Totally forgot about the Barbaras!!

Totally forgot about the Barbara's

So the Barbaras. Last entry I entitled Seattle: ... Barbaras. But then I, like the ding dong I am, spoke about everything but the Barbaras. No, Barbara is not a reference to Barbie or a bunch of friends we made while in Seattle. 

Barbara is in reference to the Spanish word barba. Those of you who know me  well and rrrspeak Spanish are probably laughing your asses off. I know. It's shameful. But it's rude to talk about people when they're within earshot. So if they don't know what you're saying I think that you are safe. 

Barba is the Spanish word for beard. Yes, now it all makes sense right? If you don't know me then this entry will really make no sense for you. The west coast is full of things that I love: coffee stands, good beer, and bearded, Chaco wearing, carhartt sporting dudes. It's pretty fantastic. I can't explain what it is with me and beards, but I can tell you that I've never dated a dude who didn't have a beard. If you're out and I have no idea who you are, I am legitimately 20 times more likely to be attracted to you if you have some sort of scruff. 

So as we were walking through Seattle, I was mentioning all of the good beards and cute bearded guys. And because Jessica and lyn know me well and know my love for a good beard, they kept pointing them out (and fairly loudly might I add) as we walked by. I don't remember quite what prompted it, but at some point we decided we need to be more discreet .... Hence the Barbaras.  

It began as barba, but that was obviously code plus my non-Spanish speaking friends had trouble with this simple Spanish word. So it became barbara. Then the barrette was created as well. The lady friend of the noted Barbara was originally dubbed the Barbara-ett which in turn morphed into a barrette. So during my west coast travels, we have been on the lookout for Barbaras without barrettes. I may even start a new blog entitled Barbaras sans barrettes. Would it be weird of me to walk around asking single bearded guys to let me take their picture for my site? But just of the beard. We have to respect one's privacy.  

Seattle: ferries, clouds, and Barbaras

Seattle: ferries, clouds, and Barbaras

As I mentioned before, lyn lives in la Conner, which is about an hour or two north of Seattle depending on traffic. So we opted just to go down for the day, though I knew we could have spent much more time. But it was easier and more feasible to just do a day trip. Along the way, as we take in the beautiful I-5 view of mountains, valleys and old-school iron bridges, we encounter a rest stop sign. It's at this moment that Jessica informs us how much she enjoys rest stops.

Rest stops??! A little strange ... right? But she doesn't actually enjoy the physical structure with its lack of sanitation and cherry-Chapstick smell. It's more of a childhood memory; but not just one memory. It signifies all family vacays she took as a kid. I guess some folks have pleasant memories of family road trips. I actually think that I enjoy road trips so much now because I can determine when i stop, what kind of music, and of course the fact that my car has AC is clutch. Anyhow, after this point lyn decides that we definitely have to stop. Jessica embarrasses easily and she was definitely opposed to us stopping. And even more so opposed to a photo-op in front of the sign. It made for some interesting photos! And those lyn, those you are more than welcome to post to face-space and tag away; because Jess has not fully figured out how to de-tag herself and it will be overly amusing. 

Upon arrival in Seattle, we immediately hit up Pike Place Market. Yes. We were tourists. But it's okay; we weren't tourons. And according to some folks (mostly in Alaska) I blend In well wherever I go. So if it wasn't just for this damn camera ...

Anyhow, the market was packed with people, most of whom were tourists. It's the infamous market where they toss the fish from fisherman to vendor. But it was quite intriguing. And one thing I have noticed about the great northwest is that their flowers are amazing! Everywhere you go, the hanging baskets are full and lush. Apparently it's because it cools down so much in the evening thAt they never get scorched or dehydrated. Can a plant get dehydrated?? I'm not sure but it sounds good, right? And Pike Place was no exception. Buckets and bucket of brightly colored lush flowers lined the counters of multiple vendors. Several petite, little Asian women quickly pulled multiple flowers, stripped the stems of their leaves and arranged them beautifully into full color coordinated bouquets, wrapped in white butcher paper, and propped dutifully yet eloquently in front of their stand. I'm not going to lie. I was slightly enthralled as to how swiftly their hands moved making these elegant colorful bunches. I could have sat down in front and watched them work for hours. 

