Vancouver

Como verán, arranqué un muy muy bonito día... Acá estaba con la tablet y la ipaq, recordando que me olvidé de llevar la cámara de fotos, así que me temo que esto es todo lo que tengo para este viaje...

¡Fotitos de celular!

Lo que está en esta letra debajo, por cierto, no son cosas que escribo ahora, sino que las escribía mientras iba por ahí...

Thursday, June 09, 2005

7:51 PM

It's 7.51, and I'm at a Starbucks at Powell Street at 580, tired after driving since 4.20.

Of course, I ran into all possible traffic jams. :)

I've asked where I am (helpful thing to move on), and while I eat my passion fruit cake slice and drink my tall non-fat latte, I'll figure out how to get downtown (thank God for Street & Trips).

Come to think of it, I ended up calling Starbucks home when I'm abroad (Japan is to blame for this as well).

Anyhoo, here I am now: (here was the map).

Which is not bad at all. The consulate is just off to the west a bit.

So, there I go now, and then to walk around and get me a hotel. Good luck to myself!

I'm at the hotel now, the Days Inn. Absolute laziness, as you can see. (here was the map).

I met the manager, who's Colombian and has been here for five years. Nice lady, says she wants to visit Argentina. Well, I recommended Iguazu and Buenos Aires - I'm not a mean person, am I?

I was walking around downtown - this is a nice city. At night it's still alive, full of people coming and going, and I'll probably go out for some food now, although I'm not really hungry. I guess I just want to walk around some more before I go to bed.

There are a number of restaurants by the harbor. I'll probably go visit those, rather than going into Chinatown.

Oh, wireless networks suck - I cannot seem to connect to any. It's a shame, because I have some pictures from my iPAQ (I forgot my camera) that I could send over email to ye olde family.

11.34

I went out for a walk, and got down by the coastline. Everything was closed down, but the view is gorgeous. It's especially fun to walk along a floating path on water, because you really do feel the thing move under you.

Sadly, I ended up in McDonald's eating a burger and trying not to call the attention of the local bums. One was a lady counting change to get a soft drink, another were a group of folks concerned about their bikes and some boys smoking around them.

Oh, and for extra fun. This homeless-looking guy calls out to me, asking me if I smoke weed. Well, they're pretty open if they're asking for weed on the streets, but all I said was 'no'. He replies back 'your loss' - turns out he was offering me some. Wow.

Check out time is 11:00am. Sucks. I'm not sure if I should ask for another day, or if I should leave my bags and leave tomorrow if possible. Leaving tomorrow would be nifty - I get to see everyone sooner and sleep in my own bed. OTOH, I could get to know Vancouver better if I staid another day, and I would get some extra peace of mind.

Mmm. I think I'll arrange for an extra day tomorrow.

Friday

11.20am

I woke up way before the alarm clock went off, a number of times. I never realized how noisy an apartment facing the street could be, even from a fifth floor. Maybe I'm getting soft?

I am getting fat, in any case. 74.7 kg. OMG. The scale in my own bathroom sucks, of course - I think this one's more accurate, as I've had a similar reading from someone else's scale as well.

The passport will (hopefully) be ready by 3.00pm - otherwise, it's weekend-stay-over for me, and it won't be ready until Monday. Which sucks, big time.

So now, to find interesting places to go to, and figure out whether I want to drive around or whether I'd rather just walk. On one hand, my shoes are really nice, and it'd be a shame to wear them out; on the other hand, I don't have to walk very far, do I? I only have a few hours, and I can stop for a quick meal.

Which reminds me of breakfast. I ordered a single pancake and got three (and got charged for three, of course). I finished two, and ended up very, very full.

So now, I'm off to send an email and walk around Chinatown and Gastown.  I'll leave the shopping and entertainment areas for the afternoon / evening. And hopefully, I won't have the chance to do everything again tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.

Oh, and Hibernate rocks.

4.04pm

Life is good. I walked around Chinatown and Gastown. Bum area. Bought some presents, then back to the hotel to drop them off, then walking around Roberston or something (fun & trendy). Back to the consulate, and yes! - I've got my visa!

Drop by Seattle's Best, now back at the hotel to get my cell phone, send email to the world, and plan what to do with my evening. I'll probably go for the revolving restaurant on top of the some-tower-or-another.

Su Seguro Servidor, posando al solcito lindo canadiense.

Y todo termina así...

Saturday

9.34am

Laura called yesterday! She called on the cell phone but I didn't get that message, then she called to my hotel room and I got it. Hehe, she was all surprised because the receptionist did speak good Spanish.

Last night was pretty cool. The restaurant's view was great, the service was good, the food was OK-good. I had fettuccini pescatore and although the seafood stuff was great, it wasn't too much and the sauce tasted fairly common. For dessert, tiramisu, which was also good but didn't make it into the top ten list.

Anyway, after that, walking around the city, especially on Granville street and Robson. Granville is where all nightclubs are, there are also some pub-like places (but not like the "pub after pub" you can see in some areas in Seattle). Robson is where all nice stores and coffee shops are.

Then, back to bed, sleepy-sleep, and now after a shower, I'm ready to hit the pancake (hopefully a single one for real this time), and then finish with my bags and check out.