leg and others laughed at my expense but in a way it was fairly comical. Shin was bleeding a bunch but didnt matter much and I just pulled my jean leg back down after first examination and thought of anything but the pain considering there was little anyone could do where we were. JEFF ended up bringing bandaids with him and stopped the bleeding. Minor cut ITS JUST A FLESH WOUND I quoted Monty Python and the holy grail and JEFF understood! exactly! True relating at its finest. IN the vehicle we all rode in on we had small red plastic helmets which were quite comical but werent needed until after the first 5 hr. hike where the injury my leg had taken place. WE drove and drove and drove and time disappeared in the sunlight. WE came upon
a house which appeared to be in the middle of nowhere and only talking to those around you does one discover interesting aspects of life that one would have missed sitting by themself, like a map of the cave we were about
Descending into the cave
last look at light as we pludge beneath the earth.. to implore that I had found from larry who was talking to the patrol man. IT was a 2km hike to the cave and considering we had already walked and hiked a vast amount cheating death dangling from ropes and climbing up sticks which was like a bolivian latter. After the little minor hike we approached the cave and my camera started to die. Great...I thought but actually didnt care really just wanted to save the pictures I had taken. Submerging into the cave I really had no idea we were going to be in there for 3hrs and was probably best that I had at the time an open mind. The first place I had to crab crawl through made me kind of nervous and JEFF who is 6ft4ish and 220 was getting a little worried. We hung from ropes and traveled deeper into the cave. At one point we all turned off our lights and sat in darkness and complete silence. Complete solitutde not being able to see my hand in front of my face from the darkness was probably what death was like. MY eyes were open but everything for the
moment ceased to exist. I started
Stalagtite
interesting stalagtite from celieng of cave to hear others shifting and moving around which was a comforting sound knowing I wasnt alone. Other moments like observing cave cliffs that literally where if one were to fall would be absolute death. I heard running water and after climbing on rocks and Barely being able to army crawl through some small tight spaces I was laughing like no other from what JEFF had said. "If I had known I would have to do something like that army crawl I would definately not have come" hahaha. Making our way out of the cave I was literally a different person and told keegan of my 3 awakening moments Ive had since Ive been on this trip. First one was when all the fire was burning at the AMarya Ritual on my Birthday, second was when We climbed up TUNARI, and THird was When we were escaping the cave and He was there to witness all of them. In the cave we found some waterfall barely visible which dropped into some small lake where fish were actually living. ALL the fish in the lake were blind not by force but because evolution had no purpose for them to see in complete
CANYON
epic canyon with me just chillin darkness so they learned to survive without. Leaving the cave we all went back to the Van/bus with numerous moments that happened in between indescribable. Making our way back and having dinner and some beers and potatoe chips Brenedatte, KEEGAN, John, JEFF, and LARRY all decided to go out and watch the stars (Brenedattes IDEA PROPS B if you ever read). We all John with a bottle of huari in his hand make our way on foot past the lights of the city. John is drunkenly ranting on with JEFF questioning some of his ideas but isnt making a fool of himself but rather identifying his personal beliefs. We all find a nice place and Keegan had brought the fireworks and John the lighter and we were about to set off some fireworks into the night. KEEGAN lights the first one and it goes flying across the ground and lands in a small bush and starts a fire. HHAHA funny shit. "NOOO!!!" KEegan exclaimed and we continued setting some off. Finally he set off a fountain firework instead of all the spinner ones he bought and all stopped watching the stars and watched the fireworks for the few moments that
John and dinoprints
looking at this makes me wonder...John? you dont look so good bro? think hes tired.. they lasted. During the walk gazing up at the
stars Brenedatte asked Me and everyone where I saw the most amazing stars I have seen have been and I said CAPITAN, NEW MEXICO without question. The trip I took at the beginning of the year was more amazing than anything I had really done up to that point seeing the most amazing stars and the most amazing sunset in arizona and even witnessing a UFO. KEEGAN couldnt come up with one right away and John didnt even have an answer. WHAT? John doesnt know? He said he had become newly fond of stars and was going to participate in more star gazing which excited BRENEdatte. ---SIDE NOTE I like this type of writing because I never proof it and wont untill its all in front of my years from now as I try and piece it all together.--Well Lying on my back I and the others must have witnessed numerous Shooting stars and one lasted for about 7 seconds and was quite a site. WHen I saw the first shooting
star a wish haddent crossed my mind but brenedatte told me to make a wish. O yea ...thats what I
JEFF and a footprint or 2
