Bombera (Firefighter woman)

When I was about 19 years old, I saw a jellyfish exhibit at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Iridescent and glow-in-the-dark blobs, such grace lighting up the deep black sea. In the sea's deepest parts, scientists still hadn't figured out the function of these jellyfish. According to the exhibit, they didn't really serve any purpose, just inched about in the deep illuminating it from time to time. I decided that maybe that's where we go when we die. All our dead loves ballooning and lighting up the complete dark of the sea, for no reason at all.

The second night of camping on the Choro Inca Trail, reached the subtropical forest and it was all fireflies. The weather was pretty much like a humid like midwestern dusk -- the times I can recount seeing fireflies. Aside from the fireflies the campsite had mini firepits in the shape of a tiny two-burner stove, perfect to boil water for mate and a spicy concoction of mashed potatoes.

Anwyay, if you're like me and every little light makes you think of love, these bichos could be tiny miracles. Our dead loves as fireflies? The only thing is I don't think you have to be dead anymore to offer light. It's obvious, sure, but the longing of light from where you allegedly can't get it, can be so too strong. We all need that little light from time to time, and perhaps it's just a bit easier to look for it beyond the grave; they won't hurt you anymore than they already have for leaving.

So it was a beautiful night with a double flame. And even though everytime I touched the fire it went out, there was plenty of light and fire to go around. The food tasted delicious, especially eaten by candlelight -- which I safely lit.

A Funny Aside About Cubicles

So I got this email from a friend who shall remain unnamed, and it was too good not to share.

"On the first day you were gone, I went into your cube to grab that box of kleenex I said I needed. So M sees me go in your cube and says...

M: Give it up dude, she's gone.
Me: (I chuckle a bit, grab the box of kleenex and leave your cube)
M: You're taking her box of tissues?.... What kind of fetish is that?"

This kind of stuff actually makes me miss the culture of cubicles... :)

Just too cool for me

We decided to start the big acclimitization trek tomorrow. There´s a guy in the internet cafe talking so loud via Skype to his family in the states, so I can´t concentrate. Evidently he´s in great shape hiking all over the cordillera and when he´s in the harness climbing the icy parts, it´s too much of a pain in the arse to pee because you have to take off the harness plus it´s super cold, so you just don´t pee for those 7-8 hrs. Just thought you might like to know. Anyway, starting the trek on Monday and will take lots of pics. Lovey.

Hi Ho Silver!

Just kidding, Everything´s going great here, but Lydia was right about me not being able to keep my secret SOS password a secret. I've been hanging around La Paz for the last couple days. But I´m still in a haze of what I didn´t get to finish before I left. Plus I felt wretched the first couple days. I think because of the alitude. (3600 metres, 11811 feet) It´s also one of the most fire resistant cities, in case you were wondering. Anyway I´m feeling much better today drinking a ton of juice from the street vendors without incidence. I met a girl on the plane who´s biking all over the cordillera for about six weeks. I don´t have a good backpack for that right now, but she gave me some good ideas. La Paz is a pretty city, but loud with cars and kinda smelly like most big cities. Today, though, there was an amazing procession in honor of the santisima Virgen del Copacabana. I have some pretty cool fotos, just no means right now of downloading them.

Tomorrow will be my first Bolivian trek, so I´ll see how well I´m acclimatized and how I fair with my mochila gargantuan that, when full, I can´t actually put on by myself. It´s only 38 pounds but it´s awkward and it was top heavy. It´ll be better packed for the trek for sure. Anyway, it´s the Camino Inka del Choro, you can see pictures of it here... The trek is about 4 days and 3 nights, with the first day getting pretty high up there, starting at 4600 metres, climbing up to almost 5000 metres. That means I´ll be out of touch for a few days but will write and check email when I´m down from the mountain.

I used to know it, but now I forgot

Ok, here it is, my blog. Thanks, Mikey, for giving me the push and being the top-notch nag that you are. Too bad your blog name suggestions (WundrWomn, HighHoSilverGirl, BlondsRntDmb, Yahoo4ever) were already taken. Lydia and I toyed with some others using various rock band name generators: the lost unborn fish, one-eyed kilt wearing dreamer, shakespeare's feet, send in the capricorn pigs, wandering invalid popes... But they were all too cool for me. Then there was a quote I thought would be nice... and well, as soon as my mind got its meathooks on it, I forgot it.

Tonight's my penultimate night in California. I started the car donation and overseas sea freight processes; is it too much to expect that things'll finish up by tomorrow? I had a yummy Italian dinner with my family tonight and started to pack my backpack. The first aid and mess kits already weigh six pounds not including my special mate thermos. Not so light. Wish me luck tomorrow.