San Fran Pride Fest

26/06/10

Ok may as well get day one of LA out of the way while I have 7hrs to kill on the bus. I arrived at Banana bungalow at 3.30 in the afternoon and went for a little walk to the grocery store to stock up for the bus today. I was astounded and very excited to find that nectarines were the same price as granny smith apples! Wooooooooo my favourite! Definitely put two of those in my bag for breakfast before the bus! It turned out that the place I was staying was in this Jewish neighbourhood on the dowdy side of Rodeo drive. It was really cool though because they had all these Jewish bakeries and vintage stores. So off I went basking in the sun and making my way around the goodwill stores.

Back at the hostel I met the boys in my room. Yep mum I was the only girl in a room of 12 but you needn’t worry! They were all gay! It was great fun! So we all sat down to our free burgers, beer and comedy show that the hostel put on and chatted away. Luckily they had an early morning flight and had to leave the same time I did. Which is lucky because they went out after the burgers and were soooo noisy that no one else in the room would have been able to sleep. It was pretty hilarious though listening to the alarm go off, recognition of the time set and panic set in. It was a room full of “F@#K F@#K, SH*T SH*T” (they were British too so their accents added to the hilarity).

Ok now off to San Fransisco, so I arrived via a successful 8hr bus ride. Due to lack of funds and the determination to start exercising again I walked from the train station to my hostel. Yep that was a slight mistake, My hostel was in SOMA which is South of Market street which is the black area. It’s a no go zone apparently, but I decided to wade through the rubbish, debris and insolent outcries from the homeless with my 15kg backpack, suitcase, and designer handbag. I made it in the end but it was quite an experience to say the least. Once settled in I made my second big mistake. I decided to walk along Market street towards the city centre to do some shopping/ browsing. I thought being a major road it would be pretty safe, however I was wrong, it was still black country (I know I am seeming very racist at the moment but its hard not to when describing this scene). It was also feeding time for the homeless on one of the corners. Yep that was fun but on I walked, key protruding from my fist. One thing I must note is this, I got told by a black man that I had a “dayum fine asss” life goal achieved right there! Haha also got offered a job at a gentleman’s club the next morning when I was out walking in my pjs (yeah mistake number two). Thought that was pretty funny but at the same time I rushed into the nearest grocery store asap. Scary stuff when your on your own.

Next few days were cool, I spent one of them bike riding around the bay, I managed to half ride/ half walk up Marin Headlands to have a look at the bridge. It was worth the effort, especially for the free ride on the way down the hill! The next day was a walk through the Golden Gate park where I sat reading in the daisy fields.

I also found this amazing little food store that sold bread pudding. I know it sounds really weird but it was sooooo good! They sell it like icecream and scoop it into a cup and add toppings to it. You can have it hot or cold in so many delicious flavours. I had a cold choco-coconut pud with caramel sauce and coconut flakes. HEAVEN.

Come Friday I was finally off to Kyle’s (Kai Chi) place. Turned out he lives 40min from the city on the university campus. He was nice at first but is soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo annoying! He is chinese and is very pushy and just annoying in general he is one of those people that wont leave you a moment alone. I want to strangle him/ think of the most gruesome torturous way to die (maybe attach his balls to a fishing line and cast out into the bay???).

The Friday night that I got in we went to a baseball game out at Oakland to watcht the A’s vs the St Louis Cardinals.

It was great fun! I got to meet a family that he had met though his church who had some kids around alices age that I got along with very well indeed. Best part of the game was that the family had a free ticket so I got dinner and a seat for free! Woohoo! From there we caught the train back to Castro which was FILLED with gays and transsexuals due to the pride festival. It was hilarious looking at all the costumes and nakedness surrounding the area.

We got Kai some more dinner and then headed up a hill to see the bridges all lit up. He called it a “hike” but it was really a 5min walk up a street.

So the first day we were together was a Saturday and so he took me to the Ferry building farmer’s markets. It was wonderful! I could have spent all day wondering around the fresh food stalls. If only I was allowed to cook I would have been in heaven buying all the fresh produce.

Sadly, Kai was not as enthusiastic about the whole ordeal so we continued on up to Coit tower to get a look at the bay and city.

From there we walked back down to fisherman’s warf (which I had done two days earlier on my bike but faked anyway just to keep the peace) and onto Ghiradelli square where I had a legendary hot fudge brownie Sunday. Yup was prettts amazeballs. It was safe to say I didn’t actually eat for the rest of the day due to the size of the thing and the guilt trip that comes with it. From there I insisted that we walk instead of bus along the Marina to the GG bridge. I am so glad we did because it was such a nice day and all of the families were out on the little dirt beaches by the bay tanning and playing volleyball.

