I found something I thought was quite cool today, having multiple swap partitions on Linux with the same priority causes them to be used in a round-robin fashion, similar to (I should imagine) using a RAID striped partition. From man swapon(2):

“If two or more areas have the same priority, and it is the highest priority available, pages are allocated on a round-robin basis between them.”

So, exlicitely setting setting the pri option for multiple swap partitions on different devices in /etc/fstab should give some performance improvements for paging in and out. I did try to benchmark it, but didn't find a good tool for it.

This is something that I wrote while I was still in Lithuania, so probably September 2007.

Well... always an interesting time. Now... I am going back home.

What I miss from South America:

• My little Sarita. My gosh, living without her has been an experience. I hope I don't have to do this too long.
• The disposition of people. Ok, this is something I wasn't really expecting. You know, people from Peru/Indonesia would often describe themselves as being from a "third-world" country. This title does not do them any justice whatsoever. There are some great evils in this world that keep people separated based on their nationalities. These separations are most visibly financial and consumerist differences. I remember a small number of people in Indonesia and in South America that had some kind of bitterness against me just for being from Europe and having the freedom of movement that they couldn't have: due to currencies and visas mainly. This was definitely a minority. A lot of times I remember people mainly being curious and inquisitive about me. Why am I there? How do I like the food? Where have I been? What do I think of the women in whichever country I was in? What foods have I tried there? People begging from me and the joy to be had with being able to talk with them at least somewhat. The street kids that I gave money to and who started calling me Tio (uncle).
• The prevalence of the music. You know I remember reading in a guide book that South America (again this single entity) is POWERED by music. Ok, so the guidebook over-romanticised it somewhat. I think I got de-sensitized to it somewhat, which is something of a shame. I had been accused (by the two most important women in my life) of being a musical snob. It's true. But I do really miss the random music that you find in Argentina and Peru on the buses, the stalls, the markets, the shops, the taxis, the combis, the supermarkets (actually no), and .. the country away from the capitals.
• The currency. Being the rich man is nice, for sure.

On lithuania:

• The saunas.Well, I guess I was going to write about them, but that is all I seem to have written. I did enjoy the saunas in Lithuania. The best was on the beach (beautiful beaches in Lithuania), you go in the sauna, then when it's too hot to handle, run into the sea. Really invigorating.
• The cepelinai. These are really awesome meals made from... well... potatoes cooked several times in different ways... really heavy food and really delicious.
• Algis Jusionis' Studio: This is the place we were living, it was really a great space. Algis was an artist and teacher. Tadas knew his him and his wife very well. It was a really inspiring place to be staying. Unfortunately, it took a lot of effort to heat , being so big, but it was an awesome space.
  
  

What I look forward to going home to:

• Music. Boy. I have really missed this. Lithuania... no it's not the greatest place. I miss the variety, the emotion, the fact that not having an ear is much more uncomman than having an ear for music.
• The language. Being able to talk to random people, understand what people are saying on the street. Sure, in Peru I was beginning to get it. But, it was still guessing somewhat and an effort. I hope I can make an effort more to talk to random people. Hopefully after 17 months of being mainly around non-native english speakers, I will appreciate the opportunities and hooks to get into conversation.
• Obviously, my family. Why do I only mention them third? Well, they know I love them; I know they will forgive me.
• Magna Tandoori. My god I have missed a good curry. I did have a nice one in Georgetown, Panang, Malaysia. With REAL indians. But you know, it wasn't my home-grown indian subculture's curry. Sure, it was cheaper. But those guys in Magna are deservedly expensive.
• My guitars, computers and all my techno-junk. What? This is only third? Well, I definitely don't have to worry about offending these guys. There are some tools though, that I have missed, that I had previously under-utilized.

So now ... I am to return to the UK.

And since then, I have, I got my Sara over here, Christmas has come and gone, it's a new year, and I resolved to do a bit more blogging, so here is the catch-up.

So... my last few days in Lima... I was kind of too occupied to really think about it too much. Spending my last few days with Sara, eating well, as usual there, not really doing too much work, as usual.

