Yes, I know I have glitter on my face.

Current mood: thankful My pilgrimage to the land of Frida is now over...so glad I went! It was absolutely worth it. We went to the Frida exhibit at Bellas Artes yesterday--the largest exhibit of Frida's work ever. The line when we got there went down the stairs (the exhibit was on the very high 2nd floor). By the time we left, it was out the door and halfway to the street. It was the first time I had ever seen any of Frida's paintings in person. I've always considered myself more a fan of Frida the person than Frida the artist. Of course, I admired her talent, just not as much as I admired her spirit. The paintings blew me away. The prints just don't do them justice. They are brighter and more detailed that they seem in books. I love the ones from New York especially, where Frida shows how different New York is from Mexico City. They almost look like collages, with symbolic objects in random places. We started our morning at breakfast on the roof of...

Current mood: content Yolanda and I took the subway and the bus all by ourselves to Frida Kahlo's house. It really is as blue as it looks in the movie. I recommend to all of you who haven't seen it, watch "Frida". There's a beautiful garden inside the walls and the house itself. I spent a long time in Frida's studio, just gazing at her work table, paints, easel, wheelchair... Then I went into her room. It was a little alcove that only fit a single bed, but she liked it because she could look out on the garden. She died in that room, in the bed that's there. It has the mirror above it that she looked into to do her self-portraits, and also her makeup! On the bed with a rebozo surrounding it, is Frida's death mask. Finally, Frida without pain! One of her torso casts was on the bed and next to it were her crutches and her prosthetic leg, still wearing a very cool red, wedge, knee-high, lace-up, painted boot. She loved her colors! Beyo...

Current mood: enthralled Dearest loved ones and Shelley, Yesterday we went to the pyramids at Tenochitlan. Amazing. Yolanda, the super trooper, climbed all the way to the top of the Pyramid of the Sun in the rain. Yours truly, sweaty as always, trudged halfway up. I GOT HALFWAY UP! I met Yolanda on her way down and she told me the view wasn't much different from the top, so I decided to just go down with her. There was a thunderstorm while we were at Tenochitlan, climbing the pyramid. Actually, as I was debating going up further, there was a huge rumble of thunder, which I interpreted as the gods' way of saying, "Get off our pyramid you infidel!" We also went to the Shrine of the Virgen of Guadalupe. It was one of those moments that I forgot to breathe because I was so filled with wonder at being able to look at a true miracle. In case you don't know what I'm talking about, the basilica is on the very spot where the Virgen appeared to Juan Diego ...

Current mood: indescribable We´re here in Mexico City, after a short little 4 hour flight and 1 hr sleep... When we got to the hostel, they had a tour leaving for the Archeological Museum so we decided to go. Our guide, Elizabeth, took us and three British girls on the subway and then a crowded microbus to the museum. We thought that paying for a museum tour meant that we would be transported??? Once at the museum, Yolanda and I were completely burned out, so we left our lovely guide and cruised through the Azteca, Olmecs, Maya and culturas norteamericanas before buying some fresh potato chips from a street vendor and having her flag down the bus we needed to get home. Once on the extremely crowded microbus, with my fresh potato chips drenched in salsa sticking out of my purse (Ithought maybe I shouldn´t eat on the bus), some very nice people told us when to get off. We walked back to our hostel and the entire street was full of street vendors selling swap meet type stuff ...

Current mood: exhausted i am exhausted. that said, this is amaying, fantastic, the MOST FUN EVER!!! weäre in leipzig now, have been for two days, Spain played a game here and won, so the spaniards were partzing hard from the afternoon, then germanz had a game on TV tonight that the whole citz watched. thez won, so much, much partzing in the streets until--well, i donät know until when, because i am too tired and am going to bed now. tomorrow, maybe frankfurt. not sure. or where the brits are playing. we are totally in love with the aussies. i am a magnet here, all the men want to talk to me. even spoke portuguese to an angolan man in the street tonight. everyone asks if i am spanish, which i so do not look spanish. the men completely ignore jason and just start talking to me, one even sat on my lap for a picture, another tried to dance with me. very, very strange stuff going on over here. i could get used to it. now, shower and to the bed.

