JASSENDEAVOR 'm going to travel around the world, easternly, from the good ole USA. I plan to be traveling for about 4 months, but who knows what will happen? This is my global adventure. It's a chance to write my own story; but the details will have to be filled i

Happy Birthday to Me! They sang just the first two lines to me in the small bar we went out to last night in Barrio Alto. (Three lines is more than enough for me, too!) Barrio Alto is the nightlife district. When I say `we`and mean myself, three Brazilians, one Chilean, and two Frenchmen (one of whom is a girl). Later the girl who works at the hostel joined us; she is French Canadian and Tacao Grande was her suggesstion. The dancing was like merengue, but young people... so just a little more fluid, less steps involved. The music was really good, local guys, voice like butter. Everyone wears dark things... and everyone complains of the cold. It is true that by one o´clock it really was cold, but at 11 it still was only just chilly. I danced with a local guy who called me beautiful. That was one of his English words, and I guess it served him well. I said, No Falta Portuguese, and he said, Ah... Falta Espanol? and I said, `No... falta Ingles?`and he said, `no...`and so there we were, me clutching my jacket still since I hadn´t put it down. I was taller than most of the people in the room... probably ranked in the 75th percentile for height. Later in the street, one girl we talked to, from Lisboa, gave me the biggest smile when she found out that her city was my choice of first destination for my whole trip. She was the second person who was really excited to use her English with me; she said she used to be good at it but then went to France and now all that comes out is French. Her boyfriend was from the North. He was quiet. They say in Porto that Lisbon is the touring city, and Porto is the working city. We go there today - Elliot (Eh-lio) has joined Sebastien´s and my group. Oh yeah; Peugeot, Opel, Mercedes, Rocket (sp?), Audi, a few volkswagens and Smart Cars proliferate in the city. I like them. Why don´t they sell them in the states? No demand? whatever.