Next stop, being the tourists that we were, was the Seattle center: home to none other than the infamous space needle. But remember we're not tourons so we didn't need to go up. Just decided to get close enough to know that we had been there and get a few photos for evidence. Mind you that the chihuly glass museum/park/display thing was in this same area. So we had more than just the space needle to see. 

The chihuly glass display was completely indescribable. 

Chihuly is this glass blower artist who was born in probably the 40s or so and I think he grew up in the northwest region. I could probably google his name and find out more but that seems like it would take too much effort. 

Ok I got curious and googled him. So be grateful. I made all that effort just for you! But seriously for the most part I was right. It's dale chihuly and he was born in 41 in Tacoma Washington which is just south of Seattle. Apparently he studied glass blowing in the 60s (figures right?? He even went study at a glass program at the univ of Wisconsin. Only in Madison) and then continued to learn through working collectively in Venice. But he creates these amazing giant glass sculptures all out of smaller pieces placed intricately together. It was amazing. It was part eccentric, part profound, part dr. Seuss. I was floored. Then we reached the garden section of the display which was a point were I did not think I could be further impressed and then I was. I was already amazed at the floral abilities of the northwest and then to have someone create displays to further enhance these amazing giant (like 10 feet tall giant) glass-blown sculptures, is absolutely phenomenal. All in all I have to say that if there's one thing worth spending $20 on in Seattle, it is this display. And $20 when you're a Couchsurfing, hostel staying nomad is a bit much. 

Leaving the chihuly garden and glass display (I learned from google that's what it is called), we decided that it was time to begin our brewery tour. We were determined to surpass our goal of 3 from yesterday. We failed. But we tried. Seattle has some wicked traffic in the evenings. And that traffic definitely deterred us from certain parts of the city, which was a tad upsetting because there seemed to be some awesome breweries around the southern part of downtown. But no worries. We were still going to get our brews in. We began at McMenemins, which turns out to be this huge microbrew franchise throughout the northwest. They have around 50 or so pubs between Washington and Oregon. Crazy! It was good though. I tend to be quite the beer snob (unless I'm broke and then I'm drinking pbr by choice) and so sometimes a breweries beers don't impress me. McMenemins definitely did, which made me happy. After a pint and some food (which I finished all of almost putting myself into a food coma and being made fun of for being so full after a half-Sammy and side salad ... I have a pea-sized tummy and can't eat much in one sitting. It's a serious issue that I'm working on), we decided to move on and find another spot. At this point, we were not real sure if we'd reach our goal.

We find our car and pay the ridiculous parking charges. Seattle is out of control with their parking. It's like $7-12 an hour in most lots!! It's completely absurd. We decide to head north, as to not have to backtrack after the fact. As we are walking down the street the traffic is bumper to bumper. So I tell lyn just go left (south opposite of traffic) and ill get us around. We take a right to loop around and bam! More traffic. Ughhh. At this point, she has decided we just need to take a direct route because we don't know where the traffic will be in other spots and tie way we won't get lost. Well that didn't exactly work out as planned. In trying to head back around we ended up in the wrong lane and couldn't get over forcing us to go north into a neighborhood. It was a cool little detour. I don't think they trusted me to get them around initially, but my navigational skills are pretty keen so I knew we'd be fine. This neighborhood was so well-kept and pristine, full of funky older bungalows that probably sell for $800,000+. But they were fun to look at! Eventually we made our way back to the main road, joined the traffic momentarily, crossed the bridge over, I think, lake union and entered the Fremont neighborhood. Again super cute, slightly funky Lil' neighborhood that I'm sure costs hundreds of thousands to live in. But it's fun to visit. 