Current mood: awake "Alisa, estas sudando como un pollito", so says my friend Maria, "Alisa, you´re sweating like a little chicken." Not quite sure how little chickens sweat, I do agree that I am a sweat factory. In fact, if sweat were a valuable commodity, I´d be rich rich rich in this 18,000 degree weather. I´m sleeping close to 12 hours a day and sweating 24. Although right now, there is no sleep happening. Hence the blog during the wee hours. I was sent to bed at 2am, but even after having listened to the entirety of Acid Guitar, I was still sweating and not sleeping. What. The. Hell. We´re leaving Sevilla tomorrow for Brussels and parts German. No idea yet where we´re sleeping tomorrow, or even what country we´re sleeping in. Details... Jason has this idea that we´re going to catch a night train to Berlin. Don´t know why Berlin, since we don´t have to be there until Tuesday and he wants to watch the Japanese play somewhere else on Monday, but whate...

Current mood: refreshed Yesterday´s food-- We had the most disgusting lunch I can remember EVER. It was some OK paella with chunks of pork and scallops, followed by fried fish (some white kind that´s not very big) and a bunch of bigger-than-sardines but not that big fish, with a salad. The white fish was disgusting, horrible, worse than chicken!!!!! The waiter was awful also, practically threw the menus at us, then demanded to know what we were going to eat. When we asked for the check, he scowled $14, like duh idiots, you saw the price on the menu. We threw the money on the table and ran. Then I remembered why I rarely eat out in Sevilla. The restaurant food is not that great. So for dinner, Paz took us to this neighborhood seafood restaurant. It´s the only place I´ve ever been with her, so I think it may be the only place she goes to. Amazing. First were boiled, salted shrimp, so perfect you could compose an opera just singing their praises. Then, crab legs and crab...

Current mood: hot Scorpio: Today will be another breezy day -- fresh air will be blowing in from every direction, and it will give you peace while still piquing your curiosity. This is perfect timing, since right now new ideas, new people and even a few new adventures will start pouring into your life. Investigate everything you can! If you gravitate toward less-conventional people and places, you'll have a ball trying to figure them out. Ask leading questions, and keep your ears wide open for hidden meaning. Looking forward to that breeze--it´s a million degrees here in Sevilla and I´m sweating so much I don´t marion, even though I drink ALL the water. I am having the most fun EVER. It´s so nice to be here with my family, and having Jason here is a great bonus. I love finally merging two parts of my life together, even as it´s a little surreal. Like Paula speaking English and driving. Wow. When I met her she was 13, now she´s 21. And Maria, well, no surprise there. She´...

Current mood: content I´m in Sevilla, at the house. Finally. Let me tell you a little story-- My flights were perfect. Even the LA to London flight sitting next to the beautiful Indian woman in the gorgeous sari--who had such bad BO I thought I was in Africa again. I got to London, and since my bag was checked through from SD to Sevilla (very unusual and I was a little suspicious), I went straight to the Iberia counter to check in for my flight to Sevilla. The girl told me that I was very late for the flight that was leaving in 5 minutes. She called and told them to hold my bag and for me to run and try to catch it. They wouldn´t wait for me, but maybe I´d have a chance to get on. And if I got on, then my bag would to. No Alisa, no bag. Right. Alisa in Sevilla, no bag in Sevilla. Of course. No problem, since I always bring clean underwear, my eyes and toothbrush in my carry-on. No one was at the airport to get me, no big surprise there. So I thought I´d just change some...

Current mood: thirsty I took this picture when I was in Africa. We were in this horrific hailstorm--who knew there were hailstorms in Africa!!!--it was pouring rain and we didn't have a place to stay so that we could catch the bus to Vic Falls at 6:30 am at the "Shell station in Divundu". How random was that? Mary and I were willing to just sleep at the gas station, but David insisted that we sleep in beds...whatever. So I was bored in the deserted lobby of this amazing lodge that I didn't get to stay at, and I was soaking wet, and I just started taking pictures of whatever and part of whatever was my cleavage, so here I am. [I exported this blog from a different account and need to re-link the picture.]