Jeff lying next to a footprint showing size...might be 2 prints not sure was supposed to do when I saw a shooting star. It had been what seemed like a lifetime since the last time I witnessed a shooting star and I wished that someone from back home would visit bolivia from california. I even showed the others that the cloud that went from one horizon to the other was indeed the milky way galaxy. At first I had some disagrements but by the end of our stargazing everyone agreed with me. WE got into deep philosophical arguments and I touched Brenedatte and others telling them that some of the stars look so close but in reality are quite distances apart and can resemble in a way people. John that night asked me what the most important thing in life was before he went to take a shower or what not and I said "LOVE, but I dont believe in it". He actually questioned me today on
this, how can you say love is the most important thing in life and not believe. I told him because even after knowing someone and living with them for 20years you can realize that your still strangers. He didnt reply. The next morning we woke up
John and the rock of death
John sitting few inches from death at the same time and I was what appeared to be a little more shaken up from my EL INCA dark ale (O wait I drank Brenedattes beer too) then johns 2 larger Huaris. I arose much later than John but non the less made our way together downstairs for breakfast. We need a larger breakfast than this I told the otehrs and we all agreed. I had originally last night purchased an el Inca and HUARI beer for myself but gave my HUARI to the owner of the hostals and he seemed like he appreciated 11 bolivianos a buck and a quarter if that. WEll after breakfast Brenedatte and KEEGAN were all ready to go swimming in waterfalls and I had come to conclusion that I had completely frogotten my bathing suit not only to Toro TORO but had completely frogotten to bring my swimming trunks to bolivia. DAM...The plan was to hit these waterfalls be back for lunch then head back to Cochabamba by 6pmish. -also note day one I think we were led behind some fences and had like a personal tour of some of the DIno PRINTS amazingg...Well after reaching our destination there was like a
the Staircase
600 steps to the bottom of a very dangerous staircase 6km hike to what I wanted
to believe a great canyon. WE crossed an old river and followed a path that seemed to be long forgotten. There was remains of what appeared to be an INCAn oven of some sort. SOmething about looking at the old ruins and knowing that they built theyre products with more heart than we do even with the roots and plants growing out of it it can still show through. We continued on and when I saw the canyon literally had no idea what to think...EVen JEFF said something like "Thats NUKIN FUTZ!" haha I laughed like a lunatic. Dont know why but jeff is just hilarious to me and Im sure everyone he comes across. IN a good way. WEll taking pictures of the canyon John decided to go below this balcony type area and sit on a rock of death. I say rock of death because 2 more inches from where he was sitting if he fell there was no return. NO QUESTION of return. I think I have a picture of this too somewhere.
Didnt occur to me but we were going to be traveling down there. AWESOME! I thought. IT was
Bottom of the staircase
John Brenedatte KEEGAN, guide and JEFF something like 600 steps though which didnt seem like a whole lot but in the end traveling up them was the hardest. WEll on our descent down the stairs our guide told us to use the inside steps because if a rock gave loose on the outer edge you were to tumble down to a defeating death nothing below would stop or slow your speed. This is another time I can look back and say I cheated death. When we reached the bottom we were all strucken in amazement at how beautiful everything appeared and how large the rocks were that were at the bottom of the canyon. There was some water but I Still hadnt seen where they were going to go swimming. We continued on and met up with some people from FINLAND. This finland woman was really pretty and talked with the most unusual sounds Ive heard but spoke
English. Their group past us without looking back at the rest of us and continued ahead along the riverbed. I took picture after picture after recharging my camera through JEFFS intense powerconverterstrip he brought. WE turned an interesting section of the river and I noticed some amazing breathtaking
Me lifting up a giant boulder
Epic scene showing my brute strength miniwaterfalls. It was filling up like a mini pool which KEEGAN and BRENEDATTE stripped down to their bathing suits and went for a swim. John and I just sat there taking in the view and I decided to climb up to get a picture of me sitting on some rock but failed to do so considering a risk or injury. I climbed up some others for some pictures and were satisfied as did john. I explored the vast waterfalls and held my hand out and let the water flow through my fingers. A most unusual sensation. Larry was the first to head back understanding what a task it was to undertake to go back up all those death defying steps. Jeff gave me some G2 which help added to the fact that we were all pretty
hungry. Red looked like LLAMa blood. KEEGAN had told me the most intriguing story Ive come to hear from someones 5 weeks in bolivia. HE told me that him and some others hiked all night up to some ruins cant recall during the winter/Summer soltice and when they got there at sunrise there were natives sacrificing baby LLAMA! spraying the blood everywhere and on
