DAY 10

We got up late and had a great breakfast at Amelia’s. She prepared a delicous fruit salad with grapefruit, orange and some berries. Sydney made her specialty, the hash browns and… poached eggs! They looked beautiful (at least that’s all Mari can say, since she’s not a big fan of eggs…) and Syd was so proud of them that she repeated all day “I poached eggs!” and called the entire family to tell the big news.

This was the only day we had to go out and do some tourism in New Mexico. Amelia suggested Santa Fé, a small town about 1 hour from the city (Albuquerque), famous for the art craft and turquoise jewelry, which made Syd sooo excited.

We had a great day, except for the cold that was extremely hard up there (the reason why we ended up not taking any photos…). There were a lot of Latin artisans in the streets and Syd spent hours carefully observing and admiring everything, and bought herself some beautiful souvenirs.

We didn’t have much time to actually get to know the village, but at least we got a chance to see some different New Mexican architecture, since almost all the houses in Albuquerque look pretty much the same (like The Flintstones’ - a small sample below), what can make you get lost very easily.

When we got back home, Amelia baked some blueberry muffins which made Mariana very happy!

Thanks, Amelia for being such a great hostess!

We went to bed very early because we would have a long (and VERY exciting) journey the next day! Maybe the most amazing one of the whole trip….

DAY 09

We slept "like stones" (Portuguese literally translated version of sleeping like a baby: dormir como uma pedra) at a “Super 8” motel in Amarillo after the ice adventure. But another hiccup, not even a bit more exciting, was waiting for us right at the exit. Jasmine, Syd’s car, apparently slept like a very big and heavy stone too….and wouldn’t wake up.

Syd almost went crazy, Papa Malawer in one line, car insurance at.. the same line!, and a bunch of Mr. Truckmans trying to help us to wake Jasmine up. And they succeeded! Apparently, the long night sleep was not enough to recover her from the trauma of the day before. Diagnostic from our experts: battery almost dead, take her to the emergency room immediately! And there we go! Paul the GPS, our BFF, took us to the next service station, where the diagnostic was confirmed…and the bad news: urgent transplant is needed. The surgery was a total success and Syd was so grateful that besides the clinical expenses, she gave the doctor a bottle of water. What??? Yes, I know, but, you must understand her, she was decided to take seriously Papa Malawer's advices of giving the guy a cup of coffee, but he wouldn’t drink coffe...BUT WHAT DO YOU DRINK (I MUST GIVE YOU SOMETHING...)??? Mari personally thinks that the man was just too embarrassed either to confess his favorite beverages or to accept anything else from us, so he just said… "water". Well, water it was, then. Mari did ask for the coffee he had refused. A small one, please, Syd. Please take a look below at the little tiny small cup of coffee she got. Living la vida gringa: supersize me!

In the meantime, Mari bought Syd a hands-free from the store in the services station, now with Jasmine recovered and hands-free-Syd, back on the road.

It was an amazing trip from Texas to New Mexico, and we almost forgot about the incident.

Our next host, Syd’s friend Amelia, was already expecting us in Albuquerque, and we went out to eat (Mexican, of course) with her friends Amber and Larissa.

DAY 8

Another all-road-day, but not emotionless at all!!! You’ve probably
seen in the news recently how the latest winter up here is proving
to be one of the worst ever recorded in many parts of the US. Well,
apparently Texas was no exception. It hasn’t been this cold for a
looooooong time and the state is definitely not prepared to deal
with the consequences of such extreme weather conditions. So, put
extreme cold and rain together, add Texas’s inefficiency to keep
the roads safe and that’s what you get: frozen roads…for hours
or even days. To make a long story short, we literally drove ON A
SHEET OF ICE for 4 hours, at 20 miles/hour. There were many

cars abandoned at the shoulders on our way, a truck right in front of
us swung like a giant snake, almost all the exits to gas stations, food
and services were blocked by the snow and the ice, and we were
lucky to be able to drag ourselves to a Baptist church in the middle
of nowhere to open its doors and most importantly, its bathroom’s
doors for us. Thank Lord (literally)!

As a result, we were delayed another 3 hours, which made us
stop many miles before our next scheduled destination (not before one of the most amazing sunsets we've ever seen!!!).

Sydney, exhausted after all the adrenaline, passed out (not literally) in a
motel’s bedroom strongly smelling like cheap cleaning products,
right by the main road of a town called Amarillo, Texas. And the bad
surprises were just starting…

DAY 6 SPEC IAL: MEET BLACK SYDNEY

Well, we told you the story of how Sydney was drawn in her black version (a dream come true) during an amazing jazz show in New Orleans... So, ladies and gentlemen, with you, the black (and super mamasita) Sydney Malawer!

DAY 7

After one last food experience at “Nawlins”- another brunch at Coulis, back to the road. Paul the GPS indicated the way to our next destination: our first hotel of the trip, a “La Quinta” at Dallas, Texas (our first of only three lodging nights in the entire 12 days road trip). We’d been told to expect for hard weather conditions in the state’s boarder, but the way was quite Ok, though long: 9 hours.

Syd is proving herself a tough driver, we usually just stop for “in and out physiological needs”. She drives, Mari plays DJ, does her manicure, takes photos and..blogs. We apologize for such a long delay in this journal, but our nomad experience has been pretty intense as you may imagine, and Syd’s been really tired by the end of day to take care of her edition tasks and Mari is also finding it pretty hard to write in the car...

