Romania & Bulgaria Photos, Episode 2
Category: Travel and Places

Currently listening : Fly, Fly My Sadness - Angelite feat. Huun-Huur-Tu By Angelite Release date: 13 February, 2001

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Romania & Bulgaria 2006 Photos. I think you can see we were having a wonderful time!
Current mood: enthralled
Category: Bulgaria! Travel and Places

Currently listening : Le Mystère des Voix Bulgares By Bulgarian State Radio & Television Female Vocal Choir Release date: 25 October, 1990

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Bucharest to Athens in December: Frozen Honeymoon
Current mood: excited

Ok, so I am getting married on Dec 1. We are flying to Bucharest, Romania, on Dec 7, then out of Athens on Dec 26.

I've been doing some reading up and have come up with a rough itinerary for the trip. First, a little about us. We are both travelers of some experience and chose this trip over a more typical honeymoon destination in the tropics or whatever. Long underwear can be romantic, no?

I do realize that this is a lot of ground to cover in only 20 days. I would like to avoid the 12-countries-in-14-days type of rush-through that so many Americans seem to do in Europe. She is more experienced than I am as a traveler and has been to Romania before, but not Bulgaria or Greece. I have not been to Europe, excepting a few days in Paris years ago.

Our budget is pretty minimal, maybe $40 or so per day, each. We'll be making it in just under the deadline for cheapness in these countries as both Bulgaria and Romania join the EU on Jan 1, 2007. Of course it helps to split the cost of lodgings and other things.

I really want to catch some live tzigane (gypsy) music in Romania and some of that amazing women's choir stuff in Bulgaria. I think I will buy a cheap tape recorder to make some "field" recordings. If I can see something 1/2 half as cool as Fanfare Ciocarlia I will be ecstatic.

My rough guess goes like this: 2 days in Bucharest; 3 days in Sighishoara or Sinaia or other Transylvania; 1 day for train to coast and exploring Constanta; 1 days for train and to explore Varna; 1 day for Plovdiv; 1 day for Veliko Tarnovo; 2 days for Sofia; 1 days for Rila Monestary; 1 day for Koprivshtitsa; 2 days to travel to and explore Thessaloniki; overnight train to Athens; 2 days Xmas in Athens.

Now that I look at it, it seems rushed. As it is our honeymoon, I want to make sure that if we like a place we can stay there a while.

One idea I had to save on money would be to find a nice snowy village in the mountains where we can find a guest house and stay for maybe 2-3 days with a supply of wine and firewood, etc. You know what I mean.

Also, I've sort of minimized our time in Greece, due to expenses. We'll have to do that up on another trip. Anyone have any ideas about what to do on Xmas in Athens?

Oh yeah, big party will follow in January, most likely in Sierra Madre, CA. Y'all's invited!

Currently listening : Astral Weeks By Van Morrison Release date: 25 October, 1990

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The Wedding's On Again!
Current mood: hopeful

Those of you who don't know me personally, like outside of MySpace, in the "real" world, might not know that I once was in a great band. Or maybe you just don't live in L.A.

This band was The Wedding's Off. Now, I don't mean to say that we were great in the sense of selling millions of records or being commanded to play for the queen or anything like that. I do think we were extremely successful in accomplishing what we wanted to from the outset: make music that felt fresh, raw, exciting and unique. Put into those terms, we were a rip-roaring, genre-grinding, smugness-defying success. And I think, on our best nights, truly a great band.

Now you'll notice that I couch my phrases (or futon them?) in the past tense. That's because guitar-destroyer extrordinaire Mike Rings left us last year to go to that great PhD program in the sky. Or was that Indiana? Well, greener pastures anyway. And probably more pastures if it was Indiana. Anyway, the wedding is surely off.

For those of you saying: "but I am just now hearing about this and I want to lavish money and prizes upon you" - fear not! With the help of more than a few friends Rod and I are working on finishing the second album, tentatively called The Happiest Ending, and it is gonna be smashing. Brilliant. Weird.

But why, you ask, would we want to waste our heard-earned money and valuable time and squander the goodwill of so many friends just to make an album for a defunct band?

What, did you think we were in this to make money? Or friends?

No! We are (were?) in it for the music and THAT is coming together brilliantly, thank you very much.

So to all of our friends, old and new and in-between...

Just you wait!

