dallas

so i'm feeling very lazy right now so i don't want to type a lot, so i'm just going to mostly post pictures and video with brief descriptions.

This is Tracy and Marco's house that i stayed at in Dallas. The first flow is there shop where they sell refurbished vintage and modern furniture and clothing. The second floor is where they actually live. They are a wonderful couple that took me in as a friend from the moment i met them. truly amazing people.


This is a picture from my french friend benjamin passed out on his native holiday, Bastille Day. too much sangria.


We went to fort worth on one of the days and watched the longhorns walk through the streets. We also rode horses that were out of control, but i have no pictures of that. Those horses did whatever they want and there was nothing i could do about it. It could have been potentially very frightening, but i just decided to go with the flow and have fun with it. The horse would speed up when i pulled back on the reins, go left when i pulled right, and stop to eat grass while the rest of the group kept walking ahead.



On another night, we went to the Nasher sculpture museum in dallas and that was pretty cool. They had this one exhibit that was just probably a 30 ft x 30 ft room full of balloons. I mean FULL of balloons. Approximately 9,000 balloons. And we got to go in and just walk around and get lost and confused. It was crazy.

Here is a picture of Marco and ben in the balloon room.

san antonio

w0w. what a past few days. probably some best days i've ever had. It's truly hard to know even where to begin. So on Saturday night, Lalo and i went out for his last night out before becoming a father. We had an awesome time and came home really late. Most of the things were "had to be there" moments, so there's not too much i can say about that. The following morning i woke up at 8:00 am and went to a place called Enchanted Rock. I went with fellow couchsurfers. it was quite a large group. It was pretty cool and had some really neat caves. Although, while in the caves i couldn't help but think of the "127 hours" movie situation, because many of the spots were very tight in there.







at the end of the day, two of the german (federico and nikolas) couchsurfers said they were taking the greyhound to san antonio that night. That's when fernando, the couchsurfer who i met and went to the soccer games in houston with, said he would drive them there and just hang out while they were in san antonio. I had nothing planned and said i would join too! So it actually happened, and next thing i know, i'm heading to san antonio. The guy who federico and nikolas were staying with let fernando and i stay at his house as well. On the first night we got there, he threw a party for us and other couchsurfing hosts and their guests came too. We had 2 germans, 3 french, 2 mexicans, and few other people that i can't recall right now. But it was just so awesome because everyone was so different, and came from many different backgrounds, and yet everyone was able and WILLING to talk, share, and have fun. It was so amazing. We stayed up really late that night too.



woke up the next day and its 4th of july! So before the bbq that our host dan was having, we went out to do all the touristy things in san antonio. First we hit the mission san jose.




it was just so hot out that we did not stay very long. The next stop was the alamo. It actually closed right 2 minutes before we got there, but we got very lucky. There was a man outside who knew his history very well, explaining the story of the alamo. He told the story with some enthusiasm and excitement that we captured the entire audience with interest. And he did all of this, for tips at the end of his story/presentation.




After the alamo, we went to the river walk right across the street. It's very touristy but also kinda neat at the same time. It's a man-made river with a walkway and restaurants that line it all the way down. Definitely a tourist trap with high priced bars and restaurants, so we did not buy or drink anything there.

After that, we went home for the BBQ. It went well and we all had a good time.



But later in the night, they had somehow convinced me to go to six flags the next day! The next morning, i woke up terrified. I am so afraid of heights and roller coasters. Luckily for me, Dan was too, so i wasn't alone. there was 8 of us that wound up going and believe it or not, i had a BLAST! i only skpped 2 rides. The group was an amazing cohesive unit for only meeting the night before. It was so cool.




I feel like this whole couchsurfing experience has changed my life.