ChileWilly

2008-03-24T07:31:00.001-07:00

Great having Brynn out here in Cali...

how to make friends book

Like the Graden's "would you like a free Sobe?" man says, Life is Good. I started writing a book, which in my present mindset would be a great job. I am helplees and so it is categorized, of course, in the self help aisle. I'm on page eight.

Like a bad-girl Christian on Sunday, Pacfuel is cleaning up nicely. We are raising some funds to execute the bizplan.

Miss my east coast buddies, looking forward to seeing everyone again on the Fourth. We've been spoiled by Tweardy and have seen a bunch of each other in the last year, I hope we can keep it up. Willy.

wanna be illin

2007-11-27T00:32:00.000-08:00

i wrote this next piece for all you wonderful people out there who don't know how to stop. may we all learn to get along with the moss. at some point.

the center is tumultuous
outta control
an earthquake maybe
it's life on patrol

dawn to dusk
one slice of the game
rise covered in darkness eat more of the same

fuck diminishing marginal returns
not applying to my life

invest hours with myself so
my subconscious can stay sub

sink into my life like a stone flaked knife
it'll gone before you know it

Movie recommendations:

- in theaters -
no country for old men

- rentals -
the lives of others (on the slow side)
batman

WTF!?

2007-09-21T09:15:00.000-07:00

Ric Hoogestraat is married to Sue and works at a call center in the Phoenix area but spends 30 plus hours a week inside the online Second Life video game , pretending he is the digitally drawn Dutch Hoorenbeek, a six-foot-nine muscular babe magnet who lives on his own island. That unnerves Sue, according to an August Wall Street Journal profile, especially since Dutch recently 'married' a digital woman and setup housekeeping with their two digital dogs. (The real-life creater of the new Mrs. Hoorenbeek has never met Ric and says she never will.) Dutch and his wife spend hours shopping and motorcycling together, leaving Ric little time for Sue. 'Is this man cheating on his wife (meaning Sue)?' the Journal asked. Lamented Sue: "You try to talk to Ric or bring him a drink and he'll be having sex with a cartoon."

Anybody not yet heard of Second Life? check it out, totally creepy.

2007-08-28T06:15:00.001-07:00

Not that the fan base has been ravaging my inbox for new material but here comes some. News to date:
1. The arrival of Brynncess to a sleepy and tired castle. She is a much needed bright light.
2. Immediate start of a cleansing program described in earlier blogs. This one lasted the full ten days.
3. Subsequent stoppage of any colonic movement. Four solid days without BMs.
4. Rupture/Inflamation of colon/appendix. Got that little bastard sucked out my belly button and now have a ether-bottled appendix-friend.
5. The beginning of a new chapter. Organization, including the AWE-inspiring google calander and my own copy of the weekly planner from Covey's Seven Habits, is my new mantra.
6. B-Bombs is my all time hard-rockin companion. I am enjoying her company immensly and she has a homegirl visiting this weekend which will be a nice taste of the familiar for her.

Not too much exciting news here but an update nonetheless. Grub/Rogers, you are probably the only peeps who will ever see this. And so, I dedicate my blogging to you two.

Hot Warm Tea

2007-05-05T08:37:00.000-07:00

I got a dog last week who had been named Mr. T (Mr. Tea?) by his now deceased previous owner. I am completely in love, doggy style, selfishly in part because Mr. T goes with me EVERYWHERE, and I am a companion junkie. A bumper sticker revealed to me the second of many reasons Mr. Tea is the man: "May I some day be the man my dog thinks I am."

Tea is a well behaved mutt, part SPCA part Australian Shepherd with only one little synapse issue - he can't seem to control his mind when in the presence of any type of reflected light (off a watch, mirror, cell phone, etc.). Other than that he sleeps by the head of my bed, rides shotgun whenever we cruise, and is in my opinion the coolest guy around.

The Pacfuel station is gaining speed in our second week of operation. We get about two new customers per day and will have doubled our daily gallonage by next week (going from 400 a day to 800 - still pretty small numbers in the fuel business). We're hiring a friend of mine who starts work on the 14th. She'll do most of the accounting/bookkeeping that I am currently doing as well as the billing/invoicing/etc. I'm sure it will take me a few days to grow into a different position and am totally looking forward to some extra time to be able to look further ahead than a few weeks. For now, we're just taking care of the day to day. Yesterday we/a customer accidentally left the handle depressed when replacing the nozzle into the dispenser causing fuel to erupt like a oil spraying volcano the next time we authorized a sale on that pump. Very messy. I constantly smell of biodiesel and now have a half wardrobe of bioclothing which I wear when I want to look working class. I enjoy many things, and looking like I just worked a hard day is one of them.

The water is ever so slightly warming up as the swell calms down. I am finally noticing an improvement in my surfstyle abilities after nine months of weekly toil. Just in the last two sessions I've felt confident about positioning, entrance into the wave, and the initial balance right after I pop up. This is sweet as I can now worry about cutbacks, looking cool, and not hitting/dropping in on anybody else in the water.

My living quarters are as bumlike as always although my mattress sits a kingly twelve inches off the ground now. This is my parents after we tied up the bamboo perimeter beams. Love to my friends and family who keep in touch and make me feel like I too am a good friend. Let's get into more fights so we can back each other up. Will.

Day 5/Night 6 Sushi Cleanse

2007-03-25T00:30:00.000-07:00

The fake crab they put in california rolls these days compares in texture to authentic crab and is not much in the flavor department. Cali roll, seaweed salad, and miso soup composed my first authentic meal after an early withdrawl from my master cleanse. The Pink Godzilla, a town favorite for japanese food, was heavily disappointing in part because the guys behind the sushi bar didn't say hello like they usually do. The sushi was only so-so, and they called my salad an Ocean salad, which I didn't like for a lot of reasons. Very unsettling.

