TOXIC BARBY

Dear friends,

I can not go on with this blog for the next weeks because I am seriously sick and I have to go back to Austria to get better. In the meantime Mike will stay in Austin and will help Craig to work on his house and garden.

As soon as I am healthy again we will go on with our trip.

kisses Jiny

Voodoo and vampires in New Orleans and unexpected long stop in Austin :(

Port of New Orleans

We just stayed in New Orleans for 2 days. We have chosen a very nice hostel, India House, near Canal Street. This hostel is really great because you have a lot of space and you can plug your electronic devices everywhere. For breakfast u can order from the “outside kitchen” fresh smoothies, eggs and more. I really enjoyed this place. 

India house: breakfast area :)

In the city u get sort of a feeling that something mysterious will happen. The streets are full of little shops, cemeteries, freaky people and necklaces with beads. Voodoo came from Africa and Haiti to this city and is still present in the hearts of the inhabitants. We went to the Voodoo museum and I have seen many "cute" dolls. 

Voodoo dolls

Some people believe you should not leave a dead person unattended as long as it is buried because it can otherwise turn into a zombie. Yeah, zombies, voodoo and ghosts…

At night the atmosphere becomes more and more scary. The humidity increases, the temperature falls and the city gets completely shrouded in mist. In this grave alike environment real vampires wander around and try to get close to your neck... We have seen a few in a pub and some even got their cuspids pointed, wtf!

Mike in the mist.

The clubs sell green and shiny drinks and the girls don't wear too much clothes. Many strip clubs…

All in all a nice experience… 

Then we travelled to Austin (Texas). Again in a Greyhound..

In the bus I realized, that I got some serious health problems and that I have to go to hospital. We arrived at around 5 am in Austin, walked 1 1/2 h to the next McDonalds, had breakfast and then went to the next hospital. 

In the hospital, you really feel like in emergency room. They checked everything they can and beside that they all liked my hair...crazy

The asian nurse who tried to take my blood was very incompetent!! She could not find a vein and just sticked the 1,2 mm needle in my hand. This was the point when I shouted at her:WHAT THE FUCK!!!!

Then she said she'll call a doctor, ran away and left me alone for about 5 minutes with a needle in my hand... After all kind of investigations we left the hospital with an accurate diagnosis and significantly less money:(

Now I can barely stand up and have fever. The lucky thing is that Craig, a friend of Milton, is the best host in the world, a very talented cook and also a medical doctor. He took care of me now, which is more than you can ever ask for. Right now we have to wait until I am healty again and then we can continue our journey.

Bad things happen sometimes...

Miami good bye...for a while!

Hey!

Downtown Miami @ night.

The last two weeks were very exciting. We went to many parties.

One party was at a friend’s apartment in Downtown Miami. This place was amazing!! Imagine the view of lots of skyscrapers and palm trees. On the 12^th floor there was a common pool and hot tup.

What a view!

 Belive me, a hot tup where more than 5  people fit inside is a lot of fun. 

In the hot tub!

We met here so far many awesome people which became very good friends in just a short time. Thank you so much guys, Jacob, Milton, Lili, Jesse, Nav, Daniel and all other couch surfers and hashers I did not mention.

Nav, Lili and Mike.

Milton the worrior..

Mike, Jacob, Milton and me.

 

We celebrated, had FUN and a lot of beers…Their lifestyle is really unique. You never know what to expect from them, they surprise you every day with interesting new characteristics and hobbies.

We had also a CS at our place. His name is Jay and he stayed at Milton and Jacob’s “bat cave” first. He wanted to have some nights in SOBE, so we hosted him. Unfortunately, he had a tonsil infection and he was most of the time in bed. I am glad I could help you buddy; I know how it is like to suffer from these circumstances ;)

Me, Jacob, Jay and Mike making fun in our apartment.

Nevertheless we had a great time at Nikki beach. This place is ideal to relax and party at the same time. You have beds and a cute dance floor. The drinks are in a good price class that you can afford as traveler at least 2 of them a night (one gin tonic 10 $). At around 3 am the party turns into a cuddling environment, where people start to do other things beside drinking and dancing…you know what I mean :P

Nikki Beach.

 What’s next? You guys may think we are currently in Vancouver, right? Sorry, no! It is cold up there, so we decided to stay south. We took the next Grayhound bus to New Orleans. I am at the bus right now…it is equipped with kinky leather seats (very comfortable), free WIFI, a “toilet”, and crazy people I have never seen before. A strange guy was holding his bible all the time in his right hand and tried to talk to me by staring with his creepy blue eyes in my direction…

I slept quite well here…thinking about the future…and then I decided to think about nothing except things that happened in my life (I know I am turning into a sentimental “lady”). I miss my sister a lot! She was always my best friend, family and role model.

