The manky chicken tanty

I think I beckoned the tip gods in my sleep, because today was an unusually large tip day. More likely, we just got rich people coming in. Either way, it worked out fine for all us guides, and I pocketed more than $100 for the second time since working here. They say that used to be the norm but times have changed.

It was a good day also because I only had to do 3 rides for that amount, and they were fun rides. The best was the one with 4 gay guys and 1 woman. I was hoping they'd spread the love my way, as gay people tend to have more disposable income (from having no kids I guess??), and I was right. They loved it and rewarded me as such. Even my cruise ride tipped well!

Got to work and Polly was there, I guess she really did sleep there after her little tanty the day before. Maybe she slept in the tack room? Either way, I felt so guilty that she may not have been fed that I gave her my chicken bones when I'd cleaned them off even though I know there's a danger they could splinter in her throat...

At the end of my rides, I just had to help with feeding and we were finished bang on 5pm. The day was good! I didn't hang around work as I didn't get on the internet again and needed to see what the update was with A and all his house-hunting. Sidenote, actually... I mentioned to L the other day that A was "house-hunting" and he took it to mean he was hunting around houses for girls haha! The difference in cultures huh...

Went to Pineapple Pete's and could E online for a moment, and told her she was welcome to join me for a drink at the bar. She went offline and I didn't expect to see her, but as I was talking with A she popped up behind me and caught me off guard. I said a temporary goodbye to an impatient A, promising to be back soon, and had a catch-up with E.

Then it was back to A, talking flats and Melbourne and jobs and the boring stuf that comes with semi-settling. Urgh, even the word sends shivers down my spine! But I am actually really excited about it, it's just been a while since I've stayed in one place for more than 3 months. But it seems to be coming together slowly but surely, and I'm sure he'll have it sorted by the time I get home. Makes my job easy!

Met a torrential downpour head-on as I tried to venture out to the road home. Was actually on the phone to A as I saw it, him excitedly telling me that in the minutes since we hung up on Skype he'd heard back from the agent with the "perfect place" he'd been wanting to get. Things were looking up - at least for one of us. I hung up and stood, shivering, waiting, wishing, hoping... in the end, I just braved the lighter rain and half-run home, clutching my laptop away from the wet drops. Ah, how you curse me, tropics!

A tattoo, sealed with a kiss...

Considering how shit my day started off yesterday, it surprises even me how my life managed to sort itself out by the time I landed in my bed. Firstly, I had been promised by my English workmate J that we would meet at the bus station for a trip to Paraguay... but as I left the hostel the night before he wasn`t fully committed so I knew it would be a case of me ringing him and waking him up.

About 10 phonecalls later, I gave up, rolled over and fell back asleep the next morning. Pissed off but mostly disappointed, I stormed into work and found the sympathy of my workmates very welcoming... but once J came in, he explained he had been waiting for ages at the bus stop and circling my house waiting for me BUT had not taken his phone. Silly boys. Don`t know what they`re thinking most of the time. So we (metaphorically) kissed n made up, and I made other plans to go to Paraguay another time.

After the mishap of the morning, I was left thinking about the reason behind me not going to Paraguay AGAIN and there she was. A cute little Buenos Aires-born lass covered in tattoos and piercings, who I had met the night earlier during work. We got chatting and before I knew it, she had messaged her tattooist friend and he was due to arrive at the hostel at 9 to design me a new tattoo for my neck.

Fast forward to the end of my shift, and I am talking bad Spanish to a cute tattooist while the heavens opened and an unexpected tropical downpour drove everyone inside. This was after several blackouts during dinner and consequently mild chaos in the hostel lobby. At one point I was following around cute little F (cute but he wants to be a priest - seriously, what`s up with this place!!) with a fluro light as he gave out pizza to the guests. Was pretty funny though.

So we went to the staff dorm to do the tattoo, I chose a simple design of a "J" with some stars and once he`d prepared everything safe n securely (new needle and all, bueno), I was sat down and drawn on for 5 minutes. It hardly hurt at all and was all over so quick I couldn`t believe it. He said if I liked it I should give him a kiss... to be honest, I would`ve done THAT either way but anyway.

It cost just $15 and not only did I score a cool tattoo on the back of my neck, but a new friend in my soon-to-be new home, as well as a place to crash. Hmmm, stay with a hot tattooist in one of the biggest party towns in the world? DON`T MIND IF I DO! Boom.