Well is it good to back? Kind of. Its nice to see my family again of course, I’ve been catching up with friends too. Last night I went out with old friends Sally, Tim and Phil and then this afternoon I went to see Chris and Kate in Wincle who now have a 6 month old son, Thomas. What a cutie!

Went out to the Ol Brown Jug, got trashed with Sal, Tim and Skinner. Nuff said.

Is it really waterproof?

Drip!

Not sure what’s going on here :p

Pigs eh?

Day 220

New York, NY

Thankfully felt a lot better after my trouble on the plane and managed to get my bags, onto the train into Penn Station and into a hostel. I didn’t feel like wandering all around Manhattan so looked up a hostel in Starbucks and wandered the few blocks to get to it. $48 for a 4 bed dorm! Might have been better value if I could have gotten up for the breakfast but it didn’t happen. I wandered around for a couple of hours and had an early night.

Next day I packed up my bags and jumped onto the Subway to where I would be spending my second night in NY, the floor of a Daniella’s hotel room. She was over for a course for a couple of days and generously let me share her room. I dumped my bags and set off on a mission to buy a new camera lens. My 17-55mm was good, great in fact, but I was constantly finding myself wishing for more reach. A 70-300mm would suit the bill perfectly and despite the fact that B&H, the best camera shop in NY, if not the world, was closed for passover the prices were pretty much the same all over the city. I walked up past Union Square, which I didn’t even recognise in the sunshine and walked west along 17th Street to the Camera store of the same name. $400 poorer I could now stalk celebrities! After a lunch of falafels and snapple I decided to wear out some shoe leather and try to find something interesting to snap. Sadly the track of my route will never be published as I had managed to lose my GPS tracker! It was my own stupid fault for attaching it to my belt and then putting on my backpack. Bleh.

I headed east and then south, ending up under the brooklyn bridge and finding I could photograph birds with some success at last!

I also checked out the World Trade Center site again, and although construction has started on the new towers it still looked much the same as it did the last time I was there in 2002. A bloody mess!

It was a nice afternoon walk back up to the hotel, I was absolutly knackered but I had arranged to meet Dani when she got off her bus…. I took my laptop out to the local Starbucks but for some reason didn’t bother checking my mail…. duh!

I sat waiting from 11pm until 1am and she didn’t show up. I tried in vain to call her but just ended up shouting at the stupid phones in frustration. Her bus broke down and she finally turned up at 2am. If I had checked my mail I would have had a nice sleep :p

wander past union/can’t find shop/17th str photo/wander west/photo bridge/WTC/walked north/use net/meet Dani/2am/sleep on floor.

Day 219

New York, NY

I thought I was getting better by the time I made it onto the plane and indeed everything seemed to be fine, but disaster was looming. I had my meal (I don’t recommend the Continental Seafood choice, unless you like nasty canned tuna) and settled down to endure as much of ‘Alvin and the Chipmunks’ as I could bear. I managed about half before my mental nausea got the better of me and I went to wait for  my the toilet. I was feeling much better, I was a bit gassy but I had mostly lost my physical nausea from the morning and was feeling much stronger. I waited for ages and ages, after maybe 15 minutes I went to sit down again and the woman soon came out. Little did I know there was about to be an explosion!

I went up to the toilet and locked the door. My stomach rumbled, I could sense an after effect of the bad meal from the day before bubbling away in my guts. The fans whirled in the bathroom and I savored the feeling of simple privacy being alone gave me. I felt the usual feeling of minor flatulence from an upset stomach and let out a little gas.

I froze in shock and disgust for just second.

There is always a time for a first experience and this was one of those moments. I just hope its my last.

I spun around and ripped my trousers down faster then I have ever done, dreading more disaster and reeling with the horror of what had just happened. 24 hours later the dodgy lentil soup which had caused me so many problems had reappeared at a most inopportune moment and with the same consistency. I was properly horrified but the size of the problem wasn’t as great as it could have been and mercifully limited to my my underpants. I carefully removed my clothes and cleaned myself up. I had suspected I might not get my bag delivered so had a some spare clothes in my hand luggage. This was the second slice of luck, if you can have such a thing while soiling yourself on a plane. The first being of course that the accident only happened while I was in the bathroom.

