La Ultima Semana
The last week in upon me. When I started my trip I didn´t ever really think this day would come. It was a distant amorphous event, kind of like how the US government views paying off it´s debt. A supercommittee? Seriously? Anyway, my travel is ending where it started in Buenos Aires, which is fitting in a way. My life has been quite fast paced for the last month with the exception of today where the only things I have done are eat, play piano, read, and use the internet. But I am ok with my trip ending. It´s time to come back. I am reading a book that says the fundamental thing in life is to balance your production with your capacity to produce. A workaholic focuses on production and neglects his own body and mental well-being leading to an inevitable ¨burn out¨ just as a car that isn´t maintained will break-down. The perpetual student or perpetual traveler is just the opposite, always increasing their capacity to produce, but never putting it to any use. So far in my life I have been the latter.
After 3 months of Portuguese my Spanish is finally coming back, but I really have to think about not mixing the languages up. This is all further complicated as the hostel I am in has many Brazilians who are learning Spanish. Conversations seem to flip flop between the two languages with English splashed in at random intervals as people want to practice. I used to think that people spoke to me in English because they thought they spoke English better than I spoke Spanish. Really, they just want to practice and look good for their friends just as gringos try to order in Spanish at taco trucks.
Here is the count:
7/16: Cidade ao lado de carro, espaghetti, Tropa Elite II
7/17: TV, Rubik´s cube, Tijucas to Caxias do Sul
7/18: 6 am Tiago, dormi, Rolinhas, Pizza a vóntade
7/19: Rio, Bodega de vinho, frango, Skype, Filme
7/20: Acadamia, Churrasco, Cachaca com pimenta
7/21: Caxias to Porto Alegre, Iuri, Bar de América Látina
7/22: Piano, centro, museos, caipirinhas, Shirley
7/23: Passeo de bici, cidade baixa, GL tron
7/24: Parque de Redempcao, DVD piratas, piano
7/25: C/S, Cachorro quente, passeo com as meninas, Porto Alegre to MVD
7/26: Español, Cubano, Brasileiros, Irish Bar, VISA EXPIRED
7/27: Torre, cemeterio, Julia, Ballada
7/28: Check-out to Colonia, Buenos Aires, Check-in, LOST
7/29: Centro, San Telmo, Desnivel, Palermo, Terraza, Marceli (Carioca)
7/30: Buenos Aires to Tigre, Ajedrez, Facundo, Boliche
7/31: Desperté a las 2:30pm, Mercado de Frutas, Buenos Aires
8/1: Marceli, Jana, Amaia, Puerto Madero, Sangria y Brigadero
8/2: Recoleta Cemeterio, San Telmo, Bife, Vino, Terraza
8/3: Palermo hasta Olleros, panqueques de papa, check-in Hostal Sol
8/4: Claro chip, San Andrés para futbol y Carina, Lost = fracasso
8/5: Absolutamente nada, leer, comer, piano, blog
In terms of finances I am going to squeak out of South America with $50 to my name if all goes according to budget. Brazil is really expensive to travel, but luckily living in Piracicaba was cheap. I´ve been tracking my costs and I have averaged $22.63 dollars over 120 days. My benchmark is $25 so I am pleased with this. Couch Surfing only moderately helps this number because although you are not paying $10 a day for a hostel, this savings is usually eaten up by the higher standard of living of the host (aka eating in restaurants instead of cooking your own food). The exception to this is the magician I stayed with where we ate rice, beans, and drank caipirinhas for 5 days.
That´s all for now. Abrazos.
After 3 months of Portuguese my Spanish is finally coming back, but I really have to think about not mixing the languages up. This is all further complicated as the hostel I am in has many Brazilians who are learning Spanish. Conversations seem to flip flop between the two languages with English splashed in at random intervals as people want to practice. I used to think that people spoke to me in English because they thought they spoke English better than I spoke Spanish. Really, they just want to practice and look good for their friends just as gringos try to order in Spanish at taco trucks.
Here is the count:
7/16: Cidade ao lado de carro, espaghetti, Tropa Elite II
7/17: TV, Rubik´s cube, Tijucas to Caxias do Sul
7/18: 6 am Tiago, dormi, Rolinhas, Pizza a vóntade
7/19: Rio, Bodega de vinho, frango, Skype, Filme
7/20: Acadamia, Churrasco, Cachaca com pimenta
7/21: Caxias to Porto Alegre, Iuri, Bar de América Látina
7/22: Piano, centro, museos, caipirinhas, Shirley
7/23: Passeo de bici, cidade baixa, GL tron
7/24: Parque de Redempcao, DVD piratas, piano
7/25: C/S, Cachorro quente, passeo com as meninas, Porto Alegre to MVD
7/26: Español, Cubano, Brasileiros, Irish Bar, VISA EXPIRED
7/27: Torre, cemeterio, Julia, Ballada
7/28: Check-out to Colonia, Buenos Aires, Check-in, LOST
7/29: Centro, San Telmo, Desnivel, Palermo, Terraza, Marceli (Carioca)
7/30: Buenos Aires to Tigre, Ajedrez, Facundo, Boliche
7/31: Desperté a las 2:30pm, Mercado de Frutas, Buenos Aires
8/1: Marceli, Jana, Amaia, Puerto Madero, Sangria y Brigadero
8/2: Recoleta Cemeterio, San Telmo, Bife, Vino, Terraza
8/3: Palermo hasta Olleros, panqueques de papa, check-in Hostal Sol
8/4: Claro chip, San Andrés para futbol y Carina, Lost = fracasso
8/5: Absolutamente nada, leer, comer, piano, blog
In terms of finances I am going to squeak out of South America with $50 to my name if all goes according to budget. Brazil is really expensive to travel, but luckily living in Piracicaba was cheap. I´ve been tracking my costs and I have averaged $22.63 dollars over 120 days. My benchmark is $25 so I am pleased with this. Couch Surfing only moderately helps this number because although you are not paying $10 a day for a hostel, this savings is usually eaten up by the higher standard of living of the host (aka eating in restaurants instead of cooking your own food). The exception to this is the magician I stayed with where we ate rice, beans, and drank caipirinhas for 5 days.
That´s all for now. Abrazos.
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