check it
posted by ben at 7:42 AM
0 comments
Friday, June 30, 2006
up to date
Yo all!
Long time no write! We´ve made tracks since last journal entry. I think I was in Oaxaca last time, am now in…Guatemala! Yeh, sweet as, huh? We found both Oaxaca and san cristobal quite nice, but kind of bland in their own way. I think people who stay in san cristobal find the atmostphere really relaxing, but we found it quite a slow town which had exploited its past as a Zapatista stronghold. There were touristy areas, and a few hassling people trying to sell stuff. I guess it’s a nice town, but again I much prefer the rambling streets of san Miguel,a nd particularly guanajuato. The hostel (backpackers) was quite ncie, and they have nightly campfires but it was raining at the time, so no fire. We left quite early the next morning (after an awesome dinner) and I was unlucky to share the bed with some bed bugs (which I must have been allergic to, they´ve come up a treat!). anyway, we headed on to palenque, a ancient mayan site. We visited a couple of waterfalls , agua azul, which is usually bright blue, but was briwn when we were there due to the rain the night before. Also mizan sul (sorry about the spelling) where predator, the Hollywood blockbuster was set. Mizan sul was nice, and it was so hot that we went behind the waterfall for a freezing windy shower, and then down into the pool for a raging dip. Was fun and exciting. Our tour driver was so sarcastic and depressing, he was so anti fun and suggested that we didn’t swim.
Palenque is a beautiful mayan temple and pyramid site surrounded by jungle. We declined information from the guides and headed on through, exploring and thinking about the people that lived there, 2000-1500 years before. Some of it was fantastically ornate, and there were parts where you could walk inside the temples in underground passages. The setting was lovely too, and the views fromt eh 60m high pyramids were incredible (especially of the other pyramids). Howler monkeys were around the sire as well – they make a kind of guttural groaning sound which is quite loud. It sounded spooky, I think especially as they used their call as the sounds made by the dinosaurs in Jurassic park. So we kept thinking there were dinosaurs around. Or dr Hammond – just as scary.
We stayed in el panchan, a small series of cabañas set along a river. We had dinner at the cheaper joint and then had a few beers over at the other one. Towards the end of our conversations with a british couple we´d em in san cristobal, a mexiican band entered the small stage and played some awesome live traditional music. Then the hippie fire twirlers entered and gave us an awesome poi show. Great to see. We also had a dance with some Mexican medicine students who could all speak English and taught us some Spanish.
My Spanish is slowly coming along, dans is quite good (though hes never had proper lessons), and so I largely rely on him rather than learning new phrases. I think my grammar must be terrible.
We headed off to tikal yesterday morning with the briitish couple. There was a 2 hour bus trip to a river then a 30 min boat to a guatemalen river port (a small shack) and then another 4 hours downt eh road to flores – gateway to tikal. I spent the first bus chatting with a American teacher about world policies and surprised myself how little I know about us internal politics,a nd Australian politics as well, I guess. The boat was very pleasant, with jungle on each side – I still reckon boat and train are my 2 favourite methods of transportation, with busses coming a distant last. Especially on these guatemalen roads. They are a severe step down from mexico, with dirt and huge potholes. I don’t really mind, its just interesting to note the sudden difference. We arrived in flores and transferred to yet another bus to tikal, where we would spend the night. Met a couple fo british brothers (ben y toby) who we got on splendidly with and ended up visiting the ruins with that afternoon, shorltly after bagsing a couple of hammocks. Tikal is meant to be mindblowing. We were not disspointed. One fo the tour guys saud it was likened to new york because it has lots of tall buildings (I guess that’s the only similarity? Other than the number of landaus in them at the same trime). It is much more spectacular than palenque, with really tall, intact temples rising out over the canopy of the dense rainforest. From the top of the one we stayed on for an hour or 2 (mundo perdido) we could see spidermonkeys and toucans. Yeh toucans . that made me so happy.
We got kicked out at 7 pm, witht eh sun still not set, as the park was closing. We headed over for some chicken and rice (allegedly staple in guat according to the brits) and it was delicious. I don’t think i´ve seen a portion of meat that large since we hit some roadkill. It was like a breast and a wing but yeh – brilliant.
The next morning at 430 am we rose for a sunrise tour. Costs $15 aussie but worth it with guide luis. We trekked through the dark jungle seeing scorpions and toads, then climbed temple 4 to look out over the rest of the ruins with the mist fading away as the sun rose. Spectacular. As it got lighter, the birds chirped up and woke the other animals, including the mighty howler monkeys which boomed an impressive voice over tikal (which means the place of echoes – hence louder monkeys). It sounded like there were about 10 male howlers, but there were only 2, alledgely, according to luis.
The rest of the morning was spent jetting around the rest of the sight learning about the customs, the reasons the different `pyramids were built, the restorations, the fauna the flora, everything. We saw more toucans, crocs, turtles, heaps of birds , toucans, toucanettes (little toucans!) and more scorpions. Awesome. We got back for 10 am, for a well deserved brekky before shower. We intended to walk back into the park, but it takes 20 mins to walk there, so we figured it wasn’t worth it. So we sat in the sun, wrote postcards and had a specially prepared Yorkshire brew. Ben y toby headed off for a canopy tour on zip lines.
We hopped on the bus back to flores where I am now. On the bus we met some American girls who are fairly well traveled, and on holidays from teaching in LA: we had lunch with them (chicken and rice). Ti more expensive here than mexico. About $5 aussie for chicken and rice, and about $2.5 for a beer. Accommodation is cheaper though, and transportation will be too. Our bus tonight is to rio dulce, a town on the river which is at the start of a canyon to Livingston, a rasta town on the coast accessible only by boat. Nice, boats. So feeling a little weary after four 6am or earlier starts, but may sleep in a little tomorrow for the germany game at 10 am.
From Livingston, we will likely head up through belize tot eh Yucatan.
