2007 November

November 30, 2007

Thrown for a loop

On my last post I wrote about BBC journalist Lola Almudevar, a close friend of mine that was killed in Bolivia last weekend in a car accident on her way to cover political unrest in the city of Sucre. Needless to say, I have been thrown for a loop by the loss of my friend.

I have spent the last three days hiking in the depths of the Grand Canyon attempting to come to terms with what happened to Lola. I still do not know why things like this happen. But, this whole experience has reaffirmed my purpose. If there is one prevailing idea that I am taking away from this tragedy, it is that I am not going to waste a second of this life.

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Southern U.S Cross Country Road Trip Comments( 4 )

November 27, 2007

A Very Sad Day

I randomly checked my email this morning before hitting the road for a 10 hour journey to the Grand Canyon and found out that one of most dynamic people I have ever met died in an automobile accident in Bolivia.

Lola Almudevar and I met in Sucre, Bolivia last May. We were sitting with our laptops back to back at a restaurant with wireless capability. She was working on a deadline for BBC news, I was probably working on a post about how tremendously terrible I was at speaking Spanish.
Before we both knew it a drunken Irishman crashed into our completely covered table sending everything flying including our laptops. I was fortunate. Lola was not as lucky as her laptop did not make it through the night. Nonetheless, that crazy Irishman helped forge a friendship that I will never forget.

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November 24, 2007

Day 8: New Orleans Part 2 “The Recovery”

Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans on August 29th 2005 at 6:10AM

Bubbles and Warren, our gracious hosts in New Orleans, were in New Orleans throughout the duration of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy. They found themselves without power for a total of 46 days. Luckily, their house is located in a higher part of town (near the Jazzfest fairgrounds). Talking to both of them in depth about their experiences gave us an interesting look into what actually went down in those days after the Hurricane hit. Interestingly, most of the duo’s stories were positive. They remembered how quiet it was. They were sitting on their roof and heard birds flapping their wings. This is an unfamiliar sound in a world full of cars, planes, and thousands of other daily white noises. Warren was a boy scout and had quite the survival arsenal in place in their basement. They had food and water that ended up lasting them a few weeks. All in all, they were very fortunate. The toughest thing for them is that they could not get to an actual working phone for 12 days to tell their loved ones that they were OK.

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November 22, 2007

Day 7: New Orleans Part 1

New Orleans, through and through, is a city that stirs a passionate emotion in its visitors. The music, the decadence, the never ending party, the rich history, and more recently the devastating hurricane that virtually annihilated its inhabitants are interwoven into the fabric of the “big easy”.

My personal mission was to get a glimpse of what exactly was happening two years after one of the United States biggest tragedies ever. Coupled with that, it was very important for our crew to have a good time while we were there. I wanted them to see the nightlife, play some partypoker or do whatever it is they wanted to. Hey, that is what New Orleans is all about right?

With that being said, I am going to post about the good times in this post and the recovery in New Orleans Part 2. Yes, New Orleans is still recovering.

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November 20, 2007

Day 6: The Journey from Memphis to New Orleans

Day 6 started out with a very pissed Dave Binck going to town on workers at both the Memphis Holiday Inn and Orbitz. He was double charged on his American express and was not happy. We had to sit at the hotel for about an hour and a half to straighten everything out. Dave was not alone in his frustration.

After the Holiday Inn/Orbitz confrontation we popped briefly onto Beale Street in downtown Memphis for some good old fashioned Memphis barbecue. We were hoping to get to New Orleans by nightfall. However, our crew has been getting up around 10 or 11ish and not getting out of our respective hotel rooms until after 12 noon. This has especially been the case in the music cities as we have been out late watching live music. So it is always a challenge to actually get going on the road. It is setting in that late departures are going to be a fact of life on this trip.