Where is Georgia Again?

For those of you who were missing all the fun about Georgia, they're back in the news:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6934354.stm

Closing the Circle

Sorry for the three-week silent interlude, I think I may have left folks hanging. Brazil was (still is) really enjoyable, supporting my theory that visiting a country is always better the second time around. I did manage to finangle a student flight back to LA in the end (avoiding the ten-day multiple bus ride home), which is where I am now, awaiting re-entry shock. They say the culture shock is almost always worse on the way back, and I did indeed have some minor panic on the way back (I had a classic "I've made a huge mistake" moment on the plane, leading to me nearly leave the airport in Costa Rica.) Other than that, it's good to be home, and I'm looking forward to a few more adventures before adopting a more normal lifestyle.

As soon as I arrived in Salvador, my host family from my last visit to Brazil demanded that I stay with them, pointing out that I was their "Filho Branco," the White Son. Faced with such logic, I greedily accepted - this is one special family, and I never pass up such wonderful opportunity. My Mae, some 75 years old, has the heart of a child, and her exuberant joy infects all of her nine children and countless grandchildren. Those grandchildren, generally named "Meninos", scurry about her home, looking for food, sending messages, running errands, etc. I like to call them Menino Messengers. One of Mae's sons, Roque, provides a really special window into Brazil for me. He is one of those people that everybody wants to know. His charisma lights people up, and I have come to believe that he may have a shaman-like ability to see and touch peoples souls. Coupled with a knowledge about all things cultural, including our own US of A, any day with him is interesting and exciting.

My timing in Brazil was fantastic, as I managed to blow through at least four or five different festivals. That left me with a lot of pictures to pile through, so I'll try to do that and post some winners later. Salvador is clearly a place I will be coming back to many times.


P.S. Noah and Zan have started their tour, which I mentioned in a previous post, here's their latest update. It looks like they could use some more donations, so go buy a t-shirt.

When Life Gives You Lemons...

... Eat them! (or something like that) So it turns out that thanks to a small paperwork issue (apparently I might not be a student), I can´t get the relatively cheap $500 flight back to LA from Brazil. All "normal" flights cost around $1700. I suppose this is really something I should have sorted out before buying the flight to Brazil, but planning has never been one of my strengths (you may have noticed). So, the new idea is to do the it by bus. By the looks of it, it'd be about a ten day ride, plus a flight or boat around the Darien Gap. Even at $3/hour for the bus, and $200 for the boat/plane, it works out to less than $1000. I tend to like these sorts of poorly planned adventures, but even this one could be pushing my limits. On the other hand, I'd get to stop by at Rob's new house in Panama and check out his view of the valley. I am becoming increasingly jealous of that guy.

Any thoughts? I leave for Brazil on Tuesday!

Comical Photos from The Netherlands and an Obligatory Windmill Photo

I'm not sure what "Skeelers let op" means, but I'm fairly certain I didn't see any Wild Roosters.

Brian and the Sheep throw down.

The sheep won, thanks to their tremendous amount of excretory power.

A Windmill.

This doesn't mean I'm back in The Netherlands, I just have a lot of free time here in Capellades to catch up. (Too much free time, really.)

The End

After almost a year, I finally found the familiar welcome of my own Yaya (Catalan for gramma), waiting for me as usual with far more food than I should be reasonably expected to eat. It's been a long wait, and it was nice to finally find a familiar bed. Having finally arrived in Barcelona (Capellades, if you want to be picky), the continued purpose of this blog is somewhat unclear. I've had lots of fun posting though, and it's been really nice to occasionally get comments and interact, especially all the advice and support I got along the way. So I'll try to keep it up, and at least post some pictures from time to time. Besides, the adventure isn't quite over yet! I have a short stop in Brasil planned, and I still have to figure out how to get home. I was thinking about trying to hitchhike my way back to Eugene from Los Angeles. I was recently inspired to try this when I saw a show on the National Geographic Channel about an Englishman trying to get from New York to California on $5 per day. He might be my new hero.

I also have a lot of catching up to do, including bits from Northern Europe and Turkey that somehow fell through the cracks. While I'm here, I might as well post some pictures of Capellades, Mom's hometown:

And underwater church is all that's left of this town, which was flooded as a result of the downstream dam built by Franco.

Gabri and his lovely girlfriend Marta.

La Bassa, the controversially full pond, and one of the notes of pride for our small town of 6,000.


P.S. Some of you might have noticed that I changed the title, meaningless really, but the whole "overland" bit was too much of a bald-faced lie to keep. Plus, I like the new one.