My friends Lia and Stephie. We had so great times together, I will never forget that, believe me. Even I am in nowhere of the US…

So, I end this entry now because I need to get off the bus soon ;)

Kisses Jiny (or the US version Jinny)

P.S. This song describes my opinion of Mimai best: My Paradise - Topmodelz

Como estan, amigos!

Hey guys!

You may have heard that I try to go mostly vegan because the meat consumption in our world is exploding.
From a reference I can tell that almost 47kg/person/year is consumed world wide (average value).

World wide annual meat consumption last year (Ref: http://chartsbin.com/view/bhy)

The dark red areas are the parts in the world where most of the meat is consumed. Owing to the fact that I am in the US right now, I decided to go as good example and start eating less or almost no meat and dairy products. So I started eating vegan food. I give it a try. For this reason, I bought protein shakes and tofu instead of meat and almond milk and soy milk instead of diary. It is so delicious.

Almond milk has way less calories and is absolutely tasty in my coffee. I have never seen that before in Austria but here in Miami you can buy it almost everywhere.

Enough about foods...

Friday was such a day where you do not expect much and suddenly crazy stuff happens. Mike and me met some CSs @ Buck 15. This is a small club on Lincoln lane. On Fridays girls drink for free until midnight. My "SexOnTheBeach" tasted a little bit soapy. After that, I needed fresh air...outside of the club I met a girl which was really fun and she said she is going to club SET.
If you sweetys look at the home page you will realize that this club is hard to get in. As girl you have to wear high heels and be dressed up and as a guy you have to take at least 3 girls with you. A VIP table for one night costs 3000$...yes...ouch...without drinks!!!Cool music in the club, almost naked dancing girls, lollypops on the toilet and plastic, plastic....
The story is, the funky girl brought us together with 5 blondies and one additional guy inside the club...we did not pay anything. The crazy thing is, they let me in with FLIP FLOPS..hahaha...I made it baby!!
Then inside, the rich guy bought a huge box of champagne, vodka, juices, etc. We were invided for many drinks. I took many pics with the "girls" and at 2:00 am the whole group of girls and the one (or two) rich guys just left...
Then Mike and me went home, too. I was a little bit drunken...too many free drinks that night. ;)

On Saturday we went with Jacob to the farmers market @ Coconut Grove. There they have vegan food, organic vegetables and fruits, fruit drinks, salads, vegan ice cream and fresh prepared food. You can buy stuff and enjoy it with other people they hang out there. Everyone was very friendly.

Farmers market @ Coconut Grove

Mike enjoying fresh coconut.

Lili and Jacob. I love you guys!

The day was great so far!
The night had something special for Miami...the so called sleepless night! A lot of art galleries, shows, bars, live music and many more stuff was going on all around Miami South Beach.
We met with a bunch of CSs @ our pool, had some beer and went to the streets of SOBE. The first stop was the Cleavlander, a event hotel on Ocean Drive. So, flip flops off, high heels on ;)
On the rooftop u have a great view over the beach!

@ Cleavlander

view from Cleavlander (beach pic for Christoph)

Then we went on to street shows where huge sea animals were spitting on people with a fog maschine *gg* and acrobatic shows @ SoundScapePark. All these events went on until 6 am the next day.
Sunday...lazy day!
We met up with Lili just to get a tan in the sun and to eat vegan food. I cooked a vegan bolognese with soy granula. It was yammy!

We also went to the free training area @ Ocean Drive. There you find the real acrobatic people, especially the girls can perform outdoor pole dancing, so check this out:

So sweeties, thats enough, I should work on my answers for my new publication ;)

Kisses and cu Jiny

Let's meet people and have fun

Hi there!

A lot happened since the last entry.

We met a lot of people through couchsurfing. First we got to know Daniel. He came to SOBE and we had a nice chat about traveling and other countries. On the same day we met Jessy, Nav, Hanni, a Latvian couple, Thorsten and Heike.

Hanni, Thorsten, Jesse, Latvian couple, Heike! Was great to meet all of you!

Nav and Daniel invited us to a big CS-meeting on Friday @ Calle Ocho which is in Little Havanna. There was a festival called "Viernes Culturales" which is set once a month. The CSs met at a nice Mexican restaurant ("Mi Rinconcito") where you really get great burritos. We were a large group as you can see on the pic below:

CS-meeting in the Mexican restaurant "Mi Rinconcito"

There we met Jacob and Milton who invited us to a so called Hash run on Monday...

