Catch Me If You Can

OK, so… I'm just sitting in Australia, minding my own business, pretty satisfied with myself at having not given up on Byron when times were tough and jobs were scarce, and finally getting settled into jobs and bike rides and ocean play time when, all of a sudden, there's a new plate on the table.  

Back in LA, the day before my last day at work, just before all this wild and crazy walking about began, I had just worked a double shift and stopped in at a bar with some coworkers to grab a quick drink.  Sitting next to us at the same table is a group of Argentines on vacation in Los Angeles, one of which currently lives in Boston (Facundo) and one of which currently lives in Chicago (Ivan).  Immediately to my left (on the wrong side) was Facundo.  For some reason "I just quit my job and I'm going to do whatever I want for a year or so" really piques people's interests, and we got to talking.  So it starts…

I finish up in Los Angeles, and commence my road trip.  This sounds like fun - I'm driving through Chicago (with a car full of girls), that's where Ivan is.  Facundo comes to say hello, good people good times, the girls leave back to Los Angeles, Ivan stays in Chicago, Facundo and I continue East.  

And then and then and thennnn, Maria and Facundo - one way tickets to Bali.  And then and then and then - Facundo back to Boston, Maria on to Australia.  

Which brings me back to minding my own business, doing "whatever I want," running around Byron Bay barefooted.  And then the alleged spontaneity of my adventure is challenged.  Facundo's brother is getting married and it turns out there is a wedding celebration to be had in Buenos Aires that I wouldn't want to miss.  On top of that, Facundo has arranged to work remotely from Argentina for a couple of months, if I'd care to partner up for some South American adventure.  So how about it?

But-but-but… I just got a job!  I tried for so long and convinced these people I would stay for a while and now I'm just gonna leave, just like that?

But-but-but… It's just a restaurant job, and isn't A for Adventure?  And maybe Australia?  And maybe Argentina too? 

So I thought, and I felt, and I stressed, and I fretted, and I asked a few people for advice, and something like a week later I had tickets to Argentina for another week after that… and so the story goes…

I posted when I was waiting for my flight in Sydney, and 13 hours later I landed in Buenos Aires.  The immigration officials apparently decided to strike the morning of May 18th (welcome to Argentina!), which drastically slowed things down upon arrival.  I stood in line for approximately 2.5 hours before I was set loose to cause terror in Argentina.  Facundo had arrived just a few hours prior, but missed all the fun of long and slow moving customs lines.  Finally I was free to roam.  Much to my surprise, Facundo was still there waiting for me as I walked through the final security check point =), and his parents were just around the corner having some coffee.

We got some lunch in a nice part of town, and then piled into the car for 3 more hours of driving to Rosario.  I slept through pretty much all of this part.  

Now I write to you, currently sitting in the house of what feels like my new host family - La Familia Chamut.  I have Rosetta Stone and a Spanish study book to play with for now.  Everyone here seems to like me, and is happy with my feeble attempts at Spanish which are getting slightly more frequent and slightly less feeble all the time.  (My Australian housemates have threatened to replace me with a puppy - which might make just as much of a mess as me, but won't be nearly as adorable.) 

The National Flag Memorial

Rosario is a very pleasant and pretty city, arguably the 2nd largest in Argentina (Córdoba being its rival).  It sits on the Paraná River which borders the north and east edges of the city.  There are several parks scattered around town, and a running/bike path along the river.  In my first few days here, I basically did my best to wash the dirt off my feet from my extended couple of months of outdoor adventure in Indonesia and Australia and make myself presentable to arrive in style for Lichu and Anita's wedding in Buenos Aires.  

The wedding was A LOT of fun!  To start, the union was sanctioned before a judge at the court house in a room packed full of family and friends, and me.  After that we celebrated for hours with open bar, disco balls, and magnificently catered hors d'oeuvres at a rented venue somewhere in Buenos Aires that I would never be able to find for you again on my own.  

Dancing and Disco balls, Newlyweds and La Familia

I'll wrap this up by telling you that yesterday we BBQ'd on the rooftop terrace at the Chamut residence, I ate cow thyroid (a savory delicacy), and intestines (could do without those), and then went into town to shop around the Sunday artisan market by the river.

