la paz

the beaches are beautiful here in la paz, but i get bored easily. i think i would rather see a car accident or some funny looking hats. sunday we will take a 10 hour boat cruise to the mainland to see what´s going on in mazatlan. we have the opportunity to stay with a freind-of-a-friend´s mother in guadalajara, but we have yet to commit to this. guadalajara is a large city, something we are trying to stay away from, however the offer sounds too sweet to kick aside. afterall, a chauffer would be picking us up.

a blackmarket WWOOFING assignment is currently being uploaded to me via internet by some canadians met on a bus. for those of you unfamiliar with this term, like i once was, WWOOFING generally takes the form of volunteer farming, usually green or organic opporations. it looks like ´we hate work´ is going BACK to work... oh the irony of it all. it isnt all that bad though. usually the compensate you through food and shelter, and if this girl i´ve been talking to is on point, spanish lessons and yoga?!

yesturday, while desperately looking for our favourite home cooked meal ingredients (rice and beans), we turned one too many corners. an english speaking cab driver noticed our looks of dispair and offered us some help. miscommunication lef us to a street solely dedicated to the sale of dog food. at any rate, senior kept a close eye on us and came back a second time to lead us in the right direction, which ended up being the wrong, but no matter. third time is a charm, and we got what we wanted.

jl

mexican boarder crossing

what's crossing into mexico like you ask? we walked the san ysedro (US) - tejuana (mx) boarder, the busiest boarder crossing in the entire world, with ease. literally. we just casually walked through with the masses - no questions asked. i saw precisely ONE mexican boarder cop, but he was just chillin'. i guess people don't really run away to mexico like i originally thought.

i got my first taste of culture shock though. I realized the sole languauge i speak, the one tool i have for survival.. is more or less useless. colin took the reigns with a most impressive display of spanish conversation, and we were off to encenada, home of the world's largest mexican flag. wow it's big!

today we make a small 20 hour journey to la paz, the southern tip of los cabos.

san diego

first off, i gota mention that i saw queen latifa in SF. yesssss!
second, we had bus delays in SF, a motorcycle gang barricade in LA and more delays in LA terminal. we got fogged out until oceanview and totally missed sights in compton. bummer.
reached san diego.

at first glance, SD is a mellow hippy/surfer town. nice beaches, active people and and 80's strip. noon rolls around and all the party bro's fill the bars and scuffle about whos football team is better. colin and i roll to the skatepark. it's a winner but admission fee and helmet are required. dumb! we hit it anyway.

still cant post pics...

Nightmares of Greyhound

we couldnt find a lift to San Diego so we had to bite the bullet and take the overnight greyhound.
that was fine...actually no...it wasn't
everything seemed fine until this guy gets on and sits in front of me.
immeadiately upon sitting down he starts to sort jerk/convulse around and gasps/coughs/grunts with every breath...so i thought he was probably a crackhead
i seem to be a magnet for these people on the greyhound....
i'm sitting right behind him..and im pretty tall.
he wants to put his seat back but my legs are in the way
he just keeps smashing the seat back and trying to get it to stay (which it wont cause of my lankiness)
he starts freaking out and hyperventilating cause the seat wont go back
then..nice guy that he is.. says "is that seat smashing you?"
since i have two seats to myself i move my legs over and let him have his way
i was hoping at this point that he was done and would calm down.
and he did....to some extent..
for the rest of the trip he would give off a little grunt or startle with EVERY BREATH HE TOOK
cough here and there and fluctuating in intensity(also mumbling words) as if his whole life was a nightmare....so he would start with some little grunts and every so often get louder and louder and then peak and get quieter again
jon had a theory that someone out a curse or hex on him so he was doomed to do this for life
i dont know what his deal was...maybe its not his fault...
but fuck was it annoying!
oh yah did i mention it was an 8 hour busride?

UPDATE

our original intent was to buy a 30 day trainpass in van, however AMTRAK revoked this offer. we decided to train to portland, andfrom there, use any resource available to bounce south. craigslist rideshare postings have been a valuable resource for us. it only cost us 25$ to get to SF (635 miles!). although the weather is amazing here in cali, we are both anxious to make it to central am and hit the surf. tomorrow we're making moves to san diago.. i think..

more >
SF has been my favourite american city to date. the burritos, climate and street skating are delicious, perfect and dangerously exciting. and more, i learned how to wiggle. if you ever visit SF, you will learn too, its human instinct. i will leave it at that. did i mention we're staying in the red light district? last night, a bunch of people from our hostel went out for dollar drinks. i think it was a gay bar, judging from the posters and the bartenders, 'the cats club' - woops.