The happiest ending you could possibly think of is coming. Yes, including THAT kind of happy ending. Happier than that.

Meanwhile check out our first album below. E-mail me if you'd like one, I'll cut you a serious deal.

http://www.splendidezine.com/review.html?reviewid=106128885667826
http://cdbaby.com/cd/weddingsoff

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Guerrero Negro sin Ballenas
Current mood: hopeful

So, we left the very beautiful Bahia Concepcion near Mulege on the Sea of Cortez this morning and drove 5 hours north to the dusty little salt-mining outpost of Guerrero Negro for one reason: Las Ballenas. Them's whales for all you gringos.

By the end of December, i am told, there should be dozens of California Gray Whales calving here. Ever since I saw Huell Howser (sp?) touching the whales, I knew that I wanted to do it myself. I figured if that overstuffed idiot could touch the whales, I could too. Are those good whaayles?

But they are not here. Huell or the whales.

We just found out that there are only 5-6 whales down from Alaska so far and that they are "mas dificil" to find. I left my palapa (palm-frond hut) and my hammock on the pristine Bahia Concepcion, powered through 5 hours of desert driving, and checked into a crappy motel for this? And the restaurante wants 11 dollars(!) for a fish taco. That's probably because this town has nothing but dozens of sunburned gringos stumbling in circles looking for the same non-existent whales that I want to touch. Damn turistas!

I will not give up though. Tomorrow we are going to get up early and drive down to the Ojo de Liebre (eye of the jackrabbit) Lagoon and practice both our spanish skills and our bargaining skills. With any luck, we will beat the bus-loads of tourists and be able to get out on the water with a local fisherman early en la maÑana in search of the elusive cetaceans.

Still having a blast, I wish we had a month down here. I can feel my internal clock slowing down to Baja time and it feels niiiice. This is a very beautiful place once you get into the southern half of the peninsula.

After the whales, we will have to drive pretty far each day to get home by the 1st. Sooner, if possible, as we don't want to have to experience Tijuana on New Year's even a little bit if we can avoid it.

How was everybody else's Navidad?

-Andrew

Currently listening : Livingroom Hush By Jaga Jazzist Release date: 17 June, 2003

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Feliz Navidad, Baja Del Sur

¡Hola! from San Ignacio, Baja California Del Sur, Mexico.

 

From where I sit in this internet cafe, I can see the town square of this 17th century desert oasis town, a world apart from Pasadena or even Tijuana.  No, this town seems more like those in the high Andes that are still as influenced by their history as by modern culture.  San Ignacio town defines the word "esleepy" and is far more quaint and picturesque than I could ever imagined anything 2 days drive out of San Diego could ever be.

 

All the kids are playing futbol in the square, in high spriits because of the Navidad.  ¿Or perhaps they are always this happy?

 

Tomorrow, we will see the Sea of Cortez.  All I want for Christmas is a Burrito de Langosta (lobster) and a Margarita.

 

Things have been much more expensive than we'd anticipated, but we are savvy travelers and will just have to pinch some pesos.  No Problemo!

 

Hasta,

 

Andrew

Currently listening : Illinois By Sufjan Stevens Release date: 05 July, 2005

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ANDES CRASH
Current mood: full

So my long term band, The Wedding's Off, is fizzlin'. That's right. The honeymoon is over. Or whatever. We are still working on finishing our second CD so all 26 of our fans do have something to look forward to. I think we were great, but hey that's me! My mom liked us too...

Anyway, I have put aside the bass for now and am playing trumpet with both the Cat Hair Ensemble and the Ebola Music Orchestra, both of which you can look up right here on Myspace.

I have also been recording some stuff at home and have decided to call this project Andes Crash. Sort of like that movie "Alive!" where they have a plane crash in the Andes and have to eat each other. Except this time I have crashed all by myself. I guess you could say it is the musical equivalent of eating my own toes. For breakfast.

If you happen to see me around town (or at Mr. T's, whichever comes first) ask me to burn you a CD of the Andes Crash stuff. I think you'll find yourself pleasantly confused--if there is such a thing. If you don't already know me and want to hear this self-cannablistic weirdness e-mail me or something.

Later,

-A

Currently listening : Voodoo Jive: The Best of Screamin' Jay Hawkins By Screamin' Jay Hawkins Release date: 02 February, 1990

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