After we had eaten great food we all went to Calle Ocho, where real Cuban people smoke cigars, drink and just have fun on the street.
Honestly, without Spanish you are lost here...I tried to order a beer...forget it.

Calle Ocho

The cool thing about the CSs here is that as soon as you give your number to a single person, everyday someone new calls you and offers you to have a chat, an invitation to a private party via guest list, VIP party tickets or he gives you the contact of some other CS that wants to meet you. It is a sort of chain reaction where you are involved in a big group very quick. The CSs here are so open minded and really great fun. I highly recomment them if someone of you ever comes to Miami.

On Saturday, a CS named Jordan called us and gave me and Mike an invitation to a rooftop poolparty @ Gansevoort hotel. At the entrance it was kind a weard because the doorman just asked me who invited me and did not check my name on the guest list. So we went to the rooftop complety wet according to the heavy rain before we reached the hotel.

Up there...I did not know what to say except plastic planet. The music was great, the pool huge, warm and ready to jump in and all in all a great place. However, the people were strange...no one was active  in the pool, all dressed up like going out for disco and...plastic. In addition, 17$ for a Mojito...that hurts a lot!

Here some pics to explain the situation (of course without comments).

Swimming forbidden

We left this party early because of the weather...

At night we went to club Space following Jacob's (another cool CS) recommendation.
Arrived at Space and dressed up, we realized that the tickets Jordan gave us were just for a fast entry not for reduced prices, so we paid 60$ entry each, ouch!

Inside...AWESOME! It has three main floors, one on ground floor and two (or one huge one) at the first floor. Before 12:00 am there was just the ground floor opened. There, they played Hip Hip, Pop and some funky stuff where the people started to freak out. I have to say the extra plus on that Saturday was that it was Halloween weekend, so everybody was dressed up in crazy costumes.

??What is it, any suggestions??

Way hotter chicks than @ Gansevoort!

The drinks here are ok...7$ for a Corona...and the absurde thing is you pay the same amount for a bottle of water. Ok, it is SPACE written on it but hellooooo????

Mike with a mustach!

Three wrist bands for one night!

 Upstairs the music was freaky, it was a mixture of everything with great beats. You can dance on a podest with a lot of other funny people.

We left at around 3.00 am because we had an invitation for the next day @ Daniels place.

Sunday was rainy but Daniel has an awesome home, where his terrace is more like a huge living room. A lot of CSs came and everyone brought good food. We had three different Guacamole, spicy cheese, crackers, rice, coconut milk tinctured vegetables, sausages, meat, shrimp and salmon burger, etc.
And of course a lot of beer and alcohol. I had too much Tequilla.
Just a great evening!

CSs and me goofing around! (Hey Nav, nice mint shirt)

THX Daniel!

MONDAY!!!! Halloween!

Before the spooky part starts, I have to tell you that we do not just party around, we started also a Spanish course in SOBE. We took 12 lessons with a private teacher. Her name is Paula and she is from Colombia. At the beginning I thought: "Gosh, this is never gonna work!"
But after an hour, I understood her better.

For the evening the plan was to go to a Hash run. Milton and Jacob picked us up at our home and than we digged up Nav.
Again a funny ride!

So... what is Hashing? It is a mixture of running, drinking beer and freaking out with a group of people (thats my definition). You can also have a look at the following link:
http://onin.com/hhh/hhhexpl.html

We met at a parking space in Hollywood. All people were dressed up with costumes or crazy hats.
After everybody had arrived we drank beer (or something else) and the run started. It is not just a run it is more like a "Schnitzeljagd". In other words, you have to find the right way through signs, beer resting points and checkpoints.
The whole run was around 10 km. I was a little bit exhausted afterwards...

After everybody arrived back at the starting point we drank more beer, and all newcomers (or also termed Virgins) were welcome in a strange way. I do not tell more...if you want to know more, become a HASHER!

I am a Hasher now...go go

Sadly...my so called tough camera broke after I was climbing over a fence...:(

Coming back to SOBE Miami...the best place u can go on Halloween is Lincoln Road. Why?
Imagine, all people there dress up in spooky costumes. A crowd of monsters, devils, serial killers, jumping marsh mallows, elves, vampires, bees, cats, bloody people, zombies and what so ever are gathered in this street. I did not dress up because I was a little bit exhausted and tired.
Sorry, I have no pics from that event since my camera broke. Nevertheless, I could make some pics with Jacob's phone! I will make an update as soon as I have them ;)

So a lot happened..enjoy

CU soon *kisses* Jiny