On my flight to Madrid, I was checked-in to a first-class seat! So I managed to sleep through the free food (which would have been welcome, where are the signs saying "yes you CAN wake me up for meals!" that i can hang around my neck)? Landing in Spain and walking around a sleepy Saturday-evening Madrid was a bit of a culture shock, to tell the truth. Europe is so QUIET, so LIGHT and so SHUT! Having it be light at 8pm and everything be shut, along with the quiet was kind of depressing in a way. One very organised bus ride later with no tags on my luggage (what if someone steals it!?), no vendors selling food before/on/after/under/out-of-the-window-of the bus, only europeans and some backpackers, not really talking to each other.

Actually, it was in Barcelona (where I wish I had stayed another night instead of Germany) that I realized how far my Spanish had come. I boarded the plane, leaving the Spanish zone, realizing that I really had no communication problems in Spain at all. Sure, they talked differently, but expressing myself and repeating things back with rougly the right conjugations to confirm that I had understood was no problem.

So we landed in The Middle-of-Nowhere, near Frankfurt, Germany. I stayed in a €30/night B&B (after sleeping on a plane, then a bus, and not really washing or changing properly, it was a welcome splurge). I was just too tired to think, probably should have ventured into the centre. Anyway, it was so ghastly quiet, I hadn't slept properly, walked into the completely dead sunday-afternoon village with one shop (an off-license, closed). Very depressing.

One thing that cheered me up... a HOT SHOWER! It had been quite a while since I really had a hot shower that didn't have a track record of personal electrocutions. Heating elements in your face! Why? Well, it was ok in the summer...

Anyway, so I flew across from this place and to the tiny airport of Kaunas. Mantas, a guy I had met one evening, two years ago, picked me up. AFter we failed in finding a bus to Klaipeda from there, I stayed at his place in Vilnius for the night.

Next morning, got a bus to Klaipeda.

For the first two weeks of May, I did my tourist duty: Sara and I made the
journey to Macchu Picchu. However, we didn't do the Inka Trail.

The highlands were great... lots of markets with cheap combinado/surtido mixed
fresh fruit juices , sweet breads most days for breakfasts in the markets. The
persuit of food seems something of an occupation (compared to where I am now,
Lithuania).



Juice sections in every market:


Yet more cheesy pictures:


After a drive through the highlands, we saw Wari Wari, the capital of apparently the second most important empire of South America.




Some deep burial... holes...


Ancient aboriginal makeup, it's a parasite of cactus, white, powdery insect, that is a strong red pigment when you crush it... so:


mmm corn for sale on top of the hill... there weren't many customers...


Public transport, small minibuses:


Unfortunately, my camera is kind of on the blink now. It's very tempramental. So I didn't get too many shots of the towns we were visiting. It did involve some tortuous bus-rides though. The second-to-last one, where we were riding on the very back seats was so bumpy we were trying to lie down but were being thrown in the air through some stretches of road. As a night-bus, it was very tiring....

A few towns later, we arrived in Cuzco (or Q'osqo, or something like that in Quechua), the ancient (800 years or something?) capital of the Inka rulers. The archaeological capital of and most ancient city in the Americas (well, the "longest continually occupied", anyway). It is used as a stepping-stone to Macchu Picchu and thus, was
full of gringos.

So it seems that the Spanish basically came and dismantled any monument they
found with good stone in it, to build their cathedrals, which are all over the
highlands. Supposedly, they thought the natives were worshipping demons. When
the Spanish came to Inka rulers and Quechua people, their population was 11
million and, fairly rapidly, that dropped to 4 million. Some combination of
civil war, smallpox and ... Well ... the population today is 90% catholic.

Miraculously (by the power of the Inkas, probably), my camera woke up for
Macchu Picchu. Maybe it's just getting fussy. We did get some disposable
cameras though.


“Quick, before the camera dies!”






Tight stone work with big rocks:








Macchu Picchu Llama Sanctuary (or so we dubbed it) itself is a fairly awesome thing to behold. A few kilometers above sea-level and probably one above the river that runs all around it, it's surrounded by steep mountain drop-offs and jungly rain-forest (though I was told it wasn't the proper rain-forest, it was good enough for me [for the mean-time]).