The good news is that I have a new hobby which I'm enjoying right now in its infant stages. The night following the third day of my master cleanse i decided to quit the opperation because a) i was consistently desirous of and constantly in the presence of delicious smelling foods b) my partners in fast ate some sushi c) it scared my mom. Mostly I felt satisfied with the duration of my cleanse so the fourth day I introduced two new drinks to my diet in attempt to restart my system. the Whole day I was surrounded by my three different drinks, the lemon drink in my nalgene, a small jar full of kombucha, and a thermos of garlic tea which my accupunturist-in-training roommate told me would start the fire in my belly. that fourth day I felt magnificently up, the most alive I've been in i don't know how long. This kombucha is a tea my buddy Raj and I have been brewing for a few months, the ginger/garlic honey tea was just tea.

That night I treated myself to the forementioned sushi, and nice Japanese draught, not Sopporo but the other one. Not Asahi either. The beer was only half way done when I noticed my breathing begin to get a little louder through my nose, a symptom which had only been getting better throughout the four days. That night more beer and more symptom. Today, introduced wine and had more cloggy nose symptom. I am now assuming that my homeopathic doctor is right in saying I have a slight allergy to brewers yeast. I was in denial for so long because it is such a fuckin sweet thing to not be allegic to. I'm still going to drink some beer though, and wine too. But in it's place on many occasions I'm going to have to switch it up, distilled shite like granddaddy Gin, Vodka, and my favorite silver Tequila will suffice. Kombucha may also be on the rise.

My new hobby deal follows directly in the words of our favorite prophet 2pac - let's change the way we eat, lets change the way we think. My kitchen is right now chilling a half gallon of local i assume very freshly squeezed goats milk, fermenting sourkraut, and stocked with veggies all locally harvested. I've been wanting to get back to my food roots since reading Michael Pollan write about the shortcomings of organicly labelled products. He suggested buying locally grown instead, the more local the better. My goat's milk was a local $16 per gallon. Yikes. I had to arrange a work/trade just to be able to afford it. Totally worth it since another thing that makes me congested cows milk, and it'll be cool to see what's involved.

Let's change the way we eat homies.
Willis.

Day 1: The Supercleanse

2007-03-20T20:16:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, 30 March. I called Big Nick on the way to work because I like checking in with him while he is also at work. We both have desk jobs. This morning he and his Cal Poly homeboy Tyler began the master cleanse - a 10 day diet restricting the victim to one drink, the lemonade, for the duration.

The lemonade is a delicious blend of cayenne, lemon juice, a short glass of water, and two spoonfuls of maple syrup. I could drink it all day. The cleanse calls for somewhere around 12 eight ounce glasses of this schpoink per day, a glass every hour or two. 2Tbs maple, lemon, and a pinch of cayenne in each. Lucky for me, that's a full bottle of premium maple syrup per day.
http://picasaweb.google.com/wilbus/BigEastLovers/photo#5031796131463991490
I jumped in with the boys, I'll keep a strict journal for medical purposes. I imagine it going like this:
Day 2 - Oh, I'm hungry.
Day 4 - My roommates are really annoying today. I especially hate all of them.
Day 5 - I now urinate lemon drink.
Day 6 - I now poo lemon drink.
I'm anticipating great bowel movements and emotional fluctuation which will be a welcome change.

My roommate Stacy fucked up her ankle today and so we looked up Cankle. Do you know what it means?

Cankle: A thick ankle, particularly one that appears to be a continuation of the calf. When they appear to form one "unit". I'm glad I know that now. Hasta manana.

fun vacuum facts

2006-12-11T19:08:00.000-08:00

if you're still checking my blog then you are one of my boredest best friends. I willl grovel until you write me a comment and fuel my fingers to type blogging tomes. I am having an enjoyable life and sustaining consistent employment ALL at the same time. God has truly blessed.

my grandpa just had his human aortic valve replaced with a porcine aortic valve, it was rough on him but will ultimately allow him to live longer. the family has been close the last week, there's nothing like family.

if you're fun loving guy go to http://picasaweb.google.com and post your all famous amos best of the bombers photos online. I have done so at ...gle.com/wilbus - check it foo and shoot me urine.

i am still in love with a beautiful princess residing alas in a land far away. airplanes are bringing my princess from her castle just in time to warmly welcome the new year. safe travels through the clouds princess..

Hey Eckhardt... Think about the future!

2006-05-22T12:25:00.000-07:00

we all tripped over to buffalo creek this past weekend for the 142nd annual music festivus. this years headliners were a funky group of hippie loved jam banders called perpetual groove. i liked the first nights band, brothers past, a lot better. subjectivity doesn't exist in our group though so we argued all night and it was delicious.

tweardy bought martin, a hundred-fifty pound piglet who smoked, spat, and fried for 14 hours on a rigged up bbq pit. around 6pm on saturday we decended on martin and, with the aid of tweardy's famous "come back" sauce, we devoured the beast. food coma and then more musica.

i have found myself a "job" which spans from mid june through september, possibly further if i am accepted into the corporate culture of happy brigade - an aspiring eco-village up in the redwoods of soquel about 10 minutes from mom and pops house.
www.happybrigade.com - check out the pics section
i was previously planning on plopping down in puerto rico but both puerto rico and i ran out of money.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/05/01/puerto.rico.shutdown.ap/index.html

a week and a half. all that is left. i shall most likely not see you until then. bueno suerte.

shining

2006-04-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

two things:

first, i can't figure out how to turn this damn underline feature off! arghhh!!

second, i'm famous bia! all my wonderful friends who never post comments and thus don't let me know how wonderful of friends they are can now see exactly how wonderful i'm is.

lots of love to my peeps who helped me get to where i am today.

xoxo.