2.5 weeks to go.
xo
Long time no write! We´ve made tracks since last journal entry. I think I was in Oaxaca last time, am now in…Guatemala! Yeh, sweet as, huh? We found both Oaxaca and san cristobal quite nice, but kind of bland in their own way. I think people who stay in san cristobal find the atmostphere really relaxing, but we found it quite a slow town which had exploited its past as a Zapatista stronghold. There were touristy areas, and a few hassling people trying to sell stuff. I guess it’s a nice town, but again I much prefer the rambling streets of san Miguel,a nd particularly guanajuato. The hostel (backpackers) was quite ncie, and they have nightly campfires but it was raining at the time, so no fire. We left quite early the next morning (after an awesome dinner) and I was unlucky to share the bed with some bed bugs (which I must have been allergic to, they´ve come up a treat!). anyway, we headed on to palenque, a ancient mayan site. We visited a couple of waterfalls , agua azul, which is usually bright blue, but was briwn when we were there due to the rain the night before. Also mizan sul (sorry about the spelling) where predator, the Hollywood blockbuster was set. Mizan sul was nice, and it was so hot that we went behind the waterfall for a freezing windy shower, and then down into the pool for a raging dip. Was fun and exciting. Our tour driver was so sarcastic and depressing, he was so anti fun and suggested that we didn’t swim.
Palenque is a beautiful mayan temple and pyramid site surrounded by jungle. We declined information from the guides and headed on through, exploring and thinking about the people that lived there, 2000-1500 years before. Some of it was fantastically ornate, and there were parts where you could walk inside the temples in underground passages. The setting was lovely too, and the views fromt eh 60m high pyramids were incredible (especially of the other pyramids). Howler monkeys were around the sire as well – they make a kind of guttural groaning sound which is quite loud. It sounded spooky, I think especially as they used their call as the sounds made by the dinosaurs in Jurassic park. So we kept thinking there were dinosaurs around. Or dr Hammond – just as scary.
We stayed in el panchan, a small series of cabañas set along a river. We had dinner at the cheaper joint and then had a few beers over at the other one. Towards the end of our conversations with a british couple we´d em in san cristobal, a mexiican band entered the small stage and played some awesome live traditional music. Then the hippie fire twirlers entered and gave us an awesome poi show. Great to see. We also had a dance with some Mexican medicine students who could all speak English and taught us some Spanish.
My Spanish is slowly coming along, dans is quite good (though hes never had proper lessons), and so I largely rely on him rather than learning new phrases. I think my grammar must be terrible.
We headed off to tikal yesterday morning with the briitish couple. There was a 2 hour bus trip to a river then a 30 min boat to a guatemalen river port (a small shack) and then another 4 hours downt eh road to flores – gateway to tikal. I spent the first bus chatting with a American teacher about world policies and surprised myself how little I know about us internal politics,a nd Australian politics as well, I guess. The boat was very pleasant, with jungle on each side – I still reckon boat and train are my 2 favourite methods of transportation, with busses coming a distant last. Especially on these guatemalen roads. They are a severe step down from mexico, with dirt and huge potholes. I don’t really mind, its just interesting to note the sudden difference. We arrived in flores and transferred to yet another bus to tikal, where we would spend the night. Met a couple fo british brothers (ben y toby) who we got on splendidly with and ended up visiting the ruins with that afternoon, shorltly after bagsing a couple of hammocks. Tikal is meant to be mindblowing. We were not disspointed. One fo the tour guys saud it was likened to new york because it has lots of tall buildings (I guess that’s the only similarity? Other than the number of landaus in them at the same trime). It is much more spectacular than palenque, with really tall, intact temples rising out over the canopy of the dense rainforest. From the top of the one we stayed on for an hour or 2 (mundo perdido) we could see spidermonkeys and toucans. Yeh toucans . that made me so happy.
We got kicked out at 7 pm, witht eh sun still not set, as the park was closing. We headed over for some chicken and rice (allegedly staple in guat according to the brits) and it was delicious. I don’t think i´ve seen a portion of meat that large since we hit some roadkill. It was like a breast and a wing but yeh – brilliant.
The next morning at 430 am we rose for a sunrise tour. Costs $15 aussie but worth it with guide luis. We trekked through the dark jungle seeing scorpions and toads, then climbed temple 4 to look out over the rest of the ruins with the mist fading away as the sun rose. Spectacular. As it got lighter, the birds chirped up and woke the other animals, including the mighty howler monkeys which boomed an impressive voice over tikal (which means the place of echoes – hence louder monkeys). It sounded like there were about 10 male howlers, but there were only 2, alledgely, according to luis.
The rest of the morning was spent jetting around the rest of the sight learning about the customs, the reasons the different `pyramids were built, the restorations, the fauna the flora, everything. We saw more toucans, crocs, turtles, heaps of birds , toucans, toucanettes (little toucans!) and more scorpions. Awesome. We got back for 10 am, for a well deserved brekky before shower. We intended to walk back into the park, but it takes 20 mins to walk there, so we figured it wasn’t worth it. So we sat in the sun, wrote postcards and had a specially prepared Yorkshire brew. Ben y toby headed off for a canopy tour on zip lines.
We hopped on the bus back to flores where I am now. On the bus we met some American girls who are fairly well traveled, and on holidays from teaching in LA: we had lunch with them (chicken and rice). Ti more expensive here than mexico. About $5 aussie for chicken and rice, and about $2.5 for a beer. Accommodation is cheaper though, and transportation will be too. Our bus tonight is to rio dulce, a town on the river which is at the start of a canyon to Livingston, a rasta town on the coast accessible only by boat. Nice, boats. So feeling a little weary after four 6am or earlier starts, but may sleep in a little tomorrow for the germany game at 10 am.
From Livingston, we will likely head up through belize tot eh Yucatan.