During our visit there, we actually saw a Llama give birth!
Before (you can just about see the shadow of it hanging out):

After (it didn't move for quite a few minutes):



And the must-have postcard shots:


Walking up and down Macchu Picchu all day is pretty tiring...


The camera again miraculously came back to life for one afternoon in Cuzco! So here's some walls!


And this is supposed to be a ... puma.... riiiight....

Like this:


This shop in the market in Cuzco seemed to sell only corn, of every colour!




The view of Cuzco... from the hostel...


After those bus rides, we were praising the fact that we had a flight back to Lima...



And back in Lima for those last few precious days before leaving for Europe... sigh...


Aji de Gallina:

as made by Sara's Mum:

or maybe her brother, Johan:


So long Perú, hasta la próxima vez!

For the last few months, I had been working on a piece of software for the "festival" Artware 4. It was partially conceptually based on a piece that Arturo did a couple of years before: "Symbiosis". We have a virtual terrain projected on two walls. On the terrain, six "buildings" are initially created. From these buildings, "agents" spawn, moving around. The agents carry a slight mutation of the 'genetic material' of the building they come from. The agents follow simple rules for movement:

• Walk uphill if you're close to, or underwater
• Turn downhill if you're walking uphill too steeply
• Turn away from neighbours if it's "crowded"
• Turn towards neighbours if it's not crowded, slowing down if there are neighbours from different 'buildings', if stopped, build another building with neighbours and die

There is a camera mounted in the ceiling tracking people as they moved around. On the terrain there is an avatar representation of the people being tracked. These avatars provide the buildings protection from destruction, also they attract nearby agents.

Get it? Maybe you have to see moving it to understand it really... maybe.

Anyway, The exhibition opened on my birthday! Which was quite nice. Free wine!
Unfortunately, at the opening ceremony, it wasn't quite working. However, the following morning, given some space to think, instead of the stress of getting it all ready the previous weeks... I got it working.

Sara documenting some people sticking my name to a wall which I had nothing to do with:

This is where it actually belongs:




And some drunken cheesy pictures ... oh dear I really needed a shave...

Three of the guys that worked at Nomade Backpackers, where I seemed to settled for a while in Lima. However, after it was clear that they weren't quite going to give me the discounts I was wanting for being there so long, I had to leave. It was a shame really. They had a nice piano and guitars there and we spent many hours just jamming, with the weekends occasionally turning quite rowdy.

Lima coastline... from a day we went up the coast to get some food and just to explore.

This guy is all over the drain covers around here. I used to think it was someone making it, but I think he's the logo of the people who make the drain covers, or cover them over. Quite cute though.

When I eventually bit the bullet at Nomade and failing to meet Arturo, I went to a place I had seen online on Avenida Venezuela. It was a really interesting district, I spent about 5 or 6 days there, I also renewed my visa there as it was close to the office and met a Ray Meers-alike from Portsmouth going into The Jungle proper. He was very interesting, if a little quiet. But yeah, the food was abundant and cheap and changed throughout the day. And the perpetual market along this road was also evolving continuously and fast. This was in the pre-christmas shopping season, which there wasn't anything as crazy as back home, but maybe this road brought some of it back.



Just before Christmas, I moved into Arturo's place. He lives on the fifth, top floor (aka. the Roof) of a block of apartments (with no lift). I require between 3 and 5 keys to get in, and all the kitchen we have is a microwave and a refrigerator. Still, he is a very interesting guy and has been pushing me to write interesting programs. I have worked on a couple of things with him since I have been there and he has given me lots of interesting reading material, so it has been a great opportunity to spend some time with such a provocative and stimulating intellectual.

I passed Christmas with just Sara and her Mum, it was actually one of the most quiet Christmases I ever had. We just watched some movies and were generally quite lazy. Very nice.

For new year's eve, Sara and I went to her friend Jacqueline's where it was like a war-zone of fireworks. It was all very nice and they cooked a lovely juicy turkey.