I’m sure they thought I was mixing noxious chemicals in the bathroom since I was in there forever but luckily no one else was waiting when I was finally ready to leave and I dashed to get my spare shorts. If I was going to get a repeat of the disaster I would like it with another layer of protection. I wasn’t even carrying any imodium in my bag. I must have traveled 200,000 miles over the last few years, always with something to protect again such a disaster and now I didn’t have any. I would just have to pray there wouldn’t be more trouble.

Day 219

Mexico City

Well if seems like its that time to put my trip on hold for a month, I will be back in the UK on Saturday after 3 days in New York. I was lucky I made it to the airport. I was woken up multiple times by the ignorant French wanker who moved into my dorm yesterday. I needed to get up but I felt really awful. I staggered down to breakfast and only managed a small plate of fruit.  I was convinced I was going to throw up sooner or later but somehow I avoided it. I guess I will blame the lentil soup I ate for lunch yesterday, I can’t think what else it could be. Max and Josca were fine, but they had pasta.

Josca gives me some ears while Max dishes up the Jamaica

I hovered around the toilet for ages but eventually I had to get my stuff packed and get myself to the airport. I took the Metro and by the time I got here I felt somewhat better, I was shuffling around like a zombie though. I’m soooooo tired!

New York here I come!

day

Mexico City

Museum/irish/murals/zoo?/art gallery/monkeys/josca birthday/beer and cards

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Mexico City

Museum/irish/murals/zoo?/art gallery/monkeys/josca birthday/beer and cards

day

Mexico City

Museum/irish/murals/zoo?/art gallery/monkeys/josca birthday/beer and cards

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Mexico City

Museum/irish/murals/zoo?/art gallery/monkeys/josca birthday/beer and cards

Day 211

Veracruz, Mexico

God its been hot! After my day at the pyramids outside Mexico City I headed over to the gulf coast, something I haven’t seen since Naples in Florida back in October. No dolphins this time though. My vague plan was to spend the night in Tuxpan and then cruise down to Veracruz, visiting some other Pyramids on the way. I never found them. It was 36C by the time I drove past where they should have been and after shouting and cursing the lack of road signs I went by them and kept going. You can keep your damn Pyramids I’m not interested!

In Veracruz I found a cool little town on the coast with plenty of plaza’s with things going on. Bands and dancing, people out enjoying the evening, music and life. No tourists either really, at least none that I could spot in my wanderings. I found a nice little room at the top of a cheap hotel with the benefit of a breeze blowing through it to supplement the ceiling fan but the disadvantage of a direct audible route to the local Mexican Indie Rock Pub. Normally this would be a plus, but the bands they seem to feature don’t seem to be able to write any good songs. All I hear in noise, try some damn chord progression and melody…

I feel like I’m killing time. I just read a lot. I managed ‘To kill a mockingbird’ in 24 hours which is fine since I will now forget it and get to enjoy it again in another decade. I remember watching it as a play with my old friend Spec when I was in college but all I remember of it was seeing one of the actors get spat in the face.

There is a nice little vegetarian restaurant where you get a good set meal for 45 pesos which i have been eating at. You get a choice of dishes but nothing is written down so I have to guess at what I’m getting, its usually a pleasant enough surprise.

I should have left for Peubla today I guess but since I hadn’t packed up the night before it was unlikely I would get out and get off. My inaction and generally lack of motivation is not too serious, its been so bloody hot that I have hardly been able to move. Today was better though, just high twenties so the fan gets a well earned rest. I’m now constantly aware of the fact that I have one week left, but its more like a week in England than being in Mexico. Since I booked my flight I feel like I have been unable or unwilling to stray too far from Mexico city, if I drove 2,000km I would only have to drive them all the way back. So I’m trapped in a small circle of states, waiting, just waiting…