Volcano tourism

I am NOT going to say that young kids who do a formal Gap Year Visa Application don't also do drugs. There is however a difference between those who work at ski resort delis so they can sleep in dorms and ski alot. They are young, they get laid, they party, and some do drugs but mainly its a "work ethic" that prevails.

Australians generally can not get such Gap Year Visas to work at American ski centers. So the pool of employees in American tourist centers is often limited to those "on break", as they say. Pot, broads and skiing... or else Pot, skiing and broads. Take a look at the recent headlines about a murder in Aspen. The Bank Teller who was arrested lived in Bank Owned housing because no bank teller in Aspen can afford to buy or rent in Aspen. Even burger flippers have to live elsewhere and drive dangerous roads for low wage jobs.

I used to attend a garlic festival at a commune each year and you meet alot of regulars. Some were hippies in the sixties and are still living in converted school buses, the older men know that the San Onofre beach in California used to be the best place to pick up young girls willing to travel with older men. After the two dollar day charge was instituted, Half Moon Bay became known as the quickest pickup spot for females looking for long term travel arrangements. I saw alot tie dyed cotton robes and dresses in the sixties but at each garlic festival the commune had several vendors who did nothing but travel the Hippie Circuit of shows, music festivals, etc. up and down California and east as far as Colorado. I met some social workers, one in particular was on his twelfth or thirteenth one year sabbatical. He lived half the year on the Slabs in Southern California and the rest of the year traveled up and down the coast of California enjoying the hippie life free drugs, free love, free solar and free waves. Most of them seem able to keep their pot use under control but many get utterly stoned. And of course many have graduated beyond pot. Women still walk around openly breast feeding without any modesty blankets, kids who were born in communes are often joining other communes and having kids, life goes on and there does not seem to be too much of the "stoned or drunk 24 hours a day" lifestyle though it is sometimes encountered. I visited one interesting bus conversion and spoke to the people there, sharing the traditional hippie meal of brown rice and something not always identifiable. It was an interesting afternoon and I actually got an inquiry from one young lady as to whether I had a bus that would be winding up in Northern California. Fortunately for me, I only had an ordinary Toyota that was heading to Seattle and really was there since I love garlic and had a network of acquaintances who were garlic growers. No hippie life for me and certainly no Folsom Bait hippie chicks. Many of the hippies are tradesmen or mechanics they just don't seem obsessed about it.

Quote: Pacomartin

The recently graduated high school kids were on a "break" before they went to college.

Exactly, it's a break. Calling it a 'gap' is silly. You
have gaps between your teeth, gaps in a narrative,
gaps in your memory. You don't have gaps in your
life. It implies life is supposed to be a smooth
journey, and 'gaps' interrupt it. Life isn't smooth,
there are no gaps. There's just life..

Quote: Evenbob

Exactly, it's a break. Calling it a 'gap' is silly.

In PA the word "gap" is often used for a break in the mountains.

Quote: Evenbob

Exactly, it's a break. Calling it a 'gap' is silly. .

Perhaps so, but the term is in very widespread use in Canada, UK, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Australia even has two gap year visas. One for the ordinary first timer who wishes to travel about Australia but also be able to legally work at a variety of odd jobs so as to be able to afford travel and exploration, the second gap visa is a bit more difficult to obtain and requires prior gap year employment in Australia. A variety of Woofer web sites will give you further information. Willing Workers On Organic Farms. Each term is very loosely employed. I know one young woman who did two gap years in Australia, one in New Zealand, and then after being a woofer in Argentina opted to return to the US and buy a farm.

Quote: Fleastiff

...I know one young woman who did two gap years in Australia, one in New Zealand, and then after being a woofer in Argentina opted to return to the US and buy a farm.

What type of work does a "woofer" do?

I am reminded that there is a tradition in Australia of taking an extended period of time to just walk around. It is referred to as a, "Walkabout". It's one of only two things I remember from the movie, "Crocodile Dundee" ("knife" being the other).

>>>What type of work does a "woofer" do?
Willing Workers On Organic Farms ... world wide organization but pretty big in Australia and New Zealand. All terms are highly variable. A little mucking about in the soil and you get a bed for the night, sometimes its an extended project at a farm or winery.


>>>It is referred to as a, "Walkabout".
Walkabout is for Aboriginals which I believe might now be a forbidden term. Its a rite of passage for a teen male and will be repeated whenever its necessary to restore "balance" to one's values. Alcoholism is a problem also.

As far as I know, the traditional ways still hold sway. Men squat to urinate because the "Rabbi" leaves only an inch, young men take old wives, old men take young wives. And a man navigating by the moon across the outback will turn his back and observe the moon between his legs so as to avoid navigational error.

Quote: Pacomartin

The only problem with volcano tourism is that lava is unpredictable. Usually it moves along at a slow creep. but then once in a while it burps a molten rock. I admit to getting close to lava in Hawaii and Sicily, but I am wondering how smart I was.

Speaking of urinating, I would totally pee on that lava just to see what would happen. .. Show of hands, who is with me?

I can't pee that far... :-(

Quote: Ayecarumba

]Speaking of urinating, I would totally pee on that lava just to see what would happen. .. Show of hands, who is with me?

First of all that figure appears to have long hair and is probably a female.

Who is with you? Send me the airfare and I'll be there.

Quote: Fleastiff

First of all that figure appears to have long hair and is probably a female.

Who is with you? Send me the airfare and I'll be there.

You haven't been hanging out with the right girls. They can pee further than the guys with the right technique. If they bend over and touch their toes they can get real distance. I knew a girl that made a ton of money off the guys betting she could pee over a car and they couldn't. She always won.

Oops I guess this should have been posted on WOV it is a gambling post ;-)