So, a couple of days later, Sara comes round to the tower (as Arturo's place has come to be known) and announces that they are (spontaneously) going up north (to the Piura region) for a week or two to stay in her grandmother's place. So, I pack my bags and we are on our way that evening, stopping to get a 1 Sol (16p) chifa from a nice old dude in the bus station. The party was Sara, her Mother, Elenor, her two brothers Fito and Mauri and myself. About a half-day of travel later (it's SOO much faster on the flat-coastal roads) we arrive in a small, old town not too far from the sea where there were quite a few friends and family to visit. There were also quite a few funerals in the town at this time. These were celebrated by large parades with a brass band at the nucleus.

One day there, we went through the desert towards a fishing beach...

...and we saw a group of dolphins!

Also at that beach, we had some food, and a swim. Well, I did after I saw Fito was going in... a couple of times, I felt something move under my feet and the third time, I was bitten (or stung). I thought it felt like a crab, myself. It did actually draw blood. I was told later that nobody bathes in that beach because they get bitten by rays. So that is also a possibility. But I'm here to tell the tale anyway.

- The journey back

- The Laptop saves some evenings of boredom with some games downloaded at the local internet cafes.

- Baby Li (RIP). Found in Fito's trousers one day, who turned into a pet for Sara. However, noone could work out what to feed him, Sara was very reluctant to release him, he was actually eventually brought back to Lima, where he lies in peace now... on the roof.

On the 6th of January Epiphany, there was quite a lot of activity in the town. Lots of nativity scenes were still active and going in Peru (whereas everyone seems to be preparing for easter at this point at home). There was a snowballing procession throughout the day with the magi mounted on horseback and riding through the town, brass bands (of course, any excuse there, it seemed) were playing all day. There was a nativity telling and show in front of the church at the end of the day too. It was quite an event on the whole.

In order to try and get the real beach experience, another day, we walked to The Other Beach (where people don't get bitten by rays) we ended up taking a long walk. Elenor and Mauri went the easy, straight way, and we went on a mission to find where the river meets the sea.

Somewhere along the way, the three of us, Sara, Fito and I, managed to lose the keys to the house. Doh! But we did see some interesting crabs

and made a sandcastle

So after a kind of miserable walk, especially for Fito who walked back over a lot of ground looking for the keys, we got back eventually and I did this

Also, whilst up there, there was a festival of the Manglares (we thought it meant Mangroves, but there was little evidence for mangrove swamps at the location). However, there was another beach with a lot of people and stuff going on.



There was an interesting channel that waves would wash up creating a fun little flow.



Across this inlet, was practically nobody, an abandoned beach. Everyone was on the other side of the inlet. So it made for a nice walk.

Another day, Sara led me out on a mission to find another beach. Half-moon beach. Though we did find it, it was completely full of trash. Quite sad really (and gross). But we did find some nice places to bath along the rocky coastline that seemed to go on forever. The town near there, called Puerto Rico (there were some oil refineries there) was really interesting, I wish we had just spent a little while walking around, but we saw a bus and didn't know when the next one was, so we didn't chance it.

So that was the end of the Piura holiday.

 Back in Lima...

...Well, I was impressed

The T line bus, affectionately known as the Big Red Bus. This is the best bus as it goes straight past Arturo's tower, my old hostel, Sara's place and into town to the cheap computer and cheap sandwich zones.

Me in Arturo's room some time later. Just for the record. That is his laptop, mine was dead at the time.

A heart-shaped donut on valentines day. How sweet!

I also finally climbed up onto the roof, so I took some photos...

So, I'm still working on bits of code on the computer. Also, one of the projects I have been doing for/with Arturo is going to end up in some architecture exhibition here. I'm really quite pleased with it, as it was all written in Lisp, which has turned into a favourite programming language.

I suppose sometime soon I have to start thinking about planning my next move. I think that it will be overland to Bolivia, via Cuzco. But this architecture thing is first. I've learnt quite a lot from it, it has been very satisfying.

