Baltimore: Expect the unexpected (April 5-6)

I got off the train and Baltimore Penn Station and took a bus that dropped me a few blocks from my friend Jacky's house. Jacky is a friend from the Bolivia days and in general one of the funniest people I know. My time in Baltimore was short but thanks to Jacky it was far from uneventful! Jacky managed to find two super cool roommates in Baltimore, also RPCVs. Jenny was in Mozambique and Nora was in Lesotho. I have found that Peace Corps definitely attracts a certain breed and that I enjoy that breed and folks of that breed often get along with one another...Nora and Jenny were no exception. They showed me around the area they live (Fell's Point, very nice) and I learned something about Baltimore I didn't know:

Who knew? Here's a shot of Jacky and me by the water

After the tour of the neighborhood and the docks, we ended up at a pizza joint called Johnny Rad's...which was delicious and had good beer selection. We laughed through the entire meal and fun was had by all, except when Nora whipped my tail in Skee Ball. In all fairness, I had not played in a very long time, and she was somewhat of a ringer. We picked up some local beer on the walk home and the merrymaking continued on Washington St. Fleetwood Mac's Rumors was playing on the turntable and we thought it would be a good idea to light some dandelions on fire. I am not quite sure at what point in my life I figured out that dandelions (or whatever you call the white poofy seed version that is pre-dandelion) put on quite a spectacle when you light them on fire, but the fact is, they do. Jacky had a lovely bouquet of these in the kitchen which we promptly took up to the patio and commenced burning. It got a little dicey when they decided to put them in their mouths before lighting, but I assure you no RPCVs were harmed during the taking of this photo:

The evening wound down and I settled in for a good night's sleep on the downstairs futon. I fell asleep thinking that really the only previous impression I had of Baltimore came from watching the HBO series The Wire, which deals with cops and drug dealers...not the prettiest picture. But I found myself really liking it, which of course had mostly to do with my great hostesses, but it seemed to be a nice city nonetheless. The next morning we headed back down to the water for breakfast at Jimmy's Diner...it was delicious and filling and full of baseball fans due to the opening day festivities. Our next task was to drop Jenny at the airport, on the way to which Jacky DJ'd some excellent tunes and we danced and sang like a Brownie troop on a bus to camp. We had to stop for gas, but that didn't stop Jenny from busting out Mmmmbop while she pumped!

We said a tearful goodbye to Jenny and scolded her for breaking up the band. Our next task was to drop Nora at the car rental place, she was heading home too. Jacky and I returned home and I packed up to set off on the next leg of my journey. I hadn't driven in almost two whole days and I was glad to have a short 3 hour drive to my next destination. It was an awesome 18 hours or so in Baltimore, and I looked forward to many more random nights of excellent people, food and drink. Who was to know what was in store over the next weeks of traveling...

The fantastic four: Ben, Nora, Jacky, Jenny