Inside Man

2006-03-30T16:59:00.000-08:00

i'll keep this one nice and tight. i went in thinking point break bank robbery stuff which was my first mistake, i got to never raise expectations like that. i don't think i was all to blame. spike lee's flick has little substance besides two good actors and a sweet idea for a bank robbery. unfortunately (and i know you loved it peat-dog but you're a sucker for clive owen) this type of thing has been done before and it takes more than denzel to pull it off. for me, it was like mashed potatoes, a little side salad, and some bomb red wine sauce. hey! where's the @#$*ing steak!

5 of 10

The Palace of Pink

2006-03-30T16:47:00.000-08:00

Dear College,

I will miss you dearly.

Pandora

2006-03-29T18:35:00.000-08:00

V for Vendetta:

first off, i liked it. however, as a guy who prefers critique to praise i'll start with some rippage. whoever did the sound effects for this movie was either paid so much he felt that he had to give them their money worth or he just has a naturally heavy hand (mom, i would have liked to have written money in the plural but thought both moneys and adding -ies looked wrong, what's up?). i know this is based off a comic book and parts are supposed to be exagerated like in Sin City, but this was actually offensive. whenever our masked man (MM) unsheaths his daggers it sounds like a damn fencing match.
following the comic book idea, MM's vernacular is absurd so be prepared. in this story of revenge, MM's own personal hero is edmond dantes which adds a fun parallel for us to follow.

surprisingly good performance by natalie portman who steps outside of her normal cut and dry cutesie girl role. like many movies today, thirty minutes could have been trimmed, especially in the last few scenes which were an idealistic sucky mess (don't worry, spoiling is my pet peve and i promise i won't).

7 out of 10 - grilled cheese, but no tomato soup.

p.s. a new website was introduced to me by music man mark grobmyer and i wanted to share it with you guys. find it at pandora.com and feast. I just recently discovered it so am still working on the literary association, if you get it, let us know...

V is for Vermicelli

2006-03-22T06:50:00.000-08:00

Grub, Baugher, Light, Guido and I went out to the movies yesterday afternoon. Five big boys coupled with a slight drizzle really clouded up the windows and Guido's sorry excuse for an SUV couldn't really handle our man induced humidity. We were briefly startled by a following mall security guard when we parked, turns out that was HIS spot. He was suffering from some sort of scoliosis and had very bad posture which caused us to giggle at our previous nervousness. I questioned whether a security guard with back problems was really any less of a security guard but was quickly rebuffed by my movie-mates who argued against his abilities to pursue mall crooks, commonly known as runners. Very soon I shall post my first in what I'm hoping will be a long collection of blogged movie reviews. Stay Tuned ... no flipping!

Society of High

2006-02-20T08:56:00.000-08:00

The dudes and I took to Colorado last week for an all out balls to the wall ski week directly following mid-terms. We all had the same flight out there and chose "suits and sunglasses" for our clothing coordination theme. It was awesome and one chinese attendant mocked my buddy Taylor, "Oh! You so coo! You so coo wis yo sungrasses! Where your jeans? You so coo!" The next time he looked over she gave him the double hang-loose sign.

The last run of the first day I took a little tumble while trying to compete for attention with Air-Mills. A broken Radius resulted.

Hot tubs, dance clubs, sore muscle man-rubs. Snowshoes, cheap booze, late afternoon snooze.

Back now in big Lexington, another great trip come and gone. Next stop for our crew, the panhandle of Florida where class meats the coast.

my mug

2006-01-30T07:43:00.000-08:00

I just got the program that lets me share photos so here's one of me for the numerous fans. The fellow in the background is one of my best buds and volleyball superstar Johnson Bazzel who is out now with shoulder problems. The gorgeous woman is Ice Cold Stuart Swann's girlfriend Lane. Her phone number is 404-861-9192.

MyBoo

2006-01-30T07:40:00.000-08:00

Here's a pic of Brynzanimal for anyone who knows not the glory of divine. That other guy is who she hangs out with to make me look good. Thanks Hagan.

ChileWilly

2006-01-29T23:04:00.000-08:00

Excerpt from a comment on my main man Rogers Hawley's blog:

best blog ever my man, it just keeps gettin hotta! i'm sorry to say that the wi-fi song didn't stick to me the first time around. i'll keep trying for a bit. with the help of a few indentured servants i am slowly fixing all the problems in my life that weren't big enough for me to waste very precious time with are being fixed and i love it. maybe i should elevate these problems to a code level where they get done, put them on the same level today as say... watching three episodes of south park and family guy. i think i'm going to post this guy on my blog too. FUN, we'll be sharing! later skater. W.

LexLand

2006-01-27T07:43:00.000-08:00

We finally hit freezing in big lexington virginia. a strange winter out here with no snow. i've been perusing a couple of sites recently you might like, growfood.org lists a bunch of organic farms in the americas where you can work in exchange for hippie food and a sleeping bag. also, if you're not riding the google train, get on board. gmail, picasa, google video, all good things. i hope that you let me know when you find stuff i would like too. see you tomorrow.

Sewer Rat may taste like pumpkin pie

2006-01-11T06:29:00.000-08:00

One of my homeboys from way back who was once dubbed Chris Sun went a year ago on his "birth right" trip to Israel, paid for by wealthy Jews hoping to furhter instill the religion in the younger generation. Yair (Chris' name in Israel, it is Lok now when he is home) is now back in Israel finding purpose for his life and has adopted most if not all of the Jewish tenants, one of which asks that you refrain from eating pig and bottom dwelling sea creatures.

Transition to New Years break where Brynn and I are handing back and forth a book on metaphysics, reading to each other (she can now sound out most three-sylable words). I'm not sure if any of you remember this from high school but in 1962 McConnell did an experiment with flatworms where flatworms conditioned to avoid light were cut in half and when they regenerated both halves retained the photophobia. The explanation was that in this simple animal memory was not located solely in the head but throughout the body.