2.5 weeks to go.
xo
posted by ben at 7:34 AM
1 comments
Saturday, June 24, 2006
puerto on to oaxaca
moved on to puerto escondido from acapulco. it was a lot smaller than i anticipated. its a surfers haven with huge waves on the large beach, and then smaller waves on a few smaller onesa around the headland. a bit further down the coast, the rip curl championships were on, but i didnt manage to get don there. our entertainment consisted of loungind around during the very hot days and going to the beach in the afternoon when it started to get cooler. the beach was lovely and enclosed, with a boog break for surfers, but mostly we just sat around adn read or kicked a ball around or chatted. it was very relaxing. i tended to cook for myself, which was really nice for a change, because i could get some nutricious ungreasy food which was gentle on my belly. it was cheaper too, as the restaurants in teh area were quite overpriced.
last night we headed to the mercado and picked up meat, fish and vegies for a gigantic feast for 10 people. it was so much fun chopping everything up and cooking it all together while having a beer and then watermelon afterwards. it was all very civilised and so relaxing in the reletive cool of the night. we went out for a few drinks later on, and danced till about 430, before diverting past he beach for a sunrise swim till about 6. it was so pleasant out. i think the best night in mexico so far.
headed up to oaxaca today. probably could have stayed a few more days in puerto, but its also nice to move on. oaxaca in a colonial crafty town, but not as inviting as guanajuato or san miguel )its also a lot larger). might stay here tonight and tomorrow and then head on the night bus to san cristobal high up in the mountiains where its meant to be quite cold. i tell you, oaxaca{s reletivly cool at about 22 degreas compared to maybe 30 and so humid down in puerto.
feelign sleepy now, i think i might retire to our lightless room for a snooze.
last night we headed to the mercado and picked up meat, fish and vegies for a gigantic feast for 10 people. it was so much fun chopping everything up and cooking it all together while having a beer and then watermelon afterwards. it was all very civilised and so relaxing in the reletive cool of the night. we went out for a few drinks later on, and danced till about 430, before diverting past he beach for a sunrise swim till about 6. it was so pleasant out. i think the best night in mexico so far.
headed up to oaxaca today. probably could have stayed a few more days in puerto, but its also nice to move on. oaxaca in a colonial crafty town, but not as inviting as guanajuato or san miguel )its also a lot larger). might stay here tonight and tomorrow and then head on the night bus to san cristobal high up in the mountiains where its meant to be quite cold. i tell you, oaxaca{s reletivly cool at about 22 degreas compared to maybe 30 and so humid down in puerto.
feelign sleepy now, i think i might retire to our lightless room for a snooze.
posted by ben at 1:19 PM
1 comments
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
thankyou babelfish
In English: we felt it, there are no flights or tariffs available for part of your trip please it selects to another potion and intentalo again |
posted by ben at 12:06 PM
0 comments
fin
| well, blogger has decided it doesnt like me anymore. And it wont let me post pictures. Why is it so tempremental. Or just mental. Oh well, i´ve wasted about 3 hours here at the internet café. Time to get off to better places like the bus station and then the bus to Puerto Escondido. Ooh, I might check the hostel – the mayflower. Well, adios amigos. Write more from the toad. |
posted by ben at 11:47 AM
0 comments
toet
it was hot on that pyramid ok?this is teotihitican (but probably spelt it incorrectly). and i am standing on the pyramind del sol. old site of huge pyramids. awesome views, big climbs, good mates.
posted by ben at 11:33 AM
1 comments
museo d anthrolopogia
this is at the museum of anthropology. there is a central roof supported by this one concrete pillar in the centre. amazing, and water flows from it.
posted by ben at 11:24 AM
1 comments
yanks and mariachis
this first photo is of one of the many mariachi bands in garibaldi square in mexico city. they are a group of between 3 and 6 say with at least a violin and a guitar if not a trumpet, tombone, bass, another guitar, singer, piano accordian, and drums. they ask passing couples or groups if they´d like to buy a song, and then play for them. i got there a bit early, so headed down further into the dodgy part of town to a cantina whihc is a bar full of men where women arent welcome, basically. its usually cheap and simple and it was pretty dark and dank.... i drank some beers and watched futbol highlights until it was about 9 and then headed back to the square, a little tipsy, so that i could watch the mariachis. awesome sight. some wear proper embroidered sombreros and full length woven ponchos, but at the least they wear white or balck suits with silver bondage straps down the side, and a white 10 gallon. 
this is nate (californian, heading down to guatemala to learn spanish), myself and 2 frenchies. after garibaldi and the mariachis i headed with these 3 ( i think i was the 4th wheel) out for a drink in teh zocalo. we ran into a group of architecture students who we took with us to 7-11,a dn then they took us to their penthouse (not quite) apratment and view over the city from the balcony. this the the photo below. you can see the back of the church int eh zocalo lit up.
posted by ben at 10:02 AM
0 comments
hilarious cobber!
gangster tours! holy shite! not going to cut these brothers off in traffic are ya? might just pop a meHicana cap in yo ass.
most of the taxis in mexico city are green and white bugs. cool. rode in a few. though have ridden in more white and blue or red ones here in acapulco.
yep. the water is not always drinkable.
posted by ben at 9:39 AM
0 comments
belles, marias tortillas
aaaaalright! this is the belles artes, which was built as a kind of renaissance building i think (though its art nouveua, whatever, it looks renaissancy to me). it houses the opera when it comes to town )carmina burana when i was there), and is made of italian marble. inside there are some awesome murals by diego rivera. one features marx (he was a fierce leninist - right word?) which was torn down from teh rockefeller centre in new york after it was commissioned by the rock himself. rivera remuraled it here in the belles artes.the interior is cool as well, a kind of art deco with mexican ancient gods. cool.
this is the cathedral which is tall and nice and cool. it was built in 1847 at the height of the Great Tortilla Shortage of the 1800´s. from out the front carrieges would pick up truckloads (or carriageloads) or tortillas shipped fromt eh north to take south to the starving families. the cathedral is called Ave Maria or something and led to the modern phrase ´marias tortillas´- or ´jeez this taco is taking a long time´.
ok, the cathedral history isnt true, i just went in there cos it was nice, and it was cool.
posted by ben at 9:23 AM
0 comments
taksin
aaaaaaaaaaaaah a photo!!!!!!yes! it worked! alright (little dance in crowded internet cafe!)
here i am with time to kill in an internet cafe waiting for a bus. i just missed the one i was aiming for and so i´ll have to catch the one in 5 hours! i guess that means i get some emailing done, and you get to see some photos!
this one is of the crowd at the protest i attended in mexico city. i think they were wanting more rights for their union of miners (not under 16s). and they were yelling about it. and they had bands out and their red flags, waiving them around. and there were riot police.... eating ice creams. i dont think they were too worried. maybe i should try and find a riot or rally wherever i go - remember the taksin one in thailand sammy... he he.
hopefully i´ll eb able to get more piccys up!