their faces haha. KEEGAN said it was something hed never forget. This place does that too you thats for sure. Well struggling all the way back I decided to count the steps. Even before this We left Keegan and Brenedatte swimming and John and I continued following after JEFF and LARRY. We eventually caught up to them and I started counting the steps from the bottom to the top. KEEGAN and BRENEDatte caught up to us???IMpossible and went swimming again at another small lake area. John and I continued following up larry and JEFF and I smelt
a pot plant I BELIEVE and had to venture up off the steps to find it. After almost taking a severe fall down and tumbling to an injury I decided it was a lost cause. John told me people were comming so I got off the brushery and made my way down to be greeted by others who looked at me wondering what the hell I was doing. WE sat in the shade at this echo spot where half way during our descent we all sat and yelled making echos throughout the canyon. We must have sat like 5 min and then KEEGAN
and Brenedatte were comming up making an appearance. "NO WAY! I exclaimed and we were all shocked at how they had caught up to us and decided to ascend some more. STruggling to the top the pretty Finland girl and her boyfriend went left where we had originally come from at the top but there
were more steps and Jeff, JOhn, and I decided to wait for the others. The guide to the other group ran trying to get the other 2 that had wandered off the path and motioned for the rest of his group to keep ascending. WE realized that was where we were probably going but still decided to wait. Larry was awefully red but ended up being ok considering he had a somewhat bum knee. We kept walking up more stairs and saw some 3 cars in the distance and noticed none were ours and Ricardo was no where to be found. MORE! great...we were all to the point of passing out and I wasnt sure what was harder TORO TORO or TUNARI. We all made it back to the hostal at toro toro ate some soup and steak with egg and started packing up. I
took a shower considering I had become fairly dirty. I forgot Soap and Shampoo and John didnt even plan on bringing any which was weird. He said he doesnt get dirty or soemthing
ahhaha. John returned the bottles for our change while I was showering and when I came out he was completely packed. I started packing and when I finished Brenedatte KNocked on the door saying everyone was ready and it was time to go. I didnt even say goodbye to TORO TORO and soon enough it just hit me that the city was out of site and that I was on the move in the car again. I wave now to everyone I pass and the majority of them wave back and reveal their toothless smile. Getting back to the institute I had to take the largest piss ever and rushed to the school at 7ish,nighttime, and took care of business and grabbed my laptop out of the locker and my ipod and shoved it into my backpack. I had a LARGE 2liter bottle of water which I FInished and disposed. I went back to the front gate and saw Brenedatte and KEEGAN walking home together and John
waiting for me at the front. I said goodbye to
Shawn and Gina and walked with JOHN. HEY Im catching this trufi and sure enough did and was on my way home. I opened the front gate then tried the door but couldnt get it open. Was anyone home? IS it locked from the inside? I walked around a little and saw daniellea, Mirza and Luiz drinking playing dice game CACHO. I knocked on the window and DANIELLEA SCREAMED! it was quite comical for me but I had no choice because they had locked the door. Mirza Poured me some expensive Rum and coke and I drank 2 glasses and had my fill of 5 tacos. Delicious and sat a while when Luis got a call saying he had an emergency. When I got home I noticed 2 cigarettes on the table. Luis smokes but I dont know if daniellea does and considering all that I had acomplished wanted to pick on up and light it but second thoughts proved overwhelming. --sidenote The priest JEFF got into an interesting conversation
with John about the bible and they were in deep analytical review which was entertaining to me as a 3rd party listener. The only thing I got from it was that its adams fault in the garden of eve eating the apple and another interesting saying came to mind I will never forget. "In the Insufficiency KNowing everything is possible ALL symphonies remain UNIFInished" LIke the stars that one night the were quite amazing but could have been better. the milky way could have been clearer etc...
wASHING socks with only water doesnt work as well as I had hoped, and my hiking boots have a more horid squirrel killing smell that almost makes me want to throw up. THe whole last part of my day included one sock and my barefoot in the other boot. I have vast battle scares on my feet which are mostly blisters. I even placed my boots placed them outside due to the smell. I woke up today and our classes have all changed so I have class at 1140am which is a nice change and all new teachers except for one who continued the movie GHANDI. I woke up at 830 today and Mirza made me some what looked like funnel cakes with honey which are my new favorite breakfast item. Cant recall what the name is. I initially wasnt trying to write this much but it sort of wrote itself. At break Brooke gave me this grateful dead book that she had finished reading and said it was amazing and some of the concerts in it she went too so now I have to read. The introduction to the book is so me..
