The moment I entered the train station, I realized I had lost my little note card that had the directions to my hostel. Oops. But I knew Google Maps had said it was 0.7 miles, and it involved a right turn and then a left turn. So, I figured, Hey, I'm not stupid. Albuquerque can't be that big of a city. I'll find it.
Well, it turns out Albuquerque is a big city. Not really people-wise (it has a population of about 850,000) but everything is very spread out. So when I started wandering, I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. It turns out I took a wrong turn and wandered into the "homeless and dangerous" part of the town. When I got to a deserted street corner, the man smoking on the little tree stump said to me "Girl, you're lost. Turn around, because when you cross this street, ain't no one going to protect you."
Great, I thought. Not even 15 minutes into Albuquerque and I'm going to mugged, shot, or raped. Fabulous. So I did what I never, ever allow myself to do: turn around and go back the direction I came from.
By this time I had another solution: I would go find a Starbucks and buy a cup of coffee, then use their Wi-Fi to Google Map my hostel again. So I wandered toward the big tall buildings which normally represent the business part of the city. And businessmen need coffee from Starbucks. When I got to another street corner about 10 minutes later, a crazy guy started telling me about his "work" on the other corner everyday, and that I should come by and support "local business." I wasn't worried about him, though, because there were other people on the street corner who were giving him the oddball look. One of those people was a woman who was about four and a half feet tall, juggling a cigarette, a diet Coke, and a Blackberry. She sarcastically said, "Oh yeah, and we're also shooting Breaking Bad in that building across the street if you want to come support us."
Now, I've seen the previews for Breaking Bad, and it doesn't look too bad. I've just never watched it, and I had no idea that it was filmed in Albuquerque. "Really?" I replied. Then the light bulb in my head went on. She looked safe. I asked her if she was from there, and if she was, Did she know where the hostel was?
She didn't, but she did pull out her Blackberry and Google it. Score!
But then one of her coworkers started coming down the street. "Oh," she said, "this is one of our producers. He knows this place like the back of his hand." So she called him over and asked him if he knew. He did, and started giving me directions. (Keep in mind that he was quite large and nonathletic looking.) He suddenly gave me a crazy look, and asked "Are you going to walk there?"
"Well, yeah, I was going to." I mean, I hadn't wandered that far from my 0.7 path to the hostel. I wasn't crippled.
But he said "No, no, no. It's way to far to walk. I was just headed over to that neighborhood anyway. Let me drive you." So he pulled up his Jaguar, loaded my suitcase into the trunk, and drove me the half mile to my hostel, all the while talking about the upcoming season of Breaking Bad and the stresses of shooting it. Now all I have to do is start watching Breaking Bad.
So yeah, that was kind of a cool thing. I'm sure you didn't need to know that, but I just felt like telling you. The rest of Albuquerque was cool, too. I wandered around, went to the Petroglyphs, went to the Museum of Nuclear Science and History, and went to the 305th birthday of the city of Albuquerque.
The Petroglyphs were cool. Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera, so there's not much to show or tell you except that they're pretty cool old rocks painted by the ancient Indians. Google them.
The Museum of Nuclear Science and History was not as interesting as I thought it would be. I'm not too sure why I thought I would get to watch them split atoms and make atomic and hydrogen bombs, but I did. And guess what? They didn't do that at the museum. It was just a bunch of information about nuclear science and radiation. So I suppose it was cool if you like to read about splitting atoms instead of actually splitting atoms.
And this brings us to the birthday party. The main tourist trap of Albuquerque is called Old Town, located surprisingly close to my hostel (like, a mile walk). And it has tons of shops and cute eateries and an old church. But Saturday was a bit different because it was the fiesta for the 305th anniversary of Albuquerque. The place was packed and there was music everywhere. I watched some Indian dances. That was pretty cool. Then I watched a Flamenco Company dance. Did you know that Albuquerque is the Flamenco Central of the world? Yeah. Everywhere else in the US, parents take their kids to ballet and soccer. In Albuquerque, they take them to Flamenco lessons.
I have to say that Albuquerque was nice, mostly because it was my first time since Costa Rica when I didn't have to where a coat. But there's one problem: Nobody walks anywhere in Albuquerque. So walking down the street in a totally nice part of town feels a little wrong, because even though it's a Saturday afternoon, no one is outside. It's a little gloomy. But I do love the stucco style of all the buildings. I could get used to that.
Okay. So I'm on the train now to Los Angeles, where I have a 6 hour layover between trains. My plan is to book it over to the Walk of Fame and hopefully run into Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift or Katie and Suri Cruise. Or maybe all of them. That would make me super happy :)
Until next time,
Gabbie
Breaking Bad is my favorite show ever! I did not think I get any more jealous of you and your adventure, but guess what I just did. =)
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