posted by ben at 9:14 AM
0 comments
acapulco
aaah, why wont the photos load!
anyway, headed from san miguel, where i´d spent a day with isaace, tim, kari and ryan down to acapulco. before i forget - san miguel was a fantastic little town. we were suprised when we emerged from watching the brazil aus game (damn!) that there was a huge parade on, so we foudn a hostel, and went to watch. there were people dressed up in all sorts of costumes with masks, throwing lollies, tshirts etc. great atmostphere. we headed out to see more of the town that arvo, witha american couple, and watched some bullfighting on tv.
acapulco is drearily horrible. its hot adn humid, and there is pollution everywhere. as i was walking down to the street yesterday i felt uncomfortable for the first time in mexico. but its day now and looks a bit better. not as hazy as this morning, and not as depressing. still i think i´ll move on to puerto escondido tonihgt. i will try and get some photos up!
anyway, headed from san miguel, where i´d spent a day with isaace, tim, kari and ryan down to acapulco. before i forget - san miguel was a fantastic little town. we were suprised when we emerged from watching the brazil aus game (damn!) that there was a huge parade on, so we foudn a hostel, and went to watch. there were people dressed up in all sorts of costumes with masks, throwing lollies, tshirts etc. great atmostphere. we headed out to see more of the town that arvo, witha american couple, and watched some bullfighting on tv.
acapulco is drearily horrible. its hot adn humid, and there is pollution everywhere. as i was walking down to the street yesterday i felt uncomfortable for the first time in mexico. but its day now and looks a bit better. not as hazy as this morning, and not as depressing. still i think i´ll move on to puerto escondido tonihgt. i will try and get some photos up!
posted by ben at 1:16 AM
0 comments
Sunday, June 18, 2006
guanajuato3
still in guanajuato, but i will head to acapulco tonight. I really wanted to head to some of the more remote beaches closer to here but i´m not sure that its worth it. i´m regretting my purchase of the rough guide in favour of the travel boible. the rough guide has been renamed the rough and sarcastic guide, though it could also go by the names negative or depressing. it sets some places up as sounding really nice and then shoots them down later in the paragraph. i start readong about a place and then by the end of the paragraph i dont want to go there! its kinda funny.
i´m using the internet in the bottom of this hostel and somewhere som,eone is watching a show about men learning to strip, in a sort of dancing with the stars kinda american show. how i know this is that they are playing the soundtrack (with the men bitching about each ohters weight) on full blast over the stereo system. just thought you should know.
feeling a bit better now, but had another dodgy meal down at the market. its hard to find pretty plain food, and even the ham sandwich this morning was a bit dodge.
went out for a drink with isaac and another aussie last night to some cheap student bar and met som,e ´local´americans who are doing a volunteer kinda thing. ended up in some of the coolest mexican student bars hving a great time. it was kinda weird though. we hund around in the beautiful square for a while.
anyway, i´ll catch that bus tonight and get into acapulco tomorrow morning. for now i´m going to climb that hill above the town for a view and check out fo the hostel.
for now, adios.
i´m using the internet in the bottom of this hostel and somewhere som,eone is watching a show about men learning to strip, in a sort of dancing with the stars kinda american show. how i know this is that they are playing the soundtrack (with the men bitching about each ohters weight) on full blast over the stereo system. just thought you should know.
feeling a bit better now, but had another dodgy meal down at the market. its hard to find pretty plain food, and even the ham sandwich this morning was a bit dodge.
went out for a drink with isaac and another aussie last night to some cheap student bar and met som,e ´local´americans who are doing a volunteer kinda thing. ended up in some of the coolest mexican student bars hving a great time. it was kinda weird though. we hund around in the beautiful square for a while.
anyway, i´ll catch that bus tonight and get into acapulco tomorrow morning. for now i´m going to climb that hill above the town for a view and check out fo the hostel.
for now, adios.
posted by ben at 3:08 AM
0 comments
Saturday, June 17, 2006
guanajauto2
well ,i arrived in guanajuato this morning. it is a beautiful old unesco listed heritage city, with winding spanish streets. it does remind me a lot of old european castle cities. there are no traffic lights or neon signs and its all very old school. we arrived just in tim to see mexico draw with angola in an exciting game, before having a snooze and seeing a few of the sights. i love getting lost in these new cities!
tonight we will have some tea and then head out on a student run ´city walk´ which i´m not entirely sure what it is, but i´ll let you know. ben may drink or not, as he is still feeling like montezuma has a grip on his belly. urgh.
i think i´ll move on tomorrow to guadalajara and then the coast or even possibly straight to acapulco where i hope to meet up with british dan. isaac is heaps of fun at the moment though.
will report back later.
tonight we will have some tea and then head out on a student run ´city walk´ which i´m not entirely sure what it is, but i´ll let you know. ben may drink or not, as he is still feeling like montezuma has a grip on his belly. urgh.
i think i´ll move on tomorrow to guadalajara and then the coast or even possibly straight to acapulco where i hope to meet up with british dan. isaac is heaps of fun at the moment though.
will report back later.
posted by ben at 10:40 AM
0 comments
Thursday, June 15, 2006
teotihuetican
went out to the pyramid complex today with 4 friend who i might travel on with. was lots of fun, but now i am exhausted, and will probably get some street tacos before la cama
photos later
photos later
posted by ben at 11:30 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
pic
alive.just found out that the bus to merida is 26 hours. shit. thinking of going another direction and then flying out of cancun. everything more expensive than i thought it would be. not as expensive as australia, but transport is not cheap. or maybe it is and i', being tight. anyway, its stressing me out a bit. i think i'll just go with the flow and hopefully get a flight later, when i decide what i want to do. met some cool guys today, and will go to teotihuacan tomorro.
nice to have clean clothes.
posted by ben at 10:49 AM
0 comments
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
1 day in the mex
phew! i can´t believe its only been one day! i did so much and i really felt i explored mexico city! i wandered round the zolcalo or square a couple of times, got lost in the markets, sought refuge from the noise and heat in the cathedrals, ate all kinds of street food, and then last night, got unexpectedly invited to a penthouse for drinks.
its pretty hot in the sun, and i had to buy some new sunnies, as mine broke in the journey. also need to buy a hat today, not sure if i can pull off the big texan 10 gallons the mexicans wear. or maybe a huge embroidered sombrero.
