Portland Feb 2015 (1)

My friends and I spent five days in Portland, OR during my month-long trip to San Francisco. It was about 1h20min flight and the day couldn’t be more beautiful in SF.

At SFO, waiting for flight.

The bay.

Beautiful snowy mountains on our way to Portland.

About to land. I believe this is Mt Hood.

There is a MAX line (Red) from the airport to the city centre and back then my friend and I were not sure how to get to the hotel, which was located on Montgomery St between 4th and 5th Ave, and the hotel could’ve provided better directions because we ended up taking the streetcar to the hotel, but we could’ve taken the MAX (Green) and avoided doing some walking with all the luggage. By the fourth day we were mastering the public transportation in the city!

Inside MAX Red line from the airport.

Figuring out how to get to the hotel. We could’ve changed at the Convention Center stop, hopping off the Red line and onto the Green line without doing any walking with luggage…

The hotel location was excellent. We were there to have a taste of some of the city’s famous breweries, which are mostly located in the east part of town. Still, we were happy to stay in the SW part because it was really close to downtown and transportation. As of February 2015, the single ticket was $ 2.50 and the daily pass cost $ 5.00 and you can use it as many times as necessary. However, the weekly pass was $ 25 dollars and we were just dumbasses for not buying this one, as we spent five days there. The city is divided by the Willamette River in east and west and Burnside Street divides the city into north and south.

From portlandoregon.gov

We arrived at around noon and two people would join us later in the evening, and Daniel would come on Thursday. So Ro and I had the whole afternoon to get around town and see what was near the hotel.

On 4th Ave, towards downtown.

We were pretty hungry, so ended up going to a sportsbar to get some cheap food and beer. Next to us (which you can’t see here…) was US soccer coach Bob Bradley and what we believe was some of the technical team just watching a match (Man City X Barcelona?)

Just a few blocks from the hotel.

I had some trouble framing, I’m afraid.

We started with the craft beer later in the afternoon, when we went to Bailey’s Taproom (213 SW Broadway). People really take happy hour seriously and basically all places are packed. I wish we had the same eagerness in Porto Alegre, where there aren’t many happy hour places and people have to go out at around 8pm or 9pm because they work until bloody 7.30pm!

Bailey’s Taproom.

Ro went for the sour, I stuck to lager…

Afterwards we travelled to the other side of the river after a suggestion from a former student of mine and went to the Hair of the Dog (61 SE Yamhill St). We missed the stop and had to walk a great deal to get there. It’s in the industrial part of town and there’s basically nothing but warehouses around, so people go there just to go there! It’s an AMAZING place! Unfortunately I haven’t got one decent picture in it, the beer there was so strong (mine was around 11%) that I think it showed in my ability to take pictures…

Crappy picture of the Hair of the Dog…

As a couple of people would join us later, Ro’s friend and his nephew, we decided to go back to the hotel to meet them and do something together. We had been walking the whole day and I was pretty tired already, dying to just sit down at a bar or brewery and just drink some beer. Oh boy, little did we know that Ro’s friend is all about the meals… We HAD to have breakfast, we HAD to have lunch, we HAD to have dinner… So we found ourselves at almost 10pm walking around downtown trying to find a suitable place (for the guy) to eat. At this point, I had been looking forward to go to this bar on 10th Ave that would serve the happy hour menu again at 10pm, and I was about to strangle a person if I didn’t have a pint. We ended up at Rock Bottom, which was decent, but rather far from the hotel considering the situation (late at night, tired, and soon to need a bathroom after beers…) But hey, we didn’t want any conflict and went along with it… But conflict was just a matter of time…

Chile (1)

My holiday had finally arrived. I voted early in the morning and it was interesting to see the election results at the airport. The airport, by the way, one of the dullest experiences ever. We ended up finding the Starbucks corner with free wi-fi and stayed there checking out the elections coverage and seeing drivers get confused by this absurd sign. Many, MANY drivers couldn’t tell which way to go.

We arrived very late in Santiago and were ready to do the city tour Monday afternoon, but decided to take the suggestion of doing it Wednesday morning. However, on Monday morning we got contacted by the travel agency saying that we WOULD go later in the afternoon, so we went for a little walk in Bella Vista and came back to wait for the tour, only to find out one our later that they WOULDN’T pick us up that day. Lunchless at 3.30pm, we went to one of the shopping malls (which I had planned to do that day, but in the evening.) We took the subway in rush hour on our way back to the hotel and it was almost like Tokyo, four to five rows of people waiting to get on the train but without the guards pushing people into the carriages.