It was quite picturesque under the bridge. From there it was to the historic Fort Point and then sadly a bus was demanded by Kai to return to Ocean beach and the sutro heights park. We then continued up the hill past the Cliff house restaurant and the old sutro baths ruins to lands end where we sat, ate chips and drank beer while the sun set over the pacific.

Urgh this is where Kai (after ¼ of a bottle of beer) got his nerdy ass drunk and found the balls to put his arms around me for the sunset. Honestly my skin was recoiling from his touch. Urgh. So annoying! I suppose he doesn’t get much action. The only friend of his that is a girl that I met was blind and had a beard better than most guys my age. Sorry that was mean and I know I am going to hell.

By the time the sun set and we went off to get dinner (Asian food again..) it was already 10pm and so I couldn’t eat. All I could do was think of my bed but no it was not to be. Another 2.5hrs of buses, dinner and walking was ahead. Definitely what I would call a big day. One plus side though was we got to see fireworks over the bay on the way home.

Sunday came about and we headed off to the pride parade on market street.

It was fantastic! I was actually quite moved by it all. The first group to go past was the “dikes on bikes” hundreds of lesbian couples all on motorbikes ride by in their fanciful costumes all with beaming smiles from ear to ear. It was their sheer happiness that made it so special. I could really see how much the legalization of marriage had meant to them. I actually almost cried at the sight! Weird I know but I kid you not it was very moving.

After hitting up the gay parade, we went down to the Sterngrove summer music festival and watched this weeks feature Deltron 3030. I mean I wasn’t the biggest fan of the actual music but the whole scene was fantastic.

There is a little stage in the middle of a park/grove thing that was surrounded by trees. All throughout the area there were bubbles floating through the dope haze and screaming semi naked children. All through the trees on the opposite hill, people had set up their picnic rugs and eskies full of booze, cheese and crackers. Unfortunately we were unprepared and couldn’t find a spot but Kai being the chinese that he is pushed through and asked if we could share a rug with these two guys. I was outraged and so embarrassed but am semi glad he did because they were more than hospitable and welcomed us with a nice clean rug to sit on and fresh homemade guac and chips (still felt bad eating their food as well but man it was good guacamole).

Next on my day by day account is my first day of peace and quiet! I realized after my attention was totally consumed by Kai’s presence that I quite like being alone. Probably why I liked swimming so much. But anyway I went for a walk around the lake near the university, down to the beach (sadly too foggy to enjoy), along the coast back to the GG park, through the park past the bison fields to Lindley field where I sat in my new (conservative) bikinis and lay for an hr or two reading.

After that I was in quest for a birthday present for a certain younger sister from a certain unmentionable store. Turns out the store was a little further away than I thought and with a 4pm meeting time with Kai looming, I had to make haste and decided to run.

By running it was very grandma-ish as I had no bra on and a backpack so I didn’t want the ladies flying around everywhere and well running with a backpack just sucks full stop. But I made my stinky way (accumulated backpack sweat from the trip) towards downtown where I found my gift, found some fro-you and a bread roll to have with my emergency tuna and Argentinian mayonnaise. At the end of the day I had managed to walk/ jog 30km. Must say I am pretty damn proud of myself with that one (sounds more impressive than it actually was). After meeting Kai again we walked up to the twin peaks where we got a panoramic view of the fog. Only kidding, we did get a pretty good view I was just in a bad mood again by that time.

We grabbed dinner at a shabu place (more Asian food) and then I made my way downtown to catch the bus to my next destination! Santa Monica. I will leave that to a new post though because to be honest this one is long enough already! (as every true author must know when to start a new chapter).

Well until the next chapter then,

Dee

Rio Rio Rio RIo

25/06/13

Right now I am sitting on my icky bunk bed in Cabanacopa hostel in Rio. Just finished theeeeee biggest meal of my life… (well not quite… fogo de chao takes that cake –may or may not be the time to mention Jess and I have booked the rio one for Friday night.) Anyway Jess and I have a sever problem with portion control (I blame her soley for my weight gain) but it is hard not to when this big mumma only cost us $3.25 AUD each!!

Oh yeahhh we get so excited when we work out how cheap we can eat for. He he he. But then again that wassss compensated by our meal the next night… Fogo is never forgiving on ones wallet.

The first few nights in Rio were mehschmeh… we decided to go out the very first night to Lapa with some Brazilian/ Mexican boys and a French couple. But yet again… the latin boys were way too touchy feely and too indecisive on where to go so in the end we decided to be party poopers and caught the bus back. After that ramshackled night we decided not to party again until the end of the trip (too broke anyway). 