I have also been a bit ill again over the last week or two... anyway, tests got done, nothing serious, but my diet is kind of off-kilter. I think it's been programmer laziness, so I need to start taking care of that a bit better.

So, sorry for the long, long absence. I will try to make the next one sooner than 4 months (wow that is a ridiculous gap). Anyway, I'm still here. Sorry if you have problems with clicking on the pictures. I have been told if you double-click on a picture on the page, it will load. I have a replacement in the pipeline, but it's not quite ready yet.... ah you know how it is...

Sorry it has been so long. But as the list was getting longer of things I had to write about ... well you know I'm sure...

So I managed to get out of Buenos Aires! I got on a plane, flew to somewhere in Bolivia, got off the plane, got stamped into Bolivia, got back on the same plane, flew to somewhere else in Bolivia, stayed on the plane, flew to somewhere else in Bolivia, got off the plane, got stamped out of Bolivia, got back on the plane and eventually arrived in Lima, feeling a bit spun out by going up and down so much.


Having been in Lima only a couple of days, managing to get Sara her appointment at the Spanish embassy that she had been needing, we left to go to Ica.

After spending a night in Ica, we went to the Huacachina Oasis, where we found a lovely place to stay for 30 soles (£6) with a pool, where we stayed for most of a week and drank sangria.







 

On the way back through Ica, we visited a vineyard, tried some wines and bought some sangria for Sara's brother. It was his birthday... apparently they never buy each other gifts, but I instantiated this for her


Back in Lima for a while, I checked back into Nomade, a hostel that I had found when having a look around for them. It had wifi. So I stayed there for a while. Sara showed me Chinatown, which was great. Peru has a lot of good chinese food, or "Chifa". I also went to one of Sara's family get-together things. It was interesting; they were nice people. Unfortunately, my batteries in the camera were dying that day. We also took a bus up to a viewpoint (with a Mary statue on it of course), and saw a fashion type craft fair.




Back on the road again, this time to the north coast, first stop, Trujillo. Not much there, but there was some more good chifa and a great market.

Next town, Huanchaco, famous for surfing (apparently they invented it using canoe-like vessels made of grass). So we obviously had a go at this (as well as just posing on the statue).


Far on the north coast, we were five days in Máncora. There, we crossed the pan-american highway every day to eat sandwiches, drink mango juice and swim with all the Ecuatorianos. It was a long holiday weekend in Ecuador.



Once we got sick of sandwiches, we followed the Ecuatorians back to Ecuador, stopping off at the insane market town straddling the border for essential supplies such as chica morada, soya milk and DVDs.


In Machala, we checked into a hotel right IN the market and were greeted every day by a beautiful array of colourful food and taxis jamming up the gangways. There we discovered Huevitos Chilenos (little chilean eggs?), a kind of doughnut ball sweet.


Next, Guayaquil was so incredibly noisy and hot, but it had something. One night, there was apparently a fire or something. The whole city must have woken up with the sounds of the sirens. They were just extreme. It was a good city. There were lizards in the parks. We also "had" to try the KFC there, because it came with beans and rice. However, so did pretty much most of everything else. We did stumble upon one of the best juice shops that I have ever found. Great for the hot heat.
Guayaquil was pretty typical of what we saw in Ecuador, in that there were 135 DVD stores on every block, it was hot, and fairly expensive as their official currency was the US dollar (I think they have all of the USA dollar coins in existance, because I certainly don't remember any in the USA). Oh yeah... there were also pirates in Guayaquil. It was also one of the most geek cities I have seen. And it was hot, yes.


When the heat and noise was too much, we tried to get out of the city. After choosing an arbitrary bus from the list of those which we were recommended to get to the terminal, we ended up after an hour or two of travel in a distant suburb. I managed to snap one picture, which I was proud of. Eventually, we made it back to the terminal to carry on to...

Playas (don't worry, this will be over soon). The weather wasn't great in Playas and the beach wasn't really up to much. After surviving the giant spider which freaked us both out on the curtain (then the lady who came to kill it telling us it was tiny) on the first night, we were treated to balcony seats, thanks to our window over a street show, promoting presidential candidates. Fabulous.