Lunch on the Parana

There are too many things to do in and around this country and there are already some plans brewing, but we will have to save that for a later date when I have some stories to tell!

Mama Chamut is making me fat.  I like that about her. 

Sydney International

That's where I am right now.  At the duty free Mac store.  Just bought some kangaroo jerky to share with my hosts in Argentina.  I thought about the Crocodile jerky as well, but decided to pass.

Airports are pretty cool.  I just brushed my teeth in the bathroom, and really liked it.  I've grown to quite like being in airports, and quite dislike being in airplanes.  Except little Cessnas - those are cool.

Dave's Building Be The Red Brick One 

I didn't get to do really any Sydney site-seeing.  I was staying in a suburb quite outside of the city called Cronulla.  Very pretty little town.  My housemate, Dennis, set me up to stay with a friend of his, Dave.  Dave was kind enough to pick me up at the airport and give me a couch to occupy for 2 nights.  I took the local train this morning to transport myself to the airport.  That took about an hour.

It's 9:45 - I'm meant to be at the gate now to start boarding.

Flight departs at 10:30 am May 18, 2011.

Qantas flight QF17
Non-stop service from Sydney to Buenos Aires

Flight arrives in Buenos Aires at 10:45 am May 18, 2011.

How about that?

Anyway, gotta go find out if that town is big enough for the two of us.  Whattya reckon?

Byron - The Final Days

Worked my last shift today at the restaurant.  My time there was short but sweet.  They were certainly disappointed that I ended up being a short term employee, and trust me I felt pretty guilty about letting them down... but I'm pretty sure I saw them hiring my replacement this afternoon, and Fish Heads as a whole will have forgotten me by next week.

It was a beautiful day, and the office view was stunning.  Julian Rocks looked peaceful in the distance, and there was some kind of bird feeding frenzy not too far of shore.  Birds circling a school of fish, no doubt, making the occasional torpedo dive from above.

Tomorrow my bags will be packed, I'll take it easy and maybe meet some friends in town.  Kat just got back after 4 weeks out to sea, so I guess she can have her car back.

I just booked my flight to Sydney for Monday night, and I have a flight to Buenos Aires on Wednesday morning.  It all happened so fast.

Life is very short and there's no time for fussing and fighting my friend.

It all happens so fast, and next thing you know you're 90 years old.  So just do it.

I think I felt more anxiety all day today than I did when looking a shark in the face and swimming though a dark cave 80 ft under water.

Scratch That

Creature of habit - nonsense.  I'm going to Argentina in 12 days.  Didn't see that one comin' did ya?

Yeah, neither did I.

Hell yeah to spontaneity.

Who knows, maybe there isn't a vein of stars callin' out my name.

Right now I am in a laying on a mattress covered by a mosquito net on the balcony out back.  It is almost midnight, and I will sleep out here tonight.  I can hear the ocean pretty good.  Swell is picking up, and its been spitting rain in spurts all day.  The air is fresh and the noises are soothing.

Straight back across the back yard I see the back yards of the houses the next street over.  A 48-year-old woman was murdered somewhere over there by her 17-year-old son last week.  I heard he may be mentally ill - schizophrenic or something.  I heard he stabbed her.  The newspaper did not report anything except that she was killed by him and he has medical conditions.

In other news -

I never did get to hike a volcano in Indonesia.  I was told by other travelers that it was too rainy and muddy and the trails were closed, and I'd like you all to assume that is why I didn't do it.  But the truth is I heard that and then didn't investigate further anyway.  I just didn't get around to it.

That's ok though, opportunities don't stop coming and I finally got to a volcano in Australia.  A long time inactive volcano, but I'm satisfied.

It's a thing around here to hike Mt. Warning for sunrise, as it is for most popular summit trails.  Its a peculiar thing, the popularity of the sunrise hike.  Someone asked me afterward about the hike and then asked "was it worth it?"  I couldn't quite figure out that question or an appropriate answer.  "Was it worth it?"  As though I had made some kind of huge sacrifice.  It was cool, and I only had to alter my sleep schedule for a day or so, so I guess that means it was worth it.