Our next adventure was out to Ilha Grande, a smallish island about 1hr from the mainland. Sadly the weather wasn’t that crash hot so we didn’t really bother with too many pictures. We hiked to around 8 different beaches and coves on the one and two half days that we were there and sat in the sun reading like grandmas having a wonderful time. We also made a sand llama named Karl, but sadly the only wave of the day swept up just as we finished and Jess went to get her camera. So instead we made Karl the swimming llama!

I do have to mention though, our brave explorer buddies Cookie (after Captian Cook) and Ralph, two stray island dogs we befriended (after initially being bit by cookie) and kept company for the 7km trek to Lopez Mendez. It was a sad occasion when we had to abandon them due to the tempting yet very lazy boat ride home.

After returning from Ilha Grande, Jess and I moved hostels from Lisetonga (in leme) to CabanaCopa (in Copacabana). We are now closer to the action but Lisetonga staff were so nice… and well yeah I kinda regret the move. NO MATTER!!! The last night. Thankfully to our beautiful mothers will be spent in style at one of the beach front hotels in a delux twin suite. We are planning a night of a grande dinner, and movies in our hopefully plush beds like old school sleepovers. I will let you know how that all turns out.

Today, however, we spent lounging alllll day on the beach. We had frozen Açai bowels (actually pronounced a-sah-ee)

and got to watch multitudes of young (and old…) Brazilian women in what you can only describe as THE MOST Brazilian bikinis (aka full blown g-bangers). I mean I can appreciate the bums on some of the youngins but 60-70yr olds in thongs??? ummm sorry but there is such a thing as disturbing the peace. We sadly got to distracted by fro-yo and sun that we missed out on heading up Christo redonto (or however you spell it). So we will have to try and squeeze him and Sugarloaf mountain in tomorrow :D.

Ok so I have now finished Rio and can fill you in on the rest of the story! The next day we did indeed go up to sugar loaf. It was really hazy though and there seemed to be one cloud that was constantly shrouding sugar loaf (lucky us!!).

Even so we managed to get a few goodish shots through the clouds.

The rest of the day we spent walking through the little tourist markets around Ipanema and decided to locate our hotel for our last night together. Now the markets are good the first time you go, but every single market stall in every single location along the beach sells exactly the same thing…. football jerseys, incense burners, Christ Redeemer figurines, and sarongs all in the same print. Funny how I actually bought none of the aforementioned items. I almost forgot the Favela tour that we did on one of the days. Got to see the slums of Rio, all equipped with satellite tv's.... nahh thats cause we were only allowed in the police controlled ones for our own safety.

Next big attraction was the Corcovado or Cristo Redonto or for the culturally ignorant, the Christ Redeemer (big statue on the hill). We again left it a tadddd too late. Our original plan was to catch sunset and then stay for the lighting of him before heading down to dinner at Fogo. But in the end we got up when it was dark and only had about 15min there before we had to rush to dinner. I honestly could have stayed up there for hours just looking. The statue is amazing. Its so big, so close and just leaves your chin hanging open.

The view is another thing not to be missed. It was probably a good thing that we went at night due to the haziness that we had experienced. It was so pretty to see the little boats floating like lanterns on the harbor, the favela lights climbing up the hillsides and the slow (actually almost standstill) peak hour traffic winding through the streets.

Well Jess left the next day, but not before we went for a little shop. Along with some dirt cheap havaianas, I snagged a pair of my very own Brazilian bikinis. In saying this they are not true Brazilians. I did get the most conservative old lady ones that cover about a ¼ of my bum at least. After Jess left I decided to be a stubborn broke tourist and walked my suitcase 3kms along the boulevade. It seemed like a better idea before it took me 1.5hrs to complete on the rocky paving but I suppose I had nothing better to do. In saying that I may have also stopped at one of the exercise stations that occur every 100m on the beach front. It was there that I decided to see how many chins I could still pump out. My estimate was that I could struggle but surely do atleast 5. Oh how wrong I was… could only get ¾’s of the way up. Yup! I couldn’t even do one! I was so embarrassed because I felt and probably looked so cocksure about myself.

That night I met some lovely (but very noisy) brisith girls that overtook my room with pre-drinking bawdiness. Wasn’t too bad though left me with enough sleep to conquer my walk the next day J with nothing to do but wander with no money I walked all along Copacobana and around the corner to Ipanema in total it was probably about 12km but it took me close to all day due to the little stops to observe protests and farmers markets where a couple of chocolate filled churros may or may not have entered my hands (its winter at home right, I can still hide my travel weight under a couple of jumpers for a while yet).

Anyway again I will sign off (whilst enjoying my 1.2kg of duty free milka chocolate) and promise you a post from my next location. Not sure exactly where but will be in California with my toes in the sand :)

Laters,

Dee