To: euro@neurostyle.net
From: Emilio Gonzalez 
Subject: 6.7.00 - 11:51 - salzburg, austria


yes, yes, i haven't sent in over a week, yes, i'm still alive. i'm in austria,
the countryside is stunning, salzburg is beautiful, and it's the land of red bull
(it's like a BUCK AND A QUARTER here. if i don't hit the ld50 of caffiene, i just
don't know what will happen.). but first, what about that missing week?
terrorists? aliens? tom jones, huey louis and the news, bon jovi and iron maiden
in a conspiracy against me? let's watch, kids...

it stayed grey and wet for the most part in lucern, and appropriate background
for me losing my camera - yes, it's gone (no "i told you so"'s, especially from
mike). a moment of juggling, two minutes of confusion, and a minute of
realization, and it's gone. it's not so much the loss of the camera itself -
that's just a material thing, something procured with money, and money can be
made, earned, traded for or stolen (but it was /such/ a nice camera - and i miss
the lenses). i reported it to the lucern police the same day, which will, at
least, allow me to hopefully reclaim the value through insurance. the only film i
lost was the roll in the camera and maybe 4 in the bag, all my other exposed
rolls and unused film i keep seperate so i'm not mad, not at myself for losing it
or to whoever took it and didn't report it, but annoyed and frustrated at the
fact that i'm now deprived of capturing the beauty of this place, the people i
meet and the experiences i have - tangible memories more reliable and more
expressive than the mind.

the loss especially frustrating because next i traveled to interlaken (literally
"between the lakes"), which is definitely one of the more memorable spots on my
trip so far. interlaken is a moutain town, further up in the alps but not quite
fully /in/ them, but it's borded by high mountains that make for incredible
scenery. it's a tourist town, for sure, also geared towards backpackers, with a
wide selection of trails, trips, and creative ways of risking one's life. i
stayed at a hostel called the "funny farm", which reminds me less of a hostel as
it does a summer camp for college kids, with a pool, wood burning hot tub
(cool!), tennis and basketball courts, volleyball net, fire pit, movie room, a
food-serving gondola, a club in the associated hotel, poolside bar and guiness
tent - i highly reccomend it. the staff is friendly, funny, and you can book
various activities right there.

it was cold and wet when i arrived, and it kind of reminded me of home... maybe
santa cruz or monterey with bigger mountains. but it cleared up after a couple
days so you could really see how beautiful the area is. there's nothing like
relaxing with some new friends poolside with a view of the mountains on a sunny
day. while grade school summer camp might have hiking, swimming, archery and
macrame, interlaken has canyoning, mountain biking, kayaking, canyon jumping, ice
climbing, whitewater rafting, bungee jumping, rock climbing, skydiving,
paragliding, hang gliding, and others. i chose ice climbing, which may have been
a bad idea considering the beauty of the glacier that we were taken to. the trip
began by our guides, two very funny swiss ice climbers, driving us about an hour
up to a glacier in the alps, thousands of feet up. since it was a clear day, we
actually got hot with the sun beating down and reflecting off the snow. it's was
so nice we were mostly in t shirts and jeans or shorts. we hiked up a snowy side
of the glacier (probably harder than the actual ice climbing), about 30 minutes,
to a section of glacier poking through the snow. there we ate lunch while our
guides ran the ropes and equipment, and then gave us instructions and told us to
go at it. íce climbing is relatively easy, considering that instead of looking
for handholds, you simply make your own with your ice hammers and crampons (boot
spikes... they look rad - why can't we wear them normally?). falling is no
problem, beacause the ropes have a friction lock, so when you fall, you just fall
your slack in the rope (which should be very little if the person who's taking up
your slack is paying attention) and then are caught. of course, this was
especially fun considering the first face i climbed was the one closest to the
edge of the glacier, with the ground under the face sloping towards the edge -
maybe a good 300 foot drop or so. whee! 

the rest of the time i spent in interlaken was relaxing, hiking around some
trails in the area (including one literally right behind the funny farm that
takes you for some incredible views), playing chess with other travelers,
swimming, and watching movies. evening entertainment was sitting around the fire
or the gondola with people from the farm (and others from less cool hostels),
talking, playing games, and occasionally listening to someone playing a guitar -
didn't i tell you it was like summer camp? a couple of nights were definitely a
memorable, with two musicians from texas that were staying there playing blues
and country, both playing guitar and one sometimes playing harmonica. and few
nights a week in the club at the hotel, an incredible brazillian reggae band
would play, with all the energy of brazil fueling a unique reggae sound. 

after a full week at the farm (was it really that long?), i left interlaken for
salzburg. probably a good idea, considering how pricey switzerland is, especially
for food. case in point: a mcdonald's big mac meal is around US$7-8 (not that i
actually went to mcdonald's, mind you, i'm avoiding them like the plauge). the 6
hour train ride gave me some time for napping and figuring out the near-future
for my travel. i realized in interlaken that i've been here a month now, and it
does not, by any stretch, feel that way - a full third of my trip! i suppose i'll
have to buy a camera soon, but with prices the way they are here (not exorbiatly
more than the us, granted, but enough to matter) and the probable slowness of
filing an insurance claim, i'll probably end up buying a little point and
shoot... no slr, mind you, but you can take great pictures with them.

love and a missing nikon n70 with a 70-210 and 24-70
-emilio