A follow up test, this one is awesome, conditioned flatworms to avoid light then ground them up and then fed them to non-conditioned flatworms which afterwards demonstrated the same light-avoidance of the initial group. The metaphysics book speculated that animals contain emotions and memory not only in their brain but in each cell, and that these characteristics are transmitted through consumption. Imagine what emotions an animal that has been in a feedlot for a few months and then a slaughterhouse has coursing through their bodies. Would one, through ingestion of the animal, assimilate on some level these emotions?

As a skeptic I try to take nothing at face value and question before believing so I asked myself, what are the different feelings in my body after eating an animal with complex emotions compared with eating a big salad or fish. Shucks man, dat's crazy!

Deep from the catacombs of Nerd-dumb.

2005-12-11T15:03:00.000-08:00

I'm analyzing the financial reports for Pioneer Petroleum and boy are these guys in some serious trouble. First of all, thier coverage ratios show that they are in no position to acquire Standard Gas through the use of debt, and their stock price is too low right now to issue any new equity. Don't worry, I'll figure something out.

I saw Brynn last week for the first time in a year and wrote a letter to my future biographer about the reunion. She is still the same gorgeous person that wrapped me up for Christmas two years ago.

Coming home in three days, wait up for me.

During some procrastination I did a google search and found my old family crest. Next I found the Willis family crest, striking resemblance to the Noel crest, beginning to think they are all about the same. One of the famous Willis family members was Chill Willis. I have adopted his dub and shall only respond to Chill Willis from now on.

Bestow me the Orb

2005-11-26T21:49:00.000-08:00

I made the second journey of my soft-skinned life to the Santa Cruz 'Moonrocks' which overlook the Monterey Bay to the south and continues up the golden coast to the north. A moderate wind cut against the high rocks which saw us bundled together, nestling down into a tub that had been meticulously carved con cupholders into the sandstone. On this, journey two, I memorized the way up Ice Cream Grade and through to our destination, adding another unique spot to the ever growing list of things to do that don't cost nuthin. Side by side with Hermosa, the best sunset spot this man has ever seen.

Jewel in the rubble

2005-10-18T18:00:00.000-07:00

Could be that I fear rejection from the hordes of possible hits that circle around the internet all day, just looking for something to click on, a monkey to shoot the banana to. If they found me, would they go back to the bananas?

Lengthy Hiatus

2005-08-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

The last two months I have spent in a daze; drunk off burritos and tidepools, high on roller-coasters and disc golf, loaded with family and friends. Now fully satisfied I can boldy venture back into my life of computers and cheetos with no regrets.

Living anywhere else but Santa Cruz it would be safe to say that I have been the least productive person in the county this summer. With little financial backing from the providers I skated my way through summer. My buddy Mike's autobiography "Ballin' on a budget" fed me wisdoms greater than anything some guy could have brought down from some mountain. Last night I went to a bar and couldn't order a single drink which may or may not have added to my limp dance floor success, I obviously need to re-read chapter one "I ain't rich yet nigga!"

Hope all is well with yous. Willis.

Favorite reads of late: The incredicble tales of the H-B Prince, A pattern language, War and Peace which I started on the plane to Chile and finished on the plane back.

Day 136

2005-06-24T15:11:00.000-07:00

Noonish. Hour 4. My man Carlos and his wife Marukita are taking turns sitting next to me and mumbling nearly unintelligible sentences about Argentina, Chile, Estados Unidos, and tango classes which the wife is convinced I´m going to take even though I told her I probably wouldn´t have time. My interpretation of a line from the Chilean national anthem that Carlos told me and which is definitely incorrect is this:

Que linda las blancas montañas
que guardan el señor.

We are passing curve 18 of 36 on the pass to Argentina, it has been closed for the last week due to massive amounts of snow now covering the rocky mountains I passed three months ago on route to Mendoza (where I am writing this ahora). Jahna was convinced and probably still is that I´m going to be trapped up here without food or water and perish. "I told you so, juevon" will be carved into my gravestone.

The mountains are gorgeous, the snow softening their otherwise jagged form. One little rumble and these calm giants or their covering snow would consume us, for now they let us pass.

critical mass

2005-06-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

if anyone has a money making scheme that one could employ over the course of a month and a half i would love to hear about it. as of now i`ll be spending my summer selling food out of the bed of the pickup after concerts and whatnot. somebody help me.

the master plan started to form in my head right before an oral exam i took today but my thoughts were elsewhere and it failed to materialize. it feels good when you put enough ideas in the close proximity of your brain that eventually through the laws of gravitation and high-school cliques some of them will begin to cluster together while passing and create a mega-idea. this is what almost happened earlier but the critical mass just wasn`t there.

Padre mia?

2005-06-19T16:38:00.000-07:00

Day 126. Fathers day. In my fatherless household i imagine the day went like all the rest, couldn`t say for sure as I went over to Thomas` house where the young`ns were out visiting their real dad and my padre Chileno, Carlos, was left all alone with me and Thomas. In addition, his kid hadn`t called by noon, when I got there. The house was in shambles. People crying, testimonials on the ineptitude of Chilean children, and overly long hugs were many and not far between. We cooked some lasagña that was cooked with aggression and tears instead of love, interesting how I could taste the difference.

On a brighter note, things are going well with the Insano Chileno madre, a little time investment has proven to be all that she needs. I make her stretch and put in small amounts of QT and she in turn has taken on a higher level of willingness to cope with my irregularities with little to no griping, we`re making quite a team.

Next week will be my last of school and with any luck I`ll be kneeling at the gates of Buenos Aires by friday morning on my way to see Alizah, a chick from back home who is studying español in Argentina and Hagan, a bud from school who is "working" in Buenos. After that it`s up to the mountains for a spell of skiing and then back to the USA. To my fans: I`ll be back in action on Friday the 8th. Business will begin immediately.

