San Diego (Saint Doug we think translated from the Spanish)

We arrived to San Diego on our third day. Paul´s friend Elena generously offered her apartment up to us for our duration here in San Diego. Thank you, Elena and Nicolas! (Our first trail angels of the PCT!)

Day 3:

*Swine flu, schmine flu . . .
--> With all the media hype on swine flue, we decided to enter the belly of the beast and investigate--a mexican restaurant. . . in San Diego´s Old Town. Rumor has it that it all started somewhere in the near vicinity. Results still pending . . . (but excellent chile rellenos!)

--> We met Hilda on the train today on her way to visit her family. She said the next time one of her kids complains about walking here or there she will tell them, `Ben and Paul walked from Mexico to Oregon.` Even if we don´t make it all the way, those kids won´t know the difference and will still be guilted into walking to the store.
Today was our first day in San Diego. Found my friend Elena´s house and got settled. Took a practice walk around the city. I think that I might be getting blisters already. Not good.

--> Steps to take if you never want to be invited back to San Diego ever again (on your first day!):
1. Insist on sleeping on Elena´s roomate, Nicolas´s air mattress.
2. Continue to insist, even though the pump to Nicolas´s air mattress only works when connected to a car lighter outlet, and neither Elena nor Nicolas own a car.
3. Have Elena call her friend Liana over, who has a car, in order to inflate the air mattress.
4. Have Liana arrive while Nicolas is showering in her room where the mattress is, and have Liana wait 10-15 minutes outside the apartment, while Elena is trying to cook dinner before an evidence exam (Elena is graduating from Law School) the following morning.
5. Passively allow Nicolas (straight from the shower) and Elena (busy slaving over a meal for Ben and Paul) to run outside and take care of `Paul´s sleeping problem`.
6. Finally, with the mattress inflated, the dinner made (however needing to be reheated in the microwave), Nicolas showered, and Ben patiently awaiting for everything to return to normal, Paul goes as far as to refuse the dinner Elena has just spent cooking for little under an hour (just short of the duration it took to figure out the mattress fiasco).

Day 4:

Now for my disclaimer: Anything Ben may have said or will say, is probably filled with exagerations and just plain lies.

--> Ben apparently decided to forget his ATM pin some time before embarking on this adventure. Instead of waiting and contacting his credit union in Michigan, he decided to put in random numbers (which turned out to be parts of his friends´phone numbers). Now the bank has put a hold on andor cancelled both his ATM and credit cards, leaving him with no means to purchase food, supplies, bus tickets, etc. I guess we´ll have to wait and see if pity sinks in and I decide to spot him for his precious Little Debbie Honey Buns.

--> First PCT photo-shoot (however, we´re still in San Diego):
Fortunately for us, Elena is an amateur photographer (self-proclaimed) and decided to schedule for an impromptu photo-shoot on the campus of her University, The University of San Diego. The campus was awesome, the day was beautiful, and Elena´s talent and skill was certainly revealed, however she is quite a stickler for perfection as she criticized Ben for photo-taking skills. Overall though, the shoot was a huge success. Quickly followed by food shopping, tea and taquitos with Elena, Liana, and Mike (another friend from the University, who feels marginalized because Elena and Liana don´t accept him as an international student because he is from Canada, and because those from the U.S. don´t accept him as a national student, because he´s from Canada). It was a relaxing afternoon filled with conversation and laughs. This was followed by our second day of training. We decided to hike out to Balboa Park, San Diego´s famous park which houses the San Diego Zoo. A casual 10 mile round trip turned into 15 when Ben suggested a short-cut, which Paul instantly supported. Due to Paul´s enthusiasm, Ben pushed on with his short-cut. Needless to say, the hike ended with sore feet, Paul´s bladder about to burst, and Ben in hysterics as Paul made several unsavory comments about each street and building we passed. On the plus side, we were able to hike through a magical desert garden, filled with cactus trees, weird flowers, and palm trees, and some excellent hiking across freeway entrance ramps and across bridges over freeways after the sun went down. Short cut=get a second opinion.