Archive for November, 2010

Punta del Diablo

Tuesday, November 16th, 2010

Claire and I left Punta del Este at 11am today, heading for a much smaller quieter beach town. I had a good time in Este but it is ridiculously expensive and reminds me of southern California a lot. The weather was forcasted to rain so we figured it would be a good travel day. It was raining when we arrived and the walk to the hostel was kinda cool and wet. Met some others going to the same hostel and we all walked together. Punta Del Diablo is interesting, it has no large buildings, but there are beach cabanas all over the place. The ocean seems kinda violent here but that might have just been from the storm yesterday. I love it you go outside and you can heard the crashing of the waves. We checked into El Diablo Tranquilo, its nice they have two sites the original and the suites. Both were nice but we opted for the cheaper option just couldn’t justify $6 more a night for an ocean view. Other than the weather this seems like a great place. I am very optimistic that the sun is going to come out tomorrow and make everything better!!!

Bought some groceries at the store to cook dinner, but ended up eating some chocolate and skipping dinner. We went down to the bar for a few hours and had a few interesting philosophical discussions. Time for bed…

More later…

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Sunday, November 14th, 2010

30… I am officially old. Well maybe not but im getting there…
Here are some serious and some funny quotes about this last birthday of mine…

“Time and tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of thirty.” – Robert Frost

“After 30, a body has a mind of its own.”- Bette Midler

“When you turn thirty, a whole new thing happens: you see yourself acting like your parents.” – Blair Sabol

“The secret of staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age.” – Lucile Ball

“At twenty years of age, the will reigns; at thirty, the wit; and at forty, the judgment.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Thirty – the promise of a decade of loneliness, a thinning list of single men to know, a thinning briefcase of enthusiasm, thinning hair.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

“At the age of twenty, we don’t care what the world thinks of us; at thirty, we worry about what it is thinking of us; at forty, we discover that it wasn’t thinking of us at all.” – Anonymous

“Everything I know I learned after I was thirty”. – Georges Clemenceau

“30 is the new 20, unless your 20, then it’s the new 40.” – Dane Peddigrew

“The only time you really live fully is from thirty to sixty. The young are slaves to dreams; the old servants of regrets. Only the middle-aged have all their five senses in the keeping of their wits.” – Hervey Allen

“I may be thirty, but I’ll always be flirty.” – Dane Peddigrew

“Thirty-five is when you finally get your head together and your body starts falling apart.” – Caryn Leschen

My plan for this birthday was really simple, spend a few days on the beach. I had no real plans other than to soak up some sun and enjoy myself. I met up with my friend Claire here and we walked around the town for a bit had some food, with an amazing piece of cake. It was chocolate with dulce de leche. It was really good… anyway the beach was great, the water on the other hand was really really COLD!!! It was sunny so I still went in but not for long. I tried to find a massage but had no luck, it is the off season here and most things are closed and there is hardly any people here. We went out last night and I had a great steak for dinner. Then we kinda looked for a club but didn’t find one and ended up in a casino. Claire had never been in one before so we played some slots then we played roulette at the table… it was a lot of fun, we even won a little bit of money. Got home about 3am, not bad for an old man!!! Lol

More later…

Short good byes and long busses

Thursday, November 11th, 2010

Last night Grace and Steve talked it over and both decided they wanted to start back to Sucre for time and money reasons. Neither one of them would be going with me to the beach. We went to the bus station to figure out tickets and went out to eat. We played some cards then went back to the hostel.
We all got up about 830 or so and started packing up the room, Grace was leaving first at 930 then Steve at 10 then me at 2. It was rush rush rush, trying to get everything squared away before the departure. Pictures music movies all were transferred, hugs and goodbyes said. Then I just sat in the Hostel waiting for my bus. It was a long wait.

My bus, I had paid for cama so I could sleep. Everything seemed fine for the first few hours. Then these three guys got on the bus and life wasn’t fun anymore. They were mostly talking loud and walking back and forth all the time. It wasn’t a problem when they were on the other side of the bus but then two other guys got on the bus and had tickets to the seats they were in, so they moved to the ones behind me. Now I had no one sitting next to me so I had my stuff all over that seat so I was rather comfortable. Until they started talking and getting up again, they got up about every ten to fifteen minutes. All night long I don’t think they slept much, I know I didn’t. The bus itself was nice and I would recommend the trip but mine sucked because of these three idiots. Grrr….

I am now in Buenos Aires, at the PAX hostel. I meet one of the people from our Iguazu tour group here, but she flies home tonight.

I am headed to the beach tomorrow…. Should be fun.

More later…