February 15, 2013

• Report # 972

  Hey everyone, I hope that you’ve all been having a great week. I’m super tired after some very long days, so it’s kind of nice I just have a few days left of this crazy city exploring adventure. My trip to Dallas got off to a soaking wet start as I was trying to find the hotel that I looked up online. I got off the bus at the right place but went on the wrong street so finally just went to a hotel that was there.

  They surprisingly were fully booked on a Tuesday morning in February, but the guy there was very helpful, and he actually called the Best Western Hotel that I wanted and had a driver take me over there. I arrived and quickly checked in and had a shower as I was in a super hurry to get to the IHOP to see my friend. Ximena from Ecuador. I arrived at around 10:30, after running for a ways and she was inside waiting so it was great that things worked out. We had breakfast and then walked to the house she was staying and her friend drove us to the bus station to go downtown.

  We didn’t really have much of a plan, just to walk through all the streets there and explore everything we could. It was nice walking in the fresh 11 C (52 F) air, especially after the super hot weather that Monterrey was having… though I will admit we were both freezing at night when the temperature really dropped. We went to the JFK memorial, some city plazas, parks, a cool church, and the Dallas World Aquarium. The Aquarium was huge and it was definitely worth visiting.

  A tourist officer on a bike helped us out in the evening when we were trying to find the Chipotle restaurant, and he actually gave us a city map, which was super helpful. We both had taken pictures of a map on a sign post for our reference, so we were able to navigate the city pretty well. We got back to the bus station after dinner and took the bus home at 9:33 pm, and my friend’s friend picked us up and even drove me back to the hotel, which I was super thankful for.

  I said good-bye to my friend knowing that I probably wouldn’t see her for a long, long, long time, but really it was only rare coincidences that brought us together in Dallas to start with, so it was very cool to meet her… the first person from Ecuador that I met in my life. I went to bed before 2:00 am and slept a good eight hours, so I was refreshed for the next day, Wednesday. Basically I took the bus downtown and tried to visit the few places that we hadn’t managed to see on Tuesday.

  I have to admit that we did an amazing job seeing the city and there were only a couple of things that I saw that we could have seen on Tuesday, such as the Pioneer Plaza and the Dallas City Hall. The other places I went to, Old City Dallas Heritage Park, and White Rock Lake were much further outside the city. I took a bus to go to White Rock Lake, which was a big area of water with tons of cyclists, runners, and people walking around the super long trail that seemed to go all around the lake.

  I walked around a good part of the lake and then headed home as I wanted to be back a little bit earlier that night.I had things to do to get ready for my next couple of days, so unfortunately I didn’t get into bed until around 1:30 am, having to get up at 7:30 am yesterday morning to catch my bus to Austin at 10:15 am. The bus got into Austin around 1:30 pm, and unfortunately the only thing I forgot to check, was the location of the Austin greyhound station.

  Unlike San Antonio, Dallas and Houston, the Austin Greyhound station was not right downtown and I just assumed it was. Fortunately I was able to check my bags in while I explored the city, and I found a bus that went right downtown close by so it wasn’t a big deal. Austin was super sunny and much warmer than Dallas, probably around 21 C. (70 F) Unfortunately I was starting to feel lousy as I was coughing and feeling very tired. I knew I was a bit sick in the morning, but little did I know how worse it was going to get.

  Seeing as I didn’t have too much time in Austin and that I really wasn’t feeling that well, I basically just walked through some downtown streets, toured the Texas capital building, and made a quick trip through the University of Texas Austin campus. It was cool seeing the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library as well….. I never had seen one of those before. After touring the campus and some of the buildings, I took the bus back to nearby the Greyhound station and just had something to eat at IHOP as there wasn’t much else there.

  At this point I was really feeling lousy, my fever was worsening and my head was thumping, and my breathing wasn’t even normal. I almost decided not to take the bus, but I didn’t want to screw up my plans, so I toughed it out and got on the Greyhound bus at 10:00 pm, for the three hours trip to Houston. I have a hotel reservation here, but it’s not until tomorrow so I think I’m going to have to make one for tonight as its 2:00 am here and I didn’t realize that the reservation isn’t until 3:00 pm !

  So after typing this up I guess I’ll take a taxi and see if I can check-in a day early and get some sleep as I really need a good night’s sleep. Thankfully the store here in the Houston Greyhound sold fever/pain aspirins and I’m definitely feeling better now. I’ll probably take one more before bed to get this fever out of my system. I have a friend here in Houston that I’ll be spending some time with so that will be fun. It’s always great to see people that earlier there didn’t seem to be a real chance of seeing them.

  Everything has been pretty good in Texas, though sometimes the people on the streets downtown are a bit frustrating, always someone wanting money ! One guy even told me how he was working at the American Airlines Arena but he hadn’t received his first cheque yet and if I could help him out…. he even showed me his ID and photo !It’s common unfortunately, big cities often have major problems with homelessness.  It was cool going through the University at Austin though and seeing all of the diversity, I hadn’t seen that much diversity in a long time.

  After halfway through my Texas trip I’m definitely tired of all the moving around and while I’ve enjoyed seeing these places so much, I’m definitely ready to get back to staying in one place every night and not moving around every other day. And more than that I’m just ready to get the visa authorization over with and start working…. I know I can’t go on forever without working !

  So my last couple of days here in Texas and on Monday I will fly back to Monterrey and continue to wait the visa process. Anyways I have to get this posted and get out of here, so for the next question:

  When you are sick do you try and get better without taking pills, or will you take aspirins in order to feel better ?

  I will leave you all with some pictures from Dallas. Take care and I’ll talk to you all on Monday, bye for now.

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  • 3:17 am
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