Passing back through Guayaquil, we caught a bus up to over 2500m and both got a bit spun out by the altitude. After spending the first night in a slightly expensive 'Hostel', we found another cheap hotel in the market.


Back on the buses again, we passed through some amazing scenery on the way to Vilcabamba, via Loja.


Final real stop was Vilcabamba, where I got my first real Fajitas since Kensington's.
We also had a nice walk a few hundred metres up a river.


After staying one night in a hostel with a sauna and jacuzzi. We started on the long trip back so that Sara could vote (and avoid a 200 soles fine for not voting!) We had an overnight bus to Piura. We got off this bus, then went to go and find another one. Waiting outside one of the bus stations that morning for it to open, while we were seperated, I was distracted for a few moments and my guitar was stolen. I had all my other stuff on me at the time and wasn't going to abandon it for a £10 guitar that was seriously unhealthy on the fingers to play. So this kind of tainted our entire day, as we waited in town for the time to come when the bus would take us back to Lima. However, that day we witnessed, from a bridge a fire, so I like to think it was some kind of town karma. KIDDING, right?! I dunno you people.

Anyway, now I've been back in Lima for almost two weeks now. Haven't taken any photos since then. I went to see a really interesting electronical art show, where there was motion capture, a guitar, and some crazy computer processing involved. It was really interesting. Also, I met one of Sara's friends and ended up making pancakes in her house last night, which was kind of bizarre. Nice people though... of course.

I still haven't found any marzipan though to demonstrate it's glory to Sara. The quest continues.

Last night, in an ATM vestibule, I noticed that there is now a 200,000 peso reward (about £35,000 or US$65,000) for a key witness in the Guerra Sucia (Dirty War), the domestic problems that were happening around the same time as the Falklands/Malvinas War. I was also looking at some news articles on it and it seems that judges have been recieving threats to prevent someone from coming to justice.

Speaking of the Malvinas/Falklands, I also noticed that it has now been almost been 25 years since the conflict and as such, it has been in the news a little again. The Argentinian elite would seem to have their eyes on the territory, but it seems to be, once again basically about oil. Also, I found this Guardian article on a new "history" book about the islands. From what I have seen when I talk to educated people about it, it's not really a concern to a lot of the populace here. 

There have been a few large scale protests last week, with many of the far-leftists out. I'm not sure if they were related, but I couldn't find anything in the news about it. German saw them and was saying there were a lot of hammer and sickle emblems around. I guess the leftists on the move isn't popular with the global news agencies. It would have been good to have seen it, but it was the last couple of days I was spending with Sara... so...

Ok I guess I'm just procrastinating from work really. I should get back to it.

So I have a route out of Buenos Aires. I just booked a return flight to Lima: 8th October to 10th November. The return because it was only a bit more than the one-way. I may come back here to carry on travelling up slowly, but I just feel like I have to go and see how this thing works out. I have a really good feeling about it. I don't look forward to the idea of having to find somewhere else to stay for a month. Hostel Sol has been good to me, I don't think I'll find anywhere better... so maybe I'll return in a month anyway. I will miss Buenos Aires for sure, but I think moving on will definitely be a good thing!

But now, I really have to move my ass with regards to work. Then get as much Tango, Swing, lomitos and wine in as I can...

What a week! I don't know where to start. But I met an amazing Peruvian girl named Sara last Thursday, the morning after that post. I heard a new pianist on the (maybe) ivories. After asking her to play her favourite piece, which I immediatly identified as Brahms Hungarian Dance No. 5. One of my favourites too, we spent a while playing piano together. We also went to the Tango and Swing classes together. And pretty much hung out all the time. On Wednesday night, we didn't make it to bed. We just had chilli popcorn and tea through the night and then went to a cafe with Ian at 7am. We then went to La Boca to check it out, then back and on to Tigre, which was just amazing.

