I do not deserve any of this

In a good way, I mean. I am far too blessed. Here´s the rundown on the last 24 hours of my life...

After I made that last post, I decided to wander around and try to find somewhere where I could eat dinner alone without looking too awkward. As I was walking down the street, I heard someone calling my name--Caroline and Joseph just happened to be eating dinner right across the street from my hostel! So I ended up eating with them, then went back to my hostel and watched the 12th inning of the All Star game (who won, anyhow?) until I decided I was too wiped from my day of travel to take anymore. Slept a good 10 hours, and then came...

Wednesday (today): Woke up at 8 and went to the supermarket to buy myself yogurt, cereal and bananas. I figured it would be much cheaper to eat breakfast that way than going out every day (and less alone since I can eat in the hostel.) I ended up talking to a 50 year old hippie who was selling jewelry in my hostel for about half an hour. He was born in a favela (read: ghetto) in Brazil but moved to Bolivia when he was 7, after which point he travelled all over, even spending some time in Austin. He told me he loved hippie hollow, back before "they" ruined it. He also told me I was welcome to come by his workshop any time to check out his jewelry and, since I "look like a person who enjoys a good toke", to light up with him. I probably won´t take him up on that offer. I told him I´ve never smoked weed a day in my life, at which point he told me "well, you´ve got the look down!" I´m not sure what that means but it doesn´t really bother me. Maybe it means I look relaxed? It´s also funny to me that he´s not the first person down here who´s suggested that maybe I enjoy "alternative" forms of recreation.

Anyhow, after I left the hostel I ended up walking around the city with a British woman named Sarah. We went to the cathedral (biggest in central america, I think) and to an art museum. The art museum was AMAZING. It had so much more than I´d expected. There was of course the usual 400 year old Catholic paintings of sad looking people surrounded by fat angels, but there was also tons of indigenous art, surreal paintings and 3 original Picassos! And, it only cost us 60 cents to get in. Afterwards, Sarah and I went for lunch at a café with amazing coffee. She went back to the hostel since she wasn´t feeling well, and I checked out another museum.

I feel so uneducated, but until I got down here I´d never heard of Ruben Dario. He´s apparently renowned as one of the best Hispanic poets ever, and after visiting the house where he lived and reading some of his stuff, I can see why. His work and his life remind me a lot of Pablo Neruda (or maybe it´s just that good poetry comes out of a life of travel, women and rebellion). They didn´t have any books of his poetry at the museum, so afterwards I went to a nearby bookstore to look around. No luck there, but I did start a conversation with a girl from Austria named Judith who´s visiting her friend here for a month. We ended up having coffee together and talking for almost an hour, and we might try to meet up tomorrow.

I´m meeting Caroline and Joseph for dinner tonight (they are leaving tomorrow), so it will be nice not to have to worry about eating alone. I´m realizing more and more, though, that every time I think I will be "lonely", I´m not. I´m sure it will happen in time, but so far I´ve been amazingly blessed with friendships, even if they are random and short lived. I like León a lot, it´s a beautiful city with a lot of history, and I´m looking forward to getting to see more of the area (volcanoes and beaches) over the next couple of days. Since I´m travelling, my Spanish isn´t getting as much of a workout now, but my legs and my brain are working overtime so I think it´s a fair trade off.

Enjoy your lives and your friendships back home, I am definitely getting ready to see people and hear about other summers!