We hit up the Fremont brewing company and were immediately pegged as tourists. It was that damn camera again! But I'm pretty sure that this also may have been a big neighborhood spot that maybe doesn't get many visitors that aren't intentionally looking for it. This place definitely stood right up against kulshan in Bellingham as one of the best breweries. Similar set up: tasting room/bar and giant outdoor area; great brews and a very friendly bartender (he gave us a free 22 to take home since it was our first time), but it was the same guy who called me a tourist. After finishing our beers, and getting the book up on some merch, we decided that we had failed. There would be no more brewery tours for the day. It was late and we were to have an early start in the morning, so off we headed towards the camper. 

Breweries from Bellingham to Seattle

Breweries from Bellingham to Seattle 

The adventure had begun. Two of my favorite hookerfaces (aka people) and I had one week to show Washington what was up. Lyn now lives in this quaint little coastal town, la Conner, so that was our first stop for some brews and grub in our slightly delirious state. The town has a rough population of 800, a lot of whom are older and male. To say that I felt a little out of place is obvious. So far this trip, I have hung in two towns of roughly that population and everyone definitely notices that you are new ... And female. 

After roaming the strip that is all of about a mile long, we wearily resign back to lyn's camper. To say that Jess and I were in rare form at this point could possibly have been an understatement. We have some photo documentation of that evening and quite frankly they will never see the light of day (eh hem lyn ... listen up!) The delirium and excitement of our adventure had taken over and we were definitely feeding off of each other. 

The real day 1 (6.25.13): Bellingham 

Ok let's just start by saying that Bellingham luckily has more than 800 folks, so I didn't totally stand out. However the large and in charge new dslr camera that I was sporting definitely did. And I obviously had no idea how to use it. I had just bought it that morning. Because this genius over here decided to procrastinate and not start packing until 11 at night, which cAused the simple camera I already l owned to stay plugged in charging and never make it into my bags. Doh! 

Bellingham is awesome. Period. That's the end of this blog entry. 

Okay. Fine. I'll explain to you just as to why Bellingham may be one of my top new desired places on the planet. It's quaint without being small. It holds the beauty and charm of Asheville, though while being totally more genuine. It's overcast and 50 degrees in June; everyone is wearing jeans and sweaters, yet they are all smiley, as if this is the best day they have ever come across. Except for that one server. But we're just going to leave him out of this blog. 

We began the day with breakfast. I love eating breakfast and especially out. I could contently eat saltines and bread the rest of the day as long as I get a killer breakfast. And can I just say thank all of the higher powers for urban spoon. It always points me in the right direction for amazing breakfast places. In Bellingham, it was "The Old Town Cafe". Small and packed even at 10 on a Tuesday, but after eating there, you get it. Something I have noticed while out west is that the majority of their restaurants are smart. You ask for a glass of water and the server points to a communal table with a cooler and stacks of glasses. It's help yourself. Genius! Heidi and Sarah are you paying attention here??! 😉 Also community family-style tables. Love it! I mean yes not everyone is up for sitting beside a random soul to eat their breakfast, but for me it's awesome for travelers as well as for volume/capacity. 

Anyhow, after stuffing ourselves to an absurd capacity, we set off to explore the downtown. We did some thrifting and some wandering ... Actually lots of wandering. And decided it was time to check out what sort of local brews this awesome and quaint city had to offer. First stop was Boundary Bay Brewing. Their brews were quite good and they had a thorough collection of your standards (ipa, stout, pils, etc) as well as quite a few unique styles, such as a CDA (cascadia dark ale .. It was tasty). However, it was there that we encountered the service that we are not going to talk about in this blog. After finishing our beers, we were off to the next spot: chuckanut. Just a few blocks away and still in the downtown space. Now here the folks were all good, the location was clutch, and the facility itself was pretty rad. However, they did not have any variety in their beers. They focused on pilsners, blondes, kolsch, and hefeweisen. None of which I drink or enjoy, so this was horribly disappointing. Finally we decided to hit up the last brewery that we knew of: kulshan. I looked it up and according to the map it was a mile up the road. As we began to walk though we realized that mile was not going to keep us downtown. You were walking through downtown, then suddenly were no longer really in downtown, and then suddenly in a new awesome little neighborhood. Kulshan was by far the most awesome. 

