off again

half baked

THE CAMERA HAS RECOVERED.

Yes...after days of trying to dry it out on its own, I came up with the brilliant plan of putting it near the scary electric heater to bake it back into health. I put it there for an hour, and then tried to turn it on, and worse than before, it wouldnt even start to turn on. Oh shit! I thought I had ruined it for good, but actually I think I saved it, because an hour later I tried again and it turned on just fine and has been working ever since. Lucky lucky me.

And now for some reason Vox is not really working and also Im kind of drunk after sharing many bottles of wine and port with a german guy and some other people I just met. Everytime I try to hit the apostrophe key or insert a photo something bad happens. I am not sober enough to figure out this problem tonigh and make a good regular blog postt. I will try again tomorrow.

Night.

a sad day in blogville

MY CAMERA IS DEAD, OMG.

I think it died from getting wet, although it worked last night - maybe the moisture like seeped in overnight? I don't know, but I am hoping that maybe it will dry eventually and work again. This is terrible, terrible news, and it makes me think that this country (Portugal) might have some kind of CURSE against cameras, since Natan dropped his in Porto and it also died. So maybe...once I get to Sevilla, it will work again? Maybe? Yes? Come back to life little camera, I need you!!

Well, to make up for the no pictures of Sintra, I present instead a special blog feature:

*  *  *  *
Natan's Corner

So, as you know, Malka was not alone over the last three weeks. She had a trip companion over that last three weeks - me. Sadly, this is my last day on vacation as I have to return to my job. I would like to take this opportunity to say that I had a wonderful time on this trip and really enjoyed both Spain and Portugal. Malka has graciously allowed me to guest blog on my last day and give some of my impressions.

Some highlighits:
Tossa Del Mar - Beautiful cove and views.
Cathedral in Toledo - Amazingly ornate.
Porto - The whole city (when it wasn't closed on Sunday).
Barcelona - Gaudi's works.
Madrid - The great streets and the Prado.

Some lowlights:
Three days of rain in Lisbon - blah.
Being propositioned by a hooker in Madrid.
Breaking my newly bought camera - Totally my fault by the way.

Overall a very satisfying trip and one that I would recommend that others do as well - 3.5/4 stars.

*  *  *  *

There you have it folks, the trip so far has a 3.5 GPA and has made the Dean's List. So goodbye to Natan and to my precious, wonderful, killed-by-rain-hopefully-only-temporarily camera.

three angels

I started the morning close to tears after dreaming that a beloved place from my childhood had been destroyed, only to wake up and realize it never existed in the first place. Hello 2009.

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After breakfast, I thought I'd ring in the new year by taking a long walk uphill, in the rain, by myself, to a cemetary. I didn't have a map that showed where it was, so I followed the tracks of the tram that was supposed to go there. About an hour into the walk it went from raining normally to raining extremely hard, and since all the shops and cafes were closed I ducked into a church to get out of the rain for a minute and accidentally walked into a funeral. There were two soldiers guarding the coffin and a service going on. I beat a quick retreat.

An hour-ish after that, about when I got to the cemetary, the hard rain turned into an incredible downpour. I was soaked to the skin almost immediately - at first I kept trying to find dry parts of my shirt under my hoodie to wipe off the camera so I could keep taking pictures, but then it became impossible.

The cemetary itself is really more of a mausoleum city, very large, and totally deserted. Apparently I'm the only person who thought to celebrate the holiday in a downpour among the dead people...can't think why? At one point I hid under a huge tree for shelter, looked down and noticed four cats were doing the same. After that I spotted cats under a lot of the big trees. There must be a lot of cats who live there. They were the only other living beings around.

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I had thought that after the cemetary I would take the tram back, but by that time, I had started to feel like my wetness really defined me and that it would be wrong somehow to get on public transportation with all of the dry, tram-taking people. So I wrung out my hoodie at the bus stop the best I could, put it back on, set my ipod to sad Bob Dylan songs (thanks Abe) and started the trudge back towards downtown. It was all around a day for wallowing in misery, but in a good way. I was very happy the whole time, though also very sad.

On the way back I passed the same church as the funeral was letting out. One of the soldiers was outside pacing around talking on his cell phon

Back at the hostel, the atmosphere could best be described as "sleepover party that's gone on way too long" - all the same French people from last night's New Years Eve party are still cooped up here, stuck because of the rain and everything being closed, lying around on beanbag chairs watching the Simpsons and playing cards. Why are all of the people here French? I don't know, but they are.