On the way back, we managed to both fall asleep on the train and started going back in the direction we came from. We were about 1/3 of the way back to Tigre, before I pieced together what happened, so we got a long bus back, as that was the last train. She then had trouble getting her ticket confirmed for the flight for the morning, as she was supposed to be leaving. They went to the airport (she was travelling with her mum), but either had to wait 4 hours there, or wait until the next day. So, after getting into bed at about 5am, I got a knock on my door at 9.30am from Sara who had returned to hang out for another day!

So after a few hours sleep last night from about 2 until 5 I got waken up because they were due to leave for the airport for the second time. I ended up going with them out there, which was quite fun. We said that we would definitely meet again, it's just a question of where and when as she might be going to Spain to study next month, or maybe Buenos Aires again. So I feel that the way I'm going kind of depends on her at the moment. 

As such, I haven't really gotten any work done in the last 7 days at all. I have got about 6 hours sleep in the last three days and I'm just trying to make it through until about 10pm tonight to get back on a proper schedule.

As for the lump, well I did a two day course of antibiotics, which seemed to do something and took some ear drops. It is actually still there, but it is quite small now. I think tomorrow I will go back and see the ear, nose and throat doctor, just to be sure.

limey and the lime...

Today I went for my first Swing lesson. Herman (a Mexican guy who was living in San Diego) was talking about it and it sounded interesting, so I went with him. It was really great fun. Really got the blood pumping. There was a good gender ratio aswell. I have been keeping up the Tango still. We made a pact to keep at it. It's good to have someone for mutual encouragement to go out and do it.

So, it's now 3am and I have been up playing guitar and recording some of it . It's a shame about the noise on it, but I am quite happy with it as a spontaneous thing. I still have to get down some of the other stuff that has been going around my head. Well, get it down better. I think I need an external sound-card... or something.

 It has been feeling a lot more like spring the last week or so. It's quite nice. I also have some kind of lump in front of my right ear, I can feel it behind my jaw aswell and on my neck. I've had this sniffle for a while, hopefully it's something harmless, but my cheek kind of feels a bit numb or something... like when you put antiseptic or something on your skin and it kind of kills it... also kind of in my temple there aswell been feeling a bit light-headed all the time... I hope it's something simple. I feel like I should go to a doctor for it, but I don't really know. I will ask Daniel tommorrow, he's in charge. He might know.

 Well, I think there will be more Tango tomorrow evening, if we can find somewhere... and on Friday I might try for a double hit of Tango and then Swing.

Yesterday, I had a wander around La Boca and San Telmo with Reed. We did La Boca like tourists and took loads of photos and got badgered fairly proactively by hawkers trying to vend their wares to us. I actually forgot what that was like, made me feel like I was on the road again.

Anyway, Reed keeps talking about getting a band going. He has been bashing my guitar quite a lot and we have some jams with him on guitar and me on the piano. Having so many travellers come through and teach me little bits of different styles of guitar has been a great influence.

I went out with Tani and some of his friends from back home last night. We met a bouncer/drummer named Norberto who took us around in his SUV to a few clubs and bars. I didn't actually get back until 10.30am, a new record I think. Anyway! So, I got this guy's number and I think I will try and get back in touch to see if there's some possibilities for music making of some form. I think we might be able to save Buenos Aires from its prevailing rock situation.

But now, after such a hard night last night, I have been doing a bit of code today and I have my pizza slices here waiting for me for later. I think I will forgo eating with everyone else tonight.

I'm still in Buenos Aires. I've been playing piano regularly, dancing some tango, playing some guitar, recording some music, going out quite a lot, eating out quite a lot and slowing up a little with learning the Spanis. I have bought a laptop and have started doing some bits and pieces for Tadas at Craftsman again.

So, I won't even try to chronical it all. Here are some pictures, many of which are from Tani and Chris....


This is near Recolletta on a sunny Saturday afternoon.

University of Buenos Aires School of Law

Ok, these are a load from a trip to the zoo:

Rats everywhere... they were wondering what they were, but I think they're just rats... I might be wrong though


Monkey Island


Hippo waiting for popcorn

Atrocious sign-ignorance in progress. Luckily for them, I didn't get their face.


Red panda.. he was pretty cute.

Camels with two humps apparently only live in Asia.