my bag arrived too! no more wearing the same smelly clothes - i think its been at least 50 hours in the same boxers. i probably should ahve bought somehting. anyway, its all here now. if only i´d taken the advice of the woman in melbourne and carried on everything (minus the scissors).
went and had a drink near garibaldi square while waiting for the mariachi bands to turn up. there are 4-7 piece bands who serenade couples for money. when i turned up at about 8 they were milling around waiting for some lovers (i probably would have given it a shot, but i was arone (so roneree! so roneree! so roneree and roneree arone!)). so i headed off down this dodgy street to a mexican bar where i ordered my beer (un grande sol por favor) and got complementary chip things with spicy dips. i was interested in this bar from teh outset cos the bar lady was absolutely huge and the owner had an awesome moustache. plus they were playing world cup highlights.
anyway, after a while they switched over to mexican soaps and i couldnt understand a thing.
i then wandered, tipsy, back through the dark streets, pulling myself up to look tougher, to plaza garibaldi. there the mariachis were mostly still just milling around, talking to each other, but some were serenading some couples and i had a perve for a bit. twas quite good. also tried some traditional pulque at the pulqueria. kind of like alcoholic milky soy juice with other fruit flavors. quite unappetising.
i found out that the walk back was a haven for pickpockets, so again pulled myself up big and strong and wandered off into the night. picked up some beer on the way then went back and watched a movie at the backpackers.
i got talking to this american guy called nate (who was good looking and had brains to match) who was trying to tune this french girl. i ended up being invited on a romantic stroll around the zocalo with them to a) keep the french girl´s french friend occupied so nate could do his dirty work and b) because i was the aussie with the beer.
we ran into a huge group of students on a study program. we got talking adn they invited us back to their 4 star penthouse balcony overlooking the square and cathedral. yes please.
they ended up being architechture students studying in new york from all over america, central america and spain, who were doing a summer course travelling around mexico. i was talking to one girl who had decided she would do all her courses outside of the university, so she was going to go on exchange to the manhattan univeristy next year, rome in spring and then russia i think, the next summer. alice would have been peeved.
we then walked home (after nate decided he wasnt going to get no croissant), and he tried to convince me to go to guatamala with him the next morning. although i know i said if i met up with people who i got on with i´d try and fit in with their plans to make it work out, but i decided not to becuae a) i dont want to change my plans this early for a guy who calls me meat (i think hes trying to say mate in an aussie way) and b) cos hes quite frankly, in the words of brotown, a dick.
today is museum of anthropology day (it was closed yesterday)
oh, and did i mention i took part in a huge unionist rally too? oh well. another time.
oh, and i got my bag back - i freakin rule!
love to all.
its pretty hot in the sun, and i had to buy some new sunnies, as mine broke in the journey. also need to buy a hat today, not sure if i can pull off the big texan 10 gallons the mexicans wear. or maybe a huge embroidered sombrero.
my bag arrived too! no more wearing the same smelly clothes - i think its been at least 50 hours in the same boxers. i probably should ahve bought somehting. anyway, its all here now. if only i´d taken the advice of the woman in melbourne and carried on everything (minus the scissors).
went and had a drink near garibaldi square while waiting for the mariachi bands to turn up. there are 4-7 piece bands who serenade couples for money. when i turned up at about 8 they were milling around waiting for some lovers (i probably would have given it a shot, but i was arone (so roneree! so roneree! so roneree and roneree arone!)). so i headed off down this dodgy street to a mexican bar where i ordered my beer (un grande sol por favor) and got complementary chip things with spicy dips. i was interested in this bar from teh outset cos the bar lady was absolutely huge and the owner had an awesome moustache. plus they were playing world cup highlights.
anyway, after a while they switched over to mexican soaps and i couldnt understand a thing.
i then wandered, tipsy, back through the dark streets, pulling myself up to look tougher, to plaza garibaldi. there the mariachis were mostly still just milling around, talking to each other, but some were serenading some couples and i had a perve for a bit. twas quite good. also tried some traditional pulque at the pulqueria. kind of like alcoholic milky soy juice with other fruit flavors. quite unappetising.
i found out that the walk back was a haven for pickpockets, so again pulled myself up big and strong and wandered off into the night. picked up some beer on the way then went back and watched a movie at the backpackers.
i got talking to this american guy called nate (who was good looking and had brains to match) who was trying to tune this french girl. i ended up being invited on a romantic stroll around the zocalo with them to a) keep the french girl´s french friend occupied so nate could do his dirty work and b) because i was the aussie with the beer.
we ran into a huge group of students on a study program. we got talking adn they invited us back to their 4 star penthouse balcony overlooking the square and cathedral. yes please.
they ended up being architechture students studying in new york from all over america, central america and spain, who were doing a summer course travelling around mexico. i was talking to one girl who had decided she would do all her courses outside of the university, so she was going to go on exchange to the manhattan univeristy next year, rome in spring and then russia i think, the next summer. alice would have been peeved.
we then walked home (after nate decided he wasnt going to get no croissant), and he tried to convince me to go to guatamala with him the next morning. although i know i said if i met up with people who i got on with i´d try and fit in with their plans to make it work out, but i decided not to becuae a) i dont want to change my plans this early for a guy who calls me meat (i think hes trying to say mate in an aussie way) and b) cos hes quite frankly, in the words of brotown, a dick.
today is museum of anthropology day (it was closed yesterday)
oh, and did i mention i took part in a huge unionist rally too? oh well. another time.
oh, and i got my bag back - i freakin rule!
love to all.
posted by ben at 10:50 PM
0 comments
Monday, June 12, 2006
mexico
numbers
30 hours awake
1 bag lost
4 airbourne jumps in a beetle from the airport
1 smelly ben
but it seems like a great place
i had long stopovers and annoying americans, gay couples who dress alike, possibly the hairiest man sitting next to me on the plane, funny airline food, freddy the taxi driver who thought he could speak english but really only answered 'oh very good' to everything i said. and when i caught on, i said things like 'i lost my bag' and my wife , she is dead'. he he
anyway, i'm tired but alive, think i'll go find my bed and zonk out.