From the banks of the deep end

2005-06-09T13:00:00.000-07:00

Found a little quote from this book (I think it was the bible) that was cool for us meat eaters so we don`t have to feel bad when getting all guilted up on by odoriferous vegetarians: Not that which does into the mouth defileth a man; but that which comes out of the mouth, this defileth a man.

Our school has another paro this week which means the students are protesting and not going to class. Last week they physically took over the school and locked out all the teachers, that was cool. It`s too bad we don`t have any real leaders for our generation to help organize protests and other ways of expressing our views on the happenings of our president, school governing bodies, etc. Maybe I should get on that.

The world cup qualifiers are going on right now and many of the evenings are filled with futbol matches and loco chilenos cheering for their terrible team. We watched Brazil and Argentina last night which was incredible and made me miss the field and that feeling of excited tension right before the ref blows the whistle. Maybe this will be the one professional sport I actually follow so I can stop getting crap from my buddies for never watching sports. When I told Grub that my three favorite sports to watch were boxing, soccer, and tennis he said that we could probably ask a thousand people what their three favorite sports were without getting the same response. I`m destined to a lonely life lack of male bonding, I`ll just pretend.

Saw the interpreter the other night, good flick. It might have just been a comparison effect, we saw it directly after seeing The Pacifier with Vin Diesel about an ex marine turned nanny, real stinky garbage.

Entries from a cardboard journal

2005-05-31T10:53:00.000-07:00

Day 100. Just after sunrise. Hour 9. The journey has commenced. If Flota Barrios (our X-treme budget bus company which, with a little stretch translates into Lazy Cheap) had seat numbers Emily and I would be in 3 & 4, from row with legroom and no funky odors from the funky baño. knock knock. We said goodbye to Andy and Viña del mar with a smooth joint and strong margaritta respectively. 40 pushups, 3 stops, 2 hours, and 1 flask later we doze, small roadtrippy patches of calm warm sleep interupted for a peek at the passing scenery, a sip of the water bottle, re-arrangement of two oversized bodies... A small breakfast of milk and specially shipped intercontinental Me and Ollies Granola along with the sunrise reading of the first three lessons from the Tao Te Ching takes me there, takes me to my budget class sleeper from Bangkok to Nong Khai, to the feeling of a traveller which I have been seperated from for too long.

Hour 35. ¡Woooo! Peru is where we`re at, the faces on the people look indigenous and fat, on the bus to Arequipa I be sat, can`t wait to bite into my first fried Guinnea Pig. The bus trip has been cake, having Em there definitely smoothed out the bumps.

Hour 40ish? No Arequipa yet. The last day has been dry. Desert on each side occasionally sprinkled with a stream near which the contrast of life against the background of barrenness is striking. We passed a scattered city of houses constructed of woven straw walls. Before and after this city we`ve seen no sign of life, nor in the city for that matter, perhaps it has been abandonned.

Every stop the vendors board our ship selling corn & cheese, empanadas, chicha, shrimp break... our bills from money changings are unusable for these type of exchanges so we wait for our first sampling of Peruvian cuisine, wait with anticipation - this stuff smells amazingly authentic, we have changed lattitudes.

Day 101. 6pm. Stranded. Nothing but broken windows and closed doors at the Arequipa train station, two years ago they converted passenger to straight up cargo - petroleum and shit.

Day 102 9pm. Out of context a Gringo placed in the streets of Cuzco would think his popularity had just jumped off the charts. "¡My friend!" and "¡Hey Amigo!" along with solicitations to dine, get a free drink, yadda, yadda... The drive from Arequipa here made me miss Thailand, lots of stepped gardens, people working in the fields, two ladies sitting facing each other passing the day weaving, winnowing, sorting, stripping, you name it. The people here continue to impress us.

Day 106. High Peruvian Jungle. Everyone`s paralyzed. We`re sitting at lunch just below the pass at 4,600 Meters and nobody speaks; we are all craning our necks up, left, right, trying our best to see all the views at once. Three ranges to our north, west, and south. Two towering above us on each side, their ice cracks every once in a while, reminding. The third range lies far to the west - Em and I imagine they would support a nice sunset. The two most talkative members of our group, Carlos and Cristián representing the plus-50 contingent, pipe up: "Eveyone tired or what?"

Our group of 15 was great yesterday, no wimps even though there were a lot of GIRLS! Our hike climbed to the pass which we hit around 1pm and then dropped 2,000m to the high jungle where we`re eating breakfast right now. Today our awesome group, I`ve never before been the last while hiking and an unhurried pace puts me there now, hikes 1,000m further down into the jungle where it has been said we will pass banana trees, coca plantations, and lots of wild edilbles. Been chewing coca leaves (drinking coca tea too) mixed with a banana paste (excites the salivary glands) the last two days to help with the altitude. Last night at dinner (we camped near a woman`s house who cleverly sells beer and cola) Emily said, "¿Will somebody please pass the coke... a-cola?" I lost it although nobody else thought it was that funny, I`ve just never been in a country where you would have to specify which type of coke you wanted at the dinner table - must be a language barrier thing.

Day 107. Shaky Hands. A mix of sun, water, and the unknown has left my G.I. tract totally forgotten. I regognize the illness from my journey through the motherland, there we were stocked to the teeth with anti-diurretics, here we`ve got more sun, more water, and more coca leaves.

Peru is absolutely gorgeous, there is a group of ladies surrounding Em and Me right now trying to get us to translate our journals, it`s a tough job. Climbing down the mountain yesterday and the day before, the climate, views, and flora slowly turning, I got that feeling of complete calm that has been my first in a long time. I wonder if this is the same feeling the muslims get praying in the four directions or Christians get makings cookies for a church bake sale (just kidding G-man).