Kulshan reminded me a lot of wicked weed in Asheville. Plus they were celebrating Christmas in June so had all winter brews on tap in addition to their regulars. And everyone was rocking Santa hats and there were some guys playing Christmas music out front. It was a totally awesome and rad theme. They had a good selection of beers, which is always nice. Plus when you ordered a sampler, you could do the 6 of your choice which isn't a always the case. We met Nate's doppelgänger there too which was amusing. We impressed him with our desire of hoppy high-octane beers. We ordered a sampler  and threw him, going straight for all the ipA, imperial, hop-heavy beers they had. I think he was a smidge speechless. The coolest part though: the sampler mat was a wooden board shaped into the state of Alaska. Pictures will follow. Don't worry. 

We concluded our day with Mexican and margaritas at some random little divey style place on the way back. And this place was banging! They even had ceviche. And GOOD ceviche. Typically you can't find very good ceviche here in the states, but this place had it down. I was super impressed. 

Seattle was day 2 and it's going to have to wait. This Lil nomad soul needs to roll into her bed and sleep til she can sleep no more. Did I mention that I slept for almost 13 hours last night??! It was insane. I don't think I've slept much thus far on this vacay. 

Why haven't I started this yet??!

Ok yes I am officially a roaming, nomadic slacker. I have been floating around the west side since June 24 and have not updated a soul as to my adventure. Like I said ... Major slacker over here. So now as I sit in the anchorage airport awaiting my 3rd flight, I figured it was about time I took care of this little bout of blogging laziness that I was having.

But now the question is where do I even begin??! Perhaps I will start where it all began: a very early morning with extra TSA in Raleigh. Fun times. I know. 

When I bought my ticket from Raleigh to Seattle (my first destination) my main concern was money of course :) I don't need to fly in style or at the most convenient of times; I just want to save money. I swear if there was a megA-thrift that sold airplane tickets, that is where I'd buy mine. Wait... They already have that: cheaptickets.com. 

Anyway, when I bought my ticket, it was an epic drop in price from ones I had seen earlier... Score!! But it was out of Raleigh. Oh and at 6 am. But me, miss thrifty pants over here, convinced myself that I would be fine. Maybe I'm getting old. Or maybe I have just become a slightly pretentious flyer. I'm honestly not sure. But flying at 6 AM is miserable in my book. Plus since I don't live in Raleigh, this meant leaving my home around 2 in the morning ... Not my finest of moments. 

So the Sunday night plan goes into play. I will get everything together, packed and ready to roll and be in bed by 8. Right ... Did you all just laugh as hard as I did?? Because that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard! First, I am the biggest procrastinator known to man. The entire day was spent cleaning for 30 minutes, and then distracting myself for an hour. This is not the most efficient way to clean your house by the way. Second, who actually can fall asleep by 8 when they know they are about to embark on an epic, three-week, roaming adventure?!! Not this girl. Needless to say, I was still doing laundry and packing at 11. 

Finally , right before midnight, the pack is set and the house is clean, mostly. Oatis is pacing frantically because he recognizes what is going on; however Juno is clueless and was constantly interrupting my packing by laying on top of everything. He definitely had the smarter approach of getting my attention.  Now I think to myself "it's midnight. To sleep ... Er I mean nap or do I just distract myself for the next 2 hours. I choose to nap. Though, I did it the right way: showered and in my clothes so that I could literally get out of bed at 2, grab the ready-brewed mason jar of coffee and walk out the door. This plan , mind you, would have been flawless had I gotten up on time. 

No I didn't wake up on time, but I only overslept about 20 minutes which is very good for me. The rest of the plan played out as it should. Jess and I hit the road in Moshi with my mason jar of coffee a little before 3. 