The fun thing about the Mt Warning hike were the multiple setbacks and obstacles that seemed to want to prevent us from succeeding in our quest that day.  After leaving the dive center that day I ran into another American guy, Matt, who volunteers there as well.  He and his friends had plans to hike later, and I asked to tag along.  We were meant to meet at 11:30, get ready and go.  It takes about 1.5 hours to drive there, and then 1.5-2 hours to get to the top.  They had one spare seat in the car, and all was sweet.

I showed up at 11:30 and found out their driver was MIA, so I was defaulted to drive my car.  Funny thing, I drove into town to meet up with everyone, parked my car in the alley behind their hostel, and then wouldn't you know my car wouldn't start.  I don't know what is up with that anyway.  We rolled it out of the alley, and eventually flagged someone down for a jump.

Oh, shit, I don't have enough gas to make it there, and there are no 24 hour gas stations until Tweed (Déjà vu all over again).  Off a bit out of the way to Tweed for some petrol - success!  And finally on the way to our final destination.

My car out here, well she does the trick around town but... She's no Cheryl.  For this trip I had 5 people in her, and the last half hour of driving was all uphill, and she definitely didn't like that.  When we finally got to the trail head parking lot and I shut the car off, I noticed she was smoking and leaking from the radiator.  I think it was somewhere around 3am at this point.  What do you do about a leaking radiator at 3am when you are in the middle of nowhere?  Hike to the top of a mountain and deal with it later.

Head lamps on, snacks in our backpacks, and we're off.  It was dark, it was quiet, it started out pretty easy, and there were awesome, green, glow-in-the-dark fungi all around.  The last .5 km was basically a rock climb with a thick chain provided for assistance.  We made it to the summit platform about an hour before sunrise.  We weren't alone.  I was tired, and after the sun came up I think I slept in my sleeping bag on the bench for about an hour or so, the sun was shining and warming by now which made for a pleasant descent.

Mission Accomplished

Of course, I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that my radiator had overflowed and the little experience I have with overflowing radiators has lead me to believe that if that happens there is no way in hell you are going to successfully drive an hour and a half home without issue.  But apparently hiking Mt. Warning has magical powers and we made it home with no dramas.  Then I got a job.  =)

One thing:  No matter how many times you see them, sunrises and sunsets are always fricken awesome.

My Job:  A seafood restaurant called Fish Heads.  Nice place, classy dinner atmosphere.  I was hoping to go for something a little less demanding in service standards, and this reminds me quite a bit of my last two jobs, but still is a bit less hectic.  Plus, I moved right in comfortably very quickly and everyone seems pleased to gain my acquaintance around there.

Viewing my place of diving from my place of working.

The building is a bit of historical site, being the original Bathers Pavilion built in 1951.  There is a public pool also on the property, which again is remarkably nostalgic of my previous place of employment.  It is located literally front and center in town, right on the main beach and the main street.  So far so good - they kept me very busy last week, and called me in for 3 extra shifts.  I'm glad to be taking some work while I can get it.  The Blues Fest and Easter holiday have brought swarms of visitors, but I'm sure things are going to quiet down in the upcoming months.  I have done my part to become liked and somewhat valuable, so I feel confident about keeping up my employment with them even in the winter.

I only managed to get to the Blues Fest for a couple of hours one afternoon.  Bobby D was playing that evening, but I had to go to work.  My house mates saw him and reported that he was a bit of a disappointment.  They aren't really fans though, and, although I'm sure he's lost his pizazz in live performance, it would still be amazing to be in the presence of a living legend who's words and thoughts shape my thoughts and view of the world.  And if he happened to pick up a guitar and sing us a tune, wouldn't that be a delight?  Oh well, that's twice I've missed Bob Dylan now, and maybe the last chance I'll get.  He still sounds good coming from my computer and headphones.