Day 108. Just after sunrise. Machu Picchu.

Nice to Micchu

2005-05-17T09:29:00.000-07:00

I´ve been getting up pretty early on these chilly mornings and wish you could all share with me the sight of Jahna just out of bed, hunched up in the kitchen with her eyes closed and face all squinched up, you´d think the beast had just finished her months of hibernation. Evelyn just got home from Buenos Aires last night and having her back is like having a space heater in an ice cave. I guess misery loves company because everybody says so but I can tell you for sure that sanity does as well.

Got a lot of errands and essay writing to do before tomorrow night but as I like to think in times like this, at 10:45 tomorrow night, regardless of to-do lists and shoulder weights, I will be on a bus rolling away from Viña del Mar and obligations with no expectations of the future (not gonna lie - there aren´t too many of those obligations here but it´s going to be nice to get out of the house for a spell).

The plan is to head up to the northern most Chilean city on a mother of a bus ride and then to Cuzco, Peru on a train which one of Thomas´ professors back home descibed as the most beautiful day of his life. From there we´ll figure out the plans for the ascent up to Machu Picchu. My AA class will be happy to know that the proscription for altitude sickness is the mastication of Coca leaves, expect long and rambling blogs next week. Hasta pronto tonto.

Ripping one

2005-05-11T09:18:00.000-07:00

The burritos at taco smell have more flavor and use better meat than those at Guernevaca, where we were fortunate enough to dine on Mothers day. I have been reawakening the dwindling burrito the past few mornings in a futile attempt at huevos rancheros, much to the dispeasure of my G.I. tract.

I am eager to tear apart my world that I have been neatly constructing here in Viña for the past month. The upcoming days will decide the plan of my disintegration.

ChileWilly

2005-05-10T08:27:00.000-07:00

Just passed the three month mark down here. I would like to say that I am now comfortably settling into the "snuggle zone" where micro-bus numbers make sense, the beach volleyball man accepts I.O.U.`s, and from the names in my phone one would think I`d familiarized myself with the staff of a Tiajuana taqueria.

Right now I`m dreaming of warm clear waters in Peru: we`ve got a day
off in two weeks and a few of us are taking that as a sign to liberate
ourselves of the whole week and head up into Peru. Machu Pichu is
somewhere along the way I hope and the thoughts of snorkeling and
spearfishing are my replacement for girlie magazines which my casa is lacking.

We got to write an evaluation of our spanish teacher in class the other day, see you later Luz!
I`ll see you crazies in 2.

poopED

2005-04-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

Every time I life my arm to type I can feel the stickyness in my armpit, the one that accumulates after some time spent away from my loofah. Slowly I am creeping up to the end of my workweek and when finally reached I think\secretly hope\know will happen because I already decided to do it with my other friends that it will explode and crash into my dome like a night of beers at the student bar followed by what will most likely be a botched attempt at making some Thai food. Not so sure where the ingredients like Sambal Badjak and even Sesame oil are going to come from yet as Viña del mar seems to have literally missed the boat with the whole food import business thing. Oww, that just made me think of burritos.

While I`m wasting time (almost done with the paper and seriously it`s only five pages and my thesis writing friends should and will want to wet slap me in the face because I`m being such a pansy but it`s the first tough week I`ve had so far so back off) I guess I`ll share some of my hopes and aspirations with you. Learn how to sail. Build a sweet and inexpensive New Mexico style hacienda and then say, "See, I told you so!" to anybody who walks by. Spend a christmas on a tropical beach sipping fruity drinks (this was originally Tom`s idea told to me over last Christmas). Be the best in the world at something no matter how small and insifnificant. Be my families best friend. Stop being emo in my blogs.

Pepper Tree

2005-04-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

Day 72. Thursday Night. A great day cruising with Thomas (my best bud down here - from washington where he goes to Rogers` rival school PLU, ultimte B jockey, Alaskan fisherman during the summers) in Quinta Vergara, a botanical garden which was once the estate of the first family to settle in Viña del Mar. The master of the enormous palace which is now a art museum was a ship`s captain; he collected foreign plant species from his travels and now, 100 years later, they have transformed his land into an exotic arboretum dotted sporadically with these unique trees that each demand the attention of park strollers and inspire jealousy in the comparitively plain native fauna. After our stroll we hit up the museum (50 cents for students) which was small and fitted perfectly my ADD concentration levels. There were two paintings that stick out in my mind, both of them dark. The first was a simple painting of a cutting board with a crude depiction of what seemed to be pomegranites in the middle of being prepared, their juices were flowing out of rough rips in their flesh, not a clean cut caused from a knife but instead from someone tearing into them. The second painting was enormous, more than twice as tall as I am and almost that wide - a whole wall was used to house it. The lighting in the room came from a skylight above causing us to only be able to see the foreground of the painting at first, which was of a man in a underground chamber holding a limp body toward the opening in the chambers ceiling, the only source of light for the painting. Nevermind, this is beyond my linguistic ability, I`ll try to upload a picture if I can figure out how.

The next day we went back to Quinta Vergara. At the top a a hill overlooking Viña we sat in the shade of a medium sized tree which, after a mutual dare to eat the small pink clustered fruit it had, we found out is a pepper tree (we think). With a terrible idea we went to a department store and checked out the ingrediants of cologne, bought a bottle of vodka, and commenced to make our trademark scent: Peppa. I`ll let you know how the ladies take to it.

There is a feeling here of limbo that I believe comes from a transplanted life, my family here is friendly and helpful but they´re not really family, my best friends here are supercool but i know little about their pasts or their sustainability as friends, schoolwork is work but doesn´t seem very serious - all the things that i usually fall back upon back home are unsubstantial (or even if they aren`t i don`t know it because they don`t have the time-tested reliability that they do at home). I may be giving a picture that life here is dank and depressing, it`s not. I`m having a blast at the beach playing volleyball during the sunny days, becoming a regular at Pub Arica (don`t worry), climbing volcanos, adventuring with locals, bodysurfing, eating, sleeping... there is just something missing here that I long from back home.

