July 15, 2024
I had the place to myself for two nights. It was really nice. It was a nice reset.
That’s always the hard part for me when it comes to travelling with someone. I can feel claustrophobic being around someone day and night.
I wanted to record a song. I hadn’t done that in months. I didn’t make too much music in Christchurch. I never felt completely comfortable to record.
I spent quite a while working out the chords. I already had most of them. I wanted to record Quite and Lonely. It was a song I wrote during the beginning of the New Zealand trip.
I started with some drums. Then an intro using dad’s ukulele and some piano. Then acoustic guitar and bass. Then I played the same bass notes on the piano and layered them. That sounded interesting. Then I recorded a bunch of little piano phrases. That was fun.
I added this accordion instrument. It was perfect for the song. It was really synchronistic, because that instrument is super popular here in Argentina. It’s the most important tango instrument. They were using it at the Tango show we went to.
Afterwards I recorded some vocals and added tambourines and maracas. Finally I added some electric guitar. I found a glass jar and used it as a slide. I’ve never done slide guitar on a song. I don’t know why. It sounded really awesome.
I’m not finished the song. I need to add a few things. I need to finish the slide guitar and add some hand clapping. Then I need to improve the drums. Right now it's just a basic beat.
I didn’t go out much during my time alone. There was a big market on Sunday. I checked that out. One of the streets here in the city was closed for vendors. It was full of people. I got a box of pizza and a Pepsi for $5.50. I took it back to the house.
Someone tried to kill Trump. I watched some videos about it. I was pretty shocked. It’s amazing that he wasn’t hit.
Today I went with Dad to Tigre. We took two trains to get there. It’s a town at the mouth of a river. It’s surrounded by hundreds of tiny islands and smaller rivers.
We walked along a boardwalk and got some lunch. We had amazing burgers and fries.
Tyler texted me while we were there. It was strange because we’d been talking about him and situation with the house in Toronto.
He messaged me saying that Will’s cat brought fleas into the house. He wanted to give me a heads up before I arrived. He said that they should be gone by the time I get back. I hope so. I’ll be there in four days.
Dad and I bought ticket for a tour boat. We got taken up some rivers. We saw tons of houses on stilts along the banks. Some people live there all year round. Others just go on weekends. There were even churches and schools. It’s all navigated by boats on the river system. It was pretty cool.
We took the train back int the city. We met Maria back at our place. We went to a restaurant with her and her daughters. They were really nice. We talked and laughed for a while.
They taught me words in Spanish. One of the girls told me about her job as a biologist. She studies Jaguars in the wild. It was interesting.