i'll watch australia play tomorrow too.
snore/
30 hours awake
1 bag lost
4 airbourne jumps in a beetle from the airport
1 smelly ben
but it seems like a great place
i had long stopovers and annoying americans, gay couples who dress alike, possibly the hairiest man sitting next to me on the plane, funny airline food, freddy the taxi driver who thought he could speak english but really only answered 'oh very good' to everything i said. and when i caught on, i said things like 'i lost my bag' and my wife , she is dead'. he he
anyway, i'm tired but alive, think i'll go find my bed and zonk out.
i'll watch australia play tomorrow too.
snore/
posted by ben at 4:14 PM
1 comments
Saturday, June 10, 2006
mexico map
here are my current travel plans.each colour is a differnt week. so 5 colours makes 5 weeks. the pink is split because i dont know whether ei'll go baha or mainland. and its not final. but yeh. frickin sweet
posted by ben at 5:29 PM
0 comments
Thursday, June 08, 2006
arrogant reflective
Luminare – Ben Landau
My intention at the start of this project was to examine my design process, and I began in the first 2 weeks with this in mind. I clearly stated that the object would be to know my strengths and weaknesses, what I enjoyed and what I could improve on specifically. Unfortunately through this aim, I lost sight of the project. It was almost as if by examining myself I couldn’t also do the project well. I need to learn about my designing or design, but I can’t do it consciously at once. Below I describe my journey through this project as best I can.
I was sure I had a great idea when I thought about designing a sensual lamp. It was something I knew I would have to nut out, not just a form or an idea1, but a heady combination of the two. With encouragement from Kate, I knew I wanted something unique. I’ve only once produced something (a tape dispenser) I had so much faith in that I couldn’t improve it. But its strength was its form. I wanted this sensual lamps form and idea to be its obvious strengths.
I jumped to quick conclusions with a form and idea. This was because I thought I wanted to have it over with in 2 weeks. The form was simple and intentionally so – I wanted it to be innocent when off and hot when on. The purpose of this lamp was more sexual than sensual, and at the end of the 2 weeks when I decided to carry on with the luminare, I changed this approach.
I was really stuck in a rut of my finality of the design after the 2 weeks. What I had there could be built but was a flawed beautiful idea in that it had the function but not an exciting form. I didn’t realise it at the time, but the final product was just the 2 week progress plus a sexy form change. So what does that say about progress? Two weeks to get somewhere and then another 8 to get a little bit further. Perhaps I need to work another year on it before I have gestalt2.
The sketches followed, with further sexy line-work. Kate suggested I take a larger drawing space and really loosen up. What resulted was a curly thrown sheet form, which I then took into cad and tried to describe in 3D. I guess this side step was a bit of a departure from the aim of producing a lamp – but I was happy to go on a tangent. In the meantime I thought up names for the different characteristics of thrown clothes, which I photographed. Billows are where air is trapped in an area and it catches it like a sail, flickbacks occur when a narrow part (shirt sleeve) is flicked around in the opposite direction to the direction it’s travelling – and there were a few more. I had this idea that shedding of clothes was a very sensual process, however the throwing of clothes is more passionate and sexual, and also reminded Kate of a business shirt which is discarded at the end of the day.
I combined these ideas into a paper Mache model of a thrown sheet, which is similar to the 3D model. I didn’t use this, but it was an interesting way of getting a cool form quite quickly through a reasonably rudimentary method.
It was time to get serious about the idea of the lamp. So I wrote up some surveys which I asked crumpeteers to fill out. The results were a mix of concepts I was already aware of, and absolute gold. Though I felt I couldn’t do anything with a lot of the gold. One respondent described kissing a lover on the nape of the neck. I knew this was something which is incredibly sensual and gentle, but I couldn’t rationalise a form or idea which demonstrated this very personal but common practice. I thought about creating long exposure shots with glow in the dark body paint or LEDs attached to the skin to provide a path to and from the neck, but these were methods of achieving something so far strung from the idea that it couldn’t be reasonably interpreted.
From my own build up of knowledge and thoughts from the survey, as well as a concept of where I wanted to head, with Kate, we figured out a life plan. This was basically a way of mapping the ideas which were already bouncing around and restricting where I wanted them to go. We sorted out the plethora of thoughts and realised them in a mapping manifesto which resulted in aims of passion, expression, unification, participatory, and using lace as a material.
Participatory design was a concept which confused me. I now know it’s where the user has a say in the design process, and in a way it’s asking the people who will use it to shape what ti will become. I initially thought it was a way of designing the object to integrate the users own desires later on in the process. In this way I dreamed of a lamp which would be shaped by the user to something which was sensual for them, as I knew that sensuality is something extremely personal. I thought of a resin which is impregnated in the fabric and then is set with a spray of catalyst. I knew of superglue which worked on this chemistry, but couldn’t find a cheap, non toxic alternative for me to try. Alternatives were sandwiching wire to the fabric to allow it to be shaped. However these ‘designs’ skipped the step of actually being designed. It was as if I was giving up on finding something universally sensual that I was leaving it up to the user.
Eventually I saw this road leading to slack design, and almost cheating. I knew that I either went down this road or left it completely out of the final design and I chose the latter.
With the new aims of passion, expression, unification, and using lace as a material; I set out sketching my ideas. I loved this part, as I decided I would not restrict myself to fine liner and markers, or pastels and so experimented with other mediums such as Jovi, single colour pencils, charcoal and paper sculptures. I was melting my previous experience of lace, material, form, function and the idea together in my sketches. I really wanted this Gestalt, and to achieve it, I knew that I needed to move to the real thing.
With previous thoughts of participatory design in mind, I scouted around for techniques to fix material. I didn’t want to change the colour or the diffuse nature of the material, but I was interested in it being quite strong and stiff. I settled on the least expensive and non toxic alternative, which was PVA mixed with water. Instead of dipping the material into the PVA, which might result in over soaking it, runs, and ticker spots down the bottom, I chose to spray it from a typical gardening mister.