This guy is the senile grandaddy of the zoo apparently. The pretty face for the pictures in times gone by.

There's a lot of tango everywhere, this is in a special tango bar/restaurant in San Telmo.

There are a couple of these guys around with big crutches.

This is Reed, a crazy tall guy from Montana who I had been hanging around with. He's been quite ill the last week or so. Excessive partying has something to do with it, I think.


These little guys I saw on two days in the same place. They were cute.

These guys were a pretty good little Jazz band

Eva Peron's family tomb.


I have also been to the World Tango Championships recently. They were held the other week and entry was free. More pictures from one day, Salon Class, and another day, Couples Class.


I have also been trying to dance a little... but well... As you can see here, we are definitely doing different things.


La Boca... an old region of the city. Famous for it's colourful buildings and the futbol team.


After one of our number started being friendly to these dogs, they followed us all the way home... which took about an hour... over many roads.


I have also gone to a La Boca futbol game with 50,000 crazy Argentineans. There was a lot of singing, jumping up and down, a super-sized flag, which they danced around with, confetti, toilet paper streamers, sparkly things, coloured flares, coloured language, lots of singing and jumping around, a goalie getting sent off... lots of action.


The day-porter, Juan, who is always saying something about "chicas".


The night-porter, Amado and Tani.. who simply cannot leave this place


This is the piano I have been playing.. they were trying to get me to play something for a pose. This is me trying to say what do you want me to play.
 
This is Amado coming in, just after I closed the lid. He doesn't like us playing late.


Though he can tolerate my guitar playing it seems.


My new room after being in there two nights. It is so nice to be able to spread my stuff out all over the place. I have paid for a     month here. I'm not sure if it will be just one month or more.


I took these as crossing over the Avenida 9 de Julio on my way to get a Lomito (as I tend to do a lot). It is supposedly the widest road in the world, I have to cross I think it's 16 lanes to get to San Telmo.


And this is the view from the balcony outside my door, from lastnight at sundown.

So as a follow up to the last post, here is James' entry for Puerto Madryn: 

http://jamesgaggtravels.blogspot.com/2006/08/puerto-madryn.html

No credits for his photographer, I notice!

On the last day there, I got a few more better pictures of whales and suchforth from the pier. Also that night, we "completed" Yenga and had another good singsong. Never have there been such times! Actually it was just me singing a bit I guess.

After an arduous 20 hour bus ride that smelt of toilet, with screaming kids and everything, I arrived in Retiro, checked into a hostel, then went straight out looking for another one. I found this great place called Hostel Sol. Free Internet, cat, piano, a resident geek and it was the cheapest place I found.

I have seen two protests on the first two days. One seemed to be going on at least two days running.

I arrived in Bangkok on a full moon. I saw my fourth lunar month pass on the roof of the first hostel here.

Puerto Madryn has been better to me than Esquel. I arrived here and went to the beach with an Argentinian Gentoo/Freenode user and straight away saw loads of Southern Right Whales and sea-lions just from the pier. The camera wasn't quite powerful enough to pick up much though.

Mostly, you could just see puffs of blowholes in the bay and tails going up, but I wasn't fast enough to get any of them. I did take a trip out to Puerto Piramides for a whale watching boat trip. However, I forgot to charge the camera up. The whales were really amazingly close then. A couple of them were actually there right by the boat with their heads out of the water just watching us, it seemed. It was strange to see this huge docile creatures so close. I will get some pictures off one of the guys I was with. We also had a nice walk along the beach and over the sedimentary cliffs with a few lovely dogs who kept bringing us things for them to throw.

Yesterday, I went, with Hugh Grant-lookalike James on a two-bus, two hour bus ride to Gaiman, a Welsh settlement to have a Welsh tea. It was actually quite expensive, but they did give us a huge plate of cakes, which (obviously so as not to be rude) we ate.

 

Now I have one more day to kill here in Puerto Madryn. I think I will go and see the whales from the pier again and just wander... as you do. I will get the proper whale photos from James soon. He also had a door fetish and would often get pictures of himself with them. Lovely.