We get into Raleigh, park and get our boarding passes according to plan. As we are sitting at the gate, we notice around 6 TSA officers. Strange. They then make an announcement that you will have to show identification and tickets to an officer before showing them to the the boarding flight people. We never figured out what was going on , but it was definitely odd to say the least. 

We have a quick flight to Detroit, a quick layover, and then we were on our way! Or so we thought. Initially it's delayed an hour. Alright an hour ... No worries. Arriving in Seattle at 11:30 versus 10:30 is no big deal. So as I am relaying this info to lyn who was going to pick us from the airport, they change the times. Now they're not sure when we'll take off. There is some sort of a mechanical problem, so they are getting us a new plane of which requires a larger crew, which they were working on. But they gave us $20 in food and drink vouchers. So why people were complaining afterwards, I'm not real sure. Jess and I made the best of it by hitting up the Cuervo tequilería for some nachos and margaritas. I mean we were still on vacay!

Finally we arrive weary and hungry around 4 or so pacific time. So mind you on minimal sleep I have begun my adventure with a travel time of roughly 15 hours. And this was just the beginning. 

Mental prep

I leave tomorrow night....yes that would be Monday... To begin a journey that will put me in NC very early thursday morning. I don't know if there is a way for you to mentally prepare for a journey like this. The itinerary is as follows:

Bus - depart máncora: 5:15 pm monday 
         Arrive lima : 12:30 pm Tuesday

Plane - depart lima : 9:56 pm tuesday
           Arrive Quito, Ecuador : 12:21 am Wednesday
          Depart Quito : 6:20 am Wednesday
           Arrive bógota, colombia: 7:50 am Wednesday
           Depart bogota: 10:20 am Wednesday
           Arrive Miami, Florida : 3:00 pm wednesday

Car: depart Miami - 4:30/5:00 pm Wednesday (more or less)
      Arrive winston-Salem, nc : 6:00 am thursday

At this point, this travel itinerary just seems a tad ridiculous. Can I get some ambian please? :)

Viviendo con hombres....blehh......Qué horrible

So I have been in máncora for a few days now and it's quite lovely. I'm staying at a Loki hostel which is a south American hostel chain. In retrospect, it would probably not be my first choice. But at the time, I didn't have too much info on the hostels here and a lot of them seemed like little shanty style, which I was done with. Plus it was 9 am and I had just finished a, like, 17 hour bus ride....so I was disoriented to say the least and in desperate need of a place to out my bag down and get a cup of coffee. The girl that I had met in Lima had stayed at a Loki before and had kind of convinced me of it already. Then when I stumbled upon it, I was totally down. It's a tad more expensive than what I was used to paying (36 soles/person for a small dorm versus 20-30soles per person for a private room) but they are right on the beach, have a pool, wi-fi, a bar, and offer breakfast. Plus the beds are quite comfy. Plus from what I had read the nicer hostels in máncora were going to be similarly priced. So there I was: Loki hostel for my last stay in Perú. 

So they put me in a small dorm (4 people and a private bath) with 3 other guys. The one dude was sleeping the entire day that I arrived (rough night I suppose) and the other 2 checked out shortly after my arrival. I have no issue staying with guys. Granted I don't feel comfortable sleeping in my underwear but I don't typically get to do that when I'm staying in a dorm anyhow. That night I didn't see dude #1 at all and the other 2 beds stayed open. The next morning 2 more boys arrived. They are (and I could be wrong of their nationality) Matt from Australia and Tim I think from the uk.  Tim however had been traveling so much that I kind of lost track of where he started. That iS one thing I have noticed. I have met a ton of europeans and a lot of them have been hopping around for at least 6 months if not longer. Mist be nice. I'm not quite sure how any if them can afford it but power to them. Though the one girl I spoke with did say that after she graduated she had planned this and moved back home to live with her parents and work to save. Which makes a lot of sense. Plus the pound and euro are so strong here (sîan said it was like 4.7 soles to the pound! It's only 2.7 to the dollar :( ) that I suppose they can travel a tad easier. I wish I got paid in £.  