The models began with using no lace and draping poly pop over two blue foam shoulders. I tried to make the shoulders manlier, with breadth and slightly sloping. I felt it should look like a sheet draped over the shoulders, but the material tended to suck in where there should have been a chest, and the end result looked like a skinny guy wearing a toga. To give it some oomph, I added lace in a bodice type arrangement and draped a sheet over that with some sort of caring a holding action about it. I spent a long time pinning the fabric. In later models I would stretch fishing line over the room pinned to the sheets to create that thrown look.
In the next two experiments I used lace again, and draped thicker material around the body of a lovely volunteer - Susanne to manikin. Although minimally curvy, she gave a subtle womanly air to the now bodice like lamp, and really made it easier to believe that it was a sensual lamp, not a neo-toga like drapery. Her lack of legs also proved useful as the lamps were more compact.
The lighting saga took me to the environment shop in Northcote, where I intended on buying a dimmer, but found that you must also buy a dimming compact fluorescent. In total I worked out that the time and effort to get it dimmable was not worth in. in fact I was overcome by my silliness that I should allow people to change the ambience that I had created. I had departed from my all loving-create-it-how-you-want-to-create-it designer type to the neo Nazi which wants nothing but complete control. It was an all or nothing movement. The result of which is a lack of dimming, and the purchase of a 60W equivalent globe. There were weaker globes available, but I figured I’d need to work with some light before I diffused it.
One of the hardest parts of the home stretch was finding the right colour to match the effect I wanted. I had a rose, orange and red gels. I almost straightaway crossed out the red as too sickly slutty. The orange and the rose both gave nice effects, but nothing which was completely desirable. However, by combining them, and staring at the lamp for hours on end, I have found a mix of the two which is quite effective.
In the final stages of the design process I found the decisions between very similar forms and colour difficult. Two of the lamp diffuser models which I made were quite desirable, but each had its faults. I ended up going with my gut feel (against the view of my female friends). I chose one which had more of an embracing feel to it, and which was not as scrappily put together. I think the quite crude manufacture process has limitations in the final complete finish of the lamp.
Overall I am surprised how much I am still interested in this lamp after spending so long with it. I like the way it hangs seemingly in mid air. I like the diffuse glow, but even more I like the ‘light shadow’ the un-diffused light which falls on the ground underneath the lamp when the light is the only source in the room. In some way it replaces a shadow which would normally be there. The lamp is sensual. Need more be said? That initial aim of reviewing the process fell to second place this time. I know now though, I can’t always want my gestalt from the outset. I need to use materials which my lamp will need earlier, and I need to think more critically about my own work.
Glossary
1: Idea – the meaning or emotional purpose of the object. Achieved through its form, use and function.
2: Gestalt – Literally meaning shape or form. However I use like Betty Edwards uses it (Drawing on the right side of the brain). In her book, Dr. Edwards uses gestalt as the final complete coming together of a drawing. It’s when the steps which have been put in place fall together to produce the drawing - not magically, but because the process works. If gestalt is achieved then the drawing or design process is perfect. Gestalt is the forming of a perfect idea through a perfect process. That’s a very superlative way of looking at something. If you see an object, and you know what the designer wants you to know, that designer has achieved gestalt. I guess some sort of gestalt could be attributed to form as well. Gestalt is personal. For me some droog, Dutch and Scandinavian design achieves gestalt. It’s that feeling in your belly when you know something is uber-cool.
My intention at the start of this project was to examine my design process, and I began in the first 2 weeks with this in mind. I clearly stated that the object would be to know my strengths and weaknesses, what I enjoyed and what I could improve on specifically. Unfortunately through this aim, I lost sight of the project. It was almost as if by examining myself I couldn’t also do the project well. I need to learn about my designing or design, but I can’t do it consciously at once. Below I describe my journey through this project as best I can.
I was sure I had a great idea when I thought about designing a sensual lamp. It was something I knew I would have to nut out, not just a form or an idea1, but a heady combination of the two. With encouragement from Kate, I knew I wanted something unique. I’ve only once produced something (a tape dispenser) I had so much faith in that I couldn’t improve it. But its strength was its form. I wanted this sensual lamps form and idea to be its obvious strengths.
I jumped to quick conclusions with a form and idea. This was because I thought I wanted to have it over with in 2 weeks. The form was simple and intentionally so – I wanted it to be innocent when off and hot when on. The purpose of this lamp was more sexual than sensual, and at the end of the 2 weeks when I decided to carry on with the luminare, I changed this approach.
I was really stuck in a rut of my finality of the design after the 2 weeks. What I had there could be built but was a flawed beautiful idea in that it had the function but not an exciting form. I didn’t realise it at the time, but the final product was just the 2 week progress plus a sexy form change. So what does that say about progress? Two weeks to get somewhere and then another 8 to get a little bit further. Perhaps I need to work another year on it before I have gestalt2.
The sketches followed, with further sexy line-work. Kate suggested I take a larger drawing space and really loosen up. What resulted was a curly thrown sheet form, which I then took into cad and tried to describe in 3D. I guess this side step was a bit of a departure from the aim of producing a lamp – but I was happy to go on a tangent. In the meantime I thought up names for the different characteristics of thrown clothes, which I photographed. Billows are where air is trapped in an area and it catches it like a sail, flickbacks occur when a narrow part (shirt sleeve) is flicked around in the opposite direction to the direction it’s travelling – and there were a few more. I had this idea that shedding of clothes was a very sensual process, however the throwing of clothes is more passionate and sexual, and also reminded Kate of a business shirt which is discarded at the end of the day.
I combined these ideas into a paper Mache model of a thrown sheet, which is similar to the 3D model. I didn’t use this, but it was an interesting way of getting a cool form quite quickly through a reasonably rudimentary method.
It was time to get serious about the idea of the lamp. So I wrote up some surveys which I asked crumpeteers to fill out. The results were a mix of concepts I was already aware of, and absolute gold. Though I felt I couldn’t do anything with a lot of the gold. One respondent described kissing a lover on the nape of the neck. I knew this was something which is incredibly sensual and gentle, but I couldn’t rationalise a form or idea which demonstrated this very personal but common practice. I thought about creating long exposure shots with glow in the dark body paint or LEDs attached to the skin to provide a path to and from the neck, but these were methods of achieving something so far strung from the idea that it couldn’t be reasonably interpreted.