-can't figure out how to post pictures around here.

jl

Portland!

ya..i know we in cali..but portland desrves a little respect
portland is dope!
i think perhaps my favourite in america so far
best transit system ever...free in downtown
the bus drivers are mad nice...they even say hi to you!
the city is super skateable....lotsa downhill and decent pavement
burnside skatepark was dope.....lotsa vert.....really small...but super flowy if you know the spot.
hmm....what else?
the food is real good...prolly due to the fact that portland is serious about using local food
our hostel was sweet...it had a green roof....and 1$ pancake breakfast
cant beat that.
portland= green and freindly
.....but really white

welcome to califonia

after a few phone calls we were heading south with 4 strangers to san francisco, california.
the driver, some kind of naked elvis impersonator from LA. A later 20's girl from oakland, a dominatrix/humanitarian. a younger girl, 18, also from LA, real essentric. and a hesh skater/chef from portland. we stopped a few times for snacks and pisses over the 10+ hour drive. the ride was quite enjoyable. we're in san fran now. bright vibrant city. lots of colour, music and interesting people. street skating is dangerous.

in a hurry... explain more later.

portland

after 12 hours of travel by bus, train and foot,
we finally made it to our Portland accommodation ONLY TO BE DENIED.
the hostel was full. so were the others. it appeared we were sleeping on the
street this particular night. luckily, we got tipped off by a nice motorcycle enthusiast.
colin used his godlike-public-transit-navigation skills to get us out to the country.
it was as if we bused from dtT.O. to oakville. morale was at an all time low. we werent
even in portland anymore. low and behold, the accommodation turned out to be gatsby's
american dream. a huge estate featuring its own vineyard, brewery, distillery, spa, golf course, vegetable garden and JERRY GARCIA sculpture. we laughed like dracula for awhile in our white
robes, soaking it up in the huge hot tubs. that night we wet our whistles with some seattleites and a selfproclaimed kewi. wake up was followed by a 12 oclock wine tour - ha!

pictures to come.

boarder patrol

some conversation highlights between
the boarder patrol officer and myself:

bp "do you know anyone in denver?"
jl "...what? ..why?"
bp "do you know anyone in DENVER!?!!"
jl "no."

after tearing apart all my belongings, the bp officer
pulls out a ziplock bag full of multivitamins.

bp "so what do we have here"
jl "multivitamins?"
bp "that's what i thought. im going to send you
back to canada."

i was eventually granted access to the US, not before
a long drawn out affair. me alone, and the drug sniffing dog.

vancouver in words

people dressed in black.....scenesters

girls in tights

exercise

flowers(cheap)

sushi(cheap)

"green" condos (expensive)

glass buildings

people arent fat....just asian

everything is new

everyone is really rich....or homeless

starbucks

bye-bye canada

yesterday i stepped on a young girls toes.

she was standing eerily close to me as i made a quick pivot to the side.

my momentum kept my weight back and i couldn't 

step off; her cries of anguish were extended for longer than i 

would have liked.  to make matters worse, she was wearing barebone

flats.  her toes must have been destroyed - i refused to apologize.

some highlights....

mark emory in the flesh, a free man.  

18 pieces of sushi for $6.

street skating

the foundation - veg. cuisine

colin and i getting MEC tech.

  

can't escape the great white north

we're still in canada.  

some unexpected news from the mainland

had us flee vancouver island in a hurry.  

two more nights in the city and we're off

for PORTLAND, OREGON by train.

tofino pics

Mears Island -

the pacific rim coastal temperate

rainforest.  its got some really

big trees.

 

clayquot sound/tofino

yoyo.
we're in tofino after a long ass bus ride
it hasnt stopped raining yet since we've been here (a day and a half)
the tree are ridiculous....they look like apartment buildings (we'll post some pictures)
we're spending way too much money...canada is too expensive
gotta pick up the pace and get out of north america....

this place is dope though....so lush and tropic-like
just rains a lot.....doesnt look like we'll get to surf in tofino...but whatever..

we ate chinese food from Garys kitchen last night..
afterwards we decided its the last time we'll ever eat chinese food

vancouver

two nights in vacouver so far.

had to buy backpacks and repack.

we got too much stuff.

goodbyes to leah and the katia.

lots of walking, lots of eating.

heading west to victoria and tofino.

close call

as a final fairwell to jasper, we climbed our favourite viewpoint, old fort point. uptop, a heard of bighorn sheep grazed the grassy meadow, almost unaware of our existence. 40 minutes later upon our descent we stumble upon the heard at a lower elevation. they were occupying an area that formed the shape of a bottle neck. beyond them was the long stariway to ground level - the only safe passage down. we cautiously side stepped the heard only to find another renegade further down. he looked spooked by something out of sight. suddently, without warning, not one, but two well developed males come barreling over a hill 20 feet from us. we were trapped in a 10 foot gap, backed by a steep incline stariwell and parallelled by two cliffs. there wasnt anywhere to go. last second, the sheep took a sharp turn left, one after another. they were being chased by dog. all three animals bolted out of sight leaving me breathless, bent forwards, hands on both knees. if i were struck at the speed they were running, i would have been sent into outerspace. close call..

jl

final day in jasper

last day of an 11 day homeless

sprint. bedhopping is tiresome.

tomorrow morning at 1:2o am we journey west to vancouver by bus with two friends, brooke and sally.

JL

we hate work

2 more days of employment at maligne lake.
we're cold, tired and ready to leave.
the plan is Amerika. 30 days. train.
than central america for as long as possible.
staying warm. living messily. hopefully some tennis.