Sunday, March 07, 2004
you know how sometimes you get a feeling in your stomach and a tugging at your heart and you just *know* something special is happening? I had that flutter when i stepped off the train in flagstaff, despite the fact it was 6.30am and snowing and i couldn't remember which direction to head in....
like i said before, trust your instincts, this is a magickal town and the hostel feels more like home than any other i've stayed in, so many cool people and so much laughing. On Thursday i wandered the town and stumbled upon lots of interesting shrines and pretty cats and some really good beer (there was also an incident where i got stuck in the toilet of an oirish pub, but perhaps i'll refrain from sharing the gory details) anyhow its the kind of place where time doesn't matter and its impossible to feel down for long...
Friday I went to the grand canyon, wasn't sure about the tour from the hostel but I'm glad i did it, such an inspiring bunch of people. There was me, four hungarians (gabor and gabor and two women) a fireman from Bromley called neil, (flagstaff is full of people from bromley, i was going to say strangely enough but i would rather be here than there) bruce from london, latoya from Seattle and the tour guide mike. The drive up was fun and then we did this cheesy covering your face with your hands and holding on to the person in front of you business so we all saw the canyon in one go. Yes, i felt a twat but oh gosh it was worth it, i've never heard such an intense, awe inspired silence. No words can be adequate but i cried a little bit. we walked around the rim a bit, trying to comprehend it all, then after lunch it was time to hike properly. I opted out; i was craving solitude and beauty, in the end latoya came with me but she was great company and we also went our separate ways a little bit. We stayed near the rim it was so so wonderful.
the evening was almost as great, i don't know why some groups just click, i suppose its chemistry in various senses of the word. Gabor and Gabor are both studying wine making; they organised a wine tasting for us (minus the spitting part) and things went downhill, happily, from there. We were all supposed to go to a party at the sister hostel but at 3.30am we all kind of realized we were still in the lobby of our place sharing stories and swapping jokes and making plans to travel eastern Europe.
Gabor2"this is the highest point of my life, i think it is all downhill from here"
Gabor1"If you jump please give me your camera first"
Gabor1 "this is so humbling and great, i wish to build a model at home in my room to always remind me"
Gabor2"yes. and the ladies would like to see your canyon. they will say it is great and look, i have the rocky mountains (mimes breasts)
Then they had a long story about pig hunting in their village and the importance of vodka in their lives....
Yesterday i went to Sedona with two charming little old ladies (Sisters from Guernsey and Wales, like the odd couple as envisaged by Marchant ivory) and in the evening Bruce drove us to Lowell observatory where we saw venus and saturn and mars and more stars than i ever realised were possible; they have rules about light pollution here. I'll write some more later i hope, i'm going to see a Hopi guy talk about Kachinas at the museum this afternoon with a girl i just met and then I think I'll go to some bars on route 66. I think there may be a vortex ubder this hostel, its a place with hugely positive vibrations. I'm sad to be leaving tomorrow but I'm hoping for eavesdropping as great as i got on the way here - there were 2 guys playing cards, neither met each other before, one just left prison and a rehab programme, the other was a young bloke on his way to bootcamp. he'd just seen the mel gibson movie and discovered god. I don't miss tv now i feel well again.
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like i said before, trust your instincts, this is a magickal town and the hostel feels more like home than any other i've stayed in, so many cool people and so much laughing. On Thursday i wandered the town and stumbled upon lots of interesting shrines and pretty cats and some really good beer (there was also an incident where i got stuck in the toilet of an oirish pub, but perhaps i'll refrain from sharing the gory details) anyhow its the kind of place where time doesn't matter and its impossible to feel down for long...
Friday I went to the grand canyon, wasn't sure about the tour from the hostel but I'm glad i did it, such an inspiring bunch of people. There was me, four hungarians (gabor and gabor and two women) a fireman from Bromley called neil, (flagstaff is full of people from bromley, i was going to say strangely enough but i would rather be here than there) bruce from london, latoya from Seattle and the tour guide mike. The drive up was fun and then we did this cheesy covering your face with your hands and holding on to the person in front of you business so we all saw the canyon in one go. Yes, i felt a twat but oh gosh it was worth it, i've never heard such an intense, awe inspired silence. No words can be adequate but i cried a little bit. we walked around the rim a bit, trying to comprehend it all, then after lunch it was time to hike properly. I opted out; i was craving solitude and beauty, in the end latoya came with me but she was great company and we also went our separate ways a little bit. We stayed near the rim it was so so wonderful.
the evening was almost as great, i don't know why some groups just click, i suppose its chemistry in various senses of the word. Gabor and Gabor are both studying wine making; they organised a wine tasting for us (minus the spitting part) and things went downhill, happily, from there. We were all supposed to go to a party at the sister hostel but at 3.30am we all kind of realized we were still in the lobby of our place sharing stories and swapping jokes and making plans to travel eastern Europe.
Gabor2"this is the highest point of my life, i think it is all downhill from here"
Gabor1"If you jump please give me your camera first"
Gabor1 "this is so humbling and great, i wish to build a model at home in my room to always remind me"
Gabor2"yes. and the ladies would like to see your canyon. they will say it is great and look, i have the rocky mountains (mimes breasts)
Then they had a long story about pig hunting in their village and the importance of vodka in their lives....
Yesterday i went to Sedona with two charming little old ladies (Sisters from Guernsey and Wales, like the odd couple as envisaged by Marchant ivory) and in the evening Bruce drove us to Lowell observatory where we saw venus and saturn and mars and more stars than i ever realised were possible; they have rules about light pollution here. I'll write some more later i hope, i'm going to see a Hopi guy talk about Kachinas at the museum this afternoon with a girl i just met and then I think I'll go to some bars on route 66. I think there may be a vortex ubder this hostel, its a place with hugely positive vibrations. I'm sad to be leaving tomorrow but I'm hoping for eavesdropping as great as i got on the way here - there were 2 guys playing cards, neither met each other before, one just left prison and a rehab programme, the other was a young bloke on his way to bootcamp. he'd just seen the mel gibson movie and discovered god. I don't miss tv now i feel well again.
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