I did see Tim Robbins and his band.  Yeah, that's right, Tim Robbins - the actor - plays in a band.  I didn't know that, but then there he was on stage.  It was hard to take him seriously, but he really wasn't too bad.  They had a busker station where random local/very unprofessional acts performed on a folded chair.  Some of that stuff was really great.  Otherwise there were 5 stages and I just kind of bounced around for the afternoon.  Almost like visiting an art gallery, or a wine tasting, but for music!  I still much prefer the random musical gems you find in the corner of a pub in town from time to time.  The extravagant production with a stage and confused crowds seems to really take some soul away from the music.  Except the Flaming Lips.  They seem to embrace a live performance as the beast that it is, and turn the whole thing into a big interactive party and that is seriously a good time.

Checking over my dive kingdom from the balcony

I continue to show up at the dive center.  For the next couple of months I guess I will divide my time between working, diving, and getting to know this part of Australia.  Since I'll be staying put for a little while now I think I'll go ahead and do my dive master course, but the water is getting cold!  Cold water brings cool wildlife though, so at least there is that to look forward too.

Where they house the live-in volunteers

I got to do my first kind of assistant dive guiding the other day, and it was mostly hellish.  I've done it before, but mostly it just ends up being a fun dive cause there is already a dive guide and I'm meant to hang out at the back of the group and loosely keep an eye on things.  This particular group was just strangely problematic.  First of all there was an older man who was having all kinds of trouble with his buoyancy and kept holding everybody up.  Not that big of a deal, if it weren't for the Overconfident Aggressive Alpha Male who repeatedly swam off out of sight requiring me to repeatedly chase after him, get his attention, and pull him back to the group.  It felt a lot like what I imagine it would feel like to herd sheep.

So, I work in a classy/casual restaurant by the beach with a pool, I ride my bike around which makes me very happy, I'm about to join a gym and get back on a regular yoga schedule, I go hiking and to music festivals and I play in the Pacific Ocean.  Not much has changed really, since I left Los Angeles in October.  I guess you could call me a creature of habit.

Ok Ok Ok

I haven't really written lately.  And I'll tell you why.

First, not much adventuring has been happening, although technically its all part of the adventure even when its not so gripping.

Second, I've been moody.

Trying to get a job was tough.  Byron is a small town with lots of backpackers (ranging from seemingly put together to totally out there dirty smelly hippies).  Anyway, so many people with similar ideas to mine, who want to stay in Byron cause its fun and cool and great, and want to work.  Employers are weary of the Working Holiday Visa, because they hire people and then they are gone in a couple of months and it sucks.  There really is no way around it, even Australians migrate through here in a couple of months time.  Anyway, I had a constant feeling of rejection and failure for about a month, but sunny days when I went to beach BBQs and surfing all day I felt fine, rainy cold days stuck in the house with an overactive brain were not so fine.  Never so bad either.  Just a little travelin' blues.  I've felt them before.  The kind of feeling where mostly all I want to do is reattach to an umbilical cord and crawl back inside the womb and pretend none of this ever happened.

Anyway, I had verbally declared abandonment of the job search sometime in the beginning of last week.  I was going to stay in Byron bit longer, but ultimately head elsewhere and see how that went.  I have some friends from LA who just arrived in Australia, so I figured I could meet with them and go play some more.

A few days later, I went to hike Mt. Warning to watch the sunrise.  Napping through to following day I missed a call, and when I checked my voicemail I was shocked to find out with was a woman from a restaurant I had dropped a resume at a week or so before.  I was really under the impression that leaving a resume somewhere was about the equivalent to throwing it directly in the garbage.  Anyway, she asked if I was still looking for work: I was.  She asked if I would like to come in for an interview tomorrow: I did.  So that's what I did. 

Thrift store shopping for some black dress pants: $5
Eggplant colored sleeveless sweater top: $5
Uncomfortable pair of black shoes covered by the pants anyway: $1

Finally getting a job at a pretty nice beach front restaurant - my office with a view: Priceless

Anyway, I worked 3 days this week.  I like them, they like me.  Its going to be good.  I'm going to tell a story about the Mt. Warning hike, and maybe a few other interesting things that have happened and some other thoughts about who the F knows what.  But I just wanted to quickly say YAY! 

Enough About Me

Tell me about you!

Write me a blog entry this time.

Whoever is reading this, write me a little story -  a few sentences or paragraphs or whatever you want about what's going on with you.

That would make me happy.  =)


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