westerners

five days ago, in the city of old riga, i stood alone inside a crowded bus station holding a one-way bus ticket to vilnius that was no longer valid. standing there, below a dark cloud, i laughed. to the latvians around me, i must've looked mad, maybe i was. there i knew there was absolutely nothing i could do to change my situation. so i kept laughing all the way back to my hostel

but now, a few thousand feet above the english channel, i'm inside an aer lingus flight with two of my closest friends headed to dublin after spending the best week ever in western europe.

we spent the first night in paris in this sheik hotel called the 'le mondrien'. it was nice but we didnt spend much time inside. we walked around the city, played typical tourists while taking countless pictures of the same sites you see on your friends facebook page. we made our way back to the hotel, showered and quickly headed to the eiffel tower for some lambrusco time. as soon as it got dark, the eiffel tower went paparazzi. hundreds of sparkling lights lit up the massive A as we zipped our sweet wine.

the dazzling light show went on on every top of the hour. the next morning we walked to the train station where we caught our train to brussels.

from what i gathered over the years, brussels was not a happening place to be. but o contrare, we was wrong! the city has a unique vibe, one which i cant quite fully describe. normally a city looks similar to others but i cant think of a city to compare belgium with.

the belgian people were extremely friendly, but this might have been due to the fresh rudeness the french had given us the day before.

we stayed in a neat hostel next to the 'godiva' chocolate factory. we also knew coming into to belgium about their famous beers along with the renown monasteries that produced them. as the night progressed, we stumbled into the delirium cafe/bar, which was a three-level cave. it was there where i discovered 'delirium's' nocturnum. if you haven't tried it, do so. it has such an interesting flavor, one that i can only describe as sweet, dark, and refreshing. i usually go for the bitter side of brew, but the nocturnum won me over.
we pretty much did the same the next day.

from brussels we rode the train up to amsterdam where i had amazing time as well. at first, walking outside the train station was a bit overwhelming. all you see is people on their bikes and one false move can have you laying in a hospital. we walked for about thirty minutes looking for the 'flying pig' hostel. we finally found it, and off we were. we bought some of the native brew 'amstel' , some bread, cheese, turkey, then headed to vondolf park. everyone was out, the day was sunny and breezy; the day: perfect.

as the sun's rays began to get weaker  the park began to change the color of the trees. the whole park had a neat amber glow.

the next day we rented bikes and pretty much did the same as before. as we rode our bikes through small streets over the canals we rode right into the outskirts of the red light district, which was not what i thought it was going to be. i found it to be a very organized operation. people walked towards the ladies behind the glass, prices were whispered to each other, and many transactions were done.

a few hours later and we arrived in the emerald island.

once again the sky was open with blue skies and warm weather. we tossed our bags in our hostel and once again we took to the streets. andy and i had already been to ireland the year before, but we primarily stayed on the south side of the river leffey. on this trip we stayed on the north side, which isn't as touristee as the south. we went on a quest to find a store called 'penney's' in order to buy towel. our hostel was charging 6 euro but the kind lad at reception told us that we could buy cheaper ones, which we did. along the ways, i couldn't resist to stop at a kebab shop. later that night, we walked on over to temple bar where we had some guinness and listened to some traditional irish folk.

we ended the night with 'papa johns' pizza.
the next day was pretty uneventful. we did the 'john jameson' tour, which was very informative and fun.

it began to rain so we spent some time inside the hostel. you could tell in our gazes that we were tired. we found a place to eat and from there we stopped by for some souvenirs. sleep came next.

now, like many time before, i'm overlooking the atlantic thinking to myself what comes next.

bloody wednesday in the ozarks

i'm still trying to digest the events of the last 48 hours, but i know that it'll take a while.  the pack of cigarettes on the pavement or maybe that lone sandal next to a purse scattered of its contents has broken the vcr inside my head leaving it stuck in replay. amarillo seems like such a long time ago. the drive eastward was going great, we had just zipped right through texas and oklahoma. i'd never spent time with andrew and jessica before this tour. luckily they're both very laid back people, which is great since we were about to spend much time together.

a couple of miles after passing the arkansas border, we took our two-car caravan up the scenic route on highway 16, which happens to cut through the ozarks. driving through this heavily wooded area, i began to get this strange feeling. we were pretty much the only ones driving though this desolate road. around and round we went on this hazy road huddled by ancient trees with thick sacks of cobwebs hanging from below its limbs. luckily we still had about 3 hours of sunshine, which gave us a good blend of darkness and light. the windows were down, moonroof open, it was just us, the road, and the loud sounds of the forrest. we passed a eerie town which was the only sign of civilization on highway 16 before we had our fateful encounter.