Today we took I-35 (interstate) from Louisiana to Texas. It was a long straight way, and in order not to get bored or sleepy, Syd put the car in automatic speed, legs up to make herself comfortable, and started calling her friends in Colombia in order to “desatrasarse”, or get updated with the latest events. She usually has no problem with managing her phone and driving at the same time, but after this day, Mari decided to buy her a “hands free” asap.

By the time we were getting into Dallas, we were blessed with one of the most amazing sunsets we’ve ever seen.

We didn’t do much this day besides drive and co-drive, so here there are some of the pictures of our day out on the open road.

DAY 6

So that night we slept something between 9 and 10 hours, which considering that we were in the living room of a house inhabited by 4 young boys, is quite surprising. Upon waking up we didn’t have to talk about our next stop, we both were thinking the same thing: brunch! Our budget, as you may have already guessed, is not big stuff, but thanks to our dearest friends, and friends of friends, we had some savings that were being kept for this special occasion: food in New Orleans!

And honestly… worth every penny. EVERY. SINGLE. PENNY. Seriously, what happened to these people down here: why??? Why is food so good here?!? Whoever says that American food is not special hasn’t been to New Orleans. Challenge posed! Those who accept it, may start by having brunch at Coulis (on Prytania St). Mari had the bestest special French toast filled with cream cheese, caramelized green apples and smoked sausage. What??? Smoked sausage with caramelized fruit? That’s it, baby. Yes…that’s it. Syd had buckwheat pancakes with fruit and chocolate so rich that died at the first bite because it was heavenly and again at the last bite because she was so full. We spent 20 min in silence, just keeping the necessary eye contact to make sure that we were having the same amazing, indescribable experience.

Then, as good tourists, French Quarter at day light. Beautiful… Syd is absolutely in love with the city and she says that it is already her second choice if things don’t work out as expected in San Francisco (but sure they will, too bad for Nawlins….).

It was raining all day, but it was not a problem at all and didn't infringe upon our excitement. We spent a lot of time in stores of used books and antiques (Mari’s and Syd’s personal paradises, respectively). Syd bought herself a pendant with the famous city symbol and Mari found a 1$ old post card from someone in Rio de Janeiro to someone in New Orleans back in the 80’s telling about the “perfect weather” in this February…. Saudade.

Getting our gastronomic tour on track again, we headed to the classic Café du Monde (http://www.cafedumonde.com/) in Jackson Square to try their famous beignets (pastry made from deep-fried dough, similar to a donut, fully covered with confectioner's sugar...sort of like a high class version of funnel cake, or a donut): oh my god, please don’t tell me that you’ve been to this city without trying these things.

From the Café, we headed to the Cabildo (historical building that used to serve as seat of colonial government) just in time to catch the last 30 min of an exposition on the effects of the hurricane Katrina on the City. A real must see.

We had been told by our dear host and tourist guide Will that there would be a highly recommended show in some small bar a little bit far from tourist places with THE BEST trumpet player OF the best city of jazz: Kermit Ruffins. The place was certainly out of our way, and by the time we got there we were without a doubt the only two white people, and probably the only non-locals. When we asked our taxi driver to give us his number he told us that his company didn’t work in the area after 6 pm (it was 6pm…) and advised us to be careful in this neighborhood. The bar had no light signs and the only entrance was a small door on the corner of a dark and deserted street. Syd, being the daughter of Papa and Mama Malawer, immediately began to shit her pants and try and convince Mari to not go, but thanks to Mari's stubbornness (who totally understood Syd’s fear and said she would be disappointed but totally ok to leave the place) and powers of persuasion, Syd was lawyered into staying (and thank god for that!)...

We were than told that the show was going to start only at 7:30. Kermit was already there, quietly sitting in a corner close to the entrance smiling and waving his hand for everyone that entered the place. We got in, found a table and asked for some drinks at which time we realized that we hadn't had dinner and wouldn’t be able to eat for the next 4 hours. Miss, do you have any food… Well, he have chips…. Can we have all of them? Dinner, check: 3 tiny packs of cheetos and 2 tiny packs of lays potato chips.

Soon, we made some friends, a group of fishermen, one of them claiming to have been the first black crab fisherman in New Orleans, and a huge former basketball ball player that would insist on getting us to dance in the next 2 hours. (Sidenote: These guys were so big and had taken to us so well that if anyone had messed with us we had legit bodyguards...or in their words "We gotcha") With this great and entertaining company, we were able to thoroughly enjoy ourselves before the live music began. Syd learned a new AWESOME dance that in her words "Is essentially the new, more coordinated, cooler version of Cotten-Eyed Joe" (name to come...it's written down somewhere just need to find it) while Mari endured more "Brazil is awesome...you're Brazilian??? I want to live in Brazil" praise from our new friends. Then the music started, and if our new friends hadn't made the trip worth it, THIS definitely did! AMAZING music, incredible energy, and entertaining audience participation! While we were fully enjoying the music, a man came over to us to show a half-finished sketch of Syd and asked if he could sit in front of us to finish it. He did, and low and behold a portrait of Syd...Syd if she were a black woman. Now for those of you who don't know, Syd has always dreamed of being black and/or latina and/or essentially any other richly-cultured race other than Caucasian, so this picture was an incredible manifestation of her not-so-secret desire to be black!

So this day hasn't even begun to be over, but we have to save some so that we leave you all wanting more :) so Day 6 to be continued...