a nelgected passport

it makes me sad to see my blog and the absence of entries. i have neglected my passport for far too long now.

things will change, soon!

the motherland will have to wait

in this crazy economy, who in their right mind would ever voluntary choose a three month leave of absence? that would be me. especially when someone(like me) works for a company like virgin america who lets their employees keep full flight benefits.

so what does a person do with a blank boarding pass? he gets scared, lands a job at a restaurant and forfeits the gypsy lifestyle.
ok, not quite entirely. did i mention i'm in panama?

panama city, panama is a trip! pun unintended. separated by six hours of flight time, panama originally was merely going serve as our launch pad to the long awaited return to the motherland aka cuba. long story short: it didn't quite happen like that due to the complicated mess of the us embargo. but thanks to the helpful tips of jesus -the friendly copa ticket agent- i will definitely be giving it another go in the near future.
but in the meantime, with no plans, no reservations, and with quite an empty working knowledge of panama, what does one do? he smiles a hails a cab.

save the headache and do yourself a favor, grab a taxi. the cab scene didn't seem like it was dominated by bureaucratic bullshit like in bigger airports. these panamanian cabs come in different size and colors. you'll prob get hit up for a ride as soon as you walk past the terminal so poker faces on people and let the haggling begin.

the cab driver charged us $18 for both my buddy phillip and i. it took us about 40-60 minutes to get to the city from PTY airport. traffic was miserable. with all of the pretty shiny skyscrapers, you would think that panama city would buy into the concept of infrastructure; nope.

having an unlocked smartphone comes to be super handy in times like these. while in traffic, i looked up hostels and hotels nearby. we found some but all were booked so the cab driver brought us to hotel terra nova, which in panama translates into prostitute central.
we paid the cab, grabbed our room key, and just like that we were in the heart of it.

the night scene is pretty lively, nothing crazy. just your typical clubs on one side of the street, gentlemen's club on the other, a schwerma shack in the middle, and a pub at the end of it. i hit that schwerma shack hard. then went to that pub called the londoner and had some of the local brew. after, we tried walking into this locals looking club/bar called "ashe" but the tall black panamanian demanded money. he did let us chill in their patio and have a few more brews. in the midst of it all, a parade of scantily cladded women walked in and out of the classy establishment, with customers hand in hand. kinda sad to watch but it is the oldest profession in the world. business was good

in between then and now, we ditched the hotel for a hostel a few blocks away. and now perched up on top of my bunkbed i lay awake with my faithfull ipad while phillip snores his hangover away. what can i say about panama city? i can't say much honestly. from the little i've seen i feel like this place has alot to say. there are so many different shades of skin, slant of eyes, width of hips, that really has me wondering how they all came to be here. but with all those variances, the panamanian people are warm, welcoming, and friendly, which is why i'll be coming back again.

belgian bonanza

it's 2:37am and i cant go to sleep. didnt know what time it was 2 hours ago, i prob wont 2 hours from now also. delirious

roadtrip finale

i'm on the I-40 driving westbound wrapping up a month long road trip across the country. i left the writing off in st. louis, which has now become the new benchmark on which everything that is shitty will now be compared to. i never EVER would like to visit st. louis again(except if it were solely on the basis of going to pappy's bb-q).

during the last night, while we started our breakdown, a freak electrical storm crept up. the sky lit up, thunder clapped directly on top of us. it was a great sight to see and all except that we had to take down big metal trusses.

from there we headed to dallas, texas which went smooth, then drove to virginia beach, virginia. from there we drove to the artscape event in baltimore, maryland. yesterday the team and i began our drive through virginia; i was left speechless.
the countryside gradually became more wooded as we approached the smoky mountains. plooms of smoke eerily hovered across the treetops as the sun descended below the mountains. the sun's rays struggled, but they made it through some of the thin strips of haze. i swerved off the road for a second but i couldn't stop staring at the rugged beauty of it all.

something about that that glow though...it's special. a few moments later, the sky morphed from a pale blue, into a blood pink...again, speechless. we stayed in asheville, north carolina for the night. today we woke up and took a much needed morning white water adventure down the pigeon river. we're staying in memphis tonight, always a chill place.

sweaty balls

the sun was down yet it was still 101 degree. what is wrong with this city!
not exactly home plate but good enough.

go dodgers!

4 days 5 states and 27 years of age

i had a good time in flagstaff. spent most of the night talking to brian, a 60-year old retired computer engineer and hopeful novel writer.

the next day i turned 27 years; snap. i keep hearing that a person's best work comes at 27...we'll see about that. i had breakfast with the gang and was given a birthday bowl of watermelon with a banner on top saying "happy bday customer dude" a huge smile followed.


we continued driving through the arizona and new mexican desert till we finally we got to las vegas!
new mexico...
unlike it's brighter sibling, this new mexican town has shops filled with antiques and vacant stores. it's inhabitants are a strange mix; a cross between locals and nomads. a place for people who do not want to be found.


i had my birthday outing at a community charity event being held at the las vegas town hall. a "los lonely boys" type band was playing corrido jams along with some tex-mex.
two ladies starting throwing fists at each others' face because a charity event wouldn't be complete without a good fight. well, that was our cue to leave, but not until the fight was over. 

walked to the local bar with the filter crew and partook in some birthday libations. the place was filled some sketchy ass humans. mac-10, westside connection, and random 80's songs blared from above. to my right, a man who had just been released from prison was throwing his pitch to my friend mikey to push drugs across the country. and to my left, i don't know what was said but two mid 40 year old women wanted to jump me. after 45 tense minutes, we called it a night.

the rest of the drive was a blur, we stopped in florence, co for a night. stayed at really cool bed and breakfast...haunted.

we white river rafted down the the arkansas river flowing right below the royal gorge bridge; it was intense. i jumped off a 25ft. cliff and lost my oakley sunglasses in the murkyness. the raft that i was in got flipped over once over some rocks. struck my shin on something, thought i broke something; luckily i didn't.

the next day we kept driving, stayed in whichita, ks for the night...nothing much to say about that place. don't go

st. louis welcomed us with sweltering triple digit heat and rainforest humidity. the next day we all had to set-up and in the course of 10 hours, i must have drank at least a dozen bottles of water. as the sun dragged it's fiery fat ass down the sky, i expected a slight cool down or maybe a kiss from a nice breeze. negative

at the end of the day, i became 3 shades darker and was completely mummified with salt. the cold shower made my nagging body happy. 4th of july was the big day. the toyota event went well, and the fireworks show was incredible. now it's the 5th of july, and it is our day off. the filter owners got us all home plate tickets for the cardianls vs. rockies game, which is nice. but what i am really excited about is checking out the anheuser-busch brewery. i heard it's intense; well it should be a chill day. 

2012 filter cross country tour: day 1

just drove through the arizona state line. 

and nothing has given me more bliss than seeing california through my side-view mirror. all the stress that accumulated this past month took a toll; simply, it feels great to drive away and know that the only thing i have to worry about is the road and what track to play next. so first stop: flagstaff, az. 

we're staying at the montevista hotel, one of the many haunted hotels that our tour manager managed to book us in...again

should be fun!