The subway price system isn’t the best. There isn’t a weekly pass like London and NYC. EVERY TIME you ride the subway you have to buy a ticket, and the system is divided into three categories: peak, normal and low. Peak fare is 700 pesos, normal 640, and low 590. So you get to ride the subway paying a reasonable price ONLY after 20:45, when you pay 1,180 pesos assuming you are buying return. There is a card that you can top-up and it is the only accepted currency on the bus, but you can use it on the subway, too. As I didn’t want to pay for the card (I believe is a fare of 1,200 pesos, plus the amount of money you wish to spend) and I wouldn’t get the bus anyway (because why take the bus if there is subway?), we ended up having to get in line to buy the ticket every time.

First day is to get acquainted with the city, walk around the neighbourhood, learn where the supermarket is, see bars and restaurants nearby. First impression: good impression.

A little square (plazuela) near Pablo Neruda’s house in Santiago, barrio Bella Vista.

Plaza de la Aviación in Providencia, near the hotel. At night the fountain is all lit up in different colours, but I didn’t catch the show.

Happy Pi Day

I’m just a few hours from getting on a bus and going for the second part of Immersion in Santa Cruz. I really can’t understand why I decided to split the classes into two different weeks instead of going from Monday to Friday, I guess it had to do with them suggesting separate days. Well, it seemed like a good idea at first, you know, not having to stay there five days in a row, but I didn’t anticipate that hitting the road twice again would be such a bitch. Lesson learned.

I particularly have a problem with travelling because of our trip back to Porto Alegre. Starting with the tickets. The moment we arrived there last Wednesday we immediately went on to buy the tickets to come back home after class, at 6pm. However, I asked the clerk:

— Is there a 6 o’clock bus to Porto Alegre on Friday?

— Sure.

— Two tickets, please.

After that, we went to the hotel feeling pretty beat and just crashing — not before AC360, obviously. We taught for two days — I’ll explain later — and on Friday evening we headed for the bus station to go home. Some three minutes before the 6 o’clock bus leaves, for some reason that I can’t explain, I looked at the ticket and saw that the departure time was 6AM, not PM. We rushed to the counter and the guy printed out new tickets but by the time we got on the bus all window seats had been taken and we had to sit wherever seemed ok, but no seats seemed ok and we ended up in the back of the bus, by the bathroom, next to people carrying big bags. Really not comfortable. Needless to say that the very next day (yesterday) I woke up in excruciating pain, a stiff neck that wouldn’t let me turn my head even 10º. I had some Dorflex at home but they didn’t help at all. I applied some Gelol but it just worked for some 30 minutes. I couldn’t sit, I couldn’t lie down. I went to sleep before 11pm, on a Saturday, which is something I hadn’t done since, I don’t know, I was 11 maybe? I had a miserable night’s sleep and woke up this morning at 7:30am (!) because I couldn’t stand the pain anymore. I waited a while and just after 8am I went to the drugstore and bought more Dorflex. Thank goodness there’s a 24-hour drugstore three blocks from my flat because the nearest drugstores were closed, you know, who gets sick and needs medication on a Sunday morning, right? So I got home and took two pills right away, and two more after 4 hours. I’m alright now but taking them with me in case I’ll need them — afterall I am traveling again in a couple of hours.

And to make matters worse, I managed to slam my foot on the couch. I went to another dimension and came back, seriously, even though I’d been drinking for a while. Imagine the pain I felt the day after, along with the neck pain…

Well, about the classes. I’m not sure if they were successful… The students weren’t so enthusiastic and the outcome wasn’t as satisfactory as I’d imagined. I think they enjoyed doing the video conference but I’m not sure if the other activities were as appealing. Maybe they were just tired, you know, because studying for 9 hours straight can be exhausting. I know it is for a teacher!

I’m a little concerned that we still don’t have two activities and four workshops prepared. And that means working overtime, something that I didn’t expect at all. But the last day is the one that worries me the most, since the whole day will be dedicated to producing, writing and recording a Podcast and Im’ not sure if we’ll be able to pull it off, you know, technology and content-wise. I’d like, though, to prepare a DVD with their videos and recordings for them to analyse their performance more deeply back home.

And today is Pi Day. Unfortunately, I have no pies with me to enjoy the day… But I did enjoy a The Daily Show marathon earlier!