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Tomorrow is Natan's last day before going home, and weather permitting we're planning an expedition to Sintra....

frustration!

For some reason the firewall here on the hostel computer is blocking Flickr and I cannot figure out a way to upload my photos. I then went out in search of an internet place somewhere else...walked for HOURS...found absolutely nothing. It's been pouring rain since I got here and everything is now closed and I'm trying to figure out what the hell I can scrounge for dinner.

I don't know if it's a self-fulfilling prophecy by this point or what, but New Years Eve always seems to go wrong for me.

Arghhhh.

Update: I managed to find a way to upload photos, excruciatingly slowly and one at a time, through the old version of the Flickr site made for mobile phones. I've managed a total of four so far. If I have to do it this way the whole time I'm in Lisboa I am going to tear all of my hair out.

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blah blah blah

No pics yet today, so far I've just been on trains (4 of them) and settling into new place in Lisboa. So this will be a special TEXT ONLY blog update. Don't get too excited.

Last night I managed to find a vegetarian-friendly restaurant (!!!!) where Natan and I ate dinner. It was great. However while we were there, you will not believe this, but he started making fun of this blog and saying it was "boring." According to that traitor this is how my blog goes:

Day 15: Tried to order vegetarian food. Got pork.
Day 27: Ate a potato. No end in sight.
Day 34: Looked for vegetables. Failed.

Now as you all know this is completely unfair, as the endless search for non-pork takes up only maybe a third of the blog. So I decided to abandon him in Porto and venture off on my own.

Unfortunately it turned out he had his own train ticket so we ended up sitting next to each other on the ride to Lisboa after all. To pass the time we made up a game where we ranked all fifty states into 5 tiers, based on their importance, famousness, population, whether we always forget they exist, etc. (But not based on how well we like the state, or else WI would be tier 1, which objectively I must admit that it isn't.) So I'm sure you will be happy to know that if you happen to live in California, Florida, Texas or New York you are a resident of a tier 1 state! If not, tough luck. Anyone who would like to know the exact ranking of their own state please email or comment and I will let you know where you stand.

So anyway here I am in Lisboa, where I'm staying until Sunday. Natan is going home on Saturday morning, then on Sunday I'm meeting up with my mom, with whom I will be travelling to Sevilla, Tarifa, Fez and Marrakesh, then back to Madrid, then on by myself to Israel...

I love monday morning

Last night Natan and I went out to look for a restaurant for dinner, which was challenging on a Sunday night. Finally we found one that was open. There were two vegetarian options: garlic omelette and garlic pasta. Let me make it clear that all the meat dishes had other ingredients, like you know, tomato and sauces and vegetables and spices and whatever, but for vegetarians, no. Garlic is the only flavor allowed to vegetarians in this country. Not that I'm BITTER. Anyway, Natan ordered a kebab and this is the amazing thing he got:

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Yes that is huge chunks of beef and whole shrimps, on a metal skewer, hanging from another metal post, screwed into a wooden base. Of course.

This morning I went a very beautiful bookstore, Livraria Lello, which was packed with about 50% book-buyers and 50% picture-takers all jostling for space on the staircase.

I guess you can see why.

Then, to continue the luxury theme, lunch in the Majestic Cafe.

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It was all right.

Other things I did today: a tour/tasting at a Port wine cellar (I understand this is mandatory for Porto tourists), talked to cats on rooftops, went up and down many stairs and back and forth across bridges, and invented an alternate reality where Kerry beat Bush in 2004 and then debated with Natan for about an hour if Obama would have then been elected president in 2012 (I say yes, assuming that Edwards' affair would still have taken place and become public around 2008, forcing Kerry to dump him from the ticket when he ran for reelection so he would not have been the default candidate in 2012.)

I don't know if this will be clear in the blog, but the picture below is of two Sandemen facing off across the river. The one on the left is a black cut-out and on the right, a black and yellow sign. (Sandeman is a port company and this guy is their logo/mascot.) 

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This is my last day in Opossum Oporto* - tomorrow will be posting from Lisboa. What will I wander around taking pictures of there? STAY TUNED.