That`s all for now, you stay classy California. W.

Loss of a friend

2005-04-15T07:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was a sad and dejected tourist, no longer a resident of the city and competent traveller. With deft hands and quiet feet a beach comber swiped the last thing that I wanted to lose while down here, the holder of my travels and thoughts, my flippin journal. I waw robbed while beaching in what will possibly be one of the last stretches of beautiful weather before winter, I had my eyes closed and never heard a thing, when I woke up my backpack was gone. Confusion, followed by a short period of rejection, peaking in agrivated acceptance and culminating (a day later) with appreciation of a lesson learned. I thought of myself as a capable and infallible traveller, it´s a good wake up to realize that the customs and cautions that should be followed in a foreign place have not yet been added to my subconscious, I am still learning.

Lots of stuff to recount. Last week was supposed to be a week-long break at our university here but the event was cancelled last minute on account of el Papa. Most of us gringos had already made long-distance travel plans, this along with 50% of our classes being still cancelled (the ones for gringos only lead by our study abroad program) caused a mass exodus of whities from Valparaíso. I returned to Pichilemu with my parents and later Christine (fellow student, don`t read into it). My parents and I had a blast just living from day to day, not too many concrete plans. We wandered around at midnight the first night looking for a place with rooms (there turned out to be a surf competition that weekend that clogged the town) and finding a door on the street that said ´Hotel Bahia´, we decided to give it a shot. A long, dark, enclosed walkway with a faint sound of laughter met us on the other side of the door and we continued, following the voices. At the end of the walkway we turned left and, leaving my parents, I investigated the scene. A large group of gingos were playing guitar, singing and laughing, and a smaller group of chileans was drinking heavily, also laughing. I inquired the general group about rooms and after comprehension set in one of the chileans popped up saying, "Yes, Yes!" My parents then came in and the record stopped. I think it had been a while since these people had seen older travellers, well dressed (by this I just mean clean clothes) with roller luggage, and all were scrutinizing us like the new student who switches schools half way through the year and, having a hard time adjusting to his new schedule, arrives in his first class ten minutes late to the investigative glares of his classmates. The Bahia was wonderful, a far cry from the Explora where my parents had been staying in the south, but a terrific place where I made some good chilean friends later that night (they were already good and drunk, the easiest starting point for making new friends) and ended up going with one out to his ranch\vineyard in San Fernando, messing around with his horses, and looking at property in Punta de Lobos, to the south of Pichilemu.

Later that week, on thursday, Copa (our study abroad program) arranged a weekend trip up north to La Serena for anyone who was in town and interested. About thirty of us went, moving everyday from place to place, sightseeing, museuming, going to a restauant run with solar ovens, and, the last night, going to an observatory to learn about the southern sky - the most transparent atmosphere in the world is found in and around where we were in La Serena. The stars were far and away the brightest I`ve ever seen and to know that you were in the presence of a shooting star you didn`t even have to look up, the world around you took on a glow whenever one passed overhead. I`ve been so impressed with Copa, they have thought of everything and are really here for our assisstance, not just to gobble up our money.

Things are going well with my Chilean family and this weekend will be the first in some time that I`ve been home to spend some qt with them. I`m hoping we`ll be able to go on a picnic this sunday if we can convince my sister, Karen, to actually go outside (she doesn`t like the sun, oh yeah, she doesn`t like drinking water either, weirdo!). Come back at me with some love. Willis.

Obviously

2005-03-27T05:01:00.000-08:00

Dia de Pascua. 9:08 A.M. My religious experience for this easter Sunday occured some time around 4 this morning at a full-moon bonfire and river rafting mini dance festival last night, the last of the year. A ridunkulous number of people showed up and our group (me, Ori, Alizah, and Jess), the last, didn´t end up getting on the water until 3:30. Sometime later the four of us and our guide were balancing on the firm rubber sides of the raft, craning our necks to take in the full-moon illuminating the snow capped mountains of the Cordilleras. We leaned back and all toppled into the dark river, a communal baptism of sorts.

The mom and pops had a much anticipated sojourn in Viña last week, I miss my tried and true friends and family and it was a comforting refreshment of Cali life. Journal Entry:

Day 44. Sunset over Lago Villarica - a satisfied moon over the mountains. My parents are sipping Pisco Sours and soaking in the view, I`m drinking water and writing in my journal - what a stiff! I`ve spent the last four wonderful days w\ the rents, exploring and eating, swimming and drinking margaritas. Sunday we drove north along the coast resisting the temptations of beautiful beaches, we had a notion of what lay ahead. Tucked into a small cove in a ritzy perfectly put together town we had aji-ajo razor clams, shucked right outside. Zapallar is a little too developed for investment but a great model for a town should we ever want to create one.

Day 45. Wed. Same scenario as above. Today was my second ascent of Villarica, this time behind two Ecuadorian women, one of whom, by the last leg up, had her index finger hooked onto our guides ice-axe loop as is he were dragging her up by one digit. She was mentally worn down but still had a nice appologetic smile. The mouth of the volcano has really changed since last time, it`s alive I tell you, Alive!

The five days travelling\touring with my parents has been a delicacy, something enjoyed to the fullest that would be difficult to eat everyday. I`ve been used to the unscheduled travelling style of bargain haggling and long bus rides and I think that`s where I am right now, however, this gorgeous hotel and a little pampering very seldom kills people and when it does it is a good way to go.

