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*Liam's Wild Ride*

Now that the rains have stopped I'm able to go walking around a bit more. I even rode on the Metro today. I thought the metro was the bus system, but it's a really cool underground subway system that traverses the city. It's pretty cheap, too, by US standards. Walking to the station I found this bitchin' little ride. Who says you need big rims to pimp!

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A common sight here in the bars/restaurants are these! This is Jamon (Ham-own), a pigs leg. It's quite popular and a nice one can set you back about $125 or more! They slice it really thin (it's half fat, too!) and then put it on pieces of bread with oil and tomato sauce. It's pretty good, but not what I want for my main meat diet.

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It's a Fiat 500, but by the looks of the badge, this is the sporty version made by Italian tuning house Abarth. They used to be somewhat competitive in rallying.

Anyone who's played a LOT of Gran Turismo on the Playstation has probably "owned" one of these.


Robo50 said:
Anyone know what this is?

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nicebloke said:
It's a Fiat 500, but by the looks of the badge, this is the sporty version made by Italian tuning house Abarth. They used to be somewhat competitive in rallying.
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Yep

http://www.quepo.com/queposite/fiat/fito500his/fito5oohis.html

It was similar to the Spanish Seat 600, which was built "under license" by SEAT (but in fact, was their own version). The Spanish model not only had a "bigger" engine :p It was also a bit larger. The SEAT made a limited amount of 4 doors, but they never sold well :confused
 
nicebloke said:
It's a Fiat 500, but by the looks of the badge, this is the sporty version made by Italian tuning house Abarth. They used to be somewhat competitive in rallying.

Anyone who's played a LOT of Gran Turismo on the Playstation has probably "owned" one of these.
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Awesome! I haven't spent too much time playing video games for the last couple years so I'm a bit out of it concerning the intricacies of GT4. This is the Abarth version and I thought it was so cool, double parked and looking like a little bulldog.
 
On a more practical note, I ran into a couple Gringas last night at a language interchange event, all of whom had horror stories concerning robbery. I met a tough chick from NYC and she immediately told me that her purse got stolen off her chair while she was having a coffee at Starbucks last week. Another American girl, from LA, told me that three bags (her's and her two friends') got lifted at a popular restaurant while they were sitting with a couple of big guys. In all cases, nobody saw anything, and lost money, credit cards, and passports was the result. To the two girls it was a sort of bonding experience for them, since they both could relate to getting robbed and they laughed it off as if it was part of their initiation to Europe. I don't want to join that club at all! I'm a little paranoid now, locking my bag to chairs and tables when I sit down. Also, there are plenty of scams to distract you while you get jacked. A popular technique is to pick a fight and then you get jumped by a couple of guys. Another technique is the "chess" game. A guy offers to beat you in three minutes and while the crowd gets into the game and is watching intently, someone slips through the crowd and pick-pockets everyone. Genius! If I hadn't heard about this I might have fallen for it because I'm a chess nut. Earlier today, my roomate, Patricia, was walking down the street in front of her workplace. Five 12 year old boys ran up, tried to grab her purse, and wrestled her cell phone from her hand. She threw her purse in the street, lost the phone to them, and despite her screaming and yelling no one helped her or chased the kids down. Freaky-Deeky.
 
Robo50 said:
On a more practical note, I ran into a couple Gringas last night at a language interchange event, all of whom had horror stories concerning robbery. I met a tough chick from NYC and she immediately told me that her purse got stolen off her chair while she was having a coffee at Starbucks last week. Another American girl, from LA, told me that three bags (her's and her two friends') got lifted at a popular restaurant while they were sitting with a couple of big guys. In all cases, nobody saw anything, and lost money, credit cards, and passports was the result. To the two girls it was a sort of bonding experience for them, since they both could relate to getting robbed and they laughed it off as if it was part of their initiation to Europe. I don't want to join that club at all! I'm a little paranoid now, locking my bag to chairs and tables when I sit down. Also, there are plenty of scams to distract you while you get jacked. A popular technique is to pick a fight and then you get jumped by a couple of guys. Another technique is the "chess" game. A guy offers to beat you in three minutes and while the crowd gets into the game and is watching intently, someone slips through the crowd and pick-pockets everyone. Genius! If I hadn't heard about this I might have fallen for it because I'm a chess nut. Earlier today, my roomate, Patricia, was walking down the street in front of her workplace. Five 12 year old boys ran up, tried to grab her purse, and wrestled her cell phone from her hand. She threw her purse in the street, lost the phone to them, and despite her screaming and yelling no one helped her or chased the kids down. Freaky-Deeky.
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Home kid!! that sounds a lot like what happens in Peru. Its a sad reality in which even little kids turn to thievery and such. Now when i travel, i keep an eye out for any unusual behaviour, and stay alert. Here are some tips to make your stay more enjoyable, yet more aware:

Most importantly, walk with friends, and if alone do not show a hint of worry/fear/paranoia, it will make you an imediate target

if you have a backpack, keep it on your front area of the body, for if its on your back, its easy for someone to slice it open, and collect the goods as they fall out without you even noticing

Avoid large crowds if carrying baggage, as for your wallet, if you do get stuck in those situations, put it in your front pocket and keep your hand in there

Be careful of the - is this your *object*?? which will make you focus your attention to something the thieve wants you too, while a buddy takes your stuff (it happened to my mom in an airport)

And yes, what sucks even more is that anyone in the area will be completely oblivious to what happened... :(
 
Thanks Dan, I'm already clued into the wallet in the front, and sometimes I zip it into an internal pocket in my jacket if I'm really worried. Best thing? Don't carry anything important, like credit cards, passport. I roll with just a couple coins and some bills, no ID even.
 
Robo50 said:
Thanks Dan, I'm already clued into the wallet in the front, and sometimes I zip it into an internal pocket in my jacket if I'm really worried. Best thing? Don't carry anything important, like credit cards, passport. I roll with just a couple coins and some bills, no ID even.
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Glad to help... as long as the pics and great story keeps unfolding! :thumbup
 
Robo50 said:
Thanks Dan, I'm already clued into the wallet in the front, and sometimes I zip it into an internal pocket in my jacket if I'm really worried. Best thing? Don't carry anything important, like credit cards, passport. I roll with just a couple coins and some bills, no ID even.
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be careful with not carrying an ID. when i lived overseas in korea (may be different in spain, i dunno), if you were caught without your immigration visa, you were fux0red.

stay safe, buddy! keep postin!
 
So being in a foreign country and a strange culture is a little shocking to say the least. Fortunately I prepared for this by watching a great movie called "Lost in Translation". I misunderstood the movie the first time but it's been getting clearer for me lately. So with all the walking I've been doing around the city one thing has become clear. BOB HARRIS is the bomb! Or should I say. . . .. ED HARRIS is the BOMB! He's all over this place. This is one of many bus stop ads I've seen with him, and there are ads and billboards everywhere.

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Robo50 said:
So being in a foreign country and a strange culture is a little shocking to say the least. Fortunately I prepared for this by watching a great movie called "Lost in Translation". I misunderstood the movie the first time but it's been getting clearer for me lately.
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hahahahahah! soooo true! i was actually living in korea and had gone to japan and stuff before i'd seen the movie. when i saw it, i told the woman (who was also living overseas with me) "so many people will never understand this movie."

haha!
 
Nope, but cross your fingers because I think I just made deal with a major, national motorcycle magazine :)
 
Damn, I'm pissed that I missed your DVD release party man. I'll paypal you some money so you can have a beer on me. :D Also, if you need some space to host some videos, let me know. I've got some webspace to spare.
 
Interesting... I have only had an attempted robbery in Madrid while on vacation some 15 years ago. I was carrying some shopping bags (new shoes) and some retard jumped me from behind (around the neck) and placed a tinker toy knife to stomach. I calmly put down my bags and it seemed he was alone, while soothing him it was cool...being a lefty I grabbed his wrist (holding the knife) and he struggled a bit, but as most. if not all retarded junkies, had the strength of a 12 year old and he actually had to let go of me... while I grabbed him trying to stab him with his own knife (yes, officer, he went nuts and tried to commit suicide).. at this point he was screaming for me to let go (WTF, is they guy massively stupid, yeah right...) At the end the pain inflicted to his wrist was too much and he dropped the knife... which as this point, I let go and he ran off like a bat out of hell.

Dang, I forgot about a small incident in jerez, but it was not a robbery just some junkies tried to pick on my (shrimp) co worker (while we were going to the hotel with our bags) for money. I was preparing for a confrontation but they backed off and left him alone and we just went on our merry way.
 
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So I've had motorcycles on my mind for the last couple days. After walking around for the last couple weeks it's apparent to me that I need some wheels. Two of them. Badly. But there's so much variety and I don't want to blow the bank, so I'm thinking about getting a scooter! Two stroke? Four stroke? Hmmm. Get a small one and supe it up? Get a larger four stroke (like a Honda Dylan 150cc!) so I can motor up through the Pyrenees? ARGH!! This is the longest I've been without a bike in YEARS! Here's a real motorcycle that I found walking around. My buddy Josh really likes the F4i's, so Josh -- this is for you!

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