From my own build up of knowledge and thoughts from the survey, as well as a concept of where I wanted to head, with Kate, we figured out a life plan. This was basically a way of mapping the ideas which were already bouncing around and restricting where I wanted them to go. We sorted out the plethora of thoughts and realised them in a mapping manifesto which resulted in aims of passion, expression, unification, participatory, and using lace as a material.
Participatory design was a concept which confused me. I now know it’s where the user has a say in the design process, and in a way it’s asking the people who will use it to shape what ti will become. I initially thought it was a way of designing the object to integrate the users own desires later on in the process. In this way I dreamed of a lamp which would be shaped by the user to something which was sensual for them, as I knew that sensuality is something extremely personal. I thought of a resin which is impregnated in the fabric and then is set with a spray of catalyst. I knew of superglue which worked on this chemistry, but couldn’t find a cheap, non toxic alternative for me to try. Alternatives were sandwiching wire to the fabric to allow it to be shaped. However these ‘designs’ skipped the step of actually being designed. It was as if I was giving up on finding something universally sensual that I was leaving it up to the user.
Eventually I saw this road leading to slack design, and almost cheating. I knew that I either went down this road or left it completely out of the final design and I chose the latter.
With the new aims of passion, expression, unification, and using lace as a material; I set out sketching my ideas. I loved this part, as I decided I would not restrict myself to fine liner and markers, or pastels and so experimented with other mediums such as Jovi, single colour pencils, charcoal and paper sculptures. I was melting my previous experience of lace, material, form, function and the idea together in my sketches. I really wanted this Gestalt, and to achieve it, I knew that I needed to move to the real thing.
With previous thoughts of participatory design in mind, I scouted around for techniques to fix material. I didn’t want to change the colour or the diffuse nature of the material, but I was interested in it being quite strong and stiff. I settled on the least expensive and non toxic alternative, which was PVA mixed with water. Instead of dipping the material into the PVA, which might result in over soaking it, runs, and ticker spots down the bottom, I chose to spray it from a typical gardening mister.
The models began with using no lace and draping poly pop over two blue foam shoulders. I tried to make the shoulders manlier, with breadth and slightly sloping. I felt it should look like a sheet draped over the shoulders, but the material tended to suck in where there should have been a chest, and the end result looked like a skinny guy wearing a toga. To give it some oomph, I added lace in a bodice type arrangement and draped a sheet over that with some sort of caring a holding action about it. I spent a long time pinning the fabric. In later models I would stretch fishing line over the room pinned to the sheets to create that thrown look.
In the next two experiments I used lace again, and draped thicker material around the body of a lovely volunteer - Susanne to manikin. Although minimally curvy, she gave a subtle womanly air to the now bodice like lamp, and really made it easier to believe that it was a sensual lamp, not a neo-toga like drapery. Her lack of legs also proved useful as the lamps were more compact.
The lighting saga took me to the environment shop in Northcote, where I intended on buying a dimmer, but found that you must also buy a dimming compact fluorescent. In total I worked out that the time and effort to get it dimmable was not worth in. in fact I was overcome by my silliness that I should allow people to change the ambience that I had created. I had departed from my all loving-create-it-how-you-want-to-create-it designer type to the neo Nazi which wants nothing but complete control. It was an all or nothing movement. The result of which is a lack of dimming, and the purchase of a 60W equivalent globe. There were weaker globes available, but I figured I’d need to work with some light before I diffused it.
One of the hardest parts of the home stretch was finding the right colour to match the effect I wanted. I had a rose, orange and red gels. I almost straightaway crossed out the red as too sickly slutty. The orange and the rose both gave nice effects, but nothing which was completely desirable. However, by combining them, and staring at the lamp for hours on end, I have found a mix of the two which is quite effective.
In the final stages of the design process I found the decisions between very similar forms and colour difficult. Two of the lamp diffuser models which I made were quite desirable, but each had its faults. I ended up going with my gut feel (against the view of my female friends). I chose one which had more of an embracing feel to it, and which was not as scrappily put together. I think the quite crude manufacture process has limitations in the final complete finish of the lamp.
Overall I am surprised how much I am still interested in this lamp after spending so long with it. I like the way it hangs seemingly in mid air. I like the diffuse glow, but even more I like the ‘light shadow’ the un-diffused light which falls on the ground underneath the lamp when the light is the only source in the room. In some way it replaces a shadow which would normally be there. The lamp is sensual. Need more be said? That initial aim of reviewing the process fell to second place this time. I know now though, I can’t always want my gestalt from the outset. I need to use materials which my lamp will need earlier, and I need to think more critically about my own work.
Glossary
1: Idea – the meaning or emotional purpose of the object. Achieved through its form, use and function.
2: Gestalt – Literally meaning shape or form. However I use like Betty Edwards uses it (Drawing on the right side of the brain). In her book, Dr. Edwards uses gestalt as the final complete coming together of a drawing. It’s when the steps which have been put in place fall together to produce the drawing - not magically, but because the process works. If gestalt is achieved then the drawing or design process is perfect. Gestalt is the forming of a perfect idea through a perfect process. That’s a very superlative way of looking at something. If you see an object, and you know what the designer wants you to know, that designer has achieved gestalt. I guess some sort of gestalt could be attributed to form as well. Gestalt is personal. For me some droog, Dutch and Scandinavian design achieves gestalt. It’s that feeling in your belly when you know something is uber-cool.
posted by ben at 9:50 PM
1 comments
light shadow
here you can see the un-diffused light which falls on the ground like a reverse shadow. cool huh.
posted by ben at 9:41 PM
1 comments
colour?
pink and orange
or just orangeor pink as below
still debating over the colour
posted by ben at 3:04 PM
2 comments
Monday, June 05, 2006
new lamp
pretty happy with the form, but the colour is still a bit off. i may do another lamp with more lace. so that it doesnt look so tacky whenits on, and theres a big shear of lace cut off. so i'll wrap susanne tonight and try again. the rose gel is ncie, but can i push my friendship with the lighting guy to give me a oragey gel as well to make it even warmerdimmable cfs are $30 and plus i'd have to get an electrician to certify the lamp if i put it together, plus buyign the dimming switch. i thin i'll head over to the eniro shop tomorrow and check out lower wattage globes.
b
posted by ben at 6:20 PM
2 comments
