Some cool pics of when we were kicking it on July 4th this year. It’s probably a good thing, but no photos exist (to my knowledge) of when the festivities hit the Hancock Golf Course later in the night.
Fire Works
July 4th, 2007Chill-bert House
January 20th, 2007
Four of my friends shared a house for a year or two on Willbert Road near I-35 and 41st street. We had some good times there for sure (the front yard is actually the setting for the photos in the “Fire Works” post last July). But suddenly one night some un-Texas-like winter weather hit and it turned out to be quite spectacular.
Sahara Expedition
August 18th, 2006
Yeah I know these are just a bunch of pictures of sand. Sorry. I thought the Sahara was beautiful.
I was traveling by my lonesome through the town of Ouarzazate with designs on making it into the desert when I was approached at a bus station by a most obviously indigenous dude. Admittedly I know how to be a smartass, but this man absolutely would not leave me alone until I divulged my entire travel itinerary to him. I finally (sternly) told him that, “Yes, I am going to the Sahara, but sorry, I will not hire you as a guide until I get there and assess my options.” He deemed this an unsatisfactory gameplan.
Luckily, a group of English gap year kids got on our bus right as it was about to take off, and my man proposed to me (he was sitting next to me on the bus – imagine that) that if I could convince them all to use him as their tour guide that he would take me along free of charge. Honestly I was more enthused by the opportunity to say, “Okay, back off, let me work on them” than I was by the prospect of a free ride, but in the end I got them to come along so everyone was happy.
Once the bus arrived at the last town before the desert, we all loaded into the guide’s van and set sail. One of his friends showed up later at their “campsite” (these guys were Berber nomads) with some camels for us to ride around on, and together they made us dinner and afterwards played traditional Berber songs on their makeshift drums while we gazed up at the pristine sky full of stars. This was especially baller for me as the guide and his friend had privately smoked me out with some Moroccan hash in exchange for scoring them some extra clients, so in return I went ahead and paid them anyway as they dropped me off back in town the following day.
Djemaa el Fna Boxing
August 16th, 2006The Djemaa el Fna is a town square in the medina of Marrakesh. Set amidst the bustling souks, this central marketplace also gets very crowded in the late evening. During the day there are orange juice vendors and snake charmers trying to make a few dirhams, but as nightfall approaches there are tons of attractions such as this bout between two young boys. I found this particularly riveting because these two fighters were really going after each other (in between when “coach” steps in to show how it’s done.)
At the very beginning and then again at the very end you’ll see the guy in the blue hat circling the ring. Cameras/camcorders are regulated here the same way as they are near the snake charmers. If you are spotted with one, you’ll be asked for money. This happened to me (and I gave up some coins) right before the beginning of this video. If the guy who asks for money breaks eye contact with you, briefly walks away, spots you a minute later still filming, and you’re as white as I am, then you’ll be asked for money again. Thus you can hear me near the end offering up a “I don’t have any more. OK. Alright.” The funny part is this was completely true. I couldn’t even afford a room in a hostel in Morocco (now that’s poor) that night, but I did find a place that let me sleep for next to nothing on their roof overlooking the Djemaa.
Gibraltar Barbary Macaques
August 14th, 2006
My visit to the Rock of Gibraltar was one of the points on my backpacking tour that exceeded my expectations. I decided to go only because I was in Cadiz, Spain and realized how close it was, but all I really expected to see was a big rock. After walking around the city (which was a cool place in its own right), I shared a taxi fare up to the Rock with another family. Learning about the Rock’s military history as well as checking out the geological formations inside its caves were cool elements of the experience, but without a doubt these monkeys stole the show.
It’s hard to tell from a still photo, but in the fifth-to-last picture, that monkey is actually pounding its fists like a massage therapist on the back of the other one. The fourth-, third-, and second-to-last pictures also merit further inspection. If you look closely, you will notice that this monkey is neglecting the fact that an infant macaque is grasping onto its chest for dear life. It must have recognized our driver as someone who would feed it and thrown caution to the wind.