But yes, so they are all nice enough. Tim did some teaching in cusco so we had some good convos about teaching and American politics ( he thinks plain is quite the idiot!). However they are gross!!! They leave food all over the place, hair in the sink from shaving, I think there was pee on the floor near the toilet the other morning, and I'm pretty sure I woke up to one of them jacking off this morning. Ugh boys. And if that's not enough you wake up (and I'm usually the first up) they have the luck to just sleep in their boxers, but boxers don't alwAys provide a ton of privacy and because it's the beach we just have a sheet on our beds which you don't really use because it's so flipping warm....so yea I've seen a bit more than I'd care to in that regard. At this rate, I'll never want to live with another boy again!!

Other than that the hostel is fine. Though noisy as hell. It's kind of like throwing yourself into a giant Real World/frat party extravaganza. I think I prefer the mellow little hostels with fewer accomodations. But I guess you live and learn!

La salida de meggy: ¡Ay! Qué triste :(

So Megs left this evening and I have to say it's a pretty sad feeling. Though quite invigorating at the same time. I loved getting a cab for her though. We were just outside of laurens host family's apartment where she had left stuff. We get a cab for her pretty quickly. She explains where she needs to go and asks how much. 40 soles. Ummm 30? Megs asks. The cab driver winces and says 35. I look at her like ok that's doable. Shed been joking that she would have to find a cab for 30 b/c that is all she had. But I thought when she mentioned that to the guy she was honestly just joking. Oh no. She hadn't been. She looked at me and says "you have 5 soles because I only have 30." I laugh and look in my wallet hoping that I do. ¡Claro! And hand her the 5 soles. Oh Megs. She looks at me and says I was just going to keep flagging down cabs till I found one for 30. I love my hermanita and was sad as  the cab drove off. 

When we got in today from our uneventful ride from paracas, I waited in line at the bus station to get the first ticket to Máncora. 3:30 tomorrow the lady tells me, after I have waited in lime for 30 minutes. Seriously??! Well looks like I'm staying the night in Lima which is fine. I was just hoping to catch a night bus immediately. But the bus, even though it leaves in the afternoon, won't arrive in máncora until 9 Thursday morning. So I suppose that's the best I'm gonna get. 

We hail a cab to take us to parque Kennedy, which is close enough to lauren's apartment. The driver looks at me: 10 soles. I am shocked sometimes at how brazen I am. I laugh slightly in his face and shake my head no. Last time we took a cab it was only 6. He starts to point to a sign that explains how much cab fares should be. Look parque Kennedy 10 soles. I, on a whim, make up a story about how I have lived in miraflores and taken cabs to and from. It has been 6-8 soles in the past but never more than 8. There are 2 cab drivers hovering and the original looks at me like I'm crazy but the other After a few seconds is like ok ok whatever. Come on. That's what I thought!! 

After we get in the cab ready to roll Megs turns to me and asks if I'd seen the guys that were sitting and watching us. I had but had been too involved in negotiating to pay attention to what they were saying. She hadn't caught it all but apparently they were commenting on the gringa giving the cab drivers a hard time. :) what can I say...I'm a brazen one at times. 

So now I'm here at some common backpacker hostel. It's kind of loud but filled with travelers which is pretty cool. I spoke with the girl who is in the bunk below And turns out she's is heading to mancera tomorrow also. So I think were going to share a cab over. So looks like this hostel will work out. 

I also picked up another book for my journey. I dont remember the title but it's about an autistic man who is highly affected by the death of a neighbors dog. It sounds really good and I'm quite excited to have it for the last leg of my journey. 

Oh the last leg of my journey. It sounds so sad. Though I'm happy to have it ending with some solo time on a beach up north. It will be warm and chill, which is what i think I need. And in all honesty I'm a liitle excited to come back to sanity. More than anything I'll be happy to feel clean again. To take a shower in warm water on a consistent basis and wash my clothes. Ahhh the luxuries of a non-nomad. Its the little things that you miss the most.