*this joke copyright Overcoat Industries Int'l

and I still haven't figured out if this city is supposed to be called porto or oporto

So many buildings here are falling apart and falling down. Some seem to just be in bad shape, lots of others are obviously abandoned, roofless and filled with trash. And I'm not talking about way out away from the touristy parts - right near the river, the bridge, a million restaurants and postcard shops. I can't quite figure out the relationship here between the houses in amazing locations with gorgeous views, completely falling to shit, and the brand-new shiny mall up the street.

I took a million pictures today. Porto is very photogenic, I think, or else it's just that I always want to take pictures of things that are sort of dirty and messed-up in an attractive way, which this city is definitely full of. Every part of the older buildings is discolored, moldy or rusted or whitewashed and texture-y and, you know, full of "vintage charm" by which I mean holes.

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I crossed the bridge and climbed a hill to this church area, which also had rows of ancient cannons and an army guy with a gun creepily patrolling. I didn't take a photo of him because I didn't want to get shot.

On this corner, in the grassy area on the left of the photo, I stepped onto an outdoor staircase and accidentally saw a woman crouched in the corner shooting up, who glared at me while her two little kids played nearby with pieces of trash and an abandoned oven.

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 New fact I learned last night: J.K. Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter books, actually lived in Porto for a few years before becoming the most succesful author of all time or whatever. It actually makes sense to me, I can feel the Harry Potterishness here...and those of you who know my love for the boy wizard know this is a compliment in my book

.And here's some more learning for you all! It turns out that Portoguese is in fact not weird Spanish but a whole different language which I totally can't understand! These are the only things I know how to say in Portoguese:

-sim, nao, por favor, obrigado (useful)

-cachaça (not useful in Portugal)

-o senhor beixozinhos-beixozinhos (not useful under any circumstances.)

Apparently I look like a local, too, because people keep talking to me at length in Portoguese long after my blank stare might have alerted them to my stupid-tourist status, and then say, "oh, I thought you were Portoguese" in perfect English. OK then!

 

the four food groups

OK everyone, guess what I did today! If you guessed "Got to a new city then wandered around doing nothing in particular," then you are catching on to this blog. Spoiler alert: this is pretty much all I'm going to be doing for the next month too.

Last night I was in a shitty mood because I didn't have a real dinner and was tired of all other human beings and out of money and stuck at a train station waiting for an overnight train which I knew was going to make for an uncomfortable night. To console myself I literally spent my last euro on a bag of spaghetti-themed gummies.

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This may not have been making good choices.

Well, anyway, the many trains thing came out fine and Natan and I arrived, tired and lost but not too miserable in rainy Porto this afternoon. After a shower, change of clothes and some CNN-watching I went out to explore. Porto is small, dudes. It's really ridiculously pretty, but most everything is closed today (on Saturday afternoon right after Christmas??) and a lot of places look boarded up and closed for good. Compared to Madrid it's so quiet and tiny and empty. That's not a bad thing. And like I said, seriously ridiculously pretty all around.

If you don't believe me, below is the inside of the mall. It's like disneyworld.

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I went into this mall because my hands were super dry and I wanted to see if I could find a store with lotion samples I could steal. Success. However, weirdly, the lotion I used is scented with hemp. So now my hands are not dry, but they do smell strongly of weed. I guess that's OK?

There are soooo many goodlooking pastries around here that I am paralyzed with indecision every time I see a shop window and end up not getting any. Pics to come. For lunch I had a tuna sandwich, one of my main sources of nutrition so far on this trip. 90% of the restaurants/cafe/snack bars around here have only one non-ham-based item on the menu, if any, so for almost every meal so far I end up eating either potatos, falafel, or a tuna sandwich. Potatos...falafel...tuna sandwich. Repeat times a million. And now, spaghetti gummies. It's a miracle I don't have scurvy yet. (Just kidding, I also eat fruit from the markets, I'm not going to die of malnutrition.)

Back to what I mentioned earlier about CNN watching for a second. I watched about an hour of coverage of what's going on today in Gaza, which was mostly the same tape on loop of people being carried to hospitals and rockets in the distance, constant repetition of the death count and statements from both sides explaining how they had no choice about their actions. This is so insanely fucking depressing that it's hard for me to write a lighthearted blog post about the weirdness of traveling today, but anyway, I did my best. Everyone in Israel please keep safe.