Passing through La Paz: Working at The Wild Rover

Writing about ‘the incident’ has me reminiscing about Bolivia. I was running out of money, and market food wasn’t really working out for me anymore. My friend Conor from the frat in Sucre told me about volunteering at The Wild Rover hostel in La Paz. It sounded like a pretty sweet deal; free bed, meal everyday, oh and party every night! Why not?

The not would be hanging around loud drunk people every minute of the day when all you want to do is chug cold meds and sleep for 22 hours a day. Being sick turned out alright because the tv room was stocked with pirated copies of the latest movies. The hostel even had a doctor visit me in my room and paid for it! I did have to shell out about $7 US for some hard core cold meds. I couldn’t really read the label but after a few days I was back to my normal self just in time for carnival!

Carnival in Bonaire 2012

Carnival has been one of my favorite times of the year ever since my first carnival in Grand Cayman back in 2009. The entire island drops what they are doing to dress up and dance in the streets! The best part is the costumes!  Bonaire was very similar, and my friends and I always wore something funky to add to the fun. Although someday I WILL be in parade all RIO style. With years of Carnival under my belt I was pretty excited to see how Bolivia would celebrate.

I was wrong. WRONG. Very very wrong. It was a nightmare in the streets! The tradition is to shoot a water based foam and throw water balloons at people in the streets. Sounds like fun right? NO. My first time out of the hostel during carnival a random person held a can of foam inches from my face and sprayed. The foam won’t hurt you but it was really uncomfortable and frankly I felt threatened. Being pelted with water balloons can really hurt, and it’s not much fun either. I’d had enough and was desperately making my way back to the hostel when a kid with a 2 liter coke bottle full of water started dumping it on me. I grabbed the rascal and his bottle and emptied it on his head. I have no regrets.

Back at the hostel Carnival was FANTASTIC! We had a theme every night; pajama, cross dresser, black & White, ABC (anything but clothes). The hostel provided costumes for the staff, and I loved every minute of it!

The Wild Rover Crew during carnival 2013

After four days of hiding in the hostel we thought it was safe to go find lunch in the real world. My friend and I turned the corner from our hostel when we heard a child’s voice yell out “GRINGOS!” Five kids appeared from different directions with water guns! They had no mercy and we had no lunch.

Although you can’t really call it working because we didn’t get paid, the perks are totally worth volunteering your time at The Wild Rover Hostel. In addition to the free room and daily meal, you also get an awesome discount on alcohol (which can be a big part of your budget at a party hostel). Working the night shift didn’t really feel like work even though you had to wash the cups and make drinks, you also got to make your own drinks, dance on the bar, and hang out with some of the coolest people in the world!

Up next, the free stuff you get to do when you work at a hostel!

Have you ever picked up odd jobs while traveling? And was it worth it?

Halloween Part 3 The Murica Adventure

As many of you know, I left Alaska with dreams of moving back to Grand Cayman. I flew from Alaska to Canada to spend time with Nick while we worked it all out. Slowly and steadily it’s getting there.

My good friend Mandy Lane and I decided to make the most out of our Halloween night, and planned a party night in the small ski town of Whitefish, Montana. We had heard Halloween would be huge there, and we were hoping the rumors would be true. First I had to take an eleven hour Greyhound bus from Kelowna to where Mandy lived in Fernie, British Colombia. Fernie is a small but very charming town and I loved it! There are cute shops along the main street and snow covered mountains that surround the town, and everyone in town was talking about the upcoming ski season. I would move there but you know the whole Canada/America work visa blah blah blah. On Halloween Mandy drove us down to Whitefish for the big night. Whitefish is  only about an hour and half away from Fernie, and when we arrived we were ecstatic to see hundred of kids dressed up walking store to store trick or treating. It was like the town was made to celebrate Halloween!

Raggedy Ann and Senorita Dia de Los Muertos

We had a cheap lunch (damn Canada has been expensive) and went to the hostel to prepare for the big night. Did I mention that Mandy is the Halloween queen? Seriously, when it comes to costumes you should see this girl go. Back in Fernie she helped make costumes for some good friends, Dorothy and the flying monkey, but the best was her hand made Raggedy Ann and voodoo doll Andy. I opted to use the same costume I did for the annual party to save time and money. I also looked awesome in my Dia de los Muertos costume.

Dead Mario and Medusa at the Whitefish Hostel

Getting ready is ALWAYS the best part of going out. We made friends at the hostel with dead Mario and Luigi, Medusa, and the best Can Can girl out there. She literally had cans of beer under her skirt (cheap way to drink at the bar). Every bar was packed with witches and vampires. So we settled into one bar with a modest entry fee and well, the rest of the night went down in a pretty typical Halloween party night. Everyone had fun and made it back to the hostel safely whether we remember it or not.

We took off the next afternoon and headed home, er, I mean back to Canada. The border control asked us the regular questions “do you have anything to declare, etc, etc”, and then this string of Ebola questions. “Have you been to any Ebola effected countries?”, and I caught myself before blurting out “yea, we are just coming back from the states.”

So thanks for the party Montana, but I was just passing through!

Do you think this Ebola paranoia is getting out of hand or is it justified?

Halloween Part 2 The Annual Halloween Party

Most people have ” The Annual Halloween Party,” you know the one. Its always on the roof and you go every year hoping to find the Sluty Pumpkin again. Maybe that was just Ted. For me, I’m pretty lucky. I get invited to TWO annual Halloween Parties every year, but I only every make it to one. Could it be because they are always the same Saturday night before Halloween? Maybe. Or Maybe its because one is in Texas and the other is in British Colombia (for my American friends thats the really big province* on the West coast of Canada). Last year I made it to my Texas party hosted by the lovely Emily Frey Bell.

So much for the sluty pumpkin idea 😉

I was pretty stoked to be back in Texas with some of my oldest and dearest friends. I also got to experience the big pregnant belly pumpkin with my dear Jennifer and baby Wayne. I bet there are blogs dedicated to pregnant halloween costumes…remind me to come back to that in a few years.

Halloween 2013 with my little brother Austin

Anyway, not only did I get to attend the annual party with my friends, I got to bring one of my favorite people in the world along with me. My little bro Austin! When Halloween night came around I got to spend it passing out candy to cute neighborhood kids and steal bits of candy from my ever so generous siblings. It was a pretty successful Halloween with good old fashioned family fun, but not this year. This year was something else.

I sprayed my hair black. Do you like me better as a blond?

So this Halloween I got to attend my other annual Halloween party in Canada, hosted by the wonderful Cooneys! I know what you are thinking, Canada! It must have been out of control. This is the same annual party that I attended with Nick in 2010 where we played sociables and everyone had to name pokemon characters. I didn’t do so well on that round. Its good fun with some great people.

I wanted to do something a bit more creative with my costume this year and it hit me! Fun, cheap, and easy! I could paint Dia de Los Muertos faces for Nick and I, and decorate with pink flowers! I was so excited by the results! We joined Princess Leia and Scooby and the gang and played a few rounds of BANG!  We hung out and spoke what little spanish we could manage but made one fatal mistake with our costumes. We bought rum and not tequila!

Up next, Halloween night in ‘Merica

Do you have a party you host or attend every year? Or do you mix it up every year?

Senior and Seniorita Dia de Los Muertos

The beautiful princess Leia

*Canada has provinces like the US has states