I'm still trying to figure out whether I saw the body first or the totaled montero sport. peripherally, I think I saw the body first because as soon as i entered that curve to the left, i saw the lifeless body on the pavement but since we were descending down the mountain, the wreck aligned in my vision. chris and mike drove past the mangled steel and countless keystone ice cans and pulled up next to the woman's body. mike quickly jumped out of the car and stooped down low to listen for any signs of life or faint breathing. chris walked towards the suv to see if there were any other passengers.

my knuckles coiled the steering wheel. i began to get that feeling similar to that of the beginning of a roller-coaster. the fear that i felt wasn't based on whether she was dead, but more on the possibility that she might be alive. i backed the car into a ditch on the side of the road. all three of us got out of the car into the hot and humid air of the ozarks. we looked at mike and he looked right back signaling that she was gone. jessica's hand began to shake a bit, she covered her mouth as her eyes began to water. andrew stood quiet as he wrapped his arm around her.

with hands and feet completely drenched in sweat, i decided to look inside the mangled suv. on the ground i noticed a chunk of brown hair, the wind was moving it slowly across the pavement. there were so many cans of beer along with the woman's purse, pills, and other personal items. the sound of crunching glass was all i heard and the smell of beer and alcohol became stronger as i got closer to the wreck. i looked inside but i don't remember anything because as soon as i peered inside, a loud burst of white noise blared out of the suv's speakers. i jumped backwards with my heart in my hand.

i walked back towards our group and the suv belched out another loud noise. we decided that we were to stay with the body until help arrived. our 911 calls were useless since there was no reception. i was about to jump on the car and drive back on the road we had just driven on when we heard the sound of choppers. 3 bikers were coming down the road. they rode right past the dead woman; none of them seemed affected by the sight, like if it were just another roadkill. we explained to the bikers that we were the first ones on the scene and they said that they would alert the local authorities a few miles ahead.

a few minutes went by when we finally heard the faint sound of an ambulance. i have no idea why but i felt compelled to see the woman's body. past the beer cans, past the suv, her corpse laid parallel of the road. all of her limbs were intact, although she did have many broken fingers and toes. her face was severely torn, and the right side of her head had a massive gash. i kept thinking in my head that this was all fake, someone was playing some sick joke on us and that this would all be over, but that wasn't the case. it was all real. i looked back and saw the faces of my friends and the woman's belongings on the floor, herself on the floor; everything was surreal. the ambulance finally came and we decided to leave.

we drove off, but not before andrew snapped this shot of the woman covered in a white sheet.

drinking and driving is not a good idea people. that's all

the southwest, yay!

sprinkles of lightning lined the east as the sun sunk back west. the last 48 hours have been spent inside a toyota corolla slicing through south western desert trying figure out the meaning of life(no, not really). during these next 2 weeks i'll be living in-between hotels and in this 4-door japanese machine. flagstaff, az was our first stop, and now we're in glamorous amarillo, tx. the only thing i know about amarillo is that a huge tornado touched down not so long ago. the weather has been ok so far, but we got a quick taste of how easily mother nature can change her mood. i'm excited about this trip, i've spent so much time discovering other countries that i've forgotten how vast mine actually is. and vast it is; from petrified forests out in the middle of nowhere to weird oscallating red lights stretching from miles, there are some crazy weird things hapenning in our southwest that we probably will never know exists. well, here goes texas!

consolidating

this will now house the future stories, if any, in which i'll more than likely find myself lost in different countries around strange people and distant tongues. some may also be from the past, while some may not make sense whatsoever. i will try my best to sound coherent as much possible, but i make no promises.