I hope and feel that I`ll be entering a new phase soon - a little like a board in the sun with my top side old and ruinous, the other wet and teaming with life. All it would take is one little hand to turn this baby over. Meanwhile, but in somewhat related news, I decided on the toilet today to try to erase the word 'obviously' from my vernacular, I just don`t like it.

p.s. If you get the chance and can find it and aren`t scared of "the man," download a song called 100% voce by Chiclete com Banana, a Brazilian group.

Events

2005-03-12T11:19:00.000-08:00

Day 34. 4:05 P.M. The following events occured in real-time. Last weekend three taxiloads of us ventured out to a country house near a small coastal town, 40K outside of Valpo. Three outside on the grill, two manning the blender churning pineapple drinks intended to lube the creative processes for dinner, two on a competitive guacomole mission - one uses onions the other was vehemently opposed, no compromises were met - a few just enjoying the sunset. Another successful introduction of ´slap face´followed later during the evening.
We were in Quintai, where Courtney´s mom has a pole-house and was gracious enough to open it up to the gringo crew for the weekend. We´ve made a few runs to the super where our presence has been overwhelming, another theme of my time in Chile thus far.
My first week of classes went well although no firmed schedule yet, a few will need to be dropped as the professors seems to have speech impediments causing their tounges to move at extrordinary speeds.

This weekend we´re back in Pichilemu, the coastal surf town where I spent my first few beautiful weeks in Chile. My body is sore and beat, but my mind is clear and lucid. I´ve been squeezing a lot of citrus for economic and salivary purposes, Mom and Marty are right, the fresh grapefruit is where the party is! I bought a little juicer and will be getting it permanantly attached to my hip sometime soon. Speaking of permanantly attached, I´ve been comsidering my first tatoo although inspiration|revelation is still missing from the process. I´ll be waiting.

Homies away from homies

2005-02-27T01:13:00.000-08:00

I don´t think study drugs have really hit the market to hard down here yet. If they had my Chiean Madre would definitely be popping them, verified by her telling me that she didn´t like to read because she can´t commit her concentration to just the book for more than a page. Today I met my host mom and one of my sisters, Karen, both of whom are sweet as can be. I feel instantly accepted into their family and the dinner was much less awkward than I had anticipated. We live in a very modest house close to the beach in Viña del Mar, a small city which, although I haven´t had a real chance to explore it yet, I would guess thrives mostly on summer tourism and pickpocketing gringo travellers. I´m glad the house is small as it will force me to get out and turn the city into my playground, my goal is to become a regular someplace (see paragraph four).

My familia has been hosting for ten years and I am her thirtieth student (I couldn´t really put the math together on that one), she is a total pro. This is nothing new to her so I´m thinking about throwing her a couple of curvballs just to keep it interesting, let me know if you´ve got any good ideas.

So far I´m pretty unimpressed with the reverse flush on the toilet, not quite what I was hoping. I am impressed with the ability of the guy next to me to surf softcore porn in a completely public internet cafe, from the corner of my eye and sometimes the middle i can see that he is a real pro, he shows the signs of a true master.

There are a few Mexican comida spots around here which I am frothing at the bit to check out, I haven´t had a good burrito or my sustinance of chips and salsa since I left.

My group of other students is cool, a couple good peeps. We spent four days in a tiny pueblo outside of town during the surprisingly painless orientation. I´ll check you later, this guy next to me just hit a site that I want to check out. Willy.

Things $ can´t buy

2005-02-22T07:38:00.000-08:00

A short summary of my first week and a bit: Arrived in Santiago and stayed there for two days with a single serving friend from the plane and his Chilean pops, complete with family reunion, forced eating and all. Down to Pichilemu, Chile´s premiere surfing spot and as it turned out a superb place to meet some cool peeps.

Day 14. 5:30 Pm. On a bus back to Pichilemu. A week trip down south with James (English teacher who quit his job and sold his house, total M.L. crisis but he seems to be doing well), Bryson (Alakan coast guard), Cameron (my studybuddy), and myself has been the hype in my life as of late. We aimed first at Siete Tazas national park, home of the translated Seven Teacups - a series of waterfalls that is fabled to be one of Chile´s most stunning natural sights. Although not as striking as the landscape in Yosemite, the Siete Tazas was a gorgeous combination of verdant rolling mountains and refreshingly pure streams. We took what we later found out to be the Rambo route down to a waterfall, accidentally kicking rocks down a hill and creeping out the people relaxing below. Total gringoness.

The adventure tourism HQ Pucon followed the next night, from the bus the pink mouth of Volcan Villarica illuminated out arrival. Pucon, we discovered the next day, is the town where wealthy Chileans come to ´summer´, complete with it´s North Face store it is what I imagine Aspen to be like back home. It is, however, the staging point of many adv. tourism trips and was for us, the gatekeeper to our ascent of Volcan Villarica, the highlight of our trip. Going along with the thrifty theme of the trip thus far we decided to forego the 3,000 peso chairlift and manually handle the fist hour of the climb up volcanic scree. The four of us males and three chicas made it up in about four and a half hours, following our ´cookies and milk´guide (as we dubbed him) who, although he had hiked this volcano and I quote "Every fucking day of my life", could have been easily dusted by the seven of us (save Karen who ´doesn´t like to be rushed.´ She filled the spot that every group seems to need as the annoying one).

On the crater the ooohs and aaahs from the forty something tourists marked each pyroclastic spew, two of which caused everyone watching to jump up from their lunch spots and run, although in retrospect I think we were pretty safe (mom). Not so safe, was the Iraqi tourist who had gone to get a better spot to photocapture the magmatic hiccups. Unbelievably, he got a chunk of molten spew from the second large eruption stuck to his neck as he ran away from the fallout. Our guides told us it was time to go as the Iraqi continued to tell any interested listener (and his girlfriends videocamera) about his harrowing run-in with the lava.

Today were back in Pichilemu before Cameron and I head to Santiago tomorrow to meet our group. I also had my first mud bath last night, it was sweet. W.