I was permitted to hear an incredible music...I heard the gestation of the new world...the sound of stars grinding
chafing, of fountains clotted with blazing gems...Music is planteary fire, an irreducible which is all sufficient;
it is the slate-writing of the gods
-Henry Miller, Tropic of cancer
inside a book by Phil Lesh
SEARCHING FOR THE SOUND
All morning after I got to school at 9am I thought for sure I would find JOhn playing craft at school but was more of greeted by JEFF who was writing emails. I took care of some comp business and then started reading the PDF KANTs :Critique of Pure Reason. in the hour I only read 20 pages but was a very good read and changed some of my views today. Think its going to be one of those reads I read once every year. Played some craft by myself after class and ate some bomb chicken and noodles for lunch that I had to microwave after my 1st period. I know there is a massive amount of detail I have forgot about toro toro and what occured today; but like a picture, Ive come to realize everyone had the same thoughts as me about taking pictures. which is it is impossible to capture the moment but it is used for more of a recollection possibly better than writing, but I think not.
Im convinced that all day Long
that ALL I learn is always wrong
Things are TRUE that I FORGET
BUt no ones Taught that to me yet...
-character zero
PHISH
You know that I care
What happens to YOU
And I know that you care
FOR me too
SO I
DOnt feel alone ON the way to the stone
Now THAt I found somewhere safe to burry my bones
And any fool knows
A dog needs a home
a Shelter From pigs on the wing
-Pigs On the wing (Pt.2)
PINK FLOYD
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Dad
non-member comment
Hey..
You mentioned something about giving up on not changing people and the way they are. Great lesson you've learned there. John Lennon was the first to say that "All you need is LOVE". Not sure what you meant when you said, "I told him because even after knowing someone and living with them for 20 years you can realize that your still strangers." Not sure if that was a reference to your Mom and I?, but don't know who else you have lived with the last 20 years? By the way, great Pink Floyd reference at the end of your blog....I like that. Here's one for you... From the John Lennon song "Crippled Inside" You can shine your shoes and wear a suit You can comb your hair and look quite cute You can hide your face behind a smile One thing you can't hide Is when you're crippled inside You can wear a mask and paint your face You can call yourself the human race You can wear a collar and a tie One thing you can't hide Is when you're crippled inside Well now you know that your Cat has nine lives Nine lives to itself But you only got one And a dog's life ain't fun Mamma take a look outside You can go to church and sing a hymn You can judge me by the color of my skin You can live a lie until you die One thing you can't hide Is when you're crippled inside From a pastor acquaintance of mine: "The integrity of any structure has to do with the internal infra-structure. I have done my fair share of painting and I often joke that I can hide the mistakes of the people who have gone before me, but I know that it is only cosmetic help that I can give. If there are small flaws, sure, I can hide them in the finish job, but I can’t solve structural issues with paint. You can’t change a person simply by whitewashing the outside. It isn’t a new set of clothes, or even a new set of behaviors only!!! Rather, it is the transformation of the internal structures of a person, and the main building blocks of life are the building blocks of truth." I kept telling your mom that the reason you haven't written is because you were on this 2 night, 3 day adventure. I read up on the Parque National Torotoro, prior to you departure. Got a little nervous about the cave excursion, the website said it was not for the faint-hearted and if you are even a little bit afraid of the dark, it was not a good idea. Glad you survived that! Sounds like you are making wise decisions everywhere you go, giving up on the trail that led to a pot plant, was a good idea, not climbing certain dangerous rocks for a photo opportunity is good. Dinosaur print pictures are awesome. I like the picture of you on the rock, reminds me of last year's trip to Zion where we sat on a rock. I am disappointed in your revelation that you are done at CSUF. I read into that, that you are not going to finish college and I hope that is not the case, You would be doing yourself a great disservice, one that you will always regret. I am fine with you studying somewhere else, but the quality of education that you may obtain from a lessor well known college is not the same. You always get what you pay for. No matter where you are, it is all relative. Hey, no need to decide now, sounds like you still have a lot of thinking to do and that is good. I can tell in your blogs that you have already grown so much and that this will prove be a most valuable experience for you as you live the rest of your life. I have always told you that you need to travel to gain life experiences. Don't make the mistake of thinking that you have been forgotten here by your friends and especially family. Why just Sunday, Mr. Finders wanted me to make sure to say hello to you. He is well and said he was thinking about you a lot. Grandma and Grandpa call me after each blog to talk about how valuable an experience this is for you. Not talking down to you when I let you know that the spelling of the word is "forgot" not "frogot", no biggie. We are thinking about you all the time and miss you a lot, but it is comforting in knowing that there are people there who care about you and are taking good care of you. Always know that there are no two people who care about your welfare and